Thursday, February 10, 2010

I was weighed in yesterday evening at Cynthia's place and I lost 1.6 pounds. Although I was very excited to have lost and not gained, I really felt like I had lost more than that, so I must admit I was a bit disappointed as I have been working my butt off at this - well not that hard considering I haven't exercised - okay, I guess I take that back. I'm feeling much better though and much lighter than I did 4weeks ago - and that is what counts. I'm still very motivated to keep eating properly but I need to bump it up a notch. I'm into my 4th week and this challenge is only for 8 weeks and I want to win that money. Oh, I can't remember if I mentioned this or not (I can't be bothered to read back), but all of the competitors put $40.00 into a pot and the person who loses the most weight and the most inches wins half the cash...aprox. $200.00 - not too bad. So, I think I'm going to have to incorporate a minimum of 3 days this week and every week thereafter to doing some form of exercise for a minimum of 20 mins. with some light weight training. I want to win that money and I can't afford to lose a pound a week and think I'm going to win. I know if I start doing some exercise, I'm gonna kick some butt. I know the weight will come off faster - been there, done that. Let's see if I keep my word this time.

I bought the chocolate Herballife shake this week - I'm really liking this shake thing. In the morning, I have 2 scoops of that chocolate powder which is loaded with vitamins and then I drop a handful of frozen blueberries and then I put 1 cup of skim milk, I add a bit of cold water and half a banana. I must tell you that this "smoothie" tastes delicious and it's fast! I looooove my magic bullet. I throw everything in it and boom - it's all mixed up in less than 30 seconds and ready to drink. I'm really liking not having to worry what to eat for breakfast in the morning and it keeps me full for about 3-4 hours - it's great! I know I will continue to buy these shakes - now I can't live without them!

I'm gonna have a difficult weekend this weekend. It's my husband's 51st birthday - wow - he's getting up there really fast - LOL. I'm going to invite my entire family over for dinner. I'm going to cook everyone some good homemade Italian food. Some raviolis, veal parmagiana and veggies and some nucciola sfoglia cake for dessert. You have to try this cake - it's to die for! What am I gonna do? I have to eat with the family (right...these are my excuses). I hope I don't do too badly as it's gonna be hard. Oh, and I forgot to mention, it's also Valentine's Weekend and my hubby is taking me out for dinner - pre-set menu which means dessert is included. Then on the Monday (Family Day), my Mom is having a party for my Dad for his 70th birthday - with more cake and more homemade Italian food. I MUST work out or I will put the weight on this week. I'm going to double up on my water too. I'll let you know how I do :-(


Talk soon.

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Well, I had my weigh in yesterday (Wednesday night) and I only lost 1 pound. Needless to say, I was a bit disappointed. I know I'm PMS'ing this week but that doesn't really make me feel better. I work really hard (mind you..I had those couple of glasses of wine on Saturday and 1/2 of that pear dessert (that I didn't even like all that much)...I'm wondering if that's what did it? In any event, I lost the pound and I guess that's better than gaining it. I must say that I feel like I had lost at least 3 pounds...my clothes are so much bigger...that has to be a good sign. I'm still very excited about the program and I'm going to follow through. I do need to incorporate some exercise. My husband bought me some really neat workout outfits for my birthday to motivate me. I think the motivation lasted about two days and then that was it. I'm wondering what it takes for that one little thing to click in my brain which will push me to work out? I can't seem to figure it out. I try working out in the morning - but I'm dead tired to get up. I try working out when I get home, but I'm really hungry and the whole family will have to wait until I finish working out (I am big on the family eating together, so I'm not going to be a hypocrate). Maybe as I lose my weight and start to really notice a difference - that alone might encourage me to want to tone my arms/legs just in the time for the summer. I'm still waiting to get that boost of energy!

I've had a couple of really stressful days with my husband. Too personal to put on this blog, but I've been very proud of myself in that I haven't turned to food to comfort me. I normally grab a teaspoon and the massive jar of nutella that's in my cupboard and start shovelling away, as people would normally shovel ice cream out of a bucket and into their mouths. That alone tells me that I'm on the right track. I wish I could get this stress out of my life. It's so hard to stay focused when there's turbulence in your life...I don't want to fall off track.

Cynthia did a wonderful speech yesterday at our weekly meeting. It was on stress and eating. I could so relate to it. I learned a lot from her talk - she was very humble. There was a video from utube that she showed us on the projector and it was very touching. I am posting it here because I think that anyone reading this should see it. It sort of brought a tear to my eye because it was so true. Here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3NgzQ9Pcsg.

