Biggest Loser: End of Week 1

Week 1 of my diet ended this morning when I weighed myself. It's been a good week and an interesting one. We've been figuring out how to adjust to gluten-free foods and I'm happy to report that it hasn't been that difficult. Everything we have tried has turned out quite tasty and leaves us feeling a lot less heavy after we eat. We are not 100% gluten-free but we are very close. Everything we buy now is gluten-free except for our FiberOne bars and our Kashi cereal and, once the gluten-type products are gone, we will be purchasing the gluten-free counterparts of things like Ketchup.

Our breakfasts have consisted of fruit and yogurt smoothies or Kashi cereal. We mostly snack at lunch or I've had a small spinach salad. Peanuts and light popcorn are now our favorite snacks. We are eating a lot better and it's only been one week!

Our dinners have been a fun experience! I've really been having fun cooking and we've come up with some great meals. It's funny, I thought I'd miss the ease of going through a fast-food drive-thru or cooking up random crap but I'm having fun cooking. One thing I must note for anyone wanting to try gluten-free cooking: not all gluten-free brands are the same! This may seem like a "duh" comment but we tried two different types of noodles. One was delicious and tasted great. The brand was Quinoa, I highly suggest it. The other brand I forgot the name of but the noodles were smooshy and stuck together. I wish I had written down the brand name but just be warned, they vary greatly! Here are some pictures of our culinary masterpieces!

My General Tso's Chicken on gluten-free brown rice 

was almost gluten-free (the sauce had a little in it).

Bill's Spicy Chicken Alfredo was delicious. We didn't like those
noodles but it still tasted great!

I wish I had taken a picture of the Mac and Cheese. That had to have been the best mac I've had in a long time. The recipe was in Elizabeth Hasselbeck's "Deliciously G-Free" cookbook so I don't feel right sharing the recipe but anyone with access to the book should try it. It was excellent!

We also had fun grilling up some burgers on our new George Foreman grill that we got for Christmas! (Thanks mom and dad!) We bought low-carb buns and had cheeseburgers. This wasn't gluten-free but it was low-carb and we are trying to do less carbs as well. They do make gluten-free buns but I haven't had a chance to get them yet. They are on my "to try" list.

Yay grill!

Now we are getting ready for Week 2 and I'm looking forward to cooking and eating even better. I'm happy to say that we both lost weight this week!

Bill lost 8 pounds!

I lost 8.8 pounds! (Yes, very specific, thank you Wii!)

We are making great progress! If I have done my calculations right, and I think I have, this puts me at a 4.32% weight loss. My mom and sister both lost great amounts (4 and 6 respectively) but so far I'm in the lead for our contest. It's a 6 month contest so I have to keep it going in order to win. It's still any woman's game but I'm invigorated by my first week's success! On to week 2!

I still can't do much with exercise, because of my back, but I hope to work my way up. Have any comments on eating better or any great recipes? Leave a comment below! Here's to another great week!

Biggest Loser: Family Edition

A few weeks ago, I told my mom that I wanted to lose weight. It will be better for my back, better for my health in general and, let's face it, I hate how I look in pictures these days. She presented me with an option, a challenge, so that I wouldn't have to go after this goal alone. She and my oldest sister, Sarah, are going to start their own version of the The Biggest Loser with me. The competition begins tomorrow and will go until June, around the time that my family is coming to visit me in New York. Each of us gets to choose our own diet and work-out routines because we have different lifestyles and bodies (for example, I can't work out much because of my back so my diet will be very important while I work my strength up). We will weigh in using our Wiis to keep track of each other. I have been ordered to take a picture of my weigh-in on my phone so they know I am not lying...I have ordered the same in return. At the end of the competition, the person with the greatest weight loss percentage wins. We decided to go with percentage because we are all different heights, weights, etc. The winner of the challenge will get $100 from each person to go shopping. So the incentive to win has four sides: to lose weight, to be beat them, to win money and to not have to pay money. It's on!


I told Bill about our challenge and he told his mother and they are now in their own competition, though theirs will be based on pounds lost and a bit different. This excites me! I knew he'd be willing to diet with me because he has told me he wants to eat better but now he has the incentive to win. Like me, he doesn't like to lose. So I now have a support system in my house and we are ready!


So what is our diet plan? Well, one of my doctors told me a while back that carbs aren't the best for my back because they cause inflammation in the body. I've also noticed that carbs make me feel heavier and that Bill seems to have some problems digesting gluten-filled foods. The day before I left Colorado to return home, I watched "The View" with mom and Elizabeth was showcasing gluten-free foods from her new book. I was surprised. The foods looked so, so normal! They looked edible yet they were supposed to be better for me. So I purchased Elizabeth Hasselbeck's book "Deliciously G-Free" and I've been reading it since it arrived. I'm not saying we are going to go 100% gluten-free. We are going to start using some of these recipes instead of our heavier gluten-filled ones and we are going to be looking at a lot of gluten-free foods. We are also going to to be going low-carb, high protein and adding in fruits and vegetables. Basically, we are eating healthier. This is more of a lifestyle change than a diet because I don't want to "end" the diet and go back and gain my weight back. 

As for exercise...well, I can't exercise with my back so I am hoping I will slowly build up on my walking time and add in light weights and work my way up. That's pretty much all I can do. Bill is going to take advantage of the campus gym and also start running again. We have a good plan set up and I am excited to see it in motion.


So, the challenge begins tomorrow. I let Bill have what I call "last meals" before we started. This means we ate at some of our favorite places because we won't be seeing them for a long time and we won't be seeing them nearly as much as we used to. They will now be treats and treated as such. Our last treat will be going to All American Burger tonight (if you haven't heard of this place, it's like the mecca of hamburger happiness in Long Island...so yummy but so horrible for you). Tomorrow, the diet begins. I'll be doing weekly updates on our progress. This will be added incentive because I will not only have my family holding me to this but anyone who read this blog. For the sake of my own pride, I won't be putting my weight on this, only the weight lost. Maybe at the end I'll feel brave but until then this will have to do. I'll update on our progress and hopefully find some yummy, good-for-you meals to share.


I guess that's it. Wish us luck!