Woo Hoo Nice Weigh-In!

So scale at official weigh-in at Kaiser Monday night showed 24 total pounds lost in the six weeks that I've been on Optifast product only. Nice! Down seven pounds since the weigh-in two weeks ago. That suffering at the buffet was worth it!

Weigh-In Tomorrow Night

So, tomorrow (Monday night) is our check-in/weigh-in/weekly cohort meeting. It's been two weeks since my last weigh-in - two hard weeks - so all I can say is the scale better have some good news for me. None of this "two pounds" shit, pardon my French, LOL!! I'll post tomorrow night and hopefully have some decent stats to post! ;-) It will be six weeks of being on the Optifast product-only phase, as of Feb. 28 Tuesday morning...

Buffet Torture

The good news is I'm home as of tonight from my almost-week vacation. And the best news is I stayed on the program. But MAN it was tough. My family and I went to TWO buffets in Reno. The first one was in celebration of Chinese New Year. I love Chinese food!!! Kung Pau Chicken, Potstickers, on and on. Then the next night it was a super fabulous buffet with delicious seafood (crab legs, shrimp and more - unlimited), all kinds of entrees (prime rib, steak, etc.), ethnic food, and the desserts! Everything imaginable, from cookies to brownies to fruit cobblers to gelato to cake pops to chocolate covered marshmallows.

And then there were all the other meals from the free happy hour and breakfasts to pizza parlors with friends to Asian restaurants. And I had to ignore them all. But.I.did.

Weigh-Ins

So last Monday's weigh-in was pretty underwhelming - 2 lbs. Now this coming Monday we won't be meeting because of the holiday, so it's a two week gap.

Tough times ahead! Tomorrow I leave on vacation for 5 nights in a hotel, surROUNDed by food and adult beverages - sigh. I know the trick is not to get too hungry. Mostly I'm not hungry. But sometimes I am, and have terrible cravings - mostly all salty stuff. Chinese food! I just drool over bringing home a big takeout of Kung Pao Chicken. But I know the right way to frame this is that (once off meal-replacement products) I will be able to make dishes CLOSE to Kung Pao Chicken but with less starch and oil, no or little rice, and lots of veg. But still I flinch every time I drive by a Chinese restaurant, no matter how hole-in-the-wall.


I've been doing water exercise more than before (4 days a week?), and do plan to start walking, once back from vacation. I (very very sadly) lost my 2-week-old FitBit (took it off by a pool, gone when I came back) and now have ordered a much cheaper watch-type device that counts steps and is waterproof. But the directions (obviously written by a non-English speaker) gave me such a headache that I'm putting off getting it set up till I'm back.

I'm drinking more (Crystal-light-flavored) water and really trying to do the right thing. I'm hopeful that the next weigh-in will be much more impressive!!

End of Week Three Weigh-In

Weighed in last night at Kaiser at 182.5, which is 3.2 pounds down, for a total of 14.6 pounds since starting three weeks ago. My home scale this morning (always less than the evening Kaiser weigh-ins) was in the one seventies for the first time in I can't remember when. If I keep on losing at least three pounds a week than my next Kaiser weigh-in should also show me having broken into the 170s which would be nice.

Clothes Shopping

I literally haven't gone shopping for clothes for myself for over 6 months. I retired the end of August, and since I'm not working, have less money, and lots of clothes in the closet, I saw no reason to buy any more. But I'm going to a special dinner Saturday night with my sister, and thought I should get a new outfit.

When you're big, shopping is depressing. Mirrors are not your friend. And there's nothing worse than realizing you barely - or don't - fit into the largest size carried by the store. At almost 200 pounds (before starting the diet) and 5' 3" I was big, but not BIG big. I know there are people who have to find those stores that carry much larger sizes or order online. But either way, it's just not fun.

My last shopping trip for clothes I was in the 18-20 size range at stores like Dress Barn. Extra-large at Target was no longer fitting. Even though I've "only" lost almost 15 pounds so far on this diet, tonight I was able to fit into smaller clothes sizes. The pants I bought tonight are size 14, though I look poured into them and really hope the zipper doesn't pop. But I'm going to be getting smaller, so...

Anyway, I was able to buy pants and a top that didn't make me cringe and want to put a gun to my head when I looked in the mirror, so that was fabulous.

Checking in with the Doc

This weight loss program isn't cheap, and isn't covered by Kaiser health insurance. Of course the cost of the product shouldn't be counted (as we aren't buying food at grocery stores, restaurants, etc. while on the diet) but somehow those costs do get counted in our minds. But the not insignificant non-food cost of the program covers a number of things, including the staff who order, sort and bag our products, who check us in each week, taking weight and blood pressure, our group leader who we meet with each week, and the doctor that we see each month as well as the cost of the lab work also done monthly.

We are starting week four, and tonight we each met with a doctor about the results of lab tests done last week, our progress, and other matters. The doctor was NOT happy with my water consumption. We are supposed to drink a gallon of water a day. I'm drinking less than half that. I thought it was just for weight loss, but he says it is also important for the liver and gall bladder, when on this diet. That's motivating. I don't want major organ problems! So tomorrow, I have to get serious about water.

He also wants me to exercise more. I do a "gentle water" class at the gym maybe twice a week, and use some stretchy bands a few minutes each day. So yeah, lots of room for improvement.

It was a good talk with the doc, because this is a big time and money investment to improve my health, and I should be 100% committed, which means not just the products but the water, exercise, and other components (logging, etc.) of the program. So, new resolve moving forward!

Noticing Weight Loss

So when you weigh almost 200 pounds, almost nobody notices a loss of even 15 pounds, which I think I'm close to having lost. But, my sister actually did say she noticed, and mentioned my face. And then I remembered that yes, of course, the first weight comes off where (if you're older than 50) you don't particularly want it taken from. The wrinkles get deeper as the weight comes off, dang it! But I do notice I have less of a double chin, so that's good anyway! It will be fun when clothes start to get too big.

Got through the weekend OK (even the food court at the mall, where the Chinese place was calling my name, and the buttered popcorn at the movie I took the kids to) and on to the weigh-in and meeting tomorrow night.

Double Hotel Week - So Much Food, So Little Ability to Eat It

So Monday I was at the Embassy Suites in Monterey (with the complementary happy hour, full breakfast, plus extra treats as told in my blog post!) then Saturday night I'll be at another Embassy Suites (Sacramento) for my daughter's birthday - also same happy hour and breakfast, PLUS family dinner out at Joe's Crab Shack in Old Sac. And then there's me with my shake boxes and powdered soup. Party on! 😒

This is a doozy of a week. I don't normally have TWO hotel stays in one week. And then there's Superbowl on Sunday! That's a lot this week, but I'm hoping to make it until our meeting on Monday without succumbing.

Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming....