Thoughts on cravings

As I’m sure you all know, I am a self confessed sugar addict. 100% addicted to the white stuff. Often in the evening and throughout the day I’ll get a craving for a big bar of Cadburys, or Galaxy, or biscuits, just something sugary. Often I think it’s because I’m hungry. But, I heard an interesting thing on Jillian Michael’s podcast a couple of weeks ago and it really got me thinking.

She was discussing weight loss, calorie deficit, and exercising making you feel hungry, and she said,

‘Ask yourself, when you’re hungry or craving something, could you eat a steak? Could you eat some salmon, some chicken, a spinach salad? Because if you couldn’t, you’re not hungry’.

I found this to be really interesting, as often I will be sat there thinking I’m hungry, when actually I’m just craving sugar, I’m not hungry at all, as I know all I want is chocolate to get my fix.

She also discussed treats, and how everything has a consequence. So yes, whilst it’s fine to have treats in moderation, they all have a consequence on your body. I don’t suppose I’ve ever really thought about it in that way, I often find myself thinking, oh it’s just a one off, diet and sugar detox can start tomorrow, but as always, they never do! Don’t get me wrong, I think treats are good, the whole 80/20 rule, but sometimes I don’t quite keep the 80/20 balance.

I think getting myself to think in this way will really change my eating habits. So from now on, whenever I think I’m hungry, I’m going to picture a spinach salad. And if I’m still hungry, I’ll eat. If not, maybe I’ll shed a few pounds!

What are your thoughts on listening to your bodies hunger and cravings?

Image source

Another juice detox

Last week I did another 5 day juice detox, following Jason Vale’s 5 in 5 plan using his app. As I’ve posted previously, my family and I have had some good successes previously. I decided to do another 5 in 5, as after three weeks working away from home and indulging on an almost daily basis I can definitely see the difference in the scales too. Two of my other buddies decided to do it for the same five days too, so we had a bit of a back up support for each other.

The first time I did the 5 in 5 I stuck to the plan almost religiously, bar a couple of hiccups. The following few times I did it I wasn’t quite so strict with myself, and still lost some weight. This time round I decided I was going to be pretty strict, exercise, but eat when I felt I needed it.

Monday I stuck to juice all day until the evening where I had to have a couple of slices of small low carb toast after my evening run. I felt good throughout the day though.

Tuesday daytime I snacked on a banana before another 3 mile run. I was up at 5.30 for yoga in the morning, so by the time my first juice rolled around at 10am I was hungry! Tuesday evening my sugar levels felt so low, I couldn’t resist a kitkat chunky, oops. Not strict in the 5in5, but part of the 80/20 rule maybe??

Wednesday I had a couple of macarons at work a colleague bought back for me from Paris. They were so disappointing I wish I hadn’t bothered! In the evening I was feeling a little sick so I had two more slices of bread with a little salted butter. All I could think about whilst I was making it was crisps, salty crisps! I don’t think it helped that someone on my floor at work made sweet popcorn in the afternoon, absolute torture!!

Thursday I was good all day at work, a banana before my run club where I did a pretty hard session. I juiced the rest of the day, because I knew what lied ahead for my evening – bake club! I sampled a small piece of each cake, to make a total of four – brownie, lemon and blueberry drizzle, carrot and walnut, and an Anzac. I felt so bloated afterwards and all the sugar made me feel absolutely buzzing, I couldn’t sleep for hours!

Friday I took the remainder of my cake into work and when I saw everyone else tucking into it I couldn’t help but have a piece. It kept me so full!! In the afternoon I had slumped big time and a colleague offered me a small M&S sausage roll. Real proper food never tasted so good. I felt really guilty by the evening though and ended up going out for a 5 mile run. After my run I ended up having a small bowl of cereal and a couple of slices of toast – ooops!

Saturday The big weigh in. Even with eating in the evenings and a lot on Friday, I still managed to lose 5lbs, which I’m really pleased with. On Saturday I went out for the morning shopping, indulged in a slice of lemon drizzle as I had a voucher. For lunch I had a small bowl of marmite pasta, post to come, and then in the evening I had left over roasted chicken in red wine, plus some popcorn. I felt so uncomfortably full by the evening, I think I tried to go back to normal portion sizes, oops! I was surprised I couldn’t finish all the popcorn, which normally I think I could have polished off!

