Wrapping Up the May Challenge

As I have said a few times in the past weeks, I am part of a challenge in my health coach's facebook group.  Each day had a theme and every week included a weigh in, complete with a picture of my feet on the scale that had to be posted to the group.  Talk about an accountability check...

Today was the last day of the challenge.  I went into this week leary of what my final scale number would be, as I'm feeling bloated and exhausted from my cycle - but decided to set my head right.  I have been on track all month and have been doing great.  The daily themes have kept me focused on my goals, choices and making sure I am doing everything I need to be successful in creating and maintaining a healthy lifestyle and weight.  This even included a rest day on Sundays.

Lynn, my incredible health coach, posted the following today:

“As we draw to the end of this competition I wanted to say that I am proud of each and everyone of you group wide. The support, the team spirit have all been phenomenal. I have seen real changes in you, changes that I am sure will last and shine through in your new lifestyle. This is such a great place to come to, first thing in the morning, in the evening, or even throughout the day. 

One of the keys to success is to surround yourself with others who have the same goals as you do. I believe we have accomplished that. How many of you are now aware of your daily steps? How many of you have increased your amount of water? Learned new tips or recipes? What is your take away from this last competition and what would you like to see as we move forward? 

You are all winners, welcome to your new lifestyle :)”

From others on the team I have gained some new perspective on my journey – whether it be about taking one day and one meal at a time or appreciating each day as a step in the right direction.  I have found new ideas for food and have even incorporated a few of them into my menu. 

As I move forward, I’m continuing to pay closer attention to my total steps for the day and not just taking time for a walk, run or bike ride.  I make an effort to have more steps in each day.  My water consumption continues to be high – but now I’m focusing on shaking that up a bit while still staying in the guidelines of the program.  I’ve been trying some different fruits and vegetables in my water and have a system going at home for this. 

Overall, this past month has really helped me examine why I am on this journey and what I hope to gain from it.  Of course I’m happy to see the scale reflect my hard work, but how I feel and how I carry myself is a reward that a number on the scale can’t do on its own.

Now, onto new adventures in the month of June. 

Go get ‘em, tigers!

Tuesday's Habits of Health Discussion

Habits of Health Discussion Day

Really give this some thought, don't just give answers. 

We all had unhealthy habits prior to our lifestyle change and while you are going through this journey now is a great time to reflect on those old habits. There are habits that are triggers.  There are instances like holidays that are triggers. When you find yourself in a situation that you know is a trigger for you- how will you handle it? What will your action be?

Triggers for me include my parents’ house.  Oh, there is usually an awful lot of good stuff hanging out there just waiting to be devoured.  Sometimes it’s fresh bakery on the counter.  Other days, it’s mom’s brownies.  Sometimes, it’s hiding in the refrigerator.  There is always SOMETHING there that is not on my plan and calls my name as soon as I turn the corner.

Since I am at their house at least once a week, I needed a battle plan.  First, I’ve communicated that this is a problem area for me.  Also, I come prepared.  I bring my water bottle, whatever food I’ll need for my time there and reinforcements – just in case I’m there longer or am ready to cave.  These two actions have made a world of difference in my ability to survive time at mom & dad’s while maintaining positive choices.

I admit, there are times I make a choice that isn’t in keeping 100% on plan.   When this happens, I grab the water bottle, log the decision and keep on moving forward.

This can happen when I am at a friend’s or even at work.  Temptations are all around.  I always have a few meals on hand and my water bottle – it’s my equivalent of the baby’s blanket.  It gets me through.

I’ve come a long way in avoiding temptations in the past nine months.  I can go past the neighborhood custard stand without needing to stop for a sundae.  I can go out to dinner and not have an appetizer, dinner, bread and a dessert.  I can go out with friends and skip the glass of wine or bloody mary at brunch.  These are all victories in my journey to a healthier me – and each one results in a happier me.

Go get ‘em, tigers!

Water Love

I am a girl who typically consumes anywhere from 160-200 ounces of water a day.  Every day.  

Each day as I pack my bags for school, I have six 32 ounce bottles of water in a cooler bag waiting to be stowed in the classroom fridge and consumed throughout the day.  Sure, this leads to many trips to the rest room – but that means many steps counted on my fitbit.

In an effort to add some variety to my water consumption, I’ve taken up drinking 1-2 bottles of homemade iced green tea.  This has been a great way to shake the plain H2O duldrums while ensuring I continue to get my fill of refreshing liquids.

Last week, a colleague mentioned that she had cucumber lemon water at a nearby hotel and that it was fabulous.  I’ve done lemons in water.  I’ve done cucumbers in water.  But, I’ve never done them together.  The next day, we sliced up cucumbers and lemons and added them to our water bottles.  What do you know?  That’s some good stuff!

