Thanks, everyone! Your encouragement has really helped me through the day. I am also thankful for all of the good advice. I've taken a close look at this past week and I can see some key things. I have been walking everyday...and really feeling it in the muscles of my thighs and backside.
It does make sense that I've gained some muscle. In addition to scheduling a doctors appointment, I also went on the Southbeach forum here on 3FC and on the Southbeach Diet Site to review phase 1 and take another look at the mealplans to see if I messed up somewhere or if I might be eating too much in general. Although I thought I followed the plan to the letter, it looks like I messed up on a couple of things...like weighing my meat portions and eating too much cheese...and buying sugar free but forgetting about the fat content. I will be buying a food scale and bringing out the measuring cups. This is one day at a time and, Thank God!, tomorrow is a better day.
I chose Southbeach because many women in menopause or with hypothryroid have had very good results on the Southbeach program. To those of you who are not familiar with Southbeach, I can tell you IMHO this is one of the healthiest diets I've ever seen. The plan focuses on eating protein with every meal, eating vegetables with every meal and focusing on eating mainly the vegetables and fruits that are low on the glycemic index...meaning, they have less sugar. The diet allows healthy fats in very limited quantities, lean meats only, and whole grains only. White or enriched breads, potatoes and white rice are not allowed as these starchy foods can cause our blood sugar to spike. The diet requires three meals a day with three snacks. The snacks also require a protein, (ex. 2 tbs natural peanut butter) with a vegetable or fruit. On phase 1 of Southbeach, the list of vegetables are limited and there is no fruit allowed. This phase is only for the first two weeks and helps the dieter break the addiction to sugar....and it works! I dont use sugar at all anymore. I was up to 6tsp in one cup of coffee...and I drank up to 6 cups a day! I now have one or two cups in the morning with lowfat, sugar free creamer and Splenda. This diet is healthy and the food is wholesome.
Thanks for listening. I look forward to giving some good news next week...either on the weight loss thread or even the NSV thread.