CodeMacLife

I quit sugar for 28 days

There were two goals I had set for 2023, which were losing weight and improving my fitness. I guess these two goals go hand in hand — exercise and healthier eating. The fitness part has been relatively easy, even if I didn’t feel like I got enough some days. I smashed the rings on my Apple Watch most days, apart from the 10 days I chose to ditch my Apple Watch for a basic Casio watch. I’m kept active with my job at a school with a combination of sports, outdoor education and generally being on my feet all day.

Furthermore, I have a cross trainer and weights to keep me busy in the evening, including the press-ups and planks I throw in during each workout session. Each Sunday involves a bike ride around the local area and the beautiful scenes along the High Peak canal route. Muscle-wise, I have noticed a difference through my exercise routines.

However, there has been one underlining issue I can’t ignore. Even with all this exercise, I still had a weight problem. My stomach had been growing to a point I looked pregnant. I don’t drink alcohol, so it can’t be a drinking issue. I had reduced my milk intake, so it can’t be a lactose issue. Not only that, but I reflected on what was happening, and I decided to start a food journal at the start of June 2023 to see what was going on. I logged everything I ate, and I mean everything. It hit me early in the logging with what was happening with my diet. I was aware we have triggers such as boredom, stress, comfort eating and so on. My triggers appeared to come every day after work.

The Problem

The concern wasn’t clear before the logging because I started most days with a smallish breakfast of porridge and my midday lunch always included a salad or vegetables. My family meal in the evening included vegetables or fibre-rich content alongside some kind of protein. I don’t go to establishments like McDonald’s, KFC, Domino’s and others along this description. I haven’t for over a year now. After reviewing the log, I noticed the areas between meals. This is where I saw how I had a weight issue.

Immediately, I saw the snacking and bingeing on unhealthy snacks on my way home from work. I lost how many times I would say, “One last time,” before going back to the same shop the next day on my way home. The problem was: I had a busy day at work, I didn’t eat enough at lunch, and now I had over an hour to drive home. The combination of energy drinks, crisps, sweets, and chocolate (not all at once) has affected my body more than expected.

It didn’t stop there, though. Oh no. It gets worse! You see, once at home and I had eaten with my family, I would stay up late, and I would get bored instead of going to bed. The cravings would kick in, and I would go searching for anything that was unhealthy, sugary and ‘felt good’. This is not a good thing to do before bedtime. It impacts sleep and your teeth.

Turning point

The situation had got to a point where I felt self-conscious about being seen in public, and I hated going to work because of my weight. I would add extra layers of clothing, knowing I would be uncomfortably hot throughout the day. In reality, the extra layers intensified my abdominal bulge. It doesn’t help that I have an unusual curve to my spine, so I look bigger anyway,

Financially, it is unsustainable. Some days, I would spend over £5 ($6.42) a day on junk food and drink. Other days I would spend less. Whatever way you look at it, I had spent my money on junk for 181 days (January to June). That is a whopping £905 ($1162) in six months. Just think what you could do with all that money. I had paid for the privilege of being overweight and causing damage to my body and mental health. Things had to change.

Another issue with high sugary diets is the lack of energy to get through the day. These snacks give you quick energy boosts and dopamine hits, but they suck all the life out of your energy levels. Poor diets cause low mood, mental health issues, and they are the perfect recipe to kill your productivity.

What I did next

I must apologise now for the clickbait title. My intention for the change in my life is indefinite, not 28 days as described. TDLR: I managed 28 days until I relapsed on my promise to never eat a sugary snack again.

I cut out all sugary snacks, crisps, carbonated drinks and focused my attention on eating as healthily as possible. I reduced my diet to three meals a day, with no snacking in between them. The experience wasn’t exactly pleasant. I spent two weeks feeling hungry all the time. I was grouchy, suffered brain fog, and felt physically weak.

Around the third week, things started to change. I noticed I was feeling positive most of the time. I had more energy. I’m uncertain if this had to do with the exercise I was currently carrying out. Either way, I felt there was light at the end of the tunnel. A surprising change came in the form of better sleep. I felt less restless during the night and fresher in the morning. I could manage the demands at work and still have enough energy to complete a 10K cross trainer exercise. Likewise, I was happy, like all the time. Positive energy radiated from me. This was the best form I had been in years.

Temptations

When you start a diet, you will find every sugary snack you like will be on show. Everywhere I went in public I could see all the snacks, drinks and other temptations paraded in front of me. Have you ever noticed the classic junk food is on display at the front of every store? Seriously, this did not help me in the slightest.

The petrol (gas for those in the US) station had a crazy number of snacks on show as I would fill up my car. I wasn’t impressed with this assortment of food. Why not promote healthier food like fruit? I decided I would use stations where they allowed me to pay for fuel at the pump, completely removing the need to expose myself to these temptations.

