Its been a real nightmare this week, in my attempt to cut down on sugar it has driven the cravings out of control, I am in complete denial about the extent of my problem. I am ashamed to say that I have been binging in the evenings on Xmas biscuits and chocolate and feeling terrible guilt even before I have stopped eating. I have been hiding the evidence at the bottom of the bin or take it in my coat pocket out of the house to dispose of when I am out and about. I can't stop its like my mind can't stop thinking about it until I eat it and then I can't stop. All biscuits are gone but few chocolates are still around, these are belong to the children so I probably won't touch those, although I have replaced some in previous years.
On the positive side I have been very conscious about my meals, I did major healthy food shopping this week by internet so I couldn't fill the trolley with extra sweet treats. I have granery bread, bran, lots of fresh soups, brown rice and root veg for casseroles in my slow cooker. I have also city down to 1/4 spoon of sugar in tea and considering I have at least 10 cups a day I think this is progress compared to the 1spoon per cup before Xmas.
I have been back into my normal routine this week and am very tired, Fibro makes me exhausted, I thought about going for a little bike ride with my toddler in her trailer on the back but as partner was working from home fell asleep while trying to tidy our bedroom. Might have been a bit ambitious there.
I did however walk at a slow pace from toddler group into town winch was 15 mins there and back.
I am not going to give up though, this coming week I hope to get a new vacuum cleaner delivered and give the stairs a really good going over, try a little bike ride to get more fresh air and try to get my hair cut.
Hoping for a better week, catch up with you all next week x
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fibromummy
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Hey can completely understand the issues caused by fibro hence my username lol. Can make it very difficult to exercise somedays, but least you did go walking even a little bit, build up intensity as you go instead of killing yourself straight away makes it easier to stick to long term. Well done on reducing your sugar intake sweet things are my weakness but once they are out of the house it will be easier, i allow myself a little because in the past stopping it completely caused me to give in and binge, and the guilt afterwards just isnt worth it. I have complete faith that you can do it, small changes at a time make it easier to change for the long term, dont beat yourself up over the binge, learn from it and keep going.
Thanks, nice to know someone else understands. I need to pace myself this week to try to get some more movement in my life, seriously I could sleep round the clock if I didn't have kids. Also I am not eating the same as the girls and my partner, choosing lighter and more vitamin packed soups and meals.
I think I need a distraction in the evening, I might try a hot bath instead of plonking myself in front of TV and raiding cupboards for sweet fix.
Distraction techniques are a godsend when dealing with cravings i started my exercise doing steady step ups on my wii fit board in front of the tv for 10mins then as i lost weight i increased on days i felt better. Everyones different though you need to find what works for you, i used to come home from work sit in front of the tv and stay there til bedtime amazing how something as little as 10mins has made so much difference but it has. Again good luck keep us updated
I have a Wii fit board somewhere, will vet my 10year old to set it up when she comes home from school, give it a dusting and try it out the step is not too deep so should be fine for me, thanks for the suggestion x
No problem i dont even turn it on just use it to do steps while watching tv lol, as you say not too deep so not as strenuous but still gets you moving.
well done at eating all the Xmas cakes and hiding the evidence, I used to do that when I tired to stop smoking, it took me many goes, but eventually I did it, and have not smoked for many years now. So well done, you give it a go, and honestly let other people know, you have slipped a bit. But with a few slips you will be able to be more human about a very challenging thing to do, losing weight. Now the biscuits are gone, and you have not ordered anymore, you just need to hide from the Easter Bunny, or get a real rabbit and make a soup. Good luck. You'll do it, because you have not thrown the towel in with one little slip. Have you tried palm sugar, it has less calories than white sugar and is good in smoothies and things, maybe not in a cup of tea though. You might find it a nice substitute for other sugar pangs.
So glad I am not the only one who does weird things, well done on giving up the smoking, that is amazing. Will look into the palm sugar, not tried that yet, been very good so far today had bran breakfast and a fresh veg soup with granary bread, kids had ice cream and jelly, I just had the jelly. Hope to see it through to the end of the day, will let you all know x
Having a good day today, I even managed to drink 2 cups of tea without sugar !!!!
It snowed overnight here and we all enjoyed ready brek with syrup (delicious) to help us with the cold morning! Probably had a massive sugar hit to start the day there but it was nice.
