John and I have been married for 5 years and a lot has changed in that time. We have moved several times, we've had a child and we've both put on some extra pounds. We've tried dieting and working out and trying to cut back on the fast food but for the most part we've taken on these endeavors separately and not with much success. So now we are approaching things a different way, we are trying to get healthy together. And because we are media heads and we also enjoy jotting our thoughts down we thought we would start a blog about our adventures as a married couple trying to get healthy. So here it is...
Here's where we are starting from; I'll eat just about anything, I like fruits and veggies and most meats, a little iffy on seafoods but I am learning that I like a lot more the more I try and of course I love to snack... on just about anything that is salty and not good for you. Chocolate isn't really my thing most of the time but I love pie and cake and I love to bake cookies. I think I dream about bread and pasta... well it's always quick and easy and I just love it!
John loves pasta and bread like they were his children and getting him to part with macaroni and cheese has been harder than taking it away from our three year old. He likes most meats but no seafood and loves potatoes and his favorite PIZZA. Not huge on veggies and its pretty hard to get him to pick fruit as a first choice as a snack.
We eat out on average 3 times a week... fast food mostly because its convenient and I wont lie... Tasty.
We aren't proud of these fact but there they are. I've tried dieting before... Many times and had some success with weight watchers but it came back to me eating tuna for dinner and my husband and toddler going to town on a frozen pizza or Mac and cheese and the my resolve dissolved. I don't know what finally made us take the plunge into getting healthy together, maybe it was seeing my parents do it or the realization that it was sooooooo expensive to eat out all the time. Whatever the case we decided to give it a try.
We've been reading a book called the 17 day diet, which I will admit sounds super fadish but anything with "diet" in the title does. Basically it is teaching your body to eat in cycles starting with minimal ingredients and adding them along the way. The cycles are 17 days long and the list of what you are suppose to be filling your body with is extensive (if you like veggies!). The first cycle has you eating lean protiens such as chicken, turnkey, and fish. We've pretty much bounced between chicken, salmon and tuna. Yu can eat at many veggies as you can handle, two servings of fruit a day, and two probiotics. We have a fridge full of yogurt it seems like. You are encouraged to have your fruit servings before 2 because the later in the day you go the less active you are and all that sugar adds up I guess. The diet also promotes exercise and John and I have started a kick boxing class and are going to the gym as often as possible. We've made it through the first cycle with some pretty encouraging weight loss. I have shed 12 pounds and John 15!!!!! I wanted to get this up and running before the end of cycle 1 to show some pictures of our refrigerator overhaul and I will soon.
We've been living out of the fridge and I seriously considered putting caution tape over the shelves of our pantry because the only time we go in there is to get sandwich fixings for Sam.
Here are a few things I have noticed since starting... It's been really easy to cook when all the ingredients that you want to have you already have on hand. Our fridge looks amazing and organized and it's stayed that way for nearly four weeks now. We are more cautious about how much we make and rarely have left overs. We used to make pasta dishes that we could eat off of for a week... Sometimes we did and sometimes they turned into science experiments. I would only clean out the fridge when I ran out of Storage containers. We eat more meals a day making sure we get breakfast which we used to always skip and in doing this we feel less hungry. We also have cut our eating out to almost nothing! It just doesn't make sense to go out to eat and order a salad and chicken when it's so easy to make at home... Now a burger I would go out for... But it's not on the approved food list :)
Here are some of the down sides. John was pretty grumpy in the first week. I'm not saying that I have more will power because I certainly do not but I think I am a little more used to eating a variety of leafy and green things than he is, which is weird because in our home growing up "eat your veggies" never crossed my mothers lips! We have gotten tired of chicken everyday but we picked up the pace in finding different ways to prepare it lately and it's been a lot better. For the better half of the 17 days we were just grilling it and it jut wasn't cutting it anymore. The other thing is that when we are invited out to eat with people we have a bit of a dilemma. Money and food options come into play. We've worked really hard to get where we are and we don't want to blow it. I don't know why it matters to other people but when you go out and just order a salad it sometimes makes them feel uncomfortable and you hear "that's all you are eating?!?!" a lot. I like to be flexible and not a pain in the tusch so I feel a little weird giving people a list of what I can eat. It's become easier to just stay at home to eat but I have already seen a little strain on some social avenues.
It's currently been 22 days and we've been doing really well! A few of those things like the grumpiness and the food boredom has resolved itself and we are continuing to loose weight and feel healthier. Its been so different from any other time I have tried because I have the support of my husband and it's been beneficial for him as well. I find that when we go to the gym together we are so much more productive and when we cook together we enjoy our time that much more. I asked him to write this blog with me and of course he said yes, as long as I got it going so be on the lookout from posts from John! Stay tuned for some mini posts with pictures and maybe even some recipes. This is our version of a journal so we can document this journey together. We would love feedback and encouragement.
I think that's it for now but there is definitely more to come!
