Any new blogs out there??

When I was looking into this program I was on a hunt for blogs, specifically success stories.  I read the ones that I could find, but I'm finding that this blog doesn't even show up on searches.  Does anyone know how to search in a better way?? Or maybe there really aren't new blogs?  I think what is hard about the old ones is that many stop at some point after the blogger enters maintenance and then starts gaining weight.  I'm sure it would be hard to continue to blog at that point.   I hope I succeed and a year after maintenance I start blogging about all of the benefits to losing the weight and keeping it off!  Or something similar!

If anyone out there is reading this and has found any other newer blogs that appear inspiring let me know!

After Wednesday I will be halfway through full fast!!  If I go buy my current weight I am in the upper 210s and will hopefully cross below 215 in a week and a half or so!  I know I shouldn't set deadlines for weight loss goals, but I'm thinking of it more like a prediction.  :-)  I'm really hoping to have lost half of the weight by end of phase 1!  If I can dip below 200 before transition starts I will be super happy.  I remember a few years ago after I left my travel nurse assignment in San Diego I went to Seattle with some of my nurse friends from SD and I told one of them that I was horrified that my weight had ballooned up to almost a new "century." That number was 190-something.  I remember being devastated and miserable.  I thought my weight would never get that high.  Previously when I had thought I was "fat" my weight was around 165-175 which really isn't too far into the overweight range for my height of 5'8".  I never thought I would enter the obese category.  I feel like I have lost the last 5 or so years of my life being at this weight because it has held me back from doing things I enjoy and meeting new people in the cities I traveled to.  Even here it has kept me from going out and enjoying what I want to!  There is so much to love about the bay area and I need to get out and explore more!  Anyway, I didn't come here to write about any of that.  And I can't think about what I haven't done, but I can focus on taking this 1 day at a time and think about all of the physical things I want to do when I meet my goals!  I even took my bike out the other day (to ride to the movies) and I was so much more comfortable on it then 20lbs ago.  I'm still a chicken and afraid to fall, but feeling lighter definitely helped!!

Signing off...keep up the hard work and let me know if you know of any blogs for people starting out on this journey or recently transitioned and successfully maintaining!!

Angie

Thanksgiving....

Happy Thanksgiving!  I feel like a cheater...BUT it's not from food.  It's because I'm choosing to spend the day alone.  I didn't want to fly back home to KS mostly because I have a teenage niece and I don't think it's appropriate to share a diet like this with her.  I might get some backlash for that but here is why:  I grew up with an obese mother.  I have memories of her dieting as I was growing up-I could be imagining it but I vaguely remember things like grapefruit, cabbage and some paperwork so I know I was aware of her doing this as a child.  All the time I was growing up I was very thin (as in kids made fun of me for being really skinny-and I know some people who might read this might think oh, what a horrible problem, but really everyone has their own struggles and we shouldn't judge).  Anyway, I digress.  I was really thin and an extremely picky eater.  I for sure had some sensory issues with textures and my mom tells me once she force fed me spaghetti (that I don't remember, but I must deep down because I didn't eat spaghetti happily until I became an adult).  It wasn't until I got to college that I started really gaining weight.  Even then I was always in a healthy weight range, but thought I was overweight.  I think many of those issues go back to watching my mom struggle.  I remember telling her once when we were camping that I was always going to walk around with my stomach sucked in.  These aren't healthy thoughts and I don't think any kid should ever have to think about dieting.  They should be given healthy servings of whole foods.  We really shouldn't keep junk in the house and processed food shouldn't be their staples.  Unfortunately I work in a pediatric gastroenterology clinic where we are forced to have a fatty liver clinic and it appalls me that this clinic is even necessary!  I'm rambling again.  My point here is this, my niece is also thin and very tall.  Her friends are shorter and weigh in the 100lb range which is appropriate for their height.  She is around 135 and is 5'7" so well within a healthy range for her height.  Somehow she already thinks that she needs to be 100lbs.  She also came home from health class one day saying that she was told she's only supposed to have 500calories/day.  Clearly she misunderstood.  So we have a beautiful 13yr old kid who is already having body issues and has been surrounded by her mother and my mother who are constantly talking about food and dieting.  Most of the time she knew me when I lived there I was a healthy weight, but half her life I have been obese.  When I see her again I want her to see me making healthy choices so that she will continue to make healthy choices and not think she needs to ever do a rapid weight loss plan.  I just don't want her to focus.  If my other sister and I are her only 2 positive food influences that's ok as long as she has 2!  My plan is to go back in March for my nephews' birthdays and be very close to a healthy weight and enjoy my time with them without the stress of the holidays.

