Days Six through Ten

As Day 10 draws to a close, I can look back and feel pretty good about my progress!  I am excited to report that I have lost about 8 pounds and several inches around my waist and hips.  Yeah!  Perhaps an even bigger feat was that I followed the meal plan.  Of course, as I predicted my weekend was the biggest challenge.  It was challenging, though, in a surprising way.  I found that I didn't want to snack at all.  I stayed so busy moving so that I didn't think about food that I missed my snacks!  This led to me wanting more salad at mealtime, which I allowed myself.  I struggled with not being able to eat my normal celebratory foods on Sunday, but "cheated" in a new and different way:  I allowed myself to cheat by adding glazed pecans to a salad and adding a small amount of salad dressing to my meals.  I also allowed myself to have one Diet Pepsi.  This type of cheating contained any damage control (instead of eating a box of mac-n-cheese!), but gave me a chance to mentally feel rewarded.  In terms of exercise, I have worked out 5 days a week, alternating between the elliptical machine, the rower, and the stationary incumbent bike.  Motivating myself to go sweat it out has been challenging, but I always feel good afterwards.  Now on to the next hurdle:  days 11 -24.  While my diet "eases up" a bit, I really don't feel so deprived there.  In fact, I may just keep trying to eat this way by keeping breads, pastas, and dairy to a minimum.  I feel fine this way, and surprisingly haven't missed my beige food group as much as I thought!  Time to pull my Advocare vitamins out of the box and gear up.  One side note:  the Catalyst capsules from Advocare seem to make my workout even better.  Not sure how that works, but I like it!  Here we go!!!

Day Five

I am now on Day 5 of the 10 Day Cleanse.  So far so good, but I am a little nervous about the weekend.  It is easier for me to stay on track when I have a routine.  The weekend leaves me more time to think about all of the great food I can't eat.  My weekend usually revolves around meeting up with good friends, so more than missing the food, I think I will feel like I won't fit in with my normal activities and my friends.  Of course, my friends are all very supportive, so this is a self-limiting belief.  I know this, but it doesn't change my need to feel sorry for myself that I can't go out to dinner at our favorite hangout.  (Okay...so I could.  I just don't think I am ready to watch everyone else eat fried foods and have a cocktail.)  I made other plans, though, that don't revolve around food with one of my best friends.  Hopefully this will take my mind off of going out for dinner on Saturday night.  The weather this weekend is supposed to be particularly nice, too, so I may spend one last weekend on the lake enjoying the fresh air.  I feel so blessed to have such great friends and support.  I was very nervous about putting myself out here in a blog, because my progress is so visible, but everyone has been so inspiring to me that I want to keep this up.  Thank you all for your encouragement!  -Susan

Day Four

Four days in, and I haven't had any carb withdrawals.  That is amazing.  Usually I go through a detox from carbs with chills and aches by now.  Thank you, Advocare!  The scale this morning says that I am down 3 pounds.  Lets hope I can keep up this pace!  I am a realist, though, and at some point I'm sure a pound a day will stop.  Right now it is probably that my body is removing excess bloat from poor eating.  Hey...whatever makes the scale move down, I'm not complaining.  While I was working out yesterday, I had a thought I wanted to share with you.  When my brain tells me that I am "hungry," I now have to learn how to silence that deceiving voice and learn when I am really hungry, not bored or nervous or excited about something.  Getting that inner voice to shut up may be a challenge.  Even harder than that, though, will be teaching myself how to turn on the new voice that reminds me that I need to work out and stay healthy for the rest of my life.  For years, my weight has fluctuated up and down, up and down.  I have tried throwing out my "fat pants" in hopes that I would be inspired to keep off the weight.  Eventually, I just gave up and keep clothes in my closet from size 6 to 16.  I am a realist.  I have been down this road before.  I want to get this weight off and KEEP it off.  That will involve shutting up the old "I'm hungry" voice and finding a new voice.  Keeping it off is the really hard part. Maybe I just need to want it bad enough to make some changes in my life, like putting myself first and keeping myself there.  Anyone else have any suggestions?  Thanks for reading!  -Susan

