Completion of Week 7!

Today was the weigh in for the completion of the 7th week of the program. This past week, I wasn't sure, really, how it was going to go. I struggled with drinking water. It was a somewhat stressful week and although I stayed on the program, it's probably the week so far that I felt like I'd done the worst. I forgot medications at times and even doubled up on a dose of evening appetite suppressants one night because I couldn't remember if I had taken them or not! To top it off, my scale didn't move pretty much all week...I'm convinced, it's broken! :)

So, considering all of that, I had no idea what to expect this morning. My scale started to move a little bit this morning and I just kept telling myself that my main goal each week was not a certain number on the scale, but "no gain to goal". This stems from a saying from a weight loss group that I was in back in 1994. Yes, it's been AT LEAST that long since I've been on this roller coaster. Anyway, in that group, I met Chris & Tina who you all either know or have heard so much about. Chris reached his goal during my time in that group with "no gain" any week up to reaching his goal. So, after discussing that at one point during a conversation, I've kept this in the back of my head. No gain to goal is a great thing. If I can go however many weeks without a gain during the entire process, that should be great! I made it through 6 weeks, 29.2 pounds and if this week were to stay the same, then I still did ok!

I know, you're all waiting for the result...well, it was way better than I expected it to be. I lost 3.0 pounds for a total of 32.2 pounds in 48 days. I couldn't be happier today. I've surpassed the 1/2 way mark. I've lost 7.3% body fat. I'm buying smaller clothes and I feel absolutely fantastic.

I saw the Florida marketing team on Wednesday for a meeting, and I'd not seen most of them, other than my team, since October. It was great to see everyone, and so much greater for me to be LESS me when I saw them. This week, I'll see friends I haven't seen since before the holidays as well, this upcoming weekend I'll see my family that I haven't seen since the day after Christmas. I'm very excited for them to see the difference. Although, I say that and my immediate thought is just what last week's blog post was about. I'm just happy that it's going so well!

Since this week was considered another "benchmark" in the program, I am now able to add a few foods to the menu. My Nutritional Plan "Additional Selections" now allow me to have tomatoes, fat-free plain yogurt, plums, sea bass and other stuff I don't care much about. To say that I was beyond thrilled about hitting the benchmark and adding tomatoes and yogurt is a bit of an understatement. It's about all I've talked about for two weeks. I eat a lot of salads, a lot of chicken salads, and I love tomatoes. I'd say it's been 'difficult' to not have tomatoes, but really, it's more annoying than anything else. It's really a mental thing for me to not have something red in my salad. I've spent a fortune in the past 7 weeks on red peppers, just for that reason! Finally, I can have tomatoes! You'd think I'd have had my allowable amount of tomatoes today, as excited as I was, but yet, I didn't! It just didn't work out today! Tomorrow, it's part of the plan though!

This week I'm enjoying the last week of officially being in my 30's. Next Tuesday, I'll be 40 and what I wouldn't give to have a 7.8 pound weight loss when I weigh next Monday. How cool would it be to have a 40 pound loss on my 40th birthday?! Okay, back to reality. I guess the realistic thing to shoot for is having a 40 pound loss when I go to my parents' house to celebrate my grandmother's 90th birthday at the end of the month! The next couple of weeks are going to be kind of crazy with birthday celebrations, dinners, family and friends in town and ends up on the weekend of March 7, with my birthday party. I just hope that I can stay on track and keep focused through all of the festivities. I'm counting down the time until that glass of wine or beer on March 7 as a celebration!

In closing, I hope you all have an awesome week!

“Optimism doesn't wait on facts. It deals with prospects. Pessimism is a waste of time.”