Cookies are MEAN

Well, my week on plan is not yet over, but its Friday, so the weekday week is over.


There were some small victories this week.

Monday, I was in stats class. We were talking about Means.  He gave an example of mean cookie weight. This caused me to have a case of the giggles. I thought of "mean cookie weight" as in, you eat cookies, and the weight of the cookies (in pounds) is mean to get off! :) This will be profound in the coming days.

I had a monthly meeting at work on Tuesday night. And I work for some of the most awesome people in the world, they always like to make sure we are taken care of. This means they always provide an ample amount of food and beverages for us. This weeks menu was pizza, soda, and chocolates. That is the usual menu for meeting that occur in the evening.

Multiple people offered the soda, pizza, and chocolates. I politely told them no, and that I was doing this weight loss program. Some people even went to the lengths of putting these items on my desk, with the intent of making sure I was taken care of.  I politely moved these items (the chocolates) back towards the bowl. Ironically, and hysterically, all these chocolates that I denied were consumed by another health coach for the same weight loss program.  She said that bad habits of unhealthy eating started back up at Halloween.  All of the major holidays are only celebrated with a surge of sweet candies and goodies around.  Some of us workers made jokes about how Halloween is the "gateway drug" to bad habits. How true that is.  I took control of my life.

I didn't stray to far away from plan. I only ate "program approved foods" but, on Wednesday, I only ate three times. Adding up to only 330 calories, consumed all day. And the reason for this, is that in my marriage, I am consistently told how much of a worthless person I am, and how ridiculous of a person I am. So, I am punished by not allow me to consume food.  Ridiculous people are not worthy of fueling themselves, after all nobody wants us around anyway. (I told you secrets would be revealed through this blog)

Thursday,  was a hard day. I had an incredibly intense migraine. It was probably an aftermath of the lack of enough calories the previous day. I ate on schedule, inhaled multiple ibuprofens and meddled through the day. I was feeling better. After my three classes at UNLV, I ran into an old classmate. She was in the presence of her daughter and husband. They were also dragging a wagon full of girl scout cookies. Now, every year I buy the cookies. I remember having to do fundraising for my activities growing up. And, I think the girl (and boy scouts) teach our youth an unprecedented good amount of knowledge and skills that will last them a lifetime. I already bought, and consumed my required 1 package of cookies (ironically in front of Trader Joes, a health food store) before we got back on plan.  When this classmate asked if I wanted to purchase some cookies, I told her that I would love to but that I have lost some weight on this weight loss program, and that I don't want to screw it up!  And yes, of course, I thought about the "mean cookie weight" I don't want to eat those cookies, and end up back in the obesity ring again. Weight from cookies is mean to get off! I again, practiced control, of what I put in my body.

My official weigh in days are on Mondays, but I did sneak another weigh in today, my goal is to drop below 200 pounds by my official weigh in day. I don't know if that will occur or not, but it's so close I can taste it.  Yes, that is a long ways away from my total complete goal, but goals that are closer seem a lot more doable.

Celebrating One Victory at a Time!

Just for pure entertainment...

As it was time for me to go to work yesterday, it was time for me to eat again. (you eat every 2-3 hours on this program)... I thought, I will just eat when I get there, I am sure I will get there early. I checked my lunch pail to ensure I had at east one meal replacement. I did.

Yesterday on my way to work,  my truck brown down, in a very dangerous spot here in Las Vegas. Said a quick prayer for safety amongst my "Oh crap, this is by no means, not a good place or a good moment."

I called the tow truck, called work to cancel. And waited.

It's been hot here in Vegas (well into the upper 70's, that's hot compared to the snowed in Nation to the east).  It was just getting hotter, and I was quickly  getting thirsty. I looked in my back seat, and saw a case of water. I chugged at least one 23.7 ounce  bottle of water while I was waiting for someone to come rescue me. I thought "I'm so grateful that I have been taught to always have water with me, this is a totally a lifesaver."

Then, when I finally was towed to the nearest Pep Boys, I was faced with hunger, and boredom, not a good combination.

I looked around... there was a wide variety of easily assessable food chains in the parking lot where I was stranded, anything from Wendy's, to Denny's, to an amazing Greek Food Restaurant, and thought that I could patron anyone of these establishments, and sit and wait in a place equipped with air conditioning. Especially the Greek Place.

