Preparation...

“ Don't waste life in doubts and fears; spend yourself on the work before you, well assured that the right performance of this hour's duties will be the best preparation for the hours and ages that will follow it. ”
Ralph Waldo Emerson



Today was set to be my day to reach goal. I have not yet reached goal. I AM pleased to say that I am 1.75 lbs away from that goal, however. VERY HAPPY with my performance as well as the ensuing results. The above quote is placed there for a number of reasons:

With the recent events in Japan, I have been reading up on what we in Western North America can do to prepare. Everywhere I turned, came the suggestion to stock food, primarily SUPERFOODS. And it hit me! Hey! I HAVE superfoods! I have now packed a tub of the RVL shake into our family earthquake kit as well as a month's supply of the MVActive gel packs (not in the glass bottles). I am not willing to have my family eat spaghetti-o's and spam if holed up in an emergency situation.

The other reason for the above 'being prepared' quote is for a much lighter reason. Having gone to the pool with my family a few weeks ago, my bathing suit was practically falling off! So in preparation for summer, I have now purchased a (few) new bathing suits! LOL.

I am feeling great. I am loving all the compliments! I am loving how my old too-small clothes are fitting me. And I LOVE LOVE LOVE getting FREE clothes! Thank you to eBay for my NWT bathing suits that I bought by selling my used stamping supplies, to Jockey P2P (and Merilee) for my $298. In free BEAUTIFUL clothing. One bottle of wine goes a long way! LOL. ... and as always through-out my weight-loss journey, thanks to Lynette at Loumidees for taking in MY clothes for consignment and GIVING me beautiful skinny clothes in exchange! New jeans on my mind.

Also want to let you know that test subject #2 has successfully lost about 11 lbs!  CONSISTENTLY!  She gained ONCE during her time, and it was only 1/4 lbs.  She is now back where she wants to be.


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It Was For A Good Cause!

Wow.... Where do I begin?  Good News or Bad news?  Bad news:  I'm up......  1/4 lbs.  I'm not 100% sure, but I think any time I have been up, it has only been a teensy bit.  I am happy with 1/4 lb.   I look back and see the zig zag before RVL, and TRUST ME....  I am happy with 1/4 lb. 

Why am I up? As many of you are aware, Hubby, a volunteer firefighter, volunteered to "Climb The Wall" (48 stories of stairs in full fire-fighting OLD gear) to raise money for the BC Lung Association... We went in to the city the night before, to visit family. 

Mmmmm: Chinese Food. (nothing deep fried!)

On the way to finding said restaurant, we found (to our delight from days gone by) a COLD STONE.  Ice Cream Parlour.....

Mmmmmm: Dessert.  (I had a small!)

All good... under control.  Not thinking about the doggy bags in the back of the car.

Next morning up and at 'em bright and early for the 'climb'....  had my shake for breakfast  (whew! Good thing I was prepared... otherwise it would have been plain old Corn Flakes....blech....hubby's fav, not mine.)   ...Munched on my 1/2 bar when I felt hungry, bits at a time.... and cheered on our GDVFD team!   They did great!  Very proud!

HOWEVER..... afterwards, we went to Boston Pizza...  For those of you who pass it by regularly, I am SO sorry! ...I don't.  I have that ONE advantage of NOT being exposed to constant yumminess of food mongers.....   OKAY.... we have McD's, Wendy's, A&W, Timmie's & Subway.... but that's it for the franchise crap.   We DO have some pretty amazing REAL restaurants up here.... and so far, I have been able to frequent them (budget wise) without blowing my eating plan.... but I haven't been to a Boston Pizza in YEARS....  Not gonna have just a side salad!!!   (wish I hadda had JUST the side salad!  LOL)    I had the rib-eye burger (with the side salad!)  and I'm sorry, it was yummy!  I added DS11's fixin's (twice, actually.... 'cuz they messed up his burger the first time.... so I got his fixin's (lettuce, onion, tomato) twice!) and ate the last iota.

Then, two doors down:  Dairy Queen.  Kill me NOW if a Dairy Queen ever opens up here.  UGH!  Most Fast Food places I can justify with crap food (and thus not eating it!)   BUT DQ?  THEY have ice cream cake!!!! They HAVE to be GOOD!?  Okay, okay.... I still showed SOME restraint.... I had my usual (and by usual, I mean once every 5 months or so):  a SMALL hot fudge sundae with Spanish peanuts.  It's not perfect.  I'm not a martyr.... but I think I'm having a Peanut Buster Parfait ....but little... and I'm okay.

To top it all off, I'm not sure.... but I think I've been sick.  I say THINK.... because I've been overly cold and I've had "a bit of the runs".... with the amount of fibre the RVL supplies, trust me, I haven't experienced 'the runs' for a while..... but it's been 'different'.....  And in being so; I haven't been 'keen' on working out.  I've been working out, but not quite so enthusiastically... and slacking the last few days.

