Amazing

Well, I think I've got the hang of dieting. I've been going strong all week and staying on plan. I still get hungry but it's usually right before a meal which works out.

One funny thing I"ve noticed is that I've been eating lunch later. For the past two days I've had lunch at 1pm instead of 11:30 like I use to. I normally eat breakfast at 7:30 or 8am. In the past I could barely make it to 11:30 for lunch time. Now I forget about it and don't get hungry til later. It's awesome because then I can eat dinner later as well. I felt like such an old lady eating at 5pm. Now I survive until 6pm. (Probably couldn't do much later than that though)

Weight loss is going strong, lost 2 pounds over the weekend. I hoping today will show another loss as well. I really want to be able to say I've lost 10 pounds..woo hoo.

Still Struggling

Well, I'm still struggling with the diet but I've stuck to it for the past couple days. I haven't lost any weight this week either. When I don't show any loss in the scales it's hard for me to stay motivated. However, I've been thinking of things I'm doing wrong and aren't making this diet as effective as it should be.

1. I take my carb blocker and herbs right before a meal. You are suppose to take it 15 minutes before you eat so it can prevent you from over eating. This is hard because I don't think about it until it's time to eat. In fact at lunch today I didn't think about it til afterwards. I need to work on that.

2. I was watching tv while I ate. When I eat and watch tv I tend to forget that I ate and I'm hungry again. So I've gone back to eating at the dinner table. I might even need to stop eating at my desk at work so I can remember my food.

3. Need to get out and do more. When I'm home or bored I tend to eat. If I'm out doing stuff I tend to forget that I'm hungry. Exercise will be the best cure for this.

4.Not exercising. I've been so tired that I just haven't exercised. Instead I need to work my way back up to long exercise routines.

If I do the above I think I can start losing weight again. If not I'm not sure what I will do.

Ok, I combined two of my goals today. One to exercise and the other to take some photos. I went out for a bike ride and took my camera.

There was great light and a great sky because of the fires in California. It had a red look to it. Here is a photo of the sky. So I thought I would take a picture of myself riding my bike. Wow,I feel a lot skinner than I look on my bike.

Well, the bike ride probably wasn't the best idea. It's very hazy because of the smoke. Can you believe it's this hazy in Colorado because of a fire in CA? It must be a huge fire. Anyways, it was hard riding and I was glad to be home by the end of it. It was a hour with lots of stopping to take pictures. I think I will do a shorter ride tomorrow.

September Goals

Ok, I've been watching way too much TV lately and vegging just too much. At first I blamed it on being tired from not eating enough. However, I think that is over now. I'm feeling a bit better and can get out and do stuff. So I need to set some goals for myself for the month of September. To stick to the goals, I will talk about them every Friday in this blog and show my progress.

September Goals

1. I want to lose 2 pounds a week - This one is very obvious but maybe writing it down will make it more real.

2. Bike to work once a week for the month.- I've been doing this most of the summer. I shouldn't stop now just cause it's a little colder. I just need to get enough food in my system before I leave.

3. Stick to the diet everyday - At first I wrote 80% of the days, then 90% of the days but I can stick to the diet 100% of the time. Just going to set my mind to it.

4.Exercise 5 days a week - Doesn't matter what kind of exercise. I might play wii, walk, a short bike ride, or weight lifting. Anything I do will be for at least 30 minutes. I just need to be more active than I have been.

5. Upload a photograph for every day of the week with a max of 5 on any day. Doesn't matter where I upload it to. It could be here or flickr or facebook but I have to take it with my good camera not my iphone. - My photography has really been lagging and if I"m going to get good at this I need to be committed to it.

6. Do something productive each week. - I have a whole list of things I would like to get done and cleaning house does not count.

Week #2 Recap

I"m not sure if I should call this week #1 or week #2. I started this diet 11 days ago. Week #1 was the detox week and week #2 was the first full week of the diet. However, we will go with week #2 just cause it's been that long.

Well, week 2 was harder than I thought it would be. I started the week trusting in the diet process and by the end I was so ready to quit. I didn't lose any weight until Friday where I lost 1.5 pounds. I just feel like that loss wasn't worth the pain and grief I went through during the week. So I kind of gave up. Friday night I went to taco bell and had a chicken soft taco. I was starving and ran out of food for the day. It wasn't very many calories especially since it didn't have cheese or sour cream on it. Then on Saturday I had two extra pieces of bread and an extra snack. I was just tired of being hungry. Plus I was watching top chef and that was making me really hungry.

So I guess my streak of sticking to the diet ended Saturday but that doesn't mean my diet is over. This is the start of week #3 and a new start to the diet streak. I bet I can keep this streak going for 14 days now. I just need to stop worrying about it so much. Just eat what I can and focus on something else.

Week #3 is a new week and I'm ready to start.

No Update Tonight

I'm feeling so awful tonight. I biked to work today and barely made it. I just couldn't get my body moving. Then all day long I felt like I was going to fall asleep. A co-worker gave me a ride home and I slept for 1 hour.

