I just have one, since I've managed to go from 241 to 207 lbs and feel healthier in general (though I really need to kick my ice cream addiction).

I want to get a career in my field (Public History). A big fear of mine is that there will be no work, and that I'll be stuck working as a janitor for a really long time.

Congrats!! That's fantastic. Ice cream (and pizza) is like the bane of my existence. Everything else I can resist gahh.
I'm sure you'll find something! So long as you're persistent an opportunity to bound to come your way. Good luck :D

Yeah same here. I try to offset it by running around for a bit afterwards. I figure as long as I get winded I must've burned calories. I used to work out three times a week, but it's been superceded by my job. Thankfully my job is manual labor, so I'll still burn calories and won't be snacking.

I merely resolve to finally begin my journey. I have scheduled it to begin on the 1st.

Oh my goodness finally! I'm glad to hear!! That's going to be such a fantastic journey, best of luck!!

Thanks a ton. :3 It'll certainly be interesting... I'll be recording it on my Twitter as well.

Maybe I'll have some cool stories to tell once it's all said and done, ahaha.

Awesome, I followed you. Excited to hear about your progress.

Woah! Thanks for following. o:
I'll look forward to this adventure. :3

Detoxes don't really do much if they are just short term, the biology doesn't add up. Your body actually needs many of those substances and to completely eliminate them is not all that good, reducing them to the appropriate levels overall and maintaining is much better on the body and cellular function.

-Processed sugars are not fantastic, but they do help for quick boosts of energy and can be beneficial if blood sugar falls a little low.
-Artificial sweeters mostly are completely metabolized in the stomach and small intestine and don't really do anything as they are just passed through the system.
-Honey and syrups are actually some of the good sugars, again, not in excessive quantities, but they are some of the better sugars to use. Honey is especially considered a good sweeter for tea that the body very easily metabolizes
-Grains and breads are actually needed for healthy bowels, especially ones higher in fiber which also help maintain a stable blood sugar throughout the day.
-Dairy products actually contain fats and other proteins that again are essential for our body.

As for the 80/20 thing, I have not heard of it, and I am skeptical until I have some hard peer-reviewed studies on that particular ratio as diet is something that should be more personalized and not a one diet fixes everyone sort of system because of varied metabolic rates and activity levels. With higher activity levels you might actually need to consume more calories and sugars to keep your body going and have a higher intake of water than just 2L which is not all that much for an incredibly active person and can lead to a loss of necessary ions that keep nerves functioning well and the loss of water can also affect muscle function as well from being more active.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pE9B1YEioNs
Beginning is a bit weird, but informative.

I agree that resolutions are necessary and good, but when making choices if it works psychologically great, but at the same time it better to make choices based on how biology actually works and the research that is there. Nutionalists in some aspects love to throw around detoxes but physicians and other biologists know they are not very useful outside of a placebo effect in some cases because they remove a lot of necessary compounds that the body uses to maintain healthy cell function from bones to brains.

I need to get better about eating more fruits and veggies and drinking more water and cut down on greases and sugars, but not eliminate them because that can be just as bad as eating too much.

Like I said in the description, it still includes sugars from fruit and some starchy vegetables, so that wouldn't be an issue. Ten days without processed sugar, increased water intake and unprocessed foods would most certainly help wash out some of the toxins in my system and help me shake my sweet tooth. It's not going to eliminate all the toxins obviously, but it's a means of breaking a habit.

-There's nothing good about processed sugar, it's literally like a drug substance. If your blood sugar is low there are so many other healthier carbohydrates you should resort to. The most minimal of research on sugar will tell you that.
- Again, there's been a monumental amount of research on artificial sweeteners that tell you otherwise. I've personally experienced headaches and nausea in almost every instance I've had them.
- I'm aware of the many benefits of honey and natural maple, but as this is meant to help me reverse my sweettooth, eliminating them for 10 days is not detrimental.
- Grains and breads aren't necessary for healthy bowels, fiber is. Fiber can be found in many, many other sources, otherwise persons with celiac disease would be in serious trouble, wouldn't they?
- There's nothing necessary about drinking the breast milk of an entirely different species, these nutrients can be found elsewhere.

