I haven't updated in a few weeks, as life has been busy.  My grandfather passed away, and I traveled to Texas, then to Arkansas for his final resting spot.  He was such a brilliant man.  He has several patents in the oilfield and was able to revolutionize the way drilling was done in the early 70's.  I will miss him.  He had a long productive life, all anyone can ask for. 

When I found out that my grandfather was going to be placed in hospice, and during the week long trip, I ate horribly.  I also get very constipated when I travel.  So, I was up on the scale a bit before I left, at 175.6, but up even more when I got back home, at 182.3!!  Yikes!!  Almost a 10 pound gain from my last post!

I am happy to report that I started my IF and Primal eating this week and I am already down to 173.2!  Yay!!  I am sooooooo hoping to see the 160's by next week.  If I could get down to the low 160's for my appointment with Dr. Acosta on June 21st, I will be ecstatic!

Even though IF seems to be working for me, very well, I realize it's not for everyone.  I can't even imagine doing this without having my sleeve or some other type of WLS as a tool.  I do get hungry with my sleeve, unfortunately.  However, I know my hunger is much lower than it would be without it. So, if anyone has regain or slow weight loss, it might be worth looking in to.

My eating has been pretty good this week.  I even made a homemade pizza with cauliflower crust.  I have to say it was DELICIOUS but a pain in the butt to make.  Not sure we will have it very often!  ha ha

Hope everyone is FINALLY getting some spring and warm weather....have a great rest of the week!

I think I am on week 4 or 5 of doing the intermittent fasting (IF).  My eating window is between 3pm and 9pm Monday through Friday.  I eat whenever I want on the weekends, and pretty much have been eating very lax on the weekends, too. 

What I have noticed is that my sleeve seems to have shrunk a bit, my blood sugar numbers are great and I am actually seeing a drop on the scale again!  I have lost about 7 pounds this month, and for ME that is stupendous!! 

I weighed in at 173.4 this morning! 

I want to be down in the low 160's by June 21st, when I see Dr. Acosta again.  I think that is totally doable! 

I have also been trying to stick to primal eating, and during the week, I do pretty well.  I have a few snacks or hiccups that don't exactly fit in to primal eating, especially on the weekends, but for the most part I am doing well.  I really think the weight loss has more to do with IF, but unless I stopped doing it, I wouldn't know for sure.  I don't want to stop. 

I have been lax about getting my exercise in.  I need to get back in to the habit.  I think that will accelerate the weight loss even more.  After almost a year of not working hard at my weight loss, this feels wonderful!

We are having friends over for dinner tomorrow.  I plan on grilling up some fish for fish tacos.  Yum!!  Hope everyone has a great and safe weekend!

I typed up a very long (and of course brilliant) blog on Friday, but alas, when I went to post, it gave me an error and I lost the entire blog!    Needless to say, I was too disgusted that day to re-write the entire thing. 

Okay, on to my updates. 

I decided to dump the eating disorder therapist.  I really wasn't feeling a connection with her, and knew I needed to just move on.  I know that I still have issues with food, so, if I feel the need to try therapy once again, I will just try out another therapist. 

For about 3-4 weeks now I have been doing my best to stick to "primal eating".  This way of eating is mainly just taking in meats, veggies and small amounts of fruit.  I am sure  many have heard of "Paleo" diet or eating, it's pretty much the same concept, but with dairy being allowed and a bit more fruit.  I am just not willing to give up half and half in my coffee and a bit of cheese here and there.  ha ha

I tend to eat primal most of the week, with kind of letting loose on the weekends.  I could definitely tell that I felt better, staying away from processed carbs is always good for me.  However, I wasn't seeing a big loss on the scale. I did notice several "primal" followers on a blog were talking about intermittent fasting.  Hmmmmm

My son (he is 21) started intermittent fasting (IF) last summer.  There are many ways to go about it, and he decided to give himself an eating window of 6-8 hours.  The other 16-18 hours in a day were fasting.  I was skeptical when he told me he was embarking on this.  It just sounded a bit unhealthy.  However, he proved me wrong.  He didn't have a lot of weight to lose, but he did lose quite a bit. 

Seeing that other people were trying this with success, I decided to give it a whirl.  I honestly didn't think I could do it.  I decided to give it a whirl 2 weeks ago.  I started on a Monday, of course.  ha ha  I brought a couple of snacks with me to work, JUST IN CASE.  My plan was to not eat anything until 3pm, and my eating window would close at 9pm. 

The first day wasn't too bad.  I made it.  So, I decided to incorporate this IF Monday through Friday, and not have an eating window on the weekends.  The first 2 weeks have been very successful.  I am still tweaking it, as I know I am not getting enough protein in, but my calories are way down. 

