Day One - 21 Day Sugar Detox

Today is Day One of the "21 Day Sugar Detox."  This is my first time attempting to go without sugar or sweeteners, and I have to say, it was going good until about 3pm.  Then the "just feel like eating" hit me.  And with limited options, I've been just about chewing my nails.  I generally chew gum, or have mints or sugar-free candies.  All of which are to be avoided on this detox. 

So, instead of giving in or giving up... or chewing my nails, I decided I should just blog about it. 

I have to say, this detox has definitely got me to reflecting on all the changes I have made in the last ten years.  When I first joined Weight Watchers (for the umpteenth time) in April of 2004, I told myself I would stick with it, regardless if I lost weight or gained weight, I would stick to it.  And I have.  For over 10 years.  But in that time, my eating habits have changed a lot.  But so slowly, I never felt like I was giving up something or depriving myself.

When I first started Weight Watchers I continued to eat the same foods I always had, just less of it.  I could get away with that because I had so much weight to lose.  I am 5 ft 2 and at the time I joined Weight Watchers, I weighed in at 252 pounds.  Which put me in the morbidly obese category.  As I lost weight, it became harder to continue eating the same foods and continue to lose weight.  Then I began finding foods I could swaps  I wasn't willing to give up anything, but I was willing to swap to regular potato chips for baked chips, 2% milk for skim milk, ice cream for frozen yogurt.  That got me through more of the weight loss.  As I got closer to goal, my weight loss stalled so I started getting more active by walking everyday.  And then eventually I started running.  I was still swapping out foods here and there, but for highly processed, less calorie foods.  But it worked, I got to goal.  I lost 113 pounds.

And then I realized something... I had no concept on how to maintain my weight.  And as much I loved Weight Watchers (and still do), they really don't offer a lot of support when members get to goal.  They give minimal information and then it's up the member to find their way.  Yes, now the meeting were free and I still had the support of the leaders, staff, and other members, but the "materials" were lacking.  So I floundered, I gained, I panicked.  I did not want to gain the weight back.  Not the weight that took me 6 years to lose (what can I say... I'm a slow learner!). 

So after struggling with maintaining my weight for 8 months, I blogged about it on the Weight Watcher site and one of the comments mentioned I should count calories instead of Points (the way Weight Watchers teaches it's members to keep track of their food intake).  She even suggested using the MyFitnessPal.com site to track.  So for several weeks I tracked both calories and points, didn't take me long to see that all the "free" fruits where causing issues, as was a lot of the low Points food.  They may have been low points, but they still had calories.  I switched from Points to counting calories.

And that worked!

.... for a awhile anyway.  Then I noticed I was still struggling with my weight.  I began tracking my calories eaten, calories burned, and sodium levels.  I became frustrated.  I would have weeks were I was over my calories and lose weight.  Weeks where I was at or under my calorie goal and gain weight.  I could find no rhyme or reason for the weight gain or loss. 

I felt like I was losing my mind.

Then I stumbled across the term "clean eating."  Sure, I had heard it before, but never really thought about what it meant.  I was at a point in my weight loss struggle, I was searching for answers.  I started reading, researching, listening podcasts.  And that caused a light bulb moment for me.  I was suddenly aware it wasn't just about the quantity of food I ate, but the quality of food.  And I instead of thinking, "Do I have the calories for this food?"  I should have been thinking, "Do I really need this food and how will it make me feel?"

I went through a phase of clean eating.  I gave up a lot of processed food and started eating more veggies and fruit.  I gave up diet coke (have been free of diet pop since April of 2013).  I felt great and lost the most weight I had since starting this weight loss journey.

That lasted until things in my life made me go back to the one bad habit I have yet to break, emotional eating.  I ate until I had gained back over 15 pounds.  Then once again I panicked.  And began the cycle of being "good" for awhile, losing weight, felt great, then something would happen, hit the emotional eating, gain weight, feel bad, panic, and the cycle would continue. 

Because my biggest fear it gain the 100+ pounds back, I'm always reading, researching and trying new things.  In the spring I because researching the Paleo way of eating (just a slight nudge over from the SANE eating described in Jonathan Bailor's book The Calorie Myth).  Paleo also interested my husband.  So with his support we began transitioning to a Paleo way of eating.  The first week of doing the Practical Paleo Fat Loss, I lost over 6 pounds.  Did great for about a month.... then....

Not sure what happened.  Suddenly I was eating more sugars and grains than I had eaten in months.  And I couldn't seem to stop.  I gained back all the weight I had lost and then some.  And the panic overwhelmed me yet again.

I knew I needed to do something.  I had to make a drastic change.  A friend had told me about the 21 Sugar Detox back in April and it sounded brutal.  Definitely something I wanted to avoid at all costs.  But now I needed it.  I have to break this cycle.  I have to break these sugar cravings.  And if this works, then it will be worth. 

And if it doesn't work... well, then I've spent 21 days eating healthy, whole, natural foods.  So really, no downside to this. 

But then again.... it's only day one...