Well Garrett and I have finally made it to the wonderful month of September. Any teacher could easily vouch for me that August is the absolute craziest, busiest, most draining month of the year therefore making it through the storm that is "back to school time" is an achievement to be proud of. Things at school have finally calmed down enough for me to catch up on some sleep, spend my evenings doing more than school prep, and get back to some routine. One part of August (or all summer really, lets be honest) that I am not so proud of is the lack of healthy food intake and physical activity that occurred. After spending all spring excited about the Body Pump challenge at the gym I spent the summer on a sabbatical from the gym to say the least. My food decisions for August were even more embarrassing. I am pretty sure I ate out more during the month of August than I did the rest of the summer combined. When you are spending 12 hour plus days in your classroom sometimes Little Caesars is just the easiest choice for dinner! While making these reflections about the last few weeks and months I told Garrett I thought we needed a cleanse. It is time to get back in the gym, make healthier food choices, and maybe (hopefully) lose some weight along the way. A friend from work had gone through a diet in the spring called the 17 Day Diet and since then I have heard of several others who had experience with that diet as well. Each time I heard about the diet I was told how successful it was so curiosity got the best of me and I spent some time on Google trying to figure out what the deal was. The first time I read about the diet (about a month or so ago) I immediately decided there was NO WAY Garrett and I could do it. I revisited the diet again this week however and for some reason it seemed more manageable, or maybe I just seemed more desperate for something to help us get back on the healthy wagon. We discussed it and basically decided we could do pretty much anything for 17 days (forget the fact that it is actually 4 cycles of 17 days with the 4th cycle being focused on learning maintenance). There are two requirements that won me over for this diet: 1) You are not allowed to let yourself stay hungry. Snacking and filling meal sizes are perfectly acceptable as long as the foods are on the approved list. 2) During the first couple of cycles the only workout requirement is doing some type of activity for 17 minutes a day. Just. 17. Minutes. I love that. So after plenty of research, and writing down A LOT of recipes we finally gathered the courage necessary and we went to the grocery store. This trip to the grocery store was far from our norm because instead of stocking up on beef, breads, desserts, and plenty of International Delight coffee creamer we spent most of our time in the produce section with a quick pit stop on the meat aisle for some chicken breasts and ground turkey. If you know my husband at all then you know the worst part of that last statement is the "ground turkey". If it was up to Garrett eating ground turkey would be a sin and every meal would have hefty helpings of beef and bacon. The only time during Garrett's and my engagement that I legitimately thought Garrett might call it all off was the time I brought turkey burgers over for a cookout. That is probably the most disappointed he has EVER been in me. As much as I know he hated the looks of our shopping cart last night, Garrett did his best to stay positive and supportive. After unloading all of our groceries I looked in the fridge and was certain that I had never seen it so full of produce and other healthy foods at one time before (see below).
Granted there is still plenty of unhealthy stuff in there that may just get thrown away as our self control begins to waiver. Today was Day 1 and so far we have been very successful. We both had yogurt and fruit for breakfast (to take care of 1 probiotic and 1 fruit serving) and had salads with some lean protein for lunch. For dinner I tried to be creative so I made a slightly altered version of a turkey burger recipe I found online with a side of asparagus. I made the burger patties out of ground turkey, grated carrots, minced onions and a little bit of cajun seasoning. The burgers were then placed on a portobello mushroom I had sauteed in olive oil and garlic. I covered the burger with a mixture of sauteed onions and bell peppers and even a sprinkled some fat free cheddar cheese on top. I absolutely took a picture of the final product, well aware that I am likely to be judged for doing so. I apologize for it being so blurry, I didn't realize how blurry it was until after the meal had already been devoured.
The verdict of our first dinner on the diet is different depending on who you ask. I absolutely loved the burger and the asparagus. I gobbled it up with a smile on my face as Garrett choked it down across the room. He did admit afterwards that the burger "wasn't that bad". I will definitely take that as a compliment. :) Anyone willing to send up some prayers that we survive the next 16 days (I need small goals at a time) we would greatly appreciate it. No matter whether any weight is actually lost we at least hope to come away being a little more health conscious... at least until all the holiday feasting begins.
