Body Language.

I want to apologize to those out there whom I abandoned, deserted, and just out right disappeared on. I think I reached a point and told myself, F*** it! Not the proper way to handle things I know. I have thought of a million ways to come back here and ask for your forgiveness for leaving you like I did, and for wimping out and giving up. None of them seemed good enough, not that this is going to be good enough either. I came back to give this another go and to try and set things right with everyone, and myself. I didn't just give up on you; I gave up on my body as well. It was trying to tell me something and I wasn't listening to it.

With the help of a translator, I have finally figured out what it has been trying to tell me for a while. Before I get to that let us talk about my translator. How does one translate for the human body? As you all know that we as humans are complex both anatomically, and physiologically. And while I have studied the human body in school, I did not go to school to be a translator for the human body. It takes years and years to learn this complex language that new words for it are being discovered everyday. Yet, there are people out there who study this language and most learn what it has to say to translate it for us. You are thinking, "I know that she is talking about a doctor so get on with it already, or what in the heck is she talking about?" I am not just talking about doctors, but all those in the medical profession because they are the ones that have to learn our body's language, and yes some have studied longer than others, but they are still important.

I sought out a very special body translator, one who could talk to my hormones, who are stubborn little things who sometimes like to cause problems inside you. All it takes is one hormone to act up and things can start to go wrong inside your body. I didn't know who exactly was acting out of line, but I was hoping the translator could help me out and see what they had to say. I went and saw April, who is a wonderful translator who specializes in hormone translation. Maybe they talk to her because she is so kind, caring, and you just can't help but tell her what you have to say. Maybe they were just getting tired of causing problems, and they were ready to say what they had to say. April was finally able to talk to my hormones and after some investigation found out that it was my Insulin that was causing problems. They just kept over reproducing in my pancreas and sailing of into my blood stream. This caused a problem with my glucose because the insulin just kept trying to get rid of them, so my body would turn them to fat just to make sure I had enough for later.

It turns out everything I was eating was turning to fat, even my fruit and veggies. So April had to do something about it, to get the insulin back in line and under control. I like to think she is sterilizing my insulin so they can't over populate my body again and scare the glucose into hiding. She prescribed me Metformin to help get my insulin balanced again. She also told me that I should try to eat low-carb foods and foods with  a low glycemic index to make sure my insulin levels don't get raised to high again. I started doing the new Adkins diet, and while I'm not counting my carbs I am aware of them. And I don't know if it is the medicine or diet but I've had almost no appetite. I eat when my stomach is growling, which I feel like is more often than it used to, but I have been smart about my choices.

I feel I have even been quite creative in the kitchen. I made my own Beef Stew recipe that turn out quite delicious and it way more healthy than other recipes I have had in the past. If you want to try it I will post the recipe below. So as of last Friday when I started I went from 255.4lbs to 250.8lbs. I still have a long way to go, but this time I will be able to see the results that I have been hoping to see.

Here is the recipe for the Low Carb Beef Stew:

1 lb. Beef Stew meat
1 Tbsp. Olive Oil
1 cup Bean Sprouts
1/2 cup scallions, sliced
1 stalk of celery, sliced
1 can  Petite Tomatoes, diced
1 can French Style Green Beans, Drained
1 rutabaga, peeled and cubed
4 cups of beef broth
Italian seasoning to taste
1 bay leaf

1. Brown beef in olive oil on medium high in skillet. Do a little bit at a time and put into crock pot as it finishes. This puts some of the juice into the crock pot.
2. Use same skillet and put bean sprouts and scallions in it and stir around to pick up the brown bits on the bottom of the pan. Cook for about 5-7 minutes, dump into crock pot.
3. Heat up celery in same pan for a few minutes and dump into crock pot.
4. Add can of tomatoes and green beans, and rutabaga to crock pot. Don't forget to drain your green beans!
5. Pour in beef broth into crock pot until covers the top of the ingredients. Stir until everything is well incorporated.
6. Season stew with Italian season to your taste and top with a bay leaf (Don't forget to take the leaf out when it's done!)
7. Cook on high setting for 4-6 hours.

