Final Stretch of Phase 2... Week 10

After a 3 week break from seeing my dietitian I finally got to see the damage my vacation did to my weight loss. Since my last weigh in I lost a whole POUND! Ha.. Didn't even think I was going to lose anything. Totally thought I was going to gain a ton of weight. So as of today I have officially hit my goal weight of 120 lbs!!!! I am totally happy and ecstatic! So how did this happen? You mean to tell me after my Miami vacation of nothing BUT DRINKING, EATING, and LAYING in the sun, did I lose 1 lb??? I'm not sure how this happened but I think that I probably lost the pound in the last 2 weeks or maybe even this last week.

As soon as I got back from Miami (after not working out for 4 straight days) I hit the gym as hard as I could and I went right back to eating the way I should be. However after all of that good food and drinking, I kind of fell back into some old habits. What I realized was that I could maintain and add things back into my life that I really enjoyed, like having a drink. So I continued to keep my calorie count low and work out but let myself eat just about anything. I've been eating chips, popcorn, and drinking. I think that this is what maintenance is about. Finding that good balance of doing the things you like and not driving yourself crazy. I tell ya, my sanity is back to normal.

I do want to challenge myself to lose another 5 lbs to hit my ideal weight. So I am going to bring myself back to week 8 in phase 1 (if you remember I lost 4 lbs that week) and try to maintain that until the end of the program. I believe if I stay active and bring back tons of veggies in my diet then I can lost those last 5 lbs. It will force me not to have any junk or drinks at least for the next couple of weeks (starting Monday of course :-) ). After 6 months of this program that shouldn't be a problem, or will it? I just got a taste of what regular life was like. So let's just hope I have enough in me to just pull these last 2 weeks out of my ass.

So what is my plan after this? I want to stay active, for the first time in my life I was able to run 50 minutes on the treadmill! I did it in increments. Started at 8 minutes, then 10 minutes, then 12 minutes, then went a whole 20 minutes! I think my knee is finally healed. I don't want to jinx myself so I'm going to take it easy and only run once or twice a week. I have to make sure I keep an eye on my calorie count as well. I've heard that after this program people think they're ok and start increasing their caloric intake and then stop working out. Then they start to gain the weight back. I am optimistic that I won't. I hear that meal tracking and physical activity is the key to keeping it off. SO I think I will do just that. At the very least doing some kind of workout everyday for 30 minutes 5 days a week. The food part is easy. I've made dramatic changes in the way I eat and the way the family eats so this should be a no brain-er.

My last blog post on the program will come at the end of June. I will have a series of appointments that will do my total body assessment just like when I first started the program. I will give you all of my final numbers and measurements. Wish me luck!

Half Way Mark of Phase 2 Measurements

BMI: 24.4 Total Lost = 6.3

Circumference Measurements:

Neck = 12.5"
Total Lost = 1.5"

Chest = 32"
Total Lost = 6"

Waist = 27"
Total Lost = 11"

Hips = 34.75"
Total Lost = 7.5"

Biceps = 11"
Total Lost = 2.5"

Thighs = 19"
Total Lost = 6"

Phase 2 Week 6

So it's now been 6 weeks into phase 2. I can't believe that 6 weeks has already passed. This week lost another 3.5 lbs. So my weight to date is now 121. I am almost at my goal weight which was when I started 120. My new ideal goal weight is 115. I think that I should be able to hit it by the end of phase 2 which is another 6 more weeks.

I am a little afraid that I will have a major set back. This set back is going to be my vacation in Miami. I am going to celebrate with my cousin b/c she's gettin married in August! YAY! This little mini mommy vacay is what I've been referring to as my bender weekend. I am absolutely sure that alcohol will be my main source of nutrition for that entire weekend. This is very bad especially if I want to continue losing weight. This is going to be my toughest challenge yet. According to my goals I now have 6 more lbs to go to hit 115. if I have an entirely bad 4 days weekend (food included), it is possible that I could gain some lbs back. The WHOLE reason I started this program was to lose weight specifically for this vacation.. Now wouldn't that be ironic if I did all of this hard work just to gain some of it back on this damn trip.

I have a plan mapped out for this but you know once alcohol is involved all kinds of things go out the window. So I'm hoping that I can at the very least maintain eating well while drinking. If not, I will have to do some SERIOUS making up for it when I get home. I am going to try and work out at least twice while I'm down there. If I can manage that then I should be good to go.

Despite all of this I do have something to celebrate. Even though I pigged out last week for 3 straight days I still lost weight. This was tough. Once Monday hit I was back on track and working out EXTRA hard. I even think I am going to add an extra day just to stay on top of things. I really need to make sure that I can maximize my workouts just in case I need to if I can't work out next week.

Goal for this next couple of weeks, maintain weight and or if I can by some miracle lose a lbs....

Week 4 of Phase 2.

Today marks the 4th week in phase two for me. 8 more weeks left to go for the total program. I'm starting to feel like I'm slowing down but also part of me feels like everything is really part of my routine. I am almost out of the honeymoon stage but I am trying to keep my motivation up and stay here as long as I can. There are a few things that are actually good that I am able to focus positive energy on.

I weight in today and lost a total of 4 lbs. That is 2 lbs per week since my last weight in. My weight today is now 125lbs. That is 5 lbs away from my goal weight and 10 lbs away from my ideal weight!!!! I am VERY excited about that. I didn't think I was going to lose weight at all this time. I totally expected it to be either no weight lost or that I actually might have gained a pound.

Here is why.. I went on vacation!!! I actually was really good for the most part. I did plan in one day/night of cheating and it was the GREATEST thing ever. NO guilt.. it was nice. I had drank a bottle wine (yes bottle), at half of a pastrami sammy, a bag of jalapeno cheetos (if you've never had them, you have to try them), and half a donut... All of this pretty much equaled about 2600 calories in one sitting. DAY'AM! That's more than half of what I've been eating on a typical day. It was OH SO GOOD. I didn't feel the best the following day but you have realize my body was probably in a little bit of shock. My dietitian says that since I was really good before and jumped right back on after that's what helped me lose weight. Having a couple of higher calorie meals is not bad for you. It can actually help. Hummm, maybe I try this more often???

Today my dietitian says that since we are in phase two I can start adding starchy veggies, wine, and desserts. NOW she's not promoting desserts, but she says she is informing me of my choices. I was actually surprised to find out that a lot of the things I was eating before aren't that bad for you. Things like skinny cow ice cream sandwhiches (again if you haven't tried them, you should). I also found out that Trader Joe's has this thing call the no pudgy brownie mix. I just might have to try it. She recommended that I only have desserts once or twice a week. It's considered an extra and you don't want too much. This might slow down my weight loss.

So what's in store for me.. Well my son's 1st birthday is coming up. I am going to PIG my little heart out. I can't wait! YUMMMMMM.. This day will also be my first debut since I've lost most of the weight. I anticipate that people are going to freak out a little. That's ok, I'm ok with that. I just have to remind people that I'm just back to normal. Not that I was ALWAYS so big that I just lost weight. :-)

Phase 2 week 2...

This week has been tough! My workouts are getting harder and my trainer seems to be pushing me a little harder. I think the reason is because now I only see her twice a week so she is really trying to cram everything in. She put me on a bike on Monday and I swear I nearly gave up. I think I only said twice this whole program that I couldn't do something and Monday was the 2nd. She put me on the bike with this hill program and set it at level 8. She told me that this bike was much harder than the regular bikes we use. Level 8 on this bike is like level 13 on the other bikes. On our usual bikes she put it on level 10 the week before and it was the hardest I had worked on the bike!!!! Best to say that I was BEAT by the time I was done. She also has me lifting free weights now. This is nice, I like it much better than the weight machines. You can feel a lot more control in your movement and muscle isolation.

I lost 2.2 lbs the last 2 weeks. I think it had something to do with the bread that I had added back into my diet. I ate it the first week but didn't eat any of it 2nd week. This week we decided to continue with the whole grains but instead of bread we are trying whole wheat couscous, wild and brown rice, and maybe quinoa. I tried the whole wheat couscous last night and I actually liked it. I've lost weight before while eating these things so I think I should be good. When I first added the whole wheat bread it didn't quite agree with me. It felt heavy and almost made me feel a little more bloated than usual.

I've always been in tune with my body, but more so now. It's strange how I can feel what things irritate my body. That is why food elimination is great. You can see how you do with certain foods. This helps you understand how your body reacts and what is not good for you when you're trying to lose weight. I think that the bread will be good for me when I've hit my goal weight. It's the same situation as tofu. It helps me maintain but not lose weight.

