A Day Off...Kinda

I am planning a day off from my diet. One 24 hour period where I don't worry about my calories. It's been a month. I think it's time.

We are having another party at work tonight and I just bought the ingredients for a friend to make her buffalo chicken cheese dip, which I literally have cravings for. I am also going out for Chinese with my best friend and my family tomorrow. 

I've made myself a commitment though, no fried foods, and instead of my usual two paper bowlfuls of buffalo chicken cheese dip, I'll just have a half. I can totally do that. I also won't go so far over my calories I set myself back. My favorites at the Chinese place is sushi, seafood stuffed mushrooms, and steamed dumplings anyway.

From 10pm tonight, til 10pm tomorrow, I won't go all out, but I will go, and I will be back to the grindstone by Saturday.

Weigh In Day!!!

Another 6lbs Gone!!!

 I'm so stoked. Here's my tally.

     136lbs to lose
   -     8 first week
   -     8 week 2
   -     8 week 3
   -     6 this week
_______________
      106lbs left to lose


That's 30lbs, or six 5lb bags of sugar, or 120 McDonald's Quarter Pounders.

My goal this week is to get to where I have less than 100lbs to lose. I believe that with the ViSalus program, it's possible.I have hope now that I didn't before.I am not one of those people that just talks about it anymore. I can do it, and I will!

When I Need Motivation...

112lbs, though less than the 136 I started with, doesn't come off in one day. It took years to gain. I believe that if I stick to Visalus, I can take it off in a year or less. It can be slow going though. I've been working on motivators to help me when I'm not feeling so strong.

I think I'm nuts. Why shouldn't the weight loss be a motivator in itself? Then again, I got this way.

So here's what I do so far:

• I shop for clothes online that I've not been able to wear yet but have always wanted to. (This is weird for me because I'm not much of a clotheshorse. Maybe my non-materialism has been a subconcious mental defense...lol)
• I visualize my waist. It's been a while since I've seen it.
• I visualize being able to lay out on the beach and not worry about what other people are thinking when they walk by.
• I visualize not having to worry about whether a shirt is covering my tummy and not having to worry about how bad I'll look if I have to tuck my shirt in.

So far, it's working. Any motivational ideas, though, are appreciated. Weigh-in after I wake up tomorrow.

Just Say No! (To Steak & Shake)

So last night was a bit of a challenge. My coworkers decided at 2am to make a Steak & Shake run. I just kept what one of my co-workers (and fellow visalus participant) said "Skinny feels SO much better than Steak & Shake tastes". She was right, and I refrained. It wasn't easy though.

I just thought about how much better I've been feeling since I've quit eating fast food and how much better I'm gonna feel when I can shop for "normal" clothes. I'm not really sure how that feels. I've never really been able to do that since I was in my teens.

Since the ViSalus is helping me so quickly, I'm gonna start strength training and toning at home. I hate cardio. If anyone has any good ideas  for home workouts, message me. All help is appreciated.

Life's Not Always a Bed of Roses

So I'm going through cellphone withdrawals. It sounds stupid when you look at it on paper. I'm ok and should actually be enjoying the peace & quiet. I'm also a little stressed because a regularly scheduled customer canceled on me with no notice today. People don't always take into account that I work for them to take care of my family and that I wake up in my equivalent to "the middle of the night" to do so.

I did what I said I was going to and stuck my nose back to the grindstone yesterday, despite having to work a shift, come home for a few hours, and work another shift. I threw my eating schedule off. I never am sure how to manage my 1200 calories a day. Do I go from midnight to midnight? Do I measure them over my waking hours, which are different than everyone else's?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Today's goal is to avoid stress eating. Yay.
M

A Day

So I've really had a day. I weighed this morning and lost another 8lbs, which makes a total of 24. 24lbs in 3 weeks is really awesome and I'm grateful. I took a friend to have a medical procedure this morning and she took me out to lunch. For the first time, I splurged and went over my calories for the day, but it was Chinese and I stuck to sushi and steamed dumplings and didn't eat anything fried, so I'm proud of myself still. I think I'm gonna eat normally tonight and put my nose back to the grindstone in the morning.

I've had a very stressful afternoon:(. I got back from taking my friend to the doctor and came and got Adam and the kids. I took them over to her house so they could swim in her pool while I planted. She lives a block away and we're doing a cooperative veggie garden and today I planted Watermelons. I jumped in the pool before working so I could be cool while I tilled up the ground. I didn't realize until I got out and felt my pocket buzzing that I'd left my blackberry in my shorts when I'd jumped in, so my phone is shot. I'll have to use email, facebook, and Adams until I get paid. Ugh. I'm totally ready to cry.

Tomorrow will be better, though. After all, tomorrow is another day!

Busy Week!

I feel like I haven't blogged in forever. I haven't forgotten about it or abandoned it, I've just been working SO hard. Between both jobs, I worked about 12 hours Thursday, 16 on Friday, and 19 between yesterday and this morning. Thank God for work! In this economy, some people can't find it at all. I am blessed to have it.

What hasn't been work, however, is my diet. I spent 16 hours at FHP last night and was worried about my shakes. I drank one on the way and took one in a to-go cup.I took two turkey bacon sandwiches on wheat with the fixins and I was fine.One of my coworkers showed up with a big pan of different Italian food, which is one of my favorites, but let's face it, I have a lot of favorites. I did eat some of that, but I still stayed within my calorie allotment for the day. Big thanks to Noah & Paul for sending it in:). It was awesome!

Tomorrow is my weigh in. I know I've lost. Even if it isn't the 8lbs like in each of the previous weeks, I will be that much closer to my goal. I'm already getting compliments from my coworkers and starting to feel myself being smaller. Thankfully, I feel it in my core. Its so nice to have a waist again. I can't wait to take my measurements at the beginning of April and see what progress I've made.

I REALLY can't wait to see what progress my husband, Adam, has made either. He's been doing the Visalus for 3 weeks too, and I'm starting to see his core shrinking and his muscle definition return. He's more energetic too. 

By this time next year, I'm headed to the beach. I haven't felt comfortable enough in my skin to wear a bathing suit since I was a child. I've always been self-conscious. Next year I'll be able to wear one and be proud. I've never been able to do that before. I'm so excited. I know I can do it. Out of all the diets I've done that have been harmful, I finally found one that isn't and it's the easiest one I've ever done. I've always heard "no pain, no gain". Thank God that doesn't have to be the case.

The Differences

I'm going through a lot of change! First off, I feel SO much better. There is a lot less pressure on my back and my knees. I can actually take the stairs now without it causing pain in my joints.I have more energy and I don't feel so sleep deprived all the time.

The second thing is that now people are starting to notice, including me. My waist is slimming down. My ankles and my knees aren't swollen. My face is slimmer. My digestion is better and I don't have to take medicine all the time. I haven't had indigestion or acid reflux in two weeks.

This program is making such a difference in my life. It's healthy for me and I feel better. When I'm hungry, I eat or have a shake and don't feel guilty. I eat more regularly and eat healthy, normal food.

If I keep going, in a couple weeks, I'll fit into jeans I couldn't fit into a year ago. I know I can do ViSalus, though, and in a year or so, fit into jeans I've NEVER fit into.

Weigh-in Day!

And the grand total is?


     136 (lbs to lose)
-      8 (week 1)
-      8 (this week!)
________________
     120 lbs left to lose!!!!!

Another 8lbs!  Yay! 

Weigh-in Tomorrow

So, though I did find myself worrying more about how many calories I COULD eat, as opposed to how many I had to, I am excited about the weigh-in tomorrow. I know that I've lost. It may not be 8lbs like last week, but it will make the number of pounds I have left smaller. I can update my 90 day challenge page on the ViSalus site. I will be that much closer to my goal.

I Need a Belt!

So the last couple days I've felt a little guilty. We had yet another surprise party at work, and while I DID manage to stay away from the cake, which really looked good, I took part in much of the other fare there, which wasn't all necessarily healthy. I did log everything I ate. I didn't go over my allowed calories per day, which is 1250-1550, but it left me with only 41 calories available. Before that, I had been having issues meeting my calories per day.
This morning, I ate candy. I logged it, and I went ahead and logged my shakes for the day, so I would know how much I had left to eat and fall within my calorie range so I wouldn't go over. I still have 693, so I think I'm good.

