I survived another birthday party. Yes, I cheated, but not nearly as bad as I normally would have been.
Does anyone know a good way to get the QWLC shake mix? I ordered a few from ebay but I would like more.I am pretty sure I have used them in the past successfully.
If you don't know but would like to weigh in on shakes, I am open to ideas. I have used Atkins, but they are higher in calories and fat.

Ok,
I just went on dietdirect.com and checked out wonderslim and bariwise. Bariwise has fewer calories and sugar than wonderslim. Wonderslim has more sugar than QWLC brand, Bariwise the same.
Any thoughts?
Also, is 11.49 a good price for 7? It seems kind of steep, but I guess that is part of it.

I'm too lazy to make my own shakes! Plus, they never seem to taste as good as the pre-made ones I buy. For the price they charge, they should come already made. Right now I'm drinking the pre-made Atkins "Cafe Mocha" shake. But I used to buy the Pure Protein brand shakes (chocolate). Those shakes compare very favorably to the Quick Weight Loss products in terms of nutritional info. Plus, you can buy them in most grocery stores. You can buy the big jars of powdered whey protein too if you want and its much cheaper.

Sue, NewMom and NewMe... you guys are doing great. I, on the other hand, am in a rut this week. I've stayed on plan, but I didn't really show much of a loss this week. Only about a pound. That, in and of itself, is not what bothered me. The frustrating thing is that last Sunday I weighed in at 321.5, but on Tuesday I was just over 319, and on Wednesday I was just a bit over 318. I thought I would at least finish the week at 318. But from Thursday to Sunday I was weighing in at over 320. I didn't do anything different on those days. Sometimes this weight loss thing can be very confusing and frustrating. But, I don't let it discourage or dissuade me from pressing on. I know that I am still proceeding towards my goal -- even when it doesn't happen as fast as I would like or if I have a temporary setback.

P.S. My wife and I celebrated our 10th anniversary on Saturday. We went to a nice steakhouse and split a salad, a seafood appetizer and I had some steak and grilled asparagus. No sauces. I did have some blue cheese dressing. I know it had a lot of fat, but at least there were no carbs in it.

When we were waiting for the check, the waiter delivered a complimentary dessert to us that said "Happy Anniversary" on the plate. I suspected they might do that. My wife took a few bites of the chocolate cake and ice cream. I ate the two pieces of strawberries that were on the side of the plate that weren't covered in chocolate, but did not touch the cake or ice cream. The funny thing is that as good as it looked (an my wife confirmed that it was as good as it looked), I did not feel any temptation to have it.

Hi Joe, Congrats to you and your wife on your tenth. Kudos to you for staying on program. Don't let the pause get to you...You're doing great. Sometimes the body needs to stay still to regroup/adjust. If your pause lasts more than a week, you may want to do an accelerated break to help things along or alternatively, you may want to consider increasing your activity level. For me, a glass (maybe 3) helped me push out of that 160 plateau I was dealing with at Thanksgiving.

Okay, I got to share. I ran my first mile yesterday on a treadmill 4.7 speed at a slight incline without stopping. Certainly not a fast pace, but I am thrilled with my progress just the same. I have been wanting to run for years and I am finally getting there. I celebrated with an extra workout after work tonight. My aim is a 5k in 2013 and work up to a marathon when I turn 50, which is years away-giving me plenty of time to practice.

Newme: Don't be afraid to move. Our bodies are meant to move. Start off easy by incorporating short periods of exercise into your daily routine, e.g. park at the far end of the parking lot, take a walk with friends or music, or try a beginner's yoga or Pilates class. Inform instructors about your concerns and they will teach you how to avoid injury.

Supergirl: The program shake contains 90 calories, 7g carbs, and 15g protein. The bars are 155 cals, 13g carbs, and 12g protein. I heard Pure Protein tastes good and runs about $20 at Sams for a gigantic can (unsure if it's an exact match to the program protein powders). Hope this helps.

Have a great night. TTFN

Joe I had the same kind of week the scale was down then started creeping up. But I end with week with a 2.3 loss. I am shooting for 250.
We can do this!

Thanks sue. Very cool about the running. I've been pretty lazy about working out. Except for walking my kids to school (which is a very short walk at a slow pace) I really don't get any exercise. I know I need to change that.

I am not discouraged by the lull in my weight loss this week. Its happened before. I've learned not to panic. It is a little annoying though. I long for those early days where I would lose 4-5 pounds a week. Its frustrating when you are pretty much doing the same thing, but the results are not the same. Its a tough adjustment to accept that.

I suspect that I might not being as diligent in my portion control as I once was. In the past, I could afford not to be on top of that because I was losing the weight at a fast pace anyway. Now, I know I need to be more mindful of portions. The almond thing is probably hurting me. Its so darn hard for me to limit my portions of the almonds, and I know I wind up eating more. At 170 calories for a 1 oz portion, it is easy for the calories to mount. I think I am going to go back with what worked before - i.e. having a pure protein shake for my mid-morning and mid-afternoon snacks. At least I know those are portion controlled and only 120 calories per snack. With the almonds, I am afraid I may have been having snacks that were between 250 and 300 calories.

