Three H: Holy, Healthy, Happy

Of course someone from my generation can't sing that song without thinking of the California Raisins...      But, baby, someone heard it through the grapevine that I'm having bariatric surgery!  I'm typically a quiet, introspective person who doesn't tell everyone my business... which I'm sure sounds contradictory given I'm writing this here blog of mine... but it's really just for me. I do it as a way to journal and keep track of my info. It's not something I plan to monetize and make money from or try to get likes, shares, and a guest spot on Ellen.  I've been debating a while as to whether I want to notify my Facebook community. Part of me wants to say, "Oh, by the way, I'm having surgery and I appreciate your prayers." But then that's always followed up with questions or concerns and whatnot. Or it sounds like your trying to get that kind of attention and baiting them. The people closest to me know about my surgery be...

16.8 Pounds Lost in Two Months!

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...

Progress How am I doing? Well, my weight has crept back up a tad, but it’s also the week of my period so I’m not overly concerned. This morning I weighed in at 270.6. I’m trying to focus on the overall trend rather than the day to day zigzags… and so far, I’m still trending down. Since I’m Catholic and yesterday was Ash Wednesday, I found myself fasting (one normal meal with two lesser meals just enough to keep me going) and abstaining from meat as we begin the season of Lent to prepare for Easter. (FYI- We Catholics are the reason that the fast food chains boast about their fish sandwiches “coming back” each spring. Think about it! We fast from meat every Friday between Mardi Gras and Easter. That’s a lotta beef they’ve got to make up for!) We recently had an ice storm in our area; weathered northerners would find it laughable, but since we don’t have as much infrastructure here to deal with ice and snow, we basically just hibernate and sit tight until it’s over. By yes...

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...