While most of my weight problems were due to my own laziness, I didn't exactly have the perfect genes either. Obesity runs in my family and I was one of the unlucky ones who it affected. I finally came to the realization that I have to work extra hard in order to lose weight and maintain weight.
For an obese person I ate pretty healthy. I love vegetables (the non-starchy kind) with a passion and enjoy lean meats. Fruit has never really been my thing, but I do enjoy an occasional apple. Sweet treats were never a weakness for me. I honestly think the habits and things that got to me the most were overeating for my almost non-existant metabolism, not exercising, and carbohydrates. Changing all of those factors has made me a new person.
I've also made other changes in my life. I no longer drink soda. This is crazy because I used to have a can of Diet Coke almost every morning. That was my breakfast. I sometimes think I miss the carbonation, but I know I'm much better off without all of those chemicals even though there aren't any calories in diet soda.
I was off caffeine for a couple of months. I'm slowly adding it into my diet again. I just make sure not to drink more than 24 ounces a day. And I only allow myself to have caffeine if I'm doing good at getting in all my liquids (mostly water). I've discovered that hydration is key when trying to lose weight.
Things are starting to get a little tricky. I have 3 pairs of sweats that sorta fit. They're pretty big and sloppy, but I think that's acceptable with sweats so I'll keep wearing them for now. I have 2 pairs of dress pants that fit and one of them is actually starting to fall off of me. It's frustrating, but exciting! I put on some pajama pants last night and felt like I was going to get tangled up in them. They're huge! I guess it's time to put those in my bottomless pile of clothes I've out-shrunk.
I'm still eating 1-2 meals per day. I only eat up to 2 ounces of food a day. I'd love to go wild and just eat a veggie salad, but it's vital that protein comes first. Luckily I enjoy cooking and have come up with some creative ways to prepare meat. It hasn't become boring yet. I've also found a couple of blogs that inspire me to try new recipes. My favorite is theworldaccordingtoeggface.blogspot.com. It's amazing!
My biggest news is that I now go running in 3 mile stretches pretty regularly. I wasn't planning on starting to run until Christmas time, so I'm way ahead of schedule. I'm needing to get in the routine of running about 10 miles a week during October. I'll bump it up to 15 or so in November and 20-25 in December. Once I get to that point I have a training schedule I'm going to follow. I'm hoping to run a 1/2 marathon in the spring. That's my goal and it gives me something to work towards.
Well, I just wanted to post an update about my journey. It's only been 3 1/2 months and I've lost 71 lbs. That makes 43 lbs since my pre-op which was 2 months ago today. It sure would be wonderful if I could drop another 43 lbs in the next 2 months. That would make me smile from ear to ear!
Time to run some errands. Hope all is well!
Only 68 lbs to go!!!!!
