Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm ok.  Still doing my program.  Little emotional over some family issues but handling them well.  I'll be back next week.  Re-doing the blog.  Taking a different approach to the blog.  Feel like taking it back to what it was during the "My Going To Goal" days.  I need to be recording and sharing the victories.  I don't want to forget any part of this journey.  It's amazing!

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your's!

Love you!

Laura

Saturday, November 8, 2014

Catch Up!

This has been the wildest almost 3 weeks of my life in a long time!  I know there is no way that I am going to be able to catch you all up with every detail but I think you'll see the huge change that has happened.  My mentor Janet and Michael Banks have encouraged me to journal this journey so that is what I'm going to do,  I've just have to figure a way to fit it in my crazy exhausting schedule.  It will get better as I get stronger!

I'm sorry that I didn't get back out here as I planned.  I really don't know where to start to summarize all of this but I'm going to try.  So bear with me.

So, I truly believe that God sent Michael Banks into my life.  Interesting this all happened after I made the decision to get WW Mike totally out of my life.  Period end of subject.  There are things about him that I don't want to discuss.  I will say this.  It took me a long time to realize that he was a control freak, thought he owned me, tried to ruin my marriage, knew everything and was always right.  I thank God that I walked away from that very abusive friendship.  I was an idiot but I learned from it all.  That is the end of Mike the WW freak!

Michael Banks is so different.  He is truly a man of God.  He truly believes that this transformation will not happen with out Him.  Not only is Michael going to change me physically and mentally but he is going to transform and restore my spiritual life.  I've wanted this since I got out of the cult in 2002.  I guess God had to let me go on this almost 12 year journey to learn a lot about myself and about transforming my body.  It all starts in my mind.  I have to believe I can do this.  I have to love myself enough to do this.  I have to trust God to help me do this!  I'm ready.

My first assignment from Michael was to drink a gallon of water a day.  Right!  That is what I thought.  We are talking about a person who lived on 2 different types of fluid pills.  Of course I must inject here that WW Mike bugged me so much about fluid retention that I talked the Dr. in giving me more.  WRONG!  Anyway,  I truly didn't think that I could do it.  His assignment was to drink half the bottle by 2 p.m. and to finish it by 7 p.m.  The first day I did it.  I was amazed but I also lived in the bathroom.  I felt awful but I did it.  The other assignment was to get a book by John C. Maxwell called Failing Forward and to read it.  I'm in the process of doing that now.  All this water is sued to not only keep my body properly hydrated but to also cleanse my body.  Guys, there is truth in all of this.  I called it bullshit for years but after hitting rock bottom I thought I would try it I will never ever stop drinking my gallon of water a day.  I now crave it and I thirst for it.  One other thing the water is to be room temperature and not cold.  Also coffee, green tea and smoothies are extra and they don't go against your water.  I have yet been able to drink more.  Now a lot of it is because I don't have time. I could drink the extra fluid but I'm so busy everyday.  More so in a long time.  This transformation requires a lot of work.  It is worth it!

Michael left my mentor Janet to work with me on the Food Plan, however he has taken more things away from me.  They gave me what he calls an Essential List and that contains what I'm allowed to eat.  This is it in a nutshell:

No Diary - this includes butter, yogurt, sour cream, all cheese etc.

The only diary that I can have is coconut milk, creamer and butter.

No nuts

I can have all veggies with the exception of carrots, broccoli, any white potatoes.  No iceberg lettuce but lettuce that actually has a nutritional value I can have.

I can have sweet potatoes.  All that I want.

The only fruit allowed is blueberries and avocado.  I can enjoy as many avocados as I desire.

All meats.  (beef, chicken, turkey, pork, fish, shrimp etc.)  No ham and no bacon.
I can have 3 slices of turkey bacon a week

egg whites.  I can have 1 egg yoke a day.

No grains.  So no bread, oatmeal, pasta, rice etc.  The only grain I'm allowed is Quinoa which once I learned how to properly prepare it I love it!!!!

No diet drinks and no artificial sweeteners whatsoever!  I can only use pure Stevia.

I can have pinto beans, black beans, white beans and garbanzo beans.  Fresh or in a can.  I just have to rinse them and heat them using chicken broth and seasonings.

So...You can see I am eating very clean.  It is very limited the first 45 days.  Things will slowly come back.  I'm told that dairy and grains will not.

So, this is a TOTAL lifestyle change!  I can't even cook like I use to.  I'm having to learn all over again.  Janet is a genius at this.  She is helping me so much.  I will start sharing things with you.  I can say that I have had no cravings and I am never hungry.  It is amazing what being hydrated and eating whole foods does to your body.  Food has been killing me.  I am so totally convinced.

So, I started this hardly being able to stand.  I have been cooking 3 meals a day!  My knees are handling it ok but my right foot is not!  By the end of the day I can't walk without a walker.  I just keep telling myself that it will get better each time the scale moves.

I have more energy than I know what to do with.  My energy level is that I could run and do all day long.  I don't take naps, I sleep like a baby.  My body is keeping me from doing more!  THIS IS AN AMAZING JOURNEY!

I'm going to close today with what has happened in regards to weight loss in the last 3 weeks.  I started at 397.6 lbs.  Today I weighed 378.4 lbs.  That is 19.2 lbs in 3 weeks.  3 WEEKS!  And... I have not taken one fluid pill!!!!!

Am I jazzed?  You bet I am!  Michael says I will be down 25 lbs by Thanksgiving.  I think that he had better change my goal.  He said by January 1 I will not believe where I'll be.  Janet says that she thinks by the end of Spring I will be in the low 300's.  Ready to follow me and see?

Keep coming back!