Saturday, January 16, 2010

A Fresh Start

Most of you know my story. For those of you who don't, I'll recap quickly... In July 2001 I joined Weight Watchers. Between that time and the Summer of 2004 I lost a total of 110 pounds and was 32 pounds from my goal. In late Summer of 2oo4 I got a divorce (I was with my husband for 10 years - 8 of them married). I moved back in with my parents and pretty much fed my pain with comfort foods. I also stopped working out during this time. I put on a happy face and tried to act like I was fine, but deep down, I know I was depressed. Looking back, I should have gotten some counseling, but instead of counseling, I worked through a stack of pancakes several nights a week after everyone had gone to bed (Perkins is open 24 hours around here). You can probably guess the rest from there. In just under a year, I gained all of my weight back. I knew I was gaining and kept telling myself I would get a grip and get back with it, but one excuse after the other, I just kept gaining. In the end, I was 5 pounds heavier than when I started Weight Watchers back in 2001. I was so mad at myself for gaining the weight back.

After a long absence from the web, I've decided to start fresh with a new blog. Before I start getting emails from people telling me I've turned my back on Weight Watchers or how bad the Low Carb lifestyle is for me, I'm just going to say what I have to say and be done with it. I almost considered keeping this blog private simply because I don't feel like dealing with the nay sayers and spend all of my time defending my actions, but I'm choosing to be accountable and for the same reason I started Aimee's Adventures, maybe while helping myself, I'll help someone else as well.

Now before the "hypocrite" emails start... I have not turned my back on Weight Weight Watchers. Weight Watchers is a very sound program and it not only worked for me, but it's still helping many others. I will still leave Aimee's Adventures up for others to enjoy and answer any questions you have about it (I'll even still be using it because some of the recipes are actually low carb). I just personally need a change. I know, many of you are asking... if it worked so well, why change? The best answer I can give to that is: I KNOW I am addicted to carbs. I KNOW I could follow WW and just watch my carb intake, but I also KNOW myself very well (it's taken me a lot of time to figure this out). I can slap a points value on a Twinkie and justify that I can have it. I CAN have it, but I also know that I won't stop there. I each too much junk, too much sugar, too much bread, etc.

I've tried many different diets over the past 5 years. Slimfast, Special K, Optifast, I returned to WW probably twice a year until last year, I've tried The Cookie Diet, The Cereal Diet, etc. I've done all of the ridiculous gimmick diets you can think of. I can only imagine the crap I've done to my body from trying to lose weight. Out of everything I've tried over the past 5 years, Low Carb worked the best for me and personally makes the most sense FOR ME. Now you're probably asking... if it worked so well, why didn't I stick with it? The reason for that is because I wasn't doing it the way it was supposed to be done. I tried modifying it to be low fat AND Low Carb (something you just can't do). I lost about 40 pounds in less than 3 months, but mixing low fat and low carb also limited my food choices and I became bored. I felt awesome while on it though and didn't have ANY cravings. That is the part I liked the most - being able to drive down the street past all of the fast food places and not want to pull into any of them, or watch people eat sweets and not want to yank it out of their hands and shove it into my mouth. LOL! I want to get control before I become a diabetic or worse.

I've been following Jimmy Moore on Livin' La Vida Low Carb for a few years now (he lost 180 pounds and has kept it off for 5 years). Even before I decided to try Low Carb I liked what he had to say. If you would like to know more about the Low Carb lifestyle, I really recommend his site (watch his YouTube videos with his wife Christine; who also lost weight), they're educational and entertaining. Jimmy has prompted me to research quite a bit and the more I read (like Gary Taubes Book "Good Calories, Bad Calories", the more I know I am making the right choice for my body (I'll go more into good books later). I am not going into this lightly. I hope most of you will be supportive of my decision to eat a Low Carb lifestyle. If you do not agree with what I have to say, then all I ask is that you do not read (there is a red box at the top right corner of your screen - push it to exit and never come back). Posting negative comments will not inspire me or anyone else. Neither will posting comments from ignorance because you "heard" something and didn't bother to do any research before you typed out a comment. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but please at least make it an educated opinion. For any recipes I post, I will post the Low Carb version and I'll also try to lighten them up and post the points for those of you who are following Weight Watchers.

I have managed to keep off about 25 pounds from my highest weight, so while I'm not starting at my highest, I do still have about 125 pounds to go to reach my goal. I hope you will support me in my efforts and thank you for stopping by my blog. :)

13 comments:

  1. Congrats Aimee! I think the first step in losing weight no matter what program you use is having your head in the game (so to speak). I have followed you for years on your site, I have your cookbooks and often refer people from DWLZ to your site for your great recipes. I commend you for jumping back on the bandwagon, no matter what song is playing. I will follow your blogs and I look forward to your posted recipes with or without points. I can certainly use some low carb ideas as I hit those high carb items too often. Thanks for the inspiration you have given in the past through your website and recipes. You really did help to keep me and my husband on program more times than I can count.

