It could have been better. If I just hadn’t had that spoonful slurp of marinara sauce. We had our last class on December 13 and a then a three week closure. My first cheat was a spoon of marinara. It’s the best marinara sauce: White Linen from Costco. The next cheat was a very small plate of Christmas dinner fare. My sister buys her meals already prepared from the local grocery store and they only require reheating. To me, that IS NOT a Christmas dinner and therefore it offered very little temptation. On my small plate, I added a spoon of mashed potato, spoon of stuffing and a small finger length of turkey plus a heap of green beans. I ate the turkey and ½ of the green beans and only a small bite of potato and stuffing because it just didn’t taste that good.
Then came the week after Christmas. I tasted something every single day. All in all it didn’t add up to a lot of calories, but it was cheating. I chose wisely, for the most part, by eating steamed veggies. It's the cashews, Hershey kisses and then croutons added to my soup that did me in. I still have not regained control of my diet. My weight reflected the cheating. In the three weeks we didn’t have class I lost 6.5 pounds. It could have been more.
When I look at the overall picture of 25 pounds lost in 39 days, it feels good. If I look at how last year during the holidays I easily packed on 10 pounds, I feel good that this year I entered a new year with a weight LOSS instead of a gain.
I’ve started exercising again. It’s nothing too strenuous, but I’m getting out there and walking. At home I’ll do strength training and squats. It’s more than I’ve done in a long time so I’m feeling okay about that too.
Later this month I’m going to start attending a rigorous circuit training class at a small local gym. They make you feel like family – lots of yelling, “GET MOVING!” lots of discipline, “DO 10 MORE OR ELSE…” and lots of encouragement, “AWESOME JOB TODAY!” When I say, rigorous, it’s almost an understatement. This is a hard core workout and it feels extremely good when it’s over. When I did this circuit two years ago my Polar F6 heart rate monitor recorded over 600 calories burned in the hour. The owner/trainer commonly yells to the group, “HATE ME NOW. LOVE ME LATER.” And he’s right!
That’s where I am with the Optifast program. I’m struggling right now but overall still keeping my calories low. It’s difficult every single day for me, but my clothes are fitting better and my health is improving. I’m alert all day long instead of having a food coma every afternoon. I don’t sweat all of the time either. These reasons are what keep me on the program instead of quitting entirely. I need this weight loss for so many reasons.
*HAPPY NEW YEAR!*
