The Health Journey, February 11, 2013

Well, hey there! I almost forgot to write a post for today!

The last few days have been a mix of joy and angst for me and some last minute butt covering by some people who shall remain nameless. Needless to say, there's been some stress. Add in a monthly starting (didn't we just do this?) and I find myself bloated and anxious at 11pm on a Sunday. The anxiety will not be going away anytime soon but that's ok, because it's good anxiety. I'm starting a new chapter in my life (I hope) that I have been praying about for a while now. I even got a haircut for the occasion... ok, it was a trim, but still.

I haven't weighed in yet this week (I'll post an update once I do) but my jeans are definitely too big, even directly out of the dryer and still a little bit wet. I'll be doing some shopping for some new ones next weekend and I'm incredibly excited about it.

I have to admit, I haven't done as much yoga as I would have liked. Rather than daily, I'm looking at every other day for last week. I'm going to get that up to at least 4 days this week, possibly 5, depending on where I am with cramping. It was bad today so I didn't push it because I've found that, when I push it, yoga actually makes the cramps worse. Your mileage may vary, of course, but that's what I have found for myself.

I'm excited for this week and I'm hoping I didn't gain too much weight from slacking off.

Oh yeah! This is also my 200th post! Woo!

The Health Journey, February 4, 2013

This week has been one of me doing my best to get back on track. Getting back in a habit feels harder than trying to develop the habit in the first place. I've done the yoga routine about half the times I've intended to but that's better than not doing it at all.

The hardest thing I've come across is trying to eat well. I had some car issues that ate up almost my entire budget so I'm trying to cook decently for $20 this week. Normally, that would mean pasta. Now, it means lots of bunless burgers. I've pretty much given up soda and I'm trying to give up most sugar.

I've got blood tests and weigh-ins this week to see how I'm progressing and I'll do my best to get back on the exercise wagon. I did the math on how much weight I've lost and how much I have left to lose. If I keep up what I've been doing, I'll be at my goal weigh just before my best friends wedding. That's a very exciting development!

The Health Journey: Week 10

Week 10! Wooho! I was so excited today when I left my weigh-in!

Let me explain: Last week was a week of nutritional hell. I spent several 12-14 hour days sitting at my computer to work and struggling with a sugar addiction that's much worse than I originally thought as I talked about in this post. I ate a lot of crap and a lot of eggs and bacon.

Going in to weigh myself today, I was hoping that I'd only gained back about 2 pounds so I wouldn't be over the 300 pound mark again.

Was I in for a surprise!

The only thing I can think is that I kept a calorie deficit every day and I was eating the "right" kinds of fats. One of my favorite movies these days is a documentary called Fat Head. You can watch it on Netflix or Hulu if you're interested in learning a lot about health and the giant experiment we're all taking part in.

I'm very happy with what I did last week and I am looking forward to this week. I'll actually have time to do stuff!

Also, I went shopping yesterday and got 2 new pairs of shoes on clearance. 90% off for one pair. I'm a very happy camper these days.

This weeks numbers:
Starting Weight: 316.8 lbs
This weeks weight: 296 lbs
Weight lost this week: 2 lbs
Total weight lost: 20.8 lbs

I've averaged 2 pounds a week for a while, even with a few set backs. My goal for the next few weeks is to ramp up the weight loss and to start doing some more cardio. I'm thinking I want to join a Tae Kwan Do class or possibly kick boxing but I don't know if we can fit it in the budget. If all else fails, I'll be walking every day. I'm also going to be working on toning my legs and butt so I can wear the new shoes for longer than an hour at a time because they're gorgeous!

The Health Journey: Week 9

Another update? Already? Sheesh, where does the time go.

To start, I pretty much expected this last week to kind of suck. I was bloated and gross for at least a portion of it and I'm kicking major ass on a deadline that's basically kept me chained to my computer. When said computer decides it wants to Blue Screen of Death for NO FRAKKING REASON!!!! *pant pant pant* and I end up spending the last week before the deadline trying to get to the file that I'm editing and bring the brand new freaking computer back to life, I can honestly say that I didn't pay much attention to what I was eating.

That's the bad news. I'll add to it that one of the habits I'm finding it very difficult to break is having something in my mouth as I work. In the past, that was a cigarette or a handful of M&M's. There was leftover Easter candy around this weekend. The last few days, it's been my headphone cord, to the point where I might be wearing through at certain parts. I may be taking a trip to the grocery store to pick up some gum soon if I can't stop it.

