Three H: Holy, Healthy, Happy

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...

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...

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...

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...