DAY 34 - TOTAL WEIGHT LOSS 15.2 LBS

I'm over on my calories today but I feel pretty good about the day in general. I had a big shock when I entered my food from lunch. We ate at McCalister's where I ordered a Savannah Chopped Salad. It has 440 calories which is reasonable. It comes with Sherry Shallot dressing which does not appear to be creamy. I assumed (incorrectly) the calories would be reasonable. The dressing has 450 calories! This information came too late, I had already eaten it. However, the manager said they have a lite Italian for 25 calories. That's what I will choose next time.

We finished off the night and the visit from family with dinner at a Mexican food restaurant. I ate 3 chips, some guacamole, and a blackened chicken salad with salsa for dressing. All in all, a pretty healthy dinner. Plus I exercised today as well.

I believe I navigated having company in town MUCH BETTER than I ever have before. Recognizing old, unhealthy habits AND learning new, healthy habits AND substituting the new habits for the old habits will take time. But each little victory adds onto the last one and it won't be long until the new habits are my real lifestyle.

DAY 33 - TOTAL WEIGHT LOSS 16.2 LBS

Today was another good day. I ate extra meat on my taco salad tonight. I measured the meat so I knew how much I ate, I just didn't realize I was so close to the 1700 calorie mark and therefore the 2 extra ounces of meat put me in the RED!

My weight today is the lowest I've been at since I began the GREEN vs RED system. Good progress.

DAY 32 - TOTAL WEIGHT LOSS 15.6 LBS

Sleep has been a challenge this week. I will be able to get my 6 hours tonight, but more importantly, I have stayed green in the other areas this week with company in town! Huge success! I have to say, I feel very good about that accomplishment!

It is almost unbelievable that I have stayed on track for 32 days. It helps to pray, read my Bible and drink water (a lot of water) early in the morning. Thinking back about all my dieting attempts over the last many years, I have never been this consistent with any plan. I have always "gotten run over by my own wagon" as the bootcamp trainer puts it. Usually this happened on weekends, around holidays, birthdays, when company was in town, when we traveled, when I baked, when I was stressed..... Hmm, I'm starting to see a pattern.

I was exhausted from sabotaging and defeating myself on a regular basis. It feels so much better physically, emotionally and spiritually to consistently practice healthy habits. With each healthy choice I make, I feel stronger and more able to make more healthy choices. I suppose it is a matter of momentum. Positive momentum. Before starting this system, I also had momentum, but it was negative, and it caused my weight to go up and my feelings of self worth to go down.

Even though I felt bad physically at 194 lbs (my heaviest) and 184 (my Green vs Red starting weight), and I didn't like the way I looked squeezed into XL tops and size 14 bottoms, and I really disliked putting on a bathing suit, my bigger problem was how I felt on the inside.

I consider myself to be a relatively capable person who can overcome obstacles and make the best out of a situation. No amount of determination or fortitude could change the unhealthy cycle of "all or nothing" thinking I was accustomed to in the past. Sometimes my "diets" would last for a week or two, sometimes just a day or two and sometimes I had been flattened by my own wagon at 8:30 in the morning on Day 1!

Eventually this type of self- destructive, "being run over by my own wagon" mentality turned into negativity, hopelessness (when it came to losing weight), anger, frustration, low self esteem, depression and in general feeling like a failure. I didn't feel like a failure because I was overweight, I felt like a failure because I set out everyday with the goal of eating healthy and taking care of myself and I continually failed at achieving that goal.

I'm 32 days into this journey, and instead of looking at the scale or how "perfectly" I have eaten to determine my success, I just have to look at 32 days worth of cards where the vast majority of goals are GREEN. And even better is the REDS DO NOT represent failures, they represent areas that I need to adjust so I can be the healthiest person, wife, mom, daughter, sister and friend that I can be. Now THAT kind of thinking is definitely MOMENTUM headed in the RIGHT direction!

DAY 31 - TOTAL WEIGHT LOSS 15 LBS

I'm headed to bed now because I need to get in the green on sleep. Good news though, we have had company visiting for over 24 hours, and I'm still eating healthy and exercising!

Normally, having company equates to me going completely "wheels off" in the healthy eating category. I typically cook and bake lots of yummy, but not very healthy foods. Also, we eat out more, go to Starbucks, and in general indulge A LOT when we have company in town.

