Just checking in

Sorry I haven't had much time to write lately.

Other commitments have occupied my time.

I am here, I am doing well. I will write more soon.

Atkins Rumor Mill

It never ceases to amaze me how often I hear rumors about how bad for you Atkins is.

Or hear horror stories about people who 'tried' it and had worse health.

In every single case they have been because of people thinking they knew what Low Carb / Atkins was but not researching the actual program. Not reading the Atkins book and really following it.

They follow what they think the plan is based on what they hear from their friends.

Regardless what you have heard:

Atkins is not a license to eat a pound of bacon a day (in fact it should be avoided)

Atkins is not a high fat diet (it is a low carb diet)

It is not a meat only diet. You are supposed to eat 2-3 cups of vegetables per day in balance with lean meats like chicken, turkey, fish etc.

Atkins is not bad for your cholesterol (in fact it is fantastic for it)

Atkins is not hard on your gall bladder, liver, kidneys etc.

Just this week I heard of two cases of people whose cholesterol sky rocketed when doing Atkins which is near impossible if done properly and another person having gall bladder issues.

The gall bladder person told me she was eating a pepperoni and that caused it.

Atkins in his books warns about high fat foods, and all meats with nitrates are supposed to be highly limited (pepperoni, hot dogs, bacon, many lunch meats etc)

I find people latch on to the concept that you can eat red meat and take it to the extreme.

The reason that steak is allowed is it is actually lower in fat and calories than some chicken dishes but it isn't supposed to be your main food source.

You need a well balanced diet even on Atkins.

It also is not just cutting down on some carbs and eating more protein.

Also, If you cut some carbs but don't get into ketosis then your body is not burning from it's own stores so you are not doing any good and might as well had the potato.

All you are doing is adding calories and fat into your diet without providing a mechanism for removal so that can cause worse health.

You need all things working together to make the furnace burn. You must be in ketosis for the health benefits to be there.

So, if you plan on trying Atkins, again please buy and READ the book. Don't count on a friend or even this blog for your guide.

You need to know what the program is really about and commit to the program not someone's interpretation of the program.

By the way, my cholesterol is only borderline high at 203 and didn't change since starting Atkins but my triglycerides dropped from 292 to 191 and my Doctor is so happy that she is expecting to be able to take me off meds soon.

Search for low carb recipes

I have been experimenting with some low carb recipes lately and not having much success.

I have tried low carb waffles which looked fantastic and were pretty good but not perfect.  The ones that I cooked to a golden brown were soft and almost soggy textured, the ones I cooked to the crisper side to give a crunch like waffles should have were almost burnt. It may just take practice.

I have tried 2 "cookie" recipes and they are okay but for me, I just can't get over the texture of almond flour/meal.

the only recipe that I do love is the ricotta pancakes that I posted before.   (http://journeytohalfself.blogspot.com/2009/08/some-recipies.html)

I have not yet tried flax seed meal flour.  I will try that next and see if I can handle that flavor.

If I find anything good enough to share I will post it here.

Photo and Cooking for Others

First I wanted to share a new photo of me in my favorite pants that my husband took this week.

It is so awesome to be shrinking so much.

Second, I have been asked how to cook for the family when eating the low carb way.

Actually it is really easy, all you do is skip the side dishes.

For example when I make meat and potatos for my husband, I just skip the taters.

Or if I make chicken and pasta, again - just eat the chicken and skip the pasta.

I usually have a salad instead


-- Posted from my iPhone

Fun day at the "shrink" - part 2

As I mentioned in yesterday's posting. I had to have a Psychological Evaluation yesterday in preparation for LAP Band surgery.

Today I wanted to write a little bit about the actual appointment and testing to help others who may be considering surgery to understand the process.

It was quite painless.

I am sure every Doctor is different, but my evaluation was in two parts.  First a basic interview with the Doctor and then some tests.

The interview part was just some basic family history questions. (how many siblings, birth order, parents get along etc)

He didn't get into weird stuff like you see in the movies like how old I was when I was potty trained. LOL.

It was basic conversation to ensure I was sane.

He asked what was the date, year, season etc.

We also discussed the surgery so he could determine how prepared I was for the undertaking.

Keep in mind the main reason for this evaluation is to determine if the person seeking treatment is able to follow through with the treatment. It is a major life change and people need to be able to handle it.

Anyway, the only tests he personally administered were he asked me to remember three words and then a few minutes later he asked for them to be recited back.

He also asked me to spell 'world' forward and backward. Backward was a little trickier that I expected.

I also had to replicate a few shapes from a piece of paper onto a blank page.

And that was the extent of the interview part.

Next I had to take 3 quizzes.

The first one (MMPI-2) was over 500 questions but thankfully he had me do the just first 370 questions. That was a bit tedious and some of the questions were pretty extreme but it looks for overall mental health with questions that will determine depression, anxiety as well as more major illness.
	The 2nd test was  was (MBMD) This was only about 150 questions and was very similar to the first test.
The last test was an eating inventory and it looked for eating patterns. It had questions about emotional eating or depression eating. It was only about 30 questions.

This whole process took less than 2 hours.

If you have been avoiding surgery because of fear of this, don't be afraid

It was less of a hassle than the colonoscopy that I also had to do for this
surgery.

Fun day at the "shrink" - part 1

One of the many things I need to do for my insurance* was to undergo a complete Psychological evaluation.

Tonight I am going to write about some more facts about weight loss that I learned today from this psychologist .

Tomorrow I am going to write about the evaluation itself to help people understand that and hopefully alleviate any fears about it. : -)

The doctor said that Psychology has been interested in weight management issues forever.

There have been countless studies about behavior patterns.

He told me that there is now over 30 years of studies about weight.

They have done studies where they provide very strict diet and exercise programs or ones where people follow popular plans (like Atkins or Weight Watchers) and everything in-between.

These studies show that people can loose the weight but statistically speaking (over 30 years of research), regardless of method of weight loss. Only 2% keep it off.

Yes, you read that right. Only two percent!

My Bariatric surgeon had said it was less than 4% which was bad enough.

To hear it is even lower than that is just amazing.

He said there are many reasons for this;  hereditary reasons, will power reasons. set points, etc 

With the Lap Band it is over 70%.   And he said that the < 30% who can't keep it off are ones had other factors against them and perhaps should have never had the surgery.

For example they thought it was a magic bullet instead of a tool and didn't change their lifestyle at all.


