Whine and Cheese

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Today marks the end of Week 8 on Nutrisystem.  I did pretty well for an old, fat broad the first month, but I’ve stalled in the second, as far as any real difference in weight or measurements.  To date, I’ve lost 12.5 pounds and 16 inches.  I’m pleased to have any results at all, but I’m frustrated that my progress seems to have stalled. I’m fighting with the same 3 lbs.

One great thing about Nutrisystem is its online CHAT. Today I talked to Allison J.  I explained my sad problem to her. She wanted to know what I ate yesterday, meal by meal. When she analyzed it, she said

• she noticed I was skipping my Power Fuel (PF) at breakfast. I admitted that I was skipping it, sometimes making up for it later in the day.  I didn’t realize that WHEN you eat stuff – and in what combination – is very important for your results. (Today for breakfast I ate a Nutrisystem (NS) Blueberry Muffin, and then 2 tablespoons of Cashews).
• we decided that I was probably eating too much salad dressing during the day, since I eat it with my lunch veggies and also with my salad at dinner. I’ll cut WAY back on the ‘dip’ with the veggies at lunch and try to watch it better at dinner.
• she suggested that I swap ‘lunch’ and dinner’ entrees for a week and then get back with her next Thursday. I’m guessing that the dinners are higher calorie and that it might be best if I ate those during the day, rather than in the evening when I’m less active.
• she asked if each of my snacks (PFs and SmartCarbs (SCs) were at least 80 calories. I looked at my log on NuMi and found that my PFs were okay, but my SC was only 65 calories. She suggested that I eat 1-1/2 oranges, instead of just one, to bring the calories up. (Weird, isn’t it? – The idea of bringing the calories up.) I’m supposed to be eating 1200 calories each day, but I routinely came up with up to 200 short.

Thanks to Allison J., I now have several changes to try to see if this breaks through my plateau from Hell.  Hopefully, by the time I report next week, the changes in eating will have wrought some changes in ME!

Pat on the Head

First 10 Pounds Off

My husband and I were on Nutrisystem once before, years ago. We were successful in getting a lot of our lard off, but we stopped because Nutrisystem kept discontinuing the foods my husband liked until he got fed up and wouldn’t continue. Since then, they have revamped their programs, so we’re trying again, fingers crossed that they continue providing the foods my husband likes.

One of the things they haven’t changed is a nice reward for progress. When our non-frozen items were delivered today, a cute little bear was in my box. It’s a fun, happy way to show you’re trying and you’re starting to get some results. I had saved the bears I got from the last time, so I gave one of them to my husband. He is underwhelmed, but I wanted to pat HIM on the head for his efforts, too. So here are our matching ‘First 10 Pounds Off’ Bears.

Tangible things are important when you’re changing lifestyles. For us, the biggest change is in learning what constitutes a ‘serving.’  I, of course, glanced at labels on the items I buy at the store, and I’ve noticed that many of the labels tell you the nutrition count for 1 serving, but the bottle or package actually contains at least two, if not more servings. I think almost NO ONE actually eats or drinks 1 serving of most things. This was a huge eye-opener for us. The fact that a serving of rice is 1/2 cup, for example, and one of our favorite meals was chicken chunks and soup over a large bowl of rice, meant that we were each eating enough to feed an army.

Making these changes is difficult. It’s much easier to continue on, mentally excusing your behavior, rather than stopping and really looking at what you need to be doing in order to get healthier, feel better, and hopefully increase your quality of life for as long as you’re here.

The scales are tangible, but ‘she giveth and taketh away’, making you happy one day and disappointed the next. My husband and I refuse to stop weighing every day, though, as it is one reality check that we need to keep on keepin’ on with our efforts.

The measuring tape is tangible, but as I’ve whined before, even with going into the bathroom and looking in the mirror while I measure, I’m not always accurate. I’m telling myself that even if my numbers aren’t completely accurate, it’s the DIFFERENCE I’m looking for. Any numbers showing less are welcome.

Looser clothes are tangible. Women’s sizes have always been a joke, though. You can be a lot of different sizes depending on the store where you’re shopping. Again, I’m looking at the actual clothes I have. I’m able to buy some smaller jeans and shorts now, shopping in the same stores, and usually going from the same brand. That’s tangible progress.

The cute poundage bears are a cute, tangible reminder that we’re on our way to being healthier. The more bears we collect, the better we should feel. At least, that’s the plan…

 

Folding Myself into A Paper Airplane – Take 16

Fabulous Traveling

 

I’ve been getting on my yoga mat every day – concentrating on slow stretches to loosen up my old, stiff, sore body. I spend a good half hour using the positions taught by Cat Kabira on my 2 “Gentle Yoga” DVDs I bought from SixtyandMe.com.  I’m doing my own thing, listening to my body creak and moan and then finally ‘give’ into each position as I breathe into it, feeling much looser after my practice.

My massage therapist, Lynn Moody, has been working with me to solve a mysterious problem of pain running from my neck to my shoulders, first on one side mainly, and then moving to the other, and sometimes all the way across.  She suggested

• ice for 15 minutes followed by heat for 15 minutes when I’m having lots of discomfort
• an exercise with a 3 lb weight that stretches out the muscles between my neck and shoulders
• an over-the-door shoulder pulley exercise thingie

The latest suggestion came at my last massage when she quietly lifted my neck and snugged a pillow in. Instantly, I was in Heaven. My pain was gone! She said to just relax into it while she continued her magic on my other parts. When we finished, I asked her “What WAS that, and where can I get one?”

It’s called a Cervical Traction Chiropractic Wedge Pillow – Neck and Shoulder Pain Relief 

I’ve used it during my yoga stretching for 2 days now. This is bringing me real relief. It won’t help with being old. It won’t make me look like Julia Roberts. I’m already addicted to it, though, looking forward to being able to lie down on my mat and totally let go, relaxing into the pillow and letting it do its work. I don’t know yet if it will take away my pain completely or not, but right now I’m happy to settle for it easing my pain for much of the day.

Wonderful Way to Celebrate my Anniversary!

I told you earlier that today is our 49th wedding anniversary. I’m having quite a luxurious day of celebration!

This morning I went for my monthly massage to my miracle worker, Lynn Moody. Sometimes she just makes me stop hurting. Sometimes she finds a sore spot and I tease her that I get relief when she stops. She is truly gifted as a massage therapist and my life is much better for it.

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I’ve been having pain in the muscles that run from my neck to my shoulders. Last month the right side was worse. Lynn suggested that I use ice and then heat on the muscles, 15 minutes each, plus do an exercise with a weight to stretch out those muscles, and also get an over-the-door pulley system to strengthen my muscles.

I’ve been doing all of these things, and they’ve helped, but this month the left side was worse.

Today Lynn put a wedge under my neck and I was in instant Heaven. My pain was gone! (That didn’t mean she didn’t pummel and force oxygen into all my sore spots, but this was SO GOOD I asked her what it was and where I could get one.

