Weigh in

I'm here to announce that the unbelievable has happened, TO ME. In my first week on Weigh Less I have lost (drum roll........)

FIVE POUNDS!!!

I have never ever lost that amount of weight in a week; actually, during the whole month of January when I thought I did very well I only lost 6 pounds! I'm sooo proud of myself for sticking with the plan and seeing such a loss. I know it may be argued that all I lost was water since I just started, but the fact remains that the mass on my body today is all of 5 pounds less than 7 days ago.

Weekend

Despite that loss, the weekend didn't go as planned, plan wise. Social events always derail me, and it was no different this weekend. In fact on both Saturday and Sunday I had meals prepared by other people, who had no idea that I was trying to lose weight, and even if they did, it was for a large crowd, so I don't think they would have made any provisions just for me. However, I'm proud to say that the only way I went wrong was to eat food outside my plan, but I kept the quantities (serves - WL language) right. I kind of made substitutions, in that where as gem squash is not currently included in the plan, I ate it but making sure it's only as much as the amount of  butternut squash I would eat, e.t.c. And really, if the off plan items I ate were squash, spinach and other greens, what can go wrong right? So, I think the weekend was a win - the numbers speak for me anyway.

Curves

I did make the visit to Curves this morning. Let me just say the reasons I'm joining is because I really want to start working out in a more organized way, and that the Curves is actually the closest gym to my new place (starting this weekend) and it's a female only gym. If it was a matter of just going and interacting with the stuff to check out the place I wouldn't have joined! I understand that it's their procedures, but apparently the staff follow a script and the way they carry out their consultation is so rehearsed and just leaves one (me) feeling undermined. It ended up being that I changed the people I was working with because the 1st girl was too much for me. It was at this part that I had really had it and decided I couldn't take it anymore:

Girl: So have you ever made any attempt to lose weight before?

Me: Yes

Girl: What did you do:

Me: I exercised

(etc. etc. like how much did you lose, did you gain back)Then:

Girl: Do you exercise at all

Me: Sometimes

Girl: Why do you exercise?

Me: Seriously?? 

And I proceeded to tell her what  think. So she asked somebody else to come and assist me. Anyway, I intend to join next week after we move.

Otherwise I'm pleased with my progress and am doing everything I can to stay on plan. I'm packing my food every time I leave the house just in case I get delayed somewhere.

So, here's to another great week on plan.

Oh, you shouldn't have

This is a good one...

When Steve forgets his wedding anniversary, his wife is furious. "Tomorrow morning," she warns, "I expect to find a gift in the driveway that goes from zero to 200 in 6 seconds. And it better be there!"

The next morning Steve leaves for work before his wife gets up. When she wakes up she looks out the window and sees a box gift-wrapped in the middle of the driveway.

She puts on her robe and runs out to get it. She tears the wrapping paper off to reveal a brand-new bathroom scale.

Steve has been missing since Friday.

I got this out of a weekly magazine that I had a look at this morning. I don't know how it makes me feel, but at the time I found it funny and I laughed. I think I'm kind of angry, and I can't even begin to imagine how it would have gone down if I was Steve's wife. He would definitely be missing I'm sure! lol.

Menu plan

Today I received my menu plan for week 2, along with this weekly motivational 'talk'. I'm excited that I've been able to stay on plan since Monday (the servings might have been a bit in excess of the what the plan recommends one of the evenings though - but I move on). I've been tempted, but I've stayed with the plan; contrary to what I've been known to do in the past, i.e. give up by the afternoon/evening on Day 1!

The plan for next week basically looks like this week's with a few substitutionsfor the different food types. The 'formulas' stay the same as this, so I know I'll still have enough to eat (insert happy dance here).

My plan

I plan to stick with menu plans as they are by just selecting my favourite meals and making very few to no substitutions, just to keep things simple and avoid being carried away -- this could lead to mistakes, and we know how that can go. That will cover the food part.

As far as exercise, I haven't been super-active in a long time. I can't lie about that. Since the fun walk in April, I only put on my sneakers the other day to go for a walk outside. My treadmill has just about forgotten me. Since I'm moving across town next weekend, I've decided to wait till then and then I'm going to join a Curves not too far from my new place. I want to go for the trial visit on Monday and I hope I like it.  So, as soon as I'm moved in I'll work on an exercise plan.

Other than that, the long weekend looks great. Lots of time to relax, but I also have to prepare for the move, start getting boxes and think about how to pack. My Monday is packed though; most everybody else will be open, so it's a good time to get to those places that I usually have to skip work to get to.

Anyways, have a great long weekend. I'll post next on Monday with my weekly weigh-in.

I'm a contradiction

I like nice plain things, nice straight lines with little to no colour; but then again I love colour, and shapes and flowers, etc. Case in point - I loved the way my blog looked when I first set it up, nice greys and blacks, but I'm LOVING my blog right now! Am I the only one who loves the colour?! I think I have the best looking blog on the blog, lol. 