I'm hoping to have a really nice and relaxing weekend - no fuss, no arguments, just peace.

Thursday, January 28, 2010 - Weigh in Day - Happy Anniversary

Hi,

Well I'm feeling pretty good today. I had my first weigh in yesterday (January 27) since starting this program last week and I lost about 3 lbs. I probably lost a little more but for the life of me, I can't remember the exact number I started off with. There was too much commotion going on last night and I forgot to ask but I know it was more than 3 lbs - so I'm happy with that. I actually felt like I had lost more but I guess it's all of the water coming out of my system. I won't be posting my weight just yet as I'm too embarrassed. As I shed a few more pounds, I promise, I will post my weight and my before and after picture - ugh!!!

I'm in very good spirits today! I lost the 3 lbs, it's my Anniversary today...I'm going out for dinner for my Anniversary on the weekend...so it's all good.

I have noticed that I have been visiting the ladies room a little more often than I like (I know I don't have to post this, but I need to remember what's going on with my system when I read or share this story). I'm not sure if it's the shakes or the cell activator but OMG....I need a toilet close to me. I'm drinking lot of water, eating as much protein as I can (not only from meat b/c too much meat is not healthy but protein from other sources...i.e. cottage cheese (not that great, but good for you), yogurt, almonds, etc.). I'm trying to maximize my protein to 85g a day. I think I've been doing pretty good. I feel full all of the time and I'm not craving the sugars that I used to crave.

I feel like my clothes are feeling looser and my face is drawing in a bit, but not enough to wear anything sexy yet. Clothes do a lot for a person in terms of confidence. I have so many clothes in my closet that I haven't been able to wear because they are too small and I'm dying to wear them. Spring is around the corner and I would be ecstatic if I could lose my weight before June - but I'm not getting my hopes up - I know it's a slow process. I'm aiming to lose about 25 pounds and then I would be at my ideal weight for my age and height. I don't want to be bone skinny but I want to be an my ideal weight and have some muscle. I know I can do it but I can't give up.

I'm actually going for a power walk today at lunch b/c I need to excercise. All in all, I had a really good week. I hope that I continue losing....this is the scary part. All I can do is keep plugging away and not give up!

Cynthia (my real estate friend) looked as fabulous as ever and she was all smiles yesterday. It feels to good to be around positive people and happy people...I find I take all of their energy in which charges me.....G*d knows I need it.

Even though I'm going out for dinner on Saturday and will probably have 1 glass of wine, I will still be very careful in what I chose to eat....I've worked so hard and I don't want to blow it!

I didn't get the exercise in last week that I wanted to....I'm still making up excuses, but maybe as I begin to lose a few more pounds that may motivate me. I'm still feeling a bit blah, I guess we all want the weight to come off in increments of 10 but I know it's not healthy. I am going for 35-45 minute power walk today at lunch - that's better than nothing!

Till next week.

Monday, January 25, 2010

Hello there,

Well, I was only going to write a blog the next time I got weighed in (this Wednesday), but I'm a bit excited about the program that was given to me yesterday. Yesterday, I was invited to Cynthia's house, my real estate friend who is having these weekly meetings at her home, to get all of my measurements taken from Irina. Well, she took my weight again (unfortunately, I had just had my lunch and was up about 3 p0unds - nice eh?), and she advised me of how much fat and muscle I had in my body. She (well it was actually Cynthia) also took all of my measurements to keep track of inch loss. Our appt. was for 1:00pm and we left her house at 5:00pm. We weren't too excited about this...there were others that had appts. after us and we just didn't want to leave...LOL.

Irina went through the program in detail and gave us (My Aunt Mary and my friend, Lucy, were there as well) a personalized menu, depending on our RMR - resting metabolic rate. Everyone's RMR is different and what this means that when your pulse is at the resting stage, how many calories can you burn a day? Well, mine was at 1491 so that means that in order for me to maintain my weight, I needed to take in 1491 calories a day and I will maintain my weight. So, I'm going to take in 1200 calories a day and I'm going to do 30 minute power walks three times a week...I'm going to try to burn 200 calories during my workouts. You need to burn 3500 calories in order to lose 1 pound of fat. 300 calories have been decreased from my food intake x 7 days=2100 calories have been cut just from my food. If I can do a workout and burn at least 200 calories x 3 days=600 calories. 2100+600=2700 calories. I need 3500 calories in order to lose 1 pound in a week. I'm going to have to start taking more stairs and taking longer routes to get to my go train station to and from work in order to increase calories burned in a day. I would like to lose about 2 pounds a week - 8 pounds in 4 weeks...that would be amazing and very motivating...I should be happy to lose at least 1 pound a week though - at least I'm losing...it might take longer but who cares...eventually i will get there. I need to be accountable and commited - there is absolutely no excuse not to exercise!!

