T + 37 Days - WEIGH IN WEEK FIVE

It's a miracle! I have reached my first "unspoken" goal: dropped below the dreaded 170 pound mark! It's been probably 10 or 12 years since I've been able to get below 170 pounds. I am amazed. I can't believe it. Check out my stats!

Does this inspire me to keep losing, you want to know? HELL YES, IT DOES. 150 pounds doesn't seem that far away anymore. 140 pounds seems a lot closer and almost, dare I say it, reasonable! Crazy, I know! 


I did the numbers on the BMI calculator and was so happy to see that I am only 10 pounds away from being within the "normal weight" BMI range for the first time that I can remember since my late twenties. That's a piece of cake...er...um, celery, I mean.

T + 30 Days - WEIGH IN WEEK FOUR

Here are the stats for week 4...



I'm a little disappointed in my weight loss this week. One pound! Man! You would think that an average calorie intake of 600 per day would yield just slightly more than one pound. It is kind of nice that I have lost another 2 1/2 inches since the last measurement two weeks ago. I can really notice the difference. It is amazing how much better my clothes fit me! My bra fits, I mean really comfortably fits around the circumference of my body. Usually, it's hanging on for dear life by the last hooks, ripping from the seams, as my third and forth rolls spill over the top and bottom of the elastic back. Now, I bypass the third hooks and the second...I've graduated to the first! And NO fat roll spillage! Yes! That is a delicious feeling.

I had planned to wait to purchase new clothes until I reached my goal weight, but I don't think it's possible to wait anymore. My pants keep falling off and my work pants don't have belt loops, so very soon I will be walking the halls at work and my slacks will just wiggle off. That will be the embarrassing side of weight loss and I don't want to go there! So, maybe this week I'll head out for a good Steinmart spree. Yipee!

T + 23 Days - WEIGH IN WEEK THREE

Yes, I know, I'm totally slacking on the blog thing! I just have no motivation to get on the computer after being on the computer all day! With luck, new inspiration will come to me soon.

In the meantime, I do want to share some great news...my three week weigh in was yesterday. Here are the stats!

T + 19 Days

It's humiliating when you break a deal with yourself in front of friends. I know I have been away from the blog a few days and have no good excuse. I have an excuse, it's just not good.

Thursday and Friday at work were busier than I have been in ages -- and with me, that is busy. Once I made it home, all I wanted to do was eat my meager meal and hit the sack...and that's what I did. Friday, I missed lunch altogether and actually forgot to go get my shots at Medi-Weightloss. By the time I remembered, the clinic was closed.

In other words, I neglected my health for my job. This is a familiar path for me and not one I want to travel down again. Fortunately, I have had a wonderfully restorative day today and had the meditative time to see that I was beginning to dabble in a little of that old familiar self sabotage. I took some time to refocus on my goal, give myself a pat on the back (I mean 8.8 pounds and 1" gone in 2 weeks deserves some self-respect) and count my blessings.

In order to figure out what those blessing were, I decided to list some of my favorite life things to help remind me why I want to be lose weight, be healthy, happy and whole:

• Cardinals chirping at dawn
• The green tint the world takes on when a storm is coming in summer
• Night birds singing
• Clean sheets
• Open windows in springtime
• The snooze button
• The smell of sun-kissed skin
• A tall, cold glass of water on a hot day
• Popping bubble-wrap
• Confections
• Getting a bra that actually fits
• Feeling as safe with my husband as I did with my parents
• Finding old friends...and they still love you
• Doggie Birthday parties (Dexter and Roo, One & Two, April 1st!)

Taking a deep breath and a starting fresh tomorrow. 

T + 16 Days

Below are a few nuggets of knowledge that I have gleaned from my weight loss journey:

• Your weight effects you in many ways other than your appearance.
• Self-esteem
• Health risks
• Depression
• Physical Ability
• To lose weight effectively, you have to permanently change four aspects of your life:
• What you eat
• How you eat
• Your behavior 
• Your activity level
• Small goals are easier to reach than big ones.
• Don't weigh yourself every day. That is just depressing and will be discouraging.
• You must have a good support system. Your inner voice can be loud. It's good to have outer voices that can drown it out. 
• Go public. Tell everyone you know that you are going on a diet. It will hold you more accountable. 
• Meditate.
• Don't compare yourself to other people. You are the warm, calm center of the Universe. No one else is you.
• Keep a food journal, like I do on FatSecret.com. It keeps you focused and accountable to yourself.

I'm sure I'll come up with plenty more as I travel down this path, but so far, those are the big ones that I have noticed.

T + 15 Days - WEIGH IN WEEK TWO

 I'm just going to let the numbers speak for themselves!!! 

