Another New Low and More New Clothes

/

This is the second time that I've hit a new weight loss low and received a delivery from Stitch Fix on the same day. Maybe I should increase the frequency of my subscription! You can see my post about the first happy coincidence here.

First, apologies for the wretched sound situation on the video, if you decide to watch it. Equipment malfunctions! Second, some of the clothing pieces appear larger in the video than they do in real life. (The same can be said for me.) A couple of subscribers to my YouTube channel questioned the sizes. But it is an optical illusion. The clothes are pretty small. Amazingly small, considering where I started out. That, or I'm just not a good videographer and don't know how to stage things. 

Ignore the horrendous lighting and my puffy eyes. That's me with some 22W jeans, so smaller than those I wore when I started the ketogenic diet. The photo is from several months, and about 15 pounds ago.

Ignore the horrendous lighting and my puffy eyes. That's me with some 22W jeans, so smaller than those I wore when I started the ketogenic diet. The photo is from several months, and about 15 pounds ago.

My history with clothes was not so much of a love/hate relationship as a hate/detest relationship. I've never been one to feel bouyed by retail therapy. Just not my thing. And this goes for even grocery shopping. Don't love to go to stores. Pair that with being very heavy and the result was my clothes came from tables at Costco. I simply bought the largest jeans and cotton blouses available. See the before photo at the top of the sidebar of this site for an example. Those are 24Ws straining across my ample backside. The blouse? I believe it was a XXL. So, more than not want to shop in general, buying clothes in any manner was excruciating. The result? My uniform of giant jeans and $13 blouses was pretty much all I owned. Those and Dansko knockoffs because my very wide feet couldn't fit in the real things.

There are downstream impacts of hating the clothes you own and the body those clothes cover. Social invitations are declined. Going out with your Lovely Mate feels like being put on exhibit, a cautionary tale to anyone who fears they'll be next in the fatty parade. Formal occasions? Forget it. I didn't even buy decent clothes for my daughter's wedding. And seeing photos of myself from the happy day sent me in to a true emotional tailspin. One of the deepest and longest lasting bouts of depression I've ever had. And I felt I ruined the day. Of course, no one was paying attention to me, as is proper. But we all struggle to see things from anything other than our own perspective. And the view from mine was miserable.

But as I lost weight after starting the ketogenic diet, that began to change. I not only needed to get new clothes, the ones I had being simply too large, I wanted new clothes. Something about my self-image was transforming from self-loathing to self-love. Sound sappy but it's accurate.

A friend suggested I try the service of having clothes not only delivered to me (no retail stores! Huzzah!) but chosen for me as well. And so started the building of my wardrobe, one box at a time.

There's more to all this, but it will have to come another day. I'm preparing to meet a friend for cocktails at a nice bar, and I'll be wearing snazzy clothes and probably some sassy pumps. No more clunky shoes, dumpy shirts or humongous jeans for me. BTW, I continued to buy jeans from Costco as I lost weight, always the same brand and style, in progressively smaller sizes and each new purchase was a victory. The first one was when the size wasn't followed by a "W". The next when I fit into size 14s, that of the average US female. I don't buy them there anymore. They don't carry a size small enough, size 6 being the smallest. True story.

And, oh yeh, as of this morning I've 93.3 pounds. Maybe I WILL up my Stitch Fix shipment schedule!

Here's the unboxing.....

Another New Low & Stitch Fix Unboxing! For more information on the ketogenic diet and links to items mentioned in this video, see below.

Disclaimer: I’ve been fortunate to have had the time and resources to research the ketogenic diet, also known as LCHF (low carb/high fat). The information I share is based solely on my understanding of that research. We are all responsible for our own choices, including what we put in our mouths and there’s no substitute for each of us checking things out ourselves. And I’m not a medical professional in any way. Go Keto With Casey is not a medical site. “Duh,” you might say. But best to make it clear to all.  I welcome questions, comments and even civil criticism. I’m still learning. So, if you have something to add, go for it. Links in this post and all others may direct you to amazon.com, where I will receive a small amount of the purchase price of any items you buy through my affiliate links. Thanks!

 

 

 

More Before & After Photos. I Was SO Fat!

/

I can't really write much about this now, I'll let the video speak for itself, as it were.

More befoe and after photos. I had no idea I looked like this. Thank goodness for the ketogenic diet! For more information on the ketogenic diet, see below. ☞ SEE MY WEIGHT CHANGE CHART: http://caseydurango.com/my-next-goal ☞ READ MORE AT MY BLOG: http://caseydurango.com ☞ FOLLOW MY FACEBOOK PAGE: https://www.facebook.com/ketocasey/

 

Disclaimer: I’ve been fortunate to have had the time and resources to research the ketogenic diet, also known as LCHF (low carb/high fat). The information I share is based solely on my understanding of that research. We are all responsible for our own choices, including what we put in our mouths and there’s no substitute for each of us checking things out ourselves. And I’m not a medical professional in any way. Go Keto With Casey is not a medical site. “Duh,” you might say. But best to make it clear to all.  I welcome questions, comments and even civil criticism. I’m still learning. So, if you have something to add, go for it. Links in this post and all others may direct you to amazon.com, where I will receive a small amount of the purchase price of any items you buy through my affiliate links. Thanks!

