Saturday, November 3, 2007

Carbs and Pants

I'm not sure why I felt like posting these particular pictures today, but I think when I took these pictures in June I was still a bit weirded out by the whole "new me" thing. Maybe I have finally spent enough time being how I am now to be comfortable enough to share it. Anyway, when I first moved here (Iowa, far away from home, as is pretty obvious by the previous post...) I didn't know many people so instead I ate a lot of cookies and watched a lot of tv and gained a bit of weight, like 10 or 15 lbs.

That's when I bought these pants, which are a size 12. At that point I weighed something like 162 lbs.


Then I decided maybe I didn't feel like being like that anymore, so I stopped eating so many cookies. Then my friends told me about the South Beach Diet and I started following that. For two weeks I didn't eat a single itty bitty carb, not even fruit. I learned about ordering double vegetables at restaurants instead of pasta or potatoes. I started eating more eggs than I'd ever eaten in my life. I learned that things that are good on bread can often also be good on slices of bell peppers (probably tuna and hummus more than peanut butter and jelly... ew!) I started going to the gym to watch tv instead of going home to watch tv. After about 4 or 5 months of this, I lost about 35 lbs.

That's when I bought these pants, which are a size 2. Now I weight something like 127 lbs, but I've stopped weighing myself so obsessively since my weight hasn't changed in several months.


Now I have learned to be more careful with what I eat. When I know I will be going to a party or somewhere where there will be a lot of candy and carb-y beer and pizza (or if it's Halloween, for example) I will try to eat carefully the rest of the day, so that I can enjoy the good stuff without feeling bad about it. I also go to karate 3 times a week, which is such a good workout that I think I could even start eating non-flaxseed pasta (gasp!) and be ok.

Anyway, I just wanted to share. Woo!

5 comments:

Chelsea said...

Good job! I need to lose about 15lbs right now and what you have accomplished makes me feel that with a little conscious effort, it is possible. Thanks for sharing!

AndreaLea said...

You're awesome! A gym just opened up down the street from me and I really want to get a membership. I've just been so lazy lately. And a gym membership is so expensive. Where do you go?

Sara said...

Your post was so inspirational. Congrats on all your hard work, you look great!

gretchen e. said...

Wow! Congrats!

Michele said...

Wow, you look great & HAPPY! What an inspiration!