HMR Fifth Official Weigh-in Result (Thursday, May 26)

I have lost 37 lbs.
My weight the previous week was: 275.4
My weight loss for this week was 13.2 lbs and my new weight is 263.2 lbs!

Due to tornado warnings, HMR was canceled on May 25, so the weigh-in happened on May 26.

Can I say that I have literally been working my ass-off?  Yeah, I can say that in all honestly.  I have stuck to the HMR program with a few minor changes so that it works better for me.  So, was I in the box?  Yes, I was in the box, but there is a little elasticity where the HMR box is concerned, at least for me.

I'm not expecting to lose as much weight next week (I simply don't know if I can work THAT HARD all of the time).  I will be happy with losing a reasonable amount of weight each week.  No more weight gain, which shouldn't even be possible on this low-calorie diet (assuming I don't cheat!).

What I've been doing:
Exercise and lots of it.
My goal for each day is to burn off more calories than I consume. 
Exercise has been indoors for the last week because of terrible wet weather.  I have mainly been doing the treadmill and something called "Adaptive Motion Trainer" or AMT.  The AMT is made by Precor.  I couldn't do 5 minutes on this thing when I first tried it a couple of weeks ago.  Now I can do the entire 60 minute program with the 5 minute cool-down.  This machine burns calories faster than the elliptical.  This machine has 20 levels of resistance and I'm only doing it on level 5.  I like the AMT better than the treadmill because it is so low-impact.  I cannot jog to save my life on a treadmill because my shins start to hurt after 20 seconds - I don't have this problem on either the AMT or an elliptical. 

HMR Diet
As I mentioned, I've stuck to the plan pretty well and generally my calorie intake has been in the 500 - 800 calorie range.  It just depends on how hungry I get or if I start my day off with an HMR cereal (210 calories as opposed to the 100 calorie shake).  I consistently take the two multi-vitamins and have managed to drink lots and lots of water.  The last thing I want is to become dehydrated with all of the exercise.

Other Foods
Though not on HMR, I tried this recipe for Fettuccine Alfredo (without the chicken) and it was pretty good.  You have to prepare the Tofu Shirataki noodles properly -- if you do not rinse them thoroughly and make sure they are really dry, the dish could turn out to have an off-putting texture.  Some people heat these noodles in a skillet to dry them out (after they have rinsed them under running water and patted them dry).

Tonight I tried the recipe for something called "Slaw and Order".  This dish was AWESOME and doesn't have many calories or much fat.  I used Muir Glenn Italian Herb Pasta Sauce instead of tomato soup.

When I felt the need for something sweet (as if shakes aren't sweet enough), I've been skipping the HMR Benefit Bars and just going with the Kellogs Special K Protein Bars.  The Special K bars taste better than the HMR bars.  You can also get a very similar protein bar at Aldi (of all places), but it may be a special buy that they don't always carry.  Both options are cheaper than the HMR Benefit Bars.

**Again, all typos are my own, I'm not proofing these entries that closely!  :-)

Today was a good, no... make that great, exercise day!

I wasn't able to exercise yesterday because my allergies were killing me.  Sometimes I wish that I lived in a clean room that no allergens could penetrate.  That would probably be a sad life.

Today I went to my new gym.  I joined a place called Club Fitness, it's local to the St. Louis area.  It costs $9.95 a month and so far so good.  The facility is clean and I have no complaints.  I do wish they provided towels, like the YMCA, but I can live with bringing one from home for $9.95 a month.

My exercise today consisted of 90 minutes on the elliptical and 25 minutes on the treadmill.  It had been a while since I've used an elliptical and I thought it was going to die after 5 minutes.  I kept telling myself that my legs should not be burning and it should not be this difficult... in fact, I was doing a backward motion and once I started to use the machine properly it was easy (or much easier than doing it the wrong way).  I really like that the machines keep track of the calorie count and heart rate based on your age and weight.  I like feedback. 

I've also been using myfitnesspal to keep track of my exercise and calories.  It constantly tells me that I'm not getting enough calories as it does not work with any diet that allows you to lose more than 2 lbs per week.  Today with my HMR calories and the exercise it informed me that I would weight 235 lbs in 5 weeks (if I do everything the same).  Pretty shocking number to me, it will be interesting to see if that is possible. 

Ok, I'm off to eat my delicious HMR Chicken Soup.  Delicious might be an exaggeration, but it is totally edible and even better when I had no-salt spices to it.  I've been using the following blends to improve the taste. 

1. Penzey's Arizona Dreaming - Salt Free
2. Penzey's Sunny Spain - Salt Free
3. Penzey's Italian Herb Mix - Salt Free

I'm really impressed with the flavors you can create with good spices.  Yum!