My friends here that are like my second family sometimes have people over, but I explained to them a long time ago that I wouldn't be spending it with them this year.  They will survive and are going to dinner at a lodge near the ocean with their other second family.  :-) I feel like I'm supposed to feel sad to miss out and not be eating, etc but I don't.  I'm losing weight and feeling stronger.  I know that it is only 1 Thanksgiving and 1 Christmas.  I know that in the future I will be able to enjoy making healthy choices at holiday dinners and have more fun with the kids.  SO there it is.  My cheat is avoiding the holidays.  :-)  Christmas movies and a walk with my dogs is on the schedule for today.  Maybe I will venture out to a movie in the theater, but right now I'm pretty comfy in my pajamas.  :-)

Weight update!
I have finished week 7 of the program (6 weeks of full fast).  I have not cheated one time.  I have slacked on water drinking a couple of times and when that happens I get headaches so I'm trying to make it a priority.  TOM is this week so I was slightly worried about what I would lose, but not because I knew if it was a small loss I would make up for it the following week.  Gotta love being a woman.  Plus they say everyone plateaus at a some point.
The verdict is...
This weeks weight loss 2.8lbs
Total weight loss 23.4lbs

So I'm right on track still to lose 2-3lbs/week which is my personal hope/goal.  I've been walking the dogs 30min per day minimum.  I've been moving more at work.  I've been doing my run/walk.  I did get behind so I'm on week 4.  Call it laziness, but I knew I would be off 4 days so I thought I would save the last 2 days for this long weekend rather than do it with the dogs.  They make it hard!  Too much pulling in other directions, etc.

I wish I could say I have a magic formula for the shakes, bars, soups, but it is what it is.  I'm good until people say "oh I could never do that" or "oh that must be so hard."  Then, I start to doubt myself that I can finish, but I can't continue to let other people influence what I think I can do!!  So I shut down those voices with I already completed 7 weeks, I'm almost halfway through and now I'm on the downhill.  One thing that is good is that I will be moving into continued weight loss with transition so it should keep me interested and will probably come at a time when I will finally be bored.

We just started bringing up transition a little last week.  I think some of the things I'm going to try now will help me.  For example, my goal is to eat at my table 3 nights this week starting tonight!  That should help me with mindful eating.  I think it's ok to text while I eat just because a lot of people would be having dinner with their family then and be talking so how is texting different.  I'm not sure I am ready to turn off the TV.  So for now it is just sit at the table, take my time (15-20min) and feel what it feels like.  I think I've been sort of practicing that now.  I have been trying to pay attention to every single bite.  OH!  Also, I have passed the 220 mark so I get my first reward!  I decided that the first thing I'm going to buy is cute small bowls!  I can use them in my eating soup at the table plan and hopefully it will keep me interested.  :-) I plan to go to our cute shopping street here and go to this little boutique store I really like!  I think that's all I have to say today!

Hungry today...

