Short and Sweet

Travel day means little time to write! Work sent me deep into the hills of Eastern Kentucky... whew, quite a drive in the snow!

Just a quick post to give myself a big "hooray" for sticking with my goals for the fifth day in a row. I'm thinking they aren't quite tough enough, but it's a start.

Focus on the positive: what have you done well this week that you deserve a pat on the back for?

The Truvia Debate

Day three. So far, so good! I have been very mindful of my sweetener intake. Zilch, so far. Sugar-free syrup can easily become its own food group in my personal food period and as of today, I have yet to experience separation anxiety. Win! I'm struggling with the idea of Stevia. It's not artificial, right? I mean... I even dried the leaves from my own Stevia plant in my kitchen then pressed it to powder. It's as good as any other seasoning, right?

Are you addicted to sweeteners? What are your thoughts on Stevia and Truvia? Really--what is the difference?

According to Eating Rules, Truvia is natural Stevia but with Reb-A and erythritol added. If Stevia plants are already sweet as it is, then why the added elements? Because consumers want their sugar substitute to look like sugar, and this is how they get it done. In its natural form, ground Stevia looks like any kind of green seasoning you may already find in your cabinet. Another reason for the extra ingredients? By itself, Stevia is already about 30 times sweeter than sugar. The addition of Reb-A to form Truvia actually makes this substitute 300 times sweeter than sugar. THREE HUNDRED TIMES! Someone tell me why any sugar substitute has to be any sweeter than it is?

My advice? Stick with Stevia. Grow your own, dry it, ground it up. It will make you feel domestic, and it's absolutely delicious. 

I have Truvia in my cabinet, but for the sake of my goal this week, I will only use the pure Stevia that I grew and ground myself! Or... I could always just use sugar. Yeah, that works too.

Other Goals

Finances: Ok, making a monthly budget is very difficult if you have never created one. I learned this the other night while I typed out all the different categories I wanted to plug into my app. Do I just have "eating out" as a category? Well what if I want to see where I'm spending on coffee, dates, or fast food on the road? Do I make separate categories, or is that getting to be too much? Entertainment... isn't food entertainment? Is getting a drink at a bar "eating out" or "entertainment"?  How do I know what to allot for my first month when this is the first time I have tried this? I'm determined to have one laid out by the end of the week. 

How do you budget for the month, or do you? Where do you find yourself spending the most unnecessary money?

Fun: Writing that letter to my friend. I keep sitting down to type this before I realize that the point is hand writing it. I plan to set aside a half hour to do this this weekend.

Work: Look into budgeting tools. I did this! I can spend more time on it, but I did take a look and tediously start entering things into a spreadsheet that I meant to tackle months ago. Time to make it a routine now.

What are your goals?

The Power of the Scone

Ok, here we go. This is officially day one of my challenge. So far, so good. I guess really the only progress I have made is what I have not done, which is eat anything with sweeteners in it. The other goals are more action-oriented. I will work on those throughout the week and report them as I do. You all will hold me accountable, right? As if I have any readers yet. I'll get there. I hope.

There is something you must know about me that may explain my goal of nixing the artificial sweeteners. I, Kate, have a very combative relationship with sweets. I also happen to work for the biggest cookie company in the  United States. Maybe even the world. This is not a good combination, because I also have this rare condition where I have almost a sixth sense. I hear what others do not.  That decadent coconut chocolate chunk oatmeal cookie at the local French bakery... it talks to me. Says my name. Taunts me. Every morsel of chocolate in that damn thing is perfectly aware that even mere eye contact with one of them will draw me in like Barney Stinson to a strip club.

Hence why I am trying to manipulate my brain by at least starting with cutting out the artificial sweets. For now, I can indulge a bit in sweets. But can I change my habits? Can I keep the arm from reaching out from my stomach, through my esophagus, and out to snatch a red velvet whoopie pie sample from the tray at Kroger? Is there a way to control this obnoxious extra limb that seemingly has its own brain?

We all start somewhere.

Currently, I sit unfortunately close to a dripping glazed orange scone at Panera. Half eaten by the boyfriend, who is glued to his computer studying T-critical values for a stats class in his grad program, it has become an afterthought to him. Meanwhile, it has learned my name and the coaxing has begun. I feel "the arm" in my stomach stirring. I know my goal for the week is to stay away only from artificial sweeteners, but can I quiet the chatter and say "no"? Is it really that difficult?

Apparently, yes. The arm reached. It grabbed. Hand went to mouth. Scone ingested.

Sigh. At least I'm still officially on track for my goals.

Week One!

The first set of goals, starting tomorrow!

Jan 27- Feb 2:

Food: Start small! Try no sweeteners for this entire week.

I am a huge advocate of "eating clean".  I try (in spurts) to avoid anything unnatural, but that's nearly impossible if I'm not holding myself accountable for it. I have a giant sweet tooth, but I have nixed the Diet soda already this year. That helps a ton, when I'm not craving a Monster to get me through a workout. This week, I will not have any sugar free coffee syrups, sugar free syrup in my oatmeal, Diet soda, SF candies, anything of that sort. If I want sweetness, I will add honey or I will add natural sugar.

Finances: Get system in line for tracking spending this month.

At the beginning of the year, I downloaded an app called "LearnVest". I think it's going to dramatically change the way I view my spending habits; it has already, but I haven't been so organized about it. This app allows you to safely link your checking and savings account so you can monitor your spending. Each transaction can be filed into a budgeted category, so you can see exactly where your spending occurs. This week, I want to get my budget and categories in line so that it is clearer where I spend most. Instead of "groceries", I want to have "groceries" and "toiletries"-- those toiletries seem to come all at once and make a huge difference on a grocery budget when included! I also need to figure out how to track my spending on things that are reimbursed through my company, like my wireless bill.

Fun: Write a hand-written letter to a friend.

Simple enough. I have a friend in Colorado that I think would much appreciate this. I will write her a letter this week in my very own handwriting and send it off to slowly make its way to the mountains.

Work: Study budget tools.

Boring. This one is just for me. Just something I need to focus on at work!

Reward: Buy a new app!

Yes, buy. Something very cool and productivity-producing. Or maybe it will just be a game. It's up to me!

So it begins.

The biting winter cold, as usual, has left me uninspired and practically drooling all over myself while I eat endless bowls of popcorn and continue to create an even deeper dent in the couch cushions of my couch.

There must be an end to this slump. I told myself that splurging on a tablet would have to directly result in some productivity. So far, it has only amounted to an obsession with dowloading new apps and watching endless episodes of American Horror Story and How I Met Your Mother.

That ends today!

I have started to journal (in an app I finally like!) that has my little brain bursting at the seams with ideas for a blog. What would the subject be? How could I inspire myself with this blog? What would be my goal with writing it? Here were my "criteria":

- It has to be something that I want to write. My therapist tells me, "if you want to do something, you will do it. You want a blog? You would have done it already if you truly wanted to." Right? I think so.
- It has to be something that I can hold myself accountable for doing. I'm not going to say I need to write X amount of posts a week, but I can't slack.
- It has to better me as a person, in some way. There has to be a purpose other than a creative outlet!
- It will have a theme, but I can write whatever I want. It doesn't always have to be on subject.

My subject will be willpower.

Willpower. Something that I could not find in 2012, and that I will discover in 2013. So is the birth of "weeks of willpower".

Every week, I am going to start on Sunday with a pre-planned set of goals. They will be across multiple categories. If I can achieve these by the end of the week, I will reward myself with a little treat. I can continue with a goal the following week and turn it into a monthly goal, but I can't eat the elephant whole. I will work my way up to this.