18 Day Challenge (Day 6)

Another Monday, another weigh-in, and there are 12 days left in my 18-day challenge to hit the 60 lbs lost mark by the first day of vacation (July 9). I'm happy to say that today's weigh-in showed a 3.8 lb loss for the week, which means I have 12 days to lose another 4.6 lbs in order to hit my goal. I'm feeling confident!

Weight Loss
Pre-Medifast: 8.6 lbs
Medifast Month 1: 25 lbs (13.6, 3.2, 4, 4.2)
Medifast Month 2: 6.8 lbs (2.4, 3.2, 6, +4.8)
Medifast Month 3: (9.4, 1.8, 3.8, tbd)
Medifast Total (11 weeks): 46.8 lbs
Total in 2011: 55.4 lbs

The Price of Eating Healthy

Today I ate a $17 omelette. It's true. You may be wondering if it was loaded with jumbo lump crab meat or lobster or filet mignon. No, the extra expense was for making it healthy.

Here's the low down.

Fine Herb Omelette ($7.99)

add spinach (+1.75)

add tomatoes (+1.75)

add feta (lightly sprinkled, mind you!) (+1.75)

Made with egg whites (+1.79)

Sub salad for potatoes (+1.99)

Total = $17.02

Craziness, right?!? I can see the additional charge for the add-ons (although $1.75 each seems a bit steep). But, $1.79 for egg whites? Aren't they using LESS of the egg? And, $1.99 to get a small side salad instead of fried potatoes. C'mon! No wonder Americans are fat. It pays to eat unhealthy. I basically paid 4 extra dollars just because I want to keep my arteries clear. Well, when I think of it that way, I suppose it's worth it. Next time, I think I will get the jumbo lump crab cake for $17.99 and make the omelette at home.

Stop. Drop (the) Roll.

Yesterday I discovered a recipe that may have changed my life. Seriously.

I made "bread" using Medifast Cream of Chicken Soup mix. Here is the recipe I found online.

GRILLED CHEESE/sourdough Sandwich

cream of chicken soup
1/4 ts of baking powder
1 egg white**
1oz low fat mozzarella cheese or 1 Light Laughing Cow cheese**

Microwave it in a glass bowl (pyrex or corningware) for 90 seconds. Then let it cool, slice it in half and put in toaster. Melt 1 oz of low fat mozzarella cheese or spread with light laughing cow cheese.

I was extremely skeptical. EX. TREME. LY. You know me, always the optimistic outlook. :-) My thoughts were that it couldn't possibly resemble anything close to real bread, it was going to stick to the bowl, it was going to taste like $hit.

Guess what? I was wrong on all accounts. I eagerly stood in front of the microwave, peering in (probably getting brain cancer from harmful micro-waves) and watched the bread "rise". People, it actually rose! Like real bread. Still the skeptic, I pulled it out of the microwave, let it cool a few minutes, and then easily slipped it out of the bowl with a rubber spatula. OK, now here is where it gets really exciting. I sliced my "bread" in half. It looked just like real bread, little nooks and crannies and everything. I was becoming a believer. I spread it with a wedge of Laughing Cow Garlic & Herb cheese and toasted it. DE. LISH. US.

Now, please remember, I have not eaten "real bread" in almost 3 months. So, maybe it was just an oasis in a desert of low-carb insanity, but I don't think so. I really don't.

If you are a fellow MF-er (hee hee), please try this and let me know if I am just delusional. If you have any variations of this recipe, please send them my way!

18 Day Challenge

Slow week, but the scale went down, so I can't complain, right? Well, I can (and I did), but I shouldn't. I'm down 1.8 lbs for the week. I think I way overdid it on sodium yesterday (salsa on my eggs, and a green bean salad that had soy sauce in the marinade). I also ate out 4 times last week. I made good, on-plan choices, but you never know what is lurking in salad dressing, marinades, and cooking that you haven't done yourself. I also felt like my water intake was way down this weekend. So, all in all, I'm pleased. OK, I am lying...I was disappointed. I don't like anything less than two. I've gotten spoiled that way.

On the VERY positive side, even with this week's measly 1.8 lb loss, I have officially hit the 50 lb mark. 51.6 to be exact. YAY me...now let's get down to business.

There are 18 days until I go on vacation to the beach for 2.5 weeks, and I am giving myself an 18 day challenge to hit the 60 lb mark before vacation. That is 8.4 lbs in 18 days, which is almost a half a pound a day (according to a quick calculation, I am currently averaging .6/day), kind of daunting, but I'm still going to try. I have two reasons for doing this. 1) I have gotten a little lax in measuring my greens, watching condiments, etc. 2) I am TERRIFIED of vacation. I'm not joking. But, that is a whole other post unto itself. More on that later. So, I am hoping that by setting this challenge for myself, I am a little more vigilant and can go into vacation with more peace of mind. What's the worst that can happen? Nothing. Even if I fall short, I will still be closer to my goal, and I think it will be a good way to help keep me focused for the next couple of weeks.

