Thursday, June 30, 2011

Week 17

Some highs and some lows this week. I've now lost 34 pounds! I'm just barely under 5 pounds away from hitting "onederland." So close!

Last weekend I did a little bit of clothes shopping. I went in the Dress Barn and without looking at styles, I just grabbed some pants to try on in size 16 and 14. I clapped in the dressing room when I got the size 14 on and buckled. They are still slightly tight, but a few pounds and they will be just right. Its my extra motiviation to keep working at this. I didn't buy as much as I would have liked because apparently they put their jeans away for summer and just sell shorts and capris. :p But they found one pair in the back that I liked. I also bought a few new pairs of dress slacks for work (I really needed those since my old ones don't have belt loopes). I also bought some new shirts. I asked the lady what sizes are on the women's side vs. the misses side. Size 12 seems to be the cut off point, so next time I should be able to shop on the other side of the store!!!!

Exercise has it hit or almost miss days. Some days I work out real good, and other days I'm lazy and just take a 15 minute walk during my morning break. But the lazy days could be contributed to my late night attacks.

Last week I mentioned the severe pain in the dead of night. It happened again on Monday night. It seemed more intense then the first one, but I went straight for my prescription pain pills and that seemed to shut it down faster. But at one point I was worried the pill wouldn't help because I felt like I was going to throw up. There is nothing in common between these two attacks. By that point, I was thinking it could be my gallbladder.

I was able to get into a doctor on Tuesday. He told me it is most likely my gallbladder. He told me to stay away from fats, grease, oils, (all of which are no problem) and diary products (that is a problem). I live on dairy! I have a yogurt in the morning. Usually a cheese stick with my lunch. And my dinner standby is cereal. I was pretty distraught, I cried while getting my car washed. I cried because I like milk. I cried because I don't want to cook at night when I'm tired and its just me. I cried because the pain is so bad during these attacks that I don't dare go to sleep at night.

The first thing they do to diagnose is an ultrasound of my gallbladder. I have to be fasting for this. And their next opening is a week away! A WEEK! Yesterday I called and asked if we could skip the ultrasound and do the 2nd test where they fill your gallbladder with dye and watch it drain. But they can't because if they skip the ultrasound, insurance might not pay for it.

I've already decided its coming out. I am not going to live my life like this. But I guess I have to prove to the insurance company its a problem first. I hope it doesn't take too long to jump through all their hoops and then be able to schedule an appointment that isn't weeks or months out.

To end my post in a happy note, I punched a new hole in my belt this morning. Its the 3rd one since I bought the belt.

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Week 16

This was a better week. I got back into exercising and I know it really makes a difference. In fact, I reached one of my big goals last Friday. :) When I started walking Sage, I decided that by the end of summer, I wanted to be able to walk to the store and back. That's just about 3 miles. On Friday, my lawn mowers showed up. Sage wouldn't stop barking at them and it was driving me nuts. So I decided to take her for a walk. It would get my exercise in for the day and it would make her shut up. When we got to the end of the lane, I was feeling pretty good, so I turned up the road and decided to go to a turn off. When I got there, I still felt good, so we went on to the store! I was so proud of myself when we got there. I thought about going further, but realized I was quite far from home, so we turned around and headed home. It took me about an hour to walk to the store and back. But I don't think I'll do it again until I have a camel back, I got pretty thirsty. So did Sage, but each time I walked her up to the canal, she wouldn't stop to drink. There is too much to see and smell to stop for a drink. I was a bit sore for the next two days, but it was worth it.

Which kind of ties into last night. I got home from work and had about an hour before I had to leave to go to Preston's T-ball game. I knew if I went in the house, I would not exercise. When I went in the garage to get Sage a treat, I saw my bike. Without thinking about it, I jumped on and took off. I was still in my work clothes, but I had on decent enough shoes. I do need to take the water bottle holder thingy off, because my pants kept getting caught. Ten minutes later, I was at the store! I turned around to go home and learned that there is a slight grade ALL THE WAY back to my house. We live on a hill, but I thought it was flat until you hit that hill about a tenth of the mile from our home. Wow, it was a much harder ride going home. It took me just over 20 minutes, which made my total ride time 30 minutes.

