Revised

So, I feel like it has been an ongoing thing with me lately to try and lose weight, but it was always hard because Shane was never trying to lose weight with me.

Still, even then I had successfully lost about 8-10 lbs, and was slowly gaining it back with all the craziness that has been going on stress wise. I think stress is a part of life though.

Anyway, duing General Conference Shane saw his oldest brother who was looking very slim and trim, and that was the beginning of his desire and dedication to losing weight. Before he could always say, "Well, I'm not as big as my older brother..." and then he couldn't anymore.

It has been really good because Shane has lost about 12+ lbs so far and I have lost an additional 5 lbs or so.

I know, you are DYING to know what we have been doing. I would call it a revised Atkins type diet. I say revised, because to truly follow the starting point of the Atkins diet you can only eat 20 net carbohydrate grams per day. I can't do that or I feel like I am going to pass out at work. Not a good thing. So, I am a little more lenient but still try to eat more protein and dairy than normal, and most of the carbohydrates I do eat are complex carbs, or they come from fruits and vegetables, which is better anyway.

So, we have definitely become more aware of the carbs we eat. Eating the revised way, I probably eat about 80-100 net carbs a day. When you consider that I used to eat probably anywhere from 500-1000 net carbs a day though, it's a huge difference.

Here is what I have found...my desire for white bread and simple sugar type foods is greatly decreased. And because it is more difficult for my body to digest what I am eating, it is burning more energy and calories. I am never hungry, and I feel good about what I eat, and especially being able to wear a size of pants I haven't been able to wear since...well, it's been a LONG time.

Our main goal in eating this way though, is to eat what we like and be able to do it in a healthy way. If you can't change the way you live to something you can handle doing for the rest of your life, you won't keep the weight off. I have even found that if I eat foods like bread or pasta that have whole grains in them, my blood sugar doesn't spike, and it takes longer and my body has to work harder at digesting it.

Shane even wanted to get a bread recipe from my mom for 100% whole wheat bread (which she also puts some ground flax seed into). Ground flax seed is like PURE fiber. The net carbs for ground flax are like zero. (I'm not kidding). So, to help use up our white flour we usually throw some flax meal into it. At first Hazel would turn her nose up at it, because it does change the appearance of it, but after she tasted it, she decided it wasn't so bad.

The other nice thing about it though, is eating this way, and "occasionally" having a bad day, doesn't kill your diet. As long as the occasionally isn't every day! :)