No Sugar New Year Challenge (Page 30)

My lean body mass is 128 which is pretty high for someone my size which means about 22.4% body fat at current weight and I'm very muscular for women my age/size. I'm 47.

It isn't like weight is dropping off me either..and I'm working out 12-14 hours a week.

Hopefully it will work for both of us

I'd love to be able to eat more and lose weight.

I did see Nancy Clark, famous published nurtitionist who writes articles on BT sometimes, and she had calorie intake similar to yours to lose weight but I didn't lose weight.

No wonder my weight's not budging...my log practically says I'm laying on the couch with my feet up compared to how much you guys are working out! ( I know we're not supposed to compare ourselves among ourselves, but I AM human!) Seriously, 8-14 hours a week...that's a lot of exercise! How can one NOT lose weight?

No Sugar: My entire family is still chowing down on chocolate chip cookies...MY DAUGHTER IS MAKING THEM EVERY DAY! My husband, whose mantra used to be "Dessert is not an option," seems to be addicted to them! It's kinda funny to watch - he and I seem to have traded places...well, it will be funny until he starts to get chubby, which at this rate shouldn't be too long from now!

Yes. If you read the book by Friel  it explains it quite well.

I can get carbs from other sources that are not as processed. Before and after work outs in the workout window you want to eat different types of food with higher glycemic index that does go quickly to your blood stream. That would include white food and sugar. 

My new tri coach wrote a academic paper on nutrition for endurance athletes. One aspect in reading it that I need to improve on is post workout nutrition when doing very long or hard workouts that are glycogen depleting workouts...ie long run or long ride. I will experiment with it once my workouts get longer on my build for IM Canada as my body does not handle processed food well. I mean by that makes me feel lethargic, I retain water, and I feel bad. When I stop eating that stuff sugar and white food I feel like a fog has been lifted and I'm happier and feelt much better.

Today my family has had Cinnabon  coffee cake and my daughter is making chocolate chip cookies as we speak. Before this challenge I would be eating nibbles or picking at the dough. I had to put away the coffee cake with lots of big crumbs and I wasn't temped at all. For me the first few weeks are always harder until my No mind is firmly in place and I'm not tempted. I sure find it gets easier over time. I hope it does for you guys as well.

Slipping up and starting again just means going through the hardest part over and over..who wants that?

I hope we both lose weight, too!

Thanks for the link Kathy.  I've been trying to really steer my diet toward lean meats, seafood, veggies and fruits.  I believe 100% the theory that we should try and only eat foods that are non-processed ; foods that are bodies have evolved genitically into knowing how to breakdown. 

I officially started my Eagleman HIM training today!! So I really want to buckle down on my diet and become the best triathlete I can.

Oh, and I never thought I would say this -- but I actually love black coffee.  I love tasting the bean, the smell of different varieties of coffee -- this challenge has made me a coffee  connoisseur (not quite, but I can dream).

5 WEEKS LEFT PEOPLE!! FORWAAAAARD MARCH!!!

I need to get back on board. I've let too many things slip lately (yes, I'm not logging them, I'm well out of the running anyways!).

anyone else having a hard time with fresh fruit? thats been part of my downfall.  all the bananas seem green or overripe. yuk.

Yep.  I went to the store yesterday and everything was not ripe yet.  I bought some, but I have a tendency to let it go too far.   

I buy bananas ahead of time...always two bunches one green and one partially yellow. I plan my banana buying very carefully as I eat probably 2 a day and love them. My husband even gets with the program now.

How is everyone doing?

After a week of pretty low calories for my activity level I'm pretty hungry and have been eating a bit more calories still under 2000 but tad more.

Sorry Abbie to hear that! You will land on your feet I am sure. You are to dedicated and motivated not to be successful. 

Been kind of AFK for a bit. Well I had a great day at work, that turned into a great day at the gym, but I did ten miles on the track and will probably be crying like a baby tomorrow.

