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This weekend I had three: My Mother-in-law’s birthday, church social, and superbowl party. Ok, the church social is not a party, I know, but man can those church people eat! They had a killer apple crum strusle somthing-or-other that propably hit my calorie count for the day! (I had two) 8(
All in all, I only gained a pound this weekend. So I guess I’ve learned that if I’m going off the reservation, I might as well do it big!
Apples are a great snack to have around. I especially like to refrigerate them so they are cold and crisp. In the evenings when I get that urge to snack on something I simply keep a bag of apples in the crisper and pull one out and my cravings are taken care of.
In the past, I would pick something processed and salty and pay for it in extra weight and water retention. It is strange how when you eat these processed foods, you can never seem to stop when you start. The apple makes a lot more sense. Actually, any fruit would make more sense then downing a bag of chips or pretzels.
You can over-do it on fruit as well. In my diet plan I am only suppose to have 4 fruit a day. I just spread them out over the day.
My wife and I both commented this morning that any diet change that has the support of your family has a better chance of working. In our case, we are both working on our weight goals together, we both share our results, and we both remind each other that our choices have consequences.
An accountability system is needed to implement true change.
As Mary from the Diet Center would say, “Be Prepared” This seems to be a big lesson we are learning. To have a meal plan prepared is key to not falling back into old habits or making bad choices with fast food or fast high-calorie meal options. I have created a family meal planner for Es and I to use to map out the week.
Oddly, there is a parallel lesson we are learning in our Financial Peace University class we are taking with budgeting for groceries and the importance of having a meal plan. We are killing two birds with one stone by doing this.
I have created a file that I will share with anyone freely. It is a iteration of several meal planners I found while researching this topic. It has space for eating six times a day, room for notes, space to create a grocery list, and a column on where the best deal to buy the food item.
Enjoy
If there is one thing I’ve found most helpful in my diet is the drinking of water. The Diet Center log has me tracking 8 glasses a day. But it’s when you drink that seems to make a difference to me. I have found that if you drink one or two glasses before a meal you tend to overeat less because your stomach already feels full. Also in the evenings if you drink several glasses before thinking about having an evening snack it also curbs your desire to have more when you don’t need it.
Tonight we had a great night at the pool. I have learned on of the best ways to get a lot of energy out in the evenings is to head to the health club and use the pool, especially for my boys. During the winter months, the pool gives us the needed distractions of and avoid being stuck in the house on these daylight starved times of the year.
The most fun, and calorie burning, is racing Aaron the length of the pool with Justin in tow on my back. A couple of times back and forth, fighting the water’s resistance and Aaron’s speed, and I’m spent.
Lot’s of great memories too!
I have to get myself prepared for the blood test. It requires 12 hours of fasting, water only in those 12 hours. I plan on using my sleep time to get that 12 hours in and go to the health park after getting the boys to school this week.
The thing I like most of the Diet Center diet is that I can eat 6 times a day so I never feel hungry. I have learned that this works well for me. This fasting stuff is for the birds!
They will be testing blood levels for cholesterol, triglycerides, HDL, IDL, Risk Factors according the the paperwork from my doctor.
One of the important lessons I’ve come to learn is that it is critical to keep healthy snacks available rather then count on the processed food snacks you can buy.
Carrots are currently my favorite, as well as the boys. They love to grab a couple and just munch on them like others eat cookies.
Two days ago I went to South Bend to watch Nick play soccer. After his match we went out because he had not eaten yet. His favorite is Taco Bell. I made the mistake of order several items from the menu as well. This caused me to gain 3 lbs. the next day I checked on the scales. I am assuming calories, time of day, and large amounts of sodium from the food and hot sauce cause most of the gain.
In the past, I would just order a salad type product, but I didn’t this time and took the hit on the scales. This is an area I have to learn to control because we travel a lot for the boys sports.
I mentioned before that my brother wanted to get together each morning at the health club. I spoke with my oldest son, he is also now considering joining us as well. He would be back in time to catch a ride to high school.
I have learned that if I build an accountability group I do a much better job at reaching my goals. Having a group of people to work-out with on regular basis would be a milestone on my weight-loss journey as well.
