Hi there fellow low carbers!

Seeing as I'm feeling a bit ill today with a nasty cold, and seeing as all my family are away for the day and I've been ordered to "take it easy" and "leave the chores", I have a fantastic excuse for recording my own particular milestones

Which is: as of today, I have reached the following milestones:

1) I have lost exactly five kilos since Jan 12th 2009 (i.e. 11 pounds);

2) I have only five pounds to go till goal!!!

I am really quite proud of myself, for the following reasons:

1) My journal title is "I am determined to stick with this!" - and I have!!!

2) I feel I am getting healthier, especially as far as alcohol intake is concerned. I noticed that beer (why do I have to live in Germany, where beer is soooo good???) and low-carbing do not really go together - unless gaining weight is your aim - and have been quite successful in cutting down my alcohol intake. So far this year, 124 days out of 160 have been beer free!

3) I have been willing to try out new things, such as Vitamin D3 supplementation, a decision I have not had reason to regret so far, as well as my latest new experiment, cutting out bread. The latter has resulted in my being able to bring my carbs down to about 50-60g a day, instead of about 70g a day, which, although the difference is small, has made a difference to the speed of the weight loss I have been experiencing. Also, I feel that it may be a good health choice for me now (at the age of 45) anyway, as it seems to have an effect on the slight arthritis I have in a spot on my right hand. Cutting out bread might seem an easy thing to the rest of you, but, as I mentioned, I live in Germany, and in the village I have lived in for the last seven years, there are some farmers who bake bread once a week, and I have become pretty addicted to it, I fear... It is delicious, but I think I now have to accept that my bread tolerance limit seems to have been reached and that some kind of "poison level" has been reached in my system. Rather than regarding this bread as delicious, I now need to do some new brainwashing on myself!!! I have taught myself that beer is really not good for me, especially not if I want to lose weight, and now I have to learn to hate bread, too...

But, to cut a long story short, I have come this far: I will manage the next five pounds!!!

My "deadline" is August 12th 2009, which is when we go on holiday. I hope I'll have got the last five pounds gone by then, or at least most of them!!!

Wish me luck!!!

amanda