I don't usually talk much about myself but I am going to break away from that and share my healthy eating and weight loss goals.
Let me explain how this all got started. I got a urinary tract infection, but just could not kick it, it went to a kidney infection and I had to treat it with antibiotics which really made me feel bad as it kills off the good bacteria in your gut. That was 2 weeks of feeling bad with even the thought of food making me nauseous.
Just as I started to feel almost normal except for not wanting to eat, I got terrible pains where my kidney on the right side is. Even Aleve didn't kill the pain so I started googling everything by symptom. It had to have been a kidney stone. I drank copious amounts of lemon water, a little fruit juice like I had been drinking. That was another week of feeling bad and doing nothing and eating next to nothing. Finally I started feeling better with no more pain. I kept up the lemon water and taking Dr Christopher's Kidney Formula supplements. I still take at least one a day.
In that 3 week period I lost 18 pounds and it was not all water because I kept drinking water continuously. But after a couple weeks of eating again, albeit lots less than I had previously, I did gain back 12 pounds.
Now Mom was wanting to lose weight again after talking with her Dr. and I wanted to continue losing as well. But I also wanted all of us to eat more healthy with out the processed foods and junk we had been eating. And Mom even bought a huge box of organic spring greens last week!
So for 3 weeks we have been eating simple food with a salad at least every other day. And we have been keeping track of our food at My Fitness Pal
This is a free online program that will track your food, water and exercise for you. In the food diary you can even find food from restaurants as well as name brand food from the grocery store. It will not only give you the calories but grams of carbs, fat, protein, sodium & sugar. That's the part I find most interesting.
As you complete your food diary for the day it will tell you what weight you should be at in 5 weeks if you ate like that every day. Some days I go over the calories, some days I'm under, but most days I stay between 1000 & 1200 calories.
With joint issues and arthritis I don't exercise so I'm not doing that part, but even so I am very happy to report that today I have lost that 12 pounds I gained back plus another 1/2 pound.
I have more to tell you but I will wait until another time for that. I will tell you that my goal is to lose 100 pounds and at almost 58 years old that's a tall order.
4 comments:
I am sorry to hear about your illnesses, but it seems that they were a blessing in disguise as they got you to want to work harder to lose weight. I just turned 58 on Thursday, so I understand about trying to lose weight in your 50's. I have been trying to lose weight. I started walking, that lasted two days. My diet is my huge downfall. My problem is that I am gone almost every day of the week doing for family and others and just grab fast food because I am too tired when I get home to cook.
You have inspired me to stop making excuses and start planning for myself. Thanks for sharing your life with us. Good luck with your progress and I hope you will keep us posted. I had lost four pounds and then gained it right back. sigh.
Darlene
I was a big fast food eater because it is cheap and easy. Unfortunately it not only puts the pounds on, it also has virtually no nutrition. I looked at various foods in the myfitnesspal food tracker and was appalled at the sodium and fat amounts, not to mention the sugar. So now Subway is the only fast food I eat and I am picky about that. The turkey and the tuna are the best sandwiches to go for there. My downfall is that I want potato chips with it.
Losing weight is only part of this, the biggest part is getting healthy. I don't want to die of a heart attack before I'm 60 or have such bad health I can't do the things I like to do. I don't want to be my Mom who sits in a recliner all day and can barely walk.
The whole reason I decided to post about this was to encourage others and be accountable. Join me and let's both be healthy!
Yes, that is exactly right about fast food, cheap and easy. But I don't feel good after I eat it and I know it's not good for me.
I am just like you with the chips alongside the sandwich. I just have to have chips with a sandwich...but if I made it a salad at Subway, I could be fine without chips. Maybe I will try that.
I have tried many times to lose weight and get healthy. I don't think I really had my heart in it. But I do think it is past time I got serious about this. Okay, I am going to join you and put myself first. We are worth the effort and a healthy life is a goal I can get behind.
My first step is to add a salad or green smoothie to my day. I was doing green smoothies and I have to tell you I felt really good. I stopped making them by pure laziness. The site I got the recipes from is simplegreensmoothies.com
I will try to start walking again. Do you think if you lost some more weight that you might be able to walk? Or are the joint issues permanent? I know arthritis can make moving unbearable. If you don't want to answer this, please don't. I don't mean to get too personal. I was just curious as I know exercise helps the weight come off quicker.
Okay, let's begin this journey!
Darlene
I have had sciatica in my lower back for years and my knees are shot too from kneeling on tile floors when I hung wallpaper for a living. I can only stand for like 10 minutes and walking or moving isn't much longer before I have to sit for a while. But it is possible as I lose more that I will be able to do more, at least I hope so! Right now it is a chore to roll the trash can out to the end of the driveway.
I tried green smoothies but I just can't go them. I do fruit smoothies with no added sweeteners though. I usually throw in some flax seed too for the good fats in it. I'll get more into some things in my next post.
Feel free to email me if you want, there's a link on my profile page.
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