Friday weigh in, and I lost 4lbs this week. That brings me to a total of 27lbs lost since November. I am pretty happy with that! I have learned so much from the short time I have been on NS, and encourage all the new folks to stick with it, as it WORKS! But like with anything, you only get out of it what you put into it. Many of you are aware that the past few weeks I haven’t given the program my all, and due to that my weight loss has not been great, and a few weigh ins had me going the opposite direction.

As difficult as it might be, I am going to be taking a break from the program due to finances and boredom, mostly boredom. I have about a month worth of food left, so I will be finishing that up.

With the tools and knowledge that NS has provided I think I can continue towards my goal, only 58lbs to go. As I still have the ability to check in here on my NS friends, I am not going to just disappear, I will still keep up on my weight ticker and keep in touch for moral support.

Good luck to all of you and thanks for being there when I needed it.

dan

Well once again it is Friday, which for me has become the dreaded weighing day.. It was fun in the beginning when I was seeing great weight loss, but now the weight loss is incremental or going the opposite direction. Technically I have gained 2lbs since last Friday, and I am ok with that. I actually gained 4lbs over last weekend, so I am heading back in the right direction… ok that was confusing to write..

I guess I am at one of these dreaded plateaus, and I need to address that issue. I think now that I have started back to the gym after a couple of weeks off, and am S-L-O-W-L-Y getting back into eating my NS foods I should see some results. I know this works, I need to get my mind set back.

Mini goals for the week:
1. Blog at least twice
2. Log my food for 7 days
3. Make it to the Gym at least 3 days
4. Add two more friends to my NS list

Seems as if all my recent posts have been negative, well at least in the sense of my progress and sticking with the NS program. This one will be more of the same I am afraid. Weigh in day had me still at 225, which is 25lbs loss since Nov 7, so no complaints there. With all the stress at work and at home, I have been skipping the gym, which means no weight loss, and easy gains if I don’t watch my food intake.

This past weekend had me on the road again (another chicken show), which means fast food while driving and eating out two nights in a row (mmmm spaghetti factory!).. Stepping on the scale yesterday I wasn’t too surprised to find I had gained 4lbs over the weekend. At least this motivated me to get my ass to the gym yesterday afternoon for a good 45 minute cardio workout.

I still have yet to dive into my third box of food, as I am trying to finish up what I still have of box 2. I need to get going as I have already delayed box 4 by a month. If I don’t get in the mind set pretty soon, I am afraid I will fall from the program. Though this sounds all doom and gloom, things are going well and I do have a positive attitude about everything.. Guess the occasional 4 day weekend will do that for ya J

Day 79, where has the time gone? On Friday I did my weigh in, and was not too surprised to find that I had gained 2lbs. I am not going to beat myself up over it, as I had expected it. With being out of town the weekend before and all the stress I have been under at work and at home, it really could have been a lot worse. I still seem to be losing inches (really wish I could find my starting measurements), as I am able to wear two more pairs of jeans that haven’t been worn in over two years!

I had to delay my next shipment of food as I have been hit an miss with my eating of NS food. I still haven’t opened my third box of food that arrived at the beginning of the month! Even with eating “real” food I think I have been doing well. The most important thing that NS has taught me is PORTION SIZE! So even when I am “bad” I still am eating healthier than I have in the past.

Hopefully things will get better this next week at work (I had to terminate two people last week), and things will get resolved on the home front, so I can once again focus on myself. Once again I will be away from home this next weekend so the battle will be to remain on track and make wise decisions on what I put into my body…

Been really busy the past couple of weeks, finding it hard to get on here and blog let alone keep my food diary going. Even with all that is going on, I have been doing pretty well. This past Friday I weighed in and was happy to see the scale read 225, officially 25lbs lost since starting 73 days ago.

I admit that I haven’t been 100% but I am make informed choices when I am not on the program. I am trying to finish up my second box of food before I break into the new box that was delivered in early January.

I traveled out of town this past weekend, and had a couple of bad cheat days, but only gained 2 pounds while away. I am sure it would have been much worse had I not taken my fruit, NS snacks and deserts with me. I will be going to another poultry show the end of the month, but I will be staying at a hotel that has microwaves in the room, so I should have better luck staying on track.

Weighed in on Friday, and lost another 2 lbs since the last weigh in. This takes me down 20lbs.. Only 2 more pounds to go to get back to my pre christmas weight. Yesterday we had a 6.5 earthquake that was the most violent one I have experienced. Having grown up in California I have gone through many earthquakes but this one really "shook" me up... It hit around 4:27 while I had a house full of friends for a party. We were in the kitchen preparing food when we were alomst knocked off our feet. Our house in on pier and post so we really felt it. We loss power immediately and the entire neigborhood was out on the road checking on each other. Power was out for about 4 hours, luckily we are used to lengthy power outages so have a generator ready to go. We were able to complete cooking the meal and then power the lights for a nice party that none of us will forget.

Happy New Year to all of you here on NS… A new year and a new start… Starting NS shortly before the holidays was a challenge, I can only imagine what I would have done to myself if I hadn’t had the pantry full of NS food reminding me each day to behave. I had my weak moments, but nothing a couple of extra trips to the gym wont fix.

This morning I went in and changed all my weights to reflect the new, more accurate scale. I found it difficult to put down my Fridays’ weight (231lbs), knowing the new scale was weighing 4 lbs heavier. This also meant my starting weight was actually 250 lbs. To be honest, I am having trouble dealing with that fact.

My goal ticker and my line graph have been updated as well on my page. I love my line graph! I use one all the time with my birds, and it is easy to see at a glance where problems are.. Obviously Holidays are a problem for me LOL.

