Starting the school semester, my new job, and financial issues have seemed to push my weight loss to the back burner.

I’ve been very disappointed with myself these past couple of weeks. I think because I’ve been stressed out, as well as bored with eating the same foods over and over, I fell off the bandwagon. I stopped taking my appetite suppressants and started eating junk food. I went out to eat several times and was very close to giving up. Being a psych major, I really think there are a lot of psychological issues involved when you’re trying to lose weight. I’ve lost over 30lbs now- you’d think that would be enough to keep anyone sticking to it, but that wasn’t the case. There are other factors playing a part there that I plan on researching a bit more. With such great results, why would I even think about just giving up altogether??

When I went to the weight loss clinic on Wednesday (9/5), I went there ready to quit. I shamefully stepped on the scale and found out I weighed the exact same weight as I had when I weighed in the time before that, which was two weeks earlier. I was very disappointed because I had lost about 5lbs over the course of the two weeks, but managed to gain it back in the three days before my weigh in. I told them the problems I was running into- I couldn’t afford it anymore ($50 every week or $60 every two weeks) and that I was having a lot of trouble sticking to the diet because I couldn’t possibly eat another bite of the SAME foods. I’m sure this is a common problem with people who are on a diet like Atkins or a different one that is very restrictive.

The nurse had a lot of helpful suggestions. First of all, she said that if I would promise to stick with it they would work with me on the cost, lowering it from $50 to $25 a week- for both me AND my mom. Money is a precious commodity right now, so I was grateful that the nurse was so kind in helping us out and so encouraging. Another suggestion that she made was to be creative with the foods that we cook. Find new recipes and try different combinations to mix it up a bit.

So with the encouragement of the weight loss clinic and my own will to succeed, I’m losing weight again. I’m about 35lbs down now, but that’s weighing on our home scale. The official amount will be determined when I weigh in on Wednesday.

So please, if you’re on your own weight loss journey and you’re struggling, don’t give up. You can do it! Just pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and keep on shrinkin’.

~Shrinking Kim

Welcome to the first weight loss tip!  These tips are in no particular order- they are not ranked.  I hope you find this tip, and all tips that follow, to be helpful.  If you use any of the tips I provide or have anything to add, please feel free to comment and let me know.  Feedback is much appreciated.

Weight Loss Tip #1 - Use the Buddy System

Losing weight on your own is hard, we all know that. Finding someone you can share your weight loss journey with can definitely help keep you on track toward your goals. But, you need to be cautious when choosing a weight loss buddy, because sometimes they can have the opposite effect than what you had intended. Here are some things to look for:

• Someone who’s supportive and has a positive attitude. Losing weight is tough, you need someone who will be uplifting and help you through the struggles!

• Someone who will really hold you accountable. This is a tricky one. Be very wary when choosing family or close friends as your buddy, (in my experience) you may end up letting each other slide on bigger and bigger things until you’re sitting there together eating a nice big bowl of ice cream and an entire bag of chips. Try and pick someone who you know will keep you on track.

• If possible, choose someone with similar weight loss goals as you. It really wouldn’t work out too well if one of you wants to lose 20lbs and the other wants to lose 100lbs. Also, consider choosing someone who is on the same type of diet or making the same lifestyle changes as you are. Of course, both of these things aren’t absolutely necessary, but any little bit helps.

• Choose someone you can communicate with on a regular basis. This means everyday!! I have never tried this, but there are tons of weight loss forums on the web where you can find online weight loss buddies. This may be a good solution for people who don’t have the time to keep in touch by phone or in person. Email is very convenient because you can send and receive emails any time of the day or night.

Don’t forget that you are their weight loss buddy, too! So be supportive. Have a good attitude- they need the help to get through their struggles too. Hold them accountable just the same as you expect them to hold you accountable.

Life is crazy enough without trying to lose weight. Find a buddy to help keep you on track towards your goals- and keep you SANE!!

~Shrinking Kim

When you’ve been on and off diets for almost 10 years like I have, you learn a few tips and tricks along the way.  You figure out what works and what doesn’t.  Of course different things work for different people, so I’m gonna share with you what has worked for me and you can find out if they work for you too.  I hope they do!

This will be an ongoing series of posts, starting very very soon.

If you find some of these tips work really well for you, I’d like to hear about it.  Send me an email or leave a comment and let me know.

