My plan.

     After talking to so many wonderful women, both in real life and on the internet, I have come up with a plan that I think will work for me.  A diet that will allow me to lose my weight quickly and safely.  A long term plan that allows me to lose my weight and learn to live within the world at the new and improved weight.  So are you wondering what my plan is yet?  Let me first give you some background.

     I am required to take my PT test here in the next few weeks.  This PT test is required both for a much needed, deserved, and wanted promotion from PFC to SPC.  This means a little more money on a monthly basis.  Passing this PT test also means that I am again eligible for tuition assistance and can get help paying for my graduate school education.  I can get up to $750 a class, and that would be really helpful in terms of staying out of debt and better off financially.
     To pass my PT test I need to train and train REALLY hard for the next month.  As I am planning on taking my PT test on May 31.  So for the next month, I will be following the following schedule:

Sit Ups (SU) & Push Ups (PU):

Monday through Saturday: 

• Do reps of each exercise as follows: 2 minutes PU -> 2 minutes SU -> 1 minute PU -> 1 minute SU -> 30 seconds PU -> 30 seconds SU
• GOAL: To do 50 sit ups in 2 minutes and 20 push ups in 2 minutes

Running:

• Monday, Wednesday, and Friday:
• Run for 30 minutes.  Make sure to cover 2 miles in the 30 minutes.
• Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday
• 30 minutes of interval running:
• Week 1: 30 seconds running, 60 seconds walking
• Week 2: 45 seconds running, 90 seconds walking
• Week 3: 60 seconds running, 180 seconds walking
• Week 4: 60 seconds running, 120 seconds walking
• GOAL: To run 2 miles in under 19:30

     But now you are asking what kind of plan I am going to follow to lose weight right?  Because exercise is never enough.  Especially to drop weight fast.  I have decided to follow the Medifast diet.  I have the support of several women online through blogs and Twitter and am VERY excited about this plan.  It is very structured.  

     If you are here from Medifast, I bet you are saying you cannot start Medifast and train the way I am going to.  You are right.  If you follow a traditional Medifast plan of 5 & 1.  After discussing my options and my situation with a Health Coach, I have decided to start the plan by using a 4 & 2 plan.  I will eat 4 Medifast meals everyday and 2 Lean & Green meals everyday.  Once I pass my PT test, I will go to the traditional 5 & 1 plan until I lose my weight.  I placed my order last Thursday.  My order shipped on Friday.  And I will start the diet the day after it arrives, no matter what day of the week that is.  

     I realize that although I have the best intentions with the plan I still may experience some tiredness and hunger, so if needed during the first week I will cut back on my exercise.  Although I am going to try my hardest not to stop my exercise.  

     So maybe you are wondering the stats: where am I at now?  where do I want to be?  how long do I think it take to get there?  

          I weigh 165 pounds as of a few days ago.  But I will weigh myself first thing on the day I start the   

                diet and will use that weight from here on out to track. 

          I would like to weigh between 135 and 140.  

          I believe that I can safely lose the 25-30 pounds within 16 weeks, or 4 months.  This is making 

                 sure that I give myself time.  I really hope to lose the weight within 12 weeks, or 3 months. 

So see you next week, after I have started Medifast.  Good luck to everyone this week. 

Nice to see you again, McFatty Monday.

So it has been 12 days since my husband left (I promise this will not become a deployment post) and I was really scared that I would come back today with a weight gain.  But I am proud to say that I did not emotionally eat.  I did not sit and pout.  I did not watch too much t.v.  I stayed active chasing Maggie around.  I stayed active organizing and cleaning and unpacking and moving into my parents' house.  And so I am proud to announce that I lost 1.6 pounds in the last week.  I weighed in at 166.4 on March 5 and weighed in at 164.8 on March 12.)  My weigh-in days are Saturday as that is the day that I go to a Weight Watchers Meeting.
So if you are paying attention at all, that means I have lost almost 8.2 pounds since starting Weight Watchers on January 15, 2011.  And it is only going to get better from here.
Why is it going to get better?  Because I went and got my YMCA membership card.  So I now have no excuse not go to the gym and not to stay active and not to loose more weight.  Because I will be at my goal weight when my husband comes home.  So I have about 233 days to lose 20-25 pounds.  I will be perfectly happy at 145, but my ultimate goal is 140.

