Closer to my goal

A couple of years ago I starting doing the Bridget Joes thing and trying to lose weight unsuccessfully. I was always between 6 and 8lbs from my goal. When I got 12lbs from my goal I stopped commenting on it, I was getting older, my metabolism was slowing, may be this was to be expected. Compared to a lot of people that was not a lot to lose, but to me it was this huge number that I could chip every now and then, but got nowhere. Three weeks ago I started reading about carbs, glycemic index and Atkins. Now Atkins is a scary word, the whole idea of not worrying about eating animal fats went against every fiber of my being; I be came a Vulcan at the thought - it is totally illogical in terms of weight loss.

Well call me Dr Spock, I have lost 10lbs in 3 weeks by reducing my carbohydrate intake by a third (anything under 100g of carbohydrates). This has involved not worrying about calories and just counting my daily carbohydrate intake while eating foods high in fat and protein. As an ex-biochemist I do understand some of the logic; the brain needs glucose from carbohydrates…if you don't eat enough to feed your brain the body breaks down fat to supply the brain with it's fussy glucose-only requirement. What I don't quite understand is I was eating fondue, brie and crackers, big steaks of salmon and beef and lost weight. Every morning I'd giggle on the way to the scales because I knew those digits would be less than the day before.

So now I can happily go back to being a pseudo Ms Jones and say "I am 2lbs from my goal". What this means is I am 2lbs from being the same weight I was in 1989, and exactly the weight I have on my drivers license…the one I lied about 6 years ago :-) This also means I have found what I need to do to lose weight. I believe we are all different and different things work for different people. All the diets out there do work for some people. You have to find what works and I think it takes a while to get something that is compatible with your lifestyle, body make and metabolism.

I feel a little like Ophra!