Day 2

Well, today is day 2 for me on Medifast (well, for this go-around on Medifast. I did it for 3 months at the beginning of this year and lost 50 pounds). Yesterday went REALLY well. I started my day with some oatmeal, and had planned chicken and wild rice soup for lunch. Well, a client called and wanted to meet me for lunch, so those plans changed a little bit. But, I had an awesome salad with some grilled chicken and white balsamic vinaigrette. I was really happy that even on day 1, I was able to stay on plan and make the right choice. It felt SO good. It would have been so easy to say "It's a client lunch. They're paying. It would be silly not to take FULL advantage and eat something AWESOME!" But, that's not God's best. God's best is a healthy/anxiety free life. Right now, His will for me is losing weight, and so I'm sticking to that! The salad was absolutely amazing though; I'm not sure that anything else I would've ordered would have been as good or any better. I tried to eat it slow, really think about the flavors as I ate, and enjoy those fresh veggies. I ate some soup for my other meal, and had Medifast Chili (one of my favorites!!) for dinner.

I also did 20 minutes of cardio and some light weight training after dinner. I'm following the "Escape Your Shape" workout plan. If you've never heard of it, look into it! It's GREAT for weight loss. The only weight that you use is a 4 lb bar. But, don't let that fool you. You FEEL like you're working out. But, you're not immobile and sore the next day. My primary focus right now as far as workouts is to just maintain my muscle tone and get some cardio in. I've heard horror stories of people who "just did cardio" while they were losing weight, and they lost muscle tone too along the way. I don't want that! Once I drop some weight, I might look into something a bit more "sculpting", but for now, fat loss and toning is key. I really feel like the EYS workout plan is perfect for those goals. Plus it's customized to how you're shaped. I'm an hourglass. Yes, an overweight hourglass (like a 2 hourglass, HAH!), but I'm evenly proportioned. There are plans for those who are top heavy (cones), bottom heavy (spoons), and straight (rulers) as well!

Today, thus far, has gone pretty well. I've had a few cravings, but nothing that I couldn't withstand. I know that the first 3 days are the hardest, and after tomorrow, I won't be hungry, I'll feel SO good, and knowing that is coming keeps me focused on these 3 days. I'll be in fat burning MODE!

One thing that does keep "appearing" in my life over the past 2 days is water. Normally, when I feel like the same topic keeps "appearing" in my life, I feel that it's God using people in my life to convey a message to me. Last night, our family doctor called to check in on mom's Medifast progress (he is her health coach), and he said that she should be drinking half of her body weight in ounces of water each day. WOW. We sat and talked about that for a bit, and for us big girls, that's a LOT of hooch! So, I kind of blew it off. Then today at lunch, my boss was talking about when his wife lost weight, and their doctor told them that the most IMPORTANT thing was drinking LOTS of water. It keeps your body hydrated and really helps to flush everything out as you lose. He said that she drank so much you could fairly hear her sloshing, but that she also lost a good bit of weight just from making that change! He also said that first thing in the morning, before you even brush your teeth, you should drink 12-16 oz. of water. It apparently jump starts your metabolism or something. THEN, mom's chiropractor told her the same thing about drinking half of her weight in ounces. Okay, God, point received! I'm so THANKFUL that God is so awesome and knows me so well that He knows to repeat something several times so that I "get it." What an amazing and persistent Creator...He cares enough about speaking to me that He doesn't mind repeating Himself!

That being said, I've drank almost 9 cups today thus far. Like I said, I'm a BIG girl, so I have quite a bit to go, and I may not make the "half my weight" goal, but by golly, I'm going to try and drown myself (jk). I'm also going to sit a bottle on my night stand, and I plan on drinking it first thing on my way to the bathroom to get ready. Perhaps more water will be just what my body needs; especially with this dry fall air!

This morning, I stepped on the scale, and I'm down 2 pounds from yesterday. I know, I know, don't weigh daily, and it's just water weight, and all of that...but on Medifast, you lose so quickly, it's VERY common to be able to see differences daily (especially in the first few weeks). And yeah, it may just be water, fine. But, I'm excited about 2 pounds less of ANYTHING that I've been carrying around on my body. I don't care if it's water, or fat, or what. It's gone, and I'm lighter.

