21 down

(*Not my image)

283 WAS my highest weight. Two hundred and eighty three pounds. You gotta' love PCOS, the ovarian syndrome that I have that causes weight gain, more hair on your chin/face, less hair on your head, issues with my monthly cycle, troubles having babies and the list goes on. Pretty exciting stuff huh? Well, I've decided to take control of this disease and work on my own insecurities. I know that beauty comes from within blah blah blah :-) But when I met my handsome husband 16 years ago, I was a sexy 120-125 pounds...now I'm more than double that. He loves me big or little, but I need to make sure that I still love me. Plus with five children and this beautiful farm...I need to make sure that I'm around to enjoy all of these gifts.

So...that image above!? See the large blob of fat on the bottom shelf? That's 20 pounds of fat...As of this morning...I have lost 21 pounds. I've lost just a touch over that blob. I feel really good about that. I still have another 120 pounds to lose (at least)...it's not going to be easy, but I feel confident that I can do it. So how am I doing it this time? I'm tracking every bite of food that I put in my mouth. I have a great excel spreadsheet - it's definitely time consuming - but worth it. I eat similar foods every day, so once I list a food and have all the nutrition facts then really it is just copying and pasting the information. I try to stay within the recommended daily allowances for things like calories, saturated fat, iron, fiber, protein etc. I also found an excel equation to determine your Weight Watcher points. I'm not doing WW, but I think that it is just another way to make sure that you are on track. Here's the equation for anyone needing it:  =(Calories/50)+(Total Fat/12)-(Fiber/5). I've also been working out when I have time, but that is definitely something that needs to be stepped up. I'm worried about plateaus though. So I'm stepping into this program. First, get my food down, then have blood work done to see how my levels are working for (or against) me and then get the exercise program going. The food seems to be pretty well shaped, although I have my times, sometimes a couple days in a row where I'm not sticking to the diet...but I'm ok as long as I jump back on the wagon before too much damage is done. When I went to the doctor, I found out that I'm anemic - so I've been taking iron supplements. The doctor also put me on Metformin, a drug made for diabetics, and although I'm not a diabetic (yet...and hopefully will not ever be one) - because PCOS is associated with insulin resistance the Metformin helps my body understand how to process the insulin it should help with weight loss. I want to make sure that this weight never comes back...it's so hard to get the weight off. I'm taking it slow and being smart about it, although at times it is very frustrating that I'm not losing Biggest Loser kind of weight. But 21 pounds in just shy of 3 months isn't too shabby.