firmly on plan

hooray the emotional upset i felt yesterday has disappeared. guess it was good to cry out those bad chemicals.
firmly on plan today,
some errands this morning, 1 was to buy the smart and final skinless boneless chicken breasts, they look good (i am not a fan of some non-foster farm chicken so even if on sale they aren't a good buy)
i will divy these up into correct portion size. some i might cook and freeze. i think for DS's rehearsal dinner i will take cutup chicken breast and put it on the caesar salad. the wedding is 4 wks away so i've got time to figure out if i'm going to try to stay on MF for that day's dinner. i will take a long hard look at the buffet menu and i will definitely be packing MF for my other meals
here's my NSV for the day: NOT eating the extremely tasty looking sweet cherries i bought for dh and ds. I did have 2..then stopped. around 11, i thought i might not have willpower to ignore them so packed them up to give to the physical therapy crew but forgot them at home
i'm taking each day from now through 4th of July on a day by day basis, not going to worry  about having folks over to eat for dinner on the 4th. i plan my meals for that day when the day arrives (lean turkey burgers and salad on the menu, so i can have those no problem)
the main reason i didn't get back on MF from my hiatus mid-Feb til now was the fruit and artichokes growing in my garden. I love my homegrown organic food but a light bulb moment went off in my head this week, i can FREEZE or can the fruit in my yard until i get to the pt on MF i can eat fruit. i don't have to give up fruit forever. it makes more sense to lose the weight now vs staying this weight and eating the fruit now.
what's the biggest challenge in your environment to staying on an eating or exercise plan? what modifications can you make for the weight loss phase of your plan
good luck, just take it a day at a time or an hr at a time if need be.....stick w/ it and the weight will come off.
(whispers ahead of weigh in day: the scale is down 8 lbs, 6 last wk 2 lbs since Mon so i've got to stay firmly on plan as i want more than 2 lb a wk loss)

modifying my environment to modify my body!

I've lost weight many times over the years. Thankfully as I started Medifast this month some of the positive changes i'd followed in the past are still in my memory bank...so i pulled them out to use again
Planning and setting up the refrig and pantry so i have the foods on hand I need.
Workout clothes.
2 scales, 1 for me and 1 for food
measuring cups, spoons, microwave cooking pcs

This time i've been doing some new thinking on changes to my environment and the choices i make
One change is to NOT watching cooking shows on TV. For the most part I can watch Anthony Bourdain and Top chef without triggering urges to eat but other shows i'm sure had me thinking about cooking and consuming the dishes.
so for now it's better i not expose myself to those shows...

oh i rode the recumbent bike in the garage TWICE yesterday, an hr each time. A total of 27+ miles, 700 cals. and I am not at all sore today. (grrrrr family member stacked books on the bike and all around so not ride today)

Week 2 is half over, today was a rocky day emotionally, again not a coincedence i had a small amt of sleep and then an actual melt down of crying today.
But I had a NSV (none scale victory) I DID NOT turn to food.

heave hoo

so not only am i heaving my extra pounds out, the B vitamins in the medifast are helping me to de-hoard, de-crapify assorted 'stuff i couldn't part with'. the spring cleaning bug bit me HARD yesterday.
now to just keep chipping away, room by room, drawer by drawer. I always said I didn't need to get rid of stuff as long as I had room in the cupboards, ahem Jeanne, you reached cupboard capacity years ago...
i've heard that some Drs have their OCD patients take Vit Bs as it acts on the part of brain that the OCD is generated from.
over many years of taking vitamin Bs I can surely corelate throwing out magazine collections etc to taking vitamins daily.
looks like i will need to get the larger trash can size from my waste hauler.

