Are the Holidays over yet?

Chaos! That's what the holidays feel like to me. Here I'm going along losing 2.5 pounds a week--like clockwork. Then a child who I haven't seen in four months comes home for two weeks, we go on vacation (in a record-setting snow storm) and celebrate Christmas. This was more action in two weeks than I see in a year. And talk about sticking to my black and white eating regimen--well that was out the window.

I missed two classes and gained 2.5 pounds during this time. If I had not been on this regimen it would have been more like 10 pounds. Honestly I think I did all right for going on vacation and celebrating Christmas. I ate out in restaurants a few times on vacation and took part in two Christmas dinners. I did no exercise though and that would have really helped.

After last night's weigh in I got my focus back. Today I stayed "in the box" as we say. Started my morning with two cups of coffee, but instead of reading every word of the newspaper I got my butt on a bike and rode for 30 minutes.

Funny story about that 30 minutes.... Twenty-five Wednesday mornings a year I panic when I wake up and realize the housekeeper is coming and scramble to clean up so she can actually clean. While today was Wednesday I totally forgot she was coming and the house was "well lived in," but I was also hell bent on getting in my exercise. So.....I apologized to the poor woman and said, "Please just do the best you can. I realize it's a mess." Next I woke up my husband to let him know the housekeeper was in the house and he should get up. Still focused on working out I hustled downstairs plugged in my MP3 player and got on my bike. Thirty minutes later I was upstairs standing on the deck drinking water and cooling off when Mr. One-Wednesday- a -Year says, "How could you have just let her (housekeeper) in and then gone off and worked out. The kitchen was a mess and I had to put away the dishes, etc....."  I do this every Wednesday, I explained, and had already told the housekeeper to do the best she could with the way I had left things.  Why is it that I only hear about what I don't do? In another time--oh let's say this past September--I would have been upset and eaten a donut and then started the cycle of eating fat, sugar and butter. That did not happen this time. Yay me!

What's so fun about losing weight?

I'm at a place in my weight loss journey where it's actually fun and sometimes funny...

It's funny when your pants are too big and you have to go home and put on a belt. This happened to me this week. I was at the drugstore and I noticed that my pant legs were dragging the floor and I kept having to yank them up. Planning to do more shopping that day, I knew I could not go on to mall hoisting my pants up every few steps. Good problem to have.

On the other hand,  it was fun shopping for underwear for once. I didn't have to buy granny panties.

While shopping I tried on some sweaters in smaller sizes and was surprised that I could get into and look fine in most mediums. I've been living in XLs. Didn't buy anything but a few mock turtlenecks to get me through the next month--bought those in large since they were very inexpensive and will likely shrink.

It's also fun putting clothes in the dryer and not worrying about shrinkage. Right now all my clothes are a bit too big so dry away!

Traveling on the Diet part 2

I'm in Los Angeles this week and had to fly. Sooooo..... it took a little more thinking to than when I drove to Tennessee and could bring my kitchen! Essentially I figured out my minimum prescription and packed those items--shake packets, entrees and bars.

The flight was four hours so I knew I would need to eat and warming an entree was less hassle than making a shake on board. I was uncomfortable asking the flight attendants if they could warm my entree on the plane, because lately airline employees are a bit cranky. I was completely surprised that they not only warmed it, but took the time to come by and see if it was all right. They were so unusally nice I'm still surprised.

This morning I used the coffee maker to create hot water for my oatmeal and it worked beautifully. Bowl and spoon were packed in my luggage along with my Bullet shake maker.

What makes this trip so fun is that I packed some gorgeous clothes that I had not been able to wear for at least a year and a half. When I slipped into them it was the greatest feeling.Yay they fit and I look good in them. Oh and last night I was able to wiggle out of my jeans without unfastening them. I may need new jeans sooner than I thought.

Monday

Took the dogs on a long walk in the woods yesterday. It was refreshing for all of us to swish through the fallen leaves, find deer trails, and watch birds.

Stayed on track again this weekend. I will miss my class this week because I'll be out of town, but plan to stay true to my diet.

Got out some clothes I haven't worn in awhile and it was terrific that some were too big and others fit nicely. My mom gave me some things that didn't fit her anymore and I was able to say that they would not fit me because they are too big.

Last Night's Weigh In and Ice Skating

I peeled off another 1.5 pounds this week for a total of 17.5 pounds in seven weeks. Heading into the eighth week of the program I have a few challenges coming up. Next week I have a business trip with a few meal meetings and the next week I am going on vacation with my family--so eating out is a problem sometimes. Everyone in class assures me that just bringing along my entree is fine and that restaurants will heat it up for me. Still seems embarrassing though. But I guess since everyone else is ordering off the menu that it won't be like going to a restaurant alone and just taking up space and asking to have my own meal warmed.

