I did that?

I went in for my week 4 weigh in and have lost another 5.3 lbs. I'm down 20.3 lbs in 4 weeks. It's hard for me to wrap my head around this!

This has not been without struggles. This past week, I was very hungry and one night I cooked some porkchops for the family (note: I haven't cooked since going on this diet) and it smelled so good that I cheated and had a small bite of a porkchop. I also had fat free creamer in my coffee 2x on the weekend. These are definitely not on my plan. I was thinking I would be lucky to lose 1 lb. but just over 5?! Wow.

A couple of days ago, a friend asked my husband and I over for dinner. THEY had ribs, coleslaw and biscuits. I brought my program food to eat and they felt so bad for me. I don't want people to feel sorry for me and I don't want them to feel uncomfortable eating in front of me. I just want to get on with life. The next day, I got an email from my friend thanking us for coming to dinner and said after we left, her husband told her that he was just amazed at my willpower. She gave me kudos and told me what an inspiration I am to her. Me - an inspiration? It was a nice boost.

I'm still trying to figure out a way to have a healthy relationship with food. It seems like I think about food all the time. I saw a KFC commercial the other night and was practically drooling over their new chicken sandwich without a bun. The perfect sandwich for me! 2 fried chicken breasts with bacon, cheese, lettuce and tomato sandwiched in between. I've never really been a bread person and typically peel most of the bun off my sandwiches. I know deep down that I can never have this sandwich, even when I'm off the plan. I'm one of those people who you give an inch and I want to eat the whole mile.

So anyway, we are going camping this weekend. It's supposed to be fairly decent - in the 70's and only a chance of rain Friday night after midnight. We are excited to get more camping in because we just bought a new camper last fall. We went from a 1982 popup to a 2005 hybrid camper with a bathroom! Gotta love the potty in the camper!

It's also my daughter's 16th birthday tomorrow and I am taking her to the Secretary of State office in the morning to get her driver's license. Yes, she gets to skip a bit of school. Hey - it's her birthday! I'm a bit nervous turning over the keys to the car and trusting her to do ok, but she really is a fairly good driver. Not so good at directions, but she does a decent job driving.

Well, it's off to bed and on to another day.

Things are Rollin'

I know I haven't posted in a while, but things are going pretty good. I lost 4 lbs. for my week 2 weigh in and I just weighed in again tonight and lost 3 more. That's 15 lbs. in 3 weeks. Not too shabby.

The food is tolerable. I'm experimenting with different flavors of things and have decided that I like most of what is available. It's amazing what you can do with a packet of powder! And it keeps me fairly full. Some days I can go all afternoon without eating and then realize at the end of the day that I've only eaten 600 calories. Luckily, that is easily remedied with a chocolate peanut butter bar and a beef stick.

The weekly meetings are very informative. Last week's meeting was about learning a new type of exercise - tai chi. This week's meeting was about the 5 steps of grief and how we can relate them to grieving our previous way of eating.

My husband continues to cook dinners for the kids and I conveniently make myself scarce. He says because of my diet, he is eating less now too. My 14 year old daughter who is slightly overweight is also starting to count her calories and frequently accompanies me to the gym. I had no idea this would be such a big impact on my family!

Speaking of the gym, I've been working out 3 times a week. Mostly riding the recumbent bike and using the weight machines. Last Saturday, I brought home a pickup truckload of mulch for the gardens and spent the afternoon shoveling mulch from the driveway into wheelbarrows and then into the garden. Talk about a good workout! I felt that in my back and legs the next day!

I'm starting to notice a difference in how my clothes fit me. My size 26 jeans (which were actually getting tight *YIKES*) are now fitting me comfortably. I have a pair of underwear in the bottom of my drawer that are a size too small for me, but I keep as a backup pair. They would always roll down my gut because they were so tight, but I tried them on and they fit fine now! Some of my friends are telling me they can see a difference in me too.

So, I will continue on the straight and narrow. This plan is becoming very easy. I don't even have to really think about what I'm eating. My fear is what life will be like when I have to go back to regular food. Knowing my past, maintaining my weight loss will be my biggest challenge.

Here we go!

It's been nearly a week on the VLCD. The first day was really rough. I was hungry pretty much the whole day and by the time I came home from work, I had a bad headache. The second day wasn't as bad, but still had a nagging ache in my head.

Planning my meals isn't hard to do, since I have a good template for what I should be eating when. Breakfast is a packet of powder that when mixed with water and cooked in a small frying pan, can be either an omelet or scrambled eggs. It isn't horrible, but does taste...well...powdered! Mid morning snack is a protein drink of some kind. There are several to choose from. I've tried hot cocoa, strawberry smoothie, choc. shake, and a lemon raspberry flavored drink. I liked them all. Lunch is vegetarian chicken fajita soup. Mid afternoon snack is again, some type of protein drink and dinner is a little microwave meal. I even get an after dinner snack - a caramel chocolate protein bar or one that tastes (kind of) like strawberry cheesecake. I have a sweet tooth at night so that works out good.

I've been pretty good about staying between 800 and 900 calories. I haven't gone over so far. Also have to drink 64 oz of water each day. That can sometimes be a struggle, but I've done good this week and got them all in. I'm trying to experiment with different snacks and discovered I didn't like the pretzels or the so-called "cookies". Also, there are a couple of different options for breakfast instead of the "omelet". There are little bags of cereal which taste almost like Cheerios. I can have that with 1/2 cup of skim milk and it's pretty good.

There have been plenty of temptations! Especially this past couple of days. I cooked Easter dinner for my extended family last night and we had Honeybaked ham, vegetable risotto, rolls and my sister-in-law brought over a yummy (or smelled that way anyway!) broccoli slaw salad. My mom brought pies and I had bowls of Hershey kisses all over the house. I was a good girl and didn't eat a bite.

Today, we took my mother-in-law out to Olive Garden. Everything on their menu is soooo gooood! I didn't even look at a menu. I brought my little microwave meal and the waiter was nice enough to microwave it for me! After I put it on a fancy plate, it almost looked as good as the stuff everyone else was getting!

My husband has been really good. He did the grocery shopping for the week and made dinners most of the nights. I'm proud of him and grateful that he is stepping up and helping me avoid temptation.

I've been getting some exercise too. Went to the YMCA twice this week and did 1/2 hour on the bike which turns out to be 5 miles, and did 1/2 hour on the weight equipment. My hubby took me on an hour bike ride through our little town today. On the way back home, it was all uphill - and it about killed me, but I made it! I'm committed to continue the exercise and just keep reminding myself that it will eventually get easier.

One bump in the road: I saw a podiatrist about my plantar fasciitis and he showed me the x-rays of my feet. Not pretty. I have two bone spurs on both of my heels. He told me I can't go for walks anymore. I need to stick to bike riding, swimming or the elliptical for cardio. It's a hurdle, but one I can manage.

The diet works. I've been weighing myself on my crappy scale at home and so far, I've lost 6 lbs. We'll see if that's accurate after tomorrow's weigh in at the clinic. To be honest, I'm not hungry all the time anymore and I have more energy. I get up in the morning and I don't feel like a slug. And, of all miracles, I'm not cranky. Definitely a plus for my family!

I hope the next coming weeks are as easy or easier. I'm looking forward to falling into a routine and eventually not thinking about food all the time. I'm going to make this work one way or another.