without alcohol and sweets January 15th- February 16th 2024

DAVIDEDMOND2011

Hi there.
I wish you all a happy and successful year 2024.
I've started the challenge 2 weeks ago, until now I feel very good without alcohol and sweets.
Who would like to be part of the challenge ?

Walela617

Hi David,

Thanks for taking the initiative on this! I think it's a great idea for a challenge! Sure, I'd love to join. I'm sure we can do this! I don't really have a problem with sweets, but I'm fully aware that my consumption of alcohol has continually obstructed my goals. After a great start on December 31st, I have since lost my footing along the path to wellness; so I'd like to start over!

I'm 65 and live alone in metro Boston, MA. I'm still working full-time. I have one son, age 40 who is married and lives with his wife in Cambridge, MA. No grandchildren (yet). My height is 5'3". My highest weight was 217 on 2/29/2008 and I'm now 148 lbs. We are in another leap year now; so I hope to achieve my goal weight by my 66th birthday (August 18) or before. I stopped all alcohol on 01/13/2024 and plan to keep it that way!

I will post my weight every Sunday starting this past Sunday but will also post the number of alcoholic beverages and sweets on a daily basis. Hopefully we can keep this going, but if not I will understand. I have tried to join a lot of challenges that have sadly fizzled out due to inactivity, but I won't give up!

Here goes:

WT on 01/14: 148.0 (WK 1)

Daily check-ins:

01/14: 0/0 (for Alcohol/Sweets)

At the end of each day, I will report the amount of alcoholic beverages and sweets as "#/#", showing how many of each for the days listed.

Wishing you a happy and healthy 2024!🦋

Carole

DAVIDEDMOND2011

Meanwhile 2 weeks without sweets, white flour and alcohol

15 days without sweets, alcohol and with 1 exception without white flour

Surprise myself a little - 2 weeks ago I wouldn't have thought it's possible, but I've now been without sweets, alcohol and almost white flour for 2 weeks, with one exception so far (I had naan at the Indian restaurant last Saturday, which has white flour in it) and I feel very good about it.

I sat in front of a large jar of small chocolate packets for about an hour at a meeting on Monday, even holding them in my hand, without really feeling like eating them. Everyone else had a bite.

The weight has stagnated a little, but that is probably normal in a process, but everything fits better than before and a good 7 kilos have been lost since the beginning of November, I no longer have a midafternoon energy slump and my sleep has also improved a little.

I also notice this in my skin. Before, I still regularly had minor skin blemishes, which have now disappeared.

The target date for my challenge is 16 February. I'm confident now that I can achieve it.

Great that you're in, Carole :-)

Walela617

Congratulations David! You've shown amazing control and that's so inspiring! (To be honest, I had alcoholic beverages on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of this week but I am back in charge and will work very hard to avoid any additional slip-ups.)

I will be weighing in and reporting tomorrow and have already prepared myself to face some gained weight, but that's okay. I'm NOT giving up!

Tomorrow is 16 weeks before Mother's Day and 30 weeks before my 66th birthday. I've read that it takes ~90 days to either break a bad habit or form a good one and I plan to do both! This is my commitment to myself and you are already proving that it can be done! (I was encouraged to hear about the energy, skin and sleep improvement benefits - I hope to experience that as well!)

If your weight loss seems stalled a bit, that might be some temporary water weight gain, which often happens as people introduce dietary changes and even when they become more regularly active.

I will check in again tomorrow. Have a nice evening,

Carole

DAVIDEDMOND2011

Day 19 of the challenge (day 20 for the alcohol, I started one day earlier). 19 days without sweets, 20 days without alcohol and 16 days without white flour :-)

I've got a bit used to the time without alcohol and sweets. I was able to do without alcohol at a fondue with friends yesterday lunchtime, as well as the dessert.
I found it more difficult to give up completely white flour, as I went weak on two days, as the fondue included white bread and on Friday I treated myself to a pizza and a few crisps in the evening.
Small white flour sins, now I'm moving on and I can slowly see the end of the challenge coming and I'm confident that I'll manage the 47 days (I managed half on Wednesday).

