Weigh in week 1

Lost week 1: 2# (YEA!)
Total lost to date: 2#

I had gotten on the scales yesterday (shame on me) and it showed a 3.5# loss. That is why I try to only do it once a week.

I'll try to do a weight lost by week and total lost. That will make 52 weeks of posts. Not sure I will always make it on time, but I want to keep a record of it so I will do my best. Besides it will help all those taking this journey with me and it will be encouraging to me as well as you. I sure hope so anyways! I'm not real good at 'following through' (especially with dieting), but I am going to try my best! I really, really want this excess weight gone!

Normally most people will only lose 2# a week of actual fat. The rest is getting rid of excess water and, depending on the type of diet, muscle tissue and the like. But I will only focus on the positive here. I expect to lose at least the 2# a week, although I know there will be some weeks that will show little if any weight loss. However, if I don't lose a fairly steady 2# a week, I will have to reevaluate what I am eating.

I'll explain a little now how I am dieting. I'm not trying to tell you how to diet, just give an overview of what I am doing and why I am doing it.

I had previously tried low calorie diets, which I really could/cannot do. I never tried low fat diets, which I won't ever try. My first real serious attempt at losing weight was with Atkins about 10 to 12 years ago (I think, perhaps longer shorter? Not sure but it was a pretty long time ago.). It worked at first, but my body does not like super low carb. I was sick as a dog. So I quit, but tried it over and over again. So many had success with Atkins - it had to work! After the first time, I just would not lose no matter how I tried. My body 'remembered'. My scale weight went all over the place from high loss to gain. And, after the first few times I developed horrible cravings when I would do super low carb. After several years - more than 5 - I really quit. I tried other ones, but I just couldn't make myself do them.

Then I found The Zone... ya I know. But really I did. At first it was hard and it took me a bit to figure out how to do it correctly. But after a few times of starting and stopping I figured it out and the weight just melted off. At least, that is how it seemed after doing Atkins. I tried to only weigh myself once a week and I always saw a weight loss. Sometimes it would show only a 1/2 pound loss but a loss nonetheless! It took me about a year to loss 50#, but I wasn't steady at first. I often indulged in food out of balance for many reasons. But I finally got settled into a routine and off the weight went! The really, really nice thing I found for me was that I had no cravings once I got the balance right. I got hungry in a few hours, but no driving cravings that make me go look in the fridge for something, anything to eat. My insulin was balanced.

When I started exercising I started losing one to two pounds every week, steady every week. My exercise routine was simply walking most of the time. I would try to challenge myself to make a certain distance every week more than I had done the week before and in the same amount of time. It was enjoyable - I went rain or shine. I was very determined! Today, I have more issues with my health than I did then. I won't be working as hard on the 'exercising' bit. I will be doing things around the homestead like gardening, mowing, and the like. I do have a treadmill that I will be using after a bit.

Why did I gain the weight back? Mostly because of circumstances - I met my then soon to be husband, Jim - he ate totally different than I did and he was very kind worrying about and pushing food on me. He really meant well. I didn't have the nerve to tell him no. I was too shy and smitten. Later, I found it hard to get back on the wagon. I have tried several times without success to do this again. I just couldn't make myself do it. But mentally I am ready again and I hope I stay that way. This isn't something I can do until I lose weight, it is something I have to do the rest of my life.

During my dieting stage with The Zone, sometimes I ate meat, sometimes I did it vegetarian. I'm starting this in vegetarian mode. Mostly because I am really not all that fond of meat. No, I am not an animals rights advocate, as many know from reading my blog, but I just don't like the taste of meat much. I like pork some and I love ham and the like, but the pure taste of meat is totally gross to me. So I am going the vegan* route actually. No animal products for me at this time. I may change that as time goes on, but that's were I am at the moment. It is a challenge to do a balanced Zone type diet with no animal products. Soy beans help in that regard. But I won't even get into the pros and and cons of soy here and hope you don't take me there either.

The other thing, as I mentioned in my previous post, I don't want to get obsessed with counting every carb, every protein gram, and every fat molecule! I've done that off and on and I am determined to not go there again.

So anyways - now you know what and why. Next week will be here before I know it! Success will be mine! LOL

*Note - I am not following the rules of The Zone exactly. I just balance the protein, fat, and carbs in all the foods I eat per meal. Normally for The Zone, you only count the protein in animal products. And it is said that only about 70% of the protein in vegetable sources are usable because the other 30% is tied up in fiber. But I will see how this works. So far so good. I read years ago an article in a vegetarian magazine. One of the editors tried The Zone to give feedback. She ultimately said all she did was increase the amount of tofu, to increase the protein she ate a day. Doing this she was able to lose those 10# that she could not lose before. I will do a search and see if I can find the article again.