Success at Week Six

Success at Week Six

Six weeks and another 4.5 pounds! I started on the HCG hormone last week and the results are wonderful! After taking a slow loss for a couple of weeks, this week was a great delight. I am now eating a meager 600 calories each day, but surprisingly, it isn’t too bad. The HCG hormone shots are meant to help curb my appetite, and along with the diet suppressants I am already taking, I truly have to remind myself it is time to eat!
I did a lot of research on the HCG hormone and learned that it is present in a woman’s body when she is pregnant. It is produced to help ensure the health of the ovaries during pregnancy. But it is safe for both men and woman and has been used in the past during military training to help soldiers get in shape. The hormone also provides the user with a clear head, the ability to focus and takes away any “edginess” that dieting tends to bring about—(edginess is the nice word for the mood swings dieters tend to exhibit!)
So my diet day now consists of a variety of good things for breakfast: Blueberry whole wheat pancakes with sugar free syrup; turkey bacon and scrambled eggs; English muffin with sugar free jam or jelly; or yogurt. It is a wonderful change from the four weeks of low-carb when I was limited to eggs and meat only.
Lunch is generally a low calorie wrap or flat-bread (50-70 calories) and 2-3 slices of turkey breast (70 calories) and a tossed salad, or a salad with chicken breast on top. Not a bad lunch.
Dinner is easiest of all because I can have basically any meat with a vegetable on the side. I love crunchy foods so I keep a bag of carrots and celery in the refrigerator for my munchie time. Television time in the evening is still difficult for me so I reserve an additional 50 or so calories for a mid-evening snack. With strawberries in season, (yum) a whole cup of sliced berries is a mere 20 calories! I even top them off with Cool Whip Free. A truly delicious snack!
With spring finally here and the warm weather right behind it, I can’t wait to wear Capri pants again. My size 16s are getting loose (I won’t say baggie yet), but I am hopeful squeeze into a size 14 by Easter (two more weeks!)….we will see.
For now, take the challenge and get yourself into shape! It’s worth the effort!
Remember to tell them you read it in my blog and get a friends and family discount! But you have to mention my name-Have a skinny week!

Beginning a New Phase

Week 5 completed!

Phase 3 of my program at UniqueU Medical Weight Loss has begun! I am excited to be transitioning out of a nearly carb-free diet and back to eating what is on the food pyramid. In this portion, I will be using the hormone HCG which will help facilitate in my weight loss by targeting the stored fat in my body instead of using what new foods I digest. This will be the phase where I loose the most amount of weight. YEA!

With the use of the hormone HCG, increased activity and exercise, together they will help reshape my body, getting rid of all the places where I have excess amounts of fat stored—you know where I mean without putting it in print!

I comfortably wore a new pair of size 16 dress Wrangler’s yesterday. They had been hanging in my closet for the last three years (along with many other items), and they fit! I was very excited to pull the zipper up without holding my breath, (laying on the bed, using wax paper, etc, etc, etc!). Nearly everyone I see comments that I am looking slimmer and I adore the affirmation!

On Phase 3, I am limited to only 600 calories each day. While it sounds like very little (and it is), by making smart choices, I will be able to select what I eat instead of being restricted to only one type of food. I am anxious to eat fruit again and some of the other foods I have missed. By mixing up the different types of foods on this program, our bodies never get used to only one diet. When that happens, it often results in less and less weight loss. I am talking from experience!

They gave me a great book which has 200 recipes under 200 calories to help me in creating new dishes that I might not have tried: Things like blueberry muffins, banana pancakes, turkey Ruben wraps, and lots more. I love trying new recipes and learning to eat healthy and in moderation will be a new skill set for me! While I have always enjoyed eating healthy, I have rarely practiced the moderation part. Like so many of us, what used to be a portion of food on our plates is now a “super-sized” portion. And it certainly isn’t what the recommended amount of food should be to maintain a normal weight.

I will be posting my new photo tomorrow after my much needed hair cut. If you haven’t signed up for the UniqueU Medical Weight Loss program, it isn’t too late to get in shape before summer! Do it now—you will feel so much better that you did!

Four Weeks-PROGRESS!!!