Before getting acquainted with the cucumber lemon water, I was already on the hunt for a large pitcher with a spout to brew my green tea in.  A friend had this at a recent party and I thought, “Hmm…I need to do that for my green tea.”

During a shopping excursion to Target, I came upon a variety of perfect vessels for my green tea and cucumber lemon water needs.  I decided on some very cute dotted pitchers that are cheery and perfect for what I had in mind.

After getting home, washing the pitchers and then filling them with water and green tea bags and cucumber and lemon slices, I set them up on my kitchen cart, where I keep my fruit & vegetable stand.  Voila!  The perfect at-home beverage station!

I’m on my third CamelBak bottle full of cucumber lemon water and it is tasty! 

Today's Habits of Health Discussion

Today’s Habits of Health Discussion

Habits of Health Recap

What have you learned ?

This month’s experience of sticking our toes in and starting to get a taste for Dr. A.’s Habits of Health has helped me to take the time to focus on my goals and why I am on this journey. 

It is easy to say, “I want to lose weight.” It is a completely different thing to sit down and imagine a different life for myself – one at a healthy weight that includes a consistent involvement with physical activity…not just when the weather is cooperative – I am in Wisconsin, after all.

The act of sitting down, reflecting on my life, my health, my choices and planning for things to be different is so much more than ordering my Medifast meals from Take Shapefor Life and eating five of those a day plus preparing a Lean & Green.  Planning to be successful, navigating roadblocks and pot holes along the way, choosing to stay on plan, accepting slips and moving forward are all part of this journey.

Sharing my choices and my journey are also something that has been a large part of my success and is something I committed to when I recommitted to this program thirty-six days ago.  Through this blog, my participation in discussion groups and blogs on mymedifast and my two Medifast-focused facebook groups, I am sharing my journey and all aspects of this process with the people in my life and those along on this journey with me.  Having the support and encouragement of as many people around me as I can pull together has helped me to focus on my goals because I know people are watching, listening and cheering for me along the sidelines. 

What positive changes have you made this month?

It has been just over a month since I have recommitted to this journey and to my goals of health, weight loss and physical activity.  In this time, I have made a very focused effort to share my journey, take time everyday to evaluate my progress and where I may need a hand and I’ve taken a step back from my plans for an intense summer cycling program.  I am focusing on each day as its own opportunity for me to move closer to my goal, while enjoying each day as the gift it is.  This time around, I am working to appreciate the process and where each step takes me – not just on what the final portrait will look like.  

To Plan or Not to Plan...

Are you a planner or someone who just goes with the flow and lets things happen?

I have always been a planner.  There have been times when I’ve found this to be a thing that gets in the way of living.  However, when taking on a new lifestyle, planning is a key to success.

Sure, it’s easy to follow this weight-loss program without too much planning – but not planning at all is going to result in not-so-great results.

I love that I just have to open and prepare (in a few cases, open and eat) five packets a day to get most of my day’s meals ready.  That leaves my Lean & Green to plan for.  And it requires planning.  Even the five packets a day require planning.

I need to be sure that I’m stocked up on my Medifast meals and order in a timely manner so that I don’t hit that “I’m going to run out!” panic mode.  That surely wouldn’t do me much good while trying to control my food choices and make decisions that will get me to goal. 

I need to plan my Lean & Green meals so that I have plenty of vegetables and leans (beef, chicken, turkey, tuna, cheese, meatless products) on hand to create tasty meals that will keep me satisfied.

I need to think about what my day’s schedule is like so that I know if I need to have a few bars or bags of bites in my purse or if I can prepare a day of shakes to pull out of the fridge in my classroom.

Tonight, I’ve planned for the next two days.  I know that I’m going to the Brewers’ game right after school tomorrow.  I won’t have time to pick up a healthy dinner between school and the game, so I wrote down my Chipotle order and left money with my dad and he’ll have it packed up and ready to go.  I know that I’ll need one Medifast meal for at the game, so I’ll have a bar or bag of Barbecue Bites in my purse for the game.  I know I’ll need lots of water to get through the night, so I’ll have a few large bottles of water ready to go.  And, knowing that I will be the ball game late tomorrow night, I have my meals for Tuesday planned so that I don’t have to worry about them tomorrow night or early Tuesday morning – when I know I will be wanting to squeeze in as many hits of the snooze button as humanly possible.

This is planning to succeed.  This is how I’ve lost nearly 50 pounds and plan to lose a whole bunch more. 

Sure, I could leave it to chance – but then I’d be having a bratwurst with Secret Stadium Sauce and sauerkraut for dinner tomorrow – followed by a soda or a beer.  And I’d be without meals for Tuesday because I’d still hit the snooze button in the morning.

I choose to plan.  Sure, sometimes I take it a little far – but it’s a long way from the starting line to the finish line.