So, Yes, I have lost a lot of weight already, 50 lbs and I will keep loosing until the surgery but the surgery option just just got another check box in the pro column. 

This time, I want to loose and keep it off. 


*Be sure to check with your insurance company because what mine required may be different than yours.

Slipery slope

So today ended up being my cheat day.

It wasn't supposed to be. I was trying to save it.

Here is what happened. My husband and I decided to go to an outlet center this afternoon after church. (North Bend WA)

We were doing fine until we went into one of my favorite stores (Le Gourmet Chef)

Anyone who knows me well knows I love to play in the kitchen.

I once spent over an hour in one aisle of Whole Foods. The aisle with all of the oils and other jarred and bottled concoctions.

Anyway; this store not only has gadgets and bake ware. It has a ton of wonderful stuff in jars. And of course they had samples out to try.

May not sound so bad but these items averaged about 5 carbs per serving and that didn't include the pretzels they were serving them with.

Then came the bread dipping aisle. Oh-oh. Can't resist trying that.

One little bite won't hurt.

Don't be fooled, before I knew it I was up over 40 carbs just from a sample here and there.

So, because I had blown it anyway and my last cheat day was about a month ago, I decided to make today my monthly cheat day.

We went out to eat at one of our favorite Italian places and I had the pasta. Smoked salmon ravioli. Mmmmmm soo good.

And then of course the day was gone anyway so I enjoyed the bread and oil they provide and had a limoncello tiramisu for dessert.

But tomorrow is another day and I will be back on track.

Typical Grocery Shopping

Today being Saturday I started out my day running errands.

One of the items on my list was to do simple grocery shopping and as I looked in my cart at the checkout, I thought it may make a good topic for today's blog.

What do typical low-carbers buy at the store?

So here is a list of what I bought today followed by what I will use them for:

1 bag frozen chicken breasts
1 5lb block Swiss cheese
2 six packs of Hansen's black cherry diet pop
1 18 pack of Eggs
4 boxes frozen spinach
and

10 packages of Hormel frozen entrees (I had a coupon)

The chicken breasts I put half (4 breasts) into a Ziploc freezer bag with a bottle of low carb (I use Michelob ultra) and put into the fridge to marinate for a few days. The other 4 I put into the freezer for later.

The cheese is one of my foods.  We can have about 4 oz of cheese per day and Swiss has always been one of my favs.  I sometimes slice it over hamburgers. Sometimes I just eat it in cubes. I also needed it for my quiche.

The diet pop is somewhat obvious. However, I add some  DaVinci to it to make it even better.

The eggs will be used for a lot of stuff.  I am going to try another cheesecake recipe later today so some will go into that.  Some for my weekly quiche and the rest I may hard boil for a snack for my and my husband or just leave for future use.

The spinach is for my weekly quiche.  I make a crust less quiche every week.  It is straight out of Atkins book. I will post it below.  I eat 1/8 of it everyday for breakfast so it lasts me about a week and is a lot faster than cooking eggs every breakfast.

and the Hormel dinners are one of my newest loves.  They are precooked so they heat up in I think it is 3 minutes and they are fantastic.  You have to read labels of course, some have more carbs (meatloaf for example because of the binders).  But the roast is fantastic.   Great for weeknights when I need something quick.   also, even though they are prepared food, they don't have preservatives.  


Atkins quiche recipe:

First here it is directly from the book.  Below I will say what I change. 

4 oz. bacon
1/2 yellow onion, thinly sliced
6 eggs
3/4 c heavy cream
2 boxes (10 oz. each) frozen chopped broccoli or spinach, thawed and sqeezed dry
1/2 pound Swiss cheese, shredded
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

1. Heat oven to 350*F. Butter a 10-inch tart pan or 9-inch deep pie plate ( I used a square 9 by 9 glass baking dish).
2. In a large skillet over medium heat, cook bacon until crisp. Drain on paper towels; coarsely chop.
3. Remove all but 1 tablespoon bacon drippings from skillet. Add onion and cook 5 minutes, until softened but not brown. In a large bowl, combine eggs, cream, broccoli, cheese, salt, and pepper. Stir in bacon and onion.
4. Pour mixture into prepared pan. Bake 1 hour and 15 minutes (tenting with foil, if necessary, to prevent over-browning) or until a knife inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 5 minutes before cutting into wedges.

Number of Servings: 8
4.7 carbs each serving.

My changes:  I don't eat pork so I use turkey bacon. I am not partial to onions but I love their flavor so I use onion powder.    I also sometimes add other herbs like Herb De Provence.   I haven't experimented too much outside this yet.  I plan on someday making a cream cheese and salmon quiche.  I will post about it if I ever do.

My new addiction: Davinci Syrups

On many of the low carb forums I use people often say how much they love Davinci syrup.

I wasn't sure what the big deal was so I decided to buy some myself.

My first experiment:
I made some cookies the other day (using nut flours of course) with the gingerbread syrup.

While I didn't end up liking the cookies I could tell that syrup added a great flavor.

I didn't like them because the recipe called for brown sugar twin and I just can't handle the taste of that artificial sweetener.

I actually spent most of the day trying everything (food, mints, brushing teeth etc) to get that fake taste of saccharine off of my tongue to no avail. 

I have been following the advice of many others in forums and adding the syrup to beverages.

Tonight was raspberry flavor added to Hansen's diet root beer. This added a great flavor.

I have also made Italian soda with diet rite white grape soda and some huckleberry syrup and a splash of heavy whipping cream. Unbelievably fantastic.

Because these are sweetened with sucralose in liquid form, there are 0 carbs so this is just free flavor.

I bought them at cash and carry for about 3.50 each. You can also get then in grocery stores or online. I heat netritution is a great place to buy them. (http://www.netrition.com/)

I am going to try a lime flavored cheesecake this weekend.

Here is the DaVinci website: http://www.davincigourmet.com/

Enjoy!

"fast" food

I have had some friends say they can not do a low carb lifestyle because they don't have time to cook.  They live out of boxed foods, canned goods and frozen dinners.

I myself work full-time, go to college, run an Avon business and help my husband with administrative duties in the Ministry (like manage the Church website, create the bulletins etc) so I understand being busy.

Here are a few suggestions for quick easy meals for those of you who don't have a lot of time to cook.

Tuna.   Open a can of tuna and add a little mayo.  You would be surprised how good it is even without the crackers or bread.

Nitrate free chicken sausages. I like Aidells. Their chicken with feta and spinich is fantastic. Just slice some up and fry it in a pan or microwave it.   Just be sure to look at labels, ones with sweeteners or fruits are more carbs.

