Friday, August 14, 2020

How I lost 65 lbs (...and counting) through Low Carb Living and Adkins Phase one diet- July 2013


July 2013

Welcome to my personal journey. 


fit chica fitness

Fit - I want to be a smaller size than I am now, scale number being less, healthy choices for food options, conscious, controlled, regular eating schedule.

Chica- I am girlie, chic, a momma, a sassy sista... I want to have positive identity

Fitness- I want to be defined as healthy looking, toned, aerobically conditioned


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July 2013


Beginning in July, I started water jogging that broke a long trend of being at my lowest active state...(ever).  I am not sure how I got here, other than one day turned into 2, turned into a week, and so on.

I was either burned out, worn out, pulled in all directions like every other mother, slightly depressed, or actually just ok. Just Chillin'... even though not necessarily happy with the outcome, not willing to put in the time, effort or sweat to make it change.

A mom friend that is a Tri Athlete trained with me this summer and we met up to jog in chest deep water up and down the lane lap for the entire hour our kids were in swim team practice.

At first, my legs were dull and tired and the stretch on my calves due to hints of plantar facaitis made the hour long, but not horrible. I was actually pleased to be able to maintain the pace and push for a full hour from day one. (Running in a pool in chest deep water while pumping your arms under water creates an AMAZING amount of resistance not to be mocked! It's surprising!)

After the first two initial sessions I actually looked forward to the hour long "RUN" and felt stronger, legs held up well, and the feet were working with out any strain on my calves. I think it along with stretching my calves on the stairs in the morning upon waking up, helped ward off the full Plantar Facaitis experience. This training will help immensely when transitioning into a land based jogging / running program. That would be the next element I want to kick in as the weather is also dropping (unseasonably cool...blah!)

Previously in life, I  have always been active, walking, jogging, dancing, aerobics of all forms, lifting, biking, skiing until the recent lull in activity due to mid life *sigh*...whatever it is.

Gotta get my Groove back! 

After reading and re reading a book from years before, I am determined to create my own "cleanse" by eliminating white, sugary grain carbs and focusing on the increase of protein. After my first baby,  I was successful with an Adkins diet approach and blown away with the ease of eliminating the carbs and sugary demons that seem to have hooks in me. As we age, lessening the intake of carbs and increasing the intake of protein is a good idea, so this seems like a positive way to see the scale go down, my mood and smile curve up and the lbs melt away.

Like 50 or so lbs.

SO.... August 8, I began the Induction phase of the Adkins diet.  Focused-nail biting- stay within the 20-30 recommend gms of net carbs for best results-obsessed-Day One. I opted to purchase Ketosis strips to verify, and self assure, I was in Ketosis, or the burning of fat as fuel -vs- carbs as fuel state.

Upon waking the next day SUCCESS! I was "in the pink" and therefore in ketosis.  A few lbs lost the first overnight makes me motivated to continue forward. We end up traveling to a family lake place for the weekend and with slight planning of homemade cole slaw, grilled meat items, roasted almonds, breakfast food options and a yummy three chees dip, I was able to maintain the ketosis throughout the weekend quite easily!!! Even had some diet snapple tea and vodka ( 0 carbs) and still remained in the pink.  3 days later at home, I continued to see the scale number go down.

The biggest habit that is being managed is the STARBUCKS daily latte. WOW do I love them and starting my day with them. So far, a coffee mug at work and a shot or two of sugar free creamer is working. While water jogging with my buddie, we determined adding a protien shake into the daily routine would be a good thing, so found PURE PROTEIN and make one of those with water each morning. That adds 7 net carbs for the day, but also 25 g of protein into the mix. Fills me up, yummy, and chocolate. So, today is August 14 and I woke up to being down a total of 5.8 lbs in 6 days. If this trend continues, I will be on track for 23 lbs gone by the end of the month. THAT would be a huge motivator and jumping point! (also put me at a 1/2 way point~ HOOT!)

I am monitoring my food intake and journaling on LOSE IT, an app on my phone that I really love. Once you enter a food,  it becomes a MY FOOD regular and you can find things easily. You can even scan bar codes to determine the nutritional values which is great and very helpful.

Induction Phase is the strictest phase of this "diet" and you are supposes to limit the amount of time in this phase. I plan to be on Phase one for a month... through September 8th,  and then move to Phase 2 OWL... On going weight Loss. But for now, 20 -30 net carbs. I actually have been able to continue to lose weight on 35-45 carbs or so. I plan to continue to focus on tweaking even more to fine tune in Induction, knowing as I add carbs back in, I can go up to 35-45 and still be doing well.

Join me on this journey... not a perfect path, but hopefully a successful destination that has been a long time coming.

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