I'm a Loser!

I lost 2 more pounds!!! Yea! My BMI has already changed from 42.7 to 40.3. I'm motivated.

I'll have to admit that I'm getting tired of spinach omelets for breakfast, so I've mixed it up a bit. This morning I had an omelet with 1 whole egg and 2 egg whites with a few canned mushroom slices and a tsp of fat-free cheddar cheese. YUM!

Today's lunch consisted of Bill Miller bar-be-que chicken, 1/4 dark, no skin. YUM! I had a coleslaw salad with Balsamic Vinegar and Safflower Oil. It was surprisingly good.

I did pretty well considering all the cheats this week. Friday night I visited a friend who was in town and drank a couple of glasses of wine and a shot (or 2?) of coconut rum. We ate honeydew melon that I took. Then Saturday, I babysat and didn't have time to cook a decent lunch or dinner. My son-in-law bought chicken strips, salad greens, and a pint of cut fruit, which was my snack. Sunday I did pretty well, eating honeydew melon every chance I could. I baked Kale to make chips, which was delicious. I also made a spaghetti squash and ate it with a spoonful of marinara and grated parmesan/romano cheese. Delicious. Wednesday I was in Junction, so I didn't eat correctly then. I'm hoping this week will be more back on track.

After I finished the honeydew melon, I checked my food list, and lo and behold, it wasn't on my list. DANG! Then I checked the list for the pineapple I bought. Pineapple wasn't on my list either. DANG! So I cut up the pineapple and took it to the office.

I feel great! Monday night I mowed the front and side yards for exercise. Man, I was tired when I finished. But it felt good to be able to do it without pain and palpitations. I keep reminding myself that I'm doing all this at the tender age of 60. That makes me feel even better.

I have a couple of challenges ahead this weekend. I'm going to a bar-be-que party, Saturday. I'll take cole slaw and pray they have chicken. Then Wednesday, I'm meeting friends at Mimi's Cafe. There really isn't anything on the menu that I can have, so I'll have to order off the menu. Usually, nice places like that are pretty accommodating. I'll have steamed vegetables (dry), house salad with vinegar and oil dressing (maybe I'll take my own) and grilled chicken breast (no salt if possible). Oh, I also have a free breakfast Wednesday morning that will include tacos and fruit. I may have breakfast at home and the fruit as a snack. Yeah, that's right.

Weigh-In Day #2

After losing 8 pounds in 6 days, I didn't know what to expect for this week.

I celebrated my incredible weight loss by making a delicious dish from the recipes Perfect Solutions included with the materials. It was sooo good I had a hard time keeping to the serving sizes. I actually had it for lunch and dinner a couple of days and snuck a serving in for a snack.

Then the weight loss stopped. I immediately blamed PS for including such a good recipe that it couldn't be good for losing weight. Anyway, once I realized I wasn't drinking water like I did the first week, I managed to get my head back on straight. I got right back on the plan and followed it to the letter (well, except for the water). The scale seemed to be stuck most of the week. But I continued to be active and drank water whenever I remembered.

Then a couple of days ago, the needle on the scale started moving again. YEA!!! It was just the encouragement I needed to continue.

My weigh in was great - I lost 3 more pounds!!!

I knew when I started this plan that I was in the right place. (Remind me that I said this if I get discouraged.)

I've always lost weight on plans that don't have too many choices. I start out OK on plans like Weight Watchers and LA Weight Loss, but the choices and freedom get to me every time. I definitely have to work on my head so I can stay at my goal weight once I reach it.

In 1977, we followed the Atkins plan, and before I knew it, my pants fell down at work! I did OK on Weight Watchers 30 years ago because the food choice was stricter, and bread, pasta, and rice was rationed. I was successful on NutriSystems because they supplied the food. Then I ran out of money.

Life-Long Goal Weight

I have dieted myself to this weight, and now I have the key to diet myself to my life-long goal weight.

