Reinvention in Progress

So I nearly made it 3 full weeks on 750 cals a day.  Week 3 was harder than I thought scale wise.  I wasn't hungry and I was staying 100% on track, but the damn scale would not budge, not even a smidge.  So that left me with -9 lbs week 1, -2 week 2 and 0 for week 3.  Technically week 3 isn't over until tomorrow, but I'd had enough.  I  made the decision to move on to the 5/1 plan.  Five shakes a day plus a lean and green meal.  That has taken the edge off and the scale is still holding tight.  I tried to add a bit more water over the weekend, so maybe that will help take off a couple pounds this week.

The good news is that I've had no sugar for the past 3 weeks and I've managed to survive 3 days on the 5/1 plan and it seems to be a breeze.  I'm motivated for week 4!

2 Weeks and 4 days

And the scale is taking a break.  I'm starting to wonder about this darn 6 shakes a day thing.  My doc says it's ok, give it the full 4 weeks and see.  Honestly, I'm thinking I may be better off switching to the Medifast 5/1 plan now.  I'm terrified I've shut down my metabolism and I won't be able to lose weight.  Shouldn't be a problem to lose weight when I weigh 225 and I'm consuming appox 750 cals a day.   Grrr... I was really hoping I'd be able to see 5lbs a week fly away. 

The other thing thats on my mind is set points.  My lowest weight since surgery was 223.  I saw it one day last July and again on a day in September.  Otherwise I was bouncing between 225-227 most of the summer.  Makes me wonder if 225 isn't a set point for me.  Perhaps this weight is just gonna be a challenge to get past.  I guess I gotta keep plugging away for another 3 days and 1 week and see if it makes a difference. 

Week 2 Wrap Up

225.4 today, that's an 11 lb loss in 2 weeks.  It's a little frustrating that I only lost 2 lbs this week.  Especially since I've been on plan exactly and have been consuming about 750 calories a day.  I know the second week on most diets is not generally a big number winner, so I'm hoping week 3 shows some bigger numbers.  I was really hoping for a 20lb loss in 4 weeks, but I think 15 may be more realistic. 

I did manage to survive the holiday weekend without ditching the diet.  It wasn't easy.  Saturday night birthday dinner for a friend at a fantastic seafood restaraunt, Sunday bbq with a bunch of friends (tons of amazing looking and smelling food) and then block party for 4th of July, hot dogs and burgers and all the extras.  Somehow I made due with 2 bars, 3 shakes and a medifast chili.

On to week 3!!

Week 2 - All about inches?

Well it's been 12 days on medifast and the first week had big numbers on the scale.  9lbs in a week.  Week two and the scale is fighting me.  Saw 226.2 yesterday, putting me at 10.2 lbs gone.  Today was 227.0.  That did not make me happy.  Especially since this week has been considerably  harder to stay on track.  6 shakes a day plus a  non fat latte isn't much and I'm feeling it.  The good news is that my clothes are fitting much better, I can wear most of my clothes from last summer now.  It's a bit hard to focus on inches when the scale is such a bit player in the weight loss game.  I'm thinking it's time to move to a weekly weigh in.  Takes some of the daily aggravation out of it.

My mind is fighting the fasting too. Playing the game of "Is this really worth it?" "Why do something so drastic when everyone knows slow weight loss is better?" "Is the low level of calories killing my metabolism?"  "What would it hurt to switch to 5/1 plan now?"  Geeze... I'm really torturing myself!  I really thought I could hang with this for 4 weeks, so we'll see.  I would be so excited to see a number lower than 223 and hopefully lower than 220 before moving to 5/1. 

Next weigh in on Monday?  We'll have to see.  I may not be able to resit the scale tomorrow am.

1 week done!

I survived my first week of medifast!  It was mostly easy and a little bit challenging.  I'm really excited to post a 9lb weight loss in one week.  I wish that could continue for the next few weeks, but hoping for a more realistic 3-5 lbs this week. 

I've been feeling pretty worn out this week.  Lot's of things going on at work and home and I know the first week or so on this diet can wear you out a bit.  I'm looking forward to my energy perking up a bit.

Week two should be a good one, I'm betting I see a number close to my lowest post-surgery weight this week! 

Making it through the weekend

Weekends are full of food!  I managed to make it through a steak dinner Friday, movie popcorn and hot dogs on Saturday and fry up breakfast today.  It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be.  I seem to be getting hungry late in the evening, around 10 or 11.  I'm not sure why that's happening, maybe cause it's about 3 or more hours after my last shake.  Thankfully I'm not feeling very hungry at normal meal times, otherwise hanging out with people who are eating real food could be a lot tougher.

I'm super excited to see the scale everyday.  No weight loss on Saturday morning, but it was looking good this am, 228.2.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed for 226.4 tomorrow so I'll have lost 10lbs in 1 week!  That would be a pleasant start to a Monday.

Mourning Muscle Loss and High Heels

I've been really down lately about how my body has changed the past year. Even though I weigh about the same as I did in Jan 2010, I can't fit in my damn clothes!  And the fat is not in the same places it was back then.   I really think my year of not working out cost me some serious muscle mass loss.  I thought the 4-5 months of Curves and Kettlebell would have got me back somewhere close, but nope, doesn't seem to have happened.  One day I hope I'm back to more strenuous and kick ass workouts!  For now, it's the bike or a 1-2 mile walk if my foot doesn't complain too much.