It's been a lot more difficult to work out 3 times a week by myself. I think it takes more motivation and dedication to workout on my own more. It was pretty easy with just two days. It was good to meet with the trainer 3 times a week. Now that I only have her twice a week I feel like I have this opportunity to slack a bit. It takes a lot more focus to get myself into gear to get that extra day in without her having to help me along. I'm working on it, let's hope I drop down to 4 days a week. My workouts on my own are difficult because I have to do 60 minutes of cardio and then lift weights on my own. It's hard to stay on machines for that amount of time. Sometimes you just feel beat and tired. With my trainer she is there to help encourage me and push me along. I have to get my head right.

Phase 1 DONE!!!!!

Phase 1 is OVER... Although I would be happy to say that the work is over but it still isn't. I have about 10 more lbs to lose to hit my goal weight. My ideal goal weight is 15 lbs away. For now I will just focus on that 10 lbs. If I get to the 15lb mark I will be ecstatic!

No weigh in today because my dietitian appointments have moved to every other week. So moving forward my blog posts will probably start being every other week. There probably won't be as much to report weekly because I won't have that weekly progress check.

I am now 2 days into Phase 2. My trainer on day 1 of Phase 2 really kicked my ass. Now that we're in the second phase we have a little more freedom to work on lifting weights. She has me doing free weights which is really nice. So let's see how tone I can get between now and June.

Here are my current stats. It's amazing, looking at the overall picture really helps you understand how much your body changes over the course of time. My average was about 2.1 lbs a week.

Weight:

Starting Current Total
157 131 26

Measurements:

Starting Current Total

BMI:
30.7 25.7 5

Neck:
14" 12.5" 1.5"

Chest:
40.5" 33.5" 7"

Waist:
38" 29" 11"

Hips:
42.25" 36" 6.25"

Biceps:
13.5" 11.5" 2"

Thighs:
25" 20.5" 4.5"

My goal for next week is to hopefully break out of the 130's and be somewhere in the 126-128 range. If I can hit that I know I will be ready to hot my goal weight and start adding "real life" things back into my diet. If I hit that goal next week.. I will not have weighed in this range since my first trimester with SHAY!!! WOW.. It seems like forever ago when I was able to fit into a size smaller than what I've been wearing for the last 4 years. Super excited!

Almost DONE! Week 11 Over...

This week... 3.1 lbs LOST! I can't believe it. I thought I was at the point where losing weight was going to get harder and harder and this week brings me right back into my honeymoon stage!! This week was a reminder that if I pay enough attention to what I'm doing I have total control over my progress.

What did I do differently this week you may ask... Well I went back to the old program I was doing when I first started this. The last couple of weeks I think I got really comfortable with eating less food but with higher calories. Last week I mentioned that my dietitian said I could dip down to 1000 calories if I could handle it. Well that's exactly what I did this week. And it worked! When I really thought about it, I guess I was only eating less than 1200 in my earlier weeks. The reason I opted for less food with higher calories was because eating a bunch of salads and protein was just TOO much food. I realized though this week that, that was probably the key to losing more weight this week.

It was NOT easy though. 1000 calories ain't NO JOKE! It was tough selecting the right food so that you can get more bang for your intake. What I found myself doing was eating a whole bag salad for dinner with my protein and adding fruit. The volume of food increased but the caloric intake was relatively minimal. I stayed fuller longer (sometimes). Some days I was hungrier than others. I did have one high calorie day which was Tuesday. I indulged in cheese! Full FAT and everything cheese. It was SOOO good. That was OK, it wasn't bad that I did that. My dietitian seems to thinks that more fat probably helped me lose more weight. I worked out less this week as well. I am still trying to rehab my knee. So I actually rested 3 days last week and did a TON of walking.

So I will continue on this path for my last week in phase 1. I will consider myself in phase 1 until I hit my goal weight. If I can keep up this trend I should hit my goal weight in 3 weeks. So my goal for this week is to lose another 3 lbs. I hope it's possible. We added the last stage oh phase 1 which is whole grains. I will make a run to the store and buy some of those Orewheat thins. They are about 100 calories per serving. I hope that this does not slow my weight loss. We will see. Have to introduce it slowly to see how my body reacts. Let's hope it's all positive.

Next week I will have my measurements and to date weight loss. Till next week!!!