A New Start

Apologies on being a few days late with my post; this weekend ended up being extremely busy!!!

Saturday was my first day post RESET, my first day to test my new food choice skills.  After 5 full days of RESET, my I had released a grand total of 6.6 lbs of the excess weight I was carrying.

We had a busy day planned because of a kayaking class that was scheduled from 10 am - 2 pm, which would definitely test out scheduling and planning food every few hours.  I discovered that sometimes that can work out really well, and other times, well, you just have to go with the flow.

We were up pretty early, so I made us some Greek scrambled eggs--eggs, onions, spinach, black olives, diced tomatoes and a little feta cheese.  That was incredibly delicious after a week of not eating regular foods.  I was still lamenting the fact that I hadn't planned better with my supplements; they will arrive on June 1, so obviously I wouldn't have any for the first few days.

We packed our bag up for kayaking and headed to the east side of our county (we live on the west side.)  We packed snack bars and apples for our break during the kayak class, and lots of water.

The break in the class though came around 1 pm, which meant that since I had had breakfast at 8 am, I had already missed my first scheduled snack of the day.  But what could I do really; we were out in the Gunpowder River learning various paddle strokes, safety and rescue techniques, and my snacks were on shore.  I did take my water bottle along, and I drank lots of water, not including the river water I sucked in as we were purposely capsizing our kayaks to learn how to get back in them with a partner and on our own.

By the end of the four hour class, I was vowing to start an exercise routine to increase my upper body strength. Nothing shows you how weak you really are like trying to hoist yourself up on a kayak that is above your head in a moving body of water where your feet don't touch the bottom. I was also extremely hungry by the time this class was over; I haven't expended that much energy in a really, really long time.

We drove home after class and grilled a bunch of veggies (squash, onions, tomatoes, and mushrooms) and we had some steamed shrimp.

I do think there was some residual effect of the week's supplements still working for me, as I didn't crash from exhaustion at this point. I managed to run to the grocery store and clean the first floor of our house before succumbing to the bruises and sore muscles that I knew were inevitable.

Later on in the evening, we did eat out for dinner.  We have a Mediterranean place called Tahina's down the street from us.  They have a hummus platter that has a carrot salad, a cucumber salad and then some spicy hummus.  I also had about a 6" disk of flat bread.

Overall, I think this was a pretty successful day given the amount of physical activity and the amount of food consumed.  Nothing was of a particularly poor nutritional content.

Day 5: The End is the Beginning

After 4 fulls days of RESET, my weight dropped again for a grand total so far of 5.7 pounds.  Today was going to be a different schedule from the rest of the week because I decided at the last minute to take off work.  Most of the rest of my office was taking off, so I figured why not.  My entire day was shifted back by about 2 hours, because instead of getting up at 6 am, I got up at 8 am.  This wasn't too difficult to adjust to, but like earlier days in the week I had to remember to eat my snack bars at the right times.  Luckily being home, I could use my blender for all my shakes!

I had a strawberry shake for breakfast, and today I added a 1/2 c of frozen wild blueberries to the blender cup. Can you say yum?  This was really, really delicious.

Lunch was a vanilla shake, and I think I had that around 2 pm.  Today was the only day I did not eat a salad for lunch; I honestly was just too lazy to pull everything out of the refrigerator. 

Dinner was a plateful of grilled mushrooms, onions, squash and tomatoes marinated in my Newman's Own Olive Oil and Vinegar dressing.  They were amazing--probably some of the best grilled veggies I have ever made.  So good I even volunteered to bring them to a cook out we are attending on Sunday.

I had my final chocolate shake around 8 pm while I was listening to the final conference call.  It has really been a quick week!  So my box is now empty, but the end of RESET is just the beginning of a new relationship with food.

A number of people have asked my plan for after th RESET week, and my plan IS to plan.  I've decided on some main ideas that I plan to work with.

