GOAL WEIGHT: 120-130 lbs.
My “normal” pre-pregnancy weight, after getting my thyroid health under control in my late 20s, was 105 lbs. But I weighed 110 lbs. at my first prenatal visit with my first baby. My post-pregnancy weight settled at 115 lbs., the weight I was when I got pregnant with my second baby. My post-pregnancy weight after my second baby settled in to 120 lbs. My dress size was 8-10.
In my early 40s, I wore a dress size 12-14. I have no record of my weight then. However, in 1996 I wore a size 14-16 and weighed 135 lbs. That was my pre-diagnosis weight. I was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes in September 2000 and I weighed 150 lbs. In retrospect, I think I was probably what they now call “pre-diabetic” (what was called “borderline diabetic” in my mother’s generation) for at least 10 years prior to an official diagnosis.
I became very diligent in following ADA (American Diabetes Association) guidelines for carbs (150g/day, with 45g/meal and 1 snack of 15g). I switched to Diet Coke and Diet Dr. Pepper, and I walked for 30 minutes every workday during my lunch hour. I continued to follow this protocol of diet and exercise when I changed jobs, though it was more difficult to do the walking (up and down hills). My weight continued to increase in spite of all this and I was put on diabetes pills (Glucophage and Glucotrol) and, eventually, insulin. And the dosages increased.
It was after I started insulin that my weight began to skyrocket until I had reached my maximum ever—172 lbs.
When I began eating low-carb high-fat in January 2015, my weight was 172.2 lbs. The chart above shows my weight loss progress as I lowered my daily carb intake from 100g/day to 75g/day to 50g/day to 25g/day. Some months I did 30g/day and some months I did 20g/day. As a result, my weight plummeted from 172.2 lbs. to 150 lbs. by the end of 2015. A total weight loss of approximately 22 lbs. I stopped taking generic glipizide early in January but continued generic metformin until the end of the year.
2016 was a difficult year with the loss of a major web client, the birth of my third grandson, and Linda’s mini-strokes and carotid artery surgery. However, I continued to lose weight, though I had more ups and downs, but the general trend was still downward, from 151 lbs. in January to 142.6 lbs. in December. A weight loss of less than 10 lbs. for the year.
If 2016 was a bad year, 2017 was even worse, characterized by developing and worsening chronic neck pain. My weight rose sharply at the beginning of the year then managed to drop down and go up erratically throughout the year. I began with a weight of 142.6 lbs. and ended with a weight of 137.6, for a total weight loss of only 5 lbs.
My chronic neck pain was at its worst in January 2018. My weight continued to go up and down erratically throughout the year, beginning with 132.4 and ending with 133.4. A weight gain of 1.0 lbs.! Even though the trend was slightly downward to ~131 lbs.
Now it is 2019 and my weight continues to be erratic from week to week. I started at 133.4 lbs. and ended with 140.8 lbs. My hair is continuing to fall out. If it keeps falling out, I shall consider getting a wig!
In 2020, you would have thought I would have continued to gain. But since I started high (140.8), at least I had somewhere to go and ended the year with 134.4 lbs. Of course, that was with the “help” of a few fasts!
So I’m starting 2021 at 130.2 lbs. and we’ll see where it goes from here. I want to do a 60-hr. fast on the first weekend of every month in 2021.
