Well they are not skinny pants, but they are smaller than the ones I was previously wearing

Well I did say I was going to post everyday.. I sorta well really slacked off.  My apologies if you we constantly checking in to see if I have posted something.  

So I have some good news. 15 pounds since February.  Yeah me!  Also today I  went to get a new pair of pants.. Down 2 sizes... Yeah me again! I also joined Crunch Gym.  I have not tried out all the classes, because the ones I want to try when I get off work, are filled up.   So Saturdays and Sundays are class days for me.  Oh and another thing that is a bonus.. tanning.. I pay a little extra and get the head start on summer.   The only thing I do not like is it is a stand up, and I get a little claustrophobic.  I do it for 4 min now , and  I am estimating that at 2-3 min I start to get a little antsy to get out... I feel my hand slowly wondering the the shut off button, but when the timer goes off and turns off I am like out the door and into a small changing room (not much better, but I can see again). Next week before the special is over I am going to purchase 5 trainer sessions to work one on one with me.

I admit, last weekend I fell off the bus.. Ragu and rontini Harvest pasta was calling me, I did take a bite of a keebler grasshopper cookie but I could not enjoy it because all I could taste was salt.. Yuck... Plus Aunt Flo paid a visit so it broke me down.  But I am back on track..

Well that is my update.

I will post again soon!

The weekend..... Did she make it

Okay as the weekend approached, I was worried about what is going to happen. How am I going to make it.  Being at work is so easy, feeling like I was in 4 walls of confinement where I can be monitored.  The weekend comes around, and it was like being released into the fields of the unknown.  Needless to say I have survived.  Saturday was pretty typical day like the week, I did go into work for a little while.  After work it was hard.  Keeping track of time, making sure I did all 6 meals. Its like standing in line at Target to pay for you laundry detergent and its coming up on 2 1/2 hr mark.  Than reaching into my purse and grabbing a meal bar and picking up a bottled water while waiting in line. I just did not want to get off schedule. I have noticed my blood sugar has gone down significantly. It is now averaging around 100-148.  When it used to be in the 200's.  That was an Ah Ha moment. 

Saturday night I did go out to eat.  Went to Sweet Tomatoes, yes the salad bar. Before  I went I did something horrible. (I can hear everyone now...uh oh)  As some of you know, I have to eat 7 oz of protein with my green.  At the salad bar you can "buy" Grilled chicken 2 oz for 1. 25, I remember this because I have bought it before.  Now I would have to buy 4 containers subtract one ounce from it. It would have cost me and extra 5 bucks.  So before I left I took some of my portioned chicken i have and put it in a baggie and brought it with me, when I sat down, and put it on my green.   Yes I am cheap but my salad would have cost me $13 with my coupon. Don't worry I was discreet. Hey it worked, spinach, romaine, little bit of tomatoes, some mushrooms, celery and cooked at home chicken viola my lean and green.. Oh with a little dash of olive oil.  I did tear up a little because I could not have their blueberry muffins and cheesy bread, and ice cream (which I went home and made myself).  So that was my Saturday.  Oh yeah, I brought Gigi to work with me, when I took her out for my 15 min break.. I had enough energy to run for 10 min straight.  Pretty awesome!

This morning (Sunday) I had some oatmeal.  I am beginning to like it more. I think the first one I did not cook it long enough and seemed soupy, this time it looked and tasted like oatmeal. I think tomorrow I am going to try the pancakes next. I did get a little walking time in.  It rained so I was wet by the time I got back. Gigi was reluctantly at the puppy spa getting a wash down and nails clipped.  When I picked her up, they had a little green bow with a shamrock(right now the bow is still there but the shamrock is M.I.A.) attached to her collar and she smells like sweet pear.

Well the weekend is finally winding down.  I have survived.  I have yet to weigh myself this weekend.  I will do it tomorrow. This week I am going to start using my Wii Fit.  Starting slow..

Day 4

Yes I forgot to blog last night.  Well I didn't I was to a little preoccupied with some other things, like watching the news and weather.  We happen to get about 2-3 inches of snow here early this morning. I woke up at 3:30 a.m., took a peek outside, nothing, just wet streets.  My alarm goes off and the T.V. turns o at 4:30 a.m., took another peek, still nothing, and did some laundry. Finally around 6 a.m. went to my washer to put some clothes in the dryer and looked outside, everything was white and the snow was coming down, it snowed till about 8, I waited till about 9 and headed to work. Before I left Gigi got to experience her first snow storm.  It snowed in November, but I never took her out because I was in a hurry to get to work that morning.  But this time, I took her out at 6 and she loved running in the snow, chasing the snowballs I threw for her.  I was a little upset that my camera batteries were dead, but tonight it is suppose to some again, so I have charged my batteries and my camera will be ready.

 So here I am still going. Today I am suppose to reach "fat burn", I was told I would feel more energy, and I have to say this morning I was a little tired but, around 10 am I felt a little "zippy", while I was at work.  Lots of energy but the afternoon and at 8:30 I still have it.  I have been still enjoying the food.  Again this is coming from a picky eater.  I have enjoyed eating the lemon meringue bar, and the cinnamon raisin one I think so far is my favorite. I can decide it all tastes so good.  Who knew prepackaged food designed for weight loss purposes tasted this good. 

