Recreational Sugar
This has come up a couple of times now on the dashboard... And I wrote this on the train for a couple of other friends who were asking me about it so I figured what the heck, I'll drop it here to also bore all of you...
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Hello everybody. My name is John Withrow and I am addicted to sweets. Not just some sweets, but all sweets. And the sweeter, the better. I never met a piece of fudge that was too sweet. I've heard some people say that certain soft rich chocolate mud cakes are too sweet to eat. I don't know what's wrong with those people. My dad is ~280 lbs and when I was a kid growing up he would stop at the convenience store near our house 'every' time he drove past it to pick up a candy bar or ho-ho's or something (which means at least 2x every single day of his life) so I guess I got it honestly... I'm the reason that they put candy bars near the register in just about every store, yes I would buy one 'every' time I went into any store... I ate some form of desert every single night. I would estimate that I was taking in on average at least 1,000 calories a day (many more on some days) of some form of wasted calorie yummy deliciousness.
In April of 2011, As I was training with EN for my first Ironman (Louisville) I was 212 lbs (down from 230 lbs a couple of yrs earlier) I decided to try a grand experiment on myself. No "recreational sugar". My wife coined the phrase, but for me it meant nothing yummy and sweet. No cookies, brownies, cake, candy, chocolate, ice cream, moist blueberry muffins with that delicious crumbly stuff on top, no kids sugary cereal, you know the kinds. I made up the rules and my rules specifically declared no chocolate of any kind ever, or anything chocolate flavored for that matter. That meant no chocolate milk for a recovery drink. No chocolate flavored gu. I know that the nutritional content of a chocolate flavored gu is exactly the same as a strawberry-banana flavor, but I had drawn a very dark line and I would not cross it.
So what happened... The first day was very hard. I got wicked withdrawal symptoms. I literally got the shakes after my first breakfast because I didn't get something sweet. At lunch time I passed up a brownie and got a huge headache and it was all I could do to not shove my hand into the bin of chocolate covered raisins or chocolate covered peanuts that sit in my work pantry and stare at me all day. The first day was VERY hard. The second day was exactly the same. Actually the first 7 days were all exactly the same. By day 8 it got a little easier. By day 10 it was a lot easier. From days 10-15 something weird started to happen... When I passed on desert or walked by those delicious chocolate covered raisins I would gt a very similar high to what I used to get when I ate it. It's almost like I would get the 'rush' because I was 'winning' every time I passed by that stuff but resisted. After 3 weeks though something else happened. Nothing. I mean no emotion, no cravings, nothing. I didn't want sweets, I didn't miss them, nor did I get any enjoyment out of passing on them. Literally no emotion and no cravings. This was enlightening for me! It was real motivation! I knew that if I ate even one single M&M that I would need to start that miserable dreaded 10 day withdrawal period all over again and that was enough motivation for me to not break my rigid rules.
I allowed myself to eat all of the other bad crap that I always ate but the weight just shed off of me. Granted, I was in the meat of IM training, but I didn't hesitate to eat potato chips, hamburgers, wings or beer... Don't get me wrong, there were a few awkward moments, like when my 4 yr old didn't understand why I wouldn't have a piece of his birthday cake... But in general it was pretty easy actually. And I knew it was only temporary because I had given myself an end date of August 28th, the day of IMLou. I told my mom the only thing I wanted when I got home from the IM was the same cake my son had for his birthday a few weeks earlier with the delicious butter cream Sugary icing...
I raced IMLou around 186lbs. I ate chocolate chip cookies in the food tent after the race. I forced myself to buy a candy bar on the drive home the next day. It wasn't satisfying, but I ate it anyways. When we got back to Pennsylvania to pick up our kids from my parents house, the cake was waiting for me and I forced down a piece. It didn't taste like I had remembered. What the hell was wrong with me. The next morning I tried another piece for breakfast and it made me sick so I threw the whole thing away and never told my mom...
