Week One Done with a Minor fail...

Whoa... where has the time gone??? I've had several false starts over the weeks, that's part of my problem. Starting strong. But once I was able to get through a full day (after a couple weeks of trying) I finally got started on my weight loss plan. I did great my first week. I had a loss of 7.5 lbs. Then Easter came and I allowed myself to go off plan for a day and a half. Mistake. Gained 2 lbs back. But fresh start today again and I'm off! I'm also having my monthly nature woman visit, so I'm not weighing myself for a few days because I don't believe those numbers are ever accurate during my cycle.

So far, things are going pretty well with my fake Medifast (MF) plan. I'm not trying to adhere as strictly to calorie count and carb count as MF does. I'm eating small meals ever 2-3 or 4 hours and doing my lean & green. I could have sworn I had a food scale but I can't find it anywhere, so I'm not measuring my portions and being precise, but I am not eating too little for sure. I am also having snacks now and then as needed if I feel like I'm starving between my small meals. Some days more than others, some days less. 

Here are some of the meals I enjoy and find filling for my small meals:

• breakstone lowfat cottage cheese in the preportioned cup w/4 old London Garlic Melba toast crackers or 8 Blue Diamond almond/rice cake crackers
• pop-secret 100 cal snack size popcorn
• boiled egg w/half an avocado
• walmart's equate brand chocolate milk diet shake
• ideal shape chocolate shake
• 1/4 cup oatmeal w/stevia and 1/8 cup granola
• Blue diamond raw almonds (28=serving size)
• special K cereal (mini-box)
• a smaller portion of meal leftovers

For my occasional snacks I am enjoying these:

• Blue diamond raw almonds (I will do 1/4 or 1/2 serving size)
• 2 claussen pickle spears with a laughing cow cheese wedge
• lime sugar free jello
• 4 oz of cranberry juice

Today was the first day I tried the Ideal Shape Chocolate shake. First opinions? The taste was good. It's not thick like a shake you'd get at McD's but what are you expecting from a diet shake? It was a little bit gritty from the powder and I shook it really well. Several times. It was filling and I didn't need to eat anything for a minimum of 2 hours. So overall first impression, thumbs up. Compared to Walmarts shake? WM shake is much thicker and really doesn't taste diet to me. I enjoy drinking it, but it doesn't keep me full and the calorie count is alot higher. I'm excited to continue with Ideal Shape's shake to see how it works for me beyond my first try.

For the new things I'm trying meal-wise, my kids and I are trying out Blue Apron's delivery meal service where you cook with all the fresh ingredients they provide in your order. It's so much fun, helps my kids learn to cook and it's great to try new foods. Now, not all of them are things I would eat again, but it's definitely interesting and I have found some new favorites out of them. We've learned to roast butternut squash (delicious & we've already cooked it again!!), we tried udon noodles (never again for me), salmon and more to come. I can't do it weekly ($) but about once or sometimes twice a month we can swing it, depending. (And I am NOT being paid by Blue Apron to mention them. I paid for the service in full myself.)

I also am trying some new low carb recipes. I made a low carb buffalo chicken dip that was delicious and I ate it with some crispy celery sticks, but my kids wouldn't eat it, so next time I make it, I need to reduce the recipe portion so I don't have to eat it for days on end! And I made a mock low-carb Zuppa Toscana soup (Olive Garden services this in the full carb version) and it was so wonderful and a win for my kids too.

So my little family is enjoying the food adventures, I am doing fairly well. I think my initial weight loss was due to water weight probably. I am drinking mostly water although probably not as much as I should.

Tonight I'm making tacos for dinner. The kids will have theirs with taco shells and tortillas and I will have mine with iceberg lettuce wraps. And it will be delicious!! 

Mimicking Medifast

As I mentioned in my first blog entry, I am starting a new health journey and I am going to mimic the Medifast meal plan. In the event you're unfamiliar with Medifast, you can go here to check it out in more rigid detail. But simply put, you eat 6 meals a day, 5 of which are pre-packaged Medifast meals and 1 healthy meal that consists of 1 lean (meat or meat substitute) and 3 greens (vegetables). Even more simply put it's referred to as the 5/1 (5 Medifast meals and 1 Lean & Green). 

Medifast is great program that I've had success on in the past and just felt this is the best way for me to start, but since its a little bit out of my budget right now, I think my best plan is to follow its lead. I'm a widow with one income and 2 kiddos, hence my copycat version of Medifast that I will be doing on my own will be with similar products/calorie counts etc that I will be purchasing from my local Wally world and beyond. I am not promising to be perfect in the vitamins/nutrients area, but I'm going to do my best, and plan to take a supplement to make sure I get the nutrients I need. 

