Finally Getting Fit

One of the big reasons I am trying to lose weight is because I want to have as healthy of a pregnancy as I can. While having a baby isn’t in my close financial future, that just means I have more time to work with when it comes to losing weight.

I haven’t gotten on the scale for a couple weeks now, and I’m a bit nervous about the possible ‘damage’ I may have done by not weighing in. Despite that, the worry I feel about that is nothing compared to the stress and depression I was dealing with before, so I’m still glad that I went off the scale for right now.

Towards the end of next month, I have an appointment to see a doctor. I’m both excited and nervous about this appointment because it could mean changes in a lot of ways. I’m hoping to find out why I have such a hard time losing weight. I’m hoping that she’ll make changes to my diet that will help me get even healthier. I’m also hoping that the appointment will be a turning point.

I want to be a mother so badly, but I am afraid that whatever is going on with my body is going to prevent that dream from coming true. I know a lot of women with PCOS (I’m not 100% sure I have PCOS, by the way) just have to lose a little weight and then they get pregnant, but therein lies the problem.

So I guess you can consider me on a bit of a hiatus (though I’ll still be posting) until I go to that appointment and find out what’s going on.

Wish me lots of luck and patience.

I have been thinking a lot lately about why I am losing weight and why I want to continue to try to do so. Back when I first started seriously getting into dieting, I had a while to go before my wedding. I already had the dress and it was too big, so I would need it to get fitted anyway. Of course I wanted to lose weight for the wedding.

Here are a few tips and tricks in case you’re looking to do the same thing from someone who did it.

*Start early. It is always better to work in the healthy habits as soon as possible. That also makes it easier if you have a ‘bad’ day to recover afterward.

*Get your whole wedding party in on it. You shouldn’t make it a requirement for everyone in the wedding to lose weight, but it can be great to have that support from anyone who wants to participate.

*Plan ahead. For your pre-wedding parties, plan ahead and request healthier food and snacks.

*Always remember the dress/tux. If you’re going to be losing a significant amount of weight, be sure to have an appointment not long before the wedding to get the dress fitted.

*Most importantly: Don’t let it spoil the day. If you haven’t lost as much as you would have liked, it’s okay! It’s your day and no one is going to be thinking about your weight.

I know this is a little different from my usual posting, but I hope some people find it useful.

There is nothing like a good reminder of why you’re on a quest to improve your health. I got one of those reminders last night.

I have completely taken rice out of my diet because of how it makes me tired. I’ve kicked pasta and now use bean curd noodles. I have had rye bread in the last couple of days, but I have otherwise kicked out bread. The same goes for potatoes.

All in all, I have made a lot of positive changes for my diet in response to the insulin resistance side effects I was having before.

But I dropped my guard last night.

My husband and I went out to eat last night and I ordered an extra bowl of veggies on the side. When it comes to craving things that are good for me, I obey my cravings. My meal already came with some veggies, but I had a desperate craving for broccoli and, well…

The veggies in my meal included two small potatoes. Now, I haven’t had potatoes for a few months now. Time obviously liberally dusted my mind with ‘forget potion’ because I figured I’d give the potatoes a go and see how it went. I wasn’t sure if I’d actually react to them or not.

Well, I did.

Potatoes don’t knock me out with quite the force rice does, but those two little spuds were certainly the next best thing. About five minutes after we finished eating, I was yawning and ready for bed.

Why do I always have to test things? Why can’t I just leave things alone when I’m told no? Bleh. Ah well. I have been well and truly reminded why I don’t eat potatoes. (Or rice, or pasta, or…)

How about you? Are you insulin resistant or battling other factors that make getting fit that much more difficult?

When I started this journey a year ago, I wrote this on my 100 Pounds to Go blog:

I’m Spunk, and I’m 100 pounds (about 45 kilos) from my ideal weight. I got married May 5th, 2007.The honeymoon is over.

If you’d like to join me on my quest for health, please feel free. People like to know they aren’t alone when they take on challenges.

When I wrote that, I was ready and rearing to go, not worried about anything going wrong or stumbling on my path. All I knew was that I wanted to get healthy in a hurry.

While the hurry part hasn’t really happened, a year on I am in no doubt that I am many times healthier. I feel better than ever, have more energy than ever, and I even go to a local gym on a regular basis.

I can definitely tell you I didn’t see that happening a year ago.

All in all, I may not be down in the pounds like I would like, but I’m still very happy with my progress mentally and emotionally so far. I’m in a much better place.

How about you?

As I mentioned on Monday, I decided to ‘take a break’ from the diet so I could well and truly enjoy my anniversary.

While I didn’t automatically go out and eat all the pasta, bread, and death by chocolate cake I could get my hands on, I did enjoy little indulgences. My husband surprised me with a little cake that we both shared and on a different night, we both enjoyed dessert. (I’d never actually had a proper chocolate sundae.)

The whole weekend was a lot of fun and I don’t regret a bit of it. (Ask me again next Monday. Haha.) I stayed away from a lot of the bad things out of habit and didn’t go crazy on other bad things.

