When I decided on March for my no sugar / no flour experiment, I really just worried about one day in the month being an issue. While you might be thinking Easter, with its delicious chocolate bunnies and piles of jelly beans, you would be incorrect. The day was March 12th, the day we are celebrating my youngest son’s 8th birthday.
I remember sitting at the dinner table in the middle of February and informing the family of my plan, which didn’t really faze them. The only question came from my youngest, who asked if he could still have pizza on his birthday, along with cake and ice cream. I quickly answered that he would definitely still get those things on his special day, so he shouldn’t worry. The worrying it would seem would be mostly on my part as the experiment started.
During the first few days in March, my mind was always focused on the 12th and how I would handle it. That first week in March my body and mind craved pizza terribly, and knowing that I would have it in my house on the 12th was overwhelming me. I will admit as I type this, that it sounds incredibly silly, but I obsessed about the food we would buy on my son’s special day. Each day I would argue with myself about whether I would be strong and not have a slice, or if I would call it a special cheat occaision and partake in some deliciousness. I began to justify a quick cheat in my mind, saying that nobody would think any less of me for having some cake and ice cream on my son’s birthday. Besides, I figured no one would be paying attention to my blogs anyway, so why not. My mind was pretty much made up by the 5th of March, I would have a couple of pizza slices, some cake, and some ice cream with my son and didn’t care what people thought.
Then I hit the 7th of March.
No, I didn’t have any emotional epiphanies or psychic breakthroughs to change my mind; I just found myself thinking about and wanting pizza less than the day before. As the days moved by, my resolve got a little stronger and my cravings got a little weaker until I had second thoughts about “cheating” during my experiment. By the 9th, my brain had switched from justifying the cheat, to how I can make it easier to survive the birthday and still have my son love me when it was finished. I thought about my likes and dislikes to create a plan for a party with 4 eight year old boys.
I know my plan isn’t foolproof, but as of this moment I feel like there will be no need to cheat on my experiment. It may take a little time, but the message here is that there is always a way to minimize the threat to your goals, you just need to figure it out. Make sure you read tomorrow’s blog to find out what happens.
What I ate today:
Onward to the most challenging day of the month.
I remember sitting at the dinner table in the middle of February and informing the family of my plan, which didn’t really faze them. The only question came from my youngest, who asked if he could still have pizza on his birthday, along with cake and ice cream. I quickly answered that he would definitely still get those things on his special day, so he shouldn’t worry. The worrying it would seem would be mostly on my part as the experiment started.
During the first few days in March, my mind was always focused on the 12th and how I would handle it. That first week in March my body and mind craved pizza terribly, and knowing that I would have it in my house on the 12th was overwhelming me. I will admit as I type this, that it sounds incredibly silly, but I obsessed about the food we would buy on my son’s special day. Each day I would argue with myself about whether I would be strong and not have a slice, or if I would call it a special cheat occaision and partake in some deliciousness. I began to justify a quick cheat in my mind, saying that nobody would think any less of me for having some cake and ice cream on my son’s birthday. Besides, I figured no one would be paying attention to my blogs anyway, so why not. My mind was pretty much made up by the 5th of March, I would have a couple of pizza slices, some cake, and some ice cream with my son and didn’t care what people thought.
Then I hit the 7th of March.
No, I didn’t have any emotional epiphanies or psychic breakthroughs to change my mind; I just found myself thinking about and wanting pizza less than the day before. As the days moved by, my resolve got a little stronger and my cravings got a little weaker until I had second thoughts about “cheating” during my experiment. By the 9th, my brain had switched from justifying the cheat, to how I can make it easier to survive the birthday and still have my son love me when it was finished. I thought about my likes and dislikes to create a plan for a party with 4 eight year old boys.
- Ditch the ice cream and get popsicles instead. I’m not much of a Popsicle guy, so my temptation would not be as great. Besides, I can’t remember the last time I bought just one container of ice cream for an event; those things are always on sale when you buy two.
- Cupcakes instead of cake. This may sound strange, but I’m not a huge fan of store bought cupcakes. I feel like they are a lot of work to eat, just to get your hands dirty. They always have too much frosting on them too.
- Sell the idea to my son, which wasn’t too hard. Once he heard he could go to the store and pick out any popsicles he wanted for him and his friends, then walk to the bakery and pick out a six-pack of cupcakes of his choice, he was sold. I told him price was not an issue, which is like a special gift from me in itself.
- Minimize the pizza impact. 4 eight year olds will be fine with one pizza and some crazy bread. This is an area that I will play by ear though, because my goal will be to not have any leftovers.
I know my plan isn’t foolproof, but as of this moment I feel like there will be no need to cheat on my experiment. It may take a little time, but the message here is that there is always a way to minimize the threat to your goals, you just need to figure it out. Make sure you read tomorrow’s blog to find out what happens.
What I ate today:
- Eggs and kielbasa with some cheddar cheese
- A banana
- A salad with the final portion of Taco meat on it, along with some cheese and black olives.
- Dinner was chunks of chicken mixed with mushrooms, carrots, and cauliflower over a bed of Keenwah.
Onward to the most challenging day of the month.