Ok, I'm getting this started with a fresh mindset for 2024. I have a bit more than 200 pounds to lose. As of today I'm 47 pounds in, with 153ish to go. I am tightening the belt a little bit, because I'm losing slowly. I can do more, and I want to be accountable for that. I've been doing starch solution for a year, and I'm moving to Maximum Weight Loss. I've been dabbling with it and going back and forth from MWL to SS and that changes on Jan 3rd. I'm doing a 4 week challenge with Stacy's weight loss group and it starts then - meanwhile, I'm eating, discarding or giving away the last of the tofu, nuts and dry carbs in the house! Ohhhh. Cashews, I will think of you fondly as I step on the scales of judgement each week without you.
I'm going to start going to bed earlier. Farewell to how the gates to my stomach open wide like a baby bird squawking for snacks at midnight. Looking back at this past year, there have been many calories consumed late in the evening.
Am I going to have salad, fruit or a non starchy soup to start each meal? My guess is 'hardly ever'. For some reason that is an obstacle for me that I don't quite know how to tackle easily. I don't know how to make a normal sized salad. It inevitably gets poured into a bigger bowl and then it's so big I need more dressing on top and then the calories start working against me. Soup tempts me in to more salt. And sometimes just a few bits of pasta floating in it. And then maybe just a few beans or potatoes. Then I find myself eating a potato pasta soup with some cabbage to garnish, instead of a light soup to start. I'll work on this step.
My goal is to completely reverse my 'significant fatty liver' in 2024. How embarrassing. It falls into the discussion category of thick ankles and overactive bladder. I also want to reverse my insulin resistance. I started the year 500% of normal, and ended 400% of normal, so progress is still needed.
In 2024, I want to share stories that I couldn't in 2023. I want to discuss how I walked around the block during bear season, because I'm not afraid of dropping dead while I get the hell out of the way. I want to tell you how I ate a normal sized bowl of food, and instinctively stopped eating when I was no longer hungry. And I'm going to share my stories of going on vacation and walking down the beach for hours while I pick up shells and feel warm wind pushing against me. I can't do any of those things today. But it's coming soon.
Background/timeline. I started McDougall with the 12 day course in Feb 2021. I lost 48 pounds in about 6 months, and then my mom's illness progressed, and she died. That was a painful and stressful time, and during my 30 minute drives to and from her house I comforted myself with fries, and started eating worse out of convenience and trying to kill the pain. I gained back most of my lost weight over the course of the next 8 months while we settled her things.
I restarted on McDougall the day after Thanksgiving in 2022. It was titled in my calendar as "Black Friday, Indeed."
In one more pound, I'll have made up for my gain. My body isn't the same now. What once took 6 months now took 14 months.
Other things are different about my shape and how my body reacts to little things. The slower path might be what I need, even if it's not what I want.
