No Sugar New Year Challenge (Page 2)

In rereading the rules..what about flour? oatmeal? rice? bread? stuff like that....are those considered processed foods? Neanderthal man wouldn't have eatten most of that stuff.

At first I thought all that stuff is out but now I'm not sure. I do better not to eat any of that stuff outside the workout window.

I'm contemplating this, but am completely on the fence. I've done it before for Lent...the only thing I allowed myself was diet soda (due to a fierce caffeine issue).  But, if I start myself on weaning off now, hmm.  I know that I get sweet cravings when I haven't had a soda in awhile...like go off the deep end want to eat an entire 1 lb bag of gummy bears type cravings.

So, I'm going to think about it, and I'll let you know.

Oh, and if rice and oatmeal are out, then it's a no go for me.  Those are staples in my diet that I'm not willing to give up.

I'm scared, but I'm in....when I went off sugar last year I felt better than I ever have - my complexion was great and I lost a ton of weight! I really white knuckled it for the first 2 weeks, but then I was in the "zone"...that is what I want to do again.

I was at 160 in the early summer and since then I have gone off the deep end....now ( gulp) I am 176.  There, I wrote it out loud!  I am officially in this challenge!

Neanderthal Rule is just for snacks!  It's just to define what is Junk Food and what is not.  ALL REGULAR FOOD IS FAIR GAME!!  You can go to a restaurant and pretty much order any regular entree.  I mean, if at Christmas someone brings yams with marshmallows on top, just don't eat the marshmallows.  All regular food is fine. 

And you can eat any processed food, so long as a Sugar ingredient is not in the Top Three Ingredients Listed.  Rice, Flour, Plain Oatmeal  is all fine.  You can eat all that stuff.  If it's a cereal oatmeal - like Maple Brown Sugar Oatmeal - read the ingredients ... if you can find one where a sugar product (evaporated can juice, maple sugar, maltose) is the Fourth Ingredient or further down the list, then you can eat it. 

We are eliminating 90% of the artificial and added sugars by eating only foods where sugar is not in the top three ingredients.  We are eating natural sugar - which your body breaks down with little problem and utilizes properly (does not immediatley turn it to fat), because our bodies have been breaking down regular sugars for thousands of years  

It's a combination of several different Diet Plans  

Again - Cannot Eat: Soda - Junk Food (ice cream, donuts, pretzels, chips, etc...)  - No Chocolate - no artificial or added sugars.

Can Eat: fruits, veggies, meats, honey, breads, pasta, rice, any food where sugar is not listed in the top three ingredients, alcohol (except for sugary liqueurs)

Exception List: an hour before, during, and an hour after training you can have gels, any sports drinks, and you can get your chocolate fix with powerbars or chocolate protein shakes.  So this diet plan in no way affects your training nutrition plan.  

Rice, pasta, oatmeal (as long as a form of Sugar is not a top three listed ingredient) all are fine!!  For oatmeal you can have regular oats and put honey on top if you'd like.  Again - you can eat any regular food as long as sugar is not a top three listed ingredient.  ANYTHING!!!

As for your fierce caffeine issue, you can have coffee.  But if you add creamer just read the ingredients and make sure a Sugar is not in the top three...    

Think about it... you have six days to mull it over... 

And for the record, my friends and family all think I'm crazy for starting a diet right before the Holidays.  But I beg to differ:  Now is the best time to start the Diet!!  And keep in mind, you get one free Mulligan ... and if God Forbid you fall off the wagon, even twice, it's just 2 "X's" next to your name.  I'm sure none of us will be perfect and will have plenty of slip-ups in the beginning.  A slip-up is just an X.  No biggie.  You get right back on the horse.

Cool thanks for the clarifications. 

It will be easier than I thought on one level but still hard but we are tough and we can do it.

Ah, if only I didn't hate coffee...and tea. lol.

Still mulling it over.  Will for a few days, I'm sure.

Great idea psycho!

