I Made It!

My 60-day sweets fast has come to an end, and I'm proud to say that I made it!

There were just three instances where I had a "sweet" and I feel they were somewhat justified. Two occasions I had half of a Costco muffin (they really should be called cupcakes because they're so sweet) while at a breakfast time meeting. And once I had part of a can of Sprite because my stomach had been giving me problems throughout the day.

What really made this fast a success is that I found some great, healthier alternatives to eat as snacks and "dessert" that I plan to keep in my diet. Who knew that frozen fruit or plain yogurt was so delicious?!
However, I have to admit that I have been very excited to drink a Diet Pepsi with my dinner tonight. I have a feeling that I will savor every drop.

Of course, a secondary goal of the challenge was to lose some weight. And, I'm happy to report that I lost just over 10 pounds during the 60 days. Woohoo!

On to the Next Challenge!
Now that my sweet fast has come to an end, I've taken on a new challenge - the Couch to 5K (c25k) workout program. I started it this Monday and for the next nine weeks I will be running three days a week. The program gradually takes you from doing intervals of running and walking to running a full 30 minutes.

This is a much greater challenge for me than the sweets fast. I've always had a somewhat easy time eliminating foods from my diet but have never been able to maintain my motivation when it comes to exercising. I'm doing c25k with a friend in hopes that it will keep me on-track for success.

Something else that will help is my pastor just started a series at church about winning the fight against the Devil. Many people would think this would just be about spiritual battles but in reality, the Enemy is looking to trip us up in all aspects of our daily lives to plant doubt and fear in our minds. I've always looked at running as something that I can't conquer, so I'm going to take the information he gives in his sermon series and apply it to the mental block that I've allowed to build up over the years.

Yep, I'll be praying that Jesus gets me through my workouts; quite honestly, without Him by my side, I don't think I'd be able to run for more than a couple of minutes!