I Like Skittles and Combos...

So... My brother and his girlfriend are getting married in about a year, and I've been asked to be a bridesmaid... which is AWESOME, except... now it means I HAVE to lose weight.

I've tried losing weight before... I've tried diets, walking, exercise, all that stuff, and nothing's seemed to work.

However, since I've announced I'm trying to lose weight, I've had a number of people share all kinds of tips with me... and I've decided, if mixing and matching works for other things, like outfits, and food, and Mr. Potato Head, then why can't it work for dieting?

So I've decided to build a weight loss program, combining all the tips I've received in the past couple of days. SO - here is a list of things I plan on doing, and how I hope to achieve them.

Cutting Out the Five Whites:

I know a few people that would swear by this method. The "five whites" are things we really shouldn't be eating anyway, but have got rather accustomed to. They are:

• White Sugar
• White Potatoes
• White Rice
• White Flour
• White Pasta

Now you're probably saying... um... that's EVERYTHING. lol. That's what I thought, too. I'm not gonna lie, I LIKE my 5 whites, but if you really think about it, there are really easy and healthy substitutes for all of the above. Instead of white pasta, you can try wheat pasta (I've had it before, it's definitely interesting, but if eating it in spaghetti or what not, the flavor can be offset). My friend Mary said to try Sweet Potatoes instead of white potatoes, and I don't have a problem with that, either... sweet potatoes are BOMB!! I also know that wheat flour exists, so I could start cooking with that... and I've already trained myself to take wheat bread over white. Wheat buns might be interesting, but Mary also told me that having something like baked beans over a hamburger patty, instead of a bun, is just as good, so I may try that, too. The switch from things like, plain bagels to wheat bagels might be a bit harder, but I don't eat bagels that much as it is, so... haha. Sugar will be a bit more difficult, as well, but another friend told me that Fruit is a great way to lessen that craving, and that's got to be true. I've found that things like fruits and veggies are a lot more satisfying than chips and what not... so hopefully, this will be somewhat easy.

I've been told the first week is really hard, but after that, it gets easier. :)


Cutting Out Things I Don't Need:

It's not just the five whites that I don't need to eat, it's a lot of things.

• Fast Food
• Sweets
• Soda

Stuff like that... Now, granted, I'm not going to be able to stop eating out 100%, but I hope to do it MUCH less, and when I do have to do it, I need to start getting salads. Lots of places have really good salads, like Wendy's, McDonald's, Denny's, stuff like that... if I feel like I need meat, I can get them with grilled chicken, and if I'm feeling really healthy, I can get them with nothing at all... and only low fat dressings and what not.

Sweets will be more difficult, because I love my cookies and cakes and all that jazz, but as stated before, fruit is a great substitute for sweet things, because it has natural sugars and what not. Am I going to cut out sweets completely? Heck no! But I'm hoping, if I can wean myself off of them, I won't crave them as much, so a cookie here and there won't kill me.

Soda is just something I don't need. My dad said I should be okay with diet soda, if I don't have any joint problems, but I'm really not looking forward to substituting calories with Aspartame. Plus, it'll probably give me joint problems down the road. No, I'm looking to cut soda out completely. If I need it at all, I'll probably look into Hansen's diet soda... it doesn't have aspartame or calories... haha. But I really just want to get rid of the "need" for soda.

So - I'm giving each of these the "lent" method, which I stole from Jordan. Basically, each month (starting in August) I'm going to give up one of these three things as if I was giving it up for Lent, Cold Turkey. This means, one month I can't have ANY fast food at all. The next, no cookies, candies, cakes, ice cream, anything sweet. The next, no sodas WHAT SO EVER. By the end of the month, my cravings for these things should lessen... if not, I'm just gonna have to tough it out. If I do it in this order, than each month should be easier. No fast food, which means less access to sodas or unhealthy sweet things. No sweets, which means no sodas that aren't naturally sweetened... and finally, no sodas should be cake.



Going to the Gym:

Eating right isn't going to just make the weight fall off, I'm going to have to exercise, as well, so I'm going to start going to the gym on a regular basis. In Shape City has a really comfortable gym, with all kinds of equipment to tone muscle and drop pounds. If all goes well,

Monday, Wednesday, and Friday will be devoted to upper body strength training, and

Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday will be devoted to lower body strength training.

This way, each section will have about a day to recover from the previous training session, and no muscles will be strained, etc. etc.

Every day will end with some sort of cardio machine, be it the treadmill, exercise bike, or ellyptical. I plan on starting with 30 minutes of cardio, be it a combination of machines, or just one. (For instance, yesterday I did 20 minutes on the bike, and 13 minutes on the treadmill... a total of 33 minutes of cardio)

Once I get used to that, once I'm able to handle that much, I'll up the time, hopefully to an hour before the year is out.


As I get more ideas, more tips, etc. etc., I'll probably expand on the program, but hopefully this will get my foot in the door, and I'll at least see some improvement.

And all tips are welcome! If anyone has any suggestions, let them be heard! :D I'm open to anything!! :)