Then I remembered my meal replacement bar in my lunch pail. And noticed multiple soccer games occurring at the soccer park across the street from where I was stranded.  I ate my meal replacement (a lemon meringue bar) and drank more water, and sat on a boulder, and watched a soccer game across the street.

Winning. I am winning the battle against temptations. I am winning my battle against my obesity.

Speaking of winning, I have some Non-Scale Victories to announce.

Now, when I started my journey back to health I had convinced myself that I was not going to post progressive photos.... but...sometimes plans change.

I have been wearing my husband's Polo Shirts (Size large) to work and school, as my shirts (a tight 2XL) have simply become unwearable,  they are gigantically way to big now.

This morning while I was getting ready for Church, I decided to try on my old favorite shirt. You know the ones that you like, but can not fit into in a million years, but leave hanging in the back of your closet, for that "when I lose the weight, I will wear it again moment." Today, I put one of those shirts on....

I present you with the results....

                          

Please tell me you that you can notice a difference!

Also, this morning, I tried a new meal replacement. My choice for this morning was to try the hot chocolate.



                                                    

As I grabbed a mug out of our cabinet to prepare the hot chocolate. The song:  "Hold on For One More Day" came to my mind.  The mug I used is decorated with the USA flag.  I thought that I am breaking free, and breaking the chains of obesity. One meal replacement at a time. 

I'm sure most of you are familiar with that song, but if you are not, here is a link to it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JV53NoB5cg

I think that just be my theme song throughout my journey back to optimal health!

Okay, so the correct answer is to the photos above is that the one on the Left is day three (the first time around)   the one on the Right, is a photo of today... I hope that you can see the difference, as I can feel the difference! And the size of my shirt that I am wearing is Large. I felt that I should clarify that, because everyone knows that Men and Women's sizes are different.

I'm feeling great, happy, and blessed to find a program that works!
Oh.... and I know that the week isn't over, but I again weighed myself this morning.... grand total.... I have lost 13 pounds!!!!

P.S. If you are ready to break free from the chains of obesity and reclaim health, lets get in touch! You know where to find me! :)

Funnies

Well, as today comes to an end, it marks the fifth consecutive day that I have been back on this program...

My body is definitely welcoming me back into healthy living! I decided to weigh myself a few days ago, and I am now the same weight I was when we went off the program in November.... I so want to me under 200 pounds by the end of the month, I am sure I will get there sooner or later, but I definitely want to get their faster!

I do admit that I am kind of scared that I won't reach under 200, or that I won't like feeling that "light" I can't remember the last time was I was under 200, I speculate at our wedding, but that might be a far-fetched thought.

I have tried some new foods, and I can say with all honesty, that everything taste great, and that I am not craving anything!  The chocolate brownies are the perfect fix to feed my sweet tooth fairy!

I have some few humorous moments to keep track of...

I have been taking the more portable meal replacements with me on my trek to learning something that will translate into some sort of degree. I was eating the Caramel Crunch Bar right before my class began, and one of my friends looked around the hall while we were waiting, she looked around, stated that she smelled candy, and then asked if what I was eating was candy. I should of told her about this awesome program, but I didn't.

Also, several days ago I noticed how baggy my red UNLV shirt has become. I thought, I will just buy another one when I shrink two more sizes. Then, a few hours later, while I was at the library studying Statistics, the zipper from the sweatshirt became entangled into the wheel of the chair I was sitting in.
Here is a photo: When I yanked the sweatshirt free, the wheel of the chair ate the zipper. I thought: oh well, it is almost time to buy new clothes anyway! :)

Taking the more portable meal replacements to school as definitely worked out for the best. I can  munch one down in a short break, and it completely derails me from feeling so hungry that I want to eat anything and everything in the vending machine, or stop at the coffee-shop for some Danishes and hot chocolate.  In the long run, it saves time and money!

I am thinking about becoming friends again with someone called the swimming pool. Exercise could increase the fat burn state that I am currently in, and I might loose weight faster. But I know that muscle weighs more then fat, so I don't know how everything will balance out in the long run. :l

Newsies Offered Encouragement

Well, Day One Back on The plan is nearly in the rear view mirror.

I woke up to a song playing in my head, from the hit musical, Newsies. The words are as followed:

Open the gates and seize the day
Don't be afraid and don't delay
Nothing can break us
No one can make us give our rights away
Arise and seize the day

Somehow, this was just the kick start of encouragement I needed to get back on the program!

