I know it has been a long time since I've managed to do any one diet for two weeks in a row, and here I am on day 18. I've been following the Starch Solution, primarily focusing on keeping a 50/50 ratio between starch and non-starchy vegetables. Since the scale has been hidden, I have no idea if I've even lost a single pound, though I suspect that I have at least lost a few. My "jeans" are more of a jegging, but as the elastic allowed me to gain weight without noticing much difference in my pants, I'm also not seeing much difference in the way they fit so far.
This morning I really was desperate for the scale. I asked my husband where he had hidden it, and he refused to budge. After he left for the office I checked a few spots where I thought he might have tucked it, but no luck. I chewed on my emotions this morning - feeling despair that what I was doing was a waste of time - that I would need to do something more severe to see results (ie, lower starch like Fuhrman). My joints had started to ache a bit yesterday and my husband thought it might have to do that I had no overt fat included in my diet. As much as I would love to include overt fats, I know that isn't always the best idea for me - I have trouble limiting myself. I know that the most important thing I can do is to stick to the diet that I can follow. I've tried to do Eat to Live in the past, but I seem to slip off that much more easily than anything else.
So, with all that said - I think I've worked my way past the madness that was working at my mind this morning. As fast at these 18 days have gone, I know that February 11th will arrive in no time, and I'll hopefully see that my efforts have paid off.
But, as of today, I have been 100% compliant.
Tuesday, January 28, 2020
Monday, January 27, 2020
A (not so brief) Dietary History
Hello!
Welcome to my blog. This place is mostly for me (right now, anyway) but hopefully it will end up being a place that is helpful to many.
My name is Kerith, and at the age of 36 (almost 37) I have been overweight or obese for longer than I care to admit, or can even really put my finger on exactly. I was slender through childhood, average in high school, and after a brief stint of skinniness my freshman year of college, I quickly started to struggle with my weight from then on. I'm sure there are all sorts of psychological reasons a therapist might point to in order to help me understand my issues with binge eating and addiction to sugar, but they are the same stories that many others with weight issues have. I grew up with two alcoholics, and a house in chaos. We were poor, and dinners were typically something along the lines of boxed macaroni and cheese with hot dogs. My favorite food was mashed potatoes. I LOVED to eat, and everyone marveled at my ability to pack it in while staying so thin. I eventually grew out of that ability by the time I got to high school, and my yo-yo dieting began at that point. I favored low carb diets - that is what my mother had used to prevent herself from "toppling over" the 150 lb mark. They worked for me, too. I would eat bunless fast food burgers and other modified garbage for several weeks at a time in order to drop 10-15 pounds, and then I would go back to my normal eating patterns until I needed to drop weight again.
My senior year of high school I found metabolife, and for nearly a year I found that I was able to become quite thin on a steady stream of appetite suppressants and large amounts of diet coke. I met the man that was to become my husband, and after moving in together, my dietary hi-jinks came to an end. Living with someone, sharing groceries and meals with someone, and me finally relaxing enough to actually eat in front of that someone, resulted in a weight roller coaster. I would bounce between 140 and 170, returning to my old familiar low carb diets when ever I wanted to get back in control. My last great dietary achievement was following the PSMF (protein sparing modified fast) diet in the Spring/Summer of 2007, and going from 190lbs back down into the 130s, but that low weight didn't last long once I stopped eating nothing but canned chicken breast and bell pepper.
Then, in the fall of 2007, I became pregnant with twins. I quickly gained 20 pounds eating for three. At 10 weeks, I lost the pregnancy, and gained another 20 lbs in a steady stream of wine and Cheetos. In the spring of 2008, at 190 lbs, I became pregnant with my oldest child (who is now 11) and by the time he was born in December 2008, I had ballooned up to 250lbs. After he was born, I quickly dropped back down into the 220s, but there I was stuck. I would diet and lose, and fall off the diet and gain back what I had lost. It wasn't coming easily anymore. The lowest I got after my pregnancy was 199lbs, and I think I weighed that for one day before my weight went back up again.
I was in the 220s again when I became pregnant with my 2nd child. I carefully monitored my diet, especially after being diagnosed with gestational diabetes. I gained 10 lbs during that pregnancy, and quickly lost those 10lbs after he was born in January of 2011. Then it was more of the same on again off again dieting, mostly low carb, but also dabbling in weight watchers and other diets. I did make one more effort at PSMF, but I could never stay on it for more than a few days. My weight was still in the 220s when I became pregnant with my daughter. I was again diligent with my eating during my pregnancy with her, and thankfully due to never ending nausea, I ended up not gaining much weight. She was born in June of 2014, two weeks after the death of my mother.
