I went home for the holidays with the intention of eating right and beginning to lose some weight. I did eat. I ate reasonably. I also came down with pneumonia, and that helped me moderate my eating. I lost nine pounds.
I'm still not feeling great, but I plan to use this jump start to keep losing and eating more reasonably than I have in the past. I don't like the physical symptoms I've been experiencing over the last few months, and I suspect they're entirely attributable to excess weight. From this, I perceive I just may be ready to do what it takes to effectively change my lifestyle and attain a healthier body weight.
At the beginning of December, I had a hundred pounds to lose. As of this morning, I have 91 to go. I look forward to continuing the journey with each of you.
Friday, December 28, 2007
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
What a surprise!
We have been lax with our posts in December! I completely understand. This is the hardest time of year to focus on taking care of ourselves. Some days the best we can hope for is to hold the line and minimize the damage.
I have to report though, so please indulge me for a minute. Thanks. I had my last diabetes education class yesterday after work. There was a bit of a pop quiz, to see how much I remembered of the intensive classes I had during October and November. I'm glad to report that my diligent note-taking paid off and drilled the information into my brain, to the satisfaction of the diabetes educator. I've identified three areas I need to work on for the next couple of months -- finding an option for winter exercise since the weather may preclude my walks; finding a method of making sure that I take my second dose of medicine each day (there's one pill that I need to take twice a day and I often find myself forgetting the second dose.) Third, remembering to test my blood sugar level at least once a day, at different times. This is difficult because I can't just link it with one particular meal or time of day. I need to create a rotating schedule, sometimes monitoring before meals, and other times two hours after a meal. I think I need to rely on setting the alarm on my cell phone to prompt my memory so I can get a better picture over time.
So overall, things are going well except for the occasional memory slips when I may skip that second dose of meds or not get monitoring in on one day. I can do better, but I certainly could also do a lot worse. Just something to work on.
I am very pleased to report that I have now lost 22 pounds from my top weight when we started The Great Slim Down. Officially it is 8 pounds off since I was diagnosed with diabetes in September. Not a rapid weight loss, but steady, and so far, permanent. I'm now down to my "fightin' weight," when I got married.
Surely I'm not the only one who remembers landmark events by how much I weighed then, right?
My goal is to get down to the weight I was 10 years ago when my brother died and I could wear a size 8 Liz Claiborne. Only 27 pounds to go for that! I can do it!
I have to report though, so please indulge me for a minute. Thanks. I had my last diabetes education class yesterday after work. There was a bit of a pop quiz, to see how much I remembered of the intensive classes I had during October and November. I'm glad to report that my diligent note-taking paid off and drilled the information into my brain, to the satisfaction of the diabetes educator. I've identified three areas I need to work on for the next couple of months -- finding an option for winter exercise since the weather may preclude my walks; finding a method of making sure that I take my second dose of medicine each day (there's one pill that I need to take twice a day and I often find myself forgetting the second dose.) Third, remembering to test my blood sugar level at least once a day, at different times. This is difficult because I can't just link it with one particular meal or time of day. I need to create a rotating schedule, sometimes monitoring before meals, and other times two hours after a meal. I think I need to rely on setting the alarm on my cell phone to prompt my memory so I can get a better picture over time.
So overall, things are going well except for the occasional memory slips when I may skip that second dose of meds or not get monitoring in on one day. I can do better, but I certainly could also do a lot worse. Just something to work on.
I am very pleased to report that I have now lost 22 pounds from my top weight when we started The Great Slim Down. Officially it is 8 pounds off since I was diagnosed with diabetes in September. Not a rapid weight loss, but steady, and so far, permanent. I'm now down to my "fightin' weight," when I got married.
Surely I'm not the only one who remembers landmark events by how much I weighed then, right?
My goal is to get down to the weight I was 10 years ago when my brother died and I could wear a size 8 Liz Claiborne. Only 27 pounds to go for that! I can do it!
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
Food Journals
A food journal works because it stops you from fooling yourself about what you really ate. I have an issue with doing it, though, because I've spent so much of my life planning food, tracking food, etc. with not much result. I lost the weight the last time without using one. I don't know if I can continue to do that, though. It's something I'm thinking about these days. I'm having problems with the varicose veins in my legs and so the pounds are starting to matter. I'm trying to decide how I want to approach this.
I've been reading the materials by Chef Kathleen Daelmans. She's a professional chef. About 12 years ago, she took a job and moved to Hawaii. After she got there, she was informed her job had changed. They wanted her to cook for the spa kitchen, not the regular one. She was a size 22. She figured out how to cook spa food and won a lot of awards. She also figured out how to lose a lot of weight. Now she's a size eight.
I'm thinking that with my love of cooking and good food, I might try using her methods for dealing with food. Her cookbooks have a lot of recipes and the concepts of how she did it. But they're short on how to break it down into doable steps. I ordered her workbook and when it gets here, I'll be better able to decide if I think it will work for me and is something I can do.
I've been reading the materials by Chef Kathleen Daelmans. She's a professional chef. About 12 years ago, she took a job and moved to Hawaii. After she got there, she was informed her job had changed. They wanted her to cook for the spa kitchen, not the regular one. She was a size 22. She figured out how to cook spa food and won a lot of awards. She also figured out how to lose a lot of weight. Now she's a size eight.
I'm thinking that with my love of cooking and good food, I might try using her methods for dealing with food. Her cookbooks have a lot of recipes and the concepts of how she did it. But they're short on how to break it down into doable steps. I ordered her workbook and when it gets here, I'll be better able to decide if I think it will work for me and is something I can do.
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