SNOWmageddon 2011 (that rhymes)

Wow is all I can say. After much back and forth with the forecast (what else is new) we got lots of snow! Fortunately we did not get ice in the trees, but the roads are ridiculous right now. I've seen several good snows in Atlanta ... this was a good one. We are all stuck in our homes for at least another day ... I suspect longer. Crazy!

Anyway, having this much time on my hands at home can be a dangerous thing. I've been doing a few things to pass the time and keep focused on the WW program. Yesterday I took the new Cuisinart Griddler for a spin and made some wonderful grilled chicken breasts. Chicken has always been hard for me to cook in a healthy way, mostly because I am terrible at grilling. The new toy made it really easy. My chicken was moist, which is awesome. I have a really hard time eating chicken, especially chicken that is dry, due to my lingering half a LapBand. Most of the time I don't know its still inside of me, but today I was reminded early in the day. Breakfast was going to be instant grits with a scrambled egg. The egg ended up dry from over-cooking in the microwave and overall my breakfast was pretty much like cement. I wouldn't have minded, but my LapBand objected. About 3 or 4 bites in, everything stopped going down my throat. It got stuck! This may not make sense for those who are not familiar with living with a LapBand (even a faulty non-functioning one like mine). Anyway, I wasn't able to eat my lunch but eventually was able to drink my coffee.

Lunch was easy, a portion of my left over chili (made with ground chicken breast) and brown rice. Now for dinner. The bored fat girl in me wanted to open a bottle of wine, finish the bottle of wine, then worry about dinner...but the "in progress" me managed to make a wonderful dinner!

I made "good enough to satisfy" pasta with a wedge of Laughing Cow cheese (I love mac n cheese), green beans, and one of my chicken breasts. Notice it's cut up to make sure I chew it is small pieces ... stupid LapBand. The plate was full and all for about 10 points. Wooo! Pardon the oddly colored picture, my cell phone camera is not great.

Hmm...perhaps HMR Butterscotch flavored pudding for dessert.

It seems small to most but for me, a huge step in a new direction. I have made 3 or 4 more home cooked meals than I would have before, and that is awesome.

Tomorrow is more of the same. Working from home and filling my time trying to think about something other than eating my next meal. Perhaps curling up to my new "Half The Size " People magazine.

HMR and Weight Watchers

Hey All,

I know I get a lot of visitors that are following the HMR program exclusively. I really liked that program and it was successful for me while I was following it.  I also love the idea of Weight Watchers.  At the end of the day I sat down and realized that it is all a similar path to the same goal.  Calories in and calories out.  WW counts points, HMR and other programs use meal replacements to control the calories coming in.  After many times back and forth I have decided that for me using HMR shakes and bars are a great way for me to control the calories/points in the context of Weight Watchers as a larger program.  When I was doing HMR I would typically have 6 shakes a day ( 660 calories), 2 entrees (450-500 calories) and a bar (160 calories).  The total of that intake very close to my point equivalent per day with Weight Watchers.  

If you are following HMR, feel free to say hi!  You will find tools and information that I have gathered about the program and I certainly have a lot of knowledge to offer...especially if you are doing it home. 

Today, I had 2 HMR shakes for snack between my light breakfast and late lunch.  For those of you not familiar with the shakes, one shake is 110 calories/1.5 g fat/ 13 carbs (1 of which is fiber)/ 14 grams of PROTEIN!!!  I use a lactose free shake and typically double them up.  I generally drink chocolate...and I really like them.  What is nice about the shakes is that I can convert them into a chocolate pudding.  One shake is 3 pts, 2 shakes is actually only 5 points. They are very filling.

Just wanted to share!  You can check out my links on HMR and where I buy my shakes online.  No need to join anything...its all just online order and shipping. 

Good luck to all with your chosen paths!  Hope to see you around the blog soon :)

HMR at home program offer

Just wanted to share an offer I recieved in my email if you are interested in the HMR at home program.  IHMonline.com is giving a 10% off that at home kit :  http://www.ihmonline.com/default.aspx

This is the online retailer that I use when I order my shakes/bars/etc.  Delivery is very reliable and reasonable ... never a long wait!

