The 'Towards a Sugar-Free Future' Challenge

Honey_Bear

She's adorable PollyBear, but she's never been in a house before, so it's all a bit bewildering for her.  She's absolutely loves people, and loves being given attention, doesn't seem to suffer from separation anxiety (yet - we need to be careful about that developing) and is full on.  She exhibits typical spaniel behaviour sometimes - mad dashes around the ground floor, but she was only spayed last Friday so we need to be a bit careful about that until she's been given the all clear by the vet next Friday.

She chews, she's not house-trained and has just had her first 'accident' because I took my eyes off her while I was in the bathroom, but considering she's been here since Sunday evening that's not bad, all things considered.

I'll try uploading a photo but I'm a bit hopeless at the tech stuff so if it doesn't work I apologise in advance.

Honey_Bear

As for the sugar-free thing, if I'd had an ounce more self-discipline I'd have turned the pain au chocolat down and opted for a plain croissant this morning, so that's Lent busted twice in a few day, but I didn't.  A friend came round for coffee that we haven't seen since before the whole C19 thing happened, and he brought them with him so we were celebrating - a High Day, but the chocolate thing was the real sin.

I'm now totally convinced that the reason I ate too much sugar (inlcuding chocolate) for at least 20 years was not enough protein.  Since I opted to go down the route of having protein three times a day I simply don't get the munchies in the same way and certainly don't get sugar cravings.  It's such a relief to have found a solution, and it's a jolly good thing I like cottage cheese.  I don't like reduced fat cottage cheese at all, but for goodness sake, who would bother to take what little fat there is in it out?  I love the real stuff, fortunately, because half a tub of it is a perfect breakfast for me with a tangerine.

My other go to snack is an apple with a chunk of cheddar on the side, but I need to cut down on the size of the chunk because I'm becoming a tad chunky as a result. 

The other thing I've realised about how I respond to food is that carbohydrates don't suit me during the day - they're fine in the evening because I just get sleepy after them but bread at breakfast or lunch is a no-no, which is a bit of a blow because I love sandwiches and make rather nice bread!   Carbs don't fill me up, so I eat a lot more than I should, which isn't helping.

Hey ho, onwards and upwards.

Pollybear

She is beautiful HB.  I love spaniels.  We had a Springer last and before that a Cavalier King charles spaniel.  To be fair I lost most dogs but I have a real soft spot for spaniels.

Honey_Bear

Thank you; we think so too!  My father had a spaniel called Sleepy before he was married and he was around for my very early childhood, but after that we had collies.  I absolutely love them but they're out of the question where we live (city centre) and I know most people would think a cocker spaniel wouldn't be ideal here, but this one and her predecessor were both from Many Tears and frankly any home is better than they've had before.  She's an ex-breeding mum (MSE won't let me use the technical term) and she's adjusting to life in a house but it's very early days.  She's exhausted today and will probably sleep until tomorrow morning now - she has to be pushed and dragged out of the house anytime after about 3.00pm!

Pollybear

There's a cocker the same colour living near me called Millie and she's lovely too.   Always has a wag for us and a bark if we're not quick enough to make a fuss

~FlowerPot~

@Honey_Bear she is gorgeous, and sounds like shes settling in well

Im partial to kings charles spaniels as we had them growing up. Very sweet dogs

xxx

im not going to even comment on the sugar thing. except to say I did make one good choice earlier, brazil nuts instead of biscuits.But that is probably the only good choice today

Try again tomorrow!!!!

Honey_Bear

She's so red that was her kennel name which she recognizes because she's so people-orientated so we've called her Wren.  It's a pretty name, has female connotations because the French word for queen (la reine) and she answers to it already.  It us that forgets not to call her Red!

Regarding the sugar thing because I don't want to totally hijack the thread, it's hard and we all know that or we wouldn't be here.  It's a habit and we know how difficult they are to break.  Persistence definitely pays off in the end, but the thing that matters more than anything is that we don't learn from failure - we learn from success.  I take it as a huge achievement if I manage a single day without sugar and right now, a single day without chocolate and I celebrate each and evey success. 

When I slip up I recognise why and see if I can learn from it if it wasn't a High Day.  The donuts for instance were because Belovéd thought they'd be a lovely treat and we were both quite tense because of adopting the new dog and long car journeys there and back.  I'm absolutely not going to beat myself up about the two events because I've been so careful since the start of Lent and that has been quite a surprise to me.

While shopping yesterday I bought a couple of pots of vanilla bean custard so that I can have a scrumptious dessert over the weekend.  That seems like a good compromise.

Pollybear

How is pretty little Wren?

I've had a reasonable week.  Not sugar free but no full on binges

Honey_Bear

Well done Polly Bear.  None of us is perfect, but if you're not binging you're doing well.

This bit is all about the dog, so if anyone wants to skip it feel free.  I'm so proud of her!

