Completion of Week 2!

Today was the official weigh in for week # 2 on the program. I'm happy to say that in two weeks, I'm 20% to my goal! I weighed today with a 4.2 pound loss from last week for a total of 12.4 pounds in two weeks.

Last week I blogged about upcoming challenges being New Year's Eve and Girls Night. I've blogged about New Year's Eve already. Girls Night was much the same as New Year's Eve. NO issues with wanting what I couldn't have.

Girls Night has been at my house, so I get to plan the menu...of course, this time I just assumed it'd benefit me! I planned a menu of flank steak stuffed with spinach and cheese (mine, minus the cheese) a huge, yummy salad with portabella mushrooms, red peppers, cucumbers and spring lettuce mix, we also had steamed broccoli and mashed potatoes (none for me, thanks!). Dinner was great, but with this awesome group of women, it's definitely not about the food. I'm still sore from all the laughing!

I didn't do the appetziers I usually do, instead I asked the girls to bring appetizers and dessert. They looked amazing. There was a cheeseball (cheese is my weakness) and crackers and fresh sliced tomatoes with fresh mozzarella and french bread. Didn't touch any of it---celery is my new snack of choice! Dessert looked great too, but I stuck to fruit and water. Not even a pomegranate martini!

One difficult thing I realized this week is that I love to cook, mostly for other people. This is not typically a problem, however, I like to cook homemade things and I'm pretty limited as to what I can eat. I still very much enjoy cooking what I can't eat for other people, it's a small way I give back. My very good friends, Chris & Wayne are out of town for 8 days working, so I offered to make them some food to take with them since they are living in a hotel for so many days. I made my homemade chicken parmesan and a baked pasta dish. One thing I used to do is taste as I was cooking, to make sure there was enough of this or enough of that. Well, neither dish is on 'the plan', so I didn't taste as I went. I didn't even lick my fingers! Not that it was difficult to go through that---but my issue is I cooked for them, I care about what I made and have no clue if it is even any good! I told them if it sucked, I was sorry, but I didn't taste it first to make sure it was okay. God, I hope it's good! LOL

At the visit today, I did ask the questions that I had. I asked about the eggs--she said occasionally have a scrambled egg, but that in the hard-boiled ones sometimes people throw away the yolk. I certainly wasn't doing that. She also said that balsamic vinegar is fine to use as well. I'm actually getting used to the taste of red wine vinegar with salads though.

I talked to a friend from high school today who was curious as to what I was doing when I posted a Facebook status showing the total weight loss. She had an appointment to start a similar thing on Wednesday and wanted to know the real scoop. I know you'll do great, A! Call me if you need some more information and DRINK THAT WATER!!

I've started to actually notice a bit of the difference in losing 12 pounds. I can finally see in the mirror a difference, albeit not much, in my sides and in my face a bit. It's just more self-determination to continue on.

My friends and family have been super supportive, much more so than I expected. I thought my father would be upset that I was paying all this money for this, that I was taking medication to do it, etc... but I was willing to take that risk to get to my goal. Well, he certainly wasn't upset. He's thrilled and encouraging...(especially when he heard the words physician monitored!). My mom was here this weekend, and while I had nothing she wanted to eat on Sunday before she left, she was happy as well. I love hearing the encouragement and it helps immensely to get up and do it all over again the next day.

People at work are pretty much aware now and it's not the 'big secret' I thought I was going to make it. Funny how that works! I guess the more people that know, the more encouragement I'm going to get! :) DUH!

In closing, I thought this was a great quote...considering my start time for this program!

People are so worried about what they eat between Christmas and the New Year, but they really should be worried about what they eat between the New Year and Christmas. ~Author Unknown