Day Three!

HEY! I've survived three day's on this craziness and have lost 3 lbs as of this morning! The first day was not bad, although I had to go to the grocery store, and that is always hard for me. I came out with some mozz/cheddar string cheese sticks and wasabi edammame nuts, which were really yummy! Okay, so those weren't on the diet, but helped me make it though the day. For breakfast I had the oatmeal raisin bar, which was quite good, shake was a french vanilla shake, also good, and trust me, I've never tolerated a shake as a meal, but it worked. Lunch was the chicken noodle soup, which was good, but needed some zip, I added some s&p, heavy on the p...haha. Afternoon snack I had on the way to the store, and it was the peanut butter crunch bar. It was VERY good so far as bars go. I pee'd like a race horse ALL day long. Lost 2.5 lbs the first day. From peeing, I assume.

Day two: wanted to eat ALL day, just for the sake of eating. Wasn't that I was hungry, just had the "I wanna eats" so in and amongst all the prepackaged stuff, I fixed two pork chops and had a diet cherry cola. Wasn't even hungry by dinner time, but had to feed the husband, so I had him grill some chicken breast and the other 2 pork chops. Had diced butternut squash, which was hum ho...but made some AWESOME slaw from broccoli slaw mix I picked up the day before. Made it through the rest of the day without eating anything.

Got up this morning and had lost another .5 lb. That makes you feel good. Now what doesn't make me feel good is that DH started cutting back on Monday also, and has lost 7 lbs already! GRRRRRRRR MEN! Today was an okay day, wasn't hungry much. I did fix tostadas for dinner and probably shouldn't have had the shells, but they were only around 7 carbs per shell, so I didn't think that was bad. Had no cheese, so I loaded it up with spring mix and tomatoes, lots of taco sauce and sour cream. REALLY good. I had nothing else after dinner. I know I'm not following the "Medi-fast" program the way they lay it out exactly, but I gotta get through these first few days! I also need to place another order!

For now, I'm okay with it!

Okay...I know it's been awhile...LOL, like, last year?! What has happened in my life since that time? Too much to tell, so let's just stick to the major's. Moving and diet.

We moved to Nashville to a HUGE old house and are having a ball. Lovin' that we can just get in the car and eat anywhere we like within 5 minutes instead of 35, lovin' the 13 acres and will definitely love the pool when it ever gets warm enough to get in!

On the diet front...weigh more now than I did when I created this blog, tried Flat Belly diet, hormone replacement AND weight watchers in the last 7 months. Hate weight watchers, I always have, never lose enough to keep me motivated, although I had positive effects from the HRT weight loss was not one of them, and due to the negatives, I have been temporarily taken off of them for at least 3 months. I had a major voice change and no longer have enough vocal range to sing anything except alto or low tenor LOL...AND excessive hair growth in places a woman would rather not have hair. HA! The doctor seen a pattern in my estrogen that he wasn't sure about and felt it better to just discontinue treatment and draw blood for the next 3 months to see why it's bouncing up and down. I miss the energy that HRT gave me, and some days find it hard to put one foot in front of the other.

However, I am DESPERATE to lose this 40 lbs. Today I started Medi-fast. I know it's going to be hard. I know I'm going to act like a spoiled child and whine about it. I know I'm going to be hungry for the first week, but, I have made up my mind that I am going to do this for at least 6 weeks. I have a "mini-goal" of 20 lbs by the second week of June, in time for my yearly Vegas trip! I'll have a week off...then, back home to buckle down for the next 20. I know I can do it, I just have to find the "zone" to put my mind into. I have SOME how got to chance my relationship with food, and think of it as fuel for my body, rather than an escape. If I can look at food as purely nutrition to feed my body, I think I can change the destructive pattern I've been in for the last 20 years.

I am definitely going to try to keep up with my blog as added accountability. Will ya'll keep me motivated????

Plan of attack

I am on day 27 of my diet. As usual I have royally screwed things up. I should have been down AT LEAST 10 lbs, but I've yo yo'ed back and forth at a piddly 4 lb loss. AARRRGGGG I'm SO frustrated! However, the tape shows a loss in the belly of over 2" and 1" in the waist....so, I'm wondering WHY my clothes don't feel any looser?