It’s called a Lumia Wellness Cervical Traction Chiropractic Wedge Pillow – Neck and Shoulder Pain Relief

She showed it to me on Amazon, and it was a better price there than other places. I ordered it as soon as I got home. I can’t wait to get it and add it to my Yoga Stretches and Relaxation Routine I’m trying to do every day.

My other luxurious activity for the day is a hair cut by another miracle worker, Michael Remillard. We were lucky to find him, and he makes both my husband and I look like someone cared and has a plan, rather than like we have normally looked.  He listens to what we think we want. If he thinks it’s a good idea, he makes it happen as much as humanly possible. If he doesn’t think it’s a good idea, he tactfully tells us why and suggests something we like as a substitute. We trust him implicitly.

How lucky I am to have two such wonderful people in my life!

Week 7 – Getting the Lard Off Progress Report

Objective Changes:

WEIGHT:  12.2 pounds down. I have to admit I’m a bit teed off because my husband doesn’t take any responsibility for even thinking about what he’s eating or when, just says, “Thanks” when I bring him the next snack or meal; doesn’t drink the water, doesn’t exercise, and he’s lost more than I have…

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MEASUREMENTS:   Down 16.3 inches. My husband has no interest in measuring, but he just ordered shorts that are 2 inches smaller in the waist. He put them on this morning and looks GOOD.

 

 

 

 

 

I had high blood pressure even with my medication. I’m now showing normal with my meds. “Normal” is such a beautiful word!

 

My husband is a Type II diabetic. When we started monitoring his blood sugar, it was at around 353 or higher. (Normal is under 100.) This week it was 113!

 

 

Subjective Measurements:

Each week we’re supposed to have one FLEX meal for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and a snack, preferably on different days. Our flex SNACK is ice cream after bowling with friends on Monday evenings. Our flex LUNCH is Lunch Bunch with long-time friends on Fridays. We usually don’t do the flex BREAKFAST, since my husband likes Nutrisystem’s oatmeal and prefers to just stick with that. Flex DINNER –  I’ve broiled a thin steak cut into 2 pieces and we’ve had little bitty baked potatoes. We’ve also shared a small container of chicken fried rice from our local Chinese restaurant.

Yesterday I tried cooking our first flex dinner from the Nutrisystem website. It is called “Meat and Potato Casserole.” It makes 6 servings. We ate two and I froze the other 4 servings in labeled individual dishwasher-and-microwave-safe containers. We found the casserole a little dry, but the flavor was good. We had a salad with it. Today I stopped and got some packets of low sodium brown gravy. The package makes 1 cup – way more than enough for the one tablespoon of gravy I plan to pour over each of the remaining servings when we eat them.

I’m not a wonderful cook. The amount of preparation for this meal seemed like a lot to this lazy woman who would rather do almost anything than spend a bunch of time in the kitchen. I used a food processor as they suggested to prepare the carrots and potatoes, but I think the next time I’ll just use my hand-held shredder because clean up will be a lot easier. It seemed that I had half the kitchen messed up by the time the casserole dish was finally in the oven.

That said, I’m delighted to be able to have recipes at my fingertips to help us stay on the good start we’ve made on losing the lard. To complain when I cooked once and had servings for the two of us for THREE meals is a LOT more “poor me” than any of us need or appreciate…. :0)

All in all a good week’s progress. I’m hoping to get off the plateau I seem to be on, but I’m doing healthy things for us.

Nutrisystem Week 6 Progress Report

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I was hoping to be able to report wonderful progress to you, but to be honest, I’m a bit bummed out.

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I’ve lost a bit over 11 pounds via Nutrisystem thus far. Since my lardiest – almost 24 lbs.  I’ve been ‘good,’ so my explanation is that when you’re old, it takes longer to lose the lard. I’m encouraged by the fact that I’m still making progress, but the slowness is getting to me a bit. I wish the Nutrisystem website had a ‘search,’ so that I could find the article about plateaus again. If I can’t find it, I’ll go back onto chat to see if someone can guide me.

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I have found that measuring yourself is an art. I’m following their guidelines and trying to be as careful as possible, but from one week to the next, you would think that the numbers would be close. My accuracy apparently needs some work. My best guess is that I’ve lost a bit over 13 inches via Nutrisystem – almost 30 inches from my lardiest.

Even though I couldn’t swear what my actual numbers ARE, the difference is nice. My clothes are looser, and I’ve gone down a size or two in some cases. I’m moving a lot each day – some days on the official exercises, other days working my heart out in the garden or hauling things around or cleaning. I’m drinking my 64 oz of water each day.

Even though I’m a bit disappointed, my husband and I are doing good things for ourselves. I’m feeling more energetic, needing fewer naps. Each day I feel I’m doing a bit better, and that’s a good feeling. I’m doing what I can to keep serious health issues from my door.

 

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“Knowing” and Dealing With It Two Different Things

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Okay. I KNOW that weight loss – particularly as it is reflected by the scales – is a fickle thing. The fact that it’s MORE than yesterday shouldn’t be a big thing. Maybe I retained water. Maybe I gained muscle. Yada yada yada. According to a lot of people, I shouldn’t even be weighing myself every morning – that I should only weigh once a week. Well, I weigh each morning to keep me on track and honest. This morning I weighed MORE than I did yesterday and it’s ‘weighing’ on my mind (hahahahaaha).

It’s one thing to “KNOW” the facts and quite another to deal with the emotional reaction when you hope/expect to be down another .2 lbs and find that you’re actually UP .8 lbs.  I feel that ‘someone’ snuck (is that a word?) some lead into my underwear.

Since I also “KNOW” that I ate only what I should have eaten yesterday, did my exercises, drank my water – the poundage may come off tomorrow. Since I’m old, though, I’ve also learned that it may take 4 days or more to get back down to where I was only yesterday…

Since I know, also, that I won’t get any awards for fast weight loss, and that, in fact, my body will actually do better at keeping the weight off if I lose it gradually, steadily – I’m talking to myself this morning, reminding myself of all the things I SHOULD be concentrating on –

• feeling good that I’m down 11 lbs and over 13 inches from when we started Nutrisystem
• that I’m not sitting around feeling hungry
• that I like MOST of the foods we’re eating
• that both my husband and I are getting healthier as we lose the lard
• that our blood test numbers should show significant improvement in August
• that we’re doing what we can to avoid the health problems we can control
• that we’ve both gotten shorts one size smaller than we were wearing a month ago
• feeling grateful that we are in a position to afford a good weight program

Hopefully, tomorrow morning the scales will show me something I like better than what I saw this morning. In the meantime, I’ll continue talking to myself, trying to act like a grownup. :0)

Good Start

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I lost another pound yesterday, so I’m down 10.6 officially since we started Nutrisystem, and 32.6 lbs down since my lardiest.  I have a long way to go, but I’m feeling good that we have a good start now.

