This is my 100th weight loss post, and it comes at a great time. After being stuck between 163-167 for 6 months, I've finally broke through the plateau! This morning I weighed in at 157, so I feel like I'm solidly in the 150's and on my way down. When I hit 159 earlier this week, that marked a 50 pound loss since my highest non-pregnancy weight. (Well, that I can remember ... Jamie says that I was higher than that at one point ... like 212 or 215 ... I just can't remember.) Either way, I've lost more than 50 pounds, which is hard to put into perspective. I feel like the same person, but when you start thinking about how heavy 50 pounds is, it's hard to imagine carrying that much extra around. I slapped on a pair of size 10 jeans at Old Navy and just about cried. I'm wearing medium shirts (except in those teeny tiny junior sizes). The jeans I'm currently sitting in are a size 11 from Rue 21 (a teen store)...WHAT?!?!
Anyway, how did I break the plateau?
Last Sunday, we had dinner with Jamie's good friend (well, he's my friend too...haha). His degree revolves around fitness, he's been a personal trainer, and now he's pursuing a degree in the medical field. He has studied how the body loses fat and builds muscle extensively. All that being said, I went to him for advice because I was tired of being stuck. Here is what he told me to do:
STOP running, walk for 30 minutes instead
STOP eating breakfast, your body doesn't need it ... just have your morning coffee ... period.
Cut most carbs out of your diet for a while ... just eat meat and vegetables ... NO fruit
Now, I usually halfway listen to advice like this and later shrug it off. I've tried low carb before and only lasted a day. I was a teenager when I tried it the first time. BUT, I just happened to have a container full of leftover hamburgers at home, so I already had the fixin's for low carby-ness. I thought, "I'm going to try this ONE MORE TIME." So, here I am, a week into doing what he told me, and I've lost 6 pounds. SIX POUNDS IN ONE WEEK ... SIIIIIIIIIXXXXXXX!!!!!
TO ALL NEGATIVE NANCIES:
Now, I know there are naysayers who will poopoo all over what I'm doing, but just know that the extreme low carb will only be for a month. After that, I will work to maintain my goal weight once I get there. I don't feel that I'm doing anything harmful to my body at all. I'm having moderate servings of meat and large servings of vegetables. I understand not eating fruit ... it just has SO much sugar. Besides, who decided to make it a requirement to eat fruit? I think that's a dumb rule.
If you want to tell me, "You're going to gain all the weight back when you get off the low carb diet," then save your breath. I've heard this and said this a million times, but what I am currently doing is working for me. Until I reach my goal weight, I will do what is necessary. I refuse to be one of those chicks who is constantly starving themselves.
"But, what about your kidneys, Jennifer?" Trust me ... I've done plenty of reading up on low carb diets. I know there can be side effects if you do it in a stupid way. I'm not munching on bacon and pork rinds over here though. I'm having lean meats and healthy vegetables. I've upped my liquid intake to keep my kidneys flushed out and happy.
"You're just losing water weight." ... I've heard this one a few times. Sure, some of the loss is more than likely from water weight loss, but do you really want to be retaining water anyway? If I've lost 6 pounds of water weight this week, then so be it. I don't want to carry around 6 extra pounds of unneeded water weight.
My friend told me, "You have to eat fat to lose fat." Now, there's a complicated sciencey explanation for why this is so, and he did explain it to me, but there is no way I could repeat it ... I work at a newspaper, not a laboratory.
I think that covers all of the negative stuff I've been faced with just this week. Try it or don't try it. Like it or don't like it. You do you, and I'll do me. I shall carry on until I get to my goal or stop seeing results. At either point, I'm going to have to make a lifestyle change either to kickstart weightloss again or to maintain weightloss.
TALLY-HO!!!