1. Each three low glycemic meals each day with two snacks, so I'll be eating every 2-3 hours. 
2. Add back in my exercise.  I laid off this week because the weather wasn't super cooperative and I knew I would be working with less calories; I didn't want to make myself super tired on anything.  In hindsight, I think I would have been fine.  What I lost in calories was made up for in "energy efficiency" from the supplements. 
3. I plan to use the USANA shakes for probably one meal replacement a day, and it will most likely be breakfast. And I did buy some snack bars, so I will use them at least once a day as well.  I'm going to keep up with my salads for lunch, but I'm going to add a lean protein to it, most likely grilled chicken or eggs.  
4. I will definitely continue the USANA supplements. Even though I'm not very good at taking a handful of pills, I think they really made a difference in my "energy efficiency" rating.  If I was running at 20 mpg before, I'm at least at 30 mpg now. 
5. I'm going to plan out my food for the week on Sundays, and make sure I have everything on hand to be successful.  
6. And if my own meal choices aren't helping me to continue to reduce my weight, I'm ready to step up the meal replacements with the shakes for a second meal.  It isn't out of the question, but I am going to try eating whole foods first. Mainly because it is easier for my bf to deal when I'm cooking/making lunches of "actual" food instead of shakes.  While he agrees the shakes are tasty, they aren't his thing.  And when I have only a shake, he tends to eat more poorly than he would have if I was cooking, etc. 

Tomorrow is going to be an interesting test; we have a 4 hour kayaking on the calendar that spans from 10 am to 2 pm.  We've already packed our stuff up, and I have a snack bar and an apple all set for my snack.  Hopefully the class goes as well as RESET has gone!!!

Day 4: Man Your Battle Stations!!!

Whew.  Day 4 was sailing along smoothly, no bumps in the road, no wind in the air, just a still, sunny day...and then BLAM! a slice of triple chocolate bundt cake landed in my hand.  My office is big on celebrating birthdays, and yesterday was the party for my boss.  When I found out we were having cake, my plan had been to sing happy birthday with the group, and then to quietly slip out before the cake was doled out.  Unfortunately, that didn't happen because I was engaged in a conversation with a coworker, and then my boss shoved a piece of the cake in my hand before I could move away from the group.

I took the cake back to my office, and for a few minutes we were in a dead stare down.  What was I going to do?  Eating it would break the RESET rules, eating it would break the commitment I'd made to make better choices, eating it would taste SO FLIPPING GOOD.  It was a gorgeous 2" slab of cake, all dark and chocolatey, filled with chocolate chips and covered in a chocolate ganache and a dark chocolate drizzle.  The old me would have savored every bite of this cake, scraping the last bit of icing off the plate with the flimsy plastic fork, and been somewhat sad when it was all gone.  The new me crumpled the cake up in its el cheapo white paper plate coffin, purposely mutilating the cake in the process, and stuffed it into a ziploc bag.  I then promptly escorted the cake to its final resting place of the trash can in the office kitchen. I walked back to my desk with mixed emotions of sad and triumphant, but glad I was able to summon the power to say NO.  I just decided I wasn't going to poison myself with all that trans this and saturated that, when I had just spent the last few days working on getting rid of all that.  The fleeting happiness that would have come from eating that cake is just that--fleeting.  The satisfaction of taking charge for once--lasting. And writing this 10 hours later, I am definitely glad I said no.

Sugary Evil

After the cake incident, the rest of the day went really well.  My weight was down again, for a grand total of 5 lbs on the week so far.  This also meant I'd met the first of my unspoken goals--to be under 200 lbs.  It was great to check that off.  My next goal is to get under 195.  I was thinking about goal setting yesterday, and I decided to stay away from trying to set a larger goal of losing 50 lbs, etc or even setting the intermediate goals on the 0's.  Something about trying to get past 200 or 190 is much more mentally challenging that trying to get under 195.  It's like those 0's build a better wall than the 5's or something. Or I could just be crazy overall :-)

I finally remembered to take a photo of the peanut butter crunch bar--they really are like eating a candy bar. They are also smaller in size than the oatmeal bars. (Sorry it isn't rotated correctly; I couldn't get it to change.)

I realized tonight as I was making my dinner shake that my RESET box is almost empty!  Only Friday's goodies remain.

As a recap to the week, I've realized a couple of things.

1.  I actually don't mind the shakes as meal replacements.  I always thought I hated this idea, but there was bliss in the pure simplicity of only having to choose a flavor for each meal.  I felt like I had gobs of free time to do other stuff because I wasn't standing in front of the stove or the grill making dinner.  Mornings were incredibly simplified with the shakes.  Lunches were more difficult, only because lunch time for me is a food break and a mental break, and I normally take a lot of time coming up with a tasty lunch.  I'll still do this come Saturday and the days after that, but just from a different repertoire than what I used to use.