I do "okay" during the week, but I totally lose it on the weekends! I'm not saying I go all out, but I tend not to follow the rules! To be totally honest with you, I really HATE rules...LOL. I mean, does anyone really like rules in any area of our lives? I feel like it's my God given mandate to be able to eat anything I want to eat, and be the size I want to be. Unfortunately, my body doesn't think the same way.



So whats my strategy? hhhmmmm....I don't know. This weekend is Labor day, which means company, which means celebrating, which means, FOOD, and not of the diet kind. I've tried eating miniscule portions of the bad stuff, when I just couldn't muster up whatever I needed for the good stuff....still doesn't work. Okay, my stategy is this...I'm thinking that (don't laugh) just maybe it could be hormonal. I mean, come on...you can't slash your calories for the last 30 days by half, add exercise, and NOT lose weight! Doesn't add up. Sure, I've had my cheats, but overall, come on, there should be something to show for it.



SO, plan #1: I have an appointment today with the Hormone Replacement Center in Nashville. The process is this...they do your bloodwork, find out what hormones are low or missing, have the MIA's identically created, made into a pellet about the size of a grain of rice, and insert it into your butt cheek. It lasts for around 4 months. The appointment today, is to "consult" with the physician, nail down all my symptoms (I'll probably add a few new ones to their already long list) and to go over package plans. They want you to pay for a full year up front (not happening) and then get your insurance to re-imburse you (which is probably also not happening) unfortunately, they are an "out of network provider" so, insurance may not pay any...if not, that's a deal breaker!



Plan #2: I go back to my former internist (insurance will pay) who had me on the blood sugar medicine, thyroid pill, phenteremin, and God knows what else....I did lose 30lbs, but that was because they had the dosages so high on the blood sugar meds, that I was so nauseated I couldn't eat and had constant diarrhea! LOL! Now that's a combination for weight loss! Not exactly how you want to spend your days though...



I've thought of other strategies...a fillet knife to just whittle my mid-section to the shape I would have it be (but that would be painful)...finding a corset from the 1800's who's strings weren't dry rotted (this would also be painful)...wrapping myself in plastic wrap and laying in the sun for 4 hours (that would be downright nuts).... naw...guess I'll just keep trying, and talk myself into going back to the gym UGH! I really hate that place.. = /



So, how in the world have YOU been!

Todays breakfast was Banana split oatmeal:
1/2 cup quick oats cooked to consistency of my liking
1/4 cup strawberries
1/4 cup bananas
1 tbsp chocolate chips
2 tbsp chopped walnuts

Some where around 365 calories! I swapped walnuts for the peanuts they called for and am not sure if theres much difference in the calorie count.

Had one cup of coffee this morning with 1 tbsp of half and half. I am TRYING to cut this out, but so far have not talked myself into it! lol....things are not going as speedy as I'd like...but you know what they say, you didn't put it on overnight, and it's not coming off overnight!

Stacey and I are heading out with Bri for a bike ride on the trail. Stacey says we are going the full 8 miles...

Exercise!

Wow, exercise is really hard for me. I don't know why....well, yes, I do know why. There are SO many things I'd rather do instead! But for today, I made myself: get dressed, comfortable clothes, tennis shoes, hair in pony-tail, get my blackberry, headphones, bottle of water with the little frozen stick I had to get on my knees to dig out of the bottom of the freezer, put in some ice cubes, frozen stick, leaf of mint....find my purse, truck keys, out the door, put said purse and water bottle in truck, dig bicycle out of shed, close doors back, load bicycle in back of truck.....drive down to bike riding trail, wait on dork guy to get in his truck and move so I could park in the shade, get out, hide purse in secret place in truck, grab water bottle, lock truck, unload bike, hang keys on front, put water bottle in holder, turn on Pandora radio on blackberry, adjust headset in ears, walk bike up the hill, get on bike and commence to pedal!

OKAY!!!! Does anyone know why exercise is so hard???? I mean, come on! Just preparing to commit the act of exercising is a workout all of its own!

So, I rode two miles, got tired, stopped, got off bike, sat at picnic table and checked in on FaceBook on blackberry, sipped water, listened to river running, slapped at bugs that were biting me, seen people with walking dogs a short distance off and didn't want to deal with people or their dogs, so I jumped back on my bike and rode the two miles back to truck.

Now, everything I did in the first paragraph, reverse it and that's what it took for me to ride 4 miles today! Now, why was it I don't really care to exercise?