Still, as I get back into the diet (back to phase one for a while!), I am reminded how much easier it is to just eat all the stuff I’m not supposed to eat. Funny how it took only a weekend to forget the difficulties in cutting bread out of your diet.

Bread is everywhere! Burgers, sandwiches of all kinds, dinner rolls… I don’t consider all bread evil by any means, but try getting something other than white bread and rolls when you go out…

I don’t mind it too much because I know it’s all worth it in the end, but it is a bit annoying. I think I was sticking closely to the diet so long that the break made me want to rush back in all my bad habits. It makes me wonder if I should have taken a break at all…

What do you think? Do you ever take breaks? Have you ever had a break backfire?

Okay, so these are a little late. But better late than never, right? It’s time for me to refocus for the month and talk about my goals…

Food – Honestly? I think I’m doing pretty good with this. I haven’t eaten bread in over a month now, no pasta either (I’ve found a noodle substitute – made out of beans!), and I have only had sweets a couple times. I like phase one of the South Beach Diet and I’m only making a few adjustments so I’m technically in Phase Two.

Even so, I feel much better than I was feeling. I miss my sushi, but I can still eat sashimi, which makes me very happy.

Water – I seem to have *SUCH* a hard time with keeping up on my water. I’m not sure what it is. I was doing fine with it for a while, but after that it’s been a constant trouble. I need to really get on this and get back into it.

Exercise – I’m going to try something a little new starting next week because I want to change up my routine a bit. I’m hoping that it will help me get re-excited about exercising again as well as switching things up to encourage more weight loss.

Mentality – I’m getting much better with this, but I do need to stop beating myself up so much. It’s a bad habit I’m slowly getting rid of, but I really need to ditch it for good.

What are your goals for May? Are you having trouble with anything? Is there anything you’re feeling proud of? Leave a comment in the comments section and start up a weight loss conversation.

When it comes to the struggle of trying to lose weight and keep off what I’ve lost, sometimes I just want to quit. It’s too hard. I’m too tired. I have factors that make it even harder for me to lose weight than other people. So why even try? Why not just try to eat decently and give in to the bag of M&Ms when I feel like it?

Then I remember.

I started seriously trying to get fit after my wedding in May of 2007. It took many months and a lot of struggle, but I started getting myself down in weight. Clothes were a bit looser, I was feeling better, I was eating better…

And I fell off the bandwagon.

It didn’t happen fast, but it happened. I gained back all the weight I had lost and was exactly (to the pound) back to where I started after my wedding. As you can imagine, that depressed me to no end.

I don’t usually do New Year’s resolutions, but this year I decided I was going to lose the weight. No matter what, no matter how long, I was going to try my best and hardest. For my husband. For my future children. For myself.

This run hasn’t been easy either. With my weight bouncing around and often going to plateau status, it’s been hard to keep going. Many times I have wanted to just give up and have those M&Ms. Or TimTams. Or chicken satay noodle box.

The difference this time is that I made a promise to myself. I worked so hard and gained it all back. Now I have to lose it again. I won’t do that anymore. I will never quit because once I’ve lost the pounds, I sure as heck don’t want to have to lose them again when it’s so much work. If I had just stuck it through last time, maybe I would be down in the 230s already.

I’ve learned my lesson. I’m not going to quit.

Today marks the first official day that I can have (granary) bread again. And (wholemeal) pasta. And sweet potatoes, fruit, light yogurt, skim milk, red wine…

…but I don’t want to. Except for possibly the light yogurt, I find myself reluctant to come off phase one of the SBD. I don’t really want to start integrating those sorts of things back into my diet. Not yet, at least.

This feeling is actually quite a common phenomenon for people on the SBD and Dr. Agatson acknowledges that. Thankfully, he says it’s not a big deal if you want to stay on phase one longer than the minimum two weeks. The only danger is that you might get bored with the strict phase and lean back toward your previous eating habits.

I’m honestly not worried about that. Getting so addicted to the carbs and sweets last time has pretty much scared me enough to keep me on track. For a long while, at least.

I’m glad to have a bit more freedom back when it comes to eating for when I eat out, but honestly? They have some fantastic salads in my local venues as well as a lot of accommodating places that will adjust the menu. All of which makes it easier to stay on phase one.

I am happy to get some of the dairy products back. I haven’t been drinking coffee because I only like it with milk in it, and I like yogurt a lot, so those will be two things I will enjoy having the option of once again.

All in all, I’m very glad I got through phase one without ‘tripping up’. I feel better than I was, I’m not getting so tired all the time, my digestive system is doing a lot better, and I’m no longer having skin reactions to my food.

Someone requested that I talk a little more about the South Beach Diet, so I thought I would give a bit of a run down:

The South Beach Diet, developed by Dr. Arthur Agatston, focuses on getting the body to relearn to process the good fats and stay away from the bad fats. That’s putting it simply, though. It also takes into account the Glycemic Index as well to help make a more encompassing diet.

