Game On!

Joseph and I are starting the Game On Diet tomorrow. We'll be competing against our friends Matt and Crystal. I'm really excited!


If you'd like a thorough run through of the diet, you can go to http://www.thegameondiet.com/. Basically, we earn points for doing things like eating healthy meals (we're doing a different meal plan than the one outlined in the book), exercising at least 20 minutes daily, drinking 3 liters of water daily, breaking a bad habit, developing a good habit, and getting at least 7 hours of sleep each night. We can lose points for things such as unauthorized snacking or conspiring with another player (i.e. "If we both eat a brownie, it'll be OK."). The only time actual weight loss comes into play is for the weekly bonus. If you lose at least 1% of your total body weight, you can earn a lot of bonus points for the week. I'm really excited because this seems like a fun way to stay motivated, especially for competitive people like myself.


Joseph and I are already on the right track for a strong first week. During lunch today, we planned out our meals for the whole week. Then we went to the grocery store and purchased everything we would need. After that, we came back to my apartment and prepped everything. We portioned out some of our food to ensure we're eating a proper serving. Check out my refrigerator:

The grapes are counted out and in plastic containers so they're easy to toss into a lunchbox. The yogurt is already portioned out so that it just needs the frozen fruit added in the mornings.

The cheese and salsa are even portioned out into little cups so they're easy to toss into a lunchbox. (Lunches will include a southwest chicken wrap.)

Even the chicken for the wraps is portioned out into little baggies. :O)

I couldn't leave out a picture of the freezer. It looks so nice and organized! Joseph did that for me. He really is the BEST boyfriend EVER! I'm looking forward to doing this diet/game with him. I know he'll be a great partner.

This is us, totally excited about starting our diet/game. I'll keep you posted on how we do. Please keep us in your prayers as we make some much-needed changes in how we approach eating. Alrighty, I must go to bed in the next few minutes if I'm going to get in my 7 hours of sleep! Gotta get those points!!

The Challenge of Saturday

OK, I did it yesterday ... I got in 100 ounces of water before bed! I need to do that again today. The challenge: it's Saturday! I get so distracted doing things on Saturday that I don't pay attention to what I eat or drink. OK, mini game plan: consume 20 ounces of water before I walk out of the door for Rachel's shower in 35 minutes. I can do it!

White Trash and Water

I am really struggling with the white trash in the kitchen.

HAHA! I knew that would get your attention!

White Trash is a snack/dessert that consists of Chex cereal, chocolate, peanut butter, and powdered sugar. You may know it as Puppy Chow. I’ve already had 2 servings of it! I threw my plate away to remove the immediate temptation of helping myself to a 3rd serving. Here’s hoping that actually works! I love that stuff!

Now, moving along from my temptation to my goal.

I’ve been struggling all week (insert my whole life) with drinking enough water each day. My goal is 80-100 ounces daily. Ultimately, I would like to hit the 100 ounce mark each day. One day, my work day was almost over, and I realized I had only consumed 4 ounces of water! That left a mere 96 ounces to consume before bed. Needless to say, I did not reach my goal that day! I haven’t reached it a single day this week.

I will reach it today!

I’m trying to break it down throughout the day:

20 ounces by 10:00
40 ounces by 12:00
60 ounces by 2:00
80 ounces by 4:00
100 ounces by bed

I put this plan together around 11:00, so I’m trying to get in 40 ounces within an hour. Hey, I can do it! I just have to make myself do it! Ah, I just finished off the first 20. Only 37 minutes left to finish 20 more! I’ll keep you posted! (Because I’m sure you’re on the edge of your seat wondering if I’ll meet my goal today!!)

**UPDATE** I finished 40 ounces by 11:56! I had 4 minutes to spare!!! Do you think I can finish 20 more by 2:00? I do!

**UPDATE** I finished 60 ounces by 1:57! Gotta go ... hehe ...

**UPDATE** I finished 80 ounced by 3:25!! Not to sound boastful, but I'm really proud of myself! I think I just needed to make drinking water a challenge - rather than just challenging. (Yes, I see a difference in those two things!)

