Dang I'm sore

So i did 2.9 Miles of Walking and Running on Tuesday and really feel it today

I have a SPA at home that's heated but now it's not working .. ahh perfect timing

Hopefully I an work on it tonight and get it firing up properly

Wish me luck !

311 Pounds

Wow its been a long time dear blog since I have been here but I think it will help me.

I am no longer low carbing , I am trying to eat "balanced" and as smart as I can. And I'm trying to change my view on food.

I've realized recently that I DO like food. And I do find "Enjoyment" from food, its a means of happiness and there is nothing wrong with that but ...

Food is for nutrition ! We are supposed to eat for energy not for enjoyment.

And at the same time this does not mean .. NEVER ENJOY food .. there is a time and place for enjoying food , just like there is a time and place for drinking alcohol

So right now I'm just starting out, weighed myself at 311 Lbs this morning, and am starting a new journey unlike I've ever tried before

Wish me luck !

Day 10

Day 10 of my restart and on Day 9 I screwed up again

Lots of stuff going on though, I'm hella broke at the moment and cheap food is very carby.

I'm doing the best I can but eggs are gettign old !

Hangin in there keeping things as low as possible

I am "OFF SCALE" till next week and the "good scale" in the office is gone.

So now I need to buy a new scale, ... and I'm broke .. ahh but not giving up.

Day 3

Day 3 and still clean in terms of carb count daily so that's good.

Right now I'm looking for a house to buy so that's pretty darn stressful.

We might get a house with a pool. (I hope)

So we will see hopefully we can get an offer on it today.

Other than that nothing new :)

Day 2 - two week Moratorium on Scale Checking

So I've decided to challenge myself not only to stay "on plan" but to not use a scale for two weeks

The reason is because I've noticed if I'm doing "GOOD" I actually use that to rationalize that I can eat a little more carbs.

I'm going to wait till the 26th to hit the scale again

Also going to challenge myself and go to the DAMN GYM !!!!

At least 6 days between now and then

Day 1 (298.8)

OK I screwed up this weekend and well .. got off the plan

I have been doing alot of that lately so I'm going to just reset the days and start over day 1

It's a journey right !

I'm up a few pounds which sucks

So here we go Day 1 (again) I'm not gonna give up

Day 50

Wow 50 days in already

OK lets talk about Acanthosis Nigricans again

It's a type 2 pre-diabetes and full diabetes symptom very common in darker skinned people. I have had it for several years and the unhealthier I am and the higher my insulin levels the worst it gets.

Now 50 days into Atkin it's about 95% clear. If I can stay on plan it should be 100% clear by end of summer.

295 day 48

Ahh back on track i had some days of laziness on blogging and a ice cream slip up last week

So one ice cream and POOF ... 2 pounds went up

So no more of that !!!

At 295 I'm feeling alot more AGILE then usual .. I know it sounds stupid

At 316 (In December) I could barely get out of my chair

At 295 i find myself doing things that I have not done in a while w/out even thinking about them.

Excercise is just around the corner !

Day 42

Well clothes are definately getting looser and looser

It seems that I visually lose some weight, I see it in clothes, face, and the way I feel. The weight does not move .. then one day

Whooosh

It's odd, it requires patience !


So today I noticed my pants just look great, they were really tight before and I was in denial

One of my XXL T-shirts that was snug actually was looking good on me yesterday

I may not need XXL anymore which is a happy day

Weight is still around the same, but the visual appearance is good

Have I mentioned how I love Buffalo Wings !

Day 41

Yesterday it was a minor kidney stone, I drank a bunch of water and my bladder was in pain, i felt it move to the leaving point and thankfully it passed the "final section" without pain

Immediately after I was relieved, and only minor soreness from it

It was small enough I didnt really see it pass but I know it's gone now

Lesson to me that I need to drink ALOT of water to keep these from coming

Arrrgg .. I also gotta get off my ass and excercise ... 296 .... i gotta set my eyes on 290 and head for it !

