LoseIt!

Jax, my new Body Bugg, came today. YAY! I can't wait to get home tonight to get it all hooked up and ready to go. I have PROMISED myself that I will do a few productive things before I start. Ha! I fully expect this thing to make me lose 30 pounds in the next 3 months! Just kidding! I know it won't do the work for me, but wouldn't it be nice? Yesterday was my 2nd full day of logging calories consumed. I worked SO hard and what was my reward?? No movement on the scale. It must be broken. Surely if I'm doing something I don't want to be doing, the earth would shift, the heavens would shine down on me and I would get what I want, right? Apparently, the universe begs to differ. Off to do some work. I will post some pictures of me and Jax tomorrow.

I have a problem eating too quickly and I need to learn to show more patience as you are. Flexibility is such an important thing with this process. Go you!

...or in this case a somewhat plump, (but soon to be svelte) and sassy liar. :thumbup: As I told you all yesterday, I have committed to 4 weeks of logging calories burned and calories consumed. My Body Bugg comes in the mail on Wednesday, but I didn't want to delay starting. Yesterday was Day 1. About lunch time, it was quite clear to me that I was lying to myself about the calorie count for what I have been eating. My current theory: it is my understanding that a pound equals 3500 calories, so to lose 2 pounds in a week, I would need to have a 7000 calorie deficit a week. That translates to 1000 calorie deficit per day. My metabolism test said that I burn 2200 calories per day and I'm estimating that I burn about 300 calories during my work outs. (I can't wait for Jax (my Body Bugg) to tell me for sure!) That means that I would need limit my calories (roughly speaking) to 1200 on non-work out days and 1500 on work out days. Yesterday was a work out day, so I allowed myself 1500 calories. I planned it out at the beginning of the day because I have found that I'm not so good on the fly. You are SHOCKED, aren't you?? What I learned in one day (which I probably alreday knew but was subconsciously denying) was that I treat myself too much in the evening (especially when I have worked out) and I have too much of a tendency to pick high fat proteins over lean proteins. Since I am in a decent exercise routine, the next 4 weeks will be about making better food choices. My goal is to lose 120 pounds. I feel that the first 60 pounds has been relatively easy since my hard work has been in exercise which I'm finding (gasp!) somewhat enjoyable. I say relatively easy, because it certainly wasn't EASY easy. But I haven't exactly been putting up every effort. Controlling my food intake (for me) is the hard part. I believe it is going to take a lot more of that to get through the next 60 pounds. Thank goodness I have you all in my corner!! Now I just have to figure out how I'm going to get myself up early to Yoga. It's only a 1/2 hour earlier than normal, but you would think it was the middle of the night! :smile2:

Yuck! I do hate "the stuck". I'm glad you made it through without too much of an incident.

Oooohhh...a weight starting with a 1! That is an awesome goal to reach. I KNOW you can do it. DEFINITELY, Go you!!

How wonderful! It can be frustrating sometimes, but this tool has made it doable for me. I'm so glad that you are happy. Good luck!

Hee! I know the feeling. Good for you!

Congratu-freaking-lations!!! 120 pounds in 10 months is a wonderful success. Go you! I love your comment about having a taste of the thinner life and wanting more. I could not possibly agree with you more!! Good luck to you in your plateau busting!!

This process can be very frustrating! Even though I absolutely hate logging my calories, I have found that it makes a difference. Even if it is just for a couple of days to get an idea of where you are. I find that my nibbles add up more than I ever thought. You might give it a shot. If you are doing what you should, it will eventually work! I'm not good with patience either so I totally feel you!!

Glad things went well!

