50 Pounds in 50 Weeks Project

All through the fall of 2010 I knew I was getting quite large.  I had to go up a dress size for some weddings we attended (back to a 12) and then even those got tight.  I started avoiding pictures, which I love to take and be in.  And then one day something just flipped in my brain and I was ready to change.  I set a goal to go from 172.6 lbs to 125 lbs in one year, starting November 12, 2010.  I called it "50 Pounds in 50 Weeks."

During November and December I tried a similar strategy to what I had used in 2008, tracking calories and macronutrients but only trying to restrict my calories.  I planned to day a day off from counting every couple weeks, but I found that really difficult because of Thanksgiving and all the holiday parties and such that occur during that season.  I took way too many days off.  I did lose some weight when I started and then I basically plateaued through all the holiday parties.

Over winter break my husband and I traveled for about two weeks seeing family.  At first I thought I would at least try portion control but I gave that up within a few days, and then I didn't even bother much with making healthy choices.

I knew I needed to regroup for when I returned home.  I read two diet books and noticed they both emphasized extreme sugar reduction and moderate carbohydrate intake.  I did some more research and decided to try following the guidelines of The Belly Fat Cure.

My sugar intake went from about 180 g/day when I first started tracking to about 60 g/day before winter break, and with the BFC I had to drop it to 15 g/day or less.  I had withdrawal headaches for about two days, but that was pretty manageable.  I did well meeting my sugar limit at the beginning but not as well meeting the fiber minimum without going over my carbohydrate limit.  I also had to rework some of my staple recipes because their serving sizes resulting in like 42 g carbs/serving.  But after a couple months I had a pretty good handle on my food and had about six BFC-compliant days per week, with the remaining non-compliance being from a small mistake.

My calorie intake dropped like a rock when I started the BFC.  Eating so much fiber, fat, and protein is amazingly filling.  Because I wasn't reaching 1200 calories/day consistently, I had to intentionally increase my calories over my hunger-driven needs.  Within about a week I was comfortable with that higher amount of calories.  I've tried to increase my calories in a few stages since then.  In the low-carb frame of mind, carbohydrates matter far more than calories.

Throughout the spring of 2011 I was hot and cold with workouts.  I knew I wanted to add in weight training, but I did it inconsistently.  One month I would work out five days per week and another month I would average one or two workouts per week.  I committed to doing a couch-to-5k program, which is three runs per week.  I did well keeping to the schedule for the first few weeks but slowed the frequency by the middle of the 9-week program.  It took me 20 weeks to complete all the workouts, but I did it in June!  Through that process I rehabilitated an old knee injury - I went from not being able to run a mile to being able to run over three miles with minimal discomfort.

Around April 2011 I developed a problem with peanut butter.  At first I had measured out my tablespoons carefully but I grew lax with peanut butter and other foods I was familiar with and could eyeball the servings.  Once I stopped measuring I let myself get sloppy and would overestimate.  Peanut butter became nearly a nightly snack - it was an easy way to get in calories and fat when I wasn't really hungry.  I ate scoops of it off large soup spoons and recorded it as a tablespoon.  Sometimes I had several scoops from small spoons, again calling it a tablespoon.  I developed a jones for peanut butter.  I knew I really had a problem when my husband and I got back from vacation in July and all I wanted to do was eat peanut butter straight from the jar.  Over 1.5 days I ate about half a large jar, again completely lying to my nutrition data records.  After that day I decided I could no longer trust myself with peanut butter and I committed to measuring it fastidiously every time I ate it.  For the remainder of July I only ate peanut butter as a sweetener in oatmeal, which was the original reason I started eating it.  One day in August I ate a tablespoon by itself.  I haven't had more than three tablespoons in any one day since I came back from that trip, and usually I only have one.  That's how I tamed my peanut butter monster.

Currently, I'm working out more frequently (4-5 days per week), alternating between running, weight lifting, and tennis.  I've added some calories back into my diet and now eat between 1300 and 1500 calories per day.  I'm losing weight slowly and with stops and starts now but I'm still on a downward trend!