3 Week Update

Tuesday I weighed in and I was down to 189-even!  Woot!  That’s a total of 13.2 lbs GONE in just over 2 weeks’ time!  How awesome is that?!?!?!  I’m still lazy and haven’t run or worked out in any way, shape, or form.  Ugh.  I just can’t motivate myself and I hate that!  I want to AT LEAST do the minimum of what the diet book recommends to do while on this diet and that is cardio (running, for me) during days 1 & 2, strength training during days 3 & 4, and something relaxing (yoga, stretching, massage) during days 5-7.  If I can do one day of each of those things, I’m sure that I’ll get even better results than I’ve already gotten.  My original “goal” for the first month of this diet was to lose 15 lbs.  I’m already less than 2 lbs away from that goal.  I’d honestly like to hit 17 lbs lost by the end of the first 28 days. 

Last Sunday and the Sunday before, when I went grocery shopping, I spent over $150 each week.  This week, I spent less than $100!  YAY!  Also, the last 2 weeks I had to cook/prep 5-6 different dishes each Sunday, this week, I only had to cook/prep 2.  There were a good deal of repeats from week 1 for this week’s meal map.  The new recipes this week were Italian Chicken w/Wild Rice and Sesame Chicken Stir-fry. 

Sunday night, I had that Coconut-Pecan Crusted Halibut.  I had been looking forward to eating it alllllll week.  And I was disappointed.  I’ve never eaten halibut before and I have to say, I didn’t really like it all that much.  I much prefer tilapia and think any recipe I do from this diet that calls for halibut from now on, I will use tilapia instead.  Tilapia is also a heck of a lot cheaper than halibut.  I did enjoy the coconut-pecan encrustment (probably not an actual word), but that was it.  Also, it was supposed to be eaten with an artichoke.  If I make something with artichoke again, I’m just going to get artichoke hearts in a jar.  Or, if I can find artichoke hearts frozen, which I think I’ve seen them, that would be even better.

Here’s a bit of TMI…so, I haven’t had an actual “that time of the month” for YEARS.  Well, Friday, I started having one.  It was VERY light.  The first couple days, my ovaries ached.  Then, on the 4^th day, my uterus felt poofy.  I didn’t like it one bit.  So, I’m guessing on top of resetting my metabolism, this diet also reset my hormones?  I really don’t like this because it’s messing with my weight loss and making me hold onto water or something that translates into not dropping the pounds.

I attempted to score some more overtime at work for this week and the week after next, however they didn’t need any.  So, looks like I have a normal work schedule for the remainder of this week and for the entire week of August 10^th thru the 16^th.  (I have 2 days scheduled for next week…but that’s it.)  I need to stop making excuses and being lazy and use this opportunity to get back on the exercise wagon and, more importantly, start my marathon training!

I’ll be going to the big box store tomorrow to purchase 5 cubic ft chest freezer and set up the free delivery for it.  It’s been recommended to me to buy a vacuum sealer as well.  So, I’m going to see about maybe picking one of those up this weekend so I can seal my food all professional-like!

Friend Makin' Monday: Feeling Fruity!

The other night, I had dreams that even though I was adhering to the FMD 100%, I started gaining weight again.  I know these dreams were due to the fears I have about this exact thing happening due to how my “luck” with diets has gone in the past.  I am stressing a little bit about my fears of the scale reversing.  I hope they are completely unfounded fears and that it won’t happen, but I’ve never done this diet before so I don’t know how my body will react to doing it for an extended period of time.  I’m just hoping that I have similar results to my friend Heather who had fantastic results when she started this diet.

I’ve been putting a lot of thought into how long I want to do this diet for.  I had originally planned to be on it for at least two 28-day cycles with the possibility of a third cycle…until I hit 30-32 pounds lost.  Well, I love the food so much that I’m thinking that I’ll continue it as long as possible and just make it my standard way of eating with the occasional splurge meal.

When I work the night shift at work on overtime, there’s this one coworker that always asks me if I’m going to the store (7-11).  Now that I’m on this diet, I don’t go to the store.  She gets all huffy when I tell her no like I’ve done twice this week.  I’m sorry, but there’s nothing I need at the store so there’s no need for me to go.  Previously, she would tell me to get myself a little something for going to the store to get her something.  The other night, I explained to her why I was saying no, that I was on a diet.  She responded with couldn’t I have fruit.  My response to that, because I was in phase 2, was “not today.”  It’s all protein and veggies during phase 2…no fruits.  Fruit is phase 1 and sometimes phase 3.

So far I’ve done super fantastic about staying on diet.  I’ll see a food that would have been irresistible to me previously and barely give it a thought.  I’m really amazed at this development.  I know that, at least when I first start a diet, that I’m pretty good about resisting trigger foods…but I usually still have the desire to eat them.  At least for now, I don’t even have that going on.  I love it.  I can easily just look at a trigger food, acknowledge that it would be tasty, and then I just move on.  I block it from my thoughts before I can WANT it.  So far, the only time I’ve had something not on the diet was this past Saturday.  I met a couple friends at Dave & Busters.  They both had dinner, I just had iced tea.  One of my friends got sweet potato fries with his dinner and I was scheduled to eat sweet potato with my dinner and he said I could have some if I wanted, so I had a few.

And now for Friend Makin’ Monday…This week's topic is 'Feeling Fruity'

1. What is your favorite fruit?

omg.  I have to pick a favorite?!?!?!  But I love all kinds of fruits!  <whine>  Hmm…If I absolutely HAVE to choose, then I choose rhubarb.  I don’t eat it often, but when I do eat it, it’s divine.

2. Is there a fruit that you really really don't like?

I tried prickly pear one time and did not like it at all…but it’s entirely possible that I didn’t prepare it correctly.  Someday I’ll try it again.

3. If you could only drink one fruit juice for the rest of your life, what flavor would it be?

Grapefruit!

