The 'Towards a Sugar-Free Future' Challenge

cookie02

That is so true about tiredness and self-discipline.  I've been having sugar cravings all morning and, reading your post, I realise it's because I'm really sleepy after working late and then being up early for more calls today.  Well done for stopping at four biscuits - think of all the biscuits you'd have eaten before.  That's progress .   Yesterday, I managed to stay sugar-free thanks to one of those date bars.  I still haven't found the L1dl ones but we still have a load of the other variety left so I have time to find them.  

Fingers crossed for a sugar-free day! 🤞 

Honey_Bear

The date bars are mixed up with cocoa and cashew nut bars in a box on the top shelf on the left of crisps etc opposite chocolate, in the aisle between the fresh fruit and veg and the aisle where the paracetemol and shampoo are, if that makes sense.  I'm pretty sure they're all laid out roughly the same in England, from what I've seen when out and about elsewhere (I use four in Plymouth because I'm often in different parts of the city.)

Today I've resisted so far, had enough to eat at lunchtime and a date bar or two for dessert.  I'm feeling rather full of food as a result, having had them on top of a homemade salmon paté sandwich for lunch, which is not a paté at all but a rather luscious recipe I found on line and can't get enough of.  Fortunately the people I was catering for love it, so I'm just working on the leftovers which is proving rather gratifying. 

We're both exhausted and have eaten far more than we should have for the past few days but it has been absolutely delicous!  Back to normality from today for me, tomorrow for him which will make life much easier.

cookie02

Thank you for the tip about where to find the date bars, Honey_Bear.  I will check next time!  I hope that you are more rested now and that you've been hitting your goals for the last couple of days.  

I've managed to stay sugar-free so far and I really want to stay sugar-free until tomorrow evening.  I'm at that point where I'm thinking about sugar, even as I work.  It's probably a bit worse than usual as my family has been grocery shopping and someone has gone a bit crazy with buying cake and cookies...  

Let's see how it goes . 

Honey_Bear

You're doing better than me Cookie.  I craved chocolate last night after dinner and it just would not go away so I ended up indulging myself.  And then today I was in town, which is rare, and needed a pick me up, stopped at a lovely community café and should have had a cheese scone but ended up with a slice of coffee and walnut cake.  It's b eing so over-tired that is killing my self-discipline.  I'm hoping to sleep and rest it off over the weekend to get back into the groove again because this run of sugary days is going on and on and on.  I will say though that this time last year the sugary consumption would have been at least twice, if not three times, as much so all in all this Challenge is worthwhile even if I'm utter carp at it!

Honey_Bear

I failed hopelessly every day last week, and had sugar over the weekend but today I've managed so far to be sugar-free.  Belovéd is away for a couple of days so I'm hoping for early nights and not feeling so exhausted.  Both of us meant to do as little as possible on Sunday and ended up working really hard all day.  Not at all sure how that happened but at least we cleared some of the backlog of outstanding stuff that needs to be done and the aching muscles will no doubt sort themselves out in a day or two. 

How are you doing Cookie?  Was the weekend okay or was it over-indulgent?  You seem to have got your sugar consumption under control recently, unlike me.

Honey_Bear

I'm missing your posts @Cookie.  Are you okay?

I also wanted to thank you for suggesting Chococo - they're exactly what we were looking for!  They have a branch in Exeter, and looking at their shops I'd say Chococcino was modelled on them so we're very happy again.  We really, really disliked H0t31 Ch0c01at - horrible in comparison.  We're going to have to be very abstemious with them because they're gorgeous!

I'm amazed to say that despite the longing for chocolate yesterday afternoon I was totally sugarfree all day.  I'm thrilled.

cookie02

Honey_Bear said:

I'm missing your posts @Cookie.  Are you okay?

I also wanted to thank you for suggesting Chococo - they're exactly what we were looking for!  They have a branch in Exeter, and looking at their shops I'd say Chococcino was modelled on them so we're very happy again.  We really, really disliked H0t31 Ch0c01at - horrible in comparison.  We're going to have to be very abstemious with them because they're gorgeous!

I'm amazed to say that despite the longing for chocolate yesterday afternoon I was totally sugarfree all day.  I'm thrilled.

I am well, thank you, Honey_Bear, I appreciate you checking-in .  I was unexpectedly offline this week due to an overnight trip (still here in the UK) for work.  I started typing here on Monday but didn't post and I really need to remember to save my MSE password so I can access from my phone as this happened to me last time too.  It's a bit frustrating as I keep notes (also for my spreadsheet).  My colleague couldn't attend so I ended up at an event in her place.  The timing wasn't great as I was supposed to have a day off mid-week for a family outing so I'm not the most popular person right now as that had to be rescheduled...  

In terms of sugar, I was sure my sugar-free goals would be over as conferences are always filled with junk food and tons of mini desserts etc but, amazingly, I was ok.  I did have wine on a couple of nights but never more than one glass so I think I managed fairly well vs how things could have gone.  I didn't eat any of the mini desserts as I could tell that they were the type that look wonderful but taste cloyingly sweet.  In the past, I would have eaten them anyway so that's another breakthrough thanks to this challenge - thank you! 

I'm really happy that you enjoyed Ch0c0c0 .  We're also not fans of H0tel Ch0c but this is the first time anyone else has agreed that they're not all they're hyped up to be!  

How has your week been?  Well done for staying sugar-free despite your chocolate cravings 🏅 .  I must say that I'm really looking forward to this evening and having dessert with the family.  Did you do anymore catering this week?  I have the afternoon off and I might make some brownies for the weekend!

