Going, going...

I weighed in on Friday and had lost another 4.5 lbs.  Woo-hoo! 

As I waited to see the doctor, I wondered if I would be put on maintenance.  I thought about being able to increase my calories and what I would splurge on and the healthy choices I would make now that I wouldn't be afraid to eat out at restaurants.  The possibilities were endless!

When Dr. Brown came into the room, we talked a lot about how I've been doing, the weight loss progress I've made, how I've been feeling, whether I'm happy about my progress...and then he said it.  He said the magical words.  "Well, I think you're right where you need to be and we can probably start weaning you off the medications and put you in the Maintenance Phase.  How do you feel about that?"  

I wonder if most people want to stay in the Acute Phase so they can lose more weight.  Me?  Eh.  I just want to be normal again.  I'm tired of bringing my own food to restaurants and denying myself a drink. Of course I said that would be fine with me!

Now here's the kicker: because I've been taking four pills a day, he told me to start this week with three per day and continue with the normal 500-calories-from-protein diet. Next week I would go down to two pills, the week after that just one pill per day and then within three weeks I'd be into the Wellness Phase. Well...that was a little disappointing.  I thought I'd get to increase my calories at least just a little.  But not so much. 

However - there is LIGHT at the end of the TUNNEL!!!  Very exciting.  I did get a Phase Two (Short-Term Maintenance) packet that outlines an 800 calorie diet and a 1000 calorie diet.  Many more options on those AND they have CARBS!  Not a lot of carbs, mind you, but some.  I do get some.  Whee!

That afternoon we met with some of Pat's former co-workers for lunch at a sushi place.  I had my salad with ginger dressing and my fake sushi.  Which is pretty heavy laden with carbs since it's a whole lotta rice.  But it was GOOD.  

We'd planned on going to Disney afterward but that evening our friends April and Andrew were coming over, so we opted to go home, give The Princess a good nap and get some stuff done around the house.  

We had SO much fun that night.  It was a celebratory kind of night.  Andrew made margaritas.  They also brought a bottle of Riesling, my favorite kind of wine!  April made a chopped salad that was AMAZING.  It had pieces of fried angel hair pasta for crunchies, some sugared pecans, blue cheese and blue cheese dressing.  So yummy.  

I had the salad, one of my veggie "chicken" grillers, some grilled peppers and onions and about three bites of brown rice.  I also had a margarita and two glasses of wine.

Oh yeah...and dessert.  My husband made Hungry Girl's Tiramisu Pudding recipe.  Heaven. I was happy.  

After The Princess went to bed, the four of us played a few rounds of Bananagram (which, as April says, is Scrabble on crack) and then moved on to Scene It? and Scene It? Harry Potter. 

It was a SUPER FUN night!!!

Until my stomach revolted from carb and sugar overload and I got a little sick.  It was not pretty.  But my very sweet husband took care of me and made sure I took a couple doses of Pepto and had the "supplies" I needed for the night should I get sick again.

When I woke up, I was fine.  But ew.  Let's not do that again.  

On Saturday as we were grocery shopping, I decided that I just couldn't wait one more second for a Publix sub.  I did good - I got a wrap instead which is a LOT less bread (read: carbs).  I didn't get any mayonnaise, just lots of veggies, extra cheese and some vinegar (no oil).  And then I skipped dinner.  :)  

We made a great discovery while at Publix; it's Orville Redenbacher's Whole Grain Lime + Salt Popcorn.  YUM!!! I did have two cups of that.  And one of my usual yogurts.  But all things considered, I did pretty well yesterday.  AND - I only took TWO pills!!!

So far today, I've taken ZERO pills!  NOT ONE!  Woo-hoo!  Yeah, I'm kind of hungry but whatever.  I did get up and work out before church, had my usual breakfast of a shake and some veggie bacon.   For lunch he made me a whole grain light english muffin with a plum tomato and string cheese on top.  Sort of bruschetta, sort of pizza, and exactly what I needed!  Haven't had dinner yet but my plan is to have a salad and my veggie hot dogs.  Maybe more popcorn while we watch the Grammys or maybe he'll will make a makeshift low-calorie, low-fat cannoli filling.  

Either way, I feel like I've done pretty well today.  I went WAY off on Friday but Saturday and Sunday have been okay.  I decided last week that once I went into Maintenance, I would back off of my exercising so that I don't have to stay late after work anymore.  I've been walking four days a week during lunch and then staying late two days to lift weights, but starting this week I'm going to walk two days and weight train the other two days. I'll get my third cardio and weight lifting sessions on Sundays when I do one of The Firm workouts, because those workouts combine aerobics and weights. 

I'm almost there!!!  I'm almost back to normal!  I'm so excited!!!