Wellness Phase

I am in the Wellness phase of the Medi Weight Loss Program...So I have held my weight loss for a month and now I am on wellness. What does that mean? That means I'm on my own with my eating and they are going to monitor me monthly and I go from paying $80/week to $35/month. More disposable income to spend on clothes now. I am to still watch my calories, fat and carb intake and they will keep tabs on my weight to make sure I am not gaining. I don't intend on gaining because I do not intend on going back to my old eating habits. I am a changed eater. I have changed my thinking about food and I am very happy about that. Anybody going on a diet needs to know that to lose weight you cannot eat the way you did that got you fat to begin with and you should not expect to go back to eating that way after you take the weight off. I do not look at the wellness phase of the program as my license to go back to old eating habits. There isn't anything that I am thinking about ... oh hey I'm on wellness I can eat such and such. I'm not thinking that way. My plan is to continue to eat the things that I have been eating to lose weight and maybe add things like a few grains and a little more fruit in the mix. Although because of an issue with gluten intolerance, I am not planning on going back to eating wheat-based products so no pasta, breads, cookies, cakes, crackers, etc. I will occasionally have some nonwheat-based breads and crackers but those will be limited. I do not intend on eating rice, white potatoes, or nonwheat-based pastas either. Those have entirely too many carbs for me. I need to keep my daily carb allowance around 50 per day to keep the weight off and 40 carbs for a serving of quinoa pasta is not going to help me do that. Meat, vegetables, and fruit will continue to be the mainstay of my diet. I am feeling so good and love being a smaller size. I also plan on exercising more and hope to start tennis soon. I am enjoying exercising in the pool with swimming laps and other water exercises. I feel I'm toning up slightly and will start incorporating other methods of exercise as the summer goes along.

Two Weeks and Maintaining

Two weeks on short-term maintenance and I've been doing okay. I did gain 2 pounds the first week for some reason but this week lost one that I gained. According to the plan, I can go up to 1000 calories a day. I add another 100 calories of protein and add a second serving of starch. I am not doing wheat because I am suspicious I have a gluten intolerance so I got some rice bread and I am also trying some tapioca bread. I didn't intend on going on processed foods but it is nice to have something else to eat besides meat and vegetables. About every other day for breakfast I have been having a slice of the bread toasted with a little smear of peanut butter. I did meet some friends out for dinner the other night and ordered steak with shrimp. I had a side salad for my vegetable and baked potato for my starch. I only ate maybe 1/4 of the potato (no butter or sour cream) and took such small nibbles out of the potato because it was hard to get used to eating it. I felt like I was cheating. I think the hardest thing about adding foods back in is getting used to not feeling like you are cheating. I am trying to keep a good food diary this week because I have gotten away from it the last couple of weeks this way if my weight is up for any reason, the counselor can see what I have been eating. I don't think I'm going to gain though unless I totally blow it. I have been swimming about 3 days a week for exercise and it has been a fun way to do something with Steven. He gets me moving when we are in the pool because he wants to race and I pull him around while he holds on to the noodle. The water provides good resistance and I definitely feel it in my muscles.