I’m giving up sugar for October.
Ok now I’ve set my intention and it’s on the internet. We all know that everything that you read on the internet is true, right?
Abstain in October
Let me take you back to 2011. I was happy, care-free, young… and had developed a tradition of getting black-out drunk in October. Somewhere between a music festival early on in the month and Halloween, I just liked to drink a lot in October. Based on the events of 2010, where I ended up in the ER in full zombie regalia, I decided to have a Sober October.
According to my original post, I was trying to prove my friends wrong. I also love a challenge. That first Sober October gave birth to my first blog Seriously Sharon. I have such warm affection for the version on me who not only decided to step-up to the challenge, but also ALL THE WRITING I did on that blog. I’m only now recapturing my zeal to just write without worrying about likes and follows. (Which is ironic seeing as “Over The Influence” is supposed to be me thumbing no nose at influencers.)
So I didn’t drink for the entirety of October 2011. For October 2012 I gave up both wheat and alcohol – which was extremely hard! I even attended the famed music festival. As I approached Sober October 2013, the little brat inside of me decided that she would actually like to drink that October and decided to rather do a Sober September. On the 18th of September 2013 I not only dropped out of the challenge, but started a whirlwind of drinking that would eventually culminate in my final black-out, at the music festival, on the 4th of October 2013. On the morning of 5 October 2013 I realised that I was beat and that I had a serious drinking problem. In a few days I’ll celebrate 7 years of sobriety.
So what about the sugar now?
In January 2019 I started seeing a dietician. My health was not good, my weight did not feel healthy. I’d comfort eaten for almost a year after my heart surgery and something needed to change. I have a problem with rewarding myself with food.
Over the next year or so I managed to slowly drop 10kg. I got my cholesterol in check and had basically put insulin resistance behind me. My wedding was planned for July 2020 and I had bought my dress. Like a large chunk of the world’s population, I considered a global pandemic to be a pretty good reason to comfort eat. As we all know, one month rolled into six, and my wedding plans were postponed. Did I give up? Not really, in terms of actual weight gain I only put on 2kgs.
I’ve been putting in the work with exercise but my muscle gains are not enough to make much of a difference to my over-all weight. I replace fat with muscle, I’m not really burning extra fat. It is very important that I lose fat. This is not about how I look. This is about me living longer. It’s about reducing the risks attached to what will already be a high risk pregnancy (hopefully, next year).
Ok, how about you talk about the sugar now…
I’m not losing fat because I am still snacking and eating treats. Everyone needs a treat sometimes. Maybe even weekly. I do not need a treat everyday. I eat treats everyday. So I’m dusting off the will power that kept me sober for a month in 2011. No added sugar.
Keep up to date with my progress here and on Instagram.
Photo: Joanna Kosinska on Unsplash
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