Plateau Breaking Day @ 160lb., 5 down, day 6

So after a nice 5 pound loss I stepped on the scale today and saw the same numbers. Time to cut through it!

I was feeling very tired last night before bed and I think I had too much beef jerky over the course of the day because in the morning I was all dry mouthy, yuck! Dehydration is still possible when drinking loads of water I guess. It is the coffee that was working against me!

I went for a rather vigorous walk while holding 25 pound Willow in a front baby carrier yesterday morning and I wasn't hungry at all then it hit me like a wave of sleepiness at 3pm.

After the drops before 3pm I had a rush of energy and I had been very productive: clearing out my closet, organizing drawers, etc. Not eating gives you a lot of free time and I was on my feet all day doing things when usually I would have tried to relax and find something to watch on the Roku. Something to slow down.

Those B vitamins certainly do their thing! I was on the go but after I had lunch I realized I needed to eat more. I wasn't hungry, but I was feeling the effects of fatigue: blurred vision, slurred and disorganized speech (I was trying to talk to my mom and found myself using the wrong words over and over like a drunk person).

So when it was time for bed I knew I couldn't wait another 12 hours before food and I had a remaining 300 cals to eat after my walk to keep in line with my 700 cal diet (I earned around 200cals from walking), so I had ... a "bad" thing (non ASAP approved that is,). haha... split pea soup with bacon. I had 3/4 of the can and it helped me sleep and this morning I wasn't hungry until now, almost 1pm!

I know that the soup probably is what made me plateau since it was undoubtedly in my stomach still after I awoke, but I still feel like I wanted to make sure I maintain my 1lb/day average so today I am doing a modified plateau breaker day.


Right now I am eating an apple (I only have 3 left so I will have to modify the 6 apple/steak breaker). I guess it will be 4 clementines, 3 apples!  (the clementines are reallly small so I will have 4). I hope to come back tomorrow with a successful loss!

Switching away from gluten free ASAP to traditional

I was satisfied with my results last time, around 15-20 pounds in 3 weeks was great! But I did it a little bit differently, I did 3, 3, 2, 1... so instead of what the diet calls for (2 veggies, 2 fruits, 2 protein, 2 grain) I did (3 veggies, 3 fruits, 2 proteins, 1 grain). I found some plain breadsticks to replace the melba toast because I found them absolutely revolting. The packaging made the crackers smell like plastic, yuck! I couldn't do it at all. I'll stick to single servings of saltine crackers or 2 breadsticks, roughly 50 calories which will keep me in line for the caloric side of things.

I was concerned before about keeping my milk supply up, which I was perfectly capable of doing! However this time I am more concerned with getting results. I will still breastfeed and I don't care either way if my milk goes because Willow is 16 months now! And honestly she doesn't even really feed on me but mostly just plays these days and I'm a pacifier for bedtime.

The major issue with me before was toxicity in my breastmilk. Since I'm losing weight then there must be toxins in the milk, right? Well I figure some women lose up to 60 pounds in 2 months if they have the right metabolism. I am not doing nearly that amount of weight loss and the doctors don't recommend against that so what I'm doing should be fine too.


I have a friend that invited me to walk with her in the mornings but I don't think I should be exerting myself by taking an almost 3 mile walk everyday and it sucks because I realllly want to! But I know if I do that I'll be hungry and my willpower will weaken. I will do it once a week and after the 6 weeks I'll do it with her everyday! Can't wait for that!! I can imagine the pep in my step 30 pounds lighter! Wow, I might want to run! No wonder people who are losing weight eventually become runners. After carrying around so much weight it must feel natural to move faster and faster!

So my diet currently is like this:

morning: coffee with stevia drops, Beyond tangy tangerine 1 scoop

snack: beef jerky 1 oz/egg

lunch: lettuce/salt/pepper/lemon juice/mushrooms/celery/pepper (small serving of all to equal 1 portion), apple or orange, beyond tangy tangerine 1 scoop, EFA 2x

snack: seltzer water with stevia drops

dinner: progresso soup (beef and veggie or some other non-dairy/grain type), beyond tangy tangerine 1 scoop with plant derived minerals, osteo fx, EFA 2x

dessert: handful of strawberries

When I get hungry I tell myself my body can live 3 weeks without food and I am complaining about 2 hours... haha... if I am weak or feeling tired I take the ASAP (B vitamins to the rescue!) or take BTT a little earlier. All day I have a cup around to sip on the BTT and that definitely helps. I would not ever do this diet without the Youngevity supply or some other similar product.

