Whew...

It turns out I'm not pregnant.  I'm both relieved and a little sad.  Mostly relieved though.  I had a couple occasions over the past 4 weeks where I drank a lot and I know that would not have been great if I had been pregnant, but there was nothing I could do about it since they had already happened.  Now, if we try again, I can make sure I stay away from alcohol from the beginning.

Also, now that that has passed, I can get back to my original focus of this blog, losing weight.  I'm down another 0.2 pounds today, so I'm at 191.8.  This is what I weighed after that terrible potato hack I did a couple weeks ago.  I can't remember if I posted about that, but man, it was awful.  What I did was eat nothing but potatoes (either baked or boiled with no fat).  The idea, I guess, is that the lack of fat will cause your body to burn fat and the resistant starch in the potatoes will improve your gut health.  In reality, I ended up very tired, very cold and very gassy.  Not a great combo.  I couldn't exercise at all because I was so wiped out for the 5 days I did this.  I went from 195 to 191.8, but then immediately gained 3 pounds after eating 1 normal dinner.  So, obviously, this wasn't a long term solution.

I hate to admit this, but I think tracking what you eat does work.  At least, in my case, it causes me enough guilt that I don't eat things I want to eat and I'll choose lower calorie options so that my tracker looks good.  I've tried to track my food dozens of times in the past and I've always hated it.  Just like now, I don't mind it so much when I'm at work, but at home and on the weekends it is always a challenge.  I find it a little easier with My Fitness Pal than I did with Weight Watchers or Spark People because they seem to have the best database of foods.  I don't have to manually enter as many foods and their recipe calculator is quicker, which I appreciate.  So, I guess I'll just keep with it. You can see my tracker here.

In other news, I'm still reading Wheat Belly Total Health.  I like the book, but I'm not 100% in love.  I guess it's because I've been at this grain-free thing for a long time now and I know it isn't the solution the books make it out to be.  In my case, I didn't lose any weight. I always assumed it was because I was still eating too much, but tracking is showing that I actually don't.  My diet hasn't  been 100% grain free because lately I don't think every grain is that bad.  A corn tortilla once in awhile won't kill anyone.  Neither will some rice.  Wheat, I agree, is awful and needs to be avoided.

My issue with the book is that it is very heavy handed about being anti-carbohydrate.  I've tried a low-carb diet and it doesn't result in weight loss for me.  I am slightly hypothyroid and maybe that's why.  I've heard that low-carb and hypo don't mix well.  I have been taking nature throid, 32.5 mg each morning, and so far, no changes.  Weight loss hasn't really been any easier, I'm still tired earlier than I should be, still have cold hands and feet, etc.  So, yeah, I don't know.  The book is pretty similar to the original Wheat Belly, so if you've read that I don't think there's a huge need to run out and buy the second book.  But, if you're new to the whole concept of a grain-free lifestyle, then I would recommend skipping the original Wheat Belly and reading Wheat Belly Total Health instead.

I should be finishing the book in a couple days and then I'm going to move on to the Perfect Health Diet which was recommended to me by several posters on Mark's Daily Apple.  Maybe following that plan will finally help me really shed some weight.  We'll see.

I have tomorrow off, yay!  If I don't post again have a good weekend!

Coming soon - My natural toothpaste recipe.  :)  I love natural beauty products and hopefully I'll have many interesting tutorials here soon.