Getting closer to my goal

I was down another 2 lbs yesterday, so now I'm just 13 lbs away from my recent low weight.  I can't wait to get back there.  I'd love to lose even more before the big weigh in day on Tuesday, but I'm happy with the 2 as well.  :)

More and more people are mentioning to me that they can tell I've lost weight, and I have lots of pants that I should really no longer be wearing.  I had missed the fun of losing weight this past year when I was struggling so much.

I think the fill did help, clearly, but only because it's enabled me to eat sooo very little.  It's the only reason I'm losing again, and now I just know that if I'm going to lose, I have to eat like a little bird, but as long as I'm taking my vitamins, seeing the MD on a regular basis, getting my levels checked, I should be fine. 

I had really hoped to be able to go XC skiing today with all this snow, but it's not that kind of snow.  It's wet, heavy, nasty snow.  Oh well.  I think I'll go sit in my hot tub and watch it fall for a little while.  :)

This is not chili

Karen was kind enough to pick me up some "chili" from the cafeteria today, and while the picture above is not it, it's almost identical.  It's really a vegetable soup, made of tomatoes, zucchini, summer squash, carrots, onion, corn, peppers, herbs and a few beans.  Now I can see why it's only 100 calories, though!

LOL, it's actually kind of good, but it's just a bit on the blandish side, and I have a feeling it's not going to be a good friend of my digestive system, but we'll know soon enough!

I'm looking forward to my dinner that I know I will like.  :)

It is not easy being skinny!  haha

Gas Station Breakfast

I haven't been doing a great job of eating breakfast lately, and I do know how important of a meal it is, so I'm trying to get better.  This morning, I reached into my box of Carnation instant breakfast to find a nice sugar free packet, only to realize, the box was empty.  Who left an empty box in the cabinet???  That would be me.  Oops.

I had to stop for gas on the way to work, so I decided I would pick up breakfast there - what better place to find a well balanced meal?  ;-) 

I quickly read through about 20 labels to find some type of bar that was low in calories, but had some type of nutritional value and I settled on a 110 calorie Pria bar.  It had 5 grams of protein, but I'm pretty sure the entire thing was a big chemical chunk.

I ate the whole thing, and it filled me up.  It wasn't that bad tasting, although the consistency was that of a 10 year old stale candy bar.  I'm not sure if it was stale or if that's just the consistency.

Either way, I was reminded of the fact that I need to stay on top of my grocery shopping.  I haven't been in a while, and I have no idea what I've been eating lately.  Yesterday, I didn't eat much of anything until dinner time, and then I overate to make up for the fact that I hadn't really eaten all day, so that was dumb.  The day before I had 1100 calories, so I certainly must have been eating something!

It's easy to let all the planning and preparation that are needed for success to slip away during a busy week or two, and all of the sudden, you find yourself making meal choices out of a selection at Mobil on the run. 

It's not just about losing weight, it's about being healthy too.  This weekend, I'm going to be sure to put together a meal plan for the coming week and do lots of healthy grocery shopping. 

For today, the cafeteria is offering a vegetable chili soup for 100 calories, which I will probably have for lunch, and for dinner, I'm going to XO, so I will plan to have my middle eastern taster platter, which is the hummus, tabouli, etc... 

I know I had a big loss last week, which makes this week all the harder, but I'm still going to do all I can to lose at least one lb this week.

Tired puppy

That's my little puppy at a beach house on the Cape last April.  He was sooo tired, he just collapsed on an end table.  LOL, poor little baby!

I am feeling better from the little flu I had on Monday, but I'm exhausted.  I've been sleeping 10 hrs a night, and even when I finally force myself to get out of bed, I'm completely tired. 

I feel like I'm constantly fighting off some kind of illness or injury, and it's a miracle I ever manage to lose any weight.  I wanted to work out last night, but by the time I got home from work, all I could do was collapse in my chair, just like Henry in the picture above.  haha

Today, I had great plans to work out before going into work, but once again, I was just too tired.  For some reason, I had a pretty big appetite yesterday, and I consumed 1100 calories which is a lot for me.  So I think I'm fighting off some type of sickness, and I'm just going to continue to get *plenty* of rest, drink lots of fluids and take my vitamins.

