Long story short - I started, lost weight, got busy, got off plan, and gained my weight back (I hadn't lost everything I wanted - only about 30 pounds). Once my busyness was over, I tried to restart.
But for whatever reason, I kept putting off restarting - oh, I'll just start after Thanksgiving. Oh, I'll just start after Christmas. After New Years. Once school starts. Etc.
Once school started, I really wanted to make the most of this semester.
So, what I did is I wrote down three goals that I wanted to accomplish this semester. I wrote them, taped them to my desk, and try everyday to work towards the accomplishment of those goals.
One of those goals is to get into better shape. I started Medifast in early February, at approximately 290 pounds. Since then, I have been more or less compliant, and am now in the 255 pound range.
I think writing down the goals and taping them to my desk has helped me. Every time I am tempted to cheat, I look at the goal and ask myself why I'm even considering it.
When I say more or less compliant, it reminds me of how I seem to function - if I were to use a different username here, it would be something along the lines of "Master Rationalizer." What would happen is I would be on plan for maybe a week or so, and then the scale would stall. When it did, I rationalized allowing myself to eat off plan because I always had big drops after restarting from being off plan. And in one way, it worked. After every time I cheated when I stalled out, I lost more weight than what I gained back. The thing is, it was taking me 3 days or so to lose everything I had gained from my day of non-compliance. So I was losing weight - just not quickly or effectively.
The next time the scale stalled, I decided to be absolutely compliant, and continue. It stalled on the second day, but on the third it began to drop and continues to drop, more or less. I have been totally compliant since 3/3, so for 2 weeks. In those two weeks, I've managed to lose 9 pounds.
In terms of my weight loss goals/numbers:
I started this out at 290
I am currently at 255.8
So, up to this point I have lost 34.2 pounds (wow, kinda neat saying that)
My goal is to get to about 150-160 pounds.
I am probably going to write down timetable goals for my weight loss goal and post them next to my other goals on my desk. For me, they'll be:
By the end of the semester (Mid-May), I want to be down to 225. That gives me about 8 weeks to lose 30 pounds, or 3.75lb/week
By the end of summer (beginning of Sept), I want to be down to 180. That gives me 14 weeks to lose 45 pounds, or 3.25lb/week.
By Thanksgiving break (end of November), I want to be down to 150. That gives me 10 weeks to lose 30 pounds, or 3 lb/week.
I'll probably miss those goal dates by a few days, but if I stay compliant I see no reason I shouldn't be hitting those goals.
The other thing that I think has made this SOOOOOOO much easier to do is the bars. Frankly, it was a bit of a pain in the ass to make the shakes/mix the oatmeal etc. I mean, yeah it only takes two minutes but it was just an extra reason to not be compliant. Also, my shaker jar started to smell pretty bad
I love the new bars. I just put another order in last week, which should arrive today. I ordered basically all bars (and a cappuccino).
My favorites are:
Smores
Strawberry Crunch
Lemon Meringue
Choco Mint
Cinnamon Roll
Oatmeal Raisin
Probably in that order.
I was a big fan of the PB ones, but they just started to smell/taste like old popcorn rather than anything Peanut Buttery. I don't know why. When I chewed it slowly it was good like Peanut Butter, but when I just took bites and chewed "normally" it seemed like an odd sort of popcorn.
The thing is, when I lost my 30 or so pounds when I originally started, I could definitely noticeably see it on my body. Even though I've lost more weight on the re-start, I'm not sure if its as noticeable. I can notice it, I just don't know if its as much. Oh well.
One of the REALLY nice things was that I just fit into a pair of size 38 jeans (barely - they're very tight and I can JUST fit my hands into the pockets). I haven't been under 40 for a few years now, and when I started was in 44s. It's cool, but not as good as I would hope, I think. I realized that the size 38 jeans are "relaxed fit." I honestly have no idea what that means, but I assume that it's not a normal 38. What I'll do is I'll head out to Wal-Mart, buy a crappy $8 pair of 36 jeans, and try them on every morning. I intend to do that with every new jean size I achieve.
Anyway, I'm on plan, I'm working, and I'm going to be done with the overweight part of my life by Thanksgiving. That's for damn sure.
) I used to sleep like that during finals week. I couldn't stay asleep for long without waking, but after a few minutes I'd be asleep again. Then I'd catch up over the break and be back to normal by the start of the next semester. I hope it evens out for you - not sleeping is awful and not just in terms of the diet.
But it is a nice feeling when they start to appear.
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