Operation SugarLess continues….
Even in the face of extreme temptation.
Like a blogger meetup where everyone else orders dessert. *whimper*
Just kidding. It wasn’t as bad as I’m making it sound. But I did go meet another New Zealand blogger and they did all (meaning two other people) eat dessert except me.
I might not have eaten dessert, but I had bread, steak, ribs, chicken, potatoes and fries. Kepa tried eating a little bit of everything at once. Not sure how that went for him.
My personal favorite of the night was the steak.
But I think Kepa likes the ribs better. Who knows why?
Who exactly were we meeting up with? Marshy! One of the first weight loss bloggers I started reading in New Zealand. (There are quite a few that I read somehow.) She was very awesome. Oddly enough proper picture taking didn’t happen and I only got a shot of her trying to figure out the fork sizes (hahaha).
Like I said, Marshy and Kepa ordered dessert after the meal was finished. I’m on the “no sugar for me” kick so I didn’t. And at first I started in with the same mental game I talked about last post. I started thinking about how “unfair” it was that they were eating this stuff – and in front of me! How dare they?!? How rude are they?!?
That line of thinking didn’t last long because I told myself that I was the one who was refusing dessert. They weren’t making me. You know why? Because no one is in control of your choices but you. Once you hit a certain age you take the responsibility for all of your actions, whether it’s eating dessert or something else. So if you are unhappy with how things are going – guess what? It’s your fault.
But after a while I finally settled into a good line of thinking – I wasn’t still hungry, I didn’t really want any of the desserts offered, and I was happy to continue this week without any added sugar. Sticking to my original plan of action made me happy and it wasn’t that bad at all. The mental game almost got me.
It did make me think.. is this what dieters feel like? I must tell you – I have very, very limited experience with actual diets. I’ve never really tried one on my own accord besides signing up for weight watchers and during that I didn’t actually follow the rules. So I don’t really know. I’ve never been in the position where I couldn’t, or wasn’t allowing myself, to eat something other people were. I’ve made other choices because I generally like feeling and eating healthy, but I’ve never had “rules” to follow saying I couldn’t do something. Even though the rules were of my own making I felt trapped and deprived – despite not actually wanting dessert. I can see why diets make people crazy and further, why they always fail.
Well, I didn’t mean to ramble on about dieting and not eating sugar, but that’s just how it went today. I’m ready for Sunday to be off this no sugar kick. I haven’t decided if after that I will keep going (probably) or if I will give it up and go back to eating jams and sweets. We will see, results of Operation Sugarless to come soon.
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{ 28 comments }
I know it sucks at first, but I gave up refined sugar/dessert for a month and after the second week I really stopped craving. Really and truly – I’m a huge dessert lover and I lost the urge to have something sweet after a meal.
After the month ended I had a cupcake, and then some candy, and whaddya know, I was hooked again. Trying to get back on the saddle and only introduce sweets now sporadically. We’ll see how it goes.
Good luck!
.-= Laura´s last blog ..Recipe joy =-.
I’m also trying to avoid desserts. It is certainly all in my head, I know it’s not hunger but it is so difficult to say no. Thanks for keeping me motivated Mary.
The thing is… I’m not really craving anything. Honestly, I’m already having less cravings, barely any. And it’s only been a few days. So that aspect is great because I’m a sweets girl who usually likes something after every meal too.
I’m aiming to get to where I only eat sweets on the weekend and then only in a limited fashion. I’m going to start that this Sunday, because it’s Valentine’s day and sweet and I’m going to eat something sweet with my sweet! Hehe.
Thanks for sharing and good luck keeping up your own Operation SugarLess. ;)
You have to break the addiction. It takes a week or two and then you find it doesn’t really bother you that much.
However, as soon as you have some again you need to start the process again!
.-= AndrewENZ´s last blog ..Mad dogs and Englishmen =-.