I cook up a batch of beer marinated chicken every week and then can easily pop one of those breasts in the microwave at any time.

I make a crust-less quiche every week and have that most days for breakfast.

Frozen hamburger patties (beef or even turkey) are a quick fix. Simply stick them on a Forman grill and let them cook for a few minutes.  Yes, this is cooking but it only takes about as long as a frozen dinner does in the microwave.


Leftovers.   Most leftovers work great in a quick hurry.    I usually cook on the weekends and then have the leftovers for quick options during the busy week.

I don't personally eat this but they also make other canned meats like canned chicken or even canned corned beef.    Watch the sodium on these items and look to make sure they don't have nitrates.

I hope this gives you some ideas of some quick items you can eat on the run.

Dining out places

My husband and I dine out a lot.  Perhaps too much both for our pocket book and our waistline.  But, it is one of our pleasures in life.

One thing I enjoy about this program is it allows you to eat just about anywhere and find stuff to eat.

Some restaurants are more friendly than others to the low carb way of life.

First an illustration of a place that just doesn't get it.  Today my hubby and I went to a popular chain that is famous for breakfast. 

I asked if I could substitute the high carb sides, (pancakes & hash-browns) for some vegetables or a salad. 

You would think I asked for a year of free meals. 

The waitress said she could tell them not to put those items on my plate and then she could bring me a side salad at my expense.   

This is an example of a place that doesn't get it.   I wasn't asking for a free steak and lobster, I was asking for a small side salad and in place of food of equal or higher value.   

I then decided to look at their lunch and dinner menu to see if there were choices there and almost everything was breaded or had a sweet (BBQ for example) sauce on it. 

Not my favorite dining out experience.  I ended up with a chicken Caesar salad hold the croutons.

On the other side of the coin there are many restaurants that do understand and provide wonderful options.

Red Robin for example offers any of their sandwiches "protein style".   Instead of a bun they use lettuce, it sounds weird but they actually sort of shape the lettuce like a bun and you can pick it up and eat it just like the rest of their sandwiches. 

Of course you may have to watch which sandwich you choose. Example one with onion straws and BBQ sauce can still be VERY high in carbs even without the bun.  

Red Robin also allows you to sub the fries for a salad.   Be sure to tell them to leave the tortilla chips off of it though.

Carls Jr also offers a lettuce wrapped sandwich.


Amante and Romios have low carb menu sections.

TGI Fridays has a few low carb choices on their right portion, right price menu.

Ruby Tuesday has their carb count on their smart eating choices menu and has many very low carb options.

Many fast food places will give you a salad instead of fries. Watch out for lite dressing though, it is full of sugar so high carb.

The good news is you can make anything work. You can always just leave the carb stuff on the plate and eat the rest, but how wonderful that some places cater to us.

Sticktoitiveness

Tonight I come with a question that is really bugging me.

Where is our sticktoitiveness?

Why statictically speaking are only 4% of people able to loose weight and keep it off without surgical intervention ?

I read other blogs and forums and discuss weight with many people.

Often I read or hear something like "I did that and it really worked but then I quit".

Just today at my niece's baby shower I was talking with someone who told me she had also had success on Atkins (she had lost 35lbs) but then stopped.

She didn't really seem to know why she stopped it.

She just did.

After talking to me she indicated she may try it again.

Why do we do that? Why do we stop? Why do we forget? Why does it take a talk with a friend to remind us.

How do we find sticktoitiveness?

I don't have the answers here. On this one I am as puzzled as can be.

I myself have lost before (never this much) and gained it all back and then some. Only to repeat the cycle.

Is it self sabotoge?

Is it a secret desire to fail?

Is it we become lazy?

As I have said I am on a path toward weight loss surgery. Whether I do the surgery or not is still in the air but I am working toward it so I am ready.

The only reason I would do the surgery is to help in this battle.

Like the discussion I had with my surgeon.

He told me to loose 10%.

I told him if I could do that without him, why would I need the surgery?

He replied that I needed the surgery to keep it off.

WHY????????

I think if anyone can really crack this nut it would help millions of people.

Again tonight I have so answers.

I only seek knowledge and wisdom to find the key to sticktoitiveness.

How to Start Atkins

My reaching the 50 lb milestone generated some questions about how I did it.   That prompted this blog about some of the basics of low carbing to get people stating today.

Let me start this by saying that this blog will be the highlights.

I can not stress enough how important it is to read the Atkins books for yourself.   

I personally prefer his original book published in 1972. From other reading, apparently his estate is who was behind the new edition that came out in 1992 or 2002 and they were more concerned with profits from the product line they launched than in actual weight loss.  

I have both books and have read both of them if for no other reason than the recipes, but I stick closer to the 1972 version for the program.

Here is a photo of what the books look like to help you locate them in a store:

These are easy to find used at many book stores or on Amazon.

The basics:
The original Atkins was around levels.
first level was induction followed by 2nd - 5th which are to add in carbs a little at a time.

Revised Atkins is a four phase approach:
Induction
OWL (ongoing weight loss)
Pre-maintenance
Maintenance

The most important step with anything is getting started so let me take a minute and talk about induction.

This is a phase where you get your body to enter Ketosis.  This is for 2 weeks.

Side note: I highly recommend you get some ketosis testing strips.  I bought mine at Walmart for about $6.  You will need these all along your journey to tell if you are in and still in ketosis. 

During this time you eat NO MORE than 20 carbs per day and only and I mean ONLY foods on the acceptable food list.   No Exceptions.   The original acceptable food list was pretty short. The new book's list can be found here.    The 1972 list can be found here.  

I don't care if something is carb free, if it isn't on the list, don't eat it.   Or else you will find yourself not getting into ketosis and not loosing. 

Trust me! I have learned this the hard way. 

It isn't about just eating 20 carbs, it is about eating the right 20 carbs to get your fat burning furnace ignited.

It is also very important to look at the list of forbidden food.   Just one bite is the kiss of death to this program and forbidden means forbidden.   This list is in the first book and it contains things like potatoes, corn, honey, ketchup, cashews, milk and more.


If lists don't work for you, just remember that all unprocessed meat, poultry, and fish are allowed (not shellfish). You can also have 4 oz of hard cheese. Fats like butter, olive oil, mayo. And salad greens, celery, radishes and cucumbers. No more than 2 cups of loosely packed veggies per day though.  That is the basics of induction.   You can see why it was called the steak and salad diet. 


