I did it!

It's now September 3. I've been meaning to post again for quite a while, but my family's been plagued with a very nasty cold. Two of us were actually feeling better, then worse as the second wave hit, knocking us off our feet and into bed for days. I'm back at school and have a few minutes before my first class.

When last I posted, I'd lost 2 pounds and was wondering if it was legit or a normal weight fluctuation. I'm happy to report that when I weighed myself the following week, not only did the number on the scale not go up, it went down another 2 pounds, for a grand total of 4.

I started this experiment to see what would happen, but I was also wondering if it was true that sugar is making me overweight. It seems that the answer to my questions are I lost weight and, although it might not be entirely responsible, it is probably a contributing factor. In terms of "what would happen," the biggest thing is probably that I've changed, hopefully for good. More than anything, I've realized that I want to live like this. I suppose I should confess that, in case anyone thinks I'm now an anti-sugar nut, on Labor Day I ate 2 bites of a Paradise Bakery chocolate chip cookies. It was delicious!

Days 11-16

Have I really not written anything in almost a week? Wow, this last week has flown by. When I started blogging, I did so with the intention of writing everyday. But I've been getting the kids ready for school, and getting myself ready as well, during the past week and I haven't been thinking about this little project as much.

Over the past week, I've had a couple of people mention not wanting to tempt me with the sugar snacks they were eating while we were talking. Honestly it's not much of a temptation to me right now. I even offered to let my husband eat ice cream in front of me when we were out on a date, but he didn't take me up on my offer. I really hope I can keep this up after I'm done with my little experiment this month. I don't want to go back to having the near constant sugar cravings. It's so nice to feel like I am in control and not my sweet tooth.

I weighed myself on Sunday, and I've lost 2 pounds. I was pretty excited about it, although I'm not sure if it's a normal weight fluctuation or what, but it felt nice. Even if I don't lose any weight from limiting my sugar intake, I feel like I am in a better position to make more lifestyle changes soon, especially those that can help me get the baby weight off. I'll weigh myself again this week and let you all know how I did.

Someone asked about a recipe that I mentioned last week. So here it is...

Energy Bites

3/4 cup oats

1 scoop protein power (I used some I bought at Good Earth that includes a natural sugar alternative: not cheap but delicious)

1/2 cup natural peanut butter

1/4-1/3 cup honey (the recipe calls for 1/3 cup, but I made them with 1/4 and I like them better)

Mix everything together and roll them up into 1 inch balls. Then refrigerate.

What day am I on?

Sometimes I feel like the days just blur together. I'm not teaching right now and am home with my kids. It's great. But of course being at home presents it's own challenges, nothing that I haven't talked about already though. Since I'm home I can be less busy than I would be in my office, and that makes it easy for me to want to eat if I get bored or tired in the afternoon.

A friend had sent me a recipe for a little sugar free treat she makes when her sweet tooth is acting up, and I decided to make them yesterday. They were quite delicious (although I probably had 1 too many). Thanks Nicole!

Day 9 & 10

Day 9 & 10 are interconnected, so I'm writing about them together. On day 9, not realizing I was going sugar free for a month, some friends of mine brought me a plate of cookies. I thought it was sweet of them and didn't say anything. My husband and daughter were quite excited, so I left them out on the counter, hoping that they would get quickly eaten. By Tuesday afternoon half of them were still there (of course I hadn't taken into account that I am the one who usually quickly eats any treats in the house). Leaving them out was a mistake. I walked by them dozens of times and was not even remotely tempted. Then on Tuesday afternoon, all of the sudden I really wanted one. I'm not sure why. I wasn't feeling stressed, I wasn't being overpowered by sugar cravings. "I don't have to tell anyone," I rationalized. "Not my husband, and I certainly don't have to blog about it." It's amazing how quickly I crumbled and ate 1 cookie.

I had no intention of telling anyone until my husband got home and I was telling him about my day. I explained to him that I think the problem is that every time I walked in the kitchen and saw them, my resistance would fall just a little bit until it was easy to rationalize having one. Being the wonderful man that he is, he wrapped them up and put them in the cupboard. So at least I don't have to look at them now. And since I felt kind of sick afterwards, I'm not really tempted to have another.

My sister once told me that she saw a woman on Oprah who had lost 200 pounds, and the woman said that the difference between a 150 pound woman and a 300 pound woman is that the 150 pound woman may binge for a day and then it's over the next day and she moves on, but the 300 pound woman lets it affect her, and a day turns into a week, and then a month, and then a year. So here goes. I had a cookie yesterday, and I'm moving on. Here's to another 19 sugar free days!