This is basically what I did in 2007 (but this is a little more extreme) and it worked great.  This past year I thought I could cruise, and I'm still paying for that.  So I need a kick in the .

So I'll join up.

I can do the spreadsheet for this.  A lot of challenges do it in google so everyone can see it at anytime (and update it themselves).  Any objection to that?

Since you're putting up the $100, I'd be happy to put up the shipping cost for it (I get a very steep discount with FedEx).

Okay, okay.

I'm in.

I have a TON of weight to lose and this will be good for me.

I am attempting to move out of my house and roadtrip to FL in the next two weeks...but, hey...at least no one is bringing tempting food over to my house on Christmas.  Heh.  I think I would trade Christmas for roadtrip....just sayin'.

So does it count as cheating if I have to stop at a McDonalds in the middle of nowhere on my way to FL?

I'm going to pack as much food as possible and stop at grocery stores and such....but there is only so much you can do when you're driving across country towing a trailer!

Salads at McDonalds work with grilled chicken. The yogurt parfait is low in calories and yummy too. 

I'm thinking of signing on, but it would be so hard!  I love sugary treats!  The longest I have made it without a highly sugared substance was 5 days.  I've been trying to cut out the sweets for about the last month and am basically following the same plan that was listed, but this week I caved on day 4 (which happened to be today).  Maybe I should sign on for the encouragement, but then again, I don't want to be the one who fails the worst.  (I know, I know.  I shouldn't be worried about coming in last, but I am!)

I'll get back to you on this one.  I should say yes, but. . . .

YOU RULE BOB!!!  And sure, Google sounds fine.  I will cover the shipping for the prize.  And thanks for the psycho compliment

Fast food is allowed.  Not suggested ... but allowed.  For McDonalds you can eat the burgers, fries, salads -- as for the parfait, from my research the ingredients are low fat yogurt, strawberries, sugar ...  

Thanks for joining. 

And just a reminder, everyone must post their weight before Sunday midnight.  You don't have to post it now, just before Sunday.  And there are NO WEIGHT CHECK IN's.  Meaning there is no weekly weigh in... but I would recommend mentioning your weight loss from time to time, especially when there is a big loss as this will help motivate other BT'ers

Ok...I'm a bit scared of this, but I'm going to sign up anyway.  I really need to eat less sugar than I have been and this is the push I'm going to need.

I'll weigh in tomorrow and post my weight.  Kathy, I'm up for taking pictures, too. 

Okay, I suppose I'll sign up for the challenge.  That means I need to get a lot of sugar fix in the next couple of days.  :-)  Thankfully, I drink mostly water, so the no sodas won't bother me.  I just have to cut out the sweets.

My weight as of this morning is 166 pounds.  My free day will be Christmas day.  Also, my 30th birthday is on January 18th, so on that day or another day very close (I don't know what day my parents are visiting) will also be a chocolate cake day.   

I have one question.  Do X's get marked one per day or one per serving, if we cheat?

Ok, I'm in!

Worst case: I overindulge in sweets and end up with a huge number of Xs by my name.
Best case: I lose a lot of weight and get $100 gift certificate to by Triathlon stuff.

I think I can live with either scenario.

My husband thought this idea was crazy until he heard about the prize.  Hmm, greed vs. gluttony? ;-)

Forgot weight: 173(173.4, if we are going to be exact)

Great question.  I thought about doing a ding "X" per serving ... but I think we all may have a binge or two... so here's -- The X RULE: One ding per slip-up event. 

What that means is: if you screw-up and eat a piece of cake and wash it down with soda at lunchtime on Tuesday - that's 1 ding.  If three hours later, you go home, and eat a bag of dorito's, that's 2 dings.   So if you binge for 20 minutes, that's only 1 ding.  The guilt from adding up the actual servings of a 20 minute binge may throw you off the diet completely ...and I think that would be counterproductive - especially since we all may suffer a relapse binge or two.  Hopefully not, but the reality is it may very well happen.

So again, one X ding per slip-up event. 

That is the perfect attitude, seriously .  Good for you!!  Thanks for joining