Day 31 - No Sweets

breakfast: protein shake with too many blueberries

lunch: rice, baked falafel, sauerkraut, carrots

snack: grapes

dinner: pizza, sauerkraut

I still didn't eat any sweets today even though I'm no longer intentionally avoiding them. I just never thought about them. It's nice to no longer be controlled by a food group.

I think I did something to my back over the weekend while redoing the yard. It hasn't been feeling well at all. So I'm thinking I'm going to stop working out for a while, at least until I can do simple things like sitting and standing without excruciating pain. I guess it'll be a good test to see how long you can go without doing Callanetics and Ballet Conditioning and yet have the results last. Hopefully, they last a very long time. Not that I'm intending to be in pain for that long. But it'd be nice to know you could got a week without seeing a huge backslide, or any backslide really.

Day 30 - No Sweets

breakfast: raw milk, oatmeal

lunch: tofu, steamed vegetables

snack: blueberries

dinner: potatoes, green beans, salad

I really don't know what to write today. I woke up. I ate. I didn't eat sweets. I took the day off from most things and just decided to relax.

Day 29 - No Sweets

breakfast: protein shake

lunch: gordita

snack: raw cheese, raw crackers

dinner: half a veggie burger

workout: finished landscaping yard...rather had to stop because I ran out of mulch. It's amazing how much is needed. Thought 10 bags would be now, not even close.

Only 1 day without sweets left. Doesn't really seem like a big deal. At this point, I don't care if I have them or not.

Day 27 - No Sweets

breakfast: protein shake

lunch: brown rice pasta, large salad

snack: nuts

dinner: oatmeal, plum

workout: Callanetics 10/10, 30 minutes HIIT

3 more days until I can have sweets again! I don't miss them at all, but it'll be nice not to have to pay so much attention to what's in food. I think eliminating sweets for a month was definitely the right things to do. I no longer think of sweets as a quick pick-me-up when I'm feeling tired and they're not an automatic food I reach to when I want a snack.

I've been having a protein shake for breakfast every day this week. I'm not snacking in the mornings like I was. I've been making them with a raw hemp chocolate protein powder that is sooo good. It has no sweetener in it, but it tastes amazing.

Day 24 - No Sweets

breakfast: protein drink

lunch: carrot and cucumber salad, tofu, savoy cabbage with tomato

snack: peach, nuts, 5 baked corn chips with salsa

dinner: potato cakes, zucchini, tomatoes, and chickpeas

workout: Callanetics Evolution, 35 minutes HIIT

I had the most amazing 4 day weekend away. It was so nice just to get away from everything and visit with friends. Work seems to have become the focal point of so many of our lives, that we often forget about living and doing things that we enjoy. I believe our life is meant to be spent living, not working, slaving away for someone else day after day. With the advent of cell phones, it's like you can never get away. Vacations aren't really vacations. People don't leave you alone. They still call, even for the most trivial things. Even if you're so sick you can't get out of bed, you're still expected to be available. There's so much more to life than work, but it seems like work takes up pretty much everything.

Enough with that rant.

I've decided to try adding some high intensity interval training to my workouts. I want to speed up results, as well as increase my cardio conditioning. I've realized that I don't just want to be thin, I want to get into great shape. Talk about a shift in focus.

I know Callanetics works by using the small muscles that most workouts neglect, that's why it can produce such fast results. But I wonder how it works at truly shaping the body, the way an athlete's body can look. People in Callanetics videos are thin, but if you look at the early ones, they don't really look like they're in shape. Callan is definitely able to do a lot of moves and make them look easy, moves that require a lot of strength, but she's never really looked like she's in great shape to me. Maybe I'll have to rethink my workouts some. Add some stuff in here and there.

Day 19 - No Sweets

breakfast: oatmeal with apricots

lunch: masala and paneer dosa, plain lassi

dinner: greens, tofu, pickled vegetables

workout: Callanetics 10/10

Okay, both Ballet Conditioning and Callanetics really work my body. I can feel the muscles screaming at me. But, Callanetics is so relaxing it's additive. The time goes by so quickly it's like I'm done moments after I started. Granted, I do think the pain in Ballet Condition is also addictive, but it's anything but relaxing. It's painful, a good pain, but pain nonetheless. The two workouts are so similar, but so different. I'm definitely not getting tired of either of them.