Again, I can't stress the importance of buying the books for yourself and reading them all, not just the recipes.


I mentioned in one of my first posts that there is a right way and a wrong way to do low carb. 

Lesson learned: Buying a ton of low carb products and not really paying attention to what it takes to get your body into ketosis (acceptable food list) and then eating say 40+ carbs of low carb products a day and wondering why the scale isn't moving.   This is not the right way.   Actually reading and following the program to the letter is.

When you read Dr. Atkins' books you will find out he learned through experiment that people can increase their carb count gradually and not fall out of ketosis. 

For both the old and the new program, the next step includes adding in some more carbs and more foods.

Does this mean you will soon be eating deep dish thick crust pizza again? Sorry,  probably not.

But it does mean you can add in soft cheeses, nuts, more veggies and eventually fruit and still loose weight.

These increasing carb content phases work on the philosophy of adding in carbs and little at a time (5-8 per week) until your body stops loosing and then backing off to the level where you were losing and that is your maximum amount allowed. For some people this may be 25 carbs total, some may be 150 carbs. We are all different and you will need to experiment to find out what works for you.

To summarize this in a picture for my visual friends out there:

One area I deviate from the books is I still try to stick to around 20 carbs per day.  I know I could increase this amount until I find the point where my furnace turns off, but I am used to the 20 carbs rule and find my diet really satisfying so why change.   It is working for me so far.  Of course as I blogged about before, I allow myself to cheat one day per month too and so I have to go back on induction after this anyway, so it is easier to just stay there.

Hopefully this will be enough to get you going.   Please don't hesitate to contact me with questions. I am no expert but I would be happy to tell you what I have found or what the books say.

Milestones and Goals

So I am very happy to announce that I made it past my first milestone of 50lbs lost today.  

WooHoo!!!

Yippee!!

Woot !!

etc

This got me thinking that a good topic for blogging could be about the importance of goals and milestones.

Someone on one of the message boards I frequent said she vowed to loose 1 pound 36 times.  

This person subscribed to the philosophy that smaller achievable goals are the better way to go. 
One lb at a time.
Inch by inch, everything's a cinch etc.

This works for many people but I know it doesn't work for me.   I think one of the secrets to my success so far has been to understand who I am and what games I tell myself and then find methods that don't allow that to happen.


A goal that is too easy for me would lead me to complacency.   Taking it one lb at a time would allow me to cheat too much.

For example, I am the type of person who didn't believe in weighing myself each day because one of two things would happen: 

1. Either I would be down a few pounds and then I would justify eating poorly by saying "I have been good and a little bit won't hurt me". 
2. Or I would be up or the same and I would say "well what is the point, I don't loose anyway so I might as well eat this"

Either way I was using the scale to eat poorly. 

So, for me to say that I am going to loose 1 lb 150 times wouldn't work. I would loose and gain and loose and gain and justify it because I had lost one pound x times.  It was the same lb over and over but hey. 

I believe that goals should be S.M.A.R.T
Specific
Measurable
Atainable
Realistic
Timely

Just saying, "I am going to loose weight" is not trackable, it is not speciic enough, how do you know when you are done?

A goal does need to be attainable and realistic so even though my ideal weight is 160 and I started at 402, I am not saying I plan on loosing 242 lbs.

Even with weight loss surgery the average person only looses between 40% and 60% of their excess weight. I need to be realistic.

My total goal is 150lbs lost which is slightly more than 60% of my excess weight. I may change this when I get closer to that but for today that is my realistic attainable goal. 

The good news is even 5lbs weight loss makes a difference.   I will be thankful for every lb lost.

I have structured my goal around milestones.

Wikipedia says this about milestones:

A milestone (from the Latin milliarium) is one of a series of numbered markers placed along a road or boundary at intervals of one mile or occasionally, parts of a mile. ...
Milestones are constructed to provide reference points along the road.

So, using that expression,  A milestone is not the end, it is just a mark along the journey to let you see your progress.

• My first milestone was the one I reached today.  50 lbs lost or 352 lbs. This (50) was a milestone because of it being half of a hundred and also just to prove to myself (and others) that I can do it. 

• My next milestone is 82 lbs lost.  This will put me at 320 lbs so this is a very significant milestone to me for 2 reasons:  
  

1. 
   
   

   First; I weighed 320 when I got married 16 years ago.

2. 
   
   

   Second: my goal weight is 160 so this is exactly twice my goal weight.  After this point I will no longer be able to that I am two times what I should be. 

• My milestone after that is 100 lbs lost or 302 lbs

• Then 280 lbs because that is what I weighed when I met my husband. 

• And for now, my last milestone is my ending goal today which is 150lbs lost or 252lbs. 
  

Being milestones, I can not see any on the road I am on beyond this.  Once the road gets close, the rest of the milestones will come into focus. 

I would love to say that I will be my ideal weight of 160 lbs.   Who knows, maybe I will.

But, keeping with the SMART philisophy. 150 lbs lost for a new weight of 250 would be 62% of my excess weight lost so that is within the norm of possibility of 40 - 60% for my current end goal and that is as far ahead as I can see right now.

I also have physical goals:

• My Daddy was a mountain climber and he took me a few times to climb a local mountain Mt. Pilchuck.   I have a goal of climbing that mountain next summer.    
• I also have a goal of sitting in a theater seat that doesn't have armrests that go up.  
• I would like to be able to sit in my own dining room chairs with armrests.  I am now able to fit in them but not comfortably yet.  
  

Today I was able to sit in one of the stuffed comfortable chairs in Starbucks for the first time.

I hope you will think about what goals and milestones you want to set.

And remember as you pass the milestones to celebrate your successes.   I plan on making cookies (low carb of course) to celebrate.  My first attempt at baking cookies with nut flours. I will let you know how it goes.

Rant - Treatment of Obese people

I am sure I am not alone here but I am getting sick and tired of it being okay to be discriminated against for being obese.

It seems it must be human nature to have a group of people we make fun of and it is politically incorrect these days to make fun of anyone else so now the new group is anyone who is overweight.

In a single night's TV watching I can easily count 10 or more fat jokes.   It wouldn't be so bad if they were based on any facts at all.   If they, for instance, showed a fat person having problems running or climbing stairs. Those are pretty real.   But, inevitably they are showing or speaking about a fat person sitting around doing nothing stuffing their face with doughnuts and assume that all overweight people do nothing but eat all day long. 