T + 14 Days

Monday, Monday. Another week has started, which means another week ended. How would I evaluate my own personal progress so far? I would say I have followed the program about 75% of the way; unfortunately, I have not been able to get in any of the recommended exercise during the second week. I know, I know, there is really more than enough time in the day to do it, but I suppose that the regiment of pill taking and food measuring still has me a little encompassed in those activities related to the weight loss and the exercise seems secondary. Once I feel like I have a 100% handle on the food, then I think I will be able to approach exercise. 


I think I am starting to let go of those cravings for food that I used to have. It reminds me of when I quit smoking. The first three or four days were so hard; all I could do was think about cigarettes. They were my friends, my companions. I missed them. I had to tell myself to get through each day in five minute increments. By the end of the first week, I was forgetting that urge at my usual smoke break times; by the end of the second week, I was free. I think I am almost free of food cravings now. Don't get me wrong...I would love to have a submarine sandwich on crusty French bread with roast beef and swiss, but I don't need it and won't pout if I don't get it. I know that French Bread will be the end of me, so I won't do it, just like I know I won't have that cigarette, ever. 


I just remember the first Medi-Weightloss "Tip For Successful Weight Loss":

• Be Positive - One of your biggest obstacles in weight loss is yourself. If you think you are overweight, you likely will be. If you believe it is only based on genetics and has nothing to do with you, you will never know and you will never lose weight. Your weight needs a positive nudge in the right direction. Be optimistic about your weight. The more control you feel that you have, the more control you actually will have. 

T + 12 Days

Yesterday I cheated a little. Not on the diet, but on the blog posting. Sorry about that. I have to tell you, my week was long and stressful and I was in a mood. What kind of mood, you ask? Well, the kind that generally would have resulted in my begging dearest husband to either:

1. Take me to a restaurant where they serve tons of bread and have at least 20 items whose descriptions end in "smothered in mozzarella cheese" or
2. Take me to a restaurant where they serve tons of tortilla chips and have at least 20 items whose descriptions end in "smothered in Queso."

Of course, the dinner would have been followed by a trip to Marble Slab Creamery, Jeremiah's Italian Ice or Cold Stone Creamery, no matter how full and disgusting we felt. Why? Isn't it obvious? Because I deserved it. I had a bad week. I remember one time we went to Fishbone's Orlando and the food was so amazing, we ate so much I literally could not sit up straight in the car seat on the way home. Not only did I have to recline the seat back as far as it would go, I also had to unbutton and unzip my pants. I'm just a girl who can't say no! 

Which brings me to today. We knew that "events" might be a challenge when it came to eating. How would I handle myself? Would I find an excuse to cheat? Today is our 6th wedding anniversary, so we were teetering on if we should go traditional, tempt fate and head to a restaurant or if we should just bite the bullet and hang at home. Without really planning it, during a day of consuming (going out and buying things we don't really need), dearest hubby found himself hungry. I, of course, being the warm, calm center of the Universe and on appetite suppressants could probably go for days on the "fat of the land" right now, but hubs is still a calorie burning, food consuming machine, albeit eating much better now that I am dieting. So anyway, we found ourselves "out there"...in the wild...needing sustenance. As a side note, there are many, many fast food restaurants open in the Longwood/Lake Mary area at 1:30 p.m. on a Saturday, but there are virtually no sit down restaurant open (until 3:00 p.m. or later). We drove around for about an hour before finally stumbling upon a Romano's Macaroni Grill. I was thinking I could order a fish dish and eat in serious moderation and maybe stay in a decent calorie range and have to admit, I was a little worried. We sat down and the waitress came over and wrote her name upside down on the paper table cloth and reached over to pour big globs of olive oil onto a plate (the prelude to the nummy bread) and my darling supportive husband said, "No, we won't need that. We are watching what we eat." Our waitress, Shannon, looked at us both and said, "Well, do you want me to go get you our other menu then? It has 10 items on it that are less than 600 calories." Other menu? What is this? Is there some hidden world for dieters I was unaware of? This menu has never been presented to me before. Interesting! I learned from Shannon that you have to ask. Hmmm. I like it. 

I had a wonderful warm Scallop and Spinach salad: Seared sea scallops with fresh spinach, wilted and tossed with aged prosciutto, roasted garlic, fresh lemon and extra virgin olive oil. It was only 360 calories. I even reconstructed its ingredients in FatSecret.com to make sure and hit it pretty much right on the nose. The thing that fascinated me the most was that if I had not been on this diet, there is no way I would have ever branched out and tried such an amazing and wonderful dish. Nice going, Romano's. Really good job. 

Fat Barbie

Ha. See, it's not just me.

T + 10 Days

Today was a good test of the Medi-Weightloss diet and philosophy which is to make eating well your way of life while feeling a sense of well being. My environment conspired in every way to tempt me to fail by adding as many stressors onto me as possible. I was able to fend off every attempt to get me to backslide: the "unexpected news" stressor -- candy bar needed, please! The "friend eating pizza right next to you" stressor: can I have a bite or maybe just let me have that, m-kay? The "my crisis is now your crisis" stressor: don't I have any double movie butter popcorn in my file cabinet? Through all that misery, I managed to stay on my diet without even blinking. Not only that, but I was able to remain calm in a couple of situations that normally may have sent me into some crazy, irrational stress reaction, like eating a Kit-Kat and a Milky Way bar after eating a meal replacement bar and some popcorn after a Philly Cheese-steak and onion rings for lunch. 


