 Hey guys, my name is Boris, I'm a Board Certified Physician Assistant working at Medically Supervised Weight Loss, and today I'm going to answer the question, how do I diet? How do I lose weight when I have a sweet tooth? I probably have the worst sweet tooth on the face of the planet, or at least I did. Before I spent last year, all of last year just dieting, getting rid of 50 pounds of fat, getting down from about 215 to about 168 pounds and getting in the leanest, I'd say most aesthetic, most best looking shape of my life, but definitely not the healthiest shape of my life, because at 168, the picture that you're looking at right now, I felt like crap, I felt horrible. I was tired all the time, my mood was bad, there was other side effects, I just like, it's not fun. Being lean, if you're used to it, if you're like that all the time, maybe it's okay, but I never personally want to get that lean again unless I'm doing another photo shoot, or for whatever reason I'm getting up on stage, a bodybuilding show, I don't know, but I'm definitely not planning on it anytime soon, because I just felt horrible doing it, I don't think it's healthy, and I'd rather stay in like the 12 to 15, 17, whatever percent body fat area, where you still look good, but you have plenty of energy. You fit into your clothes well, you still have that tapered V appearance, at least as a guy, but you don't have that defined abs, defined obliques, what the crap ever, I don't care. You look fine at the pool, you look fine at the beach, you don't look like the most chiseled guy in the world, whatever, man, that guy's stuff doesn't work, I don't care. Like I'd rather feel good and look okay than look really good and feel like shit. So personally, I like staying here, if I want to lean down again, you know, maybe I will one day, I don't see it happening anytime soon, because I just don't enjoy being that lean. I enjoy being in the like 15-ish percent body fat area, that's where I feel best, so that's where I'm gonna live, you know, sue me, sorry, I'm not gonna get very lean again. But anyway, sweet tooth. So first thing about the sweet tooth is one, when you avoid sweets for as long as I had to to get that lean, it just kind of changes your brain chemistry, it changes your attitude, it changes what you're addicted to, because basically sugar is one of the most detecting things on the planet. I don't know if you know who Ethan Supply is, he played the big fat guy in American History X, that's probably one of his most prolific roles, he played, you know, big fat guy in a lot of other movies, and then he lost a ton of weight, he lost like 200 pounds, and now if he looks amazing, let's see if I can post a picture. But yeah, Ethan Supply lost a ton of weight, he also used to be addicted to all kinds of drugs, including methamphetamine, and he actually said in an interview I think with Joe Rogan, that quitting sugar was harder than quitting methamphetamine. Let that sink in. Sugar is more addictive, at least to this guy, than meth and freaking metamine. Sugar is incredibly addictive. So what I'm saying is if you avoid it for a long enough time, for me it was almost a year, you kind of like, you can take it or leave it, you're not addicted to it anymore. So like I'll still have a cookie, I'll still have a brownie, I'll still have you know some ice cream, whatever, and I can tell it, damn that's good. But I like, I just don't crave it the way that I used to, I could go days, weeks, months without having anything really sweet because I just don't care anymore. And also, because I found ways about to substitute sugar to basically have much healthier lower glycemic, lower sugar alternatives that are still sweet, still kind of curb your craving when you're craving something sweet without actually going all the way and having something with a ton of sugar, like a regular soda, you know, I'm okay with diet, like a regular, you know, cookies, brownies, cereal, whatever sugary treats that you like, I'm okay with plain Greek yogurt with a little bit of fruit like, you know, banana in this case, or some frozen berries or whatever in there. So basically finding alternatives, finding things that taste sweet that are just like good enough, but not maybe the real deal, not the whole thing, but that you like enough to eat consistently. Eventually, after days, weeks, months of doing that, forcing yourself to do it at first, not wanting to do it, wanting those sweets that you love, but after a while of just forcing yourself to do the right thing, I promise you, it gets easier, it gets a lot easier. And eventually you start craving, you know, yogurt with fruit, or so just frozen berries, frozen mangoes like my favorite snack in the world. Just put myself like a whole bowl of it, you know, just eat it with a spoon. Let it thaw out a little tiny bit so it's not like ice cubes. It's like a little softer, but man, that's my favorite treat. So basically just start craving these alternatives that you give yourself. And if you could think of some good ones, like I said, Greek yogurt is very high in protein. So Greek yogurt with some fruit will be a very healthy snack and helps you get your protein in for those of us that want to maintain some muscle mass, want to build muscle, it's very helpful to get some Greek yogurt. So if that's your sweet treat, Greek yogurt with a little bit of fruit, maybe a little bit of Splenda or some Stevia, a monk fruit or whatever, that's a good way to go. So what I'm saying is if you have a sweet tooth like I do, or at least like I did, forcing yourself to find alternatives, whether they be some diet soda, or whether they be yogurt with berries, yogurt with fruit, just berries or fruit in general, don't overdo it on the fruit by the way. But anything like that, eventually you start to crave those things and you just kind of break your addiction to those sweets. So it's hard at first, like any other addiction, it's very, very hard at first. But if your goal is stronger than your desire for sugar, if your goal to look better, to be healthier, to look good on the beach, to take photos, whatever it may be, or just to like cure your diabetes, to not be heavy, to not be unhappy and unhealthy, to have less knee pain, back pain, whatever reasons you have for losing weight, if that is stronger than your desire for that fricking brownie or that cereal or those pancakes, you know, eventually forcing yourself to do the right thing, I promise you, your body, your brain will get used to it and you'll stop craving those things. You'll still get to enjoy them, you know, when you have them, you just won't need them as much. Okay, so that's what I have to say about dieting with a sweet tooth.