"Though no one can go back and make a brand new start,
anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending." ~ Anonymous

Friday, August 5, 2011

Weigh-In ... Eating Plan

Today's Weight: 187 . 0
Loss/Gain: - 3 . 5
Total Loss So Far: - 44 . 0

Yes, well cutting portions and eating better surely does make a difference on the scale now doesn't it? Normally I'd say something like, "Hopefully this stays off this week."; but today I'm pretty sure I'll keep going down.

As I've been working towards getting back on track with my weight loss journey I've been looking around for some direction, a plan of sorts. Yes, I know what to do, but I really wanted something to guide me a little more strictly, something that would take the thinking out of what foods to eat and teach me.

I toyed with trying NutriSystem or Jenny Craig, or even going back on Weight Watchers, but I didn't want to (A) spend the money or (B) depend on pre-packaged foods. Weight Watchers is a great program, but I also wanted something that provided more than an outline of how much to eat each day.

I wanted something that would tell me what to eat. Something that would show me meal ideas and let me use my joy of cooking while eating better and staying within my calorie budget.

I know this sounds dramatic, but I've been feeling pretty dramatic about it. I wanted something strict that didn't cost so much money.

As I was sharing all of this with my bestest weight loss friend she mentioned a program she's been following to learn how to eat better now that she's on maintenance. She even offered to share some of the meal plans so I could check it out before joining myself. I took her up on her offer and looked into it.
Two days later JillianMichaels.com became my plan of choice to finish off this weight loss journey. Here's a little bit of what I've fallen in love with:
  • It's about $52 for 13 weeks (approx 3 months) to join and use the site to it's fullest extent.
  • She starts off by having you complete a survey to see what kind of meal plan is best for your body.
  • There are meal plans for each week, breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack.
  • You can change/adapt any meal to fit your day.
  • There's a workout plan included and each day you're given a workout circuit to follow if you don't have another exercise plan.
  • There's a weight tracker, fitness tracker and food journal and even a grocery list for each week that is changeable according to what days/meals you are making.
  • All recipes are printable, so I can store them for future reference.
Also, if I decide I've learned enough in 13 weeks to keep me going I can stop at that point. There is no 1-year agreement or anything beyond each 13 weeks.

So, I've committed to giving this a try for at least these 13 weeks and seeing how well I follow. My plan is to follow her meals for breakfast, lunch and snack 100% daily and then at least 3-4 dinners. This is to accommodate for my family.

My husband was a little worried about eating healthier meals every night of the week, saying he's going to want his "bacon-wrapped hot dogs" every once in a while.

I expected this reaction and planned that I will still make some family favorites so they don't all revolt. It's just that now I'm going to add in some more healthier stuff regularly and hopefully find some really good dinners that my family will love (like they loved fish week).

I'm really excited about this. Yesterday I sat and figured out which meals I would be eating for the rest of this week and next week and put together my grocery list. I went grocery shopping and bought more fruits and vegetables than I've eaten in a long time. :)

I asked my husband if he was nervous and he replied, with complete love and honesty, "Only that you're going to actually cook all this." So, here's my goal for this week...to make sure and stick to every meal and use all my fruits and veggies before they go bad. I am a little worried about stuff going bad since I bought enough for 8-9 days, so that will take some figuring out.

In the meantime, while I know it's not going to be easy (chocolate chip cookies are not on the menu) I'm glad to have a plan to follow. I think I'm going to have to wean myself off of sweets, but I'm going to do my best to stick closely to the plan and I'll share with you all how it's going.

Oh, and in case you're wondering...breakfast today was a 100% whole wheat waffle topped with 1/2 c. low-fat vanilla yogurt and 1/2 c. blueberries. It called for 1 cup of each topping, but I didn't have non-fat plain yogurt, so I balanced out the calories by cutting back the portions.

This is not something I would ever eat for breakfast before, but it was tasty and filling. And that is what I'm excited about - trying new things and feeling good while doing it.

Have a great weekend!

7 comments:

  1. I just use Sparkpeople, its free, has lots of recipes too, but it doesn't tell you what to eat for every meal. I really need to get more creative and actually make up some of the recipes though, I have a tendency to eat salad with chicken on it, or chicken stir fry, over and over again. I don't mind, as I've taken my focus off of food except to nourish my body, but my family wants variety.

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  2. Thrice - Yes, I've used Spark People before and it's great. I just wanted something that actually gave me a menu each week, took the planning out of the equation and I just follow. Like you I could eat the same things often.

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  3. Awesome job Leah on this weeks weigh in!!!
    You will rock the Jillian Michaels program, I used it for a free trial last fall. It is great!

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  4. The "figure it out for yourself" programs are more difficult in the beginning, but the good thing about them is that, while figuring stuff out, you learn a lot about the food you put in your mouth. i am using a program very much like weight watchers, and although it was tedious to look everything up in their points system and calculate all recipes and stuff, after one year of doing it I hardly ever consult the lists anymore, and my eating habits have changed dramatically. ^^

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  5. Thrice- I'm glad you mentioned Sparkpeople. I love that site! I've actually lost 170 pounds using their site. Leah- You breakfast sounds fantastic! We've also starting using e-mealz. Have you heard of that site? It's not really "diet" oriented, but it has helped up greatly with the planning side of dinner.

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  6. Sounds like a great plan and I can't wait to see how it works for you. I often feel like you and feel that I want someone telling me what to eat so I may just check it out. I am currently at WW, but am thinking of stopping it anyway. I don't seem to use it which means I am just wasting money.

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