You thought I forgot about this, didn't you? I'm still here! And here we are, more than 6 months later. I have cut back on the maintenance things, since there has been quite a bit of travel and such lately. Generally I'm getting in a tea day about once every 2 to 3 weeks and a milk day about as frequently (in fact, today I am doing a milk day - I got inspired this morning to make a lassi for the day). However, I am pleased to say that despite all the traveling I've been doing (including having some fast food - gasp), and despite the holidays and the parties entailed by such, I have thus far managed to maintain the weight loss! Maintain, mind you - not lose any more, which is fine. I have about a 5-pound "bounce" that I allow myself to have as an acceptable gain/loss range. I think you need to have something like that so you don't drive yourself nuts if one week you find yourself up a few pounds. It's going to happen, just be extra good the next week, have some extra water, and watch it fall off again.
I have also been getting to the gym on a semi-regular basis - at least once a week, but often twice. Have not yet been able to get myself there three times a week, since something always seems to come up. But I am not going to make some silly resolution to make it happen. That's just asking for trouble.
Come mid-February or so, I think I am going to get back on the program for a single cycle (44 days - 3 10-days and the 14-day maintenance) to see about dropping those final 10 pounds or so and to get another round of detox in. I was looking today through the recipes I'd posted in here, and realized I had forgotten how much I enjoyed coming up with those crazy things, and how good they were. Especially that Ratatouille - I'm going to need to make that again soon!
Cheers to the New Year!
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Update
I returned to the Sadkhin Complex this week for my 1-month follow-up visit. I have successfully maintained the weight, despite a trip to Las Vegas two weeks ago and a party this past weekend. I'm trying to stick to the recommendations for maintenance, but it's difficult these days - it feels like I'm not getting the support from others now that I'm "done" with the program as I was while I was on it. Everyone seems to expect me to just fall right back into old habits and stuff, so impressing on people that I still wish to make an attempt at following the guidelines just earns me funny looks and comments of "But I thought you were done."
You're never really done. The only way for any "diet" to work is to have an actual lifestyle change. So if that means I don't want to eat after 6pm (7pm at the LATEST), or if I want to have a tea fast day or a milk day, or if I want to just do veggies for a couple of days - don't look at me funny. Show the same support as while I was actively on the program. If I allow myself a cheat for each friend, just to avoid the funny looks, I'm going to end up gaining all the weight back. So stop it.
Andre was very proud of me for keeping the weight off so far and that I've done pretty well with the recommendations. I'm proud of me, too. And people keep telling me that they can really notice the difference and are impressed by it. If I want to keep it off, I have to keep it up. Which means I might be funny some days for eating.
You're never really done. The only way for any "diet" to work is to have an actual lifestyle change. So if that means I don't want to eat after 6pm (7pm at the LATEST), or if I want to have a tea fast day or a milk day, or if I want to just do veggies for a couple of days - don't look at me funny. Show the same support as while I was actively on the program. If I allow myself a cheat for each friend, just to avoid the funny looks, I'm going to end up gaining all the weight back. So stop it.
Andre was very proud of me for keeping the weight off so far and that I've done pretty well with the recommendations. I'm proud of me, too. And people keep telling me that they can really notice the difference and are impressed by it. If I want to keep it off, I have to keep it up. Which means I might be funny some days for eating.
Friday, May 6, 2011
Maintenance: Week 2
3 more pounds down! And I'm officially now done with the whole thing and am on my own. I'm being good so far about getting to the gym or going for a good long walk at least 3 times a week. Hopefully I'll keep that up. I'm still getting full from the smaller quantities of food, so I might just be able to keep this going for a while, and finish losing the weight I want to shed. Now where did I put that card... ah, here it is. So these are the "recommended rules" to help keep the weight off:
1. Follow the 5 Ps:
P-1: Portion control - watch the quantity of the food you eat (ok, no brainer)
P-2: Property of the food - choose high quality foods with good nutritional values (duh)
P-3: Proper time of consumption - continue to eat between 12pm and 6pm (I think I can do this - at least during the week, I've gotten used to it)
P-4: Preparation of food - stick to raw, steamed, grilled or baked, don't do fried (again, duh)
P-5: Physical activity - do at least 30 to 40 minutes of exercise a day (I see more walks in my future)
2. Make Thursdays a milk day (I can do that)
3. Make Mondays a fasting day (We'll see)
4. Choose in-season fruits and vegetables (makes sense - fewer preservatives that way)
5. Continue to take the vitamin and herb supplements (I'll probably switch to a generic multivitamin instead of their expensive stuff)
And they suggest repeating the program every 8 to 12 months as a booster. There's more tips and stuff on their website.