2.  I prefer the shakes to be made with ice.  I didn't take my personal blender into work, but I really thought about it, and I still might do it as I move into the next phase.  They are good by themselves just in the blender bottle, but they really are nicer in the blender with ice.  The extra effort goes a long way to helping me feel like I'm not being cheated out of food, or out of an experience. And that personal blender was a fabulous investment.  I could make 4 shakes before having to wash cups.  I was only washing the blade every time.  MUCH better than having to clean out the entire blender every time.

3.  I need the support of people I know AND strangers.  Sometimes the people closest to you unwittingly do things that sabotage your efforts.  Strangers help keep that in perspective. I know my bf wasn't being mean when he told me he was getting Chipotle for himself, but it stung none the less. Will I eat at Chipotle again?  Probably.  Just not during this RESET week, and when I do, I'll skip the rice, the tortilla and probably the cheese, and opt for extra vegetables.  I know they'll do that--my friend is a vegetarian and he always gets the fajita burrito bowl with extra veggies.

4.  I didn't order my vitamins soon enough.  They aren't going to be here for Saturday, so I'll be going a few days without those supplements.  I'm not overly worried about it, I just wish I had made that decision faster.  My shakes and bars did arrive today, so I am set to replace at least one meal and one snack come Saturday.

5.  Overall, the week was easier than I thought it would be.  I consider myself a sugar-a-holic, and aside from the initial impact of taking the vitamins Monday and then a bit of a headache Tuesday, there really was no pain in this process.

6.  Lastly, a practical tip: DO NOT leave a cup with just a little bit of any flavor of the shakes in a hot car for the day.  It will smell AWFUL.

Day 3 Summary: Different from the last two

Today was very different from the past two days.  I found that I was hungry more today, and it was almost on cue with every 2-21/2 hours.  Monday and Tuesday I had to remind myself to eat my snacks, etc, but today I didn't need any reminding at all.  I even ate an apple during the day because I was hungry mid-afternoon.  This was the first day that I ate my serving of fruit.  I hadn't been purposely skipping them before, I just didn't want them.

Now that I've discovered adding ice to the shakes, drinking them "plain" isn't as nice.  I had a strawberry shake at breakfast, and the vanilla for lunch.  I finally placed the smell of the vanilla powder; it kept jogging my memory but I couldn't come up with it at first, but it smells a lot like yellow cake mix. I also had my salad and my two bars, and a chocolate shake for dinner.

I was terrible about taking photos today, so I'll entertain you with photos of my beagle instead.

I is solar powered...

Is my favorite man EVER going to come home?

This is a big box!  No snacks??

Anyways, I was down another pound today, so that makes the drop so far 3.1 lbs.  I drank around 120 oz of water again; I'd be curious to know what is making me so thirsty. Not that I mind though, I have probably never been this hydrated. 

I went for a massage last night as a midweek treat. Plus I had to use the gift certificate before it expired :-)  The lady was a little hard core though, I actually have a bruise on my shoulder from her "work."  Next time I get one I'm doing hot stones.  I never really understood what that was, and last night she used the stones for a little bit.  They are really warm and allow for more even pressure over an area.  

I also decided last night to stop procrastinating on certain things.  I am terrible about small tasks that can be done another time, so I just decided that whenever I feel that way about something, I'll just DO IT NOW instead. I started to procrastinate after my massage; I had been planning all day to stop by the library on my way home for a few books, but when I walked about of the spa I contemplated just going home and going to the library "later." As I drove out of the parking lot, I decided that was ridiculous. 1.  I was 1/4 of a mile from the library right at that moment. 2.  There was no good reason to NOT go right then.  3. If I didn't go then, it just meant my to do list would be longer another day. So I went.  And I felt better for doing it. 

Day 2 Summary: Still Thirsty, Mostly Happy

So I survived Day 2 of RESET with most of the flying colors still in tact from yesterday. Today wasn't quite as easy as yesterday, but not impossible either. I slept very well last night, and waking up today at 6:15 am wasn't as awful as it usually is.  I'm hoping that is a residual positive effect :-)

I did weigh myself this morning, and I'm happy to report a 2.1 lb loss.  Now I also realize that weight can fluctuate wildly, so I won't be surprised if I'm up tomorrow or even down again. But I'll take any amount down any day.

