2 week experiment, day 1

Hello everyone. Miss me? I know it's been a while since I've posted with any regularity. I'm making a commitment to post once per day now for 2 weeks along with this new experiment I'm trying. It's in the name of science, I swear!

For those that know me in real life, you already know this. For those that don't, I've been coasting along, "maintaining" my weight in the 180-185 range since the beginning of the year. I saw 178 on the scale once but I think I was actually just dehydrated.

I have been making poor food choices most of the time and I know I have really good restriction but I'm just being lazy about it and eating things that are "easier" like chips, cookies, and cupcakes. Did I mention cupcakes? Damn there are a lot of cupcakes around everywhere all the time.

I might could use a slight fill but I think I'll postpone that for 2 weeks to really give this new eating plan a chance to work. I've also been really committed to exercise lately and if I hadn't just gone on a 6 day vacation I would have been able to say I'd exercised at least 20 minutes per day for a month straight with only a few "rest" days.

I joined a new gym that's right behind my office building and I LOVE it because there's a hot tub I can relax in after working out. So I get 4 free personal training sessions for joining and I'm going to use them once a week for the next 4 weeks. I fully intend for this experiment to go on for at least 4 weeks but I know I can do 2 so I'm starting there.

So what IS this experiment, you're wondering? It's not really that experimental but it sort of is for me. I am going to be following the medifast plan where almost everything I eat each day comes to me in the mail. With the exception of 7 ounces of lean protein and 3 cups of vegetables (which thanks to my band I need to split up into at least 2 meals per day instead of just 1) - everything I eat will be a prepackaged "just ad water" type meal. The great thing about doing this with the help of the band is I'm not going to suffer actual hunger. Now, just wanting other food. I'm sure that will be my biggest problem. But I've gotten to the point where I am tired of doing it on my own and making meal plans and deviating from them. I want something simple for at least a couple of weeks.

I did all liquids for 2 weeks before surgery so surely I can do this now. The food is actually really good. It's very low calorie, low fat, and high protein. It's not really "low carb" in the atkins sense but it's still less than half of what I think the normal low fat meal plans tend to prescribe in terms of carbs.

I have tried a few different big pushes to get these last 20-30 lbs off but mostly haven't been in the right place mentally. I think I'm there now and with the help of a new job/new routine, the new gym which is super convenient, and seeing several friends do medifast and really kick ass with it, I'm feeling like a winner.

That's the easy part. Now for the follow through. This is an experiment in a couple of different ways:

1. I am no longer taking metformin. This is a giant pill that even when chopped into smaller pieces has caused me to puke everything I eat after taking it (cause it blocks my stoma opening.) The pill helps my PCOS and also helps me lose weight but I just can't do it anymore. I should be to a low enough body fat percentage that I no longer need it or won't very soon. I can't keep taking it the rest of my life and now is as good a time as any to stop. No more puking. Seriously. And yes, I've tried grinding it into apple sauce or adding it to a protein shake and that's nearly as bad in terms of taste and texture and just having to eat something I really don't want just cause my pill is in it.

2. I have long since believed that my body will only lose weight with extremely low calories + high exercise or zero carbs. Any combination other than those 2 and it doesn't happen. The next 2 weeks will have me on a high protein plan with a decent amount of carbs, and doing moderate exercise (I plan to do at least 20 minutes of something intense 5 days a week but it will actually be more intense or longer durations several of those days...but still not over-doing it, just keeping up with my normal routine. So we'll see if this works at all.

Anyway, I'm extremely motivated at this very moment and I'm pretty good at sticking to plans when I make a commitment, so let's see how things go. Fingers crossed for next week's first weigh in. Would love to have lost 5lbs the first week like many people do. Some people lose more but I don't have that much left to lose.