lighten up
it's been about a year since i began the doctor assisted weight loss journey. I wanted to tell you what i have learned and how far i have come. i hope you will listen.
in 12 months i have lost 36 lbs. I now weigh less than i did in 2007 but i still weigh more than i did in 2009. that is the last time i wore MY SKINNY JEANS. maybe i can wear them this summer in san francisco on my 40th birthday!? goals.
I have tried a few medications including naltrexone, welbutrin, phentermine, topamax, and finally found a combination that works for me called qysmia. I am on a low dose and i have seen a steady comfortable loss of about 2 lbs per week over the last 2 months. it has actually changed my brain chemistry so that i no longer obsess about the next meal i am going to have.
I don't think about food as a reward ("i was good today so i can have ice cream for dessert"). i don't really have cravings anymore. I can think to myself something sounds good but i don't have to go out and get thing. What used to happen is someone would say for example "jelly doughnut" and then if it sounded good to me jelly doughnut would be in the back of my mind for days until i could not ignore it anymore. then i would have to eat one.
I am now eating what i guess are normal portions. i eat about 2000 calories each day and i still exercise 5 or 6 days per week walking 5 or 6 miles per day with some free weights occasionally. I still seem to take the same amount of food i once did when i serve myself (for example spaghetti) but i just can not finish it all. I eat about 1/2 or 2/3 of that and then i go to bed without a snack.
on a workday i typically consume
2 cups half caff coffee with creamer (i used to have 4 cups)
1 Clif bar
1 quart Crystal light
1 can progresso chicken noodle soup with unsalted crackers(** link for more about Volumetrics **)
1 diet Coke
and dinner might be 1 1/2 boneless skinless chicken breast with steamed broccoli
OR
pork roast with baby carrots
OR
a big bowl of Special K red berries
i use the MyFitnessPal app to track my calories consumed and my weight loss. I only get on the scale once per week. I use FitBit to track the number of steps and flights of stairs each day. I do not count the calories burned as available food so that i will burn twice as many calories as I consume each day. This is all on the doctor's advice.
In the last 12 months i have faced ups and downs, highs and lows. I learned about the roots of my emotional eating, when it started, and how to stop it. Now i actually feel real emotions (sad, lonely, angry, afraid) instead of just overeating and then feeling full. I learned that eating a balanced diet is still the basis for good health. if we can all eat something from all 4 food groups every day, not too much from any one of the food groups, we will be OK. I never verbalized it before but i learned that i was insecure about my weight affecting my relationships; i thought that my friends pitied me or that they were embarrassed by me but never said anything. i have begun to eat just a few bites of things or just take a smaller portion to begin with knowing i will satisfied with less.
it has been incredible and i want to keep going. thanks to medical weight management maybe someday you will see a picture of me on this blog without a shirt on! i would venture to guess there are zero pictures like that of me anywhere on the interwebs.
i am 6 weeks from the end of the semester and summer break can not come soon enough. i am too old to work full time and go to school part time, now it's catching up to me. 2018 so far has been brutal. sending you all love and gratitude for your support and friendship. thanks for reading.
in 12 months i have lost 36 lbs. I now weigh less than i did in 2007 but i still weigh more than i did in 2009. that is the last time i wore MY SKINNY JEANS. maybe i can wear them this summer in san francisco on my 40th birthday!? goals.
I have tried a few medications including naltrexone, welbutrin, phentermine, topamax, and finally found a combination that works for me called qysmia. I am on a low dose and i have seen a steady comfortable loss of about 2 lbs per week over the last 2 months. it has actually changed my brain chemistry so that i no longer obsess about the next meal i am going to have.
I don't think about food as a reward ("i was good today so i can have ice cream for dessert"). i don't really have cravings anymore. I can think to myself something sounds good but i don't have to go out and get thing. What used to happen is someone would say for example "jelly doughnut" and then if it sounded good to me jelly doughnut would be in the back of my mind for days until i could not ignore it anymore. then i would have to eat one.
I am now eating what i guess are normal portions. i eat about 2000 calories each day and i still exercise 5 or 6 days per week walking 5 or 6 miles per day with some free weights occasionally. I still seem to take the same amount of food i once did when i serve myself (for example spaghetti) but i just can not finish it all. I eat about 1/2 or 2/3 of that and then i go to bed without a snack.
on a workday i typically consume
2 cups half caff coffee with creamer (i used to have 4 cups)
1 Clif bar
1 quart Crystal light
1 can progresso chicken noodle soup with unsalted crackers(** link for more about Volumetrics **)
1 diet Coke
and dinner might be 1 1/2 boneless skinless chicken breast with steamed broccoli
OR
pork roast with baby carrots
OR
a big bowl of Special K red berries
i use the MyFitnessPal app to track my calories consumed and my weight loss. I only get on the scale once per week. I use FitBit to track the number of steps and flights of stairs each day. I do not count the calories burned as available food so that i will burn twice as many calories as I consume each day. This is all on the doctor's advice.
In the last 12 months i have faced ups and downs, highs and lows. I learned about the roots of my emotional eating, when it started, and how to stop it. Now i actually feel real emotions (sad, lonely, angry, afraid) instead of just overeating and then feeling full. I learned that eating a balanced diet is still the basis for good health. if we can all eat something from all 4 food groups every day, not too much from any one of the food groups, we will be OK. I never verbalized it before but i learned that i was insecure about my weight affecting my relationships; i thought that my friends pitied me or that they were embarrassed by me but never said anything. i have begun to eat just a few bites of things or just take a smaller portion to begin with knowing i will satisfied with less.
it has been incredible and i want to keep going. thanks to medical weight management maybe someday you will see a picture of me on this blog without a shirt on! i would venture to guess there are zero pictures like that of me anywhere on the interwebs.
i am 6 weeks from the end of the semester and summer break can not come soon enough. i am too old to work full time and go to school part time, now it's catching up to me. 2018 so far has been brutal. sending you all love and gratitude for your support and friendship. thanks for reading.
Love you and am so proud of YOU and the work you have done. It is the hardest to face our inner self the way you have done and to keep going and fighting. You rock!
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