Fat Tony

Well, look at that, its Monday. Which means its time for a recap about all things amusing in my journey of shrinking.

Tuesday night we had out monthly meeting for work. Dean actually accompanied me to this meeting, since our truck broke down on the way there. These meeting have never once gone without being accompanied by food, but I was completely startled to find that it wasn't the normal pizza or sandwiches and chips... instead it was chicken and salad!!!! Dean got a plate for me, but I refused it because I had already consumed my lean and green meal for the day, so he scarfed it down instead.  It just felt really great that these people are making healthy choices available. Cake was also included, and I have always been offered cake, but this time (due to it being the anniversary of our company being in business) the cake was cut, and placed on every one's desk, but mine. I have lived the laws of the diet so strictly, that now my friends and employers at work, know my standards of what I consume, and no longer offer me the temptations. That felt good.

At our meeting, I was requested to have a professional photo taken for marketing on our website, the last one I took was me at my highest at 245,  in 2012. The joke of the night was that I needed to submit a new one, because I don't look the same at all.  They want the photo within a month, but I really want to do a new one when I join the centennial club!

Last Sunday Dean called his mom, and was allowed to speak to his Uncle who were their redoing her house. His Uncle invited us out to dinner when they were going to be here Friday night. Dean told him we were on a diet and his response was "Good! You can break your diet, we'll take you out!"  On Thursday night, Dean's cousin called and told us where we would meet up, Container Park. It's a cute little promenade complete with ma and pa shops, and plenty of dining spots. Dean's cousin had specifically mentioned a BBQ place. I had never been to Container Park, so I began to do my research, with the goal of finding something that was on plan to consume, at each place. This goal was 99% met. I found plan-approved items at every place, except for the Mexican place. Well, Friday arrived, as well as his family. They all decided to go to.... yup... the Mexican place. I gave Dean a look of Horror and Terror that resembeled the thought process of "THERE IS NOTHING ON PLAN HERE! I WEIGH IN ON MONDAY!!!I'M GOING TO DIE!" Dean told me to just shut up and eat it. I ordered, a singular chicken taco, everyone else had lingua tacos (cow tongue), they were incredibly small, so I hope that not much damage was done by eating this singular taco. They also tried to get me to eat Mexican corn (which I had already told them that I am not currently eating corn), but I didn't eat any. After the Mexican food escapade, everyone decided to head for the ice cream shop.  You can imagine my relief  when the cute little ice cream dude informed the family that they were out of liquid nitrogen for the night, and consequently, they were out of ice cream. The cute little ice cream dude offered popsicles in place of the ice cream, everyone but Dean and I accepted. These people tried really hard to get me to consume the ice cream pops, but Dean and I both stood firm, and told them that we won't eat ice cream (Dean's a diabetic, remember?)  Dean explained that the ice cream/ popsicles that they were trying to get us to consume was nothing but sugar, and so we would have to respectively decline.  Eating the taco made me realize how much I miss eating "regular foods" the next day I found myself craving old bad habit foods such as tacos, Smash Burger Fries and "Everything But The..." Ice cream. 

Well, the night marched on, and the family entered into the Ma and Pa shops. We went into an art store, where I found (but did not purchase) this little fellow... I think he is just darling, but speaks more truth then anyone can ever speak of.

 

Not only is the Fat Tony the Tiger cute, but the box speaks mountains of truth, in the famous Kellogg fonts. The titles were "KillKids" and "They're gross" and "Sugar Frosted Fat" "A Delicious Effort to Attention Deficit Disorder"... I just thought how true all of these statements are.  : The cereal companies market to the children with cute little cartoon fellows, and then the kids beg and scream for these products, and parents can't say no to their children, so they buy the products. It's genius, really. But, the box that belongs to fat Tony, speaks a lot of truth, about a taboo subject, what are we really feeding our kids? There is also references on the box that say "a delicious short cut to attention deficit disorder...get kids super hyperactive" I do believe that the crap people feed their kids contribute to a less then desired attention span,  and definitely obesity! 

