Since so many of us have enjoyed incredible success cutting out the "sweet" in our diet since November 2008, this thread is dedicated to anyone who wants to challenge themselves go without anything sweet for 30 days. This includes sugar and high fructose corn syrup, of course, but also any sweeteners and sugar alternatives at all (including stevia). It also means no natural sugar sources either like from berries and melons. This takes a commitment, but you can see phenomenal results if you try this.

Here's a blog post about it:
http://livinlavidalowcarb.com/blog/?p=2841

And I did a couple of YouTube videos in December, too:
http://livinlavidalowcarb.com/blog/?p=3019
http://livinlavidalowcarb.com/blog/?p=3072

In just two months, my weight has fallen 25 pounds simply by cutting out the taste of "sweet" in my diet. AMAZING! Join us on the journey!

Jimmy Moore

(11-29-2008 01:55 PM)Hogsfan Wrote:  New challenge = New thread.

Best of luck everybody!

Count me in Justin! Day 2 and counting...

I figured you would be the first to respond.

This is day 2 for me as well. I lost 2.2 pounds yesterday, but that's Thanksgiving weight. I decided to eat whatever for Thanksgiving day. I didn't exactly pig out and I even walked 3 miles before dinner but I still managed to put on 4.4 pounds. Gotta love it.

Out of curiosity, did you end up gaining any weight over Thanksgiving when you had the SF sweets? If pulling them out of your diet helped you lose weight, I'm wondering if treating yourself may have caused you to gain any?

Count me in. My primary focus is continuing to not use Splenda or any other artificial sweetners. Today will be my first day as I had a Pepsi Max yesterday. It was interesting that after 1 glass of it, I knew I was so totally over it. It just didn't taste good. It was like drinking a bottle of chemicals.

The one 'sweet' that I would say I'm not 100% willing to give up is Lindt 85% noir chocolate. There is a part of me (maybe in denial?) that doesn't want to consider this a 'sweet' and wants to hang onto this item for occasional consumption. I guess I'll have to work this out for myself when the desire to eat it comes up over the next month. I perhaps have 1 square per week on average. Small enough quantity to give up - yes. Small enough quantity to continue having - yes. Decisions, decisions!

I don't know if not using artificial sweetner has assisted with any weight removal, but I do know that I haven't had heartburn since I stopped consuming it. And, it was quite apparent also. One day I was popping Rennie tablets a couple times a day after my Splenda sweetened tea and the next, no Rennie needed. Same thing with whipping cream. Oh I wish I could consume it - but it results in instant heartburn!

Good luck everyone!

(11-29-2008 04:41 PM)KrisR Wrote:  The one 'sweet' that I would say I'm not 100% willing to give up is Lindt 85% noir chocolate.

Count me in too.
Like Kris I have a square of 85% Lindt once a week. But I'll give that a miss, along with artificial sweeteners until Christmas.
Am I still allowed some berries??????

Yeeehaaa here we go!

Anne

I am in starting Monday, 1 DEC!

Burt

Justin, you're lucky that you only gained 2 pounds from eating off plan on Thanksgiving. I gained 1 1/2 pounds and I ate strictly low carb. I put it down to eating so much food so late in the evening. I don't normally eat that late (close to 7:00 pm). Plus I had a huge piece of Pumpkin Bake with whipped cream around 8:00. The extra weight was gone again this morning.

Actually Linda, I gained 4.6 pounds. I've found I gain at least 4 pounds of water weight ANY time I eat off plan. It doesn't matter whether I eat a big meal or a small meal.

carbs in me = 4 pounds on me.

It usually comes off in next 3 days though. That used to really freak me out till I figured out it was all water. I remember many conversations with my wife where I was like "How the heck did I gain 4 pounds eating one order of french fries?!? There's only 500 calories in fries! How did that translate into 14,000 calories on the scale?!?! Ah!"

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(11-29-2008 04:47 PM)Kiwigal Wrote:  

(11-29-2008 04:41 PM)KrisR Wrote:  The one 'sweet' that I would say I'm not 100% willing to give up is Lindt 85% noir chocolate.

Count me in too.
Like Kris I have a square of 85% Lindt once a week. But I'll give that a miss, along with artificial sweeteners until Christmas.
Am I still allowed some berries??????

Yeeehaaa here we go!

Anne

The original challenge was only (and entirely) about giving up anything that tastes sweet to test whether the sweet flavor in the mouth is effecting weight loss, but the conversation has more or less morphed into three different things: sweets in general, artificial sweeteners in particular and/or low carb “products” in general (which may or may not taste sweet).