I have stuck to my plan of eating more veg, soup for lunch and spinach with my sausages instead of mash Yorkshires I made for the rest of the family.
Only one chocolate bar and a few jelly babies yesterday and today I did finish off the mango chutney I made back in September, but also got my hair cut which was nothing short of a logistics miracle. No biscuits or cake today. 10yo has made a mars bar rice crispy tray bake topped with chocolate and its going to be a major torment every time I go in the fridge so I am putting it out of sight in the porch where it is cold and where I cant see it.
Not been able to get motivated to exercise, my 2yo has a temperature and been very clingy today so arms really painful from lifting her up and carrying her around. That's my excuse.
Still not been counting calories but plan to do so with myfitnesspal app.
So its getting near the challenge of cravings into the evening, trying to distract myself, I'll spend some time reading posts and supporting others.
How are you going now, have you started the calorie counting with the 12 week challenge yet? I think it is the best one I have every tried and also being an emotional eater, it is hard to find something that helps curb the desire for food when the proverbial hits the fan, which can be every day some weeks, then things settle down, then as soon as I think, I'm getting this together, along come some life event to put me back on my rather large haunches.
So I know what you mean. This 12 week challenge does some pretty good so far, end of week one now, and I have been able to keep the calories under the required amount, so most unusual for me. Found out that a Snickers bar or Ice cream have more calories than the fresh fruit and yoghurt smoothies I have been making for breakfast, when I counted the calories in the confort food I have eaten double of, for the last three months, I cannot beleive how I did not gain more weight than I did.
But I found being aware of the calories and where they can stack up, helps control the amount of calories I consume every day.
Well done having tea with no sugar fibromummy, every little helps and it is all the non-food calories that seem to be the problem. I also noticed a site where it has a lot of calorie aware foods for kids, so I'll let you know when I find it again, the 10yr old might like to make something for school you can eat as well. I'll send the link when I find it again.
But well done and keep going, it is so good to cut down on sugar, I have found if I eat any sugar (except palm or fruit) then I start craving food with sugar in it, so well done, take care,
Things are heading in the right direction, I have probably cut down my total sugar and particularly chocolate by about half. Not counting calories yet, or weighing myself, just adapting to less sugar and doing a little more with the housework and toddler.
I guess I don't want to see the real extent of how much weight I have gained in the last 6months.
On the plus side my jeans feel less tight this week and my belt is no longer straining on the last hole. I think I need another week to cut down on the sugar in between meals before I start counting calories.
I am off to my 10yo gymnastics competition this weekend in London so it means an overnight stay and we are all eating at a pub chain, not much choice for healthy eating, but hopefully small portion control will help.
I watched the best diet for you programmes last night on catch up and I think I am an emotional eater too. So Monday I will try to keep busyandout of the cupboard. Also need to do a fresh food shop so no goodies unless for kids lunches boxes and I usually resist those!
So how are things with you, are you able to manage the daily calorie targets? Stress defiantly drives me straight to the sweet things. How are you distracting yourself from the urge to eat?
well done, that is great, any cut down on sugar and fat (chocolate) is good, I know the feeling gaining all that weight for six months, and it seems to much to be able to get rid of it, but your jeans getting bigger is a great indication your on the right track. Well done, maybe the pub in London will have some healthy choices, boiled eggs for breakfast and salad and grilled fish for dinner should be good, and I know then the kids want the ice cream, so would I. But it is good once you start thinking about the calories and health, I think it helps be just being aware. Like I say when I stopped smoking it took a few years of start stop, start stop, and in the end it really took a whole year of will power and strong thinking to get me to a point where I could say, 'I don't smoke'. So it is like that with weight, easy to gain and hard to lose. But the brilliant thing is starting. So have fun in London enjoy the whole thing and if you eat too much, cut down where you do have more control, at home. It will be great fun.
For me, yes still sticking to the calorie counting and meal planning, lost 1 kg in week one, lost 6cms off the waist, from 115 to 109, so good news. The week one I only did the calorie counting, and am learning about all this, so could have cut out a few things like smoothies, but decided to see how it would all go in week one. So now with this success, next week I will start the Couch to 5k and some exercises as well to see how much that helps to lose some weight. I have not been hungry, so that is good less chance of buying a tub of ice cream and eating the lot, but because I did think about it when I was shopping I put the money in my money box for temptations I do not succumb too, like all the food that makes me fat. I decide to save the money till the end of the year, and longer if needs be and spend it on a holiday somewhere nice, spending all the money on a holiday instead of eating the temptations will be good. Long term goal, but I had to do that when I stopped smoking, have a long term goal as well as the daily grind of getting through the withdraws and times I was tempted to buy a packet of fags, I am so pleased I never did, not many years later I still don't smoke. So that is my motivation plan to get back to size 12 for health.
