Tomorrow I quit sugar

[OuchBollocks]

I am OuchBollocks and I am a sugar addict. Not for me one square a day or a frozen curly wurly to take the edge off, no. I have it, I eat it, I want it more.

Last year I quit sugar for New Year, and stayed off minus one or two teeny slips until I got pregnant with DS, then being off alcohol and caffeine combined with the summer heat made the lure of a cold Fanta too hard to resist. Then I broke my leg and was bed bound and in pain and people brought chocolate to the hospital, and the meals all came with dessert, and then I had DS and more chocolate, then Easter and more chocolate, and although I've managed to drop a dress size so far with the 5:2 diet I need to jack in the white stuff. I am going to Ibiza in September '18 and I want to feel confident.

God help me,it's going to be hard. The rules are:
No sweet drinks, including artificial sweeteners
No chocolate, sweets, icecream, cake, sorbets, pastries, jam, marmalade etc etc
No crisps
Read labels of sauces carefully to check sugar levels.

I will update this thread for my own personal records. I am going to kiss sugar goodbye with the slice of cheesecake that is waiting for me after dinner. Goodbye sugar, it's been fun :(

I would like to start a sugar free diet too as I'm a major chocolate addict and need to shift about a stone. Sweets and cakes at work are definitely my biggest downfall as we don't have much sweet stuff at home. I tend not to buy it or I'll eat it!

My DH has type 1 diabetes and is really strict with it, so has no sugar at all unless he's having a hypo - which isn't often. He says that when you don't have sugar for so long you almost forget what it tastes like and don't miss it at all, so here's hoping!

As someone said earlier cereals are really bad for sugar, so he eats either porridge made with plain oats, corn flakes or rice crispies. He says anything over 6g of sugar per 100g is high if that help.

OvercomeByGravity your post had paragraphs on my phone! Oh my goodness, I really feel for you having to cook for 6. 4 (or 5 when 17yo stepson is here) is bad enough. Funnily enough peas and sweetcorn are detested by everyone but me! The kids used to eat them, and I'm hoping they're still young enough for them to change their minds again. I love my veg, so usually pile it on my plate anyway (well, I used to, have slipped with it recently).

rosea19 that post was really helpful, thanks. Looks like I'll have to stick to Weetabix (4.4g) or Ready Brek (1.0g) for breakfast. Will miss my crunch! Have a brand-new box of Lidl bran flakes in the cupboard (I think they have something like 14g) which no-one else will eat. Perhaps I'll save those as a once-a-week treat, and get corn flakes next time.

My Mum had type 1 diabetes from age 30 to when she died aged 60, so I grew up with her injecting and having hypos (she drank too much and didn't look after herself/manage it properly).

Bummer you always have sweet stuff floating around at work. I'd find that hard to resist too! (Am a SAHM so boredom biscuit eating is a regular occurance here).

May i have a medal for turning down the fondant facies please? I feel like I deserve one!

So, in the interests of accountability I would like to lose 7-9 lbs in 5 weeks when I go on holiday. I'm hoping to swerve added sugar despite my wedding anniversary and three dinner parties which is going to be the real test. Plus a work thing where there will also be cake. God, why do celebrations involve so much sugar!

Please may I join?
I am Plum100. I am a sugar addict. I will eat a 4 pack is snickers and a pack of focus vienesse fingers in one hit with two cups of tea with two sugars. [. I know this is disgusting. My whole diet revolves around sugar, I need to be realistic and start with cutting out the junk food first before going on for fruits etc. Please could people post what they have been eating for mealtimes so I can get some ideas ? I normally eat crap but if I do eat a lunch it will be a ham sandwich , choc bar and crisps- wrong wrong wrong,
Well done everyone you are an inspiration !!!!

msrisotto 🎖 (hope that worked). Awesome willpower.

I'd like to lose 6lbs in 6 weeks, when I go away for a girly weekend. It is that stubborn "last half a stone". Have never really cut right down on sugar before tho. Fat, Yes, done Slimming World, yes. So maybe this change will make a difference. I too have an anniversary night away/meal, and various birthday parties to get through in next few weeks. We can do this!

plum100 welcome! My meals are generally:

B: cereal. See above post for low-sugar varieties.
Snack: fruit (I too am not ready to give up whole fresh fruit. I won't be having fruit juice or dried fruit tho).
Lunch: Omelette with whatever is in the bottom of the fridge/ham/sprinkle of cheese. If we are out and having a picnic I'll make a couscous salad. Must remember to get some feta and beetroot which are lovely with it.
Dinner: Chicken or prawn stir fry, chicken salad, spag bol (will switch my pasta to brown), curries, or fish with potatoes and veg. I'm going to up my veg intake. I find those steam-fresh frozen mixed veg pouches handy, esp as they're individual portions.

Good luck ditching the junk - you've got this!

Thanks Rogue

plum - it takes a bit of planning and prep, but I really like these DIY pot noodles for a work lunch. The Sesame-Miso pot noodle with miso paste from Waitrose is perfect. There's also Chorizo and tomato pot noodles by River Cottage and more pot noodle recipes here. I think bullion is the American word for stock cubes/paste by the way.

Thank you- someone up thread said anything more then 4g sugar in 100g is high - where do I find that info please?

Not sure. A previous poster not far up thread says her diabetic dh says anything more than 6g per 100g of sugar is classed as high. I'd be tempted to go with that figure

Ah yes that was it - just bot sure where on the box I see that info - is it fat that sugars?

