Hey all, just a checking back in. I've updated my weight progress. Sorry for being away but have had a job change and some personal things going on in my life, but I'm still here, and should be checking in more often again.

A week ago I had a weight gain, but it was only a slight one. While I can't say I've been listenign to my body very well (not stopping when I'm full, or maybe I should say, choosing not to listen to the full indicator), I still am eating better than I used to. I'm actually eating a lot of salads lately (its what I've been craving... Imagine that). They are huge salads with cheese, bacon bits, and chicken on them, but they are still salads... LOL...

I'm now down over 8 pounds. Yesterday I was making an effort to get back "on plan" (WeightWatcher term) by chewing and concentrating on the food again.

Ok, I've never been one to be a slave to the scales, but just like last week, its Friday and I'm really wanting to know where I'm at after this past week of eating big lunches (but not much else) everyday, and going into the weekend. Well the GREAT news is I'm down another 2.5 pounds! So thats about 7 pounds total in about 10 days! Wahoo!!!! Definetly gives me more drive to keep going and even get better at following the 4 Golden Rules and continuing to bring in better foods (believe it or not, I like a lot of healthy stuff).

This has been a hard week. Kids and wife are out of school for Spring Break and everyone wants to go out and eat. Yesterday I found myself at Red Lobster for lunch with my wife. Today, a friend wanted to go out for a lunch we keep putting off and I gave in. While at these lunches, I'm not eating slowly like I should be, and definetly not focusing on the food. But the up side is I'm not really eating dinner in the evenings as I'm just not hungry from lunch. Again, thats unheard of for me. So I know the caloric intake is defiently down, but I'm not happy with where and how I'm eating... Tomorrow will be another hard day as I've promised to take the kids to Mr. Biggs (a games and rides type place). Going to try to stick to salads and lighter fare on the buffet that they offer.

Quick update this morning... Due to the big (HUGE) meal I wound up eating at lunch, I never felt hungry again until after 7pm (thats a huge change in itself. I would binge after a binge due to being upset with my earlier binge). So for dinner I had a small sandwich, a few chips (not a heaping plate ;)) and then an apple an hour or so later. So while it wasn't a good day, for me compared to my past actions, it was a great day in some mental aspects of taking control back after basically losing control. :)

Cathie- Falcon is a small (but growing rapidly) community just outside of Colorado Springs.

Hi Lorraine. There are only 3 data points on my graph. The first was from 17-Mar (my starting weight), then the one from last Friday (21-Mar) and yesterday (24-Mar). So overally, I'm down 4.6 pounds!

Another quick update... My posts may be irregular for a few days. Have some personal issues with family going on back in Oklahoma right now so may not be online as much for awhile. Another bad thing is I let my emotional eating take over and threw out what I've learned at lunch today... Really amazing the difference, as I started off eating and putting my fork down and tasting the food, then next thing I knew I looked down and almost everything was gone on my plate (and I honestly don't even remember eating it) :(. I'm not beating myself up over it though, as I know I have a ton of stuff going on in my head right now, and got caught up in all of that while eating... May be a rough couple of days, but I'm still hanging in there.

End of Week 1 - Well I made it through Easter Dinner. I ate more than I should, and felt like I had reverted back to older habits, but after the entire day was over, I only ate 2 real meals. I had an english muffin with jelly on it for breakfast, and then the big Easter dinner. After that I only had an apple later in the evening and I was fine!

Today is the beginning of week 2. So I weighed in this morning and I'm at 355.0 pounds! So thats 4.6 pounds gone and I'm really ecstatic about that! I had a few pit falls last week, and my biggest issue was I quit drinking water by the end of the week and was drinking sodas again. But overall I'm VERY happy with the results. Then seeing the 2nd show last night was a real inspiration. Knowing that the one guy had lost 185 pounds in about 13 months gives me a LOT of hope. So I have renewed my focus and am continuing on! This is great!

