Journey #2: EXERCISE!!!

Well, hello everyone! I know it's been a really long time since my last post, but I did move across the country...

So, where are we today? Well, I took about 5-6 weeks completely off plan (yes, definitely longer than I expected). The first 2 weeks were while we were still in Minnesota. We had lots of parties and celebrations that made it difficult, and then once we packed up most of the kitchen I was like, "forget it". It was stressful enough preparing for the big move without having to worry about food.

Then, once we got here, we took about 3 weeks to settle in, unpack and enjoy all the new cuisine around us. Probably didn't need to stay off plan that long, of course, but it is what it is. I definitely had to confess to God that I felt a slip and pull back towards gluttony, but he's forgiven me, so I'm going to forgive myself!

When I did that and decided the food party was over, I stepped on the scale. Up 21 lbs!! 

Now, before I panicked too much, I figured at least some of that was water weight, and I was right. I put myself on one of SlimGenic's 4-day plateau-breakers and immediately shed 10 lbs!

So, with only 11 lbs to go, I decided to NOT go back to the extremely strict SlimGenics plan, but to do more of the balance phase and to incorporate some regular exercise and see what happened. I actually didn't start exercising much right away; I needed to work into it. For the first 5 or so days after stopping the plateau-breaker, I lost (and gained) NOTHING. My weight stayed EXACTLY the same. I wasn't too upset, because I was actually enjoying my food (still eating healthy and in moderation) and I didn't feel deprived.

Then, this past Monday night, I went to my 2nd Zumba class (my first was right when I started the breaker) and the next morning, .4 lbs were gone. This morning, another .6. So, another pound gone with only 10 to go. However, I did adjust my goal weight down another 10 lbs from my original SlimGenics goal, so I really have about 20 to go now (I also adjusted my weight loss ticker to show my total weight loss, not just my SlimGenics weight loss).

Tonight I am going to do Jillian Michael's 30-day Shred DVD and I am going to try and do some kind of aerobic exercise at least 3-4 times a week (every other day). I really want to be able to enjoy some additional foods and not feel so restricted all the time, so hopefully this will do it. Plus, I really need to tone up - I lost the weight and look great in clothes that cover me up, but not so much in a bathing suit.

So here we go!! Living in the Austin area certainly will be helpful, because people around here live far more active lifestyles than in Minnesota. We don't want to be the fat and lazy people in Austin, and we won't be!

Not Going Down Without a Fight!!!

Last week = rock star week! 3 lbs! This week? Not so much...

To be fair, I kind of expected this. That kind of week this late in the game? It was unlikely to be repeated this week!

So, today I started yet another plateau-breaker! I gotta give my SlimGenics center credit - they are throwing everything at me they can to help me be successful and get to goal before the end of my weight loss phase, which is after next week. This breaker has me eating FIVE of their thermo-snacks a day!

I weighed in on Monday and started out the week down .5 lbs. I weighed in yesterday and hadn't budged at all. Tomorrow will be my last chance to lose anything significant for the week.

Today was Day 1 on the breaker, so it may be a little late to salvage this week, but even if it carries forward into another rock star week next week I'll be happy!!

I'll check back over the weekend and let everyone know the results of my week and how this particular breaker is treating me.

Part of me wants to ask for prayer that I can see this through and get to goal before starting balance and another part of me thinks that's greedy. But God has brought me this far, I REALLY want to see Him do something amazing and shed these last 4 lbs from me in a little over a week. Only He can do that and I believe I'm on this journey to finish it!

Either way, I know I'll lose it, but can you blame me for wanting to finish strong and know that I accomplished exactly what I had set out to do 2 weeks early?

Running Out of Time...

So, yeah. Running out of time. This is how I feel. I had the one great week during the plateau-breaker, but just hardly anything since then.

I'm getting a little frustrated because the counselors there can't seem to agree on what I should do. I'm trying very hard to follow their directives, but I feel like they change every time I'm there, making it very difficult.

I had one manager (who floats, but used to be my center's manager) tell me that when I had 15 lbs left to lose, they were going to switch me to Plan 1. But I hit that mark in the middle of the recent plateau-breaker and he was gone afterwards. They wanted me to go back on my normal Plan 2 after the breaker, so I did (last week) and only lost 1 lb.

