This will be my first time keeping diary. Hopefully this will help some other folks.

-- How much weight do you want to lose? Originally, 20 pounds. As of 3/29/07 6.5 pounds.

-- What is the timeframe for reaching your target weight? 1-3 months

-- How do you want to accomplish your goal (what methods do you want to use)? Healthy, balanced diet (EFL) and exercise.

-- Who or what can support you in reaching your goal? My co-workers, family and boyfriend have been great so far. I know it's really up to me to stick to it, though.

-- How realistic is your goal? I think it's realistic. 1-2 pounds per week.

-- When will you start? Already started 7 weeks ago. 2/8/07


Let's get up to date...

A week ago, I had just finished my 6 weeks on Micheal Thurmond's 6 Week Body Makeover. The first 5 weeks I only did 30-45 minute walks at lunch time and the 6th week, I added 4 days of 1/2 hour Leslie Sansone Walk Away The Pounds with weighted balls. I started my 6 weeks at 150 pounds. I'm 37, 5'3" and medium frame. My goal is 130. At the end of the 6 weeks, I was down to 136.5.

Fast forward to today. I finished my first week doing Eating For Life (EFL) by Bill Phillips. I upped my walking to 1 hour at 4 mph daily at lunch time with my co-workers Lisa (doing Atkins) and Dennis (doing 6WBMO maintenance - he lost 21 pounds in the 6 weeks). I had a rough start and gained 1.5 pounds the first two days on this plan. I struggled with portion sizes because I figure out the portions in the book are an average between men and women. I sought advice on the Eating For Life site and on the bodyforlifers.com forum, but didn't have a lot of luck. The people on both those site are doing the Body For Life (BFL) program in conjunction with the EFL. I'm still too intimidated by strength training to do this and since I'm not a big fan of exercising, I wanted to start out with things I was comfortable with. I finally gave up trying to get help from the BFL people and went to eDiets.com where I found this program (EFL) in the first place. I started eating the correct portions on Tuesday and I'm happy to say that first 1.5 pounds I gained a week ago is now gone. I'm back to 136.5. I do feel I probably lost more (clothes fit better), but it's nearing "that time" for me that I'm having water retention and bloating. Sorry if TMI.

So far, I'm really enjoying EFL. The food is good and I look forward to it. I'm never hungry eating 6 mini meals per day and my 6th meal is always a plan approved dessert. You get one "free day" per week and I was planning on using my first on Saturday and going to my favorite Mexican food place. I'm excited and nervous about it at the same time. I don't know how crazy I plan to go on Saturday yet, but I really want to see results, so I may just make it that one meal and split it over two meals (eat half and take the rest home). I will have some chips and salsa, but try not to go bonkers like I usually do. I can't believe it's been 7 weeks since I had "normal" food. I'm hoping EFL will be my new normal food.

I'm glad I started the exercise again. I really feel a sense of accomplishment after the 4 miles at lunch time and I'm thrilled I have a couple of people at work to enjoy it with me. I really want to see them succeed too. I feel my stamina building and it makes me feel younger. Maybe eventually I'll try new things to tone up and feel even stronger.

Here are some helpful sites I found over the past 7 weeks that are useful towards my goals;

Hungry Girl - I signed up for their newsletters and I like all the tips and info
Calorie Counter and Diet Tracking, Nutrition Data, Water Consumption - TheDailyPlate.com - This is a great free site to keep track of your weight loss goals and calories. It's easy to use too.

Thanks for reading!

Silke

Wheee! My scale says I'm 136 today (down 0.5 pounds). I guess that means eDiets.com is giving me the right portions and the exercise is paying off. Even though I just got my time of the month, it's Friday and I'm in a good mood.

This morning I brought in an Eggchilada: corn tortilla filled with 1/2 cup of EggBeaters, 1/4 reduced fat Mexican cheese, 1T avocado and 1T fresh salsa. A few people at work were like "Where did you get THAT?" It made me feel good that it looked good and tasted good, I made it myself and it was healthy and not going to make me fat.

This is just one of 6 meals a day I get on this plan. Morning snack is a red apple and string cheese, lunch will be a BLT Wrap (EFL recipe), afternoon snack Peaches & Cream (EFL recipe), dinner is Homestyle Turkey Meatloaf (EFL recipe) and Fortified Chocolate Pudding for dessert (also EFL). I can't believe I can eat all this yummy stuff and still lose weight. My only complaint is that it's so time consuming to prepare everything, but I'm sure I will get used to it and get faster at it.

Happy Friday!

Okay, I had my free day and here is how it went...

Breakfast - on plan cereal, skim milk and scrambled eggs.

Snack - Myoplex Lite shake.

Here is where it started becoming a free day....

Lunch - Camerones a la Diabla - jumbo prawns bathing in some kind of zesty sauce and accompanied by refried beans and Mexican rice. I also had plenty of chips and salsa. I didn't feel overly full or sick like I thought I would. I guess I could have made a worse choice like my old usual flautas or a chimichanga.

Dinner - My BF and I never got all that hungry after lunch and decided to skip dinner and go straight for dessert. I had a HUGE piece of Boston Cream Pie cake from 3 Flames. It was not as moist as usual, but I still ate almost the whole thing. I started feeling a bit ill towards the end, but was ok later.

Move on to today (Sunday). I put my free day behind me (even though the scale announced that I was 1.5 pounds heavier) and I exercised in my garage for a half hour. I baked an on plan quiche and had a nice breakfast with my BF. I was on the go hanging out with my mom most of the day and packed myself a couple of shakes and a turkey sandwich to get me through till dinner. I had a cup of Enchilada Soup with Avocado (EFL recipe - it's awesome). I also bought a lovely dress that makes me feel slim and sassy. I hope the weather is nice tomorrow so that I can wear it.