I have only had a few moments where I would say I am really truly just hungry.  I've had regular, it's about time for me to eat hunger and I have a product and all is good.  But today for some reason I'm having stomach growling, headache hunger.  I wonder if it's about T.O.M cause I know that in general your metabolism goes up around then.  It could also because I did week 4, day 1 of the C25K app first thing.  I think I ran faster than usual and it was job 3m, walk 90s, jog 5m, walk 2.5m, jog 3m, all 90s, jog 5m.  So a total of 16min jogging vs 9min previously.  So it's entirely possible I was hungry, or didn't drink enough water first.  The water part would explain the headache, of course so would hunger.  Who knows...I am trying to get some fluids in and have moved my products to 2hrs apt for the most part today.  I've also been skimping on the fiber the last few days which I know can make me feel less full.  I'm trying to make sure it's true hunger and not mouth hunger (from boredom, emotions, etc.)  I'm not really feeling stressed about anything.  I might be a little bored, but I truly feel like it is real hunger.  So water it is!  If I'm hungry 20m after the water I think I'll make a tea.  I really like to save my soup for at least 5pm.

It is lab/med check week at Kaiser.  I went today to get the labs.  Hopefully they are all good.  The HH is back and totally fine, on the high side of fine so that also leads me to believe I might be slightly dehydrated.  We'll see what the rest show.

I weighed myself this am (before the exercise madness) and I'm 219 this am.  Whoop!  Of course it only really matters what my weight is on Thursday am.  I have a feeling it will be about 219 or maybe even 218.  That would be great!  If I'm at 220 or less I get to buy new bowls to eat my soup in.  I'm pretty excited.  Silly I know, but I never really let myself buy cute dining things hurrah!  We are supposed to come up with a goal for group this week.  It's supposed to be a smart goal and we are going to tell everyone.  I think instead of doing an exercise goal I'm going to sit at my table to eat my soup.  The obvious benefit is to stop mindless eating.  The secondary benefit will be no more dogs staring at me hoping for a drop of soup.  :-)

Not much else is happening.  I feel very fortunate that I get to do this in an apt all alone and not surrounded by people all the time.  Good thing I'm somewhat of an introvert or I would be going bananas.  :-)

Week 7 Weigh-in

I feel like I should be writing about more than weights, but that's sort of what I'm focused on right now!  So here it is...6 weeks of the program complete, 5 week full fast and my grand total is 20.6lbs!  I'm considering it 5 weeks of weight loss since I didn't make any changes week 1.  That's just over 4lbs/week!  Wahoo!!!!  That means I am 1/4 of the way to goal.  I'm hoping next week I leave the 220s behind.  Just a couple more pounds and I will be back to the weight I was at when I went to Europe (and came back) a couple years ago.  So I'm happy about that.  Next goal is to get back to my "leaving San Diego" weight.  :-)

One of my friends I work with keeps making comments about weight loss which I think she bases on her own personal experience.  She has never been overweight (although she claims to have gained 40lbs with her last pregnancy.  I think what people who just think they weigh too much don't really grasp what it means to really be for real overweight.  They also don't understand that when you weigh more you just lose weight faster.  I shouldn't have been annoyed at her comment.  After she made the comment that was basically that I wouldn't be able to lose 1-2lbs/week after the fast part of this is over she kept going on and on about how as we get older we don't lose weight as quickly, blah, blah, blah....this may be true, but when you take someone who has a lot of weight to lose they actually lose weight faster for a while.  Of course everyone has plateaus, etc.  I just think those sorts of comments are completely unnecessary.  I don't have unrealistic goals.  1-2lbs/week is considered a nice healthy pace at which to lose weight.  Grrrrr....ah well...I'm letting it go.  I had lost a couple pounds earlier this year and she made another comment like that and I totally stopped counting calories because I felt so discourage.  So the lesson is don't listen to her and don't engage in conversations with her about it!

I keep thinking I will do work the Beck Diet Solution, but I also keep putting it off.  I feel like it will make more since when I eat food.  But I also know that it focuses a lot on behaviors.  Maybe I should look at what the days entail and see what seems like a good time to start in relation to when I will be transitioning to real food.

