After A Short Break - Back To Cycle 1!

I am back on cycle 1 starting today. I took a short break - was sick with my chronic illness (Crohn's Disease) and working on getting myself better. Now that I have been feeling better for a good week now on my new medication it's time to get back on the wagon. I weighed in this morning at 187.2 (a total weight loss of 41.8 since I started this journey on Jan 17) and am anxious to see some more results.


I know when I originally started, I lost 11 pounds the first week. I don't expect to see such a drastic loss again but know the first week always provides the best results in any diet. I am ready to see my numbers continue to go down and am excited to be back on the wagon and continuing my journey.


I'll let you all know how it goes!

Newest progress photo

It's been so long since I've enjoyed showing off photos of myself. I took this last night around midnight so my hair could look better but I am continually amazed at how I look - and how I already need smaller jeans! People tell me all the time how skinny I look but when you see yourself everyday, you don't always see what they're referring to. Sometimes I still look in the mirror and see the fat version of me. 

I am feeling skinny but know I still have about 25 pounds left to go. I think I should set a start date for Cycle 1. My Crohns is still acting up and I am having a flare so it should be after I get that all sorted out. So, stay tuned because later this month, the adventures continues and restarts with Cycle 1 - exciting!

Another 10 pounds down since my last post!

I have not posted in a month and in that month, I have lost another 10 pounds and am down to 189. I have officially lost 40 pounds and feel FANTASTIC. I still would like to lose about 25 more but I am really happy with my progress so far and how easy this lifestyle has been to stick with. I am now only about 5-7 pounds heavier than I was on my wedding day. It feels amazing to be able to go into a clothing store and try things on without leaving empty handed because nothing fit. Things fit and look good on me now - do you even know how good that feels?!? I can wear "normal" sizes again and am fitting into my old size 14 jeans!

I am still following the plan but a bit more liberally. I take weekends off - but even with that I don't go so far off plan that I go nuts. In reality I say I take weekends off but I am really still following plan. I am gearing up to start over with Cycle 1 (after a very extended Cycle 3) and am excited to get back into things whole hog so to speak. I love the energy I have and that I can now run around, play with and dance to silly songs with my 19 month old son. I can actually keep up with him and we play so much more now.

I can't say enough how great this feels. I love looking and feeling more like "me" again. Here is a new photo comparison of me:

I think I look like a totally different person now - and I love it!!!

Never fear - I'm still here!

I am midway through cycle 3 now and still consistently losing weight. Not as much as with Cycle 1, or even 2 but I am losing an average of 1.5 pounds a week. Every week there IS a loss which is encouraging. I am being more loose with the rules but still losing. I am sure if I was much more diligent I'd be losing more than 1.5 a week.

However... I am down just about 30 pounds now and feeling great! My weight starts with a ONE again!!!!!! That has not been the case since before Donovan was born. It's so exciting to see that on the scale.

My Crohn's is flaring a bit so this week I have had to do bland foods (and done some easy to digest white breads) and no fruits/veggies but I am hopeful it'll pass soon and I can get back on track. Even with that setback, I still lost 2 pounds this week which is fantastic.

I actually look forward to eating this way and really do feel better about myself and my body. It feels so good to have more energy and to be able to run around and play with my son. The Crohn's thing is definitely hard to manage when there is a flare because the foods that don't bother me are no-no's on the plan. Things like white rice, white breads... anything super easy to digest. The only saving grace is that I don't feel well enough to eat a lot of it so it's OK. Also... I am finding I don't like the taste of those things as much! I'd prefer to eat my wheats,  fiber one cereal and oatmeal - more flavor!! My flare seems to be toning down though and I should be back on track this week.

Here is my progress so far!

Week 2 on Cycle 2

and I am down another 4 pounds! So that's 6.6 MORE pounds gone since starting Cycle 2 and 21.6 pounds gone since I started this diet 28 days ago.

OK, I LOVE this diet. I really do. I love that the weight just keeps coming off. I love that I feel better and look better. I love that I am fitting into clothes that have not fit me since before my son was born in September 2009. To make myself feel even better I look at my total weight loss since I checked into the hospital to give birth which means I have lost an amazing 58 pounds since September 7, 2009. So about 36 pounds I lost myself and then kind of, gave up I guess, until I found this diet. I kept making excuses for myself and saying that it didn't matter since we're just going to have more kids anyway. One day, I saw a photo of myself and realized, it was NOT OK. It was NOT OK to be a big as I was... it was NOT OK to not care. The day in December that I saw the 17 day diet on TV I just knew it was for me and I was ready to make the change and make it work.

