When Silas first got sick I was overweight. I had been working on losing weight but it was a slow process. The first time he was in the hospital I realized that it would be a challenge to continue eating better and exercising like I had been, so I determined I would at least try to not GAIN weight. It proved to be too much for me. There was physical and emotional stress to a degree that I had never experienced before. I turned to food for comfort, which was wrong.
After Silas passed away I found myself well over 200 lbs. I felt horrible. I had very few clothes that fit comfortably, but more than that I felt so unhealthy. Everything hurt. Walking the .8 miles to the mail box and back made me sore and out of breath.
I tried losing weight the second half of 2013 but only managed to loose about 3 lbs. In March of 2014 I got serious. I was having attacks of pain in my stomach from time to time and I felt like it was a wake up call that I needed to get healthy. In April I went gluten free. Not so much to loose weight but I had read that cutting gluten often helped women with endometriosis. (I haven't decided yet if it helps with cramps but I have had fewer headaches since going gluten free).
Towards the end of last year I was having a lot of stomach pain, I visited the doctor and the emergency room several times before discovering that my gallbladder was very sick and had to come out! Having it out has not solved all of my gut issues but the severe pain has gone.
In 2014 I lost a total of 37 lbs. So far this year I have lost 11 lbs. That is a total of 51 lbs lost from my highest weight!
For the past 47 days I have avoided sugar, dairy, gluten (per usual), and grains. There have been a couple of "slip ups" but overall I have stuck to this diet. I eat veggies, fruits, nuts, seeds, meats, and eggs! I have added probiotics into my diet, including water kefir. I also have started taking some supplements for digestion that are really helping (things change when you have your gallbladder removed!) I plan to keep this up for 60 days and then transition to the GAPS diet. (You can google it if you are interested). It's not drastically different from what I am doing but it encourages eating certain foods that will heal the gut and avoiding foods that irritate the gut.
Most of all, and first of all, I want to glorify God in my body. My goal is not to be a model on a magazine. I want to be a reasonably healthy person. I want to be an example to my children and others who see me.
I don't know how much more weight I should loose, but I am not comfortable at my current weight and feel I still have a few more pounds to shed. 135 has always been my goal, but I have never been that size so I don't know if its a good weight for me or not. I am losing very slowly and I think that's a good thing (although frustrating sometimes). I am aiming more for being healthy and feeling strong than I am for a certain number on the scale.