1. Follow the 5 Ps:
P-1: Portion control - watch the quantity of the food you eat (ok, no brainer)
P-2: Property of the food - choose high quality foods with good nutritional values (duh)
P-3: Proper time of consumption - continue to eat between 12pm and 6pm (I think I can do this - at least during the week, I've gotten used to it)
P-4: Preparation of food - stick to raw, steamed, grilled or baked, don't do fried (again, duh)
P-5: Physical activity - do at least 30 to 40 minutes of exercise a day (I see more walks in my future)
2. Make Thursdays a milk day (I can do that)
3. Make Mondays a fasting day (We'll see)
4. Choose in-season fruits and vegetables (makes sense - fewer preservatives that way)
5. Continue to take the vitamin and herb supplements (I'll probably switch to a generic multivitamin instead of their expensive stuff)
And they suggest repeating the program every 8 to 12 months as a booster. There's more tips and stuff on their website.
Friday, April 29, 2011
Maintenance: Week 1
It was very difficult to stay completely strict to the maintenance cycle plan this week. With Sunday being Easter, my friends and I went to the Easter Brunch at the Claddagh, and later on was Easter dinner with a friend's family. Dinner was pretty well on-key (shrimp with broccoli, carrots, and cabbage), except that I'd eaten quite a bit off for brunch (sausage, ham, omelette, sweets). Plus there was the little sliver of cheesecake and 2... no, 3 chocolate chip cookies. Oops. Saturday, I had done pretty well though. I ate the leftovers of my crab from Friday, then boiled up the shells to make a seafood stock.
Always keep the shells. Always!
The stock was used later on during my Wednesday milk day to create a creamy onion soup that had just a hint of crab flavoring to it. Monday, I had salmon, broccoli, carrots, and a fizzy mango drink. I discovered this carbonated beverage thing that uses mango puree and sparkling water and that's it - no added anything - so it made a really refreshing fizzy drink. I'd been craving a soda for a little while, so this is a great and healthy alternative! I'm also drinking sparkling water more often than still water this week.
I don't remember Tuesday. What did I have on Tuesday? Was there a Tuesday? Yeah, total blank. Wednesday, as mentioned, was a milk day. I bought some Kefir to try. I couldn't figure out anything to do with it to make it tastier than the standard lassi, or throw it in soup. And it wasn't cooperating - I couldn't get the right mix of anything to make it a tasty drink, so it became the onion soup, which was awesome. Using my Creamy Onion Soup variation, I put the Kefir in place of the yogurt, 1/2 cup crab stock and 1/2 cup Herbal Soup in place of the plain water. I didn't put the herbs in with the onion since I used them for the herbal soup, and I didn't use any honey with it. I'm finding now that if you dice up the onions really finely, they produce enough of their own liquid that the honey isn't required.
Thursday was also a milk day, but I was just not feeling up to babysitting a vat of milk to turn it into yogurt. We went out for Indian food for lunch and I ate it, darn it. I had some chai tea latte later on, but lunch was delicious - just a mix of the vegetarian options from the buffet.
I weighed myself this morning - no change! So I'm holding steady, which is awesome. Last night I cooked up some ratatouille (why didn't I think of THIS one before??) and shrimp in beurre blanc for today. The only way this could have been better is if I had a glass of the white wine I used for cooking to sip with it. It was so delicious! Yes, there was butter involved with cooking the shrimp. No, I didn't consume the butter. At least, if I did consume some butter, it was just droplets.
Recipewill be available on the recipes page later this evening now available! In the meantime, drool over this!
Always keep the shells. Always!
The stock was used later on during my Wednesday milk day to create a creamy onion soup that had just a hint of crab flavoring to it. Monday, I had salmon, broccoli, carrots, and a fizzy mango drink. I discovered this carbonated beverage thing that uses mango puree and sparkling water and that's it - no added anything - so it made a really refreshing fizzy drink. I'd been craving a soda for a little while, so this is a great and healthy alternative! I'm also drinking sparkling water more often than still water this week.
