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Our Weight Loss Challenge

9/18/2014

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Wallis Simpson, the American socialite who caused the British king to abdicate his throne for love, most famous quote is, “You can never be too thin or too rich.” In a country where the average waistline is growing rapidly, losing weight is almost as desirous as winning the lottery.

My husband and I set out together to lose weight. My primary goal was to eliminate the added pounds that made my work with preschoolers diificult. There’s a lot of kneeling and squatting involved. Getting back on my feet was an ordeal. I also wanted to fit back into an entire closet of size ten clothes. 


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Years ago, I chaperoned a youth theme park trip. Most of the adults walked up to a roller coaster along with the children. Out of the eight adults, only two  could fit into the narrow seats. I managed, just barely.  Nope, I had no grandiose dreams of being a size four only the ability to easily sit in a roller coaster seat without the teen attendant speculating if he could get the bar down over my girth.

This desire to lose weight existed for both my husband and I, but we only half-heartedly pursued it, especially when our gym membership produced strained muscles without any positive changes to our physiques. We blamed our inability to shed unwanted pounds on our age.  Our attitude changed with a hair appointment.  The newly slim figure of our hairdresser did it. While he trimmed off my spilt ends, he explained how he went on an Atkins program and lost fifty pounds in the last year.


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Most people think of the Atkins diet has devouring endless mountains of meat. I did.  It  also includes fruits, vegetable, nuts, and dairy products. It is more notable for what it doesn’t include, sugar.  The no sugar challenge changed my grocery shopping immensely. I was no longer, a fan of processed food because it contained so much sugar even in canned vegetables and bread. Even processed meat has sugar in it.

Would you eat something that would stack the weight on, increase your dental bill, affect your mood negatively, cause wrinkles, and multiply your rate of heart attack?  Of course not, that may be why you try to avoid fast food or candy bars. A regular size yogurt has more sugar in it than a candy bar that you denied yourself in your effort to lose weight. Don't get me started on drinks.


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This isn’t my opinion or even the Atkins folks; it comes from years of testing and medical professionals. CNN recently aired a video why sugar is worse than fat. Low-fat or lite products came on the market in the eighties. They replaced the fat with extra sugar actually shooting up the calorie count of low fat food. Not surprisingly, the average American’s weight shot up too. We currently have more obese children in the history of the country than ever before.   Part of the blame goes to the Standard American Diet of processed and fast food and the rest to kids too consumed with technology to go out and play. 

The movie, Killer at Large explains in detail how the obesity epidemic occurred. It is amazing how many opportunities we have to impulse eat that never existed twenty years ago. 
PictureJunk food ads feature thin, fit people.
As for our diet, my husband and I both lost around thirty pounds each over a six-month span. My joints no longer creak or complain when I squat or kneel. I am also able to sleep better and don’t suffer the mood swings I did previously. We both have more energy and are able to golf, dance, and ride roller coasters. Most people assume we’ll go back to the old style of eating since we lost the weight we wanted.

Nope, I don’t want to make it easy for that weight to find me. Instead, we eat mindfully, aware of the origin of our food. It’s harder to find food that is sugar free, but it does exist. Check out my blog where I rate various low carb recipes and food products.  In fact, I am getting ready to do a Thanksgiving blog.

Most successful weight loss plans are a version of the Atkins diet. It is basically the same diet used on The Biggest Loser reality show. Keep in mind, those folks do five hours of exercise a day too. Don’t expect your results to be as fast, but do exercise around thirty minutes a day.

Was it hard? Was it worth it? The first two weeks were tough. Now, it is more planning than anything else. We do eat items like nachos and pizza, but we buy the mixes from a LC Foods. We even go out, but have a list of restaurant that serve healthy alternatives. Occasionally, we have a splurge, but not too much. I remember all too well the work and time that went into losing the weight. Ironically, since we’ve grown used to a diet of fresh fruits and veggies, the occasional ‘normal’ dessert is too sweet.


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I'm back into my size 10 wedding dress.
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