I feel I must also confess: I had a 3rd serving of white trash. It was right there when I went to get my water out of the refrigerator, and I gave into the temptation. Sigh ... you win some, you lose some. :O)

**UPDATE** I did it! I got in the 100 ounces of water before I went to bed!! YAY!!

Comfort Food

What is it about comfort food that makes it so incredibly tempting? OK, I know the answer is in the question: comfort food is comforting.

I've been doing semi-OK with my diet this week (I'm going to write a separate post for that), but I fell off the wagon today. I felt YUCKY, and I found myself justifying purchasing two different kinds of cookies from the Walmart bakery and a slushie from Sonic. (With the slushie, I felt like I was making a somewhat better choice over ice cream, and I chose the apple juice slushie, which at least gave me some Vitamin C! HAHA!)

There's a chance I've set myself back a couple of days just because I felt I had the right to consume extra calories. Did I? Maybe ... but probably not. It's all a matter of getting myself to the point where I'm thinking of the big picture. Today as I was walking around Walmart and driving toward Sonic, I was only thinking of the pain and discomfort I was feeling. I wanted something to help soothe those feelings, and food is my longtime friend. If I had stopped and thought about my goal of losing 20 pounds by the time we fly out to Montana in mid-October, maybe I would have only purchased 1 box of cookies instead of 2 (hey, I'm not perfect!), and maybe I would have purchased a Route 44 water instead of a slushie AND a Diet Dr Pepper with vanilla.

So, here's hoping I can learn to find some balance between my desire to consume comfort foods and my desire to lose weight!

Splitties

One of my new favorite things to do with Joseph (a.k.a. the love of my life) is "splitties". This comes in two forms: 1) We share one entree, split in half or 2) We order two entrees and each eat half. We're working on choosing the former more often so that we're eating less food, but the latter option is GREAT! I love being able to choose two items from a menu. :O)

We shared one entree from Oriental House the other night, and it was perfect. Typically, we both order our own entrees, and they're typically the same entree. We both end up being SO full afterward, and we've said several times that we should just order one entree and split it. So we finally did. We both enjoyed our dinner, and we didn't feel over-full afterward. We'll definitely split entrees more often.

And for those of you who might be wondering about my cheesecake, Joseph and I split it, too! Again, perfect! If I had eaten the entire piece, I would have likely felt sick because it is so rich. Instead, I shared the joy of my cheesecake with the one who brings so much joy to my life. You certainly can't go wrong with that. :O)

Vanilla Bean Cheesecake and a Possible New Dieting Strategy

There is a piece of vanilla bean cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory sitting in my refrigerator. When I got up this morning, that was one of the most exciting things on my agenda (birthday cake was high up there as well ... yes, I do know I'm on a diet). Oh how things can change in just an instant. On the way to The Cheesecake Factory, I got really upset about something, and I've been upset since then. So I haven't touched my cheesecake.

Typically, I'm an emotional eater. If I'm sad, lonely, depressed, joyful, celebratory, or pretty much any other emotion, I want to eat. So it always catches me off guard when I lose my appetite completely, especially for something I wanted so badly and had been looking forward to for a couple of weeks. I usually know that means I'm upset for real (you know, as opposed to all of the other times when I'm upset for fake ... ).

Perhaps this could be a new dieting strategy for me. Every time I really want something I shouldn't eat, I'll just have someone upset me tremendously. Then I won't want to eat it. I'm not sure what this strategy will do to my emotional health, but I sure will look good.

What is That?!

This made me laugh a lot, so I just thought I would share. I fell asleep on the couch and woke up around 5 to roll over or something. I moved my left hand a little and realize there was a "ball" of something sticky between two of my fingers. What is that?! I wondered. Hehe, it was a gummy bear!! Do you think I have a problem? haha! :O)

The Numbers

I went to the Bariatric Clinic today for my first appointment. Overall, it went pretty well, and I'm feeling hopeful that I can reach my goal of a healthy weight.

