August Photos!

At first I thought I was looking worse, but the more I look at it, the better it is. Also, just as before, May is on the left and August is on the right. I decided to do May instead of June because I wasn't sure there'd be enough difference, and I haven't been having much weight success so far. I'll probably do it on a three month rotation. That'll show progress better.

Dark marks are the burns

It looks bad, but if you look, you can see more space between my stomach and the top of my bikini. My face looks slimmer too, though it could just be the angle. Success!

My hand and arm look thinner.My butt looks a little bigger, which is always good in my opinion. It's a little hard to tell because the lighting is so different, but it looks like my rib fat is going away though.

My back is looking more muscular! I think the back fat is really getting better. Plus, my butt is a little more...smile shaped than a straight line. The bat wings seem to be about the same though. Oh well. My waist looks a bit narrower and defined though. I think I'm really making progress. I think with the lighting, it made things look worse than they are. Plus I have delts!

More good news? I was able to tie my bikini top tighter and it doesn't look any worse. I'm feeling much better about things now. I'm not going to start measuring my body fat and posting my weight each month. Hopefully that will be encouraging.

Weight: 202.6
Body fat percentage: 35%

Awaiting Results and Photos

While my photographer sleeps (seriously, this guy sleeps way too late), I thought I'd take a minutes to talk about my thyroid test. I actually got it done  the other day, and I'm currently waiting to hear from my doctor (hopefully by Friday). I'm a little anxious about it.

On the one hand, it'd be convenient (that sounds bad) if there were something wrong. That'd explain why I've been having such a hard time losing weight.On the other hand, if there is something wrong, what if I need medication? What about side effects? It'd be nice if there were just some magic pill that would make all my exercise and healthy eating work infinitely better and I become a fat burning machine, but I'm concerned about side effects. Plus, if the medication simply doesn't work for me, or the easiest solution is going off birth control...nope. That's not happening. Fat is almost always a better option than pregnant.

Measurement Monday Follow Up and an Article

My measurements are about a quarter inch down across the board and I'm down two pounds.

 In other news, I read an article that has me a little worried. For those of you not able to read the article (I know mobile can be a pain), it basically says that progesterone based birth control can cause weight gain. I found this PDF of a study on birth control and weight gain. Basically, low estrogen and high progesterone stimulates acylation-stimulating protein which is a hormone that stores fat even when insulin is low. The study found that women on progesterone based birth control were twice as likely to become obese over three years even after accounting for diet and exercise. I've been on progesterone or low estrogen birth control for about six years now - which coincides with when I started to really put on weight.

Looking back, I've been trying to lose weight passively since last September. In January I (along with everyone else in the U.S.) decided to rededicate to my diet and joined a gym and focused on high protein and healthy eating. In April I started keto, and still, at the end of all of this: I weight 10 pounds more than I did when I started. Plus, August was when I got this birth control. Ugh.

Today I'm going to call my doctor and schedule an appointment to get my thyroid and blood work done. Given that I haven't had my blood work done in a few years, I'm probably due anyway. If my doc tests my thyroid and it's nothing, then I'm going to keep with this high protein IIFYM diet, and up my exercise, and re-evaluate the calories I should be eating and what, if any, supplements I should take. On the other hand, if I find out something is going on, hopefully it'll help my efforts and I'll start seeing some real progress with my diet and exercise.

If you're concerned about your thyroid, the above mentioned article suggests to ask specifically for a test called "Free T3 Reverse T3" because hormones in birth control can mess with other thyroid tests. Supposedly there is a medication that can be prescribed to help get you down to pre-contraception weight. I'm not sure the side effects of that, given that the article didn't specify what the medication would be. That's something I'll research if the thyroid test shows anything abnormal.

Measurement Monday: July 28th, 2014

I'm so frustrated! I'm hoping I'm just retaining water because I drank a ton of soda this weekend at a concert and ate salty greasy food. I did stay within my macros pretty much all week though. Not that it matters, apparently. 
Abdomen: 44.5 (.25)
Waist: 34.7 (.25)
Bust: 43.5 (-.25)
Chest: 37.75 (.25)
Hip: 46.5 (.25)
Left Arm: 14.5 (-.25)
Left Forearm: 10.75 (0)
Left Calf: 16 (0)
Left Thigh: 27.75 (.25)
Right Arm: 14.125 (0)
Right Forearm: 11 (0)
Right Calf: 16.25 (.125)
Right Thigh: 28 (.5)
Neck: 14.5 (0)
Current Weight: 204.4 pounds (+1.2)
Inches lost:+1.375
Running total: -.085 inches, +8.4 pounds

UGH! I'll probably remeasure tomorrow to see how much of this is water weight. 

Why I Miss Keto

Seriously, I was never hungry on keto. I can't stop eating now. I'm not going over on my calories, but I'm ridiculously hungry compared to before. I hate it.

Protein. Ugh.

I've read online, over and over again, it's not that hard to get 155g of protein in. Yet at the same time, 4oz of chicken (a bit less than I normally eat is only 36g. A big scoop of my protein powder is only 30g. I am not hungry enough to eat 5 times a day! How are people doing this?!

I'm not even over indulging in other macros! I'm consistently under in calories and carbs and fat is usually about spot on. I'm debating if it's better to eat protein when I'm not hungry, or just stay under on calories and protein for the day.

While we're on the subject of protein, I can finally see why people rag on vegetarians and their protein sources. If I as a carnivore cannot get enough protein in, how do vegetarians do it?! This is a genuine question here, if I have any vegetarian readers. I like beans and chickpeas (which I think are also beans?) which I know are good, but I'm not going to just sit down and eat a bowl of either. I did see a recipe for roasted chickpeas that I'll have to try though.

Then there's some sources of protein that are great, but I won't eat. For instance, I don't like nuts other than peanuts. I don't intentionally eat/drink soy because it can interact with my birth control (oh God, no babies!), and while Quinoa is great, I read an article about how the first world countries are robbing developing nations of their native food source and causing starvation and I just feel guilty.

Tracking Macros

Part of why I loved keto was because after you learned what was "okay" or "not okay" to eat, you don't need to track. I hate tracking what I eat. Sure, I'd periodically spot track for a day to be sure I was on target, but there wasn't the day in/day out tracking. Ugh. IIFYM is the opposite of that. It's not that I "don't have the time" it's just that I don't like to. It's tedious and feels a bit obsessive. You know what I do like about it though? It means that I can have potatoes.