OptiFast - end of Transition week 7

Weighed in at 264.9 - a 3.6 pound loss.

Had another good gym day with Mom Wednesday. Lupe (the woman who suggested I mix up the hand weights) asked what time I eat breakfast on gym days, I told her 9am. She said I might benefit from a small snack just prior to coming to work out at 1pm, even if it's just half a banana and then the other half right after. She also told me about a product that you add to water called Tailwind - I'm gonna check it out, some kind of electrolyte mix or something. I could probably benefit from a little energy/sugar bump in-between breakfast and post work out lunch at Mom's (which is usually about 3:30). annnnyway. still tracking on My Fitness Pal, had a good active afternoon at St. Anthony's. Made some more minestrone today, will be having that for the next few days. That's all for now...

OptiFast - Transition Week 7 day 6

Fast forward through the week. It was a good one. Tracking daily all meals on My Fitness Pal, I decided to shoot for 1,300 calories instead of 1,200 and I managed to stay right on target and I wasn't as hungry. Perhaps just a mind trick, I mean it's *only* 100 calories but it may have helped to make a difference... I met my personal goal of not eating any Starbucks breakfast sandwiches this week. This morning, on the way to mom's I picked up the SmartOnes Weight Watcher's version in the frozen food aisle at Safeway and mom and I ate them for breakfast. pretty good. not Starbucks tasty. but satisfying and good fuel for today's workout. and half the calories.

I took the advice of one of the class leaders at mom's gym today. Last week she had asked me what hand weights I was using during group exercise - I've been using 3 pounders. She challenged me to have both the 3 lb. and the 5 lb. next to me during the group portion and said that for some (like bicep curls) use the 5's and for the harder stuff (mainly the ones involving shoulder work) use the 3's. it worked great! I'd never thought to do that and I was happy to be bumping up against the bounds of my normal routine. It felt good to be doing just a little more. I bumped up the elevation on treadmill routine today, too - topping out at 14 instead of 12 like I usually do. I remember when I started I couldn't go higher than 8 without huffing and puffing. 

I had a really good therapy session tonight, too. I swear when I have cathartic therapy session the scale shifts. I SWEAR my body responds to it by letting me let go of weight. not exactly scientific thinking, but i swear. in any case, the scale has been moving this week! I know I won't be out of the 60's tomorrow, but I'll be heading steadily toward those 50's. perhaps next week. that's my plan, anyway. 

pics from today's workout to mark my progress.

Treadmill

arm cycler

Leg cycler - 94 Calories my ass! (this machine doesn't let you put your weight in)

OptiFast - Transition Week 7 day 1

Had a good day - started off with a bar and coffee. Pushed myself just a little further and harder (that's what she said) at the gym today. healthy choice and green beans for lunch. shake. then went to my therapy appointment, had a bar on the drive home and just had another shake. we're s'posed to have no more than 3 MRs a day, but today was just like that. i got home too late (and tired) to cook and we don't have the quick "go to" stuff on hand right now (salads, lean cuisines, etc.) - shopping tomorrow. 

Treadmill 40 mins with a speed btwn 1 and 2.5 mph, elevation btwn 4 and 13.

Bike 20 mins 3.3 miles btwn level 4 and 9

arm cycler thingy 20 minutes, also 3.3 miles and levels 4-9

pooped.

OptiFast 3 MR/day plan - end of week 6

gained. 3.0

blargh. reminds me how vigilant i need to be. in my mind my only transgressions were half a bottle of Pinot Grigio and 1 slice of pepperoni pizza. i say that because i thought I stayed between 1200 and 1400 calories every day. but, looking back on the FitnessPal images on here, i see i only met that goal 3 days and went over 3 days... so, yeah. i guess that's why this monitoring is so vital. i'm not upset about it. just gonna trust and have patience with the process. my goal this week is not to eat any Starbucks breakfast sandwiches. i love them toooo much. no mas. at least not this week.

current 268.5

ready to see the 50's!!

OptiFast 3 MR/day plan - Transition Week 6 day 6

So far today.

got to the gym with mom, plan to go back Wednesday.

OptiFast 3 MR/day plan - Transition Week 6 day 5

Over again. the home scale isn't moving much. 

