October challenge

At the end of September, a few people who I have met through a boot camp class I started in the summer in Carrollton, posted into the training GroupMe a “challenge” for the month of October.

No chips. No candy. No chocolate (!!). No cookies, cakes, pastries. No white potatoes. No fried food. No white bread. No soda.

At first I breezed right past those messages thinking that something like that would be impossible for me. I love my chocolate. And my Diet Soda. And I'm training for an Ironman, I DESERVE all this stuff, right?! I knew that the month of October included a lot of travel as well - a week at a hotel for a work conference, a trip to Aruba for my friend's birthday, the birthday party itself, and of course, Halloween. I will be honest, I was terrified to try and commit to this.

But at the same time, I knew that it was something I needed - SPECIFICALLY for all those reasons why I felt like I shouldn't do it. I had been tracking what I was eating for a few months and trying to commit to eating better, but my progress was very slow. Most likely because I kept stopping and restarting every time there was a special occasion or travel. So I'd eat healthy for a couple weeks - then go to New Hampshire to see my family. Come back, eat healthy again - then go on vacation to Finland. Eat healthy again - then go to Toronto... you get the picture, right?

I was making some progress in the form of about a pound a month / 3 pounds overall. starting to make some very slow progress, in the form of losing about 1 lb a month. Which, I will take any progress over no progress, but with my Ironman in November, I knew that I was running out of time to keep delaying and stopping the good habits every time a special occasion came up.

Aside from letting travel and events interrupt any consistent diet, I also had some seemingly small tendencies that started as “once in a while treats” had suddenly turned into a daily habit. Such as adding some mini chocolate chips to my protein smoothie. And having a 2^nd piece of chocolate to my daily allotted dark chocolate break. And Diet Sodas had become a daily thing – often with me sometimes driving out of the house to a gas station JUST to buy a soda, and purchasing cans to keep in the house, which is something I never did before (Hellloooo suburban living and being able to unload groceries right from the garage!!)

So, the day after Half Ironman Augusta, on Monday, September 30th I kicked off my "October Challenge" and what started off incredibly challenging, started to get easier and easier as the month went on.

I will admit, I did break the rules with a few small exceptions I allowed myself. One of which was Ironman training. For example, sometimes sweets are a part of the nutrition that I use to break up a long bike ride. Another example was Diet Soda, I did allow myself to have diet soda at times but not the daily go-out-of-my-way-to-get-it times. But now and then I did have Diet Soda, mostly as a replacement for alcohol when I would be socializing.

But otherwise, I honestly did so so good with it and was really proud of myself for sticking through!

I ended up having a second work trip at the end of October and so I survived 2 weeks of catered meals 3x a day, avoiding all of the pastries and breakfast sweets they'd have out.

Avoided the desserts and rolls that appeared at every lunch and dinner. I passed on the amazing baked goods of one of my friends on multiple occasions. Skipped the warm bread at the steak houses we went to in Aruba. And passed out on CHIPS when out to eat at a couple of Mexican restaurants - something I don't think I have EVER done in my life.

By the end of the month, I have to say, it got so much easier. The first week I was staring at dessert every day and pining about how I wanted to try it. But by the work trip I had the last week of October - I just didn't even look at the desserts! It got much easier to say no than I remembered was possible.

The scale started to make more progress and I was feeling really good - and really proud! - of myself.

October 29 in Puerto Rico

And then November came...

I am learning more about myself, but sometimes am not sure what to then do about that.

At the end of October, I was feeling so good and really wanted to keep going the eating habits that I had - but hoped to try and just be a little more relaxed with them. I wanted to be able to have chocolate here and there and indulge for special things, but, I have found myself slowly creeping back into some of the habits I had pre-October challenge!

I am learning that I do really well with having a strict set of limits of what I can/can't eat and I do really well with accountability to others. For years, I was most successful at losing weight when I did Weight Watchers. That program provides limits, in the form of the number of points you can eat in a day AND the accountability of a weekly weigh in by another person to have progress logged. This "October Challenge" provided those same things for me in the form of strict rules about what I could/couldn't eat. Whereas Weight Watchers doesn't rule out any food as an option, for the month of October I set limits BY eliminating certain foods. As well, it provided a group of people who were all encouraging each other and committed to this together.

I don't do well with moderation. I remember reading a long time ago on Swim Bike Mom's blog that "everything in moderation" is not a motto that works well or should be pushed upon everyone. Some people cannot moderate themselves well so "everything in moderation" does not work. You would never say "alcohol in moderation" to an alcoholic, of course not. But yet for people that struggle with sugar addiction and food, people don't always apply the same logic. I am very much a person who struggles with moderating myself around food. I cannot just have one cookie and be satisfied. No, I will eat ALL THE COOKIES until they are gone. I cannot eat just a few corn chips. I will eat 2 baskets full of chips at a Mexican restaurant before my meal arrives. I am not good with moderation so sometimes what's better for me is to strictly eliminate things as options. No chocolate. No chips. No cookies. No fried foods.

Set limits and accountability to others seem to be a good fit for me, yet I can't figure out how to make that happen when it is just me. October is over and so is the challenge, both the elements that work well for me are gone.

Right now I am continuing to try and set my own little "rules" for myself. For example, I weigh myself every day that I am home. No more skipping the morning weigh in if I have had a bad couple of days - I need to see it every day.

I am still limiting my chocolate intake and not bringing chocolate back into any of my snacks, and avoiding pastries and baked goods as much as possible. However, I will now have a bite of Jonathan's cookie or donut whereas I would have skipped it completely in October. Fried foods have creeped back in when going out to eat and white potatoes and bites of Jonathan's sandwiches have come back as well. As well as some chips. Although these things are small, when trying to diet, they add up. In essence, as I type this, I realize am back to trying to do "everything in moderation" even though I KNOW that doesn't work for me!

With the holidays coming up, as well as a big race, I want to keep with the progress I have been making. I don't want to back track through December. I hope that with writing and being open about what I am trying to do, that will help with some of that "accountability to others" that works for me and I will keep working on trying to enforce strict limits on my own. At 33 years old I'm finally figuring out are the elements that make up a program that work for me, but just need to figure out how to apply that knowledge as a next step. Always something to strive for! :)