Thanks for your reply firbomummy, good luck in London, let me know how you go when you get back, if you see one of those little calorie counting books on sale in London it might be a good idea to buy it for later. Take care and have fun with the kids.
Hi Donimac, I am back and quite pleased with myself. No bread all weekend. Fresh veg soup, grilled salmon and veg, porridge when tempted in Starbucks at the service station. I did have a flapjack and a mini roll but not chocolate bars. I feel less bloated and can see that my tummy is a bit flatter.
My daughter's team won silver medals so she has something to celebrate at school today.
Well done on the 1kg that's fantastic, and the 6cm off your waist amazing. Today I am going to weigh myself so I can see exactly how much damage I have done to myself in the last year. I have half my body weight to lose and it seems very daunting so 1lb at a time is ok for me.
I am considering trying the 5,2 diet I think I am in a good place mentally at the moment to fast for 2 days, if I can resist temptation when away I can do the 500 cals or less two days on a row.
Today I start recording on fitness pal, so watching more carefully and should start seeing some results.
Off to garden centre today for weed control for the flower beds, we have a man helping me building retaining walls as we are on a steep hill with mainly clay soil so now way I could dig it myself, gentle walking more suitable for me!
Brilliant girl, I knew you could do it, well done and also a good role model for your daughter, you must be so proud of her (and you should be of you). Excellent news about the 5:2 plan, I can't do that as I will eta millions on the 5 days and starve on the other two, so this calorie counting with the 12 week challenge is working for me right now. Good idea about the app, how does the fitness pal work? How did the weigh in go? I am looking forward to hearing how you go in week 1, I bet you do lose 2lb and also some inches off the waist. I am so pleased you had a great time in London and so pleased your daughter did well.
You both deserve a big treat, lots of best wishes to you, let me know how the weigh in went, have fun, cheers
Not been eating a huge amount but cut down a lot, my granddad died Monday and I have not had the same appetite, but have some chocolate. Been busy helping with the arrangements, flowers, etc. So will be trying to catch up this weekend. Hope all well with you x
Hi fibromummy, you are having a tough time, sorry about your Grandad, that will knock you back a bit. But you did really weel when you went to London, so can do it again.Sounds like the little toddler is just sick of the cold and miserable weather, hope he is OK now. Well you know I was talking about the fact like you I found it really hard in the evening to stop grazing, and had a bad week last week where i just felt like I had to eat. Then I remembered that when I ate plenty of protein I did not feel as edgy looking for food (or food scraps) so I made some chicken soup with lots of vegies and chicken and that seemed to be what my body was looking for. So did OK staying within the cal boundaries. But the Couch to 5 k?? you would have died laughing, I got up at 6am all kitted out, got to the park, and started the 1 min run, almost did 1 min, when my knee gave out, just like that, so I decided to walk and do the 20 minutes walking, pretty good idea, managed to get round my little circuit, anyway then, thought (a couple of days later) I've got this under control, and started jogging, well what an idiot I was, my knee swelled up like a balloon, and that was me three days ago, still waiting for the knee swelling to go down to start walking. So the Couch to 5k went out the window and now I have another plan, this one is, doing 150-200 minutes a week walking or rowing machine, and also Pilates twice a week to build up my strength. That's the plan, not actually been put into action yet, but it is a plan.
I start the Pilates on Tuesday so will let you know how I go. The feeding frenzy is back under control at the moment, and I think I am still losing weight, lost 3kg in two weeks, so weigh in Sunday, and fingers crossed. I have to go to a work do, next week and am a bit worried like you (when you went to London) that I might over eat everything in sight, so trying to get a bit of a plan going this week to get through that without gaining too much.
I hope the kids are feeling a bit better, and also your not doing the old shuffle down to the bin with the chocolates under your dressing gown....take care...we can do this girl...just takes time, but at least we are trying. Have fun, I'll let you know how I go tomorrow at the weigh-in.
