Monday, October 27, 2014

Bad Weekend.

Rough weekend - other than cutting my finger Saturday, had a LOW blood sugar incident Sunday. Had coffee, insulin, too tired to cook breakfast.  Then took insulin and had lunch.  Leftover Chicken and vegetables. Getting ready for dinner (the kids were making funnel cakes in the kitchen at this point), took my insulin (always being told to take it before eating), about 20 minutes later got real light headed and sweating profusely.  Checked my sugar (hadn't been vigilant because I was just tired and relaxing for once) and it was 46, pumped some pineapple juice I had on hand (had been making home made teriyaki sauce) and after a little bit felt better, tired but better. Shouldn't have skipped breakfast I guess, my theory is that it was bordering low all day and that when I took the last shot it just put it over the edge. Will definitely have to be more careful about this now that I am getting things under control.

Until Next Time......


Eat Healthy, exercise regularly and enjoy life.

Friday, October 24, 2014

Oct 24, 2014

Terrific, have to change doctors due to insurance changes at the first of the year.  Yippee Skippy, just my endocrinologist because they no longer will take my new insurance after 1 Nov.   But at least he got to see progress.  No weight change at that appointment, but then, that scale may not be of the same calibration as the one at new start.  So weight is still close to breaking the 400 window.  Good news is that my blood sugar readings are getting close to staying in the normal range, took readings before meals today and they were all in normal range.  Took a reading 2+ hours and not only normal range (which it is supposed to be) but below 100.  So now it looks like this weight loss journey is starting to produce the other benefits that I was looking for.  Dr. said to watch for symptoms of low blood sugar as the weight comes off, have to monitor for that too now.  When/if that starts to happen then I will have to have meds adjusted (note: goal is to get off them entirely).  Pretty good news for a Friday.

Until Next Time......


Eat Healthy, exercise regularly and enjoy life.

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Today is a day of "Missed it by that much..."

October 16, 2014.

Today is a day of "Missed it by that much..."

Why you ask?

Let's start with my Dr. Appt today, weighed in, weight was bouncing between 399 and 400 and when it finished I was at 400.0, almost left the 400 club and joined the 300+ club, missed it by that much.....  Next month.

Next let's talk exercise, been between 1.5 and 1.8 miles on my walks. First let's put this in perspective. When I first started, it would take me all day to reach enough distance to make a mile. Now I can do a mile in about 24 minutes walking.  Today I did my walking and decided to increase my path so I could reach 2 miles. And I made it through the path I chose too, in about 47 minutes, only one minor problem; it was 1.99 miles, again, missed it by that much.....  Tomorrow.

Working well on the program, have decided against the gastric sleeve, when and if I do get the surgery (only if I absolutely have to) then I am going with the lap band.  Have reached a point where I am on an exercise program and diet that is working for me and not hard to maintain. And I am losing weight with it. Carolyn and my Dr. both agree with my decision. So I think I am doing real good.

Next step is to get the recumbent bike back in the house and operational, that will give me another form of exercise to increase my workouts that won't take time from the family.  Can ride and watch TV, visit, whatever.  That plus the walking should help increase the weight loss. Have a plan now that is working. It was always hard before because I didn't get any progress, now I am and it's like when I was on Active Duty. I am seeing results so it is easier to carry on. Unlike Active Duty, there is not a downside, if I don't lose as much as I want, I don't have someone saying I will be punished, or censured, etc. I just have to try a little harder (and unlike last month, remember to take off my shoes when I weigh in).

The other points are, my knees hurt less, I am a hell of a lot more mobile, and I have more energy and am sleeping better.

Now comes the fun time though.....the holidays. Will have to be sure to watch what I eat, although I made it through Octoberfest and the Chili cook-off without blowing my diet (and those two are worse for me than Thanksgiving or Christmas), so I have faith that I will persevere.

May need new pants again soon, the 56 inch jeans are getting loose, so my work pants are starting to have problems, also need a new belt. I am looking forward to eventually being able to shop at regular stores instead of places like DestinationXL, and the last time I was there the lady was quite rude--reported her to the company. It is hard enough being big in today's world, and working to get to an healthy weight is even harder without assholes making it worse.

Now the fun part, we have new health benefits and I have to find out how it will affect my weight loss program.  Yippee, should be a long boring weekend.

Until next time.....

Eat Healthy, exercise regularly and enjoy life.

K

Update Oct 17, 2014

Found my route, 50 Minutes (the time will come down as I do it more) and 2.13 miles, 696 calories burned.  My goal is 1000 calories a day, so with my general walking through the day I should reach that (on average my general walking, provided I don't go shopping at Menard's is 350 calories a day, if I go to Menards you can add another 150, so I should reach it daily now).  I may increase that goal later, like when I get the recumbent bike operational, but for now that is good. It's working if nothing else. Have a Dr. Appt. next week with my endocrinologist (diabetes doc), so by then I hope to break 400, will let you know.

