-37 Pounds

It has been a long dry spell in the weight loss race, but today I am down 37 pounds.  That leave 19 to go in order to reach my goal weight.  I am so stoked.  In order to get my weight loss going again I had to refine my diet not only to low carb but to high quality low carb food.  More vegetables and good cheese, less processed meat.  Processed meats maybe on the way out for me all together.

I may not have mentioned or maybe I have, that I have not been sick one time since I changed my diet.  I have felt like I was getting ill several times, but never actually got sick.  This is an amazing thing because I usually have a sinus infection that turns to bronchitis at least twice usually three times a year.  I am making it though the spring allergy season without getting an infection.  I am taking my allergy medications twice a day, so the diet did not cure the allergies :P

Going to go eat a carrot if I can find one.

-36

I weighed 152 this morning, which is down 36 pounds from last April Fools Day.  I only have 19 more pounds to go to reach my goal of 133.  If I stay at this lower rate of weight loss, I should reach my goal in six months.  Or I could ramp it up a little bit, go back to a pound a week and be done in four months.  Either way, I win.

-35 Pounds

-35 pounds..  Finally, the weight goes down again.  So so so glad I didn't give up.  So glad I didn't give up the other times the weight loss stopped.  So grateful for all the the encouragement and praise that has been gifted me during this journey.  So wonderful to have good friends who actually work out with me.  Love the fun we have in yoga and online joking about our sore muscles and all too human bodies.  Amazing what good food and patience will do.  I feel like I've been granted a whole new life.  Only 20 pounds to go, but a whole lifetime ahead of me living this way, which is a blessing.

Smaller Pants

I haven't lost any measurable weight in the last month.  The last date I measured weight loss was New Years Day.  I did, however, lose a pant size.  Back on April 1st 2010, I was a size sixteen.  Today, I am in a size ten.  My goal size is an eight.  Pretty happy about this.

To jump start a little more weight loss, I made cabbage soup today.

2 cups shredded cabbage
1 celery stalk
1/2 cup chopped green onion
1/2 teaspoon Better Than Bouillon Chicken
3 cups water
Olive oil
Cider vinegar
Hot sauce (think Tabasco) but mine is homemade
Sesame seed oil
Olive oil
Saute the vegetables in olive oil until soft.  Add the Better than Bouillon and water.  The other ingredients are to taste so have at it. 

Mine is so good it is making my nose run

Pep Talk

It has been three weeks since I've lost any weight.  I am trying very hard not to get discouraged. This is not the first time this has happened during my weight loss journey over the last nine months.  I need to be gentle with myself.  I need to remember that nine month ago a six 16 was tight.  Today a size 12 is loose.  I need to remember that 9 months ago, my blood pressure was high.  Today, my blood pressure is normal.  I need to remember that I used to sit and mindlessly eat.  Today I pay attention to everything I put in my mouth.  I eat mindfully.  I need to remember that nine months ago, I needed to lose 55 pounds.  Today, I only need to lose 21 pounds to reach my goal. 

Soup Two Ways

Weight has stabilized since my last pound lost.  Apparently, I should not eat movie theater pickles.  Ate one Tuesday night and woke up to find myself swollen and five pounds heavier than the day before . It went away in 24 hours, but I'm not going to do that again. 

I made chicken soup again with noodles for Manly and Asian greens for myself.  That leads me to another point - How to feed myself and my family when we have different dietary needs.  For me, I've just been taking the carbs out of my portion of the recipe.  This means that I cannot cook the noodles in the soup, but have to cook them separately and add them after I take my portion out.  I can do that with any recipe that includes rice, potatoes, or wheat products. In my portions of meals that usually include pasta, I exchange squash for the pasta.  Zucchini and spaghetti squash make excellent pasta substitutes. 

I don't have to watch the fat in my diet.  However, I don't like to load up on it because it makes me feel yucky.  Manly was just told that he needs to watch his cholesterol so we are exploring the best options for his diet.  This is why he got the noodles and I got the greens. 

Bad Advice

I know I should be more patient.  I know I should be less judgemental. I know people and companies mean well, but COME ON.  I think 500 calorie diets are retarded.  I KNOW we all have health issues that cause us to tend to gain or not lose weight easily.  Losing 10 pounds in a week is dangerous.  Stimulant medications OTC or not are bad for me.  Expecting to lose weight fast and consistently is just not reasonable for ME. Want to mess up you metabolism?  Starve yourself, that'll do it. 


When someone asks me how I've lost this weight, I tell them with a warning that this is not for everybody.  I have a specific health need.  I need to keep my blood sugar under control.  Another person might need to control their blood pressure or cholesterol. Someone else might need to control their weight for joint health.  It  might just be vanity weight loss.  Maybe we want to lose weight for all of the above reasons.  Whatever.  Stop giving me crap advice. I've lost 34 pounds,  I think I've got it covered. 

Happy New Year

I woke up this morning and discovered I have lost another pound.  This puts me at -34.  I officially have 24 pounds left on this weight  loss journey.  My goal is to weigh in at 133.   That said, I will allow myself to lose weight into the 120's.  When that happens I will most likely be forced to take some kind of medication for my diabetes.  I can't eat to keep my blood sugar down and not lose weight.  My beautiful sister tried it unsuccessfully.   When I reach that point, I will allow myself to return to eating normal portions of healthy carbohydrates meaning whole grains. 

There is a part of this story that is very very important.  I no longer like refined wheat products.  The just have no flavor or texture to me anymore.  The same thing happened with sugar.  During my pregnancies, I was misdiagnosed with gestational diabetes.  I actually have MODY2, but the course of action was the same,  This diet or something very similar to it.  Over the three pregnancies, two of them back to back,  I had to cut out all soft drinks, among other things.  During that time, I completely lost my love of sweets.  Cokes are absolutely too sweet for me.  I can't stand them.  Now that the same thing has happened with highly processed wheat, I feel like a permanent change has come over my life and I will be able to maintain a healthy weight once I achieve it.  Remember, I've been at this 9 months.  I've been very gentle with myself.  I gave myself plenty of ways to cheat without really cheating in the beginning. 

More to come on the ways to cheat without cheating tomorrow.