Just passing it on.

Back on track ... again!

Feeling good about being back on track as of yesterday. Not feeling well in general ... but feeling good about that! I had 4 HMR shakes, couple of fiber snack bars, and an entree with veggies on the side. All in all on target for what I wanted to accomplish, a 1500 calorie deficit!

Today I am trying to keep my mind on finishing out my meetings at the office, going home and crawling into bed! Apparently the world doesn’t stop because I don’t feel well... the nerve!

More shakes shakes ... need to order some actually. More water water water ... and more trips to the ladies room!

Hope all of you are keeping your goals in mind for today and the new year. My goal for the next decade is to get considerably healthier. I'll be turning 40 :::shiver::: and would like to do so in much better shape than I am now, and with life skills to support that lifestyle moving forward!

- Allison

Something is trying to kill me!

For the last 3 or 4 months I have been having strange stomach/abdominal pains after eating.  I've decided the majority of the issues must be related to a food intolerance...but what???  I don't think its a gluten issue, lord knows I would be dead with the amount of pasta and cake I have put away in  my time.  I am now suspicious of ONIONS!!!

I don't eat a lot of onion anyway, I don't care for them raw ... or noticibly on my food.  But something between my HMR shakes and my Lean Cuisine meal made me feel like I had taken a bite out of death and it was sitting in my stomach!  Soo much pain ... nothing really happening.  I am sure you are all glad for me sharing.  I think I am scared to eat anything today.  No shakes yet ... but had oatmeal for breakfast. I have felt fine all day.  For dinner I had another Lean Cuisine ... and hello twinges of pain. 

Hopefully not to the tune of lastnight where I was moaning almost in tears ... but its just a bummer.  I am such a lazy cook and I have no kitchen right now.  These frozen entrees - HMR entrees are what I am relying on to keep me on target. 

Anyway ... that is all I have today. It was miserable last night, so I have taken it easy. I haven't really done much in the way of exercise ... hope to make up for that tomorrow.  I foresee another trip to the mall dodging strollers and shoppers!  Calorie and hydration wise doing well.  Tonight for dessert I will have a nice double vanilla pudding with buterscotch and some cool whip (my fav). 

I am in holiday denial, BTW.  OOOH.  Speaking of holidays, here is a photo of the empty tray of cookies that mocked me all day each time I got up from my desk.  I didn't have ANY.  Yay me.  I am kept telling myself that I was sure that those buckeyes (peanut butter balls of goodness dipped in chocolate) probably sucked.  Hehe.

Oh, and in all of my misery I was still thinking of grandma's cookies.  How crazy is that???  :)

In need of distractions....

Wow is this a cold, rainy, miserable day outside today!  I've been a total lump all day.  My morning errands were uneventful, and since getting back home I've done nothing but watch a marathon of Law&Order SVU and think about all of the things I am not eating.  Just one of those days when I am feeling peckish and lazy. 

I've only had 2 shakes so far ... so that will be my last push of protein for the evening.  Now, if I can just keep my mind OFF of snacking, I will be good.  No walk today ... not feeling good about that. Rationalizing it away as "I needed a rest" or "its cold and miserable and I don't want to catch a cold" but still not feeling good about it.  Tomorrow, however, is another day.  I hope to get motivated to walk at the mall ... or around the neighborhood. 

I'm thinking butterscotch "pudding" tonight ... 2 packets ... with a topper of cool whip free.  Yum y'all

Sweet Butterscotch Pudding:

2 oz. cold water
1 packet HMR^® 70 Plus Vanilla
1 tablespoon sugar-free, fat-free instant butterscotch pudding mix

1. Empty packet of HMR 70 Plus into a small bowl or mug.
2. Add water and mix with a spoon until smooth.
3. Stir in butterscotch pudding powder.
4. Optional: For a thicker, colder pudding, refrigerate for 10 minutes after mixing.

