The 'Towards a Sugar-Free Future' Challenge

in_need_of_direction

Made it thru my sugar free day yesterday but ended the day early as I had the headache from hell. It’s not good to be that sugar dependent 

Honey_Bear

Wow, In Need.  I'm really sorry to hear about the headache.  Could it have been caused by something else, like tension or are you pretty sure it's sugar withdrawal?  Either way I hope it's gone and you're painfree now. 

cookie02

In Need, I hope you are feeling better.  Happy to hear that you met your goal yesterday but I hope the headaches stop soon. 

Honey_Bear, hopefully 5*fun-size bars is still progress and well done for stopping  

I got through yesterday but today is about to get sugary as I have a friend's birthday this evening!

Happy Friday, Everyone!  

Honey_Bear

Let's just say that the last few days haven't been exactly sugar-free, shall we?  Or anywhere near sugar-free, in fact.  The good news is I have thoroughly enjoyed my chocolate treats - Thursday, beyond dreadful as detailed on the previous page, the M@gnum for dessert on Friday plus which I probably had a biscuit with tea mid-afternoon, the sugar on the strawberries for dessert last night, the mountain of cheese with friends after going to the theatre which was then topped off with some really rather wonderful chocolate I'd been given.  I did at least share it with everyone else which in the cirucmstances was extremely generous because it was fabulous.

I'm not that embarrassed about 'fessing up to scoffing that much because that was completely normal before I started this challenge and there will be other occasions in the future when I have several days in a row like it again.  The trick is to remember that if I want to lose a bit of weight, binging like that doesn't help and isn't going to train my body to crave less sugar if I keep over-indulging myself like that even if it is only once every seven weeks.  However, I've just had a full on few hours of housework and retired with a cup of tea and a bar of chocolate because it's Sunday and I need to end the work week with a reward because I've got the self-discipline of a mouse near a mousetrap with cheese in it. 

And I learned something - when I stressed, and when I'm tired but have to keep going, I use sugar and chocolate to cheer myself up and on.  I need a better strategy than that but I'll settle for just getting through two sugar-free days this week, and think about whether to add the third day for October on Friday because it's the first of the month. 

Back on track tomorrow. 

cookie02

My weekend was as sugary as I'd anticipated.  Unfortunately, I kept going with the sugar today and had cake with lunch.  Although I enjoyed it at the time, I am annoyed with myself as today was meant to be a sugar-free day.  I'm in the kind of mood where I know that if I have a biscuit, I won't stop at one or two, I will end up eating the whole packet .  I'm trying to stay sugar-free for the rest of the day but I'm not sure I'll make it!  Hope everyone is doing well

Jazee

Nope.  I'm munching on chocolate covered peanuts as I type!

Honey_Bear

So, it seems that about six to seven weeks is about the limit we're all able to manage.  I feel hugely relieved that it's not just me that can't quite make it at the moment.  I've just wrapped myself around some hummus and crackers to see if I can stave off the dreaded 3.30 pm sugar-munchies.  It's worked so far but I know I've got to get past the next two danger times at about 6.00 pm and then again at about 9.00 pm.  I'm fine all morning and then it sort of falls apart and I can't get sugar out of my mind.

I should be cleaning the shower room and dusting two bedrooms but I'm sitting at my desk and carefully drawing up charts to record my weightloss instead. 

I regard myself as very self-indulgent and lazy to do this kind of thing, which I quite enjoy, rather than cleaning which I absolutely don't. 

And I think that's part of the problem; I'm usually so busy doing anything, anything at all rather than stuff I don't want to do that I regard doing anything I enjoy as rather sinful.  What I'm doing is about keeping myself on track and motivated to stick to the sugar-free thing and that's not self-indulgent or lazy, or slightly sinful - it's time spent investing in my future because willpower alone is not doing it enough for me at the moment, or at least it certainly wasn't on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

So, Cookie and Jazee, don't beat yourselves up.  You're keeping me company searching for ways to keep ourselves on the straight and narrow.  As I never expected to be 100% successful doing this, but I am doing better than I was and right now that's a win.  I know I'm doing better than I was because I'm not putting weight on any more and I'm lighter than I was when I started.  Yes, my weight fluctuates and after I've indulged it's more than I'd like it to be, but the overall tragectory is down from where I started so it's working. 

You're both doing brilliantly and tomorrow's another day. 

Honey_Bear

Wow.  I've just finished looking at the charts and from the start it's fairly consistent overall.  I've lost 100g a day being sugar-free but I suspect the fact that I've also cut down on animal fat at the same time may also be involved.  Looking at the graphs though it's noticeable that my weight drops from Monday through to Wednesday quite noticeably (the graph is in 100g increments) and then creeps back up a little bit until the weekends when it shoots up a bit steeper.  There's a clear correaltion which I'm not sure I was expecting to see so clearly.   

Honey_Bear

Managed it yesterday with a little bit of teeth gnashing after supper but nothing I couldn't deal with, so I was pleased with that. 

Today I was clearing out the lodgers' food cupboards and found an Options jar of hot chocolate.  I thought I'd try it and I have to say it's much nicer than I thought it would be, so I've had a couple of those to keep me going while I was dealing with stuff.  I'd be tempted to buy it but I think I'll just finish what's left and move on.  I succumbed at teatime and had a couple of funsize bars but that'll be it for sweet stuff today. 

How's everyone else doing?

Jazee

Doing alright HB.  I bought some more chocolate peanuts earlier but haven't touched them as I just haven't craved sugar all day.