January's No Soda Challenge

For January, I challenged my friends, fans, and followers to a "No Soda Challenge." This was just one month of no drinking soda. What brought this about?

Well, something personal came up in my life, and I emotionally ate. Growing up, I used to closet eat pretty bad and we used to go to restaurants to celebrate happy occasions or gather after sad ones. Could this have led to bad eating habits? Maybe. But, I can in no way blame anyone else for the bad habits I have as an adult. I consciously make decisions everyday on my own. Good and bad.

We all have skeletons in our closet and this is one that I had to face. Yes, I encourage and healthy active lifestyle. Yes, I practice what I preach. There are times however, when something triggers that bad instinct to have something to eat to what seems like "get my mind off of things." More so than a need to satisfy a nutritional  or hunger need. Most people that are overweight/obese and even on the other side of the spectrum with eating disorders can relate to eating or not eating because of emotions. I do not claim to be an authority on mental eating habits so please correct me if I say anything incorrect.

On this day I had the revelation that I emotionally ate, I was particularly upset about something so I went to the grocery store and within a day, I had easily put away a 20 pack of cookies. I sat there at the end of the day like, "Whoah. What just happened?" I had other stuff too but, it's too nuts to want to admit. The next day did I still felt emotionally horrible and my body felt bad too. As both an athlete and as a person, I can't treat my body this way.

Obviously, when I have these "episodes" or whatever, I overeat, eat badly, or a combination of the two. So I thought to myself, what should I do? Clearly, I can't moderate what I was eating so I decided to eliminate it.

I started with soda. Mostly because it's really cheap, easy to access, and really easy to over consume. I wanted to see how my body felt after not having it for a month. I gave up soda for a year in high school but, I ended up replacing it with juice, punch, lemonade, tea, etc. Stuff with tons of sugar and no useful ingredients. I wanted to do better this time. I also have PCOS so I can't really process sugars the way a normal person could anyway. As a weightlifter, we get knee pains. I know that the carbonation is bad for your bones and teeth so I also wanted to see how my joint health felt too.

Because of how busy my schedule got and some other factors, I was training once a day during the month of January. So it's hard to tell whether or not my "results" are from not drinking soda, or less training, or both. I am going with both. I lost 6 kgs. Which is 12 ish lbs. So my body weight is where it should be for training and competition. It also means less weight pounding on my knees and better recovery. Was my weight fat or muscle loss? We'll see. I am going to give myself another month and get my body fat percentage done again and see where I am at.


February's challenge is "No desserts." For each person, "dessert" means something a little different. I am trying to avoid, cookies, cake, icecream, candy, that kind of stuff. This is making be very creative if I want to have something sweet without killing my pancreas. I am going to try and make my "desserts" more fruit friendly.  Recently, I made a chocolate avocado pudding with avocado, honey, cocoa, and vanilla paste. It was pretty good. I am trying to moderate what I eat and when for anything that has a high amount of sugar in it.

Now you guys know a secret of mine. I hope this doesn't upset anyone into not following or believing in me anymore. I am trying to do my best to be the best every day even with my own personal struggles.

Who's with me in the "No Dessert's Challenge?"

Sarah