lose 50 pounds

I finally tipped the scale at the 50 pound mark today. It took a while, but I haven’t been actively involved in losing weight the way I was when I first started low-carbing.

The thing I’m happiest about is my non-diabetic blood sugar numbers. I want to continue to keep my blood sugar in normal ranges; I’m hoping to avoid complications associated with high blood sugar if at all possible.

As of today I’ve lost 46 pounds, so the goal is in sight. (Of course, there’s a part of me that fears I’ll jinx it by sharing this information…)

If anyone had told me I’d lose this much weight more or less effortlessly by eating stuff like full-fat Greek yogurt, beef jerky, cheese, almonds, olives and the occasional bit of salami, I’d say they were nuts. (Of course these aren’t the only things I eat – lean meats and fish, lots of non-starchy vegetables and regular hydration are also a big part of it – but eating proteins and healthy fats and severely limiting my carbohydrates kills two birds with one stone: it allows me to keep my blood sugars in the non-diabetic range and it has the added side effect of helping me take off the weight. So, woot.)

I still have a lot of weight to lose. But I feel good following this plan. I can stick with it. I don’t feel hungry all the time, so I’m not really tempted to binge. Besides, I now have a built-in anti-binge throttle because when my blood sugars get too high I start thinking about losing my feet and my kidneys… yeah, not so good, but it’s strong motivation not to eat too much of the wrong stuff.

What I’m really doing is losing 10 more pounds. Today I reached 40, so the next milestone is 50.

I’ve wanted to lose weight for some time, but I keep slipping off the bandwagon and gaining it back. No more. In late April I was diagnosed with Type II diabetes. IT SUCKS. And it’s not that I’m going to be able to fix that… right now, Type II diabetes is for life and there’s no sign of a cure any time in the foreseeable future. But I can certainly improve my chances for long life and relative health if I take the weight off.

This time I’m killing two birds with one stone by sticking to a low-carbohydrate diet. Meat, fish, lots of fresh vegetables, a few berries, some cheese… I’m staying away from starches and sugars of any kind, which is difficult but doable. (No pasta dish, no matter how delicious, is worth losing my kidneys over.) It’s actually a lot easier than Weight Watchers, because I find I’m not constantly hungry the way I was on other diets (though some of that is probably due to the metformin I’ve been taking; for the first time in years my cells are actually getting the nutrients they need!). Right now the pounds are coming off, a few each week, and as long as I take metformin and stick to the low-carb diet, my blood sugars stay in the nondiabetic range. I like that.