Back in December I decided to make and keep a New Year Resolution. This was a new thing for me because I had either forgotten to make them or decided to rebel against society and not make one. For some reasons this year was different. Maybe it was because I was sick of having sweets support me through my afternoons. Maybe it was because I didn’t feel like supporting the soda and candy companies in the trying economic times to come. Or maybe I was thinking about the risk of diabetes, but for whatever reason I decided to have no Soda or Candy-bars for a year.
After a few days of keeping this resolution I wasn’t sure if I could do it any longer. I was missing my mid-afternoon sugar rush and was having a hard time staying awake without a heavy dose of caffiene, but after a two weeks or so I was weaned of the sugar addiction and started doing really well. I was surprised how quickly I was able to get over my sugar cravings and how little self control it actually took.
As the weeks progressed the first thing I noticed was how many extra calories I was no longer consuming. In 2008 my average lunch came with two of my favorite things:
- A 1 liter bottle of Mountain Dew
- A Milky Way bar (on lucky days I’d opt for the King Size).
Compared to 2008 I am saving about $3.50 a day that is $77 a month or $924 a year! I was also consuming 600 less calories then in 2008. To put this into perspective a pound of fat can store 3500 calories, or roughly 6 days of what I was consuming. By cutting down these two things alone I was effectively reducing my potential weight gain by a pound a week. I’ve been tracking my weight gain for well over 6 months now and I wasn’t gaining a pound a week but I was consuming enough calories that I could have.
With the arrival of Charlotte last week I wanted a way to celebrate. In lieu of buying cigars or champagne I decided to celebrate with a 20oz Mountain Dew. I bought one today, actually a friend bought it for me, and I was surprised by how not good it tasted. I used to love Mountain Dew but today I was surprised by how sweet and overpowering the flavor was. Also, within the first few sips I could already feel the effects of the caffeine. I can’t describe exactly how it felt but it was a feeling I am used to. My head started to feel tight and tingly almost like I was about to have a migraine or was having a very mild migraine. I am very familiar with this feeling as I get it everytime I drink caffeine after not having any for a long time. Most people get headaches when the stop drinking caffeine, I get them when I start.
I was expecting to enjoy my celebratory Dew but I didn’t. My celebration wasn’t a complete failure because in the end it reminded me of the reasons why I made the resolution to begin with, and only increased my desire to keep it.
slayton
/ April 9, 2009BTW. I’ve lost about 5 pounds since the start of the year!
Mark
/ April 9, 2009Good job, Stuart. Caffeine is something that has absolutely no observed effect on me. I can have a 20 oz. mountain dew, or drink half of a 2-liter bottle of coke and it doesn’t feel any different than drinking sprite. It’s weird how bodies react differently.
Micah E.
/ April 9, 2009I’m in a position where I don’t really get to eat candy bars either. I really miss my MilkyWay Midnights.
slayton
/ April 9, 2009Aubrey is crazy about Milky Way Midnights, me not so much. Anyway she bought a ton of them while pregnant and they’ve been sitting in our kitchen tempting me!
Aubrey
/ April 9, 2009Actually, for the record I didn’t buy a ton of candy bars when I was pregnant…just 2 milky way darks and I didn’t eat the second one. Although, I did have a lot of candy at the beginning of my pregnancy since that was about the only thing I could keep down.
Mark
/ April 11, 2009One says “ton”, another “two.”
Oh say, where is truth?