4. Tomatoes - fruit or vegetable?

Tomatoes are actually a fruit but are marketed as and sold with the vegetables

5. How many portions of fruit do you eat a day?

It depends on the day as right now I’m doing a diet that cycles from high carb (sprouted grain bread, fruit, etc) to high protein to high healthy fat.  On the first 2 days of the week, you eat a couple servings of fruit, the rest of the week only like one a day.

6. if you were making a smoothie what fruits would you add?

If I BUY a fruit smoothie I always get the strawberry banana from Einstein Bros Bagels…it’s the bomb.  I haven’t MADE my own smoothie in years, but I believe one of my favorites included swiss chard, strawberries, coconut water, and I don’t have a clue what else.

                                     

7. Are you allergic to any fruits?

Thank god no!  I’m not allergic to any food, but I do have an intolerance to catfish (makes me throw up for hours if I eat it).

8. Do you have a favorite fruit recipe? Feel free to share the recipe with us.

My grandmother’s fruit salad.  You just get a couple citrus fruits (I usually go with clementines and grapefruit), your favorite apple (mine is honeycrisp), plums, chose from apricots/peaches/nectarines (1 or 2 of them), grapes (doesn’t matter red or white, just seedless is a good idea), maybe some berries (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, etc), and you could probably add your favorite melon and/or kiwi if you like them.  cut everything up and place in a LARGE mixing bowl.  Add a little bit of lemon juice, some cinnamon and your favorite sweetener (I used to use sweet’n’low but now I’m on the stevia train…but you could use sugar if that’s what you prefer).

9. Do you have any fruits that are local to your area?

If we do, I’m totally unaware. 

10. What is your favorite fruit pie?

RHUBARB!!!!  But I’ll eat the shizz out of a strawberry-rhubarb pie just as fast!

Stuck?

Wednesday, I showed no loss on the scale.  But that’s okay because it was just the same number as Tuesday: 190.6.  True, I was really hoping to break into the 180’s with that weigh in, but I also am aware that it’s about time for my weight loss to slow down a bit.  I mean, the diet book touts that you can lose UP TO 20 pounds in 28 days.  I lost half of that in the first week.  So, if I’m not “supposed” to lose more than another 10 pounds over the subsequent 3 weeks of the 28-day cycle of the diet, then the rate of weight loss does need to slow down to about 3 a week.  It’s just a little nerve wracking to start off because I was so used to seeing a 1+ lb loss almost every day of the first week and now for it to slow down…that’s where the terror I spoke about in my last post comes into play.

As of Wednesday, I have now had tuna salad FOUR different ways, none of which contain mayonnaise!  So awesome.  Two of the varieties of tuna salad include persian cucumbers, which are like sweet pickles, but not pickled.  And when I make “regular” tuna salad, I use mayo and sweet relish, and sometimes I’ll add a boiled egg too.

I am still 0 for 0 with the exercise.  Ugh.  I’m disappointed in myself for this, but I’m not getting down on myself.  Sometimes you just need a break.  And apparently, right now, I need a break.  I do need to start getting back into it, though.  I know I will see a higher quality of weight loss if I pick my running back up on a regular basis and if I can manage to get myself to the gym once or twice a week.  Next week is perfect for that.  I only have one shift of overtime scheduled all of next week, so that leaves 6 days with enough time to workout fully open.  And I have loads more options open to me other than just running or just going to the gym or just swimming or just cycling.  I have P90X on DVD, I have all these mini workouts that a coworker gave me (I’ll post about this in the next couple days). 

Double shift days at work are a little difficult for me to get through.  I definitely have to have one of the “crash stash” snacks that are allowed if they’re needed.  I literally can’t make it through the entire 16 hours at work if I don’t eat one.  I try to pick a good one that has protein.  That’s really easy during phase 2, which is the protein-heavy phase.  So, when I worked my double shift Wednesday night, I took 3 boiled egg whites with me to snack on when I needed a snack.  When I worked my double on Monday, it was during phase 1, which is the fruit-heavy phase…so for that snack I took 2 small apples.  They weren’t nearly as satisfying as the asparagus wrapped in nitrate-free roast beef lunch meat that I brought last week during phase 2 when I worked a double shift.  But, I made it through the night without too much tummy grumbling going on. 

Wednesday was super stressful.  We were ridiculously busy and I kept getting bombarded with work to do.  To top that off, in the process of doing MY job, I discovered numberous instances where a particular department in my agency didn’t do THEIR job, so it held me up with doing my own job.  On my lunch break I had to run to the store (Whole Foods) to buy a few things that I needed to have (frozen broccoli, canned tuna, mushrooms and foil).  While I was waiting in line to check out, there were these cases of little 2-bite cupcakes that looked fantastically sugar-packed and, a week and a half ago, I would have broken down and bought them and then eaten ALL OF THEM before going back into work.  This time?  I looked at them, acknowledged that they looked yummy but didn’t even have the slightest inklng of desire to buy and eat them.  YAY!!!

I want to caution everyone, unless you’re getting fresh produce or specialty food items, do NOT go shopping at Whole Foods.  The can of tuna I bought?  3 times as much as the exact same thing at a regular grocery store.  The foil I bought?  Regular store: $1.00…Whole Foods: $4.00.  Oh and the broccoli?  If I want steam-in-the-bag, I’d have to get this small bag that costs twice what the large non-steam-in-the-bag costs.  Ugh.  I just got the large bag and set it out to thaw.  I poked holes in the bag and heated it up that way.  Worked just fine. 

Oh!  Haha…Wednesday while I was at work, I made my photocopies of week 3 and 4’s sample meal maps and then I did up my shopping lists for both weeks!  I’m a boy scout when it comes to prep work for this diet!  Always prepared!  But I like it.

