Progress
 

Yesterday morning, I was coming off a fast.

I'd been miserable on it -- kept feeling hungry -- but wanted to fast before getting some lab-work done.

Yesterday morning, I'd lost all of 0.2 lbs. *sigh*

Went, got my blood work. Came home to my breakfast-coffee. Picked up my eldest from school, did some running around, and took them to Whataburger for a late lunch. Had a mushroom-cheeseburger. (double patties, cheese, and freshly grilled mushrooms.) I was a little concerned, because I tasted some sugar in the "creamy au jus" that came with it, but the mushrooms were SO good (and I was feeling like I hadn't eaten in a month).

Had dinner. (Hubby made it.... there was beef, some sort of creamy "dressing" on it, and avocado. No idea what to call it, but it was yummy.) Just as I went to bed, was STARVING, so had a few slices of salami.

Woke up this morning, weighed in, expecting to have not really budged. (You just saw what I ate -- and way too much of it was processed for me to feel good about it.)

Down 2.0 lbs.

:agree:

I'm SURE some of that was left-over from the fast. (Didn't mention my mid-morning bathroom trips, yesterday. :lol: )

I'm officially 10.9 lbs from not being obese. 11 lbs? Yeah, I can do that. No big deal at all. :roll:

I'm just curious, now, how close I can get to that goal before my next doctor's visit. :D (She should be setting up an appt with me as soon as my labwork comes in.) Don't think I can drop 10 lbs in the next 2 weeks, but I'm sure I can make a dent. Especially since my appetite is being so cyclic right now. (Lots of short-term stress going on... Not necessarily taking care of myself the way I should, which is why some days I'm being "binge-y" -- which I currently define as eating for something other than true hunger.

(I've hit the stage of things where I can go a while without true hunger. But I've been finding myself in a place lately where I can observe a desire to just curl up and eat. When it gets truly distracting, I'll eat something... any of the "snack-able" on-plan things I keep on hand. A scoop of nuts. String cheese. The afore-mentioned salami... A pickle or two... etc. Not sit down and eat a whole bowl of nuts, but... I have this picture in my head of eating a bowl of popcorn, so I have 1/4 C of nuts. By the time I'm done eating them, the destructive urge has passed.This is so different from when I'm in a less stressed-out place, and actually only eating when hungry.)

So focusing really hard on my "tricks". Like swallowing all my vitamins every morning, and drinking "insane" amounts of water. (This is just a baseline practice for me -- basic self-care. If I do those things, it keeps me mindful of a lot of the rest of it.)

So definite progress...

Down roughly 30 lbs in 5 mos. Still have 45-60 more to go (to be in my healthy "range" -- not sure where I'll settle).

LG - you are making good progress as 30 pounds lost in 5 months is excellent. We all lose weight at different paces and different intervals. A saying I have for these situations applies: "Don't sweat the small stuff." Just stay consistent with what you've been doing. You're correct, losing 10 pounds in 2 weeks is unrealistic, but you can definitely progress. Sometimes, lots of weight disappears, but knowing that you are losing following the WOE you've chosen should keep your head in the game. Stay focused and enjoy the journey!

You're doing really well, so never worry about it, you've lose a wonderful amount of weight in a short time.

One thing I had to make peace with was weight fluctuations, which when you think about it, makes total sense because so much of the human body is water. Of course weight (and water levels in the body) goes up and down every day, unrelated to true weight loss. And you've probably read (but I'll repeat it anyway) about how the body system always wants to maintain a status quo, an equilibrium, so if you drop and burn fat, the body can initially retain water in an attempt to maintain the prior state of equilibrium before the fat loss, but then before long it recognize the new state of things and will drop that excess retained water and that's when you will see a weight drop. You've read of the famous "whoosh", right? That's the body suddenly feeling it's OK to drop the excess water and drop to a new lower level weight-wise. The body can also retain water if you eat excess sodium (salami is very salty, for example, so are nuts). I've gotten so I can fairly accurately predict my weight will go up a bit due to what I've eaten a day or two before. (Sometimes there is a 2-day delay in this effect).

Any time you want to accelerate weight loss, eat according to induction eating protocols. Keep it simple. I've always noticed that if I crave anything or keep thinking about tempting junk food, it's a sign that my carb levels may be too high. Go back to basic induction eating to get rid of that and magically, the hunger and cravings disappear. Works every time for me. And I love having zero cravings and low hunger because it makes sticking to this plan so much easier. And pleasant! No major hunger, no cravings, low appetite so you eat less naturally (you eat according to what you body actually wants and needs)...that's the Atkins advantage over all the other ways of eating!

Also...we each lose at different rates and at different carb levels. Speaking only for myself, I lose at a fairly slow pace at 20g carbs per day, but I lose SO much better and much faster when I'm at 10g or lower. At 10g per day, I have very low hunger levels, I get full on much less volume of food, I don't get any hunger at night, and my problem junk foods such as donuts etc have zero appeal to me. I can walk past them in the store and not feel a single bit of temptation to eat them. I can also do a 16 hour fast every single day from early dinner to breakfast. And I can occasionally do a 24-hour fast dinner to dinner that is actually a breeze to do, no misery at all. This is what I LOVE about Atkins induction eating. And this is why I have to stay at this induction level the entire time I'm trying to lose weight. Once my carb levels go up, weight loss slows and eventually stops, all those intrusive thoughts of my trigger foods come roaring back, I eventually succumb, and I lose my focus entirely at some point as the weight creeps back up. Sad but true...but I know what to do, all my past experience with both success and failure losing weight has taught me that!

Just my own experience after many years of doing Atkins. :)