Okay I'm back! And... time for ASAP again! 6 weeks!

Weight starting:... errmmmm, *hides* 163. I know, I know. 10 pounds back! Agh! I did NOT mean for that to happen (obviously). But after I got moved into my new home I had a lot of stuff to work on. And of course I was not able to do the maintenance like I wanted since I was more occupied with decorating my new home than I was being a smart shopper and having a home full of foods that I wasn't immediately craving.

My sugar levels have been WHACKED. And I have been drinking on the weekends, more than I like (ahem, I'll be honest, 2-3 beers a day and about once a month I'll have a half bottle of wine which will totally get me to that happy place but the day after I'm not so happy!)

I can feel the toxic build up and I really want to feel light as a feather again. I loved that feeling... a few days ago I had taken a mini break from food and it was so good to feel  in control.

I realized I was at a low when I had finished off my second slice of cheescake from trader joe's (its made of good ingredients so I tell myself its *good*.... of course it is NOT), and then I watched an episode of Dr. Oz and Joan Rivers had admitted she liked the time in her life when she was bulimic because she had control over her life. And of course the copycat effect hit me and I thought... maybe I'll just take a little of this remorse out of my stomach. THAT WENT BADLY, haha.... I just had bloodshot eyes after the first attempt then realized ... wow, this is pathetic and totally not me. It has been a long time since I purged in that way and I really wanted to feel it. I am glad that I couldn't.

I am not going to take that extremely unhealthy route anyways because it instantly  made me feel worse rather than better. My eyes hurt for a few days and my heart felt like it was palpitating irregularly that night. The symptoms were evident instantly that this is a very unhealthy mechanism for my body and I shant disgrace it so!

Anyhow, starvation also sounds like it is bad to me. In retrospect of my last ASAP attempt, I felt in control of my eating but because I was eating so much less than what I'm used to I was told by others that I was starving myself. I really didn't like hearing that. I felt unsupported and I was not expecting those voices to shake me so much. I didn't want to agree because I didn't feel hungry, I felt satisfied, I felt smaller, I felt great, then I felt guilt. Was I really starving myself? I was telling people that the drops are Dumbo's feather because I read elsewhere than anyone who eats 1000 calories a day are going to lose weight with or without "magic $100 drops."

I am still summoning my strength to do this again. Tomorrow I am going to INDULGE. I will eat everything I am going to miss in the next six weeks. I am going to do the longer ASAP session because I want to lose 30 pounds. My dream weight is 135. I do not want to get halfway there and feel satisfied. I want to be in my dream body and I want it ASAP!

I hope I can inspire others to do the same and to show them that it is possible to get to a dream weight. And also, when I get there I hope I can also show you that its possible to be happy in the body you're in. I keep  hearing people say "if you're not happy now you'll never be happy" I know I have always had issues with my body, but when I was 140 I was on fire! I was motivated and had a lot of energy for anything and everything I wanted to do! I was inspired and inspirational with a beaming confidence that permeated the space around me. I still have this fire but I want it to shine brighter and further! Join me if you can, anywhere along the way!

Day 16, down 10 pounds

So today I am trying to break my plateau - again. I think the eggs in the morning have something to do with it. And for some reason I think that if I'm not feeling SOME hunger pain, then I am not really losing weight, and my scale readings reflect this. If I have one or two slight hunger feelings a day I'll drop a half a pound.

I wonder if making cream of mushroom soup and taste testing it had an effect. Either way, I didn't eat it for dinner, I had a spinach salad with oven roasted chicken, carrots, and sugar snap peas. Yum dee dum, I'm guessing 300 calories?

Today I haven't had anything to eat yet and I am going to have a steak and an apple for dinner. I guess I was supposed to eat 6 apples to get rid of my plateau, but I don't really wanna eat that much sugar. And I haven't been hungry all day until right about now (4:30pm)... so time to throw the meat in the oven.

Tomorrow am I will have two eggs again because I'm certain I'll be raging hungry in the morning. My daughter keeps waking up very early and I wake up with her. Before starting the diet I was sleeping in until about 10am, granted the time did change, so I guess the "time" was 9am. Now I am up at 7:30am and stirring around the kitchen making everyone breakfast.

So not only am I living a life with more energy, I am also living with less sleep and more time to my day. Hooray!