 

Well, its Monday, which means that its my job to announce to blogosphere how much the scale says I weigh today.... A total of 162 pounds! I'm hoping to dip under 160 by my birthday! When I hit 150, I will then be considered to be in the healthy range category. I want to hit 145 though, cause that's when I join the centennial club, and I'll have a little room to eat Thanksgiving dinner and not immediately catapult my self right back into the overweight range!   

3 Quarters and a Nickel

Well, my new order  of food finally arrived on Friday. It was a relief to receive this, but at the same time,  this was met with anxiety..... Now I can't decide what I want to eat! I have so many options.  I had stupidly ordered the disgusting spuds, so now I am trying to exchange those. I could, theoretically mail them back to Texas, but it's a 4 week turn around time, and I don't have that kind of time. I only got a partial order, due to funds. So I  really don't have the time for Texas, plus the reviews that I have read don't exactly lend itself to a positive image regarding exchanges. Update regarding the spuds: I ingeniously transformed the nasty spuds into something totally delicious: potato pancakes! I feel smart. Now I have no need to worry about exchanging them.

Also on the Health coach front, there are many events, that are free for clients, yet health coaches have at least a 10 dollar fee. There is an event in July, that's $300 per health coach. I am unwilling to spend money on all of this so I won't attend. I almost feel left out, but I really don't have the money to pay for my own business. Also on the health coach thing, my license will expire at the end of the year, and I have no desire to renew it. That means if you would like to  join the fantastic club of healthy people, with me as your health coach, you are quickly running out of  time!

Question and Answer time!

One question that I have consistently gotten is in regards to exercise. It is true that my favorite activity is swimming, but it is also true that I have not been able to go swimming in multiple weeks. This is due to the timing not being right, followed by getting pink eye, followed by the arrival of the summer.  I have not been able to take summer classes, therefore I do not have gym privileges at Unlv, until fall semester arrives anyway.  Many people have suggested that I lift weights to tone up and what not. I will, but I can't yet. I don't have gym privileges until fall, but moreover than that is that muscle weighs more than fat, which would ruin my diet. Weight lifting is permitted, once I hit the transition phase. The only type of exercise that is currently permitted, is cardio. This does include walking. In fact, walking is the first recommendation put forth in my weight loss program.

Another question that I have also gotten is  "Are you done yet?" And "Are you eating real food yet?" I am not done with my journey of shrinking into a Mini me yet, but I am nearing the finish line. This journey isn't a 10 yard dash, it's a marathon! The other question I have gotten a lot is in regards to if I am eating normal food yet or not. And the answer to that is that I have never stopped eating grocery store foods. Things that are permitted to have are things such as: Eggs, Cottage cheese, vegetables, and proteins. In fact I consume a normal grocery store meal once a day. Mine is normally just chicken and vegetables, because I'm not a huge fan of fish.

Non-Scale Victories:
 A neighbor (whom I actually had never met) stopped me on our nightly walk on Sunday and said that I look much different now. She said I used to look like I'm well into my 30s, and now I barely look like I'm 21 and will have problems getting into bars. LOL!!! She inquired about the program, for her son, so I gave her a pamphlet with my information to pass on to her. Hopefully this will turn into another client for me!

I went to Target for shipping supplies, I was by myself so I decided to play in the clothes racks. I decided to try on some new sizes of jeans. I present you with the results

SIZE 8 PANTS! ( I started at a 24W.... and I'm not done shrinking yet... You have to wonder what size I'll be in when I am done transforming!)

 

 

 

If you are wondering why these photos are selfies in dressing rooms, it is because I can not purchase new clothes yet, so I just take pictures to document my progress of shrinking.

 

I had put together a slide show/video using an app,  but it's only shareable via facebook or email... But I will just put the "most shocking" photos here. I emailed the link to my dad but he said it wouldn't work, so we have to resort to old fashioned photos!

 

 

Yes, both of my legs are able to fit into one pant leg of my old clothes..... and these pants weren't even my largest size!

Well, today,  the scale displayed the numbers of 165. That means I have lost a small total of 80 pounds!

New Dress Size

Well, it's Monday... Welcome back to my world of turning into a Mini-Me. Here is a re-cap of what I have discussed previously. If you are re-joining this blog, there are several more posts that were created previously. Read those ones first in order to understand what is going on in this blog.

