Once again, I really can’t believe how fast the time has went. It’ll be 8 weeks tomorrow since I posted about my plans to cut out sugar. A awful lot has happened in those 8 weeks. Got back to college and dealing with the coursework, plus doing quite a bit of voluntary work in there too. Had my college grant cut due to some counter intuitive government bureaucracy.
My wife’s Granny died so I needed to step up to the mark and look after our 1 year old son on my own (ok, well with a little help from my own mammy) for 10 days while she went to Belarus for the funeral. Lesson learned, she is a super human and it is nowhere near as easy as she makes it look!
While this has all being going on, we’ve been having a drainage problem and having raw sewage coming up in our back yard, right up to the door. On top of this, we are due in court a week before Christmas regarding having our house repossessed. I’m not sure what will happen that day as it is the first court date. I’ve been advised that there will probably be an adjournment but this is far from certain. Nevertheless, I’ve being trying to put a Plan B in place in relation to our housing just in case we are out on our ear sooner than expected.
So, all in all, pretty hectic 8 weeks. But let’s cut to the chase, I’m here to talk about me trying to cut out sugar and so far in this post there is a a fantastic song from the year I was born, plus a picture of an attractive young lady with a priest, and a mini rundown on how the last 8 weeks have been quite difficult. I spoke in the post 8 weeks ago about how I turn to sugar for some comfort when times are hard, and man, times have been hard!! We had events full of fantastic fairy cakes and treats. Halloween has come and gone with all it’s Haribo’d jelly fuelled goodness. I even went as far as making Rice Krispie cakes for a party and not so much as licked a chocolate covered finger. I channeled my inner, em… priest and reminded myself that some things just ain’t my thing. I’m actually quite proud of myself now for how close I can fly to the flame and not get burned.
It hasn’t been easy. The first week, my mood was definitely affected despite me trying to put on a brave face. I declared to people around me that I was now sugar free so I suppose they were forewarned. I also noticed a really distinct drop in my energy levels towards the end of week. Thankfully it didn’t last long. By the middle of week 2 I was back to feeling myself in the personality department and since then I have noticed something that I had never experienced with my energy levels, consistency. I justified much of my sugar intake because of a need to be awake and active for extended hours, but now I find that I don’t have peaks and troughs anymore. I feel my stamina for long days is greatly increased too.
I’m glad that these benefits were apparent so early on as they gave me a good stick to beat the cravings with. And cravings there were! I really never understood the onslaught of marketing we undergo that is trying to tap into our desire for sugary delights, until I tried to avoid it. After week 3, the cravings really dropped off. I’m genuinely indifferent when it comes to sugary foods.
I will admit that I had a couple of little slips. We had an Italian take away one evening and recently I had a bite from a scone. Both pretty innocent but in the interest of full disclosure I’d rather admit it.
On the exercise front I haven’t been so successful. I’ve been tapping away doing my 5k jogs when I can and cycling about 10k everyday in and out of college but I really need to start doing some strength exercises now, especially considering that the weight is coming off me and my wife has likened me to a cricket; not the look I was going for. I really need to introduce the same discipline into my exercise as I now have for my diet.
Everything considered, I’m feeling better, looking better (not my words), bounce a little less, fitting into clothes that I hadn’t fitted into in 8 years (my wife had them stashed) and weighing less than I have in 8 years too. I came in at 99.4kg today, that’s 7kg down in the last 8 weeks. I’m pretty happy with that as a sustainable weight loss.
My goal now is to keep up the healthy eating and really ramp up the exercise. I’ve no weight goal but I plan to be feeling even better in myself by the 18th of December, have put on some muscle and have my 5k down to 25 minutes. All attainable and all in the right direction.
For Better or Bankrupt 
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