Thanks for all the super-nice comments! 
In case you were wondering, yes, I’m still losing and still alcohol-free.
I’m going to be honest with you all now about my weight. Remember how in this post I told you all that I had shot back up 4 pounds and that it was water weight? It turns out that it wasn’t water weight after all. My “time” didn’t start for another two or three weeks later, after all. So it was pure fat. I ended up gaining an additional 4 pounds a couple weeks later, likely due to PMS, which brought me back up to… my original start weight of 172.
So, when I started my low carb diet last week, I weighed a whopping 172. Again. I was even too ashamed to admit it on here.
However… I am very excited to say that as of today – 9 days later on low carb – I weigh… 161.
That is the lowest weight I’ve ever seen on my digital scale, which I bought in April.
I have lost literally 11 pounds now. Obviously, some was water weight.
And yes, I’m doing the popular Kimkins diet that was mentioned on The Skinny Website. I mainly eat lean protein, eggs, and veggies. I also cheat occasionally with cheese and low-carb yogurt.
But here’s the amazing part: I literally have lost at least 1 pound, per night, since starting the diet. (Except for yesterday, when I was exactly the same weight as the day before). Most days I lose about 1.2 pounds. I know it will slow down a bit, but it’s sooooooo intoxicating to see the scale register a lower and lower and lower number most days.
I think, however, that I will only stay on the diet until I hit 150 pounds, because it IS a little extreme. I sometimes feel a little weak. But overall I feel 1000% better than I did before starting the diet. My clothes are getting loose and my stomach is nearly flat again!
Once I hit 150, I will likely switch over to a semi-low carb plan where I eat fruits and nuts for my carbs, and everything else protein. It will slow the loss but that’s OK. (I guess). We’ll see when I get there…
Today was challenging to say the least. It started off fine – I jumped out of bed feeling great and energetic. Had a lean pork patty and a hard-boiled egg for breakfast, mahi mahi for lunch with a tomato and some salad, and then went to dinner with my old coworkers. Now, these coworkers were from one of the best jobs I ever had – an environmental company that I worked for in 2004. So it was a nice, interesting group of people. (Scientists and Engineers are really some of the quirkiest people!) I ordered garlic salmon (more fish!?) and broccoli. (I didn’t touch the broccoli though). I ate less than half of the salmon and a few bites of salad. I just had no appetite.
I just totaled up my calories and discovered I have only eaten 850 calories today. It’s a little low – I generally don’t believe that extreme low calorie diets are healthy, but I can’t find the desire to really eat anything else. I’m also feeling a little tired and blahhh right now. I did do my vitamin shake when I got home tonight but it doesn’t seem to be doing much. Hopefully tomorrow I’ll feel better.
The challenges I had to get through today with my diet were: the free red wine that was offered by the server at the restaurant; (I turned it down); the yummy scrumptious-looking breadsticks that were passed around. Thankfully the group of people I was with are intelligent adults who didn’t ask me once why I wasn’t drinking alcohol.
So…… 7 days on my low carb diet; another completely sober day. What a weird week it’s been. Oh, and the scale registered another pound lost this morning.
I just completed day six of my super low-carb regime successfully! Also, I am still completely sober – not a drop of alcohol passed through my lips. And let me tell you, the temptations piled up today. I went and played pool at a local bar earlier this evening with B. (Tuesday night is free). I told B. beforehand not to offer me any alcohol or I would storm out of the bar and not speak to him for a long time. Haha. But he didn’t, so it went well. He offered me a diet coke, which I drank. Later, I hung out with my ex-boyfriend, who is a chronic alcoholic. Heavy, hardcore. But he’s going through a lot of issues right now and needed some company. I hung out downstairs at the bar in his restaurant and didn’t touch anything.
Diet-wise, I actually only ate about 10 carbs today. I woke up this morning with a slight headache, but otherwise felt completely amazing. I had high spirits, a sense of well-being and lots of energy. Oh, and no appetite whatsoever. I was very deep in ketosis this morning and I think throughout the day.
I also woke up to another 1.2 pound loss on the scale. Still not at 160, although getting close. But the best thing is that my stomach has gone WAY down. I even got my waist back already! (Obviously, my stomach isn’t completely flat yet and my waist isn’t as small as it will get, but damn was this a major improvement over the past few months). I mean, I can actually wear shirts and not have a disgusting bulge! I was showing my stomach off to several acquaintances today and they were all pretty surprised that it has gone down so quickly.
You are wondering, mostly likely, how this can happen in only 6 days? Well, I think it’s a combination of: total alcohol cessation (when I had been drinking several hundred calories worth of alcohol each night); wayyy less calories; low-carb and no sugar. So the main two places I have noticed weight loss are my tummy and chin. Of course, those are the last two places I noticed I put weight on, so that’s normal.
