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My grandma lunch date was awesome today! We talked for hours about the future, my life and just about life in general. And the food was great too. She suggested Applebee’s because she knew they had a healthy portion to the menu. Turns out it’s a section with options all under 550 calories.
At first I was nervous because, according to the Jump Start Diet, my calorie cap for lunch should be around 450. However, I took the knowledge I’ve gotten from following the meal plan thus far and my own cooking from the provided recipes to decipher the menu again like I did yesterday. But this time, I was DETERMINED to eat better than a salad (because- let’s be honest- salads are boring if eaten too often).
So I ordered the Grilled Dijon Chicken with Portobello’s without the cheese. It was phenomenal! And the best part? When I came home to search the nutrition facts online, even with the cheese, this meal was at exactly 450. I actually ate under my diet today at a restaurant. I was thrilled!
 During my lunch date with grandma, all of the sudden, mid conversation, I heard: “Excuse me. Excuse me.”
I looked to my left to meet the eyes of a woman who looked familiar.
“I want to see your ring! We voted for you!”
Turns out, this woman was from my parents’ church and, for those of you who may not know, last year my boyfriend and I won a $10,000 engagement ring from Simon G. Jewelry. I’ve seen it (and it’s awesome), but I had to tell these ladies that I didn’t have it yet, but thanks so much for voting.
Of course this spurred even more conversation with my grandma and I about the future proposal, the future
marriage, and the wedding planning. I’ve mentioned in some of my posts about how that’s one of the reasons I want to do this (because who doesn’t want to look gorgeous on their wedding day), but this week especially I’ve been super motivated by my dreams of the future.
Today I biked while watching “Say Yes to the Dress: Big Bliss” which is about the wedding dress shopping experiences of plus sized women (or as the show says, any woman over size 10). It’s great motivation, but as if that wasn’t enough, I watched the first episode of “Shedding for the Wedding” online. Immediately afterward I put in another Jillian Michaels’ DVD (The 30-Day Shred) and worked my heart out.
Being healthy is a lifelong goal that requires a lot of work, but as SELF.com talks about, we do need to set those periodic goals. Instead of poundage goals, why not just set a goal to look and feel good about yourself for a certain moment in your life. We all have events coming up every time we blink. So won’t you join me and pick an occasion? It doesn’t have to be a wedding. Is graduation approaching? Do you want a bikini body for summer or are you dreading your next family reunion?
Whatever is coming up on your calendar, use that as your motivation to not just lose weight but also get healthy. Because let’s be honest, when we go to events or occasions like those, people usually don’t notice how much we weigh. What people do notice is your confidence. So let’s get healthy and feeling good about ourselves so we can rock our social calendar confidence style. Are you with me?
Email me at NikkiRoberti@HerCampus.com or tweet me anytime @Nikki_Roberti.
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