Day 16ish & My New Love

So today is weigh in day. Meh. Last week was really bad for me. I was sick, yadda, yadda and basically I gained back a pound or two, but then lost those. So the point is today I'm at the same weight I was at last week's weigh in. Which I guess is the second best scenario.

But, what I really wanted to tell you was about my new love. Greek yogurt. With honey and fruit. OMG it's so good! I was really apprehensive about trying it. I didn't know a thing about it and I just figured it would taste weird. Well my friends, it doesn't taste weird and I think you should all do yourself a favor and go out and try some. And don't be afraid of the honey. I read that in Greece they actually eat yogurt, honey and nuts as dessert. THAT'S how good it is!

So what is the difference you ask? Well, it's thicker. I was reading online and I guess the milk goes through an extra straining process to take out water and whey which makes it thicker. It doesn't have that yogurt-y bite to it either. So far I've tried 3 brands. I'll get you the names, but the only one I can remember off the top of my head is Brown Cow. Delish. I've had strawberry, blueberry, vanilla and honey. Honey and strawberry are my favorite. Vanilla wasn't all that good, just tasted a little plain. But the honey, oh the honey. It just added that little bit of sweetness that was perfect. And because it's thicker I think that's what makes it okay. You know how regular yogurt is a bit runny? Yeah, not this.

Be careful because it does have a lot more calories. You can get the 0% fat which is what I have and the honey flavor had about 120 calories I think. The other flavors had more. But I feel so good eating it. The ingredients were milk, honey and a few live cultures. That's it. No artificial sweeteners, stuff I can't pronounce. Just that good natural goodness. :) Oh and did I mention it has about 15 grams of protien? No joke. So with this Game On diet regular yogurt counts as a carb. But this Greek stuff, it counts as a protein!

Another thing I wanted to say is to make friends with your local health foods store. Don't be afraid of it. Don't assume it's over priced. And don't think you have to be a hippy or go backpacking and/or live in a tent to fit in there. Trust me. I thought all of those things. I have this store by my house called Sunflower Market and it is awesome! They have some really great deals on produce and stuff. You don't have to buy everything there, I mean yeah, a lot of it is really expensive. But they have tons of bulk stuff and again, good deals on produce. While you're at your local health food place, make friends with the agave nectar (I mentioned it in a previous post). It's like honey, but not quite as sweet. That's the best way I can describe it. And it's all natural so it's good for you as far as sugar goes :) They have big tubs of it that you can dispense out into little containers. Really, you should go try it. Put it on your oatmeal, or bread, or your Greek yogurt. :) Remy even likes it. So if he likes it then you'll like it.

So here's our mornig snack for this week:

Greek yogurt (I think the cups are about 4 oz) -protien

Strawberries -carb

Blackberries -carb

Carrots (I bought little individually packaged bags. Hey, for us it's worth the convenience) -serving of veggies

Celery sticks with peanut butter -serving of veggies & healthy fat

Try the Greek yogurt and tell me what you think!

Still Plugging Along

So last week was a bust. I was way sick (still) with a sinus infection that my husband so lovingly passed on to me. So I had multiple days where I could have used a day off...oh well this is a start of a new week! And yesterday I rocked it (minus the water drinking).

I found this function on my Wii Fit Plus last night where you can run, but switch the TV off the game so you can actually watch a TV show, but the game keeps going. It's pretty cool, although running in place can be kinda awkward. Last night it was getting late and I NEEDED to get in my 20 mins so I found this running game, it let me choose 20 mins (perfect!) and then I watched the end of the Jazz game as I jogged in place in my living room! It was awesome! I think I might do this more often. The game said I went almost 2.5 miles in 20 mins....yeah right. I think 1 mile is a little more realistic, but whatever.

In other news...my last China payment is going through today and that means it's all paid for! YAY! Well, except for my Visa ($200) and the knock off purse I promised Tara I'd get her :) So we leave in less than 50 days and I cannot wait! It'll be weird being away from Remy that long, but I'm sure the Great Wall of China will keep me company. :)

Day 10 I Believe

Sorry I'm a bit behind, I've been sick and busy at work so I haven't had the time. Holy cow I just can't stop talking about this Game On business. I will say that my weekend sucked as far as eating goes. My sister Amy had a dance competition on Saturday so I spent the day there and didn't plan ahead enough to bring all the food I would need for the day so I only got points for 2 meals. But this taught me that I really need to plan ahead for weekends or else I'll just lose it. Plus it's harder to drink my water because I sleep in and that's the time where during the week I'm at work and have already guzzled down a liter of water. So it's hard to make up that time....at least for me.