My husband doesn’t have much weight to lose, but he is diabetic and his blood sugar numbers have been a real challenge for about two years now. His sugar was off the chart. He had double vision and pain in his feet. He is now registering the lowest numbers we’ve seen since we’ve been monitoring AND he gets to eat fruit again! He really looks forward to his SMARTCARB snack of an orange or an apple, since it’s been two years since he could enjoy them. He also likes to have some blackberries on his cereal on FLEX BREAKFAST day. His attitude about Nutrisystem is good, and for that I’m truly grateful.

“I” am the one who really needs this program for weight loss. Several years back my thyroid was completely radiated away due to Grave’s Disease. A couple of years ago I said goodbye to my gallbladder, which then made the low-carb diet we were trying to follow a challenge, because my body had trouble handling the fat. My blood pressure is a problem, and triglycerides are high, so I’m hoping that getting the lard off and eating healthy will make my doctor realize I’m serious at our next regular appointment in August.

We both are calmer about portions since we know we’ll eat again in 3 hours. Neither of us has been hungry. My appetite has always been voracious – when we were dating my husband would say, “We need to get you something to eat!” his code for me being ‘snappy.’  My husband said last night, “I don’t see any reason we can’t stay on this plan as long as you want to.”

We quit several years ago because Nutrisystem kept doing away with the choices my husband liked. Finally, he was so upset we had to stop. Now they have SO many more choices – also adding frozen choices – that it will take us several months before we have tried everything. We like the fact they let you know when the deadline is for making changes for our programs, and that we can make changes any time we like up until then.

SO – a Good Start on getting healthier!

 

Nutrisystem Week 5 Progress Report

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Slow, but steady progress in the ‘Getting the Lard Off’ project.

• Poundage lost through Nutrisystem to date – 9.6 lbs.  Since my heaviest – 22 lbs.

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• Inches lost through Nutrisystem to date – 13.3 inches. Since my lardiest – 29.7 inches.

I’m finding more energy gradually. This helps a lot in my exercise program. Each day I’m doing –

1. Elliptical trainer
2. weight exercise for shoulders
3. over-the-door shoulder pulley
4. yoga for stretching

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Yesterday in particular I felt better than I’ve felt in a long time. I’m having to take less pain medicine for my shoulder muscles. I’m having to do fewer ice and heat sessions. I’m feeling looser with the stretching I’m doing. I’m feeling more energy to do a significant amount of cleaning, gardening, pet care, yard work, etc.

Both my husband and I have lost about 10 lbs since we started Nutrisystem. We both have health issues we monitor quarterly with our primary doctor and blood tests. We’re hoping that the next checkup in August will be a good one – showing distinct improvement. In the meantime, we’re agreed that this is something we really need to do for our long-term health and we’re happy we’ve taken the first step.

 

 

Moving More, Hopefully Getting Somewhere

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I wish I looked like this woman when I’m on the elliptical.  I just finished doing 30 minutes, so I’m feeling good about my efforts.

The bad part is that the elliptical trainer is in our garage – the only flat place in our home with a bare, hard floor where it isn’t in the way. The good part is that I’m not in the bright sunshine, and my husband rigged a big, square fan on the wall right in front of the machine. Otherwise, with the temperatures here in mid-summer mode already, I just couldn’t do it.

I can go out to the garage, start the machine and the fan, clip my mp3 player to my shirt, put in my earphones, hit ‘start’ and do mindless walking while listening to some of my favorite tunes. :0)

I chose the elliptical several years ago because it’s designed to be easy on your joints. This is really crucial for me. I want to strengthen everything while not causing knees, hips, and shoulders to hurt any more than they do now. If I keep at it, plus get enough lard off, I may actually be able to LESSEN the pain in my joints!

According to articles I’ve read on the net, “when you use the elliptical, you can work the upper and lower body at the same time. Elliptical machines work the legs, chest, shoulders, back and arms. With this machine, you can complete a full-body workout in as little as 20 minutes.”

As I gulp down another bottle of water, I feel good for having gotten a good start on my day. Later on, I’ll do the over-the-door-shoulder-pulley thingie (I’m doing 100 pulls a day now – sitting in a chair)

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plus an exercise with a 3 lb weight

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to ease the tightness of my shoulder muscles, and then I’ll do 30 minutes of yoga stretching

 

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to try to loosen everything else! :0)

NOT the Way I Wanted to Start My Day

We had a busy, productive day yesterday. We hit the hay about 11:30 and had just gotten into a good sleep when I suddenly felt sharp pain on the inside of my right forearm.

I jumped up, turning on lights. I looked at my arm and there was a blister type mark. My husband groggily pulled back the sheet on the bed to find a scorpion, who jumped onto his hand. I yelled at him because he didn’t seem to realize what was happening. He finally used his other hand to swat the scorpion off, thankfully NOT getting stung. We keep foreceps on a nail on the bookshelf. I grabbed those, got the scorpion, deposited him in the john and flushed him. He was very small. He didn’t curl his tail like this one. He just ran with his body straight, trying to get away.

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We pulled the covers completely off the bed, checking to make sure there weren’t any others. My husband put some ointment on my arm and went back to bed.

I was still totally freaked out. My arm was red, swelling, and aching. I felt like I had been burned! I put on my robe and slippers (remembering to shake them out first this time of year) and went downstairs. There would be no sleep for me until I could get the pain under control and the images out of my still-panicked mind.

I got on the net to find out how to treat scorpion stings. Icing it down to reduce the swelling and antihistamine for possible allergic reaction were recommended. I took two Benedryl caplets, put Benedryl ointment on the area and got an ice pack from the freezer. It took until about 3 a.m. for my arm to quit hurting enough  – and for me to finally get calm enough – to try to sleep.

This morning I am still very aware of where I was stung, but YOU couldn’t see anything looking at my arm. It still feels tender and I have a bit of aching, but no redness or swelling remains.

I’m going to pull everything off the bed again and put all through the washing machine. I’ll put on fresh sheets – giving my mind the finality that no other critters remain. I’ll vacuum the bedroom again and spray around the perimeter – plus doors and windows – with whatever bug spray we have and then finally relax.

We have enough scorpions on top of our ridge line that we just step on them and spray the area for future control. They don’t attack you or jump, and usually they’re easy to see and kill. I can count on one hand, thank goodness, the times we’ve had one in the house in the over thirty years we’ve lived here.

This is definitely NOT the way I wanted to start the day…

Interesting Experiment

Our son lives and works in Thailand. He enjoys discovering new food. (I’m basically discovery-averse when it comes to food. I’m usually much too hungry to ‘risk’ getting something I don’t like, but I’m trying to change my ways.)

A few days ago he mentioned he had walked to town and gotten several mangosteens. He talked about how delicious they were and that they really seemed to ‘agree with him.’

I had never heard of them. I Googled them and found that lots of supplement companies are making products from mangosteens. I found that the actual fruit wasn’t available ( or at least, not that I could find.)