The surprising thing for me has been my blood sugar.  I take Metformin, and I worried that going that long without eating might make my blood sugar drop too low.  However, every time I check my blood sugar, it's been great.  Sometimes it's in the high 70's, but mostly it's been in the 80's and 90's.  After eating dinner, my blood sugar is either just below or just a tad above 100.  So, that's been a great benefit! 

I am down to 174.6, which is my lowest weight with the sleeve! 

I have been letting myself have crap on the weekends, which sees the scale go up a couple of pounds, but they have been disappearing pretty quickly, usually by Tuesday.  It's pretty much water weight from carbs, etc. 

This last weekend, I noticed that my blood sugar numbers were STILL very good, even after eating some crap.  So, I am thinking my body likes the IF.  It makes life easier, as I don't have to have worry about breakfast and packing a lunch, etc.  I just come to work and drink coffee and water. 

A big part of this journey is finding what works for YOU.  Doing IF has even seemed to have shrunk my sleeve a little bit.  So, for now, I am going to say this is working for ME,  I will stick with it while it's working.  It's great seeing the scale go down again!  Hope everyone has a great week!

Checking in!  I am still working on my second job of taking care of me.  I am get better at it, have a few hiccups here and there, but it's a long-term thing.  This is not a seasonal job. 

My scale is up a bit.  Partly with my eating over the weekend, and partly because I know my period will be here any time now.  I weighed in at 180.2 this morning.  I am not worried about it, as I am pretty much doing what I should be doing.  I took some time off over the weekend.  That's okay.  Life happens. 

We celebrated the fact that we are totally moved out of the old house and gave the keys back.  We left it in better shape than it was when we moved in, so I was relieved to finally be done with that.  It was a great weekend and we got a lot accomplished. 

So, for the most part, I am trying to stick to the Primal form of eating.  I am trying to stay away from highly processed anything, even if it is supposedly "healthy".  I also am trying to avoid sugar and grains like the plague.  The exceptions I am allowing myself are the gluten-free crackers I have and homemade popcorn. 

This week, I am also throwing in some intermittent fasting.  My son did this last year and had great success with it.  Some of the "Primal" folks were also getting in to it.  So, my eating window each day is from 3pm to 9pm.  Yesterday, was my first day trying this.  I do have coffee and sf-drinks throughout the day.  It's an experiment.  I can guarantee that if I didn't have my sleeve to help fight back hunger, this would have been nearly impossible for me.  Luckily, I have a tool built for this! ha ha

I also got my lazy butt out yesterday and did my 3 mile walk at lunchtime.  It was so gorgeous outside, I was so happy that I went.  Ahhhhhh, feels good to have a plan feel back in control again.  Hope everyone has a great week!!

 So, my last entry I talked about how I had a bit of an epiphany about myself.    I concluded that my work ethic is pretty strong and I manage to drag myself in to work no matter how tired or achy I am.  I don't let small problems get in the way of me getting in to work.  However, with my eating, I seemed to let the least little thing throw me off of my eating plan.

I knew I was ready to change that, last week, just needed a bit of inspiration.  I started reading more about "Primal" eating plans.  I liked that better than "Paleo", as you are still allowed some dairy and a bit more fruit.  I had read about all of it before, and I think planned on trying it when I had my band.  BUT, my band wouldn't allow solid proteins a good percentage of the time, so it was just too hard to stick to anything while banded.

I doubly knew that I was ready to change when I decided to switch my eating up mid-week.  Not the usual, "I'll start on Monday..." bull crap. 

I went to the store and stocked up on fruit, salad makings, and some chicken.  In advance, I decided that I would allow myself gluten-free crackers that I had in the pantry and popcorn.  Those two items would be the only "iffy" things allowed in my new way of eating, except for VERY special occasions.  I also decided that I wasn't going to limit my fruit intake.  I made these decisions, knowing that if I limited myself TOO much, I would never stick to any kind of plan. 

I had amazing will power that first few days.  I guess it just goes to show that when you are ready for a change, and  have given in to the change absolutely, it's much easier to accomplish your goals.   I definitely dealt with the carb withdrawal.  I had a low level headache for 3 days, and felt lethargic and sleepy.  I think I am on the other side of the withdrawal symptoms now, as my cravings have diminished greatly, along with my hunger. 

I seem to be MAINLY only craving good, wholesome foods.  I really do want to try and stay away from any kind of Franken-food.  I want my body to run efficiently and with the right nutrients that it knows how to break down and use. 

I am down a few pounds so far.  I weighed in at 176 this morning.  So, I now have a second job.  I have to be just as dedicated to "showing up" for this job as I do my first job.  I can have SOME time off, but as with any job, not much time off when you first start.  You have to build up some momentum and prove you understand and can perform your job well.  Me?  I am working towards being employee of the month!