Day 1 Report

People who blog more lose more, right?

Yesterday I woke up knowing I had to recommit to very low carb- meat/fish, FATS, green vegetables, and dairy in the way of cream/cheeses.  I've found that doing Day One on a Saturday is best for me because I get pretty tired the first few days. By Tuesday I'll be used to running on ketones and feel like a million bucks.

My longterm plan is to stick with this for the rest of my life- this works and I know I can't deal with carbs/sugar.

Short-term is to dive back in and adapt fully for 10 Days; no artificial sweeteners, no diet soda, no piece of dark chocolate at the end of the night, no red wine, no almond butter.  Those things have been and will again be part of my eating but I want them to be indulgences, not daily 600 calorie 'fourth meals'.

Here's what I ate Day One-

Breakfast- coffee w 1 T coconut oil, 1 T butter, 2 T half-n-half (heavy cream is better; we were out) 

Lunch- two pieces of casserole based on Linda's chile relleno casserole 

Supper- tri-tip steak, mushrooms sauteed in butter, mashed cauliflower w butter and cheddar cheese, baby spinach salad w/ ranch

It came out to 22 net carbs and about 1860 calories. Everything I ate was simple, real food that I prepared myself. 

Last night I slept for 7 hours straight and the mystery pains I was having seem to be dissipating already.

My Sunday plan is to stay focused and get ready for a solid work week. Until tomorrow...

Fed Up

I got through two days of calorie counting and 'daily' exercise before I gave up/gave in. 'This time' was going to be different in that I thought that monitoring my calorie intake would be a balanced way to turn things around.

I was wrong.

I can't do it anymore; when I eat simple carbs I feel sick, hungry, weak, and ashamed all the time. For me, even Clif bars are a gateway drug- a breakfast of 'whole grains', coffee, and splenda lead to a cream cheese pumpkin muffin 90 minutes later, pizza three hours after that, and a 'healthy' dinner followed by eating a box of wheat thins when everyone is asleep. When I get up in the morning all I can think about is getting a muffin or having something sweet/doughy.

This week I've also been experiencing an extra cute load of finger bloat and face puffiness. On top of that, my eyes are red, I'm peeing constantly and I'm starting to suspect that my pre-diabetic self is heading firmly toward Type 2. No. No. No.

So I just watched the documentary 'Fed Up' and even though I woke up this morning knowing I had to go very low carb again and stick with it, the movie solidified what I know to be right.

The very overweight teens and preteens struggling made me cry, but the words of some of the scientists and researchers gave me hope.

To wit: The very things that we associate with lack of self-control and are believed to be what CAUSES obesity- mainly, lack of exercise and giving in to hunger and eating too much- are caused by the insulin flood that comes from eating the wrong foods. The endless loop of frustration,of course, is that once you eat the wrong foods, you get hungrier and end up eating too much food, too.

The challenge at the end of the Fed Up documentary is about getting people to give up sugar and processed foods for 10 days. I'm about 5 hours into my day and so far so good. I still have time in 2014 to feel comfortable in my skin again like I did in March- it's been a bumpy, interesting year so far but it's not over and I deserve to make every day, every week a better one.

Love yourselves this weekend, friends.

90 Days off. 102 Days on starting TODAY

June 21st I confessed and weighed in. After June 21st, I had some days of dedicated logging and there were even two weeks where I temporarily became a morning person and hit the local gym PRIOR to 7am. Those things happened. Mostly, though, I was eating sugar and processed food and moving only when I had to get out of my car and into the office.  Now it's three full months later.

Pants are still tight; I've become a floating head in the mirror. I don't want to look at myself right now- black shirt, old jeans, necklace- done.  The feeling was super acute last night when I shared a meal at a friend's house in a dining area that happened to have mirrored walls. Avoiding my side view in my right peripheral became a focus that took me away from enjoying the food and conversation. Seeing how large I am in a chair, compared to other people, is very tough.

This morning begins the remainder of 2014 which I will tackle day by day.

There is a 102 day calendar on my fridge and I LOVE that it's blank. This is the 'well the Holidays are coming up anyway..' time of year that is ripe for the fuckits. No interest in the fuckits.

I'm back on My Fitness Pal. Calorie and workout logging and I will weigh in every 20 days because I need some time to reset. I'm hoping I can back down to the June 21st weight after 2-3 weeks. I've yet to weigh in again. Deciding between getting on tomorrow AM or just waiting for 20 days in.

Off to stalk blogs and find inspiration. Happy Fall.