Reaching Goals

Some of you may remember that I was accepted into a study of weight loss programs. The specific study I'm in is for Jenny Craig. JC PAYS for the study, but they don't conduct it. It's actually being conducted by 4 universities nation wide, one of them being the University of Minnesota.

Anyway, I started the second week of January, and had lost about 8 lbs when I shattered my wrist which sent me back on a downward spiral. Since then I have stopped and started JC several times, the last time in June. So, I've been two straight months off JC and just feeling crappy about. Talk about feeling like a failure.

I do have my excuses though, and one of them is Dean. It's really hard to sit and eat my little tiny dessert when Dean is sitting next to me eating this mountain high bowl of my favorite chocolate cereal! UGH! Or ice cream...or...or....or. Chai Lattes don't exactly help out either! (add the vinte size and 2 extra pumps! LOL)

Well, 6 months ago Dean quit smoking. I'm so proud of him. What a HUGE feat! For 35 years he's been a 2 pack a day smoker. He used Chantix for the first month, and then just quit. He's just now starting to feel better, but as happens to many smokers, he immediately put on weight. In fact, 25 pounds of weight. He was overweight to begin with, but this really put him over the edge emotionally.

Finally it was decided...we'd do JC together. He got a spouse discount which helps some. It's still expensive, but I believe well worth it. We started last week, and I must say, I'm a bit jealous! Men loose weight much faster than women! Holy cow! The Wii scale seems to be pretty accurate, and since my very expensive scale was mysteriously broken while we were out of town, we've been weighing on the Wii instead. However, tomorrow is our first official JC weigh in together. Dean has lost DOUBLE what I have. According to the Wii, he's down close to 10 lbs, and I'm down 5. Tomorrow I'll post our official weights. Well, mine anyway. I'll have to ask Dean if it's ok to post his.

Jenny Craig is an interesting program. I had done Nutri System before, and...OMG...their food is HORRIBLE! I don't know how people eat it, because it is just plain nasty! The frozen Jenny Craig food is very much like Lean Cuisine. They have some that are not frozen but I can't bring myself to eat them, as it reminds me too much of Nutri System stuff. You don't have to get them though, instead choosing foods from their menu, then adding in your own fresh fruits and veggies. The biggest thing about JC is making you aware of appropriate portion sizes. Once you're half way to your goal weight they start weaning you off their program and start you doing more of your own cooking. It's stuff we all know, but sometimes you need to be accountable to someone other than yourself to get you to your goal.

We're very happy with our choice to do JC, and to do it together. As part of the study, once every 6 months I have to go back to the U of M for a check-up. They do weight, blood work, a physical fitness test, and then several questionares about how things are going. When I went for my June check-up, my coordinator was telling me about another woman in the study who's husband and daughter decided to join as well. Between the three of them, in the first 6 months they'd lost over 100 lbs. WOW!!! That is just awesome! Dean and I have about that much to loose between the two of us.

And, one more thing about this goal of mine. Angela was delivered by emergency c-section. Sometimes, when the procedure is done in a hurry, it's not done quite the same way as if it was planned ahead of time. In my case, Angela was nearly dead in utero and they were really in a hurry to get her out. The way the scar formed, and how I was put back together didn't work so well, so my belly is a mess. Dean told me the other day that when I reach 160, he will pay for me to get my belly fixed!!! (aka, a tummy tuck) I'm so excited I can hardly stand it. I'd love to do this before Christmas, but that might be pushing it since we should have a litter of puppies here at that time. Maybe right after Christmas so it's done and I'm back to myself before we leave for Arizona in March? That means I have 25 pounds to get to my tummy tuck goal. My ultimate weight goal is 155, but I'll loose about 5 lbs with a tummy tuck. :-)