Starry-eyed!

Well, I got a star for the day. When I weighed in at Weight Watchers today, I had blown past the 10-pound mark. In fact, I lost five pounds today alone! Woo hoo! Kinda cool--I feel like a little kid who had done a good deed in school! I kind of feel like I'm walking around with a little angel on one shoulder and a little devil on the other. My initial thought was, "I should celebrate and have something bad for lunch." Then I thought, "I should celebrate and have something GOOD for lunch." I chose a taco salad, no shell, no chips, just salad. After a few bites, I decided it was missing tomatoes. Someone had brought in tomatoes from their garden so I decided to go to the office kitchen and slice some on top of my salad. (More veggies, you know. I was really on the "celebrate and be good" kick.) So, I go back to my office, sit down, and the amber alert thing went off on our weather radio in the empty office next to mine. I got up to turn off the siren sound, and I don't know what happened, but plop, my salad ended up all over the floor. Tossed salad, for sure. I was so, so sad. My immediate thought this time was that it was a sign that I could have something bad. (!) I could go to McDonald's! I know, some of you might be thinking, "Yuck, you would go off your diet for that???" My answer, an emphatic, "YES!!!" But I didn't. My angel shoulder reminded me that I had a can of soup in my food stash under my desk. Soup in the summer isn't half bad when you tell yourself you are doing the right thing. So, I am continuing to celebrate by being good. Tonight, I will celebrate again by going to water fitness. My slacks fell off last time I had a swimsuit underneath them. I'll try to keep my pants on this time when I change.

Weigh-In Day: -4.6 lbs.

Well, the meds may be wreaking havoc on me with headaches and stomach issues, but on the plus side, I saw some happy results on the scale. I lost 4.6 pounds this week! It's not just the medicine--I DO get to take some of the credit. I have very faithfully been following the low-carb diet my doctor prescribed. Whole wheat bread is about the only carb I can have, and I have really been limiting that. You know the Flat Out flatbread you can buy? Well, I found Flat Out "fold over" bread that's 100 percent whole wheat with flax. It's like two smaller round pieces of flatbread that are attached, if you can picture that. At the grocery store, I was able to get a fajita mix that I cooked for just about five minutes and then put in the fold over bread--yummy and so easy! I also mixed up some scrambled eggs with mushrooms, green peppers, and a little goat cheese and put that in the fold over bread for another meal. Other than that, I have not had any bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, etc. (Local readers: the fold over bread and the fajita mix, available with either chicken or steak for $3.99 lb., both came from Haddad's Grocery in West Peoria.) I have a new favorite place for lunch: Chicky Baba, a new Lebanese restaurant in Campustown. They are really helpful in keeping me on my diet. I get the kid's portion of whatever meal I want--shawarma, kabob, whatever--and ask to have it with no wrap, no rice, no fries. They are kind enough to offer to serve the meat on lettuce and give me pickles and a side of hummus instead. This place has something like 10 kinds of hummus, so it's a real treat. I realize hummus would have some carbs, but it is basically mashed up chickpeas--and since that's a vegetable, I go with it. I love, love, love this place. Even if you don't live in the Peoria area, maybe you can find a Lebanese or Greek restaurant in your area that will do something similar. This place is awesome whether you are dieting or not. I can't say enough good things about it. Finally, I must apologize. When I write my posts, I put in paragraph returns, but for some reason, they don't show up in the published blog. This drives me crazy! If you know what I'm doing wrong, please let me know.

