Last week...

Last week I lost 2 lbs. That's less than usual on this plan, Take Shape for Life. It was pretty frustrating.

Every day, I eat 5 of their low-calorie meal replacements, plus one 'regular' meal. Each of the Medifast MRs is about 100 calories, so I had maybe 550 calories there. The 'regular' meals are lean protein and green vegetables. The protein is typically chicken breast (6 oz.) or fish/shrimp (7 oz.). Sometimes we make a recipe (Sandy's Kitchen Adventures) and that protein might be eggs/cheese. The green vegetable is usually lettuce (3 cups), spinach (1.5 c), greens, like mustard greens or kale (1.5 c), or maybe zucchini or eggplant. We don't even have green beans because they're higher in carbs. Carbs are the enemy. We also have some fat with that meal, like dressing or a little oil for sautéeing.

So 550 for the MRs and MAYBE 500 for the lean and green meal. Now THAT'S a calorie deficit! And that deficit is why my average weekly loss has averaged 4.X lbs. So a whole week with 2lbs to show for it is frustrating. Especially given the up/down daily scale readings. In other words, for part of the week, it looked like I gained weight.

When this happens, which is seldom, I figure it's because I had something salty and I'm retaining water in the AM. A late-night pickle as a snack might do it. An extra ounce of lean protein in the form of cottage cheese has a nice little dose of sodium also. These items aren't enough calories to impact my results, and they don't have enough carbs to push me out of the fat-burning state. But they show up on the scale in the morning. Drinking plenty of water can help (the daily goal is 64 oz., but more is fine too).

The good news is this. The following week is usually a good one. Last week was 2. This week is 4 so far (Sun: 186, Fri: 182). That is motivating.

One last note: Sandy's Kitchen Adventures is a wonderful resource. The recipes are good. (Hey, nothing on this diet is 5-star delicious. I'll save the exuberant praise for the weight-loss results.) It's fun to be back in the kitchen slicing, chopping using the pots and pans. Her writing style is very personable. I love reading stuff from real people as much as I hate reading stuff from impersonal organizations. THE BEST PART is that she provides the counts of lean protein, green vegetables, healthy fats and condiments that we track on the plan. That makes it easy to record what we're eating. And it makes doubling or splitting recipes easy to manage and track. Thank you Sandy!