Not much else is happening.  I had a little setback on my run/walk.  I didn't drink enough water and had headaches for a couple days at the end of last week.  Then on Saturday I pulled something in my back.  So I got back on it on Tuesday and have only done 1 day this week, but it's Thursday so I can do tomorrow and then a day on the weekend.  I have done my stretch video twice which is pretty good. Oh, I got into grad school...Can't remember if I posted that.  Yeah!!

I suppose that's all for now! I think it might be a good idea to blog more frequently...I always think journaling is cathartic.

PS for the time being I'm considering my week to be Thurs-Wed.  That may or may not change once my 30 weeks is up!

My Personal Start of Week 6 Official Weigh In...

Yesterday (Thursday) morning I had my own official first thing in the morning naked weigh in.  I've mentioned before it is the only one I count.

And I'm down another 3lbs for a grand total of 16.4lbs after 4 full weeks of Optifast 800 shakes, bars and soups.  Reminder, Kaiser Northern California is 6 products/day.  I don't know why or different centers decide how many products they start people on, but alas, that is what it is here.  :-)  I think it is just right.  Most likely my goal will be to eat 4-5 times/day so I like that the shakes are spread out in approximately those intervals.  I consider my morning shake just my coffee for the morning and then think of the other 5 items as snacks and meals.

I decided to stay home from work today.  I haven't talked about it much here, but I am a pediatric nurse working in an ambulatory care clinic and lately I have been working hard on some projects.  I have also been feeling like our group doesn't really appreciate the role nurses can have in ambulatory care-we are a super Nurse Practitioner heavy clinic.  In my old like I would have loved that because the NPs I worked with had been nurses and we really had a very collaborative approach.  I think that maybe that relationship is going downhill a bit because of the advent of MEPN programs.  For those who are curious, this is an accelerated program for individuals with a bachelors degree in something other than nurses who want to become nurse practitioners.  The problem with these programs is that its very short and people with sometimes absolutely NO healthcare experience come out feeling like they can take care of patients they really don't have the clinical experience to care for (or just health care experience in general).  Anyway, I've recently heard some of them say things like "don't they see the initials behind my name?" or "I'm not just a nurse."  This has me really thinking about whether I am truly a valued member of the team and whether or not it is time for me to move on.  So-mental health day!!!

So anyway, rant over...

Maybe because of the work situation (PS I adore my coworkers as people) I was having a poor me, I will never lose 70-80lbs moment.  And a why did I let myself go this far moment...you know sabotaging thoughts, etc.  So rather than cheat or sneak some food I did a couple of things.  The first was take the pups to the park.  While there I turned those thoughts into, of course you will become healthy and it is going to take some time, but you have spent 6-7years getting to this point and you will recover faster.  The 3rd thing I did was look for inspirational charts, etc that would help me look at each milestone or victory.

I created 2 things today.  The first is a chart where I can cross of the pounds and it has a list of my rewards (things to help me eat healthy later).  Someone on a site I posted it felt the need to correct my spelling, but rather than feel bad or defensive I laughed at myself and replied that of course I wrote bowel instead of bowl-I'm a GI nurse!  :-)  And I also made a mental note to myself not to correct someone's obviously mistaken typo.  The other thing I created was an excel spreadsheet that I can look at every week and watch my percentage of weight loss go up every week as the pounds go down.  I'll attempt to post them here, but as I'm new to this blog thing I can't make any promises.  :-)

Weight Loss % Chart

Reward Chart...I should have taken a pic of the marked off one but I went ahead and crossed off 225 since that is where I am now!!

Week 6 weigh in...

This is the end of my 5th week of the program (4th week on shakes).  Yeah!  Time is flying by!  Here's the verdict:  minus 1.4lbs for a total of 12.5.  Not bad for 4 weeks.  I figure I will average closer to 2-3lbs/week.  No particular reason why, it's just a feeling I have.  ;-)  I have had no cheats and really haven't even thought about it.  I think I have a slight advantage in some ways since I live alone, no kids, no husband, no boyfriend to influence me.  BUT I also have to say that the time I eat the most is when I am alone.  I am not one who eats their whole meal at a restaurant.  I typically eat 1/4-1/3 at the most.  Maybe if it's a super fancy place with tiny portions I will finish, but otherwise that is not my problem.