I knew I was back on today, when I decided to take on School Rd with a double stroller.Very proud of my firefighters practicing up there, too... but I don't think their apparatus, whilst the heaviest of all the teams,  kept kicking whilst they pushed upwards LOL


While up 1/4 lbs.... That still makes me only 3.5LBS away from goal.   Closer than I have been for many, many a year.....

Below is a paste from a USA'er, but honestly, just myself alone on RVL, our house is saving about the same. (American's have WAY more temptations on the fastfood/'crapfood' board than we do......and they pay LESS for food overall....cheap food=nutritious food? NOT.)

Paste from FACEBOOK: ***THIS JUST IN*** Vick and I saved over $300 on our grocery bill last month by... being on the RVL Program! With that said.........many families out there can't afford NOT to be on RVL! What family doesn't want to save 100's of dollars a month and get skinny and healthy? Just say'n........See more

by: Mick Karshner

one pound per

At home morning loss: one pound
At night official loss: one pound

you do the math:

3.25 lbs away from goal!!!!

(fine... I did the math for you!)

In The Home Stretch: Lining Up For The Finish...

Wow!  When I stepped on the scale this morning, I was only 0.2 lbs down from last week's home scale weighing.  No worries: down is down.  The speed of weight-loss may be slow, but it is steady.  Slow and steady ALWAYS wins the race.  Just ask that tortoise.  On arriving to TOPS tonight, I was delighted to officially weigh-in at 0.75 lbs down from last week. Again... Nothing HUGE... But I am now officially only 4.25 lbs away from GOAL!  I am in the home stretch!  My Goal date (that I set in May 2010) is for March 13th...  Now,  if you recall, I set a much more (unrealistic) goal when I first started the RVL, that I didn't even come close to reaching.  This previously set, more realistic goal is looming, and looks GREAT!  My weight graph (set in May 2010) truly looks hilarious, mind you....  June to August: down, down, down...Mid-August to December: up, up, up.  Then from December to now: down, down, down.   

Now, believe you, me.... I AM excited about this!  I am pleased beyond all measures of how easily and how quickly over-all my weight has left me... But I am also a realist.  As mentioned numerous times before... I have been down this path before.  Never as easily, never as energetic, never as satiated (not hungry?)...  But I have lost weight on MANY, MANY programs before this one.

Nutri-System:  Yup... I lost 30 lbs.  Gained it back with-in a year
Jenny Craig: Yup....  I lost 30 lbs.  Gained it back with-in a year and a half 
Meridia/Weight-Watchers: Over around three years, I  lost (unofficially, as the doctor forgot to weigh me in the 1st MONTH!) over 60 lbs!!!  I gained some, but not all of it back over the last few years.  Joined TOPS to stave the crave... 

SO again... While I have shown this plan to work as a weight-loss plan for me... We'll see how I fair in the maintenance.  I LIKE looking like this!  I LOVE feeling like this!  But I did then, too!  It was when the gaining got out of control, that I lost it.  I KNEW I was starting to gain again... and I would PANIC.  Panic with food!  Or get depressed at the gain and think "why bother?" and sit on my duff.

Like everything... The bottom-line is that it is up to me.  Have I learned enough?  Yes.  I think TOPS has instilled a knowledge base in me about what I can and cannot do.... SHOULD and SHOULD NOT do.  They have given me a strong support system of friends in the same boat as myself...  One can go on-line with the buddy system, but there is NOTHING like facing your peers and admitting that you had that second piece of chocolate dessert... or having them cheer when you have lost weight after a long struggle...

RVL has given me the energy and nutrition I needed to be able to stick with this program easily.  In maintenance, I will keep having the shakes for breakfast (I'm a skipper by trade!) and if I start another spiral upwards, I will add the occasional lunch.  I will NOT obsess over food.  I have found that control with the RVL.  I will still enjoy that chocolate dessert, and that margarita (or two) on a hot day... but I will NOT obsess and spiral upwards.

I am ready for that finish line!

Twelve Week Challenge

Okay, so I am now at week nine of my Twelve Week Challenge.  I have officially lost 9.5lbs,  I have lost 15.25 inches (see stats at right) and I have 5 lbs to go to my 'officia'l doctor's goal weight.   I am confident that I will do this by the end of my next months supply.  Before hand, most probably.  Seriously, this has been the easiest 'diet' I have ever been on. 

It's quite funny looking at my weight chart that I started WAY BACK WHEN...  up, down- up, down. up, up, up, up....  and then as of December 9th, when I began the RVL... down, down, down.  This is the over-all.  Consistent.  Constant.  It's more my inches that are freaking me out, mind you.  I have recollection of my body weighing 135, even 105 (yickes!)... but I cannot fathom having a 30" waist! LOL  Inconceivable!  Watching the tape-measure numbers go lower and lower is amazing!  I keep double checking.  Triple checking!

