Lisa's Weightloss Journal (comments welcomed!)

Fri. 6/17/11: I'll just cut to the chase. I did my official WI this morning and I'm down to 212.9. Woohoo!:yay: I'm only two pounds away from my 15 pound clippie which I hope to earn by next WI if I work really hard this week.

Breakfast
Special K bar, milk - 6 points

Lunch
Chicken Fajita Pita, water - 9 points
 
Sat. 6/18/11: Posting late since this past weekend was crazy busy!

Breakfast
Egg McMuffin without cheese, water - 6 points? With cheese is 8 points but I didn't have any so guess I can calculate it 6 to be safe. Drank water.

Lunch
This is gonna be tough. I had a chicken caeser salad w/no dressing but didn't eat very much of it as I wasn't feeling well so maybe 4 points? Drank water.

Dinner
Grilled chicken teriyaki rice bowl, water - yikes, 23 points!

Total: 33 points
 
Sun. 6/19/11: Another busy day and I was totally off track with how many points I was consuming but tried not to go overboard. My sister had a little party for my niece who was recently potty trained. Yes, a potty party!

Breakfast
Oops, didn't have time.

Lunch
Dare I say it? I had a grilled chicken sandwich combo with fries and a diet Coke at McDonalds.:scared1: - 21 points

Dinner
Half of a medium sized bean burrito, water - 9 points

Snack
Strawberry cupcake with cream cheese frosting (most of the frosting removed) - 8 points

Total: 38 points
 
Mon. 6/20/11: Another very busy day at work and errands to run at lunchtime.

Breakfast
Special K Honey Nut cereal bar, coffee - 3 points

Lunch
No time!

Dinner
Grilled chicken tostada, hold the guac and sour cream, water - 18 points

Snack
Yoplait light yogurt - 3 points

Total: 24 points
 


Tues. 6/21/11: I'm trying really hard to make sure I journal my food but it's not easy especially with my son graduating this week.

As for this past weekend, all in all I guess I did pretty good. I got in the scale this morning and I'm down to 212.2. So even with the crazy weekend and getting a little off track I'm still doing pretty darn good! I'm still trying to wrap my brain around the flex points and trying to be really careful and use them for special occasions and such. We had a convention on Saturday and my niece's potty party on Sunday and I clearly went over my 29 point daily allotment but was able to pull from my flex points.

Breakfast
Yoplait light yogurt, coffee - 4 points

Lunch
Cup of noodles, water - 3 points

Dinner
Turkey sandwich with lettuce and tomato, pita chips and hummus, water - 11 points

Snack
Special K cereal, milk - 7 points

Total: 25 points
 


Fri. 6/24/11: This week has been crazy and I'm exhausted! My baby graduated from high school last night and I'm so proud of him. So that's it, no more kids in high school. I'm definitely going to miss all the running around, teacher conferences, homework, all of it!:sad1:

I weighed in this morning and I'm down to 211.4 pounds so I'm a mere 4 oz. away from my 15 lb. clippie! Who knows, maybe I'll have it by Mon. I've gotta be really careful today with my eating though, it's my son's graduation dinner. But then again it's at a Greek restaurant so there are plenty of options for me to still be able to stay on plan and afford a little piece of cake.
 
Great job Lisa!!

We just had graduation for my stepdaughter a few weeks ago. She is my first to graduate. My last won't graduate for another 17 years!
 
Just checking in and seeing how you are doing Lisa. You're so close to that 15lbs (or maybe you've reached it already!).
 
Great job Lisa!!

We just had graduation for my stepdaughter a few weeks ago. She is my first to graduate. My last won't graduate for another 17 years!

Belated congratulations on your stepdaughter's graduation! Looks like you still have a ways to go with your youngest - treasure every moment, it goes by too fast!

Just checking in and seeing how you are doing Lisa. You're so close to that 15lbs (or maybe you've reached it already!).

Hi Stephie, thanks for checking in on me! I'm still having in there, I've just been so busy so it's been hard to keep up with my journal. But I've been sticking to the plan!:)
 
Mon. 7/11/11: Boy, am I behind on my journal! I've been super busy but still staying on plan. I gained a pound last week, not sure why though. I was pretty discouraged but I didn't let it get me off track. I weighed in this morning and am down to 208.5, so that's over 17 pounds lost!:yay: So now I need to change my clippie. Hopefully I'll earn my 20 lb. clippie in another week or so!

Breakfast
Two multi grain waffles with Nutella, coffe - 6 points
 
I didn't get a chance to post my weight last Friday so thought I'd pop over. I've been busy getting to know the new iPad 2 I wom at work, in fact it's my new obsession!

