So I am not sure what my body is doing but I am pretty happy. All along this liquid journey I have averaged a 4 lb loss one week and a 3 lb the next and some weeks it would be higher but for the most part it stayed along this path. Over the past 4 weeks my body has not followed that path at all, it has been letting go with higher numbers and this week was even higher with a 5.5 lb loss to equal 60 lbs woohoo!
Like frig, I have passed another milestone and another 10 lb bag of potatoes and I feel great. I am not sure why my body is letting go like it is but I will take it! I had no expectations going in to this program of a particular number because when in Ketosis you don't know how your body will handle the lower caloric intake. Obviously with this 60 lb loss i am more active on a daily basis and move around more and maybe because i am doing that my body is more eager to let go. The nurse did say last night that things may start to slow down as I transition back to food which I am actually expecting to happen but for now let go body, let go!
I will be posting an interesting topic in the next few days on "what loosing 60lbs" actually means to me as my transformation has started to take place! Stay tuned!
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Sunday, February 17, 2013
Nails
I know this is a weird post but I need to blog about it. If anyone knows me well they know that I am a nail biter and always have been my entire life.
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I am focusing on my nails for a few minutes because I cannot believe that they look like this now, for some reason since starting this program I have not bit my nails not once. Actually, I really didn't notice that I wasn't biting my nails until a month or so ago when I looked at them one day and said "omg my nails are growing". The literature says that one of the side effects of being on Optifast is brittle nails but I have had the opposite experience, they are growing and are as strong as ever. I recently had the opportunity to have a manicure through work as a part of a cosmetic event they were having and I signed up for a basic manicure and when my manicurist looked at my nails she couldn't believe how long and healthy they looked, she cleaned them up and applied this pretty polish and told me to keep doing what I am doing!
So, after she said that to me I then spent most of the evening after work reflecting on what it is I have been doing and I have no answer. Obviously my nail biting was going hand in hand with eating behaviors and my nails were never actually healthy before because I ate like shit. So not only have I lost weight and worked on behaviors with this program my skin, hair and nails are at their healthiest. Part of this program is to determine and work on ways to cope with those times we want to eat or handle rewards or even a tough day and I now know that one way for me to do that is through weekly at home manicures, I purchased a nail file some cuticle oil, and a few pretty colors of nail polish and when I am having the urge to eat I will pull them out and paint my nails!
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So, after she said that to me I then spent most of the evening after work reflecting on what it is I have been doing and I have no answer. Obviously my nail biting was going hand in hand with eating behaviors and my nails were never actually healthy before because I ate like shit. So not only have I lost weight and worked on behaviors with this program my skin, hair and nails are at their healthiest. Part of this program is to determine and work on ways to cope with those times we want to eat or handle rewards or even a tough day and I now know that one way for me to do that is through weekly at home manicures, I purchased a nail file some cuticle oil, and a few pretty colors of nail polish and when I am having the urge to eat I will pull them out and paint my nails!
Weeks 13 & 14
It's been a few weeks since my last post and I told myself going into this I would keep up with the weekly posts but life has been super busy these past two weeks. So here it goes, a summary of the past two weeks.
The past two weeks have just been a blur, one week is just rolling into the next at this point and as I sit here and type I cannot believe that starting March 7th I will begin the transition phase back to food. I am almost through 10 weeks of consuming liquid only and at 55 lb lost so far it is just amazing. All along this liquid phase my body would lose 4 lbs one week and then 3lbs the next and it would go back and forth like this for the most part, but the past three weeks my body seems to be letting go more consistently with a 4.5 lb loss and then a 4 and then another 4 last week. At this point in the liquid phase I am experiencing no cravings what so ever, and by none I actually mean none. I am not tempted by any of the foods I see people eating, for example work birthday's were celebrated this past week and one of my co-workers made one of my favorite deserts lemon meringue pie, even though it looked delicious I was not having feelings of jealousy or anxiety over the fact that they are eating it and not me, I found that I wasn't focusing on "how much" of the pie was left after everyone enjoyed their slice. What I am experiencing these past two weeks has been hunger, I would drink my shake and then two hours later I would start to hear my stomach growl, I am trying to focus on those times when I am feeling hunger to determine what type of hunger it is (heart, mouth or stomach) and for the most past it truly is stomach hunger. Occasionally I will still have thoughts around my addiction foods (donairs and chips), these are the only two foods that I seem to want more often, they are not a craving but a want out of habits. The want usually occurs on a drive home from work, or if my husband and I are out running errands, or a Saturday night. I know that these are habit wants and not cravings because I do not have these feelings with any other food at the moment and I know they are my true go to foods prior to me starting this program. I have been journaling my experiences when I have these wants so that I can recognize how to handle them as I move back to eating solid food again.
