So perhaps you are wondering how it is going with the Game On Diet, which I started reviewing last week by “living the diet”? The answer is: pretty good actually!

Although I only got 662 points out of a possible 850, I did better than I thought. This is a complete lifestyle change for me in many ways, and it wasn’t easy to change the way I eat, drink and sleep all in one week. But other than messing up 3 meals, not drinking all the water on one day and incurring two snacking penalties, I did all right! I ended up losing 1 pound, which makes me happy. But even better, I felt better all week — more rested, more relaxed and well…just healthier. Here are some thoughts on the various aspects of the game.

Meals

The eating schedule doesn’t bother me at all. I usually eat three meals and two snacks anyway. The hard part was picking what to eat. I realize I’ve been eating way too many carbs! And I tend to eat fruit and carbs together. In this plan, you can have one or the other. That was a bit of a wake-up call for me. And I know I didn’t eat enough protein so this has been a huge change for me. Thank God for cheese!

And I’m eating more green veggies than I’ve ever eaten in my life — which is great. I actually had spinach, brussel sprouts and green beans two times each this week.

The key to succeeding with the meals is planning and thinking ahead. Some of my problem areas were not packing snacks when I wasn’t going to be at home during the “meal time.” I will work on fixing this in Week 2.

Water 

This was actually the hardest part for me — and I thought I was a great water drinker before! I realize now I probably drank 3 liters of water over 5 days — not 3 liters per day! But I have noticed that it is getting easier to drink the water and I’m not peeing as much as I was in the beginning so I think my body is getting adjusted.And my skin is really starting to get a bit smoother and shinier! Woo hoo!

Sleep

I love to sleep so I loved this part of the game. The only problem is that night time is when I usually do most of my blogging so I’ve been behind on visiting, commenting and writing posts. It is hard to pack in blogging, reading, playing Guitar Hero (my latest obsession) and hanging out with my husband into the three hours I have between when my son goes to bed and my new earlier bedtime. But I do feel much more rested in the mornings!

Exercise

I have continually quit pretty much every exercise program I’ve ever set for myself, but this week I managed to exercise 6 times in one week! I think because the books says 20 minutes of exercise, it doesn’t seem so odious or undoable. I’ve alternated cardio on an elliptical machine with doing strength training and yoga on the Wii Fit. I’ve found I need to get this done in the morning so I can put it behind me.

New and Old Habits

I have been getting work done on my trouble spots in the home (my new habit) and it has been great. Breaking it down to just 30 minutes really helps. I do what I can for that time and then walk away. And I’m seeing progress. My only regret is committing to doing something for 30 minutes in an already time-crunched day! Why didn’t I pick “putting on sunscreen” or “taking a multivitamin” that could be done in just a few minutes? But I’m not changing — I don’t want to incur a 50-point penalty.

And every time I think about biting my nails, I stop and think of my teammates. My nails have grown like crazy in just one week — to the point where I actually broke one. Manicure, here I come!

Team Aspect

I have to tell you…I think the reason that I am able to do this as well as I am is because of the team aspect and the game aspect. I do feel accountable to my fellow Twinkies, and I am unwilling to give up points. One day I just didn’t want to drink the water but forced myself to power through it for the team. Plus the communication aspect and knowing that other people are facing the same things you are helps tremendously! Just hearing from everyone about their day, reactions to the different aspects of the diet and the good-natured taunting has been so fun and encouraging. I think the team and game part is what make this “diet” different — and what makes it work.

I’ll be back with another update next week on how Week 2 went. I expect it might be a bit easier now that I know more what to expect, but I also think it might be harder because it might start to “grow old.”