OptiFast 3 MR/day plan - Transition Week 6 day 4

Went and picked lemons today from Natty's tree over in Portola. Plan to attempt a batch of Limoncello. had half a bottle of Pinot Grigio tonight for 600 calories. meh.

OptiFast 3 MR/day plan - Transition Week 6 day 3

It was kind of a shitty shift at St. Anthony's today, one security member said folks have run out of funds from first of the month and are coming down from whatevers... People were crabby, hostile, etc. blarg.

I drove to St. A's today so no walk back. Moves had logged 1.5 miles for me today.

OptiFast 3 MR/day plan - Transition Week 6 day 2

Dentist appt for tooth making and then grocery shopping. Jason ordered Goat Hill Pizza for dinner. I did not partake... UNTIL about 11pm and I had one *small* slice. next time, I will just go to bed! :)

more like a 2,000 calorie day today.

OptiFast 3 MR/day plan - Transition Week 6 day 1

Had a good day at the gym with mom today and ended up with remaining calories (still shooting for 1,200/day). Exercise and food logging into My Fitness Pal, works great.

OptiFast 3 MR/day plan - end of Transition Week 5

The physical activity and diligent tracking with good choices paid off this week - I managed to lose 4.2 of the 7.0 pounds I had gained. 

current weight 265.5

another day of Jury Selection with the same meals as yesterday, I did not get called up. Sorta relieved because it means I can go to the gym with Mom tomorrow and keep my dentist appt Thursday to get things started to get my implant made. hurrah. 

OptiFast 3 MR/day plan - Transition Week 5 day 6

Jury selection. Starbucks black coffee for breakfast then a bad and a good choice. I can't seem to get away from their sausage breakfast sandwiches and they use up nearly 500 calories. the good choice was the protein box for lunch (which was portable, no refrigeration and a good size packed with protein and didn't make me sleepy after lunch so I could pay attention to the rest of the looooooong booooorrrrrring process of jury selection. Lean Cuisine for dinner. and green beans.

walked home from the Hall Of Justice. 

OptiFast 3 MR/day plan - Transition Week 5 day 5

Just enjoyed a Lean Cuisine and a can o' green beans. Today will be another fairly inactive day as I have a bunch of homework due tonight for both classes. sucks because I have jury duty tomorrow, so I won't be getting in my usual Monday afternoon workout with Mom. ah, well - we do what we can. #progressnotperfection


Afternoon snack

I'm getting the hang of the pattern, after 3 times ripping out and starting over. woot. about to start on homework. seriously.

 Jason made this wonderful chicken dinner tonight a la Blue Apron. delicious. i estimated 350  calories and left about 75% of the candied pistachios on the plate. 

OptiFast 3 MR/day plan - Transition Week 5 day 4

late post. here's what i ate yesterday.

I did diddly squat excepting a shopping trip to Safeway to pick up more Lean Cuisines and green beans. And trying to learn how to knit by reading a chart.

OptiFast 3 MR/day plan - Transition Week 5 day 3

Had a good day at St. Anthony's - Barbara put me in charge of vegetarian trays and kids' milk and PB&Js. The new dining room is having the grand opening Oct. 4 - unfortunately Mom and I will be in Vegas. However, I'll get a preview of it when we start going over there for our breaks starting in a couple of weeks. very exciting. Stayed on plan today and earned 550 exercise calories just in my walking around St. A's dining room and to and from the bus stop. Went slightly over, no biggie - I couldn't adjust the Trader Joe's salad count to not include the dressing, so I figure that's a wash.
I was hoping to make it out for Zumba tonight and join Amy but I woke up from a nap after St. A's with molten lava in my stomach. I feel like I've been fighting something all week... still not feeling so hot. Looking forward to a lazy weekend, got quite a bit of homework to get done before Sunday. 

OptiFast 3 MR/day plan - Transition Week 5 day 2

Out the door early for jury duty this morning, stopped at JB's for breakfast and ordered the JB breakfast sandwich - 2 scrambled eggs, ham & cheese, onion and bell pepper on a french roll. it was so yummy i wanted to eat the whole thing but I stopped at half and put the other half in my bag for lunch. As it turned out, we were dismissed early. I've never seen such a full jury waiting room, the judge actually came to us instead of us moving to the courtroom due to the size of the jury pool. The trial is a criminal felony case and jury selection will begin on Monday. Today, they were simply trying to eliminate the hardship cases. Instead of hopping the bus back I walked home at a leisurely pace, stopping half way to sit and rest and eat the other half of my sandwich. Not quite 5,000 steps so far today.

had a shake

then a Rev #3 Hormel Turkey wrap

and for dinner a Lean Cuisine Carbonara thingy with a can of no added salt green beans.

i'm at -8 calories on the day.