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  2. Aimee, I'm so glad you're back online.

    Every person has to find what works for them. Period. It's nobody else's business, so if you get negative comments, please just ignore them.

    So many of your recipes on your website are family favorites here. I'm so glad you're going to keep that site up. I use it often, recommend it to everyone, and I used to link to it on my blog but last time I checked, Google still showed it infected. ??

    I no longer do Weight Watchers either. I count calories. WW is a good program, but I just can't see doing it for life. Calorie counting, for me, is more accurate--plus I use Calorie King's downloaded journal and I can watch my carbs/protein and fat easily.

    My DH is like you, he likes low carbing. Everyone has to find what works for them.

    Best wishes!

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  3. Aimee, are you going to add to your website? I think that would be wonderful. You just have a nack for good recipes. My hope is that you will just add a low-carb section!

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  4. Aimee, you're an idiot if you don't think people will support you, lol! You have been an inspiration for years to people and have helped countless others just get going on their lifestyle changes (myself included). I am proud of you for posting this blog and putting it out there for everyone to see. You didn't have to, but you did cause you have courage beyond the average person in my opinion. I would love to know more about what you're doing specifically. I personally feel that from this moment on, you should just post whatever the hell you want about your journey, posting helpful hints/recipes/ideas, and we will all show you the support you deserve. Please stop defending you choice to be healthy no matter how you do it. Again, I"m proud of you. You deserve success and I know you'll find it. Shoot me an email about what you're doing or give me a call.

    Ben

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  5. Wow thanks!
    Jo - You know, maybe I will add a section to my site for low carb recipes. That's a good idea. I'll start making some and save them up in a folder, and then when I get time, I will do that. Good idea indeed! Thanks!

    Ben - I'm off to send you that email now. :)

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  6. Amy! OMG! You are so AWESOME! I knew you were awesome when I first met you at work. There has been a bond for some reason and now I know what it is. I am so glad you friended me on facebook so I would know about your blog. Please keep up the low carb postings and progress. Low carb is the best route for me as well. I had gastric-bypass surgery in 2004 and that is what you have to follow because sugar makes you sick after the stomach has been "rearranged". It wasn't until I started eating breads, potatoes, and high carb foods that I started to gain my weight back. I have gained 40 pounds of the 100 lbs I lost from surgery back because of the evil carbs. I am struggling to get back to low carbs because the high carbs fit in my "pouch as they call it" easier than low carb stuff! Go figure. I have found a way to get more in my stomach even though I paid thousands of dollars to make my stomach smaller. I am so glad you are doing this. I need the motivation!!!! The support groups for AMC Bariatric program stopped when they did away with the Bariatric Clinic. I have been feeling alone in my journey. I can't wait to see you at work now. By the way, I hardly recognized you at work the last time I saw you. You can really tell you have lost the weight. It is amazing how weight changes our looks so much.

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  7. Sorry I spelled your name wrong! I got too excited!

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  8. LOL! I'll overlook the misspelling of my name "this time". :) That's cool that you're following low carb too. I'm basically following Atkins. I'll be in the induction phase for awhile, but it's ok. I don't want to start adding higher carb items until I have a really good grip on what I'm doing. I might try another recipe today if I get time. If I do, I'll post it. Thanks for your message. It's good to know Someone from work is following low carb too. We can motivate each other. :)

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  9. Hi Aimee!!!
    Nice to see you're blogging again :)
    I stopped going on your other site b/c you were hardly on there :(
    but glad you found a program that works for you. we'll always support each other & motivate too :)

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  10. Hey, Aimee!!! I am so glad I've found you here. :) I find it ironic that you are doing low carb and I'm doing WW! We seemed to have switched. *LOL* I've yo-yo dieted off and on since the birth of my first child 7 years ago. Low-carb is the only diet that I found that would work for me! You lose weight and you lose it fast. What I tended to run into with Low carb is that it was easier than WW to know what you can and can't eat, it's just that there didn't seem to be as much of a variety as there is with WW. I wish you much success with this diet as I said before. It DOES work! You can lose weight on this plan just as you can any other!!! I am looking forward to seeing your progress on this diet. :)

    YOU CAN DO IT!!!

    BTW, I am adding your blog to my blogroll and to my Google Reader as well so I can keep track of your loss!

    Thanks for being such a great motivation for women near and far. :)

    Tisha, the CrAzY working Mom

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  11. Amiee I am so glad to see you back on line. I love your recipes so much even when I wasn't actively trying you lose weight. I am so happy that you have found something that works for you. I dont care what anyone says, you have to find a way of life that works for you and thats all that matters.

    I wish you all the best of luck in 2010!!

    Candice in Texas

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