Me? I’m a Human in Progress!

If you know me, you know that I like to call myself a work in progress. I firmly believe that all of us as human beings should always be works in progress. We should constantly be learning, striving, improving.

For me, that has been particularly true in the last year. New city – from Dallas to Hurst. New home – from a townhouse to a ranch-style house. New job, even – from non-profit to the corporate world.

And new diet. Dramatic new diet. No, I’m not talking about Keto or Paleo or Adkins or Weight Watchers (sorry, I think it’s rebranded as WW Inc. now). I’ve never been a fan of “diets,” per say. More power to those that live by them, especially those that move from one new diet to the other. Whatever works for you, right?

I’m all about lifestyle changes. Try something that you think you can live with and tweak along the way as necessary until you have it just right and then you keep on keeping on. So I turned vegetarian in February. That wasn’t my first time trying out the all-veggies world. I did it for 15 months about four years ago. Obviously, it didn’t stick.

But several things were brewing in the last couple of years. My disdain for beef grew exponentially until it became a site difficult for me to bear. Also, my ease of slipping into a day or days of no meat, chicken or fish became pretty much an afterthought. So the move to being a vegetarian once again seemed a no-brainer.

Then I started tweaking. I slowly started deleting dairy, little by little, and then it was poof…gone. We recently had our biometrics screening tests at work. We have those every year. I wasn’t happy with my blood glucose number. Not happy at all. So I began vegetarian low carb almost a month ago.

That’s right – bread, pasta, rice, pastries, desserts, chips, cereal…gone, gone, gone, gone, gone. I still eat granola in the mornings. I buy the Bear brand vanilla almond granola, which is only 4 grams of sugar per serving. I still drink my sweetened coconut milk, which is about 7 grams of sugar per serving. I still put honey in my hot tea. I eat quinoa. I eat dark chocolate, which as long as you stick with at least 80% cacao is pretty low in sugar. I eat peanut butter, which is also lightly sweetened.

I’m learning all about low glycemic index foods, and how some fruits are really good for blood glucose control. It’s the same thing with vegetables, because some are better than others when it comes to natural sugar and carbohydrates.

By the way, I do eat eggs. That is the only animal product I eat. I enjoy eggs, they are good for you, and you don’t need to kill an animal to eat an egg. I eat two eggs a day. They are a great source of protein, filled with lots of nutrients. I stick to my two eggs a day rule, which is still very much in the healthy range. Yes, I’ve read up on it.

So what has happened in the last couple of weeks? Let me tell you! I weighed myself this morning before breakfast and the scale read 164.4 pounds. The last time I even came close to that weight was 167 pounds in 2004 right after lower back surgery. I’m thrilled! My clothes fit nice and loose. I feel better. Walking 16,000 steps a day and doing Pilates once a week make me feel so light on my feet, my body.

There is also a psychological benefit here. I was not blessed with the world’s greatest genes – diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease and cancer all run in my family. I’m also total Type A personality. I hate taking pills other than nutritional supplements. Hate it! I’m a firm believer in treat your body well, give it good stuff, and it will reward you. You build up credit with regular nutritional deposits. Your body responds in kind.

My goal? I want to get to 160 pounds and maintain, maintain, maintain. I’m retesting my blood glucose levels in 6 months. I’m already super positive and much more confident. And you know what? I don’t miss bread, rice, cookies, cupcakes, pasta, pizza, blah…blah…blah. There are better alternatives. There are usually, maybe even always, better alternatives.

I’m a work in progress. No wait, let me tweak that, too. I’m a human in progress. Oh yes, and proud of it.