Well...I'll let you know what happens on Wednesday...it's only two days away - not sure what I can expect to lose. I'm only saying this because after I came home from my meeting at Cynthia's house, I had 4 slices of toast with Nutella loaded on it...now why would I do that after coming out of a "weight loss" meeting? I was pissed off at my husband and I am an emotional eater - I was pissed off at him before I went to the meeting. Then I saw his face and reminded me of what I was pissed off at him for and that was it....I ate the toast and nutella to get back at him....b/c he wants me to stick to my goals...and I never do...so I did it to piss him off meanwhile, I'm the one I'm hurting...not to mention I woke up and my rings were really tight and my face was blotchy from all of that chocolate...sigh...I'll learn sooner or later.

I've taken my first shake this morning (meal replacement) for breakfast at 7:00am...it was very yummy and believe it or not, it's 10:30 and I'm still not hungry...but I have to eat something because that's what it says on my food log...I need my snack now - just had a fat free yogurt and 7 almonds - I'm okay tummy-wise. I've also tried to cut out my coffee but I'm feeling so tired and a bit grumpy this morning - probably b/c I haven't had any caffeine intake....so I had to go and grab a medium coffee with some milk. That's the key to success - don't try to do too much in the beginning...or you won't follow through.

I work at CTV and I have a TV on my desk...right now Tyra Banks is on and there are all of these pretty young things with kiss as* bodies coming out on stage with these adorable outfits...the show today is on fashion....watching these types of shows really motivate me to want to stick to this program...there are so many things that I would like to wear but I can't.....

This is the plan, she suggests that I have at least one meal replacement shake a day but in the beginning she would like me to have two shakes. Is it because she wants my meal replacement to finish quickly and wants me to order more from her? Hmmmm...it did cross my mind, I have to say, and I don't like people robbing me of my hard-earned money. There are a lot of really good sales people out there. She's obviously in this for the money (we all work for money) and her business is doing very well. I guess she wants to make sure that I get results and she teaches me how to eat sensibly. If this does not work for people, then no one would buy her products and she would have been out of business a long time ago. I think she said the business has been around for something like 35 years - that's pretty damn good. I normally bought protein from the store on a monthly basis anyways and always had a shake a day - so it's not really a big deal for me. This container is NOT as big for sure! In any event, I don't care if it costs me 35.00 or 40.00 a month. I spend so much money on vitamins and proteins and I've even spents tons of money on dieting pills. When you get desperate, believe me, you will try anything just to lose the weight....and I've been there more than once....I lose the weight and figure I can do it on my own b/c I'm strapped for money and I can't afford to stay on it...but I can b/c I just spend the money somewhere else. I have no problem spending 60.00 for a gym membership once a month (and only going 5 times the whole month) but I have a problem spending 50.00 a month on a protein shake. I have to get my priorites in order. I have to figure out what it is I want bad enough. I want to lose my weight bad enough. I don't need a gym membership b/c I have a complete gym in my basement....it's just getting my butt downstairs to do it, which is the problem - but that will come as my weight comes off (I'm trying really hard to be optimistic here. I've been a pessimist my entire life, thanks to my parents, of course).

I'm going to say goodbye....I'm feeling tired today and my face looks like crap - not to mention it's raining out and I'm having a bad hair day...I know I'm complaining...I just feel blah!

January 21, 2010 - My First Day

This is the first time I've ever blogged anything. Wow - it's so easy.

My friend, Cynthia, sent me an email last week about some diet she was on and that she had lost over 40 pounds - I couldn't believe it. I had only seen her about 4 months ago - when I purchased my home - she acted as my real estate agent - she's awesome for anyone who's reading this. She has spunk, great personality and is very fair. If you are looking for a real estate agent, please let me know and I will pass on her information to you. I'm not marketing for her either...LOL...KK enough about Cynthia...sorry Cynthia - I love ya but you have your own blog :-)

So, as I was saying, Cynthia sent off this message to a bunch of people about this weight loss clinic that she attended. At the time of reading the email, I was actually on Jenny Craig, and before that I attempted Weight Watchers and before that I went to Dr. Bernstein. So now you know that I'm a yo-yo dieter. Yes, I have tried every diet in the book and sure they work...but can you eat that way for the rest of your life and make it a lifestyle change - maybe with weight watchers because you eat normal food, but not with Dr. Bernstein or Jenny Craig or Nutrisystem (yes I was on that too).

