Willpower – Starting Tuesday my Diet is Done!

Starting Tuesday morning I will have completed the 30 day Reset Diet I started last month (on April 29th in fact). So I will be able to eat food again. I say this to be funny because the point of the diet was to eat “Real Food” for 30 Days. It is shocking how different it is not eating food that we find at the stores and in our cupboards.

Zero Sugar

The point of the diet was to cut out all unnatural sugar from my diet.To do this means cutting our virtually ALL processed foods. No wheats and grains. No Milk. So most of my diet was Meat, Hard Cheeses (which are OK), fruits and vegetables, olive oil and butter are OK. So some of the food I could eat is incredibly decadent (3 egg omelettes with sausage or bacon), choices were often limited. And you find that all the fresh fruit and vegetables are a little expensive as well.

But, I cannot argue with the results!

20 lbs in 30 days!

I wanted to lose weight. And I did. Clothing the I had pushed to the back of my drawers and back of my closet now fits. I have to use a belt much more often with my bigger clothing. The jeans my wife bought me for Christmas a year and a half ago I can now wear. This is exciting!

It’s like Drinking from The Fountain of Youth

Joint pain reduced. Though I am unclear on the exact reason, the pain in have had in my knees and ankles is all but gone. I walk up and down the steps with ease. I get out of the car and do not feel like I am 80 walking up the walk way. I can roll around on the floor and play with the kids and not have to pull myself up using the couch. It is like drinking from the fountain of youth.

One of the symptoms that I noticed prior to starting the diet was that I was taking 2 ibuprofin almost every morning for pain. I hate being beholden to medications. So needing a pain killer bothered me.

As I found this weekend, I have unbelievable stamina. I spent the weekend plowing out my garden patches. Most of it had to be done with a shovel. My arms and shoulders and wrists and hands are sore, and I want to go to sleep early. But the job got done. And I noticed as I was digging the gardens – digging deep inside to move all that dirt – that I had the stamina to keep going.

Willpower

There are many takeaways I have from my experience with the diet. An important one is Willpower. Having the strength of will to keep on throughout the whole thing. For the most mart I did not cheat on the diet. There was one day I had to use a commercial salad dressing that had some sugar in it. Really bugged me. Some of the sausage I bought had some sugar. But I went out of my way to be sure that I was not breaking the rules I agreed to.

That agreement I must say was one I made with myself. Looking at the parameters of the diet, I also have some of my own restrictions – self imposed of course. 1) I do not eat beef, 2) I never eat anything with artificial sweeteners, and 3) I do not eat food after 8:00PM. Probably the beef issue was one that makes this diet difficult. The choices you have are limited already. And steak and hamburger are easy to cook with and easy to get while you are out to eat. Without sugar or artificial sweeteners, the only sweets I ate were fruit. That is not a terrible loss for me. But for others it could be a deal-breaker.

So where does the willpower come from? For me, I have made this type of commitment before. When I was about 23 I quit smoking cigarettes cold turkey. For nonsmokers, this may not seem like such a feat. But it was easily the hardest thing I have ever done. As I remember, it started with a commitment. One day I decided to quit. Of course, there were other factors.

It began as a bet, or more of a dare. My girlfriend at the time was going on an airplane trip and decided she would quit smoking. She said that I should too. And smoker who hears this kind of thing will usually react the same way – with righteous indignation and horror. Despite ALL of the medical and health reasons someone should quit, none of them matter to the addicted mind. There is no logic to the desire to smoke. It controls you.

She left, and I proceeded to drink and smoke throughout the weekend (it was a party weekend for some reason). I found myself waking up Sunday morning (late) having smoked my last cigarette. I did not go out and buy more, and without thinking about it, got through the day without a smoke. As I sat that night with crazy, serious cravings – and no cash in my pocket to go to the store, I thought, maybe I could do it. At that point, that was the longest period of time I had gone without nicotine. 1 day. I would see if I could make it two.

After that Monday, it became a goal. To make it through the week. I remember very little of that week, other than insane cravings. It was hockey playoffs and we went out to bars to watch the Kings. Not having a cigarette in my hand, I found other things to do with them – like drinking heavily.

Every minute of every day required willpower. Every habit, from your coffee in the morning to how you end your meals and what you do when you get in the car, you find involved cigarettes. By the end of the week (5 days clears the nicotine out of the system) I realized that I NEVER wanted to go through that again. And have held on to that fear ever since when any craving comes up.

I used that willpower has a competitive cyclist, when I would have to dig deep within myself physically during races or climbing hills.

I used that willpower each time I have been on this diet, reminding myself of my commitment, and desire to lose weight and stay with it.

And I hope I remember this willpower as I set out throughout this summer – as I really want to keep the weight off. Though I do not want the rigor of the diet, I love the results. It is a choice. And paying attention to that choice when I need to to be aligned with my goals.

1 Comment

  1. So happy for you Andrew. I have been eating pretty clean for many decades. Plus I did fasting for quite a few years. Even now I eat incredibly light. Some veggies, some fruits, virtually no meat, lots of water. Fountain of youth indeed. One reason why I am 43 years old but if I dye my hair I still get carded sometimes….no joke. Take care of your body and it’ll work just awesome.

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