The 'Towards a Sugar-Free Future' Challenge

in_need_of_direction

Totally agree about both sharing bars and secret consumption.  I wish I didn’t but I do.  

So, I made it through both days though on Thursday I had a fizzy rhubarb drink as I just needed something and decided it was a better option than my very sweet diet cola alternative.  Thursday was a particularly bad day, poor staff meeting, puncture, talking to body shop about cost of major car scrape, etc. What I found interesting was that people who knew it was my sugar free day, suggesting that I just have a wee bar of chocolate, etc. There was no malice but also no support for what I had decided to do.  Happily dh wasn’t one of them!  He did however raise an eyebrow at my direct from the fridge consumption of unwashed grapes.  It was those or biscuits!

today I have a person calling to the house to do some bits and pieces.  I think I will visit the farm shop and buy some goodies.  This is a conscious choice as opposed to something I just fall into.  

Hopefully bit by bit, there will be better choices made.  Wishing you all a good weekend.

Jazee

I've probably had some sugar every day the last couple of weeks, but I'm more conscious of it and the weight has stayed off.  Have already had some HM jam on my croissant this morning and I have some free apples which will become apple turnovers later.
Will try for three sugar free days in the next week.

Honey_Bear

I'm so relieved it's not just me who does the secret binge eating, although obviously I share your pain over it, In Need. 

Good call on the rhubarb drink because sometimes we just need to indulge a bit to get us through and if we can limit that indulgence that's amazingly well done.  It would be really great if colleagues were supportive rather than undermine us, but often people just aren't when they realise they probably have some issues around the same ideas.  So, so glad your DH is rooting for you - that's who really matters.  Good on him.

Well done for keeping it under control, Jazee.

I sort of imploded yesterday and ate the rest of the so-called sharing bar of @er0 around tea time, despite finishing the leftover fish pie first.  I'd been working really hard physically for several hours, probably running on empty for too long and just caved.  I'm not going to beat myself up about it because in the grand scheme of things that's one bar over two days that were sugar-allowed anyway, and half the amount I used to eat every day, day in day out.  I'll see if I can make today sugar-free as a random idea because it was obviously more than was ideal.  Strangely, no weight gain despite the chocolate and chips with dinner. 

cookie02

My original plan was to be sugar-free on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday but I've already had a slice of leftover cake this morning.  On a positive note, I was pretty good for most of the weekend with a relatively small amount of cake and a mince pie (much less than usual for me).  I will try to be sugar-free for the rest of today and I will aim to be sugar-free on Thursday as well to make up for my lapse today.  

Honey_Bear & In Need, I am with you on the sharing bars.  I do offer them but I almost always end up eating most of the bar by myself.  I'm not a secret eater though and I can't imaging the pressure that brings for you. 

Honey_Bear said:

It would be really great if colleagues were supportive rather than undermine us, but often people just aren't when they realise they probably have some issues around the same ideas.  So, so glad your DH is rooting for you - that's who really matters.  Good on him.

This is so true.  

Good luck with your three sugar-free days this week, Jazee!  Hope everyone is doing well this week .  

cookie02

Good morning!  Monday was a washout for me: I ended up eating more cake later but I enjoyed it .  It is clearer than ever that I struggle to get back on track after my sugar-allowed weekends.  When it comes to sugar, I've got better at saying no to things that I don't necessarily love.  This cake is one of my favourites and it is tough knowing it is there!  I have two new strategies that I plan to try to help me achieve my sugar-free Monday next week. For my favourite sugary foods, I'm going to try and make sure that we finish them up before Monday.  I'm not planning to go crazy eating at the weekend but I will try to either have friends/family take leftovers or freeze them up for us to eat at another time. I'm also going to try and make sure that Mondays are busy as I find that distraction means that I'm less likely to indulge.  

Yesterday was better.  I managed to stay away from the cake and had my first sugar-free day of the week.  I've just had coffee without cake and I'm aiming to get through the rest of today and tomorrow sugar-free too.  

How is everyone doing with their targets this week?  

Honey_Bear

Good idea, Cookie.  I started to reply on Monday afternoon but then got distracted by something, so I'm sorry you were left out in the cold for a couple of days, so to speak.  I find once I start on sugar I don't seem to be able to stop and your cake episode seems to be roughly the same thing - we know it's there, we've already indulged so ....

I was fine on Monday, good as gold, and then we had lunch with friends on Tuesday and I indulged in a sprinkle of sugar on my raspberries with the result that I'd already had sugar so another bar of the minty chocolate seemed like a good idea last night while I was watching telly.  The annoying thing is that the Belovéd and our friend had the raspberries without sugar and said they were lovely without, so if I'd tasted them first I might not have had any anyway.  I know autumn raspberries are sweeter than the summer ones, too, so I was an idiot to sprinkle first, so to speak.  Yet another lesson learned. 