The frustration begins.  I mean, it’s entirely possible that it will be gone tomorrow, but for right now, I’m frustrated.  The scale hasn’t moved even 1/10^th of a pound in three days.  I knew the weight loss would slow down, but I wasn’t prepared for it to just slam on the brakes like this.  A little movement in the downward direction would be nice.  Even just if it only measures in the tenths of a pound.  Anything is better than nothing.  I’m really hoping to get down in the 180s by Monday.  I just need .7 of a pound loss to get there!  I’m hoping that the stress I’ve had with my fears of what happened with the Shred Diet earlier this year would happen now didn’t cause my body to hold onto weight.

I am pretty happy with how much middle section is starting to look.  Well, happy with my stomach area.  My hips are stilly lumpy and I don’t like that.  Appearance-wise, I wanted a flatter stomach and smoother hips.  So far, the first one is starting to happen, so that’s good.

This morning, I weighed in again and, again, it was 190.6.  But, there has been a development that may explain why i've stayed the same all week.  I am a woman and women have, well, a "time of the month" that happens.  I don't normally have a time of the month thanks to my birth control pills, but every now and then I spot.  Well, I'm spotting right now so I'm guessing I'm just a little bloated right now.  So, I'm going to stop stressing about the whole staying the same and just be glad the scale's not going up because of this.

Terrified

I have something I need to discuss.  I have NEVER lost this much weight this quickly.  NEVER.  The most I’ve lost in one week is 5 or 6 pounds, and that was when I was way heavier, back when I was first starting on my weight loss journey, 4 years ago.  Also, the last time I lost at least 10 pounds (January of this year…but it took me a month to do it), my body wasn’t processing the food properly and I ended up getting “stopped up” and the scale starting going UP instead of continuing to go down…then I got frustrated and gave up and started eating junk again. 

So, what I’m trying to say is that at this point, right now, I am TERRIFIED.  I am so scared that the weight loss I’ve been experiencing is going to not only slow down (I’m actually okay with that because it WILL happen), but stop and then the scale will start moving UP again.  I can’t tell you just how scared I am that this will happen.  I hope and pray that my downward motion on the scale continues and I can reach my goal of 30-32 pounds lost. 

Something I’ve thought about, especially when taking into consideration just how much extra food the entrée recipes make and how much food I now have frozen and set aside for future eating, is how long do I want to continue to eat this way after I’ve reached my goal?  This diet is a very doable diet.  My body seems to be processing everything properly and doing its “functions” on a regular basis, so I don’t see why I can’t do this long term.  I could make it my standard way of eating with the occasional meal out with friends or by myself “just because.”    And, while my goal is to hit 170~, what if I could lose even more weight and actually maintain it fairly effortlessly?  That would be amazing!  Because, really, I would love to hit 160, but last year, when I participated in and won the first fitness competition by losing 33 pounds in a year and hitting every short and long term goal I set for myself, I got stuck at 172.  I could not get below 172.  I was stuck there for the last 2+ months of the competition.  It was so frustrating, but I came to believe that that was my “happy weight.”  That that was the weight I was “meant to be.”  But what if I can actually break that barrier and get down to my original goal weight of 160?  What if that is actually achievable?  Now, I’m not going to hold my breath and I’m not really going to “try” to get lower once I’ve hit 170, but if it happens, then GREAT! 

Sad news…my coworker that had the smaller chest freezer talked to his wife and she doesn’t want to get rid of it in favor of a larger one like he wanted to do, so I won’t be buying that one from him.  Boo!  So, next Friday, when I get paid, I’ll be heading over to Fry’s to check out what they have available and if they have the size I want, then I’m going to buy it and schedule a delivery time, for hopefully next weekend.  I figure whatever food I cook this Sunday will keep just fine in the fridge until I can get the new freezer in the apartment next weekend so long as it’s contained properly.  I just need to move some stuff out of the dining room where I’ll be putting the new freezer to make room for it.  I have a bunch of paintings I did a few years ago, when I was heavier (before I started losing weight), stacked up.  I’ll just take them to my storage unit.  Problem solved.

Fast Metabolism Diet week 1 update

As you may be aware, last Monday I started a new diet: the Fast Metabolism Diet.  My starting weight was 202.2.  The diet had me weighing in every day as there was a spot for my weight every day of the meal plan.  Every day except for Friday and yesterday, I showed a loss of at least a pound.  WOW!  Per the letter of the diet’s book, you are to drink half your weight in ounces of water each day (example: if you weigh 200 lbs, you need to drink at least 100 oz of water).  By Friday, I was craving water, water and more water.  I just couldn’t seem to get enough.  And it was regular water (well, the tap water in my apt is horrible, even filtered, so I’m drinking bottled water)…not the sparkly waters I usually drink.  Now, don’t get me wrong, I’ll still drink those and enjoy them, but what first comes to mind now is regular bottled water, no bubbles, no flavoring, no nada.

Let me take a minute to talk about the food.  OM-NOM-NOM!  That’s Cookie-Monster speak for “it’s super delicious!”  I cannot say enough good things about the food on this diet.  5-bean turkey chili, chicken & barley soup, beef & cabbage soup, pork roasts, broiled steak, at least 3 different varieties of tuna salad (none of which include mayonnaise, btw), homemade hummus, loads of veggies, a good balance of fruits.  One of my favorite breakfasts is the strawberry French toast.  Plus, I’m branching out and trying things I never would have tried (mainly because I had never heard of them before this diet), like brown rice fusilli and sprouted grain bread.  Also, there are 3 phases that you cycle through each week so you rarely eat the same thing twice in one week.  And, right now, I’m following the sample meal plan that is provided for you in the book, so I’m not even eating the same thing 2 weeks in a row.  So, what I ate last week, I’m not eating this week. 