Now... I have so much energy to keep up with my active toddler. We dance, we run, we play and I have the energy to do it all. It's a beautiful day here in DC today, 70 degrees! We went for a walk and I ran around with my son and didn't even get out of breath. It felt good to go out there and just have fun with him.

The best part is, I'm not done yet! I enjoy the foods I am eating now and I enjoy all the positive changes I see in myself. My goal weight is only 40 pounds away. It's so close I can taste it. I may make it there before I get pregnant again and I may not. I am OK with whatever happens because I do not plan on going back to my old ways. Who knew oatmeal actually tasted good?! I really do plan on embracing this healthy eating. Even when I am pregnant again (with more calories for the bambino of course). I just feel excellent that if I were to get pregnant now... I weigh less than I did when I got pregnant with my son. It's good to be at a lower starting point. And I definitely do not plan on gaining another 50 pounds with my next pregnancy!!

Now, I haven't been perfect on this diet. I've had a piece of chocolate here and there and last weekend - went all out. We had company and ordered Chinese food and drank wine. I indulged and I indulged too much. Let me tell you... the next day was not happy. My digestive system rebelled and I felt horrible. It was like my digestive track was saying "what the hell do you want me to do with this crap?" I can't believe I still lost 4 pounds this week, even with that night. The only thing I could think about was how much I wanted some fresh veggies and to be back on plan ASAP. That's how I know for a fact I am not only ready to embrace the change but... that's I am not in the danger zone for cheating.

In the past, a cheat day meant a mindset change. "Well, I cheated yesterday so what the hell... let's have that pizza today!" Now, while the cheat evening was fun and I don't think I regret it... all I could think about was getting back on plan. I also don't think my body has ever really felt so bad after a cheat day. It made me not want to do it again, at least not anytime soon. It also was not hard for me to jump right back on the wagon and follow the plan again. This never would have happened to me before and since it is now... I know this change is here to stay.

First week on Cycle 2...

and I lost 2.6 pounds this past week.

Not as good as my weeks on cycle 1 but still a good loss for a week. I hope once my body gets use to cycle 2 I'll lose more in a week. This week I have actually given oatmeal a REAL try and found I actually like it. Getting to eat a few carbs and starchy veggies is a nice thing to be able to do. It's still a daily challenge to eat right and not cheat. I won't lie... there are days I cheat a little. I have been good about not going nuts and honestly, I don't want to. I like the changes I am seeing in myself and really do want to keep it up. When I think about cheating big time I find that I feel it won't be worth it... why sabotage myself after all this hard work and 17 pounds gone? I want to see those numbers keep going down and I am just STEPS away from ONEderland. :)

The other thing I am finding is that it's also a HUGE challenge to exercise. I need to find something I like to do and am having trouble there. Then, when I do find something I like... the arthritis in my knees, or ankles, acts up and they swell up and hurt (like right now). I haven't been able to exercise in days because my knee is the size of a grapefruit. I really am not sure what to do. I want to do everything right on this diet and this is going to be my biggest challenge.

I hope I keep seeing that scale number decreasing... it really does feel awesome. Tomorrow is a carb day and I am looking forward to my morning oatmeal and some peas with my lunch!

No brown rice sushi?!?

I looked forward to my sushi all week and was terribly disappointed today when I could not find a place to make it for me. I've seen it at Whole Foods but didn't have a chance to get over there today. It was a HUGE disappointment and put me in a bad mood.

However, I did get to eat some carbs today and actually ate oatmeal! I have tried before and have never been able to choke it down. I got Apple Cinnamon and it was not too bad... I could eat this! I also had brown rice with dinner. Not the same as white rice but it was still not bad. I feel more satisfied with these foods today - feeling like I was able to eat more was a good thing.

During cycle 2 you alternate the new foods days with cycle 1 days so tomorrow is a cycle 1 day for me. I still want my sushi and did post on the 17 day diet's facebook page about this. I was told a cheat such as that is fine every once in a while and to simply exercise more on the day I choose to do it and do not overindulge. So... I see some sushi in my future! Makes me happier than I was most of the day today :)

I took a whole body photo to compare to when I started... not totally happy with how I look but you can see I am making progress!!