Hi Learn! Hi Shannon! Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!
My news is I had my annual physical exam and it came out great. The interesting thing is that even though I have felt like I'm not losing any weight, I'm down 20 pounds since I was there in May, so I have been losing 2.5 pounds a month! I guess it feels like I'm going nowhere because it's so slow.
One big thing that has happened in the last year is I am totally off acid reflux medication. I had had very bad acid reflux for some time and actually went to the emergency room once some years ago thinking I was having a heart attack but it was acid reflux. I went off the meds about a year ago. I did have a minor relapse when a different doctor put me on a diet with more carbs like oatmeal and more fruits, but when I went back to my primal/paleo diet (basically, veggies and proteins and the very occasional fruit or starch), the acid reflux went away again, thank goodness.
So, here is the surprise. My doctor is very traditional and had originally wanted me to go on the "standard" diet with lots of grains and low-fat. I knew that wouldn't work for me because I knew I couldn't sustain it. My body would be screaming at me to eat more*more*more. So originally I went on Atkins, then transitioned over to calorie counting but still maintained the lower carb "paleo" approach which satisfies me more so I don't have those insurmountable cravings. (
Here is a link to the general plan if you're interested.)
So .... here is the surprise. My doctor had totally forgotten our discussions on what food plan I was following and gave me his most recent thoughts on what people should eat. And he basically told me his new ideas on eating ... which happen to be what I've been telling him for the past two years (but he didn't really remember).
He told me cutting back on carbs is good, that we weren't made to eat so many carbs. He gave me the "paleo" story (although he didn't call it that) about how our ancestors ate things they could pick off a tree or pull from the ground and what they hunted. They didn't eat wheat or any grain that had to be modified, and it would be good if we all went back to eating how our ancestors ate! (Then he gave me the example of how he eats 6 pieces of pizza because of the carbs.)
Anyway, he seems to think with my body composition (big hips, boobs, legs) that I need to re-evaluate where I want to stop in about 15 pounds because (another surprise) he doesn't believe in the weight charts at all. He doesn't even keep them for reference! (In 15 pounds I will still be technically obese and I'm definitely getting below that category! But it was nice he thinks I'm close to being where I "should" be).
Anyway, it was an unlifting doctor appointment and that was nice.