Monday, May 13, 2013

What if it's dairy?

My daughter called yesterday afternoon to wish me a happy mother's day. We chitchatted for a bit and then she asked how The Project was going. I had hoped to be non-commital, but apparently I am four and can't keep a secret. I'm going to see her in a couple weeks. The last time I saw her was in mid-January, at the beginning of the mission, when I hadn't yet lost a single damned pound. In the back of my narcissistic little mind I wanted to see a dramatic reaction to her mom being 20 pounds lighter (21.5 as of this morning, actually).

Now that she knows, the reaction will probably be underwhelming. OH, WELL. It can't always be all about me, right? EXCEPT HERE ON THE BLOG. Heh.

She knows how I've struggled to lose weight. I was at my lowest adult weight about the time she got married in the early '90s, and she's seen me bounce up and down ever since. She has her dad's body type – tall and lithe – and she stops eating when she's under a lot of stress.

Can you imagine?

She loves to cook and eat, though, and when she puts on a few she low-carbs it to get them back off. In fact, she mostly low-carbs it anyway, and it works for her quite well. She knows I've tried it with no success, and during our conversation she tossed this out:

What if it's the cheese?

I was horrified at the thought. Of the four major foods I've cut (dairy, legumes, sugar, grains) since April 6, dairy is the one I miss most. I am SO looking forward to Greek yogurt in my smoothies, or a slice of good cheddar melted on a burger.

I guess the only way to know is to experiment, and I'm not ready to do that yet. I don't think a sensitivity to dairy makes one gain weight, or even prevents one from losing. What I do know, looking back at my December 26-to-April 6 food logs, is that I was eating dairy and grains and legumes and sugar almost daily. And even though I was eating below my calorie goals nearly every day, and my weekly averages were always below the target, I was not dropping the lard like I am now.

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED: If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

3 comments:

Vickie said...

Are you thinking that when you get to the other end of the scale you are going to go back to your former eating/stop what you are doing now . . . ?

MadAnne said...

Do you count calories?

Anonymous said...

STOPS EATING UNDER STRESS. WTF. I can't even imagine.

Adding things back in one at a time is the way to go. When you've already made changes to all the big things, as both of us have done, and nothing's working, it's time to look at the tiny things. Even so, I doubt one single food is a culprit; more likely to be 3 or 4 main suspects in combination. It's all inter-related...

Anyway, congrats on the 20! *I* am super impressed! And so happy for you!

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