Triple Temptation

Not enough that the hotel I'm at has happy hour with free snacks and wine, and then a full complimentary breakfast tomorrow. But when I  check in (with my one and three year old granddaughters) I'm told that I'm "Guest of the Day" and given a bag with chips and a candy bar.  Then when I get to my room there's a knock on the door and it's room service with a free bottle of wine, two glasses, and two bags of candy of the chocolate/salted caramel persuasion. How come this never happens to me when I'm NOT on a diet??

Monday Weigh-In - Late

Lost 3.6 pounds. Well I knew it would be less but trying not to be disappointed. And my blood pressure went down a few points but probably because I haven't had any caffeine since this morning. Well, off to the meeting.

Weigh-In Monday - Early

Tonight is our weekly "cohort" meeting at Kaiser where we weigh in. I was hoping my home scale would be at 180 by now but it's 184 point something. Darn it. Given what I'm eating it seems to me the weight should be flying off. Won't be as exciting as last Monday for sure. Maybe two, at most three pounds? Puny results. Trying to be patient and hang in there.

I'll have my last bar after the weigh-in, and my soup when I get home. Already had my breakfast shake. So a Diet Coke and Bar for snack, then two more shakes between now and weigh-in at 6:45 pm! And I'm babysitting the three grand-kids beginning at noon, so could be a long day...

Food Temptations & Expectations

So I went to one pre-paid dinner this weekend with two granddaughters, and the hamburgers and hotdogs were pretty easy to pass up but I did crave some of the chips that were given to us with our meal tickets. (Also looked covetously at the wine bar but at least it wasn't free, which made it easier.)

Then on Sunday I went to visit my son and daughter-in-law's new townhouse and she had made scones just for me. And I haven't told them I'm this diet and didn't choose to mention it today. I should have - I'm a big chicken. But I was only going to be there half an hour and didn't think food would come up. And they live in a different town so thought I'd wait until there was actually something to SHOW for my effort. It's easier to mention a diet when someone says the magic words, "Have you lost weight?" So, I took one bite (against my better judgment), shoved some in my purse and buried the rest in the napkin. [Queue sound of chicken squawking...]

Telling Others About Your Diet

Ahead of time I told no one. This first week I've told my sister, and then my (33 year old) daughter. My sister was supportive though worried about the low calorie intake. I told her because she invited me out to dinner. I tried to reassure her by saying (truthfully) that it was medically managed through Kaiser.

I told my daughter for various reasons, and her first statements were, "But what about when we go out for my birthday? You're not going to eat and drink with me?" Um, sadly, no can do. Then she began cooking for her kids and waving the pans and plates under my nose. So I guess she would go under the category of LESS than supportive.

I still haven't told my husband. We cook separately and he's incredibly oblivious of anything I do, or for example that I have no food in the kitchen. If he ever notices my weight loss I'll mention it then. ;-)

As far as friends, I think it will be on a need to know basis...

Putting Technology to Use

Might as well use technology to help with weight loss. Since starting the Kaiser weight management program I've been use the Lose It app to log my products. Kind of boring since the same every day if not in the same order, but supposedly good practice for when we go back to food. Makes sense. You can also enter weight, goals, even exercise though I'm not doing that last one.

For exercise/movement related issues, I got a Fitbit which I just set up and am wearing for the first time today. No idea what it will say in terms of steps. Even though I no longer have a desk job (retired in September from a super sedentary job) I'm not exactly jogging through my day. But gotta start somewhere!

Woo Hoo! Eight Pounds Down First Week!

Despite being an "older, short" woman, my loss was one of the biggest in our group I think. Two women mentioned losing 3.5 pounds each, and one man, who was quite happy, said that he lost nine, but the leader pointed out that he was male, taller, etc. than most of us. So yeah, eight pounds down is good! (Official weight - 189.3) But we don't officially share our weight loss, and I certainly didn't mention mine!

I'm wearing the same outfit for weigh-in each week, and no shoes, to be consistent. Of course it won't stay 8 pounds a week! I know there's water weight lost the first week. I am NOT drinking all the water I'm supposed to - though more than I normally do! Something to work on.

The first on-product meeting was productive, with people sharing tips, and the commonality of being hungry, having cravings, getting headaches, dealing with people who don't know we're on a special diet. Seems like a good group.

Two people already dropped out! The reality of the products hit them, I guess. Hopefully the rest of us (17 I think) will stay the course.

My blood pressure was a little higher but I'm not worried. With weight going down it will go down too in time, I know.

So yeah, things are looking good! On to Week Two. I do have one dinner (paid for already, including wine) to survive on Saturday, but otherwise, should be smooth sailing - or as smooth as possible with less than 1000 calories per day. But it's temporary, a break from food, just for fifteen more weeks, I can do it.

Dreams...

Dreamt of ice cream and marshmallow sauce. That is all.

Hotel Does Not Equal Lots of Eating and Drinking!

So I'm in a hotel for two nights out of town, and normally hotel, vacation, away from home etc. means BRING ON THE YUMMY FOOD! So I'm struggling but winning the battle to stay on the program products even though there's room service and a great hotel restaurant and of course a mini
bar and lots of other opportunities to eat OFF program.