Good stuff! I'm excited! Thus far I'm on track for my goal of losing 100 pounds (from my January weight) by May 2013. I'm not going to reveal HOW MUCH I weigh just yet, but once I get far enough from that number, I'll divulge. I'll also provide "before" and "after" pictures! I can't wait to get to the "after"!! God is so good and He's doing amazing things!

The Realization

This past weekend, Justin and I had the pleasure of going to my company's picnic at Stone Mountain. It was a blast! It also lead me to an important realization/mantra...nothing is worth more than what God has intended for my life. Now...let me explain how the two correlate.

It's no secret that I've always been overweight. From a husky kid, to a chunky teenager, to an obese adult...weight has always been a struggle for me. I've always been in a cycle: reach a weight where I'm absolutely miserable, decide to lose weight, lose 30-50 pounds, start feeling better, forget about how miserable I felt, "reward" myself, fall into the "no, this is fine, I feel fine, and I can eat what I want and just maintain this" pit, and end up back at the miserable position. Ridiculous, tiring, frustrating, and discouraging are all acceptable words to describe this cycle.

Right now, I am in that point before complete misery (I'm not there yet. I can still breathe in my pants.). So, I'm slightly unhappy with my weight, but not just completely MISERABLE. However, my unhappiness amplified as I asked myself every woman's favorite question before an event where she will be with a large crowd of people: What am I going to wear? Those pants are kind of tight, so I'm not sure I want to walk around in them all day. But, my fat pants are well...my fat pants...and they make me look and feel fat. What shirt minimizes my stomach the most? What a hassle. Then, all day, there's the constant struggle to not look fat. Sit up straight. Hold it in. Don't ever look winded or slumped. Watch how much and how quickly you eat...after all, you don't want to look like a hog. Since I've always been overweight, I normally don't notice this constant dialogue in my head. 

But, on Saturday, I heard it. I looked around at all of the other people not standing a certain way, or sitting a certain way, or constantly tugging at their clothes this way or that. Wow. What must it be like to not have to constantly be on patrol of trying not to look/feel fat?? To just sit...and act as you wish...because you're not worried about looking or feeling fat. It really made me realize the amount of anxiety that goes on in my head regarding this subject. Then, I remembered something that I'd read in my Bible a few days ago: 1 Corinthians 7:32 "I want you to be free from anxieties..." 

Wow. God's ideal plan for me is to live a life free of anxieties. That is God's BEST for me. What keeps me from that? Sin. Gluttony. Idol worship. In America (and particularly the South), we overlook gluttony. We look at drug addicts or alcoholics with the mentality that they are sinners, have a problem, and need to get rid of it ASAP. But, people who habitually partake of too much food are just fine. It's not fine. It's one of the seven deadly sins. It doesn't just mean that we can't buy clothes at the mall or that we need seatbelt extenders on planes...it means that we are STUCK in the sin of over-indulgence. We eat when we're happy. We eat when we're sad. We eat when we're bored. We would rather enjoy our food than have the healthy body that God intends for us to have. Our will above His will = idol worship. BIG problem.

In the past, I've always decided to "go on a diet" in order to fit into some clothes, achieve some workout goal, prepare for some event, etc. But, this time, my goal is to place God's best for my life as the #1 priority. I don't want any sin to stand between me and the anxiety-free life that God has for me. Nothing is worth that. There's no food on this earth worth that. So everyday, day by day, when the voice in my head goes "You know what sounds good? Pizza." or "You should go out to eat with them. It'll be fun. You deserve it." or "Everybody's eating it. You want to fit in.", I'm going to have to respond with "Pizza is not worth the panic that goes on in my head constantly to not look fat." "Going out to eat is not worth not being able to feel comfortable in my skin." "Eating what everybody's eating isn't worth this constant struggle." God's best is THE best...and it isn't food.