diet

so i decided to start myself on a diet. while watching game 7 of the celtics vs. cavs game on sunday, i saw an advertisement for some weight-loss challenge called the “50 million pounds challenge.” got to work monday morning, found the website (www.50millionpounds.com) and joined. to my disappointment, there isn’t a LOT of interactivity on the site. but i did come away with a number different guidelines, suggestions and tools to hopefully help keep me on track.

here are my guidelines that i’ve set for myself based on info previously mentioned:

• 6oz fat-free yogurt for breakfast
• coffee with skim milk only
• Mon – Thurs lunch will be soup
• fruit in between meals (mostly apples, oranges, pears and bananas)
• water – 2 liters daily
• diet soda and freshly squeezed juices
• no alcoholic beverages Mon – Fri
• brown rice and whole grains and/or wheat bread when applicable

those are my initial guidelines which can be added to as time goes along. i would also like to note allowances for healthy snacks such as almonds, hummus, granola and popcorn (no butter, little salt) all in moderation.

dinner becomes a trickier situation due to sharing some meals with brian. and i certainly don’t want to make him eat the same way i am, but we do like having meals together when time permits. the past two weeks i’ve been fairly good about having either a smart ones or lean cuisine meal as my main meal. however, i don’t find those to be completely satisfying. within a couple of hours i’m usually very hungry. in which case i tend to head back to the kitchen for snacking or picking off of brian’s french fries/chicken fingers. …. so, that’s no good.

last night i think i did okay. i got a 6″ turkey on wheat with lettuce, tomatoes and mustard from subway. along with baked lays and diet lemonade. i gave in to a sweet-tooth craving and enjoyed a tootsie pop. then popped some popcorn around 9:30. not bad…but not perfect either. but overall i’m okay with it.

this morning was fat-free strawberry yogurt and coffee with skim milk. i have vegetable soup for lunch today and an apple. will head out a little later this afternoon to pick up a beverage and stock up on more yogurt and fruit for the next few days.

i know this is not the most aggressive sounding diet in the world, but i know myself and know if i’m to achieve any modicum of success i have to ease into this. i think my main struggle will be with exercising. i’ve been fairly good about taking 20 – 30 minutes (sometimes longer) of brisk walking in the evening. covering an area of approximately 1 – 3 miles. the past month or so i’d say i’ve been able to do this at the very least, twice a week while sometimes getting to 3 or four times a week. i’d love to be able to consistently keep to at least 3+ days/week of these brisk walks.

also, there is the hope of purchasing a bicycle for myself. i love bike riding and feel it’d be a fun way to get exercise. and because i enjoy the activity, will hopefully not look upon it so much as a chore but more of something fun to do!

so THAT’s where i stand with all this. what i’m envisioning for this blog is just a running tab of what i eat each day. exactly everything that passes through my mouth. along with keeping track of exercise. since i do not own a scale, i don’t see charting any kind of weight-loss progress. however, i feel emotionally this will be a huge boost! not to mention the possibility of my clothes fitting a bit better.

thanks for reading. any input would be VERY welcome.