Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Pulmonology appt

Today I had another pulmonology appointment. I have asthma, have had it since I was a kid. And on top of that, I was so heavy that my overnight oxygen levels were dipping to 80% quite a bit. So I was put on overnight oxygen over a year ago.

When I saw the dr last time he ordered an oximetry test to see how my percentage was since I had lost 40 some odd pounds. I was significantly improved but was still down in the 80's for about 3 minutes a night total so he wanted to wait to pull me off oxygen till I had another test after losing 50 lbs. So now that I've lost 61 I'll have another test and we'll see how I do. He was super excited to see how much I'd lost.

Apparently when you have low blood oxygen it raises your blood pressure in your lungs, thickens part of the heart muscle, and of course is bad for your body in general to just not be getting the oxygen it needs. So here's hoping that I'm past the point of needing it.

It's time for another Commit to Fit winner to be chosen! My time is almost up. So Billy Polson (one of the owners of Diakadi Body, the gym that hosts the winner, and he will also be the trainer for the winner) and I are going to be on a show called 10%, on Comcast/Xfinity this Friday. It will be broadcast January 31st. We'll be talking about Commit to Fit and how it's worked for myself and Kevin. The date for entering the contest has been extended to February 4th now to accomodate the show airing on the 31st.

So if you know someone that would love to win this, tell them to ENTER NOW! It's an amazing prize. And, trite as it may sound, I was thinking the other day that my parents gave me life, my doctors saved my life, and these guys who gave me Commit to Fit changed my life. I really wish that everyone could have what I've been given. So ENTER, ENTER, ENTER!

Gained 4 pounds

I waited a week and then weighed myself. I gained 4 pounds over the holidays. Mike, my trainer, could see it when I saw him the first time back. He looked a bit shocked when he saw me.

I can tell you that I felt very differently about this weight gain than others in the past. This time it felt like something that was kind of foreign, and definitely temporary.

I got on track that week and by the time I saw Manuel on Friday I had lost 3 of the 4 pounds. It came off very easily.

But the weeks after have been SO INCREDIBLY HARD! For whatever reason, I have had insane cravings for everything I shouldn't be eating. I've wanted donuts, chocolate, cake, pancakes, peanut butter cups, etc, etc, etc. The cravings have been overwhelming, to the point of going out of my way to seek out the things I'm craving. I can't remember ever feeling cravings this strong.

I don't know whether I want them because something tripped this off when I went home and ate all the things I shouldn't have eaten, or if this has to do with the fact that I'm around the 200lb mark, or what. I talked about all this with my therapist and with Manuel, my dietitian. My therapist said that If you have an intolerance for something, like I seem to have with wheat and nuts, when you eat those items you do crave them in an addict sort of way. There is a real chemical reaction that occurs and you feel you need to eat those things. When I spoke with Manuel we talked about any number of reasons why I may have the cravings. Maybe it's chemical, maybe it's mental, maybe it's a mixture. But at the end of the conversation he said something great- that a lot of times people get so caught up in why they're doing things that they never make it to not doing the thing. And that's where I'm at. I just need to stop eating them. It may be difficult, but if I don't stop now, then I'll gain more weight back and still have to find a way to stop. A little 'Come to Jesus' talk, as we would call it in Texas.

I did lose the other pound, by the way. I'm back where I was before leaving on the trip. And the last few days have been really on target I'm happy to say.

I told myself I just want to see 190. I feel like if I can make it to 190 then I'll really be past that mystical 200 that seems to mire me down so often and will be mentally out of the woods. So that's my mini-goal. 190. I feel back on track, happily so. Ready to get classes started again so that I can get to work.

Wow! A lot longer than I thought since I posted!

Hi everyone!

I'm so sorry it's been this long since I posted!

So- the holidays have come and gone. I wanted to be under 200 when I wen home to Texas for the holidays and I got there! Yay! I just wanted to have made it through that rough spot. For whatever reason I seem to get stuck there every time. I get to 200 and flounder around for a bit and then go back up. So getting past it was really important to me. I got to 198. Yay!

So then I went home. I made a 'plan' of how to handle being out of the norm for myself. I decided that I would buy the food I wanted to eat, cook it to have in the fridge and not really get out of my norm. HA! What an overly simplistic, underdeveloped plan.

What I always forget, and maybe never noticed till I changed my habits, is how my family goes and goes till we drop. One errand is never really one errand, it's 2 or 5 or 10. Things just keep going till you can't go anymore. And then you stop and eat something. And I got into that mindset for the first few days. I was given the opportunity to take care of my newborn nephew for a couple days and jumped at the chance; was thrilled to do it! But that meant I couldn't cook my food till my 3rd day there. Kinda hard to keep to the plan when you throw yourself off the plan the first day!

Plus, my family doesn't have the same chocolate addiction as me. I always forget they have a shelf full of chocolate candies. They can take or leave it anytime. Not me! I want to eat it all! And right now, thank you very much. So I helped myself to much more than I should have everyday. Not good.

Then there were the pecan pies, brownie cake, hazlenut cookies, pizzelles, pumpkin pie and fudge. YUM! And pizzelles are especially good when you have them with a piece of chocolate, in case you're interested. Again, downfall.

My family is especially supportive and they asked me before I got there if there was anything they could do to make the holidays work for me. The problem was that I didn't really know what I would need. I didn't realize until this trip how different my life is set up now. It was truly a shock to me that I am on such a different type of schedule than I used to be. Now I know that I need to have a day when I get there to get myself situated and get my food set up, and I need to tell them that I need to eat at certain intervals. I also just need to carry food with me when I go out with them to run errands or whatever we're doing. My plan is far more developed now than it was before. They were kind enough to ask if they should not cook the cookies they usually make to give to friends and family and have available at parties. I told them no, make them. And I would still tell them the same. The cookies are traditional and nobody makes them as well as my sister. I know people would be severely disappointed to not have them. I need to come up with a way to handle myself around them, something to keep me busy (I thought that, when we went to one of our favorite Tex-Mex restaurants, holding my nephew was a fantastic way to keep myself from eating the chips).

So, after all was said and done I decided not to weigh myself just yet. I was going to wait a week. But I can tell you that with all I ate, I had more hot flashes than normal and they were more intense, my sleep was off, I got acne, and had some anxiety issues. Gotta love sugar and wheat!