No Sugar/No Carbs = No Fun!

I have been challenging myself over the last month in a way that I never have before. Oh sure, I've dieted before and I've limited my sugar and carb intake, but I've never actually not cheated while doing so. In fact, I did a 'life-style'-change-diet a few years back with my husband and mother-in-law called the Fat Blast; in said diet, they encourage you to significantly limit carbs and cut-out sugar. Even though I was doing it with the support of family, I was a cheater - I would sneak a little candy here, a little cookie there, and all that cheating probably started the day after the 'diet' started.

You have to understand.....I grew up in a home where treats and sweets were the glue that held together our family fun times; so much revolved around baking together and then blissfully enjoying the 'fruits of our labor'. I was privileged enough to get fresh-baked cookies in my lunch almost every day - so hot they had to be wrapped in foil, and as they cooled they would take the shape of the foil, molded in to amorphous blobs, but such very tasty blobs! I made my first batch of Ranger cookies when I was 7 and my grandparents were in town - the whole family joked that they were 'rock hard'. I don't know if they really were or not, but it only momentarily annoyed me and instead fueled my desire to show them all that I could master the craft of baking. Since then, I have plowed my way through numerous cake, cookie, pie, and dessert recipes, undaunted by the unfamiliar and the strange....and I have consequently learned to love baking, and have simultaneously looped my husband in to the love of all things sweet. In fact, we consider ourselves "foodies", and while we certainly know our limits when it comes to what's appropriate to eat, and what's not, when we go on vacations, it's a feeding free-for-all. In fact, we jokingly agree that we plan our sight-seeing around the places we plan to eat - but we have found some amazing places to eat by doing some on-line research about the local favorite eateries at each location. But....I digress.....I made a decision a month ago to cut-out sugar and carbs and to see if I could exercise my will-power for an extended period of time, let alone a day or two. Needless to say, since making my decision, I have struggled every day; I even told Scott that I have had some very vivid, and flavorful dreams during which I have enjoyed some of my favorite treats, only to wake and realize it was all fiction. I've also resorted to indulging in what I refer to as 'food porn', or in other words, scouring food blogs with colorful pictures and descriptions of each recipe; Scott insists I'm torturing myself. There have been days when I want to go totally Cookie-Monster-crazy on a plate of brownies, and I'm getting fairly tired of meat, however, the pay-off for me is that I've lost over 20 pounds, and I'm feeling pretty darn good. I've learned to curb a very bad vice, and I've convinced Scott to join me and he's down over 6 pounds. Now, that's not to say that I'm ready to permanently give-up sugar and carbs; I will definitely revisit some of my 'friends' in the near future, but hopefully with a renewed sense of self-control and discretion.