For me personally, I’ve wondered about how all these things have been affecting me so I’m going to test giving them all up. Plus, it made a huge impression on me that only one of us finished the challenge last time (go Moonius!) so I’m also doing this to prove to myself that I’m not addicted to sweets (or perhaps, to find out that I am )

As far as berries and chocolate go, I think it’s up to you guys. Remember though, if you start today, we are only talking about 26 days for the entire challenge. You could stand on your head that long if you had to so you might as well make it count.

At think at the end of this, we will all be better off because we’ll be turning a part of the year where most people gain weight into a challenge where we might just lose some weight.

Good luck everybody!

ok, ok, you've convinced me! Lindt Chocolate is on the no-go list for the next 26 days. AND, instead of the dusting of chocolate on my cappo each morning, I'll switch to cinnamon. (Help me Santa!)

However, I REFUSE to stand on my head for the next 26 days. (teehee) I must draw the line somewhere.

Cheers everyone!

I'm starting my second sweet-free attempt on Monday, December 1 and I'm gonna try to make it to Wednesday, December 31.

Awesome Jimmy. Good luck! Hopefully that car of yours will hold together this time.

Jimmy, that's very ambitious of you to try to do Christmas without any sweet treats. I'll be cheering you on. Will you also be giving up wraps, bread and low carb pasta as Justin has suggested?

OK. So this is Day 3 for me. I'm down another half a pound. So far, I've not found it too difficult to give up sweets or products. It helped that there was enough really good food around yesterday.

Yesterday our meals consisted of bbq spare ribs, grilled pork fajita salad, and prime grade NY strip steak with fresh zuchini covered in melted cheese. I mean seriously, why the crap would I have an Atkins shake on a day like that?

I think the major reason I reach for junk food is convenience more than anything else so I'm going to have to make a point to plan ahead and keep good food available. How's everybody else doing?

That car better behave this time.

Yes, I'm gonna try, Linda. Giving up sweet is one thing, but taking away all the extras that aren't necessarily sweet...well, that's gonna be the challenge. Doing it through Christmas won't be a big deal since we're not going anywhere for the Christmas holiday. My birthday is on December 27, so I'll be tempted that day--but hopefully I'll make it the entire month and start January 1, 2009 on a BIG positive!

Jimmy,
I'm certain you can do it. Anybody who can lose 180 pounds in a year can do this!

(11-29-2008 04:20 PM)Hogsfan Wrote:  I figured you would be the first to respond.

Out of curiosity, did you end up gaining any weight over Thanksgiving when you had the SF sweets? If pulling them out of your diet helped you lose weight, I'm wondering if treating yourself may have caused you to gain any?

Actually I didn't gain any weight over Thanksgiving, still the same as my last weigh in.

Day 4-
I lost another half a pound yesterday. That brings the total to 3 pounds through the first 3 days. I feel like I've reached the end of my water weight from Thanksgiving. I think from here on out is the "real" weight loss. I hope it keeps coming.

I noticed this weekend how much artificial sweeteners effect the amount of food I eat. For the last few days, I've been drinking about half the coffee I usually do. I just get bored with it sooner. I imagine if I wasn't addicted to caffeine I would have dropped it altogether. That got me thinking about other areas. For example this weekend we made BBQ spare ribs. Ordinarily, I would slather on sugar free bbq sauce and go to town, easily taking out at least 8 ribs at a sitting. I noticed that without the bbq sauce, I get full and lose interest after about 4 or 5. Keep in mind, I'm not consciously "cutting back", it just happened. I guess this isn’t surprising but I just honestly didn’t realize how much the sweet flavors effected the amount of food I was eating.

Jimmy,
Thanks for the props on the podcast. Hopefully we can get a good sized group doing this together.

This is my official Day 1 of my new "sweet"-free challenge...I'm going to December 31 (Lord willing!) and am working on posting a YouTube video about it, too!

This is Day 1 for me also. I went off plan yesterday for the first time since July. and now that that is OUT OF MY SYSTEM...I can focus on sweet free again.
My water bottle is full and ready to go!

This is day two for me. I am going to give it a really serious try. I have only one major problem, I have always chewed a piece of sugar free gum while I walk on the treadmill to keep my mouth moist. That is going to be really hard to give up. I wish they made sweet free gum!
Keep up the good work!