Dessert last nite was rough – remains of vanilla granola mixed with cool whip lite. Prolly bunch of carbs, and 3–500 calories. I told you that was my weak time.

Today, breakfast wasn’t much better. I managed to avoid drive thru temptation, but I got 2 diet bars with my coke zero, and I’m not drinking as much as I should.

I also may be running a fever – I’ve had this cold since last Thursday and it’s hard to shake.

Dinner: Ground Sirloin - 1/2 of 1.25 lbs, so 3/4 lb pre-cooked weight. I'm guessing between 500 and 600 calories. Flavored with a couple of cheese sticks The husband got instead of the string cheese I had requested. No countable carbs. I will prolly have some sugar free pudding when the girls have theirs for dessert.

beverages - I made a batch of weak ice tea. Yes, it's caffeinated, but it's very weak, so it's okay. However, I'm trying to drink it without sweetener, so it will be a struggle. Me and my sweet tooth.

Homework (very light) is done, and girls are jammied and dinner dishes are done. The Husband isn't home yet, so I'll prolly goof off until he gets home, then do some more chores.

I will be working after bedtime tonite, so that will be the challenge time. I hope to resist the munchies.

Okay, so I pretty much doubled my intake in the afternoon. I had another coffee cup of wheat thins, and a diet bar (balance - 25 carbs, 190 cals), and another string cheese. Afternoon drink was 24 oz of coke zero. I was working through a challenging problem, and I've become accustomed to munchies and computer challenges.

Now we're home. Girls are gonna have the last of the fish sticks, and I've got to cook some lean ground sirloin, and I'll make it a one pot dish and throw in a package of chopped broccoli and other flavorings. This is a good low carb thing. The Husband will prolly only partake if I keep the broccoli separate, so I'll think about that. (He's a broccoli h8r!)

I'll do well until about 8, then I'll want something else. Evening snacking is always a struggle to keep under control.

Asthma was a non issue today, so maybe if I have a wheeze free week I can think about starting a walking program again.

Not healthy at all, but my supply was limited.

2 servings of wheat thins reduced fat. 260 cals, 42 carbs.

Drinking – 24 oz of ice water.

The plan is to low carb mostly, but not obsessively. Calorie levels should be between 1500 and 2000. According to several websites, I need 2500 just to maintain my weight, so coming in less, in combination with the low carb stuff should help.

I still have to feed a kindergartener and a first grader three squares plus snacks (the husband, he’s on his own), so I’m trying to find a solution that helps us all eat healthier, but my way of eating is not theirs. They love mac n cheese (can’t stand it), and can have it in moderation.  Weight loss and low blood sugar are both goals, but without the fuss of external diets. I have been successful on medifast, but it takes more obsession, discipline and finances than I currently have available.

Anyhoo, the cycle must end. I’ve got to find a sustainable plan that works. So this is trying to be it.

A Link I found this weekend:
http://www.caloriesperhour.com/ 

2 polly o string cheeses: 160 cals, 0 carbs.

24 oz of DDP. (Next fluid serving will either be all water, or caffeine free diet soda).

I’ve decided to put my food log here, for accountability purposes. Maybe if I show the world what I’m eating, I won’t eat so much. We’ll see.

Breakfast: Fruitified Zone Perfect Blue berry bar. 190 cals, 25 carbs.

My employer provides a fully stocked kitchen, so it’s hard to control yourself, but I’m trying to stick to the healthy stuff.

Morning beverages: 2 20 oz bottles of Diet Dr Pepper (purchased, not from the kitchen). No, I haven’t consumed them both just yet.

Seriously, I’m wearing gloves right now. I’m having a good diet day, which means I’m freezing. I haven’t cut the tips off the fingers yet, since I seem to be doing okay. Programming is 50 percent point and click click click click click right now, anyway.

We’ll see if knitting in gloves is possbile later on.

