Four months ago I went to the doctor for my annual physical. The results were anything but good: my blood sugar was above normal, I was seriously overweight, and my doctor gave me a diagnosis of "pre-diabetic." He told me that I had to get serious about my health or he would have to start me on insulin shots and other forms of treatment.
I went home very very scared. I talked it over with my girlfriend and I told her about how once, many years before, I'd gone on a crash diet and lost a ton of weight in less than a year. She said that wasn't healthy, but that it would be possible to do something similar without hurting myself. Together we watched a bunch of videos about food and nutrition. Among the DVDs we watched were, Forks Over Knives, Fed Up, Super-Size Me, and one called Fat Sick and Nearly Dead. They all opened our eyes to the world of food marketing and nutrition. We haven't been the same since.
We changed our lifestyle around completely. We started restricting our meat to turkey and chicken no more than twice a week, exercising more, watching our sugar intake, and getting more informed about what we were eating. In two months I lost fifteen pounds. But try as I might, I couldn't lose any more than that. So, there was nothing more to do but double-down.
Starting in January, I gave up meat, dairy, and even eggs. In place of my morning egg whites, I drink a pint of vegetable and fruit purée alongside a bowl of unsweetened oatmeal. My salads no longer have cheese on them. I get my protein from tofu and soybeans. My workouts have increased. And the results were just what I hoped for: I lost more weight, and I've succeeded in losing 7% of my body mass, just like my doctor asked me to! But, I've decided to go for more of a weight-loss, and am within thirteen pounds of doing so!
It has not been easy. I miss sitting down to fluffy pancakes with butter and maple syrup for breakfast. At night I dream about pork roasts and lamb chops and biscuits smothered in gravy. It's hard to wake up to carrot and radish juice and cold tofu with soy sauce for breakfast after dreaming about beef Bourgogne, but I've adjusted.still, there have been some funny moments. Today at work, my size 42 pants nearly fell off my waist, and my belt couldn't be pulled any tighter! It literally ran out of holes! My girlfriend wants to take me clothes shopping for new stuff that fits.
The tough part is going to be keeping this weight off. It's harder because the fact is that I love to cook! But, I'm learning how to make allowances. Yesterday I bought a sack of whole wheat flour, and I'm going to make a pan of wheat and carrot muffins tomorrow. I can slather some sugar-free jam on them and enjoy them guilt-free.
Thirteen more pounds to go, and if I make it, maybe even another twenty! Wish me luck! You can join Unsolved Mysteries and post your own mysteries or
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