Ever since I was 15, I dream of weighing 135 lbs. When our driver's licenses listed our weight, mine said 135 - even if it was obviously 50 lbs off.

About 20 years ago, I tried playing a trick on my subconscious by setting my scale to my goal weight. And you guessed it - it was 135 lbs.

Once again, my ultimate goal weight is 135. I don't know how realistic it is, but for now that's the plan. In the meantime, I'm chunking it down by 10 pound intervals. So, I've reached my first goal - 11 pounds down!!

Cecilia wants us to lose 30 pounds before Thanksgiving so we'll be motivated to just say "No." Actually, she said we could cheat 3 days a year - Thanksgiving, Christmas, and our birthday. I'm all for that - I mean losing 30 pounds before Thanksgiving. Now, I know that's a possibility. Especially if I stay the course.

Adding Weights to My Weight Loss Plan

Yesterday, my son and I bought a set of adjustable hand weights - the kind you can set for 5-30 pounds. I've been wanting to get something to work on my arms. My triceps (is that what you call the skin hanging down?) have been out of control for years. I looked in the mirror one day, and lo and behold, I had wings. Where did they come from? And, while I'm at it, what happened to my small waist line?

So, I took a few minutes this morning and worked on my triceps (not much because I didn't plan it). It's a start. I plan to do something every morning and evening.

Incredible Results

When I went to Perfect Solution Thursday to weigh in, I'd lost 8 lbs in 6 full days! Incredible!

I followed the plan, and the weight just fell off. Although 8 lbs isn't enough for people to notice, I notice, and it feels like success and that I finally found the key. 

A couple of days before my friend suggested Perfect Solution, I decided that the starches I ate were going to be high-fiber starches. Perfect Solution doesn't have high-fiber starches, but healthy, natural starches like veggies and fruit. This is the plan for me. I know (and have for about 30 years) that my body doesn't process starches well. I've had incredible results with Atkins and anything that limits starches. So, this plan is perfect for me. I'm getting the vitamins and minerals that I would miss eating the other starches like bread, whole wheat pasta, etc.

I'm satisfied, and I like the food. Right now, my food list is very limited, which is a good thing. I am finding food allergies that I didn't realize I had (-- more foods?!). I was eating all kinds of vegetables - spinach, tomatoes, carrots, zucchini, mushrooms, and cauliflower in my salad at lunch and steamed cauliflower and carrots at dinner. The back of my hands itched so much that I couldn't sleep. I couldn't figure out what the problem was. Then I ran out of cauliflower. My hands didn't itch. Wow - it was the cauliflower! Of course, I realized that after I bought another head. Dang! Do I want to test it to see if it was the cauliflower or assume it was? It's not deadly, just a loss of sleep from itchy hands.

Wednesday, I added radishes and mixed spring greens to my salad and my lips itched immediately after I ate it. I assumed it was the radishes, so I haven't had any more. I had spring greens in my salad yesterday, and my lips itched again very slightly. It may be the spring greens. Spinach is listed as a slight allergy for me, but it hasn't bothered me at all alone or with other benign vegetables like mushrooms, carrots, and tomatoes. My dressing of choice is safflower oil and balsamic vinegar. 

My breakfast has consisted of sauteed spinach, mushrooms, tomatoes and egg whites. Very delicious.

I got on the scale this morning, and it showed a hair short of 10 lbs!!! Incredible!!!

I'm feeling so in charge of my life, in control, successful, motivated, and ready to continue.

My front and back yards have been landscaped some, and it's a little cooler in the morning, so I headed out to the back patio this morning before sun rise and enjoyed the cool fresh air and a cup of coffee. Then I turned on the light and read some of Dr. Wayne Dyer's "Your Erroneous Zones." It was a beautiful way to start the day.

Suddenly, at 8:30 this morning, I got the inspiration to take the stack of paint cans in the garage to the recycle center. That was so easy. All I needed was a copy of a CPS bill and my driver's license. They opened the trunk and unloaded it. They're nice and efficient.