By the 20th day, I was able to walk past any isle in my local supermarket without even a twitch for the food I would previously jump for. Instead, I headed to the fruit section before going to get some Shredded Wheat and porridge cereal. Nice.

Setback

By the 29th day, I had messed up. The failure to prepare for my school trip meant I was aimlessly feasting on what was in the goodie bag and what the theme park had to offer. Chocolate bars, juice, fish and chips, as well as a can of Dr. Pepper meant I was at square one again. My head was racing as the sugar and other extremities of the contents flushed through my body. I felt like Jim Carey did in his film Yes Man. I might as well had been chanting, “Red Bull, Red Bull, Red Bull.” My body was on high alert and my energy levels peaked. By the time I got home that evening, I felt shattered. I’m unsure if it was the exhausting day with twenty plus people or a complete sugar crash.

Guilt and disappointment were the words I would use to summarise my feelings. I didn’t get a good night’s sleep and my gut felt off. As I woke up, I remember feeling drained and unwell. I shouldn’t have because it was the last day of the term. I am always excited about the last day of the term. I wasn’t. I spent the day eating as very little as possible. Furthermore, I called it my water day diet because water was the main intake for the day.

The future

I plan to stick with my ‘diet’ if you can call it that. I refer to it as dietary requirements, to be honest. The biggest hurdle is not abstaining from snacking and the unhealthy food choices. In fact, I would say the challenge is to educate myself with picking the right foods and alternatives, so I am able to get the energy, nutrients, and above all, enjoy what I eat.

Now that I am enjoying the summer holidays, I have to be aware I am not burning as much energy as I would working in a school. My exercise routine will have to increase to match the same level of calories I would burn when working. In addition, I need to watch what I am eating. Boredom throughout the holidays is a real thing. In work, I don’t have the chance to be bored. At home, it is a different story.

I will update you on my progression. I feel this a moment in my life where the need to stay healthy is greater than my want for high sugary snacks and drinks.

If you have any tips to improve health and fitness, please let me know.

Thank you.

Mark @ CodeMacLife.com

Don’t be afraid to write in your books

Taking notes in your physical reading books is not going to break the world

We’ve all been there. You buy a new book and treasure it, take care of it and place it somewhere special for convenient access. I get it. It feels good, and this book is definitely going to make you wiser and smarter. And what about the smell? Don’t get me started on that one!

There is something special about physical books that have a place in my heart. Admiringly, I own more eBooks than physical books. In my quest for a minimalist home, I decluttered, donated and reduced my physical book collection to a dozen books. For context, I own eighty-four Kindle books, eighteen Apple Books, and three audiobooks.

What I am about to say make shock some of you, but here goes. Don’t be afraid to write in your physical books.

I’ve had time to reflect on my note-taking and note-making recently. What I have learnt is the notes captured through annotating and commenting in physical books have had a bigger impact on my life than those I captured on any of my eBooks. You might prefer linking your thinking through eBooks and exporting to your favourite app.

Take physical notes

I read a blog post on The Wordy Habit about annotating in physical reading books, and it shocked me at first. I’m a bit of a perfectionist at times, so I like to keep things neat and ‘perfect’ as possible. But then I gave it a go.

What a revelation this moment was! I had book called How to Take Smart Notes by Sönke Ahrens because I was keen to learn about Zettelkasten and how to improve my note-taking. The book had me thinking deeply about what I was capturing, and more importantly, why I was capturing what I was.

Foremost, I wasn’t ready to write in pen, so I those to use a pencil and some Post-It notes. What if I make a mistake? The inner perfectionist was sweating franticly.

Then I noticed something while I was digesting what I was reading. I was calmer, focused and underlining content that was resonating with me. I wasn’t breaking the flow with my usual Kindle routine of highlighting the text, choosing a colour and adding some notes to the text.

Furthermore, I had built my own annotating system to help with the process

Underline — highlight the key message.

Star — Important quote or thought.

Numbers — Takeaways from the page.

Post-Its — Capture larger chunks of information or my thoughts.

The system is simple enough to follow, and it avoids any overcomplexity that would discourage me from being consistent with the process. I also wanted to ensure I could remember what each system item did. I also add a few highlighter graphics/text for significant parts of a book (not many, though).

Another element to the system has been built for quick referencing — a bookmarking system for future access.

My bookmarking has four important areas I want to have quick access to. I’ve not taken this from any system out there. However, the use of green and pink come from my teaching practice in primary education.

All I have to do is use four different coloured Post-It tabs throughout my book to reference these areas I find interesting. The system has worked so far, and I can go back to content I want quicker than I would on my Kindle or Apple Books.

Blue (Mood) — I am able to record how I feel about the information. The information might invoke emotions such as inspiration, disbelief, or even contempt (very rarely).

