Before you give me a hard time, let me explain myself.

I don’t keep it a secret that I love sweets. Sugar is bad for you, yes I know but it’s always been my weakness. Candy, ice cream, doughnuts, cupcakes, etc. If it has sugar in it then chances are I will love it.

For years I have battled my sweet tooth. I’ve tried to find different things that help get it under control or somehow get me to cut out sugar entirely. Sure, I’ve been able to do it for short periods but usually it comes back around to get the best of me.

After I had Easton, I of course had extra weight that I wanted to lose. I knew I had to do it safely and slow if I wanted to continue to breastfeed and eventually start training for Boston.

The combination of marathon training and breastfeeding is pretty brutal on your hunger. I’m not kidding. I want to eat all the time. I eat my 3-4 meals a day plus all the snacks. I thought marathon training was bad but adding in breastfeeding it made it even more difficult. Quickly my sweet tooth began coming back in full force.

I started reaching out to different people trying to get help with battling this sweet tooth. I tried so many different options thinking that I could a healthier and better way to help beat it. However; it never happened. I kept falling back into the same trap and was hard on myself for it.

That’s when I came to a pretty important realization: I don’t have to beat my sweet tooth. I could give in.

Postpartum women, women in general, or really anyone are often harder on ourselves than we need to be. No, I’m no condoning eating junk all the time but some battles aren’t worth it. I need to make sure I am getting calories in and I do a majority of that through wholesome, healthy foods. However; at the end of the day if I want to have a bowl of ice cream, a little candy, or chocolate then so be it.

I’ve learned enough of the years to be able to keep in control for the most part. I’m currently sleep deprived a lot of days, I’m training for a marathon just 3 months after giving birth, I’m learning how to be Mom, and we can’t be perfect.

We are all so scared of sugar, and while there are some extremely dedicated women who can cut it out entirely, I’ve learned that it isn’t worth it to me. If I want something sweet then I have it – just within reason.

I think as runners we often want to be perfect and sometimes we can’t. I’ve found that allowing myself to give in some instead of stressing myself out to cut it out completely I have actually been able to better control my sweet tooth. It’s funny how that works after I worked for years to fight it.

I’ve found more control by not trying to constantly battle my sweet tooth.

Don’t be hard on yourself if you can’t completely cut out sugar – I’m here to tell you it’s not the end of the world. Be kind to your body but enjoy yourself too!