OptiFast 3 MR/day plan - Transition Week 5 day 1 - Fresh start

Shooting for 1,200 calories a day - including 3 OptiFast products - so 700 from real food.

Today I started tracking calories and excercise on My Fitness Pal. I may duplicate it here for a week or so, too - just to get solidly into the habit of tracking.

9am - Starbucks breakfast sandwich 480 calories

11am - Shake

3:30pm - Lean Cuisine and a can of green beans

4pm-8pm 2 cherry cokes 

9pm 6 oz. NY steak and 2 cups broccoli/cauliflower mix.

finishing the day with a surplus of 215 calories (because of the 95 minutes of exercise - worth 720 calories!). maaaaay have a shake later tonight before bed, if i don't fall asleep first. tired! but good. ;)

Went to the Mt. D gym with mom today - 37 mins on the treadmill with a peak of 5 minutes at level 12 with a speed of 2.5 mph (going for 40 mins but got cut short by group exercise).

15 minutes group exercise with 3lb hand weights

20 mins on the arm cycler

20 mins on the recumbent stepper/cycler thingy

LOTS of sweat. feels good to be back. need a good couple of weeks of routine. no vacations planned 'til Mom and I go to Vegas for her bday early October.

OptiFast - end of Transition week 4

Anticipating a pretty good gain at today's meeting. Camping was thoroughly enjoyed and nothing was counted after the first day or so. Then, a dinner with Tony, Luz, Billie, Russell, Tim and Jane in celebration of nothing saw me eating ribs and drinking wine. argh. been pretty ticked at myself for so quickly losing sight of my path. A reminder that if i want to continue to lose, I need to be super vigilant and make protecting my plan and weight loss goals priority #1. no matter what else may be going on in life. report later on the numbers. 

also - today - 

9am bar
noon bar
2pm shake
3:30 3 oz. ground beef 2 oz. mashed potatoes and a cup of broccoli - cals?

dinner 7:30 chicken salad and Optifast soup. tomorrow I start tracking calories.

weighed in at 269.7 - a gain of 7 pounds. i was just happy i didn't break back into the 70's. this week I'll take my bright spots where i can get 'em.... 

I CAN DO THIS!!! need to regroup and refocus.

OptiFast - day 1 of Transition week 4

9am bar

10:30 cheese sammich o. White bread with 6 cherry tomatoes

End of OptiFast Transition week 3

10am  Starbucks breakfast sandwich - 500 calories

2:30pm - half of a turkey and ham with blue cheese sandwich on a sourdough roll. dry. 400?
2.5 oz. of Sweet Onion Kettle chips - 250 calories

4:30 shake

8pm bottle of Pinot Grigio at campsite 

Hot dog and bun, turkey chili and half a Kit Kat

Day 6 of OptiFast Transition week 3

10am Starbucks breakfast sandwich 500 calories

2pm bar

7pm  - 1/2 taco bell soft tacos - 285 calories

10pm shake 

chaotic day - didn't take great nutritional care of myself, even though the calories weren't huge in anything I ate, I could have gotten better nutritional value out of them. 

going camping with J and Mom tomorrow at Samuel P. Taylor. there will be smores. well, probably *a* smore. there are no chips packed, there is no beer. mom made chili and turkey taco meat for salad. we'll be bringing products, too - and Jason will bring his Atkins bars and shakes. seeing as how all three of us are on a diet, there shouldn't be to many transgressions and we'll all be able to support each other in making good choices. also, plenty of opportunities to go for walks. 

Day 5 of OptiFast Transition week 3

I didn't do so good tracking this weekend. Did well until I was undone by a lack of planning Friday night and we ended up ordering pizza for dinner.

