4 Weeks Down!

I am officially 1/3 of my way though my first 12 week HMR program and I am down 22 lbs!!! I honestly can't believe it! I don't think I have EVER lost 22 lbs on ANY program in my life....actually I am sure of it. Last week's weigh-in was followed by a trip home for Thanksgiving....pause for dramatic effect. This is the most dreaded of all holidays for anyone who is on a diet, let alone a diet where you pretty much can't look at anything on the typical Thanksgiving day dinner table. I developed a case of the hiccups on the way home that didn't go away until Saturday. I have no doubt that these were driven by the anxiety I was feeling towards the 4 day weekend that normally would have included mass amounts of food, alcohol, and "fat pants" that told me that it was okay to eat my weight in Stove Top stuffing.

So how did I do? I ROCKED IT!!! With the exception of not getting a workout in every day, I stayed "in the box" and hope to lose more weight this week. I had an HMR entree with a side of potatoes and corn (both are allowed). My dessert was a shake, made into a pudding, with pistacio pudding mix and crushed pineapple (also allowed). Try not to be jealous!!! JK

Suprisingly, the hardest part was not the formal dinner. My sister came home with chicken wings on Saturday night....I almost punched her. For some reason this has been the one food item that I have been craving since I started. Luckily they were BBQ flavored or I told her I would have probably licked the sauce off her fingers for her. Sorry, that was a little graphic! I still believe this was her way of distracting me so that she would beat me at Trivial Pursuit....damn you Tina!!! Then, on the 8 hour drive home, Jay decides to get a personal pizza from the gas station we stopped at. ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? Not only am I having to watch Jay eat my favorite food, I AM STUCK IN A CAR WITH IT!!! I cannot walk away. I cannot ignore it. The scent is wafting around the car and there is absolutely no way for me to avoid it. I told him I would never sleep with him again and ate my $4 gas station pineapple chunks...GO ME!

P.S. I am still acclimating myself to blogging, so I haven't added any pictures yet. I will try to update my previous blogs with some pics soon!

Where I've Been....

How does the old saying go.....You didn't put the weight on overnight, so you can't expect it to come off overnight? F*ck that! I have found that the truth hurts sometimes.

Like many others out there, I have struggled with my weight my entire life. I was a chunky kid until about 6th grade when I discovered that not eating was an effective, albeit unhealthy, way to get skinny so that boys would notice me. So middle school was full of sports, boys, and size 6 jeans....then came high school. I had a car, which meant no more walking. I had a boyfriend who could eat everything and not gain an ounce. This equated to meals at McDonalds, Dairy Queen, and Pizza Hut. I discovered alcohol, thus the rapid, yet insanely entertaining, demise of my waistline!!!

College...oh college! I can't lie, my college days were some of the BEST times of my life! I have always been slightly competitive by nature, so when I heard about the freshman 15, I took that challenge on full force! Coupled with mass amounts of Bacardi and all-you-can-eat pre-paid meals at the Garvey Cafeteria (The Garv), I put on weight like a bear fattening up for hibernation. Don't get me wrong, I have always been a savy dieter (HILARIOUS), so my senior year was filled with Atkins-friendly meals such as "beef concoction." In plain English, ground beef with ranch dressing, salsa, and cheese....seriously? And there was nothing better than the McDonalds breakfast the morning after a good night of debauchery!!! The cholesterol-filled examples go on and on.

Upon graduation I moved to the corn-fed state of Nebraska to await the arrival of my deployed then-boyfriend Curt. Money was tight living alone for 4 months, so I did lose some weight. Not by choice but for sheer lack of resources. The year following Curt's return from Krgystan was filled with endless parties, mid-week keggers, 3-day benders and a few nights that even Penthouse may find amusing. And while we always had fun at all of the parties, there was nothing substantial in our relationship and it eventually ended.

I was now a broke, fat, lonely borderline alcoholic! Surprisingly, this is where things started to look up. I had been offered a new position at ConAgra Foods as a Sales Analyst and I discovered a weight loss product called Alli. I put my increased funds towards these little blue capsules that, according to the back of the bottle, would "eliminate" 1/4 of the fat that that I ate. MAGIC!! I soon found out that there was nothing magic about taking an Alli and eating enough Taco Bell to feed a small family. I had experienced my first "treatment effect." The website describes this as "spotting, loose stools and more frequent stools that may be hard to control." I won't be graphic, but this is the Disney version of my treatment effect. Needless to say I quit yet another program and gained every pound I had lost back and more. (no picture necessary!)

Side note: During the few months I was on Alli I rekindled a friendship with a former middle school boyfriend/enemy/boyfriend of a friend, Jay Rislov. He and a few other friends made the excursion to Omaha for Labor Day in 2007. Something had changed for me since our awkward make-out sessions in 8th grade. I was hooked! The dilemma; Jay now lived in Phoenix. I needed to take action. I had an upcoming business trip in California that I conveniently routed my return layover in AZ. In typical Teri-fashion I got drunk and told Mr. Rislov that I wanted to be more than friends to which he responded, "I like you, but I can't do the whole long distance thing." While the visit was a blast, I went home crushed. I had never felt so bad about a rejection in my entire life. I got a call from Jay a few days later. In a very nervous shaky voice he told me that I was right, (LOVE THAT!) and that we needed to try to make things work....what???? I seriously made him repeat himself because I was in a total euphoric shock. Three months later he was packing his bags and moving to Omaha!!! We are insanely happy and I believe that I was given a second chance at true love.

Okay, enough mush! Jay is in Omaha, but I am still fat. I am a serial dieter and have tried EVERYTHING!!! After a recent trip to Las Vegas, I came to the realization that while my life is good and I am happy, I needed to take care of the baggage that was holding my body hostage. I stumbled upon a weight loss program though Alegent Health call HRM and decided to attend an informational session on Monday October 26th, and began the program on the 29th. Twenty-seven years of struggling with my own body lead me to this day, and it's a good day!

Welcome!

Welcome! Those of you viewing this page have had the red velvet rope lifted and given an all-access pass to my insane weight loss ride. I understand that all of you are not dillusional to the fact that I am fat. In fact, I probably joke about it every day of my life! The simple fact is, that it isn't funny anymore. Okay, that was a bit too dramatic! I recently joined the HMR weight loss program through Alegent Health in Omaha, and I am starting this blog as a self-motivator and a way to hold myself accountable. So, if you don't see any updates in 6 months you can pretty much assume that I have given up, and I am burried in a diminishing pile of buffalo wings and Doritos! Wish me luck!!!!