The Weightloss Continues

Well this morning I got on the scale.  Yippee!! I now weigh 145 lbs.  That makes the grand total 31.5 lbs lost.  I'm in the home stretch now.  What I have been doing is looking into other foods that I can progress to , to maintain my loss.  I found some recipes, alternatives to junk snacks and of course I'll keep up the exercise.  I walk anywhere from 1.5 to 5 miles a day.  I was doing this 7 days a week but now it's about 5 to 6 days.  I need to learn to let the body heal a bit.  All in all I'm doing well, some foods I'm tired of and some not even close.  I'll write more later.

It has been a while

I know it's been a while but I've been ill, caught whatever virus that was going around and then caught a cold.  Stalled in my weight-loss and cheated...twice and now I'm bad on schedule.  As of two days ago, I've lost 30 lbs and now weigh 146.50 lbs.

I'm plugging along, still considered overweight according to the BMI and for that matter, me.  My husband on the other hand, feels I can stop.  I would like to get to 140 lbs before I make that decision.  I originally set my goal at 135 but as we age, weight changes its appearance as well.

Weight-loss Stalls

Throughout diets you hear people talk about how they have stalled in their weight-loss.  It is recommended that their caloric intake vary a bit and/or bump up the exercise routine (or start).  So many small things can be the cause of stalling and I have seemed to be at a point.  Stalling for a day or two isn't anything to worry about, it is the week or two weeks that make you go hmmm.  Now I'm not at a point of a week or even two, but I noticed when I thought I should have lost more weight and I didn't.   They (the dieting world) say that your body can get used to a certain amount of calories and to keep the metabolism going you should vary the amount.  Additionally, when you stall, check your measurements, usually during that time, you may be losing inches instead.  So I decided to check my measurements and this is what I found:

January 2, 2010                                     February 15, 2010
Upper Arm - 12"                                    Upper Arm - 11.25"
Chest - 41"                                             Chest - 37"
Waist - 36"                                             Waist - 33"
Hip - 42"                                                Hip - 39.5
Thigh - 26"                                            Thigh - 24.5"

Not bad if I say so myself.  I'm quite happy with the difference.  I had forgotten what my original measurements were, and was a little shocked how much weight I had gained.  Happy, happy for the loss.

Exercise and Day 38

I'm down to 158 lbs.
I've seen some comments on the Internet about the weightloss that Marie Osmond had.  Comments were along the lines of this, she reports to have lost 50 lbs but it doesn't say how long or the fact that she exercised and went on Dancing with the Stars.  There were other comments about Jillian and her having a personal trainer.  Does this make Nutrisystem a scam because they worked out?  I don't think so.  Nutrisystem encourages exercise and I think most diets do.  Do I exercise every day?  No, but I would like to think during the course of my day being on my feet and the hustle of the day counts for something.  However, I do spend the weekends doing either aerobics or riding my stationary bicycle.  I don't spend hours on end but I do spend some time at least a half hour.  The problem for me is that I have long days.  My mornings start at around 4:30 a.m. and does not stop until I walk back in the door at around 7:00 p.m. sometimes 7:30 p.m.  I'm tired and I'm just thinking about dinner, rest, relaxation and getting ready for the next day.  Bedtime comes early, usually around 10:00 p.m.  Perhaps if I exercised more I would lose more faster.  I do think it's important to exercise for your overall health.

Here are some pictures of my weightloss now.  Yes I am wearing different clothes now, but for the final weigh-in I'll put back my original clothes shown in the first pictures.  In one of the pictures I'm pulling back my shirt so my stomach shows better.

As you can see, Nutrisystem seems to be doing its job.  Thank goodness.

Until next time.

Day 32 and the food

Day 32 and my weight is now at 159.5 lbs.  Not bad I think and I'm not starving.    Today I want to talk a little about the food.  Throughout the Internet I've read other reviews where the taste of food ranges from horrid to excellent.  I believe the taste of food is subjective, a lot like art.  One man's gourmet is another man's junk.  My feelings, some of it is not bad.  I wouldn't call it excellent; I saw one comment where the person said, "Are you kidding about excellent?  Filet Mignon is excellent, Lobster is excellent..."  I have to agree.  I guess it depends on what you're used to.  I've had both, so in my opinion, the food is doable.  The beauty is, because I'm on the month plan, I can pick and choose what foods I get.  Actually right from the very start I was able to choose what food I wanted.  This is a little hard as I hadn't tasted any of the food prior to ordering but I tried to pick what I thought I would like.  After a month on the plan, well I definitely have my favorites and the food I will probably not order again...ever.  In my defense or maybe disclaimer, I've had my share of tv dinners and similar so maybe my taste isn't as selective.  However, I don't think this diet was designed for this purpose.  I mean really, it still has to be affordable to the mass and if it was more expensive, perhaps I wouldn't have purchased this diet.  I enjoyed the pizza, more on the way, the chicken salads and the beef teriyaki.  Granted some of the food doesn't look appetizing at all but the taste was there, very flavorful.  For example, the beef teriyaki with noodles, doesn't really look like what's on the package but I did like it.  I ordered more along with the pizza.  Now NS has several different kinds of pizzas, Flatbread Italian, Thick Crust and Sourdough Bread, and I'll be sampling the latter two.  Perhaps what I can do next time is to post pictures of some of the food.

