Lent Challenge

I feel so alive Welcome to fit ready go weight

loss and healthy living I Am your host Steve

Megatron Phillips and joining me as usual is

my wife Mary. Hello. Hello So yes, this is our

first update since the last episode which Yeah,

we're changing plans as it were because somebody

here that's speaking that had to have certain

foods that included sugar in the nutrition label

he was whining because even bread like I had

told him before the challenge started has sugar

in it I mean everything has sugar in it so He

kept wanting to eat these things so and I'm kind

of tired of hearing him cry in line So actually

we are switching it and what we're going to do

is for Lent Well, I mean it's going to be during

the time of Lent anyways Because we cancel the

the original Deal and we're doing this during

Lent instead And it's going to be 40 days. So

it's not going to be quite as hard, but it's

going to be a longer time period. And we are

going to actually count up our grams of sugar.

Steve is more apt for this. Even myself, I'm

not going to lie, the sugar, the no sugar was

very, very difficult. We did have withdrawals.

the first couple days we both were sick to our

stomach and our heads were throbbing and um but

after I would say after the first like four days

I started feeling better um just I don't know

like it was out of my system but anyways um uh

so I'm going to do 20 grams of sugar and Steve's

gonna do 25? We can do 25. Anyways, but we're

gonna say that, but that's going to be our max.

Which means we're gonna try to stick under those

grams of sugar a day. So that way you can still

have cereal sometimes. I mean, because even Rice

Krispies have for one and a quarter cups, which

the normal person has at least. One and a half

to two servings of that for breakfast, you know,

just a normal -sized cereal bowl And that right

there is if you have two servings of that that's

eight grams right there The average American

it says has 76 grams of sugar a day so So if

you're saying, wow, well, 20 grams, that's not

a big deal. A piece of bread, even my homemade

bread, I make homemade whole wheat bread, but

it does need the honey in it because that's actually

what the yeast holds onto. Even though honey

is a natural sugar, we are using that as our

grams of sugar. We're not gonna use like fruit,

but because the honey, I don't know. is just

a little iffy. So each piece of our bride is

five grams of sugar. So if I decide I'm gonna

have a sandwich, well there's 10 grams of sugar

right there out of my 20. So it's still going

to be a good challenge, it just won't be as difficult

as the other. But it's going to be the 40 days,

and my goal with this is to make this the new

habit for our life. So we would still get to

eat what we like but there'd be a happy balance

between the two which is actually It sounds more

doable than no sugar at all because like I can't

part with what I like to eat but having it limited

by the amount and Having to compensate for the

extra. I would normally eat with something else

is more of the compromise I'm willing to make

rather than giving up. Because he was whining

because every morning he was eating eggs and

he had cereal while there is sugar in cereal.

Even Cheerios has sugar. Everything has sugar.

Start reading your labels because everything

has sugar. Looked at the labels of because we

have like Cinnamon Toast Crunch Lucky Charms

Frosted Mini Wheats Frosted Flakes Cheerios and

Rice Krispies Rice Krispies allows you to get

one and a quarter cup for a serving Cheerios

is one cup. Everything else is about three -quarters

of the cup and Mini Wheats is nine Mini Wheats

so But yeah, that just means I'll have to couple

it with like like a fruit or something or like

eggs or something with breakfast so that I can

fill myself up with the rest of it but still

get the taste of what I want throughout the day.

Like I said with the fruit, we won't add that

as our grams. I am going to contemplate about

milk because milk, a half a cup of milk, we buy

skim milk and even that a half a cup of milk

has 12 grams of sugar. I don't believe it's an

added sugar, but we're gonna have to do something

with that because I don't think I want well what

I was thinking is either we get it for breakfast

or we get it for dinner like in our like get

the you know like small however size cup that

is like I don't know what size cup the white

ones are that we have but I think they're like

what eight ounce or something like that maybe

six I don't know but So like if I have cereal

that morning, I can't I'd have to have my I wouldn't

be able to have any more milk because that would

be my cereal But if I didn't have cereals and

I could have my dinner or something along those

lines Yes, so that's our next that's our challenge

sorry if this sounds like Where backpedaling

on the original But at the same time I do do

this podcast and this website To try to help

people and to tell you the truth if you I'm not

saying there are some of you out there They're

listening that could do a sugar detox But if

the sugar detox was as difficult for us as that

Most of the my listeners are not going to be

able to do a sugar detox So maybe doing this

this could get somebody some of you to try something,

whereas you're actually paying attention to your

grams of sugar. That means if you have spaghetti

sauce, if you have mayonnaise, if you have anything,

it all has sugar in it. So all of those grams

are going to be added to it. I would like to

make some type of spreadsheet where we're counting

everything. We haven't figured that out yet.