We have been having an incredible amount of difficulty getting an order placed, and shipped, due the incompetency levels of the people at the Texas headquarters. I was able to receive food that was donated to me by my employer and fellow employees. I also was able to trade food with my friend and Client "M"... I knew I was going to get items that I liked such as the mac n cheese, but I also got items that I had never tried before, namely mashed potatoes.  I was so very excited to try these, as I have heard rave reviews of them.  I immediately tried these things, and immediately felt the need to throw it right back up. They were gross.... and I couldn't send them to Texas for an exchange since I was not the original buyer. So I posted on our facebook support group site that I had 4 packets of this crap to exchange... Someone had chocolate pudding they couldn't palate... I thought I would have to exchange via snail mail, but nope, this girl lives in my neighborhood. On Saturday, we met up at our local Walmart (where the shooting spree occurred) and exchanged food. I got rid of the nasty spuds while I received chocolate pudding! Steal of a deal for me!

I submitted an order, through my own account on Friday. It should be shipped out today. If it doesn't, I am no longer going to continue to shrinking using Medifast. I am within an arms reach of reaching my goal, and reaching that is doable on my own accord. I just really want to finish what I started. The battle with the stupid arses in Texas, must come to end sooner or later. Oh, but when I submitted my order, I found out, that I am my own health coach! That means I should be receiving commission checks off of my own order! That's good news!  And because I had previously cancelled my BeSlim membership (how clients get free shipping, and 28 free meals on their first two orders) I was eleigble to receive the 28 free meals again! Yeah! That is very helpful! Update regarding my own order: I received an email early this morning stating that my order has been shipped, and that my health coach really isn't me, it's my mentor coach. Who knows what is truthful and what isn't. Its is possible that my current, very minimal amount of food will last me until they day my new order arrives. That will be a blessing if it does, no doubt!

Recap: There is dry instant coffee in the beloved brownie. I called my dad (who is a chef) and asked if this baked out, like alcohol cooks out. He told me about some sort of chemical combustion or something that occurs with alcohol,  long story short, it does not. Once it is in, it is in. I told him that I found out it was in one of my diet foods, and he said "...but if it was up to me, I would screw it, eat the food and still lose the weight. That is important to do. Just don't tell anyone."  But after careful consideration, I have chosen not to purchase these. I respect myself, and my church enough to follow the guidelines that are in place, by not consuming harmful substances. I still feel guilty about air-headedly consuming this product in October, but oh well, there is not much I can do about that.

Since I am closing in on my goal weight (145-150ish) I have been thinking about, and researching the transition phase of this.... Because I have lost so much weight, my transition program is supposed to be for 12 weeks! Yowzers, that basically puts me into transition, until the end of the year. Yowzers.  That sounds expensive and exhausting.

Tuesday, my car broke down... This means Dean and I are being forced to share the truck, until further notice.  Dean's new work sits adjacent to a Ross. When I get to his work early (as I have been known to do) I don't really have a desire to sit in a 150 degree car and wait, so I browse the racks in Ross.  This week, I decided to try on a couple of dresses at Ross. I present to you the results. I apologize for the selfies, but you only have so many options of how to take photos in a fitting room.

Yes, you read that correctly... A SIZE 8 dress!!!

Of course I did not purchase it. But we went to Dillards at our local mall for date night on Friday night.  They are the only carriers of a specific brand that I have been dreaming of fitting in, since the line was introduced several years ago. Yes, we went to the local mall specifically to try on an outrageously expensive brand, just to see if I can fit it!  Here are the photos from that escapade.

The Reba Line of Clothing I wanted to try on for fun.

 

 

 

 

Me...in a size 6 dress!

 

 

 

Yes, I do know that all clothing lines have different sizes, and yes, that is a photo of me in a size 6 dress.... I started out in a size 24Wide!

