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!