The garage looks better. I've been saying that the first cool Saturday I would clean out the garage, so I did some out there. I actually moved all the empty boxes into one place. There's now a 3-foot x 3 foot x 4 foot (36 cu ft) tower of empty boxes in my garage. Usually when it seems time to clean it out, it's only empty boxes. The first time I realized this, the kids were about 10 & 12. We got out there to clean and once we collapsed all the empty boxes, we realized there wasn't much else to get rid of. I stood in the middle of the stacks of collapsed boxes and said "Hi, my name is Alana, and I'm addicted to empty boxes." It's a thing. I didn't disposed of them today for 2 reasons. I'm still decluttering, and my recycle bin is full from the previous week of decluttering. It's amazing how much stuff my son and I have cleared out of the house. Considering I've been here 32-1/2 years, it's not so amazing really.

I'm actually thinking of having people over. First time in 3 years!

Now, I'm ready to relax a little and enjoy the beautiful weather.

If at First You Don't Succeed

I haven't given up! I did quit Weight Watchers in June, but I haven't given up on losing weight. It's been so hot this summer that I haven't walked after work. Occasionally I would walk around the block at work during lunch. And I'd go to the gym occasionally. Nothing stuck, nothing enticed me.

I've blamed my mother for my weight problem all these years. I thought I was being a realist, looking at the situation as it was. I also repeated more times that I care to think about that I can't lose weight. I've done some of the same things as my friends, and they lost weight, but I didn't. I was stuck.

Desperate, I asked a friend to coach me because I wasn't able to get motivated to make the changes. He is one of those people who decides to do something, and he does it. I've always admired that in him. He's also the one who introduced me to Jim Rohn, Wayne Dyer, and Deepak Chopra 24 years ago (24 years?!!!) through his incredible library of books, tapes, and CDs.

One thing my coach did (probably in desperation) was suggest I study Dr. Wayne Dyer's Excuses Begone!, which is about changing your mind and how to get rid of negative thoughts. Study it I did.

I listened to each CD many times and rewound them many times so I could take notes. I listened at home, in my car, and at the office. OMG! I didn't want it to end.

Because of Excuses Begone!, I've been really paying attention to my thoughts. I've been censoring my negative thoughts and not letting them actually form. It's easier than I thought. I can see why one friend would say "that's not my truth" a lot when we were together. Another always says "I'm so happy that . . ." and she'd find something positive from our conversation and repeat it.

I'm surrounded by wonderful people. I've been listening to and studying EB for a few weeks while I was trying to find some way to lose weight. I signed up for Tai Chi at work, and I've been really working in my house to declutter and rearrange things.

My "not my truth" friend suggested I check out Perfect Solution Weight Loss. I found their website and called a mutual friend who was successful because of them. They both raved about their successes, so I made an appointment for that evening. I mentioned to my "I'm so happy" friend about my plan, and she told me she lost her weight through them.

When the student is ready, the teacher will come. I went Friday evening and signed up. The 2 nutritionists I talked to talked really fast. I think I only caught 75% of what they said, but what I heard was GREAT! Even though I had spent $103 on groceries the night before, I still had to buy food that I could eat on this plan. I spent another $39, planning to start right away when I got home. Once I got home, I ended up eating some of the "off plan" food that I had on hand. The rest either went into the freezer or to my daughter's.

When I got on the scale Monday morning, it skipped past a big number. I was so surprised that I assumed I wasn't seeing the right number, so I got my glasses and tried again. The scale adjusted a couple of pounds, but it showed a 5-lb loss! I even jumped on it a couple of times to make sure it wasn't stuck. WOW! Talk about being motivated! Five pounds in 2 days! Incredible. That means I'll be at my goal weight in a little over a month! Reality check! But, I can't wait to get back on it in the morning.