It serves 8. Per Serving: Cal:114 Carbs: 10g Net Carbs: 5.2g Protein: 12g

Label Reading = Avoiding Poisons

This past Sunday was the big day to go grocery shopping for foods that qualify under the Katelyn-gf diet. The first step was to go through the kitchen and throw out everything that had sugar (not natural), HFCS, and Hydrogenated oils. This was an extensive cleaning I must say, almost everything went from jellies to cereal. It took a lot of label reading as well. Finally, once our kitchen was rid of all its poisons we went to the grocery store, and there we spent countless more time reading labels. It was easier in Publix because if you haven't noticed, and I never did either until Sunday, that if it has a brown self label then it is considered organic, for further explanation click here.

This made it easier on the inside aisles with all the canned and boxed things to spot the brown labels and then check for the poisons, and for the most part that strategy worked well. One of the things that I did enjoy was the fact that I got to buy lots of fresh fruit that I normally don't get, even though I love it!

A quick note on my adventure into Earthfare, to try and scope out some sales and even though I have been in there several times, I was thrown for a complete loop. It was like I had Organic Food Shopping Disorientation (OFSD for short). I was wandering around the store, up and down the aisles, looking at all their product but not processing a single thing I was seeing. I felt like I wasn't in a human grocery store, and I got freaked out, wondering what I was even doing there in the first place. After a couple of laps around the store, I started noticing some things that were on sale, but I just couldn't quite get to where I needed to be to tackle the OFSD. I bought some Cape Cod chips and called it a day, determined that next time I go in there I will either take Alex with me or have a plan of attack.

Meals this week so far have been pretty simple, and the hardest part for me is making myself cook. We have enjoyed some chicken stir fry which consisted of boneless skinless chicken breasts, fresh California vegetables with soy sauce and sesame seeds. I even made a pot roast last night with carrots and potatoes, which I will probably leave to cooking in the crock pot from now on, it wasn't very moist. Also we even had pizza which I made a homemade sauce, which is exceptional if I do say so myself. We have also been cooking breakfast every morning which means we have to get up a little early, but the protein and fiber are doing a great job at holding me over until lunch time. Overall we have been trying to make sure we have protein, fiber, and a little fat with every meal, the only sugar I am consuming is the natural sugars found in the fruit that I eat.

I did find a wonderful article in the August issue of All You magazine about sugar in your food. It was a nice little read and I am going to do a little side blog about it within the next week or so. It will help me give you a little bit more information on how to look for sugar in your food, as well as what they suggest as some guidelines on the amount of sugar you should eat per types of food. So look forward to that soon!

Thanks for reading, and if you have any questions for me please feel free to ask them!

K8ers

"The Katelyn-gf Diet"

After spending almost a whole week with according to gf, who scolded me about my non-blogging as of late, he inspired me to start writing again and to take on a whole new challenge. The challenge started out as what gf calls, "The Katelyn Diet," which is eliminating sugar from your diet. Then we are going to implement "The Katelyn Diet" with "The gf Diet," which eliminates Hydrogenated oils and High Fructose Corn Syrup(HFCS) from your diet as well. You can read a brief explaination on the whys in gf's blog here.

When I say "diet" I mean the term loosely, because as we have discussed before it is not a "diet" but more a lifestyle change. It is not something you can do for a couple of months and lose the weight you want and then quit. This is something that you will have to remain conscience about for the rest of your life. This is a long term commitment. While it may seem difficult, which I am well aware the the first few weeks will be just that, I am told that you will get to a point where when you eat a "poison" it will totally jack your GI tract up.

The Katelyn-gf Diet as it will now be referred, will follow this basic principle: If you cannot grow it, pick it, or catch it, you shouldn't eat it. Now I know there may be some confusion in this so I will try and break it down the best I can.

•  Grow It:
• This refers to your basics, such as fruits and vegetables. Yes fruits are a sugar, but your body recognizes this sugar and can break it down. Plus many fruits also contains fiber which is good for your body. This category also includes the means by which you get your flours and other basic dry goods. These dry goods however must be 100% whole grain and when looking at your label not have anything in it you do not recognize. Au Natural if you prefer.

• Pick It: 
• This is things such as spices, oils, and anything else you might find in a garden or on a farm. This does not include however HFCS or Hydrogenated Oils. Your body does not know what the hell this stuff is and it does not know what to do with it, so don't put it in your body. Once again look at your labels, make sure it is stuff that you know what it is. Also try to avoid things where the first ingredient is sugar.
• Catch It:
• This of course refers to the meat aspect of the diet. Now I'm not saying you have to go out there and catch your own chicken if you want to have chicken, but what I am saying is to pay attention to the meat you buy. Most of the meat that is on the shelf at the grocery store is packed with antibiotics and growth hormones that we don't need in our systems. I'm not saying it is going to be possible for everyone to buy organic meats but if you see it is on sale then maybe you should purchase than instead. But meats aren't bad, just try not to eat as much red meat if you eat it a lot.

