LOSE 40 POUNDS IN ONLY A FEW WEEKS!

SHERRI SHARES HER MIRACLE DIET PLAN WITH YOU!!!

I HAVE lost forty pounds now. It seems like it only took a few weeks. I am amazed at how many books and programs that are out there that talk about this particular milestone! I had a hard time coming up with a photo to use. I finally settled on this one:

If you've ever lived on a farm or even visited one, you might have seen these mineral blocks out in the pastures with the cattle, sheep, or horses. There are ones made out of salt too. I think some deer hunters set those out, as well as the farmers that have them out for their animals.
I used to live on a farm and have had to tote many of these blocks out to the middle of a pasture. They are HEAVY! And I have lost one of them since November! Please, DO NOT help me find it!!!

DEAR DIARY: LAST SUNDAY: At yesterday's support group (for those of us who are trying to lose weight), our fearless leader, Robert, asked us how we became motivated to begin this process and then asked how we stay motivated. I was surprised that I had not thought of this recently. I struggled to put it into words.

For me the impetus to start was the time I got on the scale a few months back and saw that my weight was only nine pounds away from hitting 300. That question was the easy one for me to answer. I was getting WAY too fat!

Trying to put into words how I stay motivated was harder. That very day this question was asked, was a day that I was struggling to keep myself motivated! I didn't feel like being there. I am still struggling with motivation today, four full days later!

Some things that have kept me motivated are the support I get from my family. They put up with new foods and ways of eating. They also celebrate the pounds lost and console me when the plateaus hit.

I have been able to shop for some new clothes. For many years now, I have been in sweatshirts, tee-shirts, and sweatpants. I am now shopping the thrift stores and getting some really cute and flattering clothes, without the expense of new. I keep changing sizes, so totally new clothing doesn't make much sense right now.

I also shop the thrift stores for books. I have two that I am currently reading that have motivational writing. I have gotten low-fat cookbooks there too. Having resources like the support group, a good array of books, and the internet has really helped. I can now recognize when I am starting to struggle. I am fighting the urges to give up!

I had a three pound loss last week. That is huge for me! You would think that would keep me motivated too! For some reason though, it is not helping.

DEAR DIARY: WEDNESDAY: YOGA I tried yoga today for the first time. It was depressing. I expected to have trouble getting down to the floor and back up again. I thought I MIGHT have knee issues. What I didn't expect were the wrist issues, and the blood flow to the head making me dizzy, and being put to shame by the seniors in there that are really supple! I am the fattest one in a room of 20+ folks.

Since I spent money to get the yoga mat though, I am resolved to go back again next Wednesday. The teacher is a real sweetheart. She says to do what I can do and not to worry that I cannot do what everyone else is doing. I know I am limited. I also know it is working parts of me that are not working in the pool! Though yoga isn't an aerobic exercise, it IS exercise and makes you break out in a sweat!

For some reason, I didn't think my yoga session was good enough for the day. I ended up and walked 1.3 miles in less than 30 minutes. It hurt! I was exhausted! Is that because I did the yoga that morning? Hmmmmmmm, I wonder? I also walked the 15 minute walk to and from my son's school this afternoon. I just measured that on Google Maps and it is .7 of a mile! That means I did a total of two miles! I have impressed myself!!!

DEAR DIARY: THURSDAY: I forgot to mention that at the end of yesterday's yoga session my phone started ringing. Everyone was doing a quiet meditation that is done for several minutes at the end of class. All of a sudden you can hear crickets and frog chirps...my phone ring tone. It had several of the other people in class, laughing. I did NOT admit it was my phone though! As everyone was leaving later, the instructor asked what were folks talking about when they said they heard crickets? I had to admit that it was my phone ringer. She thought it was funny!

This morning I made it out the door and down to the center to work out in the pool. I am a little stiff and sore from the yoga class! I REALLY noticed it in my belly. I feel like I have done a bunch of sit-ups! It was a pleasant surprise to realize that the yoga DID do some good. I WILL try it again, next week!

I stayed in the pool for an hour and forty-five minutes today. I really tried to make use of the water resistance and to work hard in the pool. This afternoon I will get my son from school. That will add a half mile walk to the mix. No wonder I am still kinda losing weight!