296.0 (Day 40)

Hmmm I might have a small kidney stone

I had one before a few years ago, and I've been slacking on water sooo I may have done myself in .. God I really hope I don't but the pain is pretty unmistakable

I have to drink water today, and well I'll be finding out soon

I feel it already IN the bladder, so it probably already passed from the kidneys which would explain some lower back pain I had and yesterdays "upset stomache" feeling all day which is pretty much what I had before ...

Grrr this is gonna suck

So back on plan Sunday, Monday NO PROBLEMO in fact i didnt even eat much it's amazing how this eating plan takes away the hunger

Lots of hamburger meat yesterday tho for convenience

Today I'm gonna try to go to the Mediterranean place and get some Spinache, and Baked Fish !!!

296 .. not bad seems liek just the other day I wanted to get under 300 now 296 seems so far away from my goals

290 here I come !

Have a great day !

Day 39

Have a stomache bug today ahhh sucks

Gotta drink lots of water, stayed home sick today

This weekend .. i had one slice of pizza and one Michelobe Ultra I stayed in Ketosis .. I'm not gonna play that game often but glad it did knock me out

TOns of water today

Oh yeah so I was down on 6th street, and well just love the street vendor pizza and normally eat 2-3 peices so I did not feel too bad

It's the first time I've had carbs .. but then again .. one not too bad, I"m not gonna beat myself up just stay on plan

And .. it wasnt even that good :)

Day 36

Day 36 here I failed on water yesterday and was pretty dehydrated

I can feel not so good when I do that

This morning my ketones level was super high . so I MUST do some major flushing

I slacked on fiber-ish stuff for the past few days and I am starting to feel it in the gut .. and I know it's time to spend a weekend with some sort of supplement to make things better

This weekend is gonna be BUSY but fun, I am going to 6th street with an out of town friend, I can't drink :( which sucks but at the same time I have sworn off drinking because it is a gatway for me to over indulge in foods .. nothing like greasy street vendor food after drinking in a club watching a live rock show

Tonight we have band practice right after work .. time to go buy some Jerkeys !!!

Day 35

Made it through yesterday immediately after work went to Walmart and got me some low carb and sugar free Jerkeys and some Atkins bars

I don't go crazy with Atkins bars, but when you skip breakfast, or when you are in a pinch and have NO OTHER CHOICE it's better than nothing and they have a TON of Fiber in them. I'm staring at one right now and it has 10g of dietary fiber.

Fiber is mucho importante, anyone who has done atkins for a long time can tell you. You CAN NOT be healthy without Fiber .. bad stuff happens !

Today gonna try (again) to get my water intake UP UP UP

Have a good day !

Day 34

Getting out and spending time with a band and not eating carbs is pretty tricky.

I know in the long run it's going to be way better for me, but man oh man our sessions (like last night) can get long. Trying to be there on time and also eat on plan gets hard.

I've gotta stop off at the grocery store today and get some carb free snacks to pack with me.

Today is going to be hard, I am at work all day, with a online class between 11am and 1pm and I did not pack lunch, and then tonight I gotta go write music immediately after work.

To add to the stress I'm low on cash, I can't just go get some sauce free brisket from the Rudy's BBQ down the street. It looks like canned Tuna and Beef Jerkey today which is not appealing but it will keep me on plan.

Healthwise I wanna talk about my FEET, I know it's gross but being pre-diabetic I was having serious foot infection issues. THANK GOD it never got gangreen or badly infected enough to need surgury.

Since I've been on the plan my feet have unswelled, I had thought my feet were fat, but they were actually swollen, I can see veins and coloration in my feet. It scares me how bad they were before. I'd pretty much keep socks on all the time cuzz I was so embarrassed of how they looked. Now they arent so bad ! It makes me wonder if I was more than "borderline" diabetic. Maybe I was actually fully diabetic at times depending on how much my sugar intake was.

My energy level is definately getting better, I can do things I love for longer periods of time.