So then last Wednesday a counselor told me to try the alternating removal of one fruit and one starch each day. I did that and was down 1 lb on Friday, giving me that whopping 1 lb loss on the week.

Then I went in on Monday and was UP .25 lbs. I did NOT expect it (I usually do) because I was down about .8 lbs over the weekend on my scale at home, so it really bummed me out. That day's counselor told me to STOP the alternating removal and that she instead wanted me to ADD a 3rd thermo-snack in and to also exchange my starches for a 4th snack 3x a week. I didn't do it on Monday or yesterday, so today I'll be doing it for the first time.

I weighed in today and I was down 1 lb since Monday, putting my loss so far for the week at .75 lbs. Today's counselor told me to instead remove the VHP meal replacements next week completely and see if that helped.

4 counselors; 4 different directives.

I really think I should just go on Plan 1. I know it's harder, but I only have 4 weeks left until I need to start Balance and I think it's safe to say I'm NOT going to lose 10 lbs in 4 weeks at the rate I've been going. No matter who I get when I go in on Friday, I think I'm going to just ask why in the world they're so hesitant to put me on that plan!?

Don't get me wrong; I'm happy that I'm still losing and I don't expect these pounds to come off as easy as they did in the beginning. However, I paid a lot of money for this plan and I am already not going to get my money's worth since I'm moving soon. I feel like they could at least get on the same page and be consistent in how to attack these last 10 lbs so I can get as close as possible to my goal before they put me on Balance for the last 4 weeks I'm here.

Ok, enough whining. Time to enjoy my chocolate VHP meal replacement for lunch. Have a great day everyone!

Post Plateau-Breaker Blues

It happens every time, without fail.

When I do a plateau-breaker, they tell me that you're not supposed to lose a lot DURING the plateau-breaker, but they're designed to get you going like gang-busters AFTER the breaker is over.

Not for me.

I lose like a rock star the week of, and then... nothing.

As I already posted, I lost 3.75 lbs last week - the week OF the breaker. Weighed in Monday and was UP .5 lbs. Now, they said this is fairly common because of water retention from all the increased sodium (I figured as much) from the unlimited skin-on, meat-on-the-bone protein allowed for the two days prior.

But today when I weighed in, I was only down that 1/2 lb, putting me right back to where I was on Saturday, meaning I've lost NOTHING so far this week. I did ACV 3 times on Saturday, cut the sodium back a bit on Sunday and did ACV again Monday and AGAIN last night.

So, we're trying something new. I am going to alternate removing one starch and one fruit every other day. So today, I'm removing a starch, tomorrow a fruit, then a starch, etc.

One of the counselors had told me that when I had 15 lbs to go, they were going to switch me to Plan 1, but I am at 12.5 lbs to go and they don't want to do that until nothing else works.

I'm open to seeing how this goes, since I would have to permanently remove one starch if I moved to Plan 1 and this way I only have to do it every other day.

I'm definitely running out of time to get to balance 4 weeks before we leave for Texas, so I will do whatever it takes to get to goal - I have 5 weeks (after this week) left to get to goal. I'm going to give it my best and keep praying that God will help get me there!

Blowing Right By Milestones...

SlimGenics definitely knows best, as my plateau-breaker has given me a rock star kind of week and I really haven't had one in a long time!!

3.75 lbs on the week, which blew me right past my 85 lb milestone and landed me at 87 lbs!!

This weekend I am doing a 2-day "fresh start" before going back on my normal plan on Monday, which means that I get to eat unlimited protein, including skin and meat on the bone!! Woohoo!

So for lunch today I enjoyed KFC's grilled chicken. Loaded with sodium, but soooooo good and so much better than a boneless, skinless chicken breast.

Admittedly, even though it's technically on-plan and should be 100% guilt-free, I still feel a small amount of guilt for the sheer amount of sodium it contained. I know that I'll be taking in more sodium than usual this weekend, especially with beef being unlimited, but I'm still afraid I'm going to pay for it when I weigh in on Monday.

Something tells me tomorrow will include a lot of Apple Cider Vinegar.

The best part about my weekend, though, has been the return of family who has been in Nevada for the winter since last fall. They hadn't seen me in about 50 lbs and it was really fun to see their reaction to how I look now compared to when they left.

