Friday, June 24, 2011

Weigh In Results 6/23/11


Well here I am, down 30 pounds. Actually I am two tenths shy of 30 pounds, but I am calling it 30 pounds. Funny how last week that same two tenths of a gain was such a downer, but now that I am two tenths away from a thirty pound loss, I can easily dismiss it as insignificant. Crazy mind games.

Anyway, I had to weigh in day early this week due to life circumstance, so I weighed in yesterday making my week a six day week. I figure next week should be good since I am giving myself an extra day and going back to my regular Friday weigh in. Though this was my third week on Medifast, it was my tenth week on a vlcd. I have averaged a 3 pound loss per week. Boy, I am happy with that! I still have five and a half more weeks before vacation and I do not think I will reach my 180 pound wish. I have decided that if I lose at least another 10 pounds before vacation, I will be thrilled. Fifteen more pounds will put me over the moon. I guess fifteen is not too outrageous to shoot for if I am averaging three pounds per week. We'll see. Today I am at 205lbs. If I can be somewhere in the 190's before vacation, that will be wonderful.

During my trip I plan on doing a 3 and 3, that is three regular L&G meals and three MF easy to pack meals. I am hoping to maintain during that time and even if I have a little gain, I will not be hard on myself. After all, I will be on a dream vacation!!

And, for the record, that dress I am wearing in the picture is one that I found in my garage closet. It still had tags on it. It looks like I bought it on sale and it was always too tight, then too small and never flattering enough to wear. I'll tell ya, shopping in my own closet has been so much fun. I didn't even remember having that dress, so it was like a fantastic surprise. I received so many compliments yesterday in that dress. I felt like a new and improved me!

I am the new and improved me!!

Happy Friday all.
See ya lighter next time-
Lisa

Friday, June 17, 2011

Weigh In Results 6/17/11 (Not Good)


Kinda feelin' crappy about this, so I will keep it short and sweet.

I had a small gain of .2 (two tenths) of a pound, which absolutely sucks because I have been following all the rules and drinking an excess of water. I can't even think of what it is that I did differently, so I am at a loss for explanation.

All I do know is that since I started Medifast three weeks ago, I have only lost 2.5 pounds. I just placed my second months order and if I do not make better progress on this plan, I will find something else that works for me.

I did well on optifast, and am now second guessing myself. Hmm... what to do, what to do?

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

A Very Cool Thing Happened Yesterday

We have been doing a lot of work around our house. I guess that is what happens when I am not working or in school. It seems I need to have something important to do each day. I cannot just sit back and relax for very long.

So one of the things we are incorporating into this facelift is the home theater. We are having our widescreen television mounted above our fireplace and this entails moving most of our electronics to new spaces. To have the television moved, we need to have some masonry work done as well as some wiring work done. We have interviewed several wiring guys, but have not yet decided on anyone, as Glenn seems to think he can do it himself.

Either way, Glenn has been up in our attic clearing a path from the attic entrance towards the area near our fireplace. He is sorting through twelve years of family storage and it is a big job. I think we have opened a can of worms. But I guess purging some of our old stuff is freeing in a way and it does feel good.

Moving on to the cool thing...as Glenn was clearing crap from our attic he came across a sealed plastic bin of mine that was full of clothing. This was clothing of mine from so long ago that i cannot even remember. The cool thing was that it was filled with shorts, jeans, denim skirts and capri's in my current size! Perfect blessing. Most all of the clothing in this bin was in a size 14 and there were also a few size 12's. I am thrilled to have found this cache as I am in desperate need of clothing that fits. The bonus is that there are a few items that are actually too small. It gives me something to work towards.

Timing is everything. It's funny how things happen-

I think today I will clean out my closet and drawers again~

Monday, June 13, 2011

Random Thouhgts

So yesterday it was finally a nice sunny day here in my little place in the world. I decided to wear shorts for the first time in forever. I had cleaned out all of my clothing drawers fairly recently and had given away all but three pairs of my shorts. I kept the smaller pairs of shorts as I thought I could still wear them for a bit. I was wrong! I tried them on one by one and each pair were far too big. It was as if they belonged to someone else. I suppose they did belong to someone else...the former fat me. I should also add that I now need a complete new round of undergarments, pajamas and many other things.

My sweet husband told me to head out and find some new things. This girl never needs an excuse to shop, so off I went and I was able to find two new pairs of shorts in a size 14! It was kinda weird and fun to be shopping in the regular women's department as opposed to the plus sized department. I am feeling good and just thought I would share.

