TIMELINE OF MY WEIGHT LOSS...

2008-
1/16-304 LBS (I didn't weigh for a month after I started cause I was afraid nothing was happening and I would be upset!)

Ok, I need to add a note here before putting down the amounts and when. When you first switch your style of eating, your body will think it's missing things it needs. Everu body has a certain amount of fat cells that you will never,ever get rid of,but when it starts making extra fat cells that's what gets you in trouble. This is terribly unfair but women have more of the permanent fat cells than men,too! So when you cut out all that stuff that is bad for you,e.g. fat,cupcakes, pie,candy bars,etc., your body will literally start eating itself! It goes after the extra fat cells and starts consuming them. The first 6 months of your diet change are the easiest. Although my body must have thought I was killing it because I'm still losing pretty good considering that it's past the 6 month mark. Ok,here goes....

2/6-294..10 lbs
2/13-282-22 lbs (12 lbs in ONE week!)
2/14-281-23 lbs (I got excited after the 22 in 1 week,so started weighing more)
2/15-278.5-25.5 lbs
2/17-277-27 lbs
2/18-274.5-29.5 lbs
2/24-272.5-31.5
This is when I had bronchitis and didnt eat peppers.
3/2-270.5-33.5
3/9-268.5-35.5 lbs
3/16-264.5.39.5 lbs
3/23-261.5-42.5 lbs
4/1-260-44 lbs
4/6-257-47 lbs
4/14-255-49 lbs
4/15-254-50 lbs!!!!
4/19-252-52 lbs
I must have hit a plateau here because nothing happened for about 3 weeks. I was sorta upset,but I know better now.
5/6-249-55 lbs
5/9-248-56 lbs
5/10-247.5-56.5 lbs
5/13-247-57 lbs
5/20-246-58 lbs
5/22-245.5-58.5 lbs
5/24-244.5-59.5 lbs
5/26-244-60 lbs!!!!
5/27-242.5-61.5
Another plateau!
6/4-241.5-63.5 lbs
6/10-240.5-64.5
6/20-238.5-65.5
6/23-238-66 lbs
6/28-236.5-67.5 lbs
7/2-236-68 lbs
7/9-234.5-69.5 lbs
7/15-233.5-70.5!!!!!
7/17-233-71 lbs
7/22-231-73 lbs
7/26-229.5-74.5 lbs
8/6-228-76 lbs
This is another week when I didn't eat peppers. Learned my lesson there.
8/16-227.5-76.5 lbs
8/19-226.5-77.5 lbs
8/20-225.5-78.5 lbs!!!!!!!!!!
*!*8/27-224.5-80 lbs!!!!!!!!!
9/16-221.5-82.5lbs!(This was 8 months.)
9/20-220 lbs-84 lbs!!!
9/23-219 lbs-85lbs!
9/27-218.5lbs-85.5 lbs!
10/2-218lbs-86lbs! (1.5 from halfway!!!!)
10/3-217 lbs-87 lbs!! (1/2 pound from halfway!)
10/11-216.5-87.5 lbs!!!!!!! (HALFWAY!!!!)
10/14-216 lbs-88lbs!
10/16-215.5 lbs-88.5 lbs!
10/18-215 lbs-89 lbs!!
10/23-214 lbs-90 lbs!!
10/25-213.5 lbs-90.5 lbs!!
11/29-213 lbs-91 lbs!
12/6-212 lbs-92 lbs!
12/7-211 lbs-93 lbs!! (Over the Plateau?)

2009!

1/25-209 lbs-95 lbs!!!!
2/4-208 lbs-96!!!!
2/15-206.5 lbs-97.5!!!
2/23-204 LBS-100 POUNDS!!!!!!!! WHOOHOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
4/8-203.4-100.6 lbs! Over the plateau again?

As you can see, I lost like gangbusters the first month or so. That was that deprived body.Bwahaha!
When I get to 87.5 pounds, that will be halfway to my goal!

HEALTHWISE....

At 304 pounds,I had acid reflux soooooooooo bad that I would wake up at night and it seemed the entire contents of my stomach were almost up in my mouth. It was horrible. One week after I started the low-fat style of eating, I no longer had it. I'm not kidding. It was so amazing to go from miserable every night and going to bed dreading what was going to happen to just sleeping with no problems! I LIVED ON ROLAIDS FOR ABOUT 14 YEARS!I have not needed even one in over 7 months.Wait...I lied. I did need a Rolaids once a few months back,but I'll tell you about that in another post. That was a lesson learned!

