Getting creative

I started reading the forums yesterday on 3fatchicksonadiet.com.  There were some really fun ideas for shaking things up with your packets.  So today, I decided to try some of them.  I started my morning making pancakes.  I used the Cereal Packet.   

1 Package of Ideal Protein Cereal(I did not break up but might try crushing it next time)

2 egg whites

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/8 tsp salt

vanilla extract

I mixed all of the ingredients together and decided I wanted to do something a little more daring with it.  So I added cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves to satisfy my fall cravings.  To add a little sweetness since I didn't have any of the Walden Farms syrup on hand, I added 4-6 drops of Stevia to taste and mixed it all together.  Almost like the real thing and definitely a repeat recipe.  Not too shabby and better than the pancake mix.  Here is what is looked like cooking:

Falling off the wagon

I fell off the diet wagon on Friday.  So soon? Yes.  I will just say that Friday was an epic failure and reminder of why advanced preparation is always necessary regardless of what diet you are on.

My office had their district meeting.  I paid 2-3 months ago for the catered meal for our meeting. Earlier in the month they took our order for beef or chicken.  Day of meeting, it turned out that the catered meal would be barbecue and all the meat was slathered in barbecue sauce except for the potato salad and baked beans.  I had packed 3 packets, a snack bar, a sparkling ice drink, and a 32 oz water just in case.  There was a table full of breakfast and snack items and I did okay.  I was really hungry  at lunch so I mixed another IP drink and had 3 bottles of water.  I made the mistake of assuming the meal would have some veggies that I could eat and unfortunately for me, I didn't pack veggies or a salad that I could eat.  I found the pickle slices on the condiment table and put as many as I could before people started giving me funny looks.  Still, I made do.  I was fine.  Halfway through the afternoon, I was starving and they let us have a break.  Walked out to the lobby and they had set up a popcorn and candy bar for everyone.  WHAT?!  Popcorn with different toppings and bowls of candy for us to choose.  I texted my mom for support.  She gave me a pep talk and suggested I go outside for the break and walk around for a bit.  I held out as long as I could but I broke and made a beeline for the popcorn, candy corn, and sour patch kids.  I thought I would hate myself for it.  But no guilt came until the meeting was over.  I got to my car and I had left the headlights on.  No power to the car.  No willpower in my life.  It was tough.  Thankfully some co-workers gave my car a jump and I had a long hour and a half of rush hour traffic to berate myself over my slip up.

My son had a friend over to play that evening and once I had everyone picked up and made it home, it was dinner time.  I was starving and I had not set out any meat to thaw for dinner. So once again, willpower went out the door and straight to Taco Casa for a bean burrito.

I gave in to my cravings and gained 1 lb on the scale in the morning in punishment for my slip up.  I learned a lesson though and after a tough next day trying to get back on track, I realized that it was a lesson I needed to learn the hard way.  I set myself back not only with my weight the next day, but I probably won't make my personal goal for the week to weigh in under 300 lbs.  It's going to be tough, but I am still going to try my hardest to get as close to it as I can.

Week 2

Week 2 was a little tougher than my first week mentally.  I wanted a bean burrito on several occasions.  Why a bean burrito?  I don't know.  You would think it would be something sweet.  I was still doing fine though.

Second week weight was decent.  I was pretty disappointed at weigh in though.  My home scale said 303.4 but weigh in at the clinic was 307 even perhaps because my appointment was middle of the afternoon.  Total for the second week was 4.2 lbs and 5 inches lost.  Still good but I just wanted it to be more. 

So grand total loss after two weeks was 13.3 lbs and 16 1/4 inches. Not too shabby!

I had to take a selfie picture for a project at work and it wasn't too bad.

I can see the some of that weight loss in my face and in my bust (not just cup size).  It's exciting to see the changes starting to happen. 

The first week

I have been having issues with sinus infections this year and needed to get in with a specialist.  Fortunately for me, the doctor that my mom has been seeing for Ideal Protein is an ENT specialist and by getting in as a patient first for my sinuses, it cut my IP consultation fee in half.  Woohoo for savings!

I started Ideal Protein on September 11th.  I tend to get angry when I am hungry so I decided to spare my husband the first two days of dealing with me since he was going to be out of town .  My husband once barricaded himself in a room with the phone when I was on a diet.  I wanted to cheat and order some pizza.  Sound ridiculous but it is an absolutely true story.  It's an anecdote that my mom and husband still laugh about.

As much as I don't want to put my weight into print, I am going to be brutally honest.  I had lost some weight on my own in August and still tipped the scale at 321.6 lbs.  I wanted to throw up when I saw the number.

Here is a picture of my from April of this year.  I will have to remember to log in to my clinic account later and get a copy of my initial pictures to post.

The first few days weren't as bad as I thought they would be.  I had once tried the HCG diet and that was way more excruciating.  I used the first week to try as much of a variety of the foods as I could.  My mom had several extra packets she had stockpiled so she could give me to try.  Thanks again Mom! I was surprised that I was more full that I had anticipated.  I loved that there were a variety of IP foods that I liked and options for doctoring them up to make them more enjoyable.  I am also lucky that I had previously discovered my affinity for a variety of vegetables.  I drank a ton of water and just kept reminding myself that I was drinking away the pounds. 

So, at my first weigh in, I came in at 312.3 with a total loss of 9.3 lbs and 11 1/4 inches.  IN ONE WEEK!!!!! 

Confessions of a junk food junkie

I love food.  I love all kinds of food.  But I am in an unhealthy relationship with food and junk food.  I can't eat just a little of anything.  It has to be as much as i can shovel in my mouth and trying to hide that when I am eating around other people.

I am overweight. Seriously overweight.  Morbidly obese and tipping the scale at the heaviest I have been in my entire life.  It's embarrassing and I hate it.  There are so many excuses for getting into the predicament I am in.  An old injury that still gives me pain even when climbing stairs, a family history (my mom had gastric bypass over 10 years ago and still struggles with weight gain), going through two pregnancies with a roommate, going through my own pregnancies, multiple diet plans, an overall distaste for exercise and so on. The list could go on forever, like the perfect storm for obesity. 

So my mom has been doing a program through her ENT doctor called Ideal Protein.  It is a meal replacement program and she has been pretty successful so far.  She has lost about 42 pounds on her journey.  She met her goal and transitioned to Phase 2 this week.  She talked me into attending an information session and when I decided to go ahead and do it, she stayed on Phase 1 for an extra two weeks to give me that support.  My mom is amazing!

I decided to blog my Ideal Protein experience and journey just to get this out of my head.  I am no expert on the diet and I don't claim to know everything about the diet.  I am human and I will make mistakes along the way.  I am just hoping to make my goal, learn to love eating right and become the healthy me I long to be.