Ending Week 3 - Medifast

I am pleased to say that even though I have not been blogging, I am happily cruising through the Medifast program.  Clearly I am a food robot, because I have had no issues with eating their replacements.  Not once in the last 3 weeks have I had a craving for anything.  Nothing.  The closest thing to a craving was when I was driving around the parking lot of a shopping center where I would have lunch or dinner at Chick-fil-a a few times a week.  I felt like I should be driving there...and that started me thinking about my usual order "3 piece chicken strips and a small ice dream cone".  But, I reminded myself that those things are not in my life right now ... and that was that.

My weight has been coming off...but pretty slowly, which I do admin is frustrating.  In my mind I think that I should be losing at a more rapid pace given my following of the program...but it isn't happening.  But it is coming down, so I need to chill out about the pace!

Let me fill you in on my typical day with Medifast:

• 9:30 am - shake/bar (whatever quick meal I can guzzle at home or in the car)
• 12:30 pm - eggs/shake/cappuccino (still feeling breakfast)
• 3:00 pm - soup/shake/pretzels (generally want savory by this point)
• 5:30 pm - shake/bar (by now i am not wanting to prep anything, so its quick)
• 7:30-8  pm- Dinner of lean protein and veggies (most night i have the veggies, i am still struggling)
• 9:30-10pm - brownie/cookie/shake mixed with 1 tbs of Peanut Butter
• 12 am - if i am up late i have a little something to keep my body happy, maybe a wedge of Laughing Cow

That is it, my typical day.  I am feeling so good...and having a meal so frequently that I never really think about coffee.  Occasionally I mix a bit of Starbucks Via in a shake for flavor...but its never because I need a boost.  Couldn't be happier with how I feel.

Exercise is not really steady right now but I do occasionally take a walk during the day.  They (Medifast) says wait 3 weeks before starting.  Believe me, starting next Thursday I will be getting a work out as I am going to San Francisco.  Nothing but exercise there!

That is it for now.  I feel like I have a lot to say, but I also feel like I need to finish getting dressed and run my emergency pre-vacation errands!

Total loss right now is about 9 lbs in almost 3 weeks.  I know that is a great loss, and if I were on Weight Watchers I would be over the moon.  So ... I think I will just need to adjust my expectations a bit and be please with any momentum I have.  I am on pace to be in a much better place weight wise for the summer, and that makes me happy.  It also means finding another bathing suit...but that is a small price to pay!

Finally have something worth blogging about!

Hi all!  I know it has been a couple of weeks, but just know those two weeks have been very productive!  All is well in diet land.  Food wise I have been on target and very proud of myself.  During a social occasion (6 hours at a local bar/music venue) I only had diet coke and a few fries ...where I usually would have several pints of Newcastle, fries, and the words best beignets outside of NO.  So that was a big win for me.  The weigh-in for 2 Sundays ago was not awesome, actually up .3 lbs.  There really was no real explanation for that other than perhaps the long night sitting still and enjoying the music.  Either way, I was not bummed out totally ... and in fact more determined than ever.

My biggest accomplishment x6 is WORKING OUT!!!  It all started last saturday (before the show).  I spent an hour working out on my Wii walking game.  It is silly but amazing, I love it.  It is called Walk it Out (WIO).  There is not enough time in my day to tell you all the things I like about it, so just trust me.  A trend was started.  Tuesday and Wednesday I went to the gym near my office.  This is an achievement because I had to tuck my tail between my legs and show my face for the first time in well over a year.  The gym is very small...they knew me :)  In fact, the manager had just gotten married when I was there last...now she has a child.  Funny ... with a twinge of pathetic on my part.  Hehe.  Anyway ... they were small lunch time cardio workouts, but it was perfect. Thursday night I came home and worked out with WIO for an hour.  Saturday, another hour spend on WIO ... and today the same.  Holy crap, I can hardly believe myself.

Today I weighed in and lost 2.2 lbs...bringing my total to just over 29 pounds and hitting my 10% goal!  Very happy about that.

Three more weeks until my trip to the Outer Banks...looking forward to being able to do some long beach walks without killing myself.

Looking forward to trying this diet AND exercise thing I keep hearing about :)

Much better!

This week I got rid of my gain from last week plus a tiny bit more.  I am pleased with my week all in all.  Unfortunately my plan to "unplug" and go for a walk during my lunches did not exactly work out.  Full of excuses that no one wants to hear, but I am disappointed that I was not able to get it done. 

