Weigh in: 216.7 pounds
Total loss: 28.6 pounds
It didn't get any easier. I fought the cravings for about four days. I didn't get in enough exercise this weekend. I could either fight the cravings or fight the laziness, but not both. So I gave up the exercise for the weekend, but stayed on the diet plan and didn't cheat.
I called my weight loss counselor on Monday and told her about the near constant cravings that I was having. She suggested that I start to transition to the next step of the diet. I may not lose weight as quickly, but I will get to eat some real food.
This week I get to add two vegetable portions and two HMR Entrees to my daily plan. I cut back my shakes to three a day. This seems like an absolutely huge amount of food to me. But it still comes in at around 900 calories a day.
They did counsel me to only eat cooked vegetables this week. My digestive system isn't ready to handle raw vegetables yet. Next week I get to add in raw vegetables in 1/2 cup portions and a fruit serving. But no citrus fruit or pineapple at first. By the fourth week I will be up to 5 fruit and vegetable servings each day, plus the two entrees, and three shakes. A huge volume of food, still under 1200 calories a day.
Once I get past the four weeks of transition, I will get to choose whether I want to stay on this plan for awhile. They call it the Healthy Solutions diet. What I was on before is called the Decision Free diet. My other option is to continue transitioning by adding grains and lean proteins to my diet and eliminating the entrees. I would be considered on the Maintenance portion of the program. I would still have meetings and would most likely continue to lose weight.
I made it through 8 weeks of the Decision Free diet with only one bite out of the box. I would like to do at least 8 weeks of the Healthy Solutions diet. That would still give me plenty of time to transition to Mainetenance before our trip to Disney World in September.
That is the plan. Everyone ready to help me stick to it?
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3 comments:
I'm in!
Hope I don't bore you but I just felt compelled to write after reading some of your blog.
I have been on the HMR diet since 5/30/08, nearly 3 weeks exactly. I've lost 27 lbs so far and my goal to lose is 180-200 total. I am on the "decision free" plan. My wife is doing the "home game" as I like to call it, doing the home version of the HMR plan.
I wonder if they are doing the HMR plan differently here where I am... while I'm on the "decision free", that doesn't mean I don't get to enjoy something other than shakes?? I get to have any of the HMR meals and bars that I want, as long as I don't "go outside the box" as they say. So I do 5 shakes a day, 2 entrees and 1-2 bene-bars a day, sometimes more shakes, sometimes more entrees, just depends on how I feel. But I'm not stuck to shakes only??
Actually for me, the shakes are turning into a treat... the secret is extract flavorings and sugar free syrups, pudding and jello.
My wife and I have both figured out our favorite combo's of extracts we like most and enjoy them very much... but we are not afraid to break out and try new formulations just on a whim.
Right now both our favorites is our morning routine... I have a double chocolate 800 shake made with 2 cups of water (16oz), 1 teaspoon of instant coffee and 2 cap fulls of caramel extract flavoring. Tastes like an iced mocha coffee... very very tasty!!
At work I have a bene-bar as a snack at some point, and then at lunch I have a single or a double shake, however I'm feeling. For an afternoon snack if I'm still hungry I have another bene-bar.
When I get home, we sit down to dinner together and I have 2 entrees and she has 1 entry with her side of veggies.
After dinner I have another single or double shake or sometimes we make the chicken chips from the chicken soup mix and eat them with the bean casserole entree as a dip... actually quite quite tasty!!!!
I've been eating all this the whole time and I've still lost 27 lbs and my wife has lost 15-20 lbs.
You shouldn't look at the weight loss as a day by day or even week by week type thing. There are so many variables with women it isn't even funny, water weight, that time of the month, etc... you never really know what kind of day you are going to have... so try not to look at it all that closely. Look at it a few weeks or even a month at a time to judge your progress.
By all expert opinions, for "good" and healthy weight loss, you should lose between 2-3 lbs a week. Over your 8 weeks, you say you have lost 27-28 lbs, which is just a bit more than 3 lbs a week, that is excellent progress!!!!! You should be very pleased with these results.
