MY FAT PANTS

My Fat Pants

They were too tight.

Any woman knows it's a bad thing when your old faithfuls--you know, the wear-to-the-buffet, you-don’t-care-how-you-look-because-you're-comfy-and-they-make-you-feel-good-about-yourself pants now feel tight around the waist. Plus, you gotta suck in a breath real deep just to shimmy yourself into them.

Not good.

Side note: my hubby argued with me that, in fact, they weren’t "fat" pants. According to him, they were just pants. Sigh.

Anyway.

Since I was about 15 pounds heavier than my normal weight, I had to take action. When the temptation of Christmas goodies was gone, I discovered a doctor from Facebook that steers away from traditional medicine. Instead, he emphasizes searching for the root cause of diseases and ailments. He advocates for how healthier eating (and a few lifestyle changes) can be all the medicine you need and help you lose weight. For years, I’ve taken supplements for my thyroid, and my GP has encouraged me to get on meds for it, but I refused. After receiving a free copy of this other doctor’s book in the mail, I was intrigued. (And no, this is not an endorsement. It is simply my journey and experience as an ordinary person.)

Dr. Livingood–yes, this is his real name–wanted me to do the unthinkable: Cut out sugar.

In fact, it also dealt with nutrition, drinking more water, cutting out toxins, and improving your well-being, so this was a total body/mind makeover.

For someone with a sweet tooth, who regularly indulged my cravings with cookies and chocolate (& chocolate chip cookies), I imagined myself to be buried with my flavored Coffee Mate creamer.

This was excruciating.

The first 21 days were the hardest, cutting out bananas, oranges, and other fruits that are high in sugar, as well as corn and potatoes (because they turn to sugar in your body) but after accustoming your body to little to no sugar, you are able to slowly incorporate them back into your life…on a limited basis. Also, eliminating processed carbs, the white flour, and the condiments were all sad but necessary. Bye bye, cane sugar. Bye, bread, brownies, and cakes. There was more to it–eating organic fruits and vegetables, meats, and dairy and that these changes were key to good health.

Now, I’ve learned some tricks. Coffee Mate and all its harmful additives will never make its way back into my morning java. Instead, I flavor it with Half and Half, maple syrup, 100%cacao, and allulose. And I love it. Pizza was a toughie, but Tik Tok is my friend. I found a recipe that uses mozzarella cheese and almond flour, and it more than satisfies that craving.

Not having the sweets, I believed, was going to be tough, but thanks to Tik Tok and the many nutritionists and health-conscious creators out there, I found a good alternative to a Snicker’s bar that uses dates. (I'm still researching for more!) I even discovered a yummy peanut butter chocolate chip cookie recipe. My daughter can’t resist the chocolate, frozen banana, peanut butter bites when I make them. I absolutely love the brownie recipe (I haven’t yet shared) made with chickpeas that is so simple and doesn’t use eggs or flour!

As far as bread and biscuits and pancakes, I’m still experimenting with recipes because almond flour doesn’t provide quite the same consistency, but it works. And I’m still learning how to cut out the baddies and replace them with the better choices. I also adopted a few other tips along the way like drinking water with apple cider vinegar and lemon juice before a meal helps fill you up faster and provides other benefits.

I’m down 20 pounds now, feeling great, and looking forward to having my blood work done. Thankfully, my fat pants are now folded neatly up in my closet…but I’m confident with these changes that are for my good, I won’t be needing them.

If you’re interested, check out some recipes that I found from Tik Tok. I will credit the user to refer to.

Changes like these are a very personal choice. It’s definitely not for the faint of heart. Check out Dr. Livingood on YOUTUBE if any of this appeals…he’ll send a free copy of his book if you pay for shipping (if he’s still doing that.) He also is giving his newest book which goes into more depth about foods and includes recipes with pictures. Personally, I just follow his plan and highly recommend his books. It has done me so much good.

Thanks for reading, be well and Namaste!