Decision Time

[Chazz_23]

So I'm 23, 5'7 & nearly 13st. I don't look fat & I manage about 10k steps most days in the week (even though I have a desk job) by taking a 45 min walk at lunchtime and then walking around an hour to get home.

Unfortunately I'm not losing any weight although I can't say I'm surprised when I look at my diet. On a normal day I don't eat breakfast, I'll get a meal deal for lunch (drink being pepsi max) and then a four pack or two of chocolate. Then I'll probably skip dinner in favour of more chocolate and pepsi max. The weekends are worse!

A member of my family has recently been diagnosed with diabetes which has made me really think about the amount of sugar I'm consuming on a daily basis and the fact I'm extremely lucky to not have diabetes (yet - I'm convinced its only a matter of time though)

With this in mind I have decided to cut out as much sugar from my diet as I can.

I don't drink coffee and never have sugar in my tea. I only drink alcohol a couple of times a month so that's not really a problem either.

My plan is as follows:

1. No chocolate/sweets/pastries etc.

2. No fizzy drinks

3. To take lunch to work every day to avoid the temptation of buying junk food when I'm buying lunch.

4. Plan & buy dinners for week so there's no need to stop at the shops on my way home

I am fully aware of the withdrawal symptoms I'm going to experience (having had these before from just one day of no junk food). Though I well never be prepared for them I am determined to face them head on to break this addiction.

I also know its rarely a good idea to just deny ourselves something as we usually just binge more. I am a total sugar addict though and honestly can't limit myself to just one chocolate bar a day. Having said that, if I end up having one choco bar in a week or a desert when going out for dinner (which I rarely do) I'm not going to beat myself up about it.

I'm looking forward to this challenge and will be keeping a diary to check check my progres. Thanks for reading and appreciate everybody's support

[ben10577]

What symptoms do you think you'll have? As I've cut out everything you have said and haven't really noticed any bad experiences.

[Chazz_23 in reply to ben10577]

Headaches, fatigue, dizziness, bad mood. I've had them before so I guess I'll get them again. If not then happy days.

[ben10577 in reply to Chazz_23]

If you do get them, just have to push through and think to yourself your doing it for the right reasons

[Ruby8]

You have made a great decision for yourself Chazz_23 so well done.

I love chocolate and have a sweet tooth too, but I can avoid things quite well as long as I don't have temptation sitting in the cupboard. There are some quite nice cereal bars you can get which aren't too calorific and have chocolate chips etc in, along with oats or nuts. Nature Valley is a good brand to try, just for when you fancy a small treat. I also like the Nakd bar in choc and orange, it's really chocolatey, although not a conventional bar of chocolate.

Good luck with your journey. Have a good look around the site as there is loads of useful stuff on here.

[ExcitableElf]

Welcome ! I’m a cola addict, and had a headache for a full week after stopping. But it was so much better this time round (how many times have I tried before?!) and I think it’s just because I made sure to drink LOTS of water. Hope it goes well for you 😊

[sue2002]

I'm retired now but when I worked in an office there was a snack machine opposite the ladies loos and I ended up having two or three bars of chocolate a day.

I found that if I could stay off the chocolate for two weeks I was able to walk past the machine and not even notice it. However if I weakened and had just one bar that was enough to set me off eating chocolate every day again.

[Elizahanna]

Good luck Chazz. I have been living on pepsi max and chocolate recently and I have found it so hard to stop. But I will think of other treats I could have instead. I definitely think drinking lots of water will help. Today is the beginning of some new good habits!!

[Ruby8]

We are lucky on this forum that we are aware of this, or becoming aware of it. I think the message out in the wider world is starting to get through, but very slowly...

[Ruby8]

Groan!