Day 6 of Induction

Well - I have now officially been sugar free, white flour free and alcohol free for 6 full days - and I feel FABULOUS!!!!!

Now - granted, it hasn't been extremely easy - but it hasn't been that hard either. :)

Tonight, however, was definitely a test of my will. We went to buffalo wild wings - which is a normal thursday night meal for us...(every other thursday maybe?) and NORMALLY I'd get 8 boneless (breaded) wings in medium sauce with a basket of buffalo chips (fries) and a tall Michelob Ultra.

And then I'd go home and be sick for a couple hours in the bathroom. :( But I'd always tell myself it was worth it cuz it was soooooo yummy.

Well - tonight we had to get it to go and brought it home. I got 1 black and blue burger and a chicken caesar salad!!! :) the burger was OHHHHHHH so yummy - and I threw out the bun and didn't touch ONE fry that it came with (gave those to Dan).

I was very satisfied - it was VERY yummy and I'm good to go. :)

I also bought some ketone strips today and it says right now I'm "small" in ketosis. Which is good. :)

I also went ahead and bought a multi-vitamin as I realized that now I am getting NO calcium in my diet and I'm afraid I may be losing other vitamins as well. So it's a women's one-a-day multi vitamin. :)

I had my "analysis" at the gym tonight - and yeahhhh. well he worked my legs out - which was great - but then, of course, he tried selling me a full training package. Which - if I HAD 2 grand to waste then I'd totally do it - but yeah no. I'll figure it out on my own.

But anyways - I still can't believe it's been 6 days and I'm SUGAR - WHITE FLOUR - and ALCOHOL free! Here's to another 6!! :)

Day 5 of Induction (a day late)

Well, it is morning of Day 6. Yesterday - Day 5 of Induction went fairly well. :)

I DO feel like I'm eating a little too many carbs right now (I'm averaging about 25) - so I'm going to really have to research this week and see what's easiest to take to work with me in my lunch bag for snacks.

Last night, when I got home - I let Jillian Michaels kick my butt! I really LOVE the DVD that Dan bought me (Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred) and I also have Bob's Biggest Loser Yoga - along with a TON of old videos as well. I think, though, I may buy some more of Jillian's non-biggest loser stuff. She works you OUT! Plus - I have to remind myself something she says in her 30 day shred "I've got 400 pound people who can do jumping jacks - so I KNOW you can do it too!"

I must say - 6 days now of being SUGAR and WHITE FLOUR free - my body feels great!

I don't think I'm losing anything yet - but I really think that won't truly start happening until I start REALLY exercising again.

I have an appointment with a trainer tonight (the "free" analysis they give you at gyms) - so hopefully he can really show me some stuff to do. Course, he's also supposed to go over "nutrition" with me - and I told him when we first met that I'm doing Atkins and he looked appalled - even when I told him that my DOCTOR was the one who TOLD me to do Atkins. But then I felt I needed to justify it even more and I told him, "well, I DO have Insulin Resistance." And he was like, "oh, well I guess that makes sense.". Ok whatever. You're not here to tell me how to eat - ONLY how to exercise. Plus I'm going to tell him, "what's healthier, eating a low-fat, high carb diet that keeps me HUNGRY all the time and the carbs/sugar constantly raising my insulin levels, which in turns turns into fat and gets stored in my body - OR eating just a bit more fat than "normal" and NOT eating ANY sugar or white flour or anything like that which will SPIKE my insulin levels, which again - in turn, turns into fat and gets stored in my body - or the fat, which gets burned off because the body has nothing else TO burn. :)"

So we'll see. I'll post tomorrow about tonight's experience.

Well, TTYL!

Day 4 Induction (a day late)

Well it's actually the morning of Day 5 of my Induction phase, but I needed to write about yesterday.

Yesterday I did NOT have my sugar-free red bull at lunch. :(
I was seriously feeling the caffiene withdrawal and was EXHAUSTED during the afternoon, went home and took a nap before dinner. I'm going to go ahead and have one - once a day - and see if it hinders my weight loss.

One AWESOME thing, however - that I've noticed now after only 4 days of NO sugar NO carbs - I've not had ANY issues like I have had in the past few months, as far as right after a meal ending up in the bathroom for 45 minutes! :) Even Dan, my fiance, noticed it last night - commenting that I haven't been sick in a few days. It's AWESOME!!!

Yesterday - I had probably a few more carbs that I should have at dinner. Dan made his awesome broccoli/flank steak stir fry - which the broccoli is good - red pper - good - flank steak great - and even the 3 tbsp soy sauce (3 g carbs total spread throughout the entire thing) not horrible...the issue was that he used the juice of 3 oranges...I don't know how to count that so I didn't. :(

Oh well though - it's a new day and I DIDN'T eat the rice he made with it (for himself)...