Day 7 & 8

Day 7

Joel and I went shopping today, and I blame what happened on my shoes. I’m always on the lookout for comfortable, stylish black shoes that I can wear to work since I’m teaching for at least 6 hours a week. After walking around the mall, we went into a store looking for dress shoes for Joel. While waiting for him to try some on, I began scanning the ladies section for black shoes for me. In a moment of weakness, I began and trying on shoes regardless of how they looked, and I tried on a frumpy pair. Of course they turned out to be about the most comfortable pair I’ve ever worn in my life. I was then faced with a dilemma. So I dare cross over to the dark side and put comfort before fashion like so many aging women before me had done?

So I now have a new pair of shoes. Maybe it was that moment of weakness that led to my next moment of weakness. On the way to the car, we passed by the all-natural frozen yogurt store. And I suggested that we go in and see if they had anything sugar free. They had a few no sugar added and I checked that it was sweetened with fructose. And yes, I had some. Now though I feel a little like I cheated on my sugar free August experiment. I guess I shouldn’t really beat myself up. I only had a few bites, but I don’t really think it was worth it. The yogurt wasn’t that great. It was fun though to be out shopping with my husband and stop for a treat like we often do when we are out together.

Day 8

Today is the first day when I consciously thought, “I don’t want to do this anymore.” I suppose when I started this one of my main goals was to see if I would lose any weight. I weighed myself today, and I haven’t. I was a little disappointed, as if in the back of my mind I had secretly expected that the pounds would just fly off. Over the past week I’ve realized that even if I don’t lose any weight, I am glad I’m doing this because I think I will feel better if I limit my sugar consumption. I don’t think my lack of weight loss is what made me want to be done with all of this, though. Part of me is just tired of thinking about it and looking at sugar content in things. I think I just want to go back to my old ways because that was super easy and this is hard. But I’m pushing ahead and not giving up. I think this week, now that I’ve gotten rid of a lot of the sugar filled foods laying around the house, I’d like to focus on getting more healthy things to take it’s place. I’ve mentioned this before, but I think it’s time to do it.

Day 6: "Tastes so good you won’t know it’s sugar free”

Maybe I was just worn out by my into everything, I’m not going to take a nap this afternoon 1 year-old, or maybe it was the realization that my husband would not be home to take over with aforementioned 1year-old for at least an hour. But I impulsively bought some sugar free cookies when I was at the grocery store this afternoon. Besides, how could I go wrong with “Tastes so good you won’t know it’s sugar free” plastered all over the packaging? Believe me I knew. They didn’t taste awful, but there was a strange aftertaste. After eating one, I thought, maybe if I have a couple more, I will get used to the aftertaste. Well that strategy only made me feel like I was gonna vomit. Needless to say, there will be no more sugar free cookie purchases in my immediate future.

The whole incident got me thinking about sugar craving. Today for the first time, afternoon wasn’t difficult (until that ill-fated trip to the store). I did have sugar cravings, but they seemed more psychological than physical. I’ve never experienced that before (or at least I’ve never recognized it). It seems like any psychological cravings I’ve had were always accompanied by physical ones. This time, it felt like my mind and only my mind was telling me that I needed to eat sugar. So maybe things will get easier soon.

Day 4 & 5

So I didn't blog about day 4 yesterday, probably because I felt like I had nothing new to say. If I had blogged, it would go something like: morning easy, afternoon hard, evening ok. But I think I've said that almost everyday I've blogged. One might even be tempted to say that a pattern is emerging. I think this weekend I'll come up with some ideas for snacks and plan ahead so I don't have to feel so tempted every afternoon.

Speaking of temptation, I almost gave in yesterday (day 5). It was afternoon, and I was feeling stressed. All I wanted to do was jump in the car and go get an ice cream cone, which is strange because ice cream is not something I'm usually tempted by. Maybe it's a summer thing: a hot summer day, a cool ice cream cone, wonderful childhood memories of summer. Luckily I remembered I had some sugar free ice cream in the freezer. It tasted a lot better than it did the last time I tried it (or maybe it was just my perception at the time), and I was happy that the craving was satisfied in only 2 bites.

Joel and I last May

I should also give credit to my wonderful husband Joel for all his support. Last night I wanted a fruit smoothie, and he made it his mission to drive me all over town to try and find one. There are a few places around here where you can get ones not sweetened with sugar. But since we live in Utah County and it was 10:02, every place was closed. Plus I probably would have caved yesterday if it weren't for something Joel said when I told him my idea to blog about this. He just mentioned that this would be a good way to do it because it provided accountability. And I think I would have had that ice cream cone if it hadn't proclaimed to my entire Facebook/blog community that I was doing this for the month of August. Anyway he's just wonderful and I love being married to him. Thanks sweetie!