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Posted in: Nutrition / Nutrition Talk

30 days no desserts/treats/cheats: My experience

PREFACE: Eat what you want. Do what you want. Please don’t make this post out to be an attack on YOU. If you do feel that way, kindly move on.

Onward!

Yesterday, I reached 30 days “sugar-free.” I use quotations because while I did monitor the sugar levels of my meals, I wasn’t trying to cut out absolutely all refined sugar since there are small amounts in foods like cereal (even healthy cereal) and various little snacks (of which I kept my intake to a minimum). My sugar-free 30 days was mainly about desserts and treats. I was tired of making concessions, tired of poor willpower and discipline, tired of delaying progress. Tired of falling short on certain goals, fitness and non-fitness. The intent of my 30-day commitment was to break dependency and implement strategy that would help me to become the person I want to be and obtain the body I want to obtain when the 30 days were over. 30-day training wheels!

I ate zero chocolate, zero candy, zero cakes/cupcakes/donuts, zero sweet drinks, drank zero lattes…you get the picture. I was SHOCKED by how much junk food I was offered and exposed to on a regular basis, not counting the market. I attended birthday parties (one of which was my mother’s) and said no. I did “coffee” with friends and ordered an unsweetened tea, instead. I attended book club on a weekly basis where a banquet of pastries and cookies and candy abounded…and said no.

How did I survive?! I was so deprived! Deprivation is the bane of progress!

Not…really.

Yes, I was deprived. And, it was much needed. Abstaining from harmful (albeit DELICIOUS) foods is a deprivation worthy of suffering! Guess what? As I shared a few days ago, I experienced a major transformation in my body, kicking a total of 5.5 inches off my body.

https://www.fitnessblender.com/community/discussion/7179/4-5-weeks-of-slow-gut-loss-progress

This transformation includes my MIND. Kicked off about 5.5 inches of poor stress management. I have trained myself, now, not to reach for sugar out of emotional motivation. I have recalibrated my tastebuds. I have rewired my very psychology. Now, when stressed or anxious, the desire to assuage my emotions with junk food or desserts is very dull and almost inaudible (decreased desire to enhance emotions, too…I tend to respond to all emotions, good and bad, with sugar). This is because for 30 days every stressor or anxiety that came I was forced to find healthy and productive ways to soothe those negative emotions. For every positive emotion that made me want to indulge for purposes of maintaining my dopamine surge, I rejected the impulse and instead gave thanks for the positive emotion and settled into the enjoyment of moment itself. I said to myself, "This moment is enough." I did this over and over and over again. It was awkward and painful during stressful moments and sometimes disappointing in positive moments, but after awhile I broke the bulk of my dependency.

Interestingly enough, several of the treats I passed on weren’t that great-tasting, anyway, from what I would hear. For me, I think I was so addicted to the sugar itself that taste became secondary. I still plan to indulge, but I am taking it VERY slowly and being VERY particular about what I treat myself to. I tend to ask myself, now, why? And, in considering the answer, the urge usually passes and I’m not really motivated to eat the treat. Yes, that quickly! It's crazy how the body and mind adapt.

Today is Day 1 with no training wheels! No, I am not going to treat myself. My reward is success and being on a path of consistency and healthy practices to my best self. My journey has not been the quickest. I am more focused on undoing bad habits and creating new ones than dropping a bunch of weight in a short amount of time. Especially since my goals center more around muscle building, which is a much slower process than losing pounds...

I hope this encourages at least one person to reconsider what "deprivation" really is and to know that they have what it takes to endure the sacrifice. The rewards are worth it :)