I need to go grocery shopping as I have let my fruit and veggie provisions run out. My 3^rd shipment of food should be going out this next week, I can’t believe that I have been on the NS program for 8 weeks, it seems much shorter than that.

I have learned a lot in these 8 weeks, and even when I am not participating 100% on the program, I find it easier to portion control and make better decisions on what I am eating, that alone has made NS invaluable for me.

Monday morning and I am back on track.. started my day with the apple strudel scone, whole wheat tortilla, a banana and a piece of string cheese. It actually does feel good to have a regimented menu to look forward to.. I felt adrift over the past few days in a sea of delicious foods..

Add to all the great holiday foods and drinks, the new scale, and it was a disastrous weekend to my achievements. But I am in a better mind set now, as all the “BIG” eating is done for the holidays. Might be some binge drinking New Years eve, but so far no real plans.

I brought my gym clothes with me today, and am planning on a good cardio workout after work (I can feel the need for it). I made the decision to just make an easy transition to the new digital scale. I don’t feel the need to go back and change all my weigh in data and blog entries to match the discrepancy between scales. I am not short changing myself, not really distorting the truth.. I would have shown a gain this week anyway, so what is a few more pounds?

So my line graph will show a slight upward trend this coming Friday’s weigh in, so what… it took me 43 years to get here, there are bound to be highs and lows on my journey to a healthier me..

Thank you to all that left comments on my last blog entry.. It is also nice to see that the majority of the NS family came through the holidays with little trouble..

That is all from cold and sunny northern California… Back to work for me

Hope everyone had a good holiday and stuck to the plan better than I did. I kind of feel like I am slipping away from the program, and need to get myself back on track. The past 3 days has been a gluttony of eating, though I think it will be getting better as the last of the leftovers were eaten today for lunch. I need to get my focused again, as I just got my reminder that my next shipment of food is ready for “customization”. My Nutrisystem pantry still looks full! I know I can delay shipment, but don’t think I will as I am afraid that with the New Years holiday there may be a scarcity of some of the tastier menu items.

Any way enough whining on my part.. I am sure I am not the only one who had struggles the past couple of days.. My dilemma is that for Christmas my DP gave me a new digital scale. The one I had been using was an old spring scale that was hard to read, but as I don’t like change I never went out and bought a new one. So here I have this nice glass digital scale with a nice easy view readout, that doesn’t coincide with my old scale. I was mortified when I stepped on it and read the readout! It was weighing about 14lbs heavier than my old scale!

”This can’t be right” I exclaimed (chuckling from the other room), I stepped off and then back on.. still the same horrifying display… got on my old friendly scale… and it was reading higher… NOOOOOOO! I didn’t have that many blackened peel and eat shrimp! Ok, so I may have had more Pate than I should of, but 5 lbs worth? Water retention? WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?

I was thinking I could return the new scale and go with my old one, but no… that would in poor taste… Taste… that’s what got me here in the first place….. Waite, maybe the scale needs to be calibrated… I searched and found a 10lb barbell under the bed covered in dust bunnies, and placed it on the new scale…… it read 10lbs! Damn! Placed it on the old spring scale, and it read 6 lbs… ok, so a 4 lb difference…

This means I actually did weigh over 250lbs when I started this new life (insert a muffled cry of despair)… relax calm breathing… slow down….…. I still have lost the same amount of weight… just not as close to my mini goal of 219 by Jan 1….. it isn’t the end of the world….

So, what would you do? Should I go in and change my starting weight and all my weigh in data from day one, or should I just leave things as they are and stay at this gain / plateau for a week or so?

It is the morning of Christmas eve, and I did my weigh in a day early, as I will be taking a two day break from NutriSystem. I was happy and a little surprised to have the scale read another 2 lbs lost this week. That brings me to a total of 22 lbs in about 7 weeks.

This success will help me fight the battle that I will be facing the next two days with food. But I am going to take the advice of many of my NS friends and just enjoy the holiday with no guilt. I have proven to myself over the past few weeks that I CAN control what and how much I am eating, I just need the comforting support from all of you here at NS when I fall lol..

I wish you all a happy holiday and I will be back with a vengeance on Saturday… well maybe :-)

I don’t know why it is but the weekends are just so hard for me to stick 100% to the program. My best guess is that during the week, I am stuck at my desk and stick to a very strict schedule (I don’t like change or spontaneity), so it is easy to fit all my meals and water in. Weekends, I tend to be all over the place and though I am not eating much, I am not getting my water quotas in either.

Add to the weekend “mentality” the holidays and I am just all over the place. The work party went very well, lots of good food, and about the only thing I shouldn’t have had was my pate. I limited myself to three crackers spread liberally with the fat laden paste J I think I did well with my “grazing” of the buffet style food layout and I stuck with the Cocktail shrimp, salad rolls and 6 pieces of sushi.

(I was going to insert a photo of the party food, but thought better of it lol)

Saturday night was a bit of a problem as we were over extended in parties. I screwed up and had accepted two party invitations, as I thought the neighbors birthday party was a mid day event (they always have mid day parties)… So in the end we opted for the elegant dinner party (Roasted Duck mmmmmmmmmmmmm). I was on my best behavior, and I can honestly say that having been on the NS program for 6 weeks, I am more aware of portion size and control.

After a weekend of being “bad” I had to weigh myself, and to my relief I had not gained anything back.

This week will be 4 good days, and then Christmas eve I will fall again, but it will be a planned, controlled fall… Another Crab feast with Peel and Eat Spicy Shrimp, One of those recipes that would make Paula Deen even raise an eyebrow to. LOL