Happy Easter!!! Well today is Day 7 and it will probably be a challenge. After church we are going to a friend's house for Easter dinner. Overall I feel more in control, but yesterday was tough. It was the first weekend day on the program and I slipped back in some old ways. Found myself eating fast, and ate more than I've been eating all week (and snacking) but still I think less than I would have eaten previously. I was also back to my old way of beating myself up on "failing" but after I thought about things I remembered what I've told others... This to me is NOT a diet, but just relearning how to eat. Its going to take time, and I need to remember what I've accomplished already this week is amazing. So while I know temptations and all will be great today, I'm ready to have a great Easter and enjoy dinner, but also know that I can stay in control if I just think about what I'm doing.

Thanks Lorraine. I'm not normally someone that has to step on a scale when I've done "diets" in the past, but knowing that I'm eating significantly less and feeling good about it, really had me pumped to look at the results so I gave in. I'll weigh in again on Monday of course then try to keep it to a minimum of once a week after that ;).

Welcome to Traineo Pat, and glad you joined us. Don't be shy and jump into the conversations over in our "I Can Make You Thin" group area. I'll send you a contact invite. I think we all need to help support each other all we can.

Ok, so yesterday my whole schedule was off. My wife had minor surgery early in the morning. I ate a small (and for me compared to teh past was very small) turkey sandwich for a quick on the go breakfast with some OJ. Then my wife was actually done by 10 and she hadn't eaten since the previous night so she wanted to eat. We went to a breakfast place and I ordered a ham and cheese omlet. I really wasn't super hungry yet, but I did eat (so yeah, I went against the rules). I was proud of myself as my wife was picking the potatoes off of my plate and it didn't even bother me (in the past, NOBODY picked food off of my plate as that meant I wasn't going to get everything). That is a HUGE change for me.

Unfortunately I felt overfull at this point (man, I really hate that feeling now, and that used to be just the norm for me). I wound up not eating again until around 7pm before I started feeling hungry again. I had a couple of slices of pizza (my daughter had a bunch of friends over) and I was done with food for the day.

I think my biggest amazement with this system, is how free I feel from food. Before, food was an obsession. I was thinking about what was going to be my next meal. Or where can I get the most food for the least amount of money. Now, it seems food is just something I need to do, and then I'll just go on. Since I can eat what I want, I'm not trying to figure out how to "cheat" or sneak in a taste. Its been less than a week, and I just can't get over how different my attitude is already.

Ok, I couldn't wait any longer, and I had to get on the scale this morning. I'm down 3.8 pounds in 4 days! Wahooo!!! :)

Today's going to be hectic as my wife is having foot surgery (nothing major), but will probably be in odd places eating today. But I'm pumped and confident I can keep this going...

Quick update before I head to bed... Overall, I had a good day today. I really wasn't hungry for breakfast (not sure I care for not eating in the morning though) so I just had OJ. For lunch, I wound up having to take it late due to things at work going on, so I was really hungry (more so than you are supposed to be). Still though I had 2 tacos and that was it (normally I would easily eat 3 and usually 4). I did snack some, and ate more Animal Crackers than I probably should have (but still not as much as I would have eaten less than a week ago).

Tonight was another "eat on the run" night. I grabbed a cheeseburger (but not a double cheeseburger like I normally would), fries and a root beer and had to eat in the car while driving. The amazing thing to me was that when I normally grab a burger and fries, I'll usually have it scarfed down in just a couple of miles. Instead I did make an effort to really chew the food and put the sandwich down between bites. Also I would only eat half a fry and chew it, then eat the other half (normally I will jam 3 to 5 fries at a time into my mouth). So my burger lasted me all the way home (thats over a 15 minute drive) and I didn't even eat half the fries, and I'm completely satisfied tonight!

I will say that my big mistake yesterday and today though was I've quit drinking water. I need to get back on that track, but overall I'm still very happy with how things are going. Its going to be interesting to see the results on a scale.