I don't remember Tuesday. What did I have on Tuesday? Was there a Tuesday? Yeah, total blank. Wednesday, as mentioned, was a milk day. I bought some Kefir to try. I couldn't figure out anything to do with it to make it tastier than the standard lassi, or throw it in soup. And it wasn't cooperating - I couldn't get the right mix of anything to make it a tasty drink, so it became the onion soup, which was awesome. Using my Creamy Onion Soup variation, I put the Kefir in place of the yogurt, 1/2 cup crab stock and 1/2 cup Herbal Soup in place of the plain water. I didn't put the herbs in with the onion since I used them for the herbal soup, and I didn't use any honey with it. I'm finding now that if you dice up the onions really finely, they produce enough of their own liquid that the honey isn't required.
Thursday was also a milk day, but I was just not feeling up to babysitting a vat of milk to turn it into yogurt. We went out for Indian food for lunch and I ate it, darn it. I had some chai tea latte later on, but lunch was delicious - just a mix of the vegetarian options from the buffet.
I weighed myself this morning - no change! So I'm holding steady, which is awesome. Last night I cooked up some ratatouille (why didn't I think of THIS one before??) and shrimp in beurre blanc for today. The only way this could have been better is if I had a glass of the white wine I used for cooking to sip with it. It was so delicious! Yes, there was butter involved with cooking the shrimp. No, I didn't consume the butter. At least, if I did consume some butter, it was just droplets.Recipe
Friday, April 22, 2011
Day 51
Fruit/Veggie Day. Technically. But I had some crab at lunch and it was DELICIOUS. I got the Dungeness crab, and substituted the potatoes and corn for broccoli and onion straws (yes, fried, bad me, I know, blah). And I stole some crab dip and chips. I ate one of the knuckles, and took the other two home, so I have it for the weekend. Tomorrow I will begin counting the maintenance days. I went back in for my final visit. I now have a ball taped to the front of each ear - each in a different location on their respective ears. There is no rotating required for these (yay!), they just kind of sit there. Perma-pressure. My maintenance phase has begun. 14 days of maintenance, then I remove the balls and I'm done! I go back in a month for a check up (and to return the balls, I guess... they didn't really say what to do with them other than to take them off) to see how I'm doing. That will be JUST after my Vegas trip, so um, that'll be... interesting...
I only lost 2 pounds this cycle. Which is only 1 pound more than the last time the balls were in this location, and the last time, I majorly cheated. I didn't cheat nearly so much this time, I don't think, so I think perhaps my body just doesn't react to that location like others. But, remember, the second location (intestines) I had a really good loss, which was unusual - so, I'm weird, apparently. Unfortunately, this means I didn't break the 180 mark before maintenance, which is kind of sad. But overall, I'm down 27 pounds, and that is CERTAINLY an accomplishment to be proud of!
So what's the plan now?
Well, a ball on each ear. Still need to eat between noon and 6pm. Wednesdays and Thursdays are to be milk days - so no more 2-day rotations. The rest of the days is more of the same - 1.5lbs of 3 types of fruits and veggies, with the addition of 4-6oz of seafood (any kind of seafood) for the day. And I keep taking the vitamin and herbal supplements. I should also definitely ramp up the exercise to three days a week - no more slacking off in that regard.
My new little card also tells me what to do AFTER maintenance to help keep the weight off. Nothing really surprising about it - eat healthy, don't fry things, make most of your meals be veggies with about 4-5oz of protein on the plate (Andre explained it as "fill half the plate with veggies, a quarter of the plate with protein - be it meat, beans, etc - and a quarter with good carbs - and don't plunge straight into a baked potato, work your way up to it with rice, whole grain pasta..."). Try to eat between noon and 6pm. One day a week as a milk day, one day a week as a tea fasting day, and keep taking vitamins.
I'll be weighing myself once a week from here on out - once I'm off maintenance, I'll likely scale back the blog to be a once weekly check-in, so I can continue to have the accountability of you all, and to keep track of my weight.
I only lost 2 pounds this cycle. Which is only 1 pound more than the last time the balls were in this location, and the last time, I majorly cheated. I didn't cheat nearly so much this time, I don't think, so I think perhaps my body just doesn't react to that location like others. But, remember, the second location (intestines) I had a really good loss, which was unusual - so, I'm weird, apparently. Unfortunately, this means I didn't break the 180 mark before maintenance, which is kind of sad. But overall, I'm down 27 pounds, and that is CERTAINLY an accomplishment to be proud of!
So what's the plan now?