Naturally, I was up 2 lbs today from my 1100 calorie splurge yesterday, but I think it's mainly water weight.  I hope that, at least.  :)

I'm going to try my best to get a work out in today.  I can't wait for the warmer weather so I can start training outside for the triathlon!

Coming soon!

This is a picture of me at my (recent) lowest, and I think the picture looks thinner than I may have really been, but as of today, I'm just 15 lbs away from the weight I was when this picture was taken in August of 2008.  For the longest time, I couldn't get any traction with losing, and it was very frustrating, but I'm finally losing again, and I'm glad.

I have to admit, in order to lose weight, I've had to drop to very low calories like I did the first time around, but I'm taking lots of vitamins, and I'm monitored closely by MDs, so I should be healthy.

I hope to lose the remaining 15 lbs by the end of our biggest loser contest or sooner.  I lost 5.2 lbs this past week, so next week will probably be a very minimal loss, but I'm prepared for that.  I'm starting to wear smaller clothes, and people continue to notice, so it's good for momentum building.

I just need to stay on track and keep my portions small and my body moving and maybe I'll even reach my goal weight at some point!  Imagine that.  ;-)

What is wrong with this picture?

I keep seeing McDonald's ads announcing they are the official restaurant of the olympics.  How is that even possible?  Most of the ads are about Chicken McNuggets - not even one of their healthier items.  I can't imagine why the ultimate althetic event in the world would be affiliated with a restaurant that has contributed to obesity in such a profound way.

I guess it really is all about the benjamin's.  ;-)

Something is wrong...

I woke up feeling very tired and achy, and a little sick to my stomach.  By the time I got to work, I was completely nauseated.  I couldn't even make it to my office without first stopping by the bathroom to get a little sick. 

I'm trying to mentally talk myself out of being sick right now, but I'm not sure that it's working.  I don't want to be sick.  The upside is that the stomach flu usually makes me lose weight.  haha

Weigh in is tomorrow, and I know I will have a pretty good loss for the week, so I'm looking forward to that.

New Jeans!

I ordered these jeans on Amazon when we first started the biggest loser competition, and I knew they wouldn't fit at first, and I was right.  They are button fly, and I could button the bottom 2 buttons only, and there was major muffin top implications at that point.

Now, 5 or 6 weeks later, I can button all the buttons.  Yes, there are still some muffin top implications, but I'm living with it, and I'm going to wear these jeans today.  I'm excited.  I haven't owned a nice pair of jeans in...I honestly can't remember since when, but they were probably Z Cavaricci's!  LOL  I buy most jeans at old navy or marshalls, or even kohls...I never buy real designer jeans.

I'm excited to wear them today -we're heading into Boston in a Hummer stretch limo for Lanie's birthday.  We are going to be hanging out in the Fanueil Hall area, so I plan to buy more jeans today too!  I'm a shopping fool.  This time, I'll buy them even smaller.

It was fun trying on this pair each week, as they got closer and closer to fitting, and then today, it was such fun to realize they finally fit...at least well enough to wear today!  And since they are snug, I know I'll get months of use out of them too. 

I was down another lb today, and I'm about 17 lbs over my low point, so I'm starting to taste the victory of returning to my lap band low point.  I am kicking my efforts into overdrive, and I hope to lose this last 17 lbs by the end of our competition, if possible!

The dreaded doctor's scale

I had to go to the MD yesterday, and I wasn't looking forward to being weighed.  They like to weigh us every single time we go there, and it's kind of annoying.  For some reason, with shoes on and all, the scale showed me as down 35 lbs from the beginning of the year.  I know I switched scales at home, but I can't imagine it could be off by 10 lbs...that just doesn't make sense...

It was fun thinking for a minute that I could have lost that much.  hehe

I was going to tell them I thought it was off, but then I thought I'll just work really hard to make sure that number is actually right the next time I see them! 

I was down another 2 lbs this morning, and now I'm hoping to be down 5 lbs this week by the weigh in on Tuesday.  I've been keeping my calories low and working out again, so it may be a good week for a little boost in the weight loss, but I'll be happy if it's even 2 at the end of the week.  Any loss is a good loss!