Guitar Playing .. it's funny to say but it's getting easier, I noticed last night I'm playing with my guitar in FRONT of me, not to the SIDE of me. Before my belly was so bloated and round that with my guitar in front of me I couldnt play. So I'd sit my guitar off to the right side of me and actually play to the side.

These are those cool little things you see happen as your losing weight. There is a long long road ahead of me so ... I gotta just take this one day at a time.

Day 33

Today was one of those days, I woke up and I can see changes

It's good to see and feel changes, clothes getting looser, pants fitting better

I think today I will take some pictures so i can have good documentation of my 296 Phase

I need a new scale at home

The thing has read 305 the whole time that the official scale at work has gone from 307 to 296

So clearly the home scale does not work

296.4 (Day 32)

Wow I got a little whoosh of weight off me this week. I'm super happy about this.

I was gonna set my next goal to 295 but since I am at 296.4 I will make it 290

This week is going to be tricky as I'm adding in Gym work, this will lead to some water build up and maybe some weight gain. I have to keep my focus though and not let it knock me off plan. Also have to remember that working out does not entitle me to eat more, or eat any carbs that are NOT on the PLAN

I'm very happy about this, keeping a diary is really making it very visible that though things are changing slowly, they are in fact changing, and those little changes over a period of time are all that matters in the LONG RUN.

OK I'm off to have a great day !

Day 29

Gonna be an interesting day I've managed to slow down my water intake and I'm gettign a bit dehydrated

Sooo .. gotta drink plenty of water today and that means

PEEEEEEE alot !

Oh the joy

I've got to get it in my head that I NEED to exercise more, I need to drop this weight I'm doing good at a little over a pound per week. I've got to be patient but I also need to make good progress

I think this weekend I'll be hitting that treadmill !!

Day 28

And 28 days later how do I feel compared to when I started

I feel so good compared to when I started, life is less scarier, I don't feel like I'm on the verge of a heart attack

Today was a busy morning, we are house hunting and we went to go look at a bargain place. Saving money for a house is hard, so I'm short on money to eat out or buy good food. Gotta go with the bargain deals !

I'm trying to stick to weighing officially once a week here at work we have a scale.

It's tough but I gotta remember it's for the LONG HAUL !

Nothing good in life is easy to get it takes a lot of work

Day 27

It's becoming more routine now to stay "on plan"

I'm also not as hungry as I used to be, very little food can keep me going for a long period of time

Low blood sugar issues seem to have gotten better overall and I don't drop so fast anymore on blood sugar

Ketone levels are lowered now I've added in more healthy carbs and won't turn down a BIG salad :)

Nothing new except I'm trying to buy a house and cash is gonna be short for a while

299.2

Today I reached my first goal of getting under 300 lbs

I'm very happy because each little goal gets me closer to where I need to be.

Overall i can say that I feel so much better on this plan. I have a long long way to go and it gets tough at times but I'm making it happen.

Now I'm going to be in a money crunch for a while as we are trying to buy a house. It's going to mean that I can't just go get brisket and ribs and wings when I don't feel like cooking. There is alot of Chicken, Eggs, Weenies, in my future.

Day 26 survived a weekend with the Band

I was wondering how I would do during band practice.

I did pretty good ! I need to take more water next time, I have found I can live off some Beef Sticks for a few hours during practice so this helps alot.

We just went into a contract to try and buy a house. So I'm gonna be BROKE for the next 3 months. It's going to be a challenge to eat "low carb" on a budget.

Work is going to be hectic today, I've got plenty of food from weekend left overs. Let's see how it goes.

Happy Easter !

Day 23 Good Friday

It's Good Friday

Thank You God for your sacrifice of your Son Jesus Christ, Thank you for all your blessings, unconditional love, and forgiveness.

Today possibly I'll get to have some band practice, I have not seen my band mates for about 3 weeks since our lead singer went into rehab. I'm glad he did because I don't want him to die.

It's going to be hard during practice for me, I need to figure out a snack to pack, and take some water. The practice room gets really hot so I'm gonna sweat alot and get thirsty, there is always plenty of BEER but that's a no-no for me.

