Plateau Breakers Hate Me!

Both of the SlimGenics plateau-breakers I have done have had 1 thing in common: they said that most people don't lose while doing them, but it kicks starts the weight loss when finished and the losing goes back into high gear.

For me, it's been just the opposite both times now. The first one I did back in October showed 3.75 lbs the week of the breaker and then 2 lbs the week after. This time, I lost 3 lbs when looking at Wednesday - Wednesday (the breaker was Thursday - Wednesday), but Saturday to Saturday was only 2.5 lbs. As soon as I went off the breaker and back onto the plan on Thursday, I noticed the slow down on the scale.

When I weighed in this morning I was only down 1/2 lb from Wednesday, whereas I was down 2 lbs from last Saturday to Wednesday. Still, 2.5 lbs for the week is just fine and it puts me at 66.5 total! :-)

Even so, it was a conversation worth having this morning at the center to try and determine why my body reacts this way. The initial conclusion/guess is that my body likes the protein. The breakers are loaded with protein and I eat more than normal while on them. Then I take it away and my body gets sad. ;-)

So, we're going to change things up a bit for the next week and see how it goes. I get 2 protein servings a day, which I generally eat for breakfast and for dinner. I also get 2 of their thermo-snacks a day, which are fairly high protein as well.

So instead of having what she called a 'soft protein' (eggs, yogurt, cottage cheese) for breakfast, I'm going to have one of their thermo-snacks. Then, I'll have both my protein servings left so I can have one with lunch and one with dinner, both of which will be 'hard proteins' (beef, turkey, fish, etc.).

This will be somewhat challenging for me, as I tend to fall back on eggs (even for dinner) often, because they're easy to make and taste much better than chicken, if you ask me! But, I think the experiment is worth doing for a week and I plan to give it a shot, starting tomorrow (I already ate my eggs for breakfast today).

Wish me luck!

Plateau-Breaker Time Again!

When I weighed in on Wednesday, my weight was exactly the same as it was on Monday. They noticed (as have I!!) that my weight loss since the first of the year hasn't been on par with the average weight loss previous to that, so they decided to put me on my second plateau-breaker.

They said that the average person hits natural plateaus every 6-9 weeks, so only needing the second one while in week #21 is pretty good!

This is a really crazy 7-day breaker where ALL I eat for the first 4 days are 3 protein shakes, 3 times a day. I also get one snack (I normally get two) and they're restricted to the snacks that are 100 calories or less, so no yummy bars.

Now, that may sound like I would be hungry (and I was afraid I might be), but after two days I have to say that I'm actually LESS hungry than normal!! These shakes have 35 grams of protein each, so they are wicked filling. Today I put a cup of baby spinach in two of them (I'm allowed unlimited raw green vegetables) just for some extra nutrients and I actually couldn't taste it AT ALL. BONUS!! Now I know how I'll be getting in some extra veggie servings when I go back on plan and need to eat 4 a day! ;-)

So far my scale at home has been moving, which is interesting because they said that people generally don't lose much (if at all) while actually on the breaker, because of the really high protein content. But as soon as they're done it starts to fall off. Either way, I'm actually enjoying it, because it's super easy each day (make 3 shakes in the morning and I'm done cooking for the day!) and they're really, really yummy. I use different extracts in them to make them all different (I start with either chocolate or vanilla).

I was going to go weigh in today, but with it never really even reaching zero today (woke up to -20ish below!!), I decided to wait until tomorrow to even leave the house, since that was the only place I planned to go today.

So, I enjoyed a nice relaxing day inside hiding from the Minnesota winter. Too bad I can't hibernate all winter long. ;-)

How Much Does YOUR Phone Weigh?

Mine weighs 6 oz. How do I know this? Because every ounce counts and I didn't realize until AFTER I had left SlimGenics on Friday that I weighed in with mine in my pocket!! D'oh!

When I got home, we threw it on the food scale to see just how much weight I jipped myself out of for the week. Haha! My weekly loss of 2.5 lbs was at least 2.75, if not 3. Ah well, next week will be a better week by 6 oz, right? ;-)

Total lost so far: 61.75 lbs. To go: 37.75!

I don't know what it is, but having that "3" in the front of the 'to-go weight' seems so much better than a "4"! :-)

No Matter Which Diet, You Have to WANT it...

One thing that has become abundantly clear to me in the last week: wanting to change is the majority of the battle with weight loss. It doesn't matter which diet you choose if you aren't ready to make the changes!

I've had moderate success with other diets in the past, but SlimGenics has truly been something amazing for me. I mean, 60 lbs in less than 5 months? That's INSANE. The difference? I think I finally got fed up enough with being overweight and prayed enough about it that I was ready to do what needed to be done to see these changes in my life.

Does that mean that I didn't want to be thin and healthy in the past? No, of course not. But wanting to be thin and wanting it bad enough to be willing to do the work, (I mean REALLY willing to do the work) are definitely two separate things.