On to the desserts.  Yes, you get to have chocolate cake, is it Duncan Hines®, no, but the desserts are designed to be a little healthier.  Added fiber and the likes makes it more dense but it wasn't bad.  Moist but not light and moist more like thick and moist if that makes any sense.  They have a chocolate bar that reminds me of a Snickers Bar® which isn't too bad, I did order more, the chocolate doesn't taste the same, can't put my finger on it yet why but it's doable.  It does give you the feeling that you're eating a candy bar.  The other favorite of mine was the White Cheddar Soy Chips, nice substitute for potato chips, in my opinion.  However, as I stated in my previous post I scaled back on the soy chips because of the soy.  I had originally ordered 10.  My all-time favorite is the Thin Mint Crisp Bar.  Now this is good, and has 8g of protein and 4g of fiber, and that what makes it different from just a regular candy bar.  Now pizza for dinner and the thin mint for dessert, I'm a happy camper!!! Life is good and I'll still lose weight.

Now the downsize but not really, the portions are on the small size but isn't that the intended purpose?  If you ate 3 or 4 of the pizzas doesn't that defeat the purpose of losing weight?  Isn't this why you had to order this diet in the first place, because you did eat 3 or 4 pizzas?  Lol, I just keep that in mind and forge on.  You have your portion and you must supplement with your fruit and veggies.  I do have more energy that I started with and generally feel better.  I'm determined to lose this weight and thus, I forge on.

Breakfast  isn't too bad.  The hard part for me is that breakfast used to consist of not much more than coffee and maybe toast or a breakfast burrito on the occassion.  Now, I must actually eat a real breakfast; which now consists of a blueberry muffin, or oatmeal with blueberries and my favorite the apple cinnamon scone to name a few.  Dense but good.

So as you can see, I'm good with the food.  Even some of the choices I've made that I didn't like, I ate knowing this would be the last time and I just went online and changed the selection.  For me, it's all about the commitment and my determination to lose the weight.  Is it excellent food, I wouldn't use that adjective, but it's good.  I like the fact that there is no calorie counting, no real weighing or trying to figure out the portions of the main course, that is all taken care of for me.  Very easy to follow.

Fast forwarding to present day

**Warning: some of the discussions in this post may not be  
suitable for all **

I've decided to fast forward a bit instead of trying to play catch up.  My current weight is 160.  I usually weigh myself everyday just to see how the weight fluctuates and it does a bit.  However, I only record the loss.  The other thing that I do, is to step on the scale three times because what I have also found, sometimes the weight changes a bit with each step.  I account some of this to the scale.  I then take the lowest weight or the average.  Today, it bounced between 160 and 159.  I will wait and see what the scale says tomorrow.  That will tell me whether or not I have actually lost the pound.

This morning I had oatmeal, blueberries and string cheese.  Now some may think string cheese is odd as a breakfast item, and by no means do you have to have that but I like string cheese so it doesn't bother me. For lunch I had fettucini alfredo, green beans, broccoli and yougurt.  Since I can have butter as a free food or my fat (for dinner) but I'm sure in amounts to me that would be laughable, I choose to use Molly McButter® instead.  I like it and it works with the program.

Now for the downsize that some have found.  During the second week, I noticed some spotting.  I was a little concerned but not as much when I started my period early and it was quite heavy.  I had concerns that I could be having premenopausal symptoms.  I'm 42 years, but it is possible.  I had no obvious PMS signs, that is no cramping and tender breasts.  The period kinda came on with no real warning.  Still a bit concerned what was going on I started searching for a possible reason.  Now, I'm not doctor, I have no medical degree however, what I did find, I found interesting.  Apparently there is a lot of soy in the foods produced by Nutrisystem®.  There is a dish with tofu and various of other items made with soy flour and other soy products.  Apparently, Soybeans contain an array of phytochemicals, which are biologically active components derived from plants.  One in particular is known as isoflavones.  These isoflavones mimic the female hormone, estrogen.  Like I said, I'm no doctor nor am I a scientist but I will say this.  After looking at the discussion boards within the NS site, many women reported having symptoms of spotting, shorter time periods between menstrual cycles and longer menstrual cycles.  While searching throughout the Internet, I found arguments on both sides, some saying there is no affect and some saying there is.  All I can say is that many women on the discussion boards including myself found our cycles altered.  Not enjoying these affects, I  modified my menu as much as possible to decrease the amount of soy products as possible.  While I'm sure I'll still get a lot, I decreased the amount of soy chips I would comsume the next month.  Is it enough for me to stop NS?  No.  I'm going to continue for my remaining committed 2 months.  I do think this should be something that is mentioned readily.  It would have saved me a lot of stress and the potential doctor's appointment.  I'm willing to put up with this for two more months and I will probably not continue after that.  I am curious to know whether or not it will taper off as my body adjusts to the new foods but only time will tell.