One last thing today. I bought a 40lb. bag of dog food for our dogs. I could barely lift it into the car and then from the car to the house when I got home. It dawned on me that this is how much I have lost already!!!

DEAR DIARY: SATURDAY: So, what IS my secret? How did I lose over 40 pounds? I will now share my secret diet no fail plan with you! It was the D&E Plan! The D&E Plan is a simple one. Anybody can do it! All you have to do is be aware of what you eat and how you eat. You also have to move around, like when exercising. I bet you can do it too! Try the D(diet) & E(exercise) plan along with me and just see the amazing results you will have too!!!

Becoming a Guru?

I am trying something new this week. I like to post on the weekends. I have often had thoughts about things during the week though, that I would like to share. This week, I have taken notes and hope to make this posting more .... more.... um....more better? I think I will go with that. This posting should be "more better."

Tuesday, April 19th: We are about to get hit with yet another storm. It is a wild spring here in central Arkansas! It should be gone by morning though. I plan to walk tomorrow morning. I have been going to the center to swim and then running errands after. Trouble is, I have been doing too many errands after working out! I stay out for hours and get so tired that I can hardly function for the rest of the day!

I worry about the upcoming summer. Will I stay on track? Will I keep walking and going to the pool? Can I keep motivated to keep the eating under control? At least I am pre-planning it all. I also keep telling myself to stop 'fressing' over all these details!!! I have two more months before it becomes an issue! I also have already thought of several different answers to problems that have not happened yet. I will not use this worry business as an excuse to stop doing what I am doing!

Jamie Oliver is on TV again. This time he is in LA, trying to re-vamp the school food system there. He also has been trying to convince a fast food restaurateur to change his menu to have better quality foods. Jamie shows the owner his version of a hamburger that is healthier and doesn't cost more to buy. The burger was 430 calories. I know regular burgers at fast food places are higher in calories and fat, sometimes in the thousands of calories, but 430 does not sound like it is that much healthier. I guess he used hamburger that was 10% fat. So yes, it is considered healthier, but still, would you go to a fast food place, thinking you could get a beef hamburger that was healthy for you?

I like Subway and Taco Bell myself. They not only have a good selection of healthier meals, they make it EASY to figure out what the better choices are on their in-store menus! I was starving while shopping at WallyWorld the other day. This one has a McDonald's in it. I eyed the menu from the checkout line, thinking they MUST have something healthy on their menu that I could eat? I am sure they do, but it is not easy to find. I passed up their food and made it home to my 'safer' choices.

April 20th, Wednesday:
I thought I should change up my exercise and walk again. It was a very nice day to walk. I did 2.4 miles in less than an hour. That is almost two and a half miles!!! Did I REALLY do this???

A few days later I challenged myself to walk in the heat. It was 80° outside. I melted, but I did it!

Saturday: April 23rd
I lost three pounds! I am officially over the 40 pound loss mark now. I have 75.8 pounds to goal weight. I wonder if I will ever make it?

I came across these in the store next to the rice snack cakes the other day:

They are SO good! When I get the urge to have a chip, at least I can reach for something like this. Even if I ate the whole bag, it wouldn't be nearly as bad as just a single serving of 'normal' chips.

Next week I plan to try Yoga for the first time ever. I am not the Yoga type. Am I becoming a Guru for others now? Will there be followers of this blog? I don't know if that would be a good thing or not!
If you've read this far you must not have better things you could be doing! Did you wonder about that first photo at the beginning of this posting? That was me, back in California. I weighed about 280 in that photo. I was going to try to lose weight then too. That was seven years ago! (it didn't work)
I have spent SO much time trying to lose weight. Why is this time different? Will I be able to keep doing it? Let's find out! See you next week!

(NOTE: This was published yesterday but the date shows the first day I started adding information to it. I will edit my postings in a different way next week, so as to reflect the actual DAY I posted, not the day I started posting)

Chewing the Fat

I stumbled across a book at the second hand store the other day, that I am actually enjoying! It is "From Fat to Fit" by Carole Carson. It turns out she has a whole website of stuff for those of us trying to gain control of our lives and to live better. So far I like her style. She is close to my age and I like reading about someone I can identify with.

I know it is somewhat unfair of me to say, but her website is somewhat of a turnoff for me. There are SO many other websites out there that a person can look at! I get tired of the commercialism of it all. I don't know if Ms Carson's website is one that is a money raking deal or one there to really try to help out folks, or both. Eventually I hope to explore her website more and I will let you know if it is 'one of the good ones' or not! It does appear to have a lot of possibilities though!

