Newsflash: I seem to have finally reached that age where I can no longer eat whatever I want and not exercise. During the past two years I’ve gained about 15lbs and
[1]
although it has been driving me crazy, I’ve honestly not had the time to do anything about it.
I know, I know…”make the time”…well I’ve tried that and seem to fall flat on my face every time I do. It just isn’t easy running a website while also working full time in a demanding job that both have me sitting on my butt for hours every day. The other problem seems to be that I’m not really accountable to anyone when it comes to eating healthy and getting enough exercise.
More than just appearance, the lack or energy and not being able to fit into my old jeans are the two areas that are the most annoying to me. You might look at my before picture here and think, you’re crazy…you don’t need to lose any weight, but I can definitely feel a difference and would really, really, really like to wear some of the fall clothes that I purchased a few years back.
So…when I was recently offered the opportunity to try out the brand new Reader’s Digest Digest Diet [3] I thought it might be a good opportunity to get back on track with healthy eating and to possibly fit into my old jeans again!
[4]To be honest with you, when I agreed to participate in this program, I didn’t really have any idea what kind of “diet” this was, so I was a little skeptical. Busy lives and starvation type diets do not mix well…trust me, I’ve tried it. 😉
This is why I was pleasantly surprised to find that the first couple chapters of the book did not focus just on getting “skinny”, but instead on getting healthy through eating wholesome foods. The author, Liz Caccariello, even explained why some fat is a good thing when it comes to health.
After reading all about the “why” behind the plan, I checked out what the 21 day menu consisted of. Again, I was pleasantly surprised that there were tons of fruits,vegetables and healthy fats like peanut butter, avocado and almond butter included in the plan. The entire 21 day program is broken out day by day, but most importantly, it gives you choices to suit your tastes. For example, for the first four days, you have a shake for two meals a day. You then get to select what fruits and healthy fats go into them. For my first day (today), I made a grape/peanut butter shake and also a orange/peanut butter shake. So far I’ve had the grape one and it was delish. This is coming from someone who doesn’t really care for most shakes…especially healthy shakes. I’m looking forward to having the orange shake later today.
Now for the accountability part. I was thinking about it and there seems to be no better set of accountability partners than my readers! I’m sure many of you have been in this place and either have been successful at getting back on a healthy track or maybe, like me, you are still struggling. Either way, I’m looking forward to sharing this journey with you all!
There are a lot of other things that I want to share with you about this program, including how I’m incorporating exercise, so stay tuned for my next update. I’m already feeling a little boost of energy this morning, so I’m really hoping that it lasts!