I have also considered doing a couple of other diet or lifestyle changes including green smoothies, meal prep and I eventually would like to transition into a whole foods type of eating, but for several personal reasons, I am choosing right now to have a structured meal plan that is simple and easy for me to stick to that will encourage a fast but healthy type of weight loss to start. I've also looked into doing low carb meal prep, which I may use some forms of this during my diet, but I can't commit to doing this 100% right now, I just don't have time to do a bunch of meal prep.

So here's my basic plan. To mimic Medifast, most of their meal replacements are 90-110 calories. You eat 5 meals every 2-3 hours with the 6th meal being your lean and green. So I am choosing some meals close to those calorie counts that I know I will enjoy and are somewhat filling. This is some of what I'm starting out with for the meal replacements: individual low fat cottage cheese, 100 cal popcorn snacks, cheesestick and low cal/carb crackers, pre-portioned (by me) oatmeal w/stevia, 'shakes', and 'bars'.

I enjoy shakes in the mornings, so I am going to start with Walmart's Equate brand chocolate shakes. The calorie count is at 180 and is double of what Medifast's would be, so I will be drinking half a shake at a time. I bought a box of 10 or 12, I can't remember how many came in it. To be honest, although they taste yummy (like a thick chocolate milk), they are not very filling, especially when you only drink half of it and I'm ALWAYS hungry in a short amount of time afterwards and end up having to have a snack.

I'm hoping by the time they're almost gone, some other shakes I've ordered will come in for me to use instead of these. To solve the shake problem and not pay Medifast's price, I am trying IdealShape. They are about half or less the price of Medifast's and from reviews I've read online, seem to be pretty filling, lasting about 2-3 hours and are very comparable nutrition wise and effective in weight loss as well. 

I also love eating the meal replacement bars but again, the cost would kill me, so I am making my own meal replacement bar from a recipe I found online. I just have to go buy some more OJ because I'm a procrastinator and my kids drank it all before I could make my bars and now there's no OJ (one of the bar ingredients) to put it in it! Those kids!! Oh well, they were thirsty! Here's a youtube video on how to make the bars here and a link with the recipe here.

There are also some snacks that are allowed on the Medifast plan that you can have between meals if you absolutely have to have something, but you should if you could keep your snacks to a minimum. For me anyway, the more I snack the more I want to snack. I am a snacker! Anyway, my go to snacks are sugar free jello cups (lime is my fave!) or a low fat laughing cow cheese wedge w/a claussen pickle spear.

For the lean and greens, depending on the meat or veggie, there is a certain amount you can have and I use either measuring cups or a food scale to tend to this. The measurements Medifast suggests for their lean and green portions are shown here in their quick start guide. I 'think' I still have my food scale but I'll have to have my kids look because I'm short and I think it's way high in my cabinet. Otherwise I'll have to go buy another one this weekend. 

For my lean and greens, I have some quick meals that take mere minutes to prepare when I am in a super fast hurry and don't have time to cook: the John Soule's chicken fajita meat and a bag of steamfresh broccoli or broccoli and cauliflower. I just heat them up in the microwave, dump it all together, add a little salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder and a laughing cow cheese wedge and mix it up. Other meat choices I use are the preportioned Gorton's grilled fish (tilapia or salmon), shredded chicken I make in my crockpot, ground turkey with seasoning, etc. I also like to cook ground turkey w/taco seasoning and make a taco salad out of it (minus tortillas/taco shells) or use iceberg lettuce for the shells.

I also have to get a little creative with my lean and greens and mix it up in order to keep myself satisfied. I have tried the cauliflower pizza recipe and loved it, and I've done a lot of pinterest pinning the last week for more low carb recipes, like a buffalo chicken dip I made yesterday to eat with celery instead of chips (delicious!!). I also like to refer to this blog here because although it is no longer being actively updated, there's a lot of great lean and green recipes and she also shares some good ideas for replacing Medifast meal replacement options as well.

So that's my plan to mimick Medifast meal replacements. I am hoping it will work for me. I know it's not quite the same as being on the actual plan itself, so I don't expect the same results I had, I may be hungrier and have to make some adjustments or change to a 4 and 2 plan instead of a 5 and 1 plan, but I'm going to take it day by day and give it my best shot. Still eating mostly low carb until I start. I'll be back here on day one to let you know how it goes!!

*FYI, I am not being paid by Medifast or IdealShape or Joan's replacement bars or Newbeautifulme blogspot to mention them. I'm just sharing useful information and blogging my journey and my ideas. I am not a doctor and am not advising anyone to model their health plan after my own. I am just working on taking steps to improving my health and doing what I am able to as I am able to do so. Good luck to you and good luck to me! Time to get rid of my badonkadonk!!!