I'm not kidding. I'll probably come up with it

because I'll be bored and I like to play around

with grids. I'm a grid OCD person. I liked everything

organized so So but yeah, I mean that's that's

more of the deal that we're going along now because

it makes more sense So that you're not like totally

cutting it out and feeling like you're gyping

yourself on what you like to eat But you're also

not eating the quantity that you normally would

Because you're eating what? The label actually

says, even though the label is misleading. Which

I've tried telling Steve for years. Yeah, she

kind of broke it down for me, was telling me

that this whole, the whole label thing is rigged

from the get -go, like, to try and solve. They

all are. They're all, every one of them is rigged,

because that's how they solve boxes and say,

look, it's healthy, and it's not. And I've tried

telling Steve this in the past, but he's just

never listened because he's never actually done

any of this with me. That's because Steve doesn't

normally care. Steve likes to eat. The only difference

is now that it's affecting me and I have to eat

according to your lifestyle change guidelines,

it... It kind of dawns on me more because I'm

like, can I actually eat this and get away with

it? Can I eat this and get away with it? No,

I can't. And we've already decided that our grams

of sugar are not allowed to come from like candy,

ice cream, cookies, pastries, that type of thing.

We can't say, well, I'm gonna go ahead and have

a cookie and that's just gonna be all of my 20

grams or Steve's 30 grams. You know, we can't.

We can't do that. It has to come from normal

sources, or normal food sources, whether it be...

Bread, cereal, pancakes, stuff like that. I'm

gonna try to keep... Sorry, my son's name's Ian.

I'm gonna try to keep Steve away from the sugary

cereals. I think for the duration of it, because

the fact that I'm not gonna be able to eat more

than three quarters... Well, it's three quarters

of a cup. That's not enough of food. Like, it's

not. Well, because we had an argument over the

weekend because I was making whole wheat pancakes

and waffles. And I don't like them. And he wants

these buttermilk pancakes. Well, I'm sorry, but

I haven't been eating the buttermilk. I might

sneak a bite of one of theirs, you know, when

they're made. But I have been making whole wheat

pancakes. Of course they're not as good. I mean,

they don't have as much flavor, but I will break

down strawberries or put applesauce on them,

maybe a little bit of peanut butter. Have to

watch the peanut butter, too, because it has

plenty of sugar in it. But Steve wanted the buttermilk

pancakes. Well, that's eight grams of sugar for

a half a cup. I mean, it's gonna make him one

pancake, and usually he eats three or four pancakes.

No, I eat... Three or four pancakes because he

eats two on his plate and one or two while he's

cooking them. So That's true. I do usually eat

one while I'm cooking. So you're talking right

there I mean that would be his 30 grams and that's

with nothing on him. No syrup No, I mean he doesn't

do peanut butter or jellies but if he does put

syrup he cakes with syrup Well, the only time

I use syrup is normally when it's a waffle Because

like pancakes, especially when they're fresh,

I don't want anything on them because they're

so crisp and delicious But yeah, so that's our

next goal what this is the same guy when I Part

of what made me larger when I did get large is

because he showed me Oh, let's pour which I never

really got into it I was always a syrup type

of girl or peanut butter type of girl. He would

pour sugar Pure sugar. Like just pure sugar.

I mean a cup of sugar on top of his pancakes.

Well in a cup, it's like a half cup, but yeah.

Yeah, a lot. I used to eat sugar out of a Dixie

cup. This is the same man that always would dip

his strawberries in sugar. And I don't mean just

kind of lightly. No, like had to have a big thing

of sugar and then like dip and dip and dip. Not

just sprinkle it all over. Although me, I mean...

Strawberries are fine, just the way they are.

I mean they are, but I like to sweeten them up.

