I‘m sure for a lot of my readers, this is the more exciting part of this to read.  But I didn’t feel like I could share WHAT I have been doing without explaining what caused me to finally do it (read here if you missed that first post!).  I have really only dieted 1 other time in my life: the 6 months before our wedding 9 years ago.  With the exception of that time and some general attempts to not be completely UNHEALTHY, I typically didn’t watch what I ate. I would not say that I ate HORRIBLY (I didn’t eat out every day or multiple times a day and limited big treats or fatty Starbucks drinks a bit), but I definitely did not eat healthily.  Before our wedding, Michael and I followed weight watchers and essentially calorie counted.  It didn’t go swimmingly well, but I lost maybe 15 lbs max and kept it off for the big day.  We were super motivated, and had a lot of spare time on our hands because it was life pre-kids (even though we felt so busy then, which is so funny to me now!).  It was challenging though because honestly, I just like food!  I came from a family who loved to eat and married into one who also does!  People cook well, everyone loves desserts…we get joy out of food!  And I don’t think there’s anything specific wrong with that, nor did I want to 100% change that about myself.

About a year after baby #1, I went back to work part time, and I simultaneously lost all my extra baby weight and then some (maybe 15 lbs then too) without trying at all, but it isn’t as glamorous as it sounds– I was in a season of HIGH anxiety, and it wasn’t a great time for me.  The transition was hard for me, and I wasn’t in a great place.

I kept 10 lbs from both of my next 2 pregnancies.  But where I was pre babies was still higher than I should be, so even though I am now down 20 lbs, I plan to lose another 15-20.

I waited a while to share because I wanted to be sure that it really was working for me and that I would be able to maintain the lower weight before I told others what I was doing, and like all my stories, this won’t be short.  I debated calorie counting again (and gave a few days of half hearted effort) a TON of times in the last 6 years.  Michael has had a lot of success with it throughout that time with careful tracking through apps, but I have always been super resistant because honestly, I just cannot fathom fitting tracking with the app into my already overloaded brain and days, so I just kept thinking I could do it without tracking, but that just doesn’t work for me.

I have this friend who is super healthy and active (and a mom to 2) who has gone through phases over the last few years of our close friendship where she was doing what I call the “her name diet” (I’ll just keep her name to myself here though :)) where she just DOESN’T eat carbs. The first time she told me, I thought it was NUTS.  What do you mean, no carbs?! What DO YOU EAT?  Because carbs are my #1 love.

But as my mind started deciding it was out of excuses and that I wanted to get serious, I started considering it.  With calorie counting, there were always “flex” calories, or it was easy for me just to say “Well, I don’t know what this has in it exactly”…I could explain any choices away and would derail my attempts quickly.  But if there were just certain food groups that were a NO? Maybe that is something that would work for my brain!  I talked more to my friend about it, and her dieting was actually a slight modification on the South Beach Diet (remember that one, friends?!), where you focus on super low carb low sugar (but also low fat unlike some of the current fad diets).  You do 2 weeks of really NO carbs and sugar…and then you slowly start to add things back in.

Could I do this?  If I had such FIRM rules, could I try those 2 weeks and see?  I decided yes.  So for 2 weeks starting April 8, I went into that first phase of the South Beach Diet.  It was not easy.  You see…mostly what is left is veggies and meat…neither of which I love. 😂 But also eggs, which I do love, and I made it work.  Was it 100%? No. But I was very close, and because the rules were CLEAR, it worked for me so much better than calorie counting.  We would grill meat and veggies at night, I would have salad or eggs for lunch, and a really low sugar yogurt and tiny bit of fruit (there was my cheat) for breakfast.  Snacks were non fat string cheese or no sugar jello, and at the end of the night I got a non fat pudding instead of a small bowl of ice cream. It sounds sad, and I was sad the first 2 days 😂

But then? I saw quick progress, which also works very well for my brain.  Seeing 1-2 lbs in a full week with a scale that doesn’t seem super accurate anyways was HARD for me.  But seeing 3-4 lbs those first couple of days? I could feel that!

I lost 12 lbs in those 13 days.  I am not a doctor, and not telling you to do this without consulting yours.  But it was INCREDIBLY successful for me.  The diet is meant to kind of clear your system of carbs and sugar to kick start a longer phase of weight loss that EVENS OUT.  But because it started so quickly, the motivation was instant to keep it going.  Now it is closer to that 2-3 lbs lost per week, and I am eating carbs or sugar happily at 1 meal a day in addition to my little breakfast cheat described above, and my 3rd meal is very clean.  I took a couple of weeks after that initial 12 lbs to figure out how to stabilize a bit while reintroducing some of those foods I love so much, and then once I started this 1 clean meal 1 more regular (but super portion controlled) meal per day plan (which I came up with on my own- that’s not South Beach!), the loss is now steady.

I have cheat days occasionally.  I still have one big dessert per week and maybe a small bowl of 1 scoop of ice cream here or there.  But I don’t finish the kids snacks when they have some left over, or have a bowl of ice cream every night, or keep eating on my plate because the food is there.

This post is too long to share about the takeaways of those 2 weeks and how this was so much MORE than just the weight loss- so that is what will come next!  Because those weeks honestly changed how I feel about food in a lot of ways- and that is a huge deal for me.  More soon! If you are interested in hearing what types of things we have begun eating that ARE carb and sugar free, let me know in the comments- I could start sharing that as well if there is interest!

My friend, if you have been making excuses and just “waiting” like I was to do something about your health..I want to encourage you to take the leap.  Whether it is my way or another way, there are SO MANY options and ways.  But you CAN do it. I was so inspired by so many strong women in my life making the change post kids…and you can too, whether you are in that stage or not!

Party I of this journey can be read HERE!

Part III of this journey can be read HERE!