Special K Challenge

Two weeks ago, I attempted to squuuuueeeeze into a bridesmaid dress that I had been fitted for last fall... and was not happy to discover that it no longer fit. That's right. I sucked it in, I twisted, I pulled, I tugged... but that zipper wasn't going anywhere.

Mind you, the wedding where I am supposed to wear this dress was going to be in a month...

Enter denial mode.

How could I have fit into this dress just seven months ago? Have I gained that much weight?

Then I stepped on the scale. Enter freak out mode.

I weight how many pounds?! Disgusting! I've never been on a diet, how am I supposed to start one now?!

But I knew, regardless of my disbelief at first and knowing my love for food, that something was going to have to change, and it had to happen NOW.

Like I said, I have never dieted before in my life, so picking one for me was going to be hard. I knew I wouldn't be able to do anything too extreme, like completely cut out red meat, or bread, or pasta (because those are all things I love too much), but just something a little more... doable. Like less bread. Less red meat. And less pasta. Now that, I could probably do.

Enter Special K Challenge.

I eat Special K Cereal Bars every morning for breakfast. Blueberry, Vanilla Crisp, Chocolatey Pretzel... you name it, I've probably had it. I love those things. So I figured I could probably do the Special K Challenge... how many hard it could it be, right?

Of course, I turned to Twitter to find out. On April 26 I tweeted: "Thinking about doing the Special K Challenge - you supposedly lose 6 lbs in 2 weeks. Has anyone tried it? Did it work?"

And because Twitter is awesome, I got a response within minutes from my friend Kailey from Truman (@KaileyBeezy): "I've done it several times.. you lose the weight but you're really hungry. recommend a big lunch w/ lots of protein!"

Heeding her advice, the next day I spent $80 on 2 boxes of protein bars, a box of cereal, 3 boxes of cereal bars, Special K chips and crackers, protein shakes and a ton of fruit and veggies. Expensive? A little. Worth it? Totally.

The Special K Challenge actually turned out to be a lot easier than I thought. Here's the breakdown of the diet:

1. Eat one big meal a day, and try to keep it around 500-700 calories.
2. Replace your other two meals with either cereal, a protein bar or a protein shake, and a serving of fruit.
3. Eat one snack in between each meal (2 a day), either a cereal/snack bar or chips/crackers.
4. Eat as many fruits and veggies as you want!

Pretty simple, right? Special K has a lot of great recipes for the big meals. Including the only one I actually tried, the pork chop with pomegranate glaze. I made this on the first night of the Challenge, and it turned out pretty good! My boyfriend can vouch for me, I promise!

The Special K version:

My version:

It can be expensive to try a bunch of new recipes in two weeks, so this is the only one I managed to attempt. The key to the big meals is to still eat healthy, and not just eat whatever you want. For me, the most challenging part was trying to eat healthy when going out to eat.

I mean, who gets a salad at Steak 'n Shake, honestly? I did, and it was the worst decision I ever made. Terrible. It also doesn't help that I go out to lunch with my dad a few times a week, and I never realized how unhealthy we eat until I started dieting.

The first week of my new diet, I emailed my dad we should go somewhere healthy for lunch that didn't have a bunch of greasy food. He replied, "Penn Station. See you there." Not quite the healthy I was thinking. :) Luckily, I managed to convince him to go to Bread Co instead. I'm pretty sure he's ready for this "diet phase" of mine to be over so we can resume our weekly lunches at Stefanina's for meatball sandwiches and burgers at Christy's. :)

But it's definitely been a challenge to not only find healthy places to eat, but to find healthy options on a menu. I mainly try to stick with chicken, and stay away from the french fries (which of course happens to be one of my favorite foods).

Avoiding fast food in general has been a lot easier than I thought, though. That's one thing I really like about this diet. Instead of grabbing some T-Bell to go when I'm hungry and don't have time to make something at home, I can just eat a protein bar or a piece of fruit, and I'm good to go. The key is to be prepared and plan ahead.

If I know ahead of time I'm not going to have time to make dinner, than I plan on going out to lunch somewhere (healthy), then I just eat cereal or a protein bar and a piece of fruit for dinner.

Now, two weeks later, I've completed the challenge and I lost 10 pounds! Best of all, I tried on the bridesmaid dress last night and it fit me better than it had in the fall! I couldn't be happier! Plus it's perfect timing for swimsuit season, which will start next weekend for me! I'll be spending a weekend at the Lake of the Ozarks for a bachelorette party and I can't wait!

And don't worry, I've since rewarded myself with lunch at the new Hibachi Grill & Buffet in St. Charles (Delicious!) and BBQ chicken pizza for dinner yesterday, and a stromboli from Racanelli's for lunch today. OK so I kinda splurged. I do plan on keeping up with the diet though. I figured I might as well, if it will help me keep in shape all summer! Because I know there will always be more weddings, either that I'm invited to or that I'm in. In fact I just found out about one I'm going to be in next June, and I'm going to one tomorrow! Love wedding season. :)

On another note, I'd like to give a BIG shout out to all the SCC students graduating tomorrow! Including fellow blogger Brooke Dettmer, and former SCC blogger Alec Kelley! Good luck to both of you! And another special shout out to one of my best friends, Deanna Vassallo, who is graduating from Lindenwood tomorrow! So proud of you girl!

Have a great weekend everyone!