Honey_Bear

Good to have you back again Cookie!  It's extraordinary how much we now taking being easily online for granted.  My laptop has caused me some blips over the past few weeks and I found not being able to use it unbelievably frustrating - not being able to access t'internet on it changed my behaviour completely - no lying around in bed in the morning playing online sudoku, watching The Tube of You videos or reading newspapers; up and about instead doing stuff, reading books at bedtime.  Most unsettling!  I'm just about to go to go camping at a literary festival and don't plan on taking the laptop - too heavy, don't want to leave it in the tent, don't want to lug it around with me and the car is going to be two fields away so I don't want to have to trot over there to lock it away every day.  I've got a smartphone (and have bought a powerpack) to see if I can wean myself on to it for 10 days and not be so reliant on the laptop so thank you for reminding me I need to make a note of all the passwords I'm going to have to enter on to it. 

Well done on being so self-controlled at the conference.  It's so easy to be fooled by those over-sweet rather dull-tasting but beautifully decorated desserts at those kinds of events.  I do wish we could have more flavour and less sugar but apparently that's only home cooks (yay for us!) and very, very expensive restaurants.  It's made my life a lot easier for years!  However, being away from home like that and being able to resist is another feather in your cap as far as I'm concerned because they do look tempting.  A glass or two of wine is just the thing to mark the occasion instead, unless you're like me and can't stop at one or two.

In terms of me this week: after the last month of not being able to get through a single day without scoffing loads of stuff I shouldn't have touched I'm pleased to be able to say I've been sugar-free - except for two of the Ch0c0c0 chox because Belovéd was definitely having one and I just couldn't not have one myself.  I'm not beating myself up about it, I may very well have to throw the towel in for that after dinner treat and just admit I can't resist them at least until we've worked our way through the first box.  As they have a much lower sugar content than ordinary chocolates and I always stop at one now, and he doesn't have one every night I'm very happy with resisting during the whole week other than those two.  He was away Monday and Tuesday evenings so I stuck rigidly to being sugar-free despite knowing they were there.  I will relent tonight as well but I'm going to try not to have a m@gnum as well.

I'm off on the holibob next Friday and I'm taking some white chocolate that I have for irrelevant reasons rather than proper chocolate so that if I get seriously tempted to pig out I won't be tempted to eat the entire stash that's been around for several years.  In the meantime I'm intending to allow myself the usual weekend indulgence and then behaving myself from Monday until I get to where I'm going.  After that, I've got 10 days of holiday and I have absolutely no intention of remaining sugar-free for a single day of it!

cookie02

A literary festival sounds like a lovely way to spend your holiday, Honey_Bear!  I hope you enjoy the break.  Yes, definitely make sure you save those passwords so you don't end up like me.  It was a bit frustrating as I didn't have any of mine, including my online banking password (I use the fingerprint ID on my laptop which is really convenient, as long as I have my laptop...).  

Well done on restraining yourself with the chocolate this week .  This challenge has definitely made it easier for me to say no to those attractive-but-unsatisfying chocolates and cakes but I still find it difficult when the treats are 'real' treats like homemade brownies or lovely chocolates so you are definitely doing well to resist those!  As far as the wine goes, we used to drink more pre-pandemic but were very much weekend drinkers.  With the last couple of years, we've really cut back a lot and, as a result, my tolerance has reduced a lot so I don't have more than one or two drinks during work events now and I'm also very restrained socially too.  In reality, neither of us really want to re-build our tolerance - in some ways, I'm applying the sugar challenge to that too: if I know I really like something, I'll have a glass but I will have one that I enjoy vs a ton that I'll just regret later.  It's easier with alcohol as I don't love it the way I love chocolate or cakes.  

I indulged yesterday evening with a lovely brownie and ice cream 😋.  Today, we're seeing friends later and I'm sure we'll have dessert but it's the weekend so I'm just going to enjoy it.  

Honey_Bear said:

I'm off on the holibob next Friday and I'm taking some white chocolate that I have for irrelevant reasons rather than proper chocolate so that if I get seriously tempted to pig out I won't be tempted to eat the entire stash that's been around for several years.  In the meantime I'm intending to allow myself the usual weekend indulgence and then behaving myself from Monday until I get to where I'm going.  After that, I've got 10 days of holiday and I have absolutely no intention of remaining sugar-free for a single day of it!

Enjoy your festival and holidays, Honey_Bear - this is definitely the right moment for indulgence, after all, holidays are made for treats! 🎉 

Honey_Bear

I've taken your advice about passwords but MSE itself is a nightmare!  I can log in just fine on my laptop and desktop but having downloaded the MSE ap I can't get it to accept my password, nor can I get it to send me a new one so I can log in.  I'll have another go at it later in the week but if I don't post after Friday this week you'll know why.

I caved Friday night which I think is going to be a permanent thing.  You're right - Friday evening is the beginning of the weekend and it's needlessly strict of me to be a martyr to this Challenge.  Some weeks I've managed to be sugar-free on Friday evening but more often than not, not.  The weekend was indulgent but I'm back on being a bit more strict with myself again and so far today I've been fine.  The over-indulgences of the past few weeks have resulted in my putting the kilo I lost at the beginning right back on again, but at least I'm no heavier.  I really would like to shift this midriff chunk.

Well done for cutting back on the booze during lockdown.  Belovéd cut right back when I stopped drinking and now very rarely has more than a couple of glasses of wine or a glass of wine and a whiskey of an evening.  That's so abstemious compared to the way we both used to drink, and in all honesty we both rather liked having the house to ourselves when we did and found it very unstressful so we didn't feel the need to indulge in 'stress-busters' as a lot of people did.  Listening to the media and health people, you are in a minority because most people's drinking increased, so well done.

How was the rest of your weekend?