After that I just couldn't get moving. I had dinner at 6pm and felt a little better after that. However, at 8:30 I was just so hungry that I started to cry. At that point I decided to go off the diet and have 2 eggs. I feel a little better now but going to go to bed early. Just not a very good day. Going to talk to my dietitian tomorrow about adding more food when I exercise. It would have been better to have a couple of eggs for breakfast.

Good News

Ok, my weigh-in went pretty good today. I was only 1/4 a pound over where I was Saturday morning. Which really means I've lost weight since Saturday because of the fact that I gain weight during the day. I'm never going to weigh in in the morning again. It's just too much of a pain.

I can't believe I've been on this diet for one week. It's been so long since I've stuck to a diet for an entire week. Usually by Thursday I get sick of it and I cheat a little. Then Friday I cheat more. Than Saturday and Sunday I totally forget about it because it's too hard. This time I haven't gone off plan once during the last 7 days. I'm not saying it was easy. There were brownies in the kitchen today that I really wanted. Also there were times where I was reaching for a snack only to remember I was on a diet before it hit my mouth. Didn't do it though and that is what counts.

What I realized today is I'm missing exercise. I need to start adding that back into my weight loss plan. I'm a little worried because in the past when I've added exercise I've increased food cause I was so hungry. Now I can't increase my food. So I will have to plan my food accordingly so I can eat enough to give me energy to workout at the right time. This reminds me of the times article on why exercise won't make you thin. Did anyone read it? It's interesting but doesn't cover the fact that exercise makes you feel better and happier.

So, tomorrow I will ride my bike to work which is 7 miles. I will have my breakfast bar on the ride and have a glass of milk when I get to work. I will save my snack for the ride home which is only half as long because I take the bus partially home.

Little Worried

Ok, I said I wouldn't worry about my weight loss and I would just trust in the process but this is hard. I feel like I"m following the diet very closely. Only eating what is on plan. I ate all my pills today and yesterday (Saturday I missed some). I've watched the amounts of my food as well and drank all my water. However, I weighed myself tonight and I"m a pound heavier than I was Saturday morning. Now this is my home scale and it was after dinner instead of before. Also, this is the evening instead of the morning which there can be a drastic difference in the day. However, I"m still worried. I know that this weight isn't going to just fall off like it did during the detox days but I'm worried about what they will say when I go in. I want to show some loss. Please let me show a loss.

Feeling kind of tired tonight. I have other things to blog about but just too tired to really think about anything. Will write more tomorrow.

First Day of the Diet

So good news this morning. I'm down 5.75 pounds since I started the diet last Wednesday. The number is a little fake cause I went at 10am to weigh this morning when I usually go after work at 6pm. However, I'll take it. It's very good news but I deserve it, I've been sticking to the plan.

Today was the first day on the new plan and I screwed up a little bit. I was suppose to go to the grocery store in the morning and then over to my friends in the afternoon. Instead my dad called and asked for help with his computer. So I did what I had to and stuck to the plan. I had two snacks with me which kept me going. We also went to Costco for lunch so I could get a chicken salad. I stayed on track with the food but I forgot my vitamins. I have to take 5 with each meal. I hadn't realized that before. Oh well, I think I will be fine for Tuesday when I weigh again.

One last thing, I did better today with the hunger. I had lots of energy and wasn't starving. I think this diet might just work out. I'm just going to trust in the process.

Julie/Julia

I just got home from watching the movie Julie/Julia. I'd like to start out by saying what a good movie. It made me laugh and it was sincere. Second, I wonder how many people start blogs after seeing that movie. How many of them do it so that it turns into a book deal? That isn't why I write this blog. This blog is more for support during my weight loss. Plus I don't feel so alone in the world when I write about what I'm going though.

Anyways, It got me thinking about this idea I had the other day. When I signed up at slim4life I bought a cookbook. The cookbook has some simple recipes in it that are good on your weight loss. I thought, wouldn't it be cool to make all the recipes and put pictures of my creation on here. (BTW, I love food photography and photography in general). So I came home and counted the recipes. I think there are 450 in the book. Way too much for me to make in the time I will be on this diet. Plus I'm kind of a picky eater and don't want to eat everything in this cook book. For example, Breaded Calf Liver..no thanks.

So how about this, I will take a photo of everything I make in this cookbook and describe how it tastes. This will be great practice for my food photography because I have a feeling it will take some work to make this food look good. Maybe at the end I will give the photos back to the center so that they can sell the book better. Who knows..;)

I'm very excited about this new project. Going to bed and read about what I will make this week for my first week on the actual plan. Tomorrow is my weigh in and then after that I go grocery shopping for the week.

BTW, I stuck to the detox diet all day today. I really could have used some chocolate at the movie theater today. There were so many times I wanted to go off the diet. However, I just kept telling myself, "trust in the process".

Meal Plan

So today was the training session for what my meal plan on Slim4Life will be. I have to say I"m a bit concerned but I will get to that soon.

The plan consists of a list of food items you can eat with the oz of each food item. Then I can eat so many servings of each food group like people with diabetes do.

