Food, program and supporting material provided by Nutrisystem. Always consult with your doctor before starting any weight loss program. This is a personal account of our experience and not intended as medical advice.

Beeb:

Current weight: 136.8 lbs
Starting weight: 141.6 lbs
Total Weight Lost: 4.8 lbs

Chest: 37.3″: -0.3″

Waist: 29.8″: -1.2″

Hips: 38.5″: -.1″

Arms: 10″: -0.5″

Thighs: 18″: -1.5″

Jai:

Current weight: 186.4 lbs
Starting weight: 197 lbs
Total Weight Lost: 10.6 lbs

Chest: 41.25″: +0.5″

Waist: 39.10″: -0.9″

Hips: 38″: -.5″

Arms: 14.2″: -0.05″

Thighs: 20.5″: -1.25″

The time is flying by as we mark month two on Nutrisystem! In this month’s video, we discuss how our energy levels have increased:

I am honestly feeling physically better than I have in years. Because of following this eating plan, we’re getting balanced portions of food at regular times, fresh vegetables, fruit, and more water, which helps fuel me with enough energy to do what I can being more active. And by “Do what I can” I mean “Get in a little exercise before completely collapsing”. 😉 Because my knee strength has just continued to improve since last year, I can really feel a difference now when I eat right and exercise. When you are immobilized by injury for so long, you lose so much muscle tone that it takes a startling amount of time to get back in healthy shape even once you’re able to walk around normally. Having good fuel for my body has helped me cope with an erratic schedule and still have energy despite very, very little sleep recently due to things out of my control.

One thing that has helped a lot is sticking to an easy shopping list for SmartCarbs and PowerFuels – if you want lots of variety on Nutrisystem, you can certainly have it, but we tend to buy the same things just to reduce the amount of shopping we have to do. And although it seems counter-intuitive for “Super Coupon Girl“, we’ve actually been buying pre-washed, pre-chopped veggies. GASP! Yes, it would be more cost-effective to buy and chop my own. But you know what? I got 4 hours of sleep last night. I’m not staying up until 4 AM to chop a bag of darn vegetables. 😉 Learning to accept what I can’t realistically do and letting go of perfectionism has helped me a great deal in continuing on a healthy path. We like to buy bags of chopped broccoli and cauliflower, sugar snap peas, and baby carrots for dipping in salsa and hummus. It’s really tasty, encourages us to fill up on veggies, and can act as a crunchy snack alternative. We also love fat free yogurt and peanuts/raisins for travel snack bags.

Last month’s goal of getting more rest has been a complete bust, but I have kept with my goal of drinking more water, so hey, half ain’t bad! Making big changes is all about taking small steps – or at least for me, as I have the tendency to try and do everything “Right” and burn out because it’s too unrealistic. Sticking to the approach of doing as much as I can when I can do it has allowed me to still make changes and allow them to snowball and turn into greater changes.

What small health or fitness goals are you working on this month?

Beeb:

Current weight: 137 lbs
Weight Last Week: 137.6 lbs
Weekly Weight Lost: .6 lbs
Starting weight: 141.6 lbs

Jai:

Current weight: 186.8 lbs
Weight Last Week: 187.6 lbs
Weekly Weight Lost: .8 lbs
Starting weight: 197 lbs

Jai and I both noticed that we were feeling really good physically this week. In the last few days, I’ve been noticing that I have a lot more energy, and I know that’s a direct result of eating better and being more active, since I’m certainly not getting any more sleep. 😉 (Not that sleep isn’t important! I’m working on getting more rest, but I’m not there yet!) I also feel “Lighter” – less bogged down, and I can feel a little more core strength; I’m also seeing a little more muscle definition. Jai has also been more energetic and seeing progress in his workouts.

What I think is noteworthy is that we’re seeing these positive benefits without doing everything perfectly. Yes, we both work out, but since we have a gym in the home it’s flexible and neither of us have necessarily spent a huge amount of time working out. In fact, the last few months we’ve both felt like we were just going through the motions – I was feeling bummed recently because nothing seems to have been going the way I planned this year. I had planned to start Nutrisystem and eat everything perfectly, drink all my water, get lots of sleep, do killer workouts everyday…I’m sure this sounds very familiar to everyone reading. 😉 Unfortunately, everything convened at once in my personal life and left me with very little time to actually do all of these wonderful things. I felt like everything was going really slowly and like I’d squandered time – but what’s interesting is how now, 7 weeks in, everything seems to be snapping into place more. We may have been going through the motions, but that was enough to keep us with it until we started to see the positive physical change. As I said to Jai: You can start a diet and exercise regime and have it be months before you notice any significant change, while a bucket of fried chicken and beer always causes am immediate positive reaction, which is why healthy living can be such a challenge. 😉

But the nice thing about healthier choices is that once you finally do see a difference, it starts to snowball. Suddenly, I have more energy for everything, which means I’m able to work out more, which will just give me more energy. Sometimes, all I can do is the bare minimum – but sometimes, that’s enough to get you in the right direction. Even if it feels pointless at times, it does eventually pay off and lead to greater and greater changes down the road.