I have decided to fully commit to this diet and I have the full support of my boyfriend who will be doing this lifestyle change with me. According to gf started out with "The Katelyn Diet" and lost a good bit of weight and then discovered the poisons of HFCS and Hydrogentated Oils and proceeded to cut those from his diet as well. In a little over a year he has lost over 50lbs, because he now pays attention to what he eats. And you will be surprised too of what you can find this poisons in. I have been under his tutelage for almost a week now with very in depth conversations on the matter, and Sunday I plan on putting all of this knowledge into action and take my first trip to my local natural food store. Wish us luck, and I promise I will let you know how the process goes! I hope that I have inspired you to start something new, and maybe you can give it a try with me.

K8ers

::Gasp:: I actually enjoy the gym now.

It is a miraculous moment in time. I actually enjoy going to the gym! I never thought I would say that, but I do. I enjoy going to a place where I didn't think I would ever enjoy going too. I have always read and heard people say that they love it and when they don't go they feel like they have gain 20 pounds, and I just always thought they were crazy but I understand them now. I understand what it feels like to miss a few days and feel like your ass has grown two-fold since then. How is this possible that I can miss the gym when I dreaded it so much before? To be honest I don't know at the moment, but maybe while I tell you about my routine we can figure it out together.

First of all, I try to get to the gym as much as possible throughout the week. Some weeks are less than others because of my schedule, but typically I make it there 3 to 5 times a week. I had started out with a simple routine of I would do 30 minutes of Cardio on a machine, most of the time the elliptical, and then I would go and work all of the machines. These work various muscle groups and I always made sure I would work the opposite muscle group as well. This is because when you do certain activities you are working both sets of muscles and you have to make sure they are equally strong. Then I would always do my stretching before I left. This all usually takes and hour and a half to do. This was a good plan, and I could see the results starting in my waistline, and even in my thighs. When you have excess fat certain places it is very noticeable when some of it starts to shrink. So I did this routine for a good 4 weeks, and even got my cousin to join the gym with me. Then we decided to try something different.

It was time to try a class. Where I go to the gym they have several classes that you can take, but we thought we would try the "Middle Eastern Dance" class. AKA Belly-dancing. Maybe one day I will be this good. We were both kind of nervous when we got in there and the class started out painfully enough, with shoulder exercises and thigh exercises. We were even taught how to shimmy. With out hips, not with our chest. We did a belly-dancing version of the "Cupid Shuffle", and by the end of the class I was sweating, and some of my muscles hurt but the most important thing was I had fun. I really enjoyed the class. If you would have saw me the next two days after, you wouldn't believe that I enjoyed that class because I couldn't move an inch without something hurting or being in some kind of pain. I am pretty sure that day two after the gym I rolled out of bed, literally. But I still try to go every Tuesday and Thursday evening if my schedule will allow it, because it is a fun class that is a workout but I get to try and not so much succeed and looking graceful and sexy while shaking my hips. A couple of weeks ago, the instructor of the class was kind enough to give me a cd with all the songs on it that we dance to in class, so I can practice at home, so on the days I can't go I try my best to remember the the dances we learned to the songs and do them in my living room. I remember the warm-ups just fine, its just a couple of the dances I forget the moves. I even got a hip scarf to make it sound authentic.
Maybe I will get brave enough to post a video of my dancing when I learn a little bit more.

If you have ever wanted to try belly-dancing, you should. It is really fun and it doesn't feel like a work out at all, and I have noticed my waistline shrinking and all I have been doing is dancing. Okay that's not true, I still do my regular routine on the days that there isn't a belly-dancing class, but it is still fun. I am coming up with a plan starting new years, so once I get it into place I will post it on here.

Really? I mean really?

I can't believe I have been such a slacker on this thing. Has it really been since the end of July since I last wrote? Its not like I wasn't aware that I wasn't writing, Mr. Greg has been reminding me. Thanks Mr. Greg! I just can't believe it has actually been that long! For those of you wondering, I did not give up on my task. I just grew slightly lazy in my exercising efforts to become fit and fresh. I have steadied out at 250lbs which is not good at all but better than my 274 was it? The good news is that I will be starting back school in two weeks and possibly Curves next week. I do believe that Curves will be my best choice at the moment, because it seems to be a place a overweight woman like myself can go and work out with other overweight women and not feel self conscience about it. I mean if you think about it most of the men and women at a gym such as our local YMCA are already pretty much in shape or are in the I have almost reached my goal area. I figure this is because the other overweight people are having the same issues that I have when they see all this skinny people; a giant blow to the self esteem. It can mess with a person's head and even make us a little depressed. If you have ever been depressed or suffer from depression then you know how it is. Pardon my French but you just don't feel like doing shit.

