Well, that explains some things...

Okay, it's been a long time since my last post (again). But, in the intervening 6+ months, I've discovered some things...

Thing 1: South Beach Diet does work, but not for the reasons that I thought it did...

Thing 2: I'm at least sensitive to gluten, if not downright intolerant of it. That means that my body dislikes anything with wheat, barley, or rye in it... I've further pinpointed it to know that, while my body doesn't like any of those things, it really doesn't like wheat.

So, late last year, I tried giving up gluten. Even eating copious amounts of rice, corn, potatoes and other carb-filled goodies, I lost about 5 pounds almost overnight. The weightloss then stalled, but it was a good indicator that I needed to stay far away from gluten. So, it wasn't really the carbs that were doing me in, it was the carbs full of gluten. I've stayed mostly gluten free since then, but I do occasionally try wheat to see if it was an abberation, only to find out that, no, it really does make me sick.

But, I was still not losing weight.

I know several people who have had really good luck with Weight Watchers. Unfortunately, I don't have a way to the meetings (even if I could scrape up the $50/month), so I was left with minimal options. I looked into the online program, but it's also kind of pricey. I did find, however, that they have an At Home program. Since S. has agreed to do it with me, I figured that the At Home kit would be a good investment. So, we're gonna start WW. Well, I kind of already have, since C. sent me some info about points and whatnot. S. & I need to find a scale that will weigh him accurately and designate it as our "Weigh In" scale, which we will then use once a week. At the end of the month, we're planning to join the Y, so I'm hoping there will be one there. If not, then we'll have to find one we can use at home and hide it except for WI day. I get so obsessed about the numbers on the scale that weighing in once a week will just have to do. I'll keep my food journal and make sure I'm hitting, but not exceeding, my Points, drinking my water, and doing my exercise. If I'm doing everything OP, then the scale will reflect that. If it doesn't, then Dr. M and I will be having another talk. But, for now, I'm going to take it on faith that, if I eat quality foods of the correct point total (31/day + 35/week), drink at least 64oz of water and get at least 30 min/day of exercise, my weight will go down. I'm having issues with taking things on faith lately, so we'll consider this an exercise. :-)

According to our scale @ home, I'm starting this journey at 250 pounds. My 10% goal, then, is 25 pounds and you're supposed to allow 6 months for that. Part of me whines "that's sooooo slow", but I know that they want to set your first goal as very acheivable, and that is (at least in theory). So, I'll suck it up and set that as my goal. 25 pounds by August 1. We'll just have to see.