Low Carb Living...

So I'm not sure that I've actually posted WHY I'm all about low-carb. I posted a while back, the story of my life (health-wise) and that I've been 'dieting' since I was 12 years old.

Then in 2009 I was introduced to the most wonderful thing I could have ever learned - the low carb lifestyle!

In my previous post (see here - "Diet or Lifestyle") I posted about the fact that it was my doctor who told me to go low-carb and I thought she was insane. I mean I KNEW what was "healthy" and FAT IS NOT HEALTHY...right???

Oh how wrong I was...I remember looking on an atkins' message board and seeing people talk about "go eat a big ol' fatty piece of cheese, if you're hungry" and "go eat some bacon" and all that jazz...I was absolutely aghast thinking "seriously????"

So for a full year I didn't listen to my doctor (she told me in Oct 2007 to go low carb...) and so for the year of 2008 I tried and tried to do what I knew and that was the conventional low-fat, high-carb. Plus - HOW could I give up my beloved potato???!!!!

But when lost, only to regain, a total of 15 pounds in 2008, it was January 1, 2009 that I decided to go low carb. That month alone, I lost 10 pounds! In 2009 I lost a total of 33 pounds going from 193 to 160. It was FABULOUS! I was eating cheese and bacon and avocados and NOT having to "count points" or "calories" or anything!!!

I kept it off until right before our wedding in 2010. I gained back about 5 pounds, right before the wedding - but didn't think anything of it. Then on our honeymoon, well it was our HONEYMOON...you know? It wouldn't matter...right? I could eat whatever I wanted!

It was in March of 2010 that I went off of birth control. Our wedding was in June, but I figured IF anything happened...I'd only be 3 months pregnant at the wedding, lol.

And - so - that was my decline down the slippery slope of carbs...I kept thinking "well, I'm going to be pregnant soon, so a few carbs here and there won't matter!" Yeah - famous last words...

Those "few carbs" turned into fries 2-3 nights a week, buns on everything and just full blown CARBS! ugh.

I knew what I was doing was NOT good for my health - but the more the months passed on withOUT us getting pregnant, the more I kept getting depressed and thinking "It doesn't matter"...

So especially after we found out we were dealing with infertility - THAT just made things sooooo much worse.

I absolutely missed eating low-carb, but those wonderful awesome carby-sugary foods kept calling my name! ANNNND 33 pounds later, I was right back to where I started.

And, I was miserable. I must admit. While all those high-carb, high-sugar foods TASTED good, somewhere deep inside me, I just knew it was wrong. No joke.

But I also didn't care after a while...

So we went in to meet with a ReProductive Endocrinologist to see what our options were - she told me, "you need to be in a healthy metabolic range". Personally I don't believe in BMI and think that number is bunk - BUT she had a point. I knew I had gained all the weight back and I also knew I was SO much happier - mentally and physically - when I was eating low-carb.

So - that night - I went back LC - cold turkey!

I love the low-carb lifestyle. For one thing - when I eat, I don't have that "bloated" feeling like I do when I'm eating all that junk. I also LOVE the low-carb community online! It's such an amazing helpful community that - even as no-name woman out here in the world, I feel like I'm a part of something HUGE!

Low-Carb has also introduced me to so many foods that I'd have NEVER eaten before! Coconut Oil, Chia Seeds, Flax-SeedsAlmond Flour, full-fat bacon, full-fat cottage cheese, full-fat EVERYTHING!!

It just makes me feel AWESOME knowing that I'm eating the way we were meant to eat. Low-Fat is NOT healthy. Plus, low-fat doesn't taste good anyways! lol.

Also - being Insulin Resistant, I do not want to end up full-blown diabetic like people in my family.

This time around the weight is coming off SO much slower than it did that first time...it's been 1 month and I'm only down 5 pounds. BUT hey - I'M DOWN 5 POUNDS! :)

I mean, seriously - how AWESOME is that??!!

And - I'm only concentrating on the weight because my RE (who also told me to go back on Low Carb) wants me to be in that "healthy metabolic range" - which I personally think is BUNK and always have...to look at me, you'd NEVER in a million years call me "fat" or "overweight" - but 5 pounds ago, I was technically "obese".

I tell people I have 33 pounds to lose and they look at me and ask "from where??" (that makes me feel good! haha). I have a lot of muscle and am healthy. But if I have to lose 33 pounds in order to do IVF, then damnit, I will lose 33 pounds!