- Casey

The Latest New Low and Thoughts on Why

/

Consider this a bit of a drive-by post. Not a great deal of new info but I wanted to share that every day that passes feels like validation of a kind of reboot I experienced whilst my Lovely Mate was out of the country, leaving me to solely my own food needs. (You can read about that here and here). When he returned I wondered if the changes - and weight loss - would stick.

The answer is yes, and yes.

Once having stripped away the daily 'food as habit' for a few weeks, it became clear I had been eating food I simply didn't need. Now it's pretty easy to maintain this reduced-food regimen. And today's weigh-in bore out the benefit. Or one of them. There are many, unseen benefits to gaining control over food. For many of us, we've felt controlled by meals and snacks and recipes. By food, of all things. The opposite of anything that should be the boss of anyone. But here we've been, subordinates to whatever has compelled us to stuff our faces,

Not me. Not ever again.

Even I'm surprised by the continued weight loss. For more information on the ketogenic diet, see below. ☞ SEE MY WEIGHT CHANGE CHART: http://caseydurango.com/my-next-goal ☞ READ MORE AT MY BLOG: http://caseydurango.com ☞ FOLLOW MY FACEBOOK PAGE: https://www.facebook.com/ketocasey/

I’ve been fortunate to have exposure to leading researchers, physicians and journalists regarding the ketogenic diet, also known as LCHF (low carb/high fat). We are all responsible for our own choices, including what we put in our mouths. I welcome questions, comments and even civil criticism. I’m still learning. So, if you have something to add, go for it. Thanks!  - Casey

A New Low and New Clothes.

/

When I started following the ketogenic diet, my wardrobe - and that's a generous word for the cruddy collection of clothes I owned - was comprised of those items with the highest potential to stretch and the lowest potential to draw attention to myself. If you've never been really overweight you may not be able to identify with the magic of the elastic waistband and how that expandable feature allows one to breath as well as to delude oneself. If your trousers still fit you must have stopped putting on weight, right?

Uh, no.

It took me deciding to 'do the opposite', to get out of my comfort zone - and the insistence of my Lovely Mate one day a couple of years ago - to make the leap from someone who dressed like a middle-class bag lady to something of fashionista. I now revel in getting dolled up and attending social functions. This is the opposite of where I was in my head previously. This video explains it a bit. I' very much like the styling service featured in the video, StitchFix. Choices made onmy behalf are often better than those I’d make myself. And, oh yeh, I hit a new weight loss low this morning. I'm now down 91.2 pounds since starting the ketogenic diet and 109.3 pounds lower than my (known) highest weight. I buried the lede!

I've hit another new low. And I received a new shipment of clothes from the service that has helped me add style to my life. For more information on the ketogenic diet and links to products used in this video, see below.

I’ve been fortunate to have exposure to leading researchers, physicians and journalists regarding the ketogenic diet, also known as LCHF (low carb/high fat). We are all responsible for our own choices, including what we put in our mouths. I welcome questions, comments and even civil criticism. I’m still learning. So, if you have something to add, go for it. Thanks!  - Casey

Yet Another New Low. This Is Wild!

/

As I wrote in this previous post, I'm on my own for the month of October. My Lovely Mate is out of the country and there's no one here but us chickens. (Literally, 15 chickens and me. And the dogs...) And as I wrote and spoke about this this post, while I find the ketogenic, low carb/high fat diet, easy to follow in terms of the wonderful, luscious foods I'm allowed to eat, I struggle with trying to eat only when hungry. To be clear, I don't over eat ever. Not in the sense of polishing off a plate piled high. I used to do that. Often. And I'm going to guess many readers of this blog have done the same. No, I don't need much food these days. But eating out of habit rather than true hunger has been a challenge.

So, I reckoned that being on my own and therefor having absolutely no excuse to eat unless I really was hungry - can't blame my 3-meal-a-day eating spouse and all that food around me - would provide an excellent opportunity to test myself.

What I've found is that I really and truly don't need much food. And, to a large degree, have lost interest in it. What?! Me? Not interested in food? That's like a Kardashian losing interest in publicity. I might be much more like my Aunt Teensy (not an ironic nickname) than like my late father, known to many as Jelly Belly (also not ironic). I'll write more about my thoughts on Teensy and food and all that another day. For now, here's a quick video about today's numbers..

This is getting crazy! My 30 day 'experiment' is showing me that I've been eating more than I need when food is around. For more information on the ketogenic diet, see below.

I’ve been fortunate to have exposure to leading researchers, physicians and journalists regarding the ketogenic diet, also known as LCHF (low carb/high fat). We are all responsible for our own choices, including what we put in our mouths. I welcome questions, comments and even civil criticism. I’m still learning. So, if you have something to add, go for it. Thanks!  - Casey