Now one more thing many of us NS people have found and what has been affectionately called Nutritoots, the gas factor.  I think it's mainly caused by all the vegetables that we are consuming.  That's an easy fix.  I started taking Beano® right before I eat them.  This has seemed to calm most of this down.  Thank goodness because this can become quite embarrassing while out in public but in the right household quite amusing if they are rated.  That's another story for another day.

Until next time.

Day 8

Day 8 and all is going well.  I weighed in at 166, that's about 9.5 lbs.  Today's menu is as follows:
Breakfast - cranberry orange pastry, string cheese and peaches.
Lunch - cheesy potatoes, tuna, salad and broccoli
Snack - nonfat yogurt, peaches
Dinner - beef potato wedge, mango, salad, green beans and olives
Dessert - almond biscotti
Water intake for the day 80 oz.

That was actually enough for me.  Sometimes I do get a craving here and there but this is where the willpower must kick in.  Remember why I started this and forge on.  Not to mention the cost.  No since in spending the money if you're not going to work it.  Life goes on.

Day 3

Ok, according to the scale I have lost 6.5 lbs.  I will admit that just before I started the diet, I was on my period, aka AF or Aunt Flo, and I usually gain some water weight, so perhaps this first drop was because of that being over.  Time will tell.  Diet is going ok, I'm not starving but learning to eat my veggies and no more sodas.  This was the toughest part, so I thought, because I can put away a lot of cokes.  Because I expected this to be the hardest sacrifice, I chose to get sparkling water with a lemon twist to help curb the soda fix I so loved.  Day 3 and I really don't miss cokes as much as I thought I would .  In fact, I'm drinking my daily requirement of water.  Who would have thunk it.

Before and ......that later.

January 6, 2010, my food arrives and I was so ill-prepared and didn't know it until the next day.  I received a big box that was color coded for Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner and Dessert.  Now I know some people felt the food was horrid.  Me personally wouldn't say that.  If you've ever had a tv dinner or one of those frozen dinners at the store, it's around that in test.  While I can enjoy a great meal at let's say Ruth Chris, I don't mind Domino's Pizza.  There was some cereal, some bars, pasta meals, chicken salad, blueberry muffins and more.  There were some things I didn't order; I think these were the free week food.  I kinda laughed, this was stuff I'd only eat this time.  Just my taste in food.  My food arrives and I pack up my food for the next day at work.

January 7, 2010, I'm off to work with my new diet.  I packed an Apple Strudle Scone and a Cheese Tortellini.  Now some of you may know that you are supposed to supplement the diet with your own fruits and vegtables, this is where I was not prepared.  I was getting hungry and had a stressful day so I tried a protein drink mix to help bide my time.  By the time I was off from work, I was ready to kill someone for food.  I immediately went to the store to stock up.  For dinner I had the Italian Flatbread Pizza, jicama and 3/4 cup of carrot juice and chocolate cake.  That was much better.  The next day, life was much better.

Yep, nothing to brag about, I'm actually a bit ashamed that I let myself go this bad.  But that will all change ... hopefully.  Beginning weight 176.5 lbs.

Am I really doing this aloud?

So I thought I would post my journey on the weightloss road.  I can't believe I'm doing this in a public forum, but I just felt the need.  The before pictures will be coming shortly.

It started January 07, 2010.  Was this a planned New Year's Resolution?  Nope.  I had been thinking about going on a diet for quite some time, but like many, never found the time which really means, I didn't really want to diet.  However, while on a camping excursion, my husband and I stopped at his Aunt and Uncle's for a visit.  While there, his Aunt was telling me how she was doing the Nutrisystem (NS) Diet.  She proceeded to tell me all about it.  Now, I had seen the comercial numerous times with Marie Osmond saying how much weight she lost, and now my Aunt was telling me the same.  I had previously looked in to NS so I knew the costs and had a basic idea what I was getting myself into, or so I thought.  The cost, well it's about $300.  That was easy to justify because when I figure I eat lunch out most of the time and was spending and average of $140 in lunches alone, I figure with breakfast and dinner this was a deal.  That was as far as I got.

January 2, 2010, my husband and I arrived at home and I thought to myself, so how much do I weigh now.  I went to the scale.  What I saw nearly gave me a heartattack.  I'm 5'4", with probably a medium build frame.  Now I do hide my weight well, most people couldn't guess correctly but when the scale says you weigh 176.5 lbs., it doesn't matter if you hide it or not this should not be.  The way I look at it, it wouldn't be too much longer before I weighed 200 lbs.  This is not happening to me.  I lovingly walked over to my husband and said, "I'm going on Nutrisystem", that's it.  He didn't argue, but then based on the tone in my voice alone, what was the point.  I got on the Internet and brought up the site.  I picked my meals based solely what I thought I would like.  I signed up for the automatic delivery so I could get the free shipping and committed myself to 3 months.  By doing so I would get 3 weeks of free meals and I'm giving myself that much time to lose what I believe should be 40 lbs.  Ok, maybe 40 lbs in 3 months is a lot to ask, but if I'm getting closer to 40, that is more than 20 then that's fine I can reassess the situation and decide if I wanted to stay on longer.  But, I'm committed to at least 3 months.  So now I wait.