On another note I have been working a lot lately since I haven't been in school this quarter and I think that is why I am angrier these days. I have been being quite the smart ass to my managers and fellow employees of late and I think maybe the whole retail thing has sailed its course. I mean sometimes you just get those customers that make you say, "Really? Did you really just ask me that? I mean really?" I am pretty sure me, Seth Meyers, and Amy Poehler  could do a pretty mean skit together. Watch This by the way: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PltaOs_ImVQ . I have decided that my place of work should have the colored lines like inside of a hospital so you can just tell people which color line to follow when they ask you stupid questions. Questions such as, "Excuse me, where are your socks?", "Excuse me, where is your fitting room?", and my favorite, "Excuse me, where is your bathroom?". I mean really? Do you not know that you wear socks with your shoes. If you have already checked the clothing section and you do not see them, chances are they are in footwear. Can you really not see that giant footwear sign hanging from the ceiling? And speaking of giant sign hanging from the ceiling, do you really not see the large 10 feet in diameter sign that says "fitting room" in the center of the store. The entrance is somewhere around that sign, do you think that you have to get beamed up there be a fellow apparel associate to get in? "Beam me up Scottie!" I mean really? I don't ask stupid questions when I go into stores. That is why companies spend billions of dollars on signage, to make your life easier, unless you want to be the idiot who doesn't even attempt to look at the signs.

I have to deal with that crap all day. Also we have t-shirt boxes at work and I have decided that they are pointless because even though it clearly displays the graphic of the shirt on the outside so you don't have to open the shirt up and make us refold them you are going to do so anyway, and not only that you are going to unfold five of the same shirt just to see how much bigger one is than the other. Which brings me to the next thing, you are going to come in shopping for clothes for someone else and not bring them with you, but you don't know what size they where? Really? "Yes I am shopping for my niece and she is about 5' 5" and 140 lbs, what size do I need for her?" I mean really? Does she have big boobs? A big butt? Is more of her 140lbs on her waist or in her thighs and hips? What is her freaking body shape?  I can just blurt out the first size that comes to me people, but I am not 5' 5" and I don't weigh 140lbs so I don't even know what I would wear let alone what a complete stranger would wear.

Also now I have this gentleman that calls me at least once a week. He always seems to call when I have the phone. I am thinking that he is a little mentally challenged and I have nothing against that it is just he calls once a week and asks me the same questions over and over again. He is polite and everything I  am just getting tired of talking on the phone with him for 30 minutes about what we do and do not have at our store. Is his calls not being monitored? Really?

This is all I really have to rant about this week. I have come to another conclusion but that will have to wait until next time. Once I join curves I will start back with my stats, I don't want to bore you with pointlessness until then.

K8ers

A little vacation = a lot of eating.

Have you ever been on vacation, like to the beach or lake especially, and realize how much you are eating while you are there?  I went to the beach a couple of weeks ago for a friend's 21st birthday and it was ridiculous how much I ate and didn't even realize it. Plus it was his 21st birthday so of course we have to celebrate properly; you would be amazed at the calories in alcohol. Lets go through the standard trip to the beach, at least for most people I know.

On the drive down to the beach if you do not live near one, in this case Daytona Beach, Fl is 5 hours away from my town, you are more than likely going to have to stop for gas, am I correct? Well what do you do while you are at the gas station? More than likely you are going to get hungry and nothing healthy comes from a gas station. Not to mention the cooler of goodies we had in the back of the SUV conveniently placed so the person in the back seat could reach back and grab a soda or snack for you. When you go on a trip with skinny people, they tend to bring sugary fattening beverages and snacks so you aren't going to let your stomach growl the whole way. Plus, you weren't smart enough to bring anything healthy with you, so you eat the Turtle Chex Mix, but you were smart enough to bring a water bottle. Sugar and Calories? Check.

