Today is day 6 and I am down 6 pounds! Don't get me wrong it is not always great to lose lots of weight really quickly however these products have many benefits. The first 10 days is a cleanse, hence the reason for such great weight loss :) Plus I have chosen to also do a carb depletion along with my challenge. So far its going pretty well. I get up and drink my Spark, 30 minutes later have a meal replacement shake and when I get home from the gym I eat some nuts or a protein shake depending on my workout and what my body needs. Every three days I switch out my snacks to berries. Its funny when I look at the amounts of food I am eating everyday and wonder how I am going to simply eat it all. I have been on the regimen of eating 3 full meals and two healthy snacks each day since December and have been amazed at how much better I feel.
Who would have thunk you actually needed to eat to lose weight? Well not me! Its been a slow process but for the first time this week..... I can actually put shorts on and be proud of how I look in them. Don't get me wrong I still have a long road ahead of me to be at my goal weight but I am proud of where I am now. I am starting to feel better in my own skin and not be ashamed of what I look like. This is all pretty big for me!
So here is the reality. The TRUTH to my weight. When Paul moved me and the kids down to Arizona at the end of August, I was looking better, had slimmed down a bit. BUT, I weighed 220 pounds. Yep, I said 220 pounds. Can you believe that? I had many of days spent in tears wondering how I had gotten to where I was. Part of it was drinking soda and coffee daily, part of it was eating out all together, the occasional binge eating of junk food but the biggest part of what got me to 220 pounds was not loving or caring about myself enough to EAT! I went through the motions each day eating once, maybe twice. I was never hungry so I didn't eat. Of course WHO can be hungry when they have drank an entire pot of coffee between 6 AM and Noon? Oh and then ran to the gas station for a 32 oz Dr Pepper. Yep that was me.
As of this morning, I weigh truth be told 184 pounds. In the last five months I have lost a total of 36 pounds. Don't get me wrong, I have had my moments of going back to my old routines and ways except here the gas station has any size of soda for only $.79. My favorite was half of the 44 oz cup with cherry slushy and the rest with Dr. Pepper, what better way to keep your soda cold. :) But in January I saw myself going backwards and between January and the beginning of February I saw not one single pound lost even though I was hitting the gym six days a week and sweating my rear off. So I realized that even adding something so simple as soda back in was what was killing my weight loss cause of all of the sugar. Thank goodness I put my head back on straight because today I don't want a soda, just another Spark! My wonderful sugar free, caffeine free vitamin loaded Spark it what gets me through my day! Thank goodness.
So here is to another day of super clean eating, exercise and a positive attitude knowing that the only person that can make changes in me is ME! Still have 18 days left on my challenge and my goal isn't to lose weight, okay maybe to hit the 10 pound loss mark which is near, but to continue to be the healthier version of me! Salmon, asparagus and salad for lunch! Tilapia, broccoli and salad for dinner with some almonds for my afternoon snack! Yummy!