Yesterday I bought a new scale, which also gives me information about fat percentage, water percentage etc. (I have resolved to pay a little more attention to these aspects too in terms of a change in nutrition in general).

@Walela617- don't give up event if there are some difficult days, we will make it !!!

Walela617

01/14: 0/0 (for Alcohol/Sweets)
01/15: 0/0
01/16: 0/0
01/17: 5/0
01/18: 4/0
01/19: 4/0
01/20: 0/0
01/21: 0/0

Weekly Weights:
01/14: 148.0
01/21: 148.4 {oops}

I am posting a screenshot of my scale stats to keep me honest! 😉

I plan on staying in today and I never have alcohol at my home; so I have entered 0 alcohol for today.


A little about for once on a while won't hurt. I had pizza on Friday night (as well as 4 beers - NO!) and me weight only went up 0.4.

I plan to do much better this week!

I appreciate your words of encouragement, thank you David!🌹

I will report at the end of each day. Have a great week!

Carole

DAVIDEDMOND2011

My 25th day without sweets and alcohol

I've been now 25 days without alcohol and sweets and I'm a little proud that I've kept it up. In the meantime, I've also communicated at work that I've decided to do this and have received a lot of astonished looks, as I couldn't get past any chocolate before without reaching for it. I'm not quite as consistent with white flour, but I try to cut it out as much as possible (about 4-5 exceptions in the 25 days).
I have lost 8 kilograms since 8.11.2023. Overall, everything is going quite well.

Walela617

Hi David,

I keep losing my posts because they time out but I wanted to try again so I can say CONGRATULATIONS! 8 kilograms in 25 days?! That's amazing!

I have not been doing nearly as well. My weight went up to to 152.6 pounds (~69kg) and I had alcohol on Friday and Saturday night along with overating. Some of that gain is temporary, I'm sure and I hope to get rid of it soon.

I need to renew my commitment:
I hereby call a "Do-Over"! I think if I stay consistent with a brief report here at the end of each day it should help me to be more accountable and stay on track with my wellness efforts.

No problem avoiding sweets and white flour. You've been very strong in staying away from chocolate! I'm glad you shared news of your efforts with your coworkers. Hopefully they will be supportive and you might even inspire some of them as your have done for me!

As for the alcohol, I'm fine as long as I can resist having "that first drink"; after which is pretty much inevitable that I will keep drinking. That won't do at all and I'll never reach my goals that way.

And so...Here I go again!

Very best wishes for your continued success and have a great week!
Carole🌹

It's only 51 days until S*P*R*I*N*G!
https://days.to/spring/2024

Walela617

01/29: 1,322 cals. Alcohol: 0

7,873 steps

DAVIDEDMOND2011

4 weeks without alcohol and sweets
The 4 weeks are done, now hold out until the morning of 17 February 2024 and the challenge is done :-) I didn't think I could do it.
If I can keep it up, I'm thinking of trying a "2-4 weeks vegan" challenge, but we'll see. It's definitely doing me good and my cravings for both sweets and alcohol are no longer there at the moment, apart from the fact that I'm looking forward to a piece of cake and a glass of wine- after my challenge.

DAVIDEDMOND2011

Walela617 wrote: »

01/29: 1,322 cals. Alcohol: 0

7,873 steps

bravo :-). Keep on going - you can make it !

DAVIDEDMOND2011

31 out of 45 days behind me :-)

Walela617

Lost my post again! But here goes:

Hi David,

Congratulations on completing your first month and with so much progress too!

It's very encouraging to hear that you don't have cravings for sweets and alcohol anymore! About the "vegan trial", I don't eat much meat but I do enjoy yogurt, cheese and eggs (also fish); so in not sure I'm up for that challenge! 😸

At the end of your challenge, you definitely deserve your cake and wine reward after all your efforts!

