DONE! Results: No Sugar / No Flour 10-Day Challenge

Week 1, Monday, 10/5/15, Weight: 148.8 lbs.

Week 2, Monday, 10/12/15, Weight: 145.2 lbs.

Week 3, Tuesday, 10/20/15, Weight: 147.0 lbs.

Week 4, Monday, 10/26/15, Weight: 146.2 lbs.

Week 5, Monday, 11/2/15, Weight: 145.2 lbs.

Week 6, Monday, 11/9/15, Weight: 142.4 lbs.

Week 7, Monday, 11/16/15, Weight: 142.0 lbs.

Week 8, Monday, 11/23/15, Weight: 142.2 lbs.

Week 9, Monday, 11/30/15, Weight: 143.4 lbs.

Week 10, Monday, 12/7/15, Weight: 140.6 lbs.

Week 11, Monday, 12/14/15, Weight: 140.4 lbs.

Week 12, Monday, 12/21/15, Weight: 140.8 lbs.

Week 13, Monday, 12/28/15, Weight: 142.4 lbs.

Week 14, Monday, 1/4/16, Weight: 143.8 lbs.

Week 15, Monday, 1/11/16, Weight: 141.0 lbs.

Week 16, Monday, 1/18/16, Weight: 142.6 lbs.

Week 17, Monday, 1/25/16, Weight: 142.2 lbs.

Week 18, Monday, 2/1/16, Weight: 140.0 lbs.

No Sugar / No Flour Challenge:

Day #1, Sunday, 1/24/16, Weight: 142.8 lbs.

Day #11, Wednesday, 2/3/16, Weight: 139.4 lbs!

So, we weighed in today, and we lost some weight: I lost 3.4 lbs in 10 days!  (JK lost even more than me.)  It’s pretty awesome and almost unbelievable that we got to eat all that good food and still lost weight.  In these past 18 weeks, I’ve only finally broken below the 140 lb. limit just today, after doing this Challenge.  Hurray!  Also, I measured around my middle at my belly button, and I’m not going to give those numbers here, but suffice to say that I went down by ½” there too, which is cool!

Now, I realize that some of this weight loss may be water weight, and hopefully none of it is lost bone density or muscle mass, since I’m still walking (my dog) daily, and eating plenty of protein and vegetables (vitamins/minerals, etc). Interestingly, I only walked on the treadmill once during these 10 days of the Challenge, and I didn’t jog at all!  I have read that that exercise is actually over-rated as a way to lose weight, and the diet is much more important when it comes to weight loss.  But it’s still interesting to see that happen in real life: I cut out my jogs and still lost some weight.  I’m going to get back to jogging anyway, because I think it’s still healthy for my muscles/bones/cardiovascular system, and hopefully helps me sleep better and improve my moods.

One interesting thing to note that that eating this way (without sugar/flour) was a new experience for me, so it was hard to gauge how much to eat.  On several occasions, I found myself to be very hungry before my next “meal time” (JK and I usually eat B/L/D together), and so I had to eat a snack (PB/nuts, eggs, cheese, fruit).  Unfortunately, it also went the other way too: I was stuffed after eating several meals, so I must have overeaten.  I think this means that I’m still learning how much meat/fat/veggies to eat at each meal in order to not feel hungry before the next meal, but to not feel stuffed after eating.  My goal now is to take a smaller portion, and I can always go back for more if I’m still hungry.  And/or I’ll just eat a healthy snack when I need to.

Revisiting my “wish list” from before the Challenge, here’s the actual outcome:

1. Sleep better and wake more rested: Nope, I actually didn’t sleep that well during the Challenge.  Bummer!  We did do a better job of trying to get to bed by 10PM-ish every night, but I often woke up one or more times during the night, which is not normal for me.  Perhaps I need to get back to regular jogs (3x/week) and that may help with sleeping more straight through the night, like I used to.  Or else some aspect of sugar/flour was helping me sleep?  That seems unlikely/crazy/odd…  I should research this more.

2. Be less groggy/sleepy/weighed-down after eating: Absolutely, this was true.  Despite not sleeping that well (see #1 above), I still generally felt much less groggy/sleepy, especially in the afternoons.  Overall, I didn’t feel as weighed-down as I expected from eating more meat and fat, and that’s likely because we ate LOTS of vegetables too.

3. Have a better mood overall/more positive: Hmm, not sure.  I think I felt good about us sticking to our Challenge; however, I don’t think 10 days was really long enough to have a noticeable change on my mood.

4. Feel more energetic: Well, not really.  I didn’t have problems doing my normal daily tasks, but I didn’t suddenly have unlimited amounts of energy (darn, that would have been cool).  I think exercising both helps increase energy, as well as makes me tired, but I’m planning to pick that up, and hopefully it helps me have higher energy overall.

5. Be more clearheaded/less foggy: Absolutely, yes!  I could totally tell the difference that I wasn’t as cloudy/foggy-headed after eating, and in the afternoons.  I felt sharp, no matter what we ate or when we ate it.  That was cool!

6. Have fewer cravings for sweets/flour: Yes, I believe so.  When I’m in the normal routine and habit of eating sugar and flour, I would definitely crave eating them, and once I ate something that contained them, I would want more.  It was a vicious craving cycle.  I definitely didn’t experience that cycle during the Challenge.  However, I did experience some cravings for sugary/flour-y items (pizza, bread, brownies, etc) at certain times.

7. Experience a little weight loss: Yes!  See above.

8. Changes in gastrointestinal function: Yes, I think so.  We only noticed this by adding back in a small sugar/flour treat at lunch today, and both of our stomachs were gurgling and not feeling well.  I can’t be sure it’s the sugar/flour, but it sure seems like it might be!

Overall, I’m still going to use the Challenge as a Template for not adding sugar and flour to what I’m cooking, and I’m not going to bake anything new right now.  So, we’re not totally back on the sugar/flour bandwagon, don’t worry!  ;)  However, we are going to be introducing more sugar/flour back into our routine now, to use up the items that we already have in our house.  I’ll keep you posted on how I feel as we do that. 

Forward Flavor!