Arrive Cycle Update #2

Happy to report that the weight loss is holding steady at 19 lbs gone!

I've been fairly careless this past week.  Although I've been keeping a close watch on when I eat those carbs (and which ones), I'm finding it very challenging to forego rice or potatoes with dinner -- I also didn't see a salad all week (Traci hangs her head in shame...).  Those fantastic potato salad leftovers don't count as a proper salad, no matter how tasty -- I essentially ignored all "green food" all week...


Here's what I learned this week:

• Beef 4 evenings in a row is not a good thing -- in the TMI category of "not good"...
• When desperate, I will eat the yucky flavoured Ruffles...
• I have some incredibly supportive friends who I will be forever grateful to have in my life -- and some very self-absorbed, non-supportive "friends" whom I thought would understand why I needed to work on me -- and have proven otherwise (more on this later)...

Results of my bad behaviour:

• Little/no energy or motivation -- it has taken a very concentrated effort to get anything accomplished all week, and on a few of those days it was all I could do to get out of bed...
• I have been very, very tired all week, even though I am sleeping fairly well -- the super-hot weather hasn't helped, but once I'm asleep, I stay that way but it hasn't been particularly restful sleep...
• Most mornings upon waking I have felt ill, and then most afternoons come down with a headache around 2:30 -- not good when you are teaching small children how to read...
• Mental fog (is that like a "brain cloud"??) has returned with a vengeance -- also not good when you are teaching small children how to read...

Confession time:

• OK -- already admitted to not a single salad all week.  I did eat my usual veggies (cucumber, grape tomatoes) with my lunches, which were mostly sandwiches (with lettuce -- love, love, love lettuce on my sandwiches)...
• I drank LOTS of coffee every day -- yup, completely overdid the negative water and didn't drink any extra water to compensate for it.  To be honest, I didn't make my minimum water requirements on any one day last week -- which probably accounts for the hangover-like feeling every morning -- dehydration is a nasty thing...
• Pizza, burritos, TimBits, Ruffles, chai tea latte -- not every day, mind you, but often enough...

My plan going forward:

• Two salads a day -- not necessarily as the main meal, but definitely a proper side salad will be a part of lunch and dinner...
• Make a batch of turkey chili to have on the nights when beef or pork is on the menu, especially if we've had it in the past couple of days...
• Have some of Dr. Mike's freaking amazing Taco Salad fixings on hand in case I want to do a meal-sized salad (I probably should...)
• No more than two cups (and I mean "cups" -- not those monster latte mugs) of coffee each day, instead of the four or five that I did this week -- and yes, the extra-large Timmy's counts as two cups -- dummy...
• Get all that water in -- I learned that lesson back in cycle one -- and then again in cycle 2 -- and then again in cycle 3 -- slow learner...

One thing I learned years ago was to have meats on a rotation basis -- if you have beef on Monday, you shouldn't see it again until Thursday at the earliest.  A nutritionist cautioned me to put at least 3 days between eating "problem" foods if you are dealing with a food sensitivity.  I know that beef affects me that way, and it's looking like pork is going to be a problem, too.  Great...

17 Day Diet news:

• I am super-happy to report that one of my dear friends is enjoying fantastic success in her personal project -- she has lost some weight (more than she anticipated, I think!) in her first 10 days and is sleeping much better than before -- this was her reason for starting and I am so proud of her and excited for her!
• My boss fell "off the wagon" so to speak...lol!  She was away on business for a week, and she's not followed the program since she's been back.  We had a nice chat about it the other day -- she has noticed that she feels awful too and is getting back on the horse on Monday.  While she was away, she "recruited" two more people into the lifestyle -- and they are loving it!
• The cookbook is coming!  It will be a little on the late side for those of us who have already started, but I will be getting a copy anyway:  The 17 Day Diet Cookbook

There has always been more to "Project Traci" than this weight loss -- as I've said before, it was never about the number on the scale (that's just how I chose to measure my progress) or the size of my clothes.  It was about starting to feel better about myself -- who I am, what I believe in, the priorities I set -- and it was very hard to evaluate any of that when I felt like crap all the time and couldn't maintain concentration for more than 10 minutes.  I didn't like what I saw when I looked in the mirror and doubted my sanity some days -- my self-esteem was almost non-existent.  So a large part of my journey has been to sort all of that out; I'm still working on it and will be for a while -- some people are not going to be happy with the choices I make but to them I say, "People in glass houses...".  One thing that I realized this week was that some of those old doubts and feelings were coming back -- partly because I have some people in my life who have not been supportive at all of this process -- and partly because I wasn't following my new lifestyle properly.  Why the backslide???  It's a vicious circle -- people who should believe in me and support me weren't, so I started to question my motives because I was allowing these people to have power over me.  So, I made some very difficult decisions in the past couple of days -- I am taking my power back and forging ahead without them. 

