Wednesday, April 10, 2013

May the Losses (of weight) Be Ever In Your Favor - Day One

May the Losses (of weight) Be Ever In Your Favor - that's the first thing I saw today when I opened my inbox.  At this point I had been up since 6:30am, worked out, drank more water than I usually would in an entire day, and was at work.... Welcome to Day 1 of The Game On! Diet. Now my first thought is how ironic that we are quoting The Hunger Games when starting a diet but The Game On! Diet is so much more than a diet. It's a way to incorporate healthy habits into your daily life and work on getting rid of other not so healthy habits.  




I will give you a quick run down of the diet but I seriously recommend going and getting a copy of your own!  One of the authors, Krista Vernoff, writes for Grey's Anatomy (which will always hold a special spot in my heart no matter how many seasons there are).  She is freakin' hilarious and will tell ya how it is - with a few 4 letter words to make it colorful. 

The premise of The Game On! Diet is you compete as a team to earn points for doing healthy habits and not doing unhealthy habits.  Before the game starts you divide up into teams and pick a prize.  This round the group I am playing with is divided into 3 teams of 3.  We each paid $10 to play.  At the end the team with the most points will double their money and we also decided that the person with the highest percentage of weight loss and the person with the most 100 point days will get a $15 prize.  The prize can be anything you want - the authors of the book bet an iPhone one round they played! 

You get points for:
  • Working out for at least 20 minutes
  • Drinking 3 liters of water (yes as I sit writing this I am drowning in water...I hear it gets better!)
  • Eating 5 smaller meals that include a palm sized serving of protein, a fist sized serving of a carb or fruit, a thumb sized serving of good fat, and at least two times a day 2 fist size servings of veggies - focusing on whole, unprocessed foods
  • Adding on healthy habit to your daily routine
  • Subtracting one unhealthy habit to stop doing
  • Communicating with your team members
  • Communicating with at least one team member of an opposing team
  • You also get a 20% bonus for losing 1% of your weight each week

The Game On! Diet is flexible because you get a day off of everything and it doesn't have to be everything on the same day.  For example if you take Saturday off of your meal plan but still drink all of your water you can take another day off for your water.  You also get one other meal off during the week which is nice to plan for special events or a dinner out with friends.

The idea of the game is to create healthy habits that last beyond the scope of the game.

Playing the game forces you think about the things you do during the day and it helps you be more intentional with what you are doing.  For example, you have to plan out 5 meals that include each component to earn the full amount of points - this makes you really stop and think about everything that goes into your mouth.  At first it seems time consuming and a little tedious but it also helps you realize the good and not so good habits you have gotten into.  The other thing I like is the points are all or nothing - you either drink 3 liters of water and get that day's points or you don't.  This reinforces the idea of making a fully healthy habit - it does not allow for half assing anything! 

I am playing the Game On! Diet for the next 4 weeks so each week I will check in to let ya know how it's going.

So I wanna hear for you guys - 
  • What motivates you to reach your goals (health or otherwise)? 
  • How do you encourage yourself to keep working towards your goals?
  • What would you want your prize to be at the end of the game?

Don't forget to like Nel's Nook on Facebook or follow on Google+ so you don't miss any of the action!  

To see how the rest of the series went click here:
Day 8

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