Wow, I'm tired.......

Week 3?

Okay, so I'm not very good at this blogging things....too many things more important, I think!

Just an update on the new WOE (way of eating.)

I guess I'm doing okay so far, that was at least until today! Dear Daughter was cooking dinner for the family, so I offered dessert.....I was making a peanut butter cake for someones birthday, and thought since I was in the kitchen...well, ha! I made choc chip caramel cupcakes, and a mixed nut pie that I concocted a recipe for! I did try a smallish piece of the pie, and it was totally yummy. The nuts were just a thin crunchy layer resting atop a thick gooey base on a flaky crust! yum. Oh, this is my diet blog, ahem! back to the diet....okay, since I'm confessing, because my hospital visit to my Mom coincided with my dinner time, and I missed dinner at dear daughters, my choices were drive thru, sit down by myself, or go home and rustle some dinner. I would love to tell you that is what I did, but it wasn't. I caved and drove thru McD's and got a Mcdouble and small fry and unsweet tea. Okay, bad, but not terribly bad. Just bad that McDonald's is not into healthy fats, and I didn't bring one along as my new WOE requires. All in all, things could have been worse!

I am now down by 4.5 lbs, 1" in the waist and 2" in the belly. Seems such slow going, but since I have the rest of my life to lose this weight, in prospective, my progress is not so shabby!

Happy Eating.....
Ty

After years of up and down weight loss, I have finally settled on an eating plan that will last the rest of my life! Yeah, yeah, I know we've all said this at one time or the other....but for once, I am happy with my food! I've never been able to say that before....

My vehicle of choice is the "flat belly diet" designed by the editors of Prevention Magazine. Pretty simple and straightforward, in loose parameters, this is it in a nut shell, 4 meals, 4 hours apart, 400 calories each, including adding a MUFA (monounsaturated fatty acid). For all the specifics, you can go to http://www.flatbellydiet.com/ and no, I am not a paid advertiser!

You start off with a 4 day anit-bloat, which frankly was a waste of my time, because I didn't do it just exactly as it was written, lol, go figure. Couldn't just give up my coffee for 4 days, and I just wanted to eat much more than I was supposed to. I didn't do too badly, but really only made it for 3 days, and the breakfast of the 4th. From there it was all downhill. I did lose 2.5 lbs and 1" in my waist, however, I promptly put 3lbs back on over the weekend. That's me, up and down like a yo-yo. However, suffice it to say, what I lost was water, what I put back on was water. Simple. It's just designed to give you a "jumpstart" which is what it is referred to on the website. I just feel like, I didn't really need to suffer those 3 days, just to lose water. I want to see the REAL weight come off. You know, the kind that makes your clothes fall off of you, and people that haven't seen you in awhile, go, OMG!!!! What have you DONE!!!! I haven't heard words like that in more years than I can remember.

So, I started on the real bare bones plan this past Monday. Today is Tuesday, and I feel good about yesterday. I did go over my recommended sodium levels, but alls fair in love and war = ) and weightloss is somewhat like a war...requires really good strategy!
I like that my plan is kinda "multiple choice". The ranges are generous, such as 1300 - 1500 calories, 135 - 230 g's of carbs, 30 - 55 g's of fat, you get the picture. Have I mentioned yet that I absolutely HATE weight watchers? LOL....whoa, stop screaming at me!!!! It's just never worked for me. I freak out when I go over that point threshold. I fantasize all day about what I can cram into those limited points...I want the junk, and if it's an option, I'll spend everyone of those little points on junk, and be starving all day long. The beauty of my current plan is the MUFA's keep you feeling full, satisfied and is the trick to attacking the belly fat. My good friend Kelly and I had an epiphany years ago while on WW's...it isn't FAT that makes us fat...it's SUGAR!! Strange, but because I can have deep dark chocolate on my current way of eating, I do not crave or even MISS sugar. I never thought that was possible.

I must say that low carb did more damage to my body and thinking than I thought was possible. I did manage to lose 30 lbs two different times in my weight loss history on it, but the minute I went back to "normal" eating, the weight came back on in the strangest places and has refused to budge since.

I've quit obsessing about the scales, if I can weight 180 and still wear a 10, who gives a flip! Not that I think that will actually happen, but hey, who knows!

Anyhow, for today, I am happy.