What a week!

Another Friday and we find ourselves closing in on becoming a couple who have lost 100 pounds with the help of Medifast.  That's an incredible milestone and deserves recognition.  So, we're going on a trip!

Well, not really.  My business takes me to Maryland soon and the family is joining me.  We used to live there and of course we know all the right restaurants and eateries.  So, we'll be 100 pounds lighter and right in the middle of some of the best Italian and seafood we've ever had. 

Not to fear, though!  While I can't promise 100% compliance with the 5+1 Medifast plan when we go, and a week of fast weight loss may elude us for once, I know we won't lose it too much.  We've achieved a lot in a short amount of time and I don't want to see us lose too much ground.  So are some tips I've come up with for when we travel

1) Pack an ample amount of Medifast Supplements.  If we have easy access to supplements, we can more easily keep with the plan.  Our weight loss supplements will help with appetite and enegy during the trip, too.

2) Stay in a hotel with a microwave and mini-fridge.  The cheap coffee makers don't do, so we'll have a microwave to heat up hot cocca and oatmeal and a fridge to keep cold water on hand for shakes.

3) Keep busy.  We're in our old stomping grounds, so we'll have plenty of things to do.  The biggest challenge will be not going nuts if visiting with friends over dinner.

4) Finally, enjoy the trip.  Treat it as a vacation of sorts, accept the fact that it's better to cheat a little at a favorite restaurant for a special occasion than to be grumpy about it all.

Jason

Posted by rocketscientist at 06:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hi, this is Darcy writing today.  Jason's gone fishing with our son, my nephew and my brother-in-law. I'm hanging out here with our little girl and am firmly engaged in the battle with Bubba.  It's times like these that Bubba really feels like an evil force at work... waiting to pounce when I'm vulnerable, like when my partner-in-weight-loss (and everything else in life) isn't around.  I'm also a worried mother, so thinking of my not-quite-four-year-old in a boat makes me a little nervous.  Big-time trigger for binge eating!  And of course it's the weekend, and weekends in general can be rough. 

The good news is: didn't order any pizza, Chinese food, or any other such nasties.  Didn't take my daughter out for ice cream.  Did eat too many bars.  Oh well.

I was up late working on new pages for MyNaturalSupplements (staying up late being one of Bubba's favorite activities).  Interestingly, we just added a whey protein shake to our line-up, though it's not a replacement for Medifast shakes.  It is low-carb and low-fat, though, so if someone wanted to, they could probably use it as part of their lean protein serving, especially if they were having trouble getting enough protein in that day.  I think most Medifast dieters are probably all "shaked-out" (shook-out?) by the end of the day, though, so maybe this will be a better choice for maintanance or something. 

If you're doing Medifast, have you tried the new soy crisps?  I tried the ranch ones.  Yummy!  A lot better than the Gen-Soy version (which remind me too much of rice cakes, never have been a big fan of those.) 

That's all for now, I suppose... here's to more weight loss this week!

Darcy

Posted by rocketscientist at 07:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Wednesday weigh in is upon us again.  We're now up to week 12 with our medifast program.  Here are the stats for the week!

Jason:  Down 0.5; 68.5 pounds to go.

Darcy:  Down 3; 98 pounds to go.

We're both about a third of the way to our goal weights.  Darcy's right on track with about 4 pounds per week, and I'm at about 2.9 pounds a week.  Either way, we're both losing weight quickly with the program and we're looking forward to a summer of weight loss!

Jason

Posted by rocketscientist at 08:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

When it is all said and done, the success of any weight loss program is measured by the camera as well as the scale.  So, here are our latest progress photos!

Week 1                                    Week 11

Week 1                                    Week 11

Week 1                                    Week 11

Week 1                                    Week 11

Posted by rocketscientist at 08:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Last Wednesday marked the end of week 11 for our medifast program.  Given the claim of 2 to 5 pounds a week, I should be down somewhere between 22 and 55 pounds.  As of Wednesday morning, the number actually stood at 34.5.  So I'm right in there, averaging just over three pounds a week.  As my chart shows, I've just recently started on the right track again after stagnating and even gaining a little during our vacation.  Overall, I'm pleased with the results.  What has been most interesting is that it's clear that weight loss is a mental game.

I once heard a spa owner say that weight loss is all in your head.  At the time, I thought it was another statement from someone with no weight to lose talking about how you just need to think good thoughts.  Typical feel-good talk.  While I still believe that's what that spa owner meant, I do now believe that there is a strong mental component to this weight loss battle.