I survived through today, eating more of the "hearty" meals...ones you actually have to cook in the microwave, let stand a while, etc.  Most of the meals that I had today were left over from our last orders of food. I figured we should eat the older stuff first, and the hearty ones when we are at home. Although we do have hundreds of the more portable meal replacements (bars, and shakes) I thought those are the perfect solution to eating healthy while we are at school. They can be easily eaten during our 15 minute breaks in between classes. I did have one meal replacement from our new batch of ordered food,  it was a new item all together on the program... It is called Ziti Marinara, and it tastes EXACTLY like spaghetti. It was quite tasty!

A small victorious moment for me today is that I went to Costco, and I didn't get even one of the smallest samples, of anything! I stayed completely on plan.... okay, I might have cheated a little bit... I went to the Costco business center, where they simply don't offer samples.... but nonetheless, I went to Costco, and did not get any samples!

I'm not sure what we are going to eat for our lean and meal green meal, but we have all the ingredients for most of them in our fridge. We just got to whip something up to eat... having healthy items on hand, make healthy eating easier!

Oh yeah, I thought I would post a picture of the little basket thingamajigs that now host our meal replacements in an organized fashion!

I predict that we will purchase a few more orders by the end of the month... The company is running a super great deal, and their variety packs are currently $40 off....when you have multiple people doing the program, that adds up to a lot of (much needed) savings! I think we might buy a few of the variety packs, to ensure that we get to participate in this great deal, and to ensure that we will be on plan continuously (we got our tax refunds recently, so we do have a little extra wiggle room for expenditures).

Over the last few days I have thought about special events that are coming up this week, and I want to be rocking an awesome body for those events when I see people I haven't scene in many years.

I'm excited to get rid of the weight, look and feel awesome!

Restart...Rejuvenate..

We have been off the program now since mid November. I think if we would of stayed on the program, we would of reached our weight-loss goals by now. But that didn't happen.  We had a host of issues that sucked our piggy bank bone-dry. Car repairs, fridge replacement, water heater replacement, microwave replacements,  books and tuition to pay for school, etc. Well, we waded through the torture of all of that, and were FINALLY able to purchase the food again. 

While taking a vacation from the program we enjoyed normal people food, including girl scout cookies, a buffet, and Gordon Ramsay's Burgr joint.... that food was simply addicting, amazing, and not too expensive.

It arrived Friday. Yesterday I went to the container store and bought these cool basket-shelves thingamajig things for them and organized them better. Last time we just had them on our table, but our three new kittens have claimed the table as their bed and looking out the window perch. I thought it was prophetic that the colors of these neat little organizers are light colors. :)

I thought getting this great food would be met with excitement, the same as Christmas is met with excitement for little kids.

But instead, excitement did not reach my radar of emotions. Instead it was met with feelings of fear and depression.

I'm scared that it won't work as well this time a round. I'm scared that history will repeat itself and that we will have unpredictable costs come and steal any and all reserve money that we have.

Also, I don't really know how much I want this for myself. After all, God gave me this body, and I'm
content in it.

But then I think about what I want out of this body. Kids. I know I have to loose another 80ishpounds before beginning fertility treatments. (If our relationship lasts....talk of divorce is a constant in our dialogue in our "relationship"  these days...)


But regardless, If we do survive this, I want kids. Fertility treatments I can forsee becoming a part of our lives within the next three years. I need to loose the weight.

I'm also kind of scared this time of round.... I haven't told our health coaches that we are starting back up on plan.... I am not sure I should or not. Although it was great to have the support and be held accountable, the constant inquiries of when I am going to obtain new clients to coach, is a tad bit irrigating. I want people to come to me and inquire about the program, I don't want to have to "sell" them on anything!

On the coaching front----Dean is still my only client. Which is okay, I'm not going to flaunt advertisements on taxi cabs or anything.... I figured since I am in school, I am around a lot of people. I think if I stay on plan throughout this semester my friends in my classes will notice the weight loss and ask about it, and I can acquire clients that way.

But, I am happy to announce that I didn't gain too many pounds back since we went completely off the program.... I can still fit in a comfortable size 20 pants (that's a downgrade from the entirely way too tight "24 Wide Petite"  I was in before trying the weightless program. So that's good news.

Well.... here's to re-starting our journey to health, tomorrow!