[Celestine]

Hi everyone!

I've found this site again after many, many years of being away. I have used this diet a couple of times in the past to get, and stay slim. However, after all the years, life happened, some of it not so bad, the other part of it a series of unfortunate events. So, in effect, many times I ended up losing touch with myself sometimes for what seems no good reason at all, and other times for the sake of caring for others and forgetting about myself. My point is, instead of the suelte 150 I used to be, as of this morning I weighed in at 236. Considering the roller coaster I've been on, I'm not surprised or disappointed by this number but finally "mind and body" are in harmony for a change. Through this forum, I would like to post my daily weight and share any feelings or struggles I have while going through this process. I am not too interested in posting my daily menu, but when I discovered this diet it was the "original" one and therefore, it's the only one I'm willing to do thanks to it's simplicity. Aside from the fruits, I prefer to have beans and/or a combination of beans and rice or oatmeal. I seldom ate only rice as my grain, and personally the other options kept me fuller longer. This may or may not have something to do with the increased protein count per serving. Through all this, I have a set of goals that I'll share step-by-step as time goes on. I have set very small goals leading up to bigger ones, to the point where doing this comes naturally. Ok, here goes:

10/04/11
Starting weight: 236

Goals accomplished today:
Breakfast - Complete
Lunch - Complete
Exercise (after work) - Complete
Dinner - Complete
Going to bed early - ?

Today, I found my stomach growling long before my normal "lunch hour" although I didn't feel hungry right away, so I had a couple herbal teas. That helped a lot but I decided to go to lunch earlier than usual because I felt if I didn't, I would end up swallowing my food next to whole. I took 15 minutes to eat. I wanted to eat slowly. Afterwards, I felt satisfied, not overly full, just satisfied. A few minutes afterwards, I guess the digestive tract wanted to let me know it was working for I heard and felt a series of growls, not of hunger but of digestive movement. I found this a little uncomfortable so I countered it with drinking a cup of water although I didn't want it since I'd been to the bathroom who knows how many times before I went to lunch. Anyway, I knew with it being the first day I would experience some type of side effects, adjustments, etc. And, more "effects" will be coming for sure. Oddly enough, before I left work, I felt hungry but I just drank a little more water. I didn't want to be too waterlogged while trying to work out and I wanted to get my workout in before I ate my dinner meal. So, so far so good. I look forward to posting tomorrow.

We can do this!

[Lauretta]

Celestine, on 05 October 2011 - 01:01 AM, said:

Hi everyone!

I've found this site again after many, many years of being away. I have used this diet a couple of times in the past to get, and stay slim. However, after all the years, life happened, some of it not so bad, the other part of it a series of unfortunate events. So, in effect, many times I ended up losing touch with myself sometimes for what seems no good reason at all, and other times for the sake of caring for others and forgetting about myself. My point is, instead of the suelte 150 I used to be, as of this morning I weighed in at 236. Considering the roller coaster I've been on, I'm not surprised or disappointed by this number but finally "mind and body" are in harmony for a change. Through this forum, I would like to post my daily weight and share any feelings or struggles I have while going through this process. I am not too interested in posting my daily menu, but when I discovered this diet it was the "original" one and therefore, it's the only one I'm willing to do thanks to it's simplicity. Aside from the fruits, I prefer to have beans and/or a combination of beans and rice or oatmeal. I seldom ate only rice as my grain, and personally the other options kept me fuller longer. This may or may not have something to do with the increased protein count per serving. Through all this, I have a set of goals that I'll share step-by-step as time goes on. I have set very small goals leading up to bigger ones, to the point where doing this comes naturally. Ok, here goes:

10/04/11
Starting weight: 236

Goals accomplished today:
Breakfast - Complete
Lunch - Complete
Exercise (after work) - Complete
Dinner - Complete
Going to bed early - ?

Today, I found my stomach growling long before my normal "lunch hour" although I didn't feel hungry right away, so I had a couple herbal teas. That helped a lot but I decided to go to lunch earlier than usual because I felt if I didn't, I would end up swallowing my food next to whole. I took 15 minutes to eat. I wanted to eat slowly. Afterwards, I felt satisfied, not overly full, just satisfied. A few minutes afterwards, I guess the digestive tract wanted to let me know it was working for I heard and felt a series of growls, not of hunger but of digestive movement. I found this a little uncomfortable so I countered it with drinking a cup of water although I didn't want it since I'd been to the bathroom who knows how many times before I went to lunch. Anyway, I knew with it being the first day I would experience some type of side effects, adjustments, etc. And, more "effects" will be coming for sure. Oddly enough, before I left work, I felt hungry but I just drank a little more water. I didn't want to be too waterlogged while trying to work out and I wanted to get my workout in before I ate my dinner meal. So, so far so good. I look forward to posting tomorrow.