Even makes up (a little bit) for the SNOW that was on the ground this morning.

Even if the weather outside is frightful, I'm still thanking God for all the blessings He continues to shower me and my family with (if a little snow in April is my biggest complaint, I'm doing pretty good!!) and for continuing to give me the strength to push forward on this journey. I know He's going to use me for something great and now I'm going to be ready for it - physically AND mentally!

Blogs That Are Not My Own #2

I'm starting off the week on a killer 7-Day Plateau Breaker, so some spiritual reminders couldn't come at a better time for me.

This is the other blog that I didn't write that I want to share with you. I received it as a daily devotional last week and the author is Lysa TerKeurst, author of the fabulous book "Made to Crave". I'll let the entry, Shocked by My Own Advice, speak for itself. I hope you enjoy it and take as much away from it as I did!

“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate
and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and
many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow
the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”
Matthew 7:13-14 (NIV)

The choice is mine. If I want to be a sold out somebody for God, I have to break away from the everybody crowd.

Today’s key verses are not easy for a girl who wanted nothing more growing up than to fit in. Don’t cause waves. Don’t stand out. Don’t stand up. Don’t rock the boat of norm in anyway. Just go with the flow in the same direction as everyone else.

But somewhere along my Christian journey, going with the flow started to bother me.

Verses like the one above in Matthew 7 and Romans 12:2, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind,” started to mess with my status quo existence.

Conformed or transformed? The choice is mine. If I want to be a sold out somebody for God, I have to break away from the everybody crowd.

This is a message I shared with my son one day when he came to me scared. He admitted things had gone a little too far with his girlfriend and wanted help processing what to do. They hadn’t crossed every line but enough that he knew they were headed in a dangerous direction.

We sat on the back deck and processed the situation together. We read a list of empowering Scripture verses seeking to filter every part of this situation through God’s truth. In the end, he and his girlfriend came to the realization they needed to break up. It’s really hard to put things in reverse after certain lines have been crossed.

I walked back into the house after that conversation with two things running through my brain. I was thrilled my son came to me to talk about such a sensitive issue. What an honor to breathe Truth into his physical struggle.

But, I was also feeling a little panicked at the realities of parenting older teenagers. And that feeling led me straight to the pantry, convinced I needed some chocolate. I deserved some chips! As I loaded my arms full of treats, I was suddenly struck by a gut wrenching question. How can I expect my son to apply Truth to his area of physical struggle but refuse to apply it to my area of physical struggle?

Ouch. I was shocked by my own advice.

If I wanted to model what it looks like to live out truth in my physical struggles, I would have to break up with unhealthy choices. God made me to consume food, but food was never supposed to consume me.

Making healthy choices with my food would have to be part of my breaking away. I would have to distance myself from my distraction if I wanted to become truly transformed.

What’s your distraction? What’s the one way you can start to break away from the everybody crowd?

The everybody crowd says, “if it feels good it is good.” The everybody crowd says, “don’t deny yourself… that’s so old school.” The everybody crowd says, “everybody’s living it up – so should you.”

Conformed or transformed? The choice is ours. If we want to be a sold out somebody for God, we have to break away from the everybody crowd.

Dear Lord, I want and need to live apart from the everybody crowd. Free me of my distractions. Remove my insecurities. Help me to follow You with my whole heart. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Please visit Lysa's site with the links above; she has far more valuable resources and insight in this area than I do (she is a professional writer, after all )

She did a follow-up blog,  I'm More Than the Sum Total of my Taste Buds, that provides the list of verses she used with her son. This is just a sampling of the additional resources you will find at her site that can hopefully help along your weight loss journey, as it has helped with mine. I've found her to be invaluable, because she's been there!

Have a great week everyone and please pray for me that I hang in there with this plateau breaker. as this one is going to be a killer!

Blogs That Are Not My Own #1

...but so good that I have to share them with you!!

First a quick update on my week: I lost 2 lbs this week for a total of 83.25. I am happy to have a much better week than the week before (only .5 lbs), but SlimGenics is still having me start a 7-day plateau breaker on Monday to assist things and keep them moving. I'm guessing that I will be starting Plan 1 after the breaker, as I'm only  1.25 lbs away from when they said they were going to switch me. I only have 16.25 lbs to go before I reach my original goal, but as I've said, I'm seriously considering adding 10 more lbs to that goal. We shall see. Now, onto the first of 2 blog posts that I did not write, but feel speak to what I believe and feel very well!