20 pounds. As advertised. However, it would have been more, but I had some bad days at the beginning of last week, so that slowed my rate down. I kept my cal count down, but the food choices on the bad days weren’t the best.

This week, I’ll be adding in the walking, as recommended by Medifast – 20 minutes 3 times a week. Don’t know when, just yet – possibly at lunch time at work.

On the knitting front – can’t find the camera, so you’ll just have to imagine in your mind – I’ve got the triangle blanket halfway done. I bound off the baby sweater torso, only to determine it’s too short, so either I have to go back and add about 6 rows, or scrap the whole thing. Nephew is due on valentine’s day, so I need to decide soon.

Today is the six yr old’s part at Chuck E Cheese. Ugh. But, this is her first big, non family party, with invitations and thank you notes and everything. So, I’ll be listening to screaming kids for two hours. I’ve warned the husband that if he’s home when we get home, I’m going to take an hour off to recover my sanity. He has to work today (maintenance weekend for the govt computers), so he’s excused from party duty.

I had my first off site client visit last week for the new job. I’m definitely out of practice, but I think I did okay. I was pretty nervous, so I told the 4.25 yr old at drop off that I needed to hurry because I had my first big meeting with the new job. So, at pickup, the first thing out of her mouth was “Mom! How did your meeting go?” That made my afternoon.

After 3 weeks on Medifast, I’ve lost 15 pounds. I seem to have settled on 3 lbs a week after the water loss. So this is the real work. Medifast recommends getting used to the program before starting their exercise for sedentary folks (walking) program. So, next weekend, I will begin that. That should help as well. That may increase the 3 lbs a week, or may just help with inch loss.

The 5.95 turned 6 on Tuesday. I’ll have pics from the big Chuck E Cheese party which is next weekend.

The 4.25 has recovered from her cold and has spent the last 6 nites in her own bed all nite. Yes! Remember, this is the child who’s also called the Klingon. (Cling on, for those not aware of Star Trek).

The knitting – well, not so much. New Nephew is due in 4 weeks. Hat is done. Sweater needs sleeves. Still need to do booties and matching blanket. Other blanket (to match nursery) is almost half done. 18.25’s sweater – supposed to be done for christmas – needs sleeves.

I have my first on-site client visit on Tuesday with the new job. I have to make sure I can present a professional enough appearance. Also gotta remember to take my business cards to hand out.

I’m doing some personal coding, but time is short.

I’ve got a new story idea wandering around in my head, so I’m putting some of the stuff on paper, but I haven’t been really writing in ages. I guess I’m not as serious about it right now as I used to be.

We’ve lost the TV Remote (my fault – I put it somewhere, and now can’t remember where) so now I’m off to clean in hopes of finding it under the clutter.

Update: Found the remote. It was in a box I had thought I’d looked in before.

Down 11 pounds. Ketosis has begun. Water loss has ended, so now the real work begins. Last time, I was able to maintain a loss average of a pound a day.

Lessons Learned/Relearned

• Drinking is necessary. Water is best, but diet soda/ice tea will work.
• Vegetables are necessary. If neglected, system backup will occur.
• Vitamins are recommended.

Tips and Tricks

Whenever I have a meal, I drink at least 16–20 oz of liquid with it. At work, they provide water bottles in the fridge. For liquid meals, I use two – one to drink part of, then use the other half to make my meal, and one to drink with/after the meal.

While they don’t recommend adding exercise for 3 to 4 weeks, especially for sedentary people like me, I try to add in extra stairs trips at home, and park farther away from places to creep walking in.

Clean the shaker/bowl/container used immediately after your meal. Soy has a weird texture, and this is a necessity unless you want stinky dishes.

Use the forums for support. I’m signed up with mymedifast.com, but there are others out there.

It’s important to have your family or house mates supporting you. My kids help, and Hubby helps. If I have trouble with a specific food, they’re good about letting me leave the room. Extended family support is good too, but the day to day people are essential.