Breakfast today was another vanilla shake, only this time I added ice when I blended it.  Ice makes all the difference!!!  I was too lazy to walk to the downstairs freezer for blueberries, so maybe tomorrow.  I took all the vitamins at once again today, and I am happy to report I didn't feel ill at all through the morning like I did yesterday.

My water intake today was nearly the same as yesterday, and I was very thirsty again all day.  Although I've noticed that once I get home I'm less thirsty than when I am at work.

I had my mid-morning snack around 10 am, and the oatmeal raisin bar was tasty again today.

Lunch today was another salad made today with iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, mushrooms, celery, beets, onions and carrots. I used my Newman's dressing again as well.

I screwed up my afternoon snack AGAIN.  I waited about an hour too long for my snack, just like yesterday, only today it was because of bad traffic and having to stop for dog food.  I am going to take my afternoon snack along with me tomorrow.  And there is no photo...I was so hungry when I got home I forgot all about it.

Tonight for dinner I grilled some onions, mushrooms and squash with herbs and some olive oil and tossed them with spinach and tomatoes.  That was a pretty tasty dinner.  I also took my PM vitamins with my dinner; I'm getting a little better at taking pills.

I made my last shake of the day for "dessert" and totally forgot to take a photo of it. I did adjust my proportions though for mixing the shake.  12 oz of water in my personal blender cup is a bit too much, so I dropped it back to 10.  I put the water in the cup first, then the shake mix, and then the ice. If you put the powder in first, it gets trapped at the bottom.  When the powder is just a little bit wet, it is like glue.  You have to get it stirred up quickly so it doesn't stick to the sides of the cup.

I participated in another phone call this evening with Team Northrup.  Dr. Northrup was on for the first part of the call and she and her sister and daughter had some great things to share about the power of being able to say no.  Talk about a timely conversation!

Overall, today I felt pretty good.  I did have a headache in mid-afternoon, but that is to be expected.  It wasn't awful either, just annoying and persistent.  It subsided once I ate my afternoon snack when I got home from work. I also had some cravings today, but they weren't actual food cravings.  I was pretty stressed at work and the old me would have gone to the vending machine for a Diet Coke to deal.  The new me just decided to take a break and play a few games of Bejeweled on Facebook.

i could also tell last night that my mood was better later in the evening than it usually is.  By 9 pm, I'm usually just drained, and I definitely had some steam left. I didn't stay up too late though, I think I was in bed around 10 pm and read for a little while before turning out the lights.

Day 1 Summary: THIRSTY and HAPPY

Day 1 of RESET was a piece of cake (pun intended.) I'm not fooling myself though; there is plenty of time for this to take a turn for the worse and resemble a scene out of The Exorcist, but I'm hopeful and committed.

I started my day with a vanilla shake made in my personal blender with 12 oz of water. I used our filtered water that wasn't super cold, and I think that impacted my shake. The powder smelled like vanilla pudding, and the flavor once mixed was like cookies and cream, sans the cookies. I'm not a huge fan of vanilla, so I can definitely see mixing in some fruit and using the vanilla as a smoothie base after these 5 days are up.  I think tomorrow my vanilla shake is going to be introduced to some wild blueberries.

I also choked down the AM packet of supplements. I am a terrible pill taker, but I managed. The supplements are hard core, they made me a little nauseous, but not too awful. I'm hoping after a few days I tolerate them better. (Unrelated...Safari auto-corrected my poorly spelled 'nauseous' to 'anuses'...NICE)

Between the shake and the supplements, I was SO THIRSTY all day. I cleared 50 oz of water by 10 am, and I'm wrapping up my 7th 24 oz bottle right now before bedtime. I haven't consumed this much water since I trekked through the desert in Rajasthan.  But I was also my thinnest then, so bring it on.  If this food emulates me being in a desert for 3 weeks, rock on with that. I've often considered moving to India to get thinner.  LOL.  How's that for drastic.  Although I do love that place...

Anyways, I had a peanut butter crunch bar for my AM snack, and that was super tasty like a candy bar. Chewy, nutty & chocolatey--and not that fake chocolate flavor either. It was definitely a treat. I'm trading this for the oatmeal bar tomorrow morning.  The PB one will be more of an afternoon indulgence, which I think will be great.