Protein - I get two servings of protein a day. I can have many different kinds of proteins includes eggs, cottage cheese, beef, chicken, and fish. A serving size is 4 to 6oz depending on the protein. Beef I can't have more than twice a week and tuna I can only have once a week and they can't be on the same day or the next day. That will be interesting to figure out.

Vegetables - I get 3 servings of vegetables a day. The serving size is 1cup for raw and 1/2 cooked. Sugary vegetables like beets, corn, onions and potatoes are not included

Fruits - I get two fruits a day. I seemed to me like most fruit was included.

Starches - I get one starch a day. The starch is one slice of diet bread, rye crackers, sweet potatoes (but only once a week), 1/2 a corn tortilla, 2tbsp of bran flakes or brown rice (once a week). I have no idea how I'm going to do this one.

Diary - 8oz of milk a day. I've never really drank milk. This will be interesting.

I get one fat a day as well. Plus 2tbsp of fat free dressing.

Besides these foods I get two of the slim4life therma snacks during the day. They are things like chocolate bars, pretzels, chicken soups. They can be snacks or supplement a meal. I bought a cookbook that has some good ideas of things to make with the approved food and snacks. I'm looking forward to experimenting with that.

I also need to drink 80oz of water a day. The funny thing is that they don't recommend going over it. I can have two cups of coffee, unlimited tea, and up to 2 clear soft drinks. The caramel color in diet colas is suppose to hinder weight loss. I am very concerned about drinking over 80oz. I"m sure I drank over 100 today.

Last I have pills to take to boost weight loss as well as help your skin and mood. The total for the pills is 11 a day plus two energy drinks. I've already had one night where I forgot one set. Woops. I"ll have to figure out a way to remember them all.

So I'm sitting in this training session and here is what I'm worried about. Is this enough food? Am I going to be starving and lethargic every night like I was last night? I want to get out and ride my bike and be active but I can't do that if I have no energy. This diet is suppose to give you energy. Sure after I drink the energy drinks I feel better but I only get two of those. (See lime green drink from two days ago). I"m not going to last long on this diet if I don't feel better than I do now. I talked to the counseler about this. She said that if after three days I still feel bad they will put me in another plan where I get 3 proteins a day. I'm glad they are willing to work with me about this.

I woke up this morning with this thought. I'm going to trust this diet. This place has been around for 25 years. People have lost weight with it. They have several success stories. I just need to give myself up to the process. Don't second guess myself and try to get away with eating stuff off the plan. Just follow the plan and in less than 40 weeks I should be down to a weight that I'm happy with. I'm just going to take it one week at a time.

Detox

Well, the first three days of this diet is a detox designed to cleanse my system. Well, right now it feels that my brain is cleansed of all thought. Just can't concentrate or keep a thought tonight. Not really hungry but feel empty.

Here is my diet for the next three days

Breakfast
1/2 an orange
2 eggs

Lunch
any amount of meat (today a hamburger patty)
any amount of raw veggies (cucumber, lettuce)

Snacks
any amount of meat (today a hamburger patty)
any amount of raw veggies (lettuce)

Dinner
any amount of meat (turkey meat balls)
any amount of raw veggies (broccoli, celery)
1/2 orange

It feels like I've been eating all day but looking back it might not been enough. I am suppose to eat a lot. The good news is that I'm suppose to be able to lose a lot of weight during this detox. I sure hope so.

New drink

I love the color of my new afternoon drink. It's lime and it looks very lime like.

-- Post From My iPhone

Saying goodbye to bad food

Well today I did it. I signed up at slim 4 life which is a weight loss clinic in Colorado that specializes in fast safe weight loss.

I had to do it. Right now, I weigh more than I ever have in my life and I'm just tired of it. I haven't decided if I'm going to include my weight here or not. For the moment we will say I have a lot to lose. It was 30 more pounds than when I stopped dieting last year. How does it come back so easily?

For weeks/months, I've been trying to diet on my own. I created meal plans only to to get tired of them by Saturday. I counted calories for Mon, Tue, Wed,Thur and then Friday forgot to do it because I went out to lunch. If I fell off hard I wouldn't start the diet again for a couple of weeks, eating way more than I should in the meantime. I just was getting no where. So this is my drastic approach at the weight loss.

Tonight was my last "eat like there is no tomorrow" night. I went to the store and got some of my favorite foods:
Stouffer's mac and cheese
Doritos
Spagettios
A cupcake
I was so excited about eating these. I was going to enjoy them and then say my goodbyes. I was going to say this isn't really a forever goodbye but just a "so long" until I have more control over my handle on junk food. Yes, I was feeling very dramatic in the grocery store.

However, things did not go as planned. First off the mac and cheese wasn't as good as I thought it would be. Then as I ate more I began to feel sick and lethargic. I had a bite of the cupcake. The frosting was too rich and there was too much of it. The spagettios didn't even taste good. After eating some of my "last supper" I felt sick and worse than I did this afternoon.
I'm ready to go to sleep at 9pm at night.

So what I found out tonight was the following. 1. Comfort food really isn't that comforting. In fact it makes me feel worse than before I started eating it. 2. I'm not going to miss this icky tired feeling after gorging on not so good food. Now I just need to remember this lesson for when I crave being bad.