Charting my Weight Decline

As part of the sevice that provides the nifty little widget on the side showing my weight loss, it also provides a chart showing how I'm doing over time:

My Weight Chart:


I've put it at the bottom of every page so the world can e see my success/failure.

Eating Out

We ate out a couple of times over the weekend. I thought I'd want to pig out but I didn't find myself wanting to order all those things I know are bad for me (but taste so good).

We had dinner on Saturday at a Mexican. I only ate half mine because I was full - a good sign!

Sunday lunch at Sbarros (living large!) with a slice of stuffed Pizza. Again, I didn't eat it all but it filled me up more than dinner did.

I didn't feel like my snack after either meal!

The first test - did I lose any weight?

First weigh in after starting the diet. I even remembered my glasses this time...

I lost four pounds!

1. That's one pound per day - that means I'll hit my target weight in 19 days!
2. That probably isn't a good thing (and it'll never happen)
3. I feel absolutely no different, except being able to pull my belt in a notch, which I could do before by breathing in.

I know that my weight will vary and I'm sure I'll stay flat, or even go up sometimes, but it's nice to have shown some progress so early.

I also started blogging at the NutriSystem site - the comments there are very encouraging.

NutriSystem Announces Nationwide Voluntary Recall of Peanut Butter Granola Bar

NutriSystem has issued a voluntary recall for it's peanut butter bars. You can call or email and they'll send a replacement. I'm sure they are just being careful. (I've only eaten one I think).

NutriSystem Announces Nationwide Voluntary Recall of Peanut Butter Granola Bar Due to Possible Peanut Corporation of America (PCA) Contamination and Potential Health Risk: "NutriSystem Inc., a leading provider of weight management products and services, today announced a voluntary recall of its NutriSystem-branded Peanut Butter Granola Bar"

Darn packages...

OK, first bad experience.

It was my first time with a microwaveable dinner - "Mushroom Gravey with Salisbury Steak and Rice. The fact that the gravy was mentioned first should have tipped me off!

First of all, it was really hard to get the plastic cover all the way off - I got gravy spots all over the counter top. Secondly, I had to search for the Salisbury steak - I eventually found it hiding behind a mushroom. Thirdly, the rice could have patched a hole in my brickwork.

I fished the steak out and had it with the rice and a piece of bread, leaving the half gallon of gravy behind. It was OK, not brilliant, but OK. I'll give it a 6.

Next time, I'll cut the plastic cover, take out the steak, put a little gravy on it and cook some rice of my own.

I guess it shows I need to get my expectations set before deciding if it works or not.

Getting into the losing weight routine

OK, it's been three and a bit days on the Nutrisystem diet and it's not been bad at all.

Good things

• I haven't really felt hungry at any time
• I've discovered I really like beans (this is very fortunate - there's a lot!)
• There's a lot more food than I expected

Bad Things

• The pizza is really quite pathetic. I had the thick crust and my wife had the thin crust and it really was hard to tell them apart. It's sort of an overweight Lunchable!
• I really don't like salad and that's the biggest part of lunch
• Organizing myself to have all the appropriate food types for each meal
• Storing the food

I've also started a community on Mixx - Losing Weight - to help me keep up with any relevant news.

All in all, it's going fine!

First Nutrisystem Day

Today was the first day on the diet and it wasn't too bad.

Had maple oatmeal for breakfast which was quite nice (7 out of 10) (with Canadian bacon - a pathetic two pieces and a slice of pumpernickel and mandarin oranges - hey that's way more than I normally have!).

Lunch was black bean tortilla soup (8/10) and salad. I didn't eat the salad (ack).

Dinner was a chicken patty (5/10 - tasted like Dinty Moore), asparagus, bread and mandarin oranges again.

I missed the mid-morning snack because I have breakfast late so it doesn't really fit in.

All-in-all a good day. Hope it continues!

Starting Weight

Friday night - the big weigh in.

I stand on the scales.

Oh no!

I forgot to put my glasses on!

After I go and get my glasses, I discover I'm 184lbs.

My target weight is 165 -- so 19 lbs to go!

Bartering for Food

My wife's package has now arrived and we discovered that her "free week" was pre-selected for her so there are things she may not like.

I, of course, offered to swap some of mine but I have to be careful - I don't want to end up with a month's worth of black bean soup. It wouldn't be good for me, and it certainly wouldn't be good for anyone who shares an enclosed space with me!

It looks like it will work out fine.

It turns out that her menu plan (because she's a woman I guess) is radically different from mine. That means we will be eating different things at each meal (in terms of vegetables etc.) which will make it harder to plan things. i have to say, this system isn't nearly as simple and convenient as I thought it would be.

But I'll give it a shot!

The food arrives

The food arrived today, two days after it was ordered - impressive!

My wife had trouble getting it through the door - it was heavy!

I have to say I was a little disappointed to discover how much food wasn't included. I was under the impression that most of the food I needed was included and I'd have to supplement it with fruit and vegatables. It seems, however, from the instructions that half of the food is fruit, vegetables, salad ingredients, protein, and some glycemic stuff that I don't really understand (it's bread I think).

This means that the convenience has gone out the window, but I'm still going to give it my best shot and see how it goes.

I'd decided to start in a couple of days - on Saturday. That way I can get used to it and plan what I need to bring into work next Tuesday (I have Martin Luther King day off).

How did we chose which system to use?

I wish I could say we used an exhaustive analysis of the available weight loss programs and can to a logical decision after hours and hours of deliberation.

But I can't.

It came down to these points:

• It had to be a company we could trust - i.e. well known, high profile
• We didn't want to decide and debate what was for dinner - we could each chose something out of the closet
• Cut down on shopping
• The food looked as though we would eat it
  
• Cost was obviously an issue
• We thought it could work

The criteria were weighted differently in my mind versus my wife's - she was more worried that she wouldn't like the food, while I wanted convenience as an example.

We looked an the main one's and decided on Nutrisystem (we also looked at WeightWatchers, Jenny Craig and Diet2go).

Nutrisystem looked the simplest, they had an option where my wife could choose the food, and another where they would choose for me - we were both happy!

They had a promotion for where there was a week free and a discount for auto delivery. When my wife rang to order her food she discovered another promotion where if a same member of the household ordered at the same time there would get an extra week free and 10% off - which seemed like a good deal!

Why am I trying to lose weight?

Well there are actually boring reasons - I'm slightly overweight (only slightly - my Body Mass Index is 25!), I have some medical issues and my jeans are starting to get a little tight.

The main reason is that my wife decided we should lose weight in the new year and I agreed - as simple as that!

Welcome to Waist Disposal

I've started this blog to record my success at losing weight in this new year. I hope to keep it updated regularly, but I can be a bit variable with my blogging so we shall see. I hope you enjoy it, and I REALLY hope it will encourage people to lose weight too (if they feel they need to of course!).