Would you like to know how to finally drop that unwanted weight? It’s easy! I’ve finally learned the secret: STOP EATING.
(Sort of.)
One side effect of this elimination diet that I hadn’t counted on was the flat-out melting away of poundage on my behind (and my sides, and my arms, and my legs…).
I’ve lost 25 pounds in three weeks. Y’all, that’s a whole toddler! It’s exhilarating stuff. Frightening, but exhilarating.
I know the experts say you shouldn’t lose more than a pound a week for healthy weight loss, but since I’m not doing this TO lose weight, I’m not going to worry my tired little head over that piece of wisdom.
What I am going to keep in mind, though, is that carbs and sugar seem to be the weight killers for me. I was never someone with a huge sweet tooth, but I would positively drool over the thought of nachos, bread, pancakes, waffles, tortillas and chips with salsa or queso. (Oh, yum…why did I start thinking about that now??) One of the first things I did when I discovered Mr. Charm couldn’t have eggs or dairy was to seek out replacements for those very things.
It was actually a lot easier than I thought to find dairy and egg replacements for breads and breakfast goodies. Maybe it wasn’t a good thing that I did, because on this diet I can have NONE of those things…and my body is just…rejecting the extra poundage I carried for too many years.
I now, officially, am wearing clothes I haven’t been able to stuff my body into for 16 years. (No, I don’t keep “skinny clothes” in my wardrobe, but there are always a handful of garments most women keep for sentimental reasons, and by yimminy, I can wear them again!)
So aside from keeping Mr. Happy healthy, I’ve discovered that I can perhaps keep myself healthier, too. When I can start eating “normally” again, I’ll keep a close eye on those weight-killers so I can stay at my “OMG Let’s go shopping!” weight.
Honestly, clothes fitting aside, one of the best things about this is that I can finally curl again. Once upon a time, I always sat with my legs curled up under me in some way or another. I didn’t even realize it, but the last few years I haven’t been sitting that way. My legs wouldn’t fit comfortably squeezed so tightly. I’m curling up all the time now, and I LOVE IT!
I’m also sleeping better, and have a little more bounce to my step. I don’t know if that’s from the weight loss, or from just cutting out the processed crap that was still in my diet, but…either way, it’s a good thing.
By the way? I’m still losing weight. That 25 pounds was apparently just the starting point.
Have any of you lost crazy amounts of weight on an elimination diet? Please tell us you didn’t gain it all back!
Just wondering if you were at a “healthy” weight before starting the ED? Any tips on maintaining supply while on the ED?
No, I was not at a ‘healthy’ weight before the TED. For over ten years, I had been stuck at a weight that put me right on the border between “overweight” and “obese”. No matter what I tried, I could not lose any weight!
I’ve never been interested in so-called ‘fad’ diets; I always leaned towards trying to eat less and better and exercise…it never ever worked. I stayed at a steady 190 for YEARS.
Since this whole journey began, I’ve learned SO much about our food supply and about the tendencies of my family and my own body in regards to how we handle food. Now I realize that all my attempts at “eating healthy” over the years were misguided at best, self-defeating at worst. My parents and I have all discovered, through Jed’s diagnosis, that we have varying degrees of fructose malabsorption, which certainly contributed to a ton of our health problems over the years.
I’ve also come to the conclusion that wheat and/or grains and/or sugar are just flat out bad for my body. I’d been dairy free since Jed was two months old, and never lost a pound. But once the wheat and sugar were gone, well…the weight melted off so quickly it was downright scary at times!
Now I’m at a healthy weight; a weight I had previously assumed was an impossibility for me to achieve.
I’ll never, EVER go back to eating the way I did before. I like looking and feeling this way FAR too much! 🙂
As far as maintaining supply, I eat like a pig and fry most of it! LOL
No, seriously, I eat when I’m hungry, and I eat til I’m full. I keep track of my food on the “Lose It” app on my phone, and I usually consume between 2700-3500 calories per day.
I make sure to eat lots of beef and olive oil to keep my protein and fat intake up. Those are very important to maintaining a healthy supply.
Zac is now 18 months old, and while he wasn’t gaining weight for 9 months being EBF, he wasn’t losing weight and hung on to the growth chart. It was enough to maintain him, physically.
Keep in mind, I nurse exclusively and nurse on demand. Even if that means some days he nurses for 15 minutes every half hour all.day.long.
Pumping has always signaled my boobies that they don’t need to produce as much, and my supply will tank. I’d recommend nursing as often as possible, both sides, and throw in a pumping session whenever you get the chance to try and get some backup milk in your freezer and encourage your supply to stay at peak.
At this point in time, you really ARE eating for two! So don’t scrimp on the calories! Follow your physical cues. I find that when Zac is in a growth spurt, I get more hungry more often. When he gets past it, I can drop a snack or two with no hunger.
So, listen to your body, eat as much as your can of healthy fats and proteins, and nurse as often as you can. Does that help?
Yes, very much! Thank you! My LO nurses exclusively as well and on demand. We go back to the nutritionist and allergist on the 17th and discussing the next step for her. She’s gaining weight EXTREMELY slowly and still has not reached baseline so I am researching a stricter ED to help her with that. Your blog is great!