The two mistakes I made

[Grant]

Well, I thought I had a really clean induction but it turns out I made two mistakes. I thought I'd share them in case it helps someone else.

1. Splenda sweetened soda. I knew that we could only have 3 packets of sweetener per day but for some reason I didn't equate that with my drink of choice. I definately drink too much Diet Rite soda and now I'm wondering how much I would have lost if I had only thought about that.

2. Candy with sugar alcohol. Almost right at the beginning we went out and bought a TON of "0 net carb" candy. It's pretty expensive for what you get but we figured it was worth it. It wasn't until I got on this board that I realized that our assumptions were incorrect. Again, although I did lose a pretty good amount during induction I'm sure it would have been quite a bit more if only we had skipped the frankenfood sweets.

Ah well, live and learn eh?

[ValidRouge]

Yep, Grant. You may or may not have lost more...but you're doing great, so don't sweat it. My bigger issue with the artificially sweetened stuff is the insulin response that some of us have just at the TASTE of something sweet. Kind of like Pavlov's dogs....the taste of sweet on our tongues causes the body to release insulin. When the insulin gets into the blood stream, it starts removing blood glucose. Because we don't have significant amounts of glucose in our blood, now we have a situation of LOW BLOOD SUGAR which manifests itself as irritability and sugar cravings...for me...BAD sugar cravings. Someone once described it as wanting to "Eat the furniture" bad cravings...

IMO its just a slow form of torture that we inflict on ourselves. I had a few months (and still am battling cravings) where I started drinking coffee with cream and sweetner. It VERY quickly got wayyyyy out of hand and I found myself eating and eating and eating.

[dreamof145]

It seems the longer we do this WOE, the more educated we become. Thats what is so wonderful about this site....we all learn from each other. ~ Thanks for sharing. Your doing great - 43 pounds Like Joy said, don't look back...go forward.

[kacey1]

Grant - you are doing FANTASTIC! The great thing about this WOE is all that you do learn and keep learning about yourself. As you go thru the rungs of OWL, you will find foods that aren't worth the effort or carbs (for you), some that you can't have in the house - because you'll eat the WHOLE thing, those that create cravings for other foods, and those that stop weight loss.

The above is all individual - and I'm certainly still learning. I only wish I'd known earlier that it wasn't necessary for me to suffer at the hands of food - when I could have all the control I have now - simply by knowing those things I've learned over the past 5 months.

I went back and did induction (at boot camp) again after 4 months just to keep myself focused and 'checking in' with people who have had a lot more experience than I have. That is always a thought too!

Keep on going - you are doing a fantastic job so far!!!! WOW!