I'm finally back on track losing some of my regained weight due to temporary loss of footing along the path, but now I am back to no alcohol or sweets and avoiding white flour as well as processed foods in general.

Starting this week, I plan to step up my activity and to post more consistently going forward.

Here are my scale stats from this morning:

I hope you have a great week ahead!

We finally have sunshine again after something like 11 days! Yay!

44 days until SPRING!🔆❤️🌹

Walela617

Weekly Weights:
01/14: 148.0
01/21: 148.4 {oops}
01/28: 152.6 {YIKES!}
02/04: 148.4 {Phew!} (67.3 kg)

Alcohol/Sweets (as #/#)

01/28: 0/0
01/29: 0/0
01/30: 0/0
01/31: 0/0
02/01: 0/0
02/02: 0/0
02/03: 0/0
02/04: 0/0

DAVIDEDMOND2011

Keep on going, Carole ! Great that you're in again :-)
I finished my 5th week yesterday and lost 9,5 kg so far, still 9 days to go and I hope that I can get the 10kg medal :-). I do look forward to eating a piece of cake and to drink a glass of wine, but at the end it kind of became a habit not to eat sweets. Where I work I'm surrounded by small chocolates here and there, but don't even feel attracted by the sweets.
My next challenge- vegan- well let's see- I also like cheese, milk products, sometimes meat or fish, but would like to test it.

Have a nice evening, here it's also raining, but spring will come soon.

Walela617

Happy Sunday David,

No loss this week mostly due to overeating and under activity. I'm sad to admit that I did have alcohol on Thursday and Friday but no other days last week. (I really need to watch those two days - I'm usually home on weekends so little risk there.) I'm fine as long as I don't pick up that first drink; then all bets are off.

Restart Weight: 152.6 on JAN 28
FEB04: 148.4 (WK: -4.2/TL: -4.2
FEB11: 148.4 (WK: -0.0/TL: -4.2

We're expecting a snowstorm in Boston late Monday night and all though Tuesday. They're not sure how much yet but it's supposed to be the biggest one so far this winter.

Here we go again! Best wishes for the week ahead!

DAVIDEDMOND2011

Don't worry, Carole, next week will be better 5 days without alcohol is also fine.
6 weeks now without alcohol, tomorrow night 6 weeks without sweets (apart from fruits). Still 4 days to go :-)

DAVIDEDMOND2011

Oh happy day :-).

Challenge accomplished. 6,5 weeks without sweets and alcohol :-).
10,1 kg weight loss since november 2023. (currently: 97,2 kg).

Next goal will be under 90 kg until july 2024

Walela617

Congratulations David! That's wonderful!

My weight is not on the right track (less activity and overeating) but at least I'm staying away from alcohol!

I will post true stats from this morning and will make every effort to follow your example and do better.

I hope to achieve my goal weight of 140 or less by my 66th birthday, August 18, 2022. That's 25 weeks from today; so I should be able to succeed, provided I stay focused.

I'm afraid I've not been doing so well, weight-wise (wrong direction!); so effective TODAY, I call a personal "DO OVER"! I will be weighing in on Sundays, beginning today:

02/25: 150.2 - Day 1


Have a great week (last week in February and only 23 days until SPRING!🌱)

Walela617

Hi David,

Hope you had a great weekend!

YAYY! I it's March! Spring is getting closer and closer!

Well, I'm happy to report that I'm back on track. No alcohol last week and improved eating habits, although I need to step up my activity.

Current Sunday weight and stats below:

02/25: 150.2 - Day 1 ("Do-Over" date)
03/03: 148.2 - WK. 1

Week 01 Loss: 2.0 lbs.
Since Restart : 2.0 lbs.

So there it is. I plan to keep this going!

Have a great week!

💞 Carole

Walela617

Hi David, it looks like you are all done with your challenge - CONGRATULATIONS!

You don't seem to be posting here anymore so I will jump off but not before wishing you all the very best with every success! ❤️ Carole