Riding My Asterisk Off

Two weeks down, and 5 pounds gone. Yay.

The downside: consuming so much in the way of vegetables, salads, and all the soy that’s in NS food, I am a bit…um…socially unacceptable. I keep hoping that will ease up bit so far I am not someone you want to be trapped in an elevator with.

And I was thinking about my weight goals earlier: while overall I want to drop 70 pounds, I’m hoping I can shed 30 of it by Christmas.

Doable, right…? At the very least I’d like to be down a couple sizes, necessitating the purchase of new clothing.

Yep, there’s a method to my madness.

New stuff.

We were out most of the afternoon, so we wound up stopping at Denny’s for an early dinner. I went in thinking What the hell, one meal won’t throw everything out of kilter, but I wound up ordering something actually healthy. Grilled Tilapia with some green beans and just a little bit of rice. Not too shabby, and it still fit in as a low glycemic meal.

The Other Half’s food is scheduled to be delivered tomorrow, so he’s having one last evening of decadence with peach cobbler. I think his big worry is that the portions will kill him and he’ll starve for the first 2 weeks as he adjusts to it. I adjusted pretty quick; a small piece of fish and some green beans stuffed me tonight. It doesn’t take much now, and I hate feeling overly full, so for me it’s all good. He’ll get used to it, or learn to love lots of veggies…

I think I weighed last Thursday morning, but this week I’m pushing it back to Friday (the official weight date, that is; I still weight just about every morning.) Looking back, I started on a Friday so I weighed in a day early last week.

This would all be so much easier if there were just a pill to take. Melt the fat away and look 10 years younger. Yeah, I’d buy that!

I finally found a NS meal that I cannot stand. BBQ beef over rice. It was so bad I wound up tossing it out. I think the horridness came from the BBQ sauce–it tasted like going to the dentist. I don’t know any other way to describe it. Just…nasty.

I got on the scale this morning and was down another 2 pounds, but I know better than to count on that for the week.

While I am going to get tired of salads (I can replace that with salad veggies, and I foresee a trip to the grocery store today to get some cucumbers) I’m not getting hungry very often. Pretty much only before it’s time to eat again.

The Other Half’s food hasn’t even shipped yet, so there’s no telling when he’ll be able to start. I’ve read lots of people commenting on a sudden slowdown in food shipments…could be related to the fact that NS is diverting a lot of their stock south as donations to feed displaced hurricane victims. So he can wait a few days…I offered to let him start with part of my food, but he’s afraid I’ll get caught with no food if his doesn’t ship soon enough.

I doubt I would starve or begin a feeding frenzy; I do know how to eat low glycemic on my own, but he’s not willing to let me lose my momentum, so I appreciate that.

Now, I just wish my digestive system would get used to the increase in bulk…I am socially unacceptable, and sometimes afraid to sneeze…

My other half (hey, I am not saying “better!”> has decided to join me on the Nutrisystem food plan. This should make things esier. Well, for us. Maybe not so much for our son. 🙂

And I did my “official” one week weigh in, and I did lose weight for the week: 2 pounds. Not the nice 3.5 I was hoping to hold onto, but I’ll take it. I suppose it’s too much to hope for to have 2 pounds gone every single week…or maybe not.

Gee…I might have to start =gasp= exercising…

Total frustration: losing a few pounds early on, and having them all back just a couple of days later.

How in the hell…?

Just a few days in and I’m down 3.5 pounds. WooHoo! I won’t jump off a cliff if I’m up a pound tomorrow (because of medical stuff, I’m supposed to weigh every day…) but ‘ll take every victory I can get.

One of the things I was worried about was that I’d be hungry all the time…luckily I’m not. The portions are satisfying, and by eating 5 times a day, by the time I do get hungry, it’s time to eat again.

I’m waiting for that first really gross thing that I can’t gag down…Surely somewhere in te food I ordered is the one thing that will make me want to hurl.

OK, the food boxes are small, but… holy canole, I just had dinner and I am stuffed. They do want you to supplement with fruits and veggies and dairy.

