New Blog!

I know I haven't posted in a while. I'll try to soon. In the meanwhile, I have been posting about my new raw food way of eating. If you're curious, most raw food posts will be made there. I'm doing great, come on, check it out!

The Raw Revealing of the New Me

Raw Revelations

If any of you knew me personally, you'd be shocked at this: I've gone raw.

"What the heck is raw?" some of you may be asking. Others, who "kind of" know what raw is, are thinking "Are you some kind of hippie tree hugger now?" No my friends, I'm just as ultra-conservative as ever. But I've made a wonderful discovery: raw food can change your life.

Let's back up a step, to how I made this discovery. I rented the movie "Supersize Me", a documentary film where the filmmaker goes on a 30 day, McDonald's-only diet. He gained 30 pounds (and looked it), and felt terrible. He also became addicted to the stuff. During the film, his girlfriend, a vegan chef, was appalled at his experiment, and planned a detox diet for him of vegan food after his McDonald's debacle. However, the end of the film made mention that he decided not to be vegan afterwards. It wasn't clear if he was vegan, or semi-vegan, before.

His experience got me thinking, and I searched online for a "natural diet" and weightloss. One site I came upon was I Beat Obesity , where a woman says she lost weight as fast as with weight loss surgery, but without the surgery. She did it on raw foods. Now the only diet that has claimed that, as far as I've seen, is Kimkins. I did Kimkins for a while, but it's not a diet you can do while pregnant or nursing...which I always am, one or the other! Seeing her amazing results really intrigued me, enough to get past the words "raw" and "vegan", at least momentarily.

After a lot of research, I realized two things:

1) There are a LOT of people who have had great success beating their food addictions and losing a lot of weight on raw food.

2) There are even MORE people who have eliminated all kinds of diseases and ailments, including diabetes and cancer (without chemo or radiation), just by eating 100% raw foods.

That got my attention. I've read and researched online and in books, and I'm pretty convinced by the arguments that raw food is the natural food for your body. I don't think it's necessary to go 100% raw to get the benefits (though you'll get MUCH more if you do), but I think anyone who doesn't eat at LEAST 50-60% raw after reading about it must be crazy, or determined to stay fat and/or sick the rest of their lives. 50% raw isn't hard at all.

I'm not good at explaining the science, but the biggest factor is enzymes. Cooking over 118 degrees (or 105, opinions vary) kills most of the enzymes in food. Therefore your body must use its enzymes (taking them away from their job of healing the body and eliminating toxins) to digest the food. It is believed that these enzymes leave the body with the digested food, depleting your body of enzymes, which do not replace themselves. Raw food is live food, full of living enzymes. But for me, I don't need a panel of arguing scientists or nutritionists to convince me...I've seen the evidence in myself. If you check out my weight loss blog, Weigh Out of Control, I'll post more there about my experiences. In the meantime, do some research for yourself, starting with Raw Food Talk , and the other related websites by Alissa Cohen mentioned on the site.

I've done other diets before (and failed) but this is truly a way of life. I'm not 100% raw yet, but I'm working on it. I may not go 100% til after I have the baby, for various reasons. But my whole life has changed. I feel awesome! So check out my other site if you're curious. I'll post most of my raw stuff over there.

Problems with the Kimkins Link

I posted this as an answer to a comment, but I thought I'd repeat it here in case anyone else was interested.

One of my readers said the link to the Kimkins website wasn't working. I don't know what happened, Blogger seemed to eat it...it turned into some kind of Blogger link. I have fixed it now. If it happens again, please let me know. I'll list it here, too: Kimkins Website

I would love it if anyone interested in Kimkins use my link to get to it...if you sign up, I do get credit for it, and get a little "kickback." After a while, I figured if I'm going to extoll the virtues of the site and give them free advertising, I might as well get something out of it!

But I'd recommend the diet even if someone chose not to use my link. I really believe in the diet, it's the only one that worked really well for me. Atkins was good too, but Kimkins is faster, and has great hunger control if you're faithful to it. The best thing about the website is that if you join, you not only get all the info and support you need (very personal, too, you can ask Kimmer herself any questions), but also it is a one-time fee. So even though I'm pregnant now, I can still visit the site if I want, but if I don't, I can just jump back in a year from now when I'm ready to go on the diet again, and there's no additional costs.

I'm really struggling not being on the diet now. I miss the hunger control, but most of all I miss feeling good. My mood swings and some of the depression are back. I need to find more carb balance. There's got to be a way to eat healthy for my baby and not suffer from carb-induced depression!

I'm happy to answer any questions about the diet. I know the website doesn't give a lot of info about it up front. You can also look at my November and December posts from this blog and from my other blog, Weigh Out Of Control for more details.

And to anyone on the diet, good luck!

Post-Thanksgiving

Sorry to be away so long. I've been so wrapped up in my diet that I've neglected this blog. Too much going on: updating my Fitday several times a day, posting my weight in two or more places online, and keeping up with two weight loss blogs (and only one of them very well).