Summary The week of juicing really made me realise quite how reliant on sugar I am. I really, really want to kick my sugar habit but I’m a bit scared about how difficult it’s going to be! I’m intrigued by the Whole30 a lot of people have been doing, I think that actually eating food and filling and fuelling my body so I’m never given the opportunity to be hungry would make it easier kick the sugar habit. What do you think, any opinions on this?

Resolutions 2014

This year I didn’t publish any resolutions, so looking back on the year I can’t say how well I did or not. For 2014 I’ve got a few things I’d like to achieve, so by posting them here, I hope to make myself a bit more accountable, and have regular check-ins to see how I’m doing.

1. Complete London duathlon with a good time. I have all summer to train for this race, and with just two elements, I should be able to practice the full distance with transitions, to make myself feel fully prepared and confident when I cross the start line in September. I haven’t really given thought to a time yet, but I want to complete it in a time I’m proud of.

2. Continue racing. I love racing, because I love receiving medals. Racing is expensive, if you enter the big ones, but I’m hoping to enter smaller races and get some more medals for my display!

3. Sub 30 mins 5K, and sub 60 mins 10K. In 2013 I managed 5K in 30 mins, and I completed Brighton 10K in 63 minutes. I want to work on my speed a bit more, and try to crush those times.

4. Continue to juice regularly. If you’ve read my blog for a while, you’ll know I’m new to the juicing world. However, I think it does work for me, and so I’ll be kicking off the New Year with another go at 5 in 5. I’d like to keep juicing at least one day a week, and to try new juice recipes, and make some up of my own.

5. Cut back on processed sugar. This is probably going to be the toughest one for me to do, because I’m a ginormous sugar addict. Hopefully with the help of regular juicing and a couple of juice detoxes I can cut back massively on how much processed sugar I have.

6. Complete my quilt. I started my quilt back in April/May last year, and have been working on it on and off since then. With the arrival of my new sewing machine, I hope to make some real progress on this, so that by next winter I’ll be able to use it.

7. Hit that number on the scale. We all have a number, I know what I’d like mine to be. I’m hoping that with regular exercise, and regular juicing, and cutting back on processed sugar, I’ll get closer to that number in 2014. It’s all about #teamhealth.

8. Cook a new recipe at least once a fortnight. I’m setting myself a challenge to make more use of my extensive cook book collection, so I’m planning to cook one recipe from it each fortnight. I’ll do a separate post on this, as I’m planning to make it a regular feature on the blog.

9. Save, save, save. I need to budget better, save harder, and spend less in 2014 so I can get the things I want in life long term. This may mean some budget/thrifty posts, making do and using up cupboard basics, and exploring more free/cheap days out locally.

10. Have regular pamper evenings. I love nothing more on a Sunday evening that getting into clean, ironed bedsheets, and lighting a candle with a book. I’d like to expand on this, pampering myself more by painting my nails, and having regular face packs etc.

So there you have it, hopefully not too ambitious, but some challenges too! Have you set any resolutions or challenges this year? Did you set any last year, how did you do?

Image source: Oh so beautiful paper via Pinterest

Lent–One week in

(source)

I have to say, despite saying every few months that I’m going to give up chocolate, this is definitely the longest I’ve gone. One week and still going strong!!

My chocolate cravings have been intense at times. But I’ve found even one week in I often want chocolate when I’m stressed, bored or lonely. Like on Friday nights when I’m home alone I’d normally gorge on some chocolate, so now I’m finding I need to be creative! I can see popcorn featuring pretty heavily until Easter! I’ve also noticed that nearly every biscuit out there is chocolately, my word!

If this continues well I’m really tempted to try and cut out sugar completely. I’m not ready to do that just yet, I need to get over the rest of this week and find some sugar free breakfast ideas to eat at my desk!

Any suggestions? How are you doing on lent? This is the best I’ve ever done!