And that takes me to my next topic in this post: freezer space.  You see, each recipe for a dinner entrée makes anywhere from 4 to 8 servings.  You are obviously not going to eat more than one or two servings of that particular item in a week, so therefore you need to freeze it or it will go bad and you will have wasted all that money and time cooking it.  So, I portioned everything out into Ziploc freezer bags, then I bagged those baggies into the larger, gallon-sized freezer bags and labeled them so I know what’s in the gallon bag and then stuck them in the freezer.  Well…now my freezer is FULL!  Like, nothing-else-will-fit-in-there full.

So, I’ve decided I need to buy a small chest freezer.  I’m looking at a 5 cubic foot sized chest freezer.  I found one at Sam’s Club for $170.  A coworker said that he thinks he remembers seeing the same sized one at Fry’s for around $140 (plus they’ll deliver it for me).  And then another coworker said he’s got one and has discovered it’s not big enough to suit his specific needs and wants a larger one, so is looking to sell his.  He has to check with his wife to find out how much they want to sell it for (he will also deliver it and help me get it up the stairs to my 3^rd floor apt).  If I buy my coworker’s freezer, he can bring it over this weekend, but if I buy from a store, I have to wait until I get paid, on the 30^th…and then wait a few days more before they’ll deliver it (if I get it from Fry’s, that is).

So, I teased you at the beginning of this post with my weight.  I told you that every day except for 2 in the first 8 of the diet, I have shown at least a 1 lb loss.  Well, all those days of showing at least a 1 lb loss adds up to a 9.6 lbs weight loss!!!  That’s right!  I’m down to 192.6 now!  I’m only 20-ish pounds away from my goal!  About a third of the way there!  I’m so excited.  I know, based on reading the diet’s book, that dramatic initial weight loss is normal.  Also because of reading the book, I know it will slow down…and I’m fine with that.  the part I’m trying to get a handle on is my terror that the scale will start reversing and I’ll start gaining…like I did in January/February on the Shred Diet.  I stuck to it 100%, lost 10.5 lbs, and then started gaining again.  (update: I wrote this last night at work and have weighed again since...I'm now at 190.6, so that's a total loss of 11.6 lbs and I also remeasured...down 5 inches over all my measurements.)

Some non-scale victories from the last week.  I have said “no” to numerous free/offered foods at work.  My favorite non-scale victory came when I was grocery shopping over the weekend at Whole Foods and walked past one of their buffet-style food “kiosks” (not sure what to call them…but you know what I’m talking about) with prepared foods like potato salad and whatnot.  I looked at the food it offered and noted to myself that it looked pretty yummy…and that was it.  I kept on walking.  Previously, I would have been all like, “I need some of that!” and it would have been a fight with myself to not buy any of it and then scarf it down the moment I got back home…if I even waited until I got home and didn’t stuff my face in the car in the parking lot outside the store. 

A funny way I measure my weight loss progress is by how my fingers feel.  And, right now, my fingers “feel skinny” when I lace my hands together.  Weird, I know, but it’s something that helps me gauge my progress.  Same thing with crossing my legs.  If I can comfortably cross my legs, then I’m doing good. 

Also among the non-scale victories would be that I’m not obsessing over food anymore.  I can go 2-3-4 hours without eating and not be all like, “oh no!  I must shovel food in my face!”  If what I ate previously keeps me feeling full and satisfied (which on this diet, everything does), then I find that I’m not even thinking about food at all.  It’s awesome.  This is definitely one of my favorite victories so far.  There are really just so many pros and pluses to this diet.  I mean, I know I’ve only just completed the first week of the diet, but I really can only sing its praises.  I hope I continue to drop pounds and that the scale never reverses and goes up.  I just have to take it day by day, and, week by week.  I can’t get too far ahead of myself or I will feel overwhelmed.

On this diet I’m trying all sorts of things I’ve never tried before…things I’ve never even heard of!  I’ve never heard of brown rice fusilli, yet I love it.  It’s delicious!  Also, so far, I’ve had tuna salad prepared 3 different ways, none of which involved mayonnaise and all of which are delicious!  I love the food prep I do on Sundays.  I have always loved cooking and now, I’ve done it for like 10 hours straight 2 Sundays in a row!

The diet book has a sample meal map in it and that’s what I’m basing what I’m eating right now off of.  I bought the cookbook that pairs with the diet book and while thumbing through that the other day, I discovered that it has its own sample meal map that is completely different than the one in the diet book.  So, I’m going to finish out the first 28 days with the meal map out of the book, then for the second 28 days, I’ll use the one in the cookbook.  By then, I’ll have loads of foods built up in my freezer, ready to go, and I can make my own meal maps and not have to buy anything except for the fresh fruits and veggies and bread.

Something I discovered with the sprouted grain bread is that it starts molding FAST.  Regular bread takes a couple/few weeks before it starts molding.  Sprouted grain bread starts molding within a week!  So, what I’m now doing is taking out how many slices of bread I need for the week and sticking them in a Ziploc baggie and leaving the rest of the loaf in the freezer so it keeps longer since it’s not exactly cheap.

Almost a Week In Now

When I weighed in Tuesday morning, I was down to 196.8 lbs…that’s a 5.4 lb loss on the 3^rd day!!!  I’m pretty much 100% sure that was all water weight from retaining water due to crappy foods and loads of sodium, and inflammation in my body tissues, also from eating crappy foods.  But still, a 5.4 lb loss is a 5.4 lb loss and I’m counting it in my journey to lose weight this time.  So there!  The first phase of the FMD is also known as the “calming” phase because it is designed to reduce inflammation in the body tissues and soothe it.

Wednesday and Thursday I was in week 1’s phase 2, which is the “unlock the fat” phase.  It’s protein-heavy and puts an emphasis on building up muscle so that you can burn fat more efficiently.  I ate things like smoked salmon paired with cucumbers, egg white scrambles, tuna in salad, jerky, steak & asparagus wraps, and so on.  Very protein-heavy, like I said.  The first phase, while not heavy in carbs, has more carbs in it than the other 2 phases.  The 3^rd phase puts more emphasis on healthy fats like avocados.

