So, Thursday will mark 3 weeks with this new way of eating and I’m pleased to say there have been some results…like 21 lbs. gone.  A lot of that happened at the beginning, with 13 in the first week.  But it’s also continued to happen.  5.5 the second week and 2.5 this week so far.

What I’m really excited about is my water drinking!  I have a two pronged approach.

 

First I start with my big bottle.  I’m using a Simply Limeade bottle like this:

 

I fill it up every morning and when I finish it, I know I’m almost at 8 glasses for the day.  I’m trying to drink at least two every day.

 

And how do I drink that much water, you ask?  Well, my secret weapon is the glass with a straw.

I have one at work and one at home.  I can just mindlessly drink water all day!  On Saturday I drank 160 oz.  No kidding.

I just ran into someone I’ve know socially, but isn’t a close friend. I knew that a bunch of people in town were doing Medifast and honestly seeing some of those successes is what got me to think about doing it myself. So, we were talking about other life things and then the topic came up.

We’re both doing the program. Then I learned about a bunch of other people who are as well…it’s good to know that there are others out there to ask questions, etc. In some ways it’s harder for me because I have a lot more to lose, but then again I think my situation might be easier. I have a LONG time to work this program and cheating only makes it longer. I have a lot of incentive to just stick with it.

I was on a forum earlier today looking at some of the feedback about different foods. Almost every post was about how someone had dressed it up…a bit of butter here, some peanut butter there…maybe I’m in some kind of a honeymoon phase (most likely) but I’d rather just get it done and not waste the time or calories for a little bit of peanut butter. Then again, that might be because I don’t like peanut butter…

The first day on the plan I had lunch in the caf, where I eat most weekdays. For Day 2 and 3 I cooked at home. I think it went pretty well.

I’m glad that I have the option of eating a lean and green meal at work during the week. I don’t have as much time in the evening to plan that meal, which is why much of the time I resort to frozen pizza. My apologies to the folks at Kraft Foods who make Jacks Pizza…your sales are probably going to drop this quarter.

Friday night I made a coconut chicken curry with cauliflower “rice”. The “rice” was better than I expected and made a nice veggie base to the curry. The sauce only used 1/3 cup of coconut milk, so I wasn’t sure if it would be that great, but it had a lot of flavor.

Dinner tonight was with my parents and I made a meat lasagna. It was also really good–had nice flavor and was very filling.

The other discovery today was the iced cappuccino was amazing! My health coach had suggested making it iced and it’s honestly one of the best things I’ve had yet. It more than made up for the dreadful microwaved brownie I tried yesterday. I’ll have to try it once more in the oven and see if they’re any better baked, but I’m not holding out much hope.

Much water has been consumed, including some nice sparkling water tonight with a slice of lime as suggested by my sister. Almost felt like a gin and tonic. Almost.

I’m starting a new self-improvement project today and as I was thinking about it, I thought…I should start a blog.

Then I remember…I have a blog. I just haven’t written in it for almost two years.

So, a fresh start for the blog and for me.

A little background…I turned 40 this year. The birthday happened months ago to a fair amount of fanfare, largely because I wanted a big party and because my sister was so awesome, she just made that happened.

And then I followed it up last summer with an amazing trip out West to go rafting with my brother and his friends.

It’s been a good year, but as I move into the next phase of life, I’m thinking it’s time to take better care of myself.

I’m heavy, fat, overweight, obese…all of that stuff. Have been for years. I mean YEARS. I don’t remember a time when I wasn’t, although I know there must have been some time, mostly before I was 10 or so.

And there’s lots of reasons why that has continued for the past thirty years, but I think I’m really ready to make a change. I’ve decided to start doing the Medifast system and see if I can lose about 125 lbs over the next year.

I know it will mean doing a lot of things in my life differently, but I’m actually kind of excited about that because I know I should eat better, I know I should drink less and I know I should move my body more.

Things I want to do:

1. Run. For exercise and in road races.
2. Have smaller boobs. Maybe that will happen naturally, if not, I’m going to have them done and LOVE it.
3. Shop in stores in my town. The only places I can shop in my town is a store that caters to women twice my age and Wal-Mart. I would like to change that. I’m sick of buying clothes online.
4. Go rafting again and be able to get out of the boat to pee wherever I want…or actually be able to get back in the boat wherever I want!
5. Ride my bike to work. Sure, I could do that now, but let’s be clear, it makes me sweat because I’m fat and out of shape.

So, that’s the plan. And I promise that I’m going to play this out. Be honest about what’s working and what sucks and write it down.

Day 1

Replacement meals are okay. The oatmeal is actually something I think I could eat regularly. I really liked the oatmeal raisin bar this afternoon.

Lunch went well. I felt like it was plenty to eat. I’m a little afraid that I am misjudging the amounts–possibly ate too much chicken and I know I didn’t get enough other stuff in my salad. I can have more black olives and that’s way better than dressing in my book–very, very flavorful.

The salad worked today, but I’m pretty glad that’s not my only option every day. Many thanks to the cafeteria where I eat lunch during the week for serving many kinds of veggies, mostly steamed.

Water system is working pretty well. Thanks to the rafting folks last summer for turning me on to the beauty of using the Simply Juice bottle for water. Perfect size.

Finally, I’m really glad that I have a coach to work with on this. My friends that know are supportive (including the world’s greatest housemate) but having someone who understands this system is really helpful.

I told a friend the other night that I felt like I had to do something for me. He said it wasn’t a bad idea…and that it wasn’t something I was necessarily all that good at doing. So, let’s try a little me-time and see how that goes.