Breakfast is one of their entrees, a dairy or protein, and a fruit. I could not manage the fruit this morning; I’m not a morning eater and I’m gonna have to work up to that. The shredded wheat cereal was very good, and I had a lite yogurt with it. Oh, and you’re supposed to put 4 ounces of skim milk on the cereal, but being lactose intolerant, I didn’t…

Lunch is an entree with a dairy or protein,and a salad. Um, we were out and I did not think to bring food with me, so I had a small McD’s burger, and 5 french fries. Bad on me for day one, eh?

Snack is a dairy or protein, and a fruit. I did not have snack this afternoon… never thought about it.

Dinner is an entree, salad or fruit, 2 vegetables, and a fat. I had the pot roast entree, and it had more meat than I normally would eat, with a few odd carrots and potatoes in gravy. And it was damned tasty. I made a salad and some green beans, thinking I had enough green beans to count as 2 veggies, but I just looked, and I did not. I had no clue what to have as a fat. Lick the margrine 2 or 3 times? I know I need fat, if I can’t find other ways I may have to get some flaxseed oil.

So…I am behind on food. I missed a fruit this morning, one at snack, and a dairy or protein at snack. I shorted myself a veggie at dinner. I still have “dessert” to look forward to later, one of their little pre-packaged snack thingies.

Now I’m not sure if I sure try to have a fruit with it to make up for not having that earlier, or skip it today.

I’m not sure what the total calories are in the womens’ program… the entrees seem to be about 220-250 calories each. I’m guessing it’s about 1200-1400 depending on the chosen dairy/protein/salad stuff. And somewhere on the website I read that there are a bunch of “free” veggies, stuff you can pretty much eat as much of as you like.

:::looks:::

Yep, pretty much unlimited salad-type veggies, and lots of them are my favorites (like cucumber, celery, spinach, alphalpha sprouts…)

Hopefully the rest of the food will be as tasty. If it is, I’m gonna be in fat kat heaven.

I just checked the online system, and my food is on its way. It should be here in 3-4 days, so I suppose I should stuff myself silly with pizza and chocolate now while I can! (No, that’s not really the plan, but it is tempting…)

I’ve avoided taking my measurements thus far; I figure I’ll do it the day I actually start eating the NutriSystem food, and I’ll weigh myself that morning, too.

This stuff better taste good. I’m actually seriously looking forward to it, and if it sucks I’ll be as disappointed as a kid who Santa forgets on Christmas.

Cupcakes, Twinkies, Ding Dongs, Pizza, McDonalds…

Ok. Some of that for sure. But my weight came up on me in some odd ways. I was in damned good shape–150 pounds and about 16% body fat–and was extremely active, but in a 30 day span I gained 30 pounds. I wasn’t pigging out; my diet was fairly normal and I was working out 2 hours a day, 5-6 days a week. Hard workouts, too. Martial arts. Weights. It was like I’d sneeze once a day and a pound would appear.

My weight stabilized; I maintained it but couldn’t lose it, I argued with my doctor about it (he did not believe me) and a year later the same damned thing happened. Thirty pounds in a month. My doc sneered at me, said I needed nutritional counseling, and left me feeling like I was doggy doo dragged in one someone’s shoe.

I refused to see anyone about it again, not even when 10 pounds piled on in about 3 weeks a year after that. There was no point.

I’ve struggled with this extra weight now for over 10 years. And in that time I’ve been diagnosed with 3 pain conditions, including arthritis, had a pituitary tumor (removed; benign) and learned something:

At least one doctor belived me. During some post-surgical treatment for all kinds of hormone deficiencies resulting from the tumor, I was told something I had wanted to hear for years. “Well, yeah…you’re insulin resistent. We now know that for sure due to your insulin stress test. It could potentially cause you to gain weight quickly and prevent you from losing it.”

Validation.

But not an excuse. The weight could be dealt with, he said, but I’d have to shake up my nutrition plan. Skip the fad diets, dont bother with Atkins, just eat according to the glycemic index.

Yay.

And I did. And I lost a few pounds. But somehow I got sidetracked by a couple of birthdays, birthday cake, and neighborhood BBQs… no more. I just had my 44th birthday, and dammit, I will lose the weight. Nutrisystem follows the glycemin index, and for at least a little while I can use their food to get me on track (and because I hate cooking…)

I should get my first shipment of prepackaged food in 4-10 days. Until then, I’m gonna enjoy myself–not pig out but I may eat out a couple of times–and then the fun begins.

It is fun, right? Getting healthy HAS to be fun!