My new goals

I have new goals from now, until the end of August. My husband and I are going to do no deserts/sweets during the week. We're going to have a free day on Sunday, where anything goes. (this is based off the body for life diet). I'm going to also bring in more whole wheat, vegetables, and fruits into the diet. I really need to eliminate the processed, pre packaged food. I'm taking the encouragement from Kellie who said planning ahead makes it all easier, and from Adrienne who has been so diligent and successful. And from everyone else who just motivated me.

I hate not being healthy. After my 18 day detox, I went back to over eating on sweets. I totally went overboard and felt lousy. Here was my cycle.... wake up, feel great, told myself that I was going to be healthy all day, ate a good breakfast. Had just a small snack, maybe didn't eat great for lunch, snacked in the afternoon just because, wasn't hungry at all after I made dinner because I snacked the whole time I was in the kitchen. Ate dinner anyway. Ate any treats I could after dinner, and ate late even before bed. Went to bed feeling yucky. Woke up not feeling energized, told myself I had to eat healthy all day. Felt motivated to be good! The cycle came back, by evening, I decided I didn't care, and would start eating better the next day. Ate way to many sweets before bed, felt lousy, woke up feeling lousy, no motivation to exercise, and on and on.... what a horrible cycle! Now that I admitted it, maybe I'll be able to change it.

I'm going to try over all to just be healthier. I read an article from the Ensign that motivated me to have balance. It's a good talk, you should read it.

One of my plans also includes writing down exactly what I ate for the day (remember your nutrition assignments when you were in school?) I read an article a while ago that says one of the best ways to eat healthy is to be aware of what you're eating. Writing it down, will help you to not over eat. I'm going to post my eating for the next seven days. Do you want to try it with me?

Anyone who wants to join the blog, post your goals, tell us where you're at, give motivation when you can, take motivation from others when you need it. It's a great idea!

What to do....

When you are on vacation and don't want to completely eliminate sugar and yummy food, how do you find balance?? Anyone have ideas?

Long time no appear

Hi everyone! It makes me so happy and motivated to read our blog and see us all striving for healthier living. I've gotten some much needed motivation from all of you. I'm sorry I kind of dropped off the blog for a while. As an update... after my trip to Denver (which I didn't eat anything bad except for a big huge root beer (not diet) on the drive home. After coming home we had a family reunion, and I was ready to be done. So I only made it to day 18... But it was so good while it lasted. I think I'm going to do it again. Maybe what I'll do is go for the month of August with only Sunday's off.... I have also read that when you write down what you eat, you're more likely to eat well. So what about posting everything we eat for one week? Does anyone want to do it? When should we start? Anyone with me?

The Last Day

Today is my last day on the sugar detox. I'd like to come up with some long term goals - something like having dessert once a week (Sundays are treat days at our house) and then give myself the option of one other treat during the week (like if you are at a party or something). While I'm on vacation, I need to come up with a bit more flexibility but I think I can keep things under control. What is everyone else planning to do at the end of sugar detox. Amy, are you still on board??

I think one thing very surprising was how often I was putting stuff into my mouth without even thinking about it. Treats I don't even like and that aren't worth the extra sugar. I hope that I will be able to maintain control on this and not eat junky food that isn't even satisfying. I know that at least, my sugar craving has gone down. I had a glass of very sweet juice yesterday and I didn't even like it. This has been such a good way to jump start my plans of living healthy. Thanks for the support everyone. I'd love support as I continue on the journey. :)

An interesting read

My husband had me read this article a couple of months ago and I've been thinking about it ever since. When I first read it it made me mad because I had been telling myself for years that if I just started to exercise I could eat however I want and this really challenged that notion. I think this article has really helped me come to grips with my eating habits so that I was ready to take Amy's sugar detox challenge and finally do something about the way that I eat. It has also changed the way I look at exercise. Now I see it as a way to give me more energy, feel good about myself, be more healthy, etc., not necessarily as a way to loose a bunch of weight.

Sugar Free Road Trip

Over the last few weeks I have realized the living healthy is all about planning. Planning meals ahead of time, planning a time to exercise, planning what you will eat when all you really want to eat is that chocolate bar in the house... you get the point. Well, road trips are the same. And I am living proof that any mom can spend two days in a car with a 3 year old and a 3 month old and still stick with her food and exercise commitments with a little planning ahead.