The really good thing about this diet is that I can eat just about anything, as long as I do it in moderation.

When I got home this morning, I didn't even have to unbutton my jeans to take them off., Yay:).

Commitment

Many times before, I've set myself down this path. Time and time again, I've failed. I've been reflecting on my past attempts this morning.

Every time before, I've realized, it was some extreme attempt that was usually unhealthy for me, which negates the whole reason for me to lose weight. You can't harm your body and expect it to get better any more than you can  expect for a diabetic to build an immunity to it's symptoms by loading up on sugar.

I've always had an issue with food, since I was a child, and it's taken me to such extremes as anorexia, bulimia, atkins dieting, zero sugar, and zero fat dieting.Every time, I lost weight. Every time, I gained it back and then some. When I denied myself, I always overcompensated. I believe that I'm a food addict.

The only way an alcoholic can recover from alcoholism is from complete abstinence. What foes a food addict do?

The best thing I can think of is to do what I'm doing. I've been praying for God to help me with what I have been unable to do myself. I believe in praying, then listening for the answer you're given, not the one you want. I've been doing my best to do that. I believe this program is teaching me a new way of life and is the answer to my prayers. I know it's healthy for me and I know that I can do it. I know that if I stick to it, I will reach my goal, the right way.

Today, I am grateful for a husband and friends that inspire and motivate me, for ViSalus, and for the chance that I've been given to change my life, and (no pun intended) remove a crushing weight that has plagued me since childhood.

ViSalus & Google Are Gonna Help Me Get Skinny

Ugh, I got hungry at work last night. For those of you who have never worked midnight shift, it's terrible on me. You end up doing whatever it takes to stay awake, including eat.
My saviors last night were my coworkers. There are several of us that are starting with ViSalus. Two of us have, the others were ordering today.
I survived last night. I don't want to be tempted again, so I googled "low-calorie snacks".

Here's a great link: http://www.lhj.com/recipes/healthy/eating/200-snacks-under-100-calories/

Hope it helps anyone else. Along with my dinner tonight I'm taking a bagel for later, so I'm not tempted. 4 bottles of water and crystal lite packets will also be coming along. I think it's funny that I have to eat so much more and more often to lose weight than I did when I wasn't trying.

Hungry is bad, though. Hungry is your metabolism not kicking in. I won't let that happen again. There's a lot of fast-food junkies at work, too. I shouldn't invite temptation.

When I told one of my coworkers my goal weight last night, she told me that's what she weighs now, and she's gorgeous. She's 5" shorter than me, and trying to lose 30 or so pounds, but I would give anything to be that weight. With ViSalus, I feel like I can. All of the other diets I've tried have been hard to do for a couple weeks. I can stick with this one as long as it takes. For that, I'm grateful.

Lazy Day

I guess everyone needs a lazy day every once in a while. I go back to FHP after my two days off tonight, so it's warranted. Midnight shift is very hard on your body and it's good to rest once in a while. I have a sick little one, too. My two-year-old is catching a change of weather cold.

So all I've managed to do today is watch a lot of Blue's Clue's on netflix and start the rest of my plant seeds out on the porch. They're all in pots, now, soaking up the sun.

I drank a shake this morning, ate a snack, and will drink one more before work. It helps me to eat my meal at work, so I can avoid mindless snacking during the night to stay awake. They also typically send someone out for fast food. The ViSalus is not only helping me lose weight, but saving me a helluva lot on fast food.

Tonight for supper? A yummy salad with imitation crabmeat, grape nuts for crunch, cucumber, and lite ceasar dressing. The crab is a great source of protein, and it tastes good too. It really helps to be eating when they bring the fried and bad-for-you stuff in. I feel SO much better physically now that I'm not eating it, too.

The Rewards

So after my weigh-in this morning, I drank a shake, and went to clean a house. I felt so good afterwards, I decided to take some of the proceeds from that cleaning and go buy seeds so I could start a veggie and herb garden.