If that doesn't satisfy what appears to be my insatiable appetite, its going to be an evening with an Ambien and my Kindle!

Very good first day so far!

Hey all...I wanted to report that I did INDEED take my walk. I did 20 mins outside (2 parking deck laps) which I am sure was about a mile. Not a huge workout, but definitely what I needed to get me going in the right direction.

Today I have:
• well over 64 oz water
• eaten well
• met my 5000 steps goal
• met my 30 mins of moderate activity goal

Being at work makes it easy...going home makes it more difficult. I figure the worst case scenario is that I drug up, read, and go to bed early :)

Time to go have another double shake (making 5 total so far) before I go home.

You know its bad when your new diet is the BEST PART of the day!

My day, so far, sucks. But I have very much enjoyed being on my new track for the last 6 hours of consciousness. Nothing really wrong … just had a bad morning which led me to have a nice headache most of the day and generally grumpiness! That is OKAY however, because I am feeling very good about starting the diet today. I know that word diet is bad, but I have 35 years of programming.

Why did I start today? Mostly due to the fact that my shipment of HMR shakes arrived yesterday … nothing scientific in that! I felt that starting on Monday was just going to give me another 3 or 4 days eating like its 1999. Which, is what I did last night around 11pm. In fact, my 11th hour nosh gave me a tummy ache that most likely started my whole bad day to begin with. I will just consider it behavioral conditioning : Moose Tracks = miserable tummy ache!
Okay, so what I’ve accomplished so far on the big diet.

1) Weighed and measured a few things (yuck and yuck) but at least I have a baseline. I will have my photo taken in a few mins (again, yuck).
2) Had almost my entire day’s worth of water already, only 16 oz to go!
3) Had my vitamins/fish oil/ etc ( I am very bad at taking pills)
4) Had 3 shakes so far (about 330 calories). I am feeling a bit nipish, so I need to graze some more on something
5) TRACKED what I’ve eaten … so it all counts

That’s about it. My goal was to take a walk, but its damn cold outside. I may walk in circles in our building later or go to the mall. Just want to take a 30 min walk, nothing too exciting.

That’s all for now, meetings and clients await!

Allison

The Plan - Please Read

The Plan

In the past I have found success (albeit short term) with following the HMR Program.  For those of you who are not familiar, its a program that is generally administered under medical supervision as a VLCD (very low calorie diet).  There are "at home" versions that do not have to be medically supervised and follow a slightly higher calorie plan overall. 

The program is based up on meal replacements.  The "hard core" version consists 100% of meal replacements, but in an unlimited fashion.  There are shakes, bars, entree's and soups.  Each shake is roughly 100 calories, very high protein, and very low fat.  I use the HMR 70 shakes that are lactose free (vanilla and chocolate). 

Anyway … all that being said, my plan this go around is to use the meal replacements as an easy alternative during the week … and  substitute a "sensible" meal for the entrees.  I don't mind the meals, though some people cannot tolerate them, but they are pricy.  $3.50 a pop…and I generally  have 2 for dinner (mixing and matching) … it adds up. 

For me, I am like a robot when I am in the zone.  I don't want to think about what I am going to eat, i don't want to have to make a decision on what will keep me on target…essentially i need to have a no-decision program, which also lends to NO RATIONALIZATION for straying.  Clearly that is not a long term successful way to be as its very isolating…so I am going to try and find a middle ground.

My secret weapon will be using GoWearFit to track everything I am eating (all nutritional info) as well as all the calories I am burning by exercising and just being alive.  Check out the website linked, it really is an awesome tool if you don't know about it.  I wear an arm band 100% of the time (not in the shower/swimming) and it tracks activity, steps, even measures sleep efficiency.  The armband collects data and I dump it into their program / website and it tracks everything.  The results are awesome reports that show progress … averages … day to day evaluations, etc.   Once I start getting weekly data I will link them on the blog. 

