Day 2, Week 2

A new week a fresh start! The weather has been absolutely gorgeous. I came home from work and took Lucky for a walk then went for a run. I just couldn't bring myself to spend another hour inside a stinky gym when it was so nice outside. My husband was actually home for dinner (miracle), so we grilled porkchops and asparagus. I had a wheat bun on the side and voila- fully sanctioned meal. I didn't take a picture because I didn't want it to get cold and I was so hungry!

I have drank 2/3 of my water for the day. My team is really motivated and I'm so happy to be with people who are taking the game seriously. I don't feel alone and I tell myself, "If everyone else can do it, so can I." I'm not gonna lie- when I got home from work, I was exhausted. The last thing I wanted to do was go run. But I forced myself and did it. I also ran a mile split faster than the last time. I think it helps to be hydrated.

I have only had 4 meals for the day, so I think I'm going to try this bananas foster recipe as dessert:

Sautéed Bananas

Sautéed banana with honey-  when bananas are cooked add to top of plain Greek yogurt.  Top with almonds and a little drizzle of honey. 

 

Viola!! Fix my craving for some sweet!!!!

Day 1 of week 2

Hello! 

It's a beautiful Sunday morning. I just finished making this for breakfast: 

All egg white omelette with wilted spinach, fresh mozzarella cheese, and tomatoes. I cooked the veggies in a basil olive oil for my healthy fat. I'm going to use feta next time for more flavor; it was a little blah. My husband asked, "Are the tomatoes supposed to be the flavor?" What a charmer. 

He really seems like a jerk, but he loves me deep down. He got me these on Friday for the end of my first week and making my goal weight: 

Stuff like this makes him a little more tolerable ;) 

I'm off to run in this beautiful sunshine! Enjoy your Sunday! 

ONE WEEK DOWN

I made my goal weight!! And our team is in the lead :) :) :) Check out my score at the end of week one: 825/850. Our team averaged 825 points (which was weird because that was my exact score)  and lost over 10 lbs between the 4 of us. We all lost at east 1% of our starting weight and got the 20% bonus points. Wahoo! I lost the least amount on my team, but that didn't surprise me. I am not someone where the weight just falls off in the first week, but I wish I was! I can't believe all that for less than 2 lbs. I guess an average healthy weight loss is supposedly 1.5-3 lbs. per week. Everyone on my team was within that range, so we must be doing something right! I have to remind myself it's not about the weight lost, it's about forming a healthier lifestyle.

I celebrated with a dinner out as my meal off tonight. Ironic? Before you judge me, I ordered a chicken dish that wasnt entirely unhealthy, but I did steal a few little peices of pizza from my husband (and I didn't even feel guilty about it).

Next week, I really need to up my work outs. I know myself and that's what my body responds to. I also would like even more points in my total so WHEN I make weight again, I can have a higher amount of points for the 20% bonus. Boom! And it was payday. Double boom!

Day 7

It's been almost a full week since I started the Game On diet. I do feel more satisfied eating smaller meals now that my stomach has adjusted to the portions. I find myself making healthy choices and not being as tempted by bad foods. My body feels good without chemicals; this clean eating thing isn't so bad!

I walked into work and there was a birthday celebration today complete with cake. I remember the Game On book specifically saying, "You don't have to be the person at the party who can't have the cake. Just have a little of it." So I had the cake: breakfast of champions (just kidding, I really had a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast, this was my breakfast's dessert). My 100 (ish) calories of whatever was officially gone the first half hour of my work day.


 Here is what I just finished for dinner:

 

 

The pineapples were considered my carbs, sadly. I think I cheated a little because I put a dash of brown sugar in the pineapple juice. It was light brown sugar, for the record. Hey, a week ago I would have been making a whole marinade to soak it in...

 

On a sidenote, I worked another football game tonight against the school district I used to work for. I saw two former students on the field because they are in middle school now! They recognized me and it was so neat to see them :) They kicked our butts.

 

Wish me luck on my weigh-in tomorrow morning. I'm really nervous. I may have put on pounds from stressing about what I am eating constantly and worrying about all this being for nothing. Is this normal? I feel like next week I'll have the hang of it and not stress so much. Cross your fingers- I'll let you know if I lost anything...:/



Day 6

I have exactly 27 minutes until I need to be sleeping in order to get my full 7 hours. I'll have to make this quick...

I went to a Zumba class with one of my teammates today. That's twice this week I've done something active with a teammate. The social component of it makes it something to look forward to, instead of ,"I have to make myself work out today." I would recommend making exercise fun and inviting a buddy for anyone who is reluctant to working out after a long work day. Chances are, I would have talked myself into the walk I had with Lucky counting as my activity today. But-- I made a time and place to meet a friend, so I was held accountable and actually danced for an hour as opposed to a measly 20 minutes of walking. If you haven't tried Zumba before, you must! You forget you're even working out (and proably working parts of your body you didn't know you could work).