Well, a ball on each ear. Still need to eat between noon and 6pm. Wednesdays and Thursdays are to be milk days - so no more 2-day rotations. The rest of the days is more of the same - 1.5lbs of 3 types of fruits and veggies, with the addition of 4-6oz of seafood (any kind of seafood) for the day. And I keep taking the vitamin and herbal supplements. I should also definitely ramp up the exercise to three days a week - no more slacking off in that regard.
My new little card also tells me what to do AFTER maintenance to help keep the weight off. Nothing really surprising about it - eat healthy, don't fry things, make most of your meals be veggies with about 4-5oz of protein on the plate (Andre explained it as "fill half the plate with veggies, a quarter of the plate with protein - be it meat, beans, etc - and a quarter with good carbs - and don't plunge straight into a baked potato, work your way up to it with rice, whole grain pasta..."). Try to eat between noon and 6pm. One day a week as a milk day, one day a week as a tea fasting day, and keep taking vitamins.
I'll be weighing myself once a week from here on out - once I'm off maintenance, I'll likely scale back the blog to be a once weekly check-in, so I can continue to have the accountability of you all, and to keep track of my weight.
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Day 50
Fruit/Veggie day. Wow, I made it to day 50! Tomorrow I go back in for a weigh-in and start my maintenance phase. I probably will not be technically allowed to have fish tomorrow - technically I should probably finish up my fruit/veggie 2-day and have my first fish on Saturday. However, I am heading out for lunch to Joe's Crab Shack with some friends, and there will be fish! I'm so excited!!
Two weeks of maintenance, and then, I'm done! I'm pretty confident I lost more weight this cycle - each time I step on the scale, it goes down a little. Oh yes, I bought a scale for myself for home. About time, huh? Really it's more for when I'm not going down to Sadkhin every 10 days, so I can keep myself on track at home. The gym will have to become a regular part of life, instead of this random, every-now-and-then thing that I've been pulling.
Yay fish!!
Two weeks of maintenance, and then, I'm done! I'm pretty confident I lost more weight this cycle - each time I step on the scale, it goes down a little. Oh yes, I bought a scale for myself for home. About time, huh? Really it's more for when I'm not going down to Sadkhin every 10 days, so I can keep myself on track at home. The gym will have to become a regular part of life, instead of this random, every-now-and-then thing that I've been pulling.
Yay fish!!
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Day 49
Milk day. I think I hit burnout at work. Yesterday's extreme grouchiness and lethargy coupled with the annoyances of the day just really did me in. When I woke up this morning, I just couldn't get myself up. Lots of aches all over, pounding headache, and light was evil. So I took the day off, and I'm feeling immensely better after sleeping half the day away. I managed to drag myself downstairs to get my vitamins in the morning and have some tea before going back to sleep, and I think I hit about every OTHER rotation (missed the 2pm one though - slept through it) between sleeping. Clearly, I needed it.
I only had the remnants of the store-bought yogurt left from the container I bought to make my first batch of yogurt - I was in no mood to go out, buy milk, and make more of my own last night. Especially since I won't be having another milk day until next Wednesday, if I'm reading the maintenance literature correctly. I'm pretty sure I didn't get up to the 20oz for the day, but whatever. Half cup of yogurt around noon, and another cup combined with a little cheese (tiny bit) for bolstering, cooked up with onion for a creamy onion soup about an hour ago.
My cat has been curled up on top of or next to me all day. I think she's just happy to have me home all day. Back to work tomorrow with fruit/veggie day - having cabbage salad again. Because it is that good. Don't judge me. And then it's a three day weekend, with maintenance beginning! I have a salmon fillet all ready to go, and I intend to have shrimp, scallops, tilapia, and maybe even some crab over the next week. Mmmm fish!
I only had the remnants of the store-bought yogurt left from the container I bought to make my first batch of yogurt - I was in no mood to go out, buy milk, and make more of my own last night. Especially since I won't be having another milk day until next Wednesday, if I'm reading the maintenance literature correctly. I'm pretty sure I didn't get up to the 20oz for the day, but whatever. Half cup of yogurt around noon, and another cup combined with a little cheese (tiny bit) for bolstering, cooked up with onion for a creamy onion soup about an hour ago.
My cat has been curled up on top of or next to me all day. I think she's just happy to have me home all day. Back to work tomorrow with fruit/veggie day - having cabbage salad again. Because it is that good. Don't judge me. And then it's a three day weekend, with maintenance beginning! I have a salmon fillet all ready to go, and I intend to have shrimp, scallops, tilapia, and maybe even some crab over the next week. Mmmm fish!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)