Thank you for asking after Wren.  She's doing amazingly well, considering how new everything is for her.  She's frightened of going in the car, but that's okay because she's had the two vet appointments she needed, so there's no reason for her to have to go in the car again for a little while.  I'll do some training for her so that she doesn't mind it so much next time we have to take her anywhere.  She doesn't whine or cry, she's just very submissive and fearful.

As to the rest, her house-training is coming on.  Everyone says to put them on the lead and take them into the garden and they'll choose a spot (or you choose where you want them to pee) and it'll happen.  Not with this dog it won't.  She went 18 hours without peeing post-adoption, and although she has now pee'd in the garden three times they were very clear one offs, and I once spent three hours with her out there with her, and no sign of her needing to relieve herself!  We've got a routine, so she has plenty of opportunities to pee on walks and so far we've only had two 'accidents' in the house and I'm used to clearing them up so no harm done. 

She was very difficult to feed to begin with until I changed her from the expensive dog biscuit/kibble I had, or that she was fed in rescue, on to Chappie and discovered that she likes being fed in her crate.  She's now going great guns and I'm pleased to say that along the way she lost the extra couple of kilos she needed to lose so she's now looking sleek and fit.  I've been trying her with various things like kongs, cream cheese, squeezy cheese and chicken and the only thing that's happened that was unhappy was, I think, a really terrible reaction to peanut butter.  She wasn't keen on it and only had a couple of licks, but the next morning was firing on both cylinders, so to speak, so we won't be repeating that. 

She's good about being put in her crate overnight and would dearly love to be able to chew our bedding (yes, she's allowed on the bed and loves it), all of our slippers and shoes and wooden furniture.  We're directing her towards cardboard (the house is now kneedeep in shredded cardboard scraps) and various chewsticks like yakmilk and nylabone.  She's learned, and as I type, fast asleep on the futon in my office behind me.

We got the post-spay all clear from the vet this morning so she can now do whatever she wants to do, but I had to confess she's had three episodes of the zoomies around the house since we adopted her, but it seems no harm was done by that. 

She's learned her new name, she's incredibly responsive and wags her tail nearly all the time.

I've watched a huge number of dog training videos on YouTube, some of which were more helpful than others.  One tip I picked up was that if you reward behaviour you want repeatedly, that's the behaviour you'll get.  We were doing it verbally but I decided to boost it with bits of cooked chicken and that seems to be working incredibly well.  The trainer said it was perfectly okay to do that up to around 50 times a day and I must say, this dog is a very fast learner! 

I also swear by Adaptil for the first few weeks and she gravitates towards where the puffer is plugged in, which was in the sitting room when I was sleeping down there for the first week, and is now next to my side of the bed by her crate.  It's been a godsend!

So, sorry if that was more information than anyone needed, but it's been a full-on 12 days since we brought her home and she's just beginning to realise that this is for real.  It's lovely when you see that with a new dog.  I predict that next week we'll start to see her challenging boundaries but she's responsive to voice commands like No and Stop (although neither is perfect yet) and chicken so I have high hopes we'll be okay.

On to the subject of sugar and chocolate here - I think both of them are 'the more you eat the more you want them' foods.  I know sugar is, but I hadn't really appreciated how much that applies to chocolate too.  Since I started the Lent thing I haven't been completely chocolate free, but it was chocolate filling in a doughnut, a pain au chocolat, and a croissant with chocolate sprinkles.  What I haven't done is have a chocolate bar, biscuits or m@gnum or whatever else I usually eat and I'm really pleased with that.  (Although, I did allow myself a tiramasu which has cocoa powder on it, come to think of it.)  Either way, I've not been binging on it, and the key thing about it is that I haven't been craving it or even thinking about it over the past few weeks which is marvelous and such a relief. 

I got a bit carried away with myself a few days ago and had a couple of those small packets of sesame snaps which have both sugar and glucose syrup in them, so I shouldn't have eaten them but overall I'm incredibly relieved that I haven't been over-indulging.  Not perfect, but so, so much better than it was two years ago.  It's far easier to build on successes than feel grim about thinking I've failed.

@cookie02 are you okay?  I know you had a couple of really heavy weeks a few weeks ago but it's not like you to not post at all for another couple of weeks.  I've been thinking of you and hoping that it's just that you haven't got round to it, rather than life being a bit s***.  I hope all is well with you.

 

How's everyone else doing?

Pollybear

Wren is a very lucky dog to have found new owners who are prepared to put in the hard work.  It sounds like you're heading in the right direction and you'll all have a wonderful life together.

Chocolate is exactly like a drug to me.  I can't resist it if it's in the house and I crave it whether it's in the house or just in my head.  Nothing else gets to me the same way.  Unfortunately if there's no chocolate sometimes I resort to biscuits which are here because my husband can eat just one and enjoy it.  There's no reason to deprive him just because I have no control.  I have learned not to buy chocolate too often but I still succomb sometimes and I try not to beat myself up when I eat it but just start again the next day.  I think that's probably the best I will ever manage.

Hope anyone else lurking is doing OK