The first is a blog post written by my fabulous husband that so eloquently speaks to the issue of gluttony in a way I could never elucidate myself. I do not believe simply linking to it does it justice, so I'm going to simply re-post it in its entirety below. Enjoy:

We entertained a nice couple last night. Two very good people who sought our counsel in regards to Angie’s recent weight loss. During the conversation, Angie illustrated her views on gluttony and while I was very well aware of them, and the sound, God honoring logic behind them, I don’t know that it had ever clicked so well in my mind as it did last night.

The early church identified seven deadly sins: Lust, Greed, Sloth, Wrath, Envy, Pride and… yes, Gluttony.

Gluttony, as defined by Merriam-Webster is excess in eating or drinking, greedy or excessive indulgence.

I think we can also expand that definition to encompass anything from cooking to video games to scrap booking or sports; anything that takes more of our time than is necessary and/or healthy. Overindulgence is to do anything to an excessive degree. Anything.

It’s pretty obvious God doesn’t want us overindulging, especially in light of passages such as:

James 5:5 You have lived on earth in luxury and self‑indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter.

By indulging in overeating we:

• Devote a significant portion of our attention to food. Attention that could be better spent in the Word, or doing His will.

• Devote a larger than necessary portion of our time and resources to food; time and resources better spent on Godly things.

• Harm our bodies, and decrease our body’s ability to perform as God designed it to. By harming our bodies, we drag down our spirit and emotional lives, for the spirit is anchored to the flesh, and if the flesh is already weak, how much weaker does it become when subjected to overindulgence?

• By dragging down our spirit and emotions, we become less effective for God, missing the opportunities to do things for Him at our full potential. God puts others in our path that we might shine His love on them, but how much are we shortchanging those people if we’re not at 100% because we overindulge in food?

• Our weakened body, mind and spirit become easy prey for those engaging in spiritual warfare. If God designed us to be spiritual prize fighters, yet we turn our bodies and spirits into those of couch potatoes, how easy is it for a fit enemy to defeat us?

Like everything sin related it’s a slippery slope that begins with baby missteps. No one wakes up one morning deciding to get physically, emotionally a spiritually unfit, instead we think, “It won’t hurt to grab some fast food for breakfast” Or “I’ve had a tough week, I deserve some comfort food” Or “We all have to eat, right?” or “one more chip won’t hurt anything…”

From there, it moves from “just this once” to “Well, I’ve done it before…” to “That’s what I do…” and pretty soon, our bodies, minds and souls are in worse shape than we care to admit or even realize. We’re soldiers in the army of the Lord trying to fight a war with broken down, poorly maintained equipment while telling ourselves we deserve this, selling ourselves on the notion that overindulging in food is a reward. A reward our society sells us daily. And we buy that sales pitch willingly.

I understand overindulgence more than most, I would guess. As a child, I was forced to endure hunger and often a lack of the creature comforts many of my peers took for granted. What this led to was a desire to escape my perception that my life was so much less than those around me by diving into a beer bottle. From there, I swam deeper into the waters of alcoholism and did so as if my ability to drink anyone I knew under the table was a badge of honor: Sure I didn’t have a nice car or awesome home life, but I could down a fifth of Vodka and still beat a sobriety test. Pretty soon, I didn’t drink for fun, or drink to blow off steam, I drank because it’s just what I did. I was a drinker; no longer a guy who drank, but a drinker… then a drunk.

After my awesome wife came into my life and I put that aside, I simply traded one overindulgence for another and turned into an eater; a full blown foodaholic.

From society’s point of view, I’d overcome this terrible vice of alcohol and straightened my life out.

From God’s point of view, I’d merely replaced one deadly sin with another.

Thankfully, I’ve overcome that too. Well, let me rephrase that, God has overcome that in my life. Without Him, nothing is done that has been done.

So, my question to you is: Are you moderating your indulgence? Or, are you worshipping at the altar of a false idol and rationalizing it as a reward for yourself, a deserved pleasure, as “just what you do,” “something I enjoy” another “where’s the harm in that” endeavor?