Anyway Friday I was down to 207.8 but when I weighed this morning I was down to 205.8! I earned my 20 lb. clip pie and reached my goal of 10% body weight lost! I set my next ww goal at 10% again which I believe I believe would be at 197 IIRC.

Better get to bed, I've been online way too long.:surfweb:
 
Yay, my journal is still here! I'm so happy!

I just finished skimming through all of my old posts. I can't believe it's been 9 1/2 years since I started it, where has the time gone?!

So I guess I'll jump right in and try to pick up where I left off. I'm still trying to lose weight. Obviously I wouldn't be here if I weren't. I started this journey off at about 230 pounds back June of '04 but didn't start journaling until August of '04 at which time I had started on Atkins. It worked really well for me and I lost 70 pounds altogether. Over the years I've continued to struggle with my weight. In '11 I started doing WW and I did lose some weight. If anyone is reading this, I'm going to get a little off topic here so bear with my. If no one is reading, that's ok too!:)

Anyway, I began losing weight again on WW. I've been able to maintain most of that loss but have gained a few of those pounds back. I think it's important to be honest and admit that there's an emotional connection to food and I've come to realize that it's not necessarily a bad thing per se. Let's face it, there's joy in eating. Over the years I've developed a love for cooking. I've always enjoyed it but for some reason the last 5 years in particular I've spent a lot of time developing my skills as a cook. I love entertaining and get a sense of satisfaction in watching others enjoy the food I make. The problem comes when I lose focus and use food as a means of soothing myself when trying to deal with life's challenges.

A major challenge that I faced which is documented early in my journal was the separation with my husband. Just a month prior to our first trip to WDW, I decided that enough was enough. We took one last family trip together in August '04 and separated the following October. Looking back, it was really the trip of a lifetime and we created some wonderful memories but sadly had to come back to reality.

After our separation, I felt at the time that a weight had been lifted off my shoulders but that was true only to a certain degree. Now I was a single mom trying to attend to my children's emotional needs related to the breakup of my marriage and became the sole provider in the home. And as strong as I felt when I made the decision to separate, the reality is that it was a loss because I loved my husband. I also felt that I had failed as a mother. When I married, it was to be for life. My parents divorced when I was very young so knowing the pain of growing up without my father, I didn't want that for my future children. So when we split I mourned but internalized my feelings because I had to keep it together for my kids.

Fast forward a few years later, I was fortunate enough to get a very nice promotion and went into management in '08. That brought it's challenges as well. I was now responsible for helping run the clinic and I still currently hold that position. I love my job but the healthcare industry can be very stressful, especially when you're in a position of responsibility.

Although we had separated, my husband and I never divorced and kept in touch over the years. He started counseling and as a result made great strides in turning his life around. During that time we had many conversations and worked through a lot of our issues and were even starting to talk about possible reconciliation. As his emotional health improved he began to take better care of himself physically. Sadly, due to years of abusing his body it was too late. His kidneys began to fail and he developed other complications related to diabetes. In late November '11 he went into cardiac arrest. He fought for as long as he could but passed away on 1/5/12.

That same year my maternal grandmother was diagnosed with liver cancer. As the eldest grandchild I was very close to her. I spent many summers at her home as a child and have so many fond memories of her. I was so loved by her and miss her tremendously. She passed away in November of '12.

My father was also diagnosed with abdominal cancer right around the same time as my grandmother. We had been estranged for many years but he reached out to me during that time. Regardless of the past, I felt that as my father I had to help him. He was alone and didn't really have anyone to care for him. I went through a roller coaster of emotions. My dad had never been one to want to talk about problems or the past, so the apology for his estrangement during my younger years never came. I didn't actually want an apology, I had forgiven my dad a long time ago. All I wanted was an acknowledgment that he wished things could have been different, but that conversation never took place and he died three weeks after my grandmother.

As difficult as those losses were, I've also experienced many blessings in my life. My sons are all grown now, well technically. They are now 20, 22 and 24. They're all still living at home and are wonderful sons. We've always been close but our bond became even stronger after I separated from my husband and they have been the light of my life. I'm so proud of them. They've been through a lot but I'm happy to say they made it through the teenage years pretty much unscathed. I look forward to being a grandparent one day but obviously when the time is right so not quite yet! My sister now has two children, a three year old boy and 6 year old girl who I adore and who will tide me over until the grandchildren come along!;) Since '04 we've gone on several more WDW trips and two Disney cruises with another coming up in coming October.:thumbsup2

So here I am, trying to refocus and take care of myself. I'm trying to pay attention to the correlation between how I feel emotionally and my eating. I'm definitely a stress eater. My boss transferred to another location in June which left me running the clinic by myself for three months until they found a replacement. And if anyone is asking why I didn't go for it, no thanks! I'm happy in my current role at my job and don't plan on asking for another promotion. That being said, the stress oftentimes leads me to comfort myself with food.