Our company will be here 4 days and 5 nights and we are planning in eating out twice. The first time was today for lunch. I had a great salad/wrap combo plate that was not only delicious but also fit within my calorie allotment.

We are going out to dinner tomorrow night. It's a small restaurant and the menu is not online. I believe I can still make a healthy choice and stay within my calorie budget. That's the plan.

Being INTENTIONAL and CONSISTENT with my choices are the two biggest reasons this GREEN vs RED system is working and will continue to work.

DAY 30 - TOTAL WEIGHT LOSS 15.2 LBS

Another great day. 30 days into this process and I feel like a different person. I'm making healthy choices because I WANT to, not because I HAVE to...such a small difference in words but such a big difference in how I feel.

DAY 29 - TOTAL WEIGHT LOSS 14.8 LBS

Needless to say, I was SHOCKED when my weight dropped over 2 lbs in one night. I figure my weight was up artificially due to eating at On the Border Saturday night. We ate dinner late, I was 600 calories over my goal and I ate chips which were salty.

However, regardless of how the drop happened, I'm going to take it, enjoy it and allow it to boost my confidence that this system is working.

Getting below 170 has been a mental/ emotional struggle for a long time. I just looked through my old Weight Watcher booklets to see the last time I weighed in the 160's. When I have time, I will actually create a chart of all the ups and downs of my weight over the last many years. But here are the basics. I attended Weight Watcher meetings semi- regularly from April 2008 through October 2011 (3.5 years!!). I lost A LOT of weight during that time. Unfortunately, I also gained A LOT of weight during that time. Here are the high- (or low) lights:

April 5, 2008: 184.4 lbs (first recorded WW weight during this period. I had attended meetings several years before)

April 16, 2009: 159.6 lbs (lowest recorded WW weight) I lasted about 12 hours at that weight and then I sabotaged myself. I was so afraid I wouldn't be able to keep the weight off, and I wouldn't be able to lose anymore, I felt very stressed/obsessed with eating and the scale. I didn't mean to sabotage myself, but in effect, that is what happened.

January 4, 2010: 193.6 lbs (highest recorded WW weight)

October 17, 2011: 172.6 lbs (last recorded WW weight).  So, after 3 1/2 years of attending meetings and weighing in, MY NET WEIGHT LOSS WAS A WHOPPING 11.8 LBS!


My struggle with getting below 170 happened In May 2010 about a year after reaching my low weight of 159.6 lbs.  I got back down to 170 lbs but could not, for the life of me, get BELOW 170!  I weighed in 4 weeks in a row. My weight was (170.0, 170.6, 170.0, and 170.4). I was doing everything I could do to get below 170! After that 4th week, I became so frustrated I went off the "diet deep end". My weight on the 5th week was 177.8 lbs! I'm pretty sure I haven't gotten below 172.6 lbs since that time (3 whole years!) and I've spent a significant amount of time weighing 185 - 195 lbs!

The term I think best describes how I feel right now is FREE! Free from the mental garbage that kept me in bondage to a "diet mentality" and the scale. Although I am super excited about my weight dropping, I am most excited because I feel strong and healthy! I love reading my Bible and praying every morning. I love not having cravings for sweets anymore. I love feeling hungry sometimes. The way I used to eat didn't allow my body to ever get truly hungry. It is very satisfying to eat a healthy meal when you are truly hungry!

One of the best things about the GREEN vs RED system is that I feel NO PRESSURE or STRESS about how I am going to keep this weight off this time.  I have truly changed my lifestyle.  I LOVE living a HEALTHY LIFESTYLE.  I LOVE that my kids and husband can see the difference in my eating and attitude.  I LOVE that I feel much more positive in general (more like my old self).  My husband and kids have been such an encouragement and are just as excited about all the GREENS as I am!

This is not a "magic" diet secret or special food, it is just being consistent with healthy choices.  If I can do this, ANYONE can do this!!!

DAY 28 - TOTAL WEIGHT LOSS 12.6 LBS

Today was a great day. I exercised, drank 40 oz of water, prayed and read my Bible first thing this morning. My day goes so much better when I do these things in the morning.

I had a RED on sleep again. I have been so busy lately, I had to get some things finished before I went to bed last night. I knew I was going to have a RED for sleep and at 10:00 p.m. I still hadn't exercised. So I decided if I was going to be RED for sleep anyway, there was no reason not to exercise. So I walked a mile last night. I was glad I was able to meet that goal, but I prefer to get that completed earlier in the day!