Week 2, Day 1: Three pounds down, ?? to go...

I went to the MWM meeting last night. Our regular group leader was absent, and another group leader took her place for the evening. J sat in a chair at the front of the room and spoke calmly about challenges we were having on the program. Apparently one or two people were not pleased at their weigh-in. We don't talk in the meetings about how much weight everyone has lost.

I lost three pounds. I had been hoping for more, and I think that some folks lost more than I did, but I have to remind myself that it's not a contest.

Some of the challenges: Feeling hungry, being tempted by the sight and smell of others' food, preparing food for other family members that the program participant can't eat, "missing chewing", the abundance of sweet and shortage of savory meal replacement.

We discussed ways of making the meals more palatable and interesting.  At least, as interesting as powdered shakes and soups can be! Popular ideas were:  Adding coffee and ice to the powdered shakes and blending them to make iced lattes and mochas, mixing the vanilla shake with Crystal Light to add fruity flavoring, putting Italian seasoning and/or hot sauce into the tomato soup, and adding curry spices, onion powder, etc. to the chicken soup.

Last night I was jonesing for spicy food and added chipotle pepper to my chicken soup. I like spicy, but that was spicy squared! I ate it, but I'm not sure I'll do that combination again.

Some side effects reported: Constipation and/or diarrhea, dry mouth, headaches, fatigue, needing to urinate frequently (which is not surprising for the amount of liquid we are ingesting).  The only side effects I've experienced, besides the obvious, is that my lips are very dry and I need to apply Blistex frequently. I don't know if that is a result of the program or the weather.

I did a blood draw for the meeting with the physician next week.  My blood pressure is also still registering over 150, so it is likely that he will prescribe blood pressure meds. It's not what I want - more meds - but I guess that's better than having a stroke. Hopefully the meds will be temporary and maybe I won't need them when the weight is off.

Our fill-in group leader, J, also worked with us on some breathing techniques for stress reduction, and talked about mindful eating. I was glad of that, because it is an area of interest to me. I really think that eating too quickly and mindlessly is a key component to why I am fat today.

Oh! Here's what I didn't eat today...

Red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting. It is the owner of the company's birthday and his assistant baked him this cake. I didn't touch a crumb. I can appreciate its beauty and significance, but that doesn't mean I have to eat any of it.

I do need to work on drinking all my water. Today our office converted from Verizon phone and internet to Comcast, and I was busy with the coordination of switching over five phone lines and a bunch of equipment. I was so swamped that I forgot to drink all my water, which is not helping me reach my goal. I need to get better at that.