inkwell
Fri, Oct-17-03, 18:11
I am 45 years old. This year I reached a weight, a number that made me feel disgusted with myself and found myself in a good place, situationally, motivationally and in all ways ready to do something about a long slow climb to a weight that reached 321 pounds. On July 13, 2003, I began following the atkins diet/eating lifestyle. Weight loss was rapid. It came easily with no cravings, no pangs, no extraordinary discomfort. It has been 3 months and a few days and I have lost 52 pounds as of this morning. This has been with little exercise as I experienced joint pains caused partly by past injuries, partly by the stress of all the weight I have been carrying, In addition I had an onslaught of gout which was almost crippling. That has been handled with meds. Uric acid was an issue for me before and this apparently exacerbated it. Otherwise, all my numbers are good. I have been on meds for blood pressure for years and within 2 weeks of starting this program, with 18 pounds of weight loss, the numbers were lower than they had been since I first started taking meds to control it. Cholesterol was never a problem but is also down. I had originally set goals of 40 pounds by my moms wedding end of November which was increased to 50 pounds and now has been increased to 60 pounds. I am pulling out clothes I havent worn for ages . . . does anyone remember Sedgefield jeans from the eighties? well I just wore a pair that had been packed away for . . . two decades? !! LOL, I am wearing the same clothes down the weight elevator that I wore riding it up. :)
I find I am not able to cheat. I am obsessive about my carbs and my eating. I know most need to NOT obsess to keep it up long term but for me it is the opposite. I keep my journal religiously. I have kept to 20 carbs max per day for all three months and intend to keep to that until I reach my goal ( which by the way is a nice round number . . . 100 pounds lost). That will put me at 220 pounds. I will have to see what happens when I achieve that. I cant imagine myself at lower than that but who knows what will happen when I get there. Thus far I have not had a real pause in my loss. I never go more than a week without seeing loss. My nemesis is an old fashioned one. portion control. I find I need to buy portion controlled meals. For instance, I buy premade hamburger patties and take out only one or two or whatever is a helping. If I buy a pound of chopped meat and make a meatlof, nothing prevents from eating half of it at a sitting. I eat a ton of chicken. Boneless thighs, wings, boneless breasts, things that I can cook, keep in fridge and take out to heat just what I want to eat that meal. One breast cut in half and on a bun with cheese toasted in the toaster oven. drumsticks for a snack. Salmon patties ( like hamburger patties but made with salmon, no filler). All of these things are easy to portion control and Trader Joes has been a lifesaver for me. They are good for portion control. fish filets flash frozen, the salmon patties, lo carb rolls, both sweet cinnamon and raisin and deli sandwich rolls have been a huge help for me with lunches and feel like cheating for only 3.5 and 3 carbs respectively. Even carb free jelly beans!
The other secret I learned is making up for rice or mashed potatoies when you have chicken or fish with a gravy. No bread to sop up the gravy. No mashed poatatoes to soak it up, ditto no rice. . . . so what to do to give that same effect or feeling? The mashed cauliflower is really a great substitute for mashed potatoes. I also grate succhini and squash so it is kind of like rice under my fish or chicken and it doesnt soak up the gravy but kind of acts like rice to give ya a base for the grany to flow into and something to eat it with.
I am sure that I am not eating enough veggies and no fruit at all. This cant be ideal but is a side effect of keeping to 20 carbs a day. I see my doctor every 3 weeks. His opinion is just do what works. Being as obese as I am, losing 100 pounds would make up for anything else I do to myself and if I loosen up on the carb control to maintain instead of losing, I will hopefull return to a more balanced diet. Meanwhile, BP is down to 110 over 80, we are considering weaning me off the meds I take to control BP and I feel ok. I take my supplements regularly. I try to eat more dark leafy vegies instead of salad goods that might be less nutritional and are mostly water in order to make the most of my carbs. I avoid the candy and meal replacement bars as a waste of carbs and money. I would frankly rather just skip a meal than eat a bar.
Exercise has been difficult. First day I overdid it and literally blacked out. Been taking it much more carefully. Not sure if it is being out of shape or just not taking in enough calories to support the exercise. I seem fine with cardio work but the strength work leaves me light headed. My daily routine is 30 minutes on treadmill, 3 laps of a 1/10 mile track, 15 minutes on bike, another 3 laps, 15 minutes on elliptical trainer and 4 laps. Hour and 15 minutes a day 4 to 5 days a week. 2 weeks into this i am starting to build a little endurance. adding some incline to treadmill and resistance to bike. The exercise has led to more inches removed. I am down 4 inches each from chest and waist and 4 1/2 off the hips as of last Sunday. I only measure on sundays although I weigh every morning and every night.
