Day 7 on Bright Line Eating - We Have Results!

It's been a week of Bright Line Eating for me and Brent. I didn't stray even once. I didn't take any bites, licks or tastes while I prepared food and I didn't eat anything in between our three meals. Brent didn't stray either. I'm sure it helps that I am preparing all the food and all he does is sit down and eat. (He would do more if he could but the effects of his stroke make his left hand mostly unusable, and his balance isn't quite there.)

We talked to our doctor this week and he gave us the thumbs up for eliminating sugar and flour from our diets.

We both experienced hunger in between meals at times. But the hunger did not last for long and it wasn't bad. It helps knowing that we will eat again in a certain time frame so it's not like we need to fear hunger. Usually drinking some water and keeping busy is enough to have it go away.

The best thing is that the food is so delicious! Brent says that he loves every meal. He compliments the food all the time saying it the best he's ever had. If you've seen the movie "What About Bob" you might remember the scene where Bob is eating and savoring the food vocally in an exaggerated way showing how he loves it.  This is Brent when he's eating our Bright Line Meals. True Story.

Truth be told, I haven't cooked consistently so just having meals on a consistent basis is nice for both of us.

And... we weighed in this morning

I have RELEASED 7 POUNDS!!

Brent has RELEASED 6 POUNDS!!

That is a great start. Wahoo!

Breakfasts this week:

 Tuesday: 2 Scrambled Eggs, Nectarine, and Oatmeal

Scrambled eggs are my FAVORITE. I have them for dinner sometimes too. 

 Wednesday: Oatmeal (w/ Cinnamon), 4 oz Cottage Cheese,  6 oz of Berries and Pineapple

I'm not a fan of PB in my oatmeal, so this time I had cottage cheese on the side instead. 

 Thursday: Oatmeal, 2 Scrambled Eggs, 6 oz Blueberries, Raspberries, and Strawberries

So Yummy!

 Friday: 3 Rice Cakes, 2 oz Peanut Butter, 1 Banana

This was a fun break from oatmeal. Brent loved the PB, but I think next time I'll have cheese instead of PB. Yum.

 Saturday: 2 Scrambled Eggs, 4 oz Potatoes, 1 Pear

This was so delicious. Those potatoes are my own home-canned ones. Brent is in love with pears now.

Sunday: 1 oz Triscuits, 2 oz. Cheese, 1 Nectarine

This was perfect for Sunday and a quick breakfast before heading to church. I loved the crunch of the Triscuits, but I think I should limit this to once a week. 

Lunches this week:

 Tuesday: Taco Salad (4 oz Chicken Taco Meat, 6 oz Spinach, Romaine, Peppers, & Cucumbers), 1 T Bolthouse Dressing, 6 oz. Grapes.

This was a WINNER. I love taco salad and will be making more. 

 Wednesday: 6 oz Salad w/ 1 oz. Shredded Cheese, 6 oz Pinto Bean (I put in the salad), 1 Pear

We weren't big fans of the beans, but it was still delicious.

 Thursday: 2 oz. Hummus, 2 oz. Turkey, 6 oz. Peppers, 6 oz. Grapes, 1 Laughing Cow Cheese Wedge.

For us this is great variety. Brent had the same thing but instead of turkey, he had 3 oz all beef hot dogs.

 Friday: Taco Salad (4 oz Taco Chicken Meat, 6 oz Lettuce, Cucumbers and Peppers, 1 oz Cheese), 1 Nectarine.

An awesome lunch!!

 Saturday: 2 oz Hummus and 2 oz Turkey, 6 oz Carrots and Celery, 6 oz Pineapple and Strawberries,  and Laughing Cow Cheese Wedge

Sunday: Taco Salad like Friday's lunch, with 2 plums

Dinners this week:

 Tuesday: 4 oz Rotisserie Chicken, 13 oz Roasted Veggies (Broccoli, Asparagus, Yellow Squash, Onions, and Carrots), 1 oz Cucumber.
The hubs LOVES roasted veggies and said I can make them anytime. I added a little olive oil and some seasonings. They were so delish!