Part of me really wanted something sweet yesterday, but I overcame the urge and when I got home I had one of the cream cheese clouds I made with sugar free/calorie free kaluah syrup. :)

And even though I know that I DO really like sugar and I LOVE chocolate - it's NOT worth it. I know it's not. I know that one day I probably will eat sugar and/or chocolate again but it will be a very conscious decision and not just in passing.

Well I'm off to update my food intake! :)

End of Day 3 Induction

So today was good. I had about 20 g carbs. I am in the process of downloading the podcasts of "Livin La Vida Lowcarb" - I listened to them all day at work and there's still a TON more to go!

I'm really liking the atkins plan though (yeah i know - me - i can't believe i'm saying that! lol) - but it SERIOUSLY makes sense. I've grown up and it's been ingrained in my head that fat is the enemy and carbs aren't bad...when - in reality it's the total opposite!

I've come to realize that all the low-fat high-carb diets I've followed - I've literally "dieted myself fat". That is just rediculous.

So we will see! The scale isn't really showing anything yet - but it's only been 3 days. I need to put my scale away and be patient. :)

More to come!

End of Day 2 of Induction - exercise for the day

Well - today I went back to the gym. I didn't do too much there. I walked at 3.3 mph on the treadmill for 20 minutes. Burned 134 calories there. Didn't really get my heartrate going too much though.

Then, however, when I came home - I decided to do the DVD of Jillian's (Biggest Loser) that Dan bought me the other day. Man - the "easy" session kicked my freakin' ass!!! 20 minutes and I burned 204 calories. :)

It was a bit hard for me - only because I haven't worked out hard at ALL since August! Last year I was doing sooo well working out (but not losing! ha!) and I was getting fairly strong and endurance and all that - and then I just quit and not working out for 4 months will really hurt you. :(

But I WILL get back into it. I plan on doing it SLOWLY - but I WILL do it.

I have a meeting with one of the personal trainers at the gym on Thursday night to get back into a workout plan.

I really have a good feeling about this. :) 

that's all for now! latahz!

Beginning of Day 2 of Induction

Well, I posted before/after pics of how I look at this moment in time - January 04, 2009.

I know it's not AWEFUL - but I'm NOT happy with it either. :(

I HAVE been 160 before and I WILL get there again!  I've been reading Dr. Atkins New Diet Revolution and it's honestly made me cry a few times. Everything it's said so far (and I'm only on chapter 5!!) but EVERYTHING it has said so far just totally hits home and makes perfect sense.

Sugar - High carb foods - all of those things were what was KEEPING me fat - when I have been taught my whole life that FAT is the culprit. I really want to believe what the book says that FAT isn't the enemy but SUGAR and CARBS (bad carbs that is - white flour, rice, etc...)

As I've posted before - I consider myself a "professional weight loser" - I've tried different diets and I've lost and gained so much weight I've honest to god lost count! This time it WILL be different. I'm very excited - very motivated - and above all COMMITTED!!!

It will be difficult at times, and I know that - but damnit - SOMETHING has to change!

Yesterday - Day 1 of induction went pretty good...I only had 18 carbs total :) We even went out for dinner and I had myself a 12 oz ribeye (and OH so yummy) - and I asked the waiter for some A1 sauce - not knowing the carbs/sugar in it - and when I got it - I saw that it was 3 carbs/2g sugar per TBSP. and ya know what I did? I put it to the side of the table with the bread basket (and didn't touch the bread either!!!!!!!) And - in all honesty - a PART of me WAS tempted - but nope I didn't do it.

It's just so funny that the ONE eating plan I myself have said along with the masses is "sooo unhealthy" is the one I truly believe WILL make me healthy! I'm a total convert!!!!

Again - a lot of it is the book. It just makes total and complete sense.

One thing he says, (duh) is: "When you control your intake of refined carbohydrates, you avoid the foods that caused you to be fat."

I've come to realize that the low-fat high-carb diets I've always done - while they worked for a while, and I did lose weight, - has done more damage than good. I've literally "dieted myself fat".

No more though. That's not to say that in the future I'll never have another baked potato or sushi roll - but I won't be eating them on a regular basis - and when/if I do eat them again it will be a very controlled decision - not just an every day (or weekly or even monthly) thing.

Shoot - my wedding is in a year and a half - and I WILL be enjoying the cake I get. BUT I won't eat every bite I can get near either. And who knows - maybe by then I won't even LIKE sugar.? :)

Well anyways - today is Day 2 of Induction and I did GREAT with my breakfast - and even got in some vegees!! I've never done that - even on weight watchers!

I made scrambled eggs with 2 eggs, 2 egg whites, 1 tbsp cream - then I wilted spinach and added that - then put some cheese on top. :) it was YUMMMMY!

I've also been making my jimmy dean turkey sausage in the skillet instead of the microwave and let me tell you - the extra little bit of fat from the butter OH MY GOD makes it soooo much better! :)

Well - I'm off to make my grocery list for the week. More to come later!

