Week 29

I went through Briana's meal plans for the last three weeks and discovered that overall she was doing well with her eating. The red flags appeared at breakfast and dinner. She was having cereal for breakfast every morning and potatoes were on her dinner menu too often. Since budget is a huge factor in Briana's meal plans, each week I give her mom lists of foods that are okay to eat. Cereal and potatoes are foods that they can get easily, so in the beginning I left them on the list as okay foods. I did recommend specific cereals that are high in fiber and low in sugar. I also recommended that dinner consist primarily of vegetables and protein. For the first five months, this seemed to work fine for Briana because she was losing weight. Now that she seems to be losing less weight over the last month, I had to talk to Briana's mom about diet. The conversation was not easy, but she was willing to do whatever she needed within her means to help Briana continue to lose weight. Ideally, I wanted Briana to add protein to her breakfast and take potatoes off the menu completely. Removing potatoes was easy but adding the protein was difficult due to budget. We were finally able to agree on a breakfast menu of whole grain toast with peanut butter. Although not the ideal breakfast choice (like the Greek yogurt I prefer her to have) it will have to do. After looking at her meal plans, I needed to dive into her workout plan. Although we have steadily added exercises to her base from day one, she was still performing the same types of movements. I knew it was time to change the entire routine in order for Briana to continue to see results on the scale. When she came on Tuesday, I had her start with a 15 minute warm up on the treadmill. As she was working, I talked to her about her meal choices. "I had peanut butter and toast for breakfast today," she said. "Briana, that is great to hear! I love it!" I replied. "And," she continued "I am not going to eat potatoes anymore, not ever again." "I think you will be able to eat them every once in awhile once you lose the weight," I told her. "Right now, we just have to be very strict to help your body keep losing weight. It's important to make healthy choices." "Oh, good," she said. She went on to talk about the camp she is attending in July. She is very excited to go to it. "At camp, we always have hot dogs and hamburgers and french fries and smores," she told me. "I can't have any of it." My heart broke when she said this. I could feel her disappointment. "Briana, I will make you a deal. If you don't eat potatoes between now and camp, you can have one hamburger with french fries and one smore at camp. The rest of the time, I want you to make healthy choices for your meals and stay away from the desserts." Her face lit up at this news. "Okay! I can do it! No potatoes anymore, then one time at camp. I can do that!" So we were both pleased now, and I felt like she was beginning to understand about choices and moderation with unhealthy foods. Huge success!