I made it!

It's finally the end of January and the end of my first monthly challenge of the year.  My goal was to go a whole month without pop or candy, two of my biggest weaknesses.  I am happy to announce that I made it successfully, with both of them.

Although at the beginning of the month I found myself reaching for other sweet foods (cookies, etc) to replace my lack of candy, I'd say I did better towards the end of the month where that need to reach for something sweet diminished.  That does not mean, however, that I'm not craving candy like a mad woman.  I did a lot better with drinking more water, but then also switched to flavored water, which I'm not sure is any better than the sugar (or fake sugar) in pop (or diet pop).

I think what I did get out of the whole challenge this month was that I need to be more mindful of the mindless eating and drinking I do.  It was very easy to grab a handful of candy, only to go back and grab another handful a couple minutes later after not realizing how fast I ate the first handful.  Usually that grazing happened as I watched tv, read, or any other activity.  I'm not so quick to just grab other types of food to eat mindlessly on the couch, so this really helped me learn that I don't need those foods for that reason.  Also it wasn't a surprise to see me walk into work with a large $1 pop from McDonalds every so often, only to realize at the end of the day that I only drank that, and no water.  This helped me better track my water intake and realize how much or how little I was really drinking every day.

Is this something I plan to continue?  Hate to say it, but probably not.  I'm not going to lie, I have a 2-liter of Diet Wild Cherry Pepsi waiting for me and I won't be surprised if the candy that has been sitting in my desk drawer at work will finally be eaten tomorrow...BUT I do plan to be much more conscientious of the amount of candy and pop I consume from here on out.  And, if I notice that I'm consuming too much of either again, maybe I'll put limits on myself instead of just eating/drinking it whenever I want.