My calendar shows that Monday, Tuesday, and Friday are good "at lunch" walk days.  Perhaps I can commit to coming home Wed or Thurs and doing something in the evening.  Depends on how exhausted I am from those days in the office. 

I am working on a poorly resourced project with a lot of pressure, so some days I am paddling to keep above water, unfortunately doing that metaphorically does not burn real calories :)

Hope any quiet readers are there are staying on target.  I have not given up my resolve to find myself in  better health and perhaps a couple of clothing sizes down in the near future.

Oh ... let me just put this out there.  My company has a client conference in May.  We wear these awful "golf" shirts tucked into black slacks ... and let me just say this is not a good look for me.  The woman's shirt is not great, and furthermore it does not fit me ... not even the 3x.  So...I have to wear the men's 3x, which fits better I suppose, but the "short" sleeves come down well past my elbows, thus making the shirt look really bad.  This is my next point of anxiety.  Each year I have this anxiety ... this year is no different.  According to my archive weight page, i was within 2-3 lbs of my current weight.  I recall leaving that conference after the keynote due to my total discomfort and embarrassment of what I was wearing.  No miracles are going to happen between now and May 18th, but it is something to keep in my mind when making a food decision.  The upside is that a week and a half later it will be Memorial Day weekend and I will be spending the week relaxing in Hatteras!  Reading, crocheting, chilling on the beach and watching people fish ... that is going to be great.  Oh, there is a hot tub too...so some of that!

So I suppose eye on the prize is what I need to keep in my mind.  Hmm...what seems like a reasonable goal for May 18th?  That is 7 weeks away.  I would LOVE to be very near or at 250.  That would put me at a goal of -2 lbs per week.  Seems doable, as long as I add some exercise into my regime. 

Motivation....glad I had this talk with myself :)

-allison

Honeymoon

Loving this "new diet" honeymoon period! This has been a great few weeks and I am feeling hopeful about the next 3 weeks. I know, everyone stays on their New Year's diet for the first month...I plan on making mine a New Decade diet...longer lasting, right?

Starting to think about my next vacation. My BF and I are headed to Palm Springs the 3rd week of February. Why Palm Springs? It's Modernism Week! Should be a fun week of shopping, architecture, and retro 50's goodness. Probably a nerdy reason to go as most people go for golfing ...or to visit family...we are going to tour Frank Sinatra's Twin Palms home :)

For now, I am trying to do what I can before that trip. There isn't a lot of time for me to be making outrageous goals. My pants will be the same size ... the 5 hour airplane ride will still be uncomfortable...but it will be BETTER than it would have been otherwise!

Plane rides are always interesting. I have my own seat belt extender. Not afraid to ask for one, it doesn't bother me, but sometimes it's just handy to have my own. My paranoia that they will run out of them before I board the plane (I always seem to be one of the last) overrides any fear of embarrassment of asking. What amazes me is when I don't ask for one and the flight attendant doesn't seem to notice. I would think they would zero in on me ...but perhaps we live in such a PC society that its easier to ignore rather to offend. Oh, what makes flying interesting is that of course I am a big woman (barely getting the arms of the seats down) but my BF is freakishly tall! So, for various reasons we both do not do well on planes. I have a wonderful knack for "going to my happy place" aka taking lots of Xanax so I really don't care. His not having leg room and getting his knees crushed by the seat in front is probably more severe. Oh well, that is part of the adventure.

I love to travel ... I actually went to Irvine CA in November for work. Perhaps this time I will be slightly smaller and have a bit more room to breath. We will see! Either way, I will have my seat belt extender, Xanax, my iPad, and perhaps a bit of crochet to get me through. Oh, and ear plugs for when my BF complains about getting his knees crushed :)

That is all for now!

Oh, having a great diet day! Made a nice pork tenderloin for dinner. This is meal 2 of what I believe was a goal of 3 this week. Of course I will be eating on my chili and this pork for a while. Maybe I will get up in time (or gosh, do it tonight) and pack my lunch with some left overs! Would be nice to have something beyond tuna and crackers or a Lean Cuisine!

Ta Ta!
-a

Week Two Recap

Just weighed in for my 2nd week. Very pleased with my progress and my unwavering commitment to eating right! This week I lost 3.0 lbs, which is amazing. My secret in the very back of my mind goal for the week was to get out of the 280's and enter into the 270's. The 280's represent the heaviest I have ever been ... I am glad to take a few steps down and get back to something more familiar. Of course, lets be honest...270's are not a happy place either, but it is one small step closer to feeling like myself again.