Eat Healthy, exercise regularly and enjoy life.

K

Monday, October 6, 2014

Oct 6 Update - Yes these are late updates from last month......

18 Sept Update - Late Posting

This update is late because, well, I have been very very busy this week.  We have testing going on at work, which helps my exercise motivation in as much as the walking relieves the stress of work.

Found out I have some mistakes on my blog, I started the program at 420.8 not 416. Had initially lost 6 pounds due to diet change and gained back 3, not 3 off 3 on.

As I said I dropped another pants size, my walks have increased to at least a mile per.  Walking multiple times a day.

Had my weigh-in and it was 209.6, only a two pound loss for the month.  And that is 11 total so far in the program.  But that doesn't bother me.  See, I am seeing other things change, my stomach is smaller, I am eating less.  I am beginning to get into clothes that haven't fit me in years (i.e. 2XL T-Shirts) Believe some of the weight has been increase in muscle because my knees are not bothering me as much. There will be big and small losses, as long as they are losses every month I will be happy.

Decided that I probably will not be getting the gastric sleeve procedure, as long as I keep seeing weight loss I will probably opt for the lap-band when and if I decide to get it. Still want to go as long as possible on my own.  Most people use these procedures to lose weight, which is why they have to go so drastic as the gastric sleeve, my goal is to use it to assist with my diet and exercise to accelerate my weight loss. Not instead of diet and exercise. That is what I have been reading has been the problem with so many failures with the lap band. They don't have the proper diet, or enough strenuous exercise to get the loss.  Have a friend, got lap band, complains it doen't do anything, he measures his food and everything he tells me. But guess what, he still drinks about a six pack of beer a day, or the equivilant in other alcohols.  So we are talking well over 600 useless calories.  And he doesn't bother tracking those either.

I think with my current plan I will be able to lose the weight with the lap band.  Yes, I have days where I don't do well with my calorie intake, but most days I finish the day with a positive bank. By that I mean, I have a 2100 calorie a day limit right now (as my weight drops that will have to go down too, but then the app I am using to track it recommended 2900 calories a day for weight loss, so I am good for a bit.). On average I burn 4-600 calories a day walking. So now we are at about 25-2700 a day just to maintain current status.  I try to come in a the end of the day at or about my walking burn, although so days I don't.  But on average I finish with about 400 calories left on a 400 burn day. Which means I am controlling my diet pretty good, some days it is even higher, but some lower, but I always try to stay in the positive. (Learned this on Active Duty and when I followed it it worked real well, and it seems to be working now).

Really not excited about getting surgery if you can't tell, but we will see what we see.

6 Oct Update - Still Late

As you can tell, never got the 18 Sept post made, testing has kept me busy.  Was having issues the past two weeks exercising, finally figured out the problem was my shoes had worn out.  Also realized that during my weigh-in I still had my shoes on.  Something I normally don't do. Won't do that next time. Got new shoes last week and walked at work for the first time in them this week. Big difference, walke about 1.5 miles (I say about, I was a little over like 1.56 or something), stopped at that point, legs were getting tired and I was thirsty, feet are fine though, great sign of things to come.

Also have some other updates, still need to get scale for the house, but have been eating less and now I usually take in under my allowed calorie level most days (there are some where I don't stay under, but I don't go over the amount available due to exercise so I stay in the positive. Not a good burn loss those days, but a little is better than none.  Should get better because we are in the soup and chili season, and have been researching the foods, they are lower in Calories than most of the foods I ate during the summer. Probably because of how they are prepared.

Also, had to add 3 more belt holes to my belt, NOW it's time for a new belt. And with that note, those 56 inch jeans that I was so proud to get into, (remember them), they are starting to become an embarrassment...LOL.  I didn't put my belt on right away over the weekend and they started to slip down. That is embarrassment I can counter with a belt, but also embarrassment I can be proud of.

Ran into a friend of ours I hadn't seen in a few months while helping Rebecca find a home coming dress (and we found one that everyone could agree on because the one she was going to use was ugly enough to make me 1) Immediately tell her we would go out on Sunday and find her a nice dress.  2) Make me willing to visit the mall as a last resort (Bless you Brenda Vielweber at Dress Barn on Hwy 15 for saving me from that). and 3) I vomited in my mouth a little, yes that bad.  But when we ran into Brenda at Dress Barn (Carolyn's former boss, our dear friend and the Store Manager at Dress Barn, which is why we kept suggesting it to Becca cause Brenda can always find nice clothes for the girls) she took one look at me and said, "You've lost weight."  I felt good about that.

So Progress is being made.

Until the next update.

Eat Smart, Eat Healthy, but do enjoy a snack now and then, just plan for it. And get some exercise.  Those are the keys. Surgery is just a tool to help, it is not the solution.