I'm 28 years old. I have a very long story, but I am going to just try to give the pertinent details. I have struggled with my weight since as long as I can remember. My self-esteem took a huge beating from family over my weight, and I used to secretly spend on sweets and junk food. I am 5' 2 1/2", and my weight from late middle school onwards has mostly stayed at around 195. Towards the end of high school, I did a strict diet and got down to 145. I worked out and ate very little, but once college started, it was difficult to maintain. I gained about 30 lbs back. Once I was out of college, life became unstable with moving, job-hunting, family obligations (I have an older autistic brother who used to live at a group home, but began living at home and my mother was going through her second divorce). I battled clinical depression, as well. I felt lost career-wise and spirituality-wise (I was a philosophy major and practiced Buddhism).
I got married in 2013. My husband and I transitioned over the years to eating organic, non-highly processed foods. I managed to lose weight by following nutrition from Dr. Walter Willet's book, "Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy", and maintained at around 182, but I lost track of it this past year. It has been the unhealthiest year of my life-- little sleep, no exercise, eating copious amounts of sugar and I slipped and ate processed foods.
The first slip of eating processed foods opened a dam and my eating habits became terrible. It caused hormone fluctuations with my period and body. I gained weight up to 212 lbs, which is the highest I've ever been. Moving around took more of a toll on me, and my knees began hurting. My mood shifted horribly.
Then, I went to the doctor for my period issues, and was told that I am pre-diabetic. This was a huge blow to me because my family has a history with diabetes, and I've always been wary about it except in the last year. I am 28, and I know it will get harder in the future to lose, so I decided to research a program that would work.
Right now, I started reading a book called "The Good Gut Diet" and it lists research about the gut which I have been following. I am on phase 1, which is basically a ketogenic diet, and in 5 days I've dropped 5 lbs. It is important to mention that I am also fasting for Ramadan, so you can say that I am also doing intermittent fasting. The eating window is about 7 hours. I normally am not able to lose during Ramadan because I would eat fried foods, high carbs and sugar (even organic), so my body would just yo-yo within a 3lb range, but now I am actually losing.
I'm very excited about my loss and feel very motivated to being healthy.
My body feels so much better than it did just a week ago! I have more energy and the fast isn't really bothering me, which I think is attributable to eating high protein and 0 sugar (except for fruit). Sorry if this was a long post! Thank you!
