New Year's Goals

Pete and I have had some serious conversations about healthy lifestyles, the word of wisdom, and our pitiful physical shapes! The following (rather disgusting and embarrassing) pics underline the sad truth that we had already accepted...The above picture cannot be of the former champion long distance runner I married...
and surely this chick was not the only Freshman voted on Coker College's May Court in 1978!

which brings us to our goal of losing a total of 200 pounds...by New Year's 2010! That's a very distant goal and a bit overwhelming so we needed some help. I have been successful in the past at Weight Watchers and years ago at Form-U-3 (a VERY low calorie plan) but Pete wanted us to do something together and all our own. I thought, "OK. He has supported me for years so I will support him and be open minded!" We have spent weeks researching every plan available and even looked into gastric bypass but in the end, my nurse's brain just couldn't take that risk without trying something less drastic ONE MORE TIME! We decided about the only thing I haven't done is a very planned pre-packaged food diet (because they are ridiculously expensive!!) such as nutri-system or Jenny Craig. Peter has been harping on that route for months and I kept blowing him off...not for me! But, Pete's employer will pay 1/2 of the super duper all inclusive program at Jenny Craig and even pay a good discount on the food. (and then I can join under the spouse program and only pay half of all that!) Then, it can take us however long and we only pay a $39 annual renewal. (so it evens out to less than Weightwatchers since we have soooo much to lose!) Now that we have stopped the fast food daily habit and eating out weekly (or more) habit and with only the twins at home, it is possible to buy the Jenny Food and add fresh veggies and fruit and dairy to it along with what little the twins eat and stay within our food budget (now that the bottomless pit boys are eating elsewhere!!)...still, I wavered...but in the end, I went and listened with Pete and was pleasantly surprised to learn that eating out (albeit only occasionally) and weekly "splurges" are built into the plan.

My only resistance now was health and hunger and taste.

The plan is certainly nutritious and meets dietary guidelines...protein bars and vitamins come with the plan...weight loss is planned to be 1% of body weight per week (or for normal folks...about 1 1/2 - 2 pounds weekly).

So...hunger and taste. That only time will tell...but I started today and the food I ate today was fabulous (although I could have eaten 2 or 3 of everything!!!) and I was even full after a supper of a HUGE salad with a few chunks of apples, grapes and cheese, a "soupetizer" and this delicious main course:

So, we start the journey of portion control and healthier food choices...adding exercise (ughhh) will be the next step...here I go again (but it's Pete's FIRST diet EVER...)...wish us luck...our health is at serious risk if we don't succeed!!!!!!