On another note, this morning I taught water aerobics for the first time in a long time. It was so much fun. I used to teach it at the YMCA and when I stopped teaching it, I wrote down my routine in a journal just in case I ever took it up again. Well, I located the journal sometime last week and placed it on top of my jewelry box for safekeeping, knowing that this week I would be teaching. Since we have been having so much work done around here and last week the painters were here, I packed it up and thought my journal was in the garage in a box of my personal stuff. Of course being the procrastinator I am, I didn't even try to locate it until last night when I discovered that my sweet hubby brought it to the storage. Needless to say, I had to wing it today. Luckily for me, I've still got it!

Until next time-
Live, love, laugh and lose~

Friday, June 10, 2011

Weigh In Results 6/10/11


Well, another successful weigh in. Today I had a loss of 1.6 pounds. Though this is slower than I had hoped for, it is a continuum in the downward slope. This means that in past four weeks I have lost almost 7 pounds. I am hoping that this will not be the norm and I will eventually lose at a quicker pace. I am still telling myself that this is an adjustment period for my body (going from strictly liquid to actually eating foods) and that ultimately I will find a groove where I will lose closer to 3 pounds per week. Either way, I am losing and that is good. I'll take the 1.6 today and every week hereafter.

I am wondering what I can do to mix it up a bit. I have laid off of my exercise for the past two weeks, as advised by my health coach and also all of the literature I have read. Maybe by reintroducing my regular workout routine into the plan, I will have a bigger loss next week. I hope so. I am scheduled to teach water aerobics twice next week. Along with my water aerobics, I plan to pick back up with my weight training and walking.

AND... with the sun finally shining here in my corner of California, I plan to get back on my beautiful blue bike! Glenn bought me this little beauty and I can't tell you how amazing it feels to get out there and ride. It gives me a sense of being a kid without responsibility, just out for adventure. It is so much fun, especially when we can get the kids to come along and ride together as a family. Even though the kids are 21 and 16, they still humor me by doing fun, silly kid stuff.

Lastly, I had my interview in the Special Education Department earlier this week and just today received my acceptance letter for the fall. It looks like I am on my way to becoming an Education Specialist:)

Happy weekend all. Eat healthy, get out and get moving and keep a positive outlook-

Until next time,
Live, love, laugh and lose (every day!)-
~Lisa




Thursday, June 9, 2011

Pre-Weigh In Nervousness

Hello all,

Here I am, a couple of weeks into my new program and anxiously anticipating my weigh in tomorrow. It's funny because last week I was hoping for a small loss or even maintenance and that worked to my advantage. However this week I want a larger loss. I am hoping for a 2-3 pound loss as I feel my body has had ample time to adjust. Ambitious? Maybe, but little goals along the way are necessary.

As of today, I am 55 days away from my summer vacation and eight weigh in's away. I would really love to be close to the 180lb mark by the time I go, less if possible. Either way I am already lower in weight than I have been in over a decade. I can feel my body shrinking and it is the best feeling ever. I can actually look in the mirror and see a smaller me. Talk about motivation to keep plugging along. I am dedicated and committed to myself for once. In the beginning, I told myself that I have been able to set other goals and attain them, why then had I not been able to attain a weight goal? I think that there have been a combination of reasons (aside from health) that include high stress, and responsibility. I also told myself that this time (from Jan. '11-Fall '11) was designated exclusively for me and my health. As I have no other obligations, it has become the perfect plan.

Until next time,
I am moving forward~

"There are many ways of going forward, but only one way of standing still."
Franklin D. Roosevelt

~Live, love, laugh and lose-
Lisa

Saturday, June 4, 2011

Weigh In Results 6/3/11 and Nostalgia

Thank you Shonnie for the reminder:)

I did lose this week and feel good about it too. My loss was 1.2 pounds and I am OK with that, even though it was my smallest loss so far, it is still a loss and it is confirmation that my decision to make the switch is a success! So, no setback for me! My goal was to at least maintain and hopefully not gain and that worked out for me.

And yes, we have been extremely busy at our house. We are currently working on some home improvements that have consumed much our time. It feels a little bit overwhelming, but we are making some big changes to our sweet little house. I should point out that we live in a very old neighborhood that has many one of a kind Victorian houses that are absolutely gorgeous. Most of the historical homes around here are from the 1860's and I really admire all things nostalgic. Even though our house in not a Victorian, it is old and is centered in what is considered the "Old Quad" here in Santa Clara. There is even a Historical Home Tour each year around Christmastime that Glenn and I once worked as docents. I find it fascinating to think that someone else used to live right here in my space over 150 years ago.

