Back on Track

I've been in Telluride for one week. I LOVE IT! All the hassle, stress and uncertainty paid off for this job. (Read more about it at Girl in the Green Jacket). For the next few weeks I have Mondays off because of furlough during the off-season. Today I committed my day off to getting my fitness and eating back on track (and finding a place to live.)

When I was in Durango I found out that Moleskine makes wellness journals. Not only am I obsessed with my Moleskine calendar and notebooks, but I was looking for something to keep track of my eating, fitness and motivation. I found it at Maria's and went through it today and really plotted out my refocusing efforts on wellness and whole living.

I've realized that there's more to being a certain size and weight. Although I have a weight loss goal in mind, my overall goal is to live a more whole and balanced lifestyle. Telluride's the perfect place to establish such a lifestyle, and I can start any habit I want here since I'm changing so much in my life already.

So in the spirit of starting fresh, tomorrow starts a new diet. I really hate to use the word diet because this plan doesn't tell me what to eat, how much and when...but for lack of a better word I'll use it.

So tomorrow I will start the Mayo Clinic Diet. In order to do it right, you need two weeks without temptations to adopt the different eating habits and now is the best time to start it.

So the main gist is to adopt 5 healthy habits, break 5 habits and adopt 5 more bonus habits.

The 5 habits to adopt are:

• Eat fruits and veggies (4 or more vegetables and 3 or more servings of fruits)-something I've been trying to do already.
  

• Eat a healthy breakfast (but not too much)-breakfast is my favorite meal of the day, I just need to incorporate more fruit and whole grain into my meals.
  

• Eat whole grains-I'm a sucker for sourdough bread, but I can stick to whole grains for two weeks.
  

• Eat healthy fats only-this includes nuts, olive oil, avocados. Nuts and dried cranberries make for an excellent mid-afternoon snack and would help me stick to two of those rules.
  

• MOVE! -30 minutes or more 7 days a week even if it's only walking.

The 5 habits to break are:

• Don't watch TV while you're eating dinner (on that note watch only as much TV as you exercised)-This is easier said than done when I'm in a big condo by myself, but I am going to try to do more core and mat work as I'm watching TV.
  

• No added sugar (only what's naturally found in fruit)-does Chocolate count as fruit?
  

• No snacks-only fruit or vegetables for snack food.
  

• Moderate meat and low fat dairy (stick to 3 oz of meat a day)-this will be difficult because I enjoy my protein from lean meat and you all know how I feel about cheese. But for two weeks and a promised 6-10 lbs weight loss, I'll give it a shot.
• No eating at restaurants-A no brainer for me currently because restaurants here are either closed for the off-season, or I can't afford to go out until I start getting paid at the new job.

There are 5 bonus habits that they encourage readers to adopt as well. Keep a food and activity record (piece of cake with my new wellness journal that has a section for tracking daily diet and fitness), walk or exercise 60 minutes a day (you can also use a pedometer and try to increase steps by 1,000 step increments until you get to 10,000 steps per day. Eat 'real food' and write down your daily goals. The last two I won't adhere to fully because I'll already be eating real food with the other 10 habits and and I operate better with weekly goals over daily goals.

So yeah, there's my new plan. I'm still 16 pounds away from my original weight loss goal I set when I started Ideal Protein. The Mayo Clinic book says I can lose 6-10 pounds in two weeks just by following those habits. Worth a shot right? It'd get me that much closer to my total weight loss goal....but in the mean time, it'll make me feel much healthier and better about myself for getting back into it rather than giving up and eating whatever I want. I still have Holly's wedding as my weight loss motivation.