You arrive at your hotel and you notice it has a kitchenette in it, which is nice, because this means you can buy groceries, healthy groceries. Wrong... you can't just buy stuff nobody is going to eat. Sure you can buy you something good for breakfast, and make a semi-healthy turkey sandwhich for lunch, but who is going to drink a case of diet soda or water in 5 days? Good thing you still have that water bottle. Have you noticed this is your only ally on this trip? Turns out you get hamburgers and hotdogs for lunches and dinners for a couple of the days because they are pretty cheap. You have potato chips to go with them. Calorie? Check.

Lets not forget about the eating out. What is one of the major things you should eat when you go to the beach? Seafood! Duh! It's fresh from the ocean, unless you are in the Gulf of Mexico right now, in which case, not so fresh. Well you have to go to the best seafood restaurant in town to get the ultimate seafood experience. In my case it was Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. I have to say I did good in selecting the meal without fried shrimp and french fries... I had blackened shrimp and andouille sausage with a brandy sauce over mashed potatoes, delicious by the way, but not that great in low calorie or fat content. Not to mention I just HAD to have an alcoholic beverage because I wanted the souvenir glass that comes with it!  This was just one restaurant, I had Italian one night, Silders another. Also had Banana Pancakes for breakfast one morning, but I did use Sugar Free Syrup. Not that it really matters at this point. Calories? Fat? Sugar? Check. Check. And Check.

Being at the beach and having a swimming pool, I did work up an appetite. I know because I am working a lot of the food I eat off, but I hate how after swimming for 30 minutes you feel like you could eat a whale if you really tried. I did get to swim a good bit and because I remembered to bring a beach umbrella this time, I got to enjoy the actual beach and not have to hideout in the hotel room.

And on the way home you can replay the trip there in reverse but include all the important parts. Like the food.

Also my car has been in the shop for a week now and I have had the joy of bumming rides from people, which I hate doing but work is just to far to walk in this Georgia heat. I will say that I have walked home from school a few days. Not that its very far. A little over a mile, but a mile in the heat is not very much fun. You add the luxury of a 7 pound book-bag, a purse, and a laptop bag.... really not fun. Its funny because I joined the gym right before we left for the beach, and I still have yet to go. I have either been at school or work, and the gyms hours aren't very flexible with my schedule currently.


Also this past Sunday a bunch of people from work and friends played softball. We got there about 8:30 and Alex and I left at 11 because we had to get up so early in the morning. Softball doesn't hurt while you are playing it because your adrenaline is going but I tell you that the next couple days after, if you haven't worked out in a while, you hurt. I didn't even want to get out of the bed, but at the same time its a good kind of hurt that makes you want to go back for more. That is why I would rather play a sport than work out in a gym because you don't think about the workout while you are doing it.


So that has been the past couple of weeks. I am going to post my stats from last Friday, 7/16/10, and then I will hopefully have this weeks stats posted Friday or Saturday.


Weight: 249.8lbs
Fat: 45.1%
Water: 35.5%
Muscle: 22.3%
Cals: 1814


The Friday before that 7/9/10:

Weight: 252.0 lbs
Fat: 45.4%
Water: 35.1%
Muscle: 22.1%
Cals: 1804

Totals so far:
Weight: -25.6 lbs
Fat: -4.6%
Water: +3.9%
Muscle: +3.6%

Whoo! Finally crossed that 25lbs mark!

Katelyn

A few rules to live by. (week 18)

So I missed another week of blogging, because I tell you, Anatomy and Physiology stresses me out and has been keeping me very very busy. Still no excuse I know, but I try to not write just any old thing just to write something, you know? So here is what I am learning about a "life-style change".