I think the highlight of the last three days was when we were in Canyon, Texas with two hours to kill while my husband made a professional visit to West Texas A & M. Instead of wasting my time aimlessly at McDonalds Playland or Target where I would surely normally buy myself a treat, my kids and I spent two hours at the park. I got some good walking in and Katelin, my three year old spent most of her time picking dandelions and morning glory. There were some exercise stops along the walking trail and every time we went past one Katelin would say, "I need to do some exercise," and then go and play on them." My biggest hope is that exercise and eating right will come much more naturally to her than me. We finished the park visit with a picnic of cherries and sandwiches. All I can say is hooray for healthy living!!!

Halfway There!

I crossed the halfway mark on Friday. This has been such a good and hard thing for me. (I guess a lot of good things are hard!) Jeff and I decided to actually go 28 days a few days in, otherwise we would have less than a week left. Sometimes I feel great about how I am doing and other times I wonder why I am doing this and just want to go back to eating sugar all the time. It's funny to me how my feelings about this sugar detox are like a roller coaster throughout the day. One minute I feel great and part of me never wants to eat sugar again and then an hour later I want to eat a dozen of Jeff's chocolate chip cookies right that second. I've been thinking a lot about my eating and how sugar affects me. I've also been looking into healthier eating in general. Jeff and I have checked out some books on healthy eating and I am trying to find some good recipes for healthy meals and snacks. Back in May, Jeff and I did a sugar fast (same thing as now, only 2 weeks) and we took some "before" pictures and measurements. In between that sugar fast and our sugar detox I wasn't eating as much sugar as usual, which I think has made the sugar detox easier than I was anticipating. I have lost 13 lbs. since May and have lost a couple of inches on my waist and hips. I had to buy myself a new pair of shorts because my pants were falling off of me. Now I'm working on adding exercise into the mix to hopefully help tone my body and give me the energy I need to keep up with my little ones. Like this whole experience in general, I have mixed feelings about getting to the end of the sugar detox. I'm nervous about how well I will be able to control my sugar intake. I just keep reminding myself that I will probably have times when I don't do so great, but I will just need to keep trying and maybe go back on a sugar detox if that's what it takes. I'm really hopeful that I am going to make this a lifestyle change and not go back to my sugar eating ways.

Why?

Today was a hard day. The days when I need to go grocery shopping have been the hardest for me because when there is nothing to eat, my mind drifts to craving sweets. This afternoon, my husband and I were asking ourselves, "Why are we doing this? Is it really making any difference? Aren't we just torturing ourselves?" And then proceeded to talk about all the yummy things we wished we could eat. (Not a good idea.) I seriously think that if I didn't have my sister and everyone on this blog watching my progress, I would have totally bombed today. Luckily, I got my shopping done and we had smoothies to satisfy our cravings. (Gotta love the smoothies!) With a full pantry, I am hoping the next few days won't be so difficult. I kinda thought that it would get easier with time, and I guess I am a little frustrated that I don't have it quite as under control as I thought. But I have made it this far with your help and I plan to finish my goal. Thanks, everyone, for your support.

Hi All

Amy invited me to be on this blog a while ago. I am sorry it has taken me so long to post! We went to California and I didn’t do so well down there, but I’m back and on the plan!
One thing that helps me with not wanting sweets, is to tell myself that this is a time for me and my health. I have my whole life to eat the sweets that are out there, and I don’t need to eat them all now or all the time! It is funny how we can trick our minds!
One treat I love is a gala apple cut up and dipped in plain yogurt with some stevia (I hope natural sweetener is okay). I notice fruit tastes so good when you aren’t used to sweet things!

Premeditated.. or not

I am leaving for a little road trip tomorrow and have been stressing over the fact that it's going to be really hard to not eat any candy or treats! I almost made up my mind that I would secretly take the day off, maybe not tell you, or just pretend it didn't happen and make my 21 days go longer.... But after your very encouraging posts, and after seeing how you cope, I'm back on keeping going. I know you all thought that since I since I started the blog, that I had all this motivation. Well, now you know! I just thought I'd let you know so that I have someone to be accountable to when I get back. If anyone has any words of encouragment, I'll be back on Sunday, and now you all know. If I can just get past the 8 hour drive, I'll be great. (and if I can do it for 8 hours than Kellie, you can do it too for 15 hours!?!)

I made a smoothie tonight, and it totally took care of my sweet tooth. :)

Exercise Ideas?

Does anyone have any good exercise videos that they would recommend or some other cheap ways that they get in their exercise? I can't afford a gym membership right now and I have been having problems with my knee, which is making running not much of an option. I have been bike riding a few mornings the last week (Thanks for the idea, Kellie!) and that has worked really well, but Jeff is gone right now so that hasn't been an option the last couple of days.