Now to answer BA's question from over at Heir to Blair.  I do not like the idea of recommitting myself everyday.  While most people are a "I just need to survive this day", I am a deadline person & 24 hours just isn't going to cut it here.  Taking it one day at a time leaves open the opportunity that I can cheat because it is JUST one day and then those "just one days" become weeks and months.  And while I do have months to lose this weight, I do have a hero of a husband coming home to spend two glorious weeks with his wife and daughter.  And I want to look the part.  I want to look like a hero's wife.  I want to look like a million bucks when I walk into Orlando International Airport (or whatever airport it is) and hug my husband for the first time in 8 months.  And that is what drives me to get up at 5am to take a 6am class at the YMCA.  My husband.  He is the only motivation I need right now.  I would just fail miserably using the "recommit everyday thing".

Fatty Monday, I will see you in a few weeks

As you can see, I have been slacking on updating my blog with weight loss info (or much of anything) recently.  That is because my husband leaves soon, very soon and I will not see him again until (hopefully) November when he comes home on R&R for 15 days.  So I hope that can excuse me while I enjoy time with my husband instead of dieting.  I would say I should be back in full swing to update on March 14. 
So you might ask what I have been doing the last few weeks instead of counting every point and cooking every meal.  We have been going out too much, discovering just how delicious Greek yogurt really is, taking too many trips to Target and not enough to the gym, cuddling on the couch watching too much television, laughing while we play with Maggie, and enjoying  our last few weeks/days/hours we have left with each other. 
We have eaten at The Melting Pot, Applebee's (where the pork wanton tacos are too die for), Taco Bell, and Jersey Mike's.  We have drank more coffee than is healthy. 
And while doing this, I still make healthy choices.  Getting salad dressing on the side (and then never using it), snacking on carrots instead of cookies, and drinking water when sweet tea is sitting in the fridge.  I even weighed in at 164.5 pounds on Saturday morning on my scale at home.  But I also ate 3 doughnuts in 2 days and Olive Garden and drank sangria. 
But let me say goodbye to my husband, move to Florida, and settle in- then I will continue saying goodbye to my weight.  I will even get a free membership to the YMCA while I am in Florida.  So I will have no excuses.  NONE! 
So McFatty Monday, I will see you again in a few weeks.

Vacation and illness.

This was a tough week.  But a great week.

It all started on Saturday morning with last weeks weigh in.  It was then spent driving to Raleigh to spend my last weekend away with my husband and daughter.  I ate what I wanted, but made good decisions.  I ate an egg McMuffin, a wrap from Roly Poly, chicken and orzo, cheesecake, coffee, a sandwich on a pretzel, more coffee and Taco Bell.  It was a great weekend.  But I controlled my portions.  I ate healthy options (like no cheese on the wrap).

I then spent Monday and Tuesday working and working out, counting points, drinking water, being good.  And then I was hit, hard with a 24 hour stomach virus from hell.  I spent the better half of 24 hours in my bathroom.  I was so sick I called out of work but still sent my daughter to her babysitter.  In 36 hours I ate and digested about 1/2 cup of macaroni and cheese.  And on Thursday my appetite was not much better.  And Friday it was back in full force.  I did not track on Friday.  But I tried not to give into every temptation.

But after a bad week, I still lost weight.  I am not sure if it is artificial weight loss because of the stomach virus or if I lost weight.  I won't be surprised if I stay the same this next week.  But I am going to work out this week and I am going to track this week.  And I am going to drink water this week.  And I am going to be good this week.  Even with the box of girl scout cookies sitting out on my counter.

I currently weigh 166.8, down 6.2 pounds in these 3 weeks and 1.6 pounds just this week.

But I want to cover some questions that Blair from The Heir to Blair posed to her readers and participators this week in her McFatty Monday post.
Are you afraid of anything with weight loss?  With success?  With shedding old habits?  What do you think causes that fear?
And more importantly, what can we do to rise above it?


I am afraid of people hating me.  I am scared that people who are fighting the same fight with weight loss will hate me if I succeed or do "better" than they are.  I am afraid that if I give in to the unhappiness I feel now and embrace it as motivation, I will always be unhappy with how I look.  I am afraid that if I truly become healthy I will isolate my husband and I's relationship by taking away something we have in common (food).  I am afraid to lose weight and then gain it back.  I am afraid of becoming obsessed.  I am afraid that if I cut out things cold turkey that I will binge at some point or that I will become sensitive to foods I love.  (I am already becoming sensitive to sugar.)
I cause these fears.  I make myself crazy.  I make myself fearful because I put crazy ideas in my head.  There are no other excuses.
I just need to chill out and change my life, not diet.  I need to change my lifestyle and eat healthier.  I need to realize that I can enjoy food and still become healthier.  I need to make a routine and then it won't feel like pulling teeth.  It will feel like my life.  I NEED TO CHANGE MY LIFESTYLE!  And in turn I will change my life.

Even in failure, I will succeed!

