A Re-Cap Of How I Lost Those 14 Pounds...

Hi, everyone!

How are you doing today? I'm doing great. Thank you for all of your wonderful comments today and yesterday about these latest pictures. I hope I have encouraged you all to keep plugging away at your goals.

Don't mind me while I re-post one of the pictures from yesterday.

Can't help myself. :)

If you guys are surprised at this change...I am too. When I lost those twenty pounds in 10 weeks, I knew I looked decent. But I also knew I wanted to lose a few more pounds. I honestly had no idea that I would turn out like this. I mean...I knew I wanted to...but to actually see it feels surprising to me.

I've mentioned before that this latest weight loss was uncharted territory. I say that because I usually stop several pounds short of the weight that I am at in this photo. This time...I kept going. I wanted to see what I was capable of looking like. Having this blog was so crucial in keeping me going too, because there were things that happened that could have stopped me from getting here.

I wanted to briefly go over my journey in the last twenty weeks that led up to this picture.

I lost the first twenty pounds at an average of two pounds a week. I knew that average may slow down with my second round of weight loss attempt.

I was right on that count.

I managed to push full steam ahead at about a one pound a week average. By ten weeks into it, I had lost ten pounds.

But I only maintained that ten pound loss for a few days before my body took back a pound, and I was at a nine pound loss.

Then...something happened that threw me for a loop and slowed down my progress. I injured my knee and couldn't run, couldn't weight lift my legs, couldn't do the elliptical machine, couldn't do the bike or even that rowing machine where you use your arms. Even walking felt like too much at times.

This injury sidelined any kind of leg activity for three weeks. Although toward the end of that third week, I did go "running" in the water. But... by then, some of my "gung-ho stick-to-the-eating-plan-momentum" was lost. I struggled to get back on the weight loss train...but it was an uphill climb. In fact, I even gained another pound.

I spent the next three or four weeks struggling to just maintain. I was having a harder and harder time controlling what I was eating. So, basically I spent several weeks at an eight to nine pound loss.

Then, I decided to try out a new diet plan. I cut out all sugar, all white flour, and added in all whole foods, salads with 2 tbls of healthy oil a day, and a high level of protein, about 135 grams per day, and about one half gallon of water per day. My calorie count averaged between 1,300 to 1,450 a day.

It was a drastic change.

There was no more snacking, no more sugar and creamer in my tea, no more Blue Bunny light ice cream at night, no more bites of my children's graham crackers and food, no more peanut butter on toasted white bread, no more smart Balance light butter on my brown rice, no more cake, no more Jimmy John's subs... no more anything but what was on the diet.

After two days, my taste buds began changing and the food began to taste...wonderful.

Every single calorie I consumed was something my body needed.

After two days, I lost two pounds.

After three days, I lost two more pounds.

After two or so weeks, I lost another two pounds.

I lost six pounds in the last three weeks of my twenty week diet, and I wasn't hungry. That's not to say I wasn't fantasizing about food, because I was. But there is difference between being hungry and just wanting a certain food.

I should also mention that during this whole dieting phase, I was weight lifting four to five days a week and running four to six days a week, except of course during that three week stint when I couldn't run.

What made the difference then? I think the work-outs definitely created tone and muscle, but all of that wasn't revealed until I did that drastic diet switch-up.

There's no other explanation.

Ok...maybe one. The last four weeks of push-ups I felt added more roundness to my shoulders...but still, you wouldn't see that if the extra fat was in the way.

So...that's the recap. The journey was long...the journey was tough...I stumbled and even fell along the way (ok...slight pun intended here), but the real key to getting to look like that picture above was to keep trying and to not give up.

Wherever you're at on your journey, I really encourage you to not give up looking for the solution that works for you.

Well...I think that's it for now. Thanks for listening, and I hope you all have a good night.

Sincerely,
Sunshine Mama