Over the next several weeks of eating sweets 'because I could' and not because I wanted to I gradually got me sweet tooth back and by October I didn't need to force it anymore, I started to 'need' it again. Little working out and lots of sweets and I ballooned up again. By the time I went to have my 1st run gait analysis at PAP in late December I weighed 209 lbs and I remember this specifically because the first video they took of me is proof (and reminder) that I had become a fatty fat man again.
This past yr in prep for IMNYC I wasn't going to wait until April to start. January 3rd was the date. (I felt it was important to enjoy the first couple days of the New Yr to finish up all of the leftovers and be mentally ready. Cold turkey once again brought on the shakes and withdrawal symptoms, but the worst of them only lasted 3-4 days, and it was moderately bad through day 7 and then after day 10, simply nothing... This "nothing" lasted all the way until August 11th when I ate the dried out chocolate chip cookies after IMNYC. I raced IMNYC ~182lbs (but actually saw 179lbs after a couple of my long runs). 2012 was a little different though because I had also signed up for IMFL on November 3rd and didn't want to balloon up for this. So I tried a new experiment... Recreational Sugar in "moderation". So I would only eat it on special occasions or every once and a while and just a small piece of whatever it was I was eating. This started with good intentions and even though I didn't buy candy bars at the register anymore, I still had a sweet tooth that grew pretty consistently and I raced IMFL ~188lbs. After IMFL, all bets were off and I went back to my crazy ways again.
Luckily I got a stomach flu while at my parents house over Christmas break so I had several days where I wasn't actually gorging myself with cookies and brownies, etc. I still went crazy through December and for the last couple days of the yr though... This yr, I decided to maybe start on Jan 2, maybe on Jan 3 and would play it by ear. On Jan 2nd, I went back to work and there weren't any obvious sweet things that I wanted to eat so I accidentally started on Jan 2nd. The really interesting thing is that I got exactly ZERO withdrawal symptoms. Nothing. And I don't miss the sweets. It's almost like my body knows the drill and has accepted it. We'll see if I even want to eat the chocolate chip cookies after IMUSA this yr, we'll see...
Caveat for this yr is that I'm also trying to eat little to no processed food and am experimenting with a gluten free diet. As much as I have read about it, it seems like there are a lot of parallels with me giving up sugar like wheat/gluten is an irritant and we are generally addicted to it. A week in and I haven't craved bread or wheat products at all, but it is logistically much harder than simply giving up "Recreational Sugar". For the record, I hope to get down to ~175lbs this yr and will likely race IMUSA somewhere around ~178lbs or so with 175lbs on race day as a stretch goal...
Observations:
Will Power - I don't have much of it. Crazy right! Most people say that they don't have enough will power to do this and I absolutely disagree. I believe Will Power is being faced with a decision and actually making the less fun decision. For example, when I was in the period of "Moderate Recreational Sugar" consumption between IMNYC and IMFL I was faced with will power decisions all the time. If it was "birthday" day for the month at work and they brought in dozens of delicacy cup cakes, I had to decide if I would eat one or not. And if I ate one, I had to face the decision if I would try another one of a different flavor. The cupcakes usually won and my weak will power was generally exposed. But right now as I sit here in January if they bring in the cupcakes it takes no will power at all. There is no decision to be made. I have a set of rigid rules and I simply follow them. Cupcakes are not on my approved list of things I am allowed to eat until July 28th, so there is no decision to be made. No thought, no cupcake, no will power test. Easy. My wife will tell you that I'm one of the most stubborn people in the world and that definitely comes in handy as I stubbornly follow the rules that I myself created for myself... But I can tell you that following a rule is much easier than making a hard decision.
Weight - This one is obvious. When I eat hundreds (or thousands) of totally useless calories per day I gain weight. When I don't eat those, I lose weight. I literally eat all day and am almost never "hungry". I snack on nuts, fruit, raisins, more fruit, more nuts and always eat until I am full every single meal. When I workout and don't eat sweets I lose lots of weight and need a new wardrobe because it looks like I'm wearing my dad's suits...
