Author Topic: Sugar Sugar  (Read 2095 times)

sam

Sugar Sugar
« on: 02 November, 2023, 06:10:46 am »
I haven't been at my fighting weight for a while. I blame me. Specifically my addition to sugar. Watching a clip of Matthew Perry talking about how he couldn't stop drinking once he'd started was a reminder of how powerful addiction can be. If it wasn't for my equally strong urge to cycle, my sweet tooth combined with my otherwise sedentary nature (a lot of cycling is spent sitting down!) would have me at a new personal best on the scales.

Halloween seemed like an auspicious day to try, try again to rein this thing in.


I vant to drink your blood for the triglycerides

I've beat it before, goddamnit. The problem is, it took an almost religious fervour, which is hard to sustain long term.

Enough talk. Action. It may help that I've just come down with a case of Temporomandibular Disorder, with agonising pain whenever I even think about chewing. The old me would've taken that as an excuse to visit the ice cream aisle, any calorie being acceptable when so many are suddenly off the table. Helpful as TMD may prove to the cause, it's not a viable log term weight loss plan either.

Welcome to my battle diary.

Re: Sugar Sugar
« Reply #1 on: 02 November, 2023, 07:23:03 am »

Re: Sugar Sugar
« Reply #2 on: 02 November, 2023, 08:41:17 am »
My addiction to sugar knows no bounds. Chocolate, toffees, flapjack . . . I consume in huge quantities.

Normally when MrsC goes away, I lose weight (mostly because I get out exercising a lot more).

This time, bad weather, a bum shoulder and work pressure meant little exercise.

I've cleared the house of sweets, and put on 2kg in 2 weeks.
<i>Marmite slave</i>

Afasoas

Re: Sugar Sugar
« Reply #3 on: 02 November, 2023, 08:49:37 am »
Enough talk. Action. It may help that I've just come down with a case of Temporomandibular Disorder, with agonising pain whenever I even think about chewing. The old me would've taken that as an excuse to visit the ice cream aisle, any calorie being acceptable when so many are suddenly off the table. Helpful as TMD may prove to the cause, it's not a viable log term weight loss plan either.

Sorry about the TMD Sam. Certainly not a weight loss solution. Hope the symptoms are transient.
I've gained about 8" around the waist over the last decade. Now trying to reverse the trend. Doesn't help that, left unchecked, I can easily consume several times my own body weight in cake, biscuits and chocolate in a short period of time.
The good lady likes baking. And cupboards well stocked with such sweet delicacies.

sam

Re: Sugar Sugar
« Reply #4 on: 02 November, 2023, 11:00:52 am »
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/W3UvrIddyEI

I happen to think carnivorousness makes sense, but I just can't do it. Have definitely developed an overdependence on the wrong kind of carbs.

Normally when MrsC goes away, I lose weight

My wife goes away every night when she turns in before me. I call this the binging hour. Talk about bad habits.

left unchecked, I can easily consume several times my own body weight in cake, biscuits and chocolate in a short period of time

Sit right down and enjoy this moreish compilation of the great gourmand of our age.

I swear to god I could live on Pop-Tarts®* were it not for the gelatin. Though I've stopped being vegan, strictly no collagen from animal body parts, please. (I don't even like it encasing medicine, but sometimes needs must.) It's in the frosting btw. An unfrosted pop tart is a hopeless pop tart. That's probably enough about pop tarts, except to say they're pretty much the poster child of the worst the food industry has to offer. If they are indeed food.


Walk on by

Am attempting cantaloupe as I type this. It is fabulous, and has placated me.


*Haven't had one in nearly 30 years, but they live on in my dreams, as you can see.

Re: Sugar Sugar
« Reply #5 on: 02 November, 2023, 11:41:30 am »
cantaloupe is of course pure unrefined sugar wrapped up as something healthy!

sam

Re: Sugar Sugar
« Reply #6 on: 02 November, 2023, 11:43:21 am »
Which is why I like it so much. As long as I don't overdo it, I'm certainly allowing fruit.



And I won't overdo it. I'm not hugely fond of fruit. Kind of wish I was. Cantaloupe is probably my favourite of that particular food group.

barakta

  • Bastard lovechild of Yomiko Readman and Johnny 5
Re: Sugar Sugar
« Reply #7 on: 02 November, 2023, 06:06:20 pm »
I don't know if it's useful, but I have found heat to be a reasonably effective way to "treat" TMJ when I have had it. I wrapped a small hot water bottle in cloth so it wasn't too hot and held it against my face for as long as I could stand (at least 15 mins) several times per day.

sam

Re: Sugar Sugar
« Reply #8 on: 02 November, 2023, 07:31:49 pm »
Thanks. My regime is cold after eating, heat whenever I'm in repose.