I never thought I'd say that about a workout - not getting tired of it. I used to always start working out and then get bored, no matter how often I rotated workouts. Everything just seemed so similar. Of course, I didn't get the results I'm getting now. I do think being able to see changes so quickly is helping with the motivation, but I still enjoy doing both of these workouts. It's the first time in my life I've ever looked forward to working out. I just know I'm going to feel so good afterwards.

Day 18 - No Sweets

breakfast: strawberry smoothie

lunch: summer minestrone, pain au levain

snack: brazil nuts

dinner: raw crackers with hummus, popcorn

workout: ballet conditioning

I had such a strong craving for popcorn tonight. I had the crackers with hummus to try to insert something healthy into my body in place of the popcorn. The flavors are kind of similar. But, no, it had to be the popocorn. It turns out I only wanted a few bites and was set for the evening. I wonder what it is in popcorn, or corn in general, that my body was craving.

Day 17 - No Sweets

breakfast: strawberry-almond smoothie

lunch: deviled egg, avocado, steamed green beans, raw cheese

snack: plum, brazil nuts

dinner: summer minestrone, peach, date

workout: Callanetics 10/10

It's so nice to have so much summer fruit in season finale. So many times a day I can pick so many juicy flavors to explore, each different and exciting. They taste so much better than any cake or cookie. It's definitely easy to avoid sweets at this time of year - produce more than makes up for it. Now, with corn in season sweet foods are everywhere. It should be so easy to lose weight this time of year. Food is so much lighter and healthier. It isn't dense and heavy like winter squashes. It's filled with water and so many flavors, each unique unto itself. Summer is truly a treat for the taste buds.

Day 16 - No Sweets

breakfast: raw milk, peanut butter toast

snack: peach

lunch: tomato, sauerkraut, steamed vegetables, tofu

snack: peanuts

dinner: brown rice pasta with tomatoes, zucchini and corn

workout: relandscaping yard

I've been redoing my yard this weekend. It's definitely a great full body workout. A gopher decided to inhabit it for a while, dig holes everywhere, and break the sprinkler system. All the old grass is now dug up. The sprinkler system is repaired. Just adding new soil and plants is left. It's supposed to be extremely hot the next couple of days, so I probably won't finish it until next weekend. Even though it's currently just a mass of dirt, it already looks better than the gopher hole swiss cheese appearance it had before.

Day 15 - No Sweets

breakfast: melon, raw milk

lunch: bean and cheese quesadilla

dinner: gordita, buffalo mozzarella, salad

workout: relandscaping yard

Day 14 - No Sweets

breakfast: bread and cheese

lunch: green beans, salad, pizza

snack: nuts, fruit

dinner: green beans, potatoes

workout: relandscaping yard

Day 13 - No Sweets

breakfast: focaccia, raw cheese, raw milk

lunch: sushi, couple of pieces vegetable tempura

dinner: tomato, lettuce, cheese sandwich

weight: -1.5 pounds

It's so nice to see the scale going down. I wasn't very hungry today. Yet, I probably still ate twice what I wanted. For both lunch and dinner, I was no longer hungry about halfway through, but I still kept eating. I don't know why. It was just stupid. Oh well, tomorrow's another day.

Day 12 - No Sweets

breakfast: oatmeal with apricots

snack: focaccia with tomato, avocado, raw cheddar, and balsamic vinegar

lunch: chickpea patty, raw cracker with peanut butter, sauerkraut

dinner: tomato and cucumber salad, tofu, potato, melon

workout: Callanetics 10/10

Today was a hungry day. I probably could have ate more after lunch, but I got tired of eating. I'm not sure why I was so hungry today. I don't think my activity level has increased or anything. If I wasn't avoiding sweets, I normally would have reached for cookies or something similar to quite down the hunger. Those wouldn't have satisfied me nearly as well, so I'm glad I've cut out sweets. I feel so much better and it's easier to make healthier food choices.

