Woman's body attacked by own Insulin

That would be a good newspaper headline.

Its not sensational, its true.

So many of us have no idea what is going on in our own bodies.

As children we arrive at the table and eat what is put in front of us. I was a post war baby and somewhere is my ration book.

Food was not to be wasted. We learnt to clear everything on our plate.

At school we had puddings every day and loved my mashed potatoes. Always went up for seconds.

My obesity started in childhood. I had cravings for sugar and chocolate. I would buy a packet of sweets with my pocket money and finish them. I could never save some for later and also had a great problem with sharing my food.

Like many long term obese people I can remember my weight at significant points in my life.

I trained in Home Economics so was always surrounded by food and was nearly always well above any normal weight.

Sizes 18, 20 ,22 came and went and at my heaviest I was a size 24.

My life contracted to things I felt comfortable doing and taking part in.

The first time my insulin was measured was 2 yrs ago and it was 24 fasting.

Over the course of the 2 yrs I have reduced it to 14, keen to see what is the number at the next medical next month.

I know that the high insulin caused my cravings and binging and lack of will power.

I failed to even get through one day without a struggle.

Since starting this eating plan I have reduced my weight by 9kg in 3 mths. I no longer have any inappropriate cravings in the afternoons. I hardly snack at all.

For me it is a 2 phase approach.

One give up breakfast. I was never hungry that early in the morning, I ate because I thought it would stop me feeling hungry later in the day, but in fact the opposite is true for me.

Second keep carbs to under 25grms a day.

Then sit back and watch the scale scroll down.

Can Trust Myself Around Food

All my life I have had a problem with finding myself eating the wrong food at the wrong times and trying to justify it or trying to make up by not eating later.

It was an endless destructive battle with myself I could never win. I failed time and time again and had got to the point when I felt there was no point. Trying to diet and lose weight was just making me so miserable I might as well except the fact I was obese and stop trying to do anything about it.

That experiment when they put the marshmallow in front of the child and offer to double the amount if they can wait, was it 15 mins or 30 mins? That's not so much a test of willpower, but is an indicator of the amount of insulin level in the blood.

Low insulin and normal blood sugar and its easy to wait. High insulin and low blood sugar and the brain is demanding that glucose hit now!!

I have always enjoyed cooking but it was something I tried to limit because of the constant snacking while I cooked. Now I am free to cook again because I know that as long as I am within my 6.5hr eating window, 12 to 6pm and its not carbs I am free to have a small taste without any guilt at all.

Free at last.

I tried on 2 of my size 16 jeans yesterday and while I can get the zip up, something impossible 3 mths ago. They are too tight to wear comfortably now. So more work to be done.

But it's something that is doable and I now look forward to every day instead of dreading it in case I end up binging.

Yesterday I made another loaf of flax bread and cut into 10 slices and froze. Today I have made the 3 cheese omelette from Tom Kerridges book and that will be for my lunch. It makes 4 portions and often DH will have a slice as well. This morning I put in feta cheese, my home made yogurt hung cheese and some wensleydale cheese.

I got out 4 of my winter jackets yesterday and decided to soak them in the bath as they had got very dusty hanging in the cupboard since last year. I had to swill the bath out afterwards which just showed how dirty they were. They hung on the line most of yesterday and will go out again today.

A few months ago I would never of dreamt about tackling something like that. let alone washing them myself and getting the job done.

Insulin was just in control of my life, controlling what I thought about, constantly food, controlling what activities I could do, mornings only for mental work and controlling what exercise I did. As little as possible.
Insulin is a bully and I am so relieved I am now in control and not insulin.

Eat more Fat

This is something I have struggled with for most of my life.

I have no addiction to fats but I do have an addiction to carbs.

From my first diet 60 yrs ago I have been told that I eat too many calories and that is the reason why I am obese and have been most of my life.

So the answer is the cut back on the fat, skim milk, bread with no butter, trim all fat off meat, no chicken skin etc etc.

Eat more carbs that are low calorie and weight loss will result.

For some of us the above has worked for a short time but its a terrible way to live if like me you are insulin resistant.

My body produces too much insulin when I eat carbs. The carbs are inserted into the cells by insulin in the form of triglcerides or glucose and then the high levels of insulin holds the cells shut.

If this goes on every day the brain is starving and then it is highly likely than a binge will set in sometime in the afternoon or evening and the insulin levels stay high and the glucose in the blood is dropping.

The brain sends out a panic message for energy and sweet carbs are the brains goto food for quick energy.