Another benefit is that my feet,legs and knees feel better. My feet used to hurt so bad that I dreaded walking anywhere.They are so much better. I actually walk faster than some people when I go shopping now. ;-)

Now this is a big plus...I used wear size 12 shoes. I now have some that are 11's. Ok...ok...so I got my dad's feet. Enough on that subject.

I can shave my legs again! I'm very nearsighted and I couldn't bend over far enough to see my legs good so I ended up striped! It only took about 50 pounds to get close enough. Ha! No more velcro legs!!!

When I laid on my back, I had to have my head higher because it made it easier to breathe. No longer a problem!

I just feel better in general.

Oh....I must include one drawback that I've discovered in the last couple of weeks. Due to the lack of head fat, I'm now starting to get sinus headaches again. I think the fat insulated the sinuses(my theory), but I don't care. That's what they make ibuprofen for!

SOME THINGS I'VE DISCOVERED....

My husband subscribed to some magazines for me. I get Health,Weight Watchers and Cooking Light. They are really quite helpful. I think it was in Health that I read that the capsaicin in hot peppers speeds up your metabolism,which burns fat. I am a firm believer in that now. I liked hot stuff anyway, but now I'm really convinced that this works. Awhile back I had bronchitis and I didn't feel like eating the hot stuff. I didn"t have anything for a week with peppers in it and didn't lose a thing. The next week I started with the peppers again and started losing again.
As you know, I live in Texas and last week was sorta hot so I didn't eat the hot stuff. MISTAKE! I didn't lose ANYTHING! Bummer! Monday night after work I made what I call my miracle rice. I'll do the recipe in a minute. Guess what? I've lost 2.5 pounds this week! I'm up to 78.5 pounds gone! This stuff is about the lowest fat thing I make... here it is...


DEB'S MIRACLE RICE

1/2 pound superlean ground beef(or turkey)
1 small onion,sliced
1 1/4 cups rice (approximately)
1 can Rotel diced tomatoes with habaneros
1 small can HOT diced green chilis
Tomato paste,approximately 4 tablespoons
Water
Black pepper, to taste
Cayenne pepper,to taste
Chili powder,to taste
Garlic powder,to taste
Ground cumin,to taste
Cilantro,to taste
Mrs. Dash extra spicy,to taste(optional)
Triple XXX habanero hot sauce, to taste(optional)

Brown the hamburger and onion slices. You may have to spray the skillet with no-fat spray. The meat I buy cooks off nothing because it's so lean. After browning, start adding the other ingredients. Most of my measurements would be a few shakes of the spice bottle. I prefer this stuff sort of on the dry side, so I start out with less water and keep an eye on it as it cooks. If the rice isn't done and it's running out of water,add some. If you want it sorta soupy, no problem just add more tomato paste and water. Just cook with a lid until your rice is done.
This is NOT as hot as it sounds. This also makes a skillet full and I keep it in the fridge and when I'm not in the mood to cook, I heat some up. It's just as good leftover as it is fresh. This stuff is my takeout substitute. It's quick,easy and keeps for a week!
I tell myself that if my mouth is burning, so is the fat!

I've eaten MIRACLE RICE for 5 of my meals this week,I think,if I remember correctly. I've lost 2.5 pounds since last Sunday. I did absolutely nothing that would be classified anywhere near exercise either. I figure when the weather cools down and I start exercising again, I might just disappear! Ha! Gotta see that first to believe it!

THE BASICS...