Go get ‘em, tigers!

Just Saying "No"

Every day I am tempted by foods.  Whether it’s the cover of the local magazine featuring a triple scoop of frozen custard or the smell of the sausages at the ballpark – there is always something catching my attention that looks as good as I know it tastes.  Sometimes, even the lunch at school can be tempting – the chicken strips this week did look awfully tasty!

I’m happy to say that in the past three days I have successfully avoided a few mighty big temptations.

On Thursday, there was an offer of Buffalo Wild Wings.  It was 50 cents boneless wings night.  Oh…I LOVE me some wings!!!  Instead, I threw that pork tenderloin that I just defrosted on a baking stone, sprinkled on some rosemary herb seasoning and called it a night.  No wings.  Dinner was a piece of the tenderloin and some mashed cauliflower.  Good stuff! 

Last night, on the way to my cousin’s little league game we stopped for dinner at one of the local custard/burger joints.  The choices of yummy foods there are endless.  Hamburgers, cheeseburgers, fish sandwiches (oh, they do have a great fish sandwich there!), gyros, souvlaki…  I had a fresh green salad with a scoop of tuna salad on top.  And that roll that arrived with my salad, I skipped it.

Today, after running a few errands with my parents, there was an offer of Jimmy John’s.  Sure, I could have had an “unwhich” – the sandwich of my choice in a lettuce wrap.  However, I enjoy having my L&G – the “real” meal of my day – for dinner.  And, since I’ll be at a social gathering tonight, I’m planning on having it then.  So, as much as I love Jimmy John’s, I said, “No, thank you!”

Sure, it took some willpower to make these choices.  And, in many of the cases, I was ready to eat the things that were tempting me – had even said “Yes!” out loud.  But, in the end – after taking a minute or two to contemplate my choices and what the consequences would be – I made the choice that is best for me.

I make no promises about the choices I’ll make later today, tomorrow, next week or even next month.  It’s one step, one meal, one day at a time.  I may have to arm wrestle myself away from a cake or a sandwich or a tub of ice cream, but I’m getting stronger all the time!

Go get ‘em, tigers!

WHY Lose the Weight?

I just got home from a long day at school - our last Parent/Teacher Conference night of the school year.  I planned on vegging out to a dvd for a bit before getting things ready for tomorrow and crashing in bed with my nook.  But the voice in my head sent me to the blogs on mymedifast, instead.


And I am so glad!!!


I just read a blog post by a seasoned Medifaster.  One who has been there, done that, lost the weight, gained it back, lost it again and is maintaining her healthy weight, healthy lifestyle and has taken on the role of a health coach.  I read her blog daily and often find kernels of wisdom that I have packed into my toolkit of advice to carry with me on this journey.


Today's blog was about defining what you want and setting an attainable timeline for reaching said goals.  


I know that I cannot predict which day I will reach my goal weight any more than I can predict the winning lottery numbers.  However, I can set attainable goals that my choices can help move me towards and this will allow me the opportunity to have better control over how I get to my goals.  I have a time frame that I plan on arrive at my goal.  However, first I need to clarify WHY I have a goal in the first place.  Yes, there is a number that I plan for my scale to arrive at and I plan for that to happen anywhere between my 38th birthday - which is October 28th of this year - and Christmas.  


My ultimate goal is to be healthy.  To look healthy.  To feel healthy and live an active life.  I want to be able to jump on my bike and KNOW I can do what I set out to do - not be surprised by my accomplishments or have others be surprised because I don't look like someone who can bike 200+ miles in 2 days.  It's already very much a part of who I am.  Now, I'm just working on making all of the pieces of me fit the puzzle that is Jenny.

Yep! That's TWO Century Loop Stickers!

Double Century

2008 Wisconsin Bike MS

Best Dam Bike Tour

There.  Now you know.  It's out there in the wide, wide, open.  


Between now and then, there will be many milestones to celebrate and events to commemorate where I am on the journey - and plenty of photo ops!  My school's last prom, graduation, the MS Bike Tour, my 20 year high school reunion, The Dirty Girl Run with a group of friends & former colleagues, time with family and friends, and those great spontaneous moments in life that just need to be photographed.  Every day is a celebration.  A celebration of moving further from where I was and closer to where I'm going.


As I commented on the wise Medifaster's blog just a few minutes ago, "The things we pick up along the way - the things we never thought about - need to be celebrated, also. Standing taller because you feel better about yourself - taking chances you never would have before - receiving a compliment graciously - being assertive about the choices you make to improve your health, life & attitude - each size smaller - being able to walk, bike, run, move more than you could before... Each of these successes is a part of our journey and needs to be acknowledged and celebrated as a stepping stone to our goal of a healthy life."


Go get 'em, Tigers!!!