Yesterday I ice-skated for over an hour at the outdoor rink in Frontier Park with my brother. It was a lot of fun since the park is decorated for Christmas and everyone who was skating was having a great time. My shins are sore today from my skate boot. Surprisingly I did not fall once!

Getting Dressed

Today I actually "slipped" into a pair of pants! No struggling with the closure, no sucking it in, no muffin top exposure. Feels good to have your clothes fit. I didn't have to go through my closet to see what might or might not fit. Just picked up a pair of cords and on they went. My exercise plan is to get to the skating rink before I go to my class tonight. Trying to embrace cold-weather out of doors activities.

Update post Thanksgiving

On the Tuesday prior to Thanksgiving I weighed in and had lost another pound. We usually weigh in on Thursdays, but since it was a holiday we did it earlier. Happy with the one pound.

On Thanksgiving I fully prepared to eat "inside the box" as we call it, but when I showed up at Matt's house I decided to eat what he had made. So I had a small plate with small amounts of turkey, mashed potatoes, greenbeans, stuffing, a roll and a small piece of pie. It was good and I'm glad I took part in the dinner, and also glad that I didn't over indulge. So not worth it.

Earlier in the day I watched the Macy's Day Parade while riding my stationary bike in the living room. My son and his friend brought it up from the basement a day earlier. Since then I've hopped on it a few times while watching a show. Not a bad way to burn calories.

As for exercise, I won't be winning any awards, but I have been moving! Sunday I walked with my good friend Lisa around Frontier Park. Monday night I revisited the infamous aqua boot camp class and yesterday was so gorgeous outside for a late November day that I took the dogs for a 3-mile walk. Today will probably be another water class or bicycling. Tomorrow I plan to ice skate at the new outdoor rink in Frontier Park.

On another note--and it's not a good one--I ate outside the box today. It was there and I ate it. Kind of surprised me to tell you the truth. I've been fending off "outside" food really well for 7 weeks and then today I just crumbled. I don't think it's huge deal, but not proud of it either.

Aqua Boot Camp--really????

The description in the brochure reads: "A high level cardiovascular workout using the properties of water, held in the shallow water. Combines an aerobic workout with muscle strengthening and flexibility." This sounds like the kind of high intensity class I'm looking for and anything with the name "boot camp" is going to be tough. Just what I need to get a start on burning my weekly minimum 2000 calories.

So when I come through the pool door ready to breathe hard and sweat and see the shallow end of the pool packed with seniors (70+) I think two things: 1) I'm early and this class is obviously ending; 2) I've been snowed by some clever copy writer at the Y.

The right answer is something in between. It was the right class -- I asked the hairy life guard and she pointed to the shallow end with the older adults bobbing up and down in the water. As I passed by the lady with the oxygen tank, my heart fell and I was kind of embarrassed. I thought, well I'm here I might as well do the work out.

I swam over to a woman who was a little older than me and started doing mini jumping jacks in the water. The instructor, who was wearing eyeglasses in the water and chewing gume was near the side of the pool and yelling out commands I couldn't understnad. I watched the woman next to me and mimicked her movements. "Rocking horse" the instructor yelled and everyone started to shift back and forth. Circles of women bobbed up and down ignoring the instructor and chatting with friends. Obviously this was a group who had been doing this for a long time and knew the rhythm of the class.

Mid class we switched to using water weights which added a little excitement and I noticed that my arms needed to work a little harder. Still it was easier than walking the dog.

Still, i noticed that once back in the car I was heated up and had to roll down the window to cool off.

Bottomline: Better than sitting on my rear-end, but not the high intensity cardiovascular work out I expected.

Week Five

Five weeks! I can hardly believe I've made it this long. Tonight is another weigh in and  I hope for 2 as usual, but will be happy with anything as long as it's down.

The food is getting a bit boring, and I have cravings for something crunchy--like chips or anything that will make noise in my mouth. (Ice doesn't count--it's not food.)

This week I've been into the mousse recipes and have been making double batches to share with Gannon. Gannon also discovered the benefit bars and likes them so much that my supply is kaput.

Exercise is not going so well.

Persistence Pays Off

At last night's weigh in I knocked off another 3.5 pounds, bringing the total to 12 pounds in 4 weeks. I am thrilled to pieces!!