My sister was kind enought to give me her old food saver. I already "saved" some strawberries, turkey bacon and some turkey meatloaf. I think I will need to stock up on bags.

My food for work tomorrow is already packed up in my groovy Japanese bento boxes that I found at Mitsuwa market. Gotta love the Japanese for their cute and practical items!

That's it for now! Ciao!

Okay, 2 pounds magically disappeared since yesterday. I'm down to 135.5. It could be one or a combination of 3 things...

1) My free day did what it was supposed to and took an extra pound away with the water gain I had from splurging.

2) I had an extremely stressful day at work and burned a lot of calories freaking the Hell out.

3) I became dehydrated because I only had about 17 oz of water and then 4 cups a tea and no hydration after about 11 am except from food. I was so busy that I didn't have time to grab my tea and drink it.

Either way, I'm not complaining and now I've lost my first whole pound on EFL.

Woot! I finally lost 10% of my body weight! I'm down to 135 from 150! 5 more pounds to go!

I'm super pooped today. I had on plan banana bread muffins this morning around 11 and went on my 4 mile walk around 12. I was hyper before I left and totally crashed when I got back. I think it spiked my insulin. I still have 3 more servings left, so I'll see what happens tomorrow.

way to go for being down 10 percent - that's wonderful..

way to go on your success so far

Thanks maleficent! I feel really good about it and it's great to be so close to my goal.

Yesterday, I had a close call. I was upset because I'm having problems with my car insurance company. I still have a weakness for gumballs, but usually they are only 10 calories and I can have a few and be done. Yesterday, I found these huge Ranblo bubblegum eggs with "sour crystals." I had to try almost all the flavors and ended up eating about 4. I started to feel really cranky and started to get a headache as well. It turns out they were 100 calories EACH! I don't know why I didn't look at the label first. Another thing is that I know the sour crystal are citric acid aka sour salt and I could retain water from that. I got lucky this morning that I still weigh the same, but that was a lesson learned. Next time only ONE Rainblo Egg. Thank goodness they are seasonal.

My snarkiness led to an arguement with my boyfriend before bed too. I'm lucky I slept at all, but I've been up since 4:30 am and I'm going to take my butt down to the garage and Walk Away The Pounds with Leslie Sansone for a half hour.

I still get to go to work and get to try and call my insurance company to resolve my issue. In a nutshell, they sent me a letter that I'm not at fault for an accident last year and a couple of days ago I received my renewal and it went from $530 to $932! I found out it went into arbitration and they changed the fault and NEVER TOLD ME! So I've been upset for days now. Ugh!

Okay, time to work out. <sigh>

Happy Easter!

Well, I wasn't able to resolve my insurance issue. I now have a point on my driving record and have to pay more insurance. It sucks, but I need to move on.

Saw my BF, so we are ok too.

Also had my 2nd Free Day on Saturday. Had my Mexican food and OMG! There was soooo much garlic on those prawns that I still tasted garlic after brushing my teeth this morning. Ewww! I won't be having that again. I was also bummed out because Baskin Robbins didn't have the Butter Brickle and I had Butter Pecan instead. I should have just had the 1 scoop of Oreo b/c I decided I don't like Butter Pecan and it wasn't worth the calories.

Today I am very sleepy b/c I didn't sleep well, but I'm back on plan. I gained a pound, but I hope it will be gone by Tuesday again. I'm still 2.5 pounds less than I was a week ago, so I'm thrilled about that.

I just had my mid afternoon snack of an apple and a serving of string cheese. I'm going to take a little cat nap with my cats and prepare for tomorrow. I'm not going to bother updating my ticker because I'm determined that this will be accurate again soon.

Woot! The Free Day weight came off and took another half pound with it today (Wednesday). Now I'm down to 133.5 and 3.5 pounds away from my goal. I'm so excited!

Yay! Another 1/2 pound came off! 3 more pounds to go! I'm so relieved that this EFL plan is working and the best thing is that the food tastes good! I don't know what I want to do for my free day on Saturday. My BF is staying home and I don't have anyone to enjoy it with me.

I'm down to 132.5. This happened yesterday. It was also my free day yesterday, but it was ruined by a fight with my BF and we broke up last night. I'm not a happy camper today, but I'm on track again and I have a friend coming over today to take some pictures of her hands because she does hand modeling.

Oh I am so sorry about your bf!! I hope you get over it quickly and stick to your plan, you are such an inspiration with your weightloss!!! Honestly!
xxMilaxx

Thanks Mila! I'm trying not to think about it and he hasn't contacted me. If he leaves me alone, I should be ok and be able move on.

I did drop another half pound today! I've been sticking to my plan and not letting my drama stop me. I have 2 pounds to go to reach my goal weight! Yay!

My bf did call to apologize (3 days later - sheesh!), but we are still not together. We are not like minded enough - sadly. August would have been 2 years for us.

The good news is that I magically dropped another pound and I'm only 1 pound away from my goal!

I feel really good about what I accomplished and I fit into all my old clothes again. I'm not perfect and never will or want to be, but I feel good in my skin despite the cellulite bumps. I will need to keep continuing the exercise to work on toning, but otherwise, I'm satisfied.

Now I'm just waiting for this stupid acne medication to kick in. I can't believe I'm going to be 38 and getting this teenage crap again. It's bad enough to have wrinkles and grey hair!