My day started out well and by 2pm I had eaten my 500 cal allowance, then slipped and ate a chocolate bar, leftover beans on toast from my toddler and then a friend brought over some jam doughnuts fresh from Greggs, I had my mushroom soup and 2 beetroots and a clementine, so some good stuff went in, but totally annihilated the "fast" day.
My 2yo has been crying most of the day and refuses to get off my lap unless she has to so \I can go to toilet, cook, drive.
The constant whining has pushed me in the path of sugar today, disappointingly.
Oh dear done it again, it is nearly 3pm and I have, according to MFP consumed 604 calories. When craving a sweet pudding after lunch I ate a tangerine, then another and another, at least it wasn't chocolate.
I weighed myself today and I finally know how much I need to lose - 6 stone yikes!!! It was worse than I thought I have put on 2 stone since last summer. It is so much easier to put it on than lose it LOL.
Don't beat yourself up, it does not help. The biscuits get eaten anyway so you may just as well enjoy them. (I know what you mean. 400g pack of M&Ms has a lifetime of 45min in my house Tea used to be 4 teaspoons of sugar, about 10 cups a day.) Just eat up what you have and try not to buy more. That seems to be the only thing working for me.
For distraction, I highly recommend coming to this forum, lol You get to read lots of stories, can reply to motivate others or post and get motivation from other people. I also spent a few evenings on the NHS site reading up on balanced meals. Or read a magazine - someone left here an old copy of Women's Running, so was browsing throught that (I started Couch to 5K) - although most of it still seems completely mental and unattainable. I mean - running over hills for 10K? But there are stories (with before and after pictures) of women who started running and lost incredible amounts of weight and look just gorgeous now, so that kept me in check too. Good luck, ditch the guilt, you're just a human. Bit by bit, you will gain control!
Well done on the sugar in tea. I am getting there gradually. I am going to distract myself and try a little Wii fit session later, only a minute to start with as I know I will struggle if I overdo it and the kids need my scarce energy for dinner, homework, bath and mammoth bedtime (still working on how to reduce this). I take your point about a magazine though, I am going to read about what veg to plant in my raised beds this year and draw a plan, I don't do digging but sow, water, weed and feed and the best part cook and eat them! Spring will soon be here so I could start some seeds off on the windowsill, yes will do that this week and let you all see them as they germinate (once I figure out how to post a photo)
You're addicted to sugar, probably not helpful pointing that out as you most likely are already aware of that fact, however it's worth taking to the time to understand what's actually happening within your body, the actual mechanics behind it and therefore what's actually driving it.
When you eat a carbohydrate that is in full or part metabolised into Glucose (which is most), this ends up raising your blood sugar level, your pancreas then releases more insulin, raising your bloods base insulin level which in turn is a signal to cells to take up the glucose from the blood, your sugar then drops and in response your Pancreas decreases the release of insulin, returning your insulin blood level back to it's base level, this works as it should in a Metabolically healthy person. When you eat lots of refined carbohydrates that contain simple sugars this raises blood sugar more rapidly, add to this the fact that as you age and over expose yourself to this process your cells become what is commonly known as "Insulin Resistant" (precursor to Type II Diabetes) which means they become less responsive or sensitive to the insulin level changes, so you kind of become like an out of tune engine, with more aggressive knee jerk reactions to the dips and peaks in your blood sugar, in turn driving hunger and sugar craving further and you end up with a Snowball Effect! On top of this when you eat sugar you receive an endorphin release in the brain, this is a pleasurable experience, it sets up a kind of reward system, which goes on to reinforce habit even further! In simple terms, you eat foods rich in sugar, that are then metabolised quickly, in turn raising blood sugar, you get a big whack of endorphins in your brain which make you feel absolutely ace for a few minutes, blood sugar then dips rapidly, leaving you spuriously feeling hungry and possible shaky/weak, so you repeat the whole process again and again and......
To make things even worse whilst your insulin levels are elevated you can't utilize fat, it kind of locks it away but worse even still is that you can store fat, so this state actually drives fat storage, this is Bio-Chemistry, it's factual, this is how your body works.
Personally the first thing I would advise you to do is to stop taking sugar in your Tea, I know you probably feel you've taken a huge step in reducing the amount you now take by 75% but the reality is that taking refined sugar dissolved in a liquid at regular intervals throughout the day is (putting it politely) doing you no good at all. Stop it today, you might find it hard to believe but it will take you about 5 days, even less, to become used to the taste of Tea without sugar as long as you don't cheat and have any with, during that time.