Wednesday: 2 Scrambled Eggs w/ 1 oz Cheese, 14 oz Sauteed Veggies (Yellow Squash, Cabbage, Peppers, and Onions) I used Pam spray to saute them in.
Such a scrumptious dinner!

 Thursday: 4 oz Rotisserie Chicken, 14 oz. Roasted Veggies (Broccoli, Carrots, Onions, and Asparagus), 1 oz Cheese.
It feels like we're eating better than any restaurant!

Friday:  2 Veggie Burgers (4 oz total), 9 oz Salad, 5 oz Sauteed Mushrooms and Peppers, 1 oz Bolthouse Dressing.
Brent loves the veggie burgers. This was another tasty meal.

Saturday:  4 oz Grilled Angus Beef Burger, 1 oz cheese melted on top, 6 oz total of Steamed Asparagus, Red Pepper, Red Onion, Tomato Slices
We tried using the pepper like the "bun" for the burger but it fit awkwardly. So we ended up just eating it however we could. We needed lots of napkin but it was so tasty!

Sunday: 2 Scrambled Eggs w/ 1 oz. Cheese, 14 oz Sauted Veggies: Cabbage, Onions, and Mushrooms.
A great final meal for the week. Very satisfying. I still love the eggs the most.

We are both very pleased with this first week. I'm amazed how quickly I've gotten used to eating at specific times and NOT snacking. Even at Costco, I don't go near the tasting tables. It feels good that we are doing something for our health. I don't let my mind go off on thinking about food and that helps. I have so much to do to take care of Brent, my family while also being the main bread winner right now. How my life has changed could be a completely other blog altogether. 

Believe me, I have my food obsessions and bad habits. I don't want to talk about them or list them because I'm keeping my mind on different things - like all the food I am now making! So I'm truly thankful that changing our eating so far seems to be a smooth transition. 7 pounds released and just 105 pounds to go.  

Life is good!!

~Margene

XoX

Four Years Later – Starting Over

It’s been over four years since my last blog post and so much has happened.

Sadly, both Brent and I slowly gained a lot of  our weight back these last five years… ☹  I’ve been dreading writing in my blog here because I’ve been so disappointed with myself. Many many times I tried going back on the Medifast plan that helped me lose that 145 lbs. originally, but I could not stay on plan for more than a few weeks.

For a while, back in 2014 we got into juicing and did lose some weight, but we couldn’t live off juicing and eventually we were back in our same boat. I jumped on several other bandwagons including Plexus drink and supplements and Pruvit Ketone drinks. I don’t want to even confess how much money I threw at these programs (money we don’t have) and it just didn’t pay off for us. I’m glad they are effective for some people, just not for our needs.

BIG SCARE & MIRACLE

Then last March something happened that changed everything.  Brent suffered from a cerebral stroke (actually two). It came out of the blue. It originally seemed like vertigo because he was losing his balance and tossing his cookies all that morning. It wasn’t until he stopped being able to talk coherently that I realized it was something more serious than vertigo. He ended up being rushed into emergency surgery to stop the swelling of his brain. 

After 3 weeks in the intensive care and another 12+ weeks in the hospital and rehab, he was able to come home. That was just over two months ago. He is still in recovery, and needs some assistance to walk, but he’s come a long way and he is a living miracle!  He is only 50. We just dodged a bullet. I am forever grateful that the Lord saved his life and he's still with me. :)

He did loose over 30 pounds while he was in the hospital, so that was a perk.

Again… it is time to get our health under better control. We both want to be around for grandkids when we eventually get some!  I have a married child now so grandparenthood is on the horizon! 😊

BELIEVING AGAIN

I had a good friend on Facebook post all these success stories of people using Bright Line Eating. So I contacted her to learn more about it. I felt so good about it as she shared it with me.

