Reader Story – Erica F.

“This is a shout out to my fellow slow losers! I started in February with 15-20 pounds to lose. I started out losing at a rate of about a half a pound a week. Even that rate stalled for 2 1/2 months this summer! I finally budged in late July and I wish I could tell you there was one thing I did to make that happen. In reality lots of stuff changed then. I finished an out of town job, had time off, spent two weeks doing very physical work in my yard. It could have been any of that, all of it, or none. But I did start losing fat again, now at a rate of losing a pound of fat every 4 weeks.

Here’s the thing–I’m not disappointed. Years ago I lost weight by counting calories, but I lost muscle right along with fat, even though I was working out several times a week. On AH I am only losing fat, so my body composition is improving faster than it did with calorie counting, even though my overall progress feels so slow.

I feel so much better and stronger now–better than I have in years. My sinus headaches are gone, as are a lot of body aches I didn’t realize I had until they too disappeared. I’m no longer hungry all the time, or having the out of control weight gain that got me here. Even if I don’t lose any more weight, there’s no way I’m “stopping” and going back to eating the foods that made me feel crappy all the time. I can wait for whatever final weight loss is still coming, or I can be happy feeling better right here.

For anyone else who has slowed to a stop, me too! But I’m out the other side, and I bet you will be too. I didn’t force myself to eat less, or do anything crazy, I just kept eating well and mindfully, moving joyfully, and waited for weight loss to catch up with health gain!”