My next goal is 1 lb away!
I have small goals to keep me going. The first was to get through the first week with the biggest weight loss possible. I think 7.1 pounds was pretty good.
My next goal was to lose 10 pounds – accomplished!
Now, my goal is to be below 200, which is 1 pound away! Then to lose 5 pounds.
I ended my blog yesterday saying I was going for a walk because it looked breezy. Little did I know the breeze was accompanied by light drizzle, which got heavier as I walked away from the office. I managed to walk for 8 minutes, which didn’t even meet Nutrisystem’s goal of 10 minutes 3 times a day.
Today, I walked around the block here at work and then went to the mall. For some reason, when I walk at the mall, my hips start to ache. I think it’s the hard surface.
I’m heading to the salon tomorrow to have my hair color changed. I don’t know what exactly yet, but it’ll be different from today.
Finally hit 10 pounds down!
Today is day 19 of Nutrisystem, and I’m proud to day that I’ve lost 10.1 pounds.
Luckily, I joined Nutrisystem when I did because I’ve been so busy that I haven’t had time to cook. I would have just stopped and grabbed fast food on the way home or for lunch. Nutrisystem food isn’t the most delicious, but it’s fast, and it works!
The hardest part for me is the portion size. I’m used to eating massive quantities of food. The portions are barely the same as my first serving was in the past.
Train My Brain
The biggest surprise is that I’m not hungry all the time. I’m satisfied. But I have to train my brain to be satisfied. My stomach has received the message loud and clear, but my brain is lagging behind. It was the same with my knee replacements. It took almost a year to train my brain that walking was no longer painful. I still think about rewarding myself with a trip to Sonic for a vanilla waffle cone or stopping by Schlotzky’s for a small original.
Basic
I signed up for the Basic plan, which means Nutrisystem picks out my food and sends it automatically every 4 weeks. So far, there’s been nothing I wouldn’t eat (how do you think I got this way?). I would prefer fewer nuts, berries, and packages of popcorn, especially since my bout with diverticulitis 2-1/2 years ago. I’m praying that drinking lots of water will help avoid any future issues.
Adjusting As I Go
Nutrisystem hasn’t stopped me from enjoying dinners with friends. I just have to know when so I can adjust my plan for the day. Along with the Nutrisystem food, I have to eat a PowerFuel (protein) 3 times a day along with 1 smart carb (fruit/bread) once a day. If I save those and add them to a Flex meal, I’ve been able to enjoy eating at Red Lobster, Alamo Café, and a lunch meeting at church.
Exercise
Oh that! If you know me, you know that when the urge to exercise hits, I usually sit and wait it out. I hit a plateau a couple of times, so I started walking. I walked around the block Saturday morning (.9 mile) and Sunday evening (1.1 miles). Then, yesterday, I walked at Ingram Mall (.8 mile). After this, I’m heading out for a walk here on campus. I added an app to my phone “Map my Walk” that keeps track of time and distance, and using GPS shows my route. It’s breezy out, so it’s seems like a good time to go.
The adventure continues . . .
Quick Update – 7.1 lbs in 1 Week!
I was shocked to see 204.6 this morning! This means I slipped past the last meals into a weight field I haven’t ventured into in a while. For many months, I fluctuated between 205 and 208.
Starting today I get to add small helpings of protein to breakfast and both snacks and a fruit to the afternoon snack. It’ll take a while to get used to the schedule; for now, I’m depending on the booklet and logging what I eat and drink.
Continuing the adventure . . .
The End of Week 1
I made it through 7 days! I’ve never eaten so little in my whole life. The good news is I haven’t been hungry. I wonder what I’m doing to my metabolism.
One of the reasons I haven’t eaten much is my schedule. It’s been crazy busy at work trying to make everyone happy at the same time. Launching an updated website is as painful as pulling a bandage off a hairy part of your body. Luckily, the pain is subsiding. Everyone wants their issues fixed immediately or they want the old site that no one liked back.
Yesterday I made an effort to add exercise to my day. At 10:00, I grabbed a friend and walked around the block. Then I walked to the cafeteria. At the end of the day, I checked my pedometer, and it said “Start.” It was OFF! How does that happen? I was so disappointed.
My weight loss so far has been a bit underwhelming as well. I started at 211.7 last Friday morning. Then it was 209, then 206.9, then 206.5, 206.1, then 206.3 and finally, this morning, it was 206.3 again! OK, so that’s 5.4 pounds, but that’s what I gained eating all those last meals.
This week, besides vegetables, I only ate Nutrisystem food with 64 ounces of water, coffee, tea, and Diet Coke (very little). Last night I met some Incarnate Word classmates at Rosario’s. I didn’t eat chips. I ordered the salad without chicken, queso fresco, or cheese. I did have the lime vinaigrette (delicious) and tea. Then when I got home, I ate my NS dinner.