Oh I did happen to get m panties in a bunch when a co-worker went around yesterday offering to treat everyone for a Burger King Milk Shake, I looked a Julie and said "Really Julie", but I was just kidding, I think I enjoyed my dark chocolate shake more than I would a shake from Burger King.  (Who is this girl blogging, this cannot be the same Tara, the one who loves a good juicy burger from Five Guys or In and Out only if someone is willing to drive to CA and bring one back, which has been done before)

Well I think that is all for now. Tomorrow is Friday, and I think my biggest challenge will be the weekend. Making thru the weekend will be a rewarding challenge and will make 1 week Sunday night, 

Oh I have taken a sneaky sneak at my weight, lost 3 lbs. YEAH FOR ME!!!!!!

Day Twoohooo...24 hours later.. has she survived?

Day two is soon coming to an end.  I changed my game plan for today.  I had some eggs this morning, they are not too bad, I need to figure out how to spice em up a little.   Went to work, everyone was was asking how I was doing.  One of the gals (Janette) told me she was thinking about me last night and wondering how it was going for me.  Her husband is on the same program but for two weeks now.  I have to admit, I should have saved my lean and green meal for later in the day, because by 6 pm I was struggling a little, feeling the hunger pains, but I survived.

So this morning I did a little trade off with Angela and Candy for my banana and strawberry shakes.  Traded for hot cocoa and ice cream and some other stuff.  I can't remember off hand. 9:30 was my first morning break so I made the hot cocoa, which I really like.  I am limiting myself to 1 cup of coffee a day, I usually have 3 or 4 in the morning, 2 at home and 2 at work. When lunch rolled around I had a peanut butter crunch bar, and drank more water with that.  I walked around storeables and target during my lunch break, thinking about how great it will be this summer wearing smaller clothes. I am not saying bikini body people, i am just saying something a little smaller.  I am looking forward to shopping at Old Navy and the Gap.. Maybe one day Hollister (maybe that is wishful thinking, but I am staying positive) I look at people who are inspiring me to become this new person.  I look at the girls at work and how hard and far they have come. I see pictures of my nephew Aryn and how he has transformed himself (but he is not on the medifast diet) into a healthier person.  Its pretty exciting, and that is what I was thinking while I was out on my lunch break. On my afternoon break I did have the chicken and rice soup, not bad, I like the chicken noodle more, but it was not bad.

I decided my dinner would be the lean and green (my second middle meal I call it)  So had another baja fresh salad, extra chicken, no tortilla strips, cheese and avocado (tear).  I bought a scale and measured all  my chicken (I asked for the chicken that comes on the salad on the side so I can weigh it) to 7 oz.  Let me just say, that is a lot of chicken.  The rest was given to someone else for their salad, I am not going to mention names.  This blog is about me, so lets move on.

So here I am now.  Just finishing meal #5, I made soft serve ice cream, chocolate mint.  By far my favorite thing. It was soo good.  I whipped it up in my blender with crushed ice and water... YUMMY.    I think I could eat this every  night and not get sick of it, but I am trying different things each day, no repeats.  My last meal I think I am going to have maybe a lemon crunch bar with the remaining 8 oz of water I will drink today.  Oh again I drank approx 120 oz of water today.  16 more than yesterday. They say you need to drink 1/2 your body weight in water a day.  My goal is 104 which I have gone over today so far.  I feel like a fish and pee like a racing horse.  he he :) . 

Can't wait for Day 3!  I do have to remind myself to bring extra food home, because they are saying we maybe getting up to 6 inches of snow, and in Portland, that is like being snowed in at the top of Mt Everest.  That cracks me up.  So if I do get trapped in my house, that is going to be my biggest challenge, and the weekend. 3 days to plan for that.

Good night!

Day 1...

Well today was Day 1 of my new journey.  Let just say it went pretty good for being day 1.  I have discovered I am not a fan of the strawberry shake.  I prefer the real strawberries than the powder shake stuff. That was the very first thing I had and tried. So that I am trading with Candy for some hot cocoa. When lunch time came around I opted for my lean and green meal. So I bought a chicken Caesar salad at Baja fresh, and I bought extra chicken since I have to eat 7 oz of cooked chicken (or lean meat).  Let me just say, that was hard to eat all that food. It was just lettuce and chicken.  I was stuffed.  I have to eat about 2 1/2 hours at a time, 6 meals all together. My next meal time was at 2:00 so I went to candy around 1:45 and said, I don't know I am still pretty full from lunch, which I ate around 11:30.  So we pushed it back to 2:45, and I cooked some of the chicken noodle soup.  Which I must say is pretty good.

During my meal times, I had to drink 104 oz of water, its 9 p.m. now and I have drank more than 104 oz of water since I am a big water drinker, that was pretty easy.  I have never measured or counted how much water I consume in a day and when I had to drink 104 oz, I thought that was going to be a challenge, but it really was not. 

