Would you like that “Diet to go”?

During the 1st company 5k race I did, the company had various vendor tables set up around the gym.  One of the vendors was “Diet to go”.  They had a few sample items of their food to try.  As I munched on some of the food, I got the low down about the program.   They say it best on their website “Healthy. Great Tasting. Affordable. Diet-to-Go provides nourishing, delicious meals for individuals to help them lose weight, maintain a healthy weight or improve their overall well-being. Only the highest quality ingredients are used in our freshly prepared meals.”

You sign up and choose what plan you want.  I choose the Low-Fat Traditional meal plan for 5 days of the week (lunch & dinner) each day.  I felt I could handle the breakfasts and weekend meals.

Sample of Meal

Once a week you pick the food up at a set location. Cost wise I felt it was just a tab bit higher than making your own meals.  It sure was convenient.  My work at the time was extremely busy, so having the food ready to be heated up was nice.  The food was not bad at first.  It is carefully balanced nutritionally but seems to be on the high side on sodium.  I did this plan for about 4 months (yes I think that 4 months is my breaking point on diets) and lost about 10 pounds.  Honestly after awhile the food all started tasting the same. I found myself not eating it and throwing it away (it doesn’t keep very long).

I’m glad I tried it but in the long run it was another thing that just wasn’t a match for me.  So I choose to move on.

Pick a Diet Plan or Move On

One of the suggestions that my new Kaiser NP suggested is for me to go on Weight Watchers.  I have done this diet plan before (in fact a couple of times).  What I find is that like more “diets” it turns into a major project for me.

I go to the first meeting and get signed up.  I walk away with a sense of great hope that this is plan is going to make the difference.  I read all the books, buy the food from the list and like any project I work on, I organize myself for success.  Well after about 3-4 days I am burnt out.  I am sick of counting, weighing and measuring.  I spend so much time thinking about the diet I just want to give it all up, so much to the point that I even hate to eat and I avoid it.

One thing that Weight Watchers has that not all plans do is the support of meetings.  I don’t remember now but I think you can go to a few meetings a week if you want (you just don’t get weighed in each time, just once a week). These meetings are great.  You get great advice for success and learn from the others that are on the plan.

Over all it is a tried and true plan that has worked wonders for the masses.  Well, it never worked for me.  I stuck with it for about 4 months.  I tried the point plan and the “other plan” that I can’t remember the name of. (in fact I see that they now have a new plan out called Momentum)  The meetings were good, the food choices where great but it just wasn’t working for me.

It got to the point that I resented getting weighed each week.  Even though the Weight Watcher personal were very kind and supportive.  I felt like they would read the scale, see that I hadn’t lost anything and give me that look of disappointment.  Maybe they were shocked that I didn’t have a look of disappointment.  I just wasn’t feeling it because I knew the diet and I was not a match.  After 4 months I didn’t want to waste their time or mine so I canceled my membership and moved on.

It was a good experience and I came out of it realizing that if something is not working for me, that I am bored or frustrated don’t keep pounding your head against the wall.  Just move on!

I found a great list of 7 steps to take to pick a diet plan that will work for you!  “How to Pick a Diet Program | eHow.com”

Braces, the new Diet Plan

When I set up my family’s dental benefits at my new job, I forgot to add my husband and daughter to the dental plan.  Once you choose your plan you can’t change them for a full year.  The major bummer is that I set the plan up to put aside a savings account for my daughter’s braces.  If I didn’t use that money in the year I loose it.  So, of course not wanting to flush 5k down the drain I did the best thing I could do and got braces for myself.  My teeth were not that bad but it was something I always wanted to fix.  I had braces as a teen and I never wore my retainer.  Because teeth have a memory of an elephant, they did their best to move right back to where they started.

Brace Face

I opted for a full set of braces instead of doing Invisalign. Heck if I did wear my retainer back in the day I knew as an adult I wouldn’t wear the Invisalign sets.

The day I got the braces put on I felt like I lost 15 years off my age.  I spoke funny and started to talk with my lips closed to hide the braces.  Over time this all went away because I really didn’t care in the long run.  I knew the out come would be worth it all.

One thing I never realized was that braces where going to help me in my quest to shrink.  From the initial day they were put and the days that I got adjustments to the wires etc., they made my teeth so sore that I just didn’t want to eat.  When I did eat the soreness made me stop and think about what I put in my mouth.  I could choose anything soft but I took that thinking process a step further by making a better choices.

Taking advantage of this I made sure my cupboards and refrigerator were stocked with healthy and low fat food.  Some of my favorite choices were hummus and pita bread, apple sauce (low sugar) and Greek yogurt.

I had my braces on for a little under two years.  Towards the end I was fed up with them but now that I see the results, I am so happy I made that dental benefits mistake after all.  Funny you never know how one mistake can turn into a great healthy result.

Now my daughter has her braces on and only has a few months until she is done.  The good thing is that since I went through the procedure, I can help her get through it with a great result.