My strategy is simple math:  creating calorie deficits using restricted daily intake and burning calories via physical activity to lose weight.  Each pound of body weight is roughly the equivalent of 3500 calories.  So, to lose 1 pound a week, you would need to determine the amount of calories per day that you need to eat to maintain your current weight … and then reduce/burn the amount that will total 3500 a week.

Here is a link to calculate your Basal Metabolic Rate (calories per day your body burns)

Take that # and multiply x 7 for your weekly total of calories to break even.
Multiply the # of pounds you want to lose a week  x 3500 for calories you need to burn/not eat
Subtract the two and divide by 7 to get the target of calorie consumption per day.

Here is mine:

2506 x 7 = 17542 (calories per week to maintain current/starting weight)
2 x 3500 = 7000 (calorie deficit needed to lose 2 lbs)
17542 - 7000 = 10542 / 7 = 1500 calories per day TARGET max calories

By eating less / working out more than the target above, ideally I should be able to lose more than 2.  This of course changes weekly as your weight decreases. 

FYI, if you are following Weight Watchers, that equals about 30ish points (each point roughly being 50 calories). 

Here is a spreadsheet that can help with your weight loss projections and may help you keep track or stay motivated.  The file was created Ken of losingtofindmyself.com and tweaked a bit by me. Check it out: http://www.nosilla.net/gowearfit/weightloss_projection.xls

So folks, there is the plan.  To execute here is what I am going to do for myself (not advocating for anyone else)

1) have 4 - 6 shakes a day (2 for breakfast, 2 for lunch, 1-2 as dessert) - 660 - 700 calories per day
2) keep dinner and snacks low fat and high protein
3) drink 64 oz of water a day - crystal light/ocean spray cran drink mix
4) diligently track what i am eating using GoWearFit to look at total nutritional picture
5) daily vitamin / fish oil / dietary supplements
6) start walking - targeting 5000 steps a day / 30 minutes of "moderate" activity a day per GoWearFit
7) keep up with blog / twitter as much as possible

That's about it! 

Let me know if there is anything I can do to help you …. talk to you more about GoWearFit or HMR, etc.

Good luck!

Allison

Short but Sweet

OK...so like most of you I feel off the wagon. And by fell i mean jumped ... and by wagon i mean 20 story building with no parachute!

I realized that a year ago I was in "the zone" drinking HMR shakes and eating those meals to get ready for a trip. Trip happened in January ... and I never made it back to where I want/need to be!

Good news, I didnt gain ALL of my 30 lbs back...bad news, I gained most of it. I think i was up to 268ish this morning. Much like my blog, I have also avoided the scale. I feel like a big bloated turd most of the time (nice, i know).

I ordered my HMR shakes and some meals, they are ON THE WAY. I still have my activity arm band (GoWearFit) so I will be tracking everything IN and everything OUT.

My HMR delivery is scheduled for 12/9 *tomorrow* and the shakes will begin on Thursday 12/10. I am doing this solo, again, so I will be weighing in every Thursday ... nice day of the week if I don't say so myself!

Is there anyone out there that will join me? DJ ...i see you are out there!

Let me know if you see this, otherwise, we will find each other again!

Down 28!

Looks like I am on my way to my goal of 25 lbs by the end of March. This week was another 2.6 down ... I need to average 2.5 a week.

On HMR, I did not find myself doing what I needed to do with the meal replacements. Partially due to not ordering shakes/food while I was on vacation ... and partially due to laziness. Not good! I counted calories and kept up with my deficit on my SenseWear, but the idea here is to be on the program.

Next week will be better. I am fully stocked with shakes and hopefully my week will be awesome. January is generally a crappy month ... the majority of tragedy that has touched me personally occurred in January, so it is full of fairly unpleasant anniversaries and just general post holiday malaise. No excuses ... but just the facts.

Tomorrow I am going to Cheesecake Factory for my sisters 25th birthday (she is a tad younger!) Of all places!!!! Did you know that Cheesecake Factory does NOT have a baked potato??? I learned this when I went during a work function while starting HMR. I had my FF sour cream and spray butter loaded! A disappointment. Not sure what I will do tomorrow. I should be bringing my HMR meals, but part of me just wants to nibble at a salad and count calories...again. Good news is that a piece of their cheesecake has 800-1000 calories, so unless that is going to be my entire menu for the day, no cheesecake will cross these lips.

