The best compliment ever

I was sent off to work with a smile on my face. My husband said good-bye to me and called me "baggy pants". It was the best backhanded compliment I had ever heard. Ever since his doctor put him on a low carb diet 3 weeks ago (he has lost 20 lbs so far), I had decided to join him on the diet. My results were not as dramatic as his (3 lbs so far) but I felt thinner. Last night I decided to try on a pair of black jeans that I had in the closet that were almost brand new. I bought them almost 2 years ago and found out they were too tight. I decided to keep them for when I lost some weight. When I put them on they FIT!!! I did not have to pull the 2 sides of the zipper close together to zip them up either. I will wear my "baggy pants" label with pride today!

Can't seem to lose anymore

I am at a plateau with my weight loss. I have lost and kept off 25 lbs over the past year. Although I feel great I still need to lose another 30 lbs to be at the "ideal weight" for my height. My weight is now fluctuating up and down -/+ 4 lbs and I can't seem to get past that hump. Since I have a very slow metabolism I need to raise it so I can loose those extra pounds.

Metabolism is the rate that your body uses energy (calories). Muscle uses more calories than fat just to exist. By increasing my muscle mass I can raise my metabolism rate and lose those extra pounds. The big bonus is that by having more muscle mass I will be using more calories even while I am sleeping.

Calorie Counter

Here is a very helpful tool for dieters - a online calorie counter database. Here you can look up every type of food and find out their nutritional data. I just looked up plain flour that I use to make my own bread. To make one loaf I use 2 cups of flour and I found out that those 2 cups is 910 calories. The other ingredients (water, salt and yeast) had very small amounts, the yeast 35 calories. So for me to make a 2 pound loaf of bread the calories would be about 950 total. Compare that with the store bought loaf with 150-200 calories a slice and I think that I am doing better by making my own bread.

Here is the link to the calorie counter

Try to lose weight slowly

Rapid weight loss will result in excess folds of skin. Your skin needs time to shrink back to it's smaller size. Skin is very elastic and will tighten slowly as you lose weight - SLOWLY. To help skin tighten as you lose weight you will have to exercise to tighten the muscles underlying the skin.

If you choose to diet without exercise then plan on visiting the plastic surgeon after your weight loss for some expensive nipping and tucking.