In my blog on June 10, I talked about how my clothes have gotten a little snug and I established a goal for myself of losing 20 pounds by the end of the year. I’ve been working on that goal to lose some weight and I’m not doing too badly.
After 8 days, I’ve lost 5.8 pounds. I realize most of it is low hanging fruit, but it’s a good start.
All I’ve done at this point is shifted to a low-carb diet. I’m not to the point yet of counting daily carbs. Instead, I’m avoiding those food items that contain more than 20 carbs in a serving. I’ve increased my eating of meat, fruits and vegetables. Probably the most impactful thing I’ve done is replacing raisin toast with a boiled egg.
I wake up ridiculously early in the morning and am supposed to take some of my meds with food. I used to eat a slice or two of raisin bread toast with my pills. I’ve now switched that to a hard-boiled egg. A few hours later, closer to real breakfast time, I’ll have another hard-boiled egg and some sausage. That provides me with enough protein to get me through until lunch. Lunch usually consists of leftover meat and vegetables from the night before. For dinner, I’m trying to eat healthy options that include meat and either a salad or plenty of cooked vegetables. If a snack is needed throughout the day, I opt for fruit, peanuts, or celery/carrot sticks. I’ve cut out planned dessert and eat nothing after dinner.
I reserve one day on the weekend to eat out and I might splurge a little on my menu selection. I find this keeps me from feeling deprived of enjoying some of the foods I really like. I still try to find something on the menu on the healthier side, but I make sure it’s something I will enjoy.
I finally realized that I tend to be less active due to the fatigue caused by Myasthenia Gravis. Being less active has been one of the culprits that has caused me to put on weight. The other culprit, of course, was the food choices I was making. Now that I’ve gotten my food choices in a better position, I’ll start working on upping my exercise. I go to the gym, but mostly just use the treadmill. I’ll start adding some strengthening exercises to my cardio.
Having only lost 5.8 pounds so far, I can’t really tell by looking in the mirror just yet, but I can already feel a bit of difference. I don’t feel so bloated, and I feel like I have a bit more energy. I think I’m on a good plan and one of which I’ll be able to continue.
That’s always the hardest part…continuing. It’s really easy to talk yourself out of exercising or talking yourself into that delicious cupcake. I still want to allow myself choices and I will allow myself to splurge everyone once in a while. At least for me, if I crack down too hard, I won’t stay with my plan.
If you find yourself in the same boat, please know I’m not encouraging you to try my methods. I’m certainly not a dietician or a personal trainer. I am, however, encouraging you to examine your own situation and be honest with yourself about what you see and feel. If you’re happy, keep it up. If you’re not, then consider some changes, but make those changes tolerable. Don’t do anything drastic. You won’t stick with it. It’s the tortoise and the hare when it comes to making changes in your life and the hare wins out every time.
One last thing. If you decide to make changes to your diet or activity level, make sure you let your doctors know. I’m sure they will encourage you, but they will also want to monitor to make sure nothing out of the ordinary is occurring as a result of the changes you’ve made.
Stay healthy. Stay happy. Stay #MGStrong!