I will just be thinking to myself ... -2.5 a week ... -2.5 a week.... over and over again!

Oh, and I just realized that I am officially 5 lbs lighter than my lowest after my disastrous Lapband surgery. More motivation, right?

Back on the Wagon

Hi All!

I wanted to let you all know that today (as planned) I am back on the program. My trip to Hawaii was amazing, and I got a TON of exercise! We ate a lot ... walked a lot ... drank a bit ... snacked on macadamia nuts ...walked a lot... went to bed early. That was the agenda most days! We didn't get a lot of time at the beach or pool (bummer) but we did spend an amazing 3-4 hours snorkeling which definitely satisfied my beach requirement.

The good news, 2 days after being back home, my weight was the same as the day I left. WOOO! The bad news, I discovered the deliciousness that is Subway Tuna ... and my last 3 meals before getting back on the program included a tuna sub. I am a dork ... and can literally eat the same thing over and over. Ice cream ... cake ... tuna subs ... and HMR Shakes! For now, its back to the shakes. I don't really get bored easily so that's good.

Oh, another bit of bad ... I bought a pack of Lance Nekot peanut butter crackers at the airport for the trip home. After my couple of xanax and 1 ambien ... I wasn't conscious enough to eat them, so I had them Thursday night for a snack. Friday ... my first day back at work, my stomach was KILLING me. All day long ... pain pain pain. That night I realized I had a fever. Woke up feeling fine on Saturday but realized DUH ... Peanut butter recall (thanks state of GA). I must have had tainted cookies ... because there was nothing else that would have done it. Nothing like a touch of salmonella to get rid of those couple of pounds of water weight, right? Fortunately for all involved I didn't eat them on the plane!

PICTURES!!! I just posted my pictures on my handy dandy mac.com account, please enjoy. Feel free to comment. If you are totally bored and want to see my photos of Florence, Sorrento, Pompeii and Barcelona, feel free to view them from the picture page. After fighting with my old trusty 5MP Canon Elph ... I may get a DSLR in the next year. Once I have spent all my money making travel arrangements, pictures are all I can usually afford to bring home.

What I will say is that I managed to afford some tiki salt and pepper shakers ... and a kick ass muumuu. Its is avocado green ... with chocolate brown hibiscus print. I cannot tell you how much I love it. Its ridiculous and its mine! One day I will take a photo and share in its glory.

That is all for now.

Goals for this week :

• Stay in the box
• Water water water
• Work out 4 times

Allison

Pure Joy! Big Bummers! The rollercoaster I cant seem to get off of...

Hi all ... sorry it has been a couple of weeks since my last confession. I was hitting a bit of a road block or a plateau of some kind. The usual things for me : not enough water, not enough calories, not enough PA. Not a mystery! I ate low calorie but too low.

I kicked it into gear this week (well, water and having calorie variations) and it has done the trick. This week I hit my goal, 25 lbs before Hawaii!!!! I started my journey on Nov 3rd and it will take a vacation ... when I take my vacation tomorrow.

It has been fairly steady, 2.5 - 3 a week. No big losses ... and no big gains ... just a couple of lulls.

Holidays ... boy, were they rough. Thanksgiving and Christmas were not that hard for me, I managed to stay on the program 100%, which is amazing. New Years day I fell off the wagon a bit. I made an executive decision have mimosas as my liquid diet :) I counted the calories ... and sodium. Who knew that Cava has virtually no sodium, that was exciting to me! Of course once I had consumed the entire bottle of Cava and the equiv of 1.5 cups of juice ... i was a bit buzzed and suddenly felt like frozen mashed potatoes and Christmas cookies were what I needed. Dumb ass!

