The Switch

It's interesting to think about the last few weeks. They have been completely different than any two weeks in my entire life. It's been a snowball effect since I declared my goal of giving up sweets but once per week or once per month. The middle of December is almost here and I've only had one sweet this month. However, I've decided to let myself have a sweet each week in order to be more realistic in attaining my goal.

I mentioned interesting above but surprising might be a better word. I'm in the midst of what I call, "Mandy experiments" where I put myself through some sort of test in order to see what ramifications take place. Here's what I've learned this far:

1. I had many moments over the last few weeks where I questioned myself as to why I would ever want to give up sweets. Many instances where I was so mad at myself for publicly saying I would do this.
2. There seems to be a detox period. Last week was HELL. It was so hard to limit my sweets to practically nothing when I was used to eating them every single day.
3. The Key: We have absolutely no sweets in our house. My husband brought home a giant cookie for our son and it about killed me. I wanted so badly to gobble it up in one bite. However he reminded me that if I ate it, I would be taking from our son...nice Aaron!
4. It's all a mental game. I am stubborn enough that I will do this all of next year. Too many people have told me I can't do it (which just pushes me more to prove them wrong). I have mental checks through most every day-keeping my brain on the right track.
5. Sweets has been great for weight loss. I've been trying to get past a certain weight, you know where you're just stuck. Well giving up sweets 99% of the time helps with weight loss. Go figure! For my last 3 weigh-ins I've hit the same number, the number I haven't been able to hit when even training for a marathon.
6. There are easy weeks. This week hasn't been too bad and my theory is because my brain knows sweets aren't even an option. It's much easier when there aren't as many options.
7. There is this thing called a switch. It's when you're sick of being sick-and-tired. I think that's the point I've hit. I'm sick of giving my body crap just for my temporary pleasure. I want more....more out of life and more out of my body. I know if I feed it well it will give me more of what I want, energy and feel good. Treating my body right is a must as it does so much for me. I understand it's easy to take for granted....until it stops doing what you want it to do.