 

 

There have been a few people who have issued comments and questions of concerns. Both of which relate to my facial make-up. One person stated that because I will have lost 100 pounds when I cross my finish line, my face, will basically become wrinkly and ugly, that I need to start utilizing some type of firmer to prevent wrinkles and to attempt to become pretty. Yes, I know she was trying to sell me a product, but I have chosen not to employ make-up on my face except for rare, special occasions. I hate the texture, I hate the smells, I hate the idea of applying poison to my face. Also, my dad stated that if I get to my goal weight, my face will become too thin.  My response was "So What. Who cares? No one has ever died from a face that is too thin. But people die everyday from complications of obesity."

 

Today, I weighed in at a large lump sum of 167. No matter how much I weigh in, I still think I am fat. Dean said he was going to send me to a psychologist. I told him that I see a psychologist every last Tuesday of the month... I do.... My entire company convenes on this day each month. And we have our fair share of therapists, psychologists, etc.  I really wish I could control which parts of my body shrink. I do. That would be nice!

A Look in the Rear View Mirror

Well, this past weekend was the weekend that we had planned to be out of town, for our favorite 6 year olds birthday party.... It was met with anxiety regarding how to stay on plan, away from everything we know.

I took two boxes of medifast bars with me (equaling 14  meals), which was plenty... We just didn't know what would go down for the lean and green meal on Saturday. We decided to go to Chevy's..... Medifast a dining out guide, and this was an approved place, minus the chips, rice, beans, and tortillas. I ordered the chicken fajita platter minus tortillas, chips, rice and beans.... The waiter looked at me like I had four heads, he asked for a confirmation, and when I was firm that I didn't want any, he was okay with it, and replied "okay, extra vegetables for you then..." which by the way, the "extra" vegetables were things such as carrots, which are not allowed on plan.... I donated them to the kids we took with us instead... they inhaled them.

While we were in Fresno, it was  supposed to be day one of three (two days to come later in the summer when we are in L.A, and Utah) to reveal our weight loss journeys to our unplugged family and friends. dean has been ecstatic to show his mom our transformations he has been talking about it for weeks. This morning Dean said "mom look at Tiana. She has lost 75 pounds." Her response: "so what? I've lost 25" she then went on to explain why I need to eat items, such as strawberries,  that are not allowed during the fat burn stage of my weight loss program.   This ordeal made me feel like, no one really cares about my weigh loss!
But while we were in Fresno, the kids announced that I am skinny now, and demanded that I jump in the bounce house with them.... so I did. I did something I have never done before, and bounced in a bounce house!  What was even more hysterical though, could be that my CTR ring fell off in the car, into a very skinny space.... and my hand was able to fit through the space and retrieve my ring!

Well, anyway we headed on our way home, Dean had to stop at a fast food joint for some grub he jokingly asked me: "Would you like a 75 dollar bite?" And I fiercely told him no!

Late last night, I read an public service announcement on our secret facebook coach site, that reads:
"Did anyone else realize that there is instant coffee in the Medifast brownies? With such a huge LDS population here in Utah, I'm surprised no one mentioned anything." This came to a shock to me.... usually when there is coffee in an item, it lends itself to the title and "Mocha" appears in the title. I am not sure how I feel about this whole situation.... I only had one box (7 of these), back in October.... does this mean I air-headedly broke the word of wisdom?... we are counseled not to drink it, but there is nothing that says you can't eat it.... there is now a debate going on weather it bakes out or not....I also know that other people cook chili with beer and coffee (and take this concoction to the ward dinners)  I can tell you that their is not one ounce of coffee flavor in them, and that the ingredient of "instant coffee" appears at the very end of the ingredient list.   I had planned to order a bunch of them for my next order, whenever that might be.... they still have not figured out that they have brains between their ears, and lift the hold off of Dean's account.... I think I am going to just order under my name, I will forgo the kickback in commission, but I think I will get 28 free meals, so I suspect it should balance everything out.  I did the math, and I have 9 days left of food (due to the generosity of my coworkers) and I will run out...I don't really want to go completely off plan, so I think I will shift my eating habits to a 3&3, or a 4&1 plan, to maintain the weight that I have lost, and then go back into high gear, whenever I get a new order to arrive in my house. This plan will ensure that I have enough food to last, and that I stay clear from returning to the fatso area of the BMI chart.