I am "STUCK" at 155 now though. But I don't know if I can say that if I dropped from 156 a few days ago. Its as if my weight loss is incremental, not stalled, like .25 # a day? I am hoping tomorrow will be 154 and then I can push the boundaries of my body's set weight. 5 more days left and then I will be starting the maintennance phase. Please please please be 150 by the end! That'll mean 15 pounds in 21 days. And I think I can get out another 5 pounds with the SlenderFX shake and by managing my portions.

I made a video blog/vlog for youtube (sorry no makeup. I'm not lazy - no oils/lotions for the program remember?)

Plateau?

I'm not sure if I've hit a plateau or not. I am still losing, but it seems like it may be incremental (.5), instead of the "pound a day" I was having before. I have to admit this is a bit disappointing. I was hoping I'd be around 21 pounds lighter at the end of my 3 weeks. For today, Day 12, I weighed in 156 from 165. So that's 9 pounds! Woohoo.

I have been making food I can't eat: brownies, pasta, pancakes. I am baking them for my family, of course. But why even tempt myself? I think I am trying to sabotage myself by providing foods I want to eat but am not supposed to. And saying no to them is empowering, but I felt my strength waning yesterday and fled for some sweet-eze to help me fight the craving. I want to drink Zevia, but I only have had 2 so far and I know that the chemicals will also stop my weight loss process, so I'm avoiding them as best I can.

Not sure why, but I think this might be a coffee diet for me. I am drinking so much of it (3 cups a day). I know that part of getting off my semi plateau is to drink more water. I can't help but think the coffee is working against me. I also don't want my weight loss to be only water loss. That would be horrible! So: more water, more water, more water!

My "Notice Number" - Losing Weight But No One Notices

There is something to be said about losing weight and having it come full circle. My partner says he notices, but I've also told him, so that's to be expected. But what about when you lose weight and no on notices? I suppose I'm still only 5% down in weight, so that's not going to be an extreme change.

Even the slight Japanese woman who works across my mother on the weekends was sure to notice I thought. She's the only one I know gutsy enough to say when I'm getting smaller or bigger. Was there a special "notice number" where all my hard work would go recognized?

But there was nothing! When I got home I looked in the mirror. I guess I was wearing like 3 layers of clothing, but still to ME I looked smaller. So what's the deal, why do I need to have outside acknowledgement?The weight loss won't be any more real because someone tells me "good job." Maybe I'm better suited for Weight Watchers?

When I really think about it, I am not losing weight for them. I am doing it for me. And this morning I actually looked cute coming out of bed with my hair messed up, no bra and mascara residue smudged on my eyelids.

I am very aware that this is the half-way point. I figured there would be something my mind would invent to stall me. I am going to look at it objectively, though and move forward. I know that people don't like to talk about weight because its a sensitive subject. I know they can tell something is different but maybe not that I lost weight, I just look better for some reason. And if they do decide to "bring it up" I will take my opportunity to disclose my success. I guess this is blog is my main motivator. If others are thinking about doing ASAP or an other weight loss journey, it is very helpful to have a place to talk about it, diary/journal/blog.

900 cals a day or 2500?

I have been very careful to read about claims of how ASAP only works because it is extremely calorie restricted. Yes, it is. I am averaging 900 cals a day, but I also  know I do not have any hunger pains for that extra 1100 cals. And if my calculations are correct, shouldn't I then only be losing 3500 cals (a pound) every 3 days? Not every day! And these claims do not account for the 1400-1600 cals of fat that I'm burning everyday that are released into my bloodstream. That's why I am heavily avoiding any fatty foods (avocados, high fat meats) - I am already getting PLENTY of it.

Well I've been losing about a pound a day on this diet, with little hunger.

I saw Cloud Atlas tonight (IMAX experience - great!) And after, my mother, sister-in-law, and I went to a burger joint. I actually felt fulfilled with my chicken salad sin dressing and tiny bowl of chili sin cheese. I am so happy with how ASAP has guided me into making the right food choices.

It COULD be the dumbofeather. I do not deny that. That does not make me ignorant if the product works. If I had a chance to do it again, I would, even knowing what I know now. You buy an $80 bottle of "magic potion"... but the ingredients DO fend off your appetite and according to my above math, it may also be assisting in the weight loss 3x faster than it would be normally.

