The 'Towards a Sugar-Free Future' Challenge

cookie02

I was sugar-free yesterday so that was an unexpected bonus, especially as we went out last night but I wasn't remotely tempted by dessert.  Overall, I managed three sugar-free days this week so I"m happy with that.  As it's the weekend, I don't have any specific sugar goals and that's definitely a good thing as I suspect we might be having some ice cream later 😃.   

Enjoy the weekend!

Honey_Bear

Well done on three days sugar-free last week while you were rocking it on your own.  That takes a fair amount of commitment, so good on you.

I didn't post yesterday because I wasn't sure I'd even be able to do one day sugar-free, but I did.  So far so good today as well, and we're at 5.52pm so I'm hoping that I'll be able to rack up a second day without really trying.  I had the munchies this afternoon and settle for popadums instead of a second date bar or chocolate, but I'm not going to say how many I ate!

In the end I ate absolutely everything I wanted to eat at the festival, and managed to put on 500g which I thought was amazingly low.  This morning I weighed myself and I'm actually lighter than when I went away, so goodness knows what happened to that 600g.  I'm puzzled by that and the only way forward as far as I can see is to keep eating roughly the same kind of food as I ate while I was away but less of it, and without the odd slice of vegan ginger cake (amazing) and vegan chocolate cup cake (equally amazing), a whole bunch of vegan salads and pizza a couple of times.  I also ate a lot of cheesey scrambled eggs with spinach and chives for breakfast and handfuls of cherry tomatoes.  It was about the healthiest holiday food I've ever had.  I also allowed myself a bottle of locally made ginger beer pretty much most days because I don't drink booze and I needed something with ice in it on the hot days and although water if all very well, and I drank loads of it, very occasionally I do want something that tastes of something interesting.  All in all a fab week in terms of flavours and taste sensations.

The literary side of it was fantastic, and has set me thinking about loads of different ideas so I'm going to be working on them for months.  My little tent did me proud, it didn't rain at all, the loos and showers were plentiful on the campsite and the company at the festival interesting, I feel as though I had a fabulous holiday.  I came back completely exhausted!

cookie02

Welcome back, Honey_Bear!  I'm glad you had a lovely holiday and well done for your sugar-free day - I'm not sure I'd have managed that straight after holidays!  Your holiday food sounds really healthy and delicious.  Thinking about it, I might have to test out a few vegan cake recipes but only once it's cooler as I'm trying to avoid turning the oven on during this heatwave.  

Honey_Bear said:

Well done on three days sugar-free last week while you were rocking it on your own.  That takes a fair amount of commitment, so good on you.

Thank you, Honey_Bear!  This challenge forces us to be accountable.  The heat has definitely made it easier for me as I'm not as tempted by sugar and chocolate when it's hot.  I was doing well this week but I slipped up today thanks to some unexpected chocolate cake courtesy of my family doing the shopping today.  I'm not complaining as it was delicious but I'm worried that I might indulge again tomorrow and I don't want to get into bad habits again.  

How did today go for you?  

Honey_Bear

This is working very well, thanks to your suggestion that I needed a re-boot Cookie.  I was sugar-free both Tuesday and today until after dinner both days and even then had strawberries with cream without sugar on Monday and Tuesday, and I might have indulged in two or three of Ch0coc's finest salted caramels, but that was all.  Tbh, I was a bit shocked that when I got back from my holibob Belovéd had finished the first box of their chocolates completely on his own and opened the salted caramels.  I kind of felt I had to keep up with him or I wouldn't have had a look in on any of them.  Fortunately he absolutey loves them so thank you so, so much for that suggestion.

I agree with you - this hot hot weather isn't conducive to turning on the oven, or in my case, rather surprisingly chocolate during the day.  I'm a happy bunny in hot weather having spent a few years of my childhood in the tropics and I absolutely love the heat.  It's cold, wind and rain I can't bear so I'm a happy bunny at the moment.

cookie02

That is great news, Honey_Bear!  Well done 🏅.  I have indulged more than I'd planned this week, including sugar yesterday (more chocolate cake).  On a positive note, I only had a small piece!  I'm glad you are both enjoying the Ch0c0c0 - if you're going to indulge, that is the right way to do it 😉.  

