Fit not Fat

Flat Belly, Flat Belly...

Do you ever set a goal for yourself, get yourself revved up about it even, and then somehow take forever to get out of the starting gate? That's how I'm beginning to feel about my fitness plan.

I've not chucked it, but I am definitely taking longer to get going than I anticipated. I probably should have known better to start around the holidays, but what can I say. I was optimistic.

So, baby steps it is. If you'll recall, in my last post I bought the Flat Belly Diet book. I also purchased the Flat Belly Diet Pocket Guide. The first book contains a lengthy explanation of the diet, recipes, shopping lists, fast food recommendations, meal replacement bar recommendations, frozen dinners that fall within the diet's guidelines, a diet journal and exercise plan.

The pocket guide contains a 28-day meal plan with shopping lists and short recipes for the meals. Honestly, nothing seems overly complicated here, and most of it actually looks pretty decent. (Maybe it's just the four day intro plan that is so meager in options.) The pocket guide also has restaurant and product recommendations, similar to the full-sized diet book.

Daily calorie totals appear to average around 1600, which includes breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack. I don't find anywhere in the book where it adjusts the caloric intake for men, but it's possible I haven't read far enough yet.

Both diet books include brand and product recommendations for persons who require gluten free, dairy free, soy free or vegan options.

My favorite feature is definitely the shopping lists for each of the first four weeks, as it makes it easy to clear out the cabinets and buy solely what you need to stay on course. The brand and restaurant recommendations are also pretty nice. The restaurant recommendations include options at both dine-in restaurants and fast food chains:

• Au Bon Pain
• Burger King
• Chili's
• Chipotle
• Culver's
• Dunkin Donuts
• El Pollo Loco
• Hooters
• Jamba Juice
• McDonald's
• Mimi's Cafe
• Old Spaghetti Factory
• Panda Express
• Panera Bread
• Qdoba Mexican Grill
• Red Lobster
• Sbarro
• Sizzler
• Smoothie King
• Starbucks
• Subway
• Taco Bell
• TCBY
• Wendy's

I'm not fond of all the restaurants included, but there are enough of the ones I frequent that the list is useful.

I'm shopping tomorrow for the four day anti-bloat jumpstart and week one menus. I should note that the menus are suggestions, but you can interchange the meals and to a certain extent, the ingredients. However, the authors don't suggest that you create your own meals during the first four week period, as they want you to become accustomed to the portion sizes, types of ingredients and basic meal makeup.

So is anybody in this with me? Has anyone already started?

Don't be afraid of the affiliate links, your click may keep me stocked up on Sassy water!

And so it begins...

Well, technically, the preparations to begin have begun. In order, I've:

1) Made a commitment to run a half marathon next year, specifically, the Georgetown to Idaho Springs half marathon. 

2) Purchased Flat Belly Diet (Danger, danger, Will Robinson - it's an Amazon affiliate link!). I'm not sure whether I'm going to follow the diet plan outlined in the book, or whether I'm going to rejoin Weight Watchers. The diet in the book (well, let me back up, as it's technically the 4 day ramp up cleanse) is meager. They want me to drink "Sassy Water," and the name alone makes me want to head the other direction.

3) Discussed with my parents and Jeff the possibility of everyone getting on board with the "Fit Not Fat" goal. (They are all willing, if as lukewarm to the fun as I am.)

4) Talked with Jeff every morning for the past week about going for a walk. Have gone on one walk.

5) Taken the Wii Fitness Test - twice. Am thrilled to report I clock in two years younger than I actually am.

I intend to actually make it onto the treadmill tomorrow.

Welcome to Fit not Fat...

My 20th high school reunion is this year, and when I received my alumni notice in the mail my thoughts immediately turned to my belly, butt and thighs. Unfortunately, I'm not actually able to make the reunion, but I decided that my problem areas didn't need to know that.

For several years now, I've struggled with my weight and weight loss, and I've had moderate successes along the way. But those successes were inevitably followed by high stress periods in my life, and the weight crept back. Now, however, I'm somewhat at a crossroads. You see, I fall into the category of someone who will likely experience difficulty getting pregnant unless I drop the extra pounds. Given that I really want kids and 40 is just around the corner, I don't have any choice but to take action.

Since I recently moved to Colorado, I am using the beautiful scenery as added incentive to kick start my Fit Not Fat program. This site is where I will document my progress and thoughts, as well as review equipment, diets and workout advice. Hopefully, you will join me!