At the beginning of this year, I set a goal to lose one pound per month. Just one teeny little pound. Simple, right? No! HELL, NO! In fact, every time I seriously diet I seem to gain weight, so what gives? In February I started a "Fitness Journal" with photos/stats each month, similar to what Cathy Zielski is doing.
On February 7, I took my first photo and measurements. Not pretty! In my journey to be my authentic self, I am trying hard to strike a balance between loving and accepting myself just as I am (double chins included) and yet trying to improve myself and be healthier. It isn't really about a specific number on the scale, just about being as fit as I am capable of being. I have made healthy meal choices throughout the month (for the most part) and I definitely increased my participation at the gym. Today I redid the measurements. The results? Not great. But not terrible either. While my weight is up a half pound, most of my measurements are down. Turning flab to muscle? Maybe. I was out of the gym for over 2 months with the herniated disc episode so I probably did start to go soft in that time frame.
What I've discovered is that I'm far too willing to reward good choices with dessert. Which is sabotaging all my efforts. Sugar is poison. And now I'm in a quandry. I don't want to suck ALL the fun out of life and take away everything that tastes good and that I love so much. At the same time, I know there is very little nutritional value to any of my favorite things and if I could cut out sugar, maybe, just maybe, I would actually drop some of the excess poundage I'm carting around. Sugar is poison.
So, gentle blog readers, what do you do to curb the sugar monster yet not feel deprived? I need pointers! Sugar is poison. If I say it enough do you think I'll start to believe it?
4 comments:
I am not great at avoiding sugar, but I do try to stick to "real" sugars, like fruits instead of sweets. That's the best I've got besides just not eating the sweets for long enough for the cravings to stop.
PROTEIN
Nuts, legumes, eggs, fish, meat - even low carb high protein bars or shakes are great.
Gosh this journey is hard - it's one I am on as well and I'm finding it frustrating and challenging. Eat regularly and eat protein - it does help :-) I also thoroughly agree that life still needs to be lived - I just have to make sure that I'm not having birthday cake every day of the week!
That's a hard one. I try to go for fruit but it doesn't have the same kick... I have found lots of WeightWatchers recipes though, it might be worth looking out for one of their cookbooks as they do try to keep the sugar content down as well as the fat. Good luck - and well done on reducing your measurements x
Having posted about Splenda on my blog, you know my feelings about sugar substitutes... however, when I gave up sugar for the short time period that I did... I substituted with honey (definitely not as sweet, and taints the flavor of things, like tea). I also tried very hard to treat my sugar cravings with real sweet things, like fruit. This doesn't seem to work at first... but what I did to push through was keep eating fruit, and different kinds, until I was so full I could burst and/or the craving went away. And looking back, it really did help the craving! So I'd start with an apple. If that didn't work, I'd go to mandarin oranges or some other fruit cup. Maybe up to two. I'm getting ready to give up sugar again. Good luck and I'm cheering for you! We can keep giving each other tips!
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