Energy-I found you!

My energy levels have went up! I'm soooo glad!  I don't get sleepy during the day at work, I don't feel exhausted when I get off and this past weekend I was cleaning, painting, visiting a friend, cooking, and never got wore out!

It's amazing what eating the right food does for you.

Yesterday menu was:

7AM    Peach Tea
10AM  Chicken Noodle soup
1PM    Broccoli Soup
4PM    Chocolate Mint Bar
7Pm    Turkey Balls *recipe below (4oz)
          1 cup lettuce, 1/2 c cucumber
          Healthy fat: salad dressing 2T
          1 oz 2% cheddar cheese
9:30   cheese pizza sticks


Turkey balls:
98% lean ground turkey 1 pd
1/2 c diced onion
1/2 c diced green pepper
1/2 tea each:  garlic powder
                     chili powder
                     poultry seasoning
                     season salt
                     pepper
                     smoky paprika

Baked 35 min @ 350% until brown.

I feeling great and drinking WATER! Lots of it! 

The Lord gives his people strength.  The Lord blesses them with peace Psm 29:11

Hope you have a happy & healthy day!

Weigh in Day a Success!

My first week weigh in I lost 7 pds!  Weighed in @ 254.8.  Not sure what's up with the .8 so far?  LOL-I'll take it.

I was hungry yesterday? I kept thinking-that's wierd. I've faithfully been on plan a week. Who can figure out a woman's body?  I fought the hunger monster by drinking more water! 
I think my body is still trying to trick me into cheating and I'm NOT going to do it!  I've searched a long time for the perfect weight loss plan and Take Shape For Life is it!  I will keep doing the right things until my body understands we're not going back to the old habits!

Water-I didn't realize I need to drink 1/2 of my weight in water! At 261.8 -that comes out to 131 ounces a day-that's A LOT of water!  I'm an avid water drinker-but didn't do quite that much.
I pushed thru and got all my water and it wasn't that bad. 
    If I get tired of plain-in the late afternoon I'll add some crystal lite for flavoring. I never use a whole packet-too strong for my taste. It take me 3 or 4 bottles to use one packet.  Probably more healthy for me anyway.

Yesterdays eating/fueling:

7AM Hot cocoa-becoming one of my favorites. A great comfort item for me.
10AM brocilli soup-I love brocoilli soup & can eat it for breakfast! LOL
1PM peanut butter bar-taste like reese cup & I feel like I'm cheating!
4PM mixed berry cereal-I LOVE a good crunch!  Has a taste of berry in there too.
7PM: Lean & Green Meal
           5 oz deli (lean) roast beef
           1/2 c each; cabbage, green beans, diced tomatoes
9:30PM cheese puffs

I'm feeling that good energy & loving it!

Till tomorrow-I hope every is staying safe with Hurricane Sandy on the move.  It's pretty windy here.
Hugs!
Karen C

Doing it One Day at a Time

I'm still following the plan!  My normal pattern is -I'd have already given up & stopped following a diet.  I cannot tell you how easy this TSFL plan is for me.

It's so convenient. I don't have to think about what can I eat? What do I need to take for lunch to work. I just grab a food replacement & have a "meal".  The are already formulated with the right vitamins, protein, carbs, fat grams for me.  I don't even have to think about it.

You mix 1/2 cup water to most of it. The most amazing thing-they taste good!  I simply can't get over it!

I only have to think/cook for one meal. How easy is that? 

I got up late yesterday-yeah! Good weekend sleep.  Was slightly off schedule, but shortened my time in between and I still got my 6 meals in.

9AM Hot Cocoa *****
11AM Southwest eggs *****
3PM Orange Blend drink *****
5PM Tomato Soup ***
7PM Lean & Green  5 oz tuna, 1 hard boiled egg, 2T cream cheese, chopped dill pickle spear, 2T chopped onion, 1T light mayo mixed together for tuna salad. Ate on bed of 1 cup lettuce, 1/2 salsa & 1/4 c cucumbers.
9PM Honey mustard pretzels*****


I've had loads of energy. My husband & I painted our hallway Saturday-I had to do 3 coats with a roller. I crafted in between coats & danced to Elton John music while painting!  Had a lot of fun!

