Time For A Change

Almost 3 years ago I moved away from my family and friends in Virginia and came to Lexington, KY to start Pharmacy School at UK. Immediately following this transition, I quickly and efficiently started packing on the pounds. No, I wasn’t preparing for a famine, but merely making horrible choices regarding what I ate and how much. So now, here I am, 3 years older and about 30 pounds heavier. Yes, I have gained around 30 pounds since moving here. I am pretty sure that it all started with Totino’s Frozen Pizzas and half-gallons of Cookies & Cream Ice Cream–both of which are delicious, mind you. Then steadily over the last couple years my portions have gotten larger and my food choices have worsened. Nevertheless, I am now ready, at about 205 pounds, to make a change and shed these unwanted pounds. My goal is to lose at least 20 pounds and get down to 185 in 6 weeks (May 5).

So, last week I started to diet and exercise. My dad donated about 10 days worth of Nutrisystem meals. I was a little concerned about this food at first, as I thought it would be the most disgusting food that has ever touched my lips. But I’ve actually been quite pleased with most of the food (although Amanda would disagree). In fact, I would probably even buy 4 more weeks worth of it if it didn’t cost about $350. The lunch and dinner meals are decent, but the breakfast and snacks are lacking, most notably the Scrambled Eggs with Veggie Sausage (that begins as yellow flakes mixed with hot water and magically turns into Scrambled eggs and sausage) and Honey Mustard Pretzel sticks (do I have to say anything else?). But for lunch & dinner I’ve ate such meals as Vegetable Beef soup, Spicy Cajun Chicken and rice, lasagna, and even pizza. Even though the food may not look that good when prepared, it honestly doesn’t taste that bad. With Nutrisystem, you have 5 meals per day, mixing in fruits, vegetables, diary, and salads with the prepared meals, and drink at least 8 glasses of water. In addition to this, I have also been supplementing these meals with SlimFast Protein Snack Bars (which are tiny but actually pretty good) and sensible meals/snacks.

As far as exercise, I have been running about a mile everyday on the elliptical–sometimes I run further and sometimes twice a day. I also occasionally lift weights on the weight bench, something I need to start doing more often.

So over the last 10 days, I have done a pretty good job eating the required meals, including fruit (which I despise), drinking plenty of water, and exercising. Amanda also started dieting and exercising, so we are able to motivate one another and keeps tabs on each other’s progress and pitfalls. I lost 5 pounds in the first 5 days, and 8 pounds all together. If I can maintain this progress, I should be able to easily reach my goal. I am very proud of myself for sticking with this diet and actually getting results and am especially proud of Amanda for her motivation and weight loss. If you have any tips or suggestions, please let me know. I will keep you updated on my progress.