Not Quite Dead Yet ;)

It's been awhile since I last posted, mostly because I've been seriously backsliding. I'm currently within 4 pounds of my starting weight. Heavy, FAT, sigh .... I haven't been watching what I eat, and I haven't been exercising. Spring has given me that spark I need to get myself back on track. I hope I can keep it up this time. 

I'm not doing Weight Watcher's anymore. I'm focusing on cutting out the junk food and sugar in my diet (and second helpings!), and getting in lots of exercise.  Since I lose the most weight when I exercise (just a pound or two if I don't and three-to-seven pounds if I do), I'm going to put most of my energy and focus on exercising every day. 

TTYL ...

Thursday Thrills

I wasn't feeling up to a workout today, but I got on the bike and talked myself into doing at least one 20-minute program, when I finished I was doing good so I pushed on to program 2. I finished 2 without a problem and was feeling so stoked I went back to program 1 and did an additional 10 minutes. So I started out not wanting to do anything and ended up doing 50 minutes! LOL ... not shabby. ;)

Now I'm all sweaty and need to hit the shower. 

Btw ... is there anyone else who has a blog with blogger and uses firefox as their browser having problems editing their blog? I encountered a problem for the first time yesterday. I tried for 10 minutes or so to edit my blog, then tried searching blogger for any current problems with firefox and found at least one other person having similar problems, so I tried using google's chrome browser and was able to edit without a problem. Now I'm wondering if the problem is with blogger or firefox. It's possible a new update of firefox is causing issues with blogger, but I'm also suspicious that Google/Blogger aren't supporting firefox like they used to ... I'll have to keep trying to find the answer. Firefox is my primary browser and I really don't like using another browser because I have to; I keep other browsers because occasionally I like to check them out, but so far none of the others feel as comfortable or are as useful to me as firefox. 

Achieved 5% Goal!!!

That bike was the best investment I ever made! Weigh-in this morning was awesome! I lost 8.4 pounds this week!! WOO HOO!!!

To date, I've lost 16.2 pounds. Today I got another 5-lb star and my 5% goal star. I'm 8.8 pounds away from my 10% goal. 5% goal = 12.5 pounds and 10% goal = 25 pounds. Yesterday I decided to see if I could fit in my jeans again, and I could! I can't wait to buy a smaller size. ;)

On Saturday I started preset program 1 on my recumbent bike, which is a 20-minute program that takes me from resistance level 1 through 5 and back down again. I did one 20-minute segment in the morning, and a second 20-minute segment in the afternoon. Sunday I was feeling a bit "off", so I only did one 20-minute segment. On Monday (yesterday) I did two 20-minute segments in a row. Today I'm going to start preset program 2, which is also a 20-minute program, but will take me through resistance level 6. It's my plan to do 40 minutes each day this week.

Here's a pic of my bike:

I have my freezer filled with Weight Watcher treats (points are listed on the box, which is helpful), such as ice cream cups (which help with portion control) and ice cream bars. I've tried the toffee ice cream bars, chocolate mousse ice cream bars, sherbet ice cream bars, and now I'm trying the new Latte ice cream bars. The Latte is the best, hands down (if you're a coffee-lover like me)! At meeting today I picked up a box of Mint Cookie Crisp bars. We got a freebie at last week's meeting and they were really good. I'm going to take them to work with me to help keep me out of the vending machines. ;)

Well that's my news today ... catch ya later!

Still Working It Out

Today was my 3rd workout. I'm doing 35 minutes now; still on resistance level 1. Tomorrow when I don't have to worry about crippling myself for work I'll try out one of the workout programs. ;)

Wednesday I was going between 13-15 mph, yesterday I was feeling some sore muscles and was only able to maintain 12-13 mph. Today I really wasn't up to working out, but did it anyway and was able to maintain 13-17; mostly 13-15 but I pumped it up for a bit to get one more mile squeezed in.

Wednesday I did 7 miles in 31 minutes, yesterday it took me 35 minutes to get that 7 miles. Today I went 8 miles in 35 minutes. I'll try to push myself more tomorrow. The exercise has helped me lose all but 1 pound of the weight I gained last week. I'm hoping to lose that last pound and a little more before Tuesday morning's weigh-in.