So far so good, I beat Amanda this week (which I still don't see how that's possible). She actually beat me with a perfect score all week -which I didn't get, but the difference was I met my weight goal this week and she didn't. She was close, but you get 20% of your total points added to your score if you meet your goal. I'm down about 4 pounds from last Monday!

I've had a few Facebook friends post about wanting to lose weight on their status. And I'm telling them about Game On! So if you are one of those people, please read my blog! And read my friend Courtney's blog too! I promise, it only feels like a diet to people who don't eat healthy. Because really, it's not a diet in the way that we may think of diets. You aren't cutting out carbs, or eating only lettuce and water, or whatever. You eat everything you need, protien, carbs, veggies, healthy fats...but you eat them in good portions. You can even have milk and cheese for crying out loud. A lot of diets I've seen make you cut that out. The trick is to plan it out. I really think if you have a friend at work that you should join forces and do it together. Because if you work a 9-5 type job, you'll be eating 4 times at work! My friend and I split the meals. One week I'll bring the breakfast and morning snack and she'll bring the lunch and afternoon snack. Then the next week we switch. It works out so well and it's not so overwhelming.

A big suggestion too is keep the following in your house at all times, this way if you need a meal quick, you have it and it takes no prep time:

-Apples (or some other fruit of your choice, these don't take any peeling, etc.)
-String cheese
-Can of nuts
-Carrot sticks
-Celery sticks
-Cucumbers
-Peanut butter
-Those whole wheat Oroweat buns
-Eggs
-Turkey bacon

Okay so some of those take prep time. But peanut butter counts as a healthy fat, and you can have as much celery as you want so scoop out about a thumb size of PB and like 50 celery sticks and munch away. I've learned it doesn't take that much PB per celery stick to keep me happy. But these are things you can mix and match to create the perfect meal that follows all the rules and you don't even have to think about it.

Here's what we're having for our breakfast this week (I swear it sounds scarier than it is):

-1/2 cup oats
-egg whites (just buy the big bottle of them)
-sliced almonds
-agave nectar
-1/2 banana

Just prepare the oats the way you normally would in the microwave with water, but add probably about a 1/4 cup egg whites before you nuke it. I know, I know, it sounds nasty, but I'm telling you, you can't even taste it and can barely even see it. Add a few almonds, slice up the banana and drizzle a spoonful or so of the nectar. It really is good. The eggs make it thicken a little more so you may want to add a little extra water. Or use a little less oats and have a little milk since they both count as carbs.

Yum!

Days 3, 4 & 5

IT'S WORKING! Amanda and I have been following the rules and getting our points and eating like healthy eating machnies and as of this morning I've already lost 3 pounds! Every single day my weight has dropped which I did not expect. Literally the first 3 days I was so full of water and food I figured there was no way I could lose anything. My prediction was that cutting out the sugar alone would make me drop the first few pounds pretty easily. You know how some people say they quit drinking soda and they lose like 90 pounds? Yeah, I'm hopin that's me with sugar. But the beautiful thing is, is that I can still have it! I always save my 100 calories per day of something sweet for after dinner. And I really don't crave it during the day which surprised me.

Another thing that is strange to me...I thought for the first few days or so I would be hungry all the time and then as my body adjusted I would be fine. Well it turns out I was so full the first few days I didn't think I could get myself to eat dinner! But now, and Amanda is having the same experience, I'm actually getting hungry between meals and snacks. Which is also weird because I've been drinking my water faster.

The bottom line is...so far so good! And it really isn't as hard as I was expecting it to be. It can be a little difficult to get creative with meals, but Amanda is already a pro and I think I'm starting to get the hang of it.

Here's what we've been eating for our morning snack:

1 apple
1 piece of those individually wrapped tilamook cheeses (yum!)
About 10 almonds

Let's hope I can keep this up!

Day 2

Well, I know right NOW it's technically day 3, but I didn't get a chance to post yesterday.

