Milestone #1

I got on the scale yesterday morning and I am very happy to announce that I have now lost a total of 20 pounds!

I'm thinking this calls for a happy dance of sorts.



That always makes me laugh and get in a good mood! Ah yes, I'm a teenager of the '80s and I worshipped at the altar of Molly Ringwald. Respect, yo.

I consider this a milestone since it's been ages that I actually tracked my weight loss and could say, out loud, "I've lost 20 pounds." Several years ago when I was first diagnosed with diabetes, I lost quite a bit of weight but I have no idea how much. I just know that people noticed and I could tell my clothes were looser. So I figure it was about 50 pounds. Then I went back to work, got all stressed out and gained it back, pronto. Right now, losing only 20, I can't tell in a physical-appearance way at all. And there is no one coming up to me asking "Have you lost weight?" It takes a bit of time for that to come when you're as heavy as me. But it's all good. I feel better and more energetic.

I gotta tell ya, I have discovered broccoli crowns and steam bags. OMG! I love broccoli and the crown part is the only part worth eating anyway, in my opinion! I buy those, fresh, cut them up and put them in those new vegetable steaming bags. Five minutes and completely delish. I need quick. I'm not one to follow some long drawn-out recipe. I ain't spending an hour in the kitchen, especially on a weeknight. I can cook, but I don't really like to. It's a chore, like laundry or anything else. So those bags are genius to me.

Yogurt, fruit, skinless chicken breast, fat-free turkey and low-sodium soup has replaced double bacon cheeseburgers, pizza, fries loaded with bacon and Velveeta, breaded and deep-fried...pretty much everything. How can I go wrong, dude? I find myself getting restless, wanting to move around more. If I sit too long I get jumpy. So I walk, swim, do chores or whatever. I'm still online more than I probably should be, but I can feel a shift. It's hard to explain but I told Erich the other day that "something is clicking". And it only took 39 years. I don't know what the future holds but I can't help feeling pretty damn good about the present.

Progress

First off, I'm down 8 pounds since Tuesday! I was stunned, seriously. That makes a total of 16.2 (and the point 2 is important