Looking forward to my weight in this morning.  I'll probably do a second post with my results.

The hurricane Sandy is having affects here. 30MPH winds and rain.  The temps have dropped. We have a winter storm coming in from the north east.  Calling for blizzards in the mountains! It was 85 degrees last week!

Verse today: The Lord will withhold no good thing from those who do what is right.
psalms 84:11b

Yeah Weekend!

I never had time to journal yesterday. I slept till the last minute to get to work-was crazy busy at work all day-was exhausted when I got home.  I took my lunch hour and went to the grocery store for lean & green supplies.  I hadn't read enough of my materials to trust myself to do that yet.

Thursday my legs ached really bad. I found out yesterday that sometimes happens due to low sodium or potassium.  Simple solution-drink powerade zero or chicken bouillon.  I pushed thru the pain-yeah me!

Friday found me in a much more ENERGIZED state and no pain!  I felt great yesterday!
(You'll see I've started rating my medi food. I want to be able to know what to order next time)
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Scale: * awful, ** probably won't order, *** can tolerate for a different flavor, **** pretty good, but I want to add something?, *****wouldn't change a thing!
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

7AM    Hot cocoa***** mixed with caffeine free coffee.  Why? because my mind still wants my coffee. I've changed over the last month from drinking 3 doubles cups of regular coffee with cream & 2 sweet & lows per day to watered down caffeine free coffee with scant creamer & 1 sweet & low. I'm pretty proud of that.  When I mixed the HC in with the coffee (didn't add sweetner/creamer) I felt like I was in heaven! LOL

10AM Peanut butter bar-*****  LOVE IT!
1PM Cinnamon pretzels *****
4PM Banana Pudding **** (had a slight after taste)
7PM: Lean & Green-4 oz leanest hamburger ($5.38!!), 1 cup lettuce, 1/2 c cucumber, 1/2 diced tomatoes, 1 oz shredded 2% cheddar cheese. ( I had to put a few jalapenos on the salad-I hope it doesn't hurt my results!)  It made a yummy salad!
9:30PM: Cinnamon cereal **** had a slight -real slight funny taste?

Another truly successful day!  I totally love my health coach.  She's a true inspiration!  She's almost at goal and started almost exactly where I did.  Of course, she's 20 years younger than me! I know that my weight loss won't go as fast as hers, but I'm SO HAPPY for her!

Till tomorrow!
Karen C

Before pictures

I made it to the fat burning day! Woohoo! 
I don't usually make it 4 days without cheating!

God created me & made me whole!  Over the last 51 years I've abused my body by overeating.  My body is wearing out before it was supposed to. But there is hope!  By starting now on a new lifestyle with new eating habits an choosing healthy living-I can undo a lot of the damage.

I'm sure it will take time.  It took time to get where I'm at now.

Here's some recent pictures:

A picture says more than you want to know when your overweight! 

I can't wait till I can play with Brianna without being totally exhausted! 

Yesterday's menu:
7AM                 Hot Cocoa
10AM               Broccoli soup 
1PM                  Chicken noodle soup
4PM                  Chocolate mint bar
7PM                  Lean & Green meal
                          Chicken, green beans, cauliflower
9:30PM             Cheesy Pizza bites-yummm!

All the food replacements were great!  I don't feel deprived because I'm eating every 2 1/2-3 hours.  I didn't have a headache but did felt a little woozy in the afternoon. I followed my health coaches advice and mixed up some chicken bouillion and sipped on it. Didn't even have to drink the whole thing.  I drank lots of water.

I'm looking forward to settling into this routine (not cooking every meal, not stopping at fast food & not feeling crappy by eating the wrong thing).

