Blood Pressure

There are other measures of success when dieting besides the scale. One is how your body feels  - lighter, more agile (for lack of a better word). One is the way clothes fit - looser, less binding, too big. Another is more directly related to health. Some members of our program hope to go off or reduce their prescribed medication for blood pressure, cholesterol, etc. I don't take any medication, but my blood pressure is typically right up there at the edge of OK, like 139. Sometimes they have to take it twice to get it to dip under 140.

During the Optifast diet, it's mainly been in the high 130's, occasionally being higher on a particular week (in the 140's or 150's). Blood pressure is taken every week at the weigh-in. I'm happy to report that on Monday, mine was in the 120's for the first time in quite some time. I'd love to get it - and keep it - under 120 (the ideal blood pressure) but I'm happy for 128 and the downward trend. Yay!

Back-of-the-Closet Clothes Now Fitting

It's been fun to pull out those previously-too-tight clothes from the back of my closet, which now fit! Some are Disney clothes. Maybe I need a trip to Disneyland in my future!

I've given some too-big clothes away, which is always dangerous but feels good. That "I'll never go back to that size again" resolve. Unfortunately it's a bit deja vu. Regardless, I donated the clothes optimistically. It feels so good to weigh less. I really do resolve to not go back!

Transition Fantasies

Since we talked about the transition approach earlier this week, I've been having transition food fantasies. So we were told we'd be subbing a high-protein low-carb meal for a 160 calorie product. So, what might I be able to eat to swap for that 160 calories...

• A (small) can of tuna and two cups of cooked cauliflower (my current favorite veg)
• Two hard-boiled eggs
• A one-egg omelet with a cup of asparagus
• Three ounces cooked chicken with 3/4 cup zucchini
• 3 oz broiled shrimp with one cup broccoli

Not much basically but right now it sounds like a feast, LOL! Will need to be buying a food scale before the time comes.

Total Lost So Far - 32 Pounds

So four more pounds down at the weigh-in last night. Yay! Talked to a man in my group later and he is down 38 pounds. This is his second go-round but the other was some years ago and he regained primarily after being incapacitated for almost a year after a serious injury. So glad the second time is working out for him.

We have six more weeks product only. But apparently food is going to be introduced REALLY slowly. Like a one sixty calorie "meal" will replace one product only, for several weeks. Wow.

Anyway I was certainly happy to see a four pound loss rather than the four ounces last week!

Book Review - Obesity Code

This book was recommended on another weight loss blog so I bought it on Amazon, and just finished it. I thought it was good, and agreed with the author's position that:

• weight loss is no single problem/single solution
• calories in/calories out is simplistic
• low fat diets aren't the answer
• sugar and processed food are the main culprits
• most diets succeed short-term but long-term is a different story

I think he is right that weight issues have a lot to do with insulin and hormones. His discussion of short-term fasting for insulin control was interesting.

He was very opposed to shakes such as Optifast, which made me cringe, and long for the time when I can go back to real food, not sweet, highly processed, chemical-ridden products by Nestle.

I found the book informative, convincing, and empowering. I felt ready to go back to real food after reading it, though worry that the very low-calorie diet I've been on may have messed with my metabolism. (He talks about how our bodies change our metabolism in response to calorie restrictions.) I'm ready to give it a try.

I think after reading this book I'm finally ready to give up sweets and refined starch products (pasta, pastries, buns, etc.). It's going to be harder to give up Diet Coke and artificial sweetener but he's made the most convincing arguments so far, to me at least, about how they are sabotaging my weight loss efforts and health. Sigh...

Test Results - A Little Bit Scary

My liver test results came back high. The doctor said that can happen and they'll watch it. I think the liver gets stressed by a combination of the diet and the rapid weight loss. Also, they say drinking water helps and we're supposed to drink a gallon a day but I'm still not even close. I have 23 oz water bottles and would need to drink 5. It's almost four and I haven't finished the second. And just recently our town was in the news for having bad water which makes me a bit leery of tap water. Going to the store later so need to pick up more bottled water and need to force that water down me every day in the hopes that my next tests are in the normal range. I don't want to damage my liver.

Feeling a Little Blue...

