2020 was bad for me too. I didn't pay any attention to my diet, I never weighed myself because eventually I was afraid to see the damage, I didn't exercise, and I ate a ton of comfort food that was really bad food for me.....namely, sugar sugar sugar , dairy, and also gluten containing foods. I'm talking Ben and Jerry's Cherry Garcia out the ying yang, cupcakes, donuts, chips, wine and mixed drinks in restaurants, blah blah blah, the list is long. It was embarrassingly bad. By the end of the 2020, I was getting really out of control.
December 28 I reached a tipping point with gluten and perhaps sugar and dairy as well, and suddenly got very sick from having eaten so much of it (celiac). I was sick pretty much all of January recovering from that and getting slowly better as I immediately cut off all gluten and dairy, beginning about mid January as I tried to improve my health. Meanwhile, I'd gone up as high as 157 (from a previous low of about 138-140). Then in mid March DH and I started a very serious Atkins '72 eating plan (A72 has always worked best of all) and also committed to going to the gym a lot to work on all the flab.
For reasons I can't totally figure out, THIS was the time it has worked really well (the best in 20 years of efforts) and I haven't pooped out on the diet even at the 6 month mark where I am now, still going strong and now this has become habit. I was forced to stop eating the bad stuff by my health, and everything just fell into place with A72. My sugar and junk cravings totally disappeared after 2 or 3 weeks and have never come back so that is no longer a challenge, thank goodness. Despite eating very carefully and not succumbing to any junk cheating, weight loss has been slow but steady but this time I refused to let the slow pace discourage me. I'm now down 18 lbs from the 152 I started at in mid March. That averages out to just 3 lbs a month and .75 lb per week. Not impressive but it adds up.
I'm also pleased that I've kept up the steady workouts....3 to 4 times a week mostly is what I've managed. I just did my 74th workout on Saturday. This is major for me, because I don't think I've ever done more than 25 or 30 workouts in a YEAR before despite having a gym membership continuously for the last 25 years. So 74 workouts in 6 months is fantastic for me! So I have a new and revamped "diet" and workouts are now part of my life. This diet is how I eat now, I don't really think of it as a weight loss mechanism that I would eventually abandon for different eating.
So COVID was a bad thing for weight, I put on weight and and messed up my health, but it also provided a chance to really work on weight loss in a serious way. Fortunately, my gym has always been open so I could always get to the gym, that definitely helped. I don't believe exercise makes you lose weight all on its own, but I've seen that in combination with the right diet, it definitely HELPS. I seem to fluctuate up a bit in weight when I'm unable to exercise for a few days.
Another good thing is that COVID got us out of our very bad habit of eating out too much. We have no interest in that at all any more....waste of money, and you eat all the wrong things. Also, we haven't had any alcohol at all for 6 months and don't miss it!
Last edited by CMCM : Mon, Sep-13-21 at 23:49.
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