Called the doc to run my diagnosis by her, but it was a foregone conclusion. My years of Google medical training have not gone to waste.

Proceeded with dinner verrrrrry carefully, and was pain free till almost the end. Normally this is what I would've washed it down with:



At 20cal per 100ml it's about as good as it gets, but it's not about the cals.

On edit: I've decided it's more about portion control, and have allowed this back in my diet, weakening the foundation of this thread. Am actually doing pretty good as of [checks watch] 9 Jan.

alfapete

  • Oh dear
Re: Sugar Sugar
« Reply #9 on: 03 November, 2023, 05:13:12 pm »
I had a similar restriction in my diet for a few days leading up to my finals due to TMD (it used to be called TMJ in those days). My qualification was in dentistry and we all liked to think we know all about TMJ. The three oral surgery consultants we were trained by had entirely different strategies for treating it - one said 'rest', one said 'jaw exercises' the other said antidepressants. Stress was certainly a major factor (does that fit in with your life, sam?) This was almost 40 years ago and there's still little evidence base for most approaches: whatever treatment might be provided everyone seems to get better in the end and I was never quite sure whether it was simply the passage of time or the intervention that made the difference. Because I was a dentist I believed in dental splints (a hard acrylic cover over the teeth to alter the relationship between upper and lower jaws) but inevitably: whatever treatment might be provided everyone seems to get better in the end. Chiropracters, acupuncturists, osteopaths would all have equally valid opinions and treatment approaches..
alfapete - that's the Pete that drives the Alfa

sam

Re: Sugar Sugar
« Reply #10 on: 03 November, 2023, 08:22:47 pm »
Stress was certainly a major factor (does that fit in with your life, sam?)

I honestly don't know where you'd plot me on a stressed graph. I'm aware that it affects your entire body, including the set of your jaw. Can't remember if a dentist has ever told me I grind my teeth, which would be pertinent info.

Again, thank god for cycling. It relaxes the tension that builds up when I haven't been on a bike for a day or two. Oh no – am I caught in a feedback loop?

(Bad movies also relax me, even if they turn out to be good.)

barakta

  • Bastard lovechild of Yomiko Readman and Johnny 5
Re: Sugar Sugar
« Reply #11 on: 06 November, 2023, 01:52:04 pm »
My TMJD is partially dodgy anatomy (I have an almost cleft palate and had hideous upper jaw widening braces in the 90s which didn't go wide enough) and partly stress which tends to trigger it. Dentist appointments or anything where I have to do mouth-open wide also is a trigger.

sam

Re: Sugar Sugar
« Reply #12 on: 07 November, 2023, 04:54:51 am »
Dentist appointments = stress. One-two punch.

Today's note for sugar avoidance: dried dates are like crack cocaine. Must cut down. As it is, currently even gentle mastication is living on the edge.

I grew up watching my father pour sugar over his cereal, which didn't help when it came to habit formation on impressionable youth. He used to say he didn't have to worry about it because he had a full set of dentures (thanks to a car accident that had taken 'em all out). He was a thin guy regardless.

fruitcake

  • some kind of fruitcake
Re: Sugar Sugar
« Reply #13 on: 03 January, 2024, 11:39:18 pm »
I just about understand what sugar does to the digestive system / gut biome after reading the book mentioned in this thread:
https://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=126766.0

I stopped eating anything sweet after reading that book. Behold, more energy. And none of the wind.

Now when I have sweet food, like a biscuit, or a slice of supermarket-bought cake, it tastes cloyingly sweet. Because it is - the amount of sugar in those foods is obscene. Sugar cravings will happen if I eat sweet things again within three days.

It takes three days of no sugar for the cravings to go away. It's the microbes. I starve 'em out.


Afasoas

Re: Sugar Sugar
« Reply #15 on: 15 January, 2024, 01:06:45 pm »
I think this is the year to start incrementally improving things. No wild ambitions. No lofty goals.

Currently working on the second incremental improvement - which is something around reducing sugar intake. Specifically: no more snacking.

Implementation started last week. Initially, it was going well with just one biscuit consumed. Then on Saturday night I engorged myself on a packet of M&Ms. No snackage since.
I thought about buying some sobriety chips. But that'd probably be disrespectful for people battling serious addictions. And then I'd have to give up nicotine (vaping) as well.