 I like the fact that I am making it a point to do SOMETHING every day during the Game On challenge, but I do feel like I am slacking off in the exercise department. If I want to seriously lose some weight, I need to up my game in that department. I used to be someone who could eat whatever junk I wanted, as long as I worked out. Then I hit 25 and that went down the drain. The hardest adjustment for me is the eating component (clearly, I talk about food a lot on this blog). I enjoy being active, but I do admit that some days I just want to come home and relax. So, I'll consider this week as my body adjusting to clean eating, being hydrated, and getting a full night's rest. Next week I'll make it a point to get some real workouts in (resistance training, running, and hopefully I can get to my kick box cardio class). 

Sorry for the short post today. I had to watch the season premier of Nashville!!!! Can I say? It did NOT disappoint! It's the little pleasures in life :)

OBSESSED.

 

Day 5

Hey there, friends!


Tonight I worked the football game after school and a kid broke his arm :( Nothing like the shrilling cries of pubescent pain.

 

 

After that eventful game, I headed home to take Lucky for a 10 minute walk and go for a run before it got dark out. I did make it home as the sun was setting and the streetlights were glimmering (before 7:30, might I add). Bad news is that I have only drank a liter and a half of water and it's almost 8 PM. I will be up all night peeing.


My half of a plain sandwhich and sunflower seeds really aren't holding me over. My husband is on his way home from work (earliest all week), so I ordered take out so he didn't have to suffer through one of my "ethiopian meals," as he likes to put it.


I would recommend ordering take out from Chilis, I think it saved me $15 and a ton of calories. They actually have a lighter choices menu, so I was able to order Margarita Chicken with rice and cinnamon apples for dessert (my free 100 caloreies for the day, but not horribly unhealthy). It would be too hard to sit in a restauant and druel over apps and beer and fried food. This is the way to go, dieters! Plus, it doesn't hurt that it's right around the corner from our house :)

Enjoy your night- I'm going to enjoy this!

Day 4

I'm baaaaa-aaackk!!
I took my first day off yesterday (only two days in, I know). I've decided I can take a day off during the weekend because it leaves enough time to make up for my gorging before weigh-in on Friday. I enjoyed my day off contantly thinking about food. We went to pumpkin farm to welcome autumn (it was more like mourning the loss of summer to me). Check out my perfect pumpkin I found:

Today wasn't the best day. I found out one of our teammates forfieted the game this morning. But before that, it did actually start off well. Here's why: one of my co-workers complimented me and said I was looking "fit." She's a sweetheart, and it was from a distance, aaannd I was wearing my new dark brown dress pants. In any event, it was nice of her to say and it made me feel like I may actually be getting results from all this. It's sure a lot of effort, so to be complimented by someone who didn't even know I was doing the Game On challenge made my week get off to a fantastic start!

I stuck to my fully sanctioned meals all day and I walked some trails with a one of my teammates after work and before we headed to the school board meeting. I really like the commradery of this game. We had so much to talk about while we walked and I felt like I wasn't the only one going through this after walking with her. I stopped at my parents' house to say hi to my dad after we finished. I thought I could spice up my daily diet by raiding my mom's fridge for some healthy fat. I found black olives in a little snack bag. It was like she knew I was coming-- portioned for me in a snack baggie and everything! I went to eat them while chatting with my dad on the back porch and low and behold- MOLD growing inside of them! Good thing I didn't eat too many. However, if I do get sick, maybe I will lose my pound and a half for the week....?

I was introduced to the school board members as a new hire tonight, so I didn't make it home by 7:30. No old habit points for me today.  There's a neat Italian fresh market  on my way home, so I stopped there to buy some food for tomorrow (3rd trip to a food store since I started on Friday, I'm going broke). On the up side, I have all my meals planned and portioned for tomorrow. It does take a lot of time to to that, but it's worth it when you don't have to decide what to eat the next day (impulse eating= fast and cheap).
Here are some meals/snacks I've had recently:

 The new Yoplait blends taste awesome!! They are all natural, too!

This was called : "I'm about to go out to eat and I can't really put one more thing in my mouth today, so my next meal is going to be whatever I can find in the house" Not very exciting.

 This was my din-din :) Can you tell I went to the Italian market? Whole grain pasta, parmesean cheese, wilted spinach tossed in olive oil, and tomato sauce (my 100 calories of whatever for the day).

This will be my morning snack/2nd "meal" tomorrow (2% cottage cheese, peanuts, and  organic black grapes).

Time to finish my water and start getting ready for bed!