That’s the part I don’t like… how easy it is to get addicted again. I don’t want to give up stuff FOREVER… but it seems unfair that you have to go through the process again every week or few weeks or whatever. So unfair. But worth it, in the end, I suppose.
She was awesome! And Lonestar was delicious.
I’m proud of you for sticking to your guns, and I’m sorry that I made you feel bad in any way for any length of time at all.
How can you beat a comment like Kepa’s, what a sweetheart. The food looks so very delicious, but you did not show the desserts must be your way of getting back at them. I am proud of you also for the wise statement of things being your own choices, smart and very true, we can blame no one for our mistakes, failures or success. We sometimes want to so we feel better, but after you think about it you know that your arm was not twisted to do it, you did it. You are becoming not only brilliant and beautiful, but super wise….
As always
Mom
Good job on resisting the sweets! I bet it was pretty hard to do but I’m sure it’s much harder at home for you. More power to you on hitting that goal!
Hi Mary. You know, I am always the one eating healthy when we are out & about. Others may “allow” themselves but I choose when I do & don’t want to do this & most of the time I don’t. It just is not worth it to me. I guess for me, in the long run, I have fit goals for myself & they become more important than the food. Yes, I sometimes wish I could be eating the sweet thing as real food is no biggie for me.. it is the sweets. But, I am also the one that is maintaining my fit goals & I keep fighting. I know I can have a treat when I want one & if it is really worth it to me. I don’t eat just because I am there & everyone else is doing it.
I think it really comes down to your own personal goals & what you want for yourself. People may think I am crazy or to obsessed but it works for me so…..
Find your way & do what feels right for you.
.-= Jody – Fit at 52´s last blog ..Slimmer Legs….How to Slim Down =-.
Dieting induces the deprivation game…which is what you’re overcoming right now. When you tell yourself that you can’t eat something..then it’s what you tend of fixate on. I think that diets do work for some people..but they crash and BURN for many others. Why? because they feel deprived.
.-= Michelle @ Eatingjourney´s last blog ..Milkshakes =-.
I hardly ever eat desserts at restaurants. They are never as good as you can make them at home. Unless its something like mango sticky rice (MMM). Usually, I just look at the dessert menu and then don’t order anything. But I think yes, the whole thing about the fact that you CANT have something, makes you want it. As soon as I cant do/have something, I always want it, and get mad at people who can do/have that. Even if its something that I usually wouldn’t want to have/do. Its just the forbiddenness of it. So that may partially be why sometimes diets don’t work, youre right. As my kickbox teacher tells us every week, everything in moderation (she also tells us weirder stuff like about taking the dog to pee and how shes had kids come out of her v so we should listen to her lol).
.-= merri´s last blog ..Geek alert – Google Buzz & the future of communication =-.
Ahh..mango stick rice,…. I love it. They make some sort of a Thai white sauce to go with it. Which is super tasty too.
As a rule, me and my wife always split a dessert ( or even an entree for that matter ) when we decide to splurge. It definitely helps with keeping the calories lower, but we get our sweet tooth fix as well.
As for the forbiddenness, I think we tend to swing from one extreme ( eat anything you want , as much as you want ) to the other ( eat only healthy food, ban sugar or fatty foods ). With time though, the people who are successful are keeping the weight off are the ones who have found the middle ground.
.-= Harshathlete´s last blog .."I want to wake up early and start working out!" =-.
When I start to feel as though “this is what dieters feel like”, I try to scale back and look at the big picture and adjust my mental perspective. It really IS the mind that we have to deal with… it can take a huge toll on us.
.-= Sagan´s last blog ..Grocery Shopping, “Living Healthy in the Real World” Style =-.
Yikes! I was checking out diet blogs and I landed on a page with delicious looking and no doubt not on my diet food. I have stopped eating sugar too and it is great – in my case, it is simply refined sugars. Anyway, keep it up – what you say is absolutely true:
“no one is in control of your choices but you” – and that will make all the difference!
.-= Weight-Loss´s last blog ..3 Tips To Losing Hip Fat =-.