A fun thing I have learned is that rolaids can stave off hunger for an hour or so.  :)

What's wrong with this picture?

I actually had those sneakers about 7 pairs ago... 

Anyway, my shoes are too big.  My socks are thinner than usual, but apparently my feet have somehow lost weight, and my shoes feel like clown shoes.  I'm not sure what to do about it.  I have these lovely DKNY shoes that I got about 6 or 8 months ago, and I wear them all the time.  I'm thinking of just buying another pair in a smaller size.

I'm so glad weight is coming off my feet instead of my waist line.  I know my feet were really offensive, and who doesn't like to admire a spare tire waist from time to time?!

LOL

I'm glad to be losing again.  I hope to be down another 3 by next Tuesday, which will put me at about 25 lbs total lost since the start of the competition, and that much closer to my goal! 

I was back at the gym last night, although I only went tanning and for a visit in the massage chair.  That must burn calories, no?  I did have a dance party with Henry for about 20 minutes last night.  He looked like he needed to get some wiggles out, so we put on the dance music channel and danced, danced, danced while Darcy laughed until she cried.

Henry's dance moves are hilarious.  He loves to jump on his hind legs and do a double fist pump with his front paws.  He really rocks the house.

The day before, I tried the exercise bike again for the first time since my injuries and cortisone shot.  I only did 4 miles, but it was fine.  Next time, I'll do 6, then 8 and then back up to 10.  That is the plan, at least.  I haven't been to the pool in a while, but it's long overdue, so I'm hoping at somepoint today or tomorrow I will fit it in.

Have a skinny day!

Exercise at work

My employer is very health conscious, which I love.  We have a pretty decent gym on site, trainings and classes offered for preparing healthy meals, wellness, fitness, etc...  When we have meetings, the food is always healthy, and as leaders we are encouraged to lose weight, quit smoking, and be healthy examples for the employees in the organization.

When I was shopping the other day, I picked up a kettle ball and resistence bands to keep in my office.  Since I'm in such a health conscious environment, I figured it wouldn't be strange if I decided to do some upper body work during meetings (LOL), or at the very least, when I'm on long conference calls.

My employees have stopped by and commeted on my new apparatus, and they have been trying it out and a few have made mental notes to pick up some items for their offices as well, if not at least at home.  So I guess I can set a good example for my employees, even though they are all much thinner than I am. 

Oh yes they did

This may not be news to you sweet tooths out there, but I'm not usually in the ice cream section of the grocery store.  Did you know that Edy's makes a low fat Samoas cookie ice cream??  Oh my, is it good.  It's just 120 calories for a half cup serving.

I decided to have a serving for breakfast today, and it was a truly delicious way to start the day.  LOL

Weight Loss

Weight loss is a roller coaster ride for sure.  I wish it was more like free falling.  Oh well.  I guess we wouldn't learn as much if that were the case. 

This week, I hit new temporary low - I weigh less than I've weighed at any point during the past 6 months...just by a little, but still.  I'm still well off from my lowest in the past 12 months, as I was at my all time (recent) low within the past 12 months, so when I hit there, and start losing even more, I'll finally be losing more than what I originally lost, and that will be wonderful - I'm about 20 more lbs away from that.

I'm down about 22 lbs from the start of this contest which was 6 weeks ago, I think.  I would really like to get down to my low point by the end of this competition, which gives me 7 weeks to lose 20 more lbs.  It's aggressive, but I think it's possible.  I'm going to keep my calories low, step up my work outs, and continue all the things that have been working for me so far. 

Crazy dieters

What's with all the crazy plans to lose weight lately?  Someone I work with is just going to eat fruits and veggies all week so that she can lose weight.  I asked her if she'd ever tried that before, and she said she hadn't.

Boy, is her digestive system going to be in for a surprise!  :)

I feel like I've been having trouble losing weight lately.  I don't know this for a fact because I don't have a scale that works, but I just feel bloated and my face looks puffy, so I don't think I'm losing weight.  Someone I work with told me my pants were clown big on me.  I think that was an exagerration, but considering they were on the tigher side 6 weeks ago, I know I must be losing.