First off, I liked that someone wasn’t trying to get me in their network business.  Yes, I did TSFL Medifast (now Optavia) for several years myself – being a “health coach” and helping clients that bought from me. But I’ve never personally been motivated by making money from something like this.  And I just don’t like being bombarded by programs where financial gain is the main drive. (Yes, they say it’s to help people, but take the money out of it and usually they don’t talk to you anymore).

I know every program is pretty much set up to make money, but I don’t want to lose weight by having to spend hundreds of dollars each month on products! That’s a huge reason why it’s so hard to maintain weight after losing it on programs like Optavia and others… because eventually you have to transition off the product and maintain a healthy eating lifestyle. Then you mess up and must go back on the product. And really, do they mind getting more of your money?

What I liked about Bright Line Eating is that you START OFF making your own meals to help you lose weight. You are not locked into products. And I have no “upline” person hounding me to get clients or sell product. The success rate seems much greater than other programs I’ve tried and researched like the Atkins diet, South Beach diet, Paleo diet, and yes, even Medifast/Optavia. 

So I bought the book: Bright Line Eating and I read most of the book in one night. I was sold.  Here is what I like about BLE (Bright Line Eating).

• ·         No Food Products to buy
• ·         No “Upline” to buy membership into
• ·         Program scientifically grounded – all detailed in her book
• ·         Huge online support system
• ·         Huge rate of people maintaining weight loss for years
• ·         Helps me better understand Will Power and Sugar/Flour addictions
• ·         Makes the most sense to me!

What is Bright Line Eating?:

In a nutshell, it is a program that teaches you a process for breaking food addictions in your brain. “Bright Lines” represent firm standards of eating:

• ·         No Sugar (or sugar substitutes).
• ·         No Flour.
• ·         Eat 3 Meals a day - No Snacking in-between.
• ·         Eat at a table, at a specified time, with measured portions.

Seem rigid? I certainly thought so when I first heard it. But as I read her book, I saw how smart this program is and I started to BELIEVE IT’S POSSIBLE once again that I can lose this weight and keep it off.  

STARTING OVER WITH NEW FOUND HOPE

I got my digital food scale, researched recipes I want to make, connected with some online support and TODAY Brent and I started this new path!

MY GOAL: 145 lbs           HIS GOAL: 170 lbs

Okay, I'm laying it all out there! It's embarrassing to show these pictures but I'm being real. I hate that I got this big again... but I'm moving forward now. 

Here are our FIRST BLE meals today:

Breakfast: (1 Protein, 1 Grain, 1 Fruit)

P= Peanut butter (2 T in Oatmeal)

G= Oatmeal (1 oz before adding water) cooked

F= Strawberries and Blueberries (6 oz)

Lunch: (1 Protein, 6 oz Vegetables, 1 Fruit, 1 Fat)

P= Turkey & Hummus

V= Sugar snap peas & Carrots (6 oz)

F= Pineapple & Banana (6 oz)

F= Laughing Cow Cheese Wedge

My Dinner: (1 Protein, 6 oz vegetables, 8 oz Salad, 1 Fat)

P= Rotisserie Chicken

V & S= Sauteed Squash, Asparagus, Pepper, Mushrooms, & Onions (14 oz)

F= Olive oil (for the cooking)

Brent's Dinner: (1 Protein, 6 oz vegetables, 8 oz Salad, 1 Fat)

P= All beef natural hot dogs (made sure that no kind of sugar was in the first 3 ingred)

V= Sauteed Squash, Asparagus, Pepper, Mushrooms, & Onions (10 oz)

S= Cucumbers (4 oz)

F= Olive oil (for the cooking)

So far, each meal felt very satisfying and we both felt full. Knowing that I've lost a significant amount of weight before by being committed to a plan helps me KNOW I can stick to this. I know what it takes to stick to a program, and now I feel like I've found one that will enable us to attain a healthy weight!

SHARE IN OUR JOURNEY

I welcome you to follow our journey. If you are on your own journey, I’d love to follow and support you as well. If you have a BLE blog please let me know in the comments and I’d love to follow it. I can use all the ideas I can get for meals and staying focused.

Life is Good!

XOX ~Margene