The cool thing was I burned off my lunch (cottage cheese and apple slices) according to the bike's monitor. :)

Workout

Well, I had a relapse these past two weeks. I didn't attend meeting last week because I was sick. A touch of flu and my sinuses were acting up. Then my fibro kicked in. I wasn't tracking. I wasn't exercising. I wasn't really dieting at all. I'm sure I had a gain last week, but I definitely had one this week. I went to meeting yesterday, prepared to face the music after my two-week rebellion, and discovered I had regained 4.2 lbs. I knew it was going to be bad, and I was prepared to get it over with and wipe the slate clean. Still, I felt very ashamed seeing that number on the scale.

Last night I went to Wal-Mart and bought a recumbent bike. My husband put it together when we got home and I tried it out for a couple minutes. I couldn't believe how much easier it was to pedal than my old regular stationary bike (which bit the dust a couple years ago). This afternoon I got on it and pedaled for 31 minutes, 7 miles, and burned 135 calories. I'm so surprised I was able to pedal that long. On my regular stationary bike I could only manage 10 minutes at a time at the most (my hips are bad with arthritis), but my first 20 minutes on the recumbent bike went really easy. The last 11 minutes were tougher and I was sweating pretty good. I was going to stop at 30 minutes, but I was so close to 7 miles I went another minute to reach it. I'm only on resistance level 1, but plan to increase the level as I go along.

My new bike also has 8 programs on it that I plan to play with this weekend. I accidentally hit one of those program buttons last night and it switched resistance levels as I pedaled, slowly increasing as I went along. I don't know how long these programs are; I'll have to read the manual more carefully. ;)

Well DH is nagging me about supper, and I need to go to work in a couple hours. I'll write more tomorrow. One thing I want to mention though, I'm actually feeling more limber after my bike ride this afternoon. My hips actually seemed to like it. And my blood sugar has come down too. I'm really happy I finally decided to get that bike. I've been talking about it for the last year.

Close to reaching first small goal

I lost 4.8 lbs this week! WOO HOO!! I thought I'd be lucky to lose close to 3 lbs, but I nearly lost 5. I'm so relieved to be back on track and losing again.

My first small goal is losing 5% of my body weight, which would be 12.5 lbs. As of today I've lost 12 lbs. I'm hoping to lose that half-pound (and then some) next week. Then I'll focus on my 10% goal.

I bought a box of Fiber One cereal yesterday. I was looking to add more fiber in my diet. I was delighted to find out that 1/2 cup of Fiber One is zero points! 1/2 cup of skim milk is 1 point, so it turned out to be a really good choice for breakfast. And it tastes better than I thought it would. ;)

Back On Track

Tomorrow is weigh-in day and I'm happy to say I'm back on track this week. My home scale is showing loss, so I'm hopeful I'll have a really good morning at meeting tomorrow. If I can squeeze another 1/2 lb off me by tomorrow morning I'll reach my 5% goal, if not, then I'll reach it next week. ;)

Small Gain

After Jamie passed away, my diet flew out the window. For a day I wasn't interested in food, then I couldn't stop eating. And through it all I had stopped tracking. I finally skidded to a stop on Monday, but it was too late to undo the damage. Tuesday morning at weigh-in I showed an 8/10ths gain. Almost a full pound. It was expected, and it could have been worse. I'm not going to beat myself up over it. Tuesday was the start of a brand-new week. A clean slate. I bought a WW 3-month journal and I'm tracking very carefully now, and I'm exercising. Hopefully I'll see a BIG loss next week to make up for this past week's slip-up.

Meanwhile, here's a picture of me on my birthday last month (the big 5-0), posing with flowers a friend had sent me. Since it was taken about a week before joining WW, I'll call this somewhat blurry picture (taken by DH) my "before picture". I'll post another one when I've reached my 10% goal.

Boy I need a haircut! ;D

Lost Some Ground

Our 12-year-old cat was very ill the past two weeks and we had been working with the vet to help her bounce back, but Wednesday saw her take a serious turn for the worse, and Thursday morning she passed away. The stress and sadness from this bumped me off course and I haven't been tracking anything. I've actually been binging a bit. As of Wednesday I was down another 2 pounds (by my home scale) and now I'm 2 pounds up. It's time to stop this backsliding in it's tracks and get moving forward again. Today I'm back tracking again, and hoping I can lose that 2 pounds again before Tuesday morning weigh-in.

