Long overdue update

Wow, I guess it's been a while since I last posted here. I never really got motivated enough to count calories before my sister's wedding. I made some a half-hearted effort to lose some weight before the wedding by exercising and increasing my fiber intake and I lost about 5 pounds. I was about 185 pounds on the day of the wedding. The weird thing is, now almost four months after the wedding I'm in the mid-170's. So I've lost about an additional 10 pounds since then and I really didn't have a reason to. I admit I was going through some emotional issues the past few months and honestly some days I found I didn't have an appetite. That seems weird to me since usually when I'm dealing with negative emotions I will eat more, but in this case I actually had less of an appetite. I'm not completely out dealing with this issue, but I have noticed my appetite has come back over the past few weeks. That 10 pounds was probably the "easiest" 10 pounds I've ever lost because I wasn't trying to eat healthy or exercise - it just happened. But now that I did lose that weight, I don't want to gain it back. A few months ago I had given in and bought some size 16 jeans, now I can fit into my size 14's again! Hopefully I can at least maintain this weight, if not drop some more!

Only 2 more months to go...

Sadly I don't have much to report other than I haven't gained any weight in the past month. Now it's only 2 months until the wedding and I'm still 190 pounds. Ugh I am so mad at myself. Why is this so difficult? I'm going to cut back on food and excercise more - hopefully I'll have some good news to report soon!

Big Fat Fail

So, it's been about three months since I last posted.  You would think by now I would have lost of bunch of weight and would be well on my way to looking awesome in my bridesmaid dress this October.  Well, I failed. I don't know what I weighed last time I mentioned it on here, but I have been in the 190's recently.  So sad.  It's hard to believe that 2 years ago around this time of the year I was in the 140's.

This Friday is the 6th, which means I have 3 months until the wedding.  I tried on my dress back in April and it fit - barely. I think I weigh even more now.  So at the very least I need to lose enough just to fit in the dress... It take like 5 months to order and we will only get them about 1 month before the wedding.  I wouldn't have time to order a size bigger. 

I need to do this! 
I need to do this! 
I need to do this! 

Started tracking calories again

I really need to lose weight by this October - when my sister is getting married. I am the matron of honor, and because my sister loves photography, I'll be in a lot of photos she is going to share. I want to lose about 25 pounds and the wedding is in roughly 25 weeks! I need to have a 500 calorie deficit every day! I started counting calories again today. I forgot how little I can eat to lose weight:( But it's good to make me think twice when I eat. For example, normally I would have 2 chicken patties which would be...

2 chicken patties: 400 calories
2 buns: 220 calories
Mayo: 100 calories (assuming I split 1 tablespoon over the two)
Total: 720 calories

What I did tonight:
1 chicken patty: 200 calories
1 bun: 110 calories
Light sour cream with seasoned salt: 40 calories
Total: 350 calories

Saved 370 calories

So, already I am making better decisions. I just have to be motivated to track.

Do high protein diets make you more thirsty?

I've noticed something a little odd the last two weekends: I have been really thirsty. At first I wondered if there was something different with the water in our city since there is a water cooler at work and I get most of my day's water from that source during the week. Or I thought maybe it's just more humid at work. But then I happened to think during the week when I'm working I go for simple carbs and don't eat as much protein. My plan a couple weeks ago was to start a high protein diet, but the only days I've been able to stick to it were on the weekends because I have more time to prepare my food and I'm not reaching for carbs just to "get through the day". So I looked it up and sure enough, a side effect of a high protein diet is dehydration. Researchers from University of Connecticut tested the hydration levels of athletes on diets containing low, medium, and high levels of protein. It was reported in an article by Web MD, that "although all the athletes drank about the same amount of fluids, their hydration level went down significantly as their protein intake went up."

I researched this a bit more and found several articles saying high protein diets, especially from animal sources, may cause kidney damage. However, most of the research was inconclusive. So I guess for now, I just need to drink extra water, maybe try to find protein sources not from animals, and proceed with caution.

Trying low carb/high protien diet

Last post I had written was a debate between whether or not I should eat meat to have optimal health. For now I am going the high protein route. My husband is dealing with his own weight issues and has been working out with a personal trainer once a week for about a year now. Unfortunately he has not gotten the results he is looking for - he's actually heavier than he was this time last year. So he finally asked his trainer for suggestions for improving his diet. Her advice was pretty much to do a low carb diet. No pasta, bread or cheese (so there goes my plan of having spaghetti and garlic bread for dinner once a week). So because he is trying to eat low carb, it would give me a good opportunity to try it too. It's only been 2 days, and I've already "cheated" quite a bit, but I have eaten fewer carbohydrates than I normally would just by eating meals with him. It's too early to weigh in and see if this is helping. But man, a big bowl of cereal sounds good right now!

Should I or should I not eat meat to lose weight?

It seems like I keep going back and forth as to whether I need to eliminate meat from my diet. Even though I have not been implementing any of their suggestions, I have been interested in what vegans have said about how their lifestyle has improved their health. I've been reading Steve Pavlina's blog and watching Dan McDonald's youtube videos for inspiration. But I've also been listening to podcasts by Jillian Michaels and the "Cut the Fat" podcast by Raymond Hinish and Blythe Alberg, and they advocate a higher protein diet that includes animal protein. So I've been wavering between thinking I need to eat a lot of protein and not having any animal products. I wish I knew who to believe and what would be best.

One thing they all have in common though is they emphasize the importance of eating more vegetables. So that is something I need to start doing again. And at this point I should be concentrating on eating less calories and then maybe revisit whether I should eat animal protein to lose weight and be healthy at a later time.