Conquering the meds

Well, today is a much better day. It's the first day since I started on my new meds that I have not had a headache...a SEVERE headache. Let's just say, it was a very quiet weekend for me. On Saturday, I also started the last of the three meds--there had been an insurance snafu because it was a combo medicine, and I had a prescription for one of the two meds, so we had to go through a rig-a-ma-rol (is that a word?) with the insurance company. When I was at the pharmacy, I asked the pharmacist about the headaches. She did a little research and told me she was sorry to tell me, but ALL THREE meds have headaches as a side effect. She advised me to stick with it for a week more and see if my body adjusts, and if not, to tell my doctor. Well, today, I had to go back to the doctor's office for a blood test, so I decided I would ask then. Of course, it's like taking the car into the mechanic and the car doesn't make the funny noise when you are there. My headache was gone...no complaints, but isn't that the way it is??? I asked anyway, especially because I am supposed to double the dose of one of my meds starting tomorrow night. The nurse told me that if the headaches return as I increase the dosage, I should scale back for a week and try to increase it again. Such fun! One good thing, though, is that I am not experiencing the nausea I felt at first, so my body does seem to be adjusting. I also need to increase another of my meds--one that causes stomach issues, if you know what I mean. Oh joy. Ah, well, I hope that once my body adjusts, I will feel well, lose weight, and have good readings for my blood sugar. Venturing into the diet realm, I am really proud of what I did for lunch at the little Mexican restaurant just around the corner from where I work. I ordered a taco salad on the plate instead of in the tortilla bowl. Then, because I love, love, love the tortilla chips but have been told not to have any breads (other than occasional whole wheat bread), I asked if I could have some fresh green pepper strips to dip in the salsa. I could tell the waiter had never had such a request and probably thought I was a little crazy, but he did it! It was great! I often dip celery in salsa at home, but I figured they wouldn't have celery on hand. However, they have green peppers for fajitas, so I decided to ask. I didn't even miss the chips! Oh, and also, I'm giving myself kudos because instead of going to the ice cream social, featuring probably six flavors of homemade ice cream, that is happening in my building right now, I am stay away, working except for the five minutes it takes to write this. I'd love to socialize, but I'm not going to deal with that kind of temptation. So, all in all, I'm feeling better, my will power is going strong, and hopefully, I'll be seeing a weight loss this week. Happy Monday to you all. If you are healthy, it truly is cause to celebrate!

A fork in the road

Well, my journey has taken a turn. A couple of weeks ago, I had a routine check-up at the doctor. My blood test revealed that my A1C, which tests my blood sugar over the past three months, had spiked. It's supposed to be at 7, but mine was at 10. So, my doctor referred me to an endocrinologist. I had my appointment on Tuesday, and he put me on three new diabetes medicines. I've had diabetes since 2001, but it has been under control and I haven't worried about it too much. It now has my full attention! All three of these medicines have different side effects, and in the past few days, I've dealt with nausea, stomach issues, low blood sugar, severe headaches...just plain not feeling well. I came into work late one morning, but other than that, I've been working and last night, I was feeling better and had a great night out with friends. But yesterday during the day, I felt lousy until maybe 2 p.m., and today, I have a bit of a headache and can't quit yawning. It's no big deal. I can get through this. The doctor told me he wished he had a crystal ball and could tell me which medicines are going to be the right combination for me so I can get my blood sugar under control, but it varies from person to person. Untold numbers of people have been through this before, and I'll get through it, too. I also am going to be tested for another ailment on Monday. No need to bore you with details if I don't have it, though, so I'll wait to talk about it. It's nothing awful--actually, I truly do have a lot of the symptoms, and if they all could be taken care of by treating this, I would be thankful. I still am going to go to Weight Watchers. When I weighed in yesterday, I had stayed the same. However, I was on vacation last week while my son was back in town, and I splurged some while he was back, so I am satisfied with staying the same. One of my new meds has a side effect of being an appetite suppressant, and I have to say, it is working. I get full faster, and then, until I feel my body physically being hungry, I'm not thinking about food. WHAT???? Me??? My doctor told him that he actually had one patient tell him that he wanted to be taken off the medication because he didn't enjoy food like he used to. It IS kind of a weird thing, but it's also a good thing. There are so many more sweet things to enjoy in life, and I embrace them all. So, my journey is going to be more focused on controlling diabetes, along with weight loss. I hope you don't mind. I am what I am!

Weigh-In Day, #2: Eight Sticks of Butter

It's weigh-in day, and I'm happy to report I've lost two more pounds. That's eight sticks of butter, folks! (5.4 pounds in two weeks) I'm also happy to report that after my last blog about exercise, my super friend Jana and I have walked the lagoon for the past two nights. Last night, we met up with her husband Keith and had salads afterwards. I really feel blessed to have such encouraging friends. Three other friends have offered to walk with me, too, and I'm sure I will do that, too. I have a busy day today, or I'd tell about some restaurant favorites I'm finding that are working well. Another time! Have a happy and healthy day!

