It's never too late to try again

Remember DietBet? Yeah, that bet that I was feeling so confident about... confidence lasted for about two weeks, as I managed to lose 3lb pretty quickly, but then it went onto plateauing and that was the end of it. The bet called for a 4.5lb loss. So close, yet so far! I thought about not eating for a day, then sweating for 2h on the bike, then stepping on the scale, but I knew that was cheating, because I would have put everything back on the next day. Plus, knowing myself, it wasn't even guaranteed to work. So I took my 3lb loss and made peace with myself and my wallet. It's still a good start. Now, I am still 5lb over my last year's lowest, so I'd love to go back there, and lose some more, ideally to get down to 125lb before Ironman Muskoka in September. That's 10lb in total. That's a lot by my body's metabolism and my cranky thyroid. And let's face it, living with two kids and a husband with a sweet tooth (I still love you!), doesn't make it easier.

So, looking back, the DietBet challenge coincided with me starting a new training plan that calls for up to 12h of workouts weekly. Despite doing all the workouts and more, my weight loss has pretty much stopped, so I decided to crank it up a notch. Without going back to obsessing about tracking down calories as in the good old days when I was weighing 50lb more, I have set myself new rules for the month of April, thanks to an initiative of one of my friends on Facebook: eating "clean" for the month of April, whatever "clean" means to you. Since I am not a vegetarian, vegan, paleo, pescaterian or smoothie junkie, I will be continuing to eat close to my regular diet, but remove all "sweets and treats", as a general rule. I never really binged on those anyway, but they more or less contribute to my sugar addiction and I feel like a prisoner. I need to free my body and mind from the idea that I need those to live happy.

I found this graph that represents very well what sugar does to your system (food for thought):

Now, let's not get ahead of ourselves, I will never be able to remove all sugars, neither I should, after all, I am an athlete in training, but if I can minimize their intake to the absolute necessary, or eat only what I make at home with my own ingredients, it would be a great start. Here are my rules for the month of April. I've listed them on Facebook as well, but the more visible they are, the more accountable I feel. So, thank you in advance for the motivation that I get from you reading this commitment.

THE RULES:
-No desserts or treats of the sweet kind (cakes, ice cream, chocolate, candy, pastries, halva).
-No junk food (pizza, hamburgers, fries, hot dogs, chips)
-No pop (stopped drinking pop 3 years ago and haven't had a single one since). Irrelevant, but I thought I'd mention it, just because I'm damn proud.
-Red meat no more than once a week.
-Fish at least once a week.
-As little as possible white bread, pasta or rice, ideally no more than twice a week.
-At least 2 fruits a day
-At least 2 veggies/greens a day
-No more than 1 coffee a day (with raw sugar)
-Takeout or restaurant food no more than once a week, within the same set of rules.

EXCEPTIONS:
-Gatorade no more than once a week, use Metagenics Endure instead when needed.
-Homemade energy bars, when needed.
-Energy gel, Gu Chomps or Clif Shot Blocks when needed (I don't have any long race, so I should be ok for April)
-Protein bars (Honey Stinger), when needed.
-Dried fruit in moderation (apricots, raisins, figs, cherries, cranberries, prunes)
-Homemade banana bread, no more than once a week.
-Homemade french crepes, no more than once a week.
-Tea with honey
-Honey or organic jam for toast

That's about it. Limit the bad stuff, while increasing the good stuff. I generally have a "clean" diet since I had my gallbladder removed anyway, but I know that some details count. Being able to resist temptations is really what I am trying to achieve this month, and if weight loss or additional health benefits come with it, then I'll take them, it can only be for the better! I can do this!