Since they are supposed to be good for ‘whatever ails you,’ and “(1) Increase Energy, (2) Reduce & Diminish Pain, (3) Lose Weight, (4) Fight Heart Disease, (5)Fight Free Radicals, (6) Fight Crohn’s Disease, (7) Fight Hypertension, (8)  Improve Digestion, (9)  Improve Urinary Tract, (10) Improve Oral Hygiene, (11) Ease Asthma, (12) Diabetes, (13) Mental Awareness, (14) Allergies, (15) Fight Infections, (16) Depression, (17) Improve Skin Health, (18)Eye Health, (19) Lower Cholesterol, (20) Kidney Stones” 

AND probably claim to make you look like Julia Roberts – ALWAYS high on my own personal list, I ordered 90 capsules (a one month supply) to see if their claims had any merit in my case.

Our son wrote that he was trying to have some of the actual fruit delivered to us! He said he thought it was shipping out of Florida, so it’s already approved to be brought into the United States and won’t get hung up in customs or any other nasty speed bumps. I can’t wait to try the actual fruit, since my son rarely raves about a food.

If you are in an area where you can buy some, or you try the supplements, we can compare notes!

NutriSystem – 1st Month’s Progress Report

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Today we have officially finished the 1st month of Nutrisystem.

I’m particularly pleased by my husband’s progress. He is disappointed that he hasn’t lost that much weight, but he doesn’t have NEAR as much to lose as I do. He’s lost about 4 lbs, but I can SEE a difference in his tummy (though he won’t let me measure or do it himself.) The biggest thing that makes me happy is the lowering of his blood sugar number. It was 117 this morning, the lowest since we’ve been monitoring. (I saw a ‘353’ in my records). Lower than 100 is considered normal, and he actually might achieve that!

He is particularly pleased by getting to eat a piece of fruit daily. We had both given that up entirely before and it’s really a treat to welcome fruit back into our diet. There are some really nice big oranges right now at Walmart and we share one each day. We also have some apples in the fridge, in case the oranges aren’t available, plus some blackberries for fruit on his flex breakfast for the week. He has found several of the cookie snacks really good, and he likes their oatmeal. He thinks the frozen orange dream type bars better than the ones we were eating before the diet!

My Nutrisystem progress to date is 9.2 lbs and 11.8 inches gone. (My total weight loss efforts since my ‘lardiest’ are 21.4 lbs and 26.2 inches.)

Lifestyle changes other than the Nutrisystem eating plan:

1. I gave up added salt and am buying low sodium canned veggies now.
2. Neither my husband nor I add any sugar or alternatives to anything.
3. I am doing more real exercise –
   • elliptical trainer – at least 15 minutes,
   • yoga 30 minutes,
   • over-the-door shoulder pulley – 5 minutes,
   • weight exercise to stretch out shoulder muscles – 5 minutes.
4.  I’m more aware of what a ‘serving’ is – basically not enough to stick in your eye. That said, I realize that my husband and I have each eaten for 8 to 10 at each meal and that hasn’t done our health any favors.
5. We are both consciously eating more veggies (we usually have carrots, celery, cherry tomatoes and radishes with some salad dressing with our lunch and then a tossed salad (with lettuces and spinach from our own garden!) with our dinner.
6. I’m getting more used to drinking the 64 oz of water each day. I drink a 16 oz bottle of water with each meal and sip at the last during the day. My body seems to be adjusting to it, too. I’m not having to run to the bathroom quite so much.

We were both really happy to finally eat our way through Order #1. We were both down to things we really didn’t care for, and so cheered when we finished the last of the first order and could dive into Order #2. It was funny, though, because our first lunch we each had “White Bean Chicken Chili.” We are wusses when it comes to hot, spicy stuff, and this was almost too hot for us to eat! I read the ingredients and found they had put jalapenos in it. We could get it down by having a veggie in our mouth and then adding a bit of the chili in there, too. The flavor was nice, other than the hot, but I went to the website and took that particular choice off of Order #3 for both of us… :0)

We feel that our first month on Nutrisystem has been successful. I enjoy planning the flex dinner we’ll eat each week. (We’ll have salmon and steamed broccoli this week.) My husband is learning to put his glasses on so that he can SEE the color coded choices in his bins in the pantry and the freezer. He is also learning to actually read the directions for nuking his food, rather than just winging it. I’m still spoiling him by bringing his snacks to him (like his 1/2 peeled orange and 2 oz of nuts mid-morning) but he’s learning to be a bit independent, otherwise.

On with Month # 2!

 

Yesterday’s Harvest

I’m grateful for the harvest yesterday. In the picture above you can see that my spinach plants are not enjoying the heat. Lettuce and spinach are cool weather plants and I usually enjoy quite a harvest before the too-hot begins. I’ll harvest as much spinach as possible because I can freeze it.

 

The head lettuce leaves are still okay, but looking a bit stressed. These plants are happier than anything else, with the exception of the radishes, in the square foot garden right now.

 

I’m sad because the really hot-too-soon in the season weather we’ve been having is causing the romaine lettuce to bolt. I’m not sure how much more I can harvest before the leaves taste bitter and I have to compost the plants.

 

We’ll enjoy the fresh lettuce and spinach for salad each day for as long as possible. I’m not sure whether I’ll get more broccoli, but the hope is that I’ll get more from the shoots from the main plant after the center has been harvested. The radishes and onions are doing fine, although some of the green tops of the onions are shooting up and trying to make seeds. The tomato plants on the other side of the house are growing rapidly. They like the heat. I have a few blossoms, so I’m hopeful we’ll enjoy a nice crop this year.

 

Flex Meals on NutriSystem

Nutrisystem

 

Learning to actually LIVE with a new way of eating is very different than simply grabbing a package and nuking it. My husband and I will finish Month # 1 on Nutrisystem on Thursday.  Part of the program I like is the “Flex Meal” idea, where you learn to eat out plus learn to cook meals incorporating the new things you’re learning so that you can function in the real world.  You have one flex breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack each week, preferably on different days.

“Flex breakfast” –

• My husband eats his regular cereal with some blackberries and milk.
• I eat my old low-carb breakfast of 2 thin slices packaged turkey, a hard boiled egg, some shredded cheese, and a bit of butter, nuked.

“Flex lunch” – 

• This was easy. We use our “Lunch Bunch” on Fridays. My husband has chicken fingers and I have a nice salad built from the salad bar, including hard boiled egg, ham chunks, cucumbers, shredded lettuce, and a sprinkling of cheese shreds, plus one spoon of dressing.

