I made an appointment with an endo...TWO MONTHS, sheesh. I don't want to wait two months just for a consult. I know that compared to some places that two months is nothing and that time flies, but I was thinking like next week, heh. I might try finding another endo that can fit me in earlier, but the one I made my appointment with is well regarded in the local trans community. Anyway, another two months will give me time to get my weight down some more.
On the 4th of July which is the six month anniversary of changing my diet, I am down 101 pounds and 12 inches off of my belly. I have been taking my weight loss for granted, but when I stand back and look at how much I have lost it really seems astounding. That is like 16 pounds a month, but the month of May was pretty much a loss as I hit a major plateau which makes it closer to 20 pounds per month or 5 pounds per week in weeks that I was actually losing. My little diet app on my phone won't even let you set a goal of more than about 2 lbs/week (1kg/week). When I started my weight loss journey, I was expecting it to take me over a year. I have not weighed this little (if 219 is little) since I was in 10th grade.
My current goal based on my latest body fat scan is around 205 which puts me at 15% body fat. I wonder what hormones will do to my lean muscle mass and how that will affect my overall weight at the end of all of this. I would be happier with slimmer legs. My legs have very little fat on them currently and just the muscles are HUGE, I guess I will see.
If anyone is interested in how I have lost so much weight, I will go over how I have done it. DISCLAIMER: I am not a medical or dietary specialist and anything I say here is not advice but merely my own methodology based on information that I have gleaned from sources mostly on the internet.
First, I started exercising daily. Since I was so heavy, I opted for the lower impact motions of the elliptical trainer at Planet Fitness ($10/month, open 24 hrs). I selected the cardio option which monitors your heart rate and adjusts the difficulty accordingly to keep you in the correct heart range. The duration of my workout was an hour (highest the machine would let me select). I would stretch before and after each workout. My workouts generally start at night between the hours of 9:30 and 10:30.
Second, I shifted to a low carb ketogenic diet. I tried to keep my net carbs below 20 grams per day. I had dieted on low carb diets before and seen really good results, but I would always lose my motivation and go back to overeating (the emotional comforts of junk food are just too good and what did I need to be skinny for, life sucked). The science behind low carb diets is really kinda cool and I would highly advise anyone looking to try a ketogenic diet to understand how the diet actually helps them lose weight. There were really two documentaries that really helped me get the picture about exactly how awful refined sugars are: "Sugar Busted" available on Netflix and "The Skinny on Obesity" available on YouTube.
Third, Calorie restriction. I tried to keep my calories under 1500 calories per day. In the beginning this was EASY but got harder the more I lost weight. I hit my first plateau in the 270's and then again in the 230's. Some will warn of muscle loss with calorie restricted diets, but apparently, keto diets are very muscle sparing in this regard. Based on my body fat analysis that I had done in May, I had lost 90 pounds and only 10 of that was muscle. I'll take that ratio any day, especially since I want to be less bulky at the end of the day.
Lastly, I started engaging in intermittent fasting which is what has helped me get over the plateaus. As with keto diets, there is a wealth of information on intermittent fasting and I would highly advise becoming familiar with the science of fasting before starting. I would skip a meal or two which would put my body in the fasted state for 12-24 hours during which all of my energy consumption would come from stored fat reserves in my body. It has been VERY empowering to realize that even after not eating for up to 3 days (my longest fast) that I am not starving. Indeed, when I broke my 3 day fast, I wasn't even hungry. When fasting, it is important to still consume water and vitamins/minerals and especially electrolytes.
As involved as all of that is, my biggest challenge in this endeavor (and most throughout my life) has been one of motivation. When I am motivated, I move mountains. When I am not, I am a lazy bum. Here's to staying motivated!
Ok, well that was a mouthful, I hope that post wasn't too long. Feel free to ask any questions that I might have not answered.
Julie