I'm that kind of person--I get obsessed with something for a while, then move on to something else. But I'm not doing that this time. I need to lose this weight too badly. The diet is going very well. I've lost almost twelve pounds in the last two weeks. The first week is always a lot of water weight. I expect to lose at least three pounds a week, although I'm hoping for more. I'd like five, that would be great. Some women have lost 6 1/2 or 7, but I don't want to get my hopes too high. I love this diet. My hunger is non-existent, and I cannot believe how little I am eating. It was impossible to eat so little on the plain low-calorie diets.

On this diet, I'm eating small amounts, but I am full. And not the Ugh-I'm-So-Full fullness, but the kind of fullness you feel when you are satisfied but not at all stuffed. I don't think I ever felt that before. I was never sure if I was satisfied or not, until I was really full. And I was always afraid that if I didn't eat enough before bedtime, I would wake up starving, and ruin my sleep by having to get up for a snack (this usually only happened during pregnancy, but I started to feel this fear all the time). I normally kept snack bars by my bedside during pregnancy or nursing in case that happened, but I had gotten to the point that I kept a box there even when I didn't really need it.

Before this diet, I was feeling completely out of control in my eating habits. I felt like I was losing it. I felt like an addict. The last few months I actually found myself going to find food as soon as I didn't feel full anymore. It was insane! Now I don't think about food that much at all, and when I do, it's only "gee, that sounds good". I can handle that. I need to make sure I eat, so I don't get those thoughts. Yes, sometimes I forget to eat! Although usually I know I need to eat, but I'm too lazy to make something, lol.

I am so much happier. I don't feel depressed anymore. I'm much more patient with my kids, and most days are good days. More importantly, on the bad ones, I DON'T go running to food. I admit there was one horrendous day where I was tempted, but I overcame it. Before, a day like that would send me running to the store for a bunch of junk food.

Not only that, but for Thanksgiving, I made a Kimkins-friendly meal for my family. My husband is on the diet too, and has been SOOO supportive. My kids eat what's put in front of them, and they liked it (they normally have high carb breakfast and lunch, so I don't always add carbs to their dinner). The only off-plan item on the menu was a low carb pumpkin custard with whipped cream. Basically a crustless low carb pumpkin pie in custard cups. They were about 6 carbs each. Now, I do admit to eating TWO :-0 but I kept my total carb count to 22 (no net carbs here), so I only went over my limit by 2 carbs. I'm really proud of myself!!

Anyway, I'll try to post a homemaking-related article soon!

Weight Loss Updates

For those who are interested, I will be posting updates on my weight loss on my other blog, Weigh Out of Control. I try to keep this one mostly about homemaking. I will definitely be updating the other blog as often as I can.

Thanks Michelle! ;-)

Happy News!

(EDIT: WildAngel6, STOP SPAMMING MY BLOG!!! Please get your own blog and trash Kimkins there. I'm not 100% for Kimkins anymore, but if I was, that would be my business. MY BLOG, MY OPINIONS...not yours! You have spammed me at least a half dozen times, and apparently you don't get the hint when I delete your anti-Kimkins SPAM/advertising comments. One more time and I'm reporting you to Blogger.)

I have started a new diet, and I think I'm really going to like this one. It's called Kimkins. It's a lower fat version of the old Atkins, with no Frankenfoods. It starts out with Kimmer's Experiment, very similar to the Stillman's diet: all meat, seafood and eggs, nothing else. Except just enough NEEDED fats to cook, if you feel you need them. I use a tiny bit of mayo for deviled eggs, a bit of butter for cooking, and a tablespoon of cream for a couple of scrambled eggs. They say it will kill your hunger and put you into ketosis. You do KE for 3-5 days, then do regular Kimkins.

On this diet, you use no artificial sweeteners, except for diet sodas if you need them. Everything should be natural foods, and you should choose lean meat like chicken or leaner cuts of steak. Minimize fats...just what you need to make your menu work. The diet should keep you from being hungry, but if you're hungry, eat. Your diet should end up being very low calorie once the hunger is killed. Last night I had 6 ounces of fish and two scrambled eggs, and I actually was satisfied. I wasn't hungry til noon today. And........

I lost almost five pounds in three days! Whoo hoo!

I started at 260, and I'm down to 255.2. The scale is my friend now. And I am feeling SOOO happy.

The best part is that this is a quick weight loss diet. You can expect to lose 4-7 pounds a week, if you're faithful. That sounds like a lot, and I know somepeople will criticize (but not here on my blog, please)but if you think about it, it's much better than weight loss surgery. Gastric bypass patients are told it is safe for them to lose up to 1 pound per day. But they take on the risks of surgery, permanent reconstruction of their anatomy, and the inability to absorb much of the vitamins and nutrients from their food. There is non of that on this diet. Kimmer, its creator, lost 200 pounds and kept it off for a couple of years now. She lost 160 in SEVEN MONTHS, then 20 more in three months, then the last twenty over a couple of years. She went from 318 to 118. Her website is www.kimkins.com.