I'm looking at the 'carbohydrates...of which sugars bit. Think that's right?!

Just had a look on the nhs website which says under 5g per 100g is classed as low...

nhs sugar page

OvercomeByGravity well done for exercising on holiday! When do you come home? (Assuming you live in UK for some reason). I'm not ready to give up wine yet either! Red has to be better than white, right?

Hello Ouchbollocks no advice because I'm terrible with sugar. But just wanted to say I remember your thread when you were going through a very tough time in hospital! Hope your leg is ok now! Congratulations in dropping a dress size with all that going on, plus pregnancy and birth!. Good luck with the sugar purge!

carbohydrates...of which sugars bit. Think that's right?!

Yep- that's right, because not all carbs are sugars. e.g. white rice contains basically no sugar but is a carb.

Pretty good weekend for me:

Yesterday

B: half an avocado on brown toast
L: seabass steamed in chilli and lime with brown rice and Asian greens
D: Peking duck, plus shared 5/6 Chinese dishes between 8 of us.
Did have 2 Gin & slimline Tonics and 1 glass of wine.

Today

B: soy latte (wasn't v hungry and got up late- thanks DH)
L: Mixed salad (5/6 different salad vegetables with feta cheese and a few hazelnuts
S: banana and another soy latte
D: Poke bowl with tuna and Korean fire sauce- YUM!

So sticking to my "curb the obvious culprits" principle and only drinking once a week and in moderation. Busy week at work next week so that will be the test as I am a major stress induced sugar muncher- it's like I try to drown the panic under a heap of chocolate.

Hello Brownsauceandsausages, thank you for remembering me! Thank you for the congratulations and luck too. Sadly my ankle is long term buggered, the bones are fine but the nerves and one particular tendon are in a right old state. It's a long slow road to recovery. I have physio every week, 50/50 private and NHS, which helps. Funny enough I had brown sauce and (veggie) sausages for breakfast this morning :)

We will be having roast pork with all the trimmings for lunch. I don't know if I'll want dinner as lunch will be late. DH will be having jam roly poly and custard for dessert bastard

Oh noOuch so sorry to hear about your leg; you really have been through the mill. Sounds as though you are dealing with things really positively though (just like you did in hospital which is what struck me about the thread at the time) humour in the face of adversity and all of that. You may have inspired me enough to forego my afternoon pastry now in solidarity (also abroad at the moment) . Pastries here are to die for. Outraged at your dh's jam roly poly eating though!! . How dare he?

Thanks Overcome it has to be done unfortunately. I wouldn't mind if I was maintaining my weight so much but it is gradually creeping up. The fruit is great at this time etc of year though isn't it? . Don't have Ouch's determination to go cold turkey but definitely going to make a few changes and cut down gradually.

Also, I've come to realise this holiday that I don't have to eat a whole ice cream or cake to enjoy it, a small helping is sufficient. I know that doesn't help with the addiction aspect though.

Hello everyone, I've come to join in, please. what a great thread!

I am a baker, and a coffee shop manager, and live in an ocean of cake. Groan. I also have a heap of weight to lose, surprise surprise

Last weekend I decided to start a 100 day healthy lifestyle challenge: change my eating habits, exercise habits, the way i use (waste) time, even financial habits over the next 100 days. Every week I'm going to add a mini challenge in each category, so I'm making manageable changes which I hope will stick.

So last Sunday I weighed myself - next weigh day is November 14th. I can get obsessed with the scales so am hoping this avoids that trap.
Last week, my diet changes were: only eat 3 times a day at a mealtime; cut out added sugar.
This week: cut down sugar more - so I thought I'd still have fresh fruit, and an occasional small fruit juice, but nothing else. Also this week: eat fruit or veg at every meal.

Will look for 5% or less sugar in foods now, and will have a go at those delicious looking homemade pot noodles, thank you
msrisotto for that great link.

Hope everyone is getting on well this weekend.

Wow this thread is filling up! It's certainly helping me have some accountability.

Been at a spa all day today, ate well but didn't really choose stuff that was particularly low sugar, just what I wanted to eat. However, I did have a cheeky weigh in this morning, lost 4lbs so far!! Not sure if that's cutting down in sugar, being more active or a bit of both, pleased with it though!

Hope you're all having good weekends!!

Reasonforwaiting you've quite a challenge, surrounded by cakes and pastries! They're not good.

Be aware that you might not lose lbs at first - when I first started in January I didn't lose anything for the first month, but I did lose a good inch off my waist, legs and arms, so was encouraged enough to keep going. It's definitely been more of an inch loss than lb loss in general. I'm now down 22lbs (was 26lbs prior to my 5 weeks off the rails, but I will get it off again!) but I'm down two dress sizes.

My advice would be write everything you eat down, good and bad. I have a page per day diary for my food, I also keep a graph of weight loss. Some weeks you won't lose, others you will. Overall my weight loss graph averages 1lb a week, which over a year is 52lbs or 3.7 stones..

PS, I don't rate the "3 meals only" diets. If you're genuinely hungry have something, just make it something healthy. I think you have to move right away from diets with rules or strictness, you just need to move towards a good relationship with healthy food. I'm cabin crew and came have some ridiculously long days, and when doing weight watchers or something I'd be way over my points and beating myself up. Now I don't. I just try and eat something healthy rather than biscuits or chocolate (which I'd eat loads of).