Day Three

Day 3 arrived with me waking up BEFORE my alarm and NOT wanting to hit the snooze bar!  That hasn't happened in a long time.  I'm guessing the "carb coma" is a real thing.  I have been a little more hungry this morning, but just had my mid-morning snack of hard-boiled eggs and am feeling satisfied.  I will say that my biggest struggle so far has been to make time for working out.  For instance, my mother-in-law is in town today for a funeral and wants to see me on my lunch hour.  I need to work out on my lunch hour as I can't after work because I have a meeting tonight.  I am hoping she can drop by my office and say hello, but I need to work out and will have to find a way to fit it all in.  Also, tonight I have a sorority meeting that starts with a big dinner.  Part of me wants to go because I know I can stick to the foods I can eat (lots of fruits and veggies without dips), but the other part wants to avoid the dinner like the plague.  I really don't want to watch other people enjoying foods that I can't eat.  That just makes me feel deprived.  On the other hand, going to the dinner gives me power to be able to make this a life-long change.  I just don't think I'm there yet.  I think I would still feel too deprived of all of the yummy food in the "beige" food group.  I haven't yet reached the stage where "skinny tastes better than cheesy potato casserole."  Plus, I don't want to have to cook a yummy dish, smell it, then not eat it.  Okay...I think I have talked myself out of going to the dinner portion of the meeting.  :-)  On the plus side, my energy and focus have been really strong this morning without coffee.  I watch the college kids drudge around on too little sleep and too much caffeine, while I feel almost too perky for words.  Let's hope that this side effect continues!  We'll see what tomorrow brings...

Day Two

Okay, so today is Day 2.  I am doing the Advocare 24 Day Challenge in which the first 10 days are a 10 day Cleanse.  So far, I am feeling pretty good.  I keep waiting for the carb withdrawal to kick in and leave me feeling like I have the flu.  So far, that hasn't happened.  The first 10 days of the "Cleanse" involve avoiding dairy, high-fat foods and alcohol.  I am eating a lot of hard-boiled eggs, tuna, almonds, veggies, and fruits.  No soda, only water and SPARK which is an Advocare drink.  (I love SPARK!)  I haven't really missed the high-fat foods yet.  I'll be honest, though.  I miss my evening glass of wine.  I worked out both yesterday and today on the elliptical machine and added the rower today as well.  I am fighting a case of plantar fasciitis (also known as my excuse for not getting started sooner!) so I am sticking to low-impact activities at this point.  Feeling good about making this commitment, but I am nervous about the future:  Will I be successful?  How long will this take?  Will I give up if I don't see results?  How will I feel in a few weeks when the "new and exciting" wears off?  Stay tuned....    Susan

Okay....so once again I have started a diet and exercise plan.  Why, oh why do I let myself get overweight and out of shape?  Honestly, I don't make myself a priority.  Couple that with the fact that I just don't like to have to work out or watch what I eat.  Unfortunately for me, I have to diet AND exercise to lose weight...not like some of my friends who can do one or the other and successfully lose weight with ease.  **Audible sigh.**  I guess it's just what I've been given. 

You may be wondering what possessed me to lose weight this time?  Several things.  I feel gross and my clothes (yes, even the "fat" ones) are getting tight.  You know it's a bad sign when you bend over to tie your shoe and get a bloody nose.  Also, I just don't like how I feel about myself.  I feel so out of control.  Well, it's time to take charge.  Nobody else can do this for me (trust me, I checked), so it's go-time. 

I decided to blog about my journey as a way to chronicle my experiences, both good and bad, in the hopes that it will keep me inspired to get the weight off and for once KEEP it off!  If anyone else follows me, great!  Perhaps my struggles and accomplishments will allow others to realize they are not alone, or keep you inspired.  Watch for my daily report of what I am doing and how I am feeling.  Wishing everyone else considering this journey the best of luck!

-Susan