I had just started on the Ideal Protein diet, and was hoping that it would work. My husband works with a bunch of people who have done the diet and lost a bunch of weight, and had been after me for some time to get on it myself.
One day I finally said to myself, if it doesn't matter to him how much it costs, I shouldn't let it matter to me. ($365 to start, then $80 a week plus vitamins... My credit card is starting to hate me..)
Time went by. I've been on strict diets before, so this wasn't the hardest thing I've ever done. When I was on a diet to determine if my migraines were caused by certain foods, I had to avoid all MSG, and I found out that it has many, many hidden names. I had made up a small cheat sheet to bring with me while shopping, and there were very few ready-made foods that I could even eat! So yes, the IP diet was almost a walk in the park in comparison.
Immediately, I started to see results. Each week, I went back to be weighed, and the scale told a better and better tale every time. My body fat went down, my BMI went down, my body water percentage went up, it was great! My metabolic age was stuck at 50-something for quite a while, but then it too, started to shift.
Meanwhile, I started feeling and looking better. The person in the mirror looked more like who I expected to see. Growing up, I had always been a skinny kid, barely 110 pounds as a senior in high school. The weight I had put on over the years, coupled with other issues, had me in such a depression, I didn't feel I was worth anything. Looking in the mirror and seeing this 200 pound person who was supposed to be me had shattered my self image.
At first, my clothes fit better. Then I needed to buy some new jeans. Then the person in the mirror became more recognizably me. And was smiling back more.
My husband was thrilled. Not necessarily that I was getting skinny, but that I was finally starting to be happy with myself, comfortable in my own skin. As he said, if I could have felt like this at my higher weight, he would have been happy then, too.
Things have changed so much between us. Last year, I wasn't sure we would still be living together anymore. I was frantic and distraught because I had no idea what I was going to do, my job pays very little, not enough to live on alone, and the cost of living here is exorbitant.
We did go to counseling together, but I actually think that the diet helped the most. Once I felt better about myself, I felt better about him and us, and so did he. We have even been seriously discussing starting a family, after thirteen and a half years together. I never felt like I could give myself to a child, I never felt I was worth it. Things have changed so much now. I could be a good mother, I'm sure of it.
And here's me, not five minutes ago. Down 72 pounds.