**Side note: For those of you who think it's wrong to use weight loss medication, I challenge you to rethink your position. What if I told you I was diagnosed with a terminal illness, and I found a doctor who could prescribe a medication that would cure me of the illness? It's very likely that you would encourage me to pursue treatment. Well, I do have a terminal illness: obesity. I need treatment before carrying around essentially what equals to a second person kills me.**

So, here are all the numbers as of this morning around 10:30:

286 - my weight in pounds. Hmmm ... I'm wondering if you just gasped because of my weight or because of the fact that I just posted my actual weight on the internet. I'll admit, I was pretty shocked when I heard the number. I had a ballpark estimate of my weight, but that number exceeded my estimate. Well, there's no point dwelling on the enormity of the number, or the fact that it immediately made me think of all the "fat people" in the before shots on Slim Fast commercials. I simply will acknowledge the number as my starting point for success and move on toward my goals.

49.1 - my BMI

53.9 - my percentage of fat

140/90 - my blood pressure that has started creeping up and up ...

20 - the number of fat grams I am allowed in a day

1200-1400 - the number of calories I am allowed in a day

80-100 - the number of ounces of water I must drink in a day

2000 - the maximum milligrams of salt I may consume in a day

5-7 - the number of days a week I must exercise for at least 30 minutes at a time

20 - My first goal: the number of pounds I would like to lose by the time Joseph and I leave for Montana on October 11th. I can do it!

2 - the number of Krispy Kreme donuts I ate as I drove away from the Bariatric Clinic ... Hey, this blog is all about honesty! I am a work in progress!! :O)

9/18/09 - the date of my next appointment at the Bariatric Clinic ... I can't wait to see how much progress I've made in 4 weeks! I should probably lay off the Krispy Kreme donuts ... hehe.

I covet your prayers and encouragement as I embark upon this journey! Thank you in advance!

~ Chubby Chelley ~

Thank you, Krispy Kreme!

I'm sure I can credit Krispy Kreme with at least a few of the extra pounds I need to shed. Gosh, I love Krispy Kreme! To celebrate that I'm going on a diet, Joseph and I just went to Krispy Kreme and got hot 'n ready glazed donuts. So good! The diet hasn't begun officially, so the donuts were completely sanctioned. I was still rather amused, though, and thought I would share. :O)

One Bite at a Time

I've been on this journey more than once - the journey toward "a better me," "a healthier me," "a sexier me." Yes, I just said sexier. If you found that offensive, you may need to get over that. This blog will be a tad bit different from my other blog (rachelleville.blogspot.com). I plan just to shoot it straight and share how I'm feeling.

So why a blog for this journey? Because I need something different this time, something public. I also thought it might be helpful just to get it off my chest when I'm craving a whole box of Swiss Cake Rolls, the thought of going to the gym makes me angry, or I'm in tears because I can't button my jeans.

What led up to this point? My insatiable appetite and hunger. I got here one bite at a time. Some people have health problems or big bones. Not me. I just like to eat. I really like to eat. OK - I really, really like to eat. I always have. I've been chubby since I was a child.

I don't want to be chubby any longer. For many reasons:

1) Being so terribly overweight is dishonoring to God.
2) I'm starting to notice at the ripe young age of 28 that my weight is affecting my health.
3) One of these days, I want to wear a certain white dress, and I want to look HOT in it!
4) I'd like to be able to walk up a flight of stairs and still be able to carry on a conversation when I reach the top.
5) I'd like to be able to stand next to my gorgeous little sisters and not feel ginormous.
6) I really want the man of my dreams to be able to give me a piggyback ride some day ... and to be able to carry me across the threshold of our dream home.

There are more reasons. I'm sure I'll share them throughout this journey.

I'll also share my progress and my plan(s) of attack.

I became Chubby Chelle one bite at a time. I'm determined to lose the chub one bite at a time ... they'll just be healthier bites (with a Swiss Cake Roll here and there ... You don't really expect me to give those up, do you?).