Dark vs. Bright
Actually even my house is a contradiction. Nice simple furniture, dark mostly. But one of my couches is bright green, with green/orange-striped cushions, the rug has brown, cream and orange and a couple of small paintings  are mostly orange. Who am I? I also like plain clothes, darks mostly. I so I think. But just open my closet - there's every colour under the sky in there, even too much colour! Bright yellow, oranges, blue, turqouises, purples, reds, greens, etc. in different shades and prints too. And what's weird, I wear all of them! Contradiction indeed. May be one day I'll share pictures.


Today's lunch
One of my lunch options consists of bread and tuna with a salad. Today I decided I wanted steamed vegs in place of the raw salad. Now, this lunch option is definitely larger (volume) than the other option I've made for the last 2 days. I was pleased to sit down with it, because I do love my food and at this point I'm trying to get as much volume as possible from the daily meal options -- something I hope will change as I get used to the plan and portion sizes. Anyway, I had a ball with the lunch; I never knew tuna was so great dressed with light italian salad dressing - I will never put mayo on my tuna again! When I finished I was stuffed full. And I was happy that I when I finished eating and I did feel like I wanted more food. But a few minutes later I was feeling so uncomfortable from being so full.


So tell me, do I like being full or not? I do, because in all honesty I've lived for it, I've been known to stuff myself beyond full very often with all sorts of food, even stuff I don't necessarily enjoy. But here I am feeling uncomfortable from fullness.


It's only been a few days but I hope that this is the beginning of improvement in that area. Not so much a contradiction but progress.

Day 2 - The plan

So I've managed to stick to the plan for 2 days (though we still have a few hours yet). Today was a bit different from yesterday though - I wasn't as full and I found myself wanting more food.

The plan for this week (re-balancing) gives a summary of what to eat - complex carbohydrates, protein, fat, veg, fruit, then goes further to suggest 2/3 options for each meal. Which by the way there are 6 of - breakfast, mid-morning snack, lunch, early afternoon snack, late afternoon snack and finally, dinner. The options I picked yesterday definitely had more volume than todays, so I think save for what I have pre-prepared, I'll be making my meals from Monday's rather than today's choices.

I like that it's so easy. They start you out easy with recipes to go along with the food type and quantities for each meal. And then a few weeks in as you get the hang of it they start supplying just food lists and quantities of each food types to eat. The hard work will start then I'm sure; when I have to figure out what meals to make from just a list of ingredients. But I know I'll have fun with it!

So far, I know it's only Day 2, I'm feeling quite motivated to keep doing this. There have been times (already!) when I've thought I want this or that, or that we should go out to eat at ..... on .......... then remembering that I can't eat whatever I want just yet. The beauty of this plan is that I'm having normal enjoyable food, so no complaints there, yet. So, even as I remember I can't just go out to eat or get some take away, I'm not frustrated or discouraged as I know I still enjoy what I'm eating!

So here we are...

Day 1. Week 1. Yet again.


I've been on a weight-loss journey for a long long time. Restarting every other week; losing and regaining. So, this journey hasn't taken me anywhere (yet). Actually, it has taken me back further than where I started. I started blogging in 2008, weighing in at 250 lbs. Today, at 7 am, I weighed in at 255.8 lbs. Despite all that I've been through.


Looking back at my journey, I realized that what I lacked was commitment. I wanted to lose weight but I wasn't committed enough. I made and changed plans several times a day, and could never stick with a plan long enough, even when it seemed to be working. And this was because it was all up to me. I made the plan so I could change it as I saw fit.


So now I've decided that I need help. I need to follow a plan that has worked for others and that I can not just change to suit my distractions. I've read about Weigh-Less and have even been buying the magazine consistently since last year and thought the plan could help me. It is a Weight Watchers kind of program with meal plans and a weekly meeting/weigh-in. After months of chasing them to find a group (which to my disappointment there isn't any in the area still), I finally found out they were piloting an on-line program, and as I'm typing this I'm one of their guinea-pigs!


Today I took my official beginning weigh-in, prepared the meals for the day and hauled everything here with me (it's a lot of food). Apparently the first 2 weeks are for 're-balancing', so I don't know if I'll always have so much to eat, but I've been stuffed today and found that it was time to eat again before I was hungry. I will explain the plan in another post.


Anyway. I'm here now. Starting again. With every intention to stay on plan, until I reach my target fitness and healthiness range. And I have to admit, my target weight as well. I know I'm chasing health and fitness, which weight is definitely a larget part of right now. So, if it seems I'm too focused on weight, it may be because I accept that I can't reach the level of fitness that I desire while I carry the weight that I am carrying now.