Well, my mini goal has been to get under 170 by Fathers day.... Sunday is fathers day, and I weighed in today....and a large sum of 169.8!!! GOAL MET!!! Barely. But I met it.

Haulted

Loosing weight, is like climbing a mountain. It's easier to do with a group of family and friends, and a leader to tell you where to go, and to warn you of dangers that may lie ahead.

Last week, was entertaining, to say the least.

I have said many a times before that I work for the best people on the planet, and recently they started selecting people for employee of the month.... I was selected as employee of the month for May! The person who earns this is given a gift, each gift is different. They actually spend time deciding what gift will serve the individual the best....they decided to give me a $50 gift card to Kohl's.... They announced (to the entire company) that they know I have been on a diet, and wont go to restaurants and figured I could use some new clothes, and they know Kohl's doesn't sell food items that I shouldn't be eating. And boy, could I have ever used to clothes!!!  Oh, and by the way, they refrained from offering me the monthly dose of cake! :) Also, they have started making "healthier food options" available for the monthly meetings, meaning they have gone from pizza to sub sandwiches (you put your own condiments on them). It's really nice to see healthy changes in other people.

It's great to be appreciated, but it's even more great to have employers, and team members who invest in you. The investments from my team members at work, continue to roll on. I have gotten several messages from these kind folks that list their unwanted medifast items that they are not interested in using, and asking if I want them. Of course, I can't decline these generous offers. These will come to mean a lot more than imaginable.

As I have mentioned so many of times before, we are having difficulty getting our monthly order entirely processed. Last Tuesday I called the health coach services (as I had previously done, five times) but this time, we actually made progress with what was going on, or so we thought.  I will give short version of the story. In March, we were charged double for one order. I called the company to see why this occurred, they had no record of it, although my bank statements clearly had a record of it. I filed a dispute of claims with the bank to get the extra funds reversed. Instead of being refunded half of the money (the half that we were double charged) TSFL refunded us the WHOLE amount. Every time we have submitted an order since then, it has been cancelled out by TSFL because technically we now owe them 300 bucks, from our order they royally screwed up, back in March. Of course I attempted to pay this debt that we occurred because of them last Tuesday, but they have continued to fail to acquire these funds. We double checked that they have the right information, but yet, they haven't figured out how to process it. Which is nothing more then incredibly frustrating. I need to somehow talk these people into debiting the correct amount for once, and be able to purchase a new order. Therefore, the "gifts" of the free medifast foods from my teammates, is what is going to propel me forward, for a few weeks. I have been burnt out on the foods (bars and pretzels) for a couple of months now, cause all I have eaten since March, are bars and pretzels, due to that being one of the variety packs that were 40 bucks off during their special they ran. But tonight, one of my team members is going to donate her unused items, and they include more of the "real foods" which translates into soups, and my all time favorite Mac N Cheese!

Well anyways, back to this Kohl's business....I decided to take myself shopping! The jeans from Kohl's were excruciatingly painfully expensive.  And I had previously fallen in love with a pair of jeans at target, for a quarter of the price. So I decided to head next door, buy the jeans, and then get shirts, and bras at Kohl's. I successfully accomplished this, but it came with buyer's remorse. I bought the wrong jeans! I bought the kind that I spoke about previously with the material that was hot! I did by some shirts that I thought were cute..... nothing makes me miss Mitchell more than shopping alone.  I will post photos of my new outfits later in the week.

Well, now that we have reached the end of this blog, the scale clocked me in at 173 this week. Yes, this is the same as last week, and I can pin point why this has happened. Number one: I ate a piece of candy on Monday (I had planned to go completely off plan until we were able to completely process a new order, but Dean did the Math, and I have enough food for a couple of weeks), I don't think I drank enough water. And, my bile reflux disease came back with an absolute, excruciatingly painful vengeance. Due to this, I was taking the medication for this disease. The number one common side effect of this drug that is listed is weight gain, and increase in your triglycerides (fat cells). Also, when I snuck in a check in with the scale mid week last week, I weighed 175, so I guess I gained and lost in one week. Who knows.   On that note, I'm going to go chug a bottle of water, and  I'm going to go buy me the RIGHT pair of jeans. I'm excited to go to work in my new outfits!