I had a 2nd work out yesterday and completed 45 minutes on a tread mill. It was not as good as on Wednesday but still felt good. It helped me to really sleep hard at night and I feel less stressed.

I need a new scale at home, it doesnt move .. or is it me. The scale at work says I'm losing weight. The scale at home does not move. I think maybe it's my fault for buying a 9.99 mechanical scale that only goes to 300lbs. I'm going to have to upgrade soon for some accuracey.

I feel great, yesterday one of the neighbor kids asked me if I lost weight. At least someone has noticed :)

Alot more energy, waking up in the mornings is getting easier, and my sleep is more restful. I have severe sleep apnea and sleep with a CPAP. I can't wait till I lose enough weight for that to go away !

Till next time God Bless everyone !

Day 22 First work out Complete

I got my first workout done last night

2 miles on treadmill and some Shoulder/Tricep work

It felt great, I had a TON of energy, I felt like I could keep going for hours but I stopped myself in order to prevent getting too sore or hurting myself !

Today water is the goal, it's gonna suck peeing alot but oh well that's part of getting re-hydrated and having enough water to flush toxins out.

I feel great today

Day 21 Failure is not an Option

I do not want to fail again, I have to keep reminding myself of this daily

The eating plan is not hard, it's just an adjustment to get rid of bad habbits and things that my body can not handle.

I really don't like how normal sized people give me "that look" like ahh if you just cut back a little you'd lose weight fatty. People who consider themselves over weight because they have 10 pounds to lose. They hit the gym for 3 months and feel so proud when they knock off 10 pounds.

My body is not like theirs, when I try to cut calories I get exhausted, I get hungry, I get weak, and I gain more weight. I can't just start hitting the treadmill and running 5 miles a day, if I do then my ankles will swell and my lower back and hips will be in agony for a week.

I'm not like them, I need a long term life plan change. I need a long term goal.

Lastly I truly believe in the Atkins way of life because it has worked for me before! I have pictures to prove it. So here I am day 21 3 weeks into it and still on the plan. How do I feel today versus 3 weeks ago ?

Absolutely freaking awesome compared to 3 weeks ago. My BP is lower, my energy is better, my clothes are not as tight. Just 3 weeks and I'm happy and focused.

So no failure is not an option, and I won't forget this time how I stuck through it and worked hard. This time I'll come back to my blog and remember.

Hoping today I can get to the gym, it's left over night at home so I don't have to cook dinner. I'm gonna go home and hit the gym !

Wish me luck

301.2

301.2 that's what the scale says today and I'm happy.

Since I've come on plan in 3 weeks I have dropped, not as much as I'd want but it's dropping and I'm sticking to it.

I looked at some pics from last year when I tried to change my life style before. I went from about 330 to 270 and wow even at 270 i looked so great.

It took 6 months so I have to be patient, this weight won't come off without sticking to it and being patient, there is no quick fix for years of bad living and bad eating habbits. If I can stick through it I'll be happier, healthier, and more confident.

So now I've got this goal in my head, must get below 300 lbs. That's the first goal, I am going to make my goals small and achievable. I can lose 1.2 pounds I know I can :)

Once I get below then I'll set the next goal to 295 and work on it. I've gotten to brazen before and set my goals to be 20 to 30 lbs apart. But the time in between 20-30 lbs is too far. 5 Pounds on the other hand every one of us can figure out how to lose 5 pounds in a few weeks. And all those 5 pound goals will eventually end up getting us to a state where we need to be.

That's what I'm gonna do .. set small 5 pound goals.

Today I hope to get out of work and hit the gym for a little while. I want to get some cardio in daily even if it's a small walk.

Till tomorrow !!!

Monday Monday

Well here I am on a Monday talking about the thing that plagues me most in life

My weight !

Good news is I have had High Blood Pressure concerns since Fall. I went to the doctor several times because I was sick between September and January.

My Blood Pressure was reaching levels of concern measuring an average of 140/85 which is not too good.