Goodbye, Jamie .... we'll miss you.

Tuesday Weigh-in

My sister-in-law & I went to meeting this morning. I lost 3.2 lbs this week and she lost 2.2 lbs. Last week she lost one pound more than I did, and this week I lost one more pound than she did. Now we're even steven. We both have lost 8 pounds so far. ;)

I got my first 5 pound star today. Wheeeeee!!! ;D
I'm now looking forward to getting my 5% star. I need to lose 4 more pounds to reach that goal. My sister-in-law only has 1 more pound to go to reach her 5% goal, so most likely she'll get it next week. If I really buckle down and exercise every day maybe we can reach that goal together.

I got my SIL's monthly pass set up yesterday. She had a migraine, so I got her to help me by phone with the info I needed to get it done. Now that we have passes we can bypass the payment desk and go straight to the scale. No waiting in long lines anymore. I like that. ;)

I was so hungry after meeting that I didn't want to wait to heat up a WW frozen meal (I hate microwaving so I always heat them up in the oven), so we stopped by Subway and picked up a 6-inch sub for each of us. I went with turkey on 9-grain wheat (6 pts) with fat-free honey mustard w/lettuce, tomato and black olives. She went with the turkey/ham w/ American cheese and extra mayo (which equaled the points of her sub!). Can't tell that girl is southern at all. ;) No veggies on her sub because she HATES veggies. I asked her if she was taking a vitamin because she never eats veggies and she said no. *rolling eyes* Next week we'll eat something sensible at my place. I'd love to cram a salad down her, but it would be easier to get my cat to swallow a pill.

We took our subs back to her place to eat, then we had a Smart One's dessert. The new mint chocolate chip sundae. It was really good! I'll have to buy some for myself!

Now I need to exercise it all off.

Lazy Sunday

I got my monthly pass activated, so I'm ready to go for meeting on Tuesday morning. I just need to get my sister-in-law's pass activated. I have to call her and tell her to come over and set it up. Her computer is on the fritz, so she'll have to use mine.

I went to bed earlier last night and slept in longer this morning, but I'm feeling tired and slow today. I had more energy when I got only 4 hours of sleep and woke up early to get to my appointments this past week. Maybe it's all catching up with me today. I don't anticipate doing much of anything except laundry and a quiet read.

It's almost noon here, so I need to figure out something for lunch. I do have some zero and one POINT Progresso soups in the cupboard. Maybe I'll just heat one up. I'm not really hungry, but I need to eat something. Slept through breakfast, so I better get something in me before hunger kicks in and makes me go crazy. ;)

Testing 1, 2, 3

I saw my doctor yesterday for my quarterly check up. My blood tests (A1c, lipid panel, liver panel) were showing improvements, and she was delighted to hear I joined Weight Watchers and was already losing weight. I told her about the lows (hypoglycemia) I've been experiencing lately, so we discussed it and decided to drop one of my diabetes meds, which I'm thrilled about. I'm hoping when I see her again in 3 months, my test results will be even better and I'll be a lot skinnier. ;)

My A1c this time around was 6.4, which is a lot better than I had been doing the past year. For 4 years I kept my A1c in the 6.1-6.4 range, but last year it started creeping up into the 7's. I've finally got it back down, but with the new diet and weight loss I'm hoping to push it down into the upper 5's in 3 months. Eventually I'd like to see it in the 4's, which is a normal nondiabetic range. But ... one step at a time. For right now I'm shooting to push it down to 5.9 or lower.

Today I drove over to the Saturday morning WW meeting (we normally go to the Tuesday morning meeting) to purchase monthly passes for my sister-in-law (my diet buddy) and me. Now I just need to go to the WW website and activate the passes. I also picked up a POINTS calculator. I love the new design! It's like a small compact. ;)

This morning for breakfast I ate 2 whole-grain Eggos (2 POINTS), 2 tablespoons of Brummel & Brown (3 POINTS) and 1/4 sugar-free maple syrup (1 POINT). POINT-wise it was fine, but blood sugar-wise it was not a good choice. 1 1/2 hours after eating my blood sugar tested at 165. I shouldn't let it get over 140 (to prevent diabetes complications), so I think I'll toss out the remaining 4 waffles. Without the fat of the margarine to slow it down, I'm sure my blood sugar would have gone much higher. Still, it's too high and I'll have to stick with lower carb choices, like eggs. For lunch I'm planning a salad (assorted veggies and a sliced boiled egg for protein), using my honey mustard Wishbone salad spritzer for dressing.

