Re-starting

Wow, that didn't last long. I did Medifast for 2 days before I gave up. I'm back on it today, though. Today I booked our family summer vacation to EASTERN CARIBBEAN !!! Yes, I can hardly stand it. Our vacation is total motivation for sticking with my diet and getting back in the gym.

I used to be a total gym rat ... going 5-6 days a week and weight training 3 of those days with my trainer. I CAN do it again (minus the trainer -- there is no more money for that!!). I've been experiencing some knee issues lately (caused by my weight gain) so I'm going to start back with lap swim. I love the water ... i'm a fish ... and I'm pretty good at it. So that's where I'll start. Slowly I'll get back out in front of everyone and do the weights. Until then, I have weights here at home.

So today started out with a chocolate medifast shake, then had a peanut butter crisp bar mid-morning, and a bag of chili nacho puffs. I'm actually not even hungry today which is great ! I'm making chicken tonight and have the motherload of salad fixins in the refrigerator.

Medifast Day 1

Wow, has it really been OVER a year since I last posted? Since then so many things changed as far as my weight goes. I lost 2 trainers within 2 months of eachother, got placed with another that I didn't really do well with, so needless to say I haven't been to the gym since the MIDDLE OF JUNE !!! I've gained back another 15 lbs or so .... so I'm now only 10 pounds less than my all time high ... and 40 pounds over my all time low. I'm miserable.

So ... today I start a new journey. A friend of mine has been so successful on the Medifast 5 & 1 plan so I thought I'd try it too. So far, I don't like it. I'm hungry, grouchy, and the food tastes like crap (o.k., except for the peanut butter crunch bar I had for breakfast). The plan consists of 5 Medifast "meals" (all the size of a tiny snack ... seriously) and 1 "Lean & Green" meal that you make yourself (5-7 oz. of LEAN protein and 3 veggies from a specific list (no onions, carrots, peas, corn, any veggie that is starchy in the least).

Here are my findings on Day 1.

Medifast "Meal" (hereto referred to as MM) #1:

I chose the Peanut Butter Crunch bar and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. I could have eaten the whole box of 7! The bar was seriously a tad less than 3" long. It was over with in a few bites. Next time I will eat teeny tiny bites and attempt to spread it out over 5 minutes at least.

MM #2:

After playing tennis this morning I was starving out of my mind and decided to have the Dutch Chocolate shake. Since all my previous attempts at different shakes were made with non-fat milk, I was cautiously optimistic because t his was made with 8 oz. of water. Surprisingly, it wasn't that bad and I could handle these if I had to.

MM #3:

Since this would be my "lunch", I decided to go for the chili. I usually always love chili. When I was on Nutri System i ADORED their chili and would get one for every day of the week. hahaha. Well, let me tell you this. This is NOT chili! You know how Ina Garten always says "how bad can that be"? Well, this was BAD !!!!!! It was bland and has some sort of mystery meat in it and it really scared me. Plus, it looks NOTHING like the picture on the box as you can see.

This is a picture of my tasting the so-called chili:

It kind of resembled vomit. Seriously. OH OH OH, and it totally exploded and spilled all over my microwave and left me with this mess:

The chili was promptly put down the garbage disposal and I made a packet of Cream of Broccoli Soup. Luckily when I ordered they had the option of ordering sample packs of this so I was not stuck with a box if I didn't like it. I wasn't so lucky when it came to the chili. I have 6 more packs in the box and I will probably end up throwing them out.

The soup was so-so. I ate it only cuz I was starving and was actually really full afterward. I also had a bag of crackers as a "snack" to go with my soup (we are allowed 1 SNACK per day from the approved SNACK list ... a list which by the way includes 3 stalks of celery. Who in their right mind would even count 3 stalks of celery as a snack when you are only allowed ONE SNACK? That is ZERO food and I won't count it. You burn more calories just breathing than celery provides. Needless to say, my excitement over having at least a few crackers was quickly extinguished. They were tasteless and kind of stale. Kind of like a water cracker. Oh, and this was the garden vegetable flavor. I tasted no vegetable in it LOL.

MM #4:

On my way out to volunteer for cat rescue, it was the perfect time to eat my next MM. I chose the Chili Nacho Cheese Puffs. I was very excited for these and looked forward to them all day. They looked like taco flavored Kix cereal LOL. Let's just say my enthusiasm ended after I ate the first one. The texture was perfect but they tasted like little dough balls with a weird after taste and they were seasoned with something like unsalted taco seasoning. Not that great. But again, I was starving so I ate them.