We talk about accountability. As I do not go to any HMR program meetings, I am more or less accountable only to myself, which means I can rationalize being bad with the best of them. Over New Years I was alone. My Boyfriend left town to visit his family for the holidays and I stayed home to work. So here I was all alone on New Years Day ... just me ... the cookies ... the mimosas ... and the Citrus Bowl (Go Dawgs). It reminded me of sneak eating ... as I did when I was a child. I know had my family been around I would have not had those urges, so I think my accountability lives within those around me, not myself.

Hawaii ... what is my plan. My first instinct is to just go crazy. I have fantasised of getting some amazing muffin at the air port ... lots of fruity drinks by the pool...lavish dinners, etc. The reality is that I am cheap ... and poor ... so I dont know that we will be having all of the lavish dinners. I dont know that I am going to really want to eat all that much. What I do know is that I will find some protein shakes (or slimfast) for breakfast. Have a very light lunch. I will save myself for dinner. I know there will be some meals that will be treats ... but I cannot treat every meal as a treat. Mentally I think I will come unwound if I gain back a lot of weight. I know I will gain some, but I am not ready for it yet!

On the plus side, we will not have a car. So ... we will be footing it most places. I will still be wearing my awesome SenseWear, so I will know how many steps, how many calories, and how much "moderate" or "vigorous" activity I am having. That will keep me aware. Its a game, doing anything I can to burn 2500 calories in a day. Often I find myself sitting in bed, watching TV and doing punches and twists with my upper body for 10 mins to eek in those last few calories before midnight. My cats look at me like I am crazy ... but who cares!

Thanks all for your support, I will be back on Wednesday the 14th. I may take my laptop (for fear that something will blow up at work when I am gone) so you might see me before I get back. There might be some email to blog feature I havent activated yet ... we will see.

The holidays are rough when you are following a plan that no one else is following. Lots of "oh, its just one time" or "come on, its Christmas!". The reality is, I treated most days like "christmas" which is what got me here. I can't count how many weekends I bought a carton of Moose Tracks and at it thinking "better get it now, my diet starts monday". Now, I have to treat everyday as monday ... and try and keep on track. I will be thinking of that while on vacation ... hopefully it will keep me on the straight and narrow.

PS. 24 hrs 40 mins 30 seconds until I am in the air on the way to Hawaii. WOOOO! (i am fairly impossible to be around right now, sorry!)

stalemate

Sorry I havent posted in a while. The last week has been discouraging, no slide in the scale at all. I am getting nervous as Hawaii is getting closer and closer!

My goal was to be in the mid 250's by Jan 8th, and it is still possible. Right now I am hovering around 260 and have been there for the last week. I havent been "in the box" like I should be. My work week was insane, I was busy from the moment I arrived until late in the afternoon. I would be though 3 meetings and realize that I hadnt had my morning shakes or any water. Not good. I know my body is in starvation/preservation mode. I wonder how long it will take to reverse that?

The weekend was not much better, not sure why. I think once you get out of the habit of doing something, its easy to just forget. Water has never been easy for me to get in ... and I have not been making the effort to correct that. Today, I will be shotgunning 40 oz ... twice. That should cover it.

On the plus side, I have NOT had any yummy treats that have been offered to me...everywhere I go! None of the two giant trays of baked goods that sat 3 feet from me at work all day Friday, none of Grandma's cookies (my favorites are the butter drops). I also managed to get some good exercise in at the mall saturday. I walked around for 2 hours, mostly doing laps ... some shopping.

Goals for this holiday week:

1. WATER WATER WATER
2. more is better ... add in more meal replacements
3. not have any of the delicious foods that will be offered to me, or that I will cook.

Hope everyone has a wonderful week! Wish me luck for those last 5 lbs before my vacation!

Long Week

It's been a loooong week, and I didn't take the time to post a new message. I could say it was due to working hard, etc, but I would be lying. My SenseWear came in the mail on Wed AND my new iPod Touch (32gb) showed up on Thursday, so I have been totally obsessed with my gadgets ever since!

Okay, the SenseWear is for my health, right? It's really cool. Although not cheap (450 for device and 6 months website membership) I have NO buyers remorse. This might be the best thing since slices organic multi-grain bread (keeping it healthy, of course).