So, some of our improvements include pulling up the carpet in the front room and having hardwood installed. We currently have hardwood floors throughout the rest of our house. I have also ordered plantation shutters for all of my windows. I have painters coming to paint three of my rooms. (over the Labor Day weekend, Glenn and I painted the majority of our house and IT WAS SO MUCH WORK!! I can appreciate how hard house painters work and I never want to do that again). I ordered all new furniture for my living room and den, and today Glenn bought me all of the Tiffany lamps I have been eying for some time. They were all on sale half off, then I had a 15%off coupon and the store had a special for another 10% off on top of that. I really scored on the lamps. Needless to say, I have been interviewing contractors and shopping for furniture for what feels like forever. And...I almost forgot, I needed to find a safe and fun place for my two dogs to go while the painters are here, so I've also been interviewing doggie daycare facilities. I found one that I am happy with, but more importantly Maxi and Roscoe Roo liked it too! Tinkerbell is going to a sleepover at Sarah's boyfriends house since she doesn't go outside. We don't want her to get out and we also don't want to confine her to the bathroom for a couple of days.

HOLY MOLY, if that is not enough I've also applied to obtain an additional credential in hopes of attending school again in the fall. Recently I completed my graduate studies and received my multiple subject credential, allowing me to teach K-8th grade. Though I love it and have taught third grade as well as student taught in as kindergarten class. I think my true calling is teaching special education, so I am hoping to get into the Special Education Department at San Jose State. It has taken me a couple of weeks to gather all of the application paperwork requirements, but I was able to turn it all in last week. I think I have only six more classes to take to complete the requirements to get my second credential. I should also say that when I taught third grade, almost half of my students had special needs and those were the students I felt that I made the most progress with. Even in my kindergarten class, I had several students with varying degrees of special needs and those students stand out in my mind as my favorites. It's funny the way your path in life leads you. I feel that this is meant to be and also something I will be exceptionally good at it.

The department called and said that my application was complete and not lacking anything. They want to meet with me for an interview next week. Wish me luck, I really want this!


And since I was talking about nostalgia, here are some of my treasured family photos-


These are my great-great grandparents, Nonno Fani and Nonna Bianca. The two pictures show them in their early years (married in late 1890's) and then in their later years.

These are my grandparents on their wedding day in 1945. Nonni and Nonno. My Nonni was only 17 years old. (Dolores Bianca and Edwin Frederick)
These are my great grandparents on their wedding day (above) sometime in the 1920's. (Cesare and Ada Marchetti) Below they are older and I think this particular picture was cut in half to be used as passport photos..
I have a really beautiful powerpoint presentation that I made for school telling my family's immigration story. If I can figure out how to upload it I will. It's challenging enough for me to add pictures to my posts with some type of order.

As always, see ya lighter and I am off to have another positive, productive week.

Wishing you all the same~
Live, love, laugh and lose-
Lisa


Thursday, June 2, 2011

On My Mind



Hmmm...

Tomorrow morning will be my first weigh in on the Medifast plan, my seventh weigh in since starting a VLCD. I'm not sure what to expect and it makes me a little bit nervous. I really do not anticipate a big loss as I am not exactly making such drastic changes in terms of calorie intake.

I am rather considering this an adjustment period for my body. My hope is that I will have a small loss as opposed to a small gain, especially since this is the first week I have eaten real food in almost two months. I have been following this plan to the tee and feel confident that this is definitely a better choice for me. I am very happy to have made the decision to switch over to Medifast. I feel that I can do this for an indefinite amount of time and I do not feel that I am "missing out" on anything.

This week has been a mix of learning new things and navigating my way around social situations. For instance, I have been tasting and determining what foods I like and what foods I do not like so much. I have been able to gain some insight from various other bloggers and am appreciative of the tips and tricks that I have found. I'd like to especially thank Margene for her waffle recipe made from MF pancake mix. That is soo... good and I really like it with a little healthy fat peanut butter on it. I've also found that I do not like the vanilla anything from MF because it seems to have a weird flavor. That is very unusual for me as vanilla is one of my favorite flavors. I've yet to make any of the hot drinks that I purchased, but maybe later today.

Last weekend, I attended a BBQ where I thought I would just visit and then go home to eat, but as it turned out, I was able to eat a big hamburger without the bun and a big salad. It was satisfying and I felt that I was participating in the festivities. It was fun and I felt in control of my actions while staying on plan.

Beyond all that, we are working on some major home improvements around here and we have had contractors in and out all week. It has been quite a busy and hectic week, but definitely productive.

And, as promised, I have included my weigh in chart, so you can see my progress:

Weigh In Results

Starting weight 232.8

1st Weigh In -8lbs 224.8 -8lbs

2nd Weigh In -3.1 221.7 -11.1lbs

3rd Weigh In -2.7 219 -13.8lbs

4th Weigh In -4.4 214.6 -18.2lbs

5th Weigh In -1.6 213 -19.8lbs

6th Weigh In -2.4 210.6 -22.2lbs


I'd like to add that my weight prior to that starting weight was 235, and my all time highest weight was 246. So as you can see, I am making great progress and it feels so good!

I will add to this chart tomorrow and hopefully it will be a minus number-

Live, love, laugh (and lose)~

Lisa