When 5 p.m. rolled around, time to head home, so I had one of my fruit and nut bars on the ride home.  I really like the one I had.  When I arrived home, I took Gigi out for a walk.  She was happy to get out of the house, and we took a half an hour walk around the neighborhood like we did in the warmer months. Now the sun stays around till about 6:30 I can really start getting my walking time in, which I really like to do, there are plenty of hills to go up and down, so I can get a pretty good workout just by doing that.

My last two meals of the night I had the brownie and in a few minutes I am making my last meal, which is hot cocoa.

I think at some point this week I will pull the wii fit out and start in the morning.  I just need to motivate myself to get up early enough to have time to workout before work, but I will take one step at a time.

Day 1 accomplished!

Yes tomorrow is "P"day.. Not "D" day... It is not a diet it is a "PROGRAM."

So my last weekend of enjoying things that I so much love and enjoy eating is soon winding down to an end. Today of all days I was in the Rite Aid picking up my prescriptions and walked past one of those bins were they put quick grab snacks, and there they were.  I could not believe my eyes bags of the snack size Herr's Potato chips.  Something that was extremely rare to see way out west in Oregon. It was like discovering Turkey Hill Iced Tea at Fred Meyers, if only they sold the gallon jugs there.  There they were sour cream and onion and regular, all for the taking.  Which I must admit I did, but it was only 1 bag each. After I left the Pharmacy with my purchases I tucked them away in my purse and headed home to deal with other problems that have risen with John at home.

He was sick, and my carpet paid the price, he was complaining of stomach pain and other things. So, after 15 minutes of coaxing him to get dressed and threatening him if he did not willfully go to the er with me I was going to call 911 and have them drag him out in his tighty whiteys. 10 min and 2 stops on the shoulder of the road I got him into the ER. His blood sugar was so high (780) he was diagnosed with DKA also known as Diabetic Ketoacidosis, which he could die from,(wikipedia Johnson and Johnson heir Casey Johnson she was type one diabetic and died from this over a year ago) and this was caused by not taking care of himself.   I have no sympathy for him, because he is doing this to himself. Plus his desire to "off himself" was the real reason why I took him to the hospital, but they have to treat him first before they do inpatient therapy for his depression. John is now resting comfortably in St.V's ICU, while they work on getting is blood sugar down.

Now back to me.  As I end this entry, you may get a little bit of a chuckle.  But I must say good bye to some of my loves and will always remember the good times we had... Mz brownie, Mr, Chocolate Chip cookie, Sweet little Starbucks Lemon Pound Cake... It was so nice to see you on my lunch break.  Oh I can forget my new love which only lasted a week, Mr. McFrappe at McDonald's, all good things must come to and end.  I am glad I was able to revisit Herr's it was sad when me and the empty bags parted.  New days are coming, and I am looking forward to them.....Oh the tears that I am holding back, but I know I will be ok. 

How did I get here?

As some people know, I have struggled with weight issues for the last 15 yrs.  First it was a little bit of a weight gain.  I remember noticing it when I was around 20.  I went from size 8 to a size 12 in a matter of 2 months.  I was ok with it until noticing all of a sudden I was an 18.  What, When, and How, did this happen?  I can blame it, well I did blame it on, age, indulgin in a variety of foods, lack of exercise, lots of high calorie party drinks at the clubs, beer lots of beer, soda, eating late at night after coming home from clubs and bars, oh and my two bestest friends, chocolate, baked goodies and bread. 

I have been on so many yo-yo diets and every diet medication I can think of, from Fen-Fen to Meridia. I have cut things out of my diet, like soda for instance, 2004 I was drinking 4-5 Dr. Pepper's a day, not to mention Starbucks mocha frappchinos, oh don't forget McDonald's McGriddles, mmm that maple syrupy goodness mixed with taste of pancakes egg and sausage. I did cut way back on soda, I think I drink maybe 4 or 5 servings of soda a year, I now have a non-fat iced mocha, I still tend to have a little McDonald's breakfast (depending if I have enough time during my commute to work). Yeah I lost some weight, but I would put it on twice as much. Up and down, in and out.  Someone cut the yo-yo string, please!

So, here I am holding the scissors up to the string and ready to cut. It seems so easy, one snip and it is the start of a new beginning.  I have had enough.  I was spinning out of control.  I need it to stop and I am the only one that can stop this cycle.  I need to take the straight line and stop going in circles.

This all started back in October 2010.  A fellow co-worker approached me about this weight loss program called Medifast, and wanted to know if I would be interested.  Like me, I am hesitant.. and I passed.  Well November came around, and I watched two of my co-workers, every morning in the break room mixing up their shakes in the blender, later on in the day I smell the soup they are cooking for lunch. But I am still hesitant.  December comes and I start to notice the two of them, and their weight loss. Things got me curious. So by mid January after watcher the two of them losing significant amounts of weight, it was sparking my curiosity about this program. So Candy gave me some literature to read.  Reading about the program made me want to try it out. See I am the type of person who needs to watch and see the results before making a commitment to something.

So on Friday Feb. 11, 2011 I made the decision to take shape of my life.  I have decided to take part in the program to reshape myself and my life.  36 hrs to go... I will be posting my progress and photos. More to come...