Game On!: No Snacking Means No Snacking

One of my favorite things about late summer is the wild blackberries that seem to grow everywhere. For weeks and weeks the picking is plentiful and free. I'll be the first to admit that blackberry picking can be a dangerous pursuit. The thorny canes almost seem to reach out and grab you get close enough to pick. And of course the best berries are always require the most physical sacrifice on the part of the picker to acquire.

But it's worth it.

The route I take on my daily power walk takes me right by a productive patch of blackberry bushes. Ten months out of the year, they are useless and not even very pretty. But when those blackberries ripen, they offer something for every one of the senses. On warm mornings I can literally smell the berries as I speed walk by. It's intoxicating!

This summer I decided I would literally stop and taste the blackberries. So mid walk, I would scan the bushes for the plumpest, most delicious looking berries, stop, grab a few and continue on with my walk. It was just a berry or two, but the romantic in me felt strongly about experiencing to the fullest the natural world around me. I needed to enjoy the blackberries before they were gone.

All was well with this plan.

Until the Game On! Diet.

This morning on my walk I passed the heavily laden bushes and noticed a berry I could NOT pass up. One berry. I grabbed it and tossed it in my mouth and continued on my way.

"I should really have the kids pick me some berries for a blackberry crisp," I thought to myself. Quickly, I realized that blackberry crisp did not have any part of my 5 daily approved meals. This made me realize that by eating that one, little blackberry, I'd snacked--a major no-no in The Game.

A 10 point deduction in The Game.

I was devastated. How could I do this to my team? And it was 7am! I had the whole day ahead of me and had just started it off with snacking.

I then remembered the 100 calorie rule. I can have 100 calories of anything I want during the day, as long as it is consumed all at the same time. I could count my one blackberry as part of the 100 calories and still potentially have a perfect day. I was saved.

Out of curiosity, I googled how many calories one blackberry had when I got home.

One blackberry has one calorie.

...

It's OK. I'd rather give up my 99 calories than take a 10 point deduction and let the Super Ninja Bootie Busters down.

That's our team name.

Pretty awesome, no?