Game On! Week One

Warning: please do NOT attempt to visit the Game On! diet website. My anti-virus software performs a smackdown every time I try. For that reason, none of the links below go to the official website.

Last year some of my coworkers started playing the Game On! diet. I looked at it and decided to pass. I’m not particularly competitive–if we get into some sort of challenge and I think it matters to you that you win, I’ll probably let you win. So I figured I’d be better off just cheering from the sidelines instead of caught between letting my teammates down or upsetting friends on the opposite team. (yeah, I had no idea how “friendly competition” worked. Shut up.)

This year I decided something needed to be done. A few years ago I lost a wonderful fifty pounds, but they’ve been creeping back on. SOMETHING had to change. So when the invite went around to get on a team, I jumped in.

We started on Monday. I’ve already lost four pounds.

The rules seem pretty strict, and they are. But there are…loopholes. Didn’t get your water in? Call it a free day. You get one of those a week for each thing. Really really NEED a chocolate hit right now? 100 free calories a day, dude. Just keep your chocolate small and enjoy the hell out of it, and you’re good. Can’t stand the thought of giving up butter for a month? You can have it on your free day AND your free meal.

But the important part for me has been “it’s just four weeks. FFS, I can do ANYTHING for a month, right?” Hopefully I’ll bring some good habits out of this, but even if I don’t, at least I’ve jump-started my weight loss again.

Week One has been difficult, yes. But I brought most of that stress on myself, by not summoning up the energy to prepare last weekend. When I’m standing at the fridge five minutes before I should be at work going “how the hell do I get my healthy fat into that second meal?” it’s pretty clear it’s my problem, not the diet.

I have totally eaten two low-fat cheese sticks, a slice of whole grain bread, and three olives, and called it a meal this week. I’m not proud of that, but I did it to my own damn self. That meal could, completely legitimately, been a baked potato, a small chicken breast, and a big salad with almonds or olives or avocado on it.

And I’m not miserable, and I’ve lost four pounds, and I’m a week down. Only three more to go. 😀