I suppose I should get a new scale tonight, since the big weigh in is tomorrow. 

In the mean time, I'm trying to be careful about what I eat, getting in a well balanced diet, and eating what I need, but not a drop more.

Meal Plan

Saturday - I'm having grapefruit for breakfast, veggie nachos for lunch and probably going out to dinner

Sunday - Some variation of beef stroganoff made with rib eye

Monday - Chicken thighs with mixed veggies

Tuesday -  Chicken and veggie stir fry

Wednesday - Tacos

Thursday - Grilled chicken salad

Friday - going to a pot luck, so we'll plan to bring something healthy, perhaps a nice turkey chili crock pot

*****

I was reading all about braising in my GQ this morning, and they had a savory recipe with instructions for a pork shoulder.  A pork shoulder is a very tender, but fatty cut of pig.  I love it, of course, but I haven't made one since we lived in Lynn.  I almost bought one at the store today, but I don't think I'd even like it now...

I do realize my meal plan isn't very adventurous this week, but sometimes it's just about easy, yummy meals.

:)

Ew

I'm not sure why I chose this display of gluttony today.  I think it was because I was trying to think of food I may want to eat, and I couldn't come up with anything that seemed appealing.  I haven't eaten much the past few days, and I'm past being hungry.  No, I'm not on the Alison Ford 500 calorie a day diet (LOL, sorry, Ali, for some reason I had to bring that up just one more time) - I have just been really busy.

I don't appear to be losing weight as a result, though.  That is no fun.  I'm going out to lunch today, and I have no idea what I want to eat.  How many salads can a person possibly eat?

Any suggestions?????

Hello, PMS!

I don't know what happened, but my appetite is back.  Hello!  I hadn't missed you!  This is never my favorite time of month because not only do I eat more, but I'm bloated.  I appear to have had no loss on the scale this week, which makes sense under these circumstances.  I just hope it ends soon.

In the mean time, I need to sweat some of this bloat and chocolate out.  LOL

Hmmm....little glitch...

My scale broke last week from overuse, no doubt, so I brought in one of my other scales as a back up.  I stopped using it because it fluctuated too much and wasn't very reliable, so I'm not sure why I'm using it now.  I don't know how I'm going to record my weigh in tomorrow. 

Perhaps if I have time tonight, I'll go get the same scale as I had before.  I think it was ordered online, and I don't know if I can find it locally.  Either way, I'll have to guestimate something this week, and then going forward, I'll just start losing again from whatever number I'm on now.  I'm not sure how else to do it. 

I didn't make the best choices this weekend, although they weren't the worst either, and my portions were small, but I'm on a liquid diet today to even it out.  Carnation instant breakfast, it is!

Cortisone Shot

I got the shot today in my knee.  My MD warned me saying, "I'm not going to lie - this is going to hurt like a banshee."  LOL

I braced for the pain, and I only felt a mild discomfort.  As she was injecting the shot, I hadn't flinched or moved or anything, and she said she couldn't believe I wasn't moving at all. 

So she isn't going to re-up my physical therapy for now.  She said just keep doing the exercises and we'll see how I do with the shot. 

I'm going to start training again on Saturday.  She told me to take it easy today and tomorrow.

I can't wait!

Completely gagable

I choked a cup down mixed in with my Carnation instant breakfast, and I gagged the whole time, and now I feel like I'm going to be sick. 

LOL - I don't recommend it. 

Scientic Testing

I had my ultrasound yesterday, and they couldn't see any stones, which doesn't necessarily mean I don't have them, but the MD said my liver was fatty.  He said a fatty liver was common in obese patients or people with a high fat diet, and that if I make changes to my diet, I should be fine.

I didn't remind him that I kept a very low fat diet, as I had told him before, because he was just filling in for my normal MD and I have an appointment with her today, so I figured I would discuss that with her.

I'm still very overweight, so you may think it's just residual, but the weird thing is that when I had my surgery and I was close to my highest weight ever, the surgeon did an actual liver biopsy, and he said it really wasn't that bad.  He said it was a little fatty, but not as bad as you would think.

