Day 9

Back to work feeling "eh".. no coffee leaving me a bit "BLA".. but all in all, it was a good day.

I arrived at work to the freshly delivered box of diet shakes I had ordered along with the special "blender bottle" that has this round wire whisk ball inside. I was skeptical, but it is truly cool. I ordered shakes that are diet center quality called WonderSlim in several different flavors. WOW! They are SO much better than the Atkins shakes and only 100 calories each! They taste sort of like pudding mix that hasn't set yet. In fact you can use the mixes for pudding instead of shakes with less water. Today i tried mocha, chocolate, and strawberry yogurt smoothie. They are every bit as filling as the Atkins shakes which are 160 calories.. and I feel they taste much better.

Lunch was a 250 calorie frozen meal. Dinner is going to have to be a nice big salad. I do NOT like the lack of fresh produce in this diet plan and am going to need to find ways to incorporate more into it. I am not doing super on my water consumption today either. Only 41 oz so far.

Tonight I am meeting a friend to celebrate her birthday. This is a hard time for her and, while the temptation is going to be hard, it is important for me to go and brave the lounge and drinks and lounge food! I think I MIGHT allow myself one glass of wine. I think if i limit myself to a salad with chicken breast and some sort of low cal dressing, I can justify one nice glass of red wine.

Now that I am beginning to feel better, it is important for me to get my butt back into the gym. I have plans with my uber tall-skinny-gorgeous-blond-friend-who-thinks-she-needs-to-lose-weight to hit the gym as we did on Sunday. I am going to aim again for three days of activity this week and then next week I will try to pump it up a bit.

I am loving these low calorie shakes. I feel VERY full and have consumed 650 calories by 6 pm.

So today I feel encouraged. I am not sick in bed. I am still on plan. I have someone who loves me every single day and not just on Valentine's Day and I don't have to feel worthless and depressed next Monday. This is one sucky holiday when you are single or in an unhappy relationship. Gawd knows I lived thru plenty of those.

I am really really encouraged by the feedback I have gotten. One person who is a relative of mine (that i just met and who actually lives in my state!) who runs marathons and looks amazing... and SHE feels inspired by MY blogs???? I need to spend some time with her and find out how to make this short stocky body submit to running. My body HATES running.

I have a dear old friend from high school who has shared with me the struggles of being labeled overweight as the biggest and harshest stigma of his life. This diet is very extreme. I think many people can see great success with moderation if they aren't in this impatient uber hurry to lose weight fast like I am. And so far.. not sure i am going to! I guess time will tell. The important part is that i am on task and my mind is in that mindset which is 99% of the battle for me. I have tremendous willpower and drive. It is GETTING to that mindset that is my greatest challenge.

So I am at that mindset. I have a goal. I am traveling back east for a side job in late April and I really really really want to have lost some serious weight before then. Both because the uniforms are made for toothpicks (sorry, dear boss friend) but also because I will be seeing some old friends I haven't seen in decades and I don't want to look awful.

And postscript: Same dear friend was joking with me about our mutual favorite movie line from The Devil Wears Prada. She is in Mexico and experiencing.... the typical side effects of such a visit... and boasted of her rapidly receding waist line each splash of the john. "I am ONE stomach flu away from my goal weight!". We women.. OY.