This being said, in normal day to day life I'm not restrictive in any sense of the word. I eat greek yogurt, sprouted grain bread, honey and some processed sugar in my coffee.

As for the 80/20 'thing', it's based off of common sense. If you are healthy the majority of the time, eating a burger and fries every now and again isn't going to make you unhealthy. It's got nothing to do with specific individual diets, if you actually looked at the post I made you'll see that it's extremely open-ended and people can interpret their own goals as they please. Absolutely nothing about calories is suggested. As I also wrote, drinking more than 2L results in a better score. Obviously I'm not going to restrict my water intake and I'm very aware of the benefits of water, thank you.

I agree with you that there is a lot of misinformation out there, but what you don't understand is that I've catered both my detox and my 80/20 method specifically to what works for me and how I do things. You are obviously misunderstanding my sugar detox as an extremely restrictive diet that eliminates essential foods, which mine does not.

I would seriously not recommend sharing your opinion on my diet when in no context did I ask for advice or feedback. I'm very well researched and I've chosen my diet thoughtfully and strategically based on this research.

Your liver and kidneys do that already. and what are we defining as toxins, because chemically glucose is glucose whether you get if from processed sources or "natural" sources.

-Artificial and natural sugars are the same, as stated, glucose is glucose whether it comes in a sugar packet or from a fruit. Same for Fructose and sucrose. Your body does not care, only your brain psychologically cares.
-Your headaches might actually be due to something called the nocebo effect which is a negative side effect to something that should have none. Like the subjects who experience headaches when given a placebo medication in the control group. Also consider other cofounders could be at play if you are using it in a drink like diet soda, coffee, etc. Aspartame has I believe over an 98% metabolism in the small intestine and is not absorbed or used by the body.
-Then that should have been clearer because it came off as some magical detox.
-They make gluten free breads and not all grains contain gluten. Also supplements for those that need them, otherwise people without Celiac disease should be consuming gluten like normal. But it is also more than just fiber alone.
-Depends where you get it as being able to process lactose specifically is something that while is more uncommon than common provided us with another source of nutrients, so while not necessary, definitely recommended to those that can process lactose for the sources of vitamin D that people often don't get during the winter from the lack of sun light.

I am talking about the specific values themselves, the concept that the occasional "treat" is going to hurt.

As far as water goes, I took it as a near absolute value, not a greater than or equal to 2L.

Again no where did I read the purpose of it, just what you were planning to do and I never said it was ultra restrictive, just that eliminating these things for 10 days did not make biological sense. Phrasing is very important to people like me, so I am sorry I misunderstood the intention behind it.

If the liver and kidneys were 100% effective then you wouldn't see people as sick and unhealthy as they can be. Constantly bombarding your organs with toxins can become overwhelming even for something as miraculous as the human body. And no, chemically processed sugar and sugar found from natural sources is entirely different and has a vastly different reaction in the human metabolism. How can you agree that sugar isn't fantastic for you and then say that processed sugar is the same as natural sugars in fruit? Do you believe a huge wad of icing is healthier than an apple?

- http://www.medicaldaily.com/4-dange.....-health-247543 One of the first articles I found. Honestly there's mountains of information proving the dangers of artificial sweeteners. "Both the Air Force's magazine Flying Safety and the Navy's magazine, Navy Physiology published articles warning about the many dangers of aspartame including the cumlative deliterious effects of methanol and the greater likelihood of birth defects. The articles note that the ingestion of aspartame can make pilots more susceptible to seizures and vertigo. Twenty articles sounding warnings about ingesting aspartame while flying have also appeared in the National Business Aircraft Association Digest (NBAA Digest 1993), Aviation Medical Bulletin (1988), The Aviation Consumer (1988), Canadian General Aviation News (1990), Pacific Flyer (1988), General Aviation News (1989), Aviation Safety Digest (1989), and Plane and Pilot (1990) and a paper warning about aspartame was presented at the 57th Annual Meeting of the Aerospace Medical Association (Gaffney 1986).