The problem is that eating less fat is counter productive. Fat can slow the release of glucose from food eaten. So less fat in the meal, quicker glucose release and higher glucose in the blood stream and higher insulin response.

I now have a very rich diet. Much richer in good fats than I have ever had in my life before.

Thick cream in my morning coffees. Full fat mayo with lunch. Meat with fat and veg with butter in the evening. Only eating twice a day. No breakfast.

I can now go comfortably between 12 lunch to dinner at 6 without any need for a snack. I have far more energy than I have ever had in my life. I get tasks finished and am no longer procrastinating because I am so tired and lethargic.

My body is switching between energy from fat in my food and fat in my body for all its energy needs.

The result is a weight loss of around 1kg every 11 days.

This is not just a diet its an eating plan for the rest of my life. I am now looking at a non obese future, something that I thought I would never achieve.

www.realmealrevolution,com

Steady Weight loss and good glucose control

Well at least I know I have one reader. Morning Sharon how are you? Enjoyed our skype call yesterday.

Can cross off another kg. Got below 96, 95.8 this morning. I am crossing the KG off as you do days of the week when you are looking forward to something.

Its taking me about 11 days to lose 1kg at the present rate. Without major hunger or feeling I am being deprived of anything I really want.

So 3kg a month which is about 7lbs. So lose a dress size over 2 months or so.

I have done so many diets when I have felt I was imposing an eating plan on a very unhappy body. The failure was almost built in before I started. Over the years I have lost 60 to 70lbs, 20 to 30kg about 5 or 6 times but its always come back and brought friends!

I have been looking all my life for a plan that causes me to lose weight without the rebound hunger. I thought if I could just do that all would be well. But until now I have never found the plan.

I know I can never go back to 'normal' eating. My normal eating is responsible for my weight gain.

I have to find a new normal and I can certainly live with this. Two nice filling meals a day.

I have also found I have recovered about 50% of my day. Previously my afternoons were a non starter with trying to get anything done. I was so tired and tried to do as little as possible.

Now I am bustling about finding things to do and getting them finished.

No longer dreading each day and the possibility of losing it all in a binge, but looking forward to a thinner future when I can cope with any food situation.

Effective Weight Loss

I was thinking this morning that if I had not started on this way of eating ( RMR) how much more weight would I have put on over the last 3 months or so.

With holidays etc I have come up with the figure of an extra 6kg.

That free hotel breakfasts with croissants and dinners with dessert every night!

So I have not only lost the 8kg on the scale but also the extra 6kg I could have put on without any difficulty at all.

Enjoying getting into my smaller size clothes. Eventually I will have to find a home for my big elasticated trousers.

Trying to find more fitted clothes in the wardrobe that are not too loose and not too tight.

Did 10 min on the treadmill on max incline this morning.

Sure its good for me to exercise in the morning rather than the afternoon.

8KG and counting

Ideally I am planning on dropping at least 26 more kg and another 2 or 3 dress sizes.

May take me a year, may take 2 yrs.

What I know is that I am feeling so much better.

I still have issues with afternoon eating but try and make better choices. Cereal and breads are off the menu and I eat meats and cheese if I feel I need a mid afternoon snack.

I no longer find I need to eat more after my evening dinner. That habit has stopped.

I am skipping breakfast every day and finding it easy to do. But sometimes I tend to start my lunch about 11.45 rather than the 12 I am aiming for.

I am enjoying my 2 meals a day. Instead of low calorie, low fat foods which I used to try and stick to, I can now eat good platefuls of nice tasty food and feel much more satisfied once my meal is complete.

I am taking more care of myself. Using moisturizer and getting my old earrings out. Generally feeling better in myself.

The weight gain has never been my fault. I was given faulty information for the past 60 yrs.

My body cannot stay at the correct weight if I am trying to eat low calorie carbs.

Realmealrevolution

Have just signed up to realmealrevolution and looking forward to working with a coach to continue my weight loss journey.

I recently had 2 weeks on holiday and for the first time came back weighing the same as when I left. I continued to skip breakfast and only eat 2 meals aday.

Occasionally my husband and I shared a dessert as we ate most of our meals out.

Made a change from returning 4 to 5kg heavier after a holiday.

I made some no flour bread the other day and cut it into 10 or so slices.

Bread has always been an issue for me so limiting myself to one slice a day with my salad for lunch.

I have the rest of the loaf sliced in the freezer for other days.

Lost 1kg since my return and not feeling that hungry so feel positive I can continue as I am and continue to lose.