Giving up sugar for January, maybe longer

[GrumpyOldBag]

I have decided to try giving up sugar.

Anyone else tried this?

I am going to continue eating fresh fruit, but not dried or juice.

No processed foods containing sugar.

And obviously no fizzy drinks - but don't drink those anyway.

Anyone tried doing this? Can I have honey on my porridge?

I think dry wine & vodka OK?

Anyone got any advice to share? Thanks

hi day 2 horrible buckwheat pancakes and almond butter for breakfast filling but taste yuck, hopefully taste buds will adjust. I find licquorice and peppermint tea lovely and sweet, thankyou for suggestions I'll try other teas and brushing teeth. normally all good till 7 pm then grazing begins handfuls of cereal, any sweet biscuit, Nutella spoonfuls of, family sized bars of choc! uuurgh easy to see where two stone has come from. how is everyone else doing today? xxxx

I'm going to join too please! I actually asked if people had done this on chat and got a few responses and then I remembered about the weight loss section so thought I'd check here! It's great to hear so many success stories. I'll seriously trying to cut down..it's getting ridiculous! Today I've been ok. I'll admit though I'm not giving up fruit and bread etc... just chocolates, biscuits, cake etc.. so I've just had an orange. I'm also trying to cut caffeine down. I don't like fruit teas but I am going to try and get into them!

I don't like fruit teas, but the herbal ones I enjoy are fennel, peppermint and 'sleepy time.'

Oh gosh I didn't know there was a difference 🙈 I've got a lot to learn! I had a peppermint tea today and kind of liked it!

I will join the thread too if that's okay. I have been zero added sugar since Monday and have also eliminated artificial sweeteners, crisps and alcohol. I am reducing but not eliminating other carbs. So far no carbs (except a piece of fruit) at lunchtime and reduced portion at dinner.

My plan is to main

hello ladies, I am craving like hell, awful pmt and sugar cravings are horrendous. I'm full not hungry but just want to eat crap. shows me how much of it is an addiction rather than being hungry at all. stopped all diet drinks too as they are meant to play havoc with blood sugar.

how is everyone else getting on today? xx

I was actually homicidal on Days 2-4 user , it's a normal side effect I think! Stay strong! It gets easier. Try to do something to take your mind off eating, the more you think about sugar, the more you miss it and it turns into a bigger deal.

Buckwheat pancakes are not my favourite, can you put a tablespoon of raw cacao powder into the mix? That's what I've been doing with my peanut butter porridge in the morning. It makes a difference.

Hi there - good luck to all the new people on this thread - hopefully we can all motivate each other through this. I am on day 14 of no sugar now, and only found the last two days the worst of all! I got a splitting headache for day 1&2 but actually didn't want to eat sugar. And I think I've cruised this far with so much sugar still in my system that only the last few days my body actually craved it like crazy. Last night was the worst. I was stuffed full of as much fat as I could handle (double cream, salmon, Parmesan cheese, nuts, fried sweet potato chunks) but my body was going crazy for sugar.
I managed to stave it off with liquorice tea, and going to bed early, but woke up feeling exactly the same. I made a calculated decision to sprinkle a bit of Jordan's oat crunch on top of my porridge oats, to give myself a bit of sugar (but still not eat a biscuit or cake etc)
Well it worked as in it satisfied my craving for the rest of the day. But even that small amount of sugar had a noticeable effect on me:

• the rest of my food didn't taste so good as the sugar was overriding everything
• I felt anxious and stressed about the day ahead, and minor problems within a matter of minutes after eating it. Whereas what I've been enjoying most about having given up sugar is the feeling of being clear-headed and in control.

I hope I can keep my motivation up, and not slip back into not caring, as I have felt better than I would have imagined over the last two weeks.

One major downside is that I have put on weight and have a really big stomach! I've been eating soo much fat! Plus not done any exercise or anything. I'm hoping it will even itself out soon.

thepennyshop I have found the later days worst. The first few sailed by and I was evangelical about it. From day 11 I started to struggle and day 12-14 were awful. I have also got a sore throat and a cough which hasn't helped. I am powering on through!

Can I join you. I'm on about day 12 too and so glad I've found this thread.

I just feel a bit empty! Not as in hungry but a bit lost and confused. It sounds ridiculous I know but I just don't quite know what to do with myself.

I'm so used to rewarding/comforting myself with cakes/biscuits/toast I feel at a loss.

I'm really pleased. After not losing anything last week, I'm down 3.5lbs this week. That puts me at 11s 6lbs and exactly one stone overweight. I'm now down 13 pounds since 22 Dec.

I did, however, measure my waist earlier this week and OMFG, I need to dust off my bike this weekend and get cycling again!!

