sword4sail

Interesting; I did Christian athletics for over 4 years and didn't come across that verse in it's context with the farmer and soldier parts. Y'all have convinced me; I've changed how I'm grading myself. Pass/Fail wasn't motivating me; I was using it as an excuse to indulge. New Grading Scale: A = Achieve my goals and NO sugar on my seventh day. B = Achieve my goals. C = Miss doing one of my goals. D = Miss doing two of my goals. F = Miss doing three or more of my goals. It's still pretty harsh because I have done the whole 30 successfully, so I know I can resist. I know eating these kinds of food physically hurts me. And I know what's happening biologically, too. Understanding the science has really helped me, but that doesn't change the fact that I'm secreting insulin when I think of sugar, therefore desire more, have a brain reaction reinforcing the desirability of the food, and give in pretty quick. Now, last week, I was fully clean for 3 days, had some sugar only in products like ketchup and yogurt on a 4th day, and 5th had dinner with another family and so it wasn't clean. 6 and 7 were terrible. Compete fails. Anyway. It's a new week.

Sort of I was on a ton at the beginning of the week, got some motivation, and decided to skip off for a few days since I'm prone to waste time and forget all the things I need to do when I sit at a computer for too long. I'm not sure where people got the instructions to grade themselves, but I've been thinking about it and was going to post an update tomorrow, but I'll just do it now. A = Achieved my goals for the week F = Failed to uphold my goals for the week Week 1: F Week 2: F Ok. Lastly, where did you find the little gem of 2Tim 2:3-6 and how did you come to adopt it as your own?

That statement makes sense when you start with one set of assumptions, but not when you start with another. I guess the only way to truly verify it is with a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial. I won't argue with you; this is a place of encouragement That is why I strongly encourage folks to go with what works for them; if you've been working at something in a certain way with no/little results, why not try another way to hit the nail?

About counting things... I agree with nanako. I've had a lot of success following Mark Sisson's paradigm. I count grams of carbs eaten daily - 50-100g a day is the fat loss sweet spot. Here's a link - see what works for you! http://www.marksdailyapple.com/press/the-primal-blueprint-diagrams/#axzz2qKD2DlvV

Yay sword fighting! It is a great motivator for me to do strength training. With you all the way on these goals - keep it up. Hopefully I'll even see you on the battlefield some day... we're in the same general sector of the country...

You got it! I like your low carbs goal - 5 out of 7 is a great first week rate! Keep it up!

I was just going through, reading low-comment threads, seeing if anyone needs any encouragement. I agree with MathiasMag - we're rooting for you! May you find more courage, inner strength, and determination today.

Fellow sword fighters should unite! Good job on your goals though. It may be one step forward two back, but we'll make it. I like to use fighting as a motivation for working out/eating right when I'm tempted to slack... or sailing... I'll be sure to check out your resources!

Thank you, but I think I'll have to plan ahead on that one. I don't have any sugar free gum at the moment. I did manage to find some dried figs I had forgotten about.

Sugar craving. Just ate nuts. Not time for dinner yet. Water? Help.

Well, here's an update. I'm hoping it's motivational to me and perhaps others. Day 1 - Signed up for the challenge; too late to achieve my goals. Day 2 - No deliberate sugar. Did Spanish. Day 3 - Pretty clean - I think I had a handful of gluten-free corn chex mix though... pulled out my old violin! Day 4 - I had homemade popcorn with some kids. And... we were boxing up some Christmas candy, and in the process these 4 small chocolate covered pretzels leaped into my mouth... ...and I did some more Spanish. Day 5 - That's today. No sugar. I feel so darn guilty - like I'm a complete failure after last night. I've been eating nuts in tiny bits all day. The cookies around my house - and the banana bread, and fruit compote my aunt said had cinnamon candies in it - are oh-so-tempting. So I ate ham, avocado, mustard, and a hard-boiled egg. Now I'm off to work where the sugar demons won't whirl around my head.

Hey there, I've found workouts from fitnessblender.com to be very helpful for fitting into a 20min time slot. Several of their high intensity interval training stuff is all body weight or with minimal weight, and if you don't know how to do a certain exercise, they have some videos that just show the exercise. They do it with you in the video too. It's really good stuff that works lots of muscles.

Thank you Tkal! I forgot about vegetables... carrots are pretty sweet to me. I'd snack on green beans in the summer, but now a lot of stuff is expensive/frozen. There is a pattern to my sugary desires - if I start. If I make it till noon without consuming sugar, I don't crave it. Or if it's free somewhere, just sitting there... I desperately want some. That's why I think it's an actual addiction. If I tell myself "I don't eat this" and am committed to that, I'm fine. If I let myself think it's only kinda sorta bad, I'll eat it - and then crave it. Within 30 seconds of eating something sugary I'll want more - not after eating potato or rice or a tortilla with my meal. I'm not quite sure what you mean with the dairy? Are you meaning it's high on the GI? As for sword fighting... it's mostly real! I've longed to learn real sword fighting techniques and skills since I was in high school, and in college I took up a game using padded weapons. So I really fight, just with fake weapons. But given the opportunity to pick up a real sword - I'm there in a heart beat. How do you fight?

Quantification of Goal 1: When I have a sugar craving, instead of eating processed sugar in some manner I will... - eat fresh or dried fruit - eat nuts - have a cup of tea - suggestions are welcome! *sheepish look* Is that what you meant?