Eating Out on the Plan

Talk about tough! The agenda for the trip included two hosted breakfasts, three hosted lunches and two hosted dinners. I skipped the breakfasts entirely and ate hot cereal in my room while reading the paper or watching the news. I skipped the lunch, but went to the dinner. Dinner wasn't so bad. Our host had called ahead and cleared it with them that I could bring my dinner to be heated up. There was a lot to talk about the first night and the meal went smoothly.

Day two though we went to a BBQ restaurant and the food was extremely enticing, but again I had my meal with me and they heated it up. It was really tough when everyone elses food showed up. The aroma was overwhelming.

Dinner--I skipped it. After the BBQ I didn't want to put myself through it. Lasagna in my room.

In the next city I left before any meals were on the agenda and high-tailed it home.

Weigh in tonight to see how it all worked out for me.

Tammy noticed that my face was thinner and this morning Gannon said I looked smaller.

Traveling on the Diet

I was weirded out about this week long trip and how I was going to manage the whole no eating out scenario, but my classmates helped me schedule the first day and then it really seemed manageable. I loaded all my meals for five days into a bin, threw in a hot pot and my bullet. I drove all day and was able to stay "clean" and luckily my room at the hotel has a microwave and a fridge--that will be very useful.

By my scale at home I broke a zero this weekend. I picked up my activity quite a bit and the scale shows the results. YEAH.

I even got into my first pair of challenge pants--jeans that I haven't worn since last February.

Boobs Go First

Last night I noticed that my bra was too big--figures that the boobs go first! Can't be the thighs or the celulite it has to be something I want to keep!

Halloween Weekend

I did not eat one single itsy bitsy peice of halloween candy! This is a first for me. Those seemingly little harmless bites of chocolate had absolutely no appeal to me whatsoever. This year I simply opened the door and let the kids grab a handful. In the past I would have bought more than I needed and then eaten a lot of those little candy bars. There were no leftovers to worry about either.

On Sunday I brought my mom a McDonald's hamburger and a chocolate shake -- it didn't bother me either to have that in the car. I kept thinking that the shake had something like 600 calories--mostly fat--and that an HMR shake only has 170. Honestly the HMR shake is just as tasty and satisfying.

My reward? Two new dolls for my collection.

Got in a walk today--only 4500 steps though. Need to get more exercise.

Second Weigh In

I slogged through the rain last night to get to my HMR class and was richly rewarded with a two pound loss. Pretty good after a 6.5 loss last week. I had been weighing myself every day and the scale didn't budge.

Cari--our fearless leader--talked about water retention and how that will cause fluctuation in our weight loss--especially for women. We even got a worksheet to calculate for water retained or lost. That will be interesting to track.

I noticed a change in the way one pair of my pants fit--subtle, but it's there.

Rode my bike for 30 minutes this morning--invigorating.

Despite illness still on target

A sinus infection has kept me from exercise for the past few days, but I stayed on the program food-wise. Honestly I slept all weekend. Today I got in 30-mins of bicycling. A quick check of the scale this morning shows no decrease. Kari believes this is because of the anti-biotics I'm on. We shall see.

I have had a harder time ignoring other food in the house this week. The first week I was immune to everything; this week I notice that I have to turn away from the foods that might be sitting out on the counter. I have a serious need to crunch on something.

First Week Weigh In

Last night I had my first official weigh in and lost 6.5 pounds. I was thrilled.

During class last night we went over the program in detail again and got to meet everyone. It's a nice group of people all eager to lose weight. We shared some experiences with mixing the shakes with additives and I learned a lot. You would think that mixing up a shake mix is a pretty easy deal, and I guess it is really, but no one tells you that putting soda in a bullet mixer will explode all over your kitchen. At least I didn't know that. I have tried many of the recipes in the book and so far like most of them. A warm shake at night is one of my favorites.

So many of us noted that we were not hungry even though we are eating substantially fewer calories each day. I think it's that the shakes that are so filling. We are supposed to experiment with a double shake today--which I will do later.

I'm interested in what people are doing to get the physical activity in and how they are scheduling it. So far I've walked, rode my stationary bike, gone swimming. Swimming was especially tough--I swam a few laps, then power walked a few laps and then swam some more--the idea was to keep moving for 30 minutes. I did it and it was exhausting. I don't understand people who say that you can't lose weight swimming--I was wiped out. Followed my swim with a 10 minute soak in the jacuzzi--wonderful treat. Today I have not done a thing--mainly because I have a crushing sinus headache.