I have two weeks left of absolutely no biscuits, desserts, chocolates etc and then I'm going to switch to a small treat each Saturday evening. Hopefully after 6 weeks of no junk, I'll be able to manage that and no more.

I lost 2lbs this week. So 10lbs in total. I'm happy. I actually thought about chocolate today and didn't fancy it. It just looks plastic and greasy to me.

I still fancy sweet stuff. I'm not craving it, but I was thinking about a jam donut the other day and how nice it would taste. I want to get down to 9.5s so sadly no jam donuts in the near future.

Fabulous results ladies, really inspiring. I smashed my scales, threw them out the window! So am going by inches. Started this on tues so no difference yet but hopeful, recording on mfp and trying to do shred. I am a sz14 was a ten until sept then been ill, sedentary and mainlined dairy milk.

Want to be able to fit into my normal clothes. Cravings really bad in evening. Xx

Well done you lot! It's really nice to hear of your successes as I remained the same this week as last which is a smidge disappointing but I won't let it put me off.

Good on you for smashing the scales Coconut I feel like doing the same, I put on 4lb in my first week of no sugar. I feel slimmer, and my cellulite is noticeably better, so I'm telling myself the weight gain was all the toxins of a thousand galaxy bars bring released from my fat cells...

Well done everyone that's done it for a while now. I'm only on day three, it's going ok so far. I'm starting with just cutting out snacks and processed, bought foods (I am a chocoholic/biscuit fiend). I'm still having you fruit and fibre for breakfast this week until it runs out, but have my bag of oats ready for porridge next week! I've tried a few new recipes this week, and enjoyed them, which actually surprised me (even more so that my husband did too!). I've tried cutting down on coffee a bit too, drinking herbal teas at night. My favourites are lemon and ginger, chamomile (especially chamomile and honey, but guess that one will have to go?) and peppermint. I find the posh ones with visible herbs in the triangular bags are much tastier to.

I'd be interested what type of things you're eating?

For breakfast I have porridge with cinnamon and banana.

For lunch this week I've had cream cheese and smoked salmon on rye toast, steak and salad (in a pub!).

Dinners of roast chicken and roasted veg, chicken Fajitas with wholemeal wraps, chilli con carne.

well done all. I'm a few pounds lighter & jeans a little looser round the waist since starting this.

I didn't consume a massive amount of sugar to start with so no withdrawal symptoms, but still have cravings for the dc's sweet stuff. Made them a batch of chocolate chip cookies this weekend and managed not to lick the bowl or sample them myself which is good going.

Once you start to see the results & lose a bit of weight I find it's quite motivational.

I'm going a bit mad trying out new recipes. I'm home all day and love to cook so I'm taking full advantage. Fussy DD is horrified but DS and DH are delighted.

Yesterday I had:

Breakfast- scrambled eggs with goats cheese, caramelised onion and toast.

Lunch- I had leftover dinner from Friday which was Chinese five spice pork shoulder with peach salsa (peaches, spring onion, cherry tomatoes and lime juice) and cornbread.

Dinner- steak and blue cheese puff pastry "pizza". I just had the pizza with salad while everyone else had potato wedges with the pizza.

For breakfasts I'm having a lot of porridge combinations- think my favourite is cinnamon, banana and walnuts. I have a leftover peach from Friday and some goats cheese so tomorrow I'm going to grill the peach halves with the goats cheese and drizzle blueberry vinegar over it.

I hadn't thought of cinnamon in porridge, sounds good, I will try that.

We had a salad lentil, sautéed sprout and red onion, added to lettuce, cherry toms and sugar snap peas, mixed in with a dressing of a lemon squeezed added to a teaspoon of honey and a teaspoon of olive oil. It was a recipe I ripped out of the Daily Fail and it was gorgeous and really filling. We had a few homemade potato wedges too. Tonight is a pasta bake, Tom and veg based, with grated cheese and brown breadcrumbs on top.

My real challenge starts tomorrow, I'm an air stewardess and am flying tomorrow, away until Weds, so not so in control of what I'm eating..

Should say salad of lentil...

I'd like to join you.

At the start of the mo th I had some blood tests which showed pre-diabetes and Non alcoholic fatty liver.

The read The 8 week blood sugar diet and decided that I really needed to go sugar free for my health.
I cut sugar and refined carbs 2 weeks tomorrow. I already feel much more energetic and am not really craving sweet things - except yesterday when I had a freshly baked banana bread on the dinner table in front of me!
I hope to get healthy and lose weight. I have already lost 6lbs so am very pleased with how it's going but have a long way to go.

That's brilliant. Welcome to the group.

I've only been doing it a few days but I had a realisation tonight, I've not had to take a Rennie for a few days either, whereas I've taken them almost daily for indigestion over the last few months.

Wow well done ASD!

YES honeyroar, I have a lot less discomfort when I'm eating better.