Giving Myself Some Rules

I have decided that I am an all or nothing type of lady, and can no longer think I'm just being flexible with my weight loss "rules" or guidelines. I want some serious "don't break these, ya idiot" rules to keep me in line. I'm fine being flexible on a number of things, but I want some friggin' rules to whip my butt into shape.

So here are some rules I'm thinking of implementing, and I'd love some feedback on them. Share yours too, we can learn from each other!

1. Breakfast=more than 300 calories

2. At least 2 servings of fruit and 6 servings of veggies every day

3. Eat flax seed or nutritional yeast every day to make sure B12 is covered (I'm a strict vegetarian)

4. If craving a sweet dessert, eat a Luna mini!

5. After meals, drink a cup of hot tea as a reminder that the meal is over

6. Snacks=raw veggies, fruits, and nuts

7. Eat a giant salad every day. Load it up with various veggies, throw in some salsa or lime juice perhaps, maybe some mango vinaigrette or flavored nuts. Keep it interesting, but eat those raw veggies every day. Saute some veggies to put on the sometimes, but keep the base raw and huge.

8. Worship the almighty quinoa

9. Sweat every day. If a morning workout is missed, make it up after work or after dinner. If that doesn't happen, jog up that mile long escalator off the metro, get more ambitious in the bedroom, salsa dance while Swiffering, do something-anything to break a sweat every day.

10. Eat most of the day's fat (which are the healthy ones, of course) during the first half of the day

11. Don't go over on sugar, even if it's from fruit. Fructose is not good for your body outside of fruit, but too much sugar in general is not helping your health. Get most sugars from natural foods, and keep it under 45g total.

12. Don't eat too much soy, ya silly vegetarian. Vary your nutrition sources.Did you have soy milk with your breakfast? No fake meats or tofu. Are you having amazing baked tofu with coconut and crispy kale for dinner tonight? Use rice/hemp/almond/hazelnut milk with breakfast. Craving a tofurkey sandwich for lunch? Indulge, sure, but remember that you're eating soy and you don't want to eat it at every single meal. Be smart.

13. Eat 7 or less refined foods per day. That seems like a lot (to me, at least), but when I think about it, not really. Say I have oatmeal with an apple and hazelnut milk (1). Mixed berries and some nut butter (1) as a sncack. A sandwich with wheat bread (not counting my super healthy sunflower flax bread as refined) with hummus (1), spinach, tofurkey slices (1), and tomatoes, and some black beans with corn and homemade salsa. Then I have a Vega protein smoothie after my workout (I guess I could count that, 1). And for dinner I eat tostadas, consisting of mashed kidney beans, guacamole, homemade salsa, corn tortillas (1), and shredded cabbage and carrots. And then a Luna mini bar (1) for dessert. So that's 6. It'd be so easy to go over though. No going over. Be stocked with whole foods or you'll starve!

14. Less than 2,000mg of sodium each day

15. Not peeing all the time=not drinking enough water, most likely. Be good to your body. Drink water to hydrate and you'll get up to walk to the bathroom frequently.

16. Eat those exercise calories, your body needs fuel!

17. Refuel properly after a workout. Eat (or drink smoothie) within 45 minutes.

18. Drinks=water, tea (unsweetened, hot or cold), and coconut water

19. No alcohol unless at a baseball game (this includes watching my team at the bar since they're on national TV only a few times each season)

20. Stop being a lazy veg and buy some crazy ingredients to make awesome recipes. Try nori, dates, pumpkin seed oil, spelt, buckwheat flour, chlorella, yerba mate, popped amaranth, hemp, adzuki beans, dinosaur kale, dulse, etc.