We are talking a lot about emotional eating in class.  I would say I occasionally have that issue, but I would more say that I don't eat when I am really stressed at work, but then I go home and I'm starving so I either 1. stop for fast food and eat the whole meal with a large drink or 2. order pizza and eat half saving the other half to eat throughout the next day or 3. I just eat whatever I can get my hands on at home.  When that happens I eat so fast that I don't even realize I'm full until it's too late.  Couple that with a few years of night shift and there ya go!  It's interesting to hear how much some of the people in class miss food.  I guess I'm lucky that isn't me.  I have always had control issues with food that date back to toddlerhood that probably weren't helped by having a young mom who didn't know you shouldn't force kids to eat!

I'm really really trying to focus on not just setting a timer to have a shake or water.  I thought I would do that in the beginning, but I decided that wouldn't really teach me about listening to hunger cues in the future.  SO, I wait until I feel that first little pang of hunger and have a glass of water, wait 20min and then if I still feel it I have a product.  It is never more than 3 hours and sometimes as few as 1.5.  The time it is sooner is when I do my run/walk in the morning. My only real exception is if I get busy at work and notice it is getting close to 3+hours and I know that even if I'm not hungry yet if I think about it my energy is just a little low.  I also might have a product early if I know I'll be busy for the next 5hrs or so because I DON'T want to get back into that mode where I'm starving!  I think this is an important skill.  For some reason, listening to hunger cues when I'm eating with a group isn't difficult.  I'm thinking it's probably because I'm eating more mindfully.  When I'm at home I'm eating in front of the TV and really not listening for "full cues."  We talked about the hunger-o-meter tonight in class.  -3 is famished, -2 is hungry and feeling it (this I call Hangry) and -1 which is just hungry.  That is when you should eat.  Then the other side 1 is comfortably full, 2 is uncomfortably full (wanna unbutton your pants etc) and 3 is so full you feel sick.  I have been 3 only rarely.  I have been 2 more frequently but I don't realize til it's too late.  Hence the need to eat mindfully!!

Bottom line-it's 1/4 through products, I'm ready to start practicing not perpetuating bad behaviors (eating on the couch, while driving, etc) and will continue to get to know my cues.  :-)

And I'm slightly anxious to see my  official weigh in tomorrow morning.  :-)

Optifast concoctions...

I hesitate to call them recipes and I'm not exactly gourmet, but I always wondered what people added and if it was ok per the plan so here are some of my favorites.  Note that my plan is full fast so I can't add veggies, etc like some.  Kaiser also limits our caffeine intake to 2 8oz glasses/day.  I didn't realize that orange soda and creme soda have caffeine so I slipped on that one a few time!  Now I have a coffee in the am and if I have another coffee later I won't have the orange or creme soda.  I  also am NOT a fan of fake sugars, but I haven't had any side effects so for the program I'm allowing them just to add variety and prevent flavor fatigue.

Hot Drinks*
Vanilla with pumpkin pie spice (or SF Pumpkin Pie Torani syrup)
Vanilla with SF Belgian Cookie Torani
Vanilla with Cinnamon

Chocolate with any SF Torani Syrup-so far I have tried: Almond Rocha, Salted Caramel, Belgian Cookie, Peanut Butter, S'Mores
Chocolate with peppermint extract