Recently, a hotline was set up for pilots suffering from acute reactions to aspartame ingestion. Over 600 pilots have reported symptoms including some who have reported suffering grand mal seizures in the cockpit due to aspartame.(21)"

- "To help break the cycle and contain my insatiable sweet-tooth yet again, I've decided to go on a 10 day detox". In no way am I claiming this to be any kind of magic.
- They make gluten free breads but it's not uncommon for a persons with celiac disease to opt out of bread entirely. Even people without celiacs disease. I went completely grain free for 6-7 months and I had absolutely no issues in that department because I was eating fiber from better sources.
- Vitamin D is also found in just about everything else. Fish, meat, eggs, beans, nuts, etc. Lactose and calcium from dairy products has actually shown to leech the calcium from bones and actually contribute to osteoporosis. You'd be better off drinking breast milk from humans.
- In what world does "eight or more cups of water" imply an absolute value?

Like I said before, I do agree that some of these ingredients can offer some nutritional value, but in moderation. And I think eliminating them for 10 days is going to be farcry from a death sentence.

Again what are we defining as toxins as even too much water is toxic. Alcohol is a literal poison.

It is the concentrations at which it is at, and no, glucose is an unchanging chemical, if it does not look like glucose, it is not glucose.

Here are Links to pages with all the chemical information on some of the more common sugars
Glucose:
http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=Glucose
Fructose:
http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=Fructose
Sucrose or table sugar
http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=Sucrose

Sucrose is both Glucose and Fructose bound together and it hydrolyzed in the body as a part of its metabolism. Glucose is very easily metabolized and turned into ATP where fructose takes longer to metabolize and is partly the reason why TOO MUCH "processed" sugar is bad.

Also look at how old those studies are, and more recent research found those effects are either from the process by which it was produced or by the fact that some people cannot metabolize its constituents. Also in many sodas, Benzene used to be used to extract things like caffeine from the plants which is a known carcinogen and no longer used because it can be made artificially now.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/scienc.....73230002915424 [A 2002 study]
"When all the research on aspartame, including evaluations in both the premarketing and postmarketing periods, is examined as a whole, it is clear that aspartame is safe, and there are no unresolved questions regarding its safety under conditions of intended use."

Also as far as any issues with bladder cancer might be concerned, that only occurs in rats and not humans.

Also keep in mind that many military personnel are put under different types and amounts of stress, correlation does not equal causation.

Also here is an actual pediatrician talking about relevant and recent research and many questions about health, including the use of artificial sweeteners.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yk4uy8rVzGQ


-not a true detox, just curbing a bad habit.
-Define better, because that seems relative, and there may have been changes that you were not aware of.
-Show me the research that says that without using articles older than....2000.
-I am going off you journal text.

I never said it was, I just see no reason to list it as a detoxification when it is not biologically sound to say so. Now if it was for becoming sober or detoxing from things like opiods and other pharmaceutical addictions, then yes, that is a detox, because those things are literally toxic to the body.

I don't understand how this is any kind of argument. I understand the different sugars and how they differ chemically, this is all basic shit I learned in highschool. The discussion here is that processed sugar is bad for you. And that's not an argument, it's very simply a fact. Ask any health professional or hell, just a person off the street. Small doses won't kill you obviously, but by no means does that make it good for you. I don't understand what point you're trying to make.