Have a super Thursday!!
Karen C

Daily Success Tracker

Good Morning!

Today is hump day! Literally-it's my 3rd day on Take Shape For Life and my body should go into the true fat burning state I need to get rid of all this extra fat! I can't wait!

My health coach gave me some extra tips on how to get thru today and not cave into the cravings for carbs. It's been nice having a coach at the beginning of my journey-it's like having your own cheerleader!  She's gone thru what I'm going thru (just not as many years -she's much younger than me!) so I know the words of advice she's giving me will work.

The first thing I've started filling out DAILY is a preprinted Daily Success Tracker. It's to help me keep up with the number of Medifast Meals, optional condiments, optional snack, my Lean & Green Meal & the amount of water I've consumed.

It's really helpful because you lose count.  At my age-there is no point in thinking I can remember it all day! LOL

I've also been putting stars on the Medi meals so I'll remember if I liked them a little or a lot. When I'm ready to reorder my food, I'll know what I truly like.

Yesterday I enjoyed

Southwest Eggs, peach tea, chicken noodle soup, apple cinnamon cereal and nacho cheese bites.

All their food has the right amount of nutrients which totally amazes me!  Each thing tastes like what it's called.  I'm still in shock about how tasty it is.

I'm feeling pretty good this morning after having a slight headache yesterday most of the day.  Can you image all the sugar & bad stuff leaving my body?!  I know my body is in a state of shock!  It hardly goes one day without major carb input! LOL

Anyway, I'm looking forward to today.  Knowing I'm getting healthy so I can enjoy the rest of my life!

Off to work now!
Karen C

Food Replacements-Yum!

I made it thru the first day of my TSFL & I was pleasantly surprised at well the food replacements tasted.

Weight: 261.8

Measurements;
Waist        43 1/2
Hip            53
Upper Waist 44
Bust          48 1/2
Upper Arm 16 1/2
Right thigh 29 1/2
Right Calf   17

7AM Chocolate Mint Bar
10AM Cappachino
1PM Broccili Soup
4PM HOney Mustard Pretzels
7PM Lean & Mean meal: 5 oz chicken, 1 cup cauliflower & 1/2 c green beans
9:30PM Parmesan puffs

Had a slight headache yesterday after 5PM-but it could have been where I forgot to take my meds yesterday morning! 
All in all I thought it was a GREAT start! 

Weighed in this morning.......257.6. 

I'm not going to get excited-I know my past "diet" record. Hasn't been too good.  So I'm going to stay forcused & keep my eye on my goals.

It would be so nice to polish my own toe nails again! Minor thing-but I get a leg cramp in my right thigh & lose breath after 1-2 toes. Not worth it. So I go for a pedicure!  Look at the money this program is going to SAVE me!

Already: no fast food & no forced pedicures!  That's going to pay for my food replacements easily.

My verse today: Proverbs 27:9-The heartfelt counsel of a friend is as sweet as perfume and incense.

Your Take Shape For Life

I'm starting a new program today. The food replacements are from Medifast.  You may have heard of it-I never have.

You eat 6 times per day.  5 of them are with their food replacements.  They had several things to choose from:
shakes, bars, soups, pretzels, brownies, drinks, cappachino

Each thing is made with the right amount of vitamins, protein, etc. to promote fat burning.

I know a girl that has lost 105 pds since February!  Amazing right?

To say I'm skeptical would be an understatement!!

I've tried so many weight lost plans.....all to lose nothing except my money, my time & my temper!

I'll tell you why I chose to do this.

1. I'm 51 & weight 262.  My time is short. I want to live as many fruitful days as possible.
2. I'm having trouble getting up & down, breathing, sweating all the time, can't polished my toes.  In other words-every day life is becoming a problem. NOT GOOD.
3. I still value my self.  God made me wonderfully & I know I'm NOT at my full potential being obese.

My shipment of food replacements came in Friday evening. I stuck them in the closet so I could start today.

I'll be back.