One Week NO Donut/Bagel Challenge
 

Hey everyone,

So, I don't normally eat donuts or bagels. I always realize how many calories and fat grams they have. But, it's finals week here at school and starting tomorrow, they give free bagels and donuts twice a day. I have one week left til I'm done and I have been doing really well following my meal plan this week. I don't want to blow it for "free" but yet so expensive (in weight terms) junk food.

My problem is that I like the free coffee. :) However, I've decided that it's worth it to spend less $2 a day on coffee like I normally do to stay away from the temptation of the donuts/bagels.

So, dear ladies, I PROMISE to everyone who reads this, that I will not have a donut/bagel for the entire week. I'll post here daily for accountability. If I drop off, someone please message me!

Anyone else have anything they want to give up for the week?

Annie

Yes, this is a great idea. I don't really want to give up anything "for life", but I think it's good to give things up for short periods of time, just to show myself that I am in control. I'm going to give up all desserts at my school dining hall, including ice cream. I'm only on this meal plan for two more weeks, so if I can spend at least one of them dessert free, I think it'll help! Keep me accountable!

Great idea! You can certainly do it and you'll feel WAY better knowing that you avoided the temptation!

You may find this extends to future "opportunities". I have a rule to not eat any of the free food that comes into the office. Why would I need a Costco gigantic muffin, a danish, and variety of cookies for my monday morning breakfast? silly people. lol

I'd like to give up salads...

Just Kidding...I hate salads, I rarely eat them, so it wouldn't be much of a stretch. I'm just bitter because I didn't bring lunch today, thinking I could get avocado rolls at Giant, but they were all out, and I made myself a big salad to have a low point lunch. This is the price I pay for a delicious breakfast.

Anyway.

I'm going to give up McDonald's Iced Coffee. I love it so, but its like 4-5 points for a medium, where I can have an unsweetened tea, made at home, for 0 points.

Yay!

Wow, I had no idea that McDonald's iced coffee was that many points. Thanks for the heads up!

I think i will join you and give up bagels for 1 week..i have been having the ww bagels, and usually half, but my body really dosnt like carbs.. so no more bagels and cheam cheese!

Oooooh, free donuts AND bagels?! Sheesh, that would be hard enough for me to resist if I had to pay for it, but it's just not fair for them to be giving them away like that! Hehe. I can relate, too, because there are ALWAYS boxes of donuts taunting me at my work, and sometimes it does get pretty hard to resist--I admit it; I'm a total sucker for free food! :lol: Best of luck to ya, and WTG making this commitment, girly!! I very much admire your willpower! :cp:

One day in and no desserts yet. How is everyone else doing?

It was SOOOO hard to drive by this morning. I was up kind of late-ish watching a movie, and I got to the gym okay, but the drive into work was terrible. I pass 2 McDonald's on the way in, so after the second one and I still needed something to jolt me awake, I stopped at Starbucks and got an iced tea. Only 2 points, so I was okay with that.

Good afternoon everyone!

One day down and no donuts or bagels for me! I had my first final this morning and half the class had donuts with them, but I had already had breakfast and brought one of those 100 calorie pack fudge shop snacks with me and ate those in the middle of my exam.

They looked good, but I looked at one and thought about how it would take me at least two hours in the gym to burn that off and I was over it. I'm just avoiding the lounge until this next week is over.

Stella, have you ever tried Starbucks iced coffee? I really like it, and with just a touch of half/half or non-fat milk it should be really low in points.

Way to go, Rowena!!

bodyisatemple, GREAT JOB on resisting the donuts! I actually don't like donuts but I love the frosting and sprinkles on them - I used to just eat the toppings off of donuts all the time. How gross is that?

Stella, Congrats on skipping past the McD's!!

I did not have any dessert either, and I won't be going to my dining hall for dinner, so no dessert temptations tonight.

Almost two days down! We can do it!!

Congrats to all of you - we're doing so well :)

bodyisatemple - the appeal of the McD's iced coffee is that it doesn't taste like coffee. I've tried to get Starbucks to replicate, but its not right - I like the creamy, hazelnut taste. Also, Starbucks is like 2x as much as McD's.

I've been thinking about getting Chai tea mix, I can mix that with skim milk and its great.

Stella, Ah, I see.... I'm actually one of those freaks who loves the taste of coffee for itself - I even buy coffee flavored yogurt! When I do want some flavor in my coffee, I add intl. delight creamers, but I never put sugar in my coffee, for calorie reasons, and for my teeth. I figure it's bad enough for my teeth drinking coffee, I shouldn't add sugar to it.

Rowena - You're so close to goal. I checked out your fitday, (nosy, nosy me) and was wondering what your calorie plan is. We had somewhat similar starting weights and I wanted to see how you've got down the way you have.

Also - I'm going to start a 30 Day Shred forum as well, for anyone who wants to join.