Recovery - I honestly believe that cutting out all "recreational Sugar" (and not taking any more Ibuprofen, but that's another long topic in its own) allows me to recover better and get stronger. I found that when I remove these inflaming agents (or anti-inflaming agents) my body can do "it's thing" naturally and absorb all the work I am putting into it. I have rarely gotten injured while on my "no Recreational Sugar" kick, but I have developed minor niggles and a little more serious knee injuries each time I got back off the wagon for a few months.
Final Summary - I am only a n=1 experiment and results may not be as drastic for someone who "recreational sugars" are already no big deal... But maybe you can set rules around beer, or fried food, or processed food, or whatever your particular limiter is. Let's be honest, you know what your weakness is. I also would be very bad at the “eat whatever you want one day a week” thing. For me that would mean that every other day of the week would suck because just at the time that my "drug" is almost completely flushed out of my system, I would be giving myself another fix and would continue the sucky withdrawal symptoms in a vicious cycle. For me, once I adapt it is actually simple as long as I follow "My" rules. Now I just need to keep shrinking the amount of time I take “off” so I don’t balloon up too much in between.
Comments
Thanks for sharing
Recreational sugar? I like that.
I've already been off booze for over a year. Not easy, but copious quanties of tea and coffee help! I still struggle with weight. I'm a stay-at-home dad, so the snack thing does get me. Not sweets, but just granola bars, that sort of thing. General grazing in the snack drawer.
Putting a name to the habit, like "recreational sugar," should help red-flag me when I get the urge to graze.
Thanks for sharing that!
Again, I've learned a lot from reading this. Seriously, thank you for opening that story up to share with us.
I might just give it a shot. I'm still not sure about the chocolate bit, because I drink chocolate milk and often use dark chocolate as a replacement for other sweets - but going on the premise that it just restarts the craving cycle again - it may have to go if I want to be serious about a trial.
Quick question - sports drinks don't count as recreational sugar when consumed for workout purposes, right?
EDIT: NVM. Dumb question, as GU's are allowed and they are obviously sweet.
@Dave-- Nicely done on the Pizza. Different product, but exact same philosophy which helps me confirm my random crazy thoughts on will-power...
@Kori-- From what I know about you already, you becoming "a much better athlete, mom, wife..." might be a scary proposition for the competition as there's already a ridiculously high starting point on each of those fronts.
@Dave-- I think you just admitted it... Please put the spoon down step away from the Fruity Pebbles. I can relate, about 5 yrs ago, Jess surprised me with something for my birthday that I had mentioned to her for years. She made me a whole bowl of Lucky Charms marshmallows. She got a new box of Lucky Charms and picked out only the marshmallows so I could have a massive bowl of those in milk without any of the actual cereal part. It was good, but not nearly as good as I had imagined it would be for the 32 yrs prior... Now if only I could get her to give me this yr's birthday present...
@Ryan-- Those are my rules, so you can make any rule you want. For me, sports drinks like Gatorade and Infinit don't qualify as "Recreational Sugar". I won't eat chocolate gu or chocolate recovery shakes simply on principle because that is one of my "rules". But I openly admit that it is silly. I would guess that chocolate milk immediately after a workout would simply get absorbed into your system right away and would be unlikely to cause any more of a spike than my Hammer Recoverite does. I use the Strawberry flavored Recovorite, knowing full well that the nutritional content is exactly the same as the Chocolate. With that said, I will eat Honey Stinger Waffles while training or the Powerbar "Oatmeal Raisin" Protein plus bites while training but not the "chocolate peanut butter" version (even while training). HOWEVER, I will not randomly eat a Honey Stinger Waffle or a package of the Protein Plus Bites as a random snack in the afternoon, because lets be honest, they are delicious, so I would consider that "Recreational Sugar" if consumed simply as a snack. For me fueling a workout has very little restrictions other than the stated chocolate flavor restriction.
