The end of #Dechox and the first taste of chocolate – Mummascribbles

So the #Dechox came to an end. After 28 days of resisting all of the tastiest chocolate delights, I was finally allowed to eat it! And I literally couldn’t wait.

Would I wake up on Friday morning and have chocolate for breakfast like I thought I might?

Well no, I wouldn’t.

Despite thinking that I wouldn’t be able to resist the mini pack of Maltesers that I had hidden away in the kitchen cupboard, I drunk my morning cup of tea all by itself.

Would I just have to pass by Costa on the way home from the morning school run?

Well no. Luckily I knew that my shopping delivery was already waiting to be unloaded from the van, as he had been there when we walked out the door (he was early, I wasn’t just rude and booked him when I knew I wouldn’t be there!).

Nope, I was actually really quite good. I had my usual bowl of fresh fruit and yogurt for breakfast, and I took Oscar to playgroup – and even though I was really tempted to ask him for a bit of the Milky Bar that he had cheekily managed to cyphon off of my friend Zoe, I left him to enjoy it for himself.

Oscar took ages falling asleep after playgroup and it was late enough that I realised that the train that just passed us by would be the one my Mum was on, and so I walked down to meet her instead of heading straight home.

And then we went home. It was lunch time. It was cup of tea time. And that meant that it would also be Malterser time. I had managed to stave off any desperate urges for chocolate until lunch time, but I knew that lunch time would be THE time.

I had my lunch of toasted crumpets with Marmite and then I grabbed my cup of tea and grabbed the Maltesers. It was as I opened them that I realised that they had a slight gap – they were already very partially open – this could be a disaster!

And it was…almost. Not quite a full disaster but it was pretty hit and miss which of them were still crunchy and which were uneatable! I was so disappointed that my first bit of chocolate in 28 days was not what I was expecting it to be. Don’t get me wrong, the few that I was able to eat were delicious, but I had been looking forward to enjoying the whole little pack!

Of course that wasn’t all I had in store though. I had my sights set on an after school Costa trip and that’s exactly what we did.

Off to school we went. Oscar already knew we were going there, Zach was super excited, and I was just relieved! After we had popped to the shops, we went in, and I ordered a medium hot chocolate with cream, and bought a pack of mini muffins, which I was sharing with my Mum and Oscar (Zach had chosen a gingerbread man, although that didn’t stop him begging us for some of our cakes).

I ate all the cream from the top, which was sprinkled with chocolate flakes – delicious.

I took a sip of the main hot chocolate – yum.

I ate the raspberry and white chocolate mini muffin – scrumptious.

And then?

Then it was time for the full chocolate mini muffin. And this. This was THE moment.

I’ll digress here a bit. Even though I frequent Costa quite often – their hot chocolate’s are in no way my favourite. Too milky for me – not enough chocolate deliciousness. So that’s why that moment when I tasted my first hot chocolate in over a month, was not THE moment.

Nope, it was that chocolate mini muffin. The flavour, the texture, the pure chocolatey-ness. Oh. My. God. That was THE moment. In fact, I ended up thinking that I should have had a cup of tea and a BIG chocolate muffin. Although that would have probably been chaos with the kids, so it’s better that I stuck to the tiny ones that were gone within one bite!

And then that was it. My chocolate fix was over. I had broken my non chocolate eating time, and life would resume as normal.

Although I hope that last bit is not the case because it was super good for me to cut it out. Although I did sneak a dark chocolate Bounty into the house today and secretly ate it with a nice cup of tea!

If there is one thing the #dechox has taught me, it’s that I do have the willpower to not have chocolate. I know that being forced into giving something up is way easier than just remembering that I don’t really need it; but I hope that going forward I will remember that I managed to not have it for 28 days, and really consider whether in that moment, I really need it. Of course I will still have it. Just maybe not as often as I did before I did the challenge.

And of course, through all of this I have raised money for a wonderful charity – The British Heart Foundation. My current total is £85 and that is really wonderful. Even though the target online states £120, I actually meant to make this a lower amount when I signed up, because I didn’t actually think that I would reach £120. But I forgot.

In my head, the amount I was going to change it to was £50 and so even though online it says I haven’t reached my target – I actually have reached and exceeded the target that I was personally aiming for.

I am so proud that I succeeded in my challenge. So proud that I have proven to myself that I am totally capable of doing it. Even though there were times when it was excruciatingly hard – there were many days when I didn’t even think about it.

If you maybe wish to sponsor me now you know I have actually completed it, I and the British Heart Foundation would be most grateful for any pennies you can spare 🙂 https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/dechox2019-lisa-cornwell