I personally experience discrimination for being obese all the time:

• I have had sales clerks ignore me.
• I have had waiters give me the smaller portion (trying to help me I am sure).
• I have also had the opposite where when someone at the table turns down the free desert waiters assume I would want it and just scoot it over to my area.
• I often have teenage kids laugh, point or make snide remarks.  
• Just last night I went grocery shopping and had a group of kids behind me make mooing sounds.

I live with this all of the time.

When did this become acceptable???

The thing that irritates me about this ridicule is it in unfounded.

We don't all sit around all day eating.  I actually think I ate too little for the past decade or so and that was keeping me obese by messing up my metabolism.   I would skip breakfast and lunch most days.  I would then eat an unhealthy dinner full of carbs and eat it too late but overall I would still consume fewer calories in a given day than my thinner friends.

I also didn't just eat bon-bons or doughnuts. 

I actually was on a health kick a few years back where I didn't eat anything from a box or a can for almost a year.   I still try to limit my intake of chemicals.  That doesn't match the picture portrayed by Hollywood and being propagated by the general public of overweight people living on ice-cream and potato chips. 

The same rules we now live by in other discrimination / prejudice areas should apply to this area too.   Don't assume that someone who is overweight just sits around eating all day.  Don't assume they are lazy.   Basically, don't assume anything.   Get to know the individual.

Because of this type of treatment, I went through about 5 years where I suffered pretty severe anxiety. I even had a few out and out panic attacks.

I had a time where I left a party at a friends house and went running to the car to lock myself inside.  No one had said anything or done anything but I felt like they were all staring at the whale and judging so I freaked out and left.  My poor husband was so shocked and so was my friend, they had no idea what happened or what they should do.

Remember the golden rule of do unto others as you would have them do unto you and remember to be kind. Your judgment may have an effect on people way beyond what you can imagine.

Dining out

I am writing this again from my iphone so please forgive spelling and grammar.

One of the things I have enjoyed the most about the low carb lifestyle is the ability to lead a fairly normal life including dining out.

Here are some of my favorite choices for dining out by cuisine:

Mexican:
Taco salad without the shell and hold the beans
Fajitas without the tortilla

Italian:
Caesar salad
Chicken Marsala
Chicken Parmesan (if not breaded)
Some Italian restaurants have a low carb menu. Amante for example has 5 dishes including a no dough pizza. This is meat and sauce on a plate covered in cheese. I have never tried this but I bet other pizza places would do this too. If not, simply don't eat the crust.

Asian:
Chinese is honestly is the hardest with so much rice and breaded food and the sauces tend to have a lot of sugar. There are options like almond chicken. For me, I avoid this genre of food. Japanese and Vietnamese is easier with many grilled meats and salads. Of course avoid the noodle dishes.

American:
This is the easiest. Almost any chicken or beef dish works. You can even have fried chicken, just peal the skin off. Many restaurants will substitute high carb sides for salads or veggies just ask. A note on salads; ranch, blue cheese and Caesar are the lowest carb choices.

By the way, my favorite choice for low carb is a buffet place. My husband and I ate at Old Country Buffet tonight which was the motivation for tonight's blog. I was able to start with lettuce and add taco meat and salsa for a makeshift taco salad. I then had boiled fish and chicken breast. I was able to eat quite well with a lot of variety and the only carbs were from the lettuce.

I'm here

My husband and I apparently both caught some stomach bug.  I am here but not feeling well enough to write anything today. 

Monday Check-in and Sugar Free Chocolate.

Mondays are my weigh-in day.  The other day I was at 49 lbs lost and so I thought that I would be able to be beyond the 50lb mark by today.  Unfortunately no, in fact I gained a pound and am currently at 48 lbs lost.  We all know weight fluctuates day by day so I am not upset by this.  But a little disappointed. I was hoping this would be a celebration blog.  50lbs being quite a milestone and all.



I am still very happy with this loss and know that it will turn around any day. 

I also know why I only lost 2 lbs this week.   Sugar free chocolate.  

Many companies now make sugar free chocolate.   I have seen or tried Reses Cups, York Peppermint Patties, Hershery bars and then Russell Stovers makes about 10 different types, everything from Carmel Pecan to Truffles.

These sweet treats are are made with sugar alcohols like Malitol or Soribitol or with Sucralose. 

Lets talk sugar alcohols for a minute.   Most of them are naturally occurring in fruits, vegetables or even in wood. 

They are carbohydrates but they are harder for the intestine to digest so they don't spike blood sugar levels.  This makes them ideal for diabetics and also can be useful for low carb diets.

Because of the way these are absorbed, many low carb resources say to deduct the content of sugar alcohol from the carb total. For example lets say the item says it has 22 grams of carbs and has 21 grams of sugar alcohol.  You can deduct the 21 from the 22 and treat it as1 net carb.

This works for some.   Apparently it doesn't work for me.  I had some sugar free chocolate for the past 2 days and today the scale is up.


I also find that when I allow myself these treats, I crave more treats. I have a hard time eating just one or two. I also seem to eat more of everything else.

I had suspected it was causing my prior plateaus so I had given them up a few weeks ago and that is when the scale started to move again in the right direction.  

So, as of today, no more of these treats for a while.  I am going to get back into a state where I am losing every day and then just to be scientific about it. I am going to eat some of these and see if again I go up or plateau then I will know for sure and give away the rest of the chocolates that I have to a diabetic friend.

Have a fantastic day!

Ketosis

First, a disclaimer; I haven't been home all day so I doing this for the first time from my iphone. Please forgive any spelling or grammar errors.

I mentioned ketosis in a prior post and some people asked me what it was so I thought I would write about it today.

Ketosis is the wonderful thing that low carbers seek.

Our bodies are designed to burn fuel. Most of the fuel we burn comes in the form of carbs we eat.

When you stop consuming enough carbohydrates to fuel your body, your body still needs fuel so it looks for fuel elsewhere and starts to burn from stored fat.

This is ketosis.

A remarkable thing happens when you are in this state, for some reason you stop being hungry so you eat less. So, you consume less and burn from what you have in storage.

Benefits of Cheating

Okay so I know this will be a controversial post but today I want to talk about the benefits of cheating on a diet.

I firmly believe part of my success has been that once a month I cheat. 

I also believe that it is important to actually call it cheating.   Let me explain.

The mental benefits of cheating:
When you are on any lifestyle program like low carb and you are told you can NEVER have something... this sends a negative message to your brain.