Thank you from the bottom of my heart to everyone who has believed in my journey and understood the "why" behind it -- I know who I can count on!

(((HUGS))) to you all!!!

Arrive Cycle Update #1

Well, here I am, nearly two weeks into Cycle 4 and am thrilled to report that I'm at 128 lbs and holding!  Yes, you read that correctly -- 128 lbs!  Somehow, I've managed to lose another two pounds, which is really, really encouraging.  I've been keeping a fairly close watch on the scale because some of my "cheating" hasn't been particularly "strategic" -- I will admit to some naughtiness in the evenings -- potatoes or rice with dinner, and we won't mention the fries (will discuss this in a bit...) -- though I'm very careful with what I'm eating during the day.  I had planned to follow Cycle 1 during the week but that hasn't really happened -- more like Cycle 3 because some days I really, really want a sandwich for lunch...


Dr. Mike gives some handy tips for success in this cycle:

• Observe the 5-pound stop signal -- when you see the scale register a 3 to 5 pound gain, stop what you're doing and get back on Cycle 1 until they're gone.
• Be a breakfast lover -- eat something for breakfast even if you're not hungry in order to avoid getting the munchies mid-morning and eating something you'll regret.
• Get on good terms with salad -- this is still a hard one for me...
• Make healthier substitutes -- reduced-fat, reduced sugar foods like mustard instead of mayo, skim milk, no butter, fat-free ice cream/sour cream/salad dressings.
• Exercise portion control -- no second helpings...
• Move it, keep it off -- bump up the time spent exercising/do extra chores.
• Avoid overboard syndrome -- no pig-outs -- make a list of trouble foods (can you say "butter tarts", Traci?) and avoid them -- plan your week's menus in advance.
• No more guilt trips -- you have permission to indulge as long as it's planned and limited to the weekend only -- don't beat yourself up if you have a mis-step, just get back on that horse on Monday morning.
• Stay focused -- make a list of reasons to stay slim and remind yourself every day of how great you look!

To that last point:  I'm keeping a ratty, old pair of track pants that I've practically lived in for the past 10 years -- they are practically falling off/apart, but that's what I'm wearing on the weekend while I clean house/do yardwork/watch TV -- to remind myself how far I've come, because they were so tight before...

Dr. Mike also recommends that you enjoy no more than three of your "favourite" meals between Friday and Sunday night (we'll see about that -- it's pizza night tonight, our wedding anniversary tomorrow and a long weekend to boot), as well as weighing only on the weekends (that's totally do-able)...

Here's what I know after two weeks of maintenance:

• French fries are evil and give you nightmares...
• Shake N Bake chicken, while tasty and seemed like a good idea at the time, resulted in hangover-like symptoms the next morning...
• I can't be trusted around potato chips, especially Spicy Ketchup Ruffles, even if they're on the other side of the room...
• Rogers makes a fabulous, low fat, 5-grain granola (try the Raspberry Almond one) that is great with milk as a cereal or mixed into your yogurt for breakfast...
• Renee's Gourmet Yogurt Dressing is a good alternative if you don't have time to make Dr. Mike's dip -- cucumber & dill is very tasty -- no sugar, but it is pretty high in sodium -- just stick to that 1 tbsp...

Another bag of clothes is nearly ready to go away -- the closet cleanout continues!  And, yes Mom, I've kept a couple of bigger things, just in case.  I'll hang onto them for a few months, but then they're outta here...

Wardrobe replacement has begun and the irony of this is not lost on me.  When I started this journey, I had a closet full of clothes that I couldn't wear because they didn't fit properly and I refused to go and buy new things.  Now, I have a closet full of clothes that I can't wear because they don't fit at all -- and I am excited to replace everything!  I am looking at those smaller sizes and learning to love shopping again!

True story: my hubby and I were at the outlet mall a couple of weeks ago.  I went into my favourite ladies' shop and tried on some pants that were just one size smaller than what I had at home.  Guess what??  Too big!!!  Oh, yes!  WAY too big!!  They were a clearance item, so a smaller size wasn't available -- I tried some skirts next and walked out of there with two tailored ones that are 2 -- 3 sizes smaller than anything I have owned in years!  Like my boss said to me one day, nothing tastes as great as thin feels!

Two dear friends are embarking on their own journeys this week -- one has chosen to try The 17 Day Diet, the other something very similar.  Good luck, girls!  You're going to rock it!