HMR Sixth Official Weigh-in Result (Wednesday, June 8)

I have lost 43.6 lbs.
My weight the previous week was: 263.2
My weight loss for this week was 6.6 lbs and my new weight is 256.6 lbs!

There was about a two day break from HMR because of the holiday.  I would have lost more weight if I didn't have two days out of the box.  My out of the box days were not as horrible as they could have been - I'm starting to think more about what I put in my mouth and choosing better foods when I do choose to deviate from HMR.

With that said... It has been a long time since any scale read in the 250 range.  I had hoped to make it to 250 lbs exactly by my birthday, but I can be happy with making it into the range during my birthday week!

Short post tonight, I'm beat.  I'm going to try and work harder next week and I'm going to see if it is feasible to work with a personal trainer. 

HMR Third Official Weigh-in Results (Wednesday, May 11, 2011)

I have lost 24.8 lbs.
My weight the previous week was: 279.8
My weight loss for this week was 4.4 lbs and my new weight is 275.4 lbs!

So... as I suspected, my weight loss was hindered by eating foods that were not part of the HMR program.  I feel fortunate that I lost 4.4 lbs and am not complaining.  :-)  Next week will be better!
My health educator, kindly did a HMR "water math" spreadsheet for me -- I should have lost approximately 6 lbs.  I will try and post a copy of this spreadsheet as it shows exactly what you can lose based on the calories you consume and the calories you burn with physical activity.

My goal for this week is to increase my physical activity (PA in HMR parlance) to at least burn 1000 calories per day.  Our crummy weather along with my allergies has made it difficult to actually do much outside.  I've been using the treadmill and it is getting old really fast.  I need some variety.  A few years ago (like... 5 years) I used to roller blade on a local trail here -- the trail is 6 miles from the start to end, so a total of 12 miles each time I did it.  I did this almost every day, religiously, for months.  I lost about 87 lbs which has come back on over the years (plus a few more lbs).  If I don't watch it, I burn out on exercise, so I need to make sure I have a wide variety of things to do this time around.

Exercise/physical activity that I enjoy:

1. Walking outside or on the treadmill - must have some kind of stimulation, like music or tv.
2. Bike - I have a barely used bike, in great shape.  It was a birthday gift to myself a few years ago.
3. Elliptical machine - You can burn a ton of calories and it doesn't bother my shins at all.
4. Inline skating aka roller blading - I'm so out of shape I probably couldn't go very far, but I'm going to try it again soon.  I'm a fancy skater and can go backwards.  :p
5. Swimming - I refuse to take off my shirt, so prefer to do this at home, though our pool is kind-of small for it
6. Tennis - I enjoy this, but totally suck and really need to take lessons... again! 

Exercise/physical activity that I do not enjoy:

1. Yardwork - my roommate likes to do this and I occasionally help some.  I really should help more.  I used to pay people to do this stuff!
2. Cleaning the house - though it must be done.  Darn economy... I had a great lady who used to do this every other week.  Some day I hope to have her back as it was well worth the money to me.
3. Running - my shins hurt too much when I try to do this.  It could have something to do with weighing way more than I should.  I might give it a try again, just because it can burn a ton of calories in a short period of time.
4. Helping people move stuff - I know, I must not be a very good friend.  I will help though, but won't pretend to enjoy it!

Disclaimer:  Typos and whatnot are all mine.  Hopefully my post are comprehensible!

HMR Second Official Weigh-in Results (Wednesday, May 4, 2011)

I have lost 20.4 lbs.
My weight the previous week was: 286.6
My weight loss for this week was 6.8 lbs and my new weight is 279.8 lbs!

I was a little bit frustrated by the scale this week, but I really shouldn't have been as the weight loss was still significant and nothing to sneeze at.  Though, that's what I've been doing all week - sneezing.  Allergy symptoms are not an inducement to stay active, they are an inducement to sleep and laze.  My physical activity (in the form of walking) was respectable, but I'm hoping to add more physical activity.

My physical activity (PA) plan is to burn at least as many calories each day as I consume in food.  So far so good.  To add some variety to my PA, I'm going to start riding my bike.

I took my bike (which hasn't been ridden in at least 5 years) to a local shop yesterday so they could check it out (safety and what not).  I think it probably just needs air in the tires, but better safe than sorry I suppose.

I have tried a couple more of the HMR foods and they are both pretty good!

1. HMR Lasagna with Meat Sauce - thumbs up!
2. HMR Multigrain Hot Cereal - also thumbs up!

The HMR Multigrain Hot Cereal is unique because it can also take the place of a shake.  Oddly though, the cereal has twice as many calories as a shake, so eating enough of it could slow your weight loss.  I had two bowls of it today.  :-)

Though I've tons of interesting things to say, I'm probably going to post only once or twice a week from this point forward.  I don't want to bore people too much! 

First Official HMR Weigh-in Tonight (April 27, 2011)

I have lost 13.6 lbs.  

About half of the weight lost was fat and the other half was water. 

HMR is using the starting weight of 300.2 taken at their office on April 11, 2011.

My current weight is 286.6 lbs!

Let me just say that this week started out on the rough side.  I had a cardiac stress-echo test at the hospital on Monday.  The test goes something like this:

1. You are taken to room and hooked to an ekg/ecg.
2. The nurse records your vitals (bp, heart rate, etc).
3. They do a baseline ekg/ecg while laying down.  I think they did one standing up as well.
4.  The echo tech (I do not know the proper name) does what looks like an ultrasound of your heart.
5. You get on a treadmill, and in my case, walk until your heart rate hits 180 bpm.  The treadmill increases the incline every 3 minutes or so.  It didn't take too long for my heart rate to reach 180.  They also take your blood pressure periodically.
6. As soon my heart hit 180 bpm, I got off of the treadmill and very quickly got back on the table and laid on my left side.  The echo tech does an ultrasound of your heart again and then arranges the images from before and after with the cardiologist.

The cardiologist said several things during the test that made me feel better -- such as, "your ekg/ecg looks perfect, no problems" and after looking at the ultrasound pictures from before the treadmill and after, said, "everything looks normal, no problems".

I was so relieved, you don't even know.  I didn't realize how stressed out I was from the whole thing until I was leaving and burst out bawling in the hall while they were walking me out.  I could feel the tears coming on when I was trying to say thank you to the staff.  I started crying again in the car and I must have looked ridiculous. However, I felt 1000 percent better and have been in a much better mood ever since.