So had our weekly meeting/weigh-in tonight. As I mentioned before my home scale has been out of commission all week, so I was hoping for a nice surprise. It was a surprise alright, but not a good one. Down only 4 oz!!! I've lost at least  two and a half pounds every week so far. WTH? Ugh. I almost asked, are you SURE that scale is working??

And, so far NO ONE has mentioned my losing weight other than the two people who know about it, my sister and my daughter. What's up with that!? Grrr 

No Scale All Week!

Even though they encourage us to only weigh-in once a week (which minimizes daily fluctuations) and let the "pros" do it at Kaiser, of course I weigh myself most days, and so have a general idea of how much I've gone down. But this week, no can do. Our digital scale at home had a low battery and wasn't displaying weight. It has one of the circular batteries. I told my husband, who removed the battery - but hasn't replaced it! So no functioning scale all week and tomorrow is weigh-in day. Hoping I've gone down but no idea! It would be really sweet if I've reached the thirty-pounds-lost landmark!

Craving Plastic Food - LOL

So I was playing with my little granddaughter, and she was being "chef" and cooking various dishes for me with her pretend plastic food. Did I want chicken? Did I want pizza? Did I want corn on the cob?

And my stomach started growling and I had a major craving attack (specifically for warm, buttery corn on the cob) while being served plastic food by a three-year-old!

Sigh, butter is just so good. And corn is one of my favorite foods. Which is why I'm in this weight-loss program, obviously!

Latest Stats

So at weigh-in tonight, I'd lost 3.7 pounds last week. That's a total of 27.6 pounds during the seven weeks on product. We are starting our eighth week.

Saw the doc again tonight (once a month). Lab results all good, no problems.

Everyone in my group seems VERY happy with their weight loss, they feel good, not hungry, lots of energy. Hard to knock this program, at least in the weight loss phase!

And we are discussing long term strategies, including monitoring. Large Kaiser study said those who monitored (whether on paper or apps like My Fitness Pal) lost twice as much weight...

Rundown of the Products

So the shakes, first. They come in either pre-made, or DIY powdered. Apparently the powdered has milk and the pre-made doesn't (it has soy). We sampled both at the first meeting. I preferred the pre-made. Both types come in vanilla, strawberry and chocolate. The only one I can drink is the chocolate, and only over ice, so cooled and diluted/thinned a bit. But I'm not a milkshake person. Supposedly our leader had one person in another cohort who lived only on shakes (no bars or soups) and only strawberry, the whole time! Wow.

The shakes are my least favorite. But you're supposed to have (at least) three a day. The bars come in more flavors. There's a chocolate mint, a chocolate peanut, a berry, a cinnamon, and a chocolate fudge. I think that's all. Again, I only like one - the chocolate fudge. I don't like mint, and the "white chocolate" (or yogurt) coating on the berry and cinnamon bars is just too sweet. The peanut one is OK but the chocolate one is so much better to ME that I don't waste my time on the others. But members of my cohort have strong and different responses - some love just the cinnamon, or the peanut. Whatever, as long as I like one. (My granddaughters like it too.)

Last is the (powdered) soup. It comes in tomato and chicken. People rave about the chicken but I didn't care for it. But the tomato one works fine, and I add lots of spices so it almost feels like cooking! ;-) I add garlic powder, onion powder, curry, turmeric, and sometimes cayenne. I spice it up! I add extra water to make more. The secret I think is to get it hot, and also to whisk the heck out of it so there's no lumps. High point of the day because it's the only thing we get to eat that isn't sweet! My cravings are for salty and spicy, not sweet.

So there's only one of each product I'm willing to eat or drink - but I only need one of each, thank goodness, so no problem. BTW, the products run from about $2 to $2.50 each, so at 42 products a week (6 a day), that's approximately $95 for food for a week.

Changes...

So,  it's exciting to see changes at home, and in my group. I've heard people in my group talk about having lowered their blood pressure, being able to do things at the gym they couldn't before, and about clothes being too big. That's been true for me - a couple of pants I tried on today were too baggy. Yay!

My mirror tells me of changes - double chin almost gone. My daughter told me that my butt was gone, though she didn't mean that in a good way.

I haven't been able to weigh at home this week because my digital scale has a dead battery and it's one of those circular ones. But I'm staying on product so hopefully the pounds are continuing to creep away. All good!