Has anyone used the adkins bars that are around 170 calories.

I have tried a few. They're ok. But I like the pure protein ones better, actually (at least the peanut butter chocolate one). The atkins ones have a little bit less carbs, but I believe the pure protein bars compare favorably to the QWLC bars.

Hi Joe, Yep, I bet the almonds are slowing you down. As a veggie, I love nuts. They're a great source of protein, but they are heavy in fat...and their bite size makes them easy to eat without thought. I hate to admit it, but those little nuggets of joy are part of the reason I am round.

No weigh in today, but I did do an workout with my personal trainer. I wear a heart rate monitor during my workouts. Tonight, she showed me no mercy and I used up 240 calories in a half an hour. I followed her workout with about 20 minutes of cardio for good measure.

While at the gym, I met a woman who met her goal with QWLC today. She glowed with pride. She showed me the reward she bought herself for accomplishing her goal, which got me to thinking...what am I going to do to reward myself and leads me to ask the questions:

What do you do when you reach your mini goals???

What are you going to do for yourself when you reach the big one???

TTFN

Well, I don't know if it was the almonds or not, but I didn't eat any yesterday (I substituted the Pure Protein shakes for my mid-morning and mid-afternoon snacks) and this morning I was down to 316.4 from 318.0 yesterday morning. Hopefully, it was the almonds holding me back and I'll be right back on track now. I love the almonds so much, but I seem to have no control when I eat them! It kinda sucks that I have to pick snacks to eat - which I have no desire to binge on - in order to avoid over-eating.

As far as your questions, the only specific mini or interim goal is that I would like to get down to under 300 lbs by the end of the year... or shortly thereafter. Because of my recent stall, it probably won't happen until after the new year. But I don't really care that much. I know that the weight loss is a marathon, not a race. So I don't have any set date that I need to lose any particular amount of weight by.

I suppose I have approached my weight loss as a series of 10 lb. mini-goals in a way. Whenever I get down under a 10 lb threshold, I kinda see it as a mini goal being met. For example, I am currently at 316. When I get down to under 310, I'll feel a I have achieved a victory in one of my many battles on the war of the bulge!

As far as what I will do when I lose the weight. I don't really have anything special planned for myself as a reward. Losing the weight is reward enough in and of itself. So, there is no other incentive that could possibly match that. The only thing I will certainly do is buy some new clothes. As I lose weight, I am buying a limited amount of clothes that I need. But I'm trying not to spend very much on it since I won't be wearing these clothes for very long. When I reach my goal weight, I will be much more liberal with the spending because those will be the clothes that I'll be wearing for a long while. But I don't see it as a reward.

On the quick weight loss diet do you count calories? If so how many do eat?
I am amazed I have cut my calories to a 1/3 of what I was eating and have felt great and been able to stick with it since nov 12. AMAZING maybe it's the low carb

How's everyone doing?

Hi everyone. I don't post often but when I do get online I love catching up with everybody's posts. Sounds like you all are doing great in this season of so many temptations--yay for us! I've been to 3 parties so far, and at the first one was 100% successful, second one a tiny bit less so, but then last night was a dinner where the main course was chili and I didn't do so well. But that said, after 5 weeks I'm down 21.5 pounds so am very happy. Has been quite an adjustment and I'm still not eating as much protein as they insist upon. It's my #1 challenge. Hang in there and keep up the good work!

It is not necessary to count calories because the type of food you eat, the frequency you eat it, and the quantity are all strictly controlled. For instance, depending on what plan you are on you are allotted a certain amount of protein per day. My plan allows 2 1/2 portions of protein. The plan tells you when you are to consume that protein. For example, I eat 1/2 protein - usually an egg -- for breakfast. Then 1 portion for lunch and 1 portion for dinner. The portion sizes are dictated by the type of protein you are eating. For instance, I believe one portion of boneless, skinless chicken breast is 8 oz, while a portion of steak is 5 1/2 oz. There is a similar method for type, quantity and frequency (schedule) for eating veggies and starches.

I am having a pretty good week so far. I fluctuate a lot from day to day, so its not always easy to tell how I'm doing on any given day, but I weighed on Sunday -- for my "official" weekly weigh-in -- at 317 lbs. and by this morning I was 314 pounds. My weight loss seems to follow a pattern where I am at my lowest point in the middle of the week (like Tuesday or Wednesday), and then go up slightly over the weekend. I suspect that I ease up a little on my diet at the end of the week and on the weekend, and consume more sodium that I usually do. And then by Monday and Tuesday I'm back on track. Anyway, as long as I have a loss from one week to the next, I am happy.