Hey friends! So, I’ve officially hit the halfway mark of the Optinast-only part of the program as of this past Tuesday. WOOHOO! Only 6 more weeks to go. I can’t believe it’s only been 6 weeks (it feels like longer) but I’m also pretty excited with how far I’ve come in such a short amount of time.

This week, I weighed in at 336.8, for a loss of 3 pounds from the week before, and 29 pounds from my highest weight. I’m past my 10% goal, and only 10 pounds away from my 15% goal! It feels pretty exciting. I’ve also been able to start wearing some clothes that were too snug for me when I started thing program, and even my oldest son (bless him) said he could see how hard I have been working and was super proud of me. *cue tears* Next week I’m seeing the kinesiologist after class, so will hopefully have some measurements to report back on as well.

I’ve been feeling a bit blue this week, but have been keeping up with exercise and meditation in spite of that. I think it’s more work stress causing me to feel out of sorts at the moment, and the looming task of having to prepare all my personal tax info for the year. My stomach was also very unsettled this week, and I don’t know if maybe I went too far with the Restorlax (ooooo boy!) or if it was a gastro bug, because both boys had digestive issues this week as well. At any rate, I’ve stopped the Restorlax until I have difficulties again 🙈.

Anyways… this week’s session was led by the dietitian, and introduced us to the idea of transitioning back only food once the shakes-only portion of the program ends. While there were some people who complained that it was too early to start talking about this, I actually think it’s good to give ourselves some time to wrap our heads around it, and well as deal with the emotions that are coming up. For me, that’s some fear, nervousness, anxiety, and sadness. As well as excitement and happiness, of course.

We went over the transition schedule — 6 weeks of replacing a shake with a meal and/or snack gradually. We talked about how we’ll be on a daily meal plan of anywhere from 1200-1800 calories daily, and what that breakdown would look like in terms of daily servings of proteins, fats, and carbs. We have handouts now that explain for us what a serving of each macro should be — let me tell you, 2TBSP for a serving of ground beef is not going to go very far when it comes to making burgers or tacos 😭. And who ever only eats 1/2 of an english muffin or bagel?! It will certainly take some getting used to, but that’s what the program is all about, right? Changing our habits for a healthier ones.

They expect that once we’re back onto food, our weight loss will slow to about 1 pound a week or so. The thought of that seems discouraging right now, giving that I’m averaging significantly more than that at the moment, but I also know that any progress in the right direction is still progress. Perhaps I’ll have to do a thought record on my feelings about it so that I can counter my automatic thoughts when I feel like 1 pound is a failure and not worth the effort.

And with that, I’m off to pick up the little guy from preschool. Until next week…