When I first posted about my health issue back in September. I posted how I had to change my life.
As mentioned, I have done many diets, I have gone up and down in weight all my life but now, more than ever, I had to do all that’s necessary to lose the weight and keep it off, no longer just to fit in pants or wear dress shirts, it became a matter of life and death.
I had to change my lifestyle and I started the Wheatbelly diet.
Some will say its very similar to Atkins and Paleo, but the main thing for Wheatbelly is the following:
Eliminate:
All wheat-based products (all breads, all breakfast cereals, noodles, pasta, bagels, muffins, pancakes, waffles, donuts, pretzels, crackers), oat products (oatmeal, oat bran), corn and cornstarch-based products (sauces or gravies thickened with cornstarch, prepared or processed foods containing cornstarch, cornmeal products like chips, tacos, tortillas), sugary soft drinks, candies.Avoid processed foods containing wheat, such as soy sauce, Twizzlers, Campbells Tomato Soup, salad dressings, taco seasoning–examine ALL labels and avoid any food with mention of wheat. (It’s not a bad idea to avoid foods with labels! Cucumbers and spinach, for instance, generally don’t come with labels.)
All other grain-containing products–especially those with corn, rye, barley, and rice. Corn, like wheat, is contained in many processed foods.
By following this plan, I lost 25 pounds in the first five weeks.
Here I am 18 weeks later and I have since lost 46 pounds on the Wheatbelly Diet.
My current goal is to reach 195 pounds but I will say it’s been a battle since my weight now stays at around 212-215 but I’m confident that I can reach 195 pounds by February or March.
It’s interesting because early summer, I let myself go by eating out too much and being a foodie. Thinking I could eat whatever I want but I didn’t realize the crap I was eating would really screw me over in a short amount of time and force me to go through various (expensive) medical tests.
But as of December 17th, what makes me happy is to see the difference in my face, the fact that I no longer have to wear size XXL and I am starting to wear size Large (some shirts I have to wear XL) and for pants, I went from size 40 at my heaviest and now I’m a size 33.
Here is how I looked in August at my heaviest. Followed by a photo of me in October and a picture in November.
I had my doctor’s exam earlier in the month and my doctor was so shocked but also so happy that I actually lost more than the 15 pounds that he was expecting. And I feel so much better.
Of course, the only caveat, that all my nice clothes purchased in my old size, no longer fit. All my denim and dress pants that I spent a bit on tailoring no longer fit. And I can’t purchase any clothes for the long term because I’m still dropping.
But I feel much better than I ever had in a very long time and it’s great to run and cycle again!
Still a work in progress, but I’m feeling much better!
