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Weight: 180

It’s time to start blogging again.

Much has changed since last we met. Phase 2 went well, and I wish I’d blogged about it. My sincere apologies for not doing so. Instead, here is a brief synopsis of how things went these last eight months.

First of all, I stopped using the Silhouette Solutions products, pretty much completely. I continued to carry the nutrition bars with me for emergencies, but consumed them only rarely. Centrum was, and still is, my vitamin supplement, and my main diet consisted of lots of fresh veggies and fruits, protein at every meal, limited bread and limited sugar. Water was my beverage of choice.

For exercise, I mostly walked or hiked. The gym membership is now history, since I wasn’t making use of it. Occasional use of the Wii made for a fun way to stay active. Moving like Michael Jackson (well, trying), engaging in snowball fights, bowling and doing yoga, all using the Wii, can help to keep activity motivation high.

Perhaps the biggest change I’ve made recently is that I moved to a different part of the state. I am now officially a country girl. This move promises to be beneficial in a lot of ways, not the least of which relates to health and weight loss.

Oh yeah, and I lost 10 pounds during Phase 2! On Friday, I will post more complete stats. I haven’t taken measurements in many months, so this should be interesting.

Although I call this new beginning Phase 3, it’s mostly a continuation of Phase 2, with some tweaks and lots (I hope) of blogging. In the weeks to come, I will be writing about many topics related to good health. Stay with me.

If there is a particular topic you’d like me to address, let me know. I will gladly do the research. It will help me to stay current on new trends and see how old beliefs have changed over time.

Weight: 190

Here we go again, folks. It’s time to start anew.

Although the Silhouette Solution program worked for me for a while and was very convenient and easy to follow, it’s not something you’re supposed to do forever. Part of the program includes an “off” period from time to time, once you get to the point where the weight stops coming off.

Well, the weight stopped coming off, and I stopped using the products, just like the program stipulated. However, instead of maintaining the weight loss by making better food choices, I wound up falling back into old habits. I guess I didn’t learn enough about making good food choices during that process, or maybe it was just too big of a jump to go from “just grab a nutrition bar and go” to “plan, choose well, stock up, and prepare”. So, here I am, back on the wagon, at 190 pounds.

This time around, my focus will be on adding foods rather than eliminating them. I’ll be eating mostly fresh, healthy foods, filling myself with them, in fact. Every day, I’ll be eating fresh veggies, fresh fruits, some protein in the form of chicken, fish, nuts, seeds, peas and beans, along with some soy-based products. I may add in some protein powder after a time, but not quite yet. I want to be fully immersed in REAL food first.

My diet will also include olive oil and some less healthy choices like Scoops corn chips to keep me sane, on track and deprivation-free (I love ‘em; they’re gluten free and they help fulfill my need to “crunch”). I’ll also include various grains, but litle or no wheat for now. (The no-wheat thing may change at some point, but first I want to see how it makes me feel to avoid it. I’m giving it a month, and am already two weeks into it. I’ll report on how things go when the month is up.)

While I would love to continue taking the nutritional supplements from the Silhouette Solution program, it’s just not in the budget right now. Instead, I will be taking a daily multivitamin off the drugstore shelf. My choice will be Centrum, but feel free to choose any brand that works for you. If you can afford the higher quality complex, go for it, but if not, do the best you can.

Know this: I may have fallen off the wagon for a while, but I never stopped researching, and I never stopped learning. More than ever, I want to find the success track on getting healthy. I’ve grown tired of lugging around all this excess weight, getting out of breath with minimal effort, and looking sloppy in my own skin.

I’ve got a lot to share with you. Read on.

This week’s topic:
What is your biggest challenge?

Think about the challenges facing you in your efforts to lose weight: time, motivation, temptation, movement, emotions, rest, money, priorities, and all the rest. Now, choose one issue to work on this week. Choose only one. What do you consider your biggest challenge?

This week, we’re going to work on just one area each. It can be your biggest challenge or your smallest, you choose. Pick one thing, and really concentrate on it this week.

It would be great if you will name your challenge here in the thread, but you don’t have to. If it’s something personal, that’s fine. Just acknowledge to us that you will work hard on it this week, even if it’s at the expense of other challenges.

For the next 7 days, really work at overcoming this issue, whatever it is. Tell yourself that it’s only for a week. As each day goes by, cross it off in your head… I only have to do this for another 6 days… another 5 days… etc. We can do almost anything if we know it’s only for a short time.

What will you work on this week?

My main motivation for losing weight is to be healthier. I want to be able to live a more active life, and being healthier is a necessary part of that.

When I first decided to start this weight loss blog, I did so for four main reasons.

1. I wanted to lose weight, and I wanted a way to make myself accountable beyond myself. My thought was that if I knew others were watching me, I’d be more likely to make better choices.

2. I wanted to share my process with others in the hope that it might help them in their own process.

3. I wanted to chronicle the results of my use of the Silhouette Solution product line, to show definitively whether these products would work for me, and under what conditions.

4. My doctor had prescribed a 15 pound weight loss by my next visit, and I wanted to be able to surprise him with my progress. I felt he didn’t think I could do it, and I wanted to prove him wrong. (I wound up losing 12 of the 15 prescribed pounds, which was just fine with me, and the doc was sufficiently impressed, too. With that kind of success, I wasn’t about to stop there!)

I’m still losing weight. I’m still posting on this blog. I’m still thrilled about the products. I’m still motivated. You are too, or you wouldn’t be reading this. Some of us have been here since the very first post. Others jumped in mid-stream. Still others lurk in the background, reading but not posting. Whatever your mode, I’m glad you’re here, and I hope you’re here for as long as this blog is active.

Let me know how this blog is impacting you, if it is.

This week’s topic:
What is your motivation?

This week, let’s explore our reasons for doing this. Why have you made the decision to lose weight? Why now?

I will post my response to this question by the end of the week.