It says it only blasts away abnormal fat and not muscle. Well I got news for you: any weight loss is great! haha. When you are losing fat you also lose lean muscle because your body doesn't need a 120 pound lean frame to carry around 140 pounds, it only needs a 90-100 pound lean frame.

The location of the fat I'm losing seems to be my legs mostly, which honestly, were fine to begin with!! My belly button measurement has only gone down a 1/2" but then its my most "problem area" being postnatal 8 months. I was hoping it would be the first thing to magically waste away. No luck there, I'm hopeful still though.

I am on Day 8 and down 8 pounds - 32 sticks of butter! Where the heck was I carrying it all?!

Day 4 of As Slim as Possible Gluten Free

You may have seen by my other blogs that I am  HULAHOOPER! Hooray. I have lost weight with hula hooping twice before. Once when I first started in college, about 15 pounds because I was obsessed with it. This is the experience I like to give to others when I make hoops. My weight became around 140 as a base weight. I kept that weight with little to no effort. Then when I had my first daughter I blossomed to 180. With a lot of breastfeeding, walking, hula hooping, and yo yo diets, I managed to get down to 150 in 18 months, only to get back up to 192 with my second pregnancy (175 after birth).

Now other mom's out there know the battle, I'm sure. Maybe you love being pregnant like I did or maybe it was utter torture. But for me, food was my calling. I swear everything I ate just transformed into fat and decided to stick around.

However I didn't let myself get carried away with my second pregnancy as I did with my first (in which I ate ice cream - all the time). And yet I still packed on the pounds. Something was terrorizing me from the inside out. After my second child was born I dropped 10 pounds with Brazil Butt Lift (super fun dancing videos), stopping the gluten intake, and taking more vitamins/minerals. However now I'm stuck at 165. Still "Obese" according to my BMI, which seems obsurd.

I really don't want to be a diabetic. I  had gestational diabetes with my second pregnancy, or at least I found out I MIGHT be at the very end, but I was in full-blown denial and wouldn't let them test me again by a 4 hours starving/sugar overload test. That did NOT seem healthy! So I just avoided sugars, but I still felt the highs and lows of the sugar radically effecting me- so let's just assume I did have it.

Today I am 165, 5'4" - Overall not the best looking stomach in the world. It looks like a deflated baloon, to be honest, ripples and all. And I'm just tired of not feeling sexy when I dance. I don't even need to be thin, I never have been and its not really me. 135. That's my goal maintaining weight. I've never been under 140 in my adult life. I have a hefty frame - I think. I really don't know because I've never been under 140. If I could get there, I'd be fid as a fiddle. I want to teach hula hooping but being "obese" is not helping me with the confidence portion. I want to shine like I once was. I know there are fat bubbly confident people out there, but that's not me. In this body I feel tired, large, and like I'm not making the best of my life.


I did get from 165 to 135 once before in 30 days. What did I do? I was 20 and just started birth control and my body immediately lost its appetite. I thought maybe it was depression. I felt sad. Food couldn't make me feel better, it actually made me feel worse. I would look at the pantry, and just say "no..." and go back upstairs and feel sad. I wrote a lot of poetry and music. How very angsty. But then I had a lot of time on my hands because I wasn't spending it preparing meals for myself. It was so WEIRD. All my life I've loved food, so it was strange to finally lose my love for it. Its almost as if my hormones became regulated and I realized that my excess body fat was not supposed to be there, and the hunger just went away for awhile. THANK YOU HYPOTHALAMUS. I ate meals, but only half. Everything, only half. And only 3 meals a day, no snacks. But I did eat any type of food I wanted. Needless to say, the 30 pound loss in a month made me so ecstatic that I found my happiness again and started to eat again. Gaining back about 5 pounds in 3 weeks. And it stayed there for years.

But I did not supplement when I did this, which is why I think this method was unhealthy - despite its great results. I am a mother now and want to be healthy and not overload my system with toxins.

Day 1: 165
Day 2: 165
Day 3: 164
Day 4: 163

I am following Dr Wallach's (Dead Doctor's Don't Lie) advice of going gluten free. However he also backs the use of this product ASAP, which allows "breads" for a portion of the meals. I will detail any new recipes I have for gluten free ASAP in the near future.

Right now my sister needs some help buying a car. Isn't it great how you can see yourself in your siblings as they go through their life? Family is great! (My Beyond Tangy Tangerine must be kicking in because I'm feeling super energized! Wayyyy different than my angsty weight loss where I just lied around like a dying sloth!)