Maybe you spend too much time focused on food. Too much energy invested in a hobby. Too much time taken away from God and given to an indulgence that might be legal in man’s world, but by the very nature of your relationship with it, is illegal in the Kingdom.

If you don’t think this applies to you in any way, that’s awesome. You rock. But, before you decide it does, pray that God would show you whether your thinking on this matter is correct. If He shows you otherwise, turn it over to Him and watch as He transforms you into the son or daughter He had in mind when He knit you in your mother’s womb.

Philippians 3:20-21 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body. 

He then added an additional piece of very relevant scripture that he received in a daily devotional email as a comment:

Romans 14:17 For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

I hope you enjoyed my hubby's blog post as much as I did and I thank him for writing it. I am blessed beyond measure to have him as my husband. I love you baby.

I May Never Have Apple Cider Vinegar Again...

...after I'm done with this diet!!

Last week I had another good week - lost 2.75 lbs putting me at 78.5 total. Yay!

Then... it just stopped. I weighed exactly the same thing on Tuesday as I did last Friday. So, today is Day 1 of a 2-day breaker that has me using Apple Cider Vinegar 3 times/day. I don't have to do shots or anything (I have to use it with food), but still - I'm SO OVER ACV!! Just the smell of it reminds me of the times I HAVE done shots of it. Haha!!

Add in the raw parsley I have to put in my salad twice a day (gross!!) and I can't wait for tomorrow to be over and this breaker behind me! I haven't really disliked one, until this one. 

Thank the good Lord that it's only 2 days. I can do this!!

S....l....o....w.... Goes It!

Well, it looks like my days of the weight just melting off at a rate of 3 – 3 ½ lbs a week are probably about over. I finished the plateau-breaker over a week ago and it's still just barely coming off. When I weighed in on Wednesday (yesterday), I was only down .75 lbs on the week. Tomorrow will show the final weekly total, which I'm hoping will be at least 1 lb at this rate! Ha!

I'm not completely surprised, to be honest, because we're now getting into the weight that's been there since the late 90's. Weight that's been there for 10+ years, apparently, won't go quietly. That's fine, it can fight back, but I'll win in the end!!!

However, a little bonus! When I went in on Wednesday, they concluded that my body really responds well to protein and since I was starting to feel hunger (which I really didn't previously), they think the plateau-breaker actually did its job and kicked my metabolism up a notch, but that my body was holding on tight because I wasn't eating enough (hence the hunger). So, they added a 3rd thermo-snack into my day without removing anything else! Woo-hoo! I LOVE the snacks, so this rocks!

I just started this today, so we probably won't see anything conclusive for a few days, but I'm hopeful. To be honest, I'm still happy to see the scale going the right direction. I mean, I've lost about 70 lbs in ONLY 5 months! That's INSANE and I'm wicked happy!! It may take another 5 months to get the remaining weight off, though I don't think so. I'm hoping for 3. That will put me at a very happy place for this summer!! :-)

So, I'm going to just keep on keeping on, because that's all I can do!

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. ;-)

Early Thanksgiving Dilemma

I know it's early for most everyone to be thinking about Thanksgiving, but the reason it's early for me is the same reason it's a dilemma.

My Grandma, Aunt & Uncle snowbird in Laughlin, NV for the winter and they're leaving very soon. Therefore, our family is celebrating Thanksgiving this weekend.

Now, I had decided that I was going to not worry about SlimGenics and dieting for either Thanksgiving or Christmas, but it's coming up so soon after the NY "trip of eating" and only a couple weeks after doing the plateau-breaker. As a result, this week I am seeing a really good loss so far (just went and weighed in over lunch and I'm down 2.5 lbs from last Friday until today - total loss of 33.25 lbs). 

Since the weight loss seems to ebb and flow, I'm hesitant to interrupt a period of really good weight loss. I'm much more willing to eat off plan when I'm not seeing a lot of loss.

I guess we'll see how the week shaped up when I do my weigh-in on Friday and re-evaluate at that time.

Great News for a Not-So-Great Week

Well, I weighed in this morning and I didn't have very high hopes, because according to my scale at home, I am only down .2 lbs since Monday. UGH. I had such great hopes for this week and hitting my 30-lb milestone after being down 29.25 lbs on Monday.