As you all know, my motivation has been slipping lately and the scale has reflected this. For the first 10 days of the year, I think I only lost 1 lb. Considering I was losing, on average, over 3 lbs a week, that's obviously very low. But I was NOT "all in" and it made a difference. I didn't want it more than anything else, and the results followed my heart.

This week, I've really made an effort to get back on track. By Wednesday, my motivation and desire to again be "all in" had started to return. I had hoped to get to the center for my weigh-in on Wednesday, but I just had too many meetings at work to sneak away. So I went in yesterday (Thursday) and was so glad I did!!

61 lbs officially!! (for those who have been watching my Facebook updates via myfitnesspal.com, those lbs lost are on my scale at home since the beginning and the loss is a little higher than their scale shows, because they aren't counting the 2-3 I gained the weekend before starting and it doesn't fluctuate with different clothes, etc.). I finally hit my 60 lb milestone and I'm off and running again.

But even better than the 61 lbs is that they did measurements again and I've lost a total of 35 inches on my thighs, hips, waist, chest and arms! 11 inches alone off my hips!! WHOA!! Almost an entire FOOT off my hips!! CRAZY!!

I've seen so many other people have major success on the SlimGenics diet, but then when I went to the SG message boards I also saw so many people really struggling. After reading some of their posts and what they were struggling with, I realized it sounded like me when I was doing weight watchers a year ago. Yeah, I wanted to lose weight, but it wasn't a priority, I wasn't ready like I was when I shelled out the money for SG, etc. etc. And I knew it then, but I would never have admitted it. I didn't want to stop eating bacon. I didn't want to stop eating cheese. And those things were overriding the fact that I wanted to be healthier and thinner.

By late summer, I realized that I was ready, because I knew I wouldn't have to give up those things forever, but it was worth it to give them up for the time it took to lose the weight.

And it's been worth every sacrifice because I WANT THIS!! I know now that I can finish strong and be where I want to be before it's time for summer clothes again! :-)

Trying to get back on track!

Well, after having bronchitis last week, I weighed in today after not having been to the center for a week. No more cheating, done with meds, time to get my butt in there.

I was down .5 lbs from last Monday. Not much, but hey, after the week I had, I'll take it!!

Of course, that put me at 59.75 lbs. SO CLOSE!!! I WILL hit my 60 lb milestone this week!!

The thing is, I'm still having a hard time wanting to stay on plan, which is so weird since I wanted to jump right back in after Christmas. New Year's was a breeze; no temptation to cheat whatsoever. But man, ever since getting sick, I'm really having to fight to stay on plan. I went back on only because I needed to, not because I wanted to like after Christmas.

So, now I'm just looking ahead 1 month until we take a vacation. I can certainly make it one month and I'll be glad I did when I'm "1-month-on-plan-thinner" for our vacation!

The Holidays Didn't Get Me...

...but Bronchitis did!! :-(

So I did great through the holidays, but after almost a week of feeling cruddy and coughing like crazy, I went to the doctor this past Monday and found out I have bronchitis. I was retaining a lot of water because of all the medicines and such I was taking, so I decided I just didn't have it in me to worry about what I ate until I felt better.

I haven't been eating terrible all day, every day, but it hasn't been anywhere near on plan, either. It's been easy-to-prepare and not-have-to-think-much-about-it food.

I will be on antibiotics until Saturday, and I originally thought I would just stay off plan until that time, but this morning I was feeling almost completely back to normal, so I decided to get back on it instead of waiting. If I have the energy to make the effort and can be losing weight, why wouldn't I? I want to be DONE with it and the only way to do that is to keep pushing forward and losing.

I haven't been to the SlimGenics Center since Monday (I was down 1/2 lb from Friday putting me at 59.25 total) and I haven't stepped on my scale at home either, so I have no idea what the damage is. I've spent a considerable amount of time in the bathroom this morning, though, so I must be shedding the retained water.

I was sure I would hit my 60 lb milestone this week seeing as I only had .75 lbs to go as of Monday, but now I'm thinking it will have to wait until next week. Oh well, I don't really have a problem with that and I don't regret going off plan while sick. I previously had tried so hard to stay on plan when I felt crummy, but it's hard, and I'm glad I took the time to just live a normal life while recuperating.

So, to that end, probably not much of a loss this week, but I anticipate a big milestone next week! :-)

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! Just a quick update:

• Starting the 2011 year down 58.75 lbs. This week's weigh-in at the SlimGenics Center showed a loss of 4.25 lbs on the week (and this includes the Christmas holiday off-plan days!!).
• Stayed on plan for New Year's, as I've had a terrible cold and my little boy has been sick with two ear infections and a sinus infection. Stayed home and watched a movie with family and it was FABULOUS.
• Not into New Year's Resolutions, because they set you up to feel bad about yourself when you try to change something that you couldn't change before. You can't change it now just because the date is January 1st, so why put yourself through that? That being said, I am on a weight loss journey and will continue it this year. I also plan to continue my journey of growing closer to God and honoring him with continued growth towards more and more Christ-like behavior.

I hope everyone had a safe and Happy New Year! I'm excited about 2011 because it's the year that I hit my goal weight! :-)