Three H: Holy, Healthy, Happy

WOW! I'm surprised, but happily so! I'm technically not diabetic anymore! I'm not entirely out of the woods as I'm still in the pre-diabetic range, but my A1C has come down since it was last checked 3 months ago! This is so encouraging! Last summer I was pretty disappointed to find that I was technically already diabetic. My A1C was 6.6% on more than one blood test. I knew it wasn't a crazy level, and given I was already on metformin it was considered "under control" because it was less than 7%. It's so encouraging to me that the small changes I've made are actually making an impact! This is a game of inches, not miles, and apparently this is the first time I've really believed that to be true! For reference:  A1C below 5.7% is normal A1C from 5.7% o 6.4% indicates prediabetes A1C from 6.5% or above on 2 separate tests indicates diabetes My recent stats: March 2020: 6.2% December 2019: 6.6% July 2019: 6.6% Back when I wanted to ge...

I’m feeling very discouraged this morning. I’ve been feeling down most of the week. I think it’s because my period is quite overdue because of all the carbs I’ve been eating and I think this is somehow exacerbating the PMDD. I think the PCOS and PMDD must be interconnected somehow. Someone, please do a medical research study on it and prove me right. There you go, there’s your doctoral dissertation right there. You’re welcome. I had hoped the overdue period meant I was pregnant. We would welcome another child and we want a sibling for our little jitterbug. We’re not exactly trying right now because we know my fertility depends on my weight and blood sugar, but if there’s any glimmer of hope, I light up with the idea of having another baby. I’m about 15 pounds heavier than I was when I got pregnant before, so it’s not out of the realm of possibility. (Incidentally, when I got pregnant before, I had given up chocolate for Lent and thus pretty much gave up all candy and sweets… with the...

Starting weight: 296.6 pounds Weight lost in August 2015: 19 pounds Weight lost in September 2015: 11.8 pounds; 30.8 total  August 3: You can tell I was doing well just to get up that first morning and take a photo... August 17: After two weeks, I'm holding my head just a bit higher. I'm feeling much better overall and it's easier to get around. I no longer have the constant stiffness in my muscles and joints. I finally had a period... it had been MIA since May. September 2: By September I was feeling good enough that I bought that new shirt you see me wearing in this photo. While 19 pounds is significant weight loss, those who do not know me well will not readily see the loss. I'm tall and lost the weight all over my body- but I can tell my waist is smaller, and thighs are smaller. My neck is the easiest place to see that the weight has come off. This is the day I had my weight checked at the doctor's office. According to their sc...

Well, despite all my progress so far this year, I'm feeling a bit discouraged. I just left an appointment with my OBGYN. I was proud of how well I have been doing with losing weight, but he never mentioned my weight. He usually mentions if I have made any gains or losses, so I asked what I weighed last time I saw him. He said "274. You've come down half a pound." Arrrrrgh!!!!!!! I told him I've lost quite a bit but I always seem to gain and lose between seeing him again. He said I probably gained when I stopped taking the metformin (which is true) and then came back down again as I started taking it again and dieting (also true). *sigh* In my head, I can hear Hermione lashing out at Ron Weasley at the Yule Ball; "You know the solution, then, don't you {Ron}?! " Only it feels like I'm lecturing myself. So what do I do? Comfort my wounds with a Snickers bar like I used to do, or renew my resolve which had already begun to dissolve anyway? Bef...

I once bought some Epsom salts because my feet were aching from being on them all day during an event. It made for a great foot soak and meanwhile my curiosity led me to learn more about Epsom salt. Which isn't actually a salt at all. It's a mineral mixture of magnesium sulfate. Magnesium has become my new best friend. Why? Little observations I made: My daughter was born early via C-section because I was starting to show signs of preeclampsia. The doctors gave me magnesium to bring my blood pressure down. After coming home from the hospital I slimmed down. Maybe it was the fact I wasn't retaining water, or the fact I was lactating. But I don't think the magnesium hurt. And a few months later I began gaining weight again. One day I ate a whole can of cashews and felt that I'd probably gain a lot of weight because of it but the next day I had actually lost weight. Cashews are loaded with magnesium. I added Epsom salts (magnesium sulfate) to my bath and ended u...