Moving it

Exercise is by far my biggest challenge in weight loss. I dislike it with a passion. It doesn't help that I broke my ankle a year and a half ago--ever since then, getting back in the groove has been tough. Now I not only don't like it, but it is more of a challenge because I am so out of shape from not exercising. So I get winded way too easy, and I walk more slowly, and I like it even less than ever. My doctor told me that if I would exercise for just 20 minutes a day, that would be good. I took that to heart, and most days, I have been doing that. But I have to admit, I didn't over the weekend. I was tired from our Relay for Life event, and on Saturday and Sunday, I just didn't make myself do it. I was home. I could have. I didn't. My eating this weekend was fabulous, though. I tracked everything I ate, and I ate very healthy meals with small portions. I can even kind of feel the inner, thinner me itching to get out. Right now, I am very motivated with my diet. Now, I just need to devote at least 20 minutes a day to moving! When I joined Weight Watchers, I also decided to enroll in the 21-day challenge that inspirational leader Lysa TerKeurst offers in conjunction with her book, "Made to Crave." You get 21 days of inspirational emails for free. Today's email was about exercise. I found it helpful, so I am sharing it here: I know I feel a sense of accomplishment when I exercise, that it puts me in the right frame of mind to eat the right things, that it is good for my health--all those positive things. I just need to be more disciplined and do it!

My Weight Watcher's meeting was over lunch, and am happy to report I lost 3.4 pounds! Woo hoo! We have two meetings at work, and this time, I went to the later one. There were just two members there plus two from Weight Watchers, so it became a very relaxed meeting where we could just talk. My downfall in the past has been eating out, so I asked the others about their favorite places to go and feel like they can successfully stay on track. I'm a very social person, and I have lunch out nearly every day plus frequently go out for dinner. I've really thought about this a lot this past week, and I came to the conclusion that if I deny myself going out with friends, that isn't going to work, either. I need to find strategies to make it OK to eat out with my friends. I know the ideas about taking half your food home, asking for your dressing on the side, all those things. One of the biggest things we talked about was planning ahead. I got online before every meal to look at nutrition information for chain restaurants and to read general information about what to eat at the other cuisines I tried this week. For instance, before going to Qdoba, I made a plan to get a Craft 2 meal with two crispy tacos and a taco salad, all with pork, lettuce, mango salsa, verde sauce, no cheese, but I opted for some sour cream because it was lower in calories than I expected. I was surprised that the crisp tacos were 30 calories less than the flour tortillas. I had remembered from dieting before that pork was the leanest meat there. It still surprised me that the shredded beef was lower in calories than the chicken--only the ground beef was higher than the chicken. As I ate the meal, I was pleasantly surprised that I really didn't miss the cheese as much as I thought I would. I mean, really surprised. Cheese is a staple like chocolate, right? But seriously. Try some tacos without the cheese. As weird as it sounds, it works! Another strategy I used was to read up on what to eat before going to the new Thai restaurant near Bradley. Did you know that in Thailand, pad thai is eaten in very small portions? The article I read recommended getting the som tum (papaya spicy salad), and I am going to get that next time. But, I wanted something other than salad my first time there. I settled on the pad nam prik pau (sauteed with a sweet Thai chili paste, onions, carrots, peapods, and bamboo shoots...and I chose pork for the meat.) Talk about tasty!!! I chose it because many of the dishes were stir fried or pan fried or had fried rice--notice a trend? I have no idea what the points or calories were for my meal, but it was very, very good and while it probably would have been healthier if it were steamed instead of sauteed, I thought sauteed was better than anything with the word "fried" in it. Last night, I went to Super Gyros where we had a buy one gyro, get one free coupon so I didn't venture over to the gyro salad or other options. I asked for that incredible cucumber sauce on the side and didn't use even half of it, so I know I saved a boatload of calories there. Some strategies from the Weight Watchers meeting include getting chili and baked potato at Wendy's (I also saw that their grilled chicken wrap and their half Asian chicken salad seem to be good choices), choosing the kid-sized potato at McAlister's, and getting an unwich (lettuce wrap) or Tom Turkey from Jimmy John's...oh, and the black bean soup or chicken noodle soup at Panera. In the past, I have often ordered kid-sized portions whenever the kid's menu has choices I am interested in. It's sad that salads are often laden with surprise calories. I have to say, though, I have discovered a wonderful salad right in my back yard, so to speak. The Student Center offers a custom salad where they include whatever you ask them to. They have wonderful choices with tomatoes and cucumbers diced up really small like I like, artichokes, broccoli chopped really fine, strawberries, blueberries, meats, cheeses (not me!) and other great options. Both last week and this week, I got one after attending the Weight Watcher's meeting and I can see this becoming my Thursday choice for lunch. Their cilantro lime dressing is out of this world. They were out of it this week so I went with a vinaigrette and asked them to put on just one spoonful instead of two. They toss the salad there and it was a-MAZ-ing! It makes me want to go try a salad from Subway. What are some of your favorite places to go and still feel good about staying on track?