The 'Towards a Sugar-Free Future' Challenge

Jazee

Still working my way through the Xmas stash, slowly. I'm not going to stress either. It is what it is.

cookie02

Honey_Bear said:

Massively well done Cookie, two days in a row plus the best part of a third day racked up.  I didn't find getting back into the groove as tough as when I started on this challenge - how about you?

Thank you, Honey_Bear!  I found last week and the beginning of this week really difficult as I kept slipping and eating something (such a bad habit!).  Wednesday made a huge difference for me.  Just getting ONE sugar-free day gave me far more motivation to stick to being sugar-free yesterday and today has felt much easier.  Of course, I had sugar last night and I have no regrets either!  You're right though - it is easier than last year and I think part of it is that the challenge is helping us get better at figuring out when and how we can tweak things to make us more likely to achieve our sugar-free or reduced-sugar days.  

Honey_Bear said:

Indulging myself involved large amounts of chocolate and I'm not going to stress out about that either.  The freezer thing was incredibly hard work and took the whole day but it's now completely sorted. 

That was very lucky with the M@gnum and glad it is all sorted now.  Clearly, a bit of sugar can be a very good thing sometimes!

Jazee said:

Having small amounts of sweet stuff here.

Well done, Jazee!  If you like ginger biscuits, I can recommend the mini gingerbread men multipacks for small sugar bursts.  They taste great and they're also very cute!  They are on offer in most supermarkets (75p for 6 packs).  It isn't very MSE but I can easily eat a whole pack of ginger biscuits in one go so those little packs of gingerbread men are much better for me.  

Today, I'm not setting any sugar goals and will see how it goes.  Tomorrow, I'm going to try to have sugar with one meal only, just to try and make Monday a bit easier.  

Hope everyone has a lovely day.

Honey_Bear

How interesting that we're all fairly laid back about getting back into this Challenge, but that we're all doing better than we did this time last year.  I don't think I'm going to be super stern with myself for the whole of January - the days I don't eat sugar will be in the earlier part of the week and ideally I'd like to have the self-discipline to rack up some numbers but any days are a huge victory right now. 

Let's just celebrate our achievements and enjoy the reduced amount of sugar and crap we eat on the other days for a bit. 

Jazee

This morning I quickly grabbed a breakfast bar.  It was lovely but full of chocolate!  Filling though.

Unfortunately Cookie, I don't like ginger biscuits but give me a (pack of) jammie dodgers any day.

Jazee

A whole chocolate orange scoffed last night. I'm going to bow out for a little while so I can get rid of this Xmas stash and then reset.   Still, I'm not quite as piggy as I was before the challenge.

Honey_Bear

I'm sorry you're taking a temporary break Jazee because you're the only other person I know who can scoff a whole chocolate orange in one hit.  I had to stop buying them when I realised that!  See you when you come back - enjoy the stash in the meantime.

I didn't make it through yesterday sugar-free but it was the weekend so I'm not upset about it.  I was nowhere near as piggy as I used to be even with the blips when I'm let loose on the stash.   

cookie02

Honey_Bear said:

How interesting that we're all fairly laid back about getting back into this Challenge, but that we're all doing better than we did this time last year. 

Let's just celebrate our achievements and enjoy the reduced amount of sugar and crap we eat on the other days for a bit. 

Honey_Bear, I am being laid back because I'd be beating myself up otherwise and there is no point in that!  I am right there with you in terms of celebrating our achievements vs focusing on our lapses.  This challenge is making us better at getting back on track after lapsing and I think that's probably the hardest, and most important, part.  Until Thursday, I hadn't had two consecutive sugar-free days for over a month!  

Jazee, I have had mini Jammie Dodgers but I don't think they're as good as the normal ones (the jam/biscuit ratio isn't the same so it is more of a regular biscuit than a Jammie Dodger).   

Yesterday, was sugary but not out-of-control so I'm happy with that.  Today, I'm going to try and limit myself to one sugary meal.  I'm not sure what we're having so this could all change later.  From experimenting last year, I know that if I can limit myself today, tomorrow will be much easier.  

cookie02

Sorry, Jazee, I just saw your latest message.  Enjoy the stash and see you back here when you're ready  .  

Honey_Bear said:

I didn't make it through yesterday sugar-free but it was the weekend so I'm not upset about it.  I was nowhere near as piggy as I used to be even with the blips when I'm let loose on the stash.   

That's great, Honey_Bear, and same here re: the stash.  We also had a lot of leftover Christmas goodies (including mince pies!) but most things have longer dates and I've experimented with cutting and freezing some of the cake and other bits. 

Honey_Bear

I hadn't had a single sugar-free day until Monday this week from sometime around mid-December Cookie, but getting back into it for three days was a real surprise to me.  I'm not unhappy with that, but I'm allowing myself some leeway until the end of January because if I can do three days now I can certainly do four days in February, which is the plan.  If I make it to nearly five by not having chocolate etc until the evening then I'm back on track.

For the next few weeks I won't be having m@gnums because they all had to be chucked out.  I wept.

cookie02

Good morning!   I enjoyed sugary treats twice yesterday but they were small so I don't feel overwhelmed this morning.  I haven't had any sugar yet but it will be this afternoon that's the real test for me.  I would love to have a sugar-free day and feel like I'm getting some momentum back.  

Honey_Bear, sad news on the M@gnums but one less temptation for you and you know there'll be more later .  I'm hoping to make three days / week for the rest of this month.  If that works out, I will join you and target four/week next month.  Well done on last week!  Let's hope things start to get easier now... 

Wishing everyone a great start to the week