I do have a new boss who's great but we're still in transition to a significant degree, so it's been crazy at work to say the least. I'm often so tired that I don't prepare well for what I'm going to eat at work. I've digressed into the habit of skipping meals sometimes or just grabbing what's there which is often not healthy. My boss is also a foodie and he often brings me lunch - not good!

I need to get back on track so I've decided to go resume Atkins. As I said before, I did try WW but I think carb control works best for me. I'm happy to report that I never did gain back all the weight I had lost on Atkins. I gained, but I've never hit 230 again, I refuse to do that! So I'm sure the question in your mind if you're reading this is how much do I weigh now? As hard as it is to put down in black and white, this journal is about being honest, right? Ok, so I cringed this morning while getting on the scale - I'm at 208 lbs. There, I said it. Now I can move forward.:woohoo:

I am still a faithful Costco shopper so on Monday I'll be doing my groceries and will plan on purchasing induction-friendly foods. I'm prepared for the fact that I'm going to go into major sugar withdrawal but so be it, I know I'll get past it after the first week.

So goodbye for now, I'll be back in a few days, probably Tuesday which will be my first day back OP.:goodvibes
 
I know it's not Tuesday yet but I'm so excited to be restarting Atkins so I haven't been able to get it off my mind since last night.

Anyway, I think I want to try something different with my journaling this time around. I'm going to post pictures of my progress.:scared1: I know, pretty scary. It's so easy to "hide" in cyberspace but I think having an image of myself in front of my face will really help, and it only makes sense that this is the place to do it. It's true that I do have a Facebook account but I'm not into posting selfies. Besides, this journey is so incredibly personal and although the DIS is public, for some reason I just feel comfortable posting in W.I.S.H. I've always found the best support here just by reading the experiences of others and everyone has always been so nice.:group hug:

In order to get the best impact, I think I'm going to back up to August of '04. If I weren't so lazy today, I'd go down to the garage and dig up a picture of myself at my heaviest weight before I started Atkins. Maybe I'll post something pre '03 next month since I'll be starting spring cleaning then which always involves garage purging.

For now, here's a picture of me at about 159 lbs. while on our first vacation to WDW in August of '04. By this time I had lost a total of 71 lbs. Sorry it's such poor quality, it was taken with one of those cheap waterproof cameras. BTW, that's my baby boy next to me, he was 10 at the time. He's 20 now and 6'1!

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Here's a current picture of me taken when we went out to the movies the other night. I hate, hate, hate the double chin I have right now. And yes, that's my "baby" boy!

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And this would be the reason why I have a double chin! Apple granola pancakes from Carnation Cafe at DL.

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I'm thinking I should probably post a full body shot but I don't have any current ones. Lately I try to keep anyone from taking any head to toe pictures of me! I'll have to mull that one over and see how I feel about it on Tuesday. I'm off to get some inspiration from you W.I.S.H. folks. Ta ta for now!
 
Today was a crazy day at work and I got home late so there's no way I'm going to drag my exhausted carcass to Costco tonight so I'll have to go tomorrow.:sad2: That means I won't start induction until Wednesday.

In the meantime I did buy the new version of Atkins on iBooks this afternoon. I know there haven't been a whole lot of changes but I think reading up again will help motivate me. I did notice on the website that one can do induction for longer than two weeks and can exchange 3 grams of nuts with veggies. Not sure what I want to do yet. When I did the plan before I did really well and was very satisfied with the steady weight loss I experienced. Don't think I'll need to extend induction unless my body doesn't respond like before. I am 10 years older so my metabolism may not be the same as when I was 37. Ah 37, how I wish I was still in my 30s! I guess I shouldn't complain, when I'm 57 I'll wish I was in my 40s.

So getting back to work. I really need to find a way to manage my stress more effectively. I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off today and I know that if I don't learn to deal with these situations better it could stall my weight loss. I may need to start leaving the office during lunch, but that's a scary thought in and of itself. My staff is used to me being available to them at all times, especially the physicians. That's my fault though, I haven't set very good boundaries.

Well, off to do a little trip planning.
 
