To this point I have lost 28.5 lbs. and I wanted to leave an update.
Several things I have learned, just off the top of my head: First, it does not help anyone really to talk about food (what you have eaten, what you want to eat, what you are going to eat) in class unless it is the class work to help you change your eating habits. Several of my classmates have relished telling all the things they were eating, that were NOT on the diet. For the amount of effort and money we all have put into this, it is not helpful to those sticking to the diet... or the ones informing what they did.
--I have managed to get to this point totally following the diet and what it has allowed. And, I feel good about that. It proves to me that I do have will-power and it will not kill me to not eat what looks good and/or what others are eating. And socially, it does not matter if you are not eating when others are.
The diet is nothing to hide, goodness knows, people can tell that you needed to loose weight. I have found I about have to give a whole talk on the program, because people ask me when they find out and they WANT to know!!! Friends and total strangers. Well, we know there are a lot of people out there that need to loose weight, have tried and failed.
-- It has finally hit me that my body HAS changed... it really hadn't before I hit 25 lbs. It was just numbers. But now I can see, my body has really changed, and I have much more energy This diet has been very helpful and EASY. Easy because I didn't have to do anything except eat what was on the plan. No shopping temptations, no planning, and if determined to follow the plan, no last minute unhealthy choices.
-- And my 2 goals: be a good example for my daughter, and help my hip pain which I had made an appointment with the doctor about possibility of a hip operation.
UPDATE!!
#1 goal - my daughter started the plan about 1 and a half months after me and she has lost 30 lbs!!!
#2 goal - My hip, when I went to Austin, Texas on May 11 for my grandson's graduation from University, my hip decided to be nice. No pain the morning I left or when I got back! I thought it was just a fluke, but it is now June 20 and still no pain!!! So now I am learning how to walk normally because I had to take shorter steps and lean a bit forward because of the pain before. This is such a blessing because it was really starting to impact on my life, in what I could and could not do.
So, I have made my two goals!
A minor goal that I had was to get down into the 140's. The doctor put my goal at 150 for this plan but I did want to hit at least 149, on principle. I am 157 now at week 17, and I plan to make this goal too!
Back to what I have learned:
I have found that why I couldn't do well on WeightWatchers or other diets is because I didn't understand how my body works. On this plan, I had to drink a gallon of water a day and eat 6 meals of the diet products a day. The rest of my time was doing what I normally would do. I tried to exercise more but that really didn't happen, a very rainy winter, I just can't get myself to stay on the treadmill for more than 15 min at a time, my walking friend was out of commission a lot, and a hot spring! So much for the excuses.
Anyhow, the body just goes at its own time schedule. It looses, then it takes a break to regroup, then it looses and regroups. When I was on weight watchers I had food on the mind so much and trying so hard but end up loosing .2 of a lb. On this plan, I was loosing 2 lbs a week, then when the body regrouped I lost a half or a lb less. On weight watchers I would not loose or gain on regrouping time. The time period was so long on that plan that it was always like I was doing something wrong, or I cheated. With this faster, no change in food, plan I knew I was not "cheating", not doing anything wrong and I could see things were still going along fine. On weight watchers I would "treat" myself or give up when those regroup times hit. Anyhow, I am very thankful I discovered this.
Up to this point I have been wearing the same clothes for all weigh-ins, just because I wanted consistant numbers. Last week I had to give up the pants I have been wearing. They were light weight cotton pants like the ones hospital workers wear. They had elastic and a drawstring at the waist. They got to the point where they looked like I was wearing a balloon. So, last week I wore a pair of twill type pants, not as heavy as some jeans be heavier than the cotton pants. Now these will be my weigh- in pants. They are already rather loose in the waist, The are supposed to be a bit lower on the waist than I usually wear. I will probably have to put a couple darts in them soon.
I learned when trying to loose weight you want to use the big muscles, legs, thighs more than others because they use up a lot of energy. The upper muscles, arms, build more muscle. Muscle weighs more than fat. And as time goes you want to use more and more of all of the muscles.
I have learned other things but will add them later......
This week we started transition, which for week one we have traded in one diet meal for a small low cal regular meal. This has been kind of strange. We had to make out our menus for transition week the week before and I had to go shopping for my groceries the day before transition, first time since I started the plan. We are to have 4 oz of lean protein and 1/2 cup of cooked veggies (non-starch) for each of our substitute meals. We are supposed to still be loosing weight because the regular food is supposed to be about the same calories as the diet products. Remember we have been on 960 calories a day.
I had cottage cheese (low fat) and cucumbers, red peppers and onions (steamed) for Wed.
Catfish and diced stewed tomatoes and zucchinis for Thurs and Friday because I had leftovers.
Hamburger and stewed tomatoes for Sat.
Hamburger and red peppers and onions for Sun.
Catfish and red peppers and onions for Monday.
And I have leftover Catfish and red peppers and onions for tonight after class.
As you can see, a lot of repetition. I just have been craving those roasted red pepper so much and after eating the same meals these months repetition does not bother me at all.
The real food is ok but frankly it is just food compared to how much I ate before. Portion control was a big problem for me and I know I have to keep that in mind going forward.
Tonight is the start of Transition week #2. We will be replacing 2 diet plan meals with regular food, 4 oz. of lean protein and 1/2 cup of steamed veggies for each meal.