I do have a before picture, but I’m too embarrassed to post it until I have a pic to compare it to. Actually, when I lose a few more pounds, I’m going to take an “in progress” photo so you all can see the difference. The “before” pic is of me and my friend J. this past Saturday. You can see the extra weight in my face and upper arms.
I have lost around 7 or 8 pounds since last Thursday, but some of it was likely water weight from having PMS. So we’ll see… tomorrow will be a challenge because I’m going out with several very old coworkers and we are going to a restaurant. I hate hate hate eating out at restaurants when doing low carb because you never quite know what is in everything…
I am another 2 pounds down on the scale today, which is exciting! Heading full speed towards 160.
I figured I would post a typical day’s menu from the diet I am doing. I had to improvise a bit with the vitamin shake, but it really doesn’t matter. It adds an extra 12 carbs onto my day’s total, but no sugar, so I don’t care because I need the nutrients.
Today’s menu for me is (cals in parenthesis):
B- Eggbeater egg white omelet (90), coffee w/cream (45), 6 bacon strips ready-made bacon (140), 1/2 tomato (15)
L- Mahi Mahi fillet (115), mushrooms (20), 3 laughing cow cheese wedges (105), dannon low-carb vanilla yogurt (60)
D- Boiled chicken breast (135), Salad w/dressing (180)
Snacks – Vitamin shake (90)
Grand total calories for the day: 995. Fat grams is around 30-40; Carb total is 27.
It’s definitely a really low-calorie diet, but for some reason, I feel extremely satisfied after each meal. Meat and protein really help satisfy the appetite. I’m probably in Ketosis, which also suppresses the appetite.
Anyone else out there tried a low-carb plan like this?
Also, I finally have a “before” picture to show you all, but… I’m embarrassed to post it right now. My upper arms look like sausages and I have about 14 chins. But I will post it eventually… after I lose about 10 pounds.
Another successful day doing low carb! Not a drop of alcohol was consumed, either.
Today’s menu included a bit more fat than yesterdays, as I indulged in some high-fat cheese.
I’m already noticing some changes in my body. For instance, although this is day 2 of my “cycle” (I was really late this month for some reason), my stomach is actually slimmer than usual. And some new pants that I bought a couple weeks ago – which I could barely button (had to go without breathing when I wore them last week) – fit me perfectly today!
It’s exciting things like this that make me love low-carb dieting so much. You see scale results fast, you feel results in your clothes even faster, and you have little to no appetite. Today I had egg whites, low fat/carb yogurt, chicken, fish, cheese, tomatoes, and salad. I haven’t yet had my vitamin shake, but I’m thinking about skipping it today because it’s already after midnight.
The only downfall so far was my inability to sleep last night. I always have weird dreams and odd sleep problems every single time I am losing weight at a rapid rate. Why, I have no idea, but it started again last night…
Low Carb diet, Low Carb diet, how I have missed you…
This past day (Saturday) was officially day 3 doing low carb. Not only did I stick to my no-alcohol rule, but I stuck to my low carb diet as well! No cheating whatsoever – and I even went to my friend’s house and got offered shots, which I turned down with only minimal temptation. I got on the scale today and I didn’t weigh as much as I thought I would. However, I’ve decided not to post my weight until I officially get down to 160. With the particular diet plan I am following, which is Kimkins, I could possibly… POSSIBLY… weigh that sometime next week. People are losing weight extremely fast on this diet – 45 pounds in 3 months is not uncommon.
The Kimkins plan is basically lean protein, very low carb and generally low fat. In Atkins, you can eat as much fat as you want. With Kimkins, you stick to lean proteins. Somehow I’ve managed to mostly do that, eating lots of fish, chicken and egg whites, etc.
Now here is the crazy thing… this evening before going out, I totaled my calories up to see what I had eaten. It was about 9pm and I was pretty much done eating for the day. I decided if the numbers weren’t too high, I would allow myself half a plain grilled chicken breast at my friend’s house, who always cooks on the grill.
I had eaten 3 meals already for the day and a small snack, was not hungry and felt I had eaten more than enough for the day. I even worried – because of how satisfied I was with my lack of hunger – that I may have eaten too many calories for the day.
Well, imagine my surprise when I saw the total for the day was… 999 calories. How on earth was that possible? So I totaled and retotaled. And was astonished to find that eating only lean meat, veggies, cheese and eggs is actually eating low calorie!! The fish fillets I had for lunch and dinner were only 110 calories each (and delicious!), and the egg-white omelet for breakfast was only about 90 calories. Plus the salads and low-fat cheeses, etc.
Unbelievable. I wasn’t hungry one time today. How is such low-calorie food so filling? This is, by the way, the first time while doing low carb that I am actually counting calories. Before, I never bothered.
Tomorrow is day 4… will I survive it without cheating?
Yesterday was successful. Already I notice a decreased appetite and overall more energy. I woke up this morning feeling great, in fact!