Two days down almost already down, we can do it!
Annie

bodyisatemple - Ha! My fitday is embarrassing, and I doubt you're going to learn how to lose weight from it. I have come a LONG way from the way I used to eat, but I am still by no means a healthy eating example.

The keys to my weight loss have been exercise exercise EXERCISE!!! and don't eat food just because it's there. I gained all of my weight freshman year in college (freshman 15... except more like 30) because I went from eating only when I was hungry, and foods that were in my house, to having food around ALL THE TIME and in large quantities and poor quality.

Before college, I'd never had an issue with food - I ate whatever I wanted and never got fat (even though I ate a ton of junk). I was shocked at the end of my freshman year to see how far my weight had crept up - I have a tiny frame, which is unforgiving. Once I clued myself in to the reason, I started only eating things I would actually buy instead of just whatever was around.

Doing that simply got me from 140 to about 120. The rest has been exercise, cutting out ALL junk and trying to eat as much healthy stuff as I can stuff in. You asked about my calorie plan - I don't count calories as I eat them, but I put everything (even binges!) into Fitday, and I am nearly always between 1000-1500 calories, depending on the day. I eat when I'm hungry, stop when I am full.

If I can lose weight and be healthy, anyone can. I KNOW you can do it! What plan are you following, if any?

YAY, great job sticking to your goal, bodyisatemple! I'm kind of giggling at the thought of you sitting in class surrounded by people with donuts, and you munching away at your 100-calorie pack... It reminds me of a teacher I had last quarter who would occasionally make us come to class early for a film screening, and it order to "make up" for it, would bring us coffee and boxes upon boxes of donuts from Dunkin Donuts. It was always soooo hard to resist, especially when I'd see some of the other students eat like 3 donuts without batting an eye--the greedy 3-year-old in me would start whining, B-b-but *they're* having donuts; why can't *I*?!?! LOL! :p So I know what willpower it takes to do what you've accomplished so far... You're doing awesomely! Keep up the good work. :D

Good afternoon everyone!

How's everyone doing? So, I decided to twist my challenge a little bit for the weekend. They don't serve bagels/donuts on Saturdays and Sundays, but I'm going to be buried here in the basement working on my paper and studying for my last final. And guess who's right next to me? The vending machine!!!

So, challenge for today and tomorrow is NOT using the vending machine. If I want a snack, the awesome fruit vendor (my friend Mostafa) is open 24 hours and he is just 2 blocks away. I can go for a stretch and get some yummy strawberries, luscious blackberries, juicy grapes or apples, whatever I want!

Rowena, thanks for the info... Unlike you, I've been around this weight my whole life. I was about 155 all through high school. Freshman year of college I went up to my all time high of 165. My last year I got down to about 130, which has been the lowest weight of my life.

I stayed in the 140 range for a long time, then bounced back to 150s and then held at about 145-148 for the last few years. However, this semester, I packed the pounds on again.

I am determined to get to 125-130. I get way too complacent when I reach the 140s and just stop there, but that's still too big for my frame.

I'm counting calories, logging it all on calorieking. I'm eating 1300-1400 calories a day. It's amazing what logging it all in does. That's the part I've resisted all my life, but obviously, the thing you want to do least, is the thing that's going to make the most impact. So, I'm committed this time.

Stella, how are you doing?

Star, thanks a lot! I appreciate it!!!

Um, this no vending machine challenge is going to be harder than I thought. TEMPTATION EVERYWHERE!!! Back, beasts, back!!!!! I will slay you with my coffee flavored yogurt!

Send good vibes, people. They're much needed.

Good vibes are coming to you!! You are better than that vending machine. The most convenient food is usually the worst for you, unfortunately. Be strong! You'll be saving not only your body but your money!

Oh good luck bodyisatemple! The vending machine is my worst enemy sometimes. Thankfully, the one at work always has whole grain pretzels. That fruit stand sounds amazing though - I think that's a great idea. You get a walk, a healthy snack, and a chance to enjoy the outside as a respite from the basement.

I'm doing well - I overslept this morning - got up at 11:30. On the weekends I'm usually up at 7, so it was odd. Usually on Saturdays I work out in the mornings, then go get breakfast, but not today! I can't take any will power credit, I was just so tired from this past week that I slept through my craving :)

Hope you managed to stay away from that cursed vending machine yesterday, bodyisatemple! ;) And I agree, you are so lucky that you have access to your friend's fruit all the time! I was soooo craving an apple last night, but had no way of getting one... I had dinner early, so I was pretty darn hungry again by 9ish, and even had the tummy grumblies, but unfortunately I live in a dorm and can't really keep a lot of healthy snacks on hand--I have a stock of granola bars that I eat for breakfast, but those are a bit too high-cal for an evening snack, and I'm wary of keeping other things in my room because I know I'd be tempted to binge on them. :o So instead I had to go to bed hungry, which didn't feel too good... Blech. It would be so nice if I had someone I could hit up for an apple at any hour of the day! Hehe! :lol:

Anyways, good luck staying away from those bagels during the upcoming week, girly!! Make sure you keep checking in with us to celebrate your daily victories. :D

Hello awesome ladies.

