Day 52

Breakfast: Coffee (80), 1 packet Peaches 'n Cream Instant Oatmeal (140), 1 cup Special K w/1/2 cup skim mkilk (150), 2 bites Raspberry Swirl Coffee Cake (120)
Lunch: PB&J (230), 1/2 serving potato chips (70), 2 T Duncan Hines frosting (120)
Dinner: 2 1/2 slices extra cheese pizza (600), Diet Coke
Day 52 Calorie Count: 1510 adn 57:49:12 minutes walking

Day 51 Drink Away Stubborn Body Fat

"Wu Long Authentic Premium Chinese Slimming Tea" promises to, among lots of other things, burn 2.5x more calories than authentic green teas and reduce the fattening effects of carbohydrates. "In a new study published in the Journal of Medical Investigation, scientists from Japan's University of Tokushima School of Medicine found that people who regularly consumed Wu Long tea experienced twice the calorie burning results of those who drank the same amount of authentic Japanese green tea. And a new study from the scientists at the Suntory Research Center in Osaka, Japan, shows that drinking Wu Long teas fifteen minutes before eating carbs, will blunt the rise in insulin you normally get after eating carbohydrates. If you order this rare tea now, which is not sold in stores, you'll get 60 full servings for $37. But supplies are extremely limited, only a few hundred units remain in stock and those are expected to move quickly. We cannot guarantee this special low price, tomorrow it may be substantially higher, so order now!"
It's just amazing to me that, not only are there products out there making, what I think, are outrageous statements but there are folks, desperate to loss weight, who are swallowing it, sip, after, green tea sip.
There are no ancient Chinese secrets or certified 100% pure South African grade Hoodia that will ever take the place of what you are doing right now. Counting your calories and ramping up your cardiometer daily is what will get you and keep you at the place you desire to be.
Day 51 Calorie Count: 1320 and 45:58:30 minutes of walking.

Day 50 Weigh In #7

Remember the excitement Charlie Bucket felt when he tore open the wrapper from his Wonka bar and the corner of a golden ticket shimmered from his shaking hand. That's how I felt this morning after I stepped on the scale. 1.6# loss!
I went back and checked last week's loss to make sure I saw it right. 1.6. It works. It's simple. It's about the math.
I have rendered nearly 49 1/2 sticks of butter in 50 days, an average of 1.8 pounds a week. Maybe 1.8 pounds per week doesn't seem like a large chunk of lard when compared to the 15 pound losses a week on "The Biggest Loser" but, you're not isolated on a fat ranch, working out with a personal trainer 24/7 alongside others who are competing against you to lose pounds and win big money.
If you are reading this far and have followed The Plan to lose 20 pounds by reducing your calories by 500 and pumping your body for 45 minutes daily, then you have lost, in the range of, 1.6# a week. If you're losing more, then you're ahead of the The Plan. If you're Weigh In this week wasn't what you predicted, be patient. If you followed The Plan and did everything you know to do, next week will reflect the losses. There is no way around losing weight the right way. It just doesn't work in the long run. Never has, never will. Now, if you are not seeing a 1.6# loss weekly, for reasons only you know, and you're trying to play catch up each week, then you might as well stop reading now.
Day 50 Calorie Count: 1485 and 47:20:15

Day 49

Tomorrow is Weigh In #7 and now is the good time to think about Reward #5. What are you planning for yourself?
Clothes? A digital camera? Tickets to a Broadway show? Mario Batali's new cookbook? What is something you've wanted to buy yourself for some time but never felt like you should splurge on it or that you deserved it? You deserve it. If you've come this far and haven't indulged yourself in a small or big way, then now is your moment. Pickup something for you: a moisturizer, earrings, a new sweeper, whatever gives you that slight lift. You may think it's no big deal to plan a treat and then follow through with it, but it's a tiny symbolic step which will transcend itself into other areas of showing how you care for you. Little things mean the most.

My reward is whiter teeth. Years of drinking coffee, of all strengths and blends have stained havoc on them, and has made me self conscious about my smile. My teeth have bothered me for sometime. But I always thought, "I'm not worth it, that's for celebrities. It will be ungodly expensive. It doesn't really matter." But it does matter. And I have probably eaten in ice cream the cost equivalent of the treatment many times over. So, I picked up the phone, dialed my dentist and was surprised the treatment wasn't nearly as expensive as I thought and she could fit me in right after Weigh In #7. Hello pearly whites.

Day 48

"Desire is the key to motivation, but it's the determination and commitment to an unrelenting pursuit of your goal--a commitment to excellence--that will enable you to attain the success you seek."*

Unrelenting. Not letting up or weakening your vigor or pace. Constant, hard, stern. Not softening. I know you desire to lose weight and wanting so badly to finally do it motivates you to follow this plan, or that plan, or any plan but, wanting to lose weight is not enough. It's a start, but it's not enough. Losing weight is work. Not back breaking-lugging-concrete-blocks-in-a-wheel-barrow-up-a-hill kind of work, but mental work, calculating work, rethinking, changing life style, sacrificing kind of work. You must be relentless when approaching your weight loss. Persistent. Tenacious. Single minded. Losing weight doesn't end until it ends and then it really doesn't end, does it? You can't take your eye off the ball. Even after you've dropped eighty sticks of butter, you still must stay committed to the goal. Only then the goal will change, instead of taking off the weight, the goal will be keeping off the weight.
If, after 90 days of walking your butt off, counting the calories in every Altoid and balancing your ledger at each and every meal, you decide to take a break, what will inevitably happen? Slowly, oh so slowly, the weight will creep back on. Don't let up, don't weaken, be tireless in meeting your goal each day, one day at a time. It's simple: eat until you reach 1500 calories and walk for 45 minutes. We're more than half way there.
Day 48 Calorie Count: 1390 (which included 1 slice of Libby's pumpkin pie w/2 blasts of Reddi Whip) and 49:46:15 minutes of walking

*Mario Andretti

Day 47

Day 47 Calorie Count: 1420 and 47:38:22 minutes of walking
Breakfast: Coffee (80), 1 packet Quaker Oats Weight Control Oatmeal (160), handful of raspberries (30), 1/4 Eggo Waffle (40) w/1 t. margarine (30)
Lunch: McDonald's Double Hamburger, extra pickle (360), 1/2 serving small fries (125), Diet Coke
Dinner: Healthy Choice General Tso's Chicken (410), 1/2 bagel (105), w 1 t. margarine (30), 4 T. chocolate Cool Whip (50)

Day 46 Reward #4

Good bye Anne Klein eye wear, I hardly knew ya. $179 is a lot of money to shell out for specs that are only worn to read the newspaper. I wasn't about to plunk down that kind of cash for "readers" but I did snag a wannabe Liebskind style for $19, quite an upgrade from the cheap ones I usually pick up from the Dollar Store. At least I won't look like Granny Clampet when I'm in the grocery aisle, squinting to read labels.
I hope you are following through with your Rewards List, it's a great perk to have something to look forward to and a good diversion while you're "counting". Keep moving.
Day 46 Calorie Count: 1395 and 51:40:12 minutes of walking