High Protein / Low Carb Challenge

I’ve hired a coach to help me lose 20 lbs with a high protein, low carb diet, and this is what my experience was my first month.

My weight has been creeping up ever since my oncologist took me off of Tamoxifen.  I’m one of those weird people that lost weight on the drug and started gaining once I stopped taking it.  My slightly educated theory is that it helped to regulate my hormones.  I eased into menopause while I was taking it. Tamoxifen is a hormone blocker, but it also behaves estrogenically in the body.  Once I was taken off of it, I had zero estrogen, and my body started hanging on to everything. I ended up with HPA axis dysfunction. Next thing you know, I could barely get out of bed. My joints were on fire, my blood pressure was low and if anything stressful happened, it just did me in and I’d have to take a nap.  My adrenals were exhausted and not functioning properly. I started seeing a functional doctor and she tested my adrenals.  I was in Stage 3 adrenal dysfunction. More on that story at another time. 

I had worked with a macro coach about 4 years ago that was no longer coaching.  So I decided to seek out the former owner of that company to see if she still provided coaching services.  She doesn’t coach any longer but agreed to take me on.  Yay me! 😊 I’m an easy client in that I’m compliant and will do what the coach asks me to do.  I’m a tough client in that my body has some stubborn issues and losing weight isn’t going to be a walk in the park for either one of us.

I’ve done keto in the past and it worked for me to a certain point.  Once I switched to counting macros, it was like a key had unlocked the vault and I lost weight easily and was able to keep it off...until I stopped taking Tamoxifen.  That changed everything.  One day I looked up and realized I had gained 20 lbs! It’s important for me to keep myself at a healthy weight for long term survival. Being overweight increases my breast cancer reoccurrence risk.  And let me tell you, I take that super seriously! I don’t want to go through having breast cancer again, nor do I want to put my family through that again.

Doug and I have a big vacation planned to Germany this summer and I want to be in better shape for that trip.  Besides the vanity portion of wanting to look good in photos, I wanted to have the stamina to keep up the pace of touring all over the country and visiting other countries during our trip!

I fully expected my coach to put me back on counting macros, but she’s wanting to get me away from that so I’m not having to track my food all the time.  I still am tracking but we are letting go of it bit by bit.  My coach started me out with a protein goal of 150 grams of protein per day.  I was already eating around 140 grams of protein but here’s where the record goes screeeeeeech.  She wanted me to get the 150 grams of protein from whole food, no protein powders or protein bars. I was having 1-2 protein shakes a day with super clean protein powder.  I’d occasionally have a protein bar in a pinch but no protein supplements?  That sounded like it was going to be tough!  Then she wanted me to increase my fat to 80-90 grams of fat per day, but the sources are limited to butter, avocado and olive oils, avocados and coconut milk.  No nut butters, no nuts?  I was in shock.  She told me my carb goal was 100 grams of carbs per day.  And then, she told me I could have only green vegetables from a very limited list – no legumes, no sweet potatoes, grains or fruit.  I quickly realized that it was literally impossible to eat 100 grams of carbs while eating from that list.  In fact, my carb count was usually between 20-30 grams per day.  My calorie goal was 1720 but by the time I hit my protein and fat goal I was so stuffed that there was no way I could possibly eat more.  So, my calories averaged between 1450-1550 per day.  

So, after 1 Week of eating and exercising this way, a few things happened: 

• I lost 3.6 lbs. 

• I lost 1” off my waist and ½" off my hips 

• I was sleeping better (my deep sleep increased DRAMATICALLY) 

• My stomach wasn’t hurting.  No bloating. 

• I was eating a lot more food.  I was full so I wasn’t missing those carbs. 

After Week 2, I noticed: 

• I lost 6.8 lbs.  

• I lost 2” off my waist and 1” off my hips 

• I woke up feeling well-rested 

• I am feeling less stressed 

• Adding a weighted vest to my walk was tough but I felt like it was helping my posture 

• The squats are tough in the weighted vest because it throws off my center of gravity 

After Week 4, this is what I noticed: 

• I lost 7.4 lbs 

• I lost 2.5” off my waist and 1.75” off my hips (that booty is going to be the last to go!) 

• My mood is better 

• My clothes fit so much better than before.  I’m comfortable in them, which is a big deal. I’ve even been able to wear some jeans that I couldn’t squeeze into a month ago. 

• My endurance takes a hit when I skip walking days with the vest.  It’s not quite like starting over, but it’s like I took 2 steps back. My goal moving forward is to not skip days if I can help it and especially not consecutive days. 

After 4 weeks of eating and exercising this way, I have to say I’m feeling really good and I’m excited to see what the next 4 weeks will bring.  Please stay tuned so you can keep up with my health journey and see when I meet my goal.  So far, I’m 1/3 of the way there which is AMAZING!!! 😊