I’ve dropped about four pounds since my last post. While I’m not down to my low, yet, I see this as really good news.  Until I’m at my low, though, I see no point in trying on goal jeans.

When you get what you feel is a setback, the best thing to do is to reevaluate instead of throwing in the towel. That’s what I’ve been doing.  I got a copy of my test results, today; thyroid numbers look good. My fasting glucose number, however, is out of lab range at 111; normal is 65-99, by this lab.

Typically, my fasting glucose number has been above 100 over recent tests. I got to digging into this earlier this week, and from the sources I’ve read, 100-125 is an indicator of insulin resistance.  It’s difficult to lose weight if you’re insulin resistant, and Dr. Atkins wrote that the morbidly obese may well be insulin resistant.

This is a gross oversimplification, but basically, someone who is insulin resistant has cells that don’t take in enough insulin to process food properly. As a result, the body calls the pancreas for more insulin, and the cells don’t metabolize the food you do eat, regardless of calories. Anything left in your system as glucose gets stored as fat. Period. Youch.

The conundrum: insulin resistance improves as you lose weight, but if you’re insulin resistant, it can be nearly impossible to lose. It’s the mobius of dieting.

So, I’m tinkering and reevaluating, because it’s time. It’s been 2 1/2 months since I’ve seen a loss. It’s probably past time, in fact. That was a downside of using clothes as an indicator of goal; if I’d been on the scale, I probably would have been on this sooner. Alas, all I can do is move forward, and that includes:

• Incorporation of certain supplements into my daily program, including ones that may assist in insulin uptake to cells, in hopes that it’ll help me metabolize food better. This should result in more energy and get me back on the path to weight loss.
• I’m going to experiment with the Fat Fast that was printed in DANDR. The only food that doesn’t draw an insulin response is fat, so perhaps this will shake things up a bit.
• I’m working on phasing out prescription medications that may be complicating weight loss. If they were life-and-death medications, I wouldn’t do this and won’t suggest it to anyone else, but they’re not.
• Until I start seeing the numbers go down below my current low of 271, I’ll be watching the scales. Once I know things are on a downward course, again, I will likely go back to using clothing as an indicator of loss, although I don’t freak out about the scale like I have in the past.

I believe that when you’re on a program to lose weight/become fit/accomplish whatever goals you’re after, you have to be a scientist on your own behalf. You have to be willing to try new things and judge the results objectively, and even if you’re impatient, you have to give the trials enough time to work.

That’s tough, because I know so much emotion is tied up in our appraisals of ourselves and our worth.  But realistically, I’m still a morbidly obese woman, and saying “screw this, I want a Sonic blast!” solves nothing.  I’ll record the changes as they happen.