The Zero Sugar Challenge | Before We Start...

Before we start this challenge, I want to show y'all how much sugar I can consume in 2 days. My goal isn't to eat the worst I can, but to represent how easily you can accidentally eat A LOT of sugar if you aren't mindful. I have recorded 2 days worth of logs that can be read below. Don't know what this challenge is? Check out the first post HERE

July 29th

Today, I woke up late and missed breakfast because I went to sleep at 4am. I know I need to sleep better, but sometimes the wee-hours are the only times I have to edit/write! So, first thing this morning, I craved sugar but I made myself eat a savory tuna Hello Fresh meal instead. After I ate, I didn't feel 100% satisfied and my craving was still strong so I caved and ate a whopping 50 M&Ms...It seems like a big number, but when you're eating out of the bag it's hard to keep track of how much you're eating.

At 2:00pm, we headed over to Jeremy's parents' house for dinner and to do some diaper laundry. To hold me over till dinner, I had a bag of CheeseItz which had no sugar in it to my surprise. :) Then dinner came along. Jeremy's mom made a delicious meal that consisted of chicken, zucchini and tomatoes cooked in a McCormic parmesan chicken sauce, with garlic bread, and a side salad(I had no dressing as if that would undo all the sugar I've consumed today). I knew there'd be a little sugar in this meal from the sauce packets & garlic bread, but I didn't expect it to be a whole 13+ grams of sugar. I say 13+ because the bread didn't specifically say how much sugar was in it so I just added 1g to represent the bread. THEN ice cream cones were offered...how often do you turn down an ice cream cone? It's hard to! So that's why I didn't...I guessed that I was served about 1 cup of cookies & cream ice cream which totaled 26 grams of sugar + 4 grams from the cone. We are at 76.2 grams of sugar now. So, we go home and I find myself editing late again and then that sugar craving showed up again. There's just something about screens + eating...mindless eating is what it is. So, I go to the pantry and find a piece of strawberry hard candy to enjoy while working. That was 5 grams just in 1 piece! Wow, I didn't do so great today...we'll see how tomorrow goes.

July 30th
Oh No...it got worse. It wasn't on purpose, promise! I just allowed myself to eat whatever my little heart desired and this is what happened. Weston had his 4 month shots done yesterday and I knew we were going to have a rough night, so once again I slept through breakfast. My first meal started the day off on the right foot though. I had fruit (to satisfy my sugar craving) & a cherry tomato/potato dish leftover from the other night. Only 2 grams of sugar...not too bad. It wasn't long before I was feeling hungry again so I grabbed a quick snack with 0 grams of sugar! You can never go wrong with grapes and cheese. Abigail wouldn't take a nap today and insisted on a snack instead so at 2pm, snack time it was. We both shared M&Ms and goldfish but I did something differently this time. This time, I counted the pieces and put them in a separate bowl before digging in. 20 M&Ms doesn't really look like much does it? Now I see how I was able to eat 50 of them yesterday!

Tonight we headed over to my parents' house because my grandad came to visit so I knew I'd probably end up eating more than I should. Food is much more than just fuel; it's also a social thing, you know. Before I started cooking dinner with the fam, I grabbed a granola bar because I was really hungry and didn't want to be drooling over the food as we prepared it, haha. That innocent snack was a mistake though. It seems that it triggered my sugar cravings again so when I opened the pantry and saw honey buns, I couldn't resist.

Then I ate a large dinner. If I had been eating healthier snacks earlier, I probably would of recognized the leptin hormone and I would of left some food on my plate but I ate the Whole Thing. Now, if I had stopped here (at 31.7g sugar) I wouldn't feel too terribly guilty but I did the most damage after dinner. I don't have an excuse as to why I kept eating...I just kept going. At 7pm I decided eating a donut stick would be a brilliant idea even though I knew my dad was making dessert soon. So the sugar total is now 46.7 grams. Then he made dessert which was actually healthy (frozen strawberries and almond milk blended together) but I ruined it by adding angel food cake to the bowl too. But wait, isn't angel food cake supposed to be the better, light option when it comes to cakes? That's what I thought too...until I read the label. 1/8 of the cake, which is equivalent to 1 slice, has 21 grams of sugar in it! Ahhhh, I can't win. :( Lastly, at 11pm Jeremy wanted to swing by Sonic to get himself a milkshake before going home and I protested because I knew once I saw the menu, I'd order something too, but we went anyways. A mini Oreo Peanut Butter Shake is what I ended up getting. 65 grams...so I consumed 132.7 grams of sugar in a single day. To put that into perspective, that's 31.5 teaspoons. Yeah...this was my reaction:

Just trying to walk up the stairs to my apartment after drinking that was a struggle. My heart was racing and my chest felt heavy. I am way past ready to start this challenge and I think my body will truly thank me for it. So, here we go!

Check back next week to see how Week 1 went!

The Zero Sugar Challenge | What Went Wrong

All information is generalized, presented for informational purposed only, not medical advice, and presented "as is" without warranty or guarantee of any kind. Readers are cautioned not to rely on this information as medical advice and to consult a qualified medical, dietary, fitness, or other appropriate professional for their specific needs.