Earlier this week I began experiencing signs of ovulation. I have been having these symptoms preceding my period per usual, however this go round I seem to be producing more of the “EWCM” one reads about in Trying-to-Conceive message boards. I’ve also had a heightened sense of smell which has, in the past, caused me a false sense of excitement when I believed I might be pregnant but never actually was. (Earlier this week I even thought I could be pregnant... but this is also after I got to hold a cute baby on Monday!) After reading about other women’s experiences online, I discovered that sometimes the heightened sense of smell is common between ovulation and the period arriving. So I'll take that symptom with a grain of salt from now on.  I have a feeling that, although I haven’t lost a huge amount of weight, perhaps my fertility has been restored. Women with PCOS often go through their cycles as usual but that doesn’t mean an egg is actually released; this is why some wome...

16.8 Pounds Lost in Two Months!

In the beginning I was hesitant to put a face to the name on this blog. I've since decided that "Before" and "During" photos would help motivate me on days when "After" seems either impossible or forever far away. I didn't take any measurements or photos on the day I started and, since I'm usually the person taking photos, I am not in very many of them. I had to go back to September to find one of me for the "Before" image. The "During" image was taken just a few moments ago, after 7 weeks of dieting and about 17 pounds of weight loss. Much of the weight has come off my midsection, but I've also noticed that my face, neck, and chin are feeling and looking a bit smaller than a few weeks ago. "Before" and "During" Project 52: Health Improvement Week by Week

Adding Exercise Next Week I’m gearing up for adding exercise into my plan for improving my health week by week. So far I have only been cutting out carbohydrates (rice, bread, cake, pancakes, sugar, ice cream, candy, potatoes, and corn). In 7 weeks I have lost and kept off 16.8 pounds by diet alone. That’s less ass to haul. :) It will really help my feet, legs, and back for when I get started exercising next week. In addition to giving myself a chance to lose some weight, I decided to wait until the first week of March to add exercise to give the world a chance to tilt itself closer towards spring in the Northern Hemisphere. Warmer weather makes exercise easier. We’re still a bit too far out for this weather forecast to be very accurate, but it looks a heck of a lot better to walk in than the ice and 15 degree temps we had last week! The days circled in red are the days I'll be walking the first week.  Walking Goals for March I’m starting incredibly small by walk...

On days where the number on the scale ticks up a pound or so, it helps to step back and look at the overall trend. I zigzag up and down, but the overall trend is downward. 

I have had great success recently and I couldn't be happier. Truly, this time I am going to do it!  I weighed in at 269.0 this morning! Not only have I escaped the 280's, I have outrun the 270's! This achievement, however small it may seem, is monumental to me.  I am also feeling tremendously better overall. My energy levels and stamina have both greatly improved. I think I'm also sleeping much better, and that is just based upon dietary changes alone. Since I mentioned sleeping better, this is also a good time to confess that I have sleep apnea. Sleep apnea gets a bad rap as being something only really fat old guys get, but really, anyone can have it. Carrying around extra fat on your body can make it worse, but you don't have to be fat to have it. In fact, in one episode of Mythbusters, Adam Savage couldn't complete the sleep study needed for testing the myth because he wasn't sleeping well enough. He was having apnea episodes.  What is sleep apnea? In sim...

I'm a musician, nerd, and I like Disco. A few years ago, my husband gave me this for Christmas: It is a bust (no pun intended!) of the Marvel Comics character Dazzler. She's a mutant with the power to transduce sound into dazzling light displays. She's also a singer and performs on stage wearing rollerskates. In short, she totally rocks. While I don't look anything like Dazzler, this is a bit how I see myself. In my mind, Dazzler is sort of an ideal version of myself. I don't mean that in a harmful "I-played-with-too-many-Barbie-dolls-as-a-kid" sort of way. I mean it more in a "Dazzler is a sexy woman and so am I" sort of way. It's just that the blonde hair and bust are about all we have in common (right now).  My daughter found this little statuette one day and told me, "Mommy, I found your statue of you." I laughed and asked her, "Why do you say that's me?" and she replied, "Because she has the blond...