Good coffee is honestly how I got off soda. I started drinking high quality coffee's which evolved into signing up for Gevalia not cheap, but I would never think of putting anything in coffee now. Although, I am a total coffe snob now, and cannot drink cheap or old stuff. And grinding prior to instant use is blasphemus All, I have to do is get a French Press I think they call it and it is all over.

I may be country, but I like em me sum gud beans!

Well no hiccups. My weight loss has slowed. I am down now 16 lbs since start of contest. And the best part is I don't really think about the contest anymore. Thank you everyone! This has become a way of eating for me. I still can't give up bread completely, but I am making good choices. There is a big movement in the bread aisle to advertise no HFCS in product. You still have to watch out for regular sugar lol.

And it is funny how a craving can be converted. I now handle sweet cravings with fruit usually, and most of my sweet cravings have subsided dramatically. Getting reprogrammed I guess.

Has anyone noticed those HFCS TV ads lately?  Basically they're trying to say it's no worse then sugar "in moderation", then point you to a website to "learn the facts".  Of course it's sponsored by a group called the HFCS Growers Association, or something like that....

I haven't been on the website, but I think the misleading part of the ads is the moderation piece of this.  As consumers, we don't have a choice of how much of that goes into our food.  It's either there or not.  My choice is to be safe and avoid it altogether.

These ads totally crack me up. Sure ... in moderation ... how can it be in moderation if HFCS is added to everything. My husband and I make fun of these ads all the time.

You know ... Exposure to hazardous waste is ok in moderation.

I am not really handling "cravings" with fruit because I have found that my sweet cravings tend to be related to dehydration.  However, I am enjoying juicy fruit, like ripe pears, much more than I ever did before.  But my significant other likes to point out that my fruit is pure fructose, so what's the difference.  I mean, he really does know that there is a health difference between a pear and a Ding Dong, but for a No Sugar Challenge, he can't see that there is any difference. 

LeahDD -  perhaps I should've named it the "No Processed Sugar Challenge" ... only that doesn't roll off the tongue as well

Like everyone keeps mentioning, I've become a fruit-aholic!  Today I had a granny smith apple (love them, so bittersweet), a banana, and a pear!!  Natural fruit rocks!! 

Did anyone hear about the paper showing mercury contamination in HFCS?  It was found in brands including: Quaker, Hunt's, Manwich, Hershey's, Smucker's, Kraft, Nutri-Grain, and Yoplait.  Here are links to the stories:

http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2009/1/26/132619/467

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/26/AR2009012601831.html

I also have a copy of the actual paper from Environmental Health.  The PDF is too large to post here, but I would be happy to email it to anyone who would like it.

Yes, it has been quiet.  I think we are all just holding as steady as possible until February 28 when I will be announced as the winner.  And then figuring out what to have, if anything, sugar-related on March 1. 

Doing fine here...still resisting chocolate chip cookies ("not an option!" and, this morning, pancakes with warm maple syrup...I am out of bananas, so my shake was just yogurt and orange juice.

I survived! And thought you'd all get a kick out of this: My husband (not into BT) had a "triathlon dream." He said we were manning a table as volunteers at an Ironman, and our table was giving out little dessert plates to the athletes between the bike and run, mainly cheesecake! He said the table across from ours was making protein shakes and such, but they didn't have any takers; seems everybody wanted CHEESECAKE!!! It was funny enough to me that he had a triathlon dream (from hearing me talk about all this so much, no doubt) but a TRIATHLON/CHEESECAKE dream...I just thought it was hilarious!

I've actually cooked dinner for myself three days in a row! (don't laugh, this is a first for me!).

I'm still getting the urge for chocolate, but now I keep telling myself, its not worth it, its not worth it.  now I just have to stop the cravings for bread and crackers, my other downfall.

I was officially down 7 pounds this morning, but again, I can swing 5 pounds in a day. It sure was nice to see I'm getting close to the 130s again! I haven't been that low since IM training...