Archive for » May, 2009 «

May
25

Checking In – Week One of Meal Replacements

cupI’m running late with everything today. Posts, work, things I promised to mail, craft projects… Even dinner is being served late tonight – but at least that one isn’t entirely my fault. Either way, it’s late and husband is enjoying his meat loaf (my first try at making one and apparently a success – he asked for seconds) and veggies, and I am enjoying my daily portion of veggies.

Have I mentioned how much I like mushrooms?

Switching over to the intense phase of this program – meaning three meal replacements, one serve of fruit, one serve of veggies in a small amount of oil – has been interesting, and certainly not without its little dramas. Thankfully, though, I seemed to have passed the hump of physical adjustment which, in my case, came in the form of a little bit of fatigue and a pounding headache.

My body has adjusted surprisingly fast to the new schedule. Though I have some trouble at night (psychologically, likely because that’s usually when we have our biggest meal), my stomach now grumbles like clockwork; it only gets impatient when I start pushing past the times when I am supposed to eat.

Somewhere in me there was this fear that I would be criticized for taking this route, despite knowing that this is the kind of thing I need right now. However, I’ve been pleased to find people are supportive. Once they understand how insulin resistance works and how difficult it is for women with PCOS to lose weight, they seem more impressed with my dedication to my health than anything else.

My husband even ran into a woman who had done meal replacement before, but she gained the weight back by returning to her old habits.

I’m not ready to go back to posting my statistics just yet, but I can say without a doubt that this is working well for me. I’m in a great place right now.

PS. Yes, I’m still planning on having a virtual party when I get past my 244 sabotage point.

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May
22

Starting On Friday

hushIf you have been reading this blog for a while – or just know me – you know that I start things on Mondays. Call it my little obsession, but I have always felt this need to start things on Mondays.

Now I break the habit.

I know I’ve talked up new diet plans before, but I feel like I could really have a winner this time. Between meal replacement and exercise taking care of the physical and a technique called EFT taking care of the emotional, I feel like this well-rounded approach could very well see me to my goal weight by this time next year. (At this point, I’m shooting for 170 pounds, which is 94 pounds down from my highest weight.)

Before starting a new diet or plan, I usually give myself a few days to take in (aka eat) whatever I might miss while on the plan. But, if you think about it, that is really the start of the plan. If you start a plan with letting yourself have whatever you want, then are you really going to last?

Anyway, day one did consist of doing meal replacement during the day and having a normal meal for dinner, but that’s it. Full on to the plan now.

The thing about this time is that I battled my initial emotions (including an obsessive battle with a “need” for cookies) with the EFT program. That made me feel all the more comfortable about getting started straightaway.

Plus, as Mr. JM said, “You always started on Mondays in the past, but you haven’t stuck to doing them either.”

He wasn’t being critical. He was just pointing out that sometimes you have to ditch ALL the old habits to get the results you want.

Let’s hope, hm?

Category: Getting Started  Comments off
May
21

Meal Replacement

bellyAfter talking to my dietician (and my awesome friend Jenera) about possibly trying meal replace to kickstart my stubborn pounds, I began to feel more and more comfortable with the idea. With starting to get my digestion started, I figured this would be the best time to start meal replacement as well – just to get everything on the right track.

As I’m sure most of you know, the stinky part about meal replacement stuff is that it’s pretty expensive to go buy a box ‘just to try’. If it turns out to be gross, then you feel doubly bad about the whole experience. Thankfully, my dietician was kind enough to give me free samples of a fairly popular line of meal replacements in Australia.

As it turns out, they’re edible. More than edible. They’re pretty damn good.

As my dietician said, the main hurdle is getting over the psychology of it. That bar (or shake, or soup or dessert) is your meal. Period. Nothing else with it (except a little bit of essence here or an added spice there for flavor – one of the reasons I like this brand). Getting past that ‘need’ to eat a heap is hard.

I discussed it with the husband. My main concern, of course, was the expense. Even at the discount chemist, spending that much on myself seemed a bit… excessive. The prices aren’t bad – I can’t get a regular shake for just over a dollar, that’s for sure.

But, we broke it down and yes, it seems expensive because we’re buying it all at once, but we’ll actually save a bit of money. How? Well… I won’t need any additional food besides a small amount of veggies (having a cup of veggies every day is an absolute must with this plan). We won’t save heaps, but we will save.

While my dietician didn’t say I had to do the ‘intense’ phase, I decided to go ahead and do it anyway. The intense phase lasts twelve weeks, but I am going to go for a month (until the end of June) and then check in then. If I’m doing well and feel I can keep it up, I will.

I am a bit nervous about it, but I need this so badly right now that my confidence is overpowering my fear. Plus, there is so much variety (more than I usually see with meal replacement stuff), you’re allowed to add spices and essences so you don’t get sick of the flavours, plus – until I reach under 100 kilos – I get a serve of fruit every day. That’s in addition to the must-have serve of veggies with a little bit of olive oil.

I’m looking forward to being fit.

Category: Food, Meal Replacement  Comments off
May
20

The Dietician’s Report

beansMay I just say that I enjoy seeing my dietician much, much more than I like going to see the doctor’s I have seen otherwise. My dietician is very nice and pleasant to talk to.

I wasn’t originally planning to go back to the dietician, but an appointment practically fell in my lap so I took it. Given how unsatisfying my doctor was in answering my questions, I hoped I would have better luck with my dietician.

Have I mentioned how nice Dr. E is?

I had all sorts of questions about specific foods, GI, exercises, portion sizes, and more. Dr. E handled them all with care and dismissed nothing until I fully understood what she was saying.

Given my lack of weight change, she suggested I examine my exercise first. I’m now putting in the time, but the intensity is just as important. I think I’m doing okay, but I’m adding in some extra time as well as making sure that I’m puffing a bit while exercising.

Because I have a hard time eating breakfast in the morning, I asked her about the possibility of meal replacement. She seemed stunned that I would bring that up as an alternative voluntarily, but she also thought it would be a great idea – and not just for breakfast.

They had just had a shipment of meal replacement stuff in, so she gave me some soups and shakes from a specific line of meal replacement stuff as well as a brochure to introduce me to the program.

I’ve been looking at the program, but that’s for another post.

All in all, it was an excellent appointment where I got all my questions answered.

I go back in August to check in again. Hopefully I’ll be a good amount lighter by then!

Category: Check Ups  Comments off
May
19

The Doctor's Report

thermometerI apologize for what is going to turn into a flood of posts. The internet slowed down by heaps earlier this week and is back to speed only today.

And I have so much to talk about!

I went to the doctor last Thursday for a checkup and to get the results for my blood test results from February. Given that I wasn’t called in early or anything, I wasn’t expecting anything too bad. As it turned out, the results were great.

Months before leaving the States, I had a full range of blood tests done. I was diagnosed well and truly pre-diabetic and just teetering the line to Type 2 diabetes. Pairing that up with the ovarian cysts I had, I wasn’t doing well at all.

Earlier this year, I reported the good news that I am now living a cyst free life. The new life I’m leading is even better.

My glucose tolerance test came back completely normal. I’ve reversed being pre-diabetic!

Even though my weight was (with accommodation for my usual TOM weight gain) exactly where I was weight-wise in February, it is nice to know that my efforts have been doing good things.

The appointment was disappointing in some ways because the doctor dismissed some of my concerns about my digestive system, but I had an appointment with my dietician anyway, so I let it pass.

I was a bit annoyed when she said, “Some people just have to exercise more” in regards to my lack of weight loss, but I let that pass, too. I know that I am working hard at a level that works me but encourages me to keep it up for the long term.

Category: Check Ups  Comments off
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