I missed out on 2 workouts this week.  Monday I was going to hit the gym but because of errands and bills I didn’t have time.  Then Tuesday I was going to run but slept horrible the night before so I was so tired Tuesday morning and didn’t get up to run.  So I was going to run on Wednesday morning, but again, I was tired, probably still tired from my horrible sleep Monday night.  And then, I had to run to the store to buy a shallot for my breakfast.  I figured I’d get all my food ready for the day and then maybe head out for a quick 3 miles, but food prep took way longer than I thought it would, so I didn’t have a chance to run Wednesday morning either.  Then, Wednesday and Thursday nights I worked 16 hour shifts so I only had time to sleep, wake up and food prep and then straight back to work.  I did set my alarm to wake me up about 35 minutes earlier than I normally wake up when I do a turnaround like that at work, so I was a little more tired than usual on Thursday and Friday.  But that’s okay.

Thursday, I woke up about 35 minutes earlier than my usual when I work a double shift.  Funny thing is, I felt way more rested than I usually do when I get that 35 minutes of sleep.  Hmmm.  Anyway, I figured it would take me about 40 minutes to do the food prep I needed to do before work.  Wrong.  It took about an hour.  I left 20 minutes later than I usually do for work.  I still got to work on time because I leave super early, but if there had been traffic, I would have been late to work.  Wednesday night I had run to Whole Foods on my lunch break to grab a bag of steam-in-the-bag frozen broccoli to have with my pork roast Thursday night (well, technically, Friday morning by the time I actually ate it, but it was Thursday’s dinner).

This diet is making me super thirsty.  For instance, in a double shift I usually drink a couple travel cups of coffee (for staying awake purposes) and 3-4 liters of sparkly water.  Wednesday, I drank my 2 travel cups full of coffee, all 4 liters of my sparkly water AND a liter of regular water!!!  WOW!!!  I’m not really complaining, except that I had to either go thirsty for the last 1.5 hours of my 16 hours at work that night or take the offer of my friend’s extra bottle of water that he had bought when he went on break.  So I took the water.

When I weighed myself Thursday when I woke up, I was down a total of 6.8 lbs!!!  In the book, she writes about how her clients will experience this kind of weight loss and be all like, this can’t be right, this can’t be healthy, so they start messing with what and how much they’re eating, screwing up the diet.  She emphasizes that you are supposed to lose like this, at least at the very start.  It will level off a little, but you will continue to lose weight at a steady rate even after it levels off.  I would be very happy if I hit 15 lbs lost by the end of the first 28 day cycle and then, if I can lose at least 10 more lbs in the second 28 day cycle.  If I can do that, I’ll be just a few pounds away from my goal.

Today, I woke up and weighed myself.  I was the same as Thursday.  Booo!  Oh well, at least I didn’t gain, right?  I knew the weight loss had to slow down at some point, but I was riding the high of showing a loss every day on the scale and I wasn’t prepared for it to just stop altogether…I figured it would just slow down to like a half or a quarter pound a day.  But nope, there was no loss at all between yesterday and today.

Fast Metabolism...the beginning

Okay, so Sunday, I went grocery shopping.  I went to 5 (yes, you read that right, 5) different grocery stores to get everything that was on my list that I needed to buy to make it through the first week on the Fast Metabolism Diet (FMD from here on out).  It cost me about $200 to buy everything.  Now, before you go getting anything in a wad, let me explain a little.  For the main part, this isn’t just one week of food.  When you’re making the “main dishes,” it yields like 6-8 servings, so it will last you more than just one week.  Some of the stuff is a little hard to find.  For instance I had to go to Trader Joe’s for only one thing: Persian cucumbers.  I went to Target first and that’s where I got the vast majority of my food.  Then I went to Sprouts, then Whole Foods, then Trader Joe’s.  I went to TJ’s because the ONE time I’ve been there, last year, I remembered seeing specialty cucumbers and figured they would have the Persian ones.  They did.  YAY!  Then, last stop of the day was the local grocery store chain, HEB, for an Asian pear because, like TJ’s, I remember seeing them there.  I had bought a regular pear at WF’s but the menu plan calls for an Asian pear specifically, so that’s what I wanted to get.  See, I’m a huge stickler for instructions and like to follow them to a T if at all possible.  I rarely modify things unless it’s just a super unhealthy recipe but it’s a food I really like and I want it to be closer to healthy and then I’ll make substitutions.  Also, when I make spaghetti sauce, it’s never the same twice because I don’t follow a recipe for it.  I just grab whatever looks tasty and toss it in the mix.

After I went grocery shopping Sunday, it was time for food prep!  YAY!  Before I could start food prep, I had to empty the sinks as they were both full of dishes needing to be washed.  I washed all those and the set about cooking up the first thing on my list of things to cook: the chicken and barley soup.  I poured the chicken broth, vegetable broth and water into the pot.  Then I cubed the chicken and put that in.  I bought frozen, already cubed butternut squash and had thawed that out, so I just poured that in.  Chopped up the zucchini and onion and threw all that in.  Then I measured out the barley and put that in as well.  About halfway through added the ingredients to the pot, I realized the pot I had was nowhere near big enough so I stopped and headed back to the store to buy a larger stock pot.  I ended up with a red stainless pot with off white enamel (so it mostly matches my current pans which are red stainless with white enamel).  It’s 12 quarts whereas I think the one I had was only 6…at best.  I got home with the new pot and transferred over what I had already put in the pot and then finished putting everything in and then set it to boil, then reduced to a simmer for 2 hours.

After I had set up the soup to cook, I started prepping the 5-bean turkey chili (the recipe states you can use ground turkey or ground buffalo…I opted for turkey because buffalo can be hard to find).  The chili calls for white beans, kidney beans, pinto beans, black beans and lentil beans.  Plus there is onion, mushroom, and zucchini in there too.  This went in the crockpot (I think I might buy a second crockpot for reasons I’ll explain in a minute) on high for 5 hours. 

