Twenty pounds down and it feels great!
Earlier this year I set a goal to lose 30 pounds. I didn’t do anything about it for a few months, and then I started seeing a nutritionist who pretty much kicked my butt into gear.
I’m excited to say I’m more than halfway to my goal, just about 20 pounds down now.
For years I tried to lose weight and pretty much failed at any and every attempt to make changes in my eating habits. I was never exactly fit, but I used to walk 40-60 minutes a day, then a knee injury sidelined me, and all my bad food habits caught up to the tune of about 50 pounds over the past three years. YIKES!
The strangest thing is that this time around it’s been easy and enjoyable to lose weight. For years I used to always be thinking about the next thing I would eat, even while I was eating! It was really an addiction and I honestly didn’t know how I break it. It was easier for me to write a novel (or eight at this point) than to change my eating habits. I have motivation and will power, but they never seemed to help when it came to food.
This time around I changed only two basic things in my eating habits and they made ALL the difference.
Around the time I started thinking about getting serious and losing weight (yes, it’s a long process to actually make a change!) a friend of mine mentioned she gave up wheat voluntarily, not because of allergy or intolerance. We were going on a weekend trip and I laughed at her, thinking her food restriction was going make eating a challenge. Then she told me all the health effects she noticed when she stopped eating wheat.
It was enough to make me curious. I read some articles online and a book about the evils of wheat. I didn’t buy into everything in the book, but the weight drop in people who went wheat-free sure got my attention. The author said some people get an actual addiction to wheat and always want more. This sounded just like me. Pasta, bread, bagels, crackers. A day didn’t go by where I didn’t eat wheat products. (The book is called Wheat Belly, in case you want to check it out. I don’t follow his diet and I don’t agree with everything he says, so don’t put me in the crackpot category),
So I gave it a shot.
I decided to try it for two weeks. I threw out my bread and pasta and checked food labels for gluten-free products.
I was really amazed at the changes! I stopped feeling like I wanted to eat all the time. I stopped thinking about food all the time. I got so much more energy, and one of the best effects was a huge increase in focus and concentration. As a writer, I aim for about 2000 words a day on my project. Some days it’s easy, other days it’s torture. I was able to write 5k-6k-7000 words a day over the course of a week. I finished a novella in four days, an absolute record for me.
Even if I didn’t lose any weight I was really thrilled with these other “side effects.” But I lost weight too. Not tons, since I’m admittedly not very active due to the knee, but steadily and without much conscious thought. I lost inches too. I don’t measure, but all my pants fit comfortably or are loose—a huge improvement, since before the changes my largest pants were feeling very snug. Now they are floating on me. Even the nutritionist said “She’s melting away!”
I still look more like the woman on the right, but I’m taking it slow and I can get to my goal–and much lower!
Yes, cutting wheat out meant I couldn’t eat pizza or pastries, or BAGELs, which was a real hardship. But I didn’t actually mind because I lost the craving for those foods once I got all the wheat out of my system. It was like I was addicted to it, and once I gave it up, I wasn’t really tempted. I found a few gluten-free replacement products: brown rice pasta and gluten-free bread, but in general I would rather eat quinoa or rice or salad instead now.
I’m very satisfied with less food. Some days I’m never hungry at all and have to force myself to eat enough protein and calories to keep my metabolism from shutting down. I have replaced the junk/bad carbs in my diet with better quality food and I have a lot of good new food habits.
I don’t know exactly how or why it works, but it’s working for me.
There is still a lot of bread around the house. My housemates haven’t changed their habits and they have bread, cake or cookies around. I have not at all been tempted to eat it, even when they get pizza from the best place in the US (Zachary’s!).
I found some great recipes on gluten-free websites and have tried GF cupcakes and blueberry cobbler, pancakes and a few other things. I don’t make any of these things often, but I know if I do get a craving for cookies or red velvet cupcakes, I have some recipes. I’m gearing up to try baking my own GF bread.
Next time, I’ll talk about the other change I made: fiber and some tips that made it easy for me to stick to my new eating plan. If anyone has specific questions, I’m happy to answer them. I’ll also share some recipes and websites I’ve found useful.
4 Responses to “Twenty pounds down and it feels great!”
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Woohoo! You go girl! There’s nothing better than feeling really good about yourself and you definitely deserve to. Good luck with the next 10lbs 🙂 I bet you feel like a new woman…
Thanks so much for the lovely comments and support! I don’t feel quite new, just improved. LOL.
Well, bread and other baked goods are certainly my weakness. I’ll give your suggestion a try. I could do with some extra energy – or any, period!
Congrats EM! Well done. I’ve made all the same changes in eating habits with the help of a holistic doctor. It’s amazing what a difference it makes in how I feel in general. Still working on the weight, being down with a broken leg for several months this year didn’t help. Back working with a trainer now after months of PT.
Have you found that the longer you go without something, the less you want it. And even if you sneak a taste, it no longer tastes good to you? Anytime I’m tempted by candy or fast food I picture a poison sign stamped on it. it works..LOL!!