One month in, 10 pounds down. First proper introduction post and recap of what the last 31 days have been like.

Hi all. My weight has been creeping up on me steadily for the past 3 years. My sister in law took a photo of me around Christmas time that motivated me to get my shit together. My weight was 165. At 5’2, that put my BMI in the obesity index. I wasn’t just “a little chubby” anymore.

So! I am 31 days in and 10 pounds down. Here are some take aways:

1. Cheating isn’t worth it. I did it once and gained 3 pounds in one night. It took me 12 days to re lose that weight. If you are just starting out, I highly highly highly suggest you don’t cheat until you’ve met a weight loss goal, and are mentally prepared to gain some weight from it. The fact that I had regained 1/3 of the weight I had lost because of one night of bad choices nearly derailed me entirely.
2. My appetite has decreased and leveled overall. I naturally eat less at each meal, and have meals less frequently. When I do get hungry, it isn’t a hangry level emergency. I’m not snacking between meals.
3. The carb cravings are subsiding more each day.
   
4. I don’t feel like garbage after I eat. I used to eat until I felt like I was going to explode, and the food would sit like a rock in my stomach.
5. I used to hate eggs and now I love them. Weird, right?
6. My alcohol tolerance has PLUMMETED. An amount of alcohol that would usually only give me a bit of a buzz will now get me blackout wasted.
7. I feel better. I sleep better. I don’t have super human levels of energy like some people seem to experience, but overall I definitely feel an improvement.
   
8. I’ve made the choice not to fool around with low carb cheesecakes, low carb beer, low carb bread, etc. At least not at this juncture. I feel like I need to come to terms with the fact that there are certain things I can’t have anymore. Also, all of those things are “the meal is over when I hate myself” territory, so I’d rather just avoid it and develop an appetite for what I can have. I’m avoiding fake sweeteners all together as well – no diet soda.
9. My appearance hasn’t changed much, unfortunately. My pants fit better and my chest has shrunk. Nothing dramatic, but that’s okay. I certainly didn’t get fat in one month. It’s going to take a while to lose it.
   

I have been doing “lazy” keto (counting carbs, not calories) for the last month and am now going to move forward with calorie counting. I am trying to take things slow, and implement better habits one at a time in an effort to make them stick and not burn myself out. I want to make sure I have my diet 110% under control before I start going to the gym. So, for the month on February I will be focusing on keeping my calories at around 12-1400 and taking ALL of the stairs 100% of the time – no ifs ands or buts. I work in a building with 9 floors and routinely need to move throughout them all, so I feel like this is a good place to start in terms of being more active.

Thanks for the support everybody. I’ll check in again in a month. This is a fantastic sub. I come here daily for motivation. KCKO!