“Flex dinner” –

• You can see from the chart above we’re supposed to have 1 smartcarb and 2 powerfuels.
• What we are doing is cook something we’re really missing – but a lot less of it than we used to eat. Last week we got two thin steaks. (This was a big change because we usually get thick ones to grill.) We love baked potatoes with steak. Instead of the two ‘boat-sized’ white baking potatoes we usually get, we got two little-bitty potatoes. My husband was upset, but I asked him to just try it. He asked in a deprived voice, “Can we eat corn?” while gazing longingly at a nice group of ears. I said, “yes,” not really knowing for sure, but knowing that if he feels TOO deprived, he won’t stay on the new eating plan. I convinced him that we would share one ear.
• I froze one of the steaks and cut the one I was cooking into two pieces. Lean beef is the ‘powerfuel.” I husked the ear of corn (smartcarb) and broke it into two pieces. We each had a little, bitty potato. (a starchy carb). After we ate last night, my husband came over and said, “You always do such a perfect job that I don’t think about saying anything, but the meal tonight was delicious.”  :0)

“Flex Snack” –

• This is easy. We go bowling with good friends most Monday evenings. Afterwards, we either celebrate our good bowling or commiserate over lousy games by going to Braums in Fort Smith. We each have one scoop of ice cream and savor every bite. (Mine is chocolate.)

The Flex idea allows us to not feel deprived, keep fun social stuff with our friends even though we’re trying to get the lard off, and put the lessons we’re learning to the test while we’re dieting, so it isn’t just a mindless process, learning to eat this way the rest of our lives.  My husband is trying to keep his sugar under control – a HUGE change for him. (He even calls ME ‘Sugar.’) When we started Nutrisystem almost a month ago now, I gave up all added salt. (I used it on everything – even things that were known to be salty.) I’m hoping this will help my blood pressure numbers.

My husband’s weight loss is 5 or 6 pounds, but the biggest thing to me is that his blood sugar numbers are the best they’ve been since we started monitoring them in 2016. I keep a record, and we started with numbers like 353 (which is future amputate your parts territory). Today it was 122. The goal is under 100, but for the first time since we discovered he has Type 2 Diabetes, we feel we might actually get to the goal.

Official end of week 4 report Thursday. Next quarterly monitoring at our primary doc’s – August 6th. (After about 3 months on the program)

Fingers crossed.

Getting the Lard Off Progress – End of Week 3

http://www.salterhousewares.co.uk

•  After Week 3 on Nutrisystem:  7.6 lbs
• Total Weight Loss since my Lardiest: 20 lbs.

http://www.clipartpanda.com

• After Week 3 of Nutrisystem:  9.8 inches
• Total since my worst wideness:  26.2 inches

My husband has lost weight and his blood sugar numbers are looking a LOT better! (I’m trying not to invade his privacy by printing numbers, but I’m really happy for him.)

Exercise:

• I’m trying to do 15+ minutes on the Elliptical Trainer each day.
• Yoga – 30 minutes of stretching daily
• Weight exercise for neck/shoulder problem
• Over-the-door shoulder pulley – 5 minutes daily of pulling
• Ice/heat daily, 15 minutes each for neck/shoulder problem
• Serious Intention to get up and move more, such as taking break from computer, walking out to shop or garden, then out to greenhouse, sweep garden, clean something, organization effort, etc. several times per day.

Practical Differences:

• I’m happy that I have ‘new, smaller shorts’ on this week’s list!
• I’m having fewer instances of having to take a serious nap in the afternoon. I haven’t gotten any younger, so it has to be I’m feeling more energy due to my new eating regimen. :0)
• I’m feeling more in control of our food now. I keep an eye on the clock so that we remember our mid-morning and mid-afternoon snacks, but the rest is becoming more routine.
• We’re eating more veggies – celery, carrots, cherry tomatoes and radishes with a bit of salad dressing with our lunch, and a salad with spinach, romaine, and head lettuce from our own garden with our dinner.
• We don’t have the feeling hungry sensation. Though we’ll be happy to finish the first month’s supply of food (choices we’ve changed in the next order) we’re feeling generally happy with our food. We’ve found some favorites, such as their orange cream bar as a before bed snack!
• We’ve cooked one dinner, eaten lunch out, and fixed our own breakfast, and had a snack NOT on the program this week (Flex Meals), learning how to function in the real world, learning to judge portions, and more.
• I bagged up the food left from the first order in gallon freezer bags. We got my new group of frozen food yesterday and my husband’s this morning, and we were able to quickly put both away, keeping everything straight. :0) Now waiting for NON-frozen boxes.

Week 3 has been a success. I’m feeling motivated and happy to be getting less of me!

 

Garden Harvest – May, 2018

broccoli

I harvested this yesterday when it was super hot. I didn’t harvest any romaine because I just got too hot out there. I’ll do that later today.

 

head lettuce

 

Spinach

I also wanted to show you our tomato plants in the two planters we converted to square foot gardening on the east side of the house.

 

The first tomato blossom of the season!

Ready for Another Harvest!

Our raised bed square foot garden is doing well so far this year. We have six 4’x4′ boxes on metal ‘tables’ at about my chest level. I can just walk up to them, planting, weeding, or harvesting without having to get up and down from my knees or bend over double – a thing I can’t tell you how very MUCH I appreciate!

 

We are growing iceberg head lettuce, romaine lettuce, sweet onions, radishes, spinach and broccoli. We have two converted planters on the east side of the house with tomato plants.

 

I’m going to go out and harvest some things today, but I wanted to show you how nice the plants look before I do.

 

 

 

I have some celery started in the kitchen that I’m hoping I can transplant to these empty squares soon.

 

 

On the lower right, you can see the start of radishes in the square.

Combination Helps

http://www.chopratreatmentcenter.com

I was really tied in a knot when I got my last massage therapy session Thursday. To say I needed help was an understatement. Somehow I made the muscles that run from my neck to my shoulders and across my back hurt so badly they burn. Hot showers and pain medicine didn’t help. My wonderful massage therapist, Lynn Moody, expertly got to all the sore muscles, kneading them into relaxation.

We were agreed that I should stop doing whatever it was that caused the problem in the first place, should I ever discover what that is.

She also suggested –

Inestlive

• the stretching yoga she knows I am doing daily now
• an exercise with a weight where I bend over, brace one hand on a table and hold the weight in the other hand, letting it hang down completely. Then move the weight in circles in one direction and then the other direction several times, getting the shoulder muscle to stretch out. Then do the same on the other side. (I’m starting with a 3 pound weight)
• ice on the area for 15 minutes and then heat for another 15
• get and use an over-the-door-shoulder-pulley. This is an inexpensive exercise thing that will also target the shoulders, like facing away from the door and holding one arm straight up over your head and the other hanging straight down, and then reverse. I should be able to pick this up at Walmart Monday or Tuesday of next week.

I’ve been doing all but the over the door thingie since I had my massage Thursday morning. The combination is helping. I actually had almost an hour where I didn’t feel any pain across my back last night!

Nutrisystem Choices

We’re almost to the cutoff date in order to change our Nutrisystem Order for Month #2. I asked my husband to sit with me at the computer and go through his choices for next month. He was very complimentary about the fact that I had gotten on the computer immediately when he said he didn’t care for something and deleted it from next month’s order. He also said I had done a much better job of choosing things than he did and welcomed my help. (I’m still shocked :0) )

Nutrisystem emailed us that our deadline for changing our order was approaching. That’s a good really good policy. The reminder is also at the top of the page in red whenever you go onto the website. (I guess you could miss it, but these people are helping you out the best way they can.)