I'm gonna have to break a habit I didn't even really know I had and I'm gonna have to do it a week late for a deadline. If I was any less dedicated to this health journey, I'd call it off for a few days and just eat the freaking chocolate. As it was, I got much less exercise than I had planned, though I did get some, and I ate a lot more sugar than I should have. I've got until Thursday to get the book I'm working on back to the publisher, let's see if I can make it and stick to my food plan.

This weeks numbers:

Starting weight: 316.8 lbs
This weeks weight: 298 lbs
Weight lost this week: 0 lbs

That's right. I didn't lose anything. I also didn't gain anything. Since I've lost about 18 lbs so far, I'm pretty happy with the results. I've got a lot more to go so a couple of slip ups aren't going to put me all the way back at the beginning. I'm in it for the long haul and I'm working very hard to take the long view of things.

The Health Journey: Week 8

There are good weeks and there are bad weeks. This last week was an awful one. After last Monday's results, I was devastated. I broke down during this last week, wondering why I was bothering, convinced I was going to be a fat ass forever. It didn't help that I was dreaming about donuts and cake every time I went to sleep. This resulted in several bad nights of sleep and the belief that I was a bad person for craving food that I used to eat regularly.

This is when a support system becomes invaluable. They held me while I cried, reminded me that I'm beautiful and that I deserved to look the way that I feel. They reminded me that back sliding happens and to go back to the basics

Get Up
Eat Breakfast
Be Fabulous
Do Yoga/Pilates
Shower
Go to Bed

It was a one foot in front of the other, if you can get through the next hour you'll be fine, kind of support and I needed it. By Friday, I was back on my own bandwagon and feeling much more optimistic.

Saturday was my birthday and I spent it mostly in seclusion. I couldn't handle temptation as fragile as I still felt so I avoided it. Honestly, it made for the most relaxed birthday I've ever had. Easter brunch was good, I watched my portions and stuck mostly to meat-type proteins. Going in to my weigh-in today, I was cautiously optimistic that I had regained the ground I'd lost.

I had.
And then some!

I broke through a barrier I'd been flirting with for weeks and it feels so great!

This weeks numbers:

Starting weight: 316.8 lbs
Today's weight: 298 lbs
total weight lost: 18.8 lbs

current pant size: 24

I've set milestones for myself for all this weight loss. I'm doing it by percentages. 10% at a time, to be precise. Losing 10% of my original weight will put me at 285.12 lbs. That number startled me when I first looked at it because it's one I've known well. It was the heaviest I'd ever been until this last year. I wasn't there long and I plan on waving as I breeze on past it.

The Health Journey: Week 5

Ah, week 5, you are so not my friend! If I was going to give myself a week off or a week of "fudging" it, it would have been this last week. I spent most of it bloated and icky feeling and craving chocolate. A craving I indulged way too much . . . and it showed.

D'oh!

I could blame the people around me for giving me the chocolate but the honest truth is that it's my fault. I know better and I'm a grown adult who can make her own decisions. And I tried to make it harder to get to. Instead of being on the table, I put it in a cookie jar next to the refrigerator. That actually sort of worked because there's some left lol.

The chocolate wasn't the only cause, either. I spent most of 3 days curled up with a heating pad and did nothing physical if I could help it. While that allowed me to make some pretty big strides in my editing job, it did not help with the weight loss goal I'm working towards.

So, this week, I'm sticking to my shakes for breakfast and lunch and I'm watching my calories for dinner. I don't really count calories, I couldn't tell you exactly how many calories I ate today, but I have a calorie range that I'm shooting for and I'm going to try and stay near the bottom of it this week to see if I can't make up for the monthly curse.

So, the numbers:

Starting weight:   316.8 pounds
Week 5 weight:  303 pounds

total weight lost: 13.8 pounds (yes, I did in fact gain 2 pounds this week)

pant size: 24

The Health Journey, Week 1

This week was one filled with doctor's visits, blood tests, other tests and editing. All in all, it was exhausting just being awake some days and I did have days where I just wanted to order a pizza and go back to bed.

Thankfully, I didn't do that.

Every doctor I saw this week wanted to know what my plan was to get my weight down. Nothing like having to explain, in detail, what your plan is to a bunch of health care professionals to put it all in perspective. They all approved the change in my diet, including my exit strategy when I've achieved the weight I want. My plan for adding exercise was a bit difficult to implement this week but I did expect to have challenges at first. Horrible pain in certain parts of your body will put anybody off wanting to dance.

One of my first goals was cutting out a lot of the sugar from my diet. Now, I'm not going to get rid of all of it, since fruits contain a lot of natural sugars and I'm planning to eat a lot of fruits and vegetables, but I'm getting rid of as much of the refined sugars as I can. I considered this to be one of the biggest challenges I'm going to face and it has been. I love sugar. I love chocolate. Specifically, I love Reeses and Rolos and Snickers and M&Ms. Obviously, they're off the menu for the foreseeable future. That doesn't stop me from craving them and the cravings get bad sometimes, especially when it's been a rough day.