Next Sunday, I’ll have another writeup.

(In our fam damily, we do this on purpose. Mostly to hide the fact that we do this accidently, too.)

Yesterday was Medifast day 3, and I peaked at the scale and had lost 7 lbs. Yes, you read that correctly. Now, most of it was water weight, I know, since I was visiting the facilities on average every 45 minutes, but it drives the confidence up.

The hardest part of doing this is not sneaking bites of little girl food. But, I’m keeping to a 1000–1100 calorie diet, and as long as I follow the program I’m not hungry. The shakes and pudding and oatmeals are enough to keep my sweet tooth satisfied, and every 2.5–3 hours, I’m eating. And I get one real “Healthy” meal a day. As long as I follow the rules for “Healthy”, I’m good.

New Years Eve, Hubby was ill, so I entertained 2 4.2 yr olds and one 5.95 year old. We managed to stay up to watch the ball drop, and we toasted with caffeine free diet soda, and they were excited to see Miley Cyrus and the Jonas Brothers standing next to Dick Clark. Fifteen minutes later, they were fast asleep.

And the monsters got up extremely early. Still working on adjusting the time clock. We’re up, had breakfast, and the kitchen has been cleaned. I cleaned the microwave, and hand washed the glass plate. Hubby is now cleaning off the formal dining room table – the repository for all the stuff we don’t want to put away since pretty much Easter (or even last Christmas).

I finally decided that until I was happy with the knitwhit prototype, I wasn’t going to port it to the web. Also, whatever job I end up having, the web version will be my practice area. Currently, there are four web versions, all using different methods of programming, with pretty much the same database. So, it’s in Access for now, until I get the pattern database stuff finalized, and then I’ll make it multi-user, then I’ll port it to the web and start asking for beta users. It WON’T be another ravelry – purely a project management app, not a social one.

I have two packages to get in the mail between now and Monday – one for my knitting secret pal, and one for my sister.

I’ve made a little progress on my NaNo project, but I’m behind, and I’m actually using it as a reward for my must dos, rather than the other way around. Otherwise no laundry would get accomplished.

I’ve lost ten pounds, also – mostly by not eating or eating one or two of the one-hundred calorie snack packs. And drinking gallons of iced tea.

Well, the clock is chiming the hour, so the girls have to be given their cleaning instructions. We’re all working this morning.

To finding a job closer to home, doing work I want to do.

To Shenandoah Sheep and Fiber Festival.

To Halloween with Spider Girl and the Vampire Queen (I found my camera, pictures will be procured and posted).

To getting rid of lots of clutter and getting a craft room for me.

To trying to eat right, once again, or just giving in and doing the gastric bypass.

To wrapping up the year on a positive note.

I'm such a geek. While I like ravelry.com, it's a little too social for my taste, so in my spare time, I'm working on my own. I was going to make it a plain desktop app, but what with Vista, and Mac and Linux ppl, for now it's browser based, in vb.net 2005 and sql server. When I'm happy with the overall usage, I  may make it multi-user, and do more with it. The big thing I want it to do is price my projects and keep track of my yarn inventory based on yarn usage.

In other news, the teenager is moving out today. I'm trying not to be too mushy ("oh, mom!"), but she's been my life for the last 18 and a half years (including gestation). She turns 18 in September, and she'll only be six miles away, but still.

On the diet front, over the winter and chaotic spring I had gained back all my weight loss, so now I'm back on medifast. I'm gonna use up my existing supply, then order more. The girls and I took a walk to the playground this weekend and the next morning I could barely get out of bed. And, since the 5 yr old was signed up for fall soccer, I gotta be able to teach her some basics in the next 30 days.

So far, no actual writing has occured, but now that I'm no longer at the overtime-crazy job, maybe I'll be able to better utilise my free time for more than just making sure the kids have clean clothes and snacks for tomorrow. I'm slowly but surely recovering.

BTW, I haven't read HP 7. I stopped after 2.