I'm considering removing that chocolate "flavor" restriction this yr to see what happens because I know it is silly and purely psychological. I'm also experimenting with very dark chocolate. A 90% cocoa dark chocolate actually has very little sugar and actually has some good anti-oxidants and other potential benefits. Jury is still out for me. I've made this work for very long periods of time, so I'm certainly open to tweaking it a bit to see what happens.
I also don't outlaw natural honey. I put a spoonful in my tea and before I started the gluten free thing, I would put a bit of honey on my cereal every morning. I consider honey very natural with some other minor benefits so I gave it a carve-out in my rules. You may disagree with that, but feel free to make your own rules and include or exclude anything you want.
@Rachel - I've never heard about the moderator/abstainer thing before. It makes total sense to me. I can't moderate, so I, too, have to set hard/fast rules. Never thought about it that way before.
My name is Bruce and I'm chocoholic. I'm addicted to chocolate. It is my one remaining vice since I gave up chasing women many years ago when I got married (chocolate is cheaper than a divorce). So I will not give up "recreational chocolate" but I do give up putting cream in coffee starting Jan thru IMWI in Sept. Do the math. 4 cups a day x 25 calories/cup = about 100 calories/day, or 700 calories/week, or 2800 calories/month, or about = 1 pound/month in weight loss x 9 months gets me 9 lbs in weight loss. I only need to drop 5 lbs to get back to my 160 lbs race weight, so I've got 4 extra pounds of "bonus" chocolate that I can eat. Yeah!!!
I know about addiction and I have learned a few things about recovery. Here are some pics with a couple of my best friends 2.5 years ago....
Here are couple from the fall about 80 pounds lighter....
Like our brethren, the alcoholic, it takes focus, and a plan and living day by day. Triathlon helps too....
Sorry for the highjack.
JUMPIN' CRICKETS!!!!!!! Dino -- that's amazing!!!!!!! Just amazing. Great, great job with the weight loss. I had you pegged as a lifetime fitness nut, based on your posts. Wow. I am really impressed with your success. Gives me hope for my own success.
4 years later, I am down to 148 and my blood sugar is completely normal. however, if I suspend the rules, I go right back to eating every sugary item within grasp (including clearing the table and eating any leftover cake on one of the kid's plates).
@Dino - Excellent work.
It is very inspiring to read all the posts and to see how people attack the issue.
I'm pretty proud, myself, today. First, someone brought donuts to the office for their birthday. No big deal for me, since it's one of my rules of the year not to eat donuts. Worked very well. Second, we had a work anniversary lunch today as well. Dessert was a cake. With lots of frosting. I LOVE frosting. Sometimes I will just scrape the frosting off and toss the cake part. But I just said no today! Not one piece, nibble or sliver of frosting (or cake). Not a rule for me, just managed to make the wise choice this time around. That and I'm still detoxing in a way from all the sugar I ate over the holidays.
@Dino-- Wow, simply wow!
@Andrew-- Hop on board and make your own rules around grazing...
@William-- Very cool, thanks for sharing.
@Dave--
Day #7 No Soda (coke) and No Sweet Tea!
Last night, hmmm chocolate, ice cream, Chinese food. And a full bottle of Pepsi max.
Back on the wagon now.
I think the idea about setting firm rules must be key to success. I too have left it often to decisions in the moment and sometimes I' say no to cookies or other sweets and work and sometimes I could come up with 10 different reasons why to have a cookie - which would then become about 10 cookies.
Food for thought, I need to set some rules also but there are many things I truly enjoy and I would miss them if I said no to them all the time (like ice cream). Then there are things I should be able to block out 100%, like junk food at airports, cookies at work during project meetings, etc.
Yeah - on the wagon. Don't dwell on the splurge.
My wife uses a great saying, " Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels!"