This is what I decided to do... no eating out EVERYDAY....will cook my food so that it will be as low-fat as I can get it. I don't forego sweets,etc.I just moderate the intake.
I down-sized from a dinner plate to a salad plate. That's just to trick you though. It looks like you're eating the same. I use fat-free mayo,fat-free salad dressing,fat-free milk,etc. I also switched to spray margarine. You use less but it gives you the taste. I spray a baked potato,frozen veggies,canned veggies,fresh veggies....
For my sandwich that I take for lunch at work, I switched to wheat bread. I take a salad to eat with my sandwich because at first I only took the sandwich and I was still hungry after lunch. I eat a big salad with every meal except breakfast.I don't add things that have fat in the salad either. Lettuce,carrot,cabbage,sliced celery,cucumber,grape tomatoes and fat-free dressing,that's it! I should mention that I wasn't a big salad eater before. I really enjoy my salad now though. I discovered a new thing yesterday. It's called Kernal Seasonings popcorn seasoning. The bottle says to put it on popcorn,soup,salad,etc. I tried it in my salad and I liked it. I got the parmesan & garlic flavor. I can't wait to try it on a baked potato. The best part is...NO CALORIES...NO FAT in it!!!!
I have 3 flavors of no-fat cooking spray...canola,olive and butter. Did you know that you can fry an egg in no oil? Just keep the temp. down and spray genorously.Takes a little longer but,in my opinion, it actually tastes better. The fried egg is my Sunday morning treat. Love it!

THE BEGINNING...

Ok...I decided to go with the low-fat cooking because I knew that it worked since I had tried it before and it worked. When I got home that day, I got on the internet and typed "easy low-fat recipes in my search box and I started looking for things my family would eat. My daughter is 14 and a vertual eating machine,BUT she doesn' like tomatoes in things...example: diced tomatoes. My husband absolutely WILL NOT eat cheese. He won't eat green vegetables either. Sometimes if I want to make something that has veggies, he'll cook something for himself and my daughter and I eat whatever it was that I wanted to make.
Three days after I started the new way of eating my doctor's office called and the blood he took showed that I was on verge of diabetes. He said I had to change the way I eat. I told them to tell him,"Ha! Already done that!!" When I went back after 2 months so they could check the blood again, he was happy. I read that if you lose 7% of your body weight, you can possibly ward off diabetes. I guess that was so in my case. Hooooooooooray!

LAST YEAR....

I was really getting disgusted with being so overweight. I'd start thinking about losing,but then I'd see a story about somebody losing weight(usually on tv) and how they had to have surgery to remove the excess skin. I can't afford that so I'd forget about for awhile.
In January of this year, I had what I thought was a spider bite on my stomach. It just kept getting worse, so I had to go the doctor about it. While I was there, I talked to him about losing weight. Specifically,what would my skin do if I lost weight? He said if I lost slowly, my skin would go back to where it belongs. He said if you lose the weight very quickly, your skin doesn't know what happened and doesn't know where to go,so it just hangs there.

Well, I left the office and went to the grocery store. I bought healthier stuff and vowed to cook. ( I don't particularly love to cook,did i mention that? My middle name has been takeout for at least ten years!) I bought low-fat,no-fat,etc. Lots of salad veggies,lots of canned veggies. I started cooking and NOT eating takeout.

I went on my diet on January 16th,2008. At this time, I've lost 76 pounds! In two days, it will be 7 months since I started. I thought if I started this blog and told about my experiences,maybe I could inspire some people to help themselves without the expense of having surgery or one of those plans that cost a fortune for the pre-made meals(I couldn't afford that). If you found my blog,please come back. I'll be posting my strategies,recipes,some of my odd sense of humor. I should be back later today to post again and get this thing really going!

A little history...

I was a chubby early teen...got thin in high school and stayed that way pretty much in my twenties. The problem was that I love food and absolutely DETEST exercise!I met my husband when I was 14 and I still adore him. When he was 41 years old, he had a heart attack and had to have triple by-pass surgery. At that time, we had no kids( he was supposed to have to have surgery to make that possible) and we were common law. We got married 3 days before the surgery in his hospital room.His heart doctor told us that to lose weight, PAY NO ATTENTION TO CALORIES! Keep your fat content down. Well, using that as my guide, I lost 40 pounds in 1993.OK..here comes my downfall...3 months after his surgery( and mind you, this wasn't the type of surgery that was supposed to do the trick), I WAS PREGNANT!!! I had already started menopause. Anyway, I had my beautiful daughter two days before i turned 39.When I went for one of the last checkups before delivery, I asked my ob-gyn about the pain in my hips. He said," Oh, it's probably athritis. That's one of the things that happens sometimes when an OLDER woman has a baby." Older? OLDER?!? Did he really say that? Oh yes, he did! I told him," Well, ain't that a kick in the head? Old,pregnant AND arthritis to boot!"So you can see it coming, can't you? 40 years old,a toddler,hates exercise,TIRED,holds down a job,too tired to cook..... Yup,you guessed it. Started gaining weight...and gaining