PRISM results!

well it's finally the end of phase 1 of PRISM. it's been 6 weeks since i've had any white flour products, potatos, bread, sugar, desserts, or "comfort" snack foods like popcorn or chips. for the last six weeks i've limited my calories to 1300-1500 a day, or 1600-1800 if i'd exercised for 4 days of the week. i've also had to write down and turn in every thing i consumed and it's calorie amount.

my family's been great about helping me out. they would feel "bad" about eating things i wasn't allowed to in front of me. and danielle's been promising to make me cakes, chocolate chip cookies, and everything else chocolate when i'm done with prism and can eat it. she's so sweet.

was it the most difficult test of 'will-power' i've ever had to face? actually, no. it was the longest, but not the most difficult. actually the toughest was when in college once i worked at 'Boston Market' and i decided to do a complete fast (except for water). that was tougher. this was acutally just annoying. annoying because i think i went into the program with the wrong mindset. the program is promoted as mainly a 'weight loss' program, which it is. but it also goes on to teach healthy eating and what foods are good for your health, bad for your health, etc., etc. but the main part of the program was limiting calories. calories taken in vs. calories used equals weight gain or loss. which makes sense, and i can agree with that part. but i wanted to be able to make the choice about whether my calories came from healthy food or junk food.

but i obliged by all the rules and have gotten to this point. and i have to admit the results are good.

at the beginning of the program they had me weigh myself, take a picture, and take my measurements on various places on my body. (bicep, forearm, chest, bust, waist, belly, thigh, calf, and more, even down to the finger) so all in all here's what's happened to me.

weight dropped from 215lbs to 198lbs for a total of 17lbs of weight loss!!
and i lost a total of 17 3/8ths inches from my whole body.

here's the pics:
before:


after:


well there's 3 or 4 more phases of the actual PRISM cirruculm, but i'm not planning on continuing with the course. it actually gets better after the first phase, from what i've heard. it reintroduces the foods that it limited so drastically in the first phase. i'll continue my weight loss journey (i'm planning on dropping another 20-25lbs or so); but i'll do it through limiting my calorie intake and increasing my exercise, not by limiting my food choices.

(i have allowed myself one day (tomorrow: tuesday 2/20/07) of total 'indulgence' without regard for calories. i'll resume to a 1500ish calorie intake on wednesday)


// today i'm thankful for:
1. completing what i started
2. enjoying looking good
3. the taste of potato chips
4. connecting with my family
5. "cousin camp" coming up the first week of April
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