If you are anything like me and hate rules and love to rebel, this is not a good thing.

If I am told I can not have something I end up wanting it even more.   My cravings for it increase to the point where eventually I cave and eat that item and a ton of it. I can't stop at one taste, I really go overboard. 

But, for me, if I know that one day a month I am allowed a day where I can eat anything I want.  It is a day I can look forward to.   I can look at that pasta dish or that sourdough bread (my two weaknesses), and instead of caving into the desire, I begin to plan my menu for my cheat day.


The Physical benefits of cheating:
A friend of mine told me she was on a plan where one day a month she could eat whatever she wanted. She was convinced it actually helped jump-start her metabolism each month.

I have played a little with this and am coming to the same conclusion.

It seems to kick the weight loss engine back into gear.

For example, in early August, my scale hadn't moved in almost 4 weeks.

I was on a plateau.

This is of course discouraging and can make a person give up.

My husband and I go on vacation every year for our anniversary and I decided to use that time on vacation to be my cheat time.

This time I cheated (or ate my old way) the whole time I was on vacation.  I had ice cream. I had pasta, I had potatoes etc.  My friends and I joke that not only did I fall off the wagon, I fell off, was ran over by the wagon, and then reached up and grabed the wagon and ran it back over myself again and again.

I came home from vacation and was up 4 lbs. This is no surprise with the way I had been eating.   I didn't allow myself to get discouraged.  Instead I just went back on plan.

I went back on the program on 8/17 and today 8/29 not only have I lost that 4 lbs but also broke through that plateau and have lost 9 more lbs beyond that.


I of course am not a doctor and have no way to know physically if this is possible but she had great success with this and every time I have done it, it seems to work for me too.  


The word cheat itself.
I also believe that for me the word "cheating" is a good thing.  At least for the way my brain works.  If I told myself it was part of my program to have a day off or a day of rest then it is just part of the program and I don't feel like I am getting away with anything.  Some people may need to do this so guilt doesn't get the better of them.  For me, I need to use the word cheat.   When I call it cheating, for me it is a guilty pleasure and allows my rebel side to be happy. 

Dangers / Downsides:

• Be sure it is one day and it doesn't cause you to go off the plan all together.  
• You can go so far overboard on that day that  you gain back all that you have lost. 
  
• For those of  you following Atkins, you will fall out of ketosis and have to go back on induction for a bit to get back into ketosis.
  

Quick Note

sorry I didn't have time to blog today.   Just a quick note to say I am out here. 

My official weight in day is Monday but I weighed myself today and saw I was down more.  I am now 1 lb away from 50 lbs total lost.   yippee.   There is nothing like seeing the scale consistently go down.

Tomorrow  I will be writing on the benefit of cheating.

Some Recipies

I promised I would share some of my favorite recipes. I will continue to post these from time to time. For today's post I will just share one recipe per meal. I have gathered these from various cookbooks, websites and other blogs.

Starting with the most important meal, dessert!

Dessert:
Gelatin and Whip Cream
Most commercially prepared gelatin products are sweetened with sugar or aspartame so you have to be a little creative. I make my own using a recipe I found on low carb friends

3 packages unsweetened gelatin (like knox)
1 or 2 pkgs Kool aid
4 cups water
1 cup splenda

boil 2 cups of the water
Combine the other 2 cups with the kool aid and Splenda.
sprinkle gelatin over top and allow to bloom
stir this mixture and then add in boiling water and mix until gelatin is fully dissolved.
Add in sweetener
Pour into containers and put into fridge to set

While gelatin is setting mix up some Heavy Whipping Cream with some splenda to taste. I use about 1 package for every 1/2 cup of cream.

You can either stir this into the unset gelatin to make fluffy gelatin or you can wait and let the gelatin set all the way and then cut into pieces and stir in some of the cream.

I often mix up enough cream for a few days worth and then just add a few tablespoons per about a cup of gelatin.

Carb breakdown:
The gelatin has 24 grams carbs (from the splenda)
The whipped topping has 3.3 grams carbs per cub and .9 carbs for each package of splenda.

This amount of desert makes enough for about 12 servings so the breakdown would be
24 from splenda in gelatin
3.3 from cream
1.8 from 2 packages splenda per cup whipped topping
---
29.1 total / 12 servings for 2.45 carbs each.


Breakfast:
My favorite breakfast so far has to be Ricotta Pancakes. This may sound really weird but believe me they are very delicious. My dear husband is not on the program with me but he even loves these.

You will find this listed on many low carb websites, cookbooks etc so I don't know where this originally came from. I don't even know where I originally got it from.

2 tablespoons ricotta cheese
1 egg
1 splash vanilla
1 dash cinnamon
1 package xylitol, stevia or splenda

Mix making sure to get it all blended really well and then cook in pan on stove just like you would a pancake.

It is thinner than a traditional pancake, sort of like a cross between a crepe and a pancake but there is no flour in it at all. And the cinnamon and vanilla make it a really sweet treat.

Carb Analysis:;
I posted this on RecipeZaar (http://www.recipezaar.com/ricotta-cheese-pancakes-387597) so that they could help calculate the carb count for me.
They came back with 1.5 carbs per serving and 2 total servings for this recipe.  That is about right when you consider that an egg has 1.5 carbs, splenda has .9 so the rest is from the 2T of ricotta. 


Lunch
I usually cook something for dinner and the leftovers becomes my lunch. I don't really think of a segregation between the two meals.

I often prepare this on the weekend and then have this during the week several days for lunch.

Easy Grilled Chicken
This is from Sugar Free Sheila http://sugarfreesheila.com/ which is a FANTASTIC resource for low carb or sugar free recipes and other resources.
1 bag of boneless chicken breasts
Poor in 2 bottles of low carb beer*
Marinate for 2 days
Season to taste**
Bake in oven 350 for 1 hour.

You will have a whole bunch of fantastic chicken that you can eat for dinner or lunch for the next week or so.

*I use Michelob Ultra but this website has carb counts: http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art14302.asp)

**I usually do every breast different. Last night I did 2 with Greek seasoning, one smokey paprika, two with chicken rub, one cayenne, one jerk, you get the idea.

Carb Breakdown:
5.2 Carbs total (from the beer) so < 1 carb per serving.  

Dinner:

This is an old family recipe that was off limits for most other diets I have been on. I was surprised and delighted to find it was allowed. Now it isn't smart to eat this type of meats (pastrami, bacon etc) often due to other health issues but this is okay every few months.