For lunch, I had a strawberry shake mixed in my blender bottle with 12 oz of ice cold water. MUCH BETTER with the cold water, and the blender bottle did a good job mixing the shake, no clumps at all. The strawberry flavor was quite good, and that surprised me because I don't care for strawberry flavored things at all. It tastes like those Baskin Robbins hard candies.  And yes, I forgot to take the photo BEFORE I drank the shake.  I'll try again tomorrow!

I also had a nice salad for lunch with my Newman's Olive Oil and Vinegar dressing, which is legal by the way. It doesn't have any added sugar so it is good to go if you are looking for a bottled dressing.

I had a longer gap between lunch and my PM snack than I would have liked, but I forgot I had a late meeting today. I ate my oatmeal raisin bar when I got home from work, which was an hour later than it should have been. This bar reminds me of the Quaker Oats breakfast bars, again, very tasty.  This bar is about 1 1/2 times the physical size of the peanut butter crunch bar, but similar nutritional content.

I had planned to have another salad for dinner with a chocolate shake for "dessert," but I wasn't hungry enough. So I made my shake with 12 oz of water and a big handful of ice. Can you say YUM? I mean, it was actually tasty. I was very pleased with this as it was a perfect treat to end the night.

I also took the PM supplements, only after I fished 3 of them out of the Harry Dog's mouth. I cut the pack open and that quickly forgot that I had, and dumped them all over the floor. And the floor is clearly HD's territory.  And yes, I still took them. 3 second rule even for the dog's mouth?  Only because I don't have extra supplements at the moment and I feel they are THAT important to the process.

So far, I've not been hungry and the shakes and bars have not left me feeling sad about using meal replacements--AT ALL.  If you ask JTP, she'll tell you that was one of my original concerns that I brought to her when I decided to start the conversation about RESET.  If anything, it is really nice to know that for 5 whole days, I don't have to even think about what I'm eating, I just get to eat it.

I also listened in on my first group call tonight.  I think I'll arrange a separate post about that because I have some observations regarding some of the other folks trying RESET right now.  While I wish them all success, I definitely see versions of my "old" self in them, overanalyzing everything and focusing too much on numbers and not on principles.  I really feel for this to work, you've got to get over the counting of anything and embrace good habits and good choices.

Some lessons I've learned so far:

1.  Buy longer straws.  They fall into my blender bottle.
2.  Make sure the lid is snapped shut on the blender bottle BEFORE shaking.
3.  Keep the vitamins out of the dog's reach.
4.  Be prepared to pee ALOT.

Ready to RESET

I've spent the last few days getting everything prepared for my RESET week. I went to the Russian market for my produce, I stopped by Bed Bath Beyond for a blender bottle, and I even made a trip to Home Goods where I picked up a nifty new lunch box. It is nice to have a new accessory to help with the process.  Plus it'll be big enough to carry my blender bottle for my lunch.

My RESET kit came on Thursday.  It was all neat and tidy; I find that very motivating.  I'm pretty excited to systematically work my way through the kit.  The shakes are on the left, and the bars are on the right in the front.  The vitamins are on the right in the back, all pre-portioned in little packs for AM & PM.  I think one of the things I am most looking forward to is a new vitamin regime.  I've been lacking in this area for a while now and I know my nails and hair will be thankful for daily vitamins.

My other tools for the week include my new blender bottle for making a shake at lunch time, my handy water bottle, which I plan to refill often, and my personal blender that I bought a few months ago for making smoothies at breakfast. It's nice because you blend the drink right in the portable cup, so you don't have to bother transferring the smoothie from the blender to an on the go cup.  Not that that is a big deal, but it does cut down on the dirty dishes.

Lastly, I spent quite a bit of time tonight cutting up vegetables for a really nice salad.  I'm not a big fan of cooked vegetables, so I plan to eat salads each day.  I've got romaine lettuce, tomatoes, red beets, onions, mushrooms, carrots, red pepper and celery.

Lastly, I believe one of the bottled salad dressings we use regularly is compatible with RESET.  It's an oil and vinegar dressing from Newman's Own, and there is no added sugar or unpronounceable ingredients.  It's just spices, garlic, oil and vinegar.

SO I think I'm ready to go.  I plan to review everything again tomorrow, and then I get to participate in my first phone call tomorrow night.  I definitely want to confirm that my bottled dressing is "legal" and I want to understand more about the glycemic index of other foods.  I really want to be able to choose the best food combinations for each day, but the information I've found on the internet is quite confusing. I'm hoping for a more directive answer come the Q & A time of the phone call.