Overdue Diet Update

My diet officially started on September 16th. If you want to see my before pictures you can reference my post that had those pictures right here.

I have been working REALLY hard at this. I cannot lie and say that the diet has been easy, fun, or enjoyable. Or that I have been pleasant all of the time. BUT it is working. For the first almost month I didn't really notice much of a difference when I looked in the mirror except that my face was a bit thinner.

On Friday, October 11th I went into my closet to pick out a dress to wear to my good friend, Hilary's, wedding and they were all too big!!!!!!! I had to run out to target to try and find something new (and cheap!) to wear. When I picked things out and headed into the fitting room I assumed it would be like my normal shopping trip, aka PLEASE LET SOMETHING FIT! Instead, most everything fit but I got to just decide what I liked and what I thought was cute. It was a fantastic feeling. My upper torso has thinned out a lot it seems.

Out with a friend in Cincy!

The next friday we had a funeral to attend for our grandmother :sad face: and I went into my closet (I am beginning to like these moments) and I found a dress deep in the back that I had purchased for my own wedding rehearsal  and rehearsal dinner 4.5 years ago. I had to have it taken in before the rehearsal and my mom picked it up for me the day of and it turned out to be too tight so I could not wear it. So last week I assumed "Well, this will never fit but why not attempt it since its so pretty and happens to be black and white." So I unzipped that dress and slipped it on....... TOO BIG! Around my ribs and bust is was huge! I am going to have to have it taken in this spring so I can wear it to a wedding or somewhere because I love it!

As of today I have lost 21.2 pounds!!!! This not only means that I broke the 20 pound mark yesterday but as of TODAY I also passed 50% of my goal amount of weight to lose. Now I only have 21 pounds to lose to be at my goal weight!!!!!!!! (and this goal was a lot lower than I thought I would really get).

Before Pictures...ugh

Since I am documenting my diet journey here I should just be an open book. Here is a collage of my before pictures. The middle one is pulled really right to show my horrid live handles with tight pants on, the worst. There you have it, complete grossness. Post baby skin. Blah. Goodbye!

A couple days into my diet

So far things are going pretty well. The first 2 days were hard because I had TONS of cravings for carbs. Today I did NOT crave carbs, that was huge for me. I normally live on carbs so I think I had to flush my system of them.

The biggest challenge has been trying to eat enough protein and drink enough water. I surprisingly have not had trouble staying under 1,000 calories a day. Here are some examples of the things that I have been eating:

Breakfast meals...

3 eggs fried (no butter, just PAM in the pan) & 1/2 cup of cottage cheese- 30g protein 320 calories

3 eggs scrambled with 1/3 cup 2%milk and 4 slices of Deli Ham mixed in- 30.7g protein 320 calories

Lunch meals...

White Albacore Tuna (4oz.) with 1tbsp. Miracle Whip- 27g protein 180 calories

Salad (Iceberg lettuce, carrots, lite raspberry walnut vinaigrette) and 1/2 cup cottage cheese- 

13.3g protein 216 calories

Dinner Meals...

Chicken Breast baked in Vodka Sauce- 28.5g protein 170 calories

Ground Turkey with Taco Seasoning, 1/6c shredded cheese, 1 tbsp sour cream, and 1/2 cup refried beans- 32.9g protein 385 calories

I am starting an 8 Week Challenge with a group of friend on Saturday. I started a Facebook group for it and I need to fill you guys in on the details soon but not tonight because I am too tired. Details coming soon =)

A Whole New Adventure

I have a new adventure to document on my blog. The quest to lose weight, a ton of it hopefully. I would like to lose 40 pounds in by 2014. I know that is a hefty goal but I am really tired of hating my body and not being able to wear the things that I want to. I have separated abdominal muscles still from when I was pregnant and had polyhydramnios. When I had my liver biopsy about 2 months ago the doctor that did the ultrasound couldn't do that biopsy in the normal location due to the severe split in these muscles and even said "You can see a plastic surgeon and get those muscles fixed you know".... Gee, thanks Mr. Does he want to pay for that? Haha, because I would gladly do it! I basically still look pregnant if I wear tight shirts, I know that wont go away completely but it isn't helped by the fact that I have extra weight on my frame. I wanna see these love handles melt away!

I have a genetic tendency to insulin resistance which we discovered when I was going through infertility treatments so this means that my body doesn't process starch the same way that a normal body does. My insulin level (not my sugar level) is higher than it should be therefor I don't burn my adipose (fat) stores. My body stores more fat and sugar because it thinks that it needs it and doesn't allow me to burn it. So the running that I was doing and the cardio that I like is counter productive. My doctor told me that I need to stop the cardio and only do muscle confusion weight type exercises because building my endurance will actually make it even harder for me to lose weight. So cardio will make me heavier.... nice.

My doctor and I talked and I worked out an eating plan with him. I need to eat no starches and carbs because my body cannot process them without storing all of them. I need to eat tons of protein, which is hard for me because I am not much of a meat eater and lots of veggies. Did I mention that I am sort of picky about veggies?

My goal is to eat 30 grams of protein at each meal. Three meals a day. I have never eaten three meals a day either so that will be new.

Oh yeah, no diet coke, that might kill me. HOW CAN I LIVE WITHOUT DIET COKE!?!?!?!

I am going to document my journey here for all of your to see! I am going to share healthy recipes and my progress photos also =)

This mornings breakfast was my first 30g protein breakfast:
3 eggs just fried in a pan with no butter and 1/2 cup cottage cheese. Water (not diet coke, boo!).

Go Me!