I just went to my third memorial service this year.  The oldest person was 50.  It’s been kind a hard way to start a new year.

None of them were my close friend, but with each death it’s gotten closer to me until this last one was the beloved friend of a very dear friend of mine.  It’s so hard to watch those you care about hurting so badly.  Today he was only a few feet away from me, but I couldn’t get to him, to reach my hand out to him, to try in some way to let him know that I was there, that he wasn’t alone.

The last couple of years I have been feeling lonely.  After years of always finding my place in a church, I discovered that it was the loneliest place that I could be and so I stopped being there.  There didn’t seem to be any sense in taking part in a ritual that only made me feel worse.

But then Ben died in the earthquake at the beginning of January.  He was a son of the church, coming into his own as a leader and a reawakener.  He had dedicated his whole life to being a part of this thing that I had been rejecting.

And so I stopped rejecting.  And I think in some way it’s because God knew that I would need a place to be.  (Mind you, I found a new place to take part of the ritual–I’m not stupid!)  I’ve never been comfortable talking about faith, about God and what God means to me, but listening to Ben’s family talk so openly about what their faith means to them has given me comfort and helped me to reimagine life and my place in it.

I hope that I can figure out how to use that newfound thought or inspiration to share with those around me who are hurting now.  If I could put it in a bottle, I would do it–I’d put a nozzle on that bottle and I’d spray it all over those who are struggling and don’t understand what has happened.

But until then, I silently put out my hand and take yours in mine.  I pull you into my embrace and I hold  you as long as you’ll let me and I just pray that somehow it gives you peace.

Why don’t you get snow days anymore when you grow up?  Once again we got the message today that we could go home because the weather is not great (freezing rain today) but it’s at your own expense and anyway, I live in town, so I don’t really have an excuse to cut out early.

I miss snow days–the unexpected vacation.  I guess that’s just part of growing up.

And I’ve missed writing here.  I haven’t felt like I have much to say, but perhaps that will change.  It’s been a thought-provoking couple of weeks around here with our community suffering a profound loss.  I’m still trying to figure out what to do with my life and I got a puppy.

Yeah, some things are pretty damned good.

Many thanks to the War Room for remembering Paul and Sheila Wellstone today…

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2008/10/25/remember_paul/index.html

I still remember coming back from lunch and my sister calling me to tell me that their plane had crashed.  I got on the internet and started reading, the tears started immediately–I had someone working in the other room, a friend from Norway and she came in concerned that someone in my family had died.

And they might as well have been family.

Paul Wellstone was the first person I voted for who lived by his values and was actually able to get elected!  He not only worked for the people of Minnesota, but for people throughout this nation.  It hasn’t gotten lots of news, but the “rescue plan” was actually a rider attached to the Wellstone Mental Health Parity Act that Paul fought for when he was in the Senate and his family continued to work to get passed after his death.  The banks may have gotten 700 million dollars, but we got a law saying that mental illness shall be treated the same as physical illness with no time lines and limits for treatment and cure.

I can’t remember how many times I met Paul, although I do remember the last time.  He was in my town in Iowa campaigning for Bill Bradley.  He was in a small room in a pizza place and as always he took the time to greet and meet each of us and let us ask many questions.  He was a better representative for Bradley than Bradley himself–definitely more passionate!

I do remember that Paul would always ask where you were from and when I would tell him the name of my hometown in Minnesota, he would inevitably comment on our wrestling team–which was very good.

We were lucky to have him–but it was not long enough.

It’s ten days until election day.  Go and do something to honor the Wellstones.  Vote for change and progress and healthcare and economic recovery and the end of this war he never voted for and for the future of us all…Vote Obama.

Now, I generally don’t listen to Republican speeches to be uplifted and inspired, but I don’t usually expect to have my life choices mocked and denigrated.

I spent the two years between college and graduate school working for two different volunteer programs.  I was, yes, one of those dreaded “community organizers”.  And I did all sorts of terrible stuff–like trying to help people have access to affordable nutritious food and working with kids in an alternative to make sure they didn’t do things like…uh…drop out of school, take drugs, get pregnant or commit crime.

But that’s just me–out there trying to tear down the world.  As a “community organizer”.

And honestly, when Bush wants to get rid of all of these government programs and give the money to faith-based organizations to pick up the slack, who does he think does that work?

Uh…

Community Organizers.

Damn.  I think I need a t-shirt.

No, not a break from this blog–although it sure seems like I have been taking one!

I’m on vacation this week and next.  It’s the first long vacation I’ve taken in a very long, long time.  I’m out West visiting my family and it has been incredibly relaxing.

And yet, yesterday was my first day without reading and responding to e-mail from work.  And probably the only reason I didn’t do that yesterday is that I was not somewhere that I could get to my e-mail and during that day away I forgot to respond to something by a deadline and missed two other messages that were borderline time sensitive.

At what point do we really let ourselves get away?  How do we train ourselves to let go of the e-mail connection?  When do we turn off our cell phones and just let people know that we’re unavailable?

Because I think everyone should get away from it at some point.

And so I’m going to answer this one last e-mail and then I’m out…for at least a day!

I don’t have a lot of faith in my government right now. I honestly feel like two elections were messed with and we’ve had a president for eight years who has lied to us and broken laws and had very little consequence.

So, when Barack Obama comes out and calls out the fact that people have lost faith in the system, I commend him.

And I love this response he gave when the other two candidates called him out for telling the truth.

My favorite part is where he says John McCain is out of touch.

I don’t want someone to keep patting my hand and telling me it’s going to be all right. I want someone to ‘fess up to the fact that more is broken than is working and says that he or she will work every day they’re in office to fix it.