It was so lovely to meet up with you both (finally!); you showed some real strength in the face of those desserts, especially since we were blabbing on about how awesome they were (ack, sorry about that – should’ve been more considerate; might have been slightly possessed by the obscene amount of chocolate in my mousse O_O)
And omg, how evil do I look unwrapping the cutlery, mwahahha… just as well I did find that one of the forks actually was shorter than the rest!
It was a great night, thank you for being so awesome :-) (and I never said this on the night… but you were wearing really cute earrings!)
.-= Marshmallow´s last blog ..Oh my god people… =-.
So sweet that your mom commented :) My mom comments every once in a while and I always wonder if other blogger mom’s read, too!
I was totally craving steak tonight instead of pizza. We might save it for Valentine’s Day, instead.
So true about taking responsibility for what we eat. My mom often says to me, “We can’t control everything in the world, but one thing we can control is what we put in our mouths.” Pretty powerful, I think!
.-= Lara (Thinspired)´s last blog ..Eight Years =-.
Yeah, my mom tries to comment when I’m away. It makes me happy. Hehe.
Love your mom’s comment, thanks for sharing. ;)
It sucks when you realize you have to be the one to tell yourself what you can and cannot do, but it is great you listened to your body and didn’t put away any desserts.
.-= Derek´s last blog ..Who IS in Your Support System? =-.
can not wait to see what you feel on sunday.
I was told repeatedly that when I cut out sugar Id not crave it or even like it anymore when I added it back in.
such was NOT THE CASE with me :)
.-= Miz´s last blog ..Dontcha… (guest post) =-.
Yeah, I’m curious myself to see how this goes.
I haven’t really been craving anything.. just missing the fact that I used to eat it. If that makes sense.
Curious to see how it is on Sunday when I get all the sugary sweet goodness..
Glad to see you are making it thru the week. Whether you continue the “sugarless” way or not, I’m sure you’ve learned a ton this week just by your choices. My favorite line in today’s blog is “no one is in control of your choices but you.” How true, how true. so much easier to blame others vs. take responsibility ourselves. Thanks, its always good to be reminded.
.-= Sara´s last blog ..FAT FREE anniversary =-.
I think proper & right food play a vital role on our health. Eating right is giving as much importance to the nutritional value of food as to the pleasure that it brings. It’s not only about eating at the right time that matters but eating different kinds of food as well. If we avoid the adverse effect of it is we become busty….
Going without sugar? Wow! I am impressed :)
.-= The Merry´s last blog ..Couch to 5k: does it work? =-.
Haha thanks. It’s um… a challenge.
You wrote “I started thinking about how “unfair” it was that they were eating this stuff – and in front of me! ……….” and “Because no one is in control of your choices but you. ” which I am sure most of us have felt at one point or the other when on a weight loss journey.
In the end, we have to decide whether the momentary satisfaction/pleasure is worth the extra work we have to put in ( in terms of exercise or being ultra-strict with diet on other day to offset the splurge ). Sometimes, the answer is yes, because depriving yourself all the time will set you up for much stronger cravings later. Most of the times though, the answer is no.
In fact, once we make the decision NOT to order a dessert or dig into the tasty (but unhealthy ) foods being offered, it feels like the pressure is off. And we feel proud of ourselves later.
Its the ambivalence ( should I eat it or not ) that kills the joy. Just decide right away what you want to do ( eat dessert or not ) and not dwell on the decision once you have made it. This is what has worked for me.
.-= Harshathlete´s last blog .."I want to wake up early and start working out!" =-.
Good luck in the fight against sugar temptation! I love sweets so that would be extra hard for me. Still, we’re cheering you on!
I am dieting and I have lost a lot of wieght but I decided that I want to make a little sweet. Anyone have any low carb sugarless dessert recipes to share? They can also be raw foods if you have any or any sites.
I’m so curious if you are still going sugarless! Operation sugarless is a very worthy endeavor but can be tricky at first!!
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