Off the Weight Loss Topic

I've previously mentioned that I have a son with cerebral palsy. He is now 18. His favorite past times are all related to electronics, so I've decided to MAKE him write a blog. He does, however, seem to be enjoying it. My son uses a communication device, The Pathfinder: See Pathfinder

He uses his Pathfinder to write his blog.

Please visit his blog: Matt's World

A Little More, A Little Loss!

I've lost 7 pounds! It's not much. Losing this weight has been a huge struggle. I've been doing one of 3 things daily: running, walking, or swimming. I've also cut back on simple carbs. In fact, I'm eating almost no simple carbs. (I miss simple carbs!) Still, with all this diet and exercise....ONLY 7 POUNDS!

My goal is to weigh 170 by October. I'm focusing on making small weight-loss goals verses the daunting task of focusing on losing the whole cabana! This was an overwhelming task.

By the way, eating healthy is very expensive. My groceries this week consisted of: frozen salmon and Tilapia, fat-trimmed pork steaks, blueberries, raspberries, zucchini, peppers, frozen veggies, red wine (okay, simple carbs, but only 1 vice!), milk, eggs, cheese, and plain yogurt. I also bought ground beef and hamburger helper for my son as well as strawberry yogurt. My grocery bill was well over $90. Now compare this to a grocery list of boxed and canned goods. I could have easily bought a week's worth of boxed and canned meals for $50-$60.....Darn! But, eating healthy IS a good investment, right?

The sad part of this, buying fresh verses buying packaged, is that low income families have no choice but to eat unhealthy. High calorie, unhealthy foods are cheaper. I give monthly donations to the local food bank, but the food banks also give out a lot of packaged, unhealthy foods.....

A Little Loss

I've lost 3 pounds, which isn't much. I've had to stop exercising, so that's part of my excuse.
Recently I've had a lot of joint pain and a lot of pain in my ribs. The doctor thought the pain in my ribs and arm were related to my gallbladder, but the ultrasound for this was negative.
I had a chest x-ray yesterday and because of the results the doctor thinks that I have some form of arthritis. I started meds yesterday, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed hoping that I can be pain-free and back to exercising.

I'm going to look for some other form of exercise other than Tae Bo. I think all the kicking was making the rib pain worse. I'm going to Wally World today to purchase a stair stepper and some stretch bands.
I have an appointment in March to see a Rheumatologist.

I really want a heated pool. I'm thinking about a swim spa, but I'm not sure where I would put this. It would be quite a challenge keeping a certain Labrador and a certain Border collie out of it. My garage is my "doggie room" The backyard is the dogs' playground. So let's see....my options are: living room, front yard, or build a room specifically for the swim spa.

I'm finding that the average price is around $20,000 and this doesn't include the room I'm going to need to put the spa..... a little more than I want to spend.

I recently found an interesting website: http://www.perfectweightamerica.com/
You can track your weight loss online. The site also has meal menus. The meal menu looks interesting, but I don't know where I will get goat cheese in Mid-Missouri!
I used the coupon code for the "free year trial".
Off to Wally-World I go.

QUICK UPDATE

Just a quick blog update. Last week I had severe pain in my abdomen, chest and right arm. I went to the doctor and had an EKG. The EKG was normal; the doctor thinks it may be my gallbladder. Tomorrow I'm going to have an ultrasound.
This has put a dent in my exercising, but hopefully I can get back to "tae boing" asap.

Marci

New Lesson for New Resolution

My son had his PMR (Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation) appointment today. He goes every 3 months and during the day he sees a physical therapist, an occupational therapist, a speech therapist, a physiatrist, an orthopedic surgeon, a nutritionist, and a pediatrician. Needless to say, it is a very long day.

I did learn something new today. V-8 Fusion *is* actually healthy. It has no added sugar and it is not made from the juice of the fruit and vegetables, but instead consists of the actual ground-up fruits and veggies. http://www.v8juice.com/

Another one of my goals this year is to donate regularly to the local food bank. However, one of my peeves about food banks is the mass amounts of simple carbs they give out. I understand the need for this since they give out mostly packaged foods, however, I would like to personally donate healthier foods, so maybe some of these V-8 juices can be included with my donations.

We also went to eat at Burger King. I had a veggie burger and a salad. The burger was actually quite good, but I wish BK would have offered it with whole grain buns. The veggie burger came topped with a tomato and a leaf of iceberg lettuce.
Speaking of iceberg lettuce, it has very little nutritional value. I learned this in college when I took human nutrition. More nutrient dense lettuce would be the leaf lettuce, especially the darker green varieties.
On the other hand, iceberg lettuce is a good filler, so it would work well with the Volumetrics diet.
And who said 3 years of nursing and psychology classes were wasted? Just wait until I tell you about the psychology of over-eating....but that is for another day.

Volumetrics

Recently I've seen a "Jenny Craig" advertisement advertising their new diet plan-Volumetrics. The name speaks for itself, but I still decided to do a Google search and here is what I found on WebMD: "The hook of Volumetrics is its focus on satiety, the feeling of fullness. Rolls says that people feel full because of the amount of food they eat -- not because of the number of calories or the grams of fat, protein, or carbs. So the trick is to fill up on foods that aren't full of calories. Rolls claims that in some cases, following Volumetrics will allow you to eat more -- not less -- than you do now, while still slimming down."

The diet plan creator's last name is "Rolls." How funny is that?

Here is the link to the complete article: http://www.webmd.com/diet/volumetrics-what-it-is

I did a 30-minute workout video this morning. I also went outdoors to practice agility with my dogs.

The Dreaded Scale

January 3rd, 9:00 a.m.
I'm going to go out and buy a scale to weigh myself. I need to be more goal oriented with this weight loss challenge, so I'm going to force myself to crawl on that scale to get the dreaded 3-digit number.

Be back in a bit....

Okay, I'm back and it is 5 days later. I have the scale and the news is not pretty. I went to the doctor this morning and was weighed by the professionals. I weigh a lot more than I originally thought....183 pounds. (It's even more on my new Wal-Mart scale). I was 170 pounds on my April visit. How could I have gained 13 pounds in 9 months when I've been eating less and exercising more? The nurse tried to pacify me by telling me that muscle weighs more than fat, but I'm not seeing much muscle so I don't think I'll be using that excuse. Then she (the nurse) tried calming me with the menopause/ weight gain spiel. I'm too depressed to explain this in much detail but basically menopausal women have less muscle mass as well as slower metabolisms. This, in short, is a recipe for weight gain.

So get this, she told me that I need to eat EVEN less and exercise EVEN more. What joy! Must this be so difficult? I guess the answer is YES.

I'm going to add an extra 30-minute exercise session into my daily work schedule so it's going to have to be something I can do in a small office.
I'm thinking of using a stair stepper, or exercise bands, or maybe both.