Monday, January 3, 2011

I gave up "low fat" and lost 38 pounds.


I gave up trying to lose weight with low fat and calorie counting. I found it kept me way too focused on food. And being focused on food was one of my problems in the first place.

You know how much I loved to cook. And I still do. But I needed to lose some weight (still need to lose more) but I am pleased to be unfocused on cookbooks and tons of recipe sites.
Yes I have cookbooks for sale...if you want to learn more, email me.

I am low carbing and loving it. I read about insulin resistance, and it fits me to a T.
So sleepy after eating, craving carbs, scale goes up and down, a real chunky monkey around my tummy, butt and thighs.

Most common signs that may mean you are insulin resistant:

These depend on poorly understood variations in individual biology and so are not found in all with insulin resistance.

  1. Fatigue.
  2. Brain fogginess and inability to focus.
  3. High blood sugar.
  4. Intestinal bloating – most intestinal gas is produced from carbohydrates in the diet, mostly those that humans cannot digest and absorb.
  5. Sleepiness, especially after meals.
  6. Weight gain, fat storage, difficulty losing weight – for most people, excess weight is from high fat storage; the fat in IR is generally stored in and around abdominal organs in both males and females. It is currently suspected that hormone production in that fat are a precipitating cause of insulin resistance.
  7. Increased blood triglyceride levels.
  8. Increased blood pressure. Many people with hypertension are either diabetic or pre-diabetic and have elevated insulin levels due to insulin resistance. One of insulin's effects is to control arterial wall tension throughout the body.
  9. Depression. Due to the deranged metabolism resulting from insulin resistance, psychological effects, including depression, are not uncommon.
  10. Acanthosis nigricans.
  11. Increased hunger.
(info list taken from Wikipedia)

So after doing a bunch of research I decided to cut the carbs. I never ate a LOT of sugar per say, but the thing is even brown rice is pretty carby. Also most breads that you buy from the store and even if you bake your own, the flour you use can be carb laden.
So I have been learning to cook in a bit of a different way and to just eat what I know I can eat.
Basically I cut rice, potatoes, wheat and corn flour, oats, any type of sugar ie: honey, syrup, molasses.
And some veggies, like corn, limas, peas, onions.
I limit some of these foods to just once in awhile while others I do not eat at all.
But I eat. I love the food I eat. And I have lost 38 pounds since July while not counting calories or measuring anything.
Here was my dinner tonight.

PIZZA!!!
This I made on one of these:

Each one of these tortillas has 12 grams of fiber and just 5 net carbs. I eat 2 a day. In the morning I eat one with a scrambled egg, mushrooms, spinach sausage or bacon and some cheddar cheese. Along with a protein smoothie.

Then maybe one for lunch with turkey or ham, chipotle mayo, lettuce, banana pepper rings and cheese. Or one for dinner with pizza toppings. That right there is 24 grams of fiber, just in the tortillas. I have not really upped my exercise that much. I get on the treadmill a couple times a week, play with the dogs, stack wood, do stuff around the house. I have some little Dickie Simmons Sweatin' dvd's that I do once in awhile.
Oh, and one of the perks is, Larry has lost 10 pounds.


1 comment:

  1. Hey me too! I went low carb last April, lost almost twenty...I really didn't have a lot of weight to lose, but my blood sugar was getting all wonky, and my blood pressure was headin' on up into heart attack land.

    Two weeks on Atkins induction and my BP dropped an average of TWENTY POINTS. With no meds! I still live low carb, with an occasional beer binge or Christmas dinner, but they wear me out (carb coma) and I'm always glad to be eating clean again. Cracks me up to think of eating bacon as eating clean, but it is what it is, eh?

    How cool is this? But seriously? Richard Simmons? Eew. :~D

    ReplyDelete

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