So here is the deal with the SenseWear, in case it is new to you. There is an armband that you wear on your tricep and a display that you wear as a watch (optional). It keeps track of your body movement and calorie expenditures all day/night. You upload the data to the website, enter in your calorie intake ... and it creates a TON of graphs and charts. I do loves me some charts. Here is my data for the 3.5 days so far that I have owned the device, please take a look at the PDF report: Allison's Report 12.07.08 .

Um, the iPod touch is also ridiculously fun. All of the bells and whistles of the iPhone, but without having to give up my beloved BlackBerry. I will have plenty of things to keep myself busy on my 9 hour flights in January!

This week in weight-loss : Some challenges. I have had a hard time eating enough (ironic) and drinking enough water. Because both of those things are off, I don't think I am losing at the rate that I would like to. According to the Wii, I am down 14-15 lbs since Dec 3rd. Not too shabby. Definitely on my way to reaching my goal of being around the mid 250's by Jan 8th (Hawaii time).

Things I will work on this week to get my butt in gear:

• Literally get my butt in gear by upping the exercise
  
• Drink Drink Drink more water (I am setting an Outlook reminder)
• 4 shakes during the day at work

All for now ... time to go make more shakes ... its almost 6pm and all I have had to eat were the double mocha shakes from this morning. I suck. :) Who EVER thought that eating enough would be an issue for me. I know I didnt get to be this size by forgetting to eat. Hmm.

Sundays are bummers

Sigh ... what a wonderful long weekend! Tomorrow morning its back to reality, back to work, and back to the gym. I've enjoyed hanging out in my newly cleaned house, making my shakes, and charting weight loss each day!

I've met all of my goals that I set for myself for the first month of the diet, even exceeded them! My first short term goal was to lose 10 lbs within 4 weeks. I am at 12 lbs, with one official day to go. Not bad. I managed to NOT eat any of the holiday foods that are everywhere (even filling up my fridge). On a personal note, I am even getting a jump on my Christmas decorating.

New short term goals:

• Drink at least 64 oz water a day (still a struggle)
• Lose 6 lbs over the next 2 weeks
• increase my workouts from just cardio to include some minor weight / resistance training

Tools I have to help me:

• 20 oz water bottle - half a packet of crystal light and a straw ... i dont even realize I just forced down 20 oz of water!
• SenseWear - will chart my calories burned. Its ordered and hopefully on the way very soon.
• New weights and Biggest Loser body sculpting DVD

Trying to focus on what I need to get done today and not on the fact that this is the last day of my wonderful long weekend!

3 weeks in , 10 LBS down!!!!

Happy Holidays!

I am sooo excited to report that I am well on my way to reaching my goal of losing 20-25 lbs before I jet off to Hawaii. As of today, i am 10 lbs lighter than I was 3 weeks ago. Of course the true test is about to begin with the official Holiday eating season.

So far I have kept to my HMR Diet Program foods, no cheating. It honestly has not been very hard for me to keep to the diet. My true test is today and tomorrow. I am hosting Thanksgiving Dinner for our families, 10 people crammed into my modest condo.

My Guests Dinner Menu:

16 lb Turkey
Grandma's Dressing
Mashed Potatoes
Sweet Potatoes
Peas
Cranberry
Yeast Rolls
Pumpkin Pie
Pecan Pie

Allison's Dinner Menu:

An Entree or two
Peas
Vanilla - Spice Shake
Chocolate Pudding for dessert

That's about it. I am preparing for the out of town company who are not familiar with my new meal plan to hit me up with a ton of questions, and letting me know that its okay to eat for this special occasion. I know that it is NOT okay. After doing so well going "cold turkey" with eating non HMR foods, it would be very challenging for me to mentally get over one slip. Perhaps its like giving an alcoholic just one little drink....

Speaking of alcohol...I miss wine! Okay, I just had to say it.

Have a great Holiday for anyone reading. I am off to manic clean, grocery shop, and bake those damned pies!