Tomorrow I start the regular plan that will include eggs, cheese sticks, peanut butter, veggies, and fruit to add to NS foods to eat 5 meals a day. I can’t wait!!!
I caught myself thinking about food a lot and trying to talk myself into stopping somewhere for a treat, but I resisted!
I have to read up on what happens next. It’s an adventure
Day 4 – 5.5 Pounds Down
The good news is – I didn’t start this week with a gain. I followed the plan to the letter – except the little bit of cookie dough I ate while baking cookies for my grandsons. I didn’t eat even one of their left-over French fries. I passed the table of goodies at church, and I didn’t eat a mini muffin in Sunday school.
Today was very stressful, I had knots in my stomach most of the day because we launched an updated company website. I planned to take 3 10-minute walking breaks, but I barely left my desk and I worked through lunch, then until 7:00. Luckily, Nutrisystem food is good. I had the cheese pizza, which was very small. I cut the crust to make 2 thin crusts and spread the sauce and cheese over both pieces. Then I ate a package of cole slaw cabbage mixed with Balsamic vinegar and sweetener. Very delicious! I ate dinner late, so it may affect my weight loss.
The good news is, I’ve lost the weight I gained eating all those last meals. Now, I’m going to work on the weight I gained 1-1/2 years ago celebrating my new house.
Day 3 – Good Things Are Happening
The scale already shows a 4.8-lb loss! I weighed 211.7 Friday morning. Saturday morning, I weighed 209. This morning it was 206.9! Friday, I was pretty gassy, but I wasn’t hungry. I ate a little more than the required amount of veggies because I could.
Yesterday, I felt bloated even after the 2.7-lb loss. I spent most of the day with a friend, Hannah, who was visiting, and we were too busy to eat, besides a light lunch of quinoa, cilantro, and tomatoes. She called it tabbouleh. By the end of the day, though, the bloated feeling was gone.
This morning, I felt amazing! I had a chocolate chip granola bar for breakfast with the Turbo Shake. I didn’t have any of the sweets at church (I used to say I only went there for the donuts 🙂 ), went to both services with Sunday School between and a meeting afterward. I finally felt hungry about 1:45.
For lunch, I had another bar and okra. Then at 4:15, I had the Nutri-crush bar. I eat them as slowly as possible. Instead of 4 bites like usual, I’m eating tiny, tiny bites. I’m really trying to be more mindful.
I thought the bars would leave me starving, but I was wrong. They are packed with protein and staved off hunger lots longer than I anticipated.
One thing I need to add is exercise. When I lost the 60 pounds in 2012-2013, I didn’t exercise, and I got pretty flabby – everywhere! Hannah talked about exercise and how she did yoga and Tai Chi regularly because she liked to exercise, not because she needed to (which, of coure, she doesn’t). Hmmm, I’m not built that way. When I was younger, in my late teens and early 20s, my exercise was bowling. Then I joined a health club and went religiously for 6 months. Off and on over the years, I alternated between walking and working out in a health club. I prefer walking because I don’t like the feeling that I’m being judged, and I hate getting on equipment that’s covered in other people’s sweat.
When I tried an early morning walking routine after I moved into this neighborhood, I encountered a skunk in the dark. Luckily, I saw it before it saw me, and I made a u-turn and high-tailed it in the other direction. I don’t think I’ve been out in the dark since.
That will be my next resolution – follow Nutrisystem’s suggestion of 3 sessions of 10 minutes each day. I can easily do that – walk at 10 am, during lunch, and again at 3. It will probably help with my eyesight. I’m suffering from eyestrain because I stare at a monitor for so many hours a day. I’ll kill 2 birds with one stone so to speak.
Thanks!
Starting Again with Nutrisystem
OK, I tried it on my own for a couple months, and I gained and lost the same 2 pounds many times. I tried Slim Quick, which is advertised as helping women lose 3x the weight. As soon as I added Slim Quick to my breakfast, the weight loss stopped completely.
While I was on vacation, I saw at least 4 different weight-loss product commercials about 100 times. One of them was Nutrisystem. In 1989, I lost weight using Nutrisystem – 21 lbs in 6 weeks! If I could do that, I’d be back almost where I was in 2015 before my open house and the eventual 25-lb weight gain – before my birthday, June 5.
When I was on Nutrisystem before, I liked the food. It was easy to prepare, and the portions were controlled. This is exactly what I need – portion control. My portions were growing larger and larger, and I was right back to looking for the largest portion on the menu and eating seconds and thirds. And I really don’t like to or have time to cook.
