I was looking forward to posting here when I hit the ten pounds lost mark, but I had a bit of a whoosh and jumped from 208.4 to 207 - eleven pounds gone in eight weeks!
I can feel the difference in how my clothes fit, and already one person has noticed and commented. As the weather gets warmer it is great to feel more confident in summer clothes. Also excited that I will be visiting family in the Midwest in May and will be lighter than the last time I saw them. Thanks, first of all, to all you here at 3FC for the encouragement and accountability and advice - it has been really helpful.
More importantly, I have found what works for me. I want to share it here, with one caveat. We are all so, so different and what works for one doesn't work for another. We all have to experiment with our food and exercise and find what works for us, for our lifestyle, our budget, our family/living situation, etc.
So, with that said, what has been the secret to relatively effortless (compared to past attempts) weight loss in the last eight weeks has been really cutting back on carbs. I have insulin resistance and take metformin, and for years I've been diligent about eating "good" carbs - steel cut oats for breakfast, only whole grain bread, whole wheat pasta, brown rice, that kind of thing. But I could eat a bowl of steel cut oats at 8 am and (even with protein from milk and almonds) be pretty darn hungry by 10:30 or 11. If I had carbs at lunch at 12:30, by 3 pm I'd be pretty ravenous (inconveniently right when I would be going into an office meeting where people often bring cake, sweet bread, cookies, etc)
It seems for me even "good" carbs were enough to cause blood sugar spikes which increased appetite and cravings for sweets. I initially started following the insulin resistance diet which limits to 30 g carbs at a meal, 15 g carbs at a snack, and did lose, but when I tweaked and cut back carbs even more, the weight came off quicker and easier as I was just less hungry. I'm not an emotional eater, and I don't eat when I'm not hungry, and I generally ate healthy food...but I was just hungry when I ate more carbs which made weight loss so tough. I had lost weight on weight watchers before, but struggled with being hungry. I remember once that I was hungry at 8:45 pm and had already used all my points so I tried to go to sleep instead of eating, and that's when I realized it wasn't reasonable or sustainable for me. Cutting calories wasn't enough, I had to cut back on carbs (even the good ones), too.
I had always thought of low carb diets as really extreme, like eating nothing but meat and certain vegetables, which is what turned me off. I was afraid of fat and calories which meant that I overdid the carbs. Now with more protein and fats, I have more energy, my appetite is stabilized, and I just generally feel better. I realize that what I am doing now is definitely not the lowest carb diet out there, but it seems to both be working for weight loss as well as feeling sustainable.
So here's a typical day:
Breakfast: two egg omelette with steamed red pepper and spinach topped with homemade guacamole. Green tea with lemon.
Snack: a small handful of almonds (6-8) and some leftover steamed veggies or an apple.
Lunch: Lentils cooked with tomatoes, onions and spices and steamed kale with olive oil.
Snack: 2 Tbsp natural peanut butter with a small banana (if I need carbs to fuel and afternoon workout), or 1/2 cup cottage cheese.
Dinner: Roasted chicken breast,salad with lots of veggies with homemade vinagrette.
Snack: (if hungry) hot cocoa with 2% organic milk, unsweetened cocoa powder and 1-2 tsp of sugar.
For exercise I swim laps at least once week, run outdoors on the treadmill for 30-40 minutes, do yoga on occasion. I know I should incorporate strength training and that is probably my next goal.
I hope my experience is helpful to others to read. Keep up the great work everybody, we can do this! There is nothing stopping us!
down 11 lbs in 8 weeks and have figured out what works!
We're gonna do this!!! 