Lean & Green:

My Lean & Green main meal tonight was veggies and chicken. BORING. I also ruined my wok today while trying to clean off the burned oil (using Comet) after making Kung Pao Beef the night before for the family. I didn't have the right oil (you need an oil that has a high smoking point) so I used olive oil and the dang stuff burned. Anyhow, all my chicken tonight completely stuck to the wok, something it's NEVER done before. The veggies were boring, too. (no pic, sorry).

MM #5:

My last "meal" of the day is the pudding. It had a horrible after taste. I would much rather eat a sugar free Jello brand pudding for only 60 cals than eat this chemical tasting one for 100. No picture of this as I forgot to take a picture. It's your basic brown pudding LOL.

My thoughts on Medifast are that while it may be great for some (my friend has had great success with it), it is NOT for me. I am completely miserable after 1 day and I can tell I can not stick with this. Eating 100 calorie meals every 3 hours would be o.k. if the food tasted good ... but this stuff is so incredibly ill tasting that I am on the verge of cheating big time. Oh, and I did "cheat" today already and it's only Day 1. I had a 50 calorie serving of no-sugar added applesauce. Big whoop!!! It was AWESOME ROFL.

UPDATE THE NEXT MORNING: Last night I was so hungry and miserable I "cheated" with a fuji apple and a piece of Laughing Cow Cheese. It was the most wonderful thing I ate all day. Then I went psycho and ate 10 (maybe more?) Tostitos tortilla chips. I still am down almost 2 pounds my first day ROFL.

The Month After Christmas

Twas the month after Christmas,
and all through the house,
Nothing would fit me,

not even a blouse.

The cookies I'd nibbled,

the chocolate I'd taste

At the holiday parties

had gone to my waist.

When I got on the scales

there arose such a number!

When I walked to the store

(less a walk than a lumber),

I'd remember the marvellous meals I'd prepared;

The gravies and sauces and beef nicely rared,

The wine and the rum balls, the bread and the cheese

And the way I'd never said, "No thank you, please."

As I dressed myself in my husband's old shirt

And prepared once again to do battle with dirt...

I said to myself, as I only can,

"You can't spend a winter, disguised as a man!"

So, away with the last of the sour cream dip.

Get rid of the fruit cake, every cracker and chip.

Every last bit of food that I like must be banished

Till all the additional ounces have vanished.

I won't have a cookie, not even a lick.

I'll want only to chew on a long celery stick.

I won't have hot biscuits, or corn bread, or pie.

I'll munch on a carrot and quietly cry.

I'm hungry, I'm lonesome, and life is a bore...

But isn't that what January is for?

Unable to giggle, no longer a riot.
Happy New Year to all, and to all a good diet.

Update to Training Contract

I got a call back yesterday afternoon from the guy I spoke to at the gym and we went back and forth about me getting out of my contract early. He says to cancel the contract I would have to pay half of my remaining months (4) and I would have the sessions from those months left to use (only 8). Well, I have 4 more months left in my contract (at $200/month) so I would have to pay half of those ($400). I already have a bunch of sessions banked up (52) that they gave me to bribe me to sign for a new year contract but I said just keep those sessions and let me out of my contract. I'm not looking to get free sessions, I just want out and I don't want to pay another cent to LA Fitness. He didn’t know how to answer me so he said he’d talk to Manager X and one of them would call back. Well this was around 1:00 yesterday and I never did get a call back.

In the meantime, I emailed my Friday trainer that didn’t show and told her I was cancelling my contract.

A wave of freedom suddenly came over me. After 3-1/2 years of training with someone, I know enough to train someone else and I can certainly train MYSELF!

I will be really proud WHEN I do it on my own and finally lose my weight that has haunted me most of my life.

Oh, oh, and right smack in the middle of all this I killed my cell phone yesterday when it fell out of my pocket as I was getting out out of my car, and it got caught when I closed my car door. Here's a pic of the devastation. Just what I need right now. I don't have a phone upgrade available right now so if I get out of my stupid contract at least I can buy a phone! LOL (or use the ugly one I have from 4 years ago that's old and scratched all over).

