Day 14 on The Virgin Diet

The Virgin Diet

I started the program on 1/2/18. Even though my weight is up and I do want to reduce, I started this program because I was not feeling good physically and I have been in a lot of pain the last quarter of 2017, maybe a little longer. My low back, my neck and shoulders, my hips, the bottoms of my feet first thing in the morning hurt like they are terribly bruised, and I was not sleeping without the help of sleep aids. I was going to the gym, and that hurt, too. My weight kept climbing, my workouts were getting more painful - even yoga, and it just seemed like I was continually looking for some kind of pill to take to help make the pain go away and make me feel better. It wasn't working. I spent the last 2 years attributing all these negative changes to menopause, which is real, but I don't think it's the whole picture. My best friend had referred me to JJ a number of years ago and I finally made the choice to look at what I have been eating and see where that takes me.


Here I am two weeks in and I'm happy to report that I am feeling really good! My aches and pains have not gone away but I have not had any hip pain in the last 4 days, my feet still hurt in the morning when I get up, but way less, and I have been sleeping for the last 3 nights without the over the counter sleep aid I normally take. I also didn't disclose initially that last year my doctor prescribed me a low dose of phentramine to help me lose some weight. It has not really been effective with weight loss, but it has given me a boost, sort of like most people think of their morning coffee. If I missed a dose I was pretty useless, I would literally sit on my couch doing nothing. Nothing, not scrolling social media on my phone, watching television, nothing, just sitting. The first time that happened, I came to present time and realized I had not taken the phentramine. I went upstairs, took the pill and got about the rest of my day. I'm sure the stimulant was contributing to me not sleeping, that's kind of a no-brainer, but I didn't want to stop taking it because even though I wasn't losing weight, I wasn't gaining it either. As of today, not only have I not taken the sleep aids, I've also not taken the phentramine, and guess what? I feel great! I'm not feeling lethargic or like I'm going through any kind of withdrawals, in fact, I haven't had any of those kinds of symptoms at all. I thought for sure I would feel some side effects of cutting out the sugar, but there haven't really been any to speak of. I don't miss the alcohol at all, but I do miss my coffee with cream and sugar. I can do a natural sweetener like Stevia or Xylitol, but nothing really replaces cream in my coffee. I've had coffee with the Xylitol and a coconut cream and it's just not the same. I'm just going without for now.

With all of that said, on January 1, 2018 I weighed 184.4 lbs. I started the program on 1/2/18 and this morning I weighed in at 175.9, that's down 8.5 lbs. I also measured and overall I've lost 4 1/2 inches. The weight and inches is absolutely great, but even better is that I am not mentally foggy, and I am feeling better physically. I'm excited to be able to reintroduce some foods back in because I want to see what my intolerances are, and I don't know that I can give up sugar forever. That remains to be seen, but for now I'm hopeful, very hopeful that I can work on living the rest of my life eating more healthfully, feeling physically better, not taking a litany of medications, and getting older without growing old.