Now, I did say I would allow myself sugar on High Days and Holidays, and technically that was a High Day because of the lunch with friends so it doesn't count as a sugar day, but because I Am An Idiot (see above) I'm going to stick to my 3.5 days this week and go sugar free until Friday evening.  I wouldn't rejig the days if I hadn't indulged myself in the minty bar of chocolate but I did and I feel I let myself down a bit.  I can do better than that, so I will for the rest of the week.

cookie02

Good morning ☀️.  I hope everyone is enjoying the weekend!

Honey_Bear, it definitely sounds like we have the same challenge.  I'm going to try and be a bit more restrained with my sugar this weekend and hope that will make Monday easier...  I completely understand re: not posting - everyone is busy.  I tend to post when I can, even if it's quiet.  I find this thread really helpful for trying to stay on track .  I hope you weren't too annoyed with yourself over the sugar for your raspberries and the minty choc.  We all lapse (reference my double cake incident on Monday  ) - at least we enjoy the lapses and try to get back on track!  I hope you achieved your goals for the rest of the week.  

Jazee, how did you get on with your three days?  In Need, it's great that you are making conscious choices. I've found that one of the hardest things is battling my instinct to just eat my way through a packet of biscuits or multiple slices of cake.    

After my false start on Monday, I managed to get through Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday sugar-free and I also managed to be sugar-free until dinner last night so I'm quite happy about that.  So far, I have been sugar-free today but that will change this afternoon.  These aren't my sugar-free days so that's fine.  I will try and be more careful with my sugar tomorrow and hope I'll deal with my sugar-free Monday a bit better next week.  

Honey_Bear

You're bang on the money, Cookie.  The problem appears to be that once we've started we not only don't want to stop, but don't see the point of doing so.  We're stuck with that mistaken belief because it means we can allow ourselves that indulgence we're so addicted to.  It's really, really helpful that you and are finding the same things out about sugar at the same time, and I'm very grateful to you for your posts.

How are you doing, Jazee and In Need?  I want everyone to do well but I'm really interested in what makes us give in to temptation because once we know we can all learn from it.  That's the strength of everyone working towards the same goal and sharing successes and slip ups on this thread.

I made it to teatime yesterday, so not quite as good as I'd hoped, but I only had one dark chocolate ginger biscuit with my tea, and if I hadn't been making Belovéd a cup of tea and dipping into the biscuit tin to get one for him I doubt I'd have slipped up.  I can resist most of the biscuits he usually eats but not those ones, but the massive victory I'm taking from it is - I stopped at one!  In the past that kind of indulgence has also been stopping at one, but not unfortunately one biscuit - one packet.  I love them.  It's ginger or mint with chocolate I don't seem to be able to find the willpower to resist.

However, I can honestly say that this week was the easiest since I started this Challenge in terms of not wanting to chew tablelegs to stop myself indulging in sugar.  I'd still like some every day, obviously, all the time, but I don't want to indulge any more, and don't see it as a desireable hunger to satisfy - I truly now do understand and believe that the more I eat the more I want, and I'm just making life harder for myself if I keep giving in to it.  Doing so doesn't make it go away, which I always thought it would.  It's like scratching a mosquito bite - it feels good while you're doing it, a real relief, a few minutes later the itch is back again and it's just as annoying/bad. 

So, like you Cookie, I'm not going to go back to previous habits and think I can scoff a whole bar of chocolate each day because I'm technically allowed to, I'm going to allow myself some indulgence and see if limiting it a bit helps with the Challenge next week.  I'm dipping my toe in this water very cautiously because I'm not sure I can be that self-disciplined, but it's an idea to play with. 

From Monday it's November, so I'm going to be sugar free for four days.  I haven't made up my mind as to whether that's Monday/Tuesday and Thursday/Friday or do it all in one hit, Monday to Thursday.  I'd prefer the latter to get it over and done with, but I may not feel that on Wednesday.  Basically I won't know until about 3.30/4.00pm on Wednesday which it's going to be, although I do now know I can do three days in a row so I might be okay. 

Jazee

I haven't managed any days this week.  Not gone over the top but have been extremely busy with sometimes only five minutes to eat and it's been easier to grab crisps or a snack. Tomorrow is another day.....

Honey_Bear

Sorry you've been so busy Jazee.  I hope things have improved since then.  Not only is tomorrow another day (very Scarlett O'Hara!), but it's a new month too.  Good luck with it.