The Beginning

I bought The Biggest Loser 30-Day Jump Start cookbook at a yard sale the other day, thinking I could get a few new ideas out of it. I ended up reading it cover to cover in just a few hours. What an inspiring book! And they have a 30-day plan laid out, from food and snacks to exercise and rest days. I've decided to give it a go, and somehow managed to talk my husband into it. He leaves for work at 5:30am, so in order to ensure that he actually takes the foods he is supposed to take for snacks and lunches, I have promised him that I will get up with him at 5:00. I'm NOT a morning person, usually sleeping until 8:30 or 9, but this is important to me, and it's only for 30 days... In exchange for my getting up at the crack of dawn with him, I have asked him to keep a very open mind and be willing to at least TRY all the new foods that will be introduced to us during this next 30 days. He seems lukewarm about that, so we'll see....

Fortunately, we have no big social events on our calendar over the next 30 days, except for my husband's birthday toward the end of July. We have already decided we are not going to stick to this project on that day. And boy was I ever glad when I counted ahead to see what we would be missing. Salad Nicoise?! Gross.

I think it is going to be a very difficult 30 days, because none of us are very adventurous eaters. I am going to require the kids (ages almost-12, 9, 5, and almost-4) to taste at least 1 bite of each new food. I am not going to require them to eat it if they don't like it. I am willing to make them a more kid-friendly (but still healthy) alternative, IF they have tried one bit and don't like it.

It's going to be important to keep an open mind and a short-term outlook. If I am not enjoying what is on my plate, all I have to remember is that it's not the last meal I will ever eat (Lord willing), and that there's a tasty snack coming up in just a couple hours. Hopefully that's enough.

I'll be blogging my responses throughout the day, but will probably save them and post each evening. I'll be weighing in every Monday morning.

I'm nervous about this, because it is going to be very expensive, and I hate to spend that amount of money on food only to find out that none of us likes it and it ends up being wasted. But again. It's only 30 days. We can do anything for 30 days, right?

We're about to find out.