And let's not forget about the shoes.  I am NOT a sneakers with jeans kinda gal.  I have over 60 pairs of mostly cute, sexy mid to high heel shoes.  And only 2 pairs of actual workout type sneakers.  I now also own 2 pairs of sketchers, one black, one brown.  I am not pleased with the wardrobe limitations this foot thing is causing me.  I am praying that some day I will be back in shoes that don't have whitewalls!

Oh wait!  I nearly forgot!  The scale was at 230.4 this am!!  6.2lbs in 3 days, are you kidding me??

Day 2 Success!

Ok, think the Success! thing is getting a bit old already.  But I did survive day 2 on medifast.  It was a bit rougher than day 1, I can tell my body is gonna take a day or 2 to get used to ultra low cal dieting.  I was a bit cranky, light headed and hungry today.  Gotta try to get more water in tomorrow.  I think that may help some how.

The scale was a friend today, 234.6.  Nearly 2 whole pounds overnight.  Yay Me!  I know I'll be hopping on tomorrow, how could I not?  Oh... I probably should take some measurements too!  More data to track.

The funny thing about data is it can be used for good or evil.  Scale up a lb, then I'm having a bad day and that used to mean I ditched my diet.  Even on a day where the scale as moving downward, it could be an excuse for going off plan.  Same thing applies to inches on the tape measure.  I need to find a balance on how often to weigh and not let the number have much impact.  Just collect the info and move on!  But right now it's fun and I can't wait to see if I can get 10lbs off this week!

Day 1 Success!

Day 1 - Starting Medifast weight 236.4.   Now to decide if I want to weigh daily or weekly or something else.  I'm pretty sure the scale could bump up tomorrow, especially after all the fun food and alcohol I had over the weekend.  I think I'm gonna wait until Friday or Saturday to hop on the scale.

First day down and it really hasn't been too bad.  I'm pretty much out of gas right now and ready for bed, but going from 2000 cals a day to less than 800, that's to be expected.  I know it will take a few days to get my energy levels sorted out.  I did make sure to have a shake every 2 hours, so hunger never got overwhelming.  We'll see how day 2 goes!

No day 1 photo, but here is a pic from June 7th at the U2 360 concert with my best friend.  VIP with a gourmet buffet and free beer and wine for 2 hours pre-show.  It was a blast, but then I saw this picture.  It's the picture that made me wake up and realize I'm no where near where I want to be weight wise.  Well that and that most of my friends seem to be very trim!

Figured out how to add pictures!

 

This is my favorite post-op picture from January 2010, about 15 months post-op.  I was probably close to the same weight I am now, but I was working out like a champ at this time.  I thought I looked fabulous, especially since the other redhead is a size 4.  I'm wearing a dress the beautiful Catherine sent to me. I may have to take a current pic to show what a year of no exercise will do to a person.

Tomorrow it's ON!

After a weekend of total debauchery, it is back to hard core dieting for me tomorrow.  And by hard core, I  mean Medifast.  First major undertaking in reinventing my success.  6-8 shakes a days for at least 6 weeks.  I'd really like to be able to go a full 8 weeks on just shakes to see if I can break the 200lb mark.  After that I'll go to 5 shakes a day and a "lean and green" meal for as long as it takes to get to 175.   I'm trying to be flexible on the timeline since I don't want to get to the point where I say screw it all and throw in the towel.  I'd much rather say, shoot, this is really hard and I know I can do 5 and 1 successfully.

My surgeon is very supportive of using Medifast as a tool, especially for folks like me who are having a hard time getting to their goal weight.  I know most of my problems now are food choices and lack of exercise so I think this is a great way to get back into diet mode and back to weight loss.  For the most part, it really fits into my lifestyle as well, especially the 5 and 1 plan.  My band is very "emotional" and any type of stress can get me in trouble. I've got a fairly stressful job and I have to be very careful at work about what I eat and how long I have to eat it.  Shakes take that out of the equation since they pretty much always go down nicely.   Swallowing a giant chunk of ice isn't that pleasant, so I do have to mindfully enjoy my shake or soup.

I'll post my starting weight tomorrow, which I suspect is gonna be over 240 after this weekend.  Now all I have to do is figure out how to add a picture and I can upload a current photo along with my starting weight.

Are we there yet?

Nope, not there yet!

I'm not sure what happened, well maybe I am, but I thought for sure I'd be at goal weight within 2 years of surgery.  I had lapband surgery on 10/28/2008.  This time last year I was down 86 pounds from surgery date and 109 lbs from my highest weight.  I'm currently up 12lbs from my post-op low and ready to get the scale moving in a downward fashion.

The first two years were a breeze more or less.  I was losing very slowly, but consistently.  I was letting my band do it's job and I was a dedicated exerciser.  Amazing how good exercise felt after losing all that weight!  I was walking 5-10 miles a week and going to a kick ass bootcamp class 2 days a week.  I was feeling fit, firm and thought I had it all under control.

But as life goes some times, a big monkey wrench came my way.  I totally overdid it on a hike one day and followed it up with a bootcamp work out and for all that effort I ended up with plantar fasciitis in my left foot.  It was like waking up with broken glass in the bottom of my heel and every step was excruciating.  So I did what any normal person would do, I quit working out.  Completely and totally.  No other exercise could compare with boot camp, so I didn't even try. 

I'm still not able to work out like I could before but I'm ready to make some changes and get back on track.  I really want to make it to my goal weight by the end of this year.  I've only got 60lbs to go, so it's totally reasonable, right?

So here I go, reinventing my success.  Success might not look like I thought it would, but I'm ready to try something different and see what happens.