I did get a good giggle today. A group of us are going to lunch tomorrow and it was decided to let me pick where we should go. One of my friends said, "Why is she picking? All she is going to order is a diet coke and a plate". That cracked me up. With friends like that....

T + 9 Days

Since I'm on my second week today, I can now add either one cup of vegetables and one cup of fruit (off of a specific list, of course) or two of one or the other, plus my 500 protein calories. I have to make sure not to exceed 20 grams of carbs, but that is the only restriction. 

So here I sit, at 7:20 pm, after having had an EAS protein shake for breakfast and 3.5 ounces of chicken breast for lunch, not hungry. I have planned out dinner. I can have 2 ounces of spinach (which is ridiculous in size, so I think I cut it to about .5 ounces) and 3 ounces of cucumber. Topping off dinner is 5.5 ounces of salmon. It smells great, looks great, but I'm not hungry. This is an odd sensation. I thought for sure I would be insane for salad by now once I could have it, but I'm not. I don't seem to care. Weird. I can also not seem to get over the 500 calorie per day mark now that I am used to it. You would think I would have the opposite problem! 

If I can ever get home early enough to begin exercising, I am hoping that will change the whole equation. Until then, I still feel great, just seem to want to eat less. Not a bad thing!

T + 8 Days - WEIGH IN WEEK ONE

Woot Woot! I had my first weeks weigh in today and guess what? There really is a payoff to the 500 calories per day! I lost 5.6 pounds! I am so excited! Unreal. Nothing like having satisfying instant (relatively) gratification. It inspires me to lose more and eat less. Well, not less than 500 calories per day, but less than an elephant with a thyroid problem and a mean sweet tooth. 


I still find myself amazed at how easy this diet really has been. The people at Medi- Weightloss are so supportive and the one I go to in Winter Park  has a great crew. As they said on "Cheers", sometimes it's nice to go where everybody knows your name. 


The only part of this diet, er, um, new way of life that has not been successful is my Ketosis level. The Medi-Weightloss diet is a ketogenic diet. Which is what, you say? Ketosis is basically defined as the build-up of ketones in your bloodstream where your body produces ketones for fuel. When this happens your blood ketone concentration is higher than your glucose concentration. Ketosis drastically lowers insulin; which in turn causes your pancreas to start producing glucagon. After this happens while on a ketogenic diet, your body will basically go into a dramatic fat burning mode. Ketones are by products of fat metabolism and are an alternative source of fuel for the brain, heart, skeletal muscle and other oxygen requiring tissues to utilize in times of starvation, carbohydrate restriction or extended periods of exercise. A ketogenic type diet occurs basically by starving your body of carbohydrates and sugars. Glucagon is what determines if and how much ketones are produced in your bloodstream. 

So what does it mean that my Ketone levels are negative? Basically, although my body is being starved and shocked by being denied all of the sugars and carbs, it still thinks everything is cool. My body still doesn't feel in crisis enough to start burning the fat as an alternative fuel source.


I guess it's because I've been holding on to my fat for a long time. Or maybe because in my dreams I eat big slices of chocolate cake drenched in hot fudge smothered in cherries and ice cream. Whatever. 5.6 pounds works for me either way!

T + 7 Days

Yes, I skipped a day of the blog. God rested on Sunday so I should be allowed to as well. That is all I'm going to say about that. Humph.

I just read this and cracked up: "I Wish Someone would Do Something About How Fat I Am". Why is it so funny? To me, because it hits so close to home. I sat around for years just knowing that I was packing on those pounds and did nothing...except blame: blame holidays, blame my health, blame work, blame my schedule, blame boredom, blame, blame, blame. I would go to bed at night so disappointed in  myself over what I ate, feeling that acid churning in my stomach from the blend of Chic-Fil-A from breakfast, pizza from lunch and Mexican food from dinner. It was never enough, though, to keep me from doing it...day after day after day. I was like a squirrel packing away nuts for a long winter.

What was finally enough? What did it? I don't know for sure. Maybe knowing for sure that I was losing control over my weight as I had lost control over my smoking. I don't like losing control. I don't like people to ever get the impression I have lost control, even if I really am losing control. When you're fat, there is no hiding that you have lost control. It shows everywhere. Your clothes are too tight, you have three chins, you huff and puff going up and down stairs, your skin looks bad, you lose your energy.

I am ready to be in control again. I am in my happy Zen place. I am the warm, calm center of the Universe. And even though when you Google my zip code and 2,050,000 results for "restaurant" come up in .49 seconds, I vow to drive past them all.