Your plan to then replace your current sugar intake with more complex carbohydrates like brown rice is a good one, the sugar from these types of food will be metabolised much more slowly in turn helping to reduce those blood sugar spikes. Because of your long term sugar heavy diet to date, you are still going to need a reasonable level of carbohydrates in your diet at first, to reduce them to quickly would probably end up leaving you feeling quite unwell, however once you see your sugar cravings reduce and your long term goal is to lose weight, you may well find you need to reduce your intake further to see a continued weight loss by removing or at least reducing very starchy vegetables like Potatoes and Rice and Cereal Grains such as Wheat and refined products containing them.
I would write more but I am pushed for time this morning, please let me know if you need any more information.
Hi and thank you for your time in writing such a clear and informative post, I am trying to avoiding ending up with type 2 diabetes as most of my relatives on the maternal family side have it and my body shape is heading the same way (apple). Also I am an older mother 45 with a 10 and 2 year old and I need to be as healthy as possible to stay alive and be here for them for decades to come, so I must try really hard to make lasting changes for their sakes.
So I am off to so school run now sadly not walking it is gale force wind and rain here but my Wii fit board awaits on my return. X
Really well done for reducing the sugar in tea so much that is quite an achievement so don't beat yourself up because you've given in to the temptastion of other things, every little step counts. I totally sympathize re sugar as I have a sweet tooth/sugar addiction too. I know when I try and resdtrict sugar or other foods I just end up wanting to eat more of them.
Have recently read a book called Ditching Diets by Gillian Riley which has been so helpful in altering my mindset and approach to losing weight/controlling sugar. You might find what Kathleen Desmaisons has to sa uh on the subject of sugar addiction helpful too, she has got three books and as website.
As for exercise I would take it slowly build up gradually. I always dive in to exercise, setting myself a goal of doing the optimum amount of exercise but my system can't handle such a speedy change, I have an underactive thyroid and multiple hormone deficiencies so I have finally realized that I just need to build up slowly and hopefully will be able to maintain a reasonable level in the long run. Very frustrating though having yo take such a softly softly approach.
I gave up drinking tea completely, for a while, as I hated the taste without sugar. I found some fruit teas that were ok and once I had lost the sugar craving I could go back to drinking ordinary tea. It took me several goes to get there. It's such an important way to improve your health, as OlsBean has said. Grit your teeth and hang on in there.
If you are thinking about giving up wheat, have a look at Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall's new book. It's not completely gluten free, but has some lovely recipes in it.
Hi Penel, finished then last slice of bread today, not going to replace it now till next week, it is forcing me to eat rice and veg and I am enjoying the thick veg soup for lunch.
Bit challenging to avoid all sweet things but trying hard. Thanks for the tip about HFW new book will look that up.
Firstly you are doing really well making changes to your shopping and eating habits. Remind yourself of that everytime you plan your shopping, cook your meal and plan your exercise (I love my Wii Fit btw. you should definitely get that out of the cupboard).
Hopefully coming on here and talking about how you are feeling will help as well.
Controlling the urge to eat is challenging especially if it's a habit. I find the urge to eat is more to do with how I am feeling than being hungry. If I'm bored, sad, lonely or pee'd off I'll head for the cupboard. So I wrote a list of activities that I like to do, that can distract me, and should make me feel better and/or forget why I was bored, sad, lonely or pee'd off in the first place. It's called my bored, sad, lonely or pee'd off list (the title is on the page) and it's tacked to the carb cupboard. When I'm in the kitchen looking for food I stop and try to analyse how I am feeling. Why am I looking for food? What emotion am I feeling? Can I stop that feeling? Can I do something fun to distract me from the feeling? Sometime I don't want to think too hard about why I am feeling how I'm feeling. Then the distraction is best and the list helps. My list includes dance, sing, talk, and walk.
Don't get angry with yourself. Don't punish yourself. You are doing really well. Keep telling yourself that.
Hi JJ I am an emotional eater for sure. I have begun to associate cups of tea after the kids have gone to bed with chocolate, cake, biscuits, rice pudding almost as an unconscious reward for surviving the childcaring of the day!
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Tea used to be 4 teaspoons of sugar, about 10 cups a day.) Just eat up what you have and try not to buy more. That seems to be the only thing working for me. 
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