We can do this!

Celestine,

Hi and welcome. I have been doing the RD diet since August 13th of this year and am so excited with the results. I too eat very little rice. I prefer the beans, which have lots more protein and potassium, potatoes, and starchy veggies.

I look forward to hearing about your journey through this forum.

Best of luck.

Lauretta

[Leeney]

Welcome back, Celestine. I look forward to sharing the journey with you.

[Celestine]

Thanks for welcoming me Lauretta and Leeney. You guys are veterans compared to me!

10/5/11
Weight: 231 (5 pounds gone - I had no clue that much water weight was gushing off me! Wow!)

I tried to add a weight loss ticker just a few minutes ago to attach to my future posts. It seems to have added itself to my first post as well, so it's saying I lost 5 pounds yesterday when really it was my start day. If I can't work it properly, maybe I'll just do without it.

Anyway... Last night, I did go to bed early. Although I did get up often to relieve myself, I still awoke refreshed. My goal for today is just that, to get through the day. With yesterday behind me, I've already proven I can get through the meals (and enjoy them), get fluids in, exercise and get my butt to bed early. So, today I don't need to coach myself with mini-goals to get through any part of the day.

So far today, the only quirky things that happened were that while eating my lunch, near the end of it, I had a sudden urge to relieve myself. Hey, I was near the end of finishing my lunch so I took a few extra minutes to finish eating before the bathroom trip. I try not to let anything interrupt my meal (if I can help it). The other thing was later in the day sitting at my desk, my left knee started to ache. I'm not sure how long this went on, but for a little while I walked gingerly until it passed. When I'm heavy, I always have pain in my knees, especially the left one. When I squat, they both make a tearing noise, maybe due to me getting older too. When I was thin, all of that left me. I was pain-free. So, I took that as a sign of my body trying to heal itself. Ok, that's all for now. It's time for my workout.

[Leeney]

Congrats on the 5 pounds! Five pounds is five pounds whether it's water or not. That initial large weight drop that many experience is wonderfully motivating. Now just keep moving forward. Like anything else, it won't always be smooth sailing, but it is always doable. So keep those mini goals where you can reach them!

The ticker will always attach to all your posts. Since it records your journey from the very beginning, I'd be tempted to just leave it and update it as it suits you.

You're off to a great start and I look forward to your posts.

[karolinakat]

Good going, keep it up

[Celestine]

10/6/11
Weight: 229.5 (1.5 pounds down from yesterday)

Thank you all so much. It is my hope that those who read my thread will be encouraged to start if it’s been on their minds to do so, or at least continue their own journeys through reading about my experience. I know the road will be rough at times, in fact, I’m expecting it sooner than later. I really only expect to lose 1 – 2 pounds a day long-term, and in between that time, there will be times, days even weeks, when I don’t lose anything at all scalewise but I’ve done it a few times to know there are reasons for the what-seem-to-be-plateaus, so no worries here. I’m finding now that when time for my dinner meal rolls around, I don’t want the whole meal. So starting today, I’ll only have what I really want. I won’t make it a requirement to eat the two fruits and grain if I’m really not that hungry for all of it. I’m not sure if I’ll have time to post later, so that’s why I’m here this morning. If there is anything more to report about my day, I’ll share that tomorrow. Keep going guys!

[Celestine]

Good morning,

Yesterday I forgot to take my multivitamin. Needless to say, after eating lunch I became incredibly tired. Thankfully as I drove home from work, the sun kissed me the entire way and I was once again revived. My thought was to take a 15-minute nap after I got home but I felt anew by the time I got there and proceeded with my workout as usual. The kicker is yet again this morning I forgot to take the vitamin. I was kind of in a rush. I’ll take it when I get home whether I think I need it or not. I’ve decided to set the bottle on my kitchen table so I won’t forget about it anymore. It really makes a huge difference when I’m ricing in Phase 1.

Stats for today:
Weight: 227 (2.5 pounds down from yesterday) Yeah, I’m psyched! I wore a new blouse today.

[karolinakat]

You are losing so quickly, congrats! Keep a few vitamins at work so if you forget, you can take them there!

[Leeney]

Nice to be able to button up those things that were tight only a short while ago!

Go you!

