Ode to chocolate (and all things sweet)

I decided that for the month of January, I would give up all that excess sugar that seems to rule my life. I was saving a lot of my Weight Watchers Points and using them up on junk: Uncle Wally's Smart Portion Muffins, Skinny Cow ice cream, and Weight Watchers cakes were the biggest perpetrators. Even worse, I was spending all my extra Points I earned back on long runs on the weekends on other not-so-sinless sweets. Although it wasn't contributing to weight gain, it wasn't contributing anything else nutritionally either. So, I decided to cut out the excess sugar, with the only acceptable sugar being present in fruit, or in less than 5 gram increments (such as the 2 grams of sugar in my Rice Chex, or the tiny bit in my Naturally More peanut butter.)

I started a few days early on December 27, and it sure has been a long month. It has definitely had a positive effect on my eating habits: already, my meals and snacks are more balanced throughout the day, causing the little boxes that measure calories/complex carbs/protein/fat/sugar/fiber on the spreadsheet I keep to all turn green with correct percentages. I would say that it's gotten easier as the month has gone on, but that's a lie. Not a day goes by that I don't want something sweet. I manage to get by on fruit, natural peanut butter, sugar free jelly and sugar free pudding, but that craving is still there. I think next month I'll institute a weekends-only approach to sweets, and maybe limit it to one on Saturday, one on Sunday, and only if I earn it with exercise. Overall, it's just an attempt at making this marathon in April the best, healthiest, fastest race yet. I've also cut out carbonated drinks, which I think I will do until the race, since they tend to give me stitches. I've been really keeping track of what I eat and it's been helping, since I've dropped about 5 pounds since Christmas (which is just a little more than my holiday gain.) I think the flu helped a little, too, but that's beside the point. The point is: I'm 138 lbs of marathon-running machine. Here's to a sub-5 hour marathon.