Weight Loss
Pre-Medifast: 8.6 lbs
Medifast Month 1: 25 lbs (13.6, 3.2, 4, 4.2)
Medifast Month 2: 6.8 lbs (2.4, 3.2, 6, +4.8)
Medifast Month 3: (9.4, 1.8, tbd, tbd)
Medifast Total (10 weeks): 43 lbs
Total in 2011: 51.6 lbs

Seeing (yourself) is Believing

As you all know, I had a rough week last week. A four-day binge that resulted in a 4.8 lb weight gain. In the past, that would binge would have continued for a week or more until I finally gave up on whatever weight loss efforts I was attempting at the time. I'm happy to say that I got right back on track on Monday, and I stayed on track all week. It was worth it. I lost 9.4 lbs this week! I can't believe I lost all 4.8 that I gained, plus almost 5 more! The week before last when I had a great week with a 6 lb loss, I let that mess with me mentally. Not this week. I am plugging right along.

This week's weight loss puts me just shy of the 50 lb mark. I think one of the hard things about having A LOT of weight to lose is that even after you have lost a good bit of weight, you are still overweight. Even when you start to think, "Hey, I'm looking pretty good," there are still many lumps and bumps and rolls, and that can mess with your head. You see yourself every day and don't notice the changes. But, then, one day, you see a picture of yourself (usually something you dread), and you really notice the difference that 50 lbs truly makes. And, it's just what you need.

December 2010 (highest weight) June 2011 (-50 lbs)

Weight Loss
Pre-Medifast: 8.6 lbs
Medifast Month 1: 25 lbs (13.6, 3.2, 4, 4.2)
Medifast Month 2: 6.8 lbs (2.4, 3.2, 6, +4.8)
Medifast Month 3: (9.4, tbd, tbd, tbd)
Medifast Total (9 weeks): 41.2 lbs
Total in 2011: 49.8 lbs

I'm too sexy for those (plain) earrings

One of the ways that I know I am feeling better about myself is...

I'm wearing accessories. Different accessories. Almost daily. This may not sound like a big deal, but if you know me, you know that except for when I "dress up," my accessories generally consist of small diamond stud earrings (that I wear 24/7), my wedding rings, and a sports watch. The thing is, I do like accessories and I have many of them, but I just never really felt like taking the time to pick out jewelry that matched my outfit. Really what difference did it make? A great necklace wasn't going to make me look 10 lbs thinner. Strange mentality, I know, but that's the way it was. Now, almost every day, especially work days, I take the time to pick out accessories that match my outfit. I like doing it. I like how it looks. It feels good.

My next piece. Too much?

What do you do differently when you are feeling good about yourself?

I Stumbled...

"In the end, it all comes to choices to turn stumbling blocks into stepping stones."

Is it weird that a 6 lb weight loss last week kind of put me over the edge...in a bad way? It was crazy. Was I happy about it? Yes. But, I was more anxious than happy. I had a constant stream of negative thoughts in my head. How did this happen? It's going to show up on the scale next week. That can't be right. I'm going to have a bad week. It was so strange. Well, I guess not so strange for someone who has some "issues."

So, what did I do? I started weighing myself everyday. I was so sure the scale was going to go up. Let's take a look at how that went:

Monday (official weigh-in day): down 6

Tuesday: up 3

Wednesday: down 2

Thursday: up 1

Thursday night: chicken wings and italian sub

Friday morning through afternoon: back on track

Friday night: Chinese food

Saturday morning: back on track

Saturday lunch through dinner: sandwich, chips, fruit, pizza

Sunday: F*&$ it, why bother even trying to get back on track today. Ate crap the whole day.

That really didn't go so well, now did it. I don't know what happened. Somehow that 6 lb loss and the up and down of the daily weighing, screwed up my mental state. In a big way. Some people are diligent "daily weighers." I have never been because it messes with my head way too much. I've been weighing twice a week. Fridays and Mondays. The crazy thing is, my weight could go up every Tuesday, but I wouldn't know because I don't weigh myself again til Friday! Who knows what the daily pattern is. Of course, I didn't take that into consideration when I stepped on the scale on Tuesday...and Wednesday...and Thursday.

What happened on the scale on Monday after my train went off the track Thursday through Sunday? I really didn't even want to step on the scale, but I faced it. I mentally prepared myself for a 5 lb gain. It was 4.8.

So that sucked. But, here is where I see progress. I didn't use that as an excuse to continue with the derailment. Really, this must be something that only fat people do. Who would see a weight gain as a reason to eat? Fatties, that's who. But, I didn't do that this time. Monday, I got back on track. For real this time. Now, it's Thursday, and I'm still on track. This probably doesn't seem like a big deal, but take it from me, someone who has done this a time or two, a few days off track, usually spirals out of control into a week, two weeks, a month...etc.

Another lesson learned is that I felt gross those few days. I was lethargic and grumpy, and the food didn't make me feel any better nor did it taste that good. If I am going to go off plan (that's dieters' lingo for stuffing your face like a cow), it is going to be for something I really want, something tasty, and delicious, not crap food.

Maybe I'm actually learning a few things.

Weight Loss
Pre-Medifast: 8.6 lbs
Medifast Month 1: 25 lbs (13.6, 3.2, 4, 4.2)
Medifast Month 2: 6.8 lbs (2.4, 3.2, 6, +4.8)
Medifast Total (8 weeks): 31.8 lbs
Total in 2011: 40.4 lbs