1. Watch out for refined food. Period. Refined grains have had all the essential nutrients. Here is some of the things taken from this cookbook this kid from The Youth Summit sold to me called: Seven Secrets Cookbook: Healthy Cuisine Your Family Will Love    And basically talks about unrefined foods are better for you. For instance, unrefined plant foods (i.e. fruits and veggies) are naturally low in fat. This helps you lose weight because low-fat foods have fewer calories but you are still filled up. And if you really want to make this a great food for you make sure it has dietary fiber in it. See: According to GF's Blog about the fiber. Because lets face it, the more dietary fiber you eat, the more you poop, and what is poop (non-scientific term of course), it is the left overs of everything you consume along with some waste your body produces. If it is left over this means that your body didn't need it to begin with, so guess what! You need to get rid of it. And if you eat enough insoluble fiber.... yes there are more than one type, then you don't break it down and you carry it with you throughout your digestive tract... and it catches all the stuff you don't want in there, such as fat! And you poop that out too! The Mayo Clinic has a great article on Dietary Fiber. I know I am throwing a lot of resources at you but it would just be too much to put in one blog post. maybe I will break each one down for you.   So Back to the unrefined food is good for you. The term refined goods refers to the process of removing fiber, and nutrients from plants foods, and usually increasing the amount of fat. Now, I don't know about you but that doesn't sound good. Oil, butter, and the high percentage in fat found in meat can be to blamed and are considered refined foods. Try eating nuts, olives, and coconut oil if you must. Think about it, that 200 calorie potato that is delicious baked, becomes a 1000 calories bag of potato chips after it is cooked and fried, and preserved...aka refined people! White bread, pasta, and rice are not as fattening but should be replaced with their whole-grain counter parts. I don't know about you but whole grain bread just tastes so much better than white bread.  Just make sure you pay attention to the label. IT IS ALWAYS IMPORTANT TO READ THE FOOD LABEL! I can't stress that enough! If it says "Wheat flour" its refined. If it is unrefined it will say 100% whole wheat, or some other grain. If you see both kinds of flour listed, don't buy it. Also look for added fat in various forms like: lard, butter, margarine (poison), vegetable oil, or partially hydrogenated oil. This gets rid of almost 97% of the loaves of bread out there on your store shelf. You can control you weight just be simply cutting back refined foods!
2. Cut back on your sugar intake. Sugar isn't completely bad for you, because your body needs glucose to perform cellular respiration which produces ATP which is your body's engery source. See my previous article: Maybe I Wasn't in A Slump about the sugar thing. I have been trying not to eat anything with more than 5g of sugar per serving. I find that now when I do eat something more than that I get a sugar high and a nice headache to go along with it, your body's way of saying, "Hey! I don't like that! It's too much for me to process!" This means that it will get turned into fat because when your body doesn't use all of the sugar you put into it, whether it be in the form of carbs (yes this is a sugar) or sugar in sweets it stores it into your body's cells in the form of glycogen, mainly in the muscles and your live, and  if you have too much in the fat tissue as, you guessed it, fat! Crazy what you learn when you pay attention in Biology and Anatomy Class. How do we get rid of it? By cutting back on these things and exercising.
3. Exercising is the key to losing weight! When you exercise your body is using the ATP that your cells produced and this requires glucose and oxygen. When you use all the glycogen in your muscles and in the liver your body will start to break down the glycogen stored in your fat cells and begin burning that for fuel! So Exercise! 

I will leave it with these three points for now and just watch what you are eating! I have been watching what I have been eating and I changed little things in my activity. I park in the back of the parking lot at school so I have to walk further, I try not to eat as much, I take the stairs instead of the elevator and I have been snacking more than consuming large meals.

Yesterday I went to David's Bridal to try on my bridesmaid dress for one of my best friends wedding that will be in August of next year. Most of the other girls are smaller than me and I tried on an 18 which fit me rather well, except for that I don't want it to fit me well. I want it to be way to big next year. So here is my goal for Katy's Wedding. I plan on going from a size 18 dress, to at least a size 12 by next August of 2011 .You know what this means right? I gotta get to work on losing them inches. I know school is kinda tough right now, and I feel like I never have anytime between school and work, but I am going to have to make time. Plus I think that exercising will help me with the stress of school, because its a great stress reliever! So I am not sure what my weight will be by the time I reach my goal but I know I will be a size 12. That's still a Large but you know what, a Large is way better than an XXL.

Here are this weeks measurements and next week I will post my measurements for my waist, arms, legs, hips and such so we can keep track of that as well.

This week:
Weight: 251.4lbs
Fat: 45.2%
Water: 35.3%
Muscle: 22.2%
Cals: 1817

Last Week:
Weight: 255.2 lbs
Fat: 45.8%
Water: 34.7%
Muscle: 21.8%
Cals: 1870

Total Lost since week 1:

Weight: -24lbs
Fat:  -4.5%
Water: +3.7%
Muscle: +3.5%

24 pounds... in 18 weeks..... a little over a pound a week.... but still not what I could be losing. But don't get me wrong I am thrilled I am still losing weight! Slowly is the way to do it because you are less likely to gain it back faster, and you are reassuring yourself that you are losing fat and not water and muscle weight. Which you can see I am not, they are increasing which is how it is supposed to be!

Sooo here we go! Week 18 is at a close.

Katelyn