1st wk back on Medifast plan is going well

long time no post... son's wedding is 6 wks away and i lost my opportunity to be no longer obese in the pictures. i believe i will be the fattest person at the wedding, not a prize i wanted to win... so i've told myself although i will be immortalized at this huge weight in the wedding photos, i don't have to remain at this weight and i can be immortalized in future pictures in my normal weight body....
hurt my back Sat of Memorial day weekend, so that has put some limitations on my body movements. doing physical therapy 3 times a week and being in that environment had some influence on me starting to ride the recumbent bike again.

so i started out strong on medifast back in Feb. i let valentine's day choices de-rail me and it's hard to believe but it took until June 18th to get solidly back on the medifast plan. i'd tried several other times but chose to let being around DH and the food around me to get me back off again.

case in pt, last Sat i went down to san diego on our boat for 22 hrs. day one had been 100% on plan  (did i purposely let the fat chick sabotage myself by going to the boat, subconsciously did i want and know i'd let being there be an excuse to not stay on for the critical 3 days start up?!! ) sun was day 2 and at lunch i went off plan. my "excuse" was i had to go off  boat while DH ran the motors cuz it was extremely noisy and diesel fume-y , so i went to the little restaurant at the top of the boat dock ramp.  didn't take the time to find something that would have worked for my L&G meal of the day...

BUT when Monday arrived i had a plan. which was to stay at home alone as much as possible so i wasn't tempted by outside food choices (I'm a "seefood" eater- see food=eat food) and i avoided interactions with folks that could have lead me to chose to eat off plan due to emotional reasons or "join" in on what they were eating. i knew if i could get through Thurs that DH was going away fishing from thurs nite -til sun nite and i'd be able to follow my body's awake schedule and get alot of housework done to burn some calories and keep me occupied so i didn't think of eating. yep the spring cleaning bug bit just as summer started, better late than never, it's been a couple of years. and i owe it all to the energy that Medifast plan gives me.

I have a huge problem dealing with the candy jar that sits nearby my desk so I especially didn't want to be around it this critical week getting back on plan.

Back in Feb, ago DH moved it further down on the counter so it is out of sight while i'm sitting at my desk but i walk by it still... TRUTH BE TOLD- i manufacture reasons to walk by it!!!!
I HAVE BEEN such an "enabler" to the fat chick that sits on my shoulder....

BUT i'm working hard to stop that behavior, I brainstormed and came up with a plan... fortunately the office rest room can now be accessed from bldg front hallway so I  WILL start taking that route vs past the candy jar...

I had seriously started up with emotional eating this Spring, not something I'd done much of in the past. Really it might have been more of a way to unwind, to transition from work to off work, i'd gotten in the habit of eating fast food meal on the way home but i would buy way more food than for one meal's worth (hey we know those meals contain enough calories and fat for several or almost a whole days worth of meals so imagine buying several to consume.....). But i know i was behaving like the food was a 'drug' or alcohol, using it to mask other issues. I imagine it was like a cigarette smoker having the first morning cigarette, there's a ritual that gets into place that is soothing...what is comparable in a good choice---- i've come up with doing some yoga breathing in and out for several minutes... it's all bout finding a new habit that supports a healthy lifestyle...

ironically i must have been doing something right as the scale stayed with in 2 lbs of the weight i stabilize at...HUGE though it is when i hit this weight i stop. my body just can't carry any more weight, it's difficult to put my socks and shoes, reaching things on bottom kitchen cabinet shelves a problem, thank goodness some physical limitations manifested or it's possible i'd be headed to 300- 350 who knows where...

so lots of thinking this week about setting in place the tools to make medifast plan work...

the days/ meals blur together so I place the day's meal pack choices in the cupboard (and i've started to log in on work sheet again) so i don't have to rely on my memory.

 I love the plan. it works for me. comparing it to HMR, the most similar plan, i like the MF Lean and Green plan. I got bored with the HMR entrees. With MF, i can change up my Lean and Green meal endlessly...i disliked Nutrisystem because they made me order 2 unhealthy snacks a day. i don't eat sweets or chip type snacks at home and didn't want being on NS get me in that habit. but i know many folks have been successful losing weight on those plans, experiment to find what works for you...