I stuck to about 35 carbs yesterday. Chicken, more chicken, low-fat cheese, mixed veggies and salad were the foods I ate yesterday. Today I will grill up some fish that I bought at Trader Joe’s yesterday. For breakfast today, I had a high-protein shake from GNC and an egg-white omelet. For lunch, it’s going to be boiled chicken, cheese and salad. Dinner will be the fish and veggies. I’m about to drink my vitamin shake for the day, too…
Now that I’ve stopped drinking again (completely), I want to try going back to a low carb plan, which has always worked wonders for me.
However, I need to do things differently this time around. Past experience has taught me a few things in regards to a low carb diet:
1. I need to make sure I take vitamins & electrolytes every day. I have a weird neurological condition (that has landed me in the hospital before) where every time I lose weight rapidly – my fluid and electrolyte levels get totally out of whack. Therefore, I purchased GNC’s Women’s Ultra Mega Live Well vitamin powder. And trust me, this stuff has everything you need – vitamins, minerals, electrolytes, fiber, greens, and even some herbs thrown in for good measure. Best of all, it’s sugar free and doesn’t taste too bad. (I got the strawberry flavor).
2. No alcohol AT ALL. If necessary, I will attend AA meetings.
3. This time, I will monitor my fat intake as well as carbs. Recent studies have shown that a low carb diet consisting of lean proteins makes you lose weight faster then high-fat proteins. (Think Kimkins).
I have decided to go low carb again simply because when I am doing low carb, I feel so much energy and more overall well-being than with other diets. Not to mention it controls my appetite.
I have to lose some serious poundage in the next few weeks… I am planning to visit my family in California next month, and if they see me looking this way, it won’t be good. I haven’t seen them in 3 years and vice-versa, and I found out both my sisters are lighter than me right now. Gulp. I have some serious work to do.
I’ve gotten to the point that I don’t care what the scale says – I only care about what size I am. This new development came after I spent several hours in junior stores such as “Forever 21″ and “Deb” in the mall, trying on pants.
I learned that even if you are size 11 or 12 in most clothes, in junior/hip clothing stores, you are a 13/14. And let me tell you, it’s a damn depressing day when you are suddenly a size 13. I may be 29, almost 30 years old, but I like to dress trendy. Now all I need is my body back… ::sob:: I make sure that what I wear flatters my figure or at least hides most of the bulges. I’m originally from Southern California – land of the body-obsessed, and some things have stayed with me. For instance, no matter how big I get, I won’t leave the house if my stomach is bulging out of my shirt, or fat rolls are flapping around. I have clever ways of hiding the bulges. (It’s called zip-up hoodies, layers and slimming pants…)
Confession: I bought a couple of new size 10 pants in the past couple of weeks – adult sized 10, that is – and they aren’t fitting me at the moment. (Meanwhile, my old size 10’s are getting looser! WTF?) So apparently I am now a regular size 12, and size 13/14 in junior clothing.
Upset doesn’t begin to describe how I feel about this. I’ve been slacking off lately with my diet. Falling into my old habits of partying, drinking, munchies. I am absolutely disgusted at myself for what I have done to my once-perfect figure. When does it end and when do I learn to develop strong self-control?
The only thing I have kept consistent throughout this whole thing is exercise. And I mean every single day – at least 20 minutes of exercise in some form. Most days I average around 30 or 40. I no longer get those fast heartbeats at night, so that is at least ONE good thing.
Onto other things……..
My menu for today:
Breakfast – Mixed fruit smoothie (5 different fruits – sugar, fiber, lots of vitamins and minerals)
Lunch- Boiled chicken breast, organic brown rice (Protein, complex carb, fiber)
Dinner- More chicken, cottage cheese, 5-lettuce salad (no dressing) (Protein, protein/fat, vegetable)
2 alcoholic drink maximum for day (baaaaaaaaaad)
I also did 15 tough minutes on the bike and some stretching and toning exercises, plus got some walking in. I will get more before the day is over.
As for the scale, I haven’t gotten on it for a while and don’t intend to for another week!
I have some questions:
1. How is it that… I have gained several pounds of water weight from PMS, yet my pants are suddenly really loose?
2. Why is it that… I have been eating super-healthy and exercising, yet the scale hasn’t moved? (Ok, PMS is responsible right now, but… argghghggh).
3. Why is it that… it seems like I’ll never get out of the 160’s????????????
If anyone can find answers to those questions, I’ll be grateful.
Smoothies, plain boiled organic chicken breasts, low fat cheese, yogurt, !00% organic bran cereal… the food I’ve been eating lately has been amazing. I have to admit I have a LOT more energy these days. Despite having bought a car Thursday and doing a lot of driving, I still manage to get a lot of exercise.
Now I’m just waiting for results. Anyday now…
