So I got an e-mail from reader Natalie:

Congrats on 26 lbs! Your success – especially not letting yourself fall off the wagon when you aren’t “perfect” with the diet or exercise – is truly inspiring. I just have a quick question about your trainer encouraging you not to have ANY dairy or cereal or even whole grain bread. I am looking to healthfully (but quickly) shed some lbs over the summer…why exactly is your trainer encouraging you to abstain from these foods? Because I, like you, love my Fage yogurts. And whole grain bread sandwiches on occasion. What’s the deal with these foods I always considered perfectly fine while trying to lose weight? 

Thanks so much! Keep up the great work!

And this is what I wrote back: 

Thanks! I never would have thought my attempts at weight loss could ever be inspiring, but I am pretty damn proud of myself right now, I gotta say :) 

Well, my trainer is, for one, pretty intense. Also, keep in mind that it’s his job to make people lose weight as quickly as possible, so part of me sees where he’s coming from. (i.e., he can point out to other clients, his manager, etc, that he had me lose 26 pounds in 4 months and then (hopefully) 10 pounds in the last month. When I first started with him, I started on this same no grains/no dairy stuff, and I was losing weight pretty quickly. However, it was pretty damn hard. It did get easier, but I knew it wasn’t long-term healthy so I started seeing a nutritionist (which my insurance covers — I highly recommend to anyone to check if your insurance will cover it, and go if it will!) and she recommended (obviously) adding the whole grains and dairy back in. Before seeing her, I’d say I was severely limiting the grains/dairy more than totally cutting them out. Because, I’m still human 🙂 But in order to lose the last 10-15, I’m going to try to do this for the next 6 weeks before I go to Aruba. I honestly wouldn’t recommend this to anyone as a long-term strategy, but I don’t think it’s too bad if you have a time-sensitive goal.

I started at 189, and he said he wanted to get me down to 139, which I haven’t weighed since some point EARLY in high school. I ran track and played tennis in high school, so I definitely have a more athletic body than skinny, and I personally think 139 is probably a bit too thin for me. My kind of mentality was that if I could get there, that’d be amazing (and give me wiggle room if I did gain anything back), but if not, that was okay too. I weigh 163 right now, and I’m very happy with that. Somewhere between 140-150 would probably be ideal, but I’m not going to kill myself over it. 

I think the single most important thing is to not think of this as a diet, but rather a way of life — cheesy as it sounds. After putting so much time/work/thought into getting here, I don’t want to give it all up, and I now pretty much think junk food is gross. (I NEVER thought that would happen!) I’ve been getting the McD’s ice cream cones (because they’re only 150 calories and AMAZING) and I occasionally look at the other stuff, and have zero desire. I’ve also trained myself to look at other people eating junk food and think “I am so much better than them, and I will look and feel better.” Sometimes this gets difficult after a few drinks 🙂

But you’re right, not letting yourself fail is super important. If I “slip up” at one meal, I just get right on track at the next. Also, lots of exercise also helps because you get so much more in tune with your body. 

But today I had a spinach feta wrap for breakfast and a bison (yeah, I have a weird addiction to large large even-toed ungulates.) wrap for lunch. I’m trying to cut out the grains where I can, but if I can’t, no biggie. Whole grains are still healthy.

I haven’t been posting as much the past few days because I’ve kind of been struggling with the whole do I listen to the trainer? nutritionist? Do I try to lose the weight slowly or get as much off as I can before Aruba?

I want to project to y’all as perfect a me in this weight-loss thing as I can, and I’m only learning to share my vulnerabilities online, so forgive me for disappearing the past few days. I had made some promises I thought I was breaking (the not eating grains and dairy; the posting the pictorial representation on DailyBurn), and I wasn’t ready to admit that. But I will try to be the best me that I can and even when I don’t think I am, still represent that to y’all. Because I am human, too. (Weird, I know.)

With that said, I have a Blanchfield family reunion tomorrow, and I’m excited to show off my new bod to the fam and eat burgers with no buns and vegetables. Going forward, I’m going to eat as few grains as possible, but if I eat a wrap or a sandwich, I’ll let y’all know. 

[Yes, I know the no-grain thing isn’t realistic long-term. Only till Aruba.]

What do you think? Also, what parts of this blog are ya loving? What do you wish I would stop doing? What would you like to see more of?