Bad taste.

I've discovered that my like for sweet foods is pretty much gone. Instead of a piece of chocolate giving me a nice, pleasant feeling, I get this sudden visceral reaction. It's so strong and quick that I get panicky for a few seconds.

I've had very few truly sweet things since I started trying to lose weight. A dessert at Thanksgiving. A few desserts at Christmas. Cake on Katie's birthday.

There are a few things that are sweetened that I have daily: My coffee, with Splenda and sugar-free creamer (just a bit), and Diet Coke or Coke Zero or Diet Dr. Pepper. I can handle those, possibly because I do have them daily. But everything else is just too much.

I discovered this on Monday at lunchtime. I went to Jason's Deli and had a cup of chicken noodle soup and a salad bar. I put their Leo's fat-free Italian dressing on my salad -- just a little -- and it was too sweet for me. I've had this dressing before, but on Monday, I was wishing that I hadn't put anything on my salad.

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I'm getting faster. Last night, I ran my four miles in well under an hour. Usually, I finish very close to an hour, or some nights, a little more than an hour (*blush*).

But last night, I did 12.5-minute miles. I'm striving for miles around the 11-12-minute range. I'm almost there. :-)

Even though it was cold, I was fine. A hoodie, a sweatshirt, some gloves, a hat and I'm good to go. Not very pretty, but good to go!