Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Sweet Tooth

I've come to the official conclusion that I have a problem.
 I'm addicted to sweets.
And because of an idea that I came up with for my mother, sister, and I, they no longer exist in my daily life. At least for six out of the seven days of my week. 

After seeing a friends mom post  to her wall on Facebook about a "get healthy" challenge, I decide to check it out and thought it would be an awesome idea for my mom, younger sister and I to do. We all wanted to get healthy and lose some weight. Not to mention, it was a competition.

If there is one thing my siblings and I inherited from my mother's gene pool it's her competitive spirit. If you're reading this and doubting how competitive a mother and her children can really be with one another, let me give you an example: One family vacation, I taught my mom how to play the card game Spit. During a particularly violent (er, competitive) game, she clawed my hand "by accident" to take the lead, and actually took a chunk of skin out. 

The moral of the story is that my mother is a crazy person (joking mom!) a healthy love of competition is probably just about the only thing that could galvanize the three of us to action for a healthy lifestyle change.

I like this challenge because it's about more than just losing weight. It's about drinking plenty of water, eating lots of fruits and veggies, and encouraging your teammates. Losing weight is sort of a bonus. 

One of the biggest point earners, though, is a little thing called "No sugary snacks/treats"

"Sure," my confident self thought, "whatever. No sweets is no big deal."
Umm, not so much. When the first week points were tallied, I'd managed to go without out sugary treats a whopping one day, and was embarrassingly far behind the crowd in points. 

Not to be outdone, I've taken to the challenge with a new verve and vigor this week, which means absolutely no sugary snacks, except on the one free day we get a week. I'm only 2 days in and I'm already starting to feel it. It's not as if I spend my life cramming donuts in my face and juggling brownies. It's just the little caramel candy I have from a coworkers candy dish. The mini amaretto brownie square for dessert after lunch. Or a few chocolate chips here and there after dinner. Apparently, though, those little sugary treats pack a big punch. 

 I've always known I have a sweet tooth. Heck, I'd just as soon eat a cookie for breakfast as an egg, but I guess I never realized quite how addicted I was. 

I'm actually having withdrawel symptoms! 

Despite the slight shaking (kidding!) and irritable mood coming from my new sugarless lifestyle, I'm actually pretty excited! Clearly, I've been getting a bit too sugar happy, and I think these eight weeks of sweet fasting might be just the thing. 

(and thank God for that free day once a week!)

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