IT'S OVER!!!

I did it! I survived! 28 days with out sugar! I never would have thought. Things were bad! I was probably averaging 150g of sugar a day! 150g of sugar = 581 calories, or approximately 36 level teaspoons! The first week was miserable as far as how I felt, the second and thirds weeks were probably the hardest as far as temptations, and the 4th week sucked(but I did it), just because it was a major food holiday :) But over all, I did good! I cut my sugar intake to an average of about 40g a day (155cal, 9 1/2 tsp). The large majority of it coming from good foods. :) I think my biggest weakness was milk, fiber one yogurt, and dried apricots. In 1 month, just by cutting out the sugar, I was able to lose 10 lbs., 2 1/2 inches off my waist, 2 1/2 off my hips, 1 inch off my chest, and 1 inch off my thigh. I can't claim all of that was fat though. I did some body fat measurements, and only lost 3.5% body fat - which is still good, but only accounts for 7lbs of the weight loss. The other 3 lbs would be from lean muscle mass, which is typical with any 'diet.' Ideally, you want to see 100% body fat loss, 0% lean muscle loss. The best way to achieve this is through a clean, normal, realistic, healthy diet (no yoyo or fad diets), and exercise.

So, now that I have the sugar under control, what next? I think I'd like to tackle that exercise part. I bought a new treadmill for my gym, and am waiting for it's arrival. As soon as I get it, I think I'm going to experiment with some cardio - a 6 week interval program perhaps? (I'm open to ideas/suggestions) I will continue to blog about that, and post some of the work outs. So as soon as I get the treadmill, I will be back on here! And when it comes to eating sugar, I plan on using fruit as a subsitute for crap, and will only have crap on special occasions, and only if it is really good crap :) Hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday! Please don't hesitate to contact me with any questions you may have!! Take care for now!

Day 24, 25, 26 - Holiday Recap

NO MORE FOOD!!!!!!!! After eating clean, and low calorie for several weeks, 2 Thanksgivings was crazy! We started out Wednesday night at the hubby's family. I ate very light through out the day, and when it came time to dinner I had just a small serving size of everything except the turkey it's self. It was all so good, but it was nice having lots of variety and a smaller stomach becaue I wasn't tempted for seconds. Thankfuly my moter-in-law let me tap into her DC, while everyone else drank apple juice :) Then dessert rolled aroud. I was asked to bring dessert, in theory, that I could make what I want to controll the sugar :P I'm not sure if this was a good thing or a bad thing. Because I ended up making a pumpkin pudding pie, which is really good. And I did partake. I only had a 1/16 of a slice, which I figured only had 8g of sugar, which still kept me in my limits. It was good :)

Thanksgiving day we headed to my parents. My mom goes over board with appatizers galore, and tons of great food. I was asked to bring fruit salad. At least its natural sugar there :) Well needless to say, the food was great, and I consumed waaaay too many calories, but who doesn't? But I was still able to resist sugar for the most part. My aunt and uncle always bring these orange rolls with icing that are way good, but I just had a small roll, no icing. As far as dessert, my other aunt brought an angel food cake, which I had sliver of to try, but no more than that. And then my mom made a sugar free pudding pie for her and me :) So way too many calories, but still ok on the sugar. I ended up having left over pie that I had made, and I just stuck it in the kitchen sink so I wouldn't be tempted by it. No more food! And I am happy to report, after all has settled, I lost a pound! I think it's good to shock your system every once and awhile. That's how the body for life diet works with it's free day. Either way, 1 holiday down, 2 more to go! Hope everyone else's holidays were great!

Days - 21, 22, & 23 - Catching up!!!