I call this Stuffed Chicken from Heaven.

Ingredients
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 (8 ounce) container sour cream
1 (11 1/2 ounce) can cream of mushroom soup (or chicken, broccoli, etc any cream soup will work)
1/4 lb pastrami (from deli works best but packaged is okay in a pinch)
1/4 lb corned beef (from deli works best but packaged is okay in a pinch)
16 ounces mozzarella cheese
12 ounces turkey bacon (you can use real bacon if you prefer but it will make the saucing greasier and not as thick)

Directions
Coat 9 1/2 x 13 baking pan (glass is best) with cooking spray.
Measure out 4 slices of pastrami and 4 slices of corned beef. Cut each of these in half (for new total of 8 slices) and set aside.
Line bottom of baking pan with remaining sliced meat.
Mix sour cream and soup together.
Slice cheese in about 1/4 inch slices. (Note, string cheese also works and saves on having to cut cheese).
Place chicken on cutting board and put plastic wrap over top and then pound chicken flat. (Note; If you don't have a mallet, you can use a heavy pan.).
Cut each pounded chicken breasts into 2 pieces.

Assembly:
1 piece of chicken.
top with 1 piece of cut pastrami.
top with 1 piece of cut corned beef.
top with mozzarella cheese piece.
Roll into a tight ball.
Wrap each chicken roll with a slice of bacon and secure closed with a toothpick.
Place rolls in baking dish on top of leftover deli meats.
Repeat for remaining 7 pieces of chicken.
Top with sour cream/soup mixture.
Bake at 350°F for 1 hour.

This has 6 carbs per serving but can be made lower if you don't use the soup.

I hope you enjoyed these recipes.  From time to time I will post more of the ones I have enjoyed.

Weight Loss Surgery Myth and Fact

There are a lot of misconceptions about Weight Loss surgery (WLS). While I am sure this is by no means an all inclusive list, this is a start of some of the ones I hear most often.

Myth: WLS is an easy way out.
Truth: Some patients say it is the toughest thing they have ever done. I am not talking about the decision or pre-work or even surgery itself but the rest of your life. Surgery is not a magic bullet. You have to change your entire life once you have surgery or you at best get really sick and at worst die.

Another myth came from a dear friend in response to an earlier blog. She gave me permission to quote her.

Her quote: "On my worst days, I've considered surgery and then I get to thinking, I know how to diet and exercise and can quote chapter and verse on the whys and wherefores of it. It's the behavior patterns I can't control and the
surgery sure isn't going to help that, so I talk myself out of it."

Myth: I know how to do it and can do it by myself
Truth: I hate to be the bearer of bad news but statistically once someone is obese only 4-5% of people are able to loose weight and keep it off without surgical intervention. It isn't a will power issue, or a behavior issue or a knowledge issue, it is a physical metabolic issue.

Myth: WLS won't control behavior patterns.
Truth: Actually surgery forces you to change you behavior patterns. For example with Lap Band, many people can not tolerate dairy, can not tolerate pasta, breads etc. You are pretty much forced into a low carb lifestyle. When you cheat and go off of this you can get so violently ill that according to those who have experienced it, you will only do it once it is so painful. You are also forced to change your pattern of eating. No snacking in between meals. No inhaling your food, you have to eat about a teaspoon at a time, let it digest and then the next teaspoon. These are all forced behavior modifications etc.

Myth: WLS just gives you a smaller stomach so you can't eat as much.
Truth: This is a true statement except the just part. WLS forces you to only eat about 4 ounces total per meal but it also greatly reduces cravings. Most people who have had lap band say that they just don't even have the desire to eat.

Myth: After WLS you can eat anything you want and never gain weigh.
Truth: In fact WLS is just a tool. You are forced to eat less and smaller portions and slower but if you consume nothing but chocolate for your diet you will not loose or if you loose, you can gain it all back. You must still follow a diet for the rest of your life. WLS is just a tool to force the habits.

My friend also had this quote that is worth addressing: " I agree with you about the fact that the ulterior motive just might be that you'll find out what to do and not need the surgery."

This was from my prior blog where I spoke about how you have to loose weight before surgery and I explained the reasons why. I stated that I thought it was also to see if you could stick to a program. I didn't mean to indicate that they were hoping you would decide not to have surgery. In fact when my Dr told me I need to loose 10% my statement to him was that if I could loose that much I wouldn't need him. He laughed and said that I did need him because without the surgery I would gain it all back. He was just stating statistics (again 96% are unable to keep weight off without surgery). Plus let's face it, he doesn't get paid if I don't do the surgery, why would he talk me out of it?

What I was trying to say is that because of some of the stuff I outlined above about the rigid post surgery lifestyle they want to see how serious you are and if you have the dedication to do it. They want us to succeed and if we couldn't handle a simple diet how can we handle something for the rest of our lives?

Again, these are only a few of the myths. Hopefully this helped people understand.

I am not sure if I will have weight loss surgery or not but I am marching down that path and doing all of the necessary pre-work for it so I am ready to make that decision when time comes and not have to do additional work.

Our Enemy - Aspartame

I have to share one of the biggest secrets I have learned on this journey.

Avoid LIKE THE PLAGUE Aspartame if you want to loose weight!

Aspartame is a sugar substitute commonly called NutraSweet or Equal and it is in 90% of the diet foods in the world. It is especially found in just about every diet soda on the market. It is also in diet gum etc.

Why did I put it on my enemy list?

Is it because it is an artificial sweetener?
No: While I personally try to eat organic, whole foods and avoid chemicals, that is not my primary reason. That is something that has to be a personal choice.

Is it because eating sweets makes you crave more sweets and not kick that habit?
No: That is partially true and another reason to avoid it but not the prime reason.

Is it because Aspartame causes headaches, cancer, MS etc?
No: Many claim those things but there has not been any conclusive evidence one way or the other. I am not saying I am an advocate for chemicals in our food and I do believe they may be harmful, but that wasn't my motive for adding this to my worst food to eat list.

Well, then why?

Because it makes you not able to lose weight.

Yes, you heard me right. You stay fat if you are consuming this.

Ever notice how many people who drink a lot of diet soda are still very overweight? This is no coincidence.

Okay, so here are the facts and what I found from experience.

As I stated earlier, I am following the Low Carb lifestyle. Dr. Atkins in his original book was a huge fan of this chemical as a way to allow people to still satisfy their sweet tooth but no or low carb/calorie. The revised book however said not to use it because people for some reason don't loose weight when they eat this.