We have a chocolate mousse for later so that will be my Friday night treat.  I'm not putting any rules in place for the weekend but I will try and be a bit more careful of how much sugar and chocolate I have and I'll aim to be sugar-free again on Monday.  The warm weather looks set to continue so I hope you get to enjoy it this weekend!  

Honey_Bear

Hi there Cookie!  A small slice of cake isn't the end of the world, is it?  Well done on the 'small'!

I have been indulging in daytime chocolate over the past couple of days.  I now absolutely know that if I'm overtired it's the first thing I reach for, and I've been working really hard to catch up on all the things that backed up while I was on holibobs.  I think I've sorted it all now but the price paid was two bars of chocolate.  Overall it's not too bad in the grand scheme of things but it would be better if I hadn't allowed myself to get so tired. 

Honey_Bear

This is all very odd.  I've lost 1.2kgs since I got back from my holibobs in five days!  I'm amazed because that includes eating two bars of chocolate over the past few days, chips once and sauté potatoes once, plus a m@gnum last night plus pretty much everything else I wanted.  Nothing like this has never happened before.

The only significant thing I've changed this week is that I've been having breakfast late, and making it a substantial meal, like scrambled eggs, spinach, cheese and chives, instead of a small quick breakfast, and then a snack for lunch and the main meal in the evening.  It's also been a vegetarian week, so I'm going to stick with this and see how it goes, plus adding Tuesday in as a No Sugar Day.  I'd be very, very happy if I could lose a kilo a week for a few weeks!

cookie02

It could be that your eating times mean that you've started intermittent fasting (naturally), Honey_Bear!  If you've tracked the times of your breakfasts and evening meals, you might be able to work out whether that's what has happened.  If so, it sounds like this has made a huge impact for you and that you've found your optimal times 🎉.  I have friends that swear by it and have had similar results.  I follow this pattern Monday-Friday but skip at the weekends due to making breakfast at a family-friendly time.  

Today, I had another small slice of cake from a market that we visited. The cake was homemade and delicious 😋.  The stall also sold lemon curd so we bought some for my parents since they love it - it'll be a nice treat for next time we see them!

Honey_Bear

You are so much better at this than I am Cookie and I'm in awe of you. 

You're now being abstemious over the weekend, and I'm absolutely not.  Yesterday was very self-indulgent. 'Nuf said. 

You may very well be right about the fasting thing.  After my holibobs I've swung back into eating my evening meal with Belovéd at 7.30 / 8.00 pm and I'm not absolutely sure what and when we eat is necessarily what and when I would do without him.  However, that's one compromise too far - our relationship is far, far too important to me for me to want to change how we do things together just to see if doing it differently might make a difference to me.  He's off to London tomorrow for a few days so I can do as I please for three days.  That'll suit me down to the ground.

cookie02

Honey_Bear said:

You're now being abstemious over the weekend, and I'm absolutely not.  Yesterday was very self-indulgent. 'Nuf said.  

I think my restraint with the cake was largely thanks to having a non-alcoholic mojito as we browsed the market, Honey_Bear.  I think they used one of those pre-mixed syrups as it was super-sweet and not even close to being the refreshing drink that I'd been hoping for!  The weekend is for indulging and I definitely made the most of it yesterday.  A friend brought us a homemade pavlova which was one of their test bakes for an upcoming work event.  I also had cake and ice cream for dessert and I enjoyed all of it 😋.  Today, I'm going to try and be sugar-free.  My goal is to stay sugar-free until Friday evening.  

In terms of intermittent fasting, during the week, I try and eat breakfast much later (so it is more like brunch).  That way, I can have dinner with the family and still be within the 'eating window'.  I'm not religious about the timings and I'm not sure that it's had as much impact for me as it seems to have done for you.  It could be that I need to have more protein in my breakfast as it sounds like your breakfasts were very high in protein and that might be the trick.  I was thinking about having an omelette today so I might go with that and scrambled egg this week and see if that makes a difference. I don't weigh myself except when I have check-ups but I can tell if things are working from how my clothes fit.  

What are your goals for the week?  Fingers crossed that you can build on this momentum🍀.  If you can eat food you enjoy and lose weight, that is the ultimate win!🏅