Day 2 went pretty well. At work on Tuesdays and Thursdays they have someone come and we do Yogilates (a combo of yoga and pilates) for just under an hour. Meals went great...well, except for dinner. I ended up with all my points, but it was a struggle. Just believe me when I tell you that straight up olive oil with salt and pepper does not make a good salad dressing. I saved my 100 calories for our niece Alissa's first birthday party. And Remy just shared a few bites of his pie and ice cream with me.

The water...the water yesterday was also torture for some reason. So this is how I have my 3 liters divided: I figure if I can get at least 1 liter down before lunch and 1 before I leave work, that leaves one to be had at home. Day 1 I barely finished my first liter as I walked into the break room for lunch. Liter 2 I think I finished on my way home from work, and liter 3 I managed okay only because I was exercising.
Day 2 I had my first liter down an hour before lunch, my second liter I think I finished right before I left work, maybe on my my way home. But the last liter, oh that last liter...water torture. I forgot to bring it with me to Alissa's party and it took me until right before I went to bed at 10:30 to finally suck down the rest of it. I told Remy I think I'm going to develop an aversion to water.

BUT...

Today is day 3 and I would like to declare to you all that I finished my first liter of water at 10:33 this morning! That's 2 1/2 hours before I go to lunch! Whoop!

I think I'll start sharing a few of the things we eat for our meals, in case any of you out there are interested in Game On and can't figure out what to eat. Today, I shall share our yummy breakfast. It's super quick, easy and YUMMY!

It shall be called The Breakfast Sandwich. (clever I know)

Here's what you need:
Oroweat Whole Wheat Sandwhich Thins (100 calories)
1 Large Egg (~72 calories)
1 Piece Turkey Bacon (~35 calories)
Alfalfa Sprouts (you can have as much as you want!)

That's it! Just toast the bread (they're thin so it's important to not over toast or you'll be eating crackers), put the egg on a small round saucer or in a round container of some sort, sprinkle with pepper and cook for about a minute or so. Heat up the bacon for about 30 seconds then put it all together and add as many sprouts as you want!

Here's how it breaks down. The bread of course is your serving of carbs, the egg and bacon are sharing the portion of protein, the egg yolk is the healthy fat and the sprouts are a bonus (you can have as many green veggies with each meal as you want, but you must eat at least 2 portions of veggies with at least 2 meals per day).

Now, this game isn't necessarily about counting calories. I'm learning that if you follow the portion size of each item then you should be getting , but if you aren't losing then they recommend you should start. Amanda and are counting just so we know what we're eating. So I included the calorie count as well.


And I would like to say that I'm already down one pound from Monday! Here's to a great day 3!

Game On!

So, last week I stumbled upon one of my old roommate's blogs called Follow My Fad Diet (you can read it here). It's actually pretty entertaining. I'm not sure if she's keeping it up because she just had busy life stuff come up...but anyhow...the point was that she was going to try a fad "diet" once a month for the whole year. She came across this one called the Game on Diet (check out the website here). Basically it turns being healthy into a game. You get on teams and earn points every day by eating healthy meals, drinking water, getting enough sleep, stuff like that. The best part is that you get to eat 100 calories a day of whatever you want (minus soda) and once a week you can have one meal where you eat whatever you want and one full day off where you don't have to follow any of the rules!

So today is Day 1. My friend and co-worker Amanda and are playing against each other, but sort of together too. We've been sharing meals at work so we're going to keep that up, but then at home after work and on weekends, it's up to ourselves to do everything we need!

The hardest thing for me is that you have to drink 3 liters of water per day! Holy crap I feel like I'm drowning and I've already been to the bathroom 9 times today I'm not even kidding. This is probably one of the most beneficial habits for me because I barely drink one glass a day. I know, I know WAY bad! Remy is always kindly getting on me about that. But I did it! It wasn't easy and I just guzzled the rest down a little while ago so I'm sure I'll have to get up in the night!

I'm also going to be playing on a team with Remy against my family. They haven't started yet because they just ordered the book.

I did awesome today! We had our 5 healthy meals, I drank my water, did my minimum of 20 mins exercise (I did an hour on the Wii Fit!), and now I have to work on my 2 good habits which is also part of the game. Amanda also had a perfect day so we got our full 100 points for the day! Yay! I think we're going to do really well, the tricky thing for me seriously is going to be the water. It's only day 1 and I feel like I'm drowining!

Wish me luck!