Saturday, June 11, 2011

weight for me - the gluten free edition

well. I think I am making some progress. I am hesitant to say that out loud and much more hesitant to say that over a public medium. But I am. Hopefully it wont come back to bite me in the ass. Unless it decided to do me a big favor and bite enough off my ass to save me some of the trouble of exercise and food monitoring. And that's what it takes for me really. Just eating less or at least being conscious of what I eat until my stomach shrinks. Which it eventually does, and then not allowing it to expand again. And walking. it helps if I exercise, especially walking.
P.S. I like the angle of this photograph, because it makes me look more like what my goal is than where I am right now. Maybe I will share with you a full length one soon. Just give me some time.

A few things have happened in my favor recently that have helped it to be a bit easier to lose:

Earlier this year I was diagnosed with a gluten intolerance. Without my knowledge or consent, my body decided that it doesn't tolerate things with wheat and soy. Now in an of itself, this is not a condition that translates into weight loss, no matter how much the interweb emphasizes the idea of "wasting" (or wasting away) due to the condition. But what it has done, has forced me to be aware of what I am putting into my body. Cakes and cookies and breads and other regular treats are "right out" as they say, unless of course I can afford the fancy expensive ones from whole foods. Mostly I just treat myself to ice cream that I have read ingredients carefully on, or very occasionally a small piece of chocolate like a peanut butter cup (but I cant have much of that at all due to the content of something called soy lechthin in them that makes my stomach rebel). I eat alot of corn, potatoes, and rice and meat and eggs and I should eat more vegetables and fruit. Also praise that Lord that Wendy's has a gluten free menu, which helps in a pinch. But some of those things are not soy free so I have to limit how much of it I eat. And then God has seen fit to allow that Coke and Cheddar cheese are gluten free but there again, I along with the rest of the world should be careful how much of those things i have. I have gotten used to the soy free and gluten free, enjoy life candy bars that you can buy from whole foods. A friend who is also gluten free and I were joking one day when I started getting them that they don't allow you to enjoy life all that much, but in the end I have developed a taste for them and even look forward to them as a treat when I can afford it. (I wouldn't recommend going gluten free for everyone, and I plan to do a follow up visit to a food allergy specialist as soon as I can. i have read online that there are beneficial elements to eating wheat and other grains that I cannot especially since they contain something called prebiotics that wheat is enriched with, and that I am still trying to figure out how to get from other sources. Humph. Oh well. I will do more research.)

Another recent development in my life long weight loss expedition is that of finishing my grad school work. They weren't kidding about the freshman 15, and I wasn't really really kidding when I was talking about the grad school 25 that stayed with me almost the entire 6-7 years that I was working on my double masters and eventually became 35-40 all told. It has taken a load of stress off of me to finally be done, and allowed me more time to actually think about my body, which seems a frivolous concern when you are trying to do coursework and sometimes teaching and also working on a novel.

Thirdly, the summer has come just in time. Seriously, the past two years my city has become notorious for summers that start early. I am able sweat off a pound just walking to my car and back sometimes (and I am only exaggerating a little).

And finally, one of my friends has helped to motivate me by calling me up to take walks with her, which I do as often as I can. And this helps a lot. So all this to say that I have lost about 21 or so pounds since Christmas, and this time I plan to keep it off and go the extra mile (literally and figuratively) to reach my goal.

Hooray. so try to encourage me if you can. Maybe not so much on how good I look or what size I am, but on what I have accomplished, and what I am trying to accomplish. I could use it, for i have a long road ahead of me.

2 comments:

  1. I think all grains contain prebiotics to some extent. Try quinoa, it is amazing! You can find it at Kroger in the Health Food section, or buy it in bulk at Whole Foods. It's quick and easy to cook, and you can treat it like rice. It also makes a great breakfast with fruit and almond butter! The Wikipedia page had some good info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prebiotic_(nutrition)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you Shannon, that is good to know about the prebiotics. I love quinoa. My friend introduced me to it about a year or two ago, and I was able to find even an organic brand at Schnucks which is pretty close to my house. Unfortunately, I cannot have almond butter as I have recently discovered an allergy to almonds involving breathing problems, but I do enjoy it with regular butter or organic butter if I can afford it. It is really tasty to me in place of rice with a grilled chicken breast and veggies. But I should try it for breakfast too! :D Thanks for reading, and I will definitely check out the link!

    ReplyDelete