Allow me to indulge in some blatant narcissistic tooting of my own horn. (How many calories do you think tooting one’s own horn burns?)

In April of this year, Downtown Dad and I took a road trip to the West Coast. A long 10 day drive, winding through 10+ states, from Fargo, thru Yellowstone, Yosemite and Hollywood, then back thru Nevada, Utah and home. That drive turned out to be life changing, not only because of the restorative powers of nature’s beauty, but because of a resolution we both made. On that trip, both of us weighing the most we ever have in our lives, we decided together to devote ourselves together to the Sanford Profile Plan, together.  Did I mention we decided to do this thing together?

You may remember that at the beginning of 2015, I made a resolution to lose 1 pound per week complete with what I thought was a road map and a foolproof plan. Boy, I was committed! Damn, I was going to DO THIS! Somehow, I did manage to lose 10 pounds in 10ish weeks, by hook and/or by crook. But then life, and time, and stress, wine and whatever fills the void when you have a faulty road map, took over, and I gained it all back by June.

Now let me backtrack. I was working in the marketing department of Sanford two years ago at the time that they rolled out their Profile Plan. I had just gone through their company sponsored Healthy Lifestyle plan which hammered home the three-legged stool philosophy of Eating Healthy Foods, Doing Healthy Gym-based Exercise, and Having a weight-loss psychologist listen to you every other week. Over the course of a year, I did manage to lose almost 20 pounds. I soon realized they were the same 20 pounds I was destined to lose, find and lose again and find again. I was not impressed, nor convinced that a diet of shakes and bars would ever be effective, much less sustainable.

Suffice it to say I had a – shall we say – bad taste in my mouth for weight loss plans.

But on our trip to the west coast with lots of windshield conversation time, both Downtown Dad and I committed to being more active, and to signing on to the Profile Plan once we returned home from this trip.

I’m happy to report that in the relatively short time from June until October, both of us have lost nearly 60 pounds combined! Downtown Dad, being a male, naturally lost his weight faster than me. But his goal was also only half of what I intend to lose, so I knew this going in, and it doesn’t affect my attitude… much.

The Sanford Profile Plan is basically a ketogenic diet; high in protein, low in carbs, high in vegetables and fiber, low in fruit and sugar. As our coaches say, “anyone can lose weight on a ketogenic diet, the real magic is coming back onto the real food without gaining weight.” That’s where we’ve put our faith in our personal coaches. They are equal parts cheerleader, confidant, jewish mother, and psychologist and we meet every two weeks.

I write this, energetically inspired, after walking my semi-nightly 2.5 miles on the treadmill while watching Dr. Who on Netflix.  Downtown Dad and I tag team the treadmill for an hour each every night. Our two hours after work now spent shredding our stress with exercise, rather than drowning it in a bottle of wine. This for me is an amazing accomplishment. Back in January of this year, nearly 30 pounds heavier, I found it almost impossible to do even 1 mile on the treadmill, plagued by knee pain, shortness of breath and fatigue.

Surprisingly, the shakes and bars part of this diet are easy meal replacements and mostly tasty. Our plan also includes a gargantuan requirement of at least 4 cups of vegetables per day! Which also surprisingly has turned us into salad connoisseurs – seeking out the dining establishments with fast, easy, and customizable arrays of greens (surprising hint: think Ruby Tuesday and Subway).  We also faithfully sip, gulp and swill 65 or more ounces of water every damn day. You’d be totally amazed at how this curbs our appetites, gives us energy, and even enhances our skin! All of this also leaves almost no room for my beloved wine, which I still occasionally break training to include, and pay for in stalled weight loss and reduced energy. But not Downtown Dad, he’s a machine!

We are starting to see the results of our weight loss, in that other people are noticing. We’ve had to buy new clothes because the stuff we had started to make us look like, in my daughter’s words, homeless people!

This gratification, and looking in the mirror does make the sacrifices worthwhile. In light of this, I really shouldn’t WHINE, but gosh it is a long and wine-ding road I’m on – and there is not nearly enough WINE!