Um, hi.

[amieward]

So yeah, hi.

 

I'm Amie, and I'm not really sure what to put here. I've never been good at socializing. Even virtually lol.

 

Anyway, I decided to try going Paleo while researching about food intolerances. I suspect I've got gluten and dairy intolerances (having gone 4 days without any, my rashes I blamed on dry skin and joint aches I blamed on my weight have significantly lessened.)

 

I was following a 'healthy' diet as was recommended, but I questioned a lot of it, and NF kinda opened my eyes and made me see I was right. I don't understand why I should switch out real food for pre packaged "low fat" meals that tasted disgusting. The healthy diet was impossible to follow. Tiny portion sizes of meat, heaps of vege, and a portion of wholemeal pasta or rice (which I've never been a big fan of anyway) that left me hungry. I now understand why.

So far, I've lost 15kg (about 33 pounds I think) but I've been stuck at this weight for months. I should mention I also am currently 162kg / 357 pounds.

 

I'm getting married in 2 and  a half months, and I have found a wedding dress I love, but I can't get it in my size. At the moment, that is my encouragement and my goal. I'm currently New Zealand size 30 (28 if I'm lucky) and need to get to a 22-24 to fit this dress. 3-4 dress sizes in 2 and a half months?

 

The Paleo diet makes a LOT of sense to me, and I love that we are encouraged to customise it to suit us. A friend actually mentioned it, she's incorporated just a bit of paleo into her life, and she's bursting with energy, and her skin condition is really improving. (She’s also lost some weight, but not her goal.)

 

What I'm really concerned about is sugar. I LOVE my sweet stuff. See I'm not a takeaway sort of girl; I'm a home cook/baker. A really REALLY good one. I know that sounds obnoxious, but it's true. (First time I cooked for fiancé, he proposed. It was our second date, it was just that good) It's also why I'm this big, because I will bake a cake AND eat it too.

 

Currently I'm using artificial replacements. It's the biggest thing that I argued with the nutrionist. I asked about maybe phasing out sugar with organic honey, and using fruit, but it's a big NOPE. Apparently it's all evil natural stuff, I'm just meant to live on the artificial stuff, which leaves a bad taste in my mouth (literally and figuratively. Have you ever tried that artificially sweetened chocolate? It's just not right.) I'm purely going to focus on diet right now, as I think that will be the most effective thing to do.

 

I guess I'm wondering if people out there can tell me anything/link in anything that helps with sugar withdrawals/cravings?

 

I'm also wondering about exercise. While I think focusing on diet will be the first step (and I love how you encourage us just to focus on little things, unlike the nutrionist who tells me I need to be doing everything and making me feel guilty when I fail) I know exercise is important. At my size, it's not like I can jump on a treadmill. (Although, I work in retail, that is 6 hours a day, 4 days a week of consistent running for customers. That counts right?)

 

Wow this is long now. Sorry.

[FamilyBeer]

If you've just stopped eating gluten, you may notice, as my wife and I had, bloating is significantly reduced and that may help you with your wedding dress fitting.

 

Best of luck with your journey and your wedding.

[CourtnieMarie]

It sounds like you are on the right track! My suggestion for the sugar would have been fruit. Limiting it to one or two servings a day though. That is definitely something I struggle with because I honestly could sit there and eat a whole watermelon or a giant tub of raisins. I got a digital food scale and the amount you get from 1 ounce or 28 grams astounded me. I had definitely been eating too much lol. I did quit fruit for awhile when I was trying to cut back on sugar but it really didn't make a difference. My experience has been that whole fruits (instead of the dried or cooked variety) are better for you as they have all that good fiber in them.

 

In terms of exercising, I'd just start small like you said and create a habit. 3-4 times per week dedicate 15 minutes to exercise. I'd start with just plain walking, wall pushups, lunges, and maybe some bodyweight squats if you can manage them. Maybe every few weeks you increase the time you spend by 5 or so minutes until you get to 40mins-1 hour which seems to be accepted as a good amount of exercise. If you can only do 10 wall pushups now and 10 minutes of walking, make it your goal to get to double that. Adding one more rep or one more minute every time. Of course, wall pushups/walking are just suggestions and if you don't like those exercises the possibilities are really endless for starting out!

