It is day 4 of my no bread, no pasta March challenge. I have been stalwart and true so far, but I'm beginning to rethink my decision for this month's challenge. I'm wondering if there is honestly any point. I'm keeping myself on so strict a diet right now that all this month's challenge really means is that I can't eat any of the (presumably) yummy goulash Steve made with ground turkey, that has been sitting in the fridge taunting me all week. And it means no tuna fish sandwhiches for dinner, which is a shame because they are quite filling and full of protein. Other than that, there's really no difference between me not allowing myself any bread or pasta this month and me sticking to my regularily scheduled diet.

In retrospect I realize that this is the sort of challenge I should have given myself in any of the final months of 2010, when I threw carb and calorie caution to the wind and went hells bells for instant food gratification. That's when it would have actually made a difference. Now it just seems really annoying. Not because I have to avoid the bread and pasta, but because I have to remember to avoid the bread and pasta. At a time when I'm already busy remembering to measure how many cups of steamed broccoli I'm eating, to chug the water before and after every meal and to log in my spreadsheet every calorie I have consumed today, I have just added one more thing to remember. I've broken myself of the habit of sitting down to a snack of two pieces of toast with butter and jam - that's not an issue now. Now the issue it remembering not to eat the piece of crust I cut off of the toast I make for Maron.

I am now looking forward to my weigh-in on Monday. I'm interested to see if there will be any notable difference on the scale.

28 Days Later...

So today marks day 28 of no alcohol whatsoever. I'm very proud of myself, and I'm even more proud of Steve, who did this challenge with me.

I have to say that, for me at least, it was fairly easy. Having had two children in fairly quick succession, going without alcohol is something I know well. The only time I really miss it at all is on the weekend. And not just because I like to drink, but because I feel like I should drink on the weekends. In my mind in't like "Hey! We made it through another week, let's celebrate! Pass me another beer honey!" But that's just an excuse. Waking up on a Saturday isn't a reason to celebrate. Not with beer, at least.

What it all boils down to is this: I'm glad that I went the month without alcohol, and I will likely continue to not drink alcohol. I don't like the waste of money, I don't like the inevitable morning after headache that comes from getting older and losing the 'party animal' gusto, and I certainly don't like the mass of calories that come along with it all. I have lofty weight loss goals this year, and I work too damn hard during the week just to throw it (progress) all away on the weekends. I lost 7 lbs in the last 28 days, and not spending the weekends chugging beers was a big part of that.

Tomorrow starts the March 2011 Challenge, which is no bread and no pasta (excluding the noodles in Progresso canned soups). I love bread. I have always loved bread, and I will always love bread. I am hoping that a month without it will help take my weight loss to the next level, as well as give me a greater sense of appreciation and moderation for all things bread and pasta. No sandwhiches, no toast with jam, no spaghetti, no mac & cheese... *sigh* I think March might actually be the death of me.

It's the final countdown...

Here I am, on the 2nd to the last day of January. As of midnight tomorrow I will have gone the entire month without sweets. No candy, no cookies, no chocolate... It's been a long month, to say the least.

I wish I could sit here and tell you that a month without treats has cured me of my massive sweet tooth. I want to tell you that my heart no longer races when I walk down the candy isle at the store. That the thought of a package of Oreos means nothing to me now. I want to tell you those things, but it would be a lie. And lying is wrong. The truth is that I want chocolate just as much now as I did 30 days ago.

Only time will tell whether or not this month off from chocolate has instilled in me a sense of moderation when it comes to the sweeter things in life. I think, for the most part, that I'm going to have to go forth into the remainder of this year with a 'Just Say No' attitude when it comes to sweets. Not to say that I'll never have anything, just that from now on a treat is going to have to be just that - a treat. I can no longer hold shelf space in my freezer for a pint of ice cream. Because if the ice cream is there, eventually I will eat it. Sweets are going to have to be reserved for special occasions.

The biggest thing I have going for me right now is my diet. I have lost 10 lbs this month, and it shows. My fat girl jeans are fairly loose on me now, and my not-as-fat girl jeans almost fit. I don't have to struggle to pull them on and zip them up, whereas at the end of December I did. I'm feeling really good about myself these days. I keep my diet very regimented during the week and that is going to be my best defense against all things sugary and sweet. My next 2011 challenge is coming up. February is the NO BOOZE month. I'm terrified of trying to go a whole month without a drop of alcohol, but I'm also excited to see how it will affect my weight loss goal, since I won't be spending my weekends throwing away the week's hard work on beer.

Longest Month EVER

So for those of you who don't know, as part of my 2011 weight loss plan, I decided that I would give myself one challenge for every month of this year. For one month, I will stop eating/drinking/doing something I do but shouldn't or start eating/drinking/doing something I should but don't. Each month is a new challenge to take place for the length of that month only. Should I continue a trend past the end of the month it will be entirely optional. The goal of all this is to relearn the concept of moderation. Here is a brief history on the origin of this challenge:

When I was younger (18 or 19) I used to drink pop all the time. No, really, ALL THE TIME. I was addicted. I couldn't go to sleep at night unless I drank a Pepsi before bed. So one day I decided that I didn't want to be addicted to pop and that I was going to give it up entirely for one month, just to see if I could do it. It was a very hard thing to do, particularily since I was working at a movie theater at the time and pop and popcorn were the only things employees got for free. But I did it anyway. And by the time a month had passed I not only broke myself of my crazy need for pop, but I'd also lost 20 lbs. Yes, I drank THAT much pop.

In the case of the pop challenge I felt (and looked) so good after a month without it that it was almost a year before I drank any pop. But once I did start imbibing it again, I was able to do it with a sense of moderation. It is with that idea in mind that I go forth into this year of challenges.

So what's the first challenge, you ask? I'm glad you asked. For the month of January 2011 I am cutting out all sweets and treats. No candy, cookies, chocolate, etc. Anything that is even remotely dessert like is out of the question. I'm not even allowing myself hot cocoa. So far I am 10 days into this challenge and they have been the 10 LONGEST days of my LIFE!! I WANT CHOCOLATE!!! I WANT COOKIES!! But I haven't had anything. Not so much as a Jelly Belly, which my husband left half a package of lying on the bookshelf since Christmas. I finally reminded him of them this weekend so he would eat the damn things and remove the temptation. I thought about doing the same thing with the partial package of candy corn, the bag of mini-marshmallows (perfect for the hot cocoa I'm not drinking) and the giant bag of chocolate chips in the cupboard. But that doesn't really teach self control, does it? So I have said nothing, and continue to look at the fist-sized bag of candy corn that is all that remains from Halloween, telling myself that I am stronger than my desire for sugar. I don't even like candy corn, but that is how badly I am jonesing for sweets right now.

For those of you wondering what other challenges 2011 has in store for me, here is the schedule I have come up with so far...
January - No Sweets
February - No Alcohol
March - No Bread or Pasta
I have nothing planned out beyong March, because I think that trying to go for a month without bread or pasta (not counting the noodles in my Progresso Light) of any kind might actually kill me.

So does anyone out there have any ideas of what would be good future challenges? Assuming I live to see April 1st that is...