I don't know if the bike ride is related, but last night I woke up with a TERRIBLE back ache. I was in tears it hurt so much. I think I was just sleeping in a bad position so I'm not giving up on bike riding yet. But if I ride again and the back ache comes back, I might have to give it up. I've never hurt so bad in my life. I didn't fall back asleep until about 4 so I'm the walking dead today. I took ibuprofen when it first woke meat 1:00, but at 3:30 I was still in severe pain, so I took a prescription drug. It finally kicked in about 4:00. I'm better this morning, but I can still feel pressure in the worst spot. If Josh had been home, I think I would have made him take me to the ER I hurt so bad. Course, if he had been home, he probably would have made me remember I had that prescription.

The other highlight of my week is that I'm getting a lot of comments. I've been getting them from the people who KNEW I was on WW, but now I'm getting them from people who had no idea. Totally makes my day each time someone ask if I'm loosing weight.

I'm only 6 pounds away from "onederland". I hope I can loose that in the next few weeks. I'm more determined to keep working hard now that it is so close. I've now lost just over 32 pounds, I'm so proud of myself. This week I wore shirts that I haven't worn in years.

Oh, and just for Heather, one night I actually cooked instead of eating cereal. I had chicken and roasted potatoes. I gotta say it, I missed my cereal. The chicken just didn't satisfy me. But I made plenty, so I had it for lunch the next day too.

Friday, June 17, 2011

Week 15

It was a pretty down week for me. I was busy most days and then tired most nights so I didn't get a lot of exercise in. But the good news is I'm holding steady at 31 pounds lost so far. This coming week shouldn't be as busy so I plan to jump right back into exercising.

I decided to hold off buying new clothes until I'm under 200 pounds. That should keep me motivated for now. I LOVE shopping for clothes and I think it will be even better this time because I'll be buying clothes a few sizes down. I'll be the girl laughing and crying happily in the dressing room. I'm trying to push for the end of this month, but since I didn't loose any this week it maybe be the first part of July instead. But even that doesn't feel that far away.

On WW they talk abut NSV (Non scale victories). I've really noticed those lately.

1- I seriously don't remember the last time I unbuttoned or unzip my pants. Course I still have to undo my belt, but I still love how loose my pants are.

2- When I'm adding payments at work on my 10 key calculator, I have to take off my ring. It slowly works down to my knuckle and spins if I leave it on and it gets in the way.

3- I got a bracelet for Christmas. It fit, but was a little tight. Its very loose now.

4- I can sit with my legs crossed at the knee! Its been years since I've done that. YEARS!

5- I can look down and finally my breasts stick out more then my belly. I still have a bit of belly to loose, but its slowly disappearing.

6- When the cash drawer at work pops out, it doesn't hit my legs.

7- Shirts that used to be too tight, aren't anymore. I can bend my elbows or twist my shoulders and not worry about them tearing. Not that they ever did tear, but that's the best way to explain it.

I'm sure I've noticed other things and each one is delight because I can tell all of my efforts are working.

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Week 14

What a good week and it paid off. I'm now down 31 pounds! Squee!!

I tried to compromise and go back to how I was eating before. I don't want a full meal at dinner. I'm tired from working all day and by the time I get my exercising done, I'm too tired to care. I'm going to embrace the fact that I love cereal and not listen to anyone else.

Which also means, if I don't cook at night, there is no leftovers for lunch the next day. But I don't care. I enjoy my lettuce salad and carrot sticks. I've learned I don't like the baby carrots as much. I prefer to buy the big carrots, peel them and slice them. They are so much better! I also try to pack a few slices of cheese when I take salad for lunch and I've really enjoyed that.