Yesterday (saturday) I had a shake for breakfast and for lunch we went to Dave and Dana's for Frankie's 1st bday party. I managed to avoid the wine and beer, opting for sparking water instead. had a few slices of tomato and mozzarella, 1 small (like 2 oz) slider on a pretzel bun and the equivalent (in bite size pieces) of 3/4 to 1 whole Aidell's type sausage. For dessert I had 1 small biscuit topped with unsweetened strawberries and a dollop of homemade whipped cream, plus 1/4 of a red velvet cupcake. not bad and I enjoyed it. calories (?)

BIRTHDAY GIRL

For dinner, I had 3 oz pork medallions with a cup of rice and green beans. 


Today, (Sunday) - at 10am I had a sesame bagel with about 3 oz. cream cheese, plus half of a 5 egg omelette with diced turkey and cheese. And now (5:30pm) having a shake. Not doing the best tracking but at least I'm caught up now. 

8pm - dinner - Jason made a Blue Apron dish - pan seared parmesan cod with roasted potatoes and squash, broccoli and cauliflower. He threw the recipe card away before I could get the calories, but he thinks it was 500ish, we omitted the eggplant and fennel salad so I feel good saying 500. 

8:30 - half a Hershey bar - 105

OptiFast day 2 of Transition week 3

9am bar

Noon ready made Cobb salad minus the olives and dressing (taking off 150 cals) - 300

2:30 bar

5:30 1 1/2 servings of Snapea crisps - 165

7pm a 22 oz Hop Stoopid Ale - 240

OptiFast Transition week 3 - day 1

8:30
Bar

Noon - Lunch at Travis AFB Cafeteria after Mom's appt.
Ready made protein box 380 calories and...

and a serving of roast beef over rice, carrots, snow peas, corn and red peppers - calories unknown - best guess 400?

6pm - ready made protein wrap thingy - calories 280

9pm - shake

11:30pm - thought that was it for the day but so close to bedtime i got the hungries, and i don't do well going to bed on an empty stomach. a bar/shake/soup just didn't sound appealing, so i had one piece of Milton's bread (110 calories), half the piece with a hard boiled egg on it (70 calories) and half with 2 tblsps of PB2 (45 calories). 

OptiFast - end of Week 2 Transition

Gained 1.2 pounds this week (current 262.7). Again, gym with mom and Friday at St. A's. lots of sweat, lots of physical effort. disappointing, but I also went off plan 3 times this past week. I'm looking forward to starting a fresh week, eating within the plan and reversing the uptick.

accountability

the scale (at home) continues to creep up this week, which is disheartening... i've decided to use this forum to keep track of my daily intake and exercise. it's too easy to relax into the new sense of freedom that being back on foods brings. 1/2 bottle of wine Friday night. 2 beers and a piece of pizza out with friends at Goat Hill last night. To my credit, I tried not to eat pizza. Instead, I ordered a cup of minestrone but it tasted nasty. Not like "I'm a foodie and *this* isn't good minestrone - but like "this tastes like... crap". So I had one small-med size slice of pizza.
Around these transgressions, i'm eating salads and drinking shakes, but still... it's those little slips that go unchecked that add up and lead to weight gain. lead to me not caring about what I eat and being in the mindset of "i'll deal with good eating/weight loss tomorrow". tomorrow is here.
so far today, i've had:

2 hard boiled eggs and 5 oz. hard cheese on 1 piece of Milton's multigrain bread

spring mix/baby spinach salad
with 1 hard boiled egg
3 oz. of grilled chicken
2 oz. of feta
small amount of chickpeas
half a cucumber
2 tsp of toasted pecans
8 cherry tomatoes

1/4 cup of Ben and Jerry's mint cookies ice cream (dag)! :/

1 OptiFast vanilla shake

1 OptiFast chocolate shake

1 OptiFast bar

OptiFast - end of week 1 of transition

enjoyed some nice salads and other protein veggie items this week. volunteered at St. Anthony's one day, went to gym with mom another and yet another spent 2 hours active cleaning our car. I gained 1.3 lbs. today. (current 261.5) hmmm. well. plan to have another good week with the addition of more protein, dairy and a fruit daily. and see what next week's weigh in brings....

Transitions - week 1 day 1

My first (official) real meal since mid-April.