She does charge $40 for a lifetime membership to the site now. But if you google "kimkins" you'll come up with a lot of low carb forums where she previously posted advice, and where her followers still post today. I haven't joined her site. I'm doing the diet for a couple of weeks first, then if I like it, I'll join. Everyone says it's very helpful to have access to her and her forum, and if the diet works it would be worth it.

I am feeling SO happy right now. For the first time, I can actually picture myself thinner in six months! My goal is to lose as much as I can before I get pregnant, then if I do, I'll switch to Atkins maintenance. I'm really hoping I can get down to 200 before I get pregnant again. That would be AWESOME! Then I can easily wait til after the pregnancy to lose the rest.

WOW! I just realized if I get down to 200 I might be able to fit into store-bought maternity clothes. Cool!!

Joining Weight Watchers

Journey to Homemaker

I've been struggling with my weight fluctuating between 246 and 249. Well, not struggling much...I've gotten lax about my eating habits because I've been really hungry and I still lost no matter what I ate. Now the weight loss has leveled off, and I'm still really hungry, which I often am when I'm breastfeeding. So I've decided to join Weight Watchers.

I've heard really good things about it, and it seems like I often hear online and on tv weight loss shows about people who lost 100 pounds or more on WW. They have two plans, Flex and Core. On Flex, foods have a point value, and you're allowed a certain amount of points each day to use, plus an extra 35 points per week as a buffer. You can eat what you want. On Core, you can eat all you want, but only from a certain list of foods. At first Core sounded good to me, but then I found out all the dairy had to be fat free. I hate fat free dairy! So I think I'm going to do Flex. I get a lot of extra points for breastfeeding. I'll still have to probably use low-fat dairy in order not to use up all my points, but that's better than fat free. Yuck!

The meetings seem to be really short, in my opinion. If I'm paying twelve bucks, I think I should get more than a half hour. But I really need the accountability. Plus, I don't think I have enough of an idea of the calorie and fat amounts in certain foods. I blew a ton of points the first day on mayo! Right now I'm using a lot of the Smart Ones Weight Watchers frozen entrees, desserts, cereal, etc. It's expensive and not natural food, but for now it helps me stay on track til I get used to the program. I've done much better today. I probably actually didn't use up enough points. You're supposed to use them up.

Hopefully this will help me lose the weight. I feel I can't truly be a good wife and mother if I'm too lethargic to do housework, too tired and fat to play with my kids, too big to look sexy for my husband, and so unhealthy that I cost the family a lot in healthcare and risk dying on them. I owe it to them to get healthy. Plus I don't want my kids following in my footsteps. Being heavy makes life hard in so many ways, and I don't want that for them.

Guess we'll see what happens when I weigh in next week!

Weight loss :-)

Journey to Homemaker

The baby weight is gone!! Yipee!! I can't believe how fast I lost it this time. I gained a total of about 28 pounds, starting at 252 and ending at 280. I'm now down to 245.6! Woooo Hooo!!

I was down below my pre-pregnancy weight within a week and a half of giving birth. I'm now about six or seven pounds below that, at less than three weeks postpartum. That makes me feel a lot better about myself, because it means that I did a pretty good job of watching my weight with this last pregnancy. I have a digital scale that tracks your weight loss and your goals, and it was sooooo nice to see the little circle of stars pop up when I reached my goal of 250. I kept my goal there for a couple of weeks, for an ego booster, lol.

Now I've taken the brave step of reprogramming the scale for a new goal of 225. I hope I keep losing in the next few weeks, to keep my motivation up, because when I'm six weeks postpartum I can start exercising again, and that will really help me lose the weight. I do need to drink a lot more water though, since I'm nursing. I can't imagine how heavy I'd be now if I didn't nurse all my babies!

It will be nice to get down to 225, but I really can't wait to get down to 200. I was about that weight when I met my husband, and I think I can fit into an XL at that weight, which will be awesome, because then I can fit into off the rack clothing in most stores. Yes! I'm so sick of seeing really cute modest dresses in "normal" sizes at Walmart, but not in the plus sizes...when it clearly is a style that would translate well into a larger size! Instead the plus size stuff is ugly or clingy and unflattering. Can someone please get a famous plus size celebrity to host their own line of clothing at Walmart, Kmart, Target, etc. Instead of "Kathy Lee Woman", etc. What the heck does Kathy Lee know about plus sizes?! Although I have to say her stuff isn't TOO bad. But those designers for Target need to get a clue! Designs made of flimsy fabric that hugs every roll of fat is not going to sell well in a size 3x, people!

Okay, enough ranting. Hopefully pretty soon all this size discrimination in fashion will be irrelevant for me, because I'll be getting down into normal sizes...I hope! It's pretty bad when you can't even find patterns in your size to sew your own clothing!! If I could even just fit well into most XL clothing, I'd be satisfied! Not that I wouldn't LOVE to be a size 12, but any normal size will do, lol.

Wish me well on my weight loss journey! Maybe this will keep me accountable. It would be too embarassing to have to post if I GAIN weight!