Having been officially released by my podiatrist yesterday six months after bunion surgery though opens up a lot of possibilities. In November Steinberg opens and I am looking forward to some skating outside--hope my skates fit my new foot! I grew up in Normandy where we had a neighbrohood pond to skate on. They guys all played hockey on the biggest part, and the girls skated near the ends of the lake. It is one of my fondest memories. Today you aren't allowed to skate on the pond--what a shame. Actually we really weren't allowed to skate on it either because it was on a private estate and we just did it anyway. Occassionally the owners would yell at us and we'd have to leave, but most of the time they didn't chase us off. Ironically the land belonged to the owners of the local funeral home--Drehmans on Natural Bridge.

If it gets cold enough this year I'd like to go to the lake we built -- Lake Jasper-- and do some skating. We could build a huge bonfire and have a great time. One of the things on my life's list is to skate at Rockefeller Plaza in New York!

Day 6 on the HMR program

I would have written a lot sooner, but my laptop had a breakdown Friday and I just got it back today! It's a very fast working program and I've wanted to write about the success I'm having.

Friday was the first day to use the program and I was so hopeful all day. For the first time in ages I had hope and was crazy happy. "I CAN DO THIS."

Well it's the sixth day and I've lost 5 pounds. Yep, 5 pounds. I've followed the program to the T--3 shakes, 2 entrees, 2 vitamins, 2 quarts of water, and 2 cups of coffee (the coffee is my limit.) No other food.

The program stipulates that you burn 2000 calories through physical activity a week. Which is about a 285 calorie minumum  a day. I have been doing pretty good with that--averaging about 300+ a day. Saturday I took a "BodyFlow" class at the gym--mixture of Yoga and Pilates--great work out. Anyone who thinks Yoga is easy has never taken a class!  I've been walking since the weather is wonderful. I also rode my stationery bike for 30 minutes yesterday. Today I'm going to the gym to swim. (ugh a swimming suit).

The photo that got my attention

Today I uploaded a photo taken of me a month ago. I knew I had gotten big, but geez, I didn't think I had gotten that big. Yikes, what a heiffer.

Tonight I see a physicarn who will let me know if I qualify for the program -- I think it goes without saying that I will get in. "No, I'm sorry, you're not fat enough! Come back when you've gained some weight."

There is a two - hour class to follow and then I will officially start the program. Got to admit that I'm a bit scared to start. This program is going to be a HUGE change for me, but if I'm going to put in the $ and the time I'm going to do it. I really need to -- as you can see.

I had a "sit down" with my husband and son about a week ago and they seem pretty supportive. My son said that he didn't need the sweets that I was bringing home for him--which is a big deal.  I will be eating only the food the program provides which disrupts the family meal cycle. shopping, cooking, cleaning up--all disrupted. I hope my husband will stop asking me "What's for dinner?" every night since I won't be actively participating in the shopping, planning, etc. and the fact that he generally prepares dinner every night.

One last time

Over the past few weeks as I have been leading up to starting the HRM program I've been eating things "for the last time." Yeah, yeah, I know that in the diet world saying "last time," "never again" etc. is supposedly setting myself up to fail because I will feel deprived. Well, sorry. I can't help it. I have willingly read everything that has come my way about dieting and losing weight and there is no stopping the constant  stream of dos and don'ts that invades my head.

I've had at least 5 "last time" chocolate shakes, 3 chesseburgers, 1 toast with butter and honey, 1 PBJ sandwich.... Yes, I am living it up, but somehow I beleive that when I start the program I will be ready to make this very big change and begin to lose the many pounds that I've gained.

For me it will be an All or Nothing project.

How I got here

This past July I asked my doctor about the lapband procedure because I had seen a doc on TV say that if you have 30 or more pounds to lose, this is your best bet. I have 62 pounds to lose, but evidently I'm not fat enough. I don't qualify unless I go to Mexico. I do qualify for the Low Calorie and the Very Low Calorie Diet options in the Health Management Resources Program (HMR) in the United States, so I guess I'll do it the hard way.

To get into the program I had to attend an orientation program -- about 60 minutes--to learn about the options that are available. Then I had to have some blood work done and a 12 point EKG. Today I met with a great nurse named Kathy who spent 90 minutes with me going over my health profile and talking about possible risks, etc. It was thorough and made me really comfortable about signing up. Still I'm not totally cleared to enroll!

Thursday I will meet with a doctor for another health assessment before I can attend the first class. While is all seems like overkill, it has made me think seriously about my weight and the project of losing it.