After four complete weeks on the UniqueU Medical Weight Loss program, not only am I seeing measurable weight loss, but my clothes tell the story. As I write this blog, I am wearing a pair of size 16 dress slacks that my dear and late Grandmother purchased for me last year with a tailored blouse she bought at the same time. New clothes that never fit now look great!
Working out at the gym four or five times a week helps, I’m sure, but my eating structure has changed so much. I am speaking to a group of dieters this weekend at a support group and as I prepared what I wanted to say, I realized I can start the meeting with the words of so many others: Hi, My name is Pat. I’m a sugar addict.
The detox week of this program was probably the most monumental (in both weight loss and in physical changes). I quit drinking my other addiction, Diet Coke and exchanged it for water. I cut out all refined sugar in my diet. I stopped eating white foods in general—bread, potatoes, white rice. All starches which turn to sugar.
What I have learned is that I CAN live without these foods. Sugar is so addictive in every form that once I start eating it, just like a cocaine or drug habit, I can’t stop. I deceive myself into saying that I can eat just one Reece’ Peanut Butter Egg, (or cup, or Christmas tree, or pumpkin) when in reality, I will eat as many as I can afford to buy at one trip to the market!
Do I miss these foods? Sure, but not enough to blow four weeks of dieting or five hours at the gym. I love the feeling I get when I can zip a pair of pants that I couldn’t zip before! I love the feeling of bending over to paint my toenails without having my belly get in the way! And the undress stress on my new knees from two years ago is also an added plus.
Like the commercial on television which shows the man trying to give up smoking and he has a “suck-o-meter” next to him. Yes, dieting sucks. But this program makes it suck less. My changed eating habits results in a healthier and trimmer me! And that is worth any change in habits that I make.
The scale wasn’t the big winner this past week, only dropping me down three pounds. However, working out is increasing my muscle tone and muscle weighs more than fat, so I am toning up at the same time. In reality, my weight loss is now just under 24 pounds, one and a half sizes in my clothes, and a remarkable new out look! I can’t wait to wear my Capri pants that were too tight or too small and still new in the drawer (thank you Grammie!)
If you are thinking of loosing weight before the summer, you still have time! You can find the UniqueU Medical Weight Loss Program on line—if you mention my name that you read it in this blog, you will get a “friends and family discount!” Go for it! To recap an old saying, Nothing Tastes as Good as Being Thin Feels!

3 Weeks Down and a Life Time to Go!

This scale thing has gotten out of control! While learning to eat correctly, the right amounts, the right items and the right foods, due to my type A personality, I have become obsessive-compulsive! (Not that it is new to me!) But the worst part of it is that I jump on any scale I can find to see if I lost any weight in the hours following my last scale-visit.
The truth is, loosing weight is a wonderful feeling! I can’t wait to start each day and see what the scale has to say: Of course, there are days when the scale and I aren’t speaking! But for the most part, it is a pleasant surprise. I gauge my weigh-in time just before I eat or drink anything, right before I step into the shower. Then I make sure I stand just right on the scale: A little to the front with the right foot, a little to the back with the left foot. That seems to give the best and lowest reading.
At the UniqueU Medical Weight Loss Center this week, I was just ounces away from hitting my 20-pound weight loss. After just three weeks, I can definitely tell in my face and belly, and my legs seem to be getting smaller too. My clothes are feeling so much looser and I can fit into lots of clothes that I have either never worn or haven’t worn in a long time! I love it!
The longer I am on this program the easier it gets. I have now learned what to order when I eat out, what curbs my wants, and how to get through the evening when I want to munch a bunch. In reality, I am never really “hungry” except when I wake in the morning. I want to snack, but only out of habit. I want to eat, but then I think that I have lost almost 20 pounds and I am certainly not going to blow it on a snack!
I am working out every morning at the gym and why would I go to all that effort if I was just going to waste my workout on snacks. I know the logic of the whole diet, exercise and loose weight thing has always worked, but food has somehow over ruled the reasoning. I love food! The difference is that now I eat to live, instead of living to eat.
Being the food-centered society that we have become, changing our habits to not meet in restaurants, not include food at every gathering, or not having a houseful of snacks is a change for most of us. We include food as part of every event! Being part of an event is not a bad thing, but when it takes over the reason for the event, well, maybe we should take another look at what we are doing!
The UniqueU Medical Weight Loss Program has shown me a new way of dieting. It provides the information, the supplements and the medical “crutches” which makes it such a workable program for everyone.
Almost 20 pounds after three weeks is monumental! I can’t wait to get down to the next level!
Here is my new photo as well. See my cheekbones? They weren’t there three weeks ago!