Category Archives: Raves & Praise

So.

Remember when I said I knew I wouldn’t be doing low-carb forever because it’s just not sustainable? Well, Tom and I are now working on a new lifestyle change…and have both been quite successful. And the best thing is that it’s completely sustainable: 80% of people keep the weight off after a year!

It’s a program that I’d never heard of but that a Tivo friend had done VERY successfully—and a bunch of other Tivo friends were interested in it and all decided to do it—so we jumped in, too! It’s called Naturally Slim and it’s a different way to lose weight that you just can’t believe until you try it.

From their website:

There are no foods to buy, no points to count, no guidelines on what you can and can’t eat. Sound too good to be true? The secret to Naturally Slim is really simple common sense, and the method for success simply involves learning some new techniques about how and when you should eat. That’s it. No gimmicks, no fads, no crashing, flushing, suffering, sacrificing, and no long-term commitments.

In the just-less-than two weeks that we’ve been doing it, I’ve lost 8# and have not felt deprived at all. I am eating SO much less food now, it’s unbelievable—but the most unbelievable part is that I’m eating WHATEVER I want. Pizza? Yes. Garlic bread? Yes. Pasta? Yes. Bacon cheeseburgers? Yes. Guacamole? Yes. Bruschetta? Yes. The only thing that we are really cutting out right now (for the first three weeks of the 10-week program) is sugar (and wine for me)—so no ice cream, cookies, cake, regular pop, etc.—but that’s not a big deal for us since we rarely have that stuff anyway. We can add it back in weeks 4-10 (and beyond) as long as we do it the right way.

But I digress.

I’m not going to go into all of the details, but suffice it to say that once you learn how to listen to your body and eat the right way—following the principles you learn in the program—you may find that you only eat one or two meals a day (and smaller meals at that). It takes time and dedication to learn the principles and it’s not an overnight thing…but it does work.

For example, neither Tom nor I eat breakfast anymore. (Forget what you’ve always heard about needing to eat breakfast. Really.) So Tuesday I had eaten lunch with the kids around 12:30 (and I honestly shouldn’t have eaten then because I wasn’t truly hungry) and I wasn’t hungry at dinnertime, so I skipped dinner. I wasn’t hungry before bed, I wasn’t hungry when I woke up Wednesday, I wasn’t hungry at my usual lunch time, and I honestly wasn’t hungry when I finished making dinner at 6, but I ate a small portion anyway because it had been 30 HOURS since I’d eaten anything and it just seemed…wrong. But according to the principles, I should have waited. When was the last time—aside from being sick—that you didn’t feel hungry for THIRTY HOURS?! It’s both exciting and bizarre at the same time.

Now, I know you are skeptical, but I am not lying and saying I’m not hungry. I’m not starving myself. I’m LITERALLY not hungry. I definitely eat when I am hungry—and I will never starve myself (that’s why I liked low-carb—I could always eat something filling and never felt HUNGRY).

So, just be prepared if we ever have to eat with you—we may not actually eat. 🙂 Well, we will eat, but we might not eat when you do. That’s honestly the part that stinks and is hard to get used to—since you ONLY eat when you’re hungry, we often miss eating with the kids (we sit with them but we might not eat) and sometimes we don’t even eat together. There are ways to hold off on eating (say, if I’m ready to eat at 4pm but we’re not eating until 6pm) but you never eat early to keep on a schedule.

Granted, we are only on week 2 so we’re still leaning the ins and outs of what our bodies want and things could still change, but we have generally figured out our schedules. (Well, I thought I had my schedule figured out—lunch between 12:30-1:30 and dinner between 6:00-7:00—until that 30-hour span of not being hungry. Now I’m trying to work it out again. It feels like I’m headed toward being a one-time-a-day eater which isn’t common but not unheard of.)

So, things are interesting around here. But the weight—and inches!—are coming off so we’re both happy! I’ve added a tracker with my ultimate goal over in the right column under the kids’ age trackers—I’m over a quarter of my way to my goal in just six weeks!! Go me!

So, three weeks ago I went to Kohls and thought “Let me look for a new bathing suit.” Ha. HAHA. There’s nothing like trying on clothes—especially bathing suits—to really hit home a weight gain.

My body is weird. I really don’t feel like I ever change my exercise habits or my eating habits but my weight will fluctuate anywhere from 10-30 pounds in a year. I’ll be a consistent amount for eight months and then I’ll gain 10 pounds and stay at that weight for a year… But obviously something has happened lately because I’m outside my normal fluctuation.

So I decided it was time. Right there in the dressing room.

Low-carb is easiest for me since I’ve done it before and I am really hoping/planning on doing it just for the initial weight drop and then continuing with something more sensible. But damn. Our pantry is filled with carbs. And I hate making dinner anyway since the kids are rarely fans of anything…so the first weeks of low-carb are super painful for that reason alone. The actual not eating isn’t that bad…

The first day wasn’t even done and I already missed alcohol. Not that I drink a lot, but maybe 2-3 nights a week I’ll have a drink.

After the first day, it was apparent I didn’t remember quite as much about low-carb eating as I thought I did. I looked at my daily totals and holy wah. Yes, I know I ate too many carbs because I was still getting into the plan (after all, I had just decided with no advance planning so we weren’t correctly stocked for low-carb) but a banana? 31 carbs. An onion (to go with the steak)? 8 carbs! That’s about two day’s worth of carbs right there! Then add in the 1 piece of pizza I had for lunch (25), the Mike’s Hard Lemonade I succumbed to (33), and the 1/4 cup quinoa and rice I knew was bad (27)…and that’s about my carbs for the week.

Soooooo…for the first few days, I decided I was concentrating on just lowering my overall food intake (which I did considerably—I caught myself gazing in the pantry about three times and walked away) and watching carbs. And that went well.

As I said, I know going into this that it isn’t sustainable long term (considering I’ve regained the 60# I lost before—though it did take 10 years and two pregnancies!) but I think the big initial weight loss that always happens with low-carb will be enough to kickstart me into a healthier future.

I think snacking/grazing is one of my biggest problems. I’ve found myself just wanting to eat something…anything…even though I’m not hungry. Portion control is another big problem. What I’ve realized after the past three weeks of pretty strict low-carb eating is how much I was actually eating before…and how little I actually need. Yesterday I ate about 900 calories and 30 carbs and at no time was I really hungry. (I usually eat more calories than that, but I was testing how very little I could eat while not being HUNGRY.) I tend to eat small bits all day long…only eating when I’m actually hungry. And at meals, I rarely take seconds and try to take smaller portions overall.

So, at one week, I was down 7#. I knew it was just first week success and wouldn’t continue (and I fluctuated lower than that during the week) but as I said, the mental reward is BIG. And the jeans that were too tight last week fit this week.

At two weeks, I was down 14.5#. YAY! A HUGE mental boost. And I even drank wine! So I think the biggest part was just not eating AS MUCH.

Then throughout the next week there was a lot of fluctuation and I gained some back (I know I should only weigh once a week but I weigh mid-week to keep myself on track). There was some not-good eating a time or two, but nothing crazy.

So this morning has been three weeks, and I’m down 15#. A bit of a disappointment considering I was at 14.5 last week, but overall it’s still a big per-week loss, so I am happy!

I’m thinking after I’ve kickstarted my weight loss for a month or so (so another few weeks?), I’ll transition to a more moderate plan (much less food overall, more fruit and veggies, etc.) because eating regular foods with the family is so much easier.

Wish me luck!