The great thing about Medifast is that the food choices, 5 of 6 means, are made for you.  Sure, you have over 50 meals, but pick one (but not more than one energy bar a day!) and you are done.  Within a few weeks, you know which of those 50 meals you like and you also have your lean and green meals figured out.  So you know you are getting the right nutrients and calories.  Now, I don't care who you are-- you can get through 2-3 hours between meals.  It's 120 to 180 minutes; not an eternity.  If you feel like you can't make it, you can drink some water to get through.  It's not rocket science.

 But...

Here's the mental game.   You WANT that food.  You know you already had your chocolate energy bar (ever have it for breakfast?), but you see it on the shelf and are comparing to a shake and your mind starts working on you.  You begin to desire that bar more than any other option.  Or, you slap that chicken on the grill, but in your mind, you see the pizza you used to have on Saturdays.  Or the phone seems to call out to you to order in after a long day at the office.

Why?  I don't know.  But it stands to reason that after getting to the point where I need to los 103 .5 pounds, my mind and body were pretty comfortable in a routine that centered around eating.  Social events, evenings out, quiet nights at home, all involved food.  And now, I'm faced nightly with turkey burgers, salads, tuna, broccoli, etc..

What I try to do in these situations is to remember a few great things about Medifast

1. It's temporary.  No, I can't go back to my old habits, but with the skills and discipline learned here, I can moderate my intake and actually enjoy many of the same foods I ate before the diet.  I just can't clean the table.
2. It's working.  34.5 pounts in 11 weeks.  2 pants sizes smaller.  Discovering that I actually need my belt to hold up my pants.  Proven weight loss is great.  Seeing myself thinner is better.
3. Cravings pass.  They really do.

Jason

Posted by rocketscientist at 08:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

One thing that's become clear as Darcy and I have traveled the weight loss road is that small victories and moments of success add up.  The latest one was during our softball game tonight.  First off, the mere fact that we are able to play for our Church team attests to the fact that something's been able to get us up and moving.  That aside, Darcy's mom came by to watch the game and keep and eye on our kids.  After the game (a shortened 20-0 victory by the Saint Peter Keys!), she casually remarked that she could hardly recongize us two skinny people out there.

Now, skinny is something only my mother-in-law would use to describe me, but being 33 pounds lighter than 10 weeks ago shows.  Darcy and I have been in and out of more than a few diets and weight loss programs, some of them with her mom, and we've all acheived some degree of success, followed by the inevitable slide and then fall.  The little comments from people who notice something different, especially those who know what you've been through in the past, are the victories we need to keep going. 

It even gave me enough confidence to go out to the bar with the team after the game and enjoy my "lean and green" medifast meal:  grilled chicken breast and a salad. 

Even the Wisconsin cheese curds stayed on the table!

Jason

Posted by rocketscientist at 08:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hello.  Welcome to our Lose Bubba Blog.  This is where my husband Jason and I are going to share with you the story of how we are losing Bubba. Who is Bubba?  "He" is no other than the third person who comes between us in our marriage.

It's not as racy as it might sound, sorry, no soap opera stuff going on here.  Bubba is just the name we've given to all the excess weight that, combined, Jason and I have to lose.  We've been joking about Bubba for over a year, but honestly, he is no laughing matter.  He is hard to get rid of.  Well, not as hard these days as he used to be.

Bubba started out as a big guy... we not only had a third person between us, but a very overweight person.  Now, Bubba is a more manageable size. 

As of today, JASON AND I HAVE TOGETHER HAVE LOST 80 POUNDS!  Bubba is down from 249 to 169.5 pounds.  Unlike ordinary human beings, Bubba's goal weight is not a nice number like 150 or something.  We are not going to quit until Bubba has withered away to nothing!

OK, I'll modify that slightly... eventually Bubba will disappear completely, if we have our way, with the help of our weight loss weapons.  Along the journey, however, we are planning to have another baby.  Right now my half of Bubba is shrinking to a reasonable amount to have a healthy pregnancy, then the weight loss efforts will be slowed down a bit, although I've already dreamed a little with the doctor about how I will maintain my weight loss when I do get pregnant.  Well, that is all up to God of course, though getting Bubba out of the way will help, and certainly be more, shall we say, interesting.

I have two words for you, to sum up our weight loss success story:

1) Medifast  2) BioLean

There's a long story behind our journey to health and fitness and Jason and I will be filling you in in upcoming posts.  Stay Tuned!

Darcy

Posted by rocketscientist at 08:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)