My only problem area when it comes to sweets

is the chocolate, so I just have to get myself

off of the chocolate. Which I do believe this

can really help me because it's gonna still let

me... I'll be able to have like... I'm honestly

missing my Avacare meal replacements. And they

have a little bit of sugar in them, you know,

just enough for taste, nothing tremendous. But

any of them do. Slim Fats is gonna have it. Any

of your meal replacements are going to. Just

like a normal meal is gonna have sugar in it.

So now I'll be able to have my meal replacement.

Especially during my lunches or something when

it's difficult. And tomorrow I'm getting my peanut

butter. chocolate in, so I'm pretty excited because

that is the best meal replacement ever. But anyways,

um, I just, I think this challenge will be better.

And like I said, it's gonna be 40 days and my

goal is to have it be a permanent lifestyle for

us, for now on. Which... seems more doable than

the other one, the other one. There was no way

I was going to stick to that. Well, I knew sugar

detox. That I wasn't going into it as we're never

going to have sugar again because it's, like

I said, it's pretty much impossible. I was more

so doing it to try getting us off the sugar and

then we would lower. So I was kind of going like

a smoker cold turkey, you know, going just straight

off. Whereas this, we'll just limit it instead

of... fully 100 % being off. And with me, you

know, we're really growing in God. We're trying

to really get closer to God in our family. And

even though this is kind of our own challenge

because I'm doing something completely separate

for Lunt, it's still, I think it'll be a reminder

to me to not screw up because I am kind of doing

it during his time. that will even make it a

little bit more important to me, even though

it's not exactly along the lines like I'm not,

I don't know. So yeah, so that's what we're starting

on Wednesday. Yeah, so being that we already

did the detox and got the headaches and the mood

swings and all that, that's kind of out of the

way anyway, so it won't be that hard to just

eat a little bit of sugar throughout the day

that normally we would have had anyway, so. But

yeah overall I think that the challenge The modification

of the challenge is gonna suit us better than

the original deal So yeah, anything you want

to bring up before we close it out Any events

or any recipes I mean, if you're interested in

the bread recipe, I'll get that on there soon.

I could probably put the... I'll put the pumpkin...

pumpkin protein bar recipe on there. Those, you

do use the Avacare pumpkin meal replacement.

Those are limited during the holiday season,

but... Isn't that season over? Yeah. The one

they had at Halloween or something? Yeah, maybe.

I'll try to find a recipe for the peanut butter

chocolate because those actually, they just brought

those back last week and I ordered myself a couple

boxes because they are so good. They're just

like a Reese's cup. But maybe I can find some

like... energy balls or something like that recipe.

And if you want to purchase any of the Advocare

products you can click on the link on the upper

side of the fitreadygo .com website where it

links to Mary's Advocare page and you can purchase

directly from there. And if you want more information

on the product you can feel free to reach out

to her. and she'll get back to you on that. Yeah,

if you have any questions about anything, I mean

if you are somebody that craves all the time

or somebody that's just looking to lose a little

bit of weight or maybe you're not looking to

lose weight, maybe you need more energy or you're

trying to body build, you're trying to tone up

whatever the case may be. Even if you have, you

know, arthritis in your hands, just let me know.

Send me a question or an email or something and...

We could get you something that will help you

out. I will say the energy drinks that are provided

are... They keep her awake later. They don't

do nothing for me as far as that, but I'm used

to caffeine. She's not. But they give me clarity

of mind. Because they actually have vitamins

in them that that wake you up they they they

make your mind more alert they actually open

up your mind and There's a whole there's a whole

lot of doctors and scientists behind us and they

They're they don't you know you don't get that

sugar and caffeine boost and then die down. That's

not how it works. It's more so a mental clarity

and energy drink and there's nothing in it that's

going to harm you or... I don't crash after I

drink it, whereas normal energy drinks you do.

I enjoy them in the morning because I am dead

to the world in the morning and I'm not a nice

person, so when I do drink them, and I'm not

just saying it as an advertisement, when I do

drink them it does clear up my mind and I wake

up, but it would normally take me like... I don't

know. It's a couple 20 ounces to get through

to that point, and it'd usually take me half

the day to get there, whereas that, it takes

me about an hour and I'm awake. So. That's about

it. So, until next time, we've been Mary and

Steve. Good night.