Almost a year...

Oy vay!  What a six weeks it has been!  Lots of Birthdays, Lots of hospital recovery (for my Mom), lots of graduations, just a lot of everything... all at once!

It's been so overwhelming, that writing felt like adding just that one. more. thing to the pile... but I've found a few minutes today... and there is sooo much I want to talk about!

First of all, I've been on another Plateau for the past couple of months.  I'm not worried, I haven't gained an ounce, but I haven't lost either.  Having done the LDL plan for almost 11 months now, I now what needs to be done to get the weight moving downward again... I need to decrease the size of my meal by 1/4 again, to compensate for the 80 lbs lost.  My body now requires fewer calories, so I need to adjust to that.

I love that I rarely feel hungry on this plan, and if I ever do get hungry, I just eat a bunch of fruit, like a watermelon wheel, or a handful of grapes, or a mango or two... I probably eat about 8 - 10 servings of fruit and veggies a day.  I will never cut down on my portion of those things... just my protein (meat) portions during the day meal.
I recently read that an adult over 40 only really needs about 4-5 ounces of protein a day to get all the benefits from it.  I was eating about 8-10 a day between my beans and turkey or chicken and occasionally red meat.
I think cutting down a little bit on my animal protein will help me get off this plateau.

Still, as I approach my one year mark on July 14, having lost 80 lbs in one year feels really incredible.  Just the other day, a friend of mine pulled me aside at the baseball park and asked me how much weight I had lost.  I was so happy someone noticed.  Having so much weight to lose, it's hard to notice the loss... I feel it... but outwardly, it's just now starting to be obvious.

I have family members and acquaintences left and right having the "surgery" to lose weight... and that is all well and good... I notice that when all the weight is lost, they go right back to eating exactly the way they were before the surgery... and some are gaining the weight back... and then some.  Just the other day, and friend that begged me to get the surgery "with" her about 6 years ago, was at a party I was attending, and she had gained every single pound she lost and added about 20 more.  As I gave her a hug, she whispered in my ear... "Later on, can you share the weight loss plan you are on... with me?"  I squeezed her tighter and nodded.  It broke my heart to see here so unhappy.  Her decision to have the surgery was right for her... at the time, and I am so proud of her for making that difficult decision, but the decisions to eat well or not is also difficult.  When I told her about my plan, I was very upfront with her about how important it is to stay far, far away from breads, pastas, and dairy. the biggest downfall of Italian women! 

I feel great!  My High Blood Pressure is GONE!  My swollen ankles are GONE!  My catching a cold every 6 weeks is GONE!  My energy is UP!  I have a lot more to lose, but I feel like I've done a pretty good job this past year.  I may not have lost as much as someone that had surgery, but I still did it...slowly and with lots of self discovery and information about how food is really "made" here in the US.

Have you had weight loss success too? Tell me about it...won't you?  Email me at  mamabella44@gmail.com and  I'll post it on here for ya... so you can help others!