I think regular Dr. Pepper and cheese are what I miss the most. I can still have the cheese (just in smaller portions then I used to), but I think I've said my final good bye to Dr. Pepper. I will MISS you! Those Diet Dr. Pepper commercials are lying. You CAN believe its diet and it tastes NOTHING like the regular. So I stick with Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi. They still aren't as good, but they seem to hit the spot when I have a craving. Oh, and I was sad when I went into a gas station the other day. I wanted a diet Sprite, but they don't sell it there. So I left without buying anything. :(

I really kicked up my exercise this last week. There is even a few days where I walked on my work breaks, did some time on the exercise bike and then did a workout on the Wii. I just got the Biggest Loser Challenge Wii and I (mostly) love it. I think half the work out comes from moving the balance board a lot. "Move the balance board into position." "Move the balance board out of the way." I kind of wish that it would do all the exercises on the board, then move it and do the ones that don't use it. It also makes you move the Wii remote a lot, including your pockets, which my work out pants don't have. But then it probably wouldn't be as good a work out I guess. I've gotten good at moving it with just my feet. I love how it just cycles through a bunch of different stretches and exercises, etc. The only thing I don't like is when it makes you jump rope. I HATE that exercise. But I LOVE how at the end it just goes into a bunch of relaxing exercises that help you unwind.

I bought a shirt in a size large. WOW, I seriously can't remember the last time I bought a shirt that didn't have "x" in the size. Its still a little tight in my arms, but it hasn't stopped me from wearing it. I honestly can't tell you how much I weighed in high school, but I'm now basing my goal weight around a dress I wore to the Winter Ball my junior year. Its a size medium. I don't remember ever being any smaller then that so I guess I'll see where I am when I reach that point.

I'm so proud of myself. All week I've wanted to buy a Starburst candy bar in the break room, but I've resisted. Today I decided to reward myself for finally losing 30 pounds. I ate 4 pieces and then put it away. I think I'll have a few more pieces when I'm finally under 200, which really isn't that far away. Hopefully in a few weeks. :)

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Week 13

I'm such a slacker! I forgot to blog about week 13 and week 14 starts tomorrow. I don't remember that much to report about. I did spend that week trying to use all of my daily points and I was miserable doing it. I felt like I over ate and then I didn't really loose much.

I love this time of year and all the fruits coming into season. I've had cherries a few times now, I forgot how much I LOVE fresh cherries!

Everything else I want to blog about is during week 14, so I'll do that in my next post. But let me say, I'm excited for my official weigh in tomorrow. I poked another new hole into my belt this morning. ;)

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

I walked Sage last night and I'm so proud of myself. In years past when I have walked down the lane, I have had to push myself. I would tell myself "just one more power pole." Then I'd turn around and cry because I had that much further to go to get back home.

Now that I'm in shape, I went the furthest I've ever gone before. And I didn't even think of complaining when I turned around to head back to the house. In fact, when we reached the house, I decided to go the rest of the way up the hill and then back to the house.

The only downfall to this walk, was the reminder that skunks LOVE our lane. Every year I see a few. Last night I spotted the first one of the season. :( And Sage wanted to chase it and I think it wanted to chase Sage. We were at the end of our walk so we made a sprint for the house, but then decided to finish going up the hill. Not thrilled that I'll have to start watching for skunks.

Oh, and you don't really walk Sage. She walks you and you run to catch up. I thought her tugging on her leash so hard was going to cut the circulation in my wrist. She has 2 speeds. Fast and Strain Your Shoulder
Fast. But she loves walks and now that I'm in shape and can go 20 feet without loosing my breathe, I really enjoy walks too. This summer I want to make it to the store and back once, just to say I did it.

I wonder what it takes to train for a 5K? Maybe I'll start working on that. And all this walking is only possible because of my Sketchers Shapes Up. Besides being out of shape, foot pain has kept me from walking for years. But my Shape Ups seem to give me the support my foot needs to it doesn't hurt.