When is losing weight not on our minds?? I hate the mere fact it consumes our lives so much, but we can't overlook the fact that there is a deep rooted desire to be the weight we were designed to be at; a weight where we feel, good--you know what I mean. But through all the diets and yo-yo weight loss and gains I've had, one thing I've learned to do is love me at the weight I'm at. I've tried so many diets it's ridiculous, but when you are 24/7 pregnant or postpartum, diet books tend to be your best friend. I've learned a lot by the different diets I've been on and have seen what they do to my health, my body, and my mind...I'd like to share what I do and what's been the most successful for me. But before I do, here a some I've tried that have not worked:
HCG: This diet plan is an extreme low calorie diet of 500 calories while either injecting the HCG hormone (human chorionic ganodotropin) or ingesting it, which is what I did; it helps subside hunger. This is so low in calories and boy did it work! Aside from the fact I was extremely lethargic, I dropped about 25 pounds in one month! Well, wouldn't you? 500 calories!!!!! BUT, because this diet has virtually no room to eat any fat, I started to have serious implications. I started having tooth pain on some of the teeth that had some gum recession. I mean, down to your knees, kinda pain. I also noticed a flare-up in my autoimmune disease, uveitis. I immediately stopped the diet, brought healthy fats back into my diet, such as yellow butter, cod liver oil, olive and coconut oil and the tooth pain completely stopped and my flare-up subsided! This taught me a lot about the importance of healthy fats in the diet and vowed to never again do any weight loss attempt that involved omitting my good fats!
Low Calorie: I did the 1200 calorie diet that put me on a low fat, low calorie restriction and I walked everyday. I did lose weight, a lot of weight, but the moment winter hit and I couldn't get outside to walk, I started to panic, and then the holidays approached, and well, the rest is history. It wasn't a good diet anyway for me because the minute you feel like you have to exercise to keep weight off or drink skim milk the rest of your life, you feel shackled and quit. Plus, your diet is not going to be optimal if low fat is part your daily eating regimen.
The Weigh Down: Not sure if you've heard about this diet with author Gwen Shamblin, but like her approach. You can eat anything you want, you just have to learn to listen to your body. Remarkable! You mean I should actually stop eating when I'm full? Genius! Only eat when you're actually hungry? Insane insight! Now, it wouldn't be fair if I didn't divulge the spiritual aspect to the book and that was to give God your hungry mind. I loved this part of the book, too. So I jumped in with both feet, knowing in my heart of hearts this was the diet for me, my neighbor, my friends, and my cat. After a month of giving it a go, praying when I wanted to overeat, never denying myself the so-called "forbidden foods" like Oreos, Fritos, you name it, and my whole family got fat. Now, of course Ive tried the diet using a more "healthy" approach, but the overall weight loss is slow and the results not the best, mainly because it messed with my mind. If nothing was off-limits, I ate too much food that wasn't good for my body, I just think that's human nature, and who eats just one cookie? I still gained a lot of insight from the book and no matter what you do, you should learn to listen to the God-given, hunger and full cues, God has given us.
Low Carb--Atkins: Now here we're getting closer to my go-to eating regime, but not quite. When I first tried Atkins a whole 15 years ago, to survive not eating bread and cookies, I resorted to diet drinks and sugar-free, low carb, packaged foods to get the weight off, that is until I'd fall of the wagon and binge on a whole package of Oreos. A whole package, people! Scary. I did this song and dance for about 10 years on and off until... after my 8th baby. Then, I was too old for my younger day's shenanigans. I needed a real way to lose the baby weight. A healthy way. I also needed to learn to not panic with extra weight and love the skin I'm in. Being in your 40's does that to you... you grow-up, hopefully.
The Paleo diet I never embarked on: Why? I didn't like the fact that the diet deemed dairy not part of our ancestor's diet. I believe and know that my body does well and needs good dairy. I buy my dairy that is either raw or vat. Details here. I can find Kalona's vat milk and dairy products at Whole Foods and in my local grocers health market.
 |
| I don't have a full body shot, but you can tell that I've slimmed down by just my face...not to mention, I have clear skin, and just an overall feeling of wellness. |
The way I slim down now is taken from years and years of dieting experience and all the research I've done until my eyes bled. I've taken all that data and experience that I knew didn't work, found out what did work, let-go of that perfect body I thought I had to have and began loving my body. I have eight children (and have had eleven pregnancies) and my 8th baby will be two this summer. This time around I've done pretty well with slimming down, being low carb. But not just any low carb. So let me explain...
Two of my children have had early childhood dental caries and two have alopecia areata. It's been a nightmare for me trying to figure it all out; but have. It's a recipe of research, failed attempts and a whole lot of God. I will discuss in deep detail on my success through it all in a later post, but my youngest having some small bare patches on his head made me dig deep on which holistic approach I needed to take to get to the bottom of all this. I nurse him and knew my diet needed to change and cut all the wheat, all the sugar, and all processed foods. I am on the low-carb diet, and am keto, but didn't do that until my boy was older and not solely fed through breast milk. I stick to 20 grams of carbs by eating vegetables and delicious salads with blue cheese dressing and this time, I don't resort to my desperate, "low-carb, no-sugar, processed fake food to get me by. Pinterest has been my best friend in finding wonderful treats to make using coconut, stevia, and dark chocolate. Look for recipes on my food blog by keeping track of me on Instagram. I've even found a killer low carb pizza crust using mostly cheese and almond flour. Say what?? I keep to grass-fed beef, high fat yellow butter, natural fermented sauerkraut as a probiotic and vat, Kalona cream. I've also found some paleo wraps made from coconut, that have saved my life and also drink plenty of water (La Croix is my absolute favorite drink out there on the market, today). I adhere to the Atkins protocol but make sure I eat well. I lost weight quickly, hardly hungry, and don't struggle with binges anymore thanks to the great homemade treats I love. A great side effect of high fat and protein diets is that it creates such satiety you don't even want to cheat, and the fact I have lost the pull and power that processed foods had over me, praise God! Another way I know pulling wheat and sugar has been beneficial is that my autoimmune disease is under control and by that I mean I can't even tell I have it. I'm expecting a full turn around from alopecia for my baby whom I've cut wheat from, too. Full report on him as soon as the reports are in!
 |
| my baby number 8 (swoon!) |
So, this is how I slim down while giving my body the respect it deserves and the nutrients it desperately needs. I have my family on a lower carb diet, but do make my own bread using organic flour for those without any gluten intolerance. Once I lose all I'd like, I can splurge once and awhile, but keeping the low carb diet as a lifestyle means you just go right back on. Share your weight loss thoughts and let me know if you have disease or conditions you or your babies might have that you are trying to heal holistically. I will be sharing my journey soon and would to love to hear!
Here's to loving our bodies, cutting out what undermines our health and giving it the nutrients it longs for!
Labels: atkins diet, autoimmune disease, diet, exercise, hcg, holistic weightloss, keto, low carb, natural, paleo, weight loss, wheat