Accomplishments for the week:

• Stayed on my points plan while being trapped in my house for a week
• Did not crack open a bottle of wine
• Water Water Water! Had a good amount of water each day
• Overcame a moment of Nutella driven temptation
• Everything I ate had nutritional value (protein, fiber, etc), nothing I would consider "junk"
• Relied more on cooking real food than eating all processed
  

Things I want to focus on for this upcoming week:

• Take lunch to work each and every day this week
• Drink Drink Drink my water while at work
• Take a little walk during lunch (hoping my knee stays in place)
• Continue to count my points and make better decisions on spending my points
• Cook 3 more dinners at home

I am sure there are many more things I can add to my list, but we will start with that. Hope you all have a great week also...What are some of your goals?

Week One Recap

What an amazing week. I have felt in control of my life for the first time in a LONG time. Very pleased to start '11 and this decade on a good note. This will either be the decade where I turn my life around (physically...mentally) or this decade will be the beginning of a fast decline. Slowly killing myself with apathy around my health is not an option. This will change.

So, for the numbers, I lost 3.5 lbs. What pleases me is that I am mostly certain this was fat loss vs water loss. Yay!!! Either way, I will take it. The loss is a great motivator but does not set me up for disappointment next week. Sometimes those big first week numbers can create an unrealistic expectation for the weeks following that can ultimately lead to sabotage. For me, I am having a solid start to a new way of eating.

Weight Watchers is really more than just counting points and losing weight ... it is about new habits at meal time. For years I have been lazy in the kitchen. I would rather microwave a quick salty processed meal vs cooking real food. Its interesting...my boyfriend and I have been in this cycle for years. I have him trained to the point where he eats on a different schedule than me and does not really expect me to cook real meals. It is a sad statement, I am not bragging. All the years of eating restricted diets and calorie counting ... the years while trying to eat around that disaster of a lapband really dictated our meal times. We don't communicate as much because we are not having normal dinner table banter.

This week, however, we had at least 2 meals together. It was nice to cook something new, sit at the table and talk about our days. I know this is not supposed to be rocket science, but we have just not had that in years. A welcome change!

Beyond the diet and cooking...taking control also means facing my declining health and doing something to turn it around. The ball started rolling on Friday when I got the blood work done to see if I have any underlying issues (diabetes, hypothyroidism, high cholesterol, vitamin deficiency, etc) and I hope to get some answers next week. Time to start taking care of myself...I have people depending on me!!!

Okay. That is all for now. I have lots on my mind but realize that I probably do not want to make a novella for a post :)

Have a great day everyone! Winter Storm Watch is alive and well in Atlanta. Looks like we will have something, but not the 6" of snow that was projected yesterday. Probably more like 2 inches of snow followed by ice. Remember folks, the ice is the issue! Try to not make too much fun of us southerners running around buying milk and bread before a 1" snow "storm". Hehe.

-a

Happy New Year!!!

Feeling good and hopeful today for the first time in a while.  Had a lovely albeit quiet New Years Eve, now enjoying a thoughtful New Years Day!

I officially joined Weight Watchers and have spent some time learning the new PointsPlus plan.  It uses Fat, Carbs, Fiber, and Protein to calculate a points value rather than simple Calories/Fiber/Fat.  Ultimately that makes more sense...it just means that all the cool spreadsheets and data I have collected over the last 10 years are null and void!

Here is a breakdown of what each of those components are as calories:

• Fat: 1 gram = 9 calories 
• Protein: 1 gram = 4 calories
• Carbohydrates: 1 gram = 4 calories
• Alcohol: 1 gram = 7 calories

The new WW PointsPlus plan understands better the nutrition behind the foods, so a 100 calorie pack of empty calories cookies count differently than 100 calories of banana.

So ... tomorrow is the first official weight in, though today I am planning and calculating my points.

First Goal:  Lose 5% before my trip to Palm Springs in mid Feb.  That is just over 6 weeks.  I can do it!

Mission Accomplished

BodyMedia FIT data 10-4-10

• Calories Burned - 2653 
• Calories Consumed - 1530 
• Total Activity - 0:44 |
• Steps Taken - 5730

The good: accomplished my goals for the day with exercise, water, and food.  The not so good: my knee snapped like a rubber band during my walk.  I am hoping it feels better tomorrow. 

That is all for today!

Monday Blahs

Here we are at the beginning of another long work week.  Job is stressful, but I find a certain amount of satisfaction when I am following a plan.  Gives me something personal to focus on instead of getting wrapped up in all the work stuff. 