I am so lucky to have such an amazing support team through this journey, whether it is my group members, my co-workers, my friends, my family or my amazing husband they have all helped to make this journey as easy as possible with just allowing me to share my experiences and talk out my concerns or triumphs. I couldn't imagine doing this by myself without a support team. I know I will need to lean on them as I move towards eating again as it will be the hardest part of this journey I am sure! For now I will continue to enjoy 2 & 1/2 more weeks of liquid only and prepare myself and my daily life for transition.
The past two weeks have just been a blur, one week is just rolling into the next at this point and as I sit here and type I cannot believe that starting March 7th I will begin the transition phase back to food. I am almost through 10 weeks of consuming liquid only and at 55 lb lost so far it is just amazing. All along this liquid phase my body would lose 4 lbs one week and then 3lbs the next and it would go back and forth like this for the most part, but the past three weeks my body seems to be letting go more consistently with a 4.5 lb loss and then a 4 and then another 4 last week. At this point in the liquid phase I am experiencing no cravings what so ever, and by none I actually mean none. I am not tempted by any of the foods I see people eating, for example work birthday's were celebrated this past week and one of my co-workers made one of my favorite deserts lemon meringue pie, even though it looked delicious I was not having feelings of jealousy or anxiety over the fact that they are eating it and not me, I found that I wasn't focusing on "how much" of the pie was left after everyone enjoyed their slice. What I am experiencing these past two weeks has been hunger, I would drink my shake and then two hours later I would start to hear my stomach growl, I am trying to focus on those times when I am feeling hunger to determine what type of hunger it is (heart, mouth or stomach) and for the most past it truly is stomach hunger. Occasionally I will still have thoughts around my addiction foods (donairs and chips), these are the only two foods that I seem to want more often, they are not a craving but a want out of habits. The want usually occurs on a drive home from work, or if my husband and I are out running errands, or a Saturday night. I know that these are habit wants and not cravings because I do not have these feelings with any other food at the moment and I know they are my true go to foods prior to me starting this program. I have been journaling my experiences when I have these wants so that I can recognize how to handle them as I move back to eating solid food again.
I am so lucky to have such an amazing support team through this journey, whether it is my group members, my co-workers, my friends, my family or my amazing husband they have all helped to make this journey as easy as possible with just allowing me to share my experiences and talk out my concerns or triumphs. I couldn't imagine doing this by myself without a support team. I know I will need to lean on them as I move towards eating again as it will be the hardest part of this journey I am sure! For now I will continue to enjoy 2 & 1/2 more weeks of liquid only and prepare myself and my daily life for transition.
Sunday, February 3, 2013
Cravings
Man...cravings have been very frequent these past two days that I thought I would blog about it to help take my mind off of wanting the food!
They started yesterday (Saturday) my husband and I were out shopping for the day. I brought my shakes like I always do and made sure I had one before we left the house. It was 3:30pm about an hour from my supper shake and we were on our way home from shopping, driving in the car and all the sudden I wanted my trigger food and addiction food... A donair and a bag or zesty cheese Doritos. Whether it was occurring out of habit or just pure cravings it was happening. That is all I wanted while driving home, my husband had to list the numerous cons if i were to choose to eat them while I listed off the pros, I even called my sister to talk it out as well. It was a surreal experience, it took over 15 minutes for these cravings to pass, and they were very strong. When I think about having cravings I thought they would be easy to handle, but the experience of yesterday only means that it will happen again and many times throughout this year and will be equally as hard! Even thought I am making changes and breaking my habits and addiction these occasional cravings or wants will always appear.
I spent most of today journaling and reflecting about yesterday's experience and how I will handle the wants when they happen again, my husband is a huge part of my therapy, he is that person of reason when I am thinking irrationally. I know it is hard on him as we'll because he is making changes with his eating as well and Doing fantastic but he does not suffer from the addiction to food like I do which means he will always be my rock. 👫
Today I had cravings as well but I know it is out of habits, it's Super Bowl Sunday and I wanted comfort food. These wants quickly passed after I had my shake and I realized that if I am hungry then it makes it easy for my mind to wander in the direction of food and eating.
