Today, a photo memory popped up on Facebook from a year ago which was a composite photo from the 2 1/2 years previous to that along with an updated photo at the bottom from that day, February 12 2018. At first I thought I hadn’t changed much from a year ago until I added a “bathroom selfie” that I took on Sunday, beside it. Without a doubt, there has continued to be significant progress. This post is about my weight loss and non-scale progress to date.
All of the photos in the composite were taken with the same cell phone, so while they aren’t great shots they document my journey to date — A Dietitian’s Journey.
The first photo from the left at the top, with me in the plum shirt was taken April 2015, around the time a retired-physician friend came to talk to me about the therapeutic use of a low carbohydrate diet for reducing the symptoms of Type 2 Diabetes and for weight loss.
The second photo. where I am wearing a ivory silk scarf was taken in September 2015, shortly after I began eating a liberal lower carb diet of ~130 g carbohydrate per day.
The third photo in the middle was taken exactly a year after the second one, in September 2016. While it’s clear I had lost weight, the crocheted cardigan I was wearing was still quite stretched.
The fourth photo at the top was taken in April 2017, only a month after I had begun following a low carbohydrate lifestyle on March 5, 2017 — which in three weeks from today will be two complete years. I happened to be wearing the same outfit as I had the previous September because at that weight I had no interest in buying new clothes and didn’t go out much. Even after only a month of eating low carb, my face, neck and abdomen were beginning to show signs of progress.
In the fifth photo taken September 2017, I deliberately wore the same cardigan and skirt that I had randomly ended up wearing in the previous two photos — with the identical camisole in a different colour, underneath. What can’t be seen easily unless one looks at the very bottom of the crocheted cardigan, is the space between it and me that was previously filled with my belly fat. At this point there was a space where fat used to be! I still had ~ 25 more pounds to lose to reach a waist circumference that was 1/2 my height but I knew this was entirely achievable and maintainable.
The photo on the left at the bottom was taken exactly a year ago today, February 12, 2018. That’s why it popped up in “memories” on Facebook. When I first saw it, I thought looked pretty much the way I do now until I decided to put the bathroom selfie from Sunday beside it. Admittedly, the 20 additional pounds I have lost in the last year “shows”.
I am 2 pounds from my ‘goal weight’ which I am pretty sure I will reach by three weeks from now, on my 2-year anniversary of beginning my journey.
I am in remission of Type 2 Diabetes and have an ideal waist-to-height ratio. My lab tests reflect my progress as much as as the reflection in the mirror and best of all, I feel great. I shoveled snow for an hour yesterday and since we had a second snow storm, I did it all over again this morning — without getting out of breath or even sweaty! Two years ago, I could barely walk around the track at Town Center without being totally out of breath! Check out this video to see what I looked and sounded like when I started! There have been huge changes.
This “journey” has never been about losing weight for vanity’s sake; but about reclaiming my health from chronic illness (Type 2 Diabetes and hypertension) that was brought about by eating what most would see as a very “healthy diet” but that was way too high in carbohydrates for someone as metabolically unwell as I was.
As I’ve written about in previous journal entries, I had two girlfriends my age drop dead within 3 months of each other from similar health conditions as I had and when I took my blood pressure and blood sugar on March 5 2017, I knew that if I didn’t change my lifestyle, I could literally be next. I changed my lifestyle two years ago because my life literally depended on it.
When I look in the mirror each day I am reminded that two of my girlfriends no longer have the opportunity that I do; to do things differently. I am fortunate and blessed and don’t take my reclaimed health for granted.
If you have questions about how a low carbohydrate approach may be helpful for you to achieve weight loss, or put your own high blood sugars or Type 2 Diabetes into remission, then please send me a note using the Contact Me form located on the tab above.
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To our good health!
Joy
NOTE: This post is classified under “A Dietitian’s Journey” and is my personal account of my own health and weight loss journey that began on March 5, 2017. Science Made Simple articles are referenced nutrition articles, and can be found here.
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