Coffee with either chocolate or vanilla Optifast
I cold brew coffee and have the concentrate for a few days.  I've been doing 1/3c grounds with 3 cups water, stir and let sit out over night then pour through a filter the next day.  Once I'm out of my already ground beans I plan to buy good whole beans and use my  french press so it will be a little simpler.  :-)
After adding the shakes I put it all in the micro for about 45sec-1min depending on how how you like things.  Note I have tried to mix the shakes with hot water but it just doesn't mix as well.
Coffee + Choc + any of the above SF Torani syrups
Coffee + Vanilla + SF Belgian Cookie
Coffee + Vanilla + Almond Rocha
Coffee + Vanilla + Cinnamon

Soups**
Chicken + Fiesta Lime No Salt added Mrs. Dash
Chicken + Garlic Pepper No Salt added Mrs. Dash
Chicken + Lemon Pepper Lowry's
Chicken + Sriracha

Tomato + Cayenne
Tomato + Garlic and Pepper No Salt added Mrs. Dash
Tomato + Chipotle Southwest No Salt added Mrs. Dash
Tomato + Sriracha

Cold Drinks***
Vanilla + Diet Root Beer + ice
Vanilla + Diet Creme Soda (note buy caffeine free or count in your daily caffeine intake!) + ice
Vanilla + Diet Orange Soda (note buy caffeine free or count in your daily caffeine intake!) + Ice
Vanilla + Pumpkin Pie Spice + ice

Chocolate + SF Peanut Butter Torani syrup + ice
Chocolate + Peppemint extract

Strawberry + Diet Orange Soda (note buy caffeine free or count in your daily caffeine intake!)
Strawberry + Diet Creme Soda (note buy caffeine free or count in your daily caffeine intake!)
Strawberry + Almond extract
My next plan is to add basil to the strawberry

*I always mix the shakes with cold water and then warm it all in the micro or use ready made and warm it all in the micro

**Again I mix in the blender bottle or Ninja with cold water otherwise I have gotten sprayed or it clumps

***I'm not sure why I *** this.  hahahah

I like all the bars. The peppermint, cinnamon and peanut are quite good if you warm them 15-20sec in the microwave.  You could even eat the peppermint with a fork if you warm it-actually you have to because it is too gooey!  The berry is my least favorite, but I keep it for variety.

The only shake I really don't like is the READY MADE strawberry.  And to drink alone I prefer the powders to the ready made.  The ready made is not milk based so I think that has something to do with it.  I believe it is soy.  It works well in my coffee, but otherwise I stick to powders-bonus they are cheaper!

My program recommends daily fiber so I drink 1 8oz glass of SF orange Metamucil daily.  I realized not long after I bought it that I should have just bought Benefiber and added it to one of my shakes.  Whoops!  Ah well it gets me another 8oz of water and I just chug it.  It's 112 servings, so it will last most of the active weight loss phase.  :-)  As a GI nurse this is obviously important to me.  Our program does not allow for any other options (you don't have to buy the brands-you could just buy psyllium) and since it is medically monitored and they have proven success I am sticking to plan 100%.

Having a boring day...

I need to figure out what that means to me.  I walked with a friend (just a short 40 or so minutes) and went to see the new James Bond movie Spectre.  I don't know why I feel a little blah today.  I guess I'm tired of not doing much besides watch TV and walk with my dogs.  They are cute and adorable of course, but it isn't a very full life!  I need to figure out how to stay interested.  I'm not really sure what the right word is...Anyway I suppose in January when school starts I will be plenty busy!

I could also be reading or coloring or folding the laundry I just washed so I guess bored might not really be the right word.  Discontent?  Hmmmmm....