I have a focus issue, probably one of they many reasons I am where I am today.  Yesterday was a great example.  One social event and I totally lose all focus and control.  It was then my excuse to spend the entire day not being good to myself.  "Oh, its a party" or "it's Sunday ... i will start again Monday", these excuses were running though my head all day and night.  I will say one good thing about myself.  I did keep track of what I ate. Did I stop myself and make a better choice in my eating habits, no ... but I did write it down and keep track in my daily log.  I figure it was a wash of a day. 

Let's move on to today!  I have the blah's, as I do every Monday...but I am getting inspiration around the promise of a great week taking care of myself.

Here is what I am doing to motivate and prepare for my success this week:

1. Blocked an hour off each day on my work calendar to take a walk.  The first step in taking care of myself is allowing myself to take priority.
2. Prepared and planned breakfast and lunch items for the work week.  I am terrible at planning and following though when it comes to my meals at work.  I have egg beaters, sandwich thins, ham, grits, protein bars, HMR shakes, and lean cuisine meals for the week.  Even better, I have them AT WORK.
3. I will drink 2 L of water each day at my desk.  I am putting THAT on my calendar as well.  Why is drinking water so darn hard for me?
4. Sharing goals with a friend.  I feel so alone in this...hopefully I can find someone to commit to taking some of these steps with me.  At minimum I am here, blogging to myself, sharing on Facebook and of course my twitter.  BodyMedia FIT has made that easy.

That is all for now.  I need to drink my first liter of water, and get started on the rest of my day!

Ironwoman!!!

Okay, just a quick note.  I did really well today.  I walked for 50 mins during lunch (and some jogging) with the arm weights AND went to the gym and swam 36 laps.   Overall my GoWearFit recorded 1:48 mis of activity and almost 8000 steps.  The steps do not even include the swimming ... which really makes my pedometer reading more like 12K!!!!  I am amazed at myself and right exhausted.  It feels good to have accomplished something great today, especially given my sugar binge lastnight.

If you are like me and counting your steps, here is a cool link to help you equate everyday things (like swimming) into steps per min.  http://walking.about.com/od/measure/a/stepequivalents.htm

Check me out babies:

Duh... GOALS

I figured the best way to ring in the new week is to stop whining and set a goal!

I pledge to spend 3.5 - 4 hours working out in some way (walking, gym, swimming) between Monday and Wed.  How I will do it:

Monday: 1.25

• Walk at lunch with wrist weights - 45 mins  (Actual: 100 mins)
  
• Swimming after work - 30 mins (Actual: 30 mins)
  

Tuesday: 1

• Walk before work - 30 mins (Actual: 50 mins total as of 4pm)
  
• Gym workout during lunch - 30 mins

Wednesday: 1.25

• Walk at lunch with wrist weights - 45 mins
• Swimming after work - 30 mins

G'night all!

---------------------------------------------
UPDATE:
During lunch on Monday (today) I walked/jogged a total of 50 mins.  Managed to log 27 mins of VIGOROUS ACTIVITY!!! Total activity today so far is 64 mins.  I rule. Waiting for the crowd to die down at the gym, then I will start doing my laps.
Swimming - I swam 36 laps in the pool...about 30 mins give or take ... and the equivalent of 4000 steps that do not show on my pedometer! The  link shows step equivalents to regular exercises.

Quick note

Hey everyone.  Just wanted to publish that I did very well last week surpassing the 15 lb lost since 12/10/09!  Yay me. 

The last couple of days have been long and tiring.  My grandmother was ill yesterday and around midnight it escalated to the point of needing to call 911.  Fortunately no serious issues.  She had an infection that made her sick and lightheaded, that was compounded by dehydration and she was going in and out of consciousness. 

We spent all night in the ER and arrived back home around 5:30 this morning.  According to my GoWearFit i slept 1:11 ...not quite hitting my goal of 8 hrs a night!  I am exhausted, naturally, so not really in the mood to celebrate.

I will say that when starvation set in around 3am last night ... I also had good sense.  The hospital had a 24hr McDonalds.  I used my phone to see the nutritional information (calories/fat/sodium) of 6 pieces of chicken nuggets...and thats exactly what I had.  We actually ordered one huge 10 piece meal (supersized) and my BF ate ALL of the fries and 4 of the 10 nuggets.  I was pleased with myself. I could have easily drowned my sorrows into that enormous bag of fries.