My 'test subjects' are still doing well, as well, last check-in. #2 has lost another 1.2 lbs... That's 6.8 lbs in three weeks.  Better than me! Mind you, I did start during the Christmas Party Season!  I have to give myself SOME slack! LOL 

#3 hasn't quite committed to it... Which is fine.  But nothing will work, if you aren't committed to it.  Again, I am writing all this down to chronicle MY experience.  If you feel it may be right for you after reading my experiences (scroll to Dec) ... AWESOME!  Call me.   If you've tried everything else, and are just plain done... Call me.  I am finding that for me, and everyone else I've seen committed to it... it works.  Some faster than others, but it works.  It's easy.  I'm not hungry, I'm not confused, I'm not drained...  I am feeling wonderful both physically and mentally... Healthy.   ....and here's the kicker: I'm losing weight! 

A Little Worried...

When I woke up this morning and stepped on the scale, I have to admit, I was disappointed.  I had worked really hard to not cheat this week:  Even though I also did the climb up School Rd hill yesterday,  I never had a beer (or four) when I got home!  I bought some sugar-free licorice at the local candy store in lieu of all the amazing choices available there, and have had 1 or 2 ONLY each day.... I have had my favorite carb: POPCORN... twice this week,  but I have been skipping the butter, measuring out 4 cups and putting Epicure White Cheddar and China Lily Soy Sauce on it (Don't laugh!  It's darn GOOD! (It's SUPPOSED to be with melted Cheeze Whiz and China Lily! LOL)) ...and I have been working out like a deever! I have added strength training, and it is going REALLY well.  Nothing crazy, as I mentioned in a previous blog...  just 5 pounds each arm,  1 set, 10 reps of each exercise.  I can feel it.  I can see it.  I AM getting definition.

My weight hadn't changed from last week!  (Or so I thought... I must have written it down wrong on my calendar....  I thought it said 151.2, but it was 151.8  Whew. )    So officially, by the home scale, I lost almost a half a pound.  It was a loss.  I was happy.  Would have liked better....   and then... BAM!  Guess who came to visit again? LOL

Again, the b****h sneaked up on me....  Something that practically NEVER happens.   So now I'm all happy!  Wow!  I lost almost a half a pound AND I have my friend!  Again... NEVER HAPPENS!  I ALWAYS gain weight before and during.  Sometimes up to five pounds.  Wow.  No cramps, no bloating... No cravings (okay, in retrospect, I think there were a few cravings, but I didn't catch the clues... and they obviously weren't so bad that they made me break my eating plan.  Maybe it's because the shakes are chocolate?  I dunno.  

So tonight, off I went to get officially weighed in, happy in the knowledge that whilst it wasn't a big loss... it was in fact a loss.  Until I stood on the official scale, and was down not almost one half pound, but one pound and a half! 

I did the happy dance!

I am now only 6.5 lbs away from my TOPS goal.  While my original time-line goals were not met (I wanted to be 145 on my 45th birthday, which would have made a 15lbs loss in 13 days...) and possibly, a little unrealistic (ya think?) I am extremely pleased with the progress I am making here.  I am steadily losing the weight with little effort on my part.  I love the no-brainer of the shakes for breakfast and lunch.  I am still enjoying a lovely balanced meal with my family at dinner time, and I have added in some quality out-door activities with them as well. 

Two months ago, I would have opted out of the offer to climb School Rd hill as a family... Not even made up a lame excuse.  I would have just laughed at my son for even suggesting it.  Stayed home, on the computer while they all did it.  Not only did I do it (in Skecher Tone-Ups!) without constantly stopping to catch my breath as I have done in the past,  but I practically dragged DS11 up the hill at one point.  He was the one who suggested the walk in the first place! LOL 

Mwa ha ha ha ha

Mwa Ha ha ha ha.... I feel like and evil scientist...except I am fighting the good fight... The fight against evil FAT.  So I guess I am the GOOD scientist!  yeah, but then I'd have to change the cool laugh!

Test Subject #2 left this morning after her second weigh-in:  2.6 lbs down!  Awesome!  Last week she had a 3 lbs loss! Two weeks = 5.6 lbs!  Nuthin' to sneeze at!

Test Subject #1 just informed me yesterday that she is 'unofficially' down almost 10 lbs!  Her un-official starting weight was 149 (clothed and mid-day) and she is now at 139.6 (1st thing in the morning... um, naked!)  She started January 8th.  How cool is THAT!? (the weigh-in part, not the naked part!  FOCUS, people...FOCUS!)

My third test subject is just starting... so I will give you the results next week...

Way to go LADIES!  I am so proud of you ALL!