The Badonkadonk Blog Intro

Welcome to The Badonkadonk Blog! 

You have landed on a blog that is dedicated to the attempt of reducing my very voluminous bootay. Over the years it has grown by leaps and bounds and is quite out of control at this point. I am scared to even measure it, although when I rise from sitting atop a plush blanket it does leave quite the impression. And no, I will not take a picture of it! At least not today. So sickos you just go away. Go on, march off of my badonkadonk.

Now, for those of you who are likewise troubled with your own massive badonkadonks, feel free to have a seat in one of my hip-friendly virtual chairs without the restricting arms on the sides. Relax your beautimous maximus and let me make you comfortable while I expound on my exaggerated hind quarters.

Many years ago I had a tiny hiney. It was just adorable. But unfortunately I was too blind to enjoy my perfect shape and thought I was fat when I was not. Oh the warped minds of teenagers. I didn't know how good I had it when I had it. Fast forward the years and here I am closing in on 45. My back end resembles a shelf, has a mind of its own, doesn't know its own strength and can easily topple knick knacks off tables without even making an effort. Hence, the badonkadonk.

What is a badonkadonk, you ask? Well according to the urban dictionary, it is "an extremely curvaceous female behind. Women who possess this feature usually have a small waist that violently explodes into a round and juicy posterior." Yes, I guess that does aptly describe my tushie. Oh well.

I am not getting any younger people and I don't want my end to get any larger. So starting today, I am pep-talking myself and doing my very best to be the bigger person by becoming a smaller person. My plan is fairly simple. I am planning to mimic the meal supplement program of Medifast, a diet plan I've used successfully in the past.

I'm currently quite miserable at 5'2" and too many-something lbs. I'm waiting for a scale I ordered to arrive so I can be more accurate on that. My small framed body was not made for the weight that I carry. My knees are weak, my ankles get tired from walking, my hips are quite uncomfortable and I have an injury that has never been corrected from a few years ago between my hip and knee on my left leg, that has increased my sedentary lifestyle, limited my mobility and kept me from exercising do to excruciating pain. Overall, my body is definitely telling me it is at its limit.

I've failed miserably at dieting over the last few years. Honestly, I didn't care much because of a depression I was going through after my husband's passing. But now, I am beginning to care again. What is going to be different this time around? Hopefully my determination. Hopefully my strength and commitment. I have found where my loopholes and weaknesses are and have to stay away from them or else I'll be throwing up the white flag again.  My pitfalls are these:

• ALLOWING MYSELF EXTRAS: extra snack, extra meat or extra veggies. Extra healthy fats.  ~ Not all at the same time mind you, but on a regular basis they add up AND they put holes in my armor and lead to cheats and meals off plan and then days off plan and then weeks off plan and I'm done for.

• NOT EATING ON A TIMELY BASIS: If I don't eat within the every 2-3 hour time frame as Medifast suggests, I am thrown off kilter and become extremely weak minded and will most likely cheat. This is especially tricky for me in the mornings. I don't like to eat right away, but if I don't eat my Medifast 'inspired' meal within 30 minutes of getting up, I will put it off for hours and then cave to eating something off plan. This also happens in the evening if I don't get all my meal replacements in. I'm prone to snacking at night and if I don't get all my meal replacements in it's easy to justify to myself that if I eat an off plan snack and log it without going too far over my numbers then its 'okay'. But its NOT okay.

• NOT PLANNING AHEAD: If I don't plan my day the night before, I have too much wiggle room. This means I will make emotional choices in my meals and eat what I feel like, rather than what would work out best for my day or my week. Certain foods are better for when I'm on the go, and I kind of prefer them over other meal choices I have on hand at times. This is okay once in a while, but not okay when I'm running low on my go to meals and I need them when I'm out and about.

• NOT HOLDING MYSELF ACCOUNTABLE: I have to keep myself inspired by seeing my progress, by encouraging myself and being my biggest cheerleader and ultimately by holding myself accountable. If I start this journey without something in place to log my journey (besides my fitness pal app) I will not continue. That's where this blog comes in handy. I will do my best to journal through my challenges, to describe my process and to push myself through this journey and keep myself from quitting on myself for the 100 millionth time in my life. I'm worth more than that, I deserve more than that and my kids need me to be healthier so they can have a more normal lifestyle too.

If I can manage to avoid these and get through my first few days on plan without incident then I should be good to go. I have already started eating mostly low carb meals over the last week (with an exception here or there) but plan to start solid on this journey either sometime this weekend, hopefully by Saturday! So wish me luck! Here's to the reduction of my mighty badonkadonk!