It’s easy to see what your current order is for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. You can order a la carte if you’d like, as well. You can change things as many times as you like. They keep track of the number of choices you’ve made in each category so you know when you’re finished. Technically, we have until 6pm on the 13th, to make changes, but I doubt we’ll need to do more.  The end result is that each month you have more and more items you like – making it easier to stick with the program.

Good job, Nutrisystem!

 

Nutrisystem Week 2 – Progress Report

http://www.selfsavingprincess.com

Since starting the ‘Nutrisystem for Fat Ladies’ program two weeks ago, there is less of me!

• Weight lost:  6.6 lbs*
• Inches Lost:  5.5 inches*

*(Couple this with what I lost before Nutrisystem – and my total loss since “MY WORST” is 19 lbs and 15.5 inches.)

My husband refuses to do anything but weigh, and he’s lost 3 lbs. He’s drinking stuff during the day, but doesn’t want to even think about drinking 64 oz of water per day. He’ll eat fruit and nuts, but fusses about anything else as his PFs and SCs each day, eating some of what I bring him, but not all. He will eat a salad, but fights other veggies, mostly, so I’m doing veggies and dip for lunch and salad for dinner. He’s on the diabetic program, and his blood sugar readings, which we take twice per week, are the best he’s had since we started monitoring him!

___________________

I’m still feeling a bit obsessed with food, since I’m setting the alarm so I don’t miss one of our ‘feedings’ at the zoo, and am fixing PowerFuels, SmartCarbs and Veggies a good part of each day. I’m still needing to ‘read the list’ of what is good, but I’m getting better at it.  I’m finding it easier to drink the 64 oz of water daily. In-between, I have a cup of coffee in the morning and another during the evening. My body is still trying to get used to the different eating regimen, but I’m gradually feeling more comfortable.

My husband and I are going to sit down together at the computer tomorrow and make final decisions about what will be in our order that will ship soon for month #2. He found he had chosen several things he didn’t care for. I’ve been letting him eat some of my choices to get him through this first month and he wants me to help him choose for next month.

I’m learning some general things on how to eat so that we can keep this weight off as we go and through the rest of our lives:

• Eating small amounts every 3 hours during the day keeps hunger at bay. The combinations keep your tummy happy and your energy on a steady level – probably keep my husband’s blood sugar from spiking, too.
• Making sure you get enough protein with meat, dairy and nuts, and good fruit rounds out your nutrition.
• A little bit of bread goes a long way.
• Meat is used as a flavoring, rather than the main course.
• The invention of turkey – as in sausage and patties – cuts way down on calories and tastes good, too.
• Cutting out fat, salt and sugar is a good thing and quite doable.
• Drinking lots of water is important
• Making a point of exercise is important for lots of reasons
• “What constitutes a Serving” is an eye-opener
• Learning how to eat when NOT eating Nutrisystem is a life skill important to develop a little bit at a time.

I think the weight loss after week 1 is supposed to average 1 to 2 lbs per week. I would be very happy with that. I want to get the lard off and KEEP it off, becoming healthier in the process.

On to Week 3!

Wake Up Call

http://www.vikingmergers.com

We have a subscription to The Family Handyman magazine.  To be honest, we considering dropping our subscription each year, not because it isn’t a good magazine, but because very few of the projects pertain to us. About once a year, though, we find a really great project or article that reminds us why we renew. This year it’s an article called, “Avoid Insurance Surprises” by Lucie Amundsen, June 2018.

This was a wake-up call for us. We have house insurance, of course, but the article suggested that we make an appointment to have our insurance agent explain our policy in plain English, layman’s terms, so we really understood what we had. Were we SURE we had replacement insurance, rather than a lump sum that wouldn’t cover everything? How do they determine replacement cost? What do they think our house is worth? Is the well house covered? What about the shop? The greenhouse? Are we covered if our basement floods due to septic tank backup? Are all our contents covered? What restrictions do we have? What ISN’T covered? What has limits? Are there any discounts for the security stuff we installed? What would we do if we had a claim? What information would they need? Are there any endorsements or coverages we SHOULD have, but didn’t think of?

After spending 45 minutes with our agent this morning, we feel MUCH more secure. We did increase the coverage on our basement because that was limited and the limit was iffy, in our case. We DO have some homework to do. We make a DVD which has a picture of each thing we have that cost over $100. We take a pic of the receipt, too. We update it every 6 months, burning a DVD for our safe deposit box at the bank and another for our insurance agent. That’s good, but we could do better.

The first thing you’ll have to do in case of fire loss, or being blown to smithereens by a tornado, is to fill out endless forms listing each thing you lost, where you bought it and when, what you paid, etc. I’m going to do a spreadsheet using a copy of a claim form our agent gave me, so that I can go through our DVD and have a typed list I’ll put in the safe deposit box at the bank. I’ll also take more pics (like 4 views of each room) because I want to be sure that all we’ve lost can be identified.

We hope we’ll never need to file a claim, but losses happen in a matter of seconds sometimes, and it would sure be harder to list things when we’re wearing the only clothes we have on our backs and have a pen and a claim form in hand……

Moving These Old Bones

YourEllipticals.com

Week 2 of the Nutrisystem program suggests that you resume – or start – exercising. No longer having any excuses, I’m trying to work in a session on the elliptical trainer and a session of deep stretching through Yoga each day.

The first day I could only do 15 minutes on the elliptical. Yesterday I was able to do 30 minutes. I wear headphones and an MP3 player clipped to my shirt as this poor old body works out. I use the elliptical trainer because it’s so much easier on the joints than other exercise machines. I can move as fast or slowly as I need to. I can decrease or increase level of pressure needed to move the pedals. I can choose how many minutes I exercise. You can smile, picturing this old broad slogging away on the elliptical in my garage, eyes closed, singing along with my favorite tunes…. :0)

 

fffound.com

I’m not yet using my DVDs for my yoga. I’m moving really slowly on my mat, holding stretches for as long as I can, breathing into them, trying to get my muscles to relax. Relaxing seems to be more of a problem than anything else. That – and getting back up off the floor! :0)  I feel much better after I’ve finished, though – more loose and flexible – so I’m determined to get on the mat every day.

The biggest problem at this point is that with eating every three hours, drinking four 16 oz bottles of water each day and the running to the bathroom that causes, plus the exercising leaves a much shorter day to do everything else that I’m used to doing.

I’ve decided though, that my health is my first priority. I’m trying to do ONE thing on my to-do list otherwise each day, and see how that goes.  Today it’s cleaning off the back porch so that we can enjoy meals out there before summer hits.

We finish Week 2 on Thursday and I’ll provide an update then.

