Training for the "Game On!" Diet :-)

Like I already mentioned yesterday, I finally found the time to start reading “Game On! Diet”, by Grey’s Anatomy executive producer Krista Vernoff. Yes, I have to admit that was part of the reason I heard about the Game On! Diet in the first place. I haven’t finished reading the book yet, but I’m so determined to play with the lovely Greys/Gameondieters I met on twitter. I thought I couldn’t join their next session, due to a planned vacation in September, but if I’m not mistaken it might just work out. Game till September 20th, I would leave on the afternoon of the 19th. If I leave at all, which depends on if Bro2 is still willing and able to go on this vacation with me.

Whether I will be able to play or not I was starting to get prepared for the whole experience today anyway. Consider it training for the real deal. So what’s that deal? “Trying to beat your friends butt, while shrinking your own” I just love that motto, which basically sums it up. You form teams who compete with each other for a certain period of time (in general 4 weeks). You agree on a prize and the team with the most points wins. You get points (each day) for

  • eating five fully sanctioned meals
  • exercising
  • drinking 3 liters of water
  • sleeping for a minimum of 7 hours
  • practicising one healthy new habit
  • elimination one unhealthy old habit
  • and a couple of more things, like communicating with your teammates, weight loss at the end of each week etc

There also are penalties (for snacking between meals, for weighing more than once a day), but you are also allowed to take one day off from all the rules without losing those points for that day. And each day you’re allowed 100 calories of whatever you want, so there’s my daily piece of chocolate :-) Of course the meals are not just any food, there is a list of forbidden FLABB (fat-loading and belly-bloating) food and a list of the “good” FYT (for your tummy) food. The FYT food is further grouped into different nutrion groups (carbs, proteins, fruits, veggies, healthy fats) There also is a very simple rule to measure your portion size of the various nutrition groups each meal has to contain. It might seem complicated in the short version, but it’s actually quite simple, once you’ve grasped the concept. At least I think it is. So far :-)

So I’m training… which means I’m taking frequent bathroom breaks, because 3 liters is a lot :-). For me. I know I drink far too less during the day, at the office especially and I’m always planning to pay more attention to it and I forget about it after a few days anyway. It’s a good thing that the water can be spruced with Iemon juice or herbal (fruit) tea, because I don’t think I could drink 3 liters of just plain water. Maybe after I while when I have gotten used to that amount of liquid.
I also threw out parts of the food from my cupboards, but not all of it yet, because with some stuff it would be a waste to throw it away. I’m not playing for real yet after all :-). But of course I also stocked my fridge and cupboards with some of the FYT food and will have to do some more groceries shopping tomorrow after the work-event I have to attend. A campaigning bike tour (again), which will also be my exercise tomorrow. No points for that today though. I still have to find the books/instructions I used to work with a couple of years ago.

One thing I really have to get used to with this concept is, that milk and yoghurt count as carbs only and not as proteins. Which means I have to get those (5 times a day) elsewhere, which might be a bit tricky. But a challenge as well. There is cheese and quark and tofu and fish and meat. As a vegetarian meat is not an option for me. I do eat fish, but not that often and I have never ever prepared any kind of fish in my own kitchen. That might change too. Tuna works always though and I bought two cans (water, not oil, of course).of that today. And as vegetarian I am allowed to consider various beans as proteins instead of carbs, so it shouldn’t be a problem.
Also a challenge will be the healthy fats in each meal. There are various oils of course, and also nut butters, but I’m just not a big fan of butter. Nuts (raw/dried) are also allowed and I guess these will be main source of healthy fats for most my meals. Just pop in a few peanuts after lunch :-) I haven’t found raw nuts in my grocery store today, only salted and roasted ones. So I will have to check a different store tomorrow.

I will have to give up on my various sweet coffee-flavours as well, or maybe consider those my 100 free calories each day. Maple syrup is allowed, but of course should be used sparingly. I’m usually not a pancake breakfast person, so I don’t need maple syrup for anything else than to sweeten my coffee in the morning. But I had to stock my maple syrup supply today as well. And finally re-stock my oil / vinegar supplies, because I haven’t needed those for any meal I prepared at home for a while now. I just don’t cook very often and if I do, it’s more or less just simple dishes like pasta and tomato sauce. This might change as well. Oh, all the good intentions… :-)

I haven’t decided which healthy habit to give up and which to start. Those habits are not necessarily restriced to physical health, it could also be any other bad habit, because any bad habit is unhealthy for your body and mind, right? So it might be anything from spending too much time online to wait too long to clean the dishes or something like that. I’ll have to give that some more thought, especially if I really should start playing on the 24th. I guess “snacking too much” is not an option for the unhealthy habit, because I have to give that up anyway…

Writing this post took longer than expected. I guess watching more than one episode of “The West Wing” tonight is out of question, because I’d lose sleep points. I have to get up at 7 AM tomorrow morning. And I don’t want to think about Sunday morning, because I already know that night is going to be a short one. At least I managed to drink the last of the water. Yay! And now I really have to pee (again) *g*

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2 Responses to Training for the "Game On!" Diet :-)

  1. LJ says:

    All interesting, and if I were still in a place where that way of planning my food was a good idea for me, it sounds like it would be fun.

    Cooking fish is easier than I expected if you follow two simple rules (at least for white/light fish) try not to disturb it, and cook it a hair less than you think is done for it to not taste rubbery.

    Also – studies show recently that things like coffee that were formerly considered “not as good as water” are just fine, and drinking all the water plus other liquids in your day could tax your kidneys a bit much. Basically, to not be TOO gross, if your pee is light/clear, you’re getting more than enough water in your diet.

  2. liljan98 says:

    I tend to drink too little during the day, so even drinking 3 liters of whatever liquid will be a challenge.
    I like to to drink tea/juice mixed with water any way, know I just have to change the mix, much more water and just some tea for the taste. And drink about 1 liter more each day :-)

    Living by these rules is definitely a challenge as I realize in my current training days :-) I have to get used to saying NO when I’m offered a cookie or some sweets during the day. But I need some kind of rules (my own or somebody elses) if I want to loose some weight, which I really need to loose.

    The permission to disregard every rule once during the week, will possible motivate me much more to follow the rules for the whole week. I’ll have to wait and see…

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