Just Say No!

[deathmineral]

Do you find yourself trying to stick with an exercise routine but just can't quite pull through? Do you find it's easier to simply give up and call it quits? Me too! That's what I do, I just say no, it's something I find I'm good at.

What am I talking about you might ask? Well in my opinion part of dedication or commitment isn't always about sticking with something but also staying away from something, and I thought this section could use a thread on this.

Despite the old slogans "Never say never" and "Don't give up." The word "No" should never be seen as dirty, each and every word has a good use.

Now to explain more in depth what I mean, saying no is about changing lifestyle and eating habits. My personal experience is that it's always been easier for me to say no to something than to pick up something hard and try to stick with it. For a little over a year now I've simply quit certain foods, and it's not nearly as challenging as you might think. My first quit was last in June 2011, I quit candy/sugary treats, meaning hard candies, soft candies, lollipops, cakes, chocolates etc. I haven't touched any of these things since. At first it was kind of difficult but now I can look at a birthday cake, the tiny powder donuts on the shelf at a gas station, or caramel and peppermint candies someone is holding in their hand as an offer (I have an uncle that does this all the time, don't worry, it's not in a creepy way) and I feel nothing, I haven't the slightest urge or desire to consume these items.

So that's my story, I'm curious though, does anyone else here share this method of discipline or just have any feelings on it?

[starstep]

I do share the same discipline for some things. I know I used to like soda but then I went without for 2 weeks and I didn't really want it anymore after that. So soda free for a few years now.

It's pretty easy to get off of most foods if you can make it past the first 2 weeks without having any. The stuff that's really bad for you even starts tasting bad if you go without for long enough.

While I don't think I want to go totally sugar free like you, I believe I will try going without high fructose corn syrup again. I already keep it limited in my diet but going cold turkey on it is tricky since it appears in the weirdest places. Things that aren't sweet at all can have it buried in there.

[dexterino]

From my point it's easier to drop foods or drinks when you have a goal in mind and sticking to it. Besides you vs the food another obstacles is your family or friends, "Awww why are you eating that? Eat this instead."

Instead of beer or soda get water and drink it. I take crystal light mix drinks 0 calories hahaha as an alternative. Instead of OJ I eat oranges better choices.

It's tough in the beginning to let go of fast foods, soda and chips but in the long run you stay healthier and closer to obtaining your goal.

[skai]

Instead of juices or soda, I drink G2 gatorade. It has low calories, refills you on electrolytes you lose during intense workouts, and is generally healthy. There's nothing in it that's harmful to your body like what diet drinks have.

I also find snacking on cold fruit, whole wheat light butter popcorn, and pistachios a great alternative to chips or junk snacks.

[gymrat]

Deathmineral, you just described my way of changing my diet to a T.

I make smaller changes that you, but so far I have eliminated: trans fats, fizzy drinks (I don't even like them anymore!), sports drinks, and deep fried food.

Eventually I'll work up the courage to go for corn syrup, but not today. My metabolism can still handle the abuse now.

[DarthAvarous]

Nov 7, 2012 15:38:08 GMT -5 starstep said:

I believe I will try going without high fructose corn syrup again. I already keep it limited in my diet but going cold turkey on it is tricky since it appears in the weirdest places. Things that aren't sweet at all can have it buried in there.

As a former food scientist I can explain that. HFCS is an inexpensive sweetener that the food industry uses in place of sugar. It's sweeter than sugar (Sucrose), so it takes less volume to produce the same sweetening effect. In addition, it reduces feelings of satiety, encouraging more consumption. The most common form of HFCS is actually a blend of 55% fructose, and 42% glucose.

So it's cheaper, sweeter, and makes people eat more ($$$). That's why you'll find in a large portion of processed goods.

FYI, fructose (Fruit sugar) is in every single fruit. So good luck eliminating from your diet completely.

[deathmineral]

Nice to see I'm not the only one that does this sort of thing.

Like some of you have said, I also quit the soda, that was my second quit, a particular episode of Dr. OZ encouraged me with that quit. Mostly I drink water anymore, on occasion I'll have some orange juice, though I usually like to try and substitute it with a 0 calories flavor packet (Crystal Light or whatever) and recently I've taken a liking to tea, which is fine for me because the caffeine doesn't really affect me much. To explain my sugar quit better, it isn't really a sugar quit, but just quit things that are mostly sugar, like cake, but I can't say I don't consume sugar at all, I'm sure it or it's alternatives are in majority of what I do, it's not really something I feel can be totally eliminated without a very strict diet, I mean I'm a huge fan of apples so I don't see me quitting sugars completely.

Most recently I've decided to quit pizza, like literally in the last few days I made that decision, so I'm still in the process of seeing if I will stick it out, pretty sure I can though. I made this decision after being in a rut with my weight, I was stuck at 190 for the longest time and it just wouldn't budge no matter what I did. Well finally about two weeks ago my body started cooperating again and I went down to 185, well right about that time pizza came along and said "eat me! eat me!" and I was all like "*sigh* Fine!" and so I went back up to 190, and in those two weeks this situation occurred three times, well I got fed up with it and called it quits.

[appledashfan185]

I gotta stop saying no and just get up and do it.