More Weighty Thoughts

Back in 1978-1980 when I was about 135 lbs, I was more active. I walked, played tennis, loved to swim, ride my bike and go camping. It's been about 15 years since I last played tennis; I haven't walked or gone camping in more than 10 years because of my arthritis. My hips are bone-on-bone and I need hip replacements; I stopped swimming and tried to start again last year, but only swam once. Me in a swimsuit was too much to bear and bare; And last year was the first time I haven't ridden a bike in years. Bikeriding was my last surviving activity, but then it died.

I'm hoping when the weather warms up I'll get back on my bike and start riding again. And this summer I want to start swimming again.With my arthritis the way it is, I doubt I'll be walking, playing tennis or going camping anytime soon. At least not until I get those hip replacements. I'd like to look into that this year. It would be great if I got at least one hip done before 2010.

Before my hearing began to leave me in the mid-80's, I was a more outgoing person. But as my hearing deteriorated, so did my social life. I become essentially a recluse 10 years ago when my hearing loss became profound. I tried learning sign language, but I sucked at it. When my audiologist recommended a cochlear implant in November 2007, I was momentarily stunned. Then scared. But the more I looked into it, the better I liked the idea. I never thought of myself as a deaf person. I always thought of myself as a hearing person who couldn't hear. So when my insurance company finally agreed to pay for it, I set the date and went full steam ahead. My implant surgery was a HUGE success, and at my last appointment with my audiologist my hearing was testing borderline normal. I can hear. I can listen to music. I can use the telephone again. I thought once my hearing was turned back on I would suddenly turn back into a hearing person who can hear, but a decade of being a recluse makes it harder to just dive back into my former life. I'm finding I have to take it one step at a time.

When I was 16 and my father's hearing was deteriorating, I saw him starting to pull back from people. I swore if I lost my hearing I'd never do that. What a stupid kid I was. I just couldn't imagine how hard life was without hearing. You can't call someone up on the phone and talk with them. When you ask someone to repeat something, or ask them to speak up, they look at you like you just murdered their mother. And if they do repeat what they said, it's lower. Making it impossible to figure out what they're saying. When in a group setting, and you can't keep up with the conversation, it's easy to just let your mind wander. Eventually you pull back and stop going to places where there will be people. Running into someone I know while out shopping became my worst nightmare. Someone taps you on your shoulder, you turn and look at them and see their lips moving. No sound. You struggle through and when it's over you run for cover. Even though I'm hearing better, I still cringe when I run into someone I know. I guess it will just take time to reclaim my old life.

Weighty Thoughts

I've been overweight almost my entire life. I was an average child while growing up, but when I hit my teens I began to put on weight. I'll bet that was the result of my diabetes gene (which I didn't know I had) rearing it's ugly, evil, insulin-resistant head. In 8th grade I was chubby, but by 9th grade I started to get criticism from my mother about my tummy. Back in my early teens "smock" tops were in fashion and I had one hair stylist ask me when my baby was due. I told her I wasn't pregnant. She said I was wearing a maternity top, to which I retorted it was a smock. My mother put me in Weight Watchers when I was in 9th grade, but I didn't keep up with it long. By the time I was in 10th grade I went from chubby to fat. I started WW again. The second attempt lasted no longer than the first.

When I was 19/20 years old I managed to drop about 30 pounds and kept it off for a couple years. After I married in 1981 I started gaining weight again, and the mid-80's saw me hit 200 plus. I started WW again and again and again (and I dabbled with TOPS and a couple other diets -- South Beach and The Four Corners Diet). My highest WW start weight was 275. My lowest start weight (after marriage - can't remember earlier numbers) was 225. The closest I came to getting under 200 pounds again was in 1996. I had lost 50 pounds and reached 202 lbs. ... I was almost there ... then I sabotaged myself and regained that 50 pounds and more.