When I first read this, I was skeptical, I thought that it was propaganda by the "granola's" who are against all things artificial and I decided to ignore this advice. I bought diet pop, diet gum etc. I was drinking a ton of a popular diet beverage that you add to water (the brand with the commercial that says women who drink thier beverage drink 20% more water). I thought this was good because it is true, I was drinking more water. But, I was being really good on the low carb plan following it to the letter and the scale wasn't moving at all.

I started to do the research and found some articles online that seemed to agree with the statement that it makes it hard to shed pounds.One article stated that it slows down metabolism. Another doctor found it stimulates appetite. Another article I found pointed to the way it was broken down by the body and how the body actually stores it as fat instead of flushing it out. So, let's summarize, you want to eat more, your metabolism slows and it stores fat. And this is diet food?

If you are anything like me, you read this stuff and get confused. Everyone has an opinion and they contradict each other. Some say it is poison, some say it is nectar of the Gods. Who do you believe.

Well, for me, I have to pretty much prove something out myself. I should have been born in Missouri (the show me state).

So, what did I do. I stopped all aspartame cold turkey to see what would happen. well, guess what? I woke up 2 days later and was down 16 lbs.

Yes, 16 lbs overnight!

I didn't believe my eyes. In fact I didn't believe the scale. I went to the gym and weighed in there too. And it was real.

As I said, I had been following the plan to the letter and should have been loosing but nothing. I was about to give up on that diet and try another one.

The aspartame was causing my body to hold on to the weight. When I got that stuff out of my system, whooshh out it all went.

From some reading I have done, not everyone has this with aspartame, but more do than don't.

The good news is because of some individuals who are seriously allergic to this product, all items with this product are regulated to have a warning on them so it makes avoiding this stuff pretty simple. Look at labels when buying stuff, if you see a warning at the bottom that says "Phenylketonurics - contains phenylalanine?" that is your hint to toss the product out. You don't even have to read all of the ingredients. This warning will jump out, it is often even in bold making it easy to spot.

Do you have to give up diet pop and gum?
No, not at all, there are many alternatives that don't have this effect.

In Grocery stores buy Diet Rite or Hansen's diet soda, they are both sweetened with sucralose (Splenda)



Better yet, check your local health food store and there are diet sodas sweetened with Stevia or Xylitol, these both are natural sweeteners and actually have health benefits. You can also find great variety of gum at local health food stores that are sweetened with xylitol.

If you like Crystal Light and need a substitute for that, there are many options made with sucralose. Here are some photos of some of the ones I love. These are not carb free, they have about 3 carbs per package on average. I usually don't use a whole package at once. I find that too strong. Propel for example is my favorite and I get about 3-4 bottles of water out of one package.

Where I am today.

As I stated in my introductory post, I have been trying to loose weight most of my life.

My highest weight was 402 lbs. Ironically this occurred after I started my pre-work toward Lap Band surgery.

One of my requirements for surgery preparation was to loose 10% of my weight. I weighed 385 so that would mean I would need to loose 38 lbs.

The reason they require you to loose weight is two fold:

• First, they need the extra room in your stomach cavity so weight loss gives them the room to do the surgery that weight loss would provide them.

• The other reason is to shrink the liver. The stomach sits under the liver and the fatter the liver is, the harder it is to see the stomach and the more difficult it is for them to do the surgery.

I think there is also a hidden agenda of them also seeing how willing you are to stick to a diet and how motivated you are. The bariatrician (weight loss doctor) doesn't give you this reason. Just my opinion.

Anyway, my insurance also had a requirement for me to do six months of a nationally recognized weight loss program under the care of my doctor. I chose Weight Watchers because I have had moderate levels of success with that in the past. However, because I weighed so much my daily points were set to 42. For those of you not familiar with how weight watchers works, every food has a point value and so this means I would need to eat 42 points worth of food. This is a TON of food, I felt like I was eating non stop and was forcing myself to make unhealthy choices (ice cream etc) to get to the 42 points. in just 3 weeks I ballooned up almost 20 lbs to my high of 402 because of this. Weight Watchers does provide healthy eating guidelines, but these are easy to ignore and there are no foods off limits so if your whole 42 points are in ice cream, you will gain weight.


I was frustrated and went back to my bariatrician and explained what was happening and he suggested a low carb diet.

Believe me, I know what you are thinking: "here we go again, didn't we already prove that Atkins didn't work?"

The reason I know what you are thinking is that is what I thought. In fact I had a frank discussion with my doctor about this. He said to just trust him, after all he is a weight loss expert and to try it again.

Well, I am here to tell you, he was right. I have been low carb for months and almost every day the scale moves. In doing research I found there is a right way and a wrong way to do this type of weight loss plan and I had done it the wrong way before like many others. Look forward to future posts about the low carb lifestyle including tips, tricks and recipes.

I am still following weight watchers to a degree too. I just am not eating all of my points and the points I am eating are low carb. I am mainly doing weight watchers simply because it is required for insurance for the surgery.

As of this morning I weighed 356 so that is 46 lbs from my highest weight.

Today, I am unsure about the surgery. My honest fear is that if I don't do it, I will end up gaining it all back again. We have all been there haven't we? Lost a ton and gained back 2 tons. I see the surgery as my mistake proofing device to keep the weight off.


By the way, today I had quiche for breakfast, I plan on having a Chicken Caesar salad for lunch and a homemade Greek seasoned lamb hamburger smothered in cheese for dinner.


Have a great day and God Bless you.

Karr

Hello World

Hello world,

This is a blog about my journey to half of my current size and then some. That is why I titled it journey to Half Self.

I have been on a weight loss journey for over 20 years. I, like many others, have tried every diet, every pill, every club etc I
finally decided last year to have weight loss surgery and started down that path.

Part of the requirements by the doctors and insurance is to loose weight before surgery। I know ironic that people who can't loose weight are asked to loose weight
(I will post more on the reasoning for that in a future blog)

An amazing thing happened on my journey toward surgery, I found a regimen that actually works for me! As of this morning I am down 46 lbs. I still have many to go, but an exciting start.  
As of today I honestly am still marching toward surgery but am starting to
wonder if it will be necessary.   No decision yet.

However, I decided to blog about my journey.  This is
a way for me to be accountable but also hopefully help others. 

This will be a candid blog. I will be honest about my
weight, my thoughts, my feelings, my tips, my findings, my recipes etc.

Hopefully together we can become healthy.

God bless

Karr