I bought corn, squash, tomatoes, onions, dill, rosemary, parsley, basil, thyme, and sage. My best friend lives around the corner from me and we are doing a cooperative garden, planting some stuff at my house and some at hers. I went to her house this afternoon and hoed up some of the area we'll be planting corn and watermelon in. I'll finish tomorrow afternoon. It's hard work doing it by hand, so I do it as I can. I'm really excited about our garden. The hoeing counts as aerobic activity too:).

I came home and cooked dinner, ziti with chicken, and a salad. I still haven't met my calories yet and will have to eat a snack later.  I'm so glad I'm on a program where I can eat what my kids are eating. One of the reasons I'm doing this challenge is so I'll feel good enough to spend quality time with them. Eating together is important to me.

I emailed back and forth with James Cordova today, one of the original Body by Vi champions. He and Stephanie are so encouraging. Even at the gyms I've been to with personal trainers, I've never had people take up so much time helping me. They've succeeded and they want me to succeed too. It's not "fakey", either. They're very sincere. It's comforting to have that guidance there when I need it.

I also joined the 90 day challenge today. Some of the before and after pics are amazing.

Off to watch a movie with the kids. I'll finish "hoeing around" at Tina's tomorrow and get my veggies planted.

Goodnight:).

Drumroll, Please...

I am SO excited. I've lost 8lbs this week. The ViSalus is working. It's the first time in my life I've done a diet for a week that I didn't wake up a week later 1) craving foods, 2) having a headache and/or tummyache, or 3) hungry and low on energy. This is really good stuff.

The first day was all water weight and I knew I would gain that back, but I stopped flushing everything out that day and things went back to normal. So this is actual weight! Yay!

So here's how it stands now:

      136 (starting lbs to lose)
-        8 (lbs lost this week)
________
      128 (left to lose)

Not bad for the 1st week:). Still much work left to do.

Does It Count?

So I didn't do my measurements last night. I seem to have misplaced my tape measure. My friend, Casey, is gonna bring one to work, so I'll get to do them Tuesday. I want to do them before I get too far along, though, to show my progress.

I weigh in tomorrow. Part of me is really looking forward to it. I know I've made progress. My inner instant-gratification fiend, however, is worried that I didn't make enough.

I do have a plus today, though. I was looking on sparkpeople after I tracked my calories for last night, feeling bad that I haven't been exercising.Heavy cleaning is listed on sparkpeople as an aerobic activity! Sure beats the 12oz curls I used to do:).

For those who don't know me or haven't talked to me in a while, I work two jobs, dispatching on midnight shift and cleaning houses during the day 4-5 times a week. It's not because I don't want to (well, maybe a little), I just have to rest when I can, because I never know when that's gonna be. In fact, I actually was late to appointments twice this week for oversleeping. I HATE being late and that's unusual for me, so I know I've reached my personal limit and that I just can't go anymore.


Adam says that stress takes away from the exercise quality of exercise (and cleaning), so I will just have to figure out a way to stress out less. I do tend to pray a lot when I clean, thanking God for the ability to work and take care of what needs to be taken care of and for the ability to do a good job so I can get home and go to bed. I need to find my ipod and start taking it with me I think. Everything passes quicker with music.

Two ViSalus shake recipes for you:

1 cup of fat free milk
5 ice cubes
ViSalus shake mix
1 serving of ovaltine powder
Blend and serve. It totally tastes like a chocolate milkshake.


Add instant cappuccino powder or coffee powder instead for a frappe.

Srsly, it's good.

So I CAN Do This!

I was really worried about last night. We'd planned a surprise party for my trainee's 20th birthday at work. We have some really awesome cooks on my squad and I'm always ready for a nap when we eat together. The night before, as we were planning, my supervisor told everyone she was bringing "yankee style" ham sandwiches with butter & mayo. The other planned fare was a fruit tray, a veggie tray, chips, a really decadent chocolate cake/pie thingy, watergate salad, chips, & ice cream.
We ended up having more than that there, but I asked my supervisor if she minded leaving the butter & mayo off my sandwiches, brought lite salad dressing for my veggies, and stuck to the good stuff. I was so full after dinner I was ready for a nap. When I logged everything into my nutrition tracker, I was still under my allotted calories, carbs, and fat grams for the day. 

