Success.

Well, it has been a long time since I have posted. There has also been a lot of weight lost. 65 pounds to be exact. I think that I would like to get that last ten pounds off, just to say, hey I am at that ultimate goal that a year and a half ago I didn't know if I could ever reach. But here I am only ten pounds away from it, if I decide that is my destination. How did i do it? You may well ask...well it was a combination of quite a few things. Not the least of these was the fact that I was forced to give up gluten from my diet. This is not for everyone. Not everyone has gluten intolerance, but I did, and I know that it was keeping me unhealthy now.

So i have been gluten free since February of 2011. Also, starting this past February I did a three month long diet called a candida diet. And before you go googling that topic and accusing me of going the way of the Atkins diet, I can assure you that it was not the Atkins diet. I used this book. Not only did I drop 30 pounds in 3 months, but I started feeling better and a lot of health issues cleared up. I would recommend this book over any of the websites that you can find about candida online.

I know that my journey isn't over. Now that I am basically at my goal, I know that i need to exercise more and even watch my cholesterol, and as I have added foods back, i know that I need to be careful that I do not end up in the same situation that I was in 2 years ago, sickly, less healthy, and at 200 pounds. But I don't see that for my future. I really don't. I don't want that for my life either. I will still continue to work on this last ten pounds and at maintaining my goal eating healthier and excercising. But I know at least for now, from the past 7 or 8 years of excess pounds...the weight is finally over.

Signs of progress

There are a couple of reasons that I wanted to do this. 1): I want to keep myself accountable in the coming months. (Because holidays are the time that all healthy eating/exercise plans are tested and I want to be strong.)
2): I am proud of what God has allowed me to accomplish with my weight thus far, and I want to do my best with His help to never go back and to keep moving forward to reach my ultimate goals.




These are my before and after pictures to this point:

The first picture was taken a week ago and the second was taken last November. I am not to my goal, but I am proud to say that since last Christmas, I have lost 35 pounds. I am excited to see this happen, but in a bigger way I am also excited to see some old mindsets change, and look forward to seeing more change in the future. If you think of it, pray for me. Pray that i keep my head down and keep my focus, and that I see more of these changes on the inside.

I will take it.

I have added the long promised full length picture. I think I am seeing signs of success, and frankly, I will take it. I still have a long way that I want to go in order to realize my goal, which include but are not limited to: putting on a bathing suit and then wearing it at a place of swimming (in public), feeling lighter and healthier, going in all women's clothing boutiques and not worrying if they will carry my size or not, not worrying how a certain style dress with fit my frame, and one of the best accomplishments will be being able to wear my favorite vintage clothes again :D!

I think its time to celebrate. Maybe with a walk! Thanks for listening whoever you are. Until next time, I will keep my head down and keep moving.

The heat is on...and on...etc...

Well I am seeing more signs of progress. I think that now I am done with my MFA work, that I am (a bit) less stressed to the point that I am not storing (as much of) that lovely stress related belly fat that they tell you about on TV infomericials and the interweb. I also text one of my best friends my weight periodically to help keep me accountable and on track--that has helped a lot. I think that another major contributor to my progress, in addition to having to analyze every bit of food that goes into my body based on whether is has gluten or soy in it, and that I have been poor and needing to cook at home quite a bit, is the fact that it is so incredibly hot outside.



I think I first realized it in early June when I walked a short distance from a building to the car and I broke a sweat, I knew that it had started again. I still try to walk as often as I can as well, which still isn't as often as I would like. But sometimes whether I will or no I sweat and feel like I have been through a work out. Especially on those lovely "heat advisory" days. But all this is to say that for what ever reason, I am seeing more progress. I am hoping just to keep my head down and keep plugging away until I reach my goal. Incidentally, I like the two images of suns that I found. The first is so zen and peaceful, I think it is my favorite. The second makes me think of the weather we are having. Kind of mischievously scowling down at us as we melt. However, if it is he who is helping me melt away the pounds, I guess I cant complain too much. Keep praying for me if you would that I just heading down the path I am on. Slowly but surely and not giving up. :D

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.

ok. so....it's the Holidays

This year, I decided that in spite of the holidays, I would do my best to lose weight anyway. I lost a little, and i have tried to maintain so far, and I have to some extent. However, there is something about the holidays, that makes me really want to bake. So far it has been brownies on thanksgiving, oatmeal chocolate drops (called dodo balls in my youth) and sugar cookies. Unfortunately or fortunately depending on how you look at it, i only have whole wheat white flour and regular whole wheat flour at home. The chocolate drops were unaffected, but the cookies and brownies probably had a wheat after taste to them. Or wang (meaning flavor). so in future I should keep white flour on hand as well. I will try not to give up. I went for a walk on the day after thanksgiving, and i plan to go to the school gym again as soon as it opens up after the holidays. I did have a real coke today. Though. I split a 20oz bottle between today and yesterday. I was beginning to feel the effects of the Phenalaynine from the Diet Coke. Whatever those effects may be. Well I have to sign off. Not alot of progress this week, but I will stay the course.

A bit of progress.

Well as they say, "A rolling stone gathers no moss"...and as they don't say: getting that damn stone to roll, can sometimes be hard as hell.

I have however, realized a bit of progress over the past week after trying to get the weight loss momentum started over the course of the past month has been difficult. But good things come to those who wait, and last night/ this morning, I saw that the scales had finally moved in a way that I could recognize. I am now 190.4. This may not mean a lot to some people reading this, but it does to me.I agree with the guy whose article I read online about the decimal on your scales making a difference to you psychologically. I really does. I think that all told heaviest time this time, was about 195 or 194. So this makes me happy. I hope to be solidly in the 180s soon, and then so on.

I want to be 150 again and maybe beyond if I can be tenacious and not let things get to me. Splurg occasionally but keep things in perspective and proportion. I have been trying to drink diet coke and more water and fewer frappucinos less often, substituting when I can for regular black coffee. 1500 is still the calorie goal, and i try to exercise when I can, either walking or going to the school gym and using the elliptical machine and lifting weights.I will not be taken down so easily. This is bigger than me, bigger than now. I have so much to prove to myself and, indirectly, to others. So "here I go again on my own...and I've made up my mind, I ain't wastin' no more time." These first few pounds, hopefully one small step for mankind, one giant leap for Jenny.