Sunday, August 4, 2013

My Weight Loss Journey: 9 months later...

In the beginning of November, I "went low-carb." Read all about it here.
To make a long story short:

  • I started in the first week of November 2012.
  • I had 12 cheat days over Christmas break {and was already/still down 8 lbs!}
  • I started working out in January 2013
  • I remained consistent with my low-carb diet 
  • I was down 25ish pounds on my wedding day!!!!! {04.27.13}
Thanks to some great friends and their help/advice with their successful experiences losing weight/living life eating low-carb {shout out to Samantha & Laura!}, I learned a thing or two.
I learned it was possible & did not have to be excruciating!
I learned I could have one cheat day a week & it wouldn't hurt me at all.
I learned I can still have pizza, and ice cream, and chocolate, and cheese, and bacon, and a ton of other yummy things! 

In January, I also learned that somewhere along the way my pancreas decided to {hopefully temporarily} quit working.
A high-fat diet was the only *guess* as to what could have caused it.
Just for the record, the medical bill was not worth sticking around for the specialist to come take a guess at the cause.
Lesson learned. 

I consistently ate under 20 carbs a day for six days a week.
When I tell people that, it blows their mind!
Apparently that's not a lot?! 

I now know that everyone's carb tolerance is different.
One person may be able to consumer 60 carbs a day & maintain their weight, another person may be able to eat 80, while some may only be able to eat 40.
Everyone's different & I was recommended to slowly start introducing carbs back into my diet and figuring out what my specific carb tolerance was.
I didn't do that. 

After our wedding day, we went to Jamaica, and ate, and ate, and ate.
And we went home, and didn't really look at what we were eating.
Then we semi- counted our calories, but weren't doing anything specific.
...Okay, Alex counted his and I didn't. :)

Meanwhile, I was working out 3-4 days a week consistently, mostly running on the treadmill {2ish miles a day}.
I am proud to say that I have maintained an approximate 20 lb. weight loss!! 

If you know me, you know I'm a picture freak.
It didn't take me long to find some "before" & "after" pics.

Here's some before pictures...yikes! 





I will say it warms my heart to know that Alex proposed to me at my largest. He must really love me! ;)

And now, my "current" pictures...
{I'm hesitant to call them "after" pictures. Hopefully I will be able to do that after this next go-round!}
the night before our wedding

hottie hubby lost 20ish lbs too with low-carb pre-wedding! proud of him!

Yes, that's a bikini! I hadn't worn one of those in 2+ years!

So I said all that to say this...
I am starting round 2 tomorrow! 
I had so much success during round 1 & I've binged long enough to start feeling blah & seeing the number slowly increase. 
For some reason, I have such motivation this time! 
I am not even worried about missing my daily Mello Yello(s) or not eating fast food.
Now, I will have to grocery shop tomorrow.
And I am dreading that more than going on a diet. 

I'll let ya know how it's going and will be posting on Instagram {@nsmullen} some of the yumminess I make! Follow me! :)

Wish me luck & feel free to comment with some advice or encouragement! :)
,
Nicole

4 comments:

  1. Any advice on how to start running? I want to start but have no clue how to start that wont immediately make me want to quit!

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    Replies
    1. Just so you know, I started running in January. I mean I had ran on the treadmill before, but wasn't consistent enough to gain any distance. I started in January with a goal of running one mile without wanting to die. I run slow. I say it's because I have short legs but running to me is like 5.0-5.5 on treadmill. I just did it 3-4 days in a row and stayed consistent. I found a good Pandora station to keep me pumped so if I was done with my mile and felt I could keep it up, I just kept running. It helps to have a friend beside you to keep you from feeling like you can just stop. I just worked my way up and eventually ran 3 miles straight! I found that if I worked out first thing in the morning, before I even ate breakfast, I was able to run farther because I didn't have the weight of food in my stomach holding me down.

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  2. Nicole!!!!! Im so proud of you!!!!! You go girl! I cant wait to start losing weight again! When I got pregnant I went of low carb so I have been living it up for 9 months! haha!

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Let me know what you think! :)

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