A Week In, and This Is the Permanent Plan

I’m feeling good… so much better with the lower level of carbs and less sugar. I think since going off gluten my carb level just gradually crept up over the past few months. It’s so much easier to grab a sandwich for lunch when you aren’t eating gluten free. I am switching back to the just-as-satisfying bread-free sandwiches (aka lettuce wraps full of delicious sandwich fillings) and making other small substitutions, like today’s lunch of smoked salmon, light cream cheese, and green olives… no crackers necessary. Tonight’s dinner is already prepped and waiting in the fridge: I made a veggie lasagna by layering cooked spaghetti squash, mushrooms, pasta sauce, turkey sausage crumbles, ricotta, and mozzarella cheese in a dish to bake. The inspiration for that dinner came from this post in 2010, when I was on Medifast. In fact, I’ve been looking back through all my 2010 posts from March through October to get dinner and meal ideas that are low carb and healthy. There were only two times in the history of this blog when I was losing weight significantly and consistently for a long period of time: when I first started (2007-2008) and lost 64 pounds through calorie counting and exercise, and in 2010 when I lost 59 pounds through Medifast (which got me to 103 pounds lost total). All the other dieting and lifestyle changes have been the same 20 or so pounds up and down and have been inconsistent. So it makes sense to use the information and techniques from those two periods of time to make my third and final push for a significant and consistent loss. I am using the recipes, eating schedule, occasional meal replacements, and reduced carb level from 2010 and the exercise and Farmer’s Market focus from 2007-8. I hope these things combined will be what I need to make the weight loss final and permanent. I do feel very motivated and healthy and happy. I got in 8920 steps yesterday and biked for 18 minutes this morning… both my highest numbers this month! Next week, I start strength training. Wish me luck… and persistence!
(c) Escape from Obesity – Read entire story here.