They started yesterday (Saturday) my husband and I were out shopping for the day. I brought my shakes like I always do and made sure I had one before we left the house. It was 3:30pm about an hour from my supper shake and we were on our way home from shopping, driving in the car and all the sudden I wanted my trigger food and addiction food... A donair and a bag or zesty cheese Doritos. Whether it was occurring out of habit or just pure cravings it was happening. That is all I wanted while driving home, my husband had to list the numerous cons if i were to choose to eat them while I listed off the pros, I even called my sister to talk it out as well. It was a surreal experience, it took over 15 minutes for these cravings to pass, and they were very strong. When I think about having cravings I thought they would be easy to handle, but the experience of yesterday only means that it will happen again and many times throughout this year and will be equally as hard! Even thought I am making changes and breaking my habits and addiction these occasional cravings or wants will always appear.
I spent most of today journaling and reflecting about yesterday's experience and how I will handle the wants when they happen again, my husband is a huge part of my therapy, he is that person of reason when I am thinking irrationally. I know it is hard on him as we'll because he is making changes with his eating as well and Doing fantastic but he does not suffer from the addiction to food like I do which means he will always be my rock. 👫
Today I had cravings as well but I know it is out of habits, it's Super Bowl Sunday and I wanted comfort food. These wants quickly passed after I had my shake and I realized that if I am hungry then it makes it easy for my mind to wander in the direction of food and eating.
Friday, February 1, 2013
Week 12
Theme of this week....Poop!
Week 12 has passed and another great loss this past week 4 lbs for a total of 47 lbs to date. Time is flying and with only 5 weeks left of just liquid I cannot believe it! Other than occasionally wishing I didn't have to drink another shake things are going well. This week I decided to try a few vanilla shakes, for the past 7 weeks I only consumed the chocolate shakes and was feeling a little bored of them. I swapped a few shakes with a fellow program attendee and yesterday morning I tried the vanilla....not a fan! It's not terrible but I definitely prefer the chocolate.
One thing I have noticed this week is constipation, not a fun topic but something I really have never had to deal with throughout this program. It is recommended that we use Benefiber with our shakes to help keep things moving and I have been using it off and on over the past 7 weeks but haven't experienced any issues until Monday......well with that said constipation is not fun and something I definitely want to avoid for the remainder of my weeks. I am now using restorolax to get things moving and hopefully keep things moving!
This week we had a self directed group session reflecting on last weeks Nutrients session with the dietitian, a very informative session and surprisingly i learned a lot because when i spent time reflecting on what we learned i really was clueless as to what made up a balanced meal. This week I found myself looking at everything my husband was eating and trying to figure out if it was balanced nutritionally or not, it will be fun doing the same when I am eating again.
So that was my week, right now each week just rolls into the next for me and with only 5 weeks left of liquid my plan is to continue on this easy path of not having to think about food and just take it all in.
Week 12 has passed and another great loss this past week 4 lbs for a total of 47 lbs to date. Time is flying and with only 5 weeks left of just liquid I cannot believe it! Other than occasionally wishing I didn't have to drink another shake things are going well. This week I decided to try a few vanilla shakes, for the past 7 weeks I only consumed the chocolate shakes and was feeling a little bored of them. I swapped a few shakes with a fellow program attendee and yesterday morning I tried the vanilla....not a fan! It's not terrible but I definitely prefer the chocolate.
One thing I have noticed this week is constipation, not a fun topic but something I really have never had to deal with throughout this program. It is recommended that we use Benefiber with our shakes to help keep things moving and I have been using it off and on over the past 7 weeks but haven't experienced any issues until Monday......well with that said constipation is not fun and something I definitely want to avoid for the remainder of my weeks. I am now using restorolax to get things moving and hopefully keep things moving!
This week we had a self directed group session reflecting on last weeks Nutrients session with the dietitian, a very informative session and surprisingly i learned a lot because when i spent time reflecting on what we learned i really was clueless as to what made up a balanced meal. This week I found myself looking at everything my husband was eating and trying to figure out if it was balanced nutritionally or not, it will be fun doing the same when I am eating again.
So that was my week, right now each week just rolls into the next for me and with only 5 weeks left of liquid my plan is to continue on this easy path of not having to think about food and just take it all in.
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