Also there's no scale here so can't weigh in till Monday morning when back home. But that might be a good thing because that scale had better have moved when I get back! And then Monday night will be the first cohort meeting since we went on product-only. Should be interesting!

The "Scale hasn't Moved" Blues

So I woke up early feeling absolutely empty. Like my stomach was the Grand Canyon. If you dropped a rock in it, it would fall forever. Not really a great feeling, but I thought, time to get on the scale. I must have lost a lot since I feel so empty. But sadly, no change from yesterday!

The Kaiser program leader said first week weight loss was double digits! It's day five and not seeing that. But maybe that's for men, and not "older short women" like me!

Tired........

Not too surprising on less than 1000 calories! Feeling wiped out. Glad I'm retired (as of September)  so I don't have to be getting up at oh dark thirty and then working eight hours. Wonder how the others in my "cohort" are doing this week...

Day Three - Woke Up Feeling Shaky

So they warned us we might feel headachy, a little shaky. Check and check. Headache yesterday, today woke up feeling shaky. (No pun intended - shakes, shaky, get it?)

I can't say I'm hungry exactly, but I've been having cravings. A steak. Salmon. Pasta with butter and Parmesan cheese.

Plus, food is everywhere. A number of Facebook groups I'm in post recipes, food, etc. Scroll scroll scroll. And I am so used to eating the kids leftovers. (I live next door to my one, three and eight year old grandchildren, who I babysit five days a week but am pretty much with the rest of the time anyway!) Leftover grapes, etc. almost made it into my mouth.

I did remember to weigh myself before eating or drinking anything today. 189, so down four pounds from the 193 on Monday?? But they do say the first week it's all water weight. Or just having nothing in your digestive system! But down is good. Hanging in here...

Day Two - Shakes Getting a Little Old Already!

So I'm on day two - survived day one! Three shakes a day, two bars, one tomato soup.Plus two small servings of Diet Coke. And water. As much as possible. (I've had some with lemon and splenda, and also the crystal light add-in.) And sugarless gum. That's about it!

Yesterday I was definitely NOT hungry - had to force myself to drink the last shake around 10 pm. But I'm sure I was still living on fumes from real food from the day before.

I had a slight headache this morning, but probably due to cutback on caffeine. (I don't drink coffee, but pretty much drink Diet Coke morning to night - or at least I did.)

I forget to weigh myself this morning. So hopefully the scale will have good news for me tomorrow when I wake up! I can do this...

Day One - Morning


It's only 7 am and my stomach's already growling. ALL psychological as I often don't eat anything until 9 am!

Woke up in a panic. Four months with no real food? What the heck have I got myself into??

Weighed on home scale this morning at was 193, four pounds lighter than Kaiser scale at night (with clothes, etc.). This way I can see how much weight I'm losing
over the week (by weighing in the morning), and also be prepared for the number on the Kaiser scale next Monday.

BTW there's a financial incentive to stay on the program as it's quite an investment. Comes to something over $4K, which includes the "food" plus the program staff and medical monitoring. Not cheap by any means. But worth it if I can lose weight and KEEP IT OFF - the even harder part. So in a way, the four months on product are the easy part - no choices. It's afterwards that's tough. But I'm determined. I've been struggling with weight all my life. I really want this to be the last diet...

Official Weigh-In at the Meeting Tonight - 197 Pounds

I've never broken the 200 lb mark, but can say this is the heaviest I've ever weighed, at only 5'3''.

Speaking of being short, at the meeting tonight the leader mentioned that men lose fastest (no surprise there) and the ones who lose the least or the slowest are SHORT OLDER WOMEN. Ahem, in this group I'm the flippin poster child for the short older woman. There's one woman with grey hair who may be older but not as short as me. The others are all at least a decade younger, many in their 40's or younger (I'm 63). So that was good news. :-(

Over the week I've cleaned the kitchen out of temptations, except for some stuff that's frozen. On the way home after the meeting I bought sugarless gum, Stevia, lemons, and some no-calorie powder to add to water, since we are literally supposed to drink a gallon a day. Can I just mention that I HATE water and live on Diet Coke? (And we're supposed to cut way back on caffeine.)

Anyway, time for night night and then will get up to my lemon water and first chocolate shake. Yippee! Actually, I am happy to get this started. Let the transformation begin!

Tonight's the Night

A little bit more "real food" before the weigh-in (at 6:45 pm) and the official start. Shakes and bars after this night. :-(

I'd like to say I went out for a nice meal, but had popcorn and a hot dog with the kids at a park, and mimosa at home. I'm going to miss champagne! Starting to feel real. Food withdrawal already!!!!!

Countdown to Diet

Today is Friday so three - actually four - days and counting, till I give up real food for sixteen weeks. Monday night our Kaiser Weight Management group meets and gets our first week of meal replacement products. Then Tuesday, and for the foreseeable future, it's shakes, bars and soups and nuttin' else. No booze. No Kung Pao Chicken. No Breakfast Jacks. No bananas. No pistachios. No chocolate. No booze. Did I mention that already?