Eliminating a big daily S...Time to get a NoS Coffee Mug!

gratefuldeb67 · Post by **gratefuldeb67** » Fri Aug 15, 2008 4:11 pm

Okay, time to fess up to myself and to people here.
I have had the habit of putting about two teaspoons of hot chocolate mix and one teaspoon of raw sugar in my coffee every day.
That wouldn't be too terrible, but I average about four cups of coffee a day, and sometimes five.

I've known in my heart this is really an S for several months now.. Actually more like a year, but it was one of these small pleasures I seemed not to be able to cut out.

I ran out of hot chocolate mix the other day, and was too broke to afford it when I went to the store for groceries, so it got me thinking about making this the time to just break that habit cold turkey!

I think that 3 tablespoons of the mix equals somewhere between 120 and 150 calories, and I'd say that I was consuming about that much of it if not more, cos I didn't exactly use flat teaspoons either, every day. So by not having the hot chocolate (I'm still gonna put a teaspoon and a half of regular sugar in my coffee tho, I'm not cutting that out quite yet! LOL)
I will be reducing my sugar intake per week by an average of 1000 calories give or take a few hundred!

I was reading up on how to help to reduce water retention during pre-menopause, which I now think I'm finally entering into (probably have been for the past year now that I have actually read the symptoms involved, which I had all of them...)
and there is a three pronged approach to it:

Daily exercise
Reduce sodium
and,,,

ta da!

Reduce excess calories and *SUGAR*

So I'm sure my inner hot chocolate craving will be kicking and screaming as I try to kill it this month, since this is a pretty long term habit at this point already.. I'd say I've been having my coffee like this for the past two years.. but too bad.
This is war!

It will be interesting to see how this impacts my weight loss.
I'm almost certain I will see improvement, as long as all else remains equal, and I don't seek revenge on myself by sneaking the sugar in some other way now.

Please wish me luck with this all!
Have a great weekend

Love (and no Hot chocolate... ouch I am cringing as I write this! hahahh)

Debs

Too solid flesh · Post by **Too solid flesh** » Fri Aug 15, 2008 10:50 pm

Good luck, Deb. It sounds as though this change could make a significant difference.

gratefuldeb67 · Post by **gratefuldeb67** » Fri Aug 15, 2008 11:05 pm

Thanks Too solid flesh

I hope it does.
It's like I've been eating a small candy bar each day if you think of it.
Hope you are well.
Have a nice weekend!

Debs

Joelle · Post by **Joelle** » Sat Aug 16, 2008 12:05 am

That's a big step, giving up a small comfort, exactly because it is so easy to convince ourselves that it doesn't count. I hope you see a good return for your effort, even if the return is just finding out you can be happy without it.

If you want to replace it with something similar, you might want to try brewing a flavored coffee-tons of aroma and no sugar (other than what you choose to put in, of course)!

gratefuldeb67 · Post by **gratefuldeb67** » Sat Aug 16, 2008 12:13 am

Thanks Joelle

I like hazelnut flavoured coffee, and I use vanilla flavoured soymilk.. I am now substituting a little real unsweetened cocoa.

Phew, I am not one of those people who jump on the "I've got a sugar addiction" problem, and tend not to like using that word often, cos it's way over used and overgeneralised..
But I have to say, my body has definitely become sugar dependent from that coffee/hot chocolate fix.
I realise it's not just the taste I was craving, but probably subconsciously I was craving the pick up from the sugar, because, maaaaan I am feeling it now that I'm not having the sugar.
Definitely going through some minor withdrawal now.
I hope I don't turn into a major b*tch!
hahah

On the up side, the coffee tastes totally fine this way and I am already used to it. Gotta get past this physical craving for the stuff, which I'm sure will be gone within less than a week.
Also, noticing that sweet fruit tastes even sweeter now, like watermelon.
That's a nice plus. I will enjoy fruit more now.

Okay I may come back here occasionally to rant about how much I am missing my fix, but hopefully not too much or for too long!

Thanks for being there NoS family

Groggilly yours,

Debs

gratefuldeb67 · Post by **gratefuldeb67** » Sat Aug 16, 2008 12:18 am

Joelle wrote:That's a big step, giving up a small comfort, exactly because it is so easy to convince ourselves that it doesn't count.

I forgot to reply to this Joelle.
It is really easy to convince ourselves that it doesn't count, and I am sure there were times when I attempted to convince myself of that, but I always knew it was really an S, and just wasn't somehow, spiritually, ready to give up that crutch.

But as I see it, it's still much better to do a small daily tweak, than think about some moronic fad crash diet to solve the problem of too many calories.
But don't ask me to give up coffee!
hahah
Debs

Mavilu · Post by **Mavilu** » Sat Aug 16, 2008 12:52 am

I wish you the best of lucks, but this is only a formality, because I know you can do it.
GO DEB!

mel1974c · Post by **mel1974c** » Sat Aug 16, 2008 2:37 am

Good Luck Deb. Sounds like this step will definitely help in your weight goals.

Best,
Melissa

3aday · Post by **3aday** » Sat Aug 16, 2008 5:01 pm

Hey Deb,
You can do it!
I used to live on heavily sweetened coffee, real hot cocoa, sweet tea and Mountain Dew.
Now, I drink coffee with just half and half or hot tea without any sweetener added.
It took about 3 weeks (surprise!) for me to get used to it and now I just treat myself to sweetened beverages on the weekends.

gratefuldeb67 · Post by **gratefuldeb67** » Sat Aug 16, 2008 5:48 pm

Thanks so much Mavilu, Mel and 3aDay!
Really appreciated!

It's *already* working!
Weighed this morning and I am down about 3 pounds since last week!

I have been walking pretty regularly too, but the diet tweak seems to have helped me break that plateau

Yay!!!

I'm a little groggy still, but not too terrible.

Have a great weekend all!
Peace and Love,

Debs

blueskighs · Post by **blueskighs** » Sun Aug 17, 2008 9:11 pm

Debs,

sounds like this new change is working well for you, and perhaps that you were simply "ready" sometimes that is a big part of the "win" just being ready!

Blueskighs

gratefuldeb67 · Post by **gratefuldeb67** » Mon Aug 18, 2008 8:51 pm

Yeah thanks Blueskighs

It's definitely working well so far and my withdrawal is starting to lessen.
I'm down 4 pounds since about two weeks ago now~
I'm feeling less like having coffee as well, so obviously I was craving the hot chocolate.
I'd say now I'm having two to three cups versus four to five.
Definitely a win win situation, cos I'd rather drink more water and less coffee in general, and things taste much much sweeter to me, now that my palate has had that little sugar purge.

Oh my God, Richie and I had a sweet dessert yesterday for our S's, with Brownies, caramel, sweet ice cream, which he treated me to at Cold Stone Creamery, and it was so ridiculously sweet that I actually threw out half of it cos it was too much. I probably would have thrown out more, but my Son treated me and well, it was expensive, and didn't want him to feel I didn't appreciate his treat

Peace and Love

Debs

kccc · Post by **kccc** » Tue Aug 19, 2008 2:02 am

You go, girl!

Seems like you made changes over time that have worked for you, and now you're ready for this one.

Good for you!

I will wish you success as a formality - as someone else said, I can see you're making success for yourself.

gratefuldeb67 · Post by **gratefuldeb67** » Tue Aug 19, 2008 2:09 am

KCCC Thanks a lot!
Your nice

Peace and Love

Debs

gratefuldeb67 · Post by **gratefuldeb67** » Thu Aug 28, 2008 5:22 pm

Hi everyone, I just wanted to follow this up with the results of my experiment here. I did, in fact, do this for a whole week, and with disastrous consequences.
I found myself so low energy and day by day I got in a worse and worse mood. For people who don't yet know me very well here, I am very substance sensitive.
I'm manic depressive and unfortunately, I found myself, by the end of the week, totally off balance and sinking into a major depression.
Bad bad mood swings and just non stop crying and lack of energy.
It also had no impact on my weight at all, and I was very good in all departments of NoS, including not eating at night.
So by the following week, I decided I'm gonna keep allowing myself that little daily pleasure. I'm not telling people to follow my example or claiming it's even kosher on NoS, but I had to do it. I feel myself again now and am back to my standard 4 cups of coffee with 2 tsp hot chocolate.
Believe it or not I actually dropped a pound and a half after I went back to what my body was used to! LOL

Thanks anyway for all your votes of confidence. My body had something else to say and I had to listen.
Oh and I am okay again, but wow, that was the worst crash I've had for years.
Some personal issues also triggered it as well, but my physical and mental are pretty much inseparable.. My body chemistry can be radically altered by the foods and herbs I take in.

I'm still saving big S's for only S days and really don't crave them that much to be honest, but the coffee/hot cocoa fix is, for now, something I actually feel I need.
Oh well I guess I am addicted.
At least it's not heroin

Peace and Love

Debs

Betty · Post by **Betty** » Sat Aug 30, 2008 9:26 am

Hi Deb,

I totally support you in your decision to go back to your mochas. Some of life's little pleasures should be sacred!

However, could I suggest something? Maybe you could get some good cocoa and mix your own hot chocolate mix. (I'm not sure if you'd need to make a syrup that would dissolve easier). Slowly, over a couple of months, you could decrease the amount of sugar in the mix you make. Or slowly add less and less.

Betty

CrazyCatLady · Post by **CrazyCatLady** » Sat Aug 30, 2008 7:13 pm

I agree with Betty. Do what works for you, Deb! I'n sorry that you had such a rough week. I think that homemade hot cocoa mix is a good idea. And....I just happen to have made some this week. (What are the odds?)

I used the recipe on the side of the Hershey's Cocoa box for stove top hot cocoa.

1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup Hershey's Cocoa
Dash salt
1/3 cup hot water (I left this out)
4 cups milk (I used powdered milk)
3/4 tsp vanilla extract (I left this out, too)

I mixed the sugar, cocoa and salt together in a jar. Then added 1-1/3 cups powdered milk. It should make about 6 servings, according to the Hershey's can. I put 4 teaspoons in a mug, and added hot water, and mixed well. The flavor is very rich and chocolaty. I made a cup for a co-worker, and she liked it, too.

I still have quite a bit of the first mix left, but the next time I will add more of the powdered milk, I think, for an even more creamy consistency. And there is obviously plenty of room to adjust any of the ingredients...except the cocoa. It is just perfect as is!

gratefuldeb67 · Post by **gratefuldeb67** » Sun Aug 31, 2008 11:19 pm

Thanks Betty and Crazy Cat Lady

Might try makin my own sometime.
Will let you know

Debs x