I quickly checked my financial situation and went to the website to sign up. The website was confusing to me. There seemed to be so many plans; I wanted to sign up for the best bang for the buck. I read everything and finally signed up for the basic plan, which included the food, the first week turbo take-off, turbo shakes, and nutri-crush protein bars.
Then I waited . . .
It’s funny how quickly I became accustomed to 2-day shipping. After several years of 2-day shipping through Amazon Prime, I find myself expecting it to be the norm. I ordered the food on Wednesday and it finally arrived Thursday — a week later. By the time the food arrived, I had about 20 “last meals” and put on 5 lbs!
From what I can see the box contained 25 days of food, 3 short of the 4 weeks I was expecting. I studied the plan and was ready to start the next morning. Then I went back to the box and found the box that was for the first week of Turbo Take-Off, which had a different set of instructions 😦 It’s just like me to go off half-cocked. I read the instructions for the Turbo Take-Off week, which was much stricter than the other 18 days. I was armed and ready!
My weight had climbed to 211.7 yesterday morning, the first day. I eagerly opened the cinnamon struesel muffin, which barely filled the muffin cup – not the big fluffy muffin depicted on the package. However, it was delicious! I also had the chocolate Turbo Shake. I packed the Cheesy Chicken for lunch with a tomato, lettuce, celery, broccoli, and a peeled cucumber and the Nutri-crush protein bar.
Along with the meals for the first week, I am to eat at least 4 vegetables and drink 64 ounces of water and do some sort of exercise. For my morning snack, I ate half the cucumber. For lunch, I heated the Cheesy Chicken and broccoli, put them together, and really enjoyed the meal. Two hours later, I was hungry again, so I ate the rest of the cucumber and the Roma tomato. At 3:00, I ate the Nutri-crush bar very slowly because it was small and very delicious – I wanted it to last!
For dinner, I had a sliced tomato wrapped in lettuce leaves with dijon mustard while I heated the Alfredo pasta with more broccoli.
I was satisfied! The first day wasn’t as painful as I expected.
When I got on the scale this morning, I weighed 209!
I plan to blog about this experience to help keep me honest.
If you get inspired and want to try Nutrisystem, please let me know. I’ll refer you and save $30 on an order. Then we can do it together.
I’m on my own
I decided that it was time I learned to go it alone. Perfect Solutions gave me the tools and the motivation. The biggest change was not eating after 7:30. Of course, eating whole foods and 9 servings of fruit and veggies each day helps.
Going to weekly meetings to weigh in set something in motion — I would celebrate after an appointment – good or bad – and before I know it, it’s been 4 days, and I realize it’s time to get back on the plan.
For months, I weighed in on Saturday, and Monday morning, the scale would show at least a 2-pound gain. A few weeks ago, something finally clicked, and I stopped celebrating after a weigh-in session. And, believe it or not, I have a weight loss on Mondays!!! Wow! That’s huge!
This evening I checked into Weight Watchers locations. After about 30 minutes, it dawned on me that I was trading one weekly meeting for another. I need the accountability, but weekly weigh-ins weren’t doing it.
I weigh myself daily, and for about a month, I’ve been recording it. A couple of weeks ago, I started recording the number of steps – mainly because I’m supposed to be doing 6,000 a day. I’ve made it to 5300+ yesterday, but that’s as close as I’ve been so far.
You won’t believe this, but I actually got on my Nordic-track this evening. It was only for a couple minutes, but that’s progress. I usually wait until the feeling that I should exercise goes away.
I hope to be able to report progress pretty regularly
Something Seems to Have Clicked
This month has been pretty busy, and I’ve used the busy-ness as an excuse for not following my weight loss plan. Since the beginning of the year, I have alternated between Cecilia and Donovan as my coaches. Cecilia has introduced me to macha tea; she advocates lemon water, ginger, spices, and smoothies.
Donovan works on my head by setting up challenges that I don’t do for more than a week before giving up. He had me fill out a questionnaire to get to know me and my motivation. Knowing my very short attention span for something like this, he only gave me one sheet of the 6 at a time. Answering the questions on the first 4 pages gave me insight into some of my issues. And this is only the beginning.
Saturday when I went in, I had gained 3 pounds!!! Joslyn, the new receptionist asked me how long I’d been going to Perfect Solutions. I laughed. I’ve been going there since Sept. 7, 2012! I lost 60 pounds, but gained back 30! I actually told her that I was stuck. I wasn’t willing to make the changes necessary to lose the weight. I can’t believe I said that out loud!