Pink (Think) — Pink for think, as it is used in schools, is a process of reflecting and thinking about that has been read. I find these tabs appealing because I will read my past thoughts and see if my thoughts still align with what I had recorded.

Green (Growth) — Green for growth, which is another one used in schools. Growth is important to me. These pages have content that allows me to grow as a person and re-evaluate what I value.

Yellow (Future Actions) — Future actions are bookmarked where I feel a new action comes from what I have read. The content of the page may prompt new ideas and I would want to refer to them for clarity. In the past, I have set goals and my mid-year review involves going back to why I had set the goal in the first place.

Now, it is possible to have more than one coloured Post-It tab on the same page. Some content you will read prompts a flurry of thoughts, feelings, questions, and actions. This is OK. What I would say is be sparing with the tabs because the system will lose meaning if you overuse the bookmarks.

Digitalisation of notes

If I haven’t convinced you yet, you might be thinking about accessing the content wherever you are. I genuinely understand it. I also want access to my notes when I am not near the physical book. It happens more than I want to admit. The eBook options out there, like Readwise, are a creditable option. Albeit an expensive one.

I do capture my annotations for digital keeping. What I would say is you need an application that uses OCR technology because it will scan your notes for keywords.

I use Apple Notes for my notes and image captures. The application is simple to use and search is accessible through the action of swiping anywhere on my home screen.

If you are on Android, Google Keep is another great option. Just like Apple Notes, Google Keep allows you to select text from the images and paste it into another application of your choosing.

If neither of those options appeals to you, software like Evernote, Microsoft OneNote, Amplenote, and Obsidian (plugin) are suitable options.

You can decide to go with standalone OCR applications in your choose. What is important is you use what is best for you. Accessibility, especially, offline, is subject to what devices you use and how you are going to use them.

Alternatively, I would recommend Twos App to store, record and capture links, etc, to your lists (think of a Post-It note with all the information on). The application can add tags, links, images, share to the Twos World community, collaboration and so much.

Another benefit of digital capture is you can add comments to your notes. Reflecting on your notes is a good practice, and you can add other content such as relevant links, images, and videos to your notes.

Are you convinced yet?

If all else fails, I would recommend you have two copies of the book if you really don’t want to right in your books. Every so often, I have a digital copy of the book and a physical. There is nothing wrong with supporting the author with a double purchase.

The only time I will not write in a book is when I borrow a book from the local library. In this case, I will scan the pages I find important and annotate over them.

I hope you enjoyed reading my post. If you have any methods of capturing what you read, I would love to hear about them in the comments area.

As always, thank you for taking the time to read my post.

Mark @ CodeMacLife.com

Originally published at https://codemaclife.com on July 27, 2023.

Update: 2023–07–28 – I have managed to set up Medium within Ulysses. The API is not very clear on Medium, but I got there in the end.

Originally published at https://codemaclife.com on July 27, 2023.

I know there is an endless list of possible note apps out there but one stands out as an alternative- Upnote. In some ways, it has a lot of similarities to Bear. However, Upnote is cross platform.

I agree with Apple and I come from the UK. No-one here likes the government. They’ve made a lot of mistakes in the past few years and this is another example of how out of touch they truly are. 

I’m hoping the UK govt understand the financial burden it would put on the country.

I like this idea. There are some manuals and other articles I have stored in Notes, which would be better suited to the Books app. Thanks for sharing.

I had a nasty email about the price. When you cancel, you get a 40% discount. I cancelled and migrated my notes. I use Apple Notes now. All my coding and read later articles live in Upnote.

I went along the same path. I’m now with Apple Reminders and loving it. I like how I can drag and drop Apple notes and mail items into Reminders too.

Originally published at https://codemaclife.com on July 22, 2023.

Yeah. I love Minecraft and it is the game I miss the most. It helps me relax. Playing online in 2024 sounds like a great idea.

[youtu.be/J8DGjUv-V...](https://youtu.be/J8DGjUv-Vjc)

Have you watched the Minimalists’ documentary movies? One is on Netflix and the other is free on YouTube. I have a few book recommendations that I can post later on.

Another great post. I enjoy watching and listening to Joshua Becker’s content. Since following the minimalist lifestyle, I have found the 10 ways he discusses to be good starting points. Less is more.

I felt guilty say no at first. I'm a lot happier now, even others aren't.

Yes. All my stuff is in Upnote. It does not import Evernote’s tasks but it does add standard checkboxes. The lifetime purchase is worth it. The web clipper is ok too. If you use an iPhone, the universal search will look through your UN files for content. I love this feature. The iPad app has sketch and PDF annotations.

Thanks for the comment. I use Upnote, which imports .enex files with tags.

Yeah. I’ll dig them out and share online somewhere.

No. Thank you! I would love to go to Iceland. I traveled to the north of Finland (Lapland) in December and the aurora within the artic circle is magical. I believe it is even better in Iceland.