Confusion Re NutriSystem Solved

urbclekki.wordpress.com

Yesterday I happily started Week 2 of our Nutrisystem plans, carefully having made note of Powerfuels (and lists of) and SmartCarbs (and lists of), as well as what each of us was to eat at the various times of the day.

I got to the point of adding dinner into my NuMi tracker records and discovered that I was going over the calorie limit at the top! I had thought that one of the perks of the Nutrisystem plan was that you didn’t have to count calories, but it was clear that I had messed up in some way. I deleted the veggies I had planned to eat and the snack I had been looking forward to eating after dinner, staying under the calorie limit.

I contacted one of the nice people connected to Nutrisystem via the live CHAT today – one of the great parts of the program, in my estimation. She said that I needed to switch to “nutrisystem’ instead of ‘turbo 13’ as the current stage of my program. (I had thought that when the NuMi page congratulated me on finishing the Turbo week, they would make any changes needed.) The kind lady switched my program stage for me and I was off to the races again.

We ate our first FLEX meal (meals eaten off the plan to teach you how to cope with the real world and not break your new eating plan). We’re supposed to eat one breakfast, one lunch, one dinner, and one snack as Flex meals each week, preferably not on the same day. We ate our regular Lunch Bunch with our good friends, not wanting to change our cherished time together. My husband had his loved chicken fingers and I had a big salad and a hard boiled egg, figuring I was eating two servings of veggies and one powerfuel.

We are delighted to be eating FRUIT again!  We haven’t eaten fruit in maybe over a year, due to my husband being a type II diabetic and our trying to eat low carb. It’s such a treat! My husband’s blood sugar number yesterday was the lowest it’s been since we have been monitoring it!

We are making changes to our next order on almost a daily basis, finding things we don’t particularly care for, and other things we really like and want more of. The website makes it easy to do that.

So, my confusion and upset from yesterday was solved today. I’ll happily dive into the freezer this evening for a nice entree for each of us and probably an ice cream sandwich!!!

Beginning of Week 2 on Nutrisystem

http://www.auraprint.uk

I ate and drank the last of the contents of the ‘Magic Red Box’ (Turbo 13) week on Nutrisystem. By the end of the week, though, due to my not paying enough attention, I guess, I was down to a bar for breakfast, a shake, a bar for lunch, a bar mid afternoon, and a ‘Hearty Beef Stew” that was the size of my eyeball for dinner (plus veggies, of course, and lots and lots of water.

I’m recording everything I eat and drink, plus my daily activities, on NuMi, their tracker, to keep me honest.

I lost almost 5 lbs (4.8) during the week, which is WONDERFUL. I just measured. It shows I’m down a bit more than 4 inches, but measurement is an iffy thing, kind of like interpretation of ‘facts’ you hear on the news, so I’ll believe it more when I measure at the end of week 2.

This morning I dived into the freezer and got the first of my actual ‘choices’ for the first month – a turkey sausage and egg muffin. YUM! I was also supposed to eat a Powerfuel, but I honestly was too full after the muffin and the 16 oz bottle of water, so I put it in the fridge and will plan to eat it later.

This week starts the way we’ll be eating for the foreseeable future. So far, my husband is resisting at least half of the veggies, isn’t trying to drink water (though he drinks unsweetened tea during the day and a sugarless apple cider hot drink) and refused the Powerfuel this morning,  He doesn’t want to talk about NuMi, much less try to keep up with it, so I won’t bug him about that. I’m going to TRY to get him to eat and drink what he’s supposed to on his Diabetic plan, but he’s a big boy and can make his own choices. That said, his blood sugar this morning was the lowest it’s been since we’ve been monitoring it and he has lost 3 lbs. !!!!!!  :0)

I will start trying to do yoga and the elliptical trainer each day now. My husband refuses to ‘exercise,’ but is in much better shape than I, so I will not criticize.

Main feelings of both of us at the beginning of week 2 – 

• we’re both glad we started the program
• my husband has found a few food items he wants to change on our order for month # 2, but we’re able to do this whenever we want online. They post a deadline for making changes, so we know when the last day is for changing choices
• neither of us has been hungry, though occasionally we long for old, bad habits a bit
• we’re happy that our primary doctor was pleased to hear we had started the program. We have a regular, follow-up appointment in 3 months, and we’re hoping both our weight losses and blood test numbers will be improved.

And So It Begins – Getting the Lard Off – Day Three

http://www.buzzfeed.com

We started Nutrisystem on Thursday of this week, the 26th. So far I’ve lost 3.6 lbs.

The Nutrisystem people stress that you shouldn’t weigh yourself every day. They suggest once a week. I’ve always weighed myself every day, though, and I need the feedback that I’m going in the right direction, or at least staying reasonably steady. Even though this is just water loss, I feel happy that I have a good start. I have a long way to go, but losing weight is a great thing to be doing with my time each day. :0)

They also stress not to do any exercise the first week. Well, that’s all well and good, but I’m getting lots of exercise getting up to go to the bathroom all day (and many times at night, too.)  Plus, life goes on, and I need to get things accomplished around here; so, no formal exercise until next week, but I HAVE been being active.

Example – since winter FINALLY seems to be over, we took the snow tires off the Honda Ridgeline yesterday and put the regular tires on. This is a laborious project, but after doing it twice a year for several years now, we have it almost down to a science. My husband does the heavy stuff, like getting the tires onto the “wheel studs.” (I just had to ask my husband what was the actual name for those. I hate to call everything ‘thingies.’) I’m a pretty good go-fer – rolling the snow tires out of the way, rolling the regular tire over to my husband, handing him the wheel nuts, bringing him tools, putting things away, etc. It takes us about half an hour now, when the first time it took us twice that.

I also planted a 6-pack of tomato plants and several squares of radishes yesterday. Since we don’t have our irrigation system going yet, later I got a hose hooked up and watered them.  I rolled up our big fireplace rug and stored it under the stairs in a storage place and then vacuumed the living room, foyer, and office. The big thing yesterday was washing the two large dog bed covers, airing out the innards, then putting everything back together.

Add to that setting a timer so that we stay on our program for the day, eating every 3 hours, and you have much of our day yesterday.

My attitude is better since we’re finally on the road again to getting the lard off. I’m hopeful that as the extra weight comes off, we’ll feel better and better.

Whisper

sayingimages.com

We made it through Day 1 of Nutrisystem. We have to say that they have improved a lot since we tried it years ago. I am eating and drinking out of the ‘magic red box’ (Turbo 13) in the Uniquely Yours for Fat Ladies program, and my husband is in the Diabetic Uniquely Yours program. His reaction yesterday was, “This isn’t half bad!”

Honestly, we were so busy eating or drinking at the proper times we hardly had time for much else. :0)  We weren’t hungry. We did have a pang after dinner when we would usually have an ice cream sandwich or an orange dream bar, but we can have an after dinner snack NEXT week.