SORRY! I suck! I've hardly even been on the computer the last couple of days. It's just been crazy getting ready for the holidays, and I've had a few extra training sessions. I still have several shows on the DVR to watch, but I chose to blog instead :) The last couple of days have been ok. I am starting to get sick, and that is never fun. Yesterday, I remember thinking, 'I just want comfort food,' and that's normally when I'd go make my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe. But I didn't. Last night we decided that we would try starting a family home evening tradition of setting christmas up the Monday before Thanksgiving. My Steven's Mint Hot Coco sat in my pantry teasing me. To make it even worse, Niel stopped by the store on his way home from work, and bought a bag of powdered, and chocolate donettes. I told him that was just cruel. He looked at me like 'what ever - your gonna end up eating them any way' BUT I WON'T!!! :)

Still doing good on the sugar though. Been right around 25-35g. I did do measurements this morning, and my body has finally adjusted and is slowing down. I am down on weight to 197.4, but my inches are pretty much the same, within a 1/2 inch. Now I need to start working on the cardio to maintain my weight loss, but I think I'll get over this cold first.

I am in a pickle though for the next 2 days. We have 2 Thanksgivings - 1 at Niel's, and 1 at my familys. The are both amazing! So I'm definitely going to have to watch the serving sizes, and stay away from sugar tempations - ie, dessert! I think I will plan on having 0g sugar through the mornings, and then allow my self just a sliver of dessert, depending on what it is, and if I am in the mood. We'll see. After all, Thanksgiving is only once (or twice in my case) a year, and now that I am in control, and have a plan, I know I will be ok.

I'll try and get on tomorrow night, but chances may be slim, so I hope everyone has a safe and Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

WEEK 4 - Trick Your Taste Buds

I'm such a slacker - sorry I am just now getting this up, it's been a crazy few days!!!

Week 4 - From Dr. Oz - Final Week

Using fresh spices and herbs can trick taste buds into thinking you’re eating something sinfully sweet. Try adding cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, vanilla or allspice to your coffee, cereals and baked goods.

I love cinnamon! I use it in a lot of my baking! In the AM I love to put it in my oatmeal with pumpkin spice. If a recipe asks for a tsp, I normally double it! The same goes for salt - try using sea salt, or garlic salt instead. A lot less sodium, and a lot more taste!

Day 20 - Eating Out

Only 18g today! But it was a hard one... Just had an egg sandwich for breakfast, and was bored through out the day, so I suggested to the Hubbby that we go to the local hamburger joint for lunch. The problem is, this time of year, they make pumpkin milk shakes, and they are GOOD - especially when you mix it with cheesecake! One of my favorites! I really wanted one, but I knew I couldn't :( Oh well, I think I like looking at the scale better, or so I tell myself :) (I was at 197.4 today!!!) So I ended up just getting a grilled chicken sandwich, and shared fries with Quin and Niel. For dinner, I made a tortilla pizza with my whole grain tortillas. Just plop down pepperoni slices, mozarella cheese, and nuke it for a minute. Pretty good! And much healthier than regular pizza! Only 300 calories for the whole thing! There is only one week left of the detox, and then I'm open to trying anything else out. If any one has anything they are curious about, let me know - but no supplements as of now, since I am still nursing. Hope everyone enjoys the rest of their weekend!

Day 18 & 19 - New Moon :)

Sorry I didn't post last night... I was at 'New Moon'. :) Nothing too exciting the last 2 days - I've done ok as far as the sugar, but can still be better. One day 47g, the other 52g. I have done really well as far as calories go. I'm even staying below 200lbs! The one thing I have been noticing is after meals, I'm still having slight cravings for something sweet. So instead of crap from the past, I've been grabbing a yogurt. I've even tried the sugar free nips candies, and those seem to help. The real challenge will be next week, with a huge food holiday! I'll try and find some nutrition stats for the holidays that will scare ya out of over indulging. ;) Have a good weekend!

Day 17 - Destruction and Evil Chocolate!

