No Sugar New Year Challenge (Page 28)

I am visiting my son and his family this weekend and we usually go out for breakfast.  They are not coffee drinkers and don't make coffee unless I ask and it is just easier to go out.  This morning my son made wonderful breakfast burritos.  (My son is a terrific gourmet cook and even his breakfast burritos are gourmet!)  They didn't make coffee and I foolishly didn't think to ask until breakfast was already on the table. 

Predictably I ended up with a horrible headache about an hour later.  I couldn't alleviate it, of course, with Diet Coke, and so I had to go out and get a cup of coffee.  I usually have not a huge amount of coffee first thing in the morning and then not the rest of the day, so to have a cup of coffee at lunchtime is quite odd for me. 

But in addition to the caffeine withdrawal headache, I also had cravings for ...  How should I put this?  I had cravings for anything and everything.  There was a sort of desperation about it.  A ham and cheese sandwich and a small cup of coffee have seemed to do the trick, but it is sort of horrifying how any little thing that isn't "right," just sets off cravings for sweet things, for massive amounts of anything, or whatever.  Because of the challenge I haven't given in, but wow, what an eye-opener.  It seems clear that I cannot be let out alone.  What will I do when the challenge ends? 

I used what someone suggested to make yogurt smoothie. 0% fat Fage yogurt, add in 1/2 frozen banana, handful of frozen raspberries, with a little lime juice...yum yum. Only 142 calories.

It doesn't blend well in my blender but does great in the food processor.

Thanks for sharing the idea....

I'm down 8.8 pounds...counting calories is making a difference.

I hope everyone had a great weekend!  I went for my fitness testing this morning and the results over the past 8 weeks look.  I'm still not in the teens on BF, but I'm close 21.7%.  I obsess over the scale and have really been trying to get better about that, so I'd like to share my results with you from the past year.  The leg cross sectional refers to amount of muscle to fat, so now my legs are thinner and have less fat.

                               Jan. 2008          Jan. 2009

BF                             31%                    21.7%

Fat Mass(lbs)          43.48                    29.90

Muscle Mass (lbs)    96.77                 107.90

Leg skinfold (mm)    37.5                     30.5

Leg cross-sect.       109.74                117.35

Leg circ. (cm)            57.5                      56  

Great work Abbie!

How did your weight change over last year?

Only about 5 pounds!

I hadn't been tracking calories tightly the last couple of days as I was feeling pretty miserable, and bounced back up 2 lbs. Still down 12 from start of challenge, and could be a scale hick up, but I concur with Kathy. If you are not tracking your calories, at least for me, I think I slowly do things like eat larger portions, or grab a snack I normally would not go for. Still no sugar lapses, but I was ticked to be back up I was looking forward to being down 25 lbs since December, now I am hovering at 22 lbs.

Back at it now.

ding...augghhh...movie popcorn...stupid

can someone pls log it for me? thx

Wow!  Wow!  Let me repeat this one more time.  Wow! 

Where did you go for this fitness testing?

Gosh, I really do want to be AbbieR.   I only thought that before.  Now I know it.

Leah, you are too funny!  Thank you for cheering me on!!  Lets chat about changing places when I'm in a high volume week of IM training, I'm sure I can easily be motivated to have you be me

I do my testing at a place called Endurance Training Center here in SF.  I also do my computrainer classes there and use them for my coaching.  Lots of great people with a ton of experience.

 How much yogurt? That is what I wasn't sure what to do.

I took a massive backslide Sunday. I had quite a bit of celebrating the Steelers victory and drank way too much.  Good news is that I'm down 5 pounds consistently....but that was pre-celebrating!

About 2/3 C of Fage yogurt.

Great news on the 5 pounds!!!

I've been playing around with the yogurt with different kinds of fruit in the blender. New favorite frozen mango with a little lime juice (thanks for the idea Kathy). Way yummy, I'm considering adding unsweetened coconut to make a tropical treat without sugar. Lots of protein and good carbs yummy.

That does sound yummy!!!

So 29 days into the challenge I'm down 10 pounds (5.7% lost) exactly!!!

I'm actually pretty surprised as weight loss last few years has been slow going. Thanks to this challenge, I got back to good eating habits, gave up splenda (sniff sniff), diet Pepsi (huge sniff sniff), and started drinking lots of water, tracking my calories again and have a renewed sense of hope that yes I can continue to lose weight and that eating healthy is acceptable. Temptations are minimal now and it doesn't seem to suck so much any more..just good healthy eating.