Next, I tackled the pepperoncini pork roast.  Now, I don’t like pepperoncinis at all, but after it was cooked, I decided it smelled delicious and I can’t wait to try it.  Anyway, this was supposed to go in a crockpot as well (hence why I might buy a second one…it’ll come in handy in the future if I need to cook a lot of food at once again).  Since my crockpot was already being used for the chili, I decided to put the roast in the oven at 350° for an hour at a time until it “flaked” easily.  This took about 2 hours.

Next up was the stove top foods.  There was 2 of those and the first one up was the coconut curry chicken.  I have never used coconut milk for anything and I have also never *actually* made Indian food.  There was this one time I made basmati rice, grilled chunks of lamb and then used store bought tikka masala sauce and made lamb tikka masala…so that doesn’t count since I didn’t make the sauce myself.  When I was done, I took a tiny sample of the coconut curry sauce…OMG…so yummy!  I hadn’t read the entire recipe when I was making my grocery list so I didn’t have any tomato paste to thicken the sauce with.  So I made it without the paste.  The next morning, I went to the store and bought 4 small cans of paste and I pulled the dish out of the fridge and put it back in the pan, heated it up and added the paste to it.  (see what I mean about I like to follow the instructions to a T?)

The final item I made was shrimp and veggie stir fry.  That has all sorts of good things in it…Brussels sprouts, asparagus, baby bok choy, onions, and of course, shrimp.  The recipe called for 1 pound of extra-large cooked shrimp.  The store had them in 12oz bags, which is 4oz shy of a pound, so I had to buy 2 bags, now I have extra shrimp.  Haha.

Monday was my first day on the FMD and I have to say it went very well.  As soon as I got to work, a coworker offered me a muffin and when I said no, she pushed it more toward me and I had to insist that I meant the no I had said originally because I had just started my diet.  Later that day, the same coworker offered me a girl scout cookie.  I said no to that as well.  Tuesday I get to work and they had brought in a birthday cake for the August birthdays.  I LOVE cake.  Well, I had to say no to this as well.  It helps that the cake was nowhere near my work station, so it was easy to forget about.

Monday’s breakfast, while still completely edible and tasty was a bit of a fail because I didn’t follow the directions properly because I didn’t read them all the way through first.  It was an oatmeal and fruit smoothie.  It called for steel cut oats, something I have no experience with.  They’re not flakes like regular oats or whole grain oats.  They’re the grain kernel.  Apparently I was supposed to cook them first.  Oops.  So, it was a little crunchy and I ate it more than I drank it.  Haha. 

Tuesday’s breakfast was strawberry French toast.  It was one egg white mixed with cinnamon and vanilla extract.  One slice of the sprouted wheat bread.  (OH YEA!!!  I’ve never had sprouted wheat bread before…it’s good!)  Then I cooked it on the griddle.  Ahile that was cooking on the griddle, I heated up 1 cup of frozen sliced strawberries with lemon juice and 1/8 tsp stevia.  Poured the strawberry mix on top of the French toast…sooooo good!!!  But, that sprouted grain wheat bread, one, it smells fantastic and two, it tastes great!  I don’t think I’ll be going back to the bread I was having before, even though that was a whole grain bread.  I just like this stuff better. 

My exercise thus far this week has been spotty.  I got up early Sunday and ran 5 miles and felt great doing it.  Monday I was going to go to the gym, but paying bills and running other errands took up my whole morning, so no gym on Monday.  Tuesday I was going to run, but I accidentally drank too much coffee on Monday and slept like crap Monday night, so I didn’t get out of bed until 10 Tuesday morning. 

Exercise for the rest of the week will be scant.  Basically, I won’t have a workout until Saturday (because I’m working a double shift Wednesday AND Thursday nights, so no time for workouts on Thursday or Friday, sleep only) and what I think I’m going to do with that is drive to the gym, run down the street for 1.5 miles and then back for 3 miles, then head into the gym, do my jump box workout, then swim at least 10 laps.  I’ll just set a minimum and if I can do more, then I will.  I want to get up early to do this.  I don’t want to be running after 8 if I can avoid it.  Then, maybe when I get home, if I’m feeling up to it (probably not), I can go for a bike ride.  Maybe.

weight is in pounds and measurements are in inches

I should end this post with my starting numbers.  I was not really surprised when I stepped on the scale and it said 202.2.  One of the guys at work said maybe I was retaining water since that number on the scale meant I had gained about 4 pounds in a week and a half.  While not impossible, not completely likely either.  I stepped on the scale Tuesday morning because the meal plans in the book have a check in spot for your weight every day.  Tuesday it said 198.4.  So, yea, most likely retaining water.  My numbers are disappointing to me because these are basically the same numbers I started with in August 2012 before I lost 33 pounds.  I’m back to where I started.  Well, not completely back to where I started or I would be tipping the scales at around 260 again.  I’ve had a hard time remotivating myself this time because “I’ve already lost this weight, why should I have to do it AGAIN?”  But, I’m back in the swing of things.  While I’m not super gung-ho about it, I am more motivated.  I still need to make it a point to make getting in my 5 workouts a week a priority, which I haven’t been doing the past few months…hell, the past like 8 months. 

Anyway, when I get to the gym on Saturday, I think I’m going to ask if someone can measure my body fat % for me and then at the end of two 28 day cycles of the FMD I will get it taken again.  I would buy a caliper and do it myself, but some of the places you have to pinch at are hard to do by yourself.  And besides, it’s free if I get it done at the gym!  (well, not actually free because I’m paying the monthly dues)

Nerves About the New Diet

The other day I was talking to my friend, Heather, who has been doing the Fast Metabolism Diet for around 7 weeks now.  She has lost an amazing 27 pounds!  That is just plain amazing, no matter how you slice it.  I’m so proud of her.  And it really gives me a lot of hope for my own potential results with this diet.  27 pounds is pretty much my goal in weight loss at this time.  As long as I can stay focused, then I can stick to this diet and I can maybe hit my goal in 2 months’ time!  If I can do that, then I’m going to see about mixing some paleo with some Reboot Your Life recipes with some sugar detox stuff and come up with a healthy “diet” to continue on.