When I went in to see Donovan, he didn’t yell at me. I had all sorts of excuses ready for gaining weight – I was busy; I didn’t get home until late practically every night; I went out to dinner several times in the week; I was wearing jeans . . . blah, blah, blah. I actually rebutted the excuses I wanted to use. Instead of hearing Donovan say that I should have planned better, I was saying it. He asked why I ate late at night when I could have a smoothie instead. I had no answer. It dawned on me yesterday – the main reason I ate late at night instead of having a smoothie last week – I like to eat! I like to chew. I like the flavor of food. It was like I had an epiphany (during Epiphany season no less).
Those 2 things – admitting that I wasn’t willing to make the changes and realizing I was my own worse enemy – made a difference in my attitude. Usually, I’m hearing Donovan and Cecilia tell me about the changes I should make, the things I can do to be healthier, and all I can do is think about the tacos I plan to have for breakfast or the hamburger I want for dinner after I weigh in. Saturday, I didn’t allow myself to think like that. I actually listened with a clear conscience to Donovan talking about how to break a bad habit.
I went home and had a smoothie before going to the card making club at church. I ate healthy meals, and I didn’t eat after 7:30. Sunday, I was leaving church and passed the table filled with all sorts of goodies; I was just about to reach for something when I heard someone say, “Look at all this good stuff. It smells so good, but I can’t have any.” I thought, “I can’t either,” and turned around and headed home.
That was the first time in months that I didn’t help myself to something off the goodie table at church. I’m working on the 21 days to break a bad habit that Donovan talked about Saturday. I have 2 really bad habits – eating late at night (after 7:30), and eating sweets just about every day. Since Saturday, I’ve had no sweets (not even chocolate), and I haven’t eaten after 7:30. And, you know what? This is also the first time in months that I got on the scale Monday morning and saw that I lost weight over the weekend instead of gaining!!! Imagine that . . .
I Have a New(er) Car!
Normally, I keep cars about 7 years. I even kept the Jaguar X-Type that was a money pit for 7-1/2 years. But, for some reason, I was never “married” to the 2011 Camry that I got in 2013. The Camry was a great car. Great gas mileage, lots of power, easy to maintain, and really comfortable to drive and ride in. Ever since the day I bought it, I’ve thought about getting another.
During the holidays, I received a notice that the extended warranty on the 2011 was expiring. I called the Credit Union to find out how much it would cost to extend it more. Gloria (love her!) asked how long I planned to keep the car and told me how much it would cost for 24 months and 36 months. That made me seriously consider my future plans.
I called Gloria again and asked how much my Camry was worth. The good news was I owed less than the blue book value for trading it in. If I sold it on my own, I could make almost $6,000!
Considering my options, I thought about selling my car on my own, which might get me $4,000 to pay cash for a car. If I bought the next car carefully, I might be able to get away with no car payments for a couple of years.
Then I remembered my last experience buying a cheap, used car. I bought a car for $3,000 in 2014, and it actually cost me another $3,000 to keep it on the road in the first 2 months. The air conditioner went out within 6 months, then it burned oil, used lots of gas – the list goes on and on. To make matters worse, when we tried to trade it in for a better car, we found out the odometer had been turned back. After that experience, the uncertainty of buying a cheap, used car stressed me out. Getting a certified used car seemed like the best decision in the long run.
I didn’t want to spend more than $15,000 on a car because the payments are comfortable for me, so I searched the web for cars that cost $15,000. 2014 Camrys showed up in the search results. I narrowed the search to Cavender Toyota and found a 2014.5 Camry for $14,991 that was the right color in the Certified Used Cars section of their website. The only photo was of the outside of the car – none of the inside. The specs showed Bluetooth phone and a few extras. I talked to the fleet manager to see if it was still available, called Gloria (again) to find out I qualified to get a loan for that amount, and made an appointment to take it for a test drive.
The color of the Camry I was considering is creme brulee mica with tan/black interior. I don’t care for the black dash and steering wheel, and all four of the windows aren’t automatic like my 2011, but everything else is awesome. The test drive made me very happy. The car felt good, and it had the power I was used to in my last 3 cars. Decision made!
I picked it up Friday right after lunch, and I couldn’t be happier. Once the weather warms up a bit, I’ll set everything up. I don’t know the first thing about the electronics on cars. I did find out that the car has a back-up camera, and it tells me how many miles are left in my gas tank – awesome!!!
And, something even better – my 2011 was worth more than I owed, so the tax, title, license, and old loan was covered with a little left over. The new loan, for less than $15,000, is $5 more per pay check. It wasn’t until later Friday evening that I realized I just extended my car payment for another 3 years! DANG!
All in all, I’m excited to start a new year with a new(er) car. This one I’ll probably keep for about 7 years, especially if I decide to retire.
journeyto135 