Giving up sugar, sign or fess up here!

[GingerbreadBaubles]

I'm trying to drop the lbs, I'd like to lose 7lbs in a month but long term 2 stone. It's time to give up sugar, I've done it before and felt great. then the call of chocolate buttons got me

So if you're looking to give up sugar sign up here and If you've fallen off the wagon why not confess and start again.

Today was day 1 of no sugar, by 4pm I'd eaten a bar of chocolate.

Will start again tomorrow

Does this include fruit? Because I think I'd be able to do it if it doesn't. Just refined sugar like cakes and chocolate? I want to drop half a stone if I can but have completely stalled at the moment.

I think the no sugar includes fruit for the first few weeks to give your body time to adjust but I believe in little changes first so for me it's giving up chocolate next will be sugar in coffee and tea.

It's bloody hard if you're a sweet toothed person (like me!) but it bloody works. I try to do no processed sugar in the week - so I still eat fruit, but no chocolate, cakes, biscuits, breakfast cereals, sauces or alcohol. At weekends I'll have a slice of cake and a couple of squares of dark chocolate, and some alcohol.

I would say I'm moderately successful! I do sometimes have a chocolate or two if there's loads in the office. Very important not to have chocolate or biscuits or whatever your poison is at home.

I started cutting back on sugar about 2 years ago and I have lost a lost of weight (also did other stuff like increasing exercise and reducing portion size, cut way back on alcohol). The biggest change is in my face - I now have cheekbones, lost my double chin and my face has changed shape. Its the main thing people comment on which I hate but anyway

So it definitely works!

I started the Sarah Wilson IQS plan 9 weeks ago, and hopefully I'll eat this way for the rest of my life!

In that 9 weeks I've lost a stone and a half, health issues have improved, more energy...I love it! Just got to persuade my other half to do it too!

Well done Muffin! Can you give me some ideas of what foods you eat now..I'm bored of dreaming up new stuff already!!

I started making moves towards this today - although really really pathetically small moves. NHS website said max 25g sugar / day for women - so I've been writing down what I eat and the sugar content to get a feel for how much is in what etc. I am not counting fruit, so it is just the sugar content of the more processed things.

So far today:

• Weetabix minis cereal for breakfast - 8.4g (yes I know they need to go )
• Snack a jacks - 0.4g
• Satay chicken sticks - 1.7g
• 2 chocolate digestives - 4.8g x 2

That's 20.1g, and it's only quarter to 2! I was going to have one of those little apple pies after lunch instead of the biscuits but one pie has 16.something grams of sugar in. Horrendous.

I'm thinking I just need to stop cold turkey rather than trying to stick under the limit. I'm a healthy weight so I am not doing this for weight loss purposes - just want to see if it will help my skin, energy levels and mood.

Would love some food ideas too...

I've given up sugar twice in the last couple of months. It's always hell for a week and then it starts getting easier. And then I think I'll be able to have just one jaffa cake and BOOM. It all goes to shit again.

My 2 chocolate digestives haven't really benefited me, just given me very intense cravings to get up and get some more. If they were in the same room as me, I would have eaten more by now (thank goodness for my laziness overriding my desire for sugar on this occasion).

I feel very hungry despite everything I have eaten. It has shown me how I rely on sugary things to get me through between meals. Need to either make meals more filling, or find some filling snacks.

Gingerbread, for example today I've had mashed avocado on sourdough toast, lunch will be salad comprised of leftover roast chicken, bacon, avocado, lettuce and cherry tomatoes, and dinner is nachos...with those there's grated courgette and spinach added to the mince to bulk them out with veggies, then served with homemade guacamole and salad.

The main swaps are sourdough for normal bread (not entirely sure why!), sweet potatoes for white potatoes, courgette noodles instead of spaghetti, and cauliflower rice instead of rice (although you can have a small portion of rice occasionally).

You definitely have to like avocadoes, they are used quite a lot! Basic principle is make everything from scratch, pretty much nothing from a packet/jar at all. Try and eat things that have 4g or less sugar per 100g.

Barbidou if you can, definitely try and go cold turkey, even with artificial sweeteners as well...once you've had a few weeks without them everything tastes so different, almost too sweet!

I 100% need to do this. I am horribly addicted.

I don't even like the taste anymore, nothing tastes satisfying, it just burns my tongue and gives me a headache but it's like my body is on autopilot reaching for it every bloody five minutes.

I cut processed sugar out and increased my water intake for about 5 days the other week and my skin cleared up no end.

I will look up the Sarah Wilson programme, I just hope I can actually do it.