What to do...

And so here we are yet again. After spending a few months away from this blog I am back. I am back with a lot of questions that is. 

• Will I continue posting often? 
• Will I continue to keep everybody updated that cares?
• Does it all really matter?

I think for myself and this blog we all need to go back to the original mission of why I started writing to the randomness of the internet and that was to keep myself accountable and to continue strong on my weight loss journey or as I like to think of it now, my journey to changing my lifestyle. 

This represents me trying to sort out my lifestyle

I have not been here for quite a few months now and I have to admit that in that time a lot has changed in regards to the weight loss journey. Not long after my last post Easter occurred. With Easter came chocolate and an end to my commitment to sugar freeness. From that ending things got a little bit out of hand and a little bit crazy. I went from my original 120kgs to 108kgs in April before I let go. This saw me putting on a bit of weight and consistently hovering around the 115kgs mark which is still alright in terms of I lost 5kgs and was able to maintain a steady weight but I allowed it to happen and was a bit annoyed at that fact. 

So here we are now and over the last 3 weeks I have given up sugar again. Now I just want everybody to know that I do not view giving up sugar as a magic bullet or diet that will solve all of my weight issues. I genuinely enjoy giving it up. See I have come to learn that my brain is wired to be sucky at healthy eating. By the time I try and figure out what is healthy and what is not and what I have eaten to day and what I can and cannot eat it is just saying let's go get some take out and it does not cope or last long. What giving up sugar allows me to do is to create a black and white rule which i can judge my decisions by. Sugar is one of those things that is probably not that bad for you in controlled amounts but is probably not that great for you in large quantities just like pretty much everything in my opinion. But it does allow me to cut out a lot of the crap and to cut down my kilojoule intake significantly without really trying that hard. Sure, food choices do get harder and you do need some flexibility but that is all part of the journey. For instance, I do not want to be that guy who goes to someones house and they offer you brownies that they baked that fternoon just becuase you were coming over to visit and I say "Sorry, I am not eating sugar." I think that is a bit rude so in social circumstances I instigate what I like to call the I am not going to be a jerk rule and eat that brownie!

Since round two of sugar free has started a couple of weeks ago I have instigated a few changes that may be important to note here. Firstly, I have switched to logging my weight using Google fit which is quick and easy as I can just do it on my phone in 3 clicks. I have also switched scales from using my home scales to only logging weigh ins from the gym. This is because I discovered that if I move my scales slightly in my bathroom the weight dramatically changes. I do still use them to give me a rough idea of how I am going throughout the week and to try and learn how my body changes throughout the day and in relation to what I have eaten but I rely on the gym scales for official logged wieghts so they could be different to what I logged previously. Generally I think my home scales are 1.5-2kgs lighter then the gym so when I said i was 108kgs previously the gym scales probably said about 110kgs for a comparison. 

But here is where I stand at the moment and we will see what happens over the coming weeks.

Two months in...

So I realise my promises of updating this blog regularly have largely gone unfulfilled and I apologise in case anybody was emotionally invested but sometimes life just catches up with you. But I am here to be accountable to you all and to share my experiences. Mainly for selfish reasons so that I can keep pushing on and trying to succeed in my quest to lead a healthier and thinner life. 

Month 1

If there was one word I would use to describe the first month it would be produce. Our house was stocked with fresh veggies and fresh fruit at its peak in summer with watermelon and strawberries, nectarines and peaches readily available in the kitchen. It was a marvelous time. University was on holidays, I ate no sugar  (except for the odd bit forced upon me when my aunty baked a birthday cake from scratch, you just cannot say no to that). Life was glorious, the weight was falling off, heck I even found it hard to go to the gym because it was so easy to lose weight. 

Month 2

This is where reality has set in. 'Real life' has returned. Uni has started, work is getting busier, I have less free time and as I would like to say, the struggle is real! The honeymoon period wore off once uni kicked in. The old temptations of $2 meat pies and chips are hard to resist. I had a sudden decrease in free time and couldn't spend hours thinking about what we would eat or looking for new recipes to try out that were delicious. Surprisingly I would not say that being sugar free is harder or more difficult to carry out in a practical sense. The truth is that it is harder because of my previous bad habits and routines, it is harder because of the way our lives are structured and we get tired and do not have the time or effort required to constantly fight our previous urges and temptations. My biggest struggle is trying not to fall into old traps. Trying not to go and grab a pie because they are cheap and I have an hour between classes. Trying not to go and grab an iced coffee (sugar loaded) from Gloria Jeans because I have an assignment due and society tells me as a uni student caffeine will really help get it done. 

My advice...I am not one to consider myself qualified in anyway to give advice on this topic at all. But I guess if there was one tip that I could offer anybody it is be prepared for the lame moments. These are the moments where life decides to line itself up and you have zero time, zero patience and every bit of you wants some sugar. Find things that are great to eat and find things that are quick and simple. My wife and I constantly resort to basil pesto pasta. Sometimes we make our own pasta and pesto from scratch, other times it is store bought pasta and store bought pesto but either way it is a yummy yummy meal that is quick to cook and is oh so yum! Find your favourite, simple meals and it will go a long way to set you up for success.