When Cynthia sent me the email - the one thing that caught my eye in the email was that it was $40.00 to join. I thought, is it $40.00 a week, a month or a one-time fee. I had to call her to confirm and sure enough it was indeed a one-time fee. I couldn't believe it - this was going to be the cheapest diet I have ever done - haha. Mind you, I guess it doesn't matter how much I would spend on my diets....as long as they worked and as long as I wouldn't put my weight back on....I would spend all kinds of money as long as someone could guarantee that I would lose the weight and not put it back on. I would obviously could not stick to anything either...according to my husband - and he is right (but I won't tell him) he constantly reminds me that I start eating properly and exercise and then I stop halfway through b/c I expect immediate results. I have blown so much money on Dr. Bernstein - at $160.00/week, yes the weight comes off very quickly (which is great and which is what all us women want) but I'm not too keen on the amount of calories we are allowed to have (600), and never mind the injections - damn....I had bruises all over my butt and my tummy.

I decided to email Cynthia to let you know that I was going to be there at the session being held at her place. I fired off an email to a few friends and thought I would yet try another diet - what the hell.

The bottom line is I'm not happy with myself. I used to be one of those people who could eat a bag of Doritos every day and not gain a pound. All of my friends used to tease me about it - I think they all gave me the evil eye (LOL) because now I can't eat a thing without putting a pound on. I'm sure being 43 years of age has something to do with it, as well as having hormonal problems...that's b/c I have too much weight to carry and am producing too much estrogen - I need to get the weight off to feel better as a whole.

Yesterday, January 20th, 2010, I went to my first meeting! What a great turnout. I couldn't believe there were 16 women who showed up. I was expecting a bunch of women who had like 100 pounds to lose to show up but there were others in my situation - people who had from 15 pounds to 40 pounds to lose. By the way, I forced my Aunt Mary to come along. She's another yo-yo dieter. She succeeded in losing all of her weight when she was going to Weight Watchers and became a life-time member but guess what, she put it all back on and then some - why? Because it's a lifetime change and you can't go back to eating the way you did.

My friend Lucy is going through some turbulent times and has put on more weight than she wants to. She's not feeling well and I am determined to help her. I thought that by trying to help my friend with her weight, I may be able to help myself out.

For those who know me, I always put myself last. My family always come first. My friends come second and then I'm last. Well lately, I have been definitely putting myself last and have been very unhappy with myself, my life and my overall appearance. My husband has never once said anything about my appearance and has always told me that no matter how much weight I put on, I will always look beautiful to him - HE'S A DEFINITE KEEPER! Oh and if you're wondering why I've put a picture of my husband in the top left hand corner....that's because I think he's absolutely adoreable and puts a huge smile on my face - so I want him near me through this journey.

So, I'm at this meeting and this cute little 25 year old, Irina (from Russia) is giving the spiel on how the body work and fat vs. muscle. I found her to be pretty smart. I liked the fact that they not only weighed us women, but as well that she took front and side pictures...this is good...I want to see what I look like after I lose all of my weight....and I will, this time! As a matter of fact, she's also arranging times when she can meet with all of us, one-on-one to take our measurements and as well, to let us know what our BMI (body mass index...muscle vs. fat in our body) and how much water we are retaining....I thought that was very impressive. Even when I joined Weight Watchers....there were definintely no before and after pictures and no measuring...that was up to you. Sometimes when someone is having a really hard time losing weight, you need someone to hold your hand and spoon feed you. So the pictures and the measurements for me was a definite checkmark.

I will write a blog once a week after my weigh in (Wednesday evenings) to let you know how I'm progressing. I firmly believe that writing down your daily food logs and monitoring your exercise is the key to success! Speaking of exercise, just to let you know, I have a huge treadmill, a bike, a stairmaster and an olympic gym with weights as well as a leg press which my husband bought from a gym. I have absolutely NO EXCUSE for not exercising...but I haven't been able to do it consistently. If I exercise for 3 days straight, I take a 4 month break. Things are going to change (I hope). I'm going to start slow and work my way up. I'm going to commit to doing exercise only three times this week - let's see if I can follow through with this one.

FYI - tonight will be my first time in months doing the treadmill - minimum 30 minutes.

Wish me luck!!

Angie