~Shrinking Kim

Check the Photos page to see what a loss of 29lbs looks like!

I didn’t really think you’d be able to tell a difference, but with those pics next to each other- well, you decide for yourself. Leave me a comment and let me know what you think!

~Shrinking Kim

..went better than I thought.

I stepped on that scale not knowing whether I had gained or lost- but it said I lost 2.2 more lbs!  That may not seem like a lot, but when you think you might have gained, 2 lbs is a lot to go down!  So now the total is up to a whopping 29 pounds.

And then there’s the chocolate cake I ate yesterday.  Yes, I said chocolate cake!  When you deprive yourself for so long, you just end up going off your diet and onto an eating binge, so I decided to try something new on this diet.  This worked for my mom when she was on a diet years ago- she would be on her diet all week, weigh in, and then go out to eat and have one meal of anything she wanted. 

We’ve gone out to eat after our weigh in for the last few weeks now, and we’ve still continued to lose every single week.  I really think this is going to work.  The end (where I can eat something I really like) is always in sight and it helps me to stay focused on losing weight the rest of the time.

I LOVE my sweets, and that chocolate cake was delicious!  And I’m also down another pound this morning.

~Shrinking Kim

I reached my first goal- I managed to stay on the diet while I was away with my family.  I know this may seem insignificant to some, but to me it’s an important victory.  These were a challenging four days, but I resisted temptation and proved to myself I could do it!

The only bad part about the whole thing is that when I weighed this morning on our home scale, I was up around a lb.  I was really hoping to be down at least a couple pounds..but I weigh-in tomorrow at the doctor’s office (my appointments are on Wednesdays now), so we’ll see what happens.

Whether I’m up or down tomorrow, I will keep pressing on.  I cannot and will not give up this time, I refuse.

Starting a new job as well as starting my last semester of my bachelor’s degree within the next week will add some stress and challenges, but I’m ready and willing to face them.  In fact, I have set a new goal.  I’m going to lose a total of 50lbs by September 30th.  That’s about 20 more pounds to go, in just over 5 weeks, think I can do it?  I know I can. 

Because school is starting, I’ll have free gym access and will start a new gym routine.  This is the first planned exercise I will be doing since I’ve started my weight loss journey on July 4th.  This will help me reach my new goal of losing 50lbs by the end of September!

~Shrinking Kim

I guess drinking a lot of water before my last weigh in did have it’s benefits!

Today, when I weighed in, I was shocked when the nurse told me I had lost about another 8 lbs- for a total of 26.8 lbs lost.  So, last week I probably lost 4lbs, but it didn’t show up on the scale because of all the water I had to drink, and this week I probably lost about the same, so it looks like 8 in one week.

What a boost of confidence!  I’m definitely gonna need it this upcoming weekend since we’re going on vacation (to Alabama and Georgia) for 4 days.  I don’t know about you, but junk food and road trips go hand in hand for me.  I plan to do Atkins while on this trip since the diet I’m on is so restrictive that it will be hard to find the right foods.

So, my goal this week is to simply not eat any junk food while on vacation.  If I can manage to resist temptation while on a road trip, I think I can do anything.  Wish me luck!

 ~Shrinking Kim

They want to suck my blood!

I think just about every nurse in the diet doctor’s office has attempted to take my blood so that they can do the tests that were supposed to be done before I ever even started the diet, and all have failed.  Whenever they are going to try and take my blood, they instruct me to drink A LOT of water before I come in so that I’ll be hydrated enough for my veins to cooperate. 

 The only thing that does is make me weigh more!!!  When I weighed in today, that’s exactly what happened.  I should have lost 3 or 4 lbs, but instead, I gained a half a lb!  So, here I am, still without bloodwork and half a pound heavier, but I’m stickin with it.  Hopefully next week will bring better results.

~Shrinking Kim

This is offically my first blog post!

I’ll get right down to business for those of you who are just arriving at my site. I’m using this blog as a motivational tool to help me lose 100+ lbs and run a marathon. Please have a look at the about me page for more info about who I am and why I’m doing this.

To set the stage- Starting on July 4th, 2007 I have been on a medically supervised weight loss program that limits carbs, fats, AND calories.  I’m also taking a multivitamin and 2-3 appetite suppressant pills a day.  As of my last weigh-in on July 31st I have lost 19 lbs. My next weigh-in is tomorrow, so be on the lookout for a new blog post then.

~Shrinking Kim