Week 2 is always where it gets difficult for me.  I am all fired up for the weight loss the first week, so I never stray from the path.  Where I cannot be talked into lunch at a mexican restaurant.  Where I would never miss a workout.  Where I would never get a third slice of pizza.  Would you like to imagine my failure this week?  I did all three of those things.  But it gets better, I missed a workout to eat lunch at the mexican restaurant.  And I not only had a third slice of pizza, but a cinna-stick as well.

BUT...
I still made good decisions.  While I skipped a workout to eat lunch at a mexican restaurant, I ate only half a burrito and about 10 chips, with water.  (Much better than my usual.)  My pizza was a medium (smaller pieces) and it had fruit on it.  The cinna stick, I have no argument for that.  And because although, I failed- I am learning how to live healthier and I am learning that I can "fail" and still lose weight.  To not let it get me down, but to bounce back and get right back at it.
I failed, but I will still reach my goal in 28 or less weeks.

And without further a-do.
This week I weighed in on Saturday morning 1.4 pounds lighter than I did last week, for a total weight loss of 4.6 pounds in just 2 weeks.  As long as I average 1 pound a week or more, I will reach my goal.  And I am not discouraged.  I am even fired up.  I bought a size 8 skirt this weekend, that fits (a little snuggly) and I can't wait to fit into comfortably and beautifully.

Here is where I stand:
Weight: 168.4
Total Weight Loss To Date: 4.6 pounds
Measurements:  bust: 38.5; waist: 35.5; hips: 41

Goals for this upcoming week:
Drink more water.
Workout more.
Track food correctly.
Have fun!

Week 1 is OVER!!!

So it's time for Week 2, RIGHT???

This week was rough as I was getting into the habit of tracking points and eating better, but I made it. I hope this upcoming week is much easier when it comes to tracking points. Mostly I just need to remember to take my journal with me every where I go so that I can track my points (because I track manually, not online.)

Lets recap this week though.

- I lost 3.2 pounds this week using Weight Watchers.

- I worked out 3 times this week. Workout 1 was Week 1 Day 1 (W1D1) of both 100 push ups and 200 sit ups AND a workout on Ea Sports Active for the Wii. Workout 2 was W1D2 of 100 push ups and 200 sit ups AND 30 minutes on the elliptical. Workout 3 was W1D3 of 100 push ups and 200 sit ups AND 10 minutes on the stairclimber (or 22 flights of stairs) AND 30 minutes on the ellip

tical. (If you remember I was going to star

t C25K, but with it being so cold right now, I can't run with my jogging stroller so I must go to the gym. And at the gym it is always so hard to find a treadmill, that I gave up waiting and just use an elliptical.)

- I ate all my points everyday and used 9 points of my weekly allowance.

Here is where I am at now.

- 169.8 lbs.

- 39.5 bust, 35.5 waist, 43.5 hips

- Here are photos of me, taken Saturday 1/22/11

My goals for next week are:

- Drink more water.

- Do not use any of my allowance points (unlikely since I have another birthday party this afternoon if it doesn't snow).

- Work out 4 days this week.

- Lay off the sweets and snacking at night.

Day 1

So Saturday January 15, 2011, I went to my first weight watchers meeting of the year. (If you remember, I tried this journey last year at this same time and fell off the bandwagon quickly.) I weighed in at 173. The same exact thing I weighed last year when I went to my very first weight watchers meeting. And so I tell you this.

I AM GOING TO LOSE THIS WEIGHT. Come hell or high water, I will lose the weight. I will be 30-40 pounds lighter when my husband comes home sometime in 2012. I will be able to fit into the clothes I wore BEFORE my daughter was born. I WILL. I WILL. I WILL.

So how is it? Well it is going. Saturday I started this journey on the same day that I was to celebrate my BFFs 29th birthday party. That was a fail. But the back story is this. I said way back in December I would start my diet on January 15th because 1) I wasn't going to start dieting January 1 while I was still on vacation and 2) the 15th starts a new budget period and I would be going grocery shopping.

So I started dieting January 15th on her birthday party day and only ate 35 points worth of food, meaning that while I went over my daily allowance of 29, I used some of my weekly allowance of 49. So I am still doing okay on that.

I am going to do sit ups and push ups tonight. I was going to run today, but well we are running around with car insurance and rental car companies trying to get my car fixed from an accident that happened LAST MONTH! And I cleaned for 7 hours yesterday and walked around Target for an hour. Today we are going to go shopping again. Which will no doubt mean we are walking around for at least a few hours. And I will eat well while we are out. I will, I promise.

And while I am participating in McFatty Monday, my weigh in days are Saturdays. Because that is my weight watchers meeting day and because I am only going to weigh myself once a week.

See you guys next week.