I drank the 64 oz of water, plus a couple of cups of coffee, so I got my exercise running to the bathroom during the day and four times last night…

We have Lunch Bunch today. We’ve done this for a hundred years or so, seeing good friends and catching up, and we’ll continue doing it regardless of what eating program we’re on. Starting next week, we can have Lunch Bunch be our flex lunch, as we’ll have our ice cream after bowling be our flex snack. Today I’m going to have a salad and write it up as the one I would have had with my lunch later, as one of my 4 servings of veggies per day. I’ll try to keep my husband on track for the rest of the day, but he’ll make the decision whether to cooperate or not.

I’ve started losing the expected water weight, so my body is recognizing that things have changed. Good start!

NuMi

Today is our first day on NutriSystem. I’m on the Uniquely Yours (for fat ladies) program and am eating from the Turbo 13 (magic) red box. My husband is on the Diabetic Uniquely Yours for Men. I ate the Maple Sugar Oatmeal breakfast and my husband ate the Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal. I don’t care for oatmeal, but it was easy to fix and I found it palatable.

We essentially eat and drink all day –

8:30 breakfast
11:30 Snack One (first week a shake)
2:30 Lunch + veggie
5:30 Snack Two – (first week a nutrition bar)
8:30 Dinner + veggie
+ at least 64 oz of water (I’ll try for a 16 oz bottle of water for each main meal, and then one sipped during the day.)

For exercise, we’ll run back and forth to the bathroom from drinking all the water!

I have to tell you that, since my husband and I tend to use “National Tissue Week” as an excuse to go off our good eating plans, having meals (and especially portions) will be a great wake up call for us. I don’t seem to have the proper whatevers that are supposed to tell you you are full. I could eat a full meal and then eat another an hour later, so I’m also looking forward to only having to go three hours between eating.

The last time we tried Nutrisystem several years ago, they didn’t offer frozen food, and the variety of foods was less than we would have liked. Now it could be months before we can try everything! I’m also hoping that they won’t start discontinuing the options my husband has chosen, as they did last time. That was the thing that made us stop. Now they have as a major focus teaching you what is healthy to eat, what a reasonable portion is, and have you practice flex meals once each week from Week 2 on. This gives you a chance to not only learn how to choose what to eat if you eat out, but guidance as to what to eat for home-cooked meals so that you can learn healthy habits from the outset.

This morning I started NuMi, a food tracker to guide you through the program. You can input your goals, monitor your progress, record what you eat and drink, etc. One of the first questions was where I was in the program. When I input that this was my first day on the Turbo 13 week of Uniquely Yours for Fat Women, it immediately came up with what I was supposed to be eating today. I input my maple sugar oatmeal and it told me how many more calories I had allotted for the day, and showed me what else I would be eating.

I went through the quick tour, then immediately screwed up. I hit the ‘fast entry’ button for breakfast, and then decided I wanted to actually type in what I ate. I had a time getting the first entry off, but finally did it.

I hope that this program will help us, indeed, get the lard off, and teach us how to KEEP it off once we reach our goals. My husband will reach his goal before I do, but I’m hoping he’ll keep me company, continuing to use the program, or be satisfied with my new cooking choices and techniques.

1st Harvest – 2018

pinterest.com

 

We’re having scattered showers today. I decided to go out to the garden and bring in some produce for the salad we’ll enjoy tomorrow. Of course, the rain started when I was just starting to snip…

PurifyouPremiumReusableMesh

Since Nutrisystem suggests that you NOT wash produce until just before you eat it, and also suggested that produce will last longer in these mesh bags, I took three of the bags out to the garden with me and harvested the produce right into the bags: one for spinach, one for iceberg lettuce, and one for romaine lettuce.

 

1st Harvest – Spinach

 

1st Harvest – Iceberg Lettuce

 

1st Harvest – Romaine Lettuce

Even though my efforts at growing a garden don’t save us money, the produce we get is so fresh, and it’s so much fun to go out and snip the ingredients for salad from your own garden!

Good News re Getting the Lard Off!

 

I received the emails today that the frozen part of our first order from Nutrisystem is supposed to be delivered by the end of the day on Wednesday!

Immediately, my husband said, then we should start the program the following Monday.

We were on the way to Fort Smith to take our donation to the Veterans Thrift Store, so I sat there, thinking. On the way back I finally asked him, “Why do you want to wait until Monday to start?” And he answered, “Because it’s more symmetrical than starting in the middle of the week.”

By the time we got home, I said, “I really want to start on Thursday, since we’ll get the rest of the food we ordered on Wednesday and I can get it organized and stored.” (Since it has taken so long to get the two parts of what we ordered, Order #2 is scheduled to be shipped on May 13th. Starting Thursday will give my husband a chance to try several of his choices and we can still make changes until 6 pm on the 12th.)

We agreed to start on Thursday morning (assuming we get the delivery as scheduled.)

Pinterest

Hooray!

Getting the Food for NutriSystem

 

Our NON-frozen food boxes for the first month were delivered this morning. My husband and I have agreed that we don’t want to start the program until we get all the stuff for the first month. I haven’t received emails that they’ve shipped the frozen portion of our order yet.

I have their pictured diagram of what we are supposed to do the first week on the fridge. I have the Turbo13 red box that starts the program for fat ladies, and my husband has a small box of shake powder packets and the rest of his non-frozen choices.

I eat ONLY from the magic red box the first week and he drinks a shake each day, plus has a hunger-curbing bar the first week, plus his regular choices for the diabetic program. He’ll want to try the frozen stuff first, so that’s the main reason we’ll wait to start until that arrives. I want us to be in sync and as happy as possible that we’re starting to get the lard off together.

Example: he looked at the schedule of his eating for a typical day and said, “Okay. 7am That’s it. I’m not getting up any earlier to eat.” THEN, I’m not going to eat 6 times a day.”  I told him – gritting my teeth – that all this signified was that he was supposed to eat every 2-3 hours during the day, breakfast – a shake mid-morning – lunch – a snack mid-afternoon – dinner – a snack before bed, starting  at 8am and stopping after the after dinner snack. He grumbled, and then said that sounded okay, but that he wasn’t sure he’d eat all the snacks. I told him that if he didn’t, it would actually hinder his weight loss and he wouldn’t get the nutrition he’s supposed to get.  I also reminded him that we discussed all this and we agreed to it before I placed the order. Grumbling again…..  (I think this is all for show. He wants to lose weight. He just likes to drag his feet.)

I cleared some plastic bins to hold our non-frozen choices. I’ll put our stuff away this morning, labeling his food AND the bins so we don’t get mixed up.

I’m starting to read through the material that came with our food, trying to find out if we need to get something special at the store. So far, I’ve found that we need to buy two shaker bottles for the shakes.

I will measure all my parts so that I can hopefully prepare to be very pleased – if I’m a good girl – with the results.

I’m still feeling pretty overwhelmed, but I’m improving.  I’ll wait to start NUMI – their food and exercise tracker – until the first day we actually start the program. Hopefully, we’ll get the emails re the frozen choices very soon.

I’m getting antsy to start!