Wednesday, June 4, 2014

I finally gave up my candy habit...

I have always I mean always since as long as I can remember loved candy!!

I love candy stores...the huge bulk bags you can buy full of yummy treats. 

I love it! 

Full blown sugar addict here. 

Hello my name is Mindy and I'm a candy addict. Hello Mindy.

Jelly Bellies.
York peppermint patties.
Kit Kats.
M&Ms.
Sour patch kids.
Caramels.
Chocalote of any type.
Yogurt covered raisins. 
Raisinettes.
Jolly ranchers.
Milky Way.
Butterfinger.

You name is and most likely I will devour it!

I don't like cupcakes, ice cream, cake, brownies, desserts...well I like them but I never eat it.

But the candy...well up until mid-lent this year I was consuming 1000-1800 extra calories of just plain sugar every single day! 

If you follow my blog you know that I am a huge workout fanatic. So when in late spring I hop on the scale and see I have gained 7 pounds I freaked! Plus in a recent photo I had noticed my arms looked chunky.

What have I done differently? 
Am I eating too much? 
Not burning enough calories in my cardio workouts?
Not pushing it hard enough?
And I being complacent in my training?

So when I asked my husband he said well....you know at night the huge pile of wrappers you leave on the couch from your "treats" well it could be that.

Am I that crazy to not even consider that? Noooo not my candy! It can't be that! Can it?

But I've been eating those horrible empty cals for my whole life with no weight gain. 

So has it finally caught up with me?

So I actually peeked at the cals (I had never looked before such denial)....in all the sugar delight....yep I was consuming 1000-1800 extra cals per night!!! That's over the actual food I eat. So basically 1200-1400ish cals PLUS the extra 1000-1800. 

Yep hubs was right it's the candy!

So mid lent I quit! Cold turkey quit! As much as I work out...and I was gaining weight. Oh no this is not good!

I never ate my treats in the day..only in the evening (I mean really can it be any worse!)

The first night I chomped 3 sugar free packs of gum! It was so hard. I mean seriously hard. 

Second night same thing....gum gum gum.

The sugar free gum post dinner continued for about 2 wks. I lost maybe 1 pound during that time. Hardly worth it!

One night while I was running my dear friend and I were talking about weight lose etc. and I told her I had given up candy but switched to sf gum. She said watch out it will bloat you like crazy!

And she was right! My stomach had felt really bloated....more than normal.

Great now the gum had to go too!!

So week three I went cold turkey no sf gum plus third week of no candy. 

Yep and I was down three pounds.

I added a but more cardio to my usual routine...10-15 extra minutes.

Next week down another pound.

Easter came and went...I had one tiny chocolate bar....instead of my usual 50. 

Then I decided that I was gonna stop the Mexican food chips and cheese cheat night and see what happened. This one was not as hard because I had contracted food poisoning recently from a Mexaican restaurant....so bye bye queso dip.

By week 6 I was down about 6 pounds.

So a pound a week from no candy, no cheat Mexican food, and 10-15 mins extra twice a week of cardio. 

Yay! 

I was pumped and super excited. 

I could actually see muscles in my arms again and my legs looked leaner. My pants were looser.....

Wow watching my diet actually does work. 

Week 7 I had lost 7 total. And the cravings had completely subsided. I actually didn't want to eat candy. 

It had now been about 3 months since I gave up candy and I can truly say I have been cured of my addiction. Totally over it! The first two days were the hardest for sure...then once I got thru those it became much easier. 

I have really only thought about candy maybe 2x since those first few days....and I found that if I went outside...watered my flowers or called a friend my cravings left. Getting my mind off of it.

It was a tough decision but I was very motivated...which always helps.


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