Well, the 2-week sugar detox ended on Sunday. I took a day off (where I had McD’s sweet tea and take-out lasagna) and am now onto Week 3.

So, it was not as difficult as anticipated. I’m a little weird in that any sort of “eating control” is not that difficult for me ONCE I MAKE UP MY MIND TO DO IT. But that’s the hard part…because I don’t really want to do it. I really want to eat what I want to eat.

I remember an Oprah episode many years ago, she was talking to her guests about controlling/improving one thing or another in their lives: a relationship, their weight, a sport, whatever. And they all said the same thing, “I really WANT to….” and she would say, you might think you want the result, but unless you’re willing to do The Work, you’ll never get the result. And that really resonated with me. I want the result, but most times, I can’t be bothered to do the work. So I very rarely try to lose weight.

BUT, I had gotten to a point where things in everyday life had just gotten so hard. Standing up out of a chair was hard, climbing stairs was really hard, bending over to tie my shoes was practically impossible. I was passing on outings with friends because I knew how difficult, exhausting and painful it would be. My hip pain has been getting worse and coming on more quickly.

So…it finally felt worth it to try the work for two weeks and see if a sugar detox was the ticket.

My hip pain is unchanged. My skin is not glowy like was mentioned in the Sequinist blog post. BUT…I had no sugar crashes/low energy/dizzy spells, and dare I say, crankiness? And, though I didn’t do this specifically to lose weight, I did lose eight pounds in the two weeks. I had previously lost 20 pounds since April/May just through being more mindful of carb intake and portion sizes. So, being 28 pounds lighter than earlier this spring, which to me seems like a drop in the bucket when compared to my starting point of 312 pounds back in the spring when I first went to Dr. Annoying, feels better. It feels a little easier to move around. I am moving around more because it’s a little easier.

So for now, I continue.

I’ll share a bit about what I ate:

I kept the fridge at work stocked with good snacks – hard-boiled eggs, cheddar cheese + Triscuits, grapes, apple slices+almond butter – so I never felt hungry or unprepared or not well-fueled.

Breakfast during the workweek was no-sugar peanut butter on a rice cake. It was fast and I could eat it on my drive to work. I just will not get up early enough to prepare and sit down to a real breakfast. I know that about myself. You have to create patterns and habits that will work for you.

Lunches at work were: soup (I made a big pot of broccoli-cheese soup early in the week and it lasted me just into the second week), chicken salad on Triscuits or cold cuts rolled up with sliced cheese.

Dinners were marinated steak tidbits, big salads with homemade bleu cheese dressing, or…oh gosh, there was a third thing that I already don’t remember.

My biggest struggle was BEVERAGES. Remember I am the McDonald’s Sweet Tea queen. I tried unsweetened iced tea. Bleh. I drank lots of water, but bleh. I had a lovely orange juice from Trader Joe’s, but that’s not an everyday, drink throughout the day kind of drink. I had some kind of unsweetened, bottled green tea, I think also from Trader’s, that…was, I suppose, a step up from water…but it was a very small step. I felt thirsty always, no matter how much water I drank. One day I did give in and had an Equal in a McDonald’s unsweetened tea, and that was better, relatively speaking, but…still not particularly satisfying. So, that search continues.

I had the support of the others on the Sugar Detoxers list, which was a great help…knowing I wasn’t in this alone. I’m really proud of them all for sticking out the two weeks – there were some good success stories in the group!

So here’s my take on giving up added sugar re weight loss. I think that anytime you omit an entire category from your diet – sugar, fat, carbs, cholesterol, animal products, etc. – you’re going to lose some weight simply because your options are limited and therefore, your overall food intake is decreased. At least in the beginning, ha, til you learn all the little workarounds and start eating a bag of microwave popcorn every night, or Lime Chili Doritos or a jar of dill pickles or whatever. None of them are The Magic Bullet. I think you just need to pick the option that is the easiest for you to fit into your life and to stick with. And to a certain degree, keep portion size in mind. One thing I’m reminded of whenever I do any sort of controlled eating exercise (I really dislike the term “diet”) is how little food we actually need to sustain life, energy, brain function, etc., as long as we’re eating the right food.

So, for now, I am still no-added-sugar-ing. I am adding low-carb wheat bread back in (in addition to sugar I’d also eliminated white flour). And I’m going to look for some erythritol, which is a sugar substitute, and see if I like the taste and if it affects my ongoing success. Because…sweet tea, I miss you so hard.

Totally random pictures just so there’d be something to look at. Sorry if some are repeats.

Let me know if you try this!

Thanks for reading. And I promise outfit pictures will be back this week!