Sugar pie, honey bunch...

On another personal note. For those of you who read Dan’s blog West Coast Grid you may remember him posting about the exercise regime the guys are on. I started doing the sit-ups and push-ups, got sick, and never started back up again. But I did make some changes and the effects are visible.

I am over-weight. Not a lot but enough that I was unable to fit into my nice clothing and to not like what I was seeing. I knew it was time for a change and exercise just wasn’t going to be enough. I started by not eating ice cream anymore. I was a two gallon a week gal. Breyer’s Mint Chocolate Chip - thank you very much.

So the first thing that went was the ice cream. But I would have wicked cravings that were driving me mad. During this time I discovered that if I had a mocha in the morning I often didn’t have any sugar cravings later in the day. So the first change to my diet was to remove the after 9pm ice cream and add the morning mocha. This was great and worked really well.

I then decided that it was time to say goodbye to the mocha calories as well. I first started by switching from Starbucks to Jenny’s. I figured Jenny’s mocha had few calories than Starbucks and they were definitely smaller. This went on for a few weeks and then it was time to let go all the way. During the week of my caffeine withdrawal I had the most painful headaches ever. That was a tough week and I almost didn’t make it. I had a headache at work one afternoon that was so bad that I couldn’t see. John suggested a diet Coke to take the edge off and it was that one soda that got me over the caffeine hump.

I’m now mostly off sugar products and I’ve lost about an inch all the way around. I feel better physically although I haven’t found anything yet to replace the "comfort" that the food provided. I’m going to stick with what I’m doing for at least a month or so and then see about adding exercise back to the mix, but for now I’ve found that by approaching dieting systematically things are looking good. I had read someplace that if you can do something for two months or so then it becomes a habit. That’s what I’m working toward. Replacing bad habits with good ones, one day at a time.