I've been watching my BP since I started Atkins way of LIFE (not diet) and my BP in 18 days has dropped to normal levels. Yesterday it measured in at 120/78 which is Normal Range !

My clothes are starting to fit better, I'm having more energy, usually on Saturday and Sunday I sleep in late from exhaustion and midway through the day I'm so tired I have to lie down for a nap. So this results in me not getting alot of chores done and not doing much around the house. And not enjoying my weekends as much. Monday comes and I'm not refreshed.

This weekend was diffrent, I did not feel the need to take a nap. And I woke up at 9am on Sunday which is weird for me. I washed some dishes, and made the family breakfast. This is not something I can normally do. Normally I am exhuasted and just cant get anything done.

I can feel the diffrence and the changes going on with my body. I am measuring my ketones with the strips and still seeing color change. I am also making sure I get enough fiber !!

I can say I feel better as a whole.

Whats up with he Blog? The thing is I KNOW the Atkins eating way of Life can work for obese people and people with Type II Diabetes or Pre-Diabetes.

I am blogging so I can keep track of things and have this plan not only work for me but have a diary for someone in my shoes now to read and follow. If it helps him/her better their health, live longer, and enjoy life more than it worked.

I don't want anyone to have to live with Type II Diabetes, if there is a way to stave it off with Atkins Lifestyle then it is worth it! I'd rather not eat sweets the rest of my life then have to shoot up insulin, and risk losing my feet through infections.

I've gotta remember this, these are concerns that fade when I lose weight and start feeling better.

Well that's my bit for today and I'm off to stay on plan for the rest of the day

Start of Blog Day 17 of Diet

I was thinking about it and I need a diary for this journey

I am 33 years old and at the start of things weighed in at 307 Pounds

I have just completed the Induction phase of the Atkins Diet plan, and I admit I have been on and off this diet before.

Why the Atkins diet ?

I have success in the past with it, I am hispanic and I am borderline type 2 diabetes, this diet helps me keep my blood sugar LOW which helps with my insulin resistance.

I have Acanthosis Nigricans which is dark patchy skin blotches from being insulin resistant. In the past on Atkins I have lost up to 70 pounds and the Acanthosis Nigricans cleared up completely

I have also done weight watchers and lost up to 30 pounds and both the insulin resistance and acanthosis did not get better

Well here I am starting out on the blog. I'm gonna keep it short and track my days.

As for the diet I have stayed "clean" on the rules and am ready to up my carbs just a little bit. I am checking my urine with Keto Strips and showing heavy purple in the mornings. I have also started to take a fiber supplement because via constipation I was getting some bleeding when going to the bathroom.

Lots of water today !!! And I'm going to take a little extra of the fiber supplement to get things moving this weekend.

Lastly I've cut out Aspartame, I was putting it in Coffee and I think it could be stalling me since it is not recommended on this diet.

Some rules I have broken but am adjusting

1. Eat something every 4 hours .. I was doing bad on this and I have since corrected it.

2. Aspartame - I was putting this in Coffee daily and now I've cut it out.

3. WATER - for the first 10 days I was not drinking enough water, I have adjusted this.

Benefits I have seen already

1. My FEET are clearing up and looking healthier, they always are nasty and crusty and I've got constant Athletes feet. Despite over the counter creams and powders. While on the diet they are clearing up on their own.

2. My blood pressure readings are LOWER already normally near 140/85 the last reading was 124/78 which is a huge improvement in just 10 days.

3. My blood sugar readings have stayed for the most part between 82-90 , when I was not on the diet I have seen as high as 160 after a meal. So this is a GREAT improvement.

Well I'm off to log into my Atkins Diet Bulletin Board and check in

My last weigh in fully clothed was 303 Lbs so I am down a few despite the mistakes I've made

My hope is to correct these and do a new 2 weeks with the corrections.

Anyone considering doing Atkins must remember the rules !!!

Oh and EAT SALAD !!! You need Da Fiber !!

Till Next Time - I'm out !