No-Sugar January=Success!!

Today is February 1st (goodness!)! Today is also the day that marks M & I surviving No-Sugar January!! Really, I should have named it no-sweets January, but I decided I didn’t want to change it in the middle of the month 🙂

The first two weeks of the month kind of dragged on (feels like Keegan’s birthday party feels like forever ago), but the last two flew by (as do most months these days). Here are some of my thoughts about going sweet-free for a month:

Biggest Challenge: The biggest challenge by farrr was just learning to say no. We started this a week after Christmas, which meant there was still tons of Christmas goodies still laying around. But, I put away the Mike & Ikes I had opened a few days before (put them on top of the cabinets in our apartment because I’d be too lazy to reach up and get them) and just did not eat any candy or leftover cookies at my parents. There were a few times that we had to say no to dessert. At the end of Week One, Helen came home from San Antonio and my dad got her a cake. We got home and everyone was eating some. That was definitely rough to say no to! But, we ate some chex mix instead, and even though it didn’t satisfy my sweet tooth, it worked. Then, at the end of Week Two was Keegan’s birthday party. Birthday party=cake & ice cream & lots of peer pressure, but! We didn’t give in! That day I had an extra piece of garlic bread haha. Then, at the end of Week Three, we took M’s parents to Red Lobster where we all got the four course meal for $15 (legit. what. a. deal!). When she took my order I had to say, “annnnd  no dessert :(“. Now, that was definitely hard to turn down. By that point, I had realized that I don’t always need to eat something sweet after a meal, so the hard part was turning down something we were paying for. The lady was nice though and sent me & M’s desserts home with his parents, so our money wasn’t completely wasted!

First few weeks: The first few weeks were rough! I always like having something sweet after I eat- be it a cookie or a piece of  candy (okay, who am I kidding-a lot of candy). Knowing that I couldn’t have those made it worse. I needed to come up with ways to eat something sweet that wasn’t a sweet, so I decided on yogurt. Yogurt wasn’t the same, but it did the trick! I don’t remember what else I ate then. Sometimes I had sunflower seeds and raisins (I just found unsalted ones at Menards this week, I bet they’re so much better than the ones I have been eating!). Anyway, those first few weeks were hard, but I also was able to start recognizing some of my bad habits!

What I learned: I learned that I snack on sweets when I’m not even hungry! I always knew that I did it, but I justified it somehow “oh, Christmas is almost over and I won’t have this chocolate for another year” “oh, that sounds good, I’ll only have a few”. I am now able to see that I do nottt need to eat 8 hersheys kisses just because I want to. Now, I cannot guarantee that I will not do this still, but I am going to try not to as much at least.

Close calls: There were a few close calls where I almost gave in, but I was determined not to. The first was back at the beginning of the month during Strep Week 2k12, I think January 3rd. It was the day that my throat hurt the worst and I was hungry, but nothing sounded or tasted good. I texted M at one point while I was at work and asked if we could extend No-Sugar January to February 3rd so I could run to Steak n Shake and get us milkshakes. He said no and I was fine with that answer. We did give in to gatorade that week though! Then, last week coming home from the funeral, I hadn’t had anything sweet all day and felt awful. So, we stopped at a gas station and I settled for two cereal bars and a gatorade. Not the best options, but definitely not the worst and it gave me that boost I needed. That wasn’t really a close call because I wasn’t going to get a candy bar or a cookie, but it was the only time this month that I actually needed sugar to keep going.

Future: Now, the thought of making this No-Sweets 2012 has crossed my mind! But, I decided that I like cake and cookies and brownies and m&ms too much to do that to myself. I’m sure I could do it if I wanted. However, I don’t want to! However however, I am going to keep it up throughout the next six weeks of our 8-Week Challenge [have you checked out our blog for that yet? No? Do it! Yes? Do it again & leave us comments!]. The challenge allows us to have a sweet one day of the week (and we don’t get extra points if we go all seven days, so boo to that). I am not making any promises that I’m not going to have any sweets over the next six weeks, but I am going to limit what I do have! However however however, my birthday is next week. The girls and I are getting together and going to have DQ ice cream cake for me & Heather’s birthdays. I plan on chowing down! And then, when I get back from Iowa, I plan on celebrating me and dad’s birthdays with more cake. After that though, I plan on not having any for a while. We’ll see!

What I didn’t expect: I didn’t expect not to want something sweet today!! For about three weeks, I was planning on making brownies and eating them. However, I am almost not even craving anything sweet. I recently noticed that after I eat dinner, I am not craving cookies! It’s so weird! haha. If it wasn’t for the 8-Week Challenge, I probably would eat that whole pan of brownies. I have been feeling good lately though and I don’t want to ruin that!

Anywayyy, that is my recap of my month! I am having a hard time believing that this is something I accomplished, but it feels so good that I did it! Thanks for all of the encouragement and suggestions. Now, you can head on over to our 8-Week Challenge blog and post more encouragement over there!