Honesty & Accountability!

[Suechef]

Hello All,

Over the past three or four years I've lost about 60 pounds mostly sticking to veggies, fruits, lean protein, cheese, yogurt and cutting starches and sugars (though not completely, I would eat them when in situations where it was impractical to do otherwise). I'm a cook and never buy packaged or prepared foods so I ate well. But, I was pretty obsessed with food. And I have issues with very dark chocolate - I know it's good for me, but as we all know you can get too much of a good thing.

I've sort of yo-yoed (sp?) between 150 and 160, but four days ago I gathered up my courage and weighed myself and I was 165. I'm 5'7" and that's not super-terrible, but I'm certainly not happy about it. I'm a size 12 again - I can get some of the 10s on but I would say those are my "generous" 10s. And when I lost the weight I got rid of the expansion wardrobe, so it was either do something or go shopping (and feel defeated while I was at it).

I read Gary Taubes a while back & that changed my thinking about fat & protein. I like the idea of losing & not being hungry! I had already given up sugar of any kind, more for health reasons like bursitis in my hip, etc, which were resolved by giving it up. For the past couple of months I've been sort of low-carbing - eating between 30-40 a day. But I would guess my calorie count was pretty high. I haven't been hungry but I do struggle with the urge to just be ingesting something, anything!

When I lost the weight I did a lot of vigorous exercise (which I enjoy) and religiously tracked my intake. I KNOW that I need to do the tracking to keep myself honest. My husband is away for the next two weeks so I've decided to bite the bullet & try Atkins induction. Five days ago, except for one thing (chia, which only added one carb but isn't on "the list") I ate things from the induction list. But I was at 2200 calories which made me very nervous. So this is day four of "by the book".

I am doing yoga nearly every day - hard yoga at a really great studio two blocks away - and was back on the treadmill yesterday morning & lifting weights, so I'm getting that back on track too. My husband & I travel a lot (business & pleasure) which presents challenges - as does my "summer job", which is cooking at the fishing lodge we own - naturally I do a lot of baking. That's not really a problem for me though (I maintained my earlier loss last year up there) and there are lots of great veggie dishes & of course lots of meat and eggs on the menu, so that should be fine since I have nearly two months to get my WOL embedded, so to speak.
I'm guessing that since my carb intake was already pretty low I won't get the dramatic water weight loss at the beginning but I can live with that as long as there's some steady change.
I am tracking my intake on a program on my computer (Protrack), which got me through my previous weight loss. My ratio seems correct. I am trying to ignore my "calorie anxiety".

Man, I wish at nearly 45 I wasn't still struggling with this! Thirty years of it! Sheesh.

All the best to all of you,
Sue

[dreamof145]

Hi Sue. Welcome. Glad you posted and decided to join us. This is the best place for support and encouragement. Sounds like you're devising a great plan that will see you to goal. Jump in here, get active and make lots of friends. Having others to share and be accountable is a great way to stay motivated and have fun as you change your life-style!

[liv]

Hi Sue
Just wanted to say hi to a fellow Western Canadian (I am in Saskatoon). Sounds like you have really thought this through. That should help you. Sorry about the snow you are getting. Here we are getting mostly rain. Slowest spring that I can remember.

[Suechef]

Hi Liv,

Nice to meet you. Looks like you are doing really well! The fishing lodge that I cook at in the summer is on Lake Athabasca, in northern SK. That will be interesting, because while I'm pretty good up there not eating the treats, as a cook you have to taste things to make sure they taste good (and that you didn't add salt instead of sugar, lol). There's no getting around that part of my job.
cheers,
Sue