I look back at where I was at IMLP probably about 19.1% body fat at 157 ..and I was looking at some pictures from that week and I want to look like that and better. Amazing how 5-8-10 pounds makes such a difference in how I look, feel and what size I can wear. Today I could wear my jeans that have been to tight since mid November.

Great job Kathy!!!!!! 

Well done Kathy!

While I'm not down a whole lot weight wise my nutrition has improved and I'm feeling better. I am currently being treated for a heart condition that has been greatly improved by cutting out the sugar this last month. My husband is very happy to hear that I don't have events nearly as frequently as I was before starting. When we hit March 1 I may very well stick with the low sugar plan. I haven't felt this good in a very long time. 

I am so disgusted with myself.  No, I did not get a Sugar Ding, but just as bad.  I drove between Southern and Northern California this weekend.  Historically, I while away the 5-6 hour drive by nonstop eating, generally chips and one (maybe more) large Oreo Cookie Shakes (which, by the way, are something like 31 Weight Watchers points each and I am allowed 21 points in a day). 

I am doing this challenge, so of course I could not have either of those things.  So what did I do instead.  Did I keep my mouth shut and distract myself with audiobooks?  No, I did not.  I ate almonds and carefully did not look at the calorie content until the damage was done.  I ate something like 2,000 calories worth of almonds on each leg of the trip.  And that was just the almonds.  I totally justified a calorie overload because there was no sugar involved (other than in the grapes and carrots that I also ate).  I am afraid to go to Weight Watchers tomorrow.  I ate responsibly today, but I still cannot believe that I did that to myself.  I am not giving up, but I tell you, I had to talk myself into not giving up. 

Was not this among the stupidest thihgs ever?  Dumb, dumb, dumb.   

Sugar is bad, but calories do count.   I mean, I ate only "healthful" things, but a jillion or so calories of healthful is not healthful. 

Wow, Kathy, Moves and some others with big losses!!  FANTASTIC!

Sorry I've been M.I.A.  My wife had back surgery last Wednesday and it's been hectic and very stressfull, to say the least.  I've been doing mommy and daddy duty 24/7 from last Wednesday till yesterday.  Taking care of a 2-yr-old and 5-yr-old day and night, while attending to the wife, has been very difficult - but very rewarding.  Needless to say I ate a lot of chocolate and drank a Venti Caramel Machiatto every day (with an extra shot of espresso).  But that's all over now.  I'm not logging all the dings cause quite frankly I don't have the time and it's pretty obvious that I am not going to win this contest.

But I am here to announce I am back on the band wagon and ready to go sugarless again from here on out.  I firmly believe the reason we fall down is that so we can learn to pick ourselves back up.  Let's Rock!!!

Couple people have asked me what I eat so this is a typical day:

Breakfast I eat: egg whites, canadian bacon, cheese

L: maybe spinach salad, with grilled chicken, diced apple and blue cheese or other favorite salad is spinach with grilled chicken or turkey, black beans-cuban are best, shredded cheese, and use salsa as salad dressing. Or I do copy of dinner if we have left overs.
Another favorite is skinless burrito... diced meat usually chicken breast, black beans, brown rice, tomatoes, cheese, with salsa or pico sauce in a bowl

D: usually meat (salmon, chicken or turkey mostly) with salad, maybe sweet potato sometimes. I also like Greek salad with red onion, cucumber, tomatoes and feta cheese, I have chili with ground turkey and different beans & tomatoes

Snacks: yummy one if fage fat free yougurt with frozen 1/2 banana and handful of raspberries with lime juice blended.

Banana with natural peanut butter

Fruit-normally I eat 4-6 servings a day

Cottage cheese w/sugar free natural applesauce

Basically that is what I eat 95% of the time..day in and out

What is your typical day of eating like? 

Great job Kathy! You are inspiring! esp with the fact that you still keep goodies in the house for your kids. Awesome on the jeans!

Kathy, fantastic job on the weight loss and sticking with this challenge!!

Thanks for posting what you eat.  I know I'll use some of those ideas. 

So i guess the pictures I send to my mom have finally lit a fire under her, today she tells me "I want to try what you are doing, write it down for me."  I said, "mom it pretty simple if it has any form of sugar in it, just dont eat it."  She says, "well write down what i'm supposed to eat!"

happy sugar-free day all!

Kathy- Awesome job on the weight loss! Being able to stick to your eating plan while having goodies in the house is true determination! You rock!!!

DC- Nice job getting back up again! What really makes the difference between those who succeed and those who don't is getting back up again. We all fall occasionally.

Leah- Good job avoiding your regular sugar binge on the drive. You're right calories still count, but you've made a step in the right direction by not having the sugar.

Abbie- I'm so glad you inspired your mom. That's fantastic!!!