In 2003 I was diagnosed with high blood pressure and started taking my very first long-term medication. Previously I had only taken the odd antibiotic now & then. In 2004 I was diagnosed with diabetes and gained 2 new long-term medications. That was a bitter pill to swallow and I was in denial for a brief time. My success at controlling my high blood sugar comes and goes. Mostly it goes.

In 2005 my father died of a heart attack, which I knew was related to complications from his out-of-control diabetes. I knew I had to do something to prevent going the same path, but couldn't find the motivation to do anything about it. I did take my first stress test and was told my heart was fine.

Last year I had cochlear implant surgery to improve my hearing (I have a hereditary hearing loss) and my doctor insisted I take another stress test before the surgery. This time a problem was found. I had a blood flow problem and they wanted me to get an angiogram after I healed from my CI surgery. Well I dragged my heels and didn't get the angiogram until earlier this month (my CI surgery was in Sept. 2008 and I was healed by early Oct.). A "minor clog" was found, but the cardiologist said it wasn't blocking anything so nothing more needs to be done at this point, other than continue my high blood pressure med and cholesterol med (a new med I inherited last year). I was relieved, but at the same time worried about that "minor clog". I most certainly don't want it to get worse. So I decided to return to WW again.

January 20th I went to my first WW meeting in about 10 years. And I dragged my sister-in-law with me. My start weight was 254 lbs. I lost 4.8 lbs my first week and my current "official" weight is 249.2 lbs. On my home scale I've dropped a couple more pounds, but it won't be official until I step on the WW scale at meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 3rd. My sister-in-law topped me by losing 5.8 lbs. We both got bookmarks on Tuesday, but only my SIL got a 5 lb star to put on it. I found out the stinker had been exercising, while I had been laying back awaiting my 2nd week when I would get my starting to move booklet. Serves me right for being lazy. Now I need to get busy and top her next Tuesday. ;~D

Last year I bought Dr. Richard Bernstein's "Diabetes Solution", but didn't read too far in it. I picked it up again the other day and I'm determined to get through it. His diet is very strict, but I've had success on a low-carb diet before (The Four Corners Diet). I lost 30 lbs in a couple months (9 pounds the first week!) and my blood sugar normalized. I wasn't on a nasty merry-go-round of too high or too low. After my initial success on 4 Corners back in 2006, I started backsliding when my mother-in-law's health circled the drain. It was a looong year and I packed that 30 lbs back on me. After my MIL began to get better I tried to restart 4 Corners, but couldn't find my earlier resolve to stick with it. Low carb is perfect for diabetics. The weight just fell off me, particularly in my tummy where type 2 diabetics tend to gain weight, and I felt more energetic, but it takes a huge commitment to stick with it. And until now I just couldn't find the motivation and strength to do it.

As strict as 4 Corners is, Bernstein is stricter. With 4 Corners I just stopped eating bread, cereal, pasta, potatoes and sweets. Bernstein doesn't allow any of those, and he doesn't allow fruit. With 4 Corners I got to keep tart apples and berries. It's going to mean a HUGE change in my diet, but my blood sugar situation is getting too scary. The way I can quickly swing between 250 (or higher!) and under 80 is harmful to my body, and I already have diabetic neuropathy. I don't want to acquire any more diabetic complications.

Usually I'll start to shake around 80 and I previously had never been under 72. Tonight when I left work (around midnight) I felt weird, but I wasn't shaking. Yet. I can't remember feeling that weird before, so as soon as I got in my car (that's when I began shaking) I tested my blood sugar. I freaked when I saw it was 52. I quickly sucked down some glucose tablets and waited several minutes before driving home. By the time I got home I was in the mid-90's and fine again. Normal blood sugar is between 80-100, and when I'm low-carbing I'm able to keep it in that normal range. No seesawing up & down. I need to do that again before I end up losing control of my car one day and wake up in the hospital. If I wake up at all.

So ... I'll still use the WW POINTS system, but I'll stop eating bread, potatoes, cereal, pasta, starchy vegetables, some milk products, sweets, and fruit. Losing fruit might kill me at first, but hopefully I won't miss it after awhile. And I will start taking a daily multivitamin and calcium+D to make sure I'm getting all needed nutrients.