My solution?

Food substitutions! And occasionally giving in with a lower calorie choice. My solutions for this last week have been crunchy peanut butter on toast with a half cup of hot chocolate. The hot chocolate is surprisingly low calorie and the crunchy peanut butter satisfies the urge for something to sink my teeth into and enjoy eating.

So, are you ready for this weeks numbers?

Starting weight: 316.4 lbs
Week 1 weight: 312.8 lbs

Total weight lost: 3.6 lbs

Current pant size: 26

The measurements have not changed significantly since last week, and I don't expect them to for a while.

The Health Journey, Week 0

I have an awards ceremony I attend 

every summer. I'll be posting dresses I 

want to wear there regularly.

Since the only person who actually took the time to voice an opinion has said I should do my health stuff on this blog, rather than start a new one, here we go with the first post.

I'm going to treat this part of the blog a bit like I did during NaNoWriMo. I'm shooting for a goal (pounds and inches lost) and I'll be tracking it on this blog. However, since I'm looking for long tern results rather than short term, I'll be checking in once a week instead of every day.

My plan, as it stands so far, is to take a picture at the beginning of every week. I'm trying the basic Herbalife plan (all my supplies for that arrived last Thursday) and watching portion sizes. On my desk is a set of glass jars, one filled with glass marbles and one empty. They say "Pounds To Go" and "Pounds Gone". I didn't put pounds lost because I have no intention of finding any of them again.

Having done my measurements, I realized that I am very close to an hour glass figure, at least proportionally. I want to keep my proportions the way they are and I have no intention of looking "muscular". I like being curvy and soft, I just want everything to be tighter, smaller and healthier.

Now, in the spirit of keeping the numbers out there and tracking everything, here we go.

Week 0:
Starting weight 316
Starting pant size: 26
Weight lost: 0 lbs 0 oz

Sorry, I'm just not going to share my measurements at this juncture. Maybe when they're a bit smaller.

Not a Funny Post

This has nothing to do with what I'm
writing about. You're welcome.

There are some things I've been aware of almost my entire life. Most of them aren't worth thinking about or writing about, though some of them will likely make it into my writing at some point. There's nothing quite like being the odd duck in a family of eagles to give you a perspective on some things.

No, this post is about something I've been aware of for almost as long as I can remember. I can remember sitting in the laundry room with my mom and talking about how it works and explaining it to my brother at a kitchen table a few years later.

Of all things, this post is about cancer.

My paternal grandmother died of ovarian cancer when I was 8 years old. She'd had it for 14 years which is downright miraculous for that type of cancer. She was, we think (looooong story behind that statement, 52 years old. This means she got it in her late 30's.

Ovarian cancer is one of the scariest types of cancer's you can have as an adult. There's almost no way to tell you have it until it's almost too late to do anything about it. One of the most predictive factors is if you have a relative who's had it. On my dad's side of the family, the answer is a most definite yes. On my mom's, they don't talk about that kind of thing (but problems with the feminine parts seems to run rampant through that side, as well).

Lately, I seem to be having all the medical problems that run rampant through my family gang up on me all at once. The thyroid problem that everybody but my mom seems to have hit me at 21 rather than in my mid 30's and the scary bleeding that hit everybody else in their 40's has decided that now would be a good time to start. This brings me to the point of why hasn't anybody since my grandmother been diagnosed with ovarian cancer? Well, they all had their ovaries removed around the time when they would have gotten it.

Need a minute? 

I guess that's one way of handling it.

So, to say I'm a little freaked out about my health this last year is a bit of an understatement.

I've also been feeling a bit more driven to accomplish what I want to nownownow rather than take my time and do it while I do other things. Maybe I'm just jumping at shadows, but I worry some times that I won't be around to finish everything that I want to.

I donate to charities that help fund research for cancer's that effect women as often as possible and I pray for a way to detect it earlier. I'm also making an appointment with my doctor. Again.



Ovarian Cancer Symptoms:

• • Abdominal pressure, fullness, swelling or bloating
  • Pelvic discomfort or pain
  • Persistent indigestion, gas or nausea
  • Changes in bowel habits, such as constipation
  • Changes in bladder habits, including a frequent need to urinate
  • Loss of appetite or quickly feeling full
  • Increased abdominal girth or clothes fitting tighter around your waist
  • A persistent lack of energy
  • Low back pain

  Courtesy of the Mayo Clinic