Goodbye Spare Tire...20 Pounds Gone!

Today I stepped on the scale and let out a whoop!  I finally hit the 20 pound loss mark and couldn't be happier.  So I went online to find out what a 20 pound equivalent would be--I lost a car tire.  Which is ironic since my belly is smaller almost like I really lost that spare tire.

Upon this reaching this mini goal, I got to reflecting.  When I bought the Trim Healthy Mama book, I didn't have much hope of it actually working for me.  When I started the diet, I expected to lose a few pounds and then get bored, lose my motivation, and quit after losing maybe 10 pounds.

I've had "cheat" meals in the last 10 weeks.  More than a few.  But not once did I think, oh well.  I blew it.  I will just give up.  Nope.  Because I read that 600+ page book and internalized it.  I will never look at food in the same way again.  There are times when I will eat both fat and carbs in the same meal, and that's okay.  Because I know that with the next meal, I will get right back on track.  I rarely crave foods anymore because I can have both fat and carbs.

With the Atkins diet, all I could think about was carbs.  I wanted bread, pasta, crackers, anything with carbs in it.  Now, whenever I am craving carbs, I plan for an Energizing meal with healthy carbs--a lean sandwich on Ezekiel bread, brown rice or quinoa with lean meat, pancakes made from oats, cottage cheese, and egg whites.  These are just a few of the staple carbs that keep me content.

Or when I am craving a nice big burger, I slap one on the grill and eat it without a bun or on a low carb pita.  I top it with cheese, lettuce and mustard and I am a happy girl.  I use real butter, coconut oil, full fat sour cream.  Some times I scoop out a spoonful of coconut oil and eat it right off the spoon.  Yup. No more believing the myth that fat makes you fat.  Fat only makes you fat when you eat it with carbs.  A 20 pound weight loss in 10 weeks doesn't lie.  And I know I am eating more fat than recommended because I use My Fitness Pal and enter my food into it so I can keep track of my nutrition.  I almost always go over the recommended daily fat allowance.  It just makes me laugh and feel sorry for all those people who are following low fat diets.  It is so much easier and FUN to lose weight my way.

Did I just say that dieting is FUN?!  Because I am having fun.  I love eating this way.  I will never go back to my old way of eating.  For the first time in my life, I actually have hope of reaching my goal weight.  For the first time in my life I have found a way of eating that's healthy, helps me lose weight, and is something I can actually do for the rest of my life.

Next goal...to fit into the jeans I wore before I got pregnant with David.  I can pull them on and they almost button...if I suck it in.  I want them to fit for real.

Week 34 in the series of 52 Weeks of New

Past posts in the 52 Weeks of New Series:
Week 1--Where It All Began
Week 2--New Cities and New Foods
Week 3--Hikes and Teaching
Week 4--Lunch Dates and New Mile Mark
Week 5--Fun with Fruit
Week 6--We Went to a Play
Week 7--Movies, Caramel Apples and Horses
Week 8--A Few Things I Never Thought I'd Do
Week 9--I Can See The Floor!

Week 10--Miracles Do Happen

Week 11--Big Accomplishments

Week 12--It's Open!  They're Clean!

Weeks 13 and 14--Kitchen and Other Adventures

Week 15--Trees, Babies, and Killing Dinner

Week 16--Too Busy with Grandma in the Hospital and packing to blog

Week 17--Disney World

Week 18--Having too much Christmas fun to blog
Week 19--A Week of Firsts
Week 20--I Passed the Test
Week 21--???  How did I miss this?
Week 22--I Didn't Scream

Week 23--The Reluctant Servant
Week 24--Snow Day!
Week 25--I Hate Change..Even if it Does Present Me With New Opportunities
Week 26--Bribery and Cooking With Kids
Week 27--Best Laid Plans Interrupted
Week 28--Gluten Free Bread Baking

Week 29--Walking On Water

Week 30--Kicking Fear In the Booty

Week 31--Finally Did It

Week 32--A Rather Boring Week

Week 33--Lets Go Fly A Kite