Been sticking to my diet, but it's making me feel awful

[JudyS]

Thanks, Wahoostampingirl! Hope the scale gives you some good news soon!

 

[JudyS]

I said I was going to update this thread, but then I didn't in quite a while!

I am still doing all the stuff that I described in my post in mid-December. I'm following a reduced carb diet (not very low carb, because I'm a vegetarian, but about 115 g carbs a day, plus a little more if I exercise), drinking green tea, and taking small doses of ephedrine (never more than 25 mg/day, and often less. I'm keeping a close watch on my blood pressure to make sure the ephedrine/green tea doesn't raise it too high.) I also track how much fat I eat, although I don't limit myself much on healthy fats. I sometimes take Slimthru, but not every day because it's very expensive. I'm exercising almost every day (and posting my totals on the monthly exercise challenge thread.) I've been going to Weight Watchers meetings every week, but mostly for the weigh-ins, since the diet I'm now following is completely difefrent from theirs.

I've written down everything I've eaten since I started this diet in late September. Although I've had to change the type of diet twice (from Weight Watchers Core to Weight Watchers Flex to Reduced Carb), I have stuck to whatever diet I was following at the time, with no lapses or binges. I'm still hungry sometimes, especially at night, but it's not nearly as bad as during the first two months of this diet.

For the past two months, it's been going well. I'm been losing at a pretty steady rate of 1.5 - 2 pounds a week. My total weight loss so far is:


My health problems have improved since I started losing weight. My blood pressure is down a lot (although I'm now on a slight dose of blood pressure medicine for kidney protection, so it's hard to say how much of the reduction is due to the weight loss.) I still don't have my HbA1C (that's a measure of average blood sugar) quite where I want it, but it's now well within the normal range. My liver function tests aren't quite normal, but they're better than in the past -- I'm not sure if more weight loss will help them or not.

My current plan is to try to lose another 10 pounds, and then try to maintain the 40 pound weight loss. I'll still be in the obese range after losing 40 pounds, but I think maintaining a 40 pound weight loss will be healthier for me than trying to lose more and maybe getting frustrated and giving up on dieting altogether. If I can keep the 40 pounds off for a year, I'll consider trying to lose more.

Thank you to everyone who has given me encouragement!

 

[wahoostampingirl]

Way to go on the awesome weight loss! You've really been committed to finding something that works for you. I've stayed with the WW flex plan and it's working pretty well for me. I just got back from WDW and had a 2 pound weight loss after 11 days there. That got me to 20 lbs. lost since Nov. 1, which I'm very happy about. It's slow, but oh so much better than gaining.

It's great to hear that you health is improving as well. I'm on two medications for HBP and I'm really hoping that I can get off at least one of them as I lose weight. Plus, my brother was diagnosed with Type II Diabetes last year, so now my endocrinologist is really adamant that I lose weight. It's encouraging that your numbers are getting better with your weight loss.

 

[JudyS]

Thanks, Wahoostampingirl, and congrats on your weight loss, too!

If you're overweight, losing weight will almost certainly reduce your risk of Type 2 diabetes. Losing weight usually lowers blood pressure, too, and often by quite a bit. But,there are some causes of high-blood pressure that aren't related to weight, so it's not a guarantee.