206.5 and, once again, falling

206.5 on the scale this morning, my lowest yet. Six months of low(er)-carb eating has (have?) done a lot. I was 263.5 when I started keeping track, and my memory is that I was 270 at some point before that. 270 stuck in my mind because I misremembered it as the "seventh of a ton" that the narrator Archie Goodwin suggests is his boss's weight in the Nero Wolfe novels, which I read insatiably during middle and high school. I just checked and 285.7 is the actual number. Good thing it didn't take until I'd reached that point that to get my real attention. No way would I let myself stay as heavy as Nero Wolfe!

People I haven't seen for a while don't recognize me at first. I wear size-36 pants rather than 42. And my home blood sugar readings are in the normal range (the most powerful motivation through this all was diabetic-range blood sugar readings last fall).

My weight loss had slowed down a bit, and I was stalled for weeks bouncing around between 209 and 212. I had grown a bit lax about what I was eating. Allowing myself more carbs, I was having more-than-occasional rolls, and occasional sugary desserts, especially when eating out. And eating Dove "sugar-free" chocolates too frequently. They have a lot of malitol, which, I've learned, raise many people's blood sugar and insulin levels almost as much as sugar.

Sigh. They are delicious.

In the last couple of weeks, I got strict with myself again about sticking to vegetables, berries, and only small amounts of high-fiber bread as my carb sources, and the weight is coming back off. (And only one of those little Dove chocolates, very infrequently.) The 209 barrier has been broken.

A growing number of physicians are supporting low-carb approaches, and studies keep coming, too. I keep track of it all mostly through Jimmy Moore's amazing blog.

Final goal weight? I'm more interested in getting rid of the rest of the flab around my belly than how much I weigh. Now that school's out and the weather is improving (we had an unusually cool, damp, and gray spring), more walking and, OK, OK, strength conditioning.