So, vending machine was definitely a challenge yesterday. I didn't buy any snacks, but I did end up getting 2 lattes out of those coffee machines. No extra sugar or whitener, but still, can't be too healthy right?

So today, I brought my mug and my tea bags with me to the library. If I need a caffeine boost, it's gonna have to be a zero calorie one. And I'm sitting in a section far away from the vending machines.

I weighed in today, and I'm down two pounds. HOORAY!! Counting calories all last week and staying within the 1300-1400 range. I'm so happy.

The fruit stand is awesome. I live in downtown manhattan and they're pretty common. I've become friends with the guy that runs the one by my school and now he always gives me an extra piece of fruit or something for free. He's a sweetie.

Meredith, I checked out your progress pics - you look sooo beautiful! It's amazing how much younger you look. You have totally become an inspiration for me!

Stella - you don't even want to know what time I woke up...11:30, and that was super early for me. Finals makes me a crazy insomniac and waking up before noon was a major accomplishment for me. :) I can't wait to get back on a consistent sleeping schedule.

No coffee today! :) :)

I AM DYING FOR SOMETHING CHOCOLATEY!!!!! argh. I know I'm not hungry, I know it's just b/c I don't want to study. I know it!

Had to vent.

bodyisatemple, congrats on the great job yesterday. I'm sure you did great today too. You can beat those chocolate cravings!

stellarose, good job on the no coffee!

I am still dessert-free (four days now!). I had a slice of whole wheat toast with jelly as "dessert" today. It was delicious.

Keep it up everyone!

Aww shucks, thank you, bodyisatemple!! You are too kind. :D Glad I could inspire you, even though your starting weight is more like my goal weight, LOL! (Though to be fair, I have 5 inches on ya... ;))

And ooooh, chocolate cravings--now THAT'S a toughie! I'm pretty sure I could have written your last post myself, heh. I deffffinitely struggle a LOT with the whole "I know I'm not hungry, I know it's just because I don't want to study(/write this paper/do this reading/finish this assignment/etc)" thing. Any time I sit down to start working on something that stresses me out, it's like I instantly get the urge for some serious hand-to-mouth action! It really keeps me constantly on my toes with having to remind myself that there's a big difference between actually needing FOOD and just needing to eat... :rolleyes: I hope you managed to beat those chocolate cravings, but hey, you're not perfect--you're still donut/bagel-free and doing an awesome job on your challenge. :D

stellarosa27, great job staying away from the coffee! And sleeping until 11:30 actually sounds pretty good to me, LOL, though I just naturally seem to wake up around 9 every morning... I think my body's just tuned into waking up at that time, so the latest I ever really sleep in (I mean, if I've had a reeeeally late night the night before) is like 10:00, maybe 10:30. :p

Rowenna, awesome job maintaining your dessert "abstinence" (hehe) for four (now five?) days! That's spectacular! :yay: The toast and jelly sounds yummy--it's funny how quickly you can get used to healthier things functioning as "dessert," heh. I never would have thought I'd view my daily apple as a "treat," but I so do! :dizzy:

I am totally in. We just got an email about free Krispy Kreme donuts in the kitchen. Must...avoid...sugary goodness!

Don't do it fatpants!!!! Free??? Yeah right! They'll cost you at least an hour or so in the gym. At least!

Last night was really, really hard. But I drew up some willpower I didn't even know I had and refused to get anything from the vending machine.

I hate finals and I hate studying and I hate that I am such a procrastinator but I love that I have stuck to this goal for so many days now! How many days has it been? I don't even remember! But, Thursday is the end of the road for me. I won't be around donuts/bagels or vending machines after that.

How's everyone else doing?

I passed up some seriously caloric chocolate cake at dinner tonight, and I didn't even swipe a brownie. Score for me! We are all doing so well! Good work against the vending machine, bodyisatemple! And fatpants, you can resist those KrispyKremes. Think of some other food that you love just as much or more than them, which is much better for you and makes you feel better. Treat yourself to that instead!

Meredith - yes! Five days now, and I only had a little cereal for my "dessert" and I'm still under calories!

Yay, Rowenna!!!

Yay to all of you!

So I got up at 4 am yesterday to fly to Ohio. When I travel, I usually spend the day in a dark room reading medical records (not so stimulating) and by about noon I could have REALLY used some caffeine. Instead, I went to lunch, had avocado rolls and edamame beans, and splurged on a Vitamin Water (the kind with vitamin B). Did just the trick, and was only 3 points.