The South Beach Diet claims to not only help you lose weight, but it also helps insulin-related problems, often clearing up diabetic problems as well as helping women with PCOS/insulin resistance to conceive (this isn’t widely broadcast, but weight loss in women with PCOS can help conception).

SBD consists of three phases - the first being the most strict, the second being the diet to get you down to you ideal weight, and the third being the maintenance phase that keeps you around your ideal weight.

The first phase, basically put, helps you kick your addictions to the things that send your blood sugar into flux the most - fruits, breads/pastas, a couple veggies, and sweets. You also cut out a lot of the worse fats like fatty cuts of meat and moderate some of the midline things like nuts and some cheeses.

The second phase is where you start adding back in the things you love the most and ‘need’ to have once in a while. Some people have bread once a fortnight. Others have an apple once a week. The key to this phase is slow reintroduction. And you’ll be surprised what you can live without…

And as I said before, phase three is maintenance. You can add in more things if you like and can cut back if you start gaining weight.

I had a severe addiction to breads, noodles, and sweets, so this diet has been perfect for me so far. I miss things occasionally, but it’s been nice to get out of those bad habits.

What I love best about SBD is that it takes into account that people slip up or that people want to have a nice meal out sometimes and not have to worry. Because of that, they have made a diet that is flexible instead of linear. If you are in phase two or three and stuff yourself on bread and pasta on your birthday, just go back to phase one. You can move back and forth through the phases as you please (after the initial minimum two weeks on phase one).

I’ve also found this diet extremely easy to stick to. Instead of the points system (where I often used the points the wrong way and didn’t get any healthier) this limited my diet. Admittedly, that doesn’t work for everyone, but I never go hungry either. I can have as much as I want off whatever is allowed.

The thing about this diet, though, is that it helps you to eat less, so overeating isn’t a big problem. I’m never hungry and I’m eating all kinds of things I like. I have even discovered a few new things I like. (The ricotta mocha SBD recipe isn’t too bad.)

I don’t honestly know if this is the diet that will make all the difference, but I do know that it works for me on a health level. I’m not eating the breads/pastas/sweets that I used to and now I have more energy, stamina, and feel better all over. This diet may restrict what foods I can eat, but it’s so much more flexible than other diets in important ways that I don’t mind it.

I hope that gives you what information you need. Feel free to ask more question of me. (Or of Google.)

I haven’t been on the South Beach diet long, but I have already begun to take advantage of some of the recipes offered in the back of the book (along with meal plans). I have a hard time with my sweet tooth (among other things) so when I saw you could have dessert even on the strictest phase…

Well…

All the desserts in Phase One involve ricotta cheese, but that’s not too bad. I’ve found that the lemon and lime desserts didn’t have enough flavor for me to feel like I was truly having any sort of ‘dessert’. However, I am someone who likes coffee and I love the mocha ricotta crème.

As you can probably find the recipe all over the internet already, I don’t think it’s a bad thing if I share…

Mocha Ricotta Crème

110g (4 oz) low-fat ricotta cheese
½ teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder
¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 sachet sugar substitute
Dash instant espresso powder
5 mini chocolate chips

Mix together the ricotta, cocoa powder, vanilla extract, and sugar substitute in a dessert bowl. Serve chilled with a dusting of espresso powder and sprinkle with the mini chocolate chips.

Personally, I skip the sugar substitute and the mini chocolate chips as well. The first because I don’t do sugar substitutes and the second because I didn’t have any mini chocolate chips (or regular, for that matter) in the house. I also add in some slivered almonds.

This little dish satisfies my taste for coffee and my ‘need’ to be a little ‘naughty’ and have dessert.

Mind you, it’s not sweet and doesn’t taste like chocolate, but out of all the recipes there, this is the one I prefer.

Well, after a sort of slap in the face reminder about how serious insulin resistance is, I have decided to give the South Beach diet a go.

I went on the South Beach diet a few years ago and got pretty good results while I was on it. I didn’t have any sort of support system though, so I ended up stopping and wondering what the point of it all was anyway.

South Beach is the diet recommended for everyone, but especially for people with blood sugar problems, be them diabetes or insulin resistant (prediabetes) related. The creator of the diet is also very up front and honest, which I like. He’s also very focused on the eating six times a day thing, which gives South Beach a lot more brownie points in the ‘making sense’ department in my opinion.

I have realized lately that something has to give. I’m not losing weight like I should be. And while that’s not to be unexpected of me with insulin resistance and possible PCOS, it doesn’t mean that it’s impossible for me to lose weight. I just need to find the right way for my body to do it.

I’m going with South Beach because I have an addiction to bread. Bread, pasta, rice, more bread, and then even more bread. I have also been having problems with chocolate cravings, and I recognize that I am getting myself well and truly addicted to the stuff.

So wish me luck. I will definitely be reporting how it goes here. I’ll be starting next Thursday. (Why? So I can have a few days to clean up my eating before hitting the strict phase.)

Best of fitness to all of you.