So the morning was pretty good - I found that Fiber One Originial Cereal has 0g sugar! So just milk, and I was feelin good. For lucnh, I had an awesome egg burrito on my new tortillas. Was going strong, and kept busy by installing new blinds through out our basement - only took me 3 hours!!!! By the time I was done, I was pretty tired, and hungry, but had to go to YW. My hubby got home as I was getting ready to head out. He was unhappy with me, and let me know, and the next thing I found myself thinking was 'If your gonna treat me like that, then I'm just gonna eat what ever I want'! HOW DESTRUCTIVE IS THAT!!! Has anyone else found them selves doing that before? Why is it (especially woman) that when ever we are stressed, up set, angry, etc. we turn to food??? If anyone has an answer, please do share!!!Thankfully, I realized this real quick and hauled tail out of there - but with out dinner! It was our YW in excellence tonight, and they had a chocolate fountain set up with marshmallows, rice crispy treats, bananas, orange slices (the candy and real) cinnamon bears, and pretzels! YUM! It was hard to sit there and look at it all, especially being hungry!!! So I just went into the kitchen and grabbed a whole banana, which has lots of sugar, but good sugar, and I had to eat something! And while everyone was enjoying the fountain, I munched on pretzels. Then curiosity hit - ' am I really missing out?' So I took 1 pretzels, and dipped just a little bit on it to try it. While it was good, I came to the conclusion, that I am ok with out it. Where before, I woud have been all over the cinnamon bears and orange slices! They sure taunted me, but I know I am better with out! :) I think I'm going to grab a bag of edamame - now that is fun to eat! :) Night!

Day 16 - tired... and losing stomach fat?

After a couple of bad days, I nipped it in the butt, and only had 26g today. I did a lot of walking, shopping, tested some treadmills, and had in-service. All that, combined with low sugar, I am tired!!! But on a positive note, I found these awesome whole wheat, low fiber, low carb, low sugar, tortillas at costco today! They are actually really good! You can also find edamame at costco, which makes an awesome high protein snack! Be sure to set yourself up to succeed, not to fail! Find healthy, nutritious snacks that you like, and keep them on hand, so that when you start hitting a weak spot, you have something to turn to! On a side note, I was talking to my mom, whos is also doing the sugar detox, and we both concluded that we have noticed most of the inches coming off of our stomaches? Interesting.... So for those of you that are looking to lose stomach fat, I am curious to see if this is something that would help? If any one else is doing this and has noticed the same thing, please do tell! Have a good one!

WEEK 3: Use Alternative Sweetners, Day 14, Day 15, and measurments!

Sorry for the late update! I've got my computer being fixed, and haven't been able to get on until now! Day 14 was ok - pot roast turned out very well :) I had a weak day though as far as sugar in foods. I really felt like I needed milk and ended up having 2 cups total through out the day, which equaled 25g. Other wise, I was still ok, with a grand total of 53g.

Week 3: Use Alternative Sweeteners
Instead of sugar, try using the following alternative sweeteners:
Stevia - Non-caloric herb from Paraguay. Very sweet with slight licorice taste. Found at health food, specialty and grocery stores with the dietary supplements – not with sweeteners.
Agave Nectar- Made from blue agave cactus grown in Mexico. High in calories, but you only need a very small amount. Found at vitamin stores.

Measurements:

Weight - 199.9!!! I broke 200!!!
waist - 41.5
hips - 45.5'
chest 40.5'
thigh - 26'5'

So still losing!

DAY 15 - Not so great... CHECK YOUR LABELS!!!

Your body takes approx. 72 hrs to digest a 3oz serving of red meat... I know I had more than that!!! So I thought today I would chase it out with some extra fiber. I went for a high fiber cereal, with milk, and sprinkled some dried cranberries on it for flavor. Well I'd thrown the box out, and didn't have access to calorieking... that breakfast ended up costing me 40g sugar!!! I know it was't treats, but still - that adds up quick!!! And to top it off, I ended up making shredded BBQ beef sandwiches with the left over pot roast - amazing! One of my favorites, but BBQ sauce has a lot of sugar in it :( So I'm coming clean... 74g sugar today!!! Yikes! I suck! 2 bad days in a row. And I've had a headache too. That probably explains it. But the one silver lining is it wasn't from crap like days of past, but still, for a detox I need to get this nipped in the but real quick. Tomorrow will be much better, I promise! Have a good one!