Weigh-in

Image courtesy of Ampersand Seven
Down to 312.8 from 314.2. That's 1.4 pounds lost in a week! Could this plateau be over? Could this new low-carb lifestyle be working? Oh, please please please let it be true. I won't get too excited until I can maintain that loss (and possibly lose more) for another week, but man was I happy to see that number on the scale this morning. When I felt my jeans getting looser, I hoped a whoosh was on its way. This is the lowest I've been since I started (it seemed like I'd never break that 314 barrier), so I have my fingers crossed it isn't a fluke. I weighed myself four times before I finally believed it. ;)

Eating low-carb and high-protein has kept me super full during the day. I know. Duh. But as an example, I've been around 1600 calories the past few days, and I feel stuffed. Normally, I eat around 1800 - 2000 and feel sort of satisfied but could probably eat more. Not today. I had to practically force dinner down. It's good to know I won't have any issues eating at maintenance, once I finally get there. Maintenance for a woman my height and frame is around 1800 - 1960 calories per day.

My favorite new breakfast item is Greek yogurt. I really like the Dannon Light & Fit Greek yogurt. It's in a blue container, just like their Oikos brand. I've been eating the blueberry flavor all week, and I have strawberry on-deck. They also have raspberry, I believe. I have a couple pieces of string cheese on my way out the door, and then I have the Greek yogurt as a snack as soon as I get to work. I guess you could call it "second breakfast" since it's only a half-hour later. :)

For lunch, I've been eating a lot of tuna salad with hard-boiled egg (on low-carb bread), but I've read I need to limit my tuna consumption due to mercury levels. I'm not sure how many cans of tuna I eat per week, since the tuna salad is prepared in our cafeteria, but I'm going to limit it to three days per week just in case.

Brent was very patient with me when I went grocery shopping with him the other night. I spent a lot of time looking at labels on everything I wanted. Now that I have some pretty good basics, I can just give him a list when he goes on his usual day (Saturday, when I'm at work). I don't want to eat the same things every day, but it's a good start, and I can always plan weekly menus from here. I have full control over breakfast and lunch, but I need to plan some good, healthy dinners that we can both eat. I canceled my subscription to the South Beach Diet, which was purchased in a fit of panic, but maybe I can buy their recipe book or another low-carb recipe book.

One challenge of reducing my carbs is that my fat intake is going up. I haven't been too high, but it's weird to see myself exceeding my limit, even if it's only a few grams. I don't want to lose weight and end up with heart disease anyway. ;) So, I need to find some low-glycemic foods to replace some of the cheese in my daily intake. I also need to make my own tuna salad instead of eating it in the cafe. Then I can be sure it has low-fat or non-fat mayo, fewer hard-boiled eggs, etc.

Rant

Trying to lose weight with insulin resistance is like Sisyphus pushing his rock up that hill. I've been reducing my calories and exercising my butt off for two months without a single pound lost. I hate that I do everything everyone else does and only maintain while they put up 1-2 pound losses every week. This sucks, and I'm mad, and I don't even care that I sound whiny. I can't wait to see my doctor for a new/better battle plan in a couple weeks.

He warned me this would happen, that I could stall for six months or more, and that I might only lose one pound per month, but I'm still pissed.

I've lost 40-ish pounds successfully in the past, but that's the most I've ever lost. I've never lost 50, 60, 70 pounds. I hate to think my body likes to lose 40 pounds and then give up the ghost. I'm seriously freaking out right now, even though I know my doctor can probably clear this up with sage advice on December 5th. I can't wait to see him.

Since I have to reduce my carbs so much (and I've been having a hell of a time with that, despite my best intentions), my friend recommended the South Beach plan. I HATE gimmicks, but she said it's actually really easy to follow and not a "diet". The focus is simply on reducing carbs and getting your carbs from good sources instead of starchy/sugary sources. She's lost quite a bit of weight and has kept it off for two years. From her description of the meals and snacks, it sounds exactly like what I'm supposed to be doing. I figure it can't hurt to try it. I don't eat white flour and simple starches anymore, but I have to buckle down tighter than that.

I know I've "come so far" and that I feel better and my old clothes fit again and blah blah blah, but right now, it's really hard to focus on that while everyone on MFP is posting weight loss while I sit here at the same weight doing exactly what they're doing. I was supposed to be under 300 by Thanksgiving, and I haven't even budged a little bit since I made that goal. Now, I don't even know if I can hit my Christmas goal of 307.

I want to whine for hours about how incredibly unfair it is that I have a hormonal imbalance and metabolic syndrome, but I won't. I want to, but I won't. I simply have to wait and see what the doctor says. For all I know, we may just need to increase my Metformin or something simple like that.

In the meantime, I'll check out this South Beach thing, do it for a month, and see how it goes. It can't hurt to try; it's not like it'll make me gain weight.

I can't do the induction phase just yet, though. We leave for Albuquerque tomorrow morning, and while I don't plan to go hog wild during our vacation, it's also not the best time to try to eliminate all sugar and carbs from my diet. I will do my very best, but being on the train and going to restaurants and parties means I'm sort of at the whim of the universe. I'll just to have to find the lowest-carb options available, do my best, and then start induction when we get home.