7 Day Challenge 3 - No Eating After Dinner

First, an update on the No Sugar challenge. I was about 95% successful with this, and I have continued it past the 7 days. It's been almost 2 weeks and counting. I plan to make this a permanent lifestyle change.

I did not cut out sugar substitutes (I made sugar-free Jello) and I am ingesting sugar incidentally in things, such as nutritional supplements or ketchup I used in a recipe. I think I may have also thrown a couple of tablespoons in a large pot of homemade tomato sauce.

While I consider it a success overall by my motto this year of "Progress over Perfection", not cutting it out completely, unfortunately, did NOT help me with reducing carb cravings. Since I'm not ready to go 100% sugar-free just yet, and I consider a 98% reduction in sugar an excellent health benefit, I'm okay with it.

What might help with cravings and improving weight loss (no loss so far, but no gain either, so I'll take that as a win), this week's challenge will be no eating after dinner. I'll have to eat my SF Jello as part of dinner if I really want it.

This is a difficult one for me since eating at night is a lifetime habit. I have been successful in the past though, so I know I can do it. And I'm able to feel the difference fairly quickly, especially as my go to foods at night are salty snacks like popcorn or cheese and crackers. Cutting out the salt helps with the bloat and water retention.

This is another challenge that is more of a lifestyle change rather than a quick fix. I'm trying to build up these everyday habits so I can hopefully reduce some of my chronic pain. In turn, I hope doing so will help me stick to some of the more difficult challenges that require physical effort, such as exercise.

I'm looking forward to the day I can get sweaty from a good workout and feel great afterward, instead of wheezy and in pain from injury. I want to do a 5K again and go on hikes without my face turning bright red from exertion. Heck, I'll be happy if I can do a complete sun salutation with perfect form on my yoga mat.

Baby steps. I'll get there one day soon.