My Exercise in Self-Control, Self-Discipline, and...

self-loathing. There. I said it. I'm pretty much cursing myself right about now.

Last week, on a whim, I decided that it would be fun, yes, I said fun, to challenge myself to an exercise in self-control. Little did I know just how much I would hate myself for making that decision.

How often do we really deny ourselves anything? I don't do it very often. When I want to eat something, I eat it. When I want to drink something, I drink it. All in moderation, of course. But the point is that when I want it, I have it. With this challenge, I cannot, under any circumstances, have what I want at the exact moment that I want it. I am training myself to delay my gratification.

My challenge began last Friday. For the next 3 weeks from Friday through Thursday, I will abstain from eating or drinking a favorite food or guilty indulgence.

WEEK 1 (April 27 - May 3) - No pasta or breads. It's Monday night, and I'm about ready to rip some one's head off. What on Earth was I thinking? I don't eat a whole lot of meat. I live on pasta and bread. I'm going crazy here!!!! Seriously, how much yogurt, salads, and nuts can one person eat??? Plus, I'm almost certain that eating my body weight in grilled chicken is not a good thing.

WEEK 2 (May 4 - 10) No sweets. OK, so when I am not eating pasta and bread, I am eating sweets. No candy, no licorice (my fave!), no Dunkin Donuts hot chocolate (another fave!), no dessert when we go out to dinner. My sweet tooth is going to be aching after this week.

WEEK 3 (May 11 - 17) No Starbucks or any other coffee shop, for that matter. I do not go to Starbucks on a daily basis. If I did, I'd probably be divorced by now. But there are times (several per week) when I am craving Starbucks. When I do, I beeline for the closest one and order up a Venti anything.

I had originally planned for my challenge to continue for 4 weeks. My final week was going to be a no alcohol week. It's not like I hit the bottle hard or anything, but I could do without the extra calories. Then I quickly realized that the weekend of May 18th is the GLO Cocktail Party, Bloggy Bootcamp, and we've just been invited to a graduation party in suburban Philly on Sunday. There is NO WAY that I can abstain from alcohol during that weekend.

So, follow along with me on Twitter so that you can stay up to date on my progress and also hear me rant about how miserable I am. ;-)

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger.