Monday, June 11, 2012

week 0: going back to what I know

I don’t know about you, but I know that I’ve been wondering what the heck has been going on with my weight loss. I can’t speak for you, but I surely can speak for me when I say I’ve been asking myself “What am I doing?” “I need a good kick in the a$$ because I’m getting married in FOUR months!” “Am I going to lose this weight?” “Will my dress not fit? Will I not be the beautiful bride, that I really really want to be?!”


All of these questions have been floating around in my head for awhile now. Especially as I see the number on the scale stay the same. But once we crossed into that four month mark I knew I had to get serious. Weight Watchers didn’t work for me, although honestly I don’t know if I can say that with a whole lot of credit. I really only did it for two weeks. I had given myself the impression that losing weight was easy. That I lost 90 pounds before, sure I can lose some 20 pounds more and have it be easy?! ***NEW FLASH*** losing weight is NOT easy! That first pound of 90 wasn’t easy, and the 89th pound wasn’t easy. None of it is easy. I felt mentally ready, but Weight Watchers isn’t restrictive enough. Is that weird to say? I suppose when I think back to my Slimgenic days of two years ago I had a specific list of foods I could eat. Everything else, was off limits. On Weight Watchers you can eat whatever you want, and well I let that be my excuse to eat whatever I wanted, and to not really change my habits. Hence, seeing no results. Feeling defeated, and giving up.

So last Monday I kicked myself into high gear. I’ve put myself back on Slimgenics. I’m not paying for it, but rather using Chris as my support and counselor. I don’t need Slimgenics to ask them “Why can’t have this, or that?” Rather, I just need support, someone I can talk to. Voice my victories and hard days too. I don’t need to pay for it again. I know the plan, I know the food, I know that it works. I also know that it works quick, and that I need results fast. Last weekend was emotional. Letting Chris know that this was my plain, was admitting my failure all previous weeks, and when I committed to give Weight Watchers a go. It also brought myself into the reality of remembering and preparing how hard this is going to be. I went back and read majority of my posts from this plan from two years ago, and I had forgotten how much of this journey is emotional. Not just physical. Two years ago when I signed up for this plan I knew it would be hard, I had no idea HOW hard. And now I’m signing myself up for this hardship all over again?! It was hard and emotional, but I’m doing it again, and I know it'll be worth it!

In all of my Slimgenics material I couldn’t find the full details of the prep phase. Which is the first three days to basically cleanse yourself and get your body ready for some fat removal! So I did a Google search of “Slimgenics 3 day prep phase” which got me the information that I needed. The search itself mainly brought me to blogs. And I hate to say it but unsuccessful blogs. Goes to show how hard this plan is. I’ve seen so many people start weight loss blogs, and document feelings and pounds loss for the first couple weeks or months, and then…nothing. Proof, that yet again, this isn’t easy!!! …Just an interesting observation.

Anyways, I started my prep phase last Monday 6/4. The prep phase is 3 days of UNLIMITED raw green vegetables (no peas), UNLIMITED protein (skin on is ok!), 2 eggs in the morning (prepared how you like, but not cooked in oil or butter), a half an orange in the morning, and the remaining half in the afternoon/evening. That’s it. My raw green veggies of choice are green pepper and cucumber. By day two I was sick of green pepper and cucumber. My proteins were cooked up ground turkey, steak, hamburger meat, and a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store. The chicken is a treat, because you get to have the skin, which you don’t get to have once your done with the first three days. Once Thursday was here I was super ready for my some oatmeal (that counts as one snack) and some bread! I knew from my experience before that the weekends would be my struggle. And that’s still true. I was right on point Thursday and Friday, and we did go out for some sushi Saturday night, but I definitely was cautious of my portions, and I think I did pretty good.

So I bet your curious as to how I did? Like last time, I plan to have my official weekly weight-in’s be documented on Saturday’s. I always workout on Saturdays and if anything this gives me an excuse to go to the gym. I didn’t go to the gym last Saturday 6/2 to get my official “before” weight because the weather was so nice, I just wanted to go for a run outdoors. I pulled out my at home scale but the battery is dead…which is better, because one thing I don’t want compared to last time, is being obsessed with the scale. I want to keep my weight-in’s to once a week on Saturday’s using the scale at the gym. My guess is that I was around 188 – 190. I had high hopes for a 7 pound drop as that was what I lost during my first week last time, but I was pleasantly surprised and happy with the 182 that appeared on the scale! I’m calling that a 5 pound loss! I’m super pleased, and feel focused and motivated to keep moving. While reading all of my past posts, I learned that I lost 23 pounds in the first 9 weeks. And that’s my goal. That’ll put me right at 165 at the beginning of August, which is when I need to start alterations on my dress. The other big goal I’ll reach with that number is 100 pounds lost! I hope to get to 175 by the end of this month, which is where I was a year ago. The big end goal is be 155 by 10/5! These are obviously pretty big goals, but it’s crunch time. I’m getting married in little more than 16 weeks and I want to be a beautiful bride darn-it!!

6 comments:

Emily said...

Good for you, April! You can totally do this. Weight loss is NEVER easy. I have a friend that recently had gastric bypass and after her first 40 pounds, she completely stalled out. She has a 500-calorie a day diet and isn't losing weight! Can you even imagine? She's had to completely cut out carbs. You would think that only eating 500 calories would mean weight loss (i mean, it just works out, there's no way she's burning less than 500 calories in a day), so it just doesn't make sense. It just goes to show that you're right. No matter what stage you're in, it's never easy. But you already know you can do it. Good for you!

Sarah Zook said...

Good job, Girlfriend. Remember this time your body might know what tricks you have up your sleeve and be a little more resistant the further along you go. AWESOME at the 5 pound loss this first week. WOO HOO! And the personal trainer in me says, "
Don't forget your STRENGTH training. More muscle equals higher caloric burn!" :) LOVE YA SISTER! You can do it!!!

Summer said...

Good luck! I am super impressed. Before my wedding I was great about working out and lost 10 lbs. Since, I've already gained it ALL back (and probably MORE!). I think the lifestyle change is whats hard for me. I'll go until I reach my goal, then quit. Every time I read your posts I feel like a kick in the butt to go run or something.

Anonymous said...

You've always managed to amaze me. You'll be awesome--again!

Nikki said...

Yes, Good luck! Looking forward to seeing you!

Rachel said...

You are awesome, April! You will be the most beautiful bride. Love you!