Week one...no sugar for me

Here we are....one week into no sugar. I just want to start out by saying that this blog and journey may not appeal to everybody and that is OK. I know there were hundreds of blogs about no sugar and diets and healthy eating and all sorts of similar things and I encourage you to go and read and learn. My goal here is to note down thoughts as I progress through this journey. I don't know how long it will be or where it will lead me, but I do hope that if you are reading this we can care and share thought, ideas and experiences below to encourage one another.

Back to business though, I am one week into my little experiment and it has been interesting I guess you could say. So far what has happened is  I feel rather spritely! I have more energy then I have had before and not in the sense that I can go go go all day but more in the fact that come mid afternoon or evening there is no slump or lull to the energy but rather I can just keep going or need to keep doing something to be mentally active. Although I must admit that with uni break currently in full swing and more then a month until I return I do watch lots of TV and am not the most active in life which would usually lead to lethargy but not in the last week.

The other big thing I have noticed is my taste buds. In two different ways. The first is that they always seem dry and almost as if I am thirsty. I can guarantee that is not the case as I drink a river every day in water to help clean out my system but yet that feeling remains. I think it is their way of craving sugar and requesting that sweet, flavoursome sensation again. Last night I did notice a big change though. We had baked pumpkin stuffed with mince from the I Quit Sugar website and it was yummy but that pumpkin was the sweetest pumpkin I have ever tasted in my life! It was amazing to see a new world of flavour open up. Honestly, in all the books I have read about this sugar thing they all speak of sweet vegetables and taste buds changing and even milk becoming sweet but I didn't really believe them. BUT IT IS TRUE! Things do taste sweet and yummy like they never have before!

For my wife and I this week has been an eye opener. She unfortunately got sick on the first day and vomited. She believes this was not sugar related but I am skeptical about that. Each day after lunch she felt queasy and not hungry at all as if she would be sick. Thankfully a quick jelly bean did the trick and made her feel fine so I would not be surprised if sugar was the culprit here but we will never know! Good news though, after 5 days with the jelly beans she now does not have them and feels fine.So there is hope for all of us.

But did we cheat at all? Well, we are just trying to give up added refined sugars and any sweetener alternatives for now. So carbs and fruit are still in but only whole grains and not in large volumes. We did eat home made pasta, which is delicious and some bread but the good expensive stuff. The only non strict day was when we were invited for Chinese dinner. We ate the Chinese food but avoided dessert. I am sure there is some sugar added into it somewhere but I was not too worried as it was one meal only. We do not want to be people who go and make everybody change just for us so may eat sugar occasionally if it is a\unavoidable and that is fine by us.

What we did eat was lots of vegetables, baked meats, cheese, yoghurt, bacon, eggs, avocado and nuts. Below I have some pictures of a few meals I ate. They were all yummy and you really do not have to feel like you are missing out on yummy food and eating lettuce that is for sure!

Roast Lamb with home made gravy, roast potato and vegetables

Salad with tuna, chia seeds and crushed almonds

Natural Yoghurt with chia seed, crushed almonds, banana and a freshly made coffee with milk!

Please leave your experiences below and ask if you have any questions or thoughts!

The New Year...A New Goal

So I have realised what many a blogger has probably realised when they start out. Blogging is HARD! It is hard to keep up with the timing and to keep continuously posting and keeping content up to date. For me I am only blogging to help keep myself accountable and hopefully for some of you to see the struggles and successes of just an ordinary bloke trying to change the way that he lives and feels. I do not aim to make this the world's best blog with the world's best writing and photography but rather just a little bit of sharing and caring for everybody's benefit.

Well it has been a fair few months since I posted last on here. A lot has happened and a lot has changed. I completed another year of university, I got married, I went on my honeymoon and I celebrated Christmas (See what I had to endure below). All of those things together with their stresses and celebrations have meant that I lost control of the whole weight loss thing yet again. But alas, there is still hope. With all the yummy food at weddings, in Fiji, Christams and what I like to call 'study food' (really its just lots of chocolate and chips and yummy stuff) comes consequences. Those consequences have meant not much weight loss and a touch of weight gain. The dream was to lose 10 kgs or so in time for my wedding. I mean, everyone says that you need a goal and some motivation. That was perfect..groom loses 10kilos for wedding was perfect. But, there was one problem. With uni, weddings and I guess life comes time constraints and stress. And so that did not really work out. But with a new year comes new challenges, ideas and understanding. And so we (My wife, myself and you) are going to try and make this year more successful. We will try and set ourselves up for more chance of success. A new year means a new me. I know it is cliche and all but it is a good time to start. For me, I need a line in the sand to commit to and being from so LET'S DO THIS!

Here is a picture of my wife's gloriouis Christmas Trifle...It was delcious!

If you are liking my take on life from an odd males perspective then please come back for more. The next post will be up in 2 days time!