Losing weight by cutting out sugar

So about a month or so ago, I decided to step on a scale.

I'm hoping to have abs like this one day.

Probably not a wise move. It was my first time on one in months, and I think I nearly broke the thing.Once I stood on my tiptoes to see over my stomach, I saw that I was a mind-boggling 230 pounds.

Wow. That’s not good. But it makes sense in a way, because of a simple reason: inactivity.

I used to play sports three or four nights a week. Sometimes more. In fact, when I first started dating my soon-to-be wife, my Sundays were filled with sports. I curled in the mornings, played ultimate Frisbee in the afternoons and ball hockey in the evenings. Then I would still play sports another three nights a week.

So I was able to burn off a lot of the bad food I ate.

But when the girls were born, I cut back on the amount of sports I played. And then, when I got Lyme disease last year, I had to cut back even more.

Now, I need to get in shape. And I decided to cut back on the amount of sugar I eat. And it will get me closer to two goals on my bucket list: get a six-pack, and get back to 180 pounds.

I know, I know. I’ve cut sugar out before, but I’m doing it a little differently this time. In the past, I would cut out sugar sweets completely. But eventually, I start to have one or two things as treat. Then it becomes more often and eventually I go back to eating sweets.

This time, I’ve decided to cut back on sugar. I won’t eat any sweets that has more than 30% of it sugar.

So pretty much, if a third of a food is sugar, I’m saying no.

Now, that may not sound like much, but there is so much food out there that more than one-third of it is sugar: chocolate bars, ice cream, candy and even cereal.

Yes, I’ve even had to cut back on a lot of my favourite cereals. I was surprised by how much sugar is in some of them. But I was even more surprised how much some “healthy” cereals are the same as “junk food” cereals.

My favourite cereal of all time? Alpha-bits. I even have an Alpha-bits T-shirt. But when I decided to cut back on sugar, I stopped eating them, and went to Honey Nut Cheerios instead.

But guess what? Honey Nut Cheerios has just about the same amount of sugar as Alpha-bits. That shocked me a lot.

Instead, I’ve been eating mostly Corn Flakes, with some Vector cereal thrown in for taste.

This goes on for many of my meals and snacks. I eat Granola Bars that aren’t as high in sugar. I eat chips instead of cookies. And so on.

I know to lose weight, you’re supposed to count calories, and saturated fats, and everything else. But that’s too complicated. I figure by cutting out a lot of these sugary foods, I’m cutting back on calories and all the other stuff.

And so far, it’s worked. I’ve lost 10 pounds in the past month.

Hopefully, once ultimate season starts, and I get to run around a lot more, it’ll help shed the pounds.