Topless in 20 Days!

Muffin topless, that is!

There are many things I have an addiction to in my life. Some guilty, some not-so-bad! One of the guilty pleasures I have is sugar. I can not stress enough how much I love sugar. I love cake, cookies, candy, ice cream, sugar cubes straight out of the package. I have a sweet tooth of a fat kid on Halloween night! It's an addiction that I'm not ashamed of...yet. I think it has to do with the way I was raised. I lived in a traditional Asian household (Vietnamese, to be exact) and I wasn't allowed to have sugar as much as my friends from school. So when I left the house after high school, I had my first taste of pancakes with maple syrup, and it was love at first bite!

Some people can't give up cheese, or diary, or bread when they think about the strict rules of the paleo diet. Those are the big excuses I hear. For me, letting go of sugar was the hardest part. I used to tell my husband (poor husband), "You have no idea how impossible it is for a woman to stay so sweet without any sugar in her system". I hope that was the hormones talking, rather than the psycho, sugar-deprived, fat witch within me. Is there really a difference??

Another one of my addictions is Lululemon Athletica clothing. I am in lust with their athletic apparel, mainly their "speed shorts". They're great for any activity, they make your butt look great when you're squatting, and they have the perfect short length (and if you know me, you now I love wearing short shorts). Recently, my husband was sweet enough to buy me a new pair of speed shorts in their summer collection. I'm a size x-small (or a 4) in their bottoms. Size 2 made me look like I had four butt cheeks and size 6 was neither tight or short enough. Everything else looked great with the size 4, except the big bulge of fat that was spilling over the waistband, smartly nicknamed as my "muffin top".

Aren't these shorts cute? Oh, how I wish they looked like this on me the first day!

(Photo: Lululemon.com)

Disapprovingly, I dismissed the image in the mirror, told myself I'll just wear a long shirt to cover up my gut at crossfit and welcomed the shorts to the rest of my LuLu collection at home.

The time of the purchase of the shorts was about the same time I started questioning my paleo lifestyle. Being a paleo enthusiast for over a year, I understood the concept of the paleo diet: basically no processed foods. Check. Did I need to train harder? Did I need to do 100 sit-ups a day to get rid of my midsection spillage?

One day, Paul told me I was consuming too much fruit. And then it hit me. Yes...I've been replacing my processed sugary foods (cookies, cakes etc.) with too much fruit. I finally understood it now. My fruit intake was stalling my progress. To give you an idea of how much fruit I was consuming, let's just say some days I was snacking on fruit ALL DAY. Some days I ate fruit with every meal. I realized the sugar-demon inside me hadn't gone away; it was just simply adapting to a different source of sugar. Ugh...

So, I decided to cut back on my fruit intake. I was determined to fit into those darn (overpriced, but super cute) shorts. Plus, I always had some kind of strange jealousy of men being able to work out with their shirts off. I think it gives them a slight advantage in the unforgiving Florida humidity. Sure, some women work out with just their sports bra but I was sure that if I ever tried that look, my crossfit peers would get dizzy just looking at my fat jiggle and there goes the business!

I started eating only one fruit a day. The first few days, it was like a debate deciding whether I should pick a banana or an apple or grapes to be my one sugar source until the next 24 hours rolled around. That was 08/30/10. I've been living on less sugar ever since and still continuing with my strict paleo diet. My body has gotten used to eating less fruit. And I've grown a healthy relationship with some new veggies in my diet. I started taking status pictures every 5 days to chart my progress. I am amazed at how a picture can bring me so much confidence (I used to be the camera-shy person who'd avoid having her picture taken at all costs).

15 days! It took a lot of guts to post these pictures. No pun intended!

Today, my shorts fit great--thank you, husband! I don't look as great as the girls from the CF Games but I look decent enough to rock the bra & shorts look in the Florida sun. Although, I'm still not sure if I want to put my CF buddies through the jiggle show. Maybe in a few months! Overall, I'm happy and I know I can only look better from here!

What are your guilty food addictions and how did you conquer them??