The First Day

Day 1.
After returning from Mardi Gras on Tuesday night, my mother and I had a pretty sensible day yesterday, eating veggie soup and having our ceremonial last glass of red wine in the evening. I have a very important journey ahead of me, more important than anything I've tried to do in a long time - weight loss. I've played around w/ different plans and programs for more than 20 years, vowing that I'd lose the weight with each one.
And guess what? I'd lose 10 lbs or 15 lbs and feel great for a few weeks before the pounds would creep back on. So, what to do? I started exercising again recently and that has helped get my legs back into shape, but I haven't been able to shift any weight for about 4 months. Reading the People magazine, "Half Their Size" issue for the 100th time, I finally decided to look into the Medifast plan. I was literally reading the story about a woman who lost 136 pounds in a year on Medifast last Tuesday morning.
I went online to check out the Medifast plan and the prices and then had to head to my dentist. My dental hygienist mentioned that she was feeling horrible about her weight and about to start . . . Medifast! I told her I was thinking about it and she told me that the dentist had been on the plan for 2 months and had already lost 45 pounds. I felt like the stars were aligning so I decided to give it a try for a month and after talking to my dentist (who's become a coach for others on the plan), placed my order for 4 weeks of Medifast food.
The box arrived yesterday. My mom is also interested in going on the plan, so we decided to start together, today. As of 12:30PM, I've had a chocolate shake, a peanut butter bar and chicken and wild rice soup. None of it was terrible, but the portions are very small. That's why they have you eat every 2-3 hours.
Here's the skinny: I have to lose at least 80 lbs. That's a huge number and I've finally written it down. Really, I should be losing 90 lbs. But we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. My first goal is 10 lbs. And I'm sticking to this, no matter how hard it is. And it's a very strict eating plan. But I'm going to do it. I have to because the alternatives are no fun to think about. And who wants to die from being fat? No one I've ever met, for sure. So, here's to me and my mother and please wish us luck as we begin this journey together (my mother has roughly half the amount of weight to lose that I do, by the way).
So, Happy Valentine's Day to me - I love myself too much to fail this time.