What am I doing to stay on track? The biggest thing that has helped me stay on track with this year's resolution to improve my health is the way I constructed my goal. Instead of saying "I want to lose X pounds by the end of the year" I said "I want to make a health plan and follow it all year long." This simple change has made a huge difference in my mindset and ability to stay on track. I feel that I finally have the horse in front of the cart. If I do the steps and take the measures, the weight loss will naturally follow. While seeing the weight come off has been motivating, there are days that the weight has gone up. Having PCOS, I cannot rely on weighing in only once per week to see my progress. Because my body responds inappropriately to certain foods (similar to a diabetic) I can't go an entire week between weigh-ins because progress may be easily masked. In the past I have fluctuated as much as 5 pounds overnight. Suppose such an outlying data po...

It's February and I'm sick. No big surprise there. Usually around this time of year I end up catching some kind of cold which leads to a sinus infection. Surprisingly,  the sinus infection part of the deal lasted very briefly this time. Only a couple of days versus a week. Yellow drainage was only a part of my life for about two days. I'm still having some congestion and cough, though, so I went to the store to pick up some Robitussin. If you're on the South Beach Diet or need to watch carbs and sugar, consider sugar-free medicines and cough drops. They'll ease your suffering without adding unwanted carbs to your diet. My local grocery store didn't have sugar free Robitussin, but I did find it in a generic. Not only is it sugar-free, but it is also dye-free which I like. I had some a couple of hours ago and the flavor wasn't too bad. It does contain aspartame, so if you're not a fan or have issues with it, you may want to forgo taking it. But I haven...

The overarching theme for this year is to take measures to improve my health "one week at a time." To simplify this for myself and increase my odds of success, I made each week of the entire first month exactly the same; it has helped me get into the swing of things in terms of changing my habits. Weeks 1 - 4: Follow the South Beach Diet Phase 1  For folks who may be interested in trying this (especially if you have PMDD or PCOS) it might help to have some additional snack and meal ideas. Like many Americans, we eat out far more frequently than we should, so you'll notice that there's a lot here from restaurants. Here are some of the meals I've consumed in the past month: Hwy 55 Burgers and Shakes (formerly Andy's): I get either the hamburger steak with grilled onions and bell peppers or the grilled chicken tips with grilled onions and bell peppers. I use salad for both of my sides instead of the cole slaw and fries the meal automatically comes with. I...

Current Success vs. Prior Success Alright! I have come down quite a bit in my first month, although admittedly not as much as I would have hoped. On Monday, January 5th, I weighed 285.6 lbs. Today, on Wednesday, February 4th I weighed 272.8 lbs. That is a total loss of 12.8 lbs!  In past attempts at the South Beach Diet, I have lost about 12 pounds in a week. It's taken more like a month this time, but I have a few hypotheses on that: I'm not following Phase 1 as strictly as I possibly could have: For instance, we ran out of milk and the convenience store only had whole milk, which I drank because I didn't want to be wasteful. However, I still lost weight, so maybe the fat in the milk is not the issue.  I ate sugar free chocolate candy. I think that might be a Phase 2 goodie but I needed a chocolate fix, ya know? I ate a few fried things. Like a small serving of fried okra. And one time I was in a different city trying to find somewhere I could pick up a quick bite...

Week 1: Follow Phase 1 of the South Beach Diet (SBD).  Challenges This week got off to a rough start because my daughter was sick with an ear infection. I planned to start following the plan I made for myself on Sunday, January 4th since it was the first day of the first full week of the year, but after a late night trip to the ER for a fever that didn't want to break, a trip to the pediatrician and a visit to the pharmacy, Sunday was shot. My husband cared for our daughter while I napped (I let him sleep while I took her to the pediatrician) and when he came to wake me I asked for 10 more minutes. When he came back to wake me up again, he said, "It probably doesn't feel like it, but I let you sleep another hour." He was right; it didn't feel like it. But I got up and found it was almost time for dinner. I hadn't eaten anything so far that day except an Atkins chocolate shake- ha ha- because on the way to the pediatrician I told myself, "I'm no...