Yay. I can do this:).

She was SO surprised. It was really precious. We had a great night. I even got to eat a little of the dessert, because, God bless my supervisor, she used splenda in it instead of sugar. I could have eaten the whole thing. I need that recipe.

I don't weigh again until Monday. I'm a total sucker for instant gratification and I wanna step on the scale now. I won't.
When I was 16 and I got my first job, which was at McDonalds, they gave me my uniforms on the first day. Also working there was one of the football  players from school who was always really nice to everyone. The largest pair of pants they had was a men's 32X32 and they were about a size too small and black polyester with white pocket liners. I got them buttoned, but the pockets stuck out. I had to tuck in my shirt so it was pretty obvious. I remember walking into the office in the back and him looking at me and telling my supervisor he needed to order bigger pants for me. Looking back on it now, he was probably trying to save me from embarrassment, but I was totally mortified. It led to a summer-long bout with anorexia, in which I only allowed myself 2 fat grams a day. I lost 60lbs, but I lived off fat-free bagels, fat-free cheese, fat-free tomato sauce, and grape nuts. By the end of the summer, my vision went  dim every time I stood up and I was seriously anemic. During that summer, I weighed myself 3-4 times a day. If I hadn't lost 2-3lbs a day, I either wouldn't eat or would take laxatives. With all the responsibilities I have, I can't do that to myself again. I need my health. That's why I'm doing this whole thing.

The visalus is so nutritionally sound, I know I'm getting the right nutrients in, I'm just not taking in the calories to go with it. 

I can stick to this. I've given myself a year.

Tonight, measurements. ugh.

And So We Begin

Many of you that know me know that in the six or seven years, my weight has increased and my my health has declined. Many of you also know that diabetes and weight related issues run in my family. I had a wonderful father that left us too soon due to diabetes related illness.

I'm at a turning point. I'm 32 and in far worse shape than he was at my age. The first 15 or so seconds after I get up, I walk hunched over like an old lady. I look terrible, I feel terrible, and I'm constantly tired and in pain. 

It's time to do something.

I have three beautiful children and an awesome stepson that I would do ANYTHING for (and that are picking up my terrible habits). I have a wonderful husband, to whom, no matter what I look like, I am always beautiful. I have a great career that I love. It doesn't always cover all the bills, but I also have a successful side-business cleaning houses that covers where my salary falls short.

I have a lot to live for. I am a blessed person. God has put me in the right place at the right time every time, but my weight and the issues it causes are blocking me from being happy, joyous, and free, which is where this story begins.

Enter, Stephanie.

I'd placed a desperate housecleaning add a few months ago, which was answered by a lady that is a successful attorney, entrepeneur, and mother of two teenage girls. There was a lot of competition on craigslist and little work. I'd done a lot of praying for more customers like her. She wanted me to come every week and worked with my schedule. Like me, she was a very busy person, but  also very understanding. She was also very nice and didn't treat me like the "hired help", even though that's what I was. I've learned through the past six or eight months that she's probably one of the most polite and down-to-earth people I've ever met and I enjoy working for her.


 Stephanie has introduced my to a program called Visalus. I need a change. I have tried many diets and failed. God put Stephanie in my path, and she's introduced me to a means to reclaim it.


I have been doing the program since this past Monday. The first day, I started shedding excess water weight and lost six pounds. I drink a shake for breakfast, I'm supposed to eat a snack, a shake for lunch, a snack, and then dinner. I never really get to the snacks much. I just don't have time. It's something I'm gonna have to learn to keep my metabolism up.


I've also joined a site called sparkpeople.com, where I was asked how much I needed to lose and how much time I wanted to give myself. I had 136lbs to lose as of Monday. I have given myself a year. It helps me track my nutrition intake so I can figure out how many calories I need to eat a day. It has me at 1250 right now and I've been struggling to meet it. The Visalus is really working.


I know I tend to ramble, but I need to blog this. This provides me with motivation and accountability. With as much as I have to be motivated for, I still need something to answer to.


I hope if you have the same problem as me, it helps you as much as it does that you read this. I REALLY hope that the next time you see me, you notice a difference.


Sarah