Hi Lisa and welcome back. You did it before and I know you can do it again. I'm back on my weight loss journey too but I haven't started journaling again. It seems there aren't enough hours in the day. 2013 had a lot of downs including learning my husband had been cheating on me for months and getting divorced. Weight loss and physical health were far from a priority. But it's a new year and I'm excited for me, and now for you too.
 
Hi Lisa and welcome back. You did it before and I know you can do it again. I'm back on my weight loss journey too but I haven't started journaling again. It seems there aren't enough hours in the day. 2013 had a lot of downs including learning my husband had been cheating on me for months and getting divorced. Weight loss and physical health were far from a priority. But it's a new year and I'm excited for me, and now for you too.

Hi Stephanie! Wow, so good to see you're still around!:hug:

I'm so sorry hear about the break up of your marriage. I can really relate to your situation. I hope you're on a path to healing. It takes time but you'll get there.

It's completely understandable that it was difficult for you to focus on your health during that difficult period. That seems to go out the window when we're dealing with such trying times. Sometimes it's all you can do to just face the day. Hopefully 2014 signifies a new beginning for you. I'm very excited for you too! If you ever need encouragement or a shoulder to cry on, feel free to visit my journal or you can always PM me.:)

I totally understand about keeping up with a journal. As you can see I've struggled with journaling, I mean this thing's 10 years old now! I'm going to do my best to try to keep up with it, especially at this stage since I'm restarting Atkins. I really need the motivation so I'm going to make the effort to come by here as often as I can. Don't know how long I'll keep up with it but I'm going to do my best!

Hope to see you around Stephanie!
 
Well, it's almost time! Today is Tuesday 1/14/14 and I'm just a few hours away from restarting Atkins. I'm so excited!

I finally made it to Costco tonight and did my biweekly grocery shopping. I picked up organic eggs, pork chops, ground beef, chicken, asparagus, cauliflower, broccoli, organic salad greens, avocados, roma tomatoes, longaniza chorizo, Ice sparkling water to name a few. I already have plenty of other Atkins-friendly items in the fridge and pantry so tomorrow I need to start planning what I'm going to cook over the weekend.

I also stopped at Target and got some Atkins bars. I was reading the label and couldn't pronounce most of the ingredients. Well, yeah I could've but the point is there were too many artificial ingredients listed. Years ago that didn't bother me too much but I'm more conscientious of those things now. I went ahead and bought them this time because I know I'll need something to soothe my sugar cravings this week.

As I mentioned earlier on, I love to cook! I have a well-equipped kitchen and a fairly robust collection of quality cookbooks, along with a subscription to Cooks Illustrated. Based on that I don't feel there's a need to buy any special low carb cookbooks, there are plenty of recipes in my collection that will be OP. I'm thinking maybe ribeye steaks, pan roasted asparagus with toasted garlic and parmesan along with a lovely salad with homemade basil vinaigrette this weekend. Yum!

There are few things that I need to be aware of so I'm going to list those here as a reminder for myself:

1. Drink 8 glasses of water a day.
2. Take my multivitamin.
3. Beware of carb creep.
4. Limit sugar substitutes to 3 packets a day.
5. Limit foods that contain artificial ingredients.
6. Try to resist getting on the scale every day. Thats a tough one for me!
7. If I do give in to temptation, don't freak out if the scale fluctuates a bit - it's normal!
8. Be aware of when I'm getting stressed out. Remember that it's ok to leave the office for lunch if I have to. The clinic won't burn down!
9. Set and maintain boundaries.
10. Remember that fatigue and sugar withdrawal are temporary. Increased energy is around the corner.
11. Get enough sleep.
12. Don't skip meals!
13. Document in my journal.
14. Reward myself with a treat upon completion of the first two weeks. Treat means a pedicure or buy a new outfit that's a couple sizes too small. It'll be something to look forward to!

Nighty night!
 
Wed. 1/15/14

Today is my first day back OP and I'm so happy! Not sure if I' ll be feeling as enthusiastic in a few more days but I'm mentally prepared for the low energy and crankiness I may experience.

I'm going to go ahead and jump right on in and post my menu so far.

Breakfast
2 scrambled eggs
3 strips of bacon
16 oz. of water
multivitamin

Lunch
Grilled chicken
1.5 cup salad greens
.5 Roma tomato
Ranch dressing
16 oz. of water

Dinner
Ground taco meat
Slice of cheese
1 cup broccoli
16 oz. Ice sparkling water

One thing I forgot to post yesterday are my goals and stats.

Height: 5'4
Current weight: 209 lbs.
Long term goal: 125 - 135 lbs.

I've decided to set a short term goal of 20 pounds by 3/15/14. We shall see!



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