Yay, Stella! Great work! I wish I could say I have eaten things as healthy as that... I hate avacado and most beans. :( Oh well. At least I haven't had dessert in FIVE and a half days!

Great job, everyone. NO donuts, no bagels and no vending machines for me so far. Just a few days left and the temptations will be removed from my life. So will the stresses of finals.

Awww, stellarosa27, not ONLY did you make a completely awesome and healthy choice today, but you are also in OHIO?! (My home state! :() I'm sooo envious of you right now, hehe.

WTG Rowenna! Glad to see that you are doing awesomely as usual! :D

Wow, bodyisatemple, it must be hard to believe that there's only a few days of this challenge left--exciting, eh? You have made it so far already, and I KNOW you will see it through 'til the end! And I'm sure being done with finals is just the icing on the cake. In fact, that makes me waaay envious of you, too, since my school is on quarters and I won't be done until mid-June, yecchh. :mad: I'll probably have to start my own challenge during my school's finals week, cuz I definitely get tempted to snack on junk while I'm studying for finals--it's the whole attitude of "I'm overstressed and therefore I *deserve* this cookie, dammit!!!" LOL! :lol: But I think I'll be very inspired when I look back and remember that you were able to make it through your finals just fine without giving into temptation, so maybe I can do it, too!

Well, I was in Ohio. I came back on the 715pm flight into Baltimore from Cleveland. But I did enjoy my very short stay. CWRU is really pretty. That's about all I got to see. Where in Ohio are you from? I've been to Columbus as well (OSU) and I actually got to stay there for two days!

Wow! I have come across so many people from Maryland here! You too, Stella?

Also, Meredith, that means so much coming from you! You are a huge inspiration to me - you have come so far, and you always look so happy and healthy and glowing, and you're so supportive. I've been doing a consistent job at my weight loss, but what I really want is to feel great about myself. I am definitely getting there. Thanks for the encouragement!

Only two more days of this challenge. I can't decide if I want to treat myself to a dessert on the day it's over, or if I want to keep steering clear because I know I can. What are the rest of you going to do?

I think I should wait until there's a dessert that I really really like, instead of just grabbing whatever dessert is there on Friday. We'll see, though.

Good luck everyone! We're on the home stretch! You've come so far to get here, don't give up now!

I'm having the same dilemma, Rowenna. I did so well last week without it, and lost a bit of weight, I'm afraid that if I go back to it, I won't have such great results.

I'm not too far from Annapolis, or so I'm told. I've only been there once on my 26th birthday, and I wasn't sober ;) I just remember the awesome BBQ place we ate at, but don't ask me what the name was. My MD experience is limited to Baltimore, Towson, Columbia and very slowly the DC/Silver Spring area. But if you want to know about northern NJ or NYC, I'm your girl :)

stellarosa27 - OMG, no fair!!! My hometown is a suburb of Cleveland--like ~30 mins away from the city! I know people who go to Case! You're not doing much to soothe my jealousy, LOL. :p Were you visiting a friend who's a student there, or what? Sounds like so much fun to me right now... I'm always yearning to spend a weekend at home, even though I was just home for Easter, heh. :dizzy:

Rowenna - Aww, shucks! It means a lot to me that you would say something so nice about little ol' me... Seriously! Thank you. :^: As for making dessert plans once the challenge is over, I guess it could be interesting to see how long you can stay away from it, but there's also nothing wrong with giving yourself a little "reward" for sticking to the challenge for so long already! It's up to you, but either way I definitely definitely think that whenever you do choose to have dessert again, you should wait for something you really like... So you know you will really save it and make the calories count for something, you know? No sense in grabbing the first available thing just because you're "allowed" to have dessert again, hehe! :lol:

bodyisatemple, where are you, girl? I seem to remember you telling us to call you out if it seemed like you were disappearing, hehe, so here's a friendly reminder that we would love to hear from you today! ;) I'm sure you're fine, but just in case...

Sorry! I only spent like 10 hours there, if it makes you feel better. :o I was there for work. Part of my job involves traveling to various hospitals and auditing medical records for patients in cancer trials. CWRU is one of our bigger centers, but I only had to do two patients, hence my really short visit. I got to take a very quick walk from the main hospital to one of the research buildings, but the most I saw of it was in the cab ride there and back. I will say, the med students there were very cute :dizzy:

Meredith, thanks for your advice and enthusiasm! I have exactly 9 days of school left where I will be tempted by the dessert zone! I think I might extend this and try to stay away from desserts for the rest of the year! But, if they have this one dessert (oreo cookie pie) which I absolutely love, I think as a reward I will let myself have a small slice. But the other desserts that are just so-so are not worth it. And no ice cream... that is the worst part! We'll see how it goes!

Congrats to everyone on making it this far!! I think today is the last day...!