 

good luck with everything and welcome to the rebellion!

[crar4321]

Hi there! seems like you have a lot sorted already!

 

You mentioned about tips to curb cravings for sugar? I would recommend distraction! Take yourself out for a walk, eat a small handful of nuts (hang on, are peanuts paleo? I have a feeling that some nuts aren't - but you seem more clued up than me!), that kind of thing. Drinking a big glass of water may help, literally gulp it down. When you've started to see some success, starting to do some exercise helps with cravings too - I found that I'm less likely to snack on rubbish if I've done some exercise!

 

Hope any of these are helpful and best of luck with your journey! Can't wait to see the wedding photos

[amieward]

Thanks guys, nice to be part of a supportive community.

[paigetopus]

odd as it sounds, eating a lot of salt makes you crave sugar! as does diet soda. I find that when I don't eat salty foods, I crave less of the bad stuff. I almost completely cut out soda too (I don't drink it much to start with).

 

I'm ALSO gluten AND lactose intolerant. sucks, right? I'm on the same boat though. I love to eat food. there are sugar alternatives too, like stevia. I tried it but wasn't quite in love. try brown sugar if you can (it's what I put in my coffee).

[amieward]

odd as it sounds, eating a lot of salt makes you crave sugar! as does diet soda. I find that when I don't eat salty foods, I crave less of the bad stuff. I almost completely cut out soda too (I don't drink it much to start with).

 

I'm ALSO gluten AND lactose intolerant. sucks, right? I'm on the same boat though. I love to eat food. there are sugar alternatives too, like stevia. I tried it but wasn't quite in love. try brown sugar if you can (it's what I put in my coffee).

 

I've not a coffee drinker, which helps. So far I've only used raw organic honey that my mum luckily has a bucket of. I've only needed a teaspoon of it so far (to balance out a curry) so the only sugar I'm getting is from fruit. So far I'm doing ok.

[Dradis]

Hi there! seems like you have a lot sorted already!

 

You mentioned about tips to curb cravings for sugar? I would recommend distraction! Take yourself out for a walk, eat a small handful of nuts (hang on, are peanuts paleo? I have a feeling that some nuts aren't - but you seem more clued up than me!), that kind of thing. Drinking a big glass of water may help, literally gulp it down. When you've started to see some success, starting to do some exercise helps with cravings too - I found that I'm less likely to snack on rubbish if I've done some exercise!

 

Hope any of these are helpful and best of luck with your journey! Can't wait to see the wedding photos

 

Other way around i believe. Nuts are paleo but peanuts aren't because they are a legume. Shame.

 

Amie - not really a uber sweetie myself but i do get the odd craving. I dunno if it is for sugar per-se or just something sweet but i have a couple of suggestions:

1 - i really like the chocolate date squares from paleomom. Tastes like brownie but healthy. I cut them into about 200cal portions. 200cals doesn't sound _that_ low but the calories are all from dates/nuts/seeds so good calories

2 - this one isn't paleo, but PB2. I just eat it out a small bowl. It takes effort to mix up a batch so you don't find yourself nipping back for "just one more spoon" as i used to do with real peanut butter. Of course, if you don't like peanut butter or you're allergic to whatever the hell is in PB2 then this is a bad suggestion.

3 - give up cold turkey for a bit. Its hard, it took me maybe 6 weeks. But after that time the cravings died down and now i can eat something sweet without my brain meniacally screaming "MOOOOORE" at me

Good luck

[amieward]

It's weird, I've only been doing this a week and a half and already I fin things I could eat buckets loads of before are just far too sweet now - like chocolate. Im only handling the dark dark stuff (70% cocoa dark) because everything else is sweet to me (and even then, only 4 squares) I guess it's just time...