Iiiiiiiii can't believe how good this salad was. the cucumbers and tomatoes were bursting with flavor. i am lucky i have an aversion to mayo and all things like it - hence, i never have used salad dressing. sometimes, depending on the salad, i'll use ketchup (weird, i know) or salsa. It is 11pm and I am not caring if I finish this last shake I'm sipping on or not. wowzers. the one meal was perfect. i'm glad the program has this transition phase - the gradual adding back in of real food. it would be overwhelming at this point, i think, to be eating more. also, the salad's textures were a surprise, chewing seemed like it took some thought. not complaining, just haven't had the variety of textures that i had tonight in quite awhile. not to mention the flavor combos. this will be a great go to meal, quick, easy and filling.

OptiFast - End of week 16 - transition begins!!

weighed in today - lost 4.0 pounds on the nose!

Total lost so far since:

A) Highest weight - 52.8
B) OptiFast start - 46

current weight - 260.2

now begins 14 weeks of transition where we slowly phase food in. Week 1 (this week) we drop 1 product and swap it for 4 oz. of lean protein and half a cup of cooked veggies. 

the following week we drop one more and add 2 more ounces of lean protein, 1 serving of fruit and 8 oz. of dairy. 

week 3 - i think we add nuts or grains, not sure yet...

tomorrow i'm having a bowl of spring mix greens, 4 oz. of chicken and roughly half cup of cherry tomatoes. lucky me i hate all things mayoish - including any/all salad dressing. that'll come in handy.

feeling great. looking forward to eats.

OptiFast - end of week 15

somehow i managed to bungle the weeks - possibly during vacation. instead of sorting it out i'll just say - this is officially the end of week 15. one more week of product only. next wednesday, August 6 we are to start swapping out one meal replacement for 4 oz. of lean protein and 1/2 cup of cooked vegetables. i can't believe how fast this portion of the program has gone by, although i know it draggggggged at points. most people at group tonight were saying how bored they are with the flavors, shakes, etc. weirdly, i'm not. as i write that, the thought pops in my head: Then why did you go off plan last week? I don't know, Self - i say in response. 

Btw, those few off plan food detours added up to 4.7 pounds. I looked at the scale with one eye half open last week, not really wanting to be cognizant of the damage i'd done. The good news is, after a solid week back on, 2 days kicking ass at the gym and 2 sessions of carpet cleaning for my mom - all involving copious amount of sweat... I managed to erase the mistake. I lost the 4.7 and 2 pounds on top of it, making my current weight 264.2. yay. yippee.

go me.

one annoying thing, that is totally deep in TMI territory, is that I am having some post period spotting. well, more like quite a bit and every day for nearly 2 weeks. :/ no cramps to speak of. doesn't feel like a period. annoying actually. and of late, starting to concern me. of course i spent way too much time on the internet trying to figure out possible reasons why. I am concerned that fibroid(s) may be recurring, or some other more serious gynecological malady. but i am trying not to jump to conclusions about that. 

I did find a bit of info last night that was reassuring in a way... 

seems plausible, but i couldn't seem to find any credible sources of info to corroborate it... so i emailed the MD I see for Medical Weight Management program today. hopefully, she'll get back to me soon. if it continues, I'll hafta make an appt. with Dr. C.

suppose that's all for now.

stats refresher:

Highest Weight (2 weeks prior to starting

OptiFast) - 313

Weight at start of OptiFast - 306.2

current weight - 264.2

total weight lost so far:

since HW - 48.8

since OptiFast - 42

woot.

OptiFast - end of week 13

gained 4+ pounds. lame. i ate fud.

current weight 270 point something. back to the drawing board.

OptiFast - end of week 12

All the walking (made near 20,000 steps one day), climbing pyramids and good choices paid off and I managed to lose weight over my vacation. I'm sure the Montezuma's Revenge I came home with also helped. Today I weighed in at 266.1 for a loss of 8.1 pounds. Yay!

This is familiar territory for me. I remember when we lived on Jones street, just prior to starting the RN program, I stepped on the scale one day and was horrified to see it read 264. I swore I'd never go higher.... But, of course it did. I'm happy to be back down near the mid 200's and I'm swearing again, I will never let my weight get so high again. This time I mean it.

OptiFast - end of week 11

In Mexico so no weigh in