When Heather and I were discussing her success with this diet and that I am starting it on Monday, she advised I get the accompanying cookbook.  I didn’t know there was a cookbook!  I’m totally buying it.  She said she got it on Amazon.com for about $8.  Nice.  (she must have found it on sale because I got it for $12)  So, I will also keep my favorite recipes from this diet and throw them in my mixed up diet I’ll make for myself to stick to 90% of the time when I’m not having an “indulgence” meal out with friends.  And then, in October, I’ll start seeing the therapist and will get a handle on my food obsession/mild eating disorder and I will have great success keeping the weight off and staying healthy.

I know that once I get myself back down to my goal weight of 170~ that it will be so much easier to keep myself motivated to workout and motivated to improve my running (aka - get faster, go longer…hmm…do I want to run an ultra-marathon some day?).  Oh!  Something I would really like to do next year, compete in the Police Games.  They have a 5K and a 10K event.  I would LOVE to compete in both of those.  I don’t care that next year I may not place (heck, I’m sure I’ll be going up against runners that finish 5+ minutes faster than me in the 5K and 10+ minutes faster in the 10K), but I don’t care.  I want to do it.  It will be an amazing experience that I will remember and, maybe, in subsequent years, I’ll do the Games again and will improve and someday I’ll actually place and get a medal.

Something else I’m doing to help myself along in the journey this time around, I’ve bought Diane Carbonell’s book 150 Pounds Gone Forever: How I Lost Half My Size and You Can Too about her journey to lose 150 pounds and how she’s then kept the weight off for over 10 years.  I subscribe to her blog via email and I enjoy reading what she writes.  So I’m really looking forward to reading her book.  

Anyway, as with any new thing, I'm nervous about starting this diet tomorrow.  I know I'll do well, I just have to have faith in myself.

Bully

Thursday, I had a dentist appointment at 8am, then I was working a double (16 hour) shift at work last night.  Because of the double shift, I needed to get a really good sleep in.  However, due to having to wake up for an 8am dentist appointment, there was a chance that wouldn’t really be possible, especially considering I wanted to get in a 3 mile run.  So, instead of doing my run after the dentist, I decided I would do it before.  So, I set my alarm for 6 and rolled out of bed 20 minutes later.  I did my 3 mile run and I did it without stopping.  The way things have been going for me recently with my running, that in and of itself is an accomplishment.  Then I showered and headed to the dentist with 5 minutes to spare.

Kohl’s had sent out an email overnight saying that if you spent at least $25 that you would get 200 rewards points which equals a $10 off coupon at the end of the month.  So I went and found a pair of running capris I liked plus they had some running related t-shirts, so I bought a couple of those too.  Everything was on sale.  Yay!  And, on top of the 200 rewards points I will get, I also earned 41 points.  Awesome!

When I checked my Facebook the other night, I had a new message.  When I went to check the new message I noticed there was a message in my “other” folder, so I checked that too.  It was a bully message that said it didn’t matter how much weight I lost, I would still be “an ugly as sin bull dyke.”  Now, before you get all concerned about me and my feelings, all is well.  I am above this person’s ability to hurt me.  Their words mean nothing to me.  I see a person that is insecure and has low self-esteem…it’s sad, really.  They feel the need to lash out at others to make themselves feel better.  I don’t know who it was, but I know I work with them.  The Facebook account they sent the message from has a moniker instead of their real name.  So, not only are they insecure with low self-esteem, but they feel the need to hide behind a fake name.  I just think it’s kind of funny that the last 2 years I’ve taken part in the Stand Up 5K that benefits the Anti-defamation League which is a foundation that helps educate people against bullying and here I am getting a bullying message.  It’s not the first time I’ve gotten one.  The difference is, when I got the last one I was still very overweight and very emotionally vulnerable.  Now, I’m strong and I have my self-esteem back.  I just brush it off and say their jealous of my muscles.  Haha!

So, what I want to know is…do any of you have stories about being bullied?  For your weight or for any reason.  How did you deal with it?  How did it affect you?

Obsessive Thoughts

Yesterday morning, I did get up early and I did my run.  I had set the alarm for 6:30 but stayed in bed until 7:30 and so by the time I set out to run at 8:00, it was almost 80°.  Ugh.  I was great for the first almost 3 miles.  The 4^th mile, however, was horrible.  I stopped every quarter mile and rested.  I hate that.  I’m okay with walking a minute every mile, but I HATE stopping to rest.  That means my stamina and my endurance are just plain shot and that disappoints me greatly.  I need to get on this.  Next month starts marathon training!  That’s 4 runs a week!  OMG! 

Most marathon training programs have you running 5-6 times a week but I literally cannot commit to more than 4 days of running a week so you can imagine just how happy I was when I found one that only required 4 runs a week and still looked like a solid training plan.  I’ve really got to be on myself about getting to the gym twice a week.  Even if that means doubling up on workouts on the weekend and doing a gym/swim session on Sunday, along with my long run…you know, run in the AM, gym/swim in the evening.  However, I would REALLY like for the gym/swim to be mid-week so I can do the gym/cycle on Saturday.  I have just got to be more disciplined with myself. 

And I have to…repeat, HAVE TO…get my eating and obsessive thoughts about food under control.  Seriously.  It’s ridiculous just how out of control they are.  I hate how much I think about food.  I wish I didn’t think about it at all…except when I get hungry.  But, no, I think about food practically ALL. THE. TIME.  It makes me sick.  (figuratively speaking)  I wish I didn’t have to wait until October to start therapy…but financially, I just can’t do it until then.