Day 3 is still ongoing but while I had a few minutes, figured I'd do a quick post. Woke up this morning and really wasn't hungry. I just had a glass of OJ. For lunch I had leftovers from On the Border from Monday night's dinner. I sort of lost control here as it was good (and I wound up watching TV while eating) and now I feel over full. The good news is thats an over full feeling when I hadn't eaten anything today up to that point, and only eating half of what I used to eat in a single sitting. Downside is I definetly lost control, and thats because I was trying to slip in watching TV (to make the most of my lunch time).

Unlike in the past though, I don't feel like beating myself up. Learn from this and just move on is now my lesson. To me Paul McKenna's method is definetly something I can live with so I'm sticking to this. Just have to continue to practice it and make it a normal part of my way of eating.

Day 2 was yesterday, and just getting a chance to write about it. Overall I think the day went well. Food wasn't something literally on my mind all day (like it seems to have been in the past) but then it was hectic with work so I had other things to side track my thoughts. Downside to Day 2 was I found myself twice having to eat in the car due to having to run kids to school and then to activities in the evening. While I was driving, I did still try to eat slowly and put down the sandwich between bites (or delay putting it back to my face).

For Dinner I was actually craving a salad so took the kids to Chik-Fil-A and I had the Chicken Salad (didn't do the grilled chicken, but the standard one). It was great and it felt good to eat and feel in control (somewhat).

Quick update on last night. Had a friend give me a gift card for On the Border for some things I've been helping him with. My wife wanted to go out, so we headed to On the Border. Probably not a good move on the first day of a lifestyle change, but then part of this is that you can eat anything, so why not push it to the max... While I can't say that I followed the 4 Golden Rules to the letter, I can report that I did eat much slower than normal (but not at the speed I ate breakfast or lunch). I wound up only eating half my meal (normally I can scarf down the entire huge burrito, rice and beans without thinking twice about it), so I was pretty happy with that (my wife even was surprised and asked if I was sick or something :)).

One other observation last night... My son kept watching me eat (he's 13). He finally asked me what was wrong with my food. I told him nothing was wrong and asked why he asked that. He just said he had never seen me put down my fork before and figured I didn't like it. Ouch... A little telling about how once I start eating, its shovel it in as fast as I can.

Thanks Lorraine! As for not following the rules exactly, actually I am. I personally love cereal for breakfast and turkey sandwiches. Sure they are "healthy" but they are still some of my favorite foods :)

Ok, so I've now had two meals by following the "4 Golden Rules" of the I Can Make You Thin system by Paul McKenna. Maybe its because its just the first day, and maybe its all just mental, but I'm floored right now at how little I apparently want / need.

For breakfast I had a bowl of cereal and a glass of OJ. Normally, I eat a pretty good sized bowl of cereal and will refill the bowl at least once, if not even twice. Instead this morning, I set the spoon down between each bite and focused on eating. Before I finished that first bowl, I felt full (I honestly am not sure if I've ever noticed feeling full while eating before. Normally its later after I'm away from the table and I'm miserable from being stuffed).

Then for Lunch I made a Turkey sandwich (which I love, not because its "good for me"). I really focused on eating, and I'm now sitting here 20 mins later and I've only eaten half the sandwich and about half (maybe less than that) of the potato chips I put on my plate. Again, I normally eat a full sandwich, sometimes make a second one, and then a huge pile of chips.

Two other new observations in doing this...

1) This morning at breakfast I never realized my cereal had almonds in it (but man could I taste them this morning). I guess in the past I was eating it so fast I never even tasted what was going through my mouth.

2) As I sit here typing this, all I can taste is the grease from my potato chips. These are the same chips I always eat (Lays Potato Chips) and I can't believe the grease that I'm tasting (and I didn't hardly eat any compared to how much I normally eat)...

Maybe its all mental and because its day one and I'm so focused on this, but wow... If this is the changes to expect already, this is going to be great! ;)

Thanks Minu, Yeah I'm part of that area there also, but already had a traineo account. The www.mckenna.com site doesn't offer any tracking tools, so for me Traineo will fill that void. I've let others on that site know about traineo as a place to track weightloss and other factors, so wanted to start the group here for those that come over (plus the McKenna site looks like it will go to a pay site soon based on the way the "join now for the next few weeks for free" link reads to me.