That is all for now.  I hope to keep up this rate of loss (3lbs a week) so that I am able to reach my goal of 36 by my 36th! 7.5 weeks to go ... at 2.7 pounds a week and I am there!

That is all for now ... time to crash!

Is it cheating....

If I want to officially log my weight a day early?  I am really liking what the scale says TODAY and am afraid my body will realize its error and adjust accordingly in the wrong direction tomrrow :)  Today I am at 254.5 ... the lowest weight I have seen in almost a year!!!  That weight would mean 3.1 lost the past week...pppppllllleeeeaaassssseeeee stay that or below for tomorrow.  I am feeling fairly dehydrated today (i didnt drink enough water yesterday, was a stress kitten) so I probably will pack on 2 lbs in water today.

Oh well, I know its only numbers!  Someone DID tell me that she could tell I had lost weight even from last week (thank you Mindy) so I will take it!

Today has potential to be stressful...I have my sweet wonderful grandma that isn't feeling well.  As much as I hate not living in the condo that I am paying for, I will be sad to leave here.  To that end, I hope to take advantage of taking the day off of work to maybe look at possible paint samples. 

Organic oatmeal time!  The Kashi whole grain hot cereal that I made last night was awful.  Never. Again.  I will stick to my oatmeal, thank you!  I am LOVING the Publix Greenwise Maple and Brown Sugar organic instant with a splash of cinnamon.  It is a great way to start the day!  It's low sodium, low calorie, low fat, and has fiber/protein. 

My goal is to be productive today around the house ... help out my "old lady" ... eat low sodium and of course watch everything else ... take a nice walk!

Ta!
Allison

Weight loss projection spreadsheet

Hi!  About a year ago I stumbled upon a spreadsheet on another weight loss blog (losingtofindmyself.com) that spelled out the formula for estimating calories in/out and charting projected weight loss over time.  My Plan is all about this math...being accountable for what comes in, exercising, etc. 

This is an excellent way to get an idea of what is possible.  Of course your numbers may vary week to week from these projections...but its nice to come up with a formula that best meets your goals. 

Example:  I plugged in my starting weight, starting diet date, my calories per day eating and my weekly calories burned during exercise.  The spreadsheet calculates your BMR (how many calories you need per day/ week to maintain) and charts the deficits based on projections.  Check it out. I have made a note on guesstimating if you are doing Weight Watchers or a point based system vs counting actual calories. 

Here is a screen shot:

Here is a link to download the Excel spreadsheet: http://www.nosilla.net/gowearfit/weightloss_projection.xls  I promise this is a safe file!

Let me know if you have any questions ... and I would like to thank Ken from losingtofindmyself.com for taking the time to put this together and letting me run with it!

Allison

Month 1 Results

Just finished up my first full month on my new program.  I am please to say that I have lost 11.6 so far.  Not bad considering the holiday's!  Definitely pleased with my progress.  I did realize, however, that my math on the # of weeks until my birthday was flawed.  My weekly count to the left went from week 5 to week 8 ... which means I only have 12 weeks to lose my 36 lb goal.  With that pace I need to lost 3 lbs a week.  I will do everything within my power (within reason) to reach that goal...but given that I just shot myself in the foot and lost 2 weeks, I will NOT be disappointed if I fall slightly short of my goal.  What will be disappointing is giving up in any way, which I just do not accept.

That said, I have corrected my weekly count and linked each weeks GoWearFit 7 Day summary. It will show all my crimes and successes! 

I am getting to the point of looking forward to getting active, which is nice.  Today I walked / semi-jogged a bit in our parking deck at work.  The 1 lb arm weights I had on my wrists increased my calorie burning by 30-40% when doing a brisk walk.  That is awesome!  Now I have wrist weights for home AND for the office. No excuses!

To help with my goal, I am going to start swimming laps a couple times a week (most likely weekends), target an average of 45 mins a day of moderate activity and try to get an overall reading of 60 mins a week of "vigorous" activity. Today while walk/jogging, I racked up 12 mins of vigorous activity. I just need to do that 5 more times :)

Food wise my focus is shifting a bit to a lower sodium diet.  I've been concerned with the sodium content in my everyday (admittedly processed) diet.  Now I am going to try to keep my sodium around 1500 mg per day. 

We will see! 

Last push for the month!