Back From Vacation

We were in San Diego for the last couple of days, and it seemed like being away from home it was easier to resist the sugar. For one reason, we didn't take any sweets with us. But there were a couple times that I felt a little guilty. My husband, who is being sugar free with me, made me a waffle on Wednesday morning at the hotel breakfast, and seeing as though the other options were cream cheese on bagels or pastries with sugary icing, I ate the waffle with syrup thinking it couldn't be the worst of what was available. (And it was delicious! But I did feel a little guilt from enjoying the sugary syrup.) Then later, at Sea World, we were having a snack break and I had some dried sweetened cranberries. I am really trying to be more conscious of how much sugar is in the things I buy, so when I looked at the label of the cranberry package at the store and saw the ingredients were cranberries and sugar, I had decided not to eat any. But I did have some at Sea World and figured they were a fruit and probably still okay. Well, now back to reality. I have a feeling it is still going to be a struggle again, now that we are back to the regular routine, but we just keep moving on, right? By the way, I just have to say that I am really proud of my husband. He used to eat a bowl of ice cream just about every night, but since going sugar free, he hasn't had any sugar at all. He even turned down an invitation to go out for cheesecake at the Cheesecake Factory tonight! He is a great motivator. Thanks, sweetie!

When you are struggling...

Try exercising. I almost didn't do it today, but after a long day, I decided I had to. After 30 minutes of yoga I felt so much better and didn't need to reach for something to munch on. It is so amazing how exercise and eating right go hand in hand. Maybe whenever I feel like eating a treat, I should just go do 10 minutes of exercise. I would probably burn a lot of calories that way..

super long comment! ;)

I was writing a comment to Amy's last post and it was getting so long I thought I would just make it its own post so here goes. I think I'm in a similar mood with the wanting to be done, but I am more motivated this time around for this to be a life changing decision, not just something I suffer through for a few weeks and then go back to my old eating habits. I am determined to make it to the end and have even decided to go for an extra week after my aunt said she was going to do it for a month. Jeff and I have been talking about what we are going to do after but haven't decided for sure. I think that will be when the real test comes! One thing I have decided is that I WILL NOT buy any sweets or make any sweets unless I am making them for a specific purpose where most of them will get eaten. We've decided that if Jeff makes cookies we will cook one sheet and then freeze the rest and can't cook another sheet for at least a week. We really have so many opportunities for treats in our society without us lifting a finger! The other motivator for me is I feel so great about how I am doing! I had a really stressful day last week which would normally be a day when I would be eating sugar to "help" make it through and I didn't really even think about reverting to that because the one thing I was feeling really great about that day was how good I was doing at not eating sugar. I didn't even realize how different this was from my normal behavior until Jeff pointed it out. I was reading an article in the current Ensign about the Word of Wisdom today and he talked about how the majority of the Word of Wisdom isn't on refraining from drugs, alcohol, tobacco, etc. but on what things we should be eating and I felt so great about myself for following this counsel so much better than I normally do. On a side note, I'm trying to find some healthy options for baking and treats. One thing I've enjoyed making is smoothies with 1 c. frozen berries, 1/2 c. vanilla yogurt and 1/2 c. milk, then I split it with Max or save some for later. If anyone else has found some healthy snack options I'd love to know!

Hanging on

It really seemed like the first week was much easier than this week for me. Now that the newness has worn off, there is part of me that wants to say okay, enough for me. I'm ready for sweets. :) I didn't do so hot with eating healthy yesterday and today. No sweets, but I snacked on some chips and graham crackers. When I read this blog, I get more motivated. So thank you everyone. I am undecided at this point whether I'm going to quit after 21 days, or try and keep it up all summer. I'm afraid to open the gates at all, in case there's a flood. Does anyone have any idea what they're going to do after the 21 days? I lost 2 pounds last week, so that is really encouraging for me to keep going. But I do miss a cookie or brownie now and then. If I try to do the one day off a week thing, I will probably need someone to do it with me, any takers? Natalie, are you joining us on the journy? Even if you're going to limit, you can definitely list your goals here and let us help you!

Visitors

My sister, Erin, and her husband just spent the last three plus days with us. I had some weak moments that I didn't think I would make it through, but I did it! It is my own fault since I knew they were coming and I had decided to start my 21 days before they came. But here are some of the things I started wavering for:
1. Chocolate covered cinnamon bears (my favorite!)
2. Root beer floats
3. Red vines
4. Pepperidge Farms Milano cookies (that they conveniently left in my fridge!)
Luckily, we had some sugar free treats for them and we had a lot of fruit, so we all made it through. We are going to see them again for the next couple of days, and since we made it through the weekend, the next two days shouldn't be too bad. Plus, I can give the Milanos back and get them out of my house. (They are way too tempting and I just can't bring myself to throw them in the garbage!)