Honestly, there's not a whole lot I need to say in regards to 'artificial sweeteners'. I mean they're called artificial, it kind of speaks for itself. It's chemically engineered. I've read much more data proving otherwise so I've made the decision to avoid it. Like anything in science there is lots of research supporting 'for' and 'against', so frankly sharing any amount of articles is a waste of time. (not to mention it tastes disgusting anyway so whether it's bad or not, I have zero interest in ingesting it).

- "detox: a process or period of time in which one abstains from or rids the body of toxic or unhealthy substances; detoxification." I don't understand why you are so concerned about my use of the word 'detox', but there's nothing saying that a detox needs to be a certain length of time, so your argument is invalid. For someone who admittedly finds phrasing very important, you've failed to acknowledge the most simple of phrases written clearly on my blog.
- Better: "http://drhyman.com/blog/2010/06/24/.....-costs-2/"; I don't understand how people would think drinking the breast milk of an ENTIRELY DIFFERENT SPECIES meant to help young calfs grow would be even slightly better for us than drinking the milk of our own species.
- http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/.....controls/?_r=0 2014 recent enough?

Like I said, by definition there's no time limit on a detox. And in case you haven't gotten the point yet, yes, sugar is literally toxic to the body.
http://www.globalhealingcenter.com/.....-poison-of-all

Sugar has literally been shown to have the same effects on the brain as cocaine. This entire conversation is kind of null, honestly, and completely unwarranted as, again, I didn't ask for your advice, and frankly I'm glad I didn't. Goodnight.

No its not, a defined chemical is a defined chemical whether it is made in a lab or comes from an extraction process. Is water no longer water if it created through electrolysis out of Oxygen and Hydrogen gases? That is kind of what you are saying with processed sugar which is sucrose. sucrose does not change chemically unless it is reacted such as by metabolic processes that hydrolyze it, or cut it with water.

They are called artificial because they were synthesized in a lab, that is all artificial means in most cases. Artificial sweeteners such as banana flavor are lab synthesized compounds that occur naturally in bananas. They chemical is the same whether you extract it or make it. Synthetic/Artificial in the case of flavor compounds are recreations of the EXACT same compound found naturally, depending on the complete context. Sweeteners like Aspartame and Splenda are truly synthetic, where sucrose is not.

- toxic or unhealthy: Alcohol is toxic, Opiods are toxic in high doses, Water is toxic in high enough doses. Anything is toxic in high enough amounts, but there are some compounds like Ethanol which are literal poisons, or like Arsenic. sugars are only unhealthy if overconsumed.

Peer-reviewed scholarly articles with control groups, please.

Hm...so has sex, sky diving, base jumping, and a heck of a lot of other things because they all act on the reward pathway of the brain, heck food in general can give the same effect as cocaine.

aa, your before & after pictures really inspire me to work out more

i too wanna get ripped ;o; but rn i'm at least over 150 lbs - the heaviest i've ever been - thanks to the magical amazingness that is birth control.. obv that's depressing but i'm gonna try to work harder this year too u-u;;;

Thank you!
Oh goodness, that's no good. I have an IUD which fortunately hasn't affected my weight at all. When I was taking the bills it definitely did something, though. If you're really concerned, maybe look into switching to a different BC. It's tough to beat hormones but nothing persistent good food and exercise can't fix over time! <3 Best of luck!

This is inspiring to read! Your gonna kickass this year for sure!

Definitely! :D Goodluck to you as well!

these are great resolutions!
i also am going to get my damn license. it's taken me too long!!
i'm going to try to create one piece of art every week, exercise as close to five times a week as i can, and finish at least one book every month.
good luck!

Awesome!! Best of luck to you :D

I wouldn't focus so much on your weight. Judging by your pics you look look really good . I would just make sure your are making progress in the gym and your mental physical/athletic well being will follow.

-Complete NaNoWriMo

UGH. You and me both. I've been real lacking in motivation so I'm hoping I can do something about it once the new year rolls in. Best of luck to us both!

omg I've wanted to do it forever but it's so hard to fit it in. I think it would be totally fun though. Thank you! :)