In short I am not sure I am being as healthy as I could be but the results have been spectacular and I am able to keep up the low intake without loss of energy, hunger or cravings. I look forward to being able to do more exercise as my body gets used to it and I build up cardiovascular health and having that exercise allow me to eat a more balanced diet, adding more veggies and some fruit.
This is where I am as of today. If results are the measure of success, I am thrilled and consider this change in my life a total success. I am giving up nothing in terms of eating out and getting pleasure from the food I do eat. I love cooking. I love trying out new recipes and I love being creative in the kitchen to overcome the absolute nonos like pasta and rice and mashed potatoes.
I find I am not able to cheat. I am obsessive about my carbs and my eating. I know most need to NOT obsess to keep it up long term but for me it is the opposite. I keep my journal religiously. I have kept to 20 carbs max per day for all three months and intend to keep to that until I reach my goal ( which by the way is a nice round number . . . 100 pounds lost). That will put me at 220 pounds. I will have to see what happens when I achieve that. I cant imagine myself at lower than that but who knows what will happen when I get there. Thus far I have not had a real pause in my loss. I never go more than a week without seeing loss. My nemesis is an old fashioned one. portion control. I find I need to buy portion controlled meals. For instance, I buy premade hamburger patties and take out only one or two or whatever is a helping. If I buy a pound of chopped meat and make a meatlof, nothing prevents from eating half of it at a sitting. I eat a ton of chicken. Boneless thighs, wings, boneless breasts, things that I can cook, keep in fridge and take out to heat just what I want to eat that meal. One breast cut in half and on a bun with cheese toasted in the toaster oven. drumsticks for a snack. Salmon patties ( like hamburger patties but made with salmon, no filler). All of these things are easy to portion control and Trader Joes has been a lifesaver for me. They are good for portion control. fish filets flash frozen, the salmon patties, lo carb rolls, both sweet cinnamon and raisin and deli sandwich rolls have been a huge help for me with lunches and feel like cheating for only 3.5 and 3 carbs respectively. Even carb free jelly beans!
The other secret I learned is making up for rice or mashed potatoies when you have chicken or fish with a gravy. No bread to sop up the gravy. No mashed poatatoes to soak it up, ditto no rice. . . . so what to do to give that same effect or feeling? The mashed cauliflower is really a great substitute for mashed potatoes. I also grate succhini and squash so it is kind of like rice under my fish or chicken and it doesnt soak up the gravy but kind of acts like rice to give ya a base for the grany to flow into and something to eat it with.
I am sure that I am not eating enough veggies and no fruit at all. This cant be ideal but is a side effect of keeping to 20 carbs a day. I see my doctor every 3 weeks. His opinion is just do what works. Being as obese as I am, losing 100 pounds would make up for anything else I do to myself and if I loosen up on the carb control to maintain instead of losing, I will hopefull return to a more balanced diet. Meanwhile, BP is down to 110 over 80, we are considering weaning me off the meds I take to control BP and I feel ok. I take my supplements regularly. I try to eat more dark leafy vegies instead of salad goods that might be less nutritional and are mostly water in order to make the most of my carbs. I avoid the candy and meal replacement bars as a waste of carbs and money. I would frankly rather just skip a meal than eat a bar.
Exercise has been difficult. First day I overdid it and literally blacked out. Been taking it much more carefully. Not sure if it is being out of shape or just not taking in enough calories to support the exercise. I seem fine with cardio work but the strength work leaves me light headed. My daily routine is 30 minutes on treadmill, 3 laps of a 1/10 mile track, 15 minutes on bike, another 3 laps, 15 minutes on elliptical trainer and 4 laps. Hour and 15 minutes a day 4 to 5 days a week. 2 weeks into this i am starting to build a little endurance. adding some incline to treadmill and resistance to bike. The exercise has led to more inches removed. I am down 4 inches each from chest and waist and 4 1/2 off the hips as of last Sunday. I only measure on sundays although I weigh every morning and every night.
In short I am not sure I am being as healthy as I could be but the results have been spectacular and I am able to keep up the low intake without loss of energy, hunger or cravings. I look forward to being able to do more exercise as my body gets used to it and I build up cardiovascular health and having that exercise allow me to eat a more balanced diet, adding more veggies and some fruit.
This is where I am as of today. If results are the measure of success, I am thrilled and consider this change in my life a total success. I am giving up nothing in terms of eating out and getting pleasure from the food I do eat. I love cooking. I love trying out new recipes and I love being creative in the kitchen to overcome the absolute nonos like pasta and rice and mashed potatoes.