Almost to the end of the main program and then it’s maintenance! I have pretty much leveled off at losing 1 pound per week now that we are back on food (and I have been walking less). Plus my blood pressure has really stabilized at what I have found online to be pretty much textbook normal. So that’s awesome.

I hope to kick up the exercise a bit again, especially in this final week. If I can manage a 1.5 pound loss, then I’ll manage a 30 pound loss over the program. Less than I hoped, but more that I have ever lost at a time. My 1 pound a week feels slow compared to my numbers in the first part of the program, but it’s still a steady loss. Plus, towards the end here, we have been less strict about our exact exchanges and all that, and have been more of less just “healthy eating”. Doing that and still losing is great.

Sure, we ate out today and I overdid it. But I choose to overdo it, and still “over doing it” was far less than a normal day for me several months ago. It all just needs to be balanced out. Too much of that, means less of this, and more exercise. No guilt. No habitual overeating. Just enjoying a meal (which, by the way, was today’s class topic – slow down and enjoy food again!).

But today we got our last of the Optifast shakes. So the end is near. I will actually miss the shakes and might not mind having some extra stocked up on occasion. When it’s time for a snack or am in a hurry, it’s easy to just grab one of those. So I have to work on other healthy substitutes for the quick food.

Overall, the program has been good, but like many things, it started dramatically and ends quietly. It really dominated our lives at the beginning (for obvious reasons), but now, it’s becoming more of an after thought. Partly that’s due to actually eating meals and real food again. Another part is the vast amount my schedule has filled up with school going now. (Is it a bad sign that only week is down, and it already feels like a marathon?)

But whatever the reason, 1 week from today is our final weigh-in and doctor visit. We will attend a couple classes as make-up sessions, and then have to go to some more to get “lifetime membership” (basically allows us to get products in the future, schedule meetings with staff there, etc.). So there’s plenty more in store, but it’ll be quieter and less dominating. I hope that’s a sign that it’s a settled lifestyle change. The changes from the program are more habit than challenge. It will be a different kind of difficult, sure, but I am confident that, like a lot of other things in my life right now, it’s the beginning transition to a great things.

• life
• weight loss