The movie was fine.  A little part of me missed being able to get lunch or brunch after or before.  Those are the sorts of things that I think are going to be tough.  I'm going to see a musical in a few weeks and that will be a similar thing.  Ah well, I just remind myself it isn't forever.  It's just 11 more weeks after all!  And I'm hoping that by that time I will be more than halfway to my goal.  I've also been wondering when we talk about goal and transition.  I want to learn about how to eat and measure portions.  I know I will need to buy a scale and some other things.  I don't like waiting to find things out so I guess this is a good lesson in patience.  :-)

I was trying to think of a reward system for sticking to this.  I don't really know how the program feels about rewards.  We haven't talked about it at all so I don't know if it is frowned upon.  Anyway, I want to "reward" myself with some things for cooking and to make eating at my dining room table more enjoyable.  Some things on the list are:  a spiralizer, small bowls and plates, table decor and a cookbook holder.  Maybe a pitcher and some things to hold spoons and hot dishes.  It almost seems silly since I live alone, but eating at the table is an important habit.  I'm also going to pick out a playlist to reward myself for doing the C25K week 1!  I will finish week 2 tomorrow.  So I think I will pick tomorrows play list tonight and then find another one for tomorrow.  Or maybe just add a song for every week I complete it.  That might be more fun.  :-)

I feel strangely better for blogging (even if I am the only one who reads this) so yeah me!  Think I will go fold that laundry.  :-)

Week 5 weigh in...

I don't think I've been writing the weeks right or it's confusing or I don't know...:-)  Anyway, I started the 5th week of the Kaiser Healthy Weight Management Program last night.  So it was technically my 5th weigh in.  I've completed 3 weeks of product (remember week 1 is no product) and I'm feeling great!  I'm sort of shocked by how good I feel and I don't know if it is because I'm finally on the path to losing the weight I've been carrying for the last 5 years or that I'm walking more than I have in months or that I'm in ketosis and slightly high all the time.  Whatever it is I will take it!!

Everyone says the products become routine and they are right.  I essentially have them at the same time every day.  I don't set a timer or anything like that because I really want to listen to my body.  I think that's a skill I need to have for the future.  Much of my overeating was due to eating when I wasn't hungry or waiting until I was starving and then overeating at night.  SO, my goal is to eat regularly but listen to my body and have a glass of water at my first sign of hunger and then wait 20min or so and if I feel hungry again then I will eat.  This is making my products be about every 2-3 hours which is what is recommended by the plan-and I guess it's that way for a reason.  I bought some Torani syrups that I am adding to the shakes still.  They are all good.  I'm thinking the 2 bars and 1 soup plus 3 shakes will be a good plan for me for the duration.  I like being able to chew and it is sort of like having 3 "meals" and the shakes are like snacks.  I imagine in the future I will continue to eat 5-6 times/day whether it is 3 regular meals and 2-3 small snacks or something similar.  I know it's too early to really think about the future, but what better time?

I am still reading the Beck Diet Solution with the intent that I will just read it now and then start it again the week or so before transition.  I think that cognitive behavioral therapy techniques are great skills to have for anything in life.  Who knows, maybe I will use them to help with other fears, etc.

I've also been doing the C25K running app.  I want to go back to running (slow jogging) a few 5Ks/yr and maybe a couple longer runs.  It's going well.  I have been waking up at 6 without any problems.  I'm turning off my screens at 9 and reading for an hour or so (usually less because I'm tired!)  I'm feeling rested and ready to workout most mornings.  This morning was harder, but I haven't been drinking as much water (2L instead of 80oz) and I wonder if that's why.  It was also Wednesday and I think I don't get as much rest on Wednesdays because of class and I'm anxious to see what my "official" Thursday morning weight is.

Speaking of weigh in!  I lost 2.2lbs this week.  This brings my total to 13.4lbs in the 3 weeks I've been on product.  I'm more than happy with that.  I also imagine that I will level out now at 2-3lbs/week.

We are supposed to start increasing our activity so I'm aiming for about 8000 steps/day this week.  Today I'm falling way short, but I sat at my desk a lot.  Tomorrow should be better.  It's dark when I get home but I need to just get over that and get the dogs our for a 30min walk.  The program doesn't recommend more than 30-60min of exercise based on our intake right now.  I also plan to add in strength training starting next week.  It will help me in so many ways-building muscle of course aids in weight loss because muscle burns more calories than fat plus it will help prevent injuries and strengthen the muscles around my joints.

That's about all I have for tonight!