I’m starting the Fast Metabolism Diet next Monday.  Hopefully that will help kick start my metabolism and reset it so that it’s functioning properly.  I’m hoping that I can lose at least 15 pounds in the 28 days of the diet.  If I can do that, I’ll only have 10 pounds to lose until I hit goal.  My work clothes will also not be super tight anymore and I won’t look pregnant in my regular clothes anymore.  My running clothes will also fit/look better as well.

Let me tell you guys about something exciting in my life that has nothing to do with fitness/health/diet.  My favorite author is Terry Brooks because he is the author of my favorite book series, the Shannara series.  Up until this year, there were 28 books in the entire series.  As of yesterday, there are 29 books!  I’m so exciting to buy the new book!  I will most likely interrupt my reading of the Dark Tower series (Stephen King) in order to read this book.  But, before I do that, I will finish book 3, which I am currently in the middle of.  So, yea, I’m pretty excited about this new book in my favorite series.  And something I just thought of, I wonder if there’s any Shannara fan fiction websites out there?  I’ll have to look into that this weekend.

Okay, back to fitness/health/diet stuff.  I’ll get in 2 runs this week.  Definitely not what I prefer, but also definitely better than no runs.  Saturday, I really want to ride my bicycle and do the gym.  At the gym, I’ll do my standard jump box workout plus the TRX exercises.  I’ll ride the 8 miles to the gym and then, on the way home, I’ll take a longer route that will hopefully be at least 10 miles…longer if possible, of course. 

My hopes for next week’s exercise are as follows:

• Sunday: long run…5-7 miles

• Monday: gym/swim

• Tuesday: run 3-4 miles

• Wednesday & Thursday: rest

• Friday: run 3-4 miles

• Saturday: gym/cycle

If I can make this exercise schedule actually happen, I will be very happy.  Now, of course, I only have one shift of overtime scheduled next week…Wednesday night…and if I pick up another shift or two, that will of course cause me to modify this exercise schedule.

Friend Making Monday 4th of July Edition

I forgot to post this after work last night.

1. Did you grill food this weekend? If so what?

No, but I did go and have a hamburger at In-and-Out Burger on Saturday.  it was meh…just meh.  I don’t think I’ll be going there again.

2. Did you go to a parade?

No parade, but I did run the Freedom 5000 (almost) 5K…then I had to go to work.

3. Fireworks? Did you go to a display or have your own fireworks?

no fireworks for me.  I was at work until 10pm, which is usually when the city run fireworks displays are done and over.  So I just went home and fell asleep, but there were still people in the neighborhood nearby popping off fireworks illegally

4. Did you have a special 4th July outfit?

I actually did!  I like to wear fun stuff when I run races and this race was no different.  I had wanted to wear these flag leggings, but they didn’t fit me, so I found a fun flag shirt to wear instead.

5. Who did you spend 4th July with?

a couple hundred people also running the Freedom 5000, and then my co-workers

6. Did you stay home for the holiday weekend or did you go away?

stayed home…nothing to do

7.What is your favorite part of 4th July holiday?

now?  running a 5K…hahaha

8. Which holiday are you most looking forward to next?

Halloween, one of my coworkers throws and amazing Halloween party every year.  Last year I went as Catwoman, this year I plan to go as Dorothy…sexy Dorothy…haha

Every Day is Day 1

Some of you know that I thoroughly enjoy watching weight loss shows.  I know that the way they go about the weight loss isn’t achievable/realistic for the average working person (they takes MONTHS off work and go to some far away “ranch” or other “boot camp” facility and their full time job is to workout and eat healthy).  But that doesn’t mean you can’t be inspired by them.  Quite the opposite.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE Extreme Weight Loss with the Powells because, while they are currently having the show participants remove themselves from their regular life and go to Colorado for the first 3 months, after that, the people are basically set out on their own and still given goals to lose decent amounts of weight in 3 month increments (anywhere from 20-60 lbs).  But they’re given the tools they need to do this ON THEIR OWN.  And they do it on their own.  Also, EWL is not a competition show.  The participants are competing solely against themselves and the goals they set for themselves each 3 months.

I recently watched the episode with Melissa, the widowed military wife, and she was tasked to lose 40 lbs in that second 3 months, the first segment on her own (post-boot camp).  40 lbs in 3 months?  And I’m bitching about losing 25 in 6?  Pssshah.  I know I work a lot of overtime and I run on less hours of sleep than is recommended and I’m using that as an excuse to skip workouts on days that I have more than enough time to get to the gym and workout.  The more overweight I get, the less motivated I am to pick up my activity level.

While I am very happy that I am NOT 205 again, that doesn’t mean that what lies ahead is going to be any easier.  It doesn’t mean I can slack.  It doesn’t mean I don’t have to work hard.  It doesn’t mean I can make excuses.  What it DOES mean is that I NEED to stick to my plans, my dates with “Gym,” my healthy eating.  I need to be vigilant.  I desperately want to be back down in the low 170’s.  I was so happy there.  I look at the pictures I took of myself when I was there and I looked amazing.  Frankly, I don’t look “bad” now.  I’m just a little squishier than I’d like to be around the middle.  Heck, I went dress shopping today and found 3 dresses that look great on me…I still fit in a size 10…without using a shoe horn to get myself into it.  I want to get back to an 8, though.

I’m doing this one day at a time.  If my past record is any guide as to how I am, then it HAS to be one day at a time.  If I try to take any more than that into consideration, I get overwhelmed.  I’ve lost this weight before, last year, I can do it again.  I just have to make sure I don’t get overwhelmed and can stay focused on my goals and what is important to me.  I just have to focus on today and not worry about what might happen tomorrow and forget about yesterday’s mistakes.  So, every day is day 1 now.