Today marks the last full day before I officially finish out the first month of my new way of living. Some accomplishments I am already focusing on:

1. I have increased my water intake … no longer living a high sodium dehydrated lifestyle!
2. Getting active! I have met my goals for activity most days/weeks … now it’s time to kick it up a notch and raise the bar.
3. Taking accountability. Even on those few “diet holiday” days, I was accountable. It may be ugly, but it’s listed! I successfully counted calories and wore my GoWearFit for the last month.
4. Keeping up with the blogging! I am terrible at staying focused on the blog. When I stop blogging, that means my head is in the sand (or somewhere else I won’t mention) and that is bad. The more I blog, the more focused I am and the less I am hiding in shame!
5. Finding inspiration. It’s everywhere if you look. I have found some folks on Twitter and in the blog world that are keeping me on track and letting me know that I am not alone in this. Thank goodness!

The weight has come off a bit … but that is really just a side effect of all of the above! My overall goal is to lose A LOT of weight. The only way that is going to happen is to honor myself and keep on the right path.


More to come …gearing up for another lunch hour spent in the gym!

Allison

Sooo Cold!

Wow, I realize it is winter ... but damn, I live in Georgia.  It is NOT supposed to be in the teens with gusty winds in early January...just sayin!

Goals for the day:
-steps : 5000
-calories : 1200 in, 2600 out (-1400)
 -water : 84 oz (downing 7  12oz glasses)
-locate or buy swim cap
-dismantle the christmas tree

That's about it folks!  It's frigid today so I am not sure the strategy on the PA (physical activity).  Perhaps a bundled walk outside ... and bowling?  Not sure ... but I will get back to you!

Oh, as a side note, how cute am I as a Mad Men character?  I picked the only plump option ... oh, how I wish I had those curves!!!

The coffee cup is a nice touch ... though most of you don't know me personally, one of my treasured finds is a ceramic "we are happy to serve you" coffee cup.  I bought mine at momastore.com, but here is a link to the website that features them: http://www.wearehappytoserveyou.com/

Its just fun!

Happy New Year!!!

What are your resolutions this year?  I am assuming like you, you are resolved to lose weight.  Obviously I will officially declare that losing weight is one of my resolutions.  More specifically I am resolving to get back into the pool.  Swimming laps has always been a great way for me to get in the cardio and keep it low impact.  Years ago I was able to swim 60 laps (25 meter) 3 x's a week.  I haven't been in the pool on a consistant basis in 3 or 4 years.  Goggles (check), Swim cap (check), lap counter (check), cute little waterproof ipod shuffle mp3 player (check).  I am all set!  

Today, I took a nice walk around the neighborhood ... burned quite a few calories and have walked my steps to meet my daily goal.  One day down ... 6 more to go :)  I will admit to being naughty yesterday ... but I logged the calories as much as possible.  I did very well while out to eat, but late at night I was craving dessert and gave in (I blame the mimosas). The holiday's are officially over, thank goodness, and so are the rationalizations!

My next "holiday" will be my birthday in March.  Until then, I am focused on my goal to lose 36 by my 36th birthday.  I started this leg of my journey on 12/10 and am down around 10 lbs (official weigh-in Thursday).  Feeling very refreshed and motivated. 

Good luck to you all and Happy New Year!!!

Allison

Sometimes the math doesnt work in your favor!

Today was weigh-in week #3.  I ended the holiday weekend  up about 2.5 pounds from my weigh-in last week...today I end my week right where I was last week!

As you know, I am taking a mathematical approach.  It's all about what goes in, who goes out ... and hopefully what comes off!  There are, however, other factors involved.  How much exercise you are getting ... how much water you are drinking ... what ARE you eating, etc.  Though on paper my calorie intake was low enough to warrant a weight loss ... it just didn't happen!  I can honestly say that 1) I didn't exercise on purpose 2) I did eat a lot of crap 3) I did not keep up with my water and keep hydrated 4) I did not take my vitamins like a good girl.

It all boils down to an overall pattern of good behavior .. and I did not meet the challenge in many ways.  On the positive note, my calorie intake over all was still on target.  My daily average deficit was over 900 calories...so on paper I should have lost about 2 lbs.

How do I feel about all of this?  I am actually quite motivated!  I know that in order to be successful and reach my goals, I need to do ALL the work required ...and not just "phone it in"!

I am feeling better ... and that means back to the exercise. Back to reaching my weekly average goals for steps and activity!  I will feel better and I will be more motivated to keep going.

All that said ... I am totally doing mimosa day tomorrow (New Year's Day).  BUT with my day of mimosa's ( I estimate about 675 calories for a bottle of cava + 8-10 oz of OJ) I will drink plenty of water ... and MOVE MY A$$!!!

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