I’ve been a yoyo dieter my whole life. I’m a tall girl, 5’10″ and have weighed in at 126 pounds at my smallest, which by the way is VERY underweight for my height and bone size, all the way up to 314, my all time heaviest. My normal weight should be around 165 pounds. During that time I’ve suffered from a host of medical problems, especially during the last 8 years from 2006 to 2013. A bulging disk in my lower back, acne (never had it as a teenager or young adult), my hair was falling out, no sex drive, asthma, depression, anemia, severe GERDS, Lupus, arthritis and Fibromyalgia. By the end of 2012, I was on 7 different medications, not counting the 10+ different ones they tried me on until the found what they thought were the best ones for me.

They weren’t, I just kept getting sicker and sicker as time went on. It got to the point where I could barely walk or get out of bed. I was dying, and doctors gave me little hope of getting better. They couldn’t help me, so they decided I was crazy, overreacting, and a lot of my pain and misery was in my head. Trust me, my pain was real. That’s when I started searching online for a miracle, hoping against hope that I could find something, anything to bring myself some relief. The more I read, the more I started putting the pieces together and realizing that my diet might have been causing me some of the problems I was experiencing.

So in January of 2013 I began my journey of healing. I started small by removing processed sugar from my diet first, then gluten. Let me tell you, it was not been an easy road to follow until recently. I stumbled and ate the wrong foods many times, and slowly found out by trial and error that I am allergic to many gluten free foods as well, such as rice and oats. And while I was starting to feel a little better then I had, I was still having issues with pain and exhaustion. Plus I was still gaining weight, not a big surprise since the pain and being to tired to do little more then the basics of daily living, prevented me from doing any type of exercise.

So back to more research it was until I stumbled upon an idea that was so simple and that made so much sense, that I couldn’t believe it wasn’t more well-known, and being promoted by health care professionals. Folks, our modern diet is killing us. The USDA would have us believe that we need lots of grains for energy and nutrition. Trust me, you don’t. About the only thing they are good for is spiking our insulin levels. Our bodies do much better on a diet that consists of meats, vegetables, healthy fats, fruits and nuts. I’m living proof of that. After being on a Primal diet for just 2 weeks, my energy level is slowly starting to increase, my mental clarity is sharper, my pain levels have decreased, my cravings have disappeared, I stay full longer and I’ve lost 12 pounds as of October 15th! If that doesn’t prove that I’m on the right track, then I don’t know what will.

Update: November 7, 2013 ~ After a fun, *not* visit with an allergy specialist yesterday, I found out I have quite an extensive list of allergies and intolerances, including some that shocked me. In the food category, Chicken, one of my absolute favorite meats, salmon, egg yolks, wheat, oats, rice… The list goes on and on. Cooking is certainly going to be challenging now.

Update: January 13, 2014 ~ After slipping quite a bit, and succumbing to the temptation of things I shouldn’t have ate during the holidays, I gained back most of the weight I had lost. (which was 14 pounds) :( I started back at it after the first of the year though, eating grain free, and staying away from foods I am intolerant to, and am happy to report that I have lost a total of 17 pounds! *happy-dance* Weight loss journeys are not perfect, and some of us will stumble along the way. The key to success is to get up, brush yourself off, and get right back on track. With my renewed energy and weight loss, I am ready to charge full speed ahead!

This is a journey in progress, and will be updated on a regular basis. Feel free to drop back in to see how I’m doing, and let me know if you have any questions.

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Eat well and be healthy!

Start Date: October 1, 2013
Projected Goal Date: August 4, 2014