I should have taken that opportunity to really reflect on my life and what I was doing to my body, but unfortunately, not too longer after my mother died, my father also passed away. I was sad, and I was not dieting at all. I weighed 247 lbs on the day of my sister in laws wedding in October of 2016. My daughter came down with a virus, and I ended up staying home with her and missing the wedding. I was so relieved that I wouldn't have to be in any of the pictures from that day. I vowed to begin caring again, and started researching a way to lose weight that would actually work. I had started to have strange skin issues - large scaly/dry red patches on my legs. It hurt to get out of bed in the morning, and I was desperate for a change.
I stumbled on the intermittent fasting world, and started eating whatever I wanted, but only eating one meal a day. I dropped down to 235 in less than two months. The intermittent fasting community was a gateway to something I had never heard of - plant based eating. I found youtubers like High Carb Hannah and was intrigued by the concept of losing weight eating potatoes. I watched Forks Over Knives and gave up meat and dairy in January of 2017. Giving up meat and dairy was enough for me to drop down into the 220s once again.
If I was diligent and didn't eat processed food/oil for a bit, I was able to drop down into the 210s. Unfortunately, I quickly learned about the world of vegan junk food, and meat replacements. My weight crept back into the 220s, and there it has remained since, except for occasional brief stints of commitment to plant based only eating. I found my weight creeping back up over the past holiday season, and resolved to finally right my wrongs and get my health in order for once and all. I started out by giving up two major vices that I suspected were derailing my efforts at cutting out junk food - Diet Soda and Energy Drinks. I gave them up in October of 2019, and for the first time, managed to string together several weeks of abstinence from them. I committed to picking one plant based diet (there are many!) and sticking to it until I got to my goal weight. I had a bit of a bumpy takeoff in 2020, but by Saturday, Jan 11th, I felt that same determination that had helped me give up diet soda and energy drinks.
I guess I am superstitious, but I didn't want to start journaling this time around until I had at least two weeks of 100% on plan eating under my belt. I had my husband hide the scale because I knew that, at least at first, whatever number was on that scale could lead to destructive behavior. If I was please with the number, I felt that I had earned a treat. If I was unhappy with the number, or felt the number wasn't dropping fast enough, I would start rapid cycling between different plant based diet plans. John McDougall's starch solution was the plan that had brought me to the dance, and I intend to stay with Starch Solution for the duration.
Although I don't know exactly what I weighed on the morning of Jan 11th, I suspect it was probably about 229 lbs. The scale will come back out of hiding on February 11th, but until then I will start posting pictures of my meals, recipes, and other thoughts on weight loss/health.
Are you still here after that ridiculously long story? If you are, I'm so glad you stayed - I hope the next blog posts bring you inspiration and motivation to pursue your own health goals.
Welcome to my blog. This place is mostly for me (right now, anyway) but hopefully it will end up being a place that is helpful to many.
My name is Kerith, and at the age of 36 (almost 37) I have been overweight or obese for longer than I care to admit, or can even really put my finger on exactly. I was slender through childhood, average in high school, and after a brief stint of skinniness my freshman year of college, I quickly started to struggle with my weight from then on. I'm sure there are all sorts of psychological reasons a therapist might point to in order to help me understand my issues with binge eating and addiction to sugar, but they are the same stories that many others with weight issues have. I grew up with two alcoholics, and a house in chaos. We were poor, and dinners were typically something along the lines of boxed macaroni and cheese with hot dogs. My favorite food was mashed potatoes. I LOVED to eat, and everyone marveled at my ability to pack it in while staying so thin. I eventually grew out of that ability by the time I got to high school, and my yo-yo dieting began at that point. I favored low carb diets - that is what my mother had used to prevent herself from "toppling over" the 150 lb mark. They worked for me, too. I would eat bunless fast food burgers and other modified garbage for several weeks at a time in order to drop 10-15 pounds, and then I would go back to my normal eating patterns until I needed to drop weight again.
