Weigh In Wednesday

Meh. Let’s get the numbers out of the way, shall we?

last week: 150.0

this week: 150.0

Not what I’d been hoping for after working so hard to keep sugar out of my diet for a full week now.  I blame hormones.  Not really.  Well, partially, but the real blame lies in too many slip ups in the last week.  I have indeed been working hard to make this change.  But I have not always been successful.  Giving up something as pervasive as sugar is more work than you’d think – certainly more difficult than I was expecting.  It’s not simply a matter of not adding it to your coffee and reading food labels.

Since I missed True Confession Tuesday with the Sisterhood, here’s my chance to catch up.  First, a look at some of the things I’ve done right in the last week:

• 4 out of 7 days I was successful with my no added sugar ideals, which included no white flour products.
• reaching out to my support system (@LissaJoy @JenIRL and @annsgonnablow) when the going got tough.
• I started training for my upcoming half in July!  It’s wonderful to be back to training and have a focus for my efforts.
• Weight training.  Doing it.  It hurts so good.
• Getting to buy new shorts because the ones that were awkwardly tight last summer are now ludicrously loose.

And now for the not to great parts:

• Taking out the white bread products was a great idea.  Not replacing them with anything was a recipe for disaster.  Stupid error on my part that left me under-fueled and irritable a couple days.  There are whole grains on the menu now, I assure you.
• Looking for cookie recipes when I was hungry.  I was looking for sugar-free, fruit-sweetened recipes for my kids, which is noble and all, but an idiotic thing to do when you’re famished.
• Too much of a good thing.  Nuts are great, but snacking on handfuls of them, hoping they’ll somehow take the place of whatever it is I want to be snacking on?  not so great.
• Protein: some days not enough, and some days too much of the wrong kind.

I don’t really know what to say about the protein issue.  I know it’s a problem, but I don’t know quite how to solve it, and I’m not sure I want any input.  Being a (pretty strict) vegetarian means my protein options are limited — that’s my choice, I know and I accept that.  Most low-sugar plans I’ve looked at have higher protein intake.  But that’s pretty hard for me to do.  I added back in eggs the last week and a half, but honestly I’d prefer not to be eating them at all.  I refuse to buy protein powder — I’m of the opinion that if a food comes in powder form, it’s not *real* food and doesn’t belong in my diet.  Dairy?  Well, hell yeah, I love dairy as a protein option!  Except that when you rely on cheeses to make up a major portion of your protein consumption, you’re also getting a healthy (errr, perhaps not so healthy) dose of fat along with that protein.  Beans and tofu are great, and our preferred protein option, but how many times a day can you eat them, really?

I think my huge mistake this last week was the lack of whole grains.  Things like oats and quinoa are both filling and pack a fairly substantial protein punch.  Why I omitted them I can’t honestly say.  The gung-ho approach?  Most likely.  But I know cutting them cost me in more ways than one.  That’s a mistake I’ve corrected in the last twenty four hours.  Hopefully it will make the difference this week, keeping me sane, sated, and fueled.