But don't be discouraged if some days you get on the scale and you haven't lost anything or even gained a pound... the diet WILL WORK FOR YOU... I guarantee it and I'll show you why.
(now the boring part, but the whole reason this diet really works so well) You may have already heard this in your counselling?
Most health experts have calculated that 1 pound of weight is equal to 3500 calories. That is the magic number, remember it because it is important later.
The other calculation they have figured is the BMR or Basal Metabolic Rate which is an equation that shows a person how many calories their body requires a day to live and not gain or lose any weight. It is figured by taking your weight and multiplying it by 11 if you are a woman or 12 if you are a man. So for your case your BMR would be 2376 calories per day to not gain or lose any weight.
Take your BMR times 7 (days in a week) and that means in a 7 day period, your body needs to consume 16,632 calories to stay the way it is.
Now take the HMR diet... lets say you have 5-800 shakes a day (800 calories), 1 entree a day (250 calories) and 2 bene-bars (240 calories).
That is a total of 1290 calories per day you are taking in. Multiply that by 7 days and you are taking in a total of 9,030 calories on the diet for a week.
As for excercise, they told us the goal is to try and do "something" every day, doesn't have to be a ton, but we should try to hit at least 2,000 calories a week in exercise. For my wife and I, that is about 20-30 minutes of walking per day and we get our 2,000 calories of exercise a week in. We have been walking our dogs every day, so we get a work-out and they get a nice work-out as well.
If you get that 2,000 calories of exercise in, you actually get to REMOVE that amount from the calories you took in for the week... so you have 9,030 calories minus the exercise or 7,030 calories for your "net" calories for the week.
Now you take your weekly BMR and subtract your net intake of calories for the week and that gives you a nice number called the "calorie deficit". For you in this example, that would be that is 9,602... meaning you took in 9,602 LESS calories than your body needed to stay the way it was. Now divide that deficit number by the magic number we discussed above, 3500. That gives you 2.74.
That means, in this example, over a 7 day period, you would have lost 2.74 lbs of weight based on your net intake and what your body required.
That is why this diet works and will work for you. As long as you are taking in less than your body needs to stay the way it is, it has no other choice over the long-term than to lose weight. Guaranteed!
Now keep in mind, the more weight you lose, you have to adjust the BMR downward as well and either take your exercise up a notch to take up the slack or reduce your intake calories to take up the slack... but the closer you get to your goal weight, the slower your weight-loss will be. Eventually when you are just a few pounds away from your goal, you will only be losing 1 pound to 1/2 pound a week probably.
For my wife and I, our calculations both came out to 21 weeks for our goal to lose all the weight we wanted too... so far we are both a bit ahead of the track, but even if we fall back a bit, we are still right in line with what the diet says we should be losing. We are both feel healthier for sure and she is eating much better than she ever has in her life, vegetables, fruits... and even for me...the fruits and vege's are looking very good to me as well.
I see now that I don't have to go to a buffett and stuff myself silly to enjoy food... I can have smaller portions and control what I eat better. It is easy with the HMR products, especially the shakes as they are very filling and low in calories... not to mention they taste great with the extracts and flavorings.
She has been able to cut back a lot on her diabetes meds already and used to have problems with GERD nightly that are no longer affecting her. We can already tell a big difference.
Anyway, don't lose heart, you are doing great!! Hope I didn't offend or anything... I just felt compelled to write you and let you know there are others out here going through the same thing.
Hope this helped.
Bryan
Thanks Bryan. I've learned the same math at my classes. I have a spreadsheet of all my predicted losses and actual losses and four week totals. My progress has been great.
And yes, I've been flavoring my shakes with different jellos and puddings and coffee syrups. And I was eating about three entrees a week.
I'm impressed with anyone who decides to follow this diet. In a way, it is easy. No decisions and almost everything can be made quickly when you are hungry.
I guess I just hit a different mental place after 8 weeks. I'm thrilled adding the entrees and the vegetables. And I plan to continue losing weight.
Thanks for the support.
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