So how could it be fatty now?  Even though I gained weight last year, I can probably count on one hand the amount of times I went over 2000 calories/day (which is a normal diet), and in general, I averaged 1200-1500 (rarely) calories per day.  I only gained because my body was used to being in the 600-1000 range - not because I had a high fat or calorie diet.

Malnutrition can also cause a fatty liver, but I don't think that's it.  For the past month, not counting vegan week which was lower, I consumed an average of 848 calories per day.  That's low, but I certainly don't think it's malnourishment low.

Anyway, I've printed out some information regarding the nutrients I've taken in over the past month, and my pie chart showing how many calories, grams of protein, fat, etc... and I'm going to show it to the MD today to see what she thinks.

So why the picture of ribs?  I decided to do an experiement - a little scientific testing, if you will.  I have felt much better since I've been on the vegan diet, but I didn't know if that's because the problem went away for now, or because of the dietary changes.  Since I was seeing my MD today, I decided to order ribs for dinner last night.  I didn't eat the fat, but even without eating the fat, ribs are a fatty meat. 

I ate them, and I felt fine.  Well, technically, I felt gross, and I still do, but not because I'm in pain - just because my body did not like that fatty grossness being introduced into my system.  I don't know what I'm going to do about my diet, but I am going to discuss it with my MD to see what she thinks, and I'll take it from there.

Right now, I'm kind of turned off to all food, and I feel really gross and fat and bloated from my nasty dinner last night, so no more experiments in that direction any time soon.  I'm going to go very low cal and low fat today, focusing on fresh, clean foods.

A good start

We just completed week four of our biggest loser contest, and I'm down 18.8 lbs so far.  It's the first time I'm seeing the weight come off in a long time, and I am glad.  I'm not taking it for granted either - I know it could change at any time, but I have been VERY strict with my calorie intake, and I'm doing all I can to get the weight off.

I'm about ready to start working out again, and I may go swimming tonight to see how I do.  I'm still a little sore, and I *really* don't want to reinjure anything, but I also don't want to wait forever to work out again.

I was really hoping to lose 40 lbs over the course of this 13 week contest, and I know it's possible, but it's certainly not a given.  I'm going to have to work hard to get there, and then I'll be almost half way to my goal.  Ahhhh....that will be nice.

I love this contest, and I'm thankful for everyone participating in it, and I hope it's been helpful to them as well.  As a group, we are down almost 70 lbs so far!  Our pants can breathe a collective sigh of relief.  ;-)

It tastes better than it looks

I couldn't bring myself to have the tofu stir fry last night, so we went out for Indian food - there are always a lot of good vegetarian and even vegan choices on the Indian menu.  I ordered Mushroom Saag, which is basically mushrooms, spinach and a bunch of spices - sometimes there is cream or yogurt in it, but not the way it was prepared at the restaurant I went to.

I ordered it hot, and it was hot!!  I'm pretty good about spicy foods, but this gave me a run for my money.  I really enjoyed it, and I thought to myself - I could be vegan for life if I could eat Indian food every day.  :)  I normally get poori or naan with my saag, but since I'm gluten free this week, I skipped it.  I did have a very small amount of rice with it just to cut the hotness a bit.

I'm excited to have some of the leftovers for lunch today!  So I'm pressing on for at least one more day.  :)  I do want to try to make it the full week.  I haven't had any pain still.

Today is the biggest loser day, so I'm looking forward to seeing the results!  Good luck, everyone!!

This isn't exactly fun anymore

Eating a gluten-free vegan diet is HARD work.  Holy Moly.  I'm sick of it already, and this is only day 3.  The portobella burgers were okay, but not great.  The "cheese" on them was plain nasty.  On a good note, I haven't had any pain in my upper right abdomen (except for some mild pain on Saturday night) since I've been eating this way, so I think it's helping.

I'm really not interested in eating vegan for life at this point, but I'll see what the doctor says.  I can eat food that's good for me that I don't love, but I really enjoy eating well.  I look forward to dinner each night, because it's always yummy.  Tonight we're having tofu stir fry.  I'm not excited about that at all - I'm dreading it. 

Oh well, hopefully at least I'll be down some weight tomorrow.  :)

I have a new found respect for vegans!