My senior year of high school I found metabolife, and for nearly a year I found that I was able to become quite thin on a steady stream of appetite suppressants and large amounts of diet coke. I met the man that was to become my husband, and after moving in together, my dietary hi-jinks came to an end. Living with someone, sharing groceries and meals with someone, and me finally relaxing enough to actually eat in front of that someone, resulted in a weight roller coaster. I would bounce between 140 and 170, returning to my old familiar low carb diets when ever I wanted to get back in control. My last great dietary achievement was following the PSMF (protein sparing modified fast) diet in the Spring/Summer of 2007, and going from 190lbs back down into the 130s, but that low weight didn't last long once I stopped eating nothing but canned chicken breast and bell pepper.
Then, in the fall of 2007, I became pregnant with twins. I quickly gained 20 pounds eating for three. At 10 weeks, I lost the pregnancy, and gained another 20 lbs in a steady stream of wine and Cheetos. In the spring of 2008, at 190 lbs, I became pregnant with my oldest child (who is now 11) and by the time he was born in December 2008, I had ballooned up to 250lbs. After he was born, I quickly dropped back down into the 220s, but there I was stuck. I would diet and lose, and fall off the diet and gain back what I had lost. It wasn't coming easily anymore. The lowest I got after my pregnancy was 199lbs, and I think I weighed that for one day before my weight went back up again.
I was in the 220s again when I became pregnant with my 2nd child. I carefully monitored my diet, especially after being diagnosed with gestational diabetes. I gained 10 lbs during that pregnancy, and quickly lost those 10lbs after he was born in January of 2011. Then it was more of the same on again off again dieting, mostly low carb, but also dabbling in weight watchers and other diets. I did make one more effort at PSMF, but I could never stay on it for more than a few days. My weight was still in the 220s when I became pregnant with my daughter. I was again diligent with my eating during my pregnancy with her, and thankfully due to never ending nausea, I ended up not gaining much weight. She was born in June of 2014, two weeks after the death of my mother.
I should have taken that opportunity to really reflect on my life and what I was doing to my body, but unfortunately, not too longer after my mother died, my father also passed away. I was sad, and I was not dieting at all. I weighed 247 lbs on the day of my sister in laws wedding in October of 2016. My daughter came down with a virus, and I ended up staying home with her and missing the wedding. I was so relieved that I wouldn't have to be in any of the pictures from that day. I vowed to begin caring again, and started researching a way to lose weight that would actually work. I had started to have strange skin issues - large scaly/dry red patches on my legs. It hurt to get out of bed in the morning, and I was desperate for a change.
I stumbled on the intermittent fasting world, and started eating whatever I wanted, but only eating one meal a day. I dropped down to 235 in less than two months. The intermittent fasting community was a gateway to something I had never heard of - plant based eating. I found youtubers like High Carb Hannah and was intrigued by the concept of losing weight eating potatoes. I watched Forks Over Knives and gave up meat and dairy in January of 2017. Giving up meat and dairy was enough for me to drop down into the 220s once again.
If I was diligent and didn't eat processed food/oil for a bit, I was able to drop down into the 210s. Unfortunately, I quickly learned about the world of vegan junk food, and meat replacements. My weight crept back into the 220s, and there it has remained since, except for occasional brief stints of commitment to plant based only eating. I found my weight creeping back up over the past holiday season, and resolved to finally right my wrongs and get my health in order for once and all. I started out by giving up two major vices that I suspected were derailing my efforts at cutting out junk food - Diet Soda and Energy Drinks. I gave them up in October of 2019, and for the first time, managed to string together several weeks of abstinence from them. I committed to picking one plant based diet (there are many!) and sticking to it until I got to my goal weight. I had a bit of a bumpy takeoff in 2020, but by Saturday, Jan 11th, I felt that same determination that had helped me give up diet soda and energy drinks.
I guess I am superstitious, but I didn't want to start journaling this time around until I had at least two weeks of 100% on plan eating under my belt. I had my husband hide the scale because I knew that, at least at first, whatever number was on that scale could lead to destructive behavior. If I was please with the number, I felt that I had earned a treat. If I was unhappy with the number, or felt the number wasn't dropping fast enough, I would start rapid cycling between different plant based diet plans. John McDougall's starch solution was the plan that had brought me to the dance, and I intend to stay with Starch Solution for the duration.
Although I don't know exactly what I weighed on the morning of Jan 11th, I suspect it was probably about 229 lbs. The scale will come back out of hiding on February 11th, but until then I will start posting pictures of my meals, recipes, and other thoughts on weight loss/health.
Are you still here after that ridiculously long story? If you are, I'm so glad you stayed - I hope the next blog posts bring you inspiration and motivation to pursue your own health goals.
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