Wowzaa...Friday sucked. Flat out one of the top (bottom) ten work days I've ever had. In one decision, I cost my struggling company about $40k that it sincerely doesn't have. I was a basket case on Friday and it took me long into the weekend to get a grip on my mood. Objectively, I knew about 2 hours in that it wasn't truly my fault and about 4 hours in I had determined that with the information I had at the time, I would make the same decision every time. But it took me about 24-30 hours to adjust back from my bad attitude. I was mad at EVERYBODY although I did do my darnedest not to show it. I slipped a little, but my truly awesome friends rallied and even tried to cheer me up with crazy You Tube videos. :thumbup: But by Sunday, I was all better and today is just another new workday. I have a lot of responsibility in my job and a lot of high expectations. Occassionally, I'm going to make a mistake and that is just part of life. The good news is that we may have legal rights to retrieve the money so that would be even better!! Regardless, we have all learned a lot from this experience. Moving on to Sunday...I went shopping. (Sidenote: finallyincontrol, I think you were the one that said that I love to shop? I thought of that repeatedly during the day. HA!) I now have plenty of clothes to get me through the next 20-30 pounds, I think. One of my friends here at work told me I look very SLENDER in the outfit I'm wearing today. ME...slender? Uh, okay. Huh. I will take it!! I figured out last night that I wasn't going to be down this week at my Monday morning weigh in. I even had a fill this week...a teensy weensy one, but a fill nonetheless. I ALWAYS lose a couple of pounds at least on a fill week. But I guess I have reached my first dreaded plateau. Y'all know I'm not one to sit around and find out. So...yes, I have a plan! I ordered a Body Bugg last night and it should be here sometime this week. I'm committing to a new 8 week plan. I'm not technically starting until next week since I don't have the bug which I have already named Jax (after the badass biker on Sons of Anarchy). I was going to name it Bicho (meaning bug in Spanish), but I was afraid that everyone would think that I was calling it a bitch. :smile2: I will use Jax to accurately determine calories burned during the day as well as log my calories consumed. I'm committing to using Jax for calories burned for 8 weeks. I'm committing to recording calories consumed for 4 weeks, because I honestly don't think I can get myself to do more. Hopefully after 4 weeks it will become habit, but committing to 8 weeks for something I absolutely hate to do is too overwhelming. Additionally, I'm committing to doing 20 minutes of beginner yoga 4 times per week. At least 3 of those times must be in the morning before work (because I think it would be really beneficial). Honestly, using Jax for calories burned is a no brainer. Once I got over the thought of spending $300, using it will be no big deal. Getting myself up (just 20-30 minutes) earlier in the morning is going to be a little more challenging, but I used to do it all the time. I know that once I get through a couple of weeks, I will be able to do it. Recording my calories consumed is going to be the real challenge here. Technically, it was supposed to be part of my first 8 week challenge, but I gave it up after a day and decided that I would only do it if I gained weight. I'm such a sucker to myself!! But I thought if I lowered the committment to 4 weeks, I might at least get out of the gate. I'm going to visit my brother and his family for Labor Day. They know I'm doing this and saw me at the highest at Christmas and then again 40 pounds lighter at my grandmother's funeral. There are over 5 weeks until that vacation and I would very much like to lose 10 pounds. That is a lot for me since I typically average 1.8 pounds and I seem to be slowing. BUT it is very doable. That would put me at around 70 pounds lost and only about 15-20 pounds from my lowest weight ever as an adult. I can do this! Thank you all for your good wishes and support. It makes ALL the difference in the world!

Having satiety with less makes things more flexible and allows for more possibilities. Good luck to you! And congratulation on your success so far. It is awesome that your hard work has paid off!!

I was drowing in my own stuff on Friday and missed your sadness. I'm sorry that you were down, but so glad you have found your way out of it. I completely understand what you mean!

That is the great thing about the band. You can get a little cocky, but you don't have to blow it! Go you! Congrats!

Wow! You have been through a lot. I was nervous even after the surgery, wondering if I did the right thing. Six months out...I know I did. You still have to work at it, but it makes it doable. That just makes all the difference! Best of luck to you. I hope you keep blogging and letting us know how it's going!

Gosh, that sounds terrible! I'm so glad it has passed and you feel better.

Hi, jk, welcome!! I've found that writing down my thoughts is quite cathartic and has helped me immensely on my journey. Best of luck to you!

I think it would be odd if you didn't have some intense feelings going into such a life changing procedure! Good for you for taking a step to make your life more healthy. It does make things a lot easier (in my opinion!) Best of luck to you.

I agree with Leigha, I definitely do better when I'm journaling (even though I hate it) because I tend to "forget" things. Also though, you are at the beginning and probably haven't reached proper restriction. Keep focused and do what you need to do...you are going in the right direction!!

I feel like I "amen" you every day! That is so well put and a good lesson for us all.

That is beautiful!

This is a really tough time, but do what you are supposed to do and be patient. I promise that it gets better!!

I love hearing about your workouts!