Weekly Update

I am going to try to update at least weekly. If anything good happens, I"ll post more.

As far as my weight goes, Jan. 5 was my re-start day and I've only lost 4 pounds. I had actually lost 4 as of last Saturday, then gained 2, then lost again. Today I weighed and I'm back to where I started. Could be time of the month since I've been craving chocolate something horrible and the M&Ms called my name (and I answered! LOL). But, I didn't eat enough to gain 4 pounds so I'm calling it water retention and I'll deal with it.

I didn't go to the gym all week. Since I lost my Mon/Wed trainer, I have no motivation to go. I am getting in some upper body workout while at physical therapy Tuesdays and Thursdays, so at least I"m getting SOMETHING. Today I went for my regular 9:30 Friday and my trainer didn't show! No phone call, nothing, so I did the bike for 35 minutes then headed over to do some legs on my own. I did o.k., but not going to the gym (or at least not doing any legs) in over a month I really notice strength lost.

On my way out I asked to talk to someone about getting out of my training contract. I've made the decision to get out of it and do my workouts on my own. They hemmed and hawed but you know what? I know what I want (to get out of this stupid contract) and i WILL get out of it. Since I started training at LA Fitness in May of 2005, I've spent over $10,000 on training (not including my monthly ripoff of $34.99 a month for the basic gym membership -- I think they should INCLUDE that when you are paying $200-$250 a month for training, but that's another story). Anyhow, of course no one was available to help at the time, so I left my name and number with someone.

*** WARNING: Please note that in the next paragraph I don't speak too nicely about someone, so if you are easily offended by bad language, please don't read any further. ***

The guy I talked to said either he'd call me back when he was done with another client, or have the Manager X (name hidden to protect myself – but he’s the asshole who is the whole reason I lost my trainer) call me. If X is the one that calls me, just wait until I get ahold of his puny ass. He's a short little shit with his head in his ass and I"m going to give him hell for being such a prick. He’s the whole reason my trainer left and I’m just really pissed. O.K., now I"m getting mad and can feel my blood pressure rising, so I better end this. I'll post with the outcome.

Another new trainer ???

On Tuesday I learned that my trainer Ryan that I had on Mondays and Wednesdays had left the gym. I was hoping he would transfer to another location but he decided to leave all together. I am sad. Question is .... do I find ANOTHER trainer for those days (that will be my 4th trainer there), go with my Friday trainer for all 3 days, or try to get out of my stupid contract early ??? I'm really mad at the manager of that facility and feel like just bailing all together but I don't know if I'll be able to get out of my training contract. Then if I do get out of it, where do I go ??? To make it easy I could go with my Friday trainer for all 3 days but I really liked having different people. Everyone trains differently and I didn't get burned out. So .... if you're reading this Ryan ... thanks for everything. You are awesome and you'll do great wherever you go. Best of luck to you and I'll miss you. :-(

I'm also worried about my shoulder. After 4 weeks of therapy it's finally much improved. I have 4 more visits to go. I worry about training 3x a week again and starting the process all over again.

I worked out Friday with someone new when my Friday trainer had to bail on me last minute. I didn't mind, but it's not the same as working out with someone you know and trust already. I had to warn him about my arm, not to make me do too much involving shoulders, so we did a lot of bicep and abs and I've been in pain all weekend LOL.

I did some tricep work, then bicep curls on cable, then supersets of bicep curls using the easy bar. Then we headed to the nautilus machine for some abs and did some oblique crunches and regular crunches. It's the obliques that are killing me.

I haven't weighed today, but as of yesterday (Saturday) I am down 4 pounds from Monday so that's good. This holiday weight is going bye-bye. Whoo hoo. I've dieted and lost weight so many times before that I need to stay focused and stay busy so I don't think about being hungry.

Color is a Good Thing

Someone sent this to me on email and I thought it was so funny I had to share:

Yesterday I went to the doctor for my yearly physical.

My blood pressure was high, my cholesterol was high,

I'd gained some weight, and I didn't feel so hot.

My doctor said eating right doesn't have to be complicated

and it would solve my physical problems. He said

just think in colors...
Fill your plate with with foods that have bright colors...

greens, yellows, reds, etc.

So ... I went right home and ate an entire bowl of :

And sure enough, I felt better immediately.
I never knew eating right could be so easy.