So I went in, kinda feeling defeated before I even stepped on the scale, because I doubted I would be down any more since my 29.75 lbs on Wednesday. I get on the scale and... drum roll... I'm down another whole pound since Wednesday! WHAT!?

While this is good news indeed, I'm still a little confused as to why they are showing the loss and I am not.

So I lost 2.75 lbs for the week, which is not great for the week after a Plateau-Breaker, but still a good loss! My total loss is now 30.75 lbs! Woohoo! That puts me at an average of 3.8 lbs/week for the first 8 weeks. That's pretty insane. Thank you SlimGenics and thank you God!

I seriously don't understand why my scale doesn't show more than .2 lbs since Monday and theirs shows 1.5 lbs, though. I guess we'll wait and see how it looks over the weekend when I go back in for my Monday weigh-in.

At least I'll be on the "progress board" for another week, but this time in the 30# category! Yay!

Have a great weekend everyone.

SO CLOSE!

So I am again frustrated, mostly because I have no patience whatsoever!!

I was very happy Monday after having a nice loss over the weekend and weighing in at SlimGenics 29.25 lbs down. Of course, I convinced myself that I would hit 30 lbs by my weigh-in today, because 1/2 lb a day has been the minimum loss I've been seeing. And of course, I did the plateau-breaker last week that was supposed to kick my weight loss into high gear again this week.

Apparently I got cocky. Forgot to recognize continually that this success is NOT something I'm obtaining on my own, and that I have to keep giving it to God. He is why I have been so successful so far; there is no way I could have lost 28 lbs in 7 weeks on my own; it's because I keep praying and giving it to Him that I've come this far.

Soooo... I get on the scale Tuesday morning.... and I'm UP .2 lbs!! Now, .2 lbs isn't very much and it does happen from time to time. Did I mention I have no patience?

Ok, no biggie. It and more will be gone today! I get on the scale this morning and the .2 lbs are gone, BUT NOTHING MORE!! WHAT?! How can I weigh the same thing on Wednesday morning as Monday morning when I'm supposed to be shedding weight like crazy because of last week's plateau-breaker?

So I went to weigh in and at least I was down another 1/2 lb with them (probably had lighter clothes!!), bringing me to 29.75 lbs! SO CLOSE.

They are convinced that I'll hit my 30 lb milestone on Friday, but I'm going to be doing some extra praying and handing my health over to God (again and again and again!!).

Fettuccine Alfredo!

So if you're someone who has eaten a few meals with me (and maybe only one, even), you know that I'm all about things that are white. Cream, white sauce, sour cream, etc. I always go with the white sauce, not the red. Yes, I KNOW that's a big reason I'm fat, but I LOVE IT!! ;-)

Right now I'm sitting here enjoying a nice bowl of Fettuccine Alfredo as I type this blog post. And the best part? I'm not off plan!! :-)

I am actually eating a SlimGenics "snack" of Fettuccine Alfredo. Is it as good as it would be if I cooked noodles and combined them with milk, cream, butter, parmesan cheese, garlic and butter? Absolutely not. Is it still really good and a warm, creamy treat of pasta? YEAH BUDDY! Despite all the other snacks I've tried being really good, I was still really worried about this one, so I only bought one box. Now that I've tried it, more boxes will be purchased and consumed!

Ok, so back to business. I am back on my normal plan today after 5 days (Mon - Fri) on the BioGenics Plateau Breaker and 2 days (Sat & Sun) on the Fresh Start. Apparently, the weight is supposed to start really falling off again, like in the beginning.

I'm really happy to be back on plan because my snack choices were limited to only those that were 100 calories or less for that entire 7 days and I wasn't allowed any milk or starches. I'm so looking forward to tacos tonight that are actually in a tortilla instead of over a bed of lettuce.

I weighed in again this morning and I am SO CLOSE to my 30 lb milestone - 29.25 lbs! Surely I should hit that this week, especially since the last 7 days was supposed to kick the weight loss back into high gear. Maybe I'll even hit it by Wednesday!

I was thinking this morning about the fact that I'm about 30% done with the weight loss phase already. Based on what I expected when I signed up, I should be starting Week 13 today, but I'm starting Week 8!

I'm really glad I'm ahead of the game and hope I can stay that way, because Thanksgiving and Christmas are coming... ;-)