Cravings & Dreams

This weekend was a challenge. I had to pass up so many good things -- cookies, snickers, brownies, ice cream, etc. Plus, I really had the munchies after church yesterday. Then, last night I dreamed Trevor and I went on a last minute trip to some foreign country where he talked me into trying a pastry. I agreed, saying that I would have to restart my 3 week goal when I got back from the trip. I then proceeded to eat the most disgusting dessert I had ever eaten. I'm not sure what the dream exactly means, but I think I will keep skipping dessert. Now that we are back in our normal routine, it should be easier. Let's hope I can get a workout in later on today, too. How did everyone else do??

I survived

I definitely over ate, but I resisted the sodas, treats, and deserts.

Independence Day

This will be my first independence day where I am independent from sugar. Hooray!! We are supposed to take dessert and a drink to our friends place for dinner tonight so this will be a test of my will-power, but I know I can do it!

This morning we are headed out for a family hike. Ever since Monday when my exercise consisted of 10 situps before bedtime, I've gotten out and exercised. It feels soooooooooooo good.

Stay strong with me this weekend. There will be plenty of sweets over the holiday.

Easier Day

Last night I finally went grocery shopping for the first time since being sugar free. I bought a ton of fruit and looked for lots of healthier options. Trying to find sugar free cereal was interesting. There aren't too many choices. I wanted to buy some yogurt, and my sister, Adrienne told me to check the labels since yogurt contains a lot of sugar. I hadn't realized how much! I ended up buying light yogurt that had 1/2 the sugar of the regular stuff. It was much easier today having a full pantry and having more options. I ended up making a smoothie this morning with plain fat free yogurt, orange juice (does that break the rules?), and frozen fruit. I guess I had never tried plain yogurt before because my smoothie ended up really tart. So I had to add a couple of tablespoons of honey. My recipe made quite a bit, so I put the leftover in the fridge and any time I got a craving today, I just drank some of my smoothie. It worked out great!

Keep Going

I am in the middle of Day 3 of being sugar free and I am finding out that I really crave the sweet stuff right after I eat. A couple of times, I would pop a stick of sugar free gum in my mouth and that seemed to get rid of the cravings. Last night I brushed my teeth right after dinner and that helped, too. But this has been the first day of me thinking, "What in the world am I doing?" Not that we really have anything sweet around. We tried to get rid of any sweets we had to reduce slipping up. But I have had that thought a couple of times and have to keep telling myself that this is more than just about eating sugar. I am trying to get my self control back. I don't want to be dependant on sugar any more to help me feel better when I am stressed. I am so glad to have others who are watching my progress to help me keep going!

Thanks!

Kellie,
You're words of wisdom really helped me this morning! I woke up at 5:30 and realized I might as well go exercise, but hesitated b/c Tyler hadn't woke up yet, and might any second. But I decided to just go out first and hope he didn't wake. I was rewarded b/c when I got back home at 7:00, everyone was still asleep. So I read my scriptures and then showered before anyone stirred! Now that's a good start to the day. :) Thanks for encouraging us.

A Good Day?

Today was actually a very good day as far as not eating sugar went, although not a very good day in almost every other way. I haven't been feeling good, so I wasn't really craved sugar all day. That being the case, I was still glad that I didn't have any available and that I was resolved to not make any treats because with kids waking up early, naps being messed up, butting heads with my toddler all day, and my husband being late getting home from work, I would normally be eating sweets whether or not I was craving them to "help" me make it through a stressful and trying day. It felt nice to break that cycle since I think the sugar actually makes me less patient and more tired.

No More Excuses

It is so easy to justify why you haven't started exercising, eating right, taking your vitamins, etc... But I think it is time to quit making excuses.

This morning I woke up, ignored the fact that my nursing baby would probably be waking up soon, and headed out on a bike ride. Normally, I would wait for him, then realize it was too late to go. But you know, Trevor is perfectly capable of taking out the bottle of pumped milk in the refridgerator, warming it and feeding the baby, or even making a bottle of formula in a pinch, and I am capable of pumping when I get home. It felt so good to choose to exercise, and I came home feeling great!! Getting out is so much more rewarding for me than exercising at the gym. And, surprisingly, Baby Seth slept in. Hooray!

An added bonus -- when I exercise, sugar just isn't as appealing.