I am half way through her book. This covers the first 16 weeks that she tackled her weight and fitness issues. Although she lost the weight rather fast for my taste, she DID share a lot of the ups and downs she had had. I can relate to that. She is a tennis nut and really enjoys that sport. I cannot relate to tennis, at all!

I am at the part of her book where she talks about maintaining her weight and fitness level. One thing I got out of this part, so far, is that we are all only an injury away from disaster! It takes a long time to recover, especially at our older ages. However, if we remain as fit as we can, we WILL recover faster and better than we would if we were couch potatoes.

In other news, I had lost almost two pounds between last Saturday to Thursday and then gained back part of it by Saturday. I know, it really doesn't pay to get on that scale too often, but I just can't resist! I ended up and officially lost .2lbs. Whoop-dee-d0. hahahaha Hey, at least it IS a loss!

I am almost at the end of my second ten weeks. If I reach my goal, I will be a hair's breath away from the 240's. I have two weeks left and less than three pounds to go to hit that goal.
Next week starts a whole new chapter as The Mister starts a new job. This means a scheduling change for when I can go to the gym and pool. I should be able to go more often! I will keep you posted.

Bye for now, gentle readers! See you next week.

Back at it!

I usually do not exercise on Sundays, taking the proverbial 'day of rest' and all. Since I didn't have a weight change this week and have been feeling like a slacker, I thought I would make today an exception. I ended up and went for a walk this morning, before the temps went up. I did 1.3 miles in 25 minutes:

I ran for 275 feet! That is what this submarine is in length...well at least close to it!

I even tired out Ziva and she's young!!!

I feel much better for having done this. I hope my slump is over for a few days now. We shall see!

Problems this past week:
1. Feeling tired and lethargic, possibly due to higher outdoor temperatures
2. Finding out that I did a MAJOR miscalculation on the calories and fat grams in my favorite fake cheese. I could have had real slices of pizza for what my healthy pizza ended up being. I had 30 grams of fat when I thought I had 9. THAT is a HUGE mistake!!!
3. Feeling my exercising isn't vigorous enough or long enough. I don't want to do more than an hour a day!!! (whine whine whine)

Today I get back on track. I will have half the size steak I normally eat and will have a bigger salad than I normally have. I might do without the potato or fries too. I already feel better, just for having gone out and walked already today!

Have a great weekend everyone!!!

Sluffing Off

I know it is spelled sloughing, not sluffing, but I like spelling things wrong, on purpose...especially when I am trying a play on words for my blog titles!

I have been sloughing off on my 'program' to self improve. Although I am still losing weight, I am also not working quite as hard as I was a few weeks ago.

Yesterday I did my normal 75 minute workout in the pool. I know a problem many have is that they go in the pool and chat instead of work out. I DO try to keep moving hard when chatting, but I know I am not really doing a hard workout.

For some reason, I have been tired lately. I wonder if the mini rice cakes at night are really NOT that good for me to snack on?
Although they are low in calories and fat, I am often allowing enough calories to eat the whole bag! That is 330 calories and 1.5 grams of fat. They taste too good to be good for me, especially after 8pm. Once the last of these bags is gone, I think I will not buy them for a while.

Because I have been a bit tired and not real motivated, I popped in to check my weight yesterday, after my pool workout. I had gained a pound. It didn't surprise me. I am not counting it though, because Saturdays are my weigh-in days. We will see what happens tomorrow on the scale!

With all the lack luster feelings I decided to try to do something extra special today. I made myself walk. I managed to get 2.2 miles in 50 minutes. I will walk to get the child from school this afternoon and that will bring me to just over an hour of walking for the day.

It was only 68° out this morning, but the humidity was high. I broke out in a pretty good sweat! I am glad I did it though. Yeah ME!
Off to shower now. I have a lot on my mind this morning, as my son is now a full fledged Marine! I can't wait to hear from him! Semper Fi!!!

Arrrrrrrrrr!!!!

This little guy is either showing his teeth cuz he just got back from the dentist, like I just did, OR he is shouting out that more weight has dropped off! Either way, he was cute and pink and belonged on my blog today!