A little encouragement ....

...goes a long way. Yesterday was a fairly positive day in the diet world. I made a delicious new shake flavor, perfect for the season. Close to the "pumpkin pie" shake recipe, but a slightly different blend of spices.

Vanilla-Spice Shake

• HMR 120 vanilla shake (s) - i tend to do double shakes all the time

Mix the following dry ingredients together:

• 3 shakes of cinnamon (gentle shake out of the spice container)
• 2 shakes of ground cloves
• 2 shakes of nutmeg
• 2 shakes of ginger

Add dry mix to vanilla shakes while blending. Add a dash of vanilla extract for a deeper vanilla flavor.

I had 2 of those yesterday, along with some frozen corn/baby limas and the BBQ chicken entree. All in all about 970 calories (but who's counting).

This morning I was down another pound according to my daily Wii Fit body test. I know I shouldn't be weighing daily, but the Wii seems to get upset if I miss a day. Most of the time its a fairly accurate measure of any weight change and BMI change. My regular scale leaves much to be desired.

Anyway, that is all for now. Perhaps a Chocolate Mocha double shake this morning ... which reminds me, I need to order new HMR meal replacements ... they are running low. SOOO expensive but ultimately worth it!

Ta!

Rounding third on my 2nd week on the program

So far so good as I enter this weekend. Monday the 17th. So far I am at the 5 lb mark, which is pretty good. I feel good about it. My goal for this weekend it to keep up with my water and sodium so that I do not go in the wrong direction. Last weekend I managed to gain 1-2 lbs of what I assume was water.

I've definitely kicked up the water intake which I think is helping but its just not natural for me...I have to constantly be thinking about it. I am confused as to what is the magic # with water...is it 64 oz? I've heard lots of water strategies. One was to divide your weight into 2 and drink the # of oz. That would be ... um... 136 oz of water a day. Is that even possible? Okay, its possible, but is it feasible?

Finally the vanilla arrived! Of course, the vanilla comes at a cost. For some reason these shakes really do a number on my tummy if I am not using the Lactose Free HMR70's. When I have the vanilla 120's, I also have to have a couple of Lactaids. Not sure if they are 100% effective, but so far its tolerable for myself and those around me :) At work I don't have the energy to be terribly creative with my shakes, but at home, I can check out that recipe page and see what I can get going. I also ordered the chicken soup. This is what I like to do with the chicken Soup:

• Make the soup as directed with 6 oz of water
• Mix in mixed pepper spice, garlic powder, black pepper to taste (i think lemon would be good as well)
• Heat one Savory Chicken (contains long grain and wild rice, carrots, mushrooms)
• Pick out the carrots and mushrooms (sorry people, mushrooms are icky ... and carrots are only tolerable in stew for me)
• Cut up the chicken into tiny pieces
• Mix together

Not terribly creative ... but a nice chicken and rice soup. When I add lemon juice and leave the mixed pepper and garlic out, it reminds me of my favorite Greek Lemon Chicken soup ... with rice versus orzo. Either way, i think its pretty good. Otherwise that Savory Chicken dinner is gross. But again, you are reading the blog of a girl that occasionally has the palate of a 10 year old!

Time to try and get creative with a shake ... but not too creative :)

Ups and Downs

All in all it was a good day. The morning started with a bit of discouragement from the scale. My Wii Fit showed some increase from the weekend, which was fairly frustrating given my lack of calories and 5 days of workouts. One thing I did realize is that I had probably had too much sodium with the canned veggies and boxed entrees, and not enough water. Easy solution, drink water and use my frequent trips to the restroom as PA :)

Even with the rough start, I was able to do well with my shakes at work (had all 4) and have had 3 bottles of water. One big accomplishment for myself was upping my time on the elliptical to 17 mins (added 5 mins from last week). THAT was exciting for me.

I think I am headed off to the store for some lower sodium veggie choices.

God speed to my vanilla HMR 120 shakes that are on the way, I am about OD on chocolate HMR 70 shakes!