Friday, September 12, 2008

Wooo hooo!

10 pounds down!  This is the first time I've lost weight since my metabolism blew in '02. 

I can't tell you what a relief this is.

I won't tell you all the numbers involved, but I will tell you this.  I've lost just over 4% of my body weight.  I've lost approximately 11% of my goal loss.

How'd it happen?  Well, I think two things came together:

1.  Strict low carbing.  What can I say?  It works.  I've been a lazy low-carber for years now, so it was easy to drop down to strict low carbing.  Since I've been lazy low-carb for years (since 2000) also means that I'm not missing any comfort foods, but I'm also a lucky person in that I'm not an emotional eater and I don't eat for comfort.  I've been averaging 20 to 40 carbs per day and usually around 1200 to 1400 calories, with a couple of planned lapses for social commitments.  This also means that a good bit of this loss was/is water weight as de-carbing dramatically de-bloats a person, but I'm not complaining.  Last time I tried strict low-carbing was before my wedding in '04, and I didn't even drop a pound of water weight, so that brings us to point two.

2.  88 mcg/day of levothyroxine.  I still don't think I've got a normal metabolism, let alone a fast one, but I think I do have a metabolism now.  Life is so much better than a year ago, and I'm coming up on a year of treatment now.  My chronic headaches are all but gone, I sleep better, I nap much much less, I get hungry for meals almost every day, my skin has cleared up, I sass my husband more (the poor thing), my energy is better, I'm less sensitive to comments, my nails are growing, my hair is growing faster (meaning I have to change the style to save money at the hairdresser's!), and even before the weight loss I'd lost my permanenent myxoedemic bloat.  Looking at pictures from a year or two ago, I barely recognize the tiny-eyed, round-faced person there.

It's certainly worth a pill a day.  Next checkup in a week!  I am hoping for another increase.

At the moment, I'm not crediting exercise for the weight loss.  I'm at the moment an intermittent Crossfitter - I absolutely adore it.  I had intended, since I was one month into this newest venture, to restart Crossfitting this week after a three week lapse, then my pesky husband went and sprained his ankle*.  I'll try for next week.

I'm concerned about this weekend - we're going away with friends for a couple of nights and I've got to sacrifice a little bit of control over my food.  I'm seriously considering bringing a bag of cheese along so I can opt out of meals.

* Softball injury, yes they won the game.  He's fine - can even get his own coffee now and is down to one crutch.  He's a bit uncomfortable, and the ankle is impressively swollen, but improving.  Thanks for asking :)