Here is my before/after pic today:

Induction Week 1 - Day 1 - Saturday January 3, 2009

Ok, so I've decided to start induction today instead of Monday. I woke up this morning and realized we had NO eggs. :( So I went over to CVS and picked them up. Part of me was all, "wellll i COULD go ahead and have my oatmeal and wait til monday to start" but damnit no. I want to start NOW! :)

So here is my Daily Plate for today - So far it's just got breakfast because, well that's all I've eaten today! lol.

My plan is to try and keep it at 20 g net carbs today. So far I've had 4 g carbs and 38 g protein!

I will update often! :)

I also plan on taking some "before" pics of how I look now. These should be posted soon. 

Induction Phase - Week 1 - Monday January 4 - Saturday January 10, 2009

Well - even though it's Thursday night (New Years Day night) I'm still getting to know blogger.com and I will be posting my days for week 1 under the label "Induction Phase Week 1".

I plan on buying the atkins book tomorrow and really reading it / creating my grocery list saturday. Sunday is our grocery shopping day.

I'm really excited to try something new and I hope and pray to God that this IS how my lifestyle should be. We shall see!

One more post for today - My history :)

I am a 29 year old Desktop Publisher living in Indianapolis, IN.

I'm a professional weight loser.

AGE 17/18 - I lost 70 pounds in high school going from 220 to 150 my senior year just from exercising. 

AGE 20/21 - Then in college I went back up to 220 because well - I liked drinking/partying and when I did - my friends and I HAD to have 3 a.m. IHOP meetings! lol

AGE 22/23 - Well - my senior year of college I tried weight watchers and I had good luck with it. I went from 220 to 180 on weight watchers at the age

AGE 23 - My senior year of college I gained back 25 of those 40 that I lost on weight watchers and after I graduated college in 2003, I went back to weight watchers and went from 205 pounds down to 160!!!

Pretty much after I went down to 160, I maintained that for about a year but I had just moved down to Indianapolis from Chicago and hadn't really found my "niche" yet - going from job to job - relationship to relationship - my weight suffered (even though I was constantly exercising and "dieting") and I gained back 20 pounds...then I found my FANTASTIC job in June of 2005 and then in October 2006 I started dating the most FANTASTIC man. But - after we started dating - I tried to get back into exercising and eating right and even though - in 2007 I was honest to god exercising 4 times a week AND eating right - I couldn't lose ONE FREAKING OUNCE!!!! 

I went to the doc in October of 2007 and she diagnosed me with Insulin Resistance. Meaning that when I eat carbs, they just turn straight to fat. :( my body just doesn't process sugar and carbs like a normal person - and so I couldn't lose weight.

She put me on metformin and told me to try the Atkins diet - but I'd always been SO incredibly against "low carb" diets because I'd ALWAYS heard that they were "bad" for you...but I did lose about 20 pounds last year doing the weight watchers CORE program (basically all non-processed foods).

Then my boyfriend proposed in June and we started looking for a house in September so the weight came right back on because I stopped going to the gym and I stopped exercising.

In the past few months now, I have realized - not exercising and eating "whatever" that every time I eat a high carb meal - I get sick. :( I'm sick and tired of getting sick. So I'm listening to my doc and I'm going to learn the atkins nutritional way of life. :)

Thursday 01 January 2009

HAPPPPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

Well it is January 01 - the day when people make (and usually break within a few hours) new years resolutions...

I can't really say that this is a NEW new year's resolution - since this has been more my resolution for what, 20 years now? lol...but this year I'm taking a different approach.

As in my past blog, I stated that I've gained and lost - gained and lost weight over the years so many times that I've lost track.

I know that last year I WAS losing steadily but then I came to a stand still after losing 17 pounds and around September I started gaining it back because 

A. I stopped going to the gym (we were looking for and bought a house - not an excuse, but c'mon!)

B. I just stopped eating right. :( I wasn't pigging out by anymeans - but I wasn't religiously following any type of eating plan like I normally did.

One thing I noticed though - once I started NOT following any type of plan and just eating "whatever" so to say...is that my doc was right - I should NOT eat high carb meals.

When I was diagnosed with Insulin Resistance, the doc told me I should seriously think about trying out Atkins but I resisted because I've never heard anything good about Atkins...but in the past few months I've been getting sicker and sicker every time I eat high carb meals. :(

I won't say HOW i'm getting sick - just that I get sick.

So yesterday I signed up on the Atkins website and tomorrow - once bookstores are open again (I don't think they are today plus i'm not feeling great from last night, lol) - I'm getting the book and starting immediately.

I'm also going to start going back to the gym again and keeping track of that on Livestrong.com.

I know it won't be easy - and I know I won't be as "obsessive" as I used to be...but I will do my best because, damnit - I'm SICK AND TIRED of being sick!