[recommitted]

Wow...reading your first post I thought..."Did I post and not realize it!" Our stories are almost exactly the same and we began (again) at the same time!

I look forward to going through my journey with you! Congrats on your first few days!

Recommitted

[Celestine]

Sorry it took me so long to post but my internet connection is not good today. No worries… I’ll post as soon as I can get online.

karolina – Great idea about the vitamins; thanks for sharing that. I’ll take some with me to work this Monday.

Leeney – I swore I would wear that blouse as soon as the “roll” look in my back and tummy left. I had just bought it from an outlet store and was so sore about it making me look chubby instead of cute when I got home and tried it on.

recommitted – Thanks for your kind words, and yes please take the ride with me. I see there are several places I can post for my weight, thoughts, etc., but for me it works to put everything in one place, so I chose Online Support since support is what I most seek and want to share/read about. It’s kind of hard for me to tell how many “active” ricers there are here, but it may be that more people come to the site to view the threads than to register and post. Not really sure.

Nothing major to report about yesterday. Though I forgot the vitamin that morning, my body somehow was stabilized energy-wise after lunchtime. Here’s the number for today:

10/8/11
Weight: 226 (another pound down) Very happy
(I'll update the ticker if I can get it to work; it should read 10 pounds lost.)

[Celestine]

I tried and tried and tried yesterday but I could not get online yesterday to post. Anyway, here’s my number from yesterday

10/9/11
Weight: 225 (Another pound down)

The scale didn’t move this morning, 10/10/11, but that’s ok. I was hoping this moment would come a little later down the road, but I have to grin and bear it I guess. I must say, yesterday was really a horrible day for me mentally. I had a very strong craving for something crunchy. It wasn’t even important that I eat it. I just wanted to tear my teeth into it. I did everything I knew to distract myself but it didn’t work. Believe it or not, I took a cracker, chewed half of it slowly, spit it out and then chewed the other half and spit it out. I felt ok after that. Then later I was about to lose my mind for something gooey and chewy. I was thinking, “yeah this detox is definitely working but give me a break with the cravings please.” Isn’t most of the food I’m already eating soft? Anyway, to counter that I just ate my beans and imagined it was the food I was craving to actually eat. Low and behold, later in the day my cycle started. Then, it kind of all made sense, but I was thrown off because it’s a week early! As you can see, I’m not too thrilled right now but I’m pressing on…

[karolinakat]

TOM can be hard, but you'll get through it!

[Celestine]

Hi all. I’m in a little better place now. I chose not to weigh in today, 10/11/11. At this point, the number is not what’s driving me but rather it’s concentrating on my eating and exercise habits. If I stay on point with that, my body has no choice but to heal itself and lose weight. I feel I don’t have to be highly dependent on the number in order to stay motivated anymore. I can feel and see my body getting in better shape and my mind is getting sharper. Anyway, that said, I’ve chosen to weigh in on Fridays, just that one day each week. That way I’ll be reminded “to keep up the good work” even through the weekend.

[Leeney]

Sounds like sanity to me! Keep up the good work.

[Celestine]

Thanks Leeney. Sanity is what I'm aiming for here. It was great to weigh myself each day to stay motivated but at this point, I don't need that anymore. I have full confidence that I will be lean again, and I don't want to become obsessed with the scale. So the once-a-week weigh-in keeps me on good terms with the scale but my best friend is the mirror.

The number didn't change this morning but strangely enough, my body shape IS changing. I’m not set out to call this a true plateau yet. Maybe my body is just too focused on the physical adjustments or needs to hold my weight were it is to make those adjustments. Who knows? This upcoming week I’m going to incorporate more strength training in my workouts, maybe interval training so I don’t get bored out. It’s not something I look forward to “every” day but I know it burns a ton of calories and helps to shape the body beautifully. If making adjustments isn’t the issue, then maybe my body’s looking for something “new” or a change-up. I’ll give this a try. With any luck, I may enjoy it more than I have in the past. Keep up the great work everyone!

[Leeney]

Being at maintenance I do weigh in every day...more or less...because it helps me to keep tabs on the cause and effect of my eating and activities, but when I was losing, once a week or even once a month was plenty. I recently read an article on how we can become slaves to the scale and it asked us to think of ourselves existing in a no-gravity environment. That way we would have to focus on other markers to gage our improvement, e.g. sense of well being, energy levels, fitness, inches, etc. Put things in a different perspective for me.

Sometimes there's no accounting for scale stubbornness, so listen to your body, tweak what you can and trust the process. You're doing great, Celestine!