Holidays Ahead!

I got past my 45 pound goal and am within 10 pounds of my "level one" goal: "I want to lose AT LEAST this much!"  As I close in on it, I can see that I will want to keep going a bit more, even though there are a lot of holidays to get through.
This week I sampled the "new" cinnamon pretzels and I have to say they are a BIG disappointment. I loved the original ones and now they messed with both the flavor and the texture. This was a go-to pre-made food for me and it is not good that they have changed it so dramatically. They don't even taste like cinnamon anymore-- or like pretzels.

I have been struggling to stay on track. I was getting lazy about making sure I was prepared every day and being sure I stuck to the program limits. Today, I was looking for something else and looked in my plan booklet and noticed, for the first time, that they state a carb limit of 80-85 grams for optimal weight loss. I looked at my last two weeks and noticed my carbs were a between a third more and double that. So, I now have a little more incentive to stay on track. (They were really high because I had been eating some "off plan" foods like walnuts and had been eating out too!)

I made a "practice" Thanksgiving meal today and it worked out pretty good. I made stuffing from the Medifast crackers, used roasted chicken I had on hand, made cauliflower "mashed potatoes" and mashed butternut squash.  I also made some gravy from a mix that is Fat free and very low carb.  Later, I made a Medifast pudding but added sugar free caramel flavoring and some pumpkin pie spice to the vanilla. This was pretty satisfying. I was surprised how flavorful the stuffing turned out and it made half a cup, which was a good size.  For the real T-day with family, I can add a small salad too. I could make it less carbs by having a different vegetable other than the squash.  I still have one more Medifast meal to get in today and I will be under my limits, even with this big meal.

This week I am busy with a lot of meetings  during and "after" work hours, so that will be a  challenge.
So will Wednesday when I have to go right from work to the gym, come back and pick up subs from our sub sale, drive them back to work, and be ready for a meeting at 6:30, all the while smelling those subs. I can't eat these yet, but I did order one for myself, thinking I would discard the bread and have something to eat while doing all this running around. If I get my act together, I can maybe make some sort of bun to put the insides in... we'll see.

I decided not to attend the Pasta Auction this year ( it is this Friday) since I can't eat pasta! I could eat the meat sauce (although it would be high in calories and carbs) and the salad, if I brought my own dressing, but I just didn't feel like dealing with it. I want to concentrate and get these 10 pounds off.
Hopefully, I will be back on track for real this week!

Two Busy Weeks

Well, I realize that I missed my entry last week. I was out of town for several days and there were other things going on. So.... I didn't get to 45 pounds last week, but I did reach 42.  I left on Saturday for 4 days of conference where food would be provided during the day and at night we would go out as a group to some great restaurants. As you can imagine, this presented many challenges. Before I left, I made some Medifast brownies and some of my Dilly Biscuits made from Medifast products. These proved to be life savers as when I got to the hotel there was no microwave in the room, so I was stuck with cold things. I did manage to get a room with a refrigerator.

 I would have the biscuits in the morning and the brownies for a snack during the day or when I got home in the evening. I managed to use Medifast pretzels as one meal each day and I didn't manage to get all five Medifast meals in. I usually had about 2 tablespoons of eggs and one sausage link in the morning, skipping the potatoes, bacon, croissants, bagels, fruit, and sweet rolls.

Luckily there was salad and a variety of roasted meats and fish each day at lunch, so I had small servings of those. I had brought some Newman's Own dressing so I was set in the day. It was very hard to by pass the soft bread sticks, rolls, and other sides that I couldn't have.  I caved one day and had two tablespoons of mashed red potatoes ( they were great-- it was the first time I had potato in 3 months!).  I skipped the great desserts-- I don't even know what they were  since I tried not to look at them.  know there were cakes and pies, though.
Evening was interesting since I didn't always know where we were going or what they would have. I ended up having salad most places, plus crab (broiled), shrimp, salmon, and/or steak with whatever vegetables I could get that are on my plan.  This worked well, even though I was eating more than my plan allowed per day.
When other people with me had lava cake and creme brulee, it was a little tough to resist as were the wonderful breads at each place. But I knew I wasn't really hungry, I just WANTED these.
I also managed to go to the fitness area in the hotel everyday and do most of my routine, or adapt it. I also took the Metro into DC on Sunday morning ( Nate, this was during the annual marine Marathon), and spent three hours walking around finding caches. I know I walked several miles total since after two hours, I saw the next cache I wanted to get was a mile away and I decided to go for it.
This paid off well since when I got home I not only didn't gain any weight, I lost two more pounds.
I am having a little trouble getting back to a strict plan, but I am doing my best. I am now within 15 pounds of my "level one" goal weight-- the amount that I said I want to lose AT LEAST this much. We'll see how close I get by the end of the month.
My next challenge is waiting in the wings... tomorrow I go to the Dutch Apple Dinner Theater. They are known for their buffet.  I'm not REAL concerned about this since I know they will have salad and carving stations, so I can get the basics and some veggies. I'll just have to resist all the other stuff!

I'll let you know how I do.