Mmmmm Pie!

I really feel like seeing that Dr. Oz segment yesterday really gave me the foundation, the guidelines, that I really need for this lifestyle change.  I felt pretty good about myself (despite this post) because of the steps that are set forth on the Dr. Oz site, I've already done quite a few!  He has a team of experts, a Nutritionist, a Personal Trainer, A Coach, and an Interventionist on this team.  Each expert had one important point to share.  The Nutritionist said to eliminate high fructose corn syrup.  DONE!  Checkmark!  The Personal Trainer said to get moving, OK, easier said than done... I realized that I've done very well at cutting out things in the past 14 days, but apparently I've carefully avoided adding the physical fitness portion, which - I know - is perhaps the most important part, the part that when implemented will start to show the most results.  The Coach said to exercise portion control... well, I'm kinda sorta doing that.  And the Interventionist said to stop using food as a drug.  I give myself a DONE!  and Checkmark! on that one too.  I don't think I am an emotional eater, but I did let myself use alcohol both as a stress reliever and a reward.  After 15 days of no coffee and no alcohol, I'm not even missing it, and I haven't started snacking, or eating outside of my plan to compensate, so yeah, I've got that one covered!

There are essentially five rules to this "game."  They are as follows:
1.  Cut out sugary soda (another DONE!)
2.  Don't eat after 8 p.m., or three hours before bed
3.  Move for 10 minutes or more per day
4.  No snacks larger than your fist
5.  Track what you weigh and eat every day

For rule #5 I have been using an online food diary from Lance Armstrong's Livestrong website.  It has thousands of foods built in to the database, and when you start typing in what you ate, it gives you suggestions of what that food is.  The great thing is that it already has things like how much 1 serving is, and calories, sodium, fat, sugar, etc., already calculated.  So, at the end of the day, once you've entered in everything you put in your mouth that day, you get a total calorie count, and a daily, weekly and monthly percentage of your nutrition, in numbers and in a colorful pie chart.... mmmmmm pie!