I just started measuring on Monday. I decided to remeasure today because I thought I was more toned. I've already lost 1/4" off both my waist and my hips. I think that's pretty good for 3 days. The combination of Callanetics and Ballet Conditioning seems to be working very well.

Day 10 - No Sweets

breakfast: 1/8 baguette with avocado and raw cheese

snack: raw milk

lunch: pasta, tofu and vegetables in a peanut sauce

snack: strawberry-yogurt smoothie

dinner: egg salad on rye bread; tomato and cucumber salad

workout: Ballet Conditioning, 1 hour walk

Since cutting out sweets, it's becoming so much easier to eat healthy. I'm naturally gravitating towards more fruit and vegetables. My body really know what it wants and needs, I just don't think I've been able to hear it because the cookie jar was a little louder.

I'm also noticing that when I eat sandwiches lately, I don't want two pieces of bread - just one. It's like there's just too much bread and it takes away from the filling. And, yet I'm someone who loves bread. I could never do a low carb diet because I would never want to give up bread. For me, it really is the ultimate comfort food. The smell if it right out of the oven. The sound of the knife cutting through it. The taste... It's all so heavenly to me. I wish I had some baking now.

Day 9 - No Sweets

breakfast: 1/8 baguette with buffalo mozzarella

lunch: 1/8 baguette with buffalo mozzarella, avocado, tomato, and balsamic vinegar, melon

snack: strawberry-yogurt smoothie

dinner: pasta, vegetables and tofu in peanut sauce

workout: callanetics 10/10, 30 minute walk

It was so good to do a full Callanetics workout today. It's tough but relaxing. I really enjoy how you just focus on the part of the body that is being worked, allowing all other muscles to relax as much as possible. I always feel so good when I'm done.

Day 8 - No Sweets

breakfast: raw milk

snack: vegetarian tamale

lunch: black bean tamale

snack: raw spanish cheese, foccocia

dinner: brie and raspberries in filo, zucchini, chard, tomatoes, and black beans

Today was all about errands and house maintenance - silly things like touching up paint on walls and putting new hinges on cabinets. It's amazing how easy and fast such things are, how big of a difference they make, and yet, how easy it is to put them off.

I've now completed one week without sweets. It's amazing how much easier it was to cut it out this time than when I tried before. I didn't have any brownie fantasies or anything. I guess the sweets were easier to get out of my system this time. I rarely eat sugar, opting for natural sweeteners. It's interesting how addictive even they can be. I don't know if it's the sweetner itself that's addictive, or the delicious flavor, or a combination of both. I really do enjoy the flavor of sweet foods. I'm glad I'm now turning more to fruits and sweeter vegetables.

Day 1 - No Sweets restart

breakfast: 2 small bananas, pint strawberries

snack: raw milk

lunch: potato salad, zucchini, chickpeas, tomato

dinner: roma beans, boiled potato, sauteed savoy cabbage

I restarted my 30-day no sweet challenge today after Saturday's slip-up. It was a lot easier today than when I first started avoiding sweets. No thoughts of brownies or anything. I'm definitely feeling better without the sweets - more energy, everything.

No Sweets - Day 1

breakfast: toast, raw milk

lunch: sauerkraut, herbal tofu, rice ball, strawberries

dinner: baked chickpeas, sauerkraut, rice with yogurt and spinach

It was so hard to avoid sweets today. They're such a psychological crutch, as well as a physical addiction. I just feel better when I eat them. I hope it'll get easier over time.

The No-Sweet Challenge

I have a problem. I view sweets (desserts, chocolate, etc.) as something to have whenever I want it, not an occassional treat. I love sweets. I really do. It's one of my favorite foods. But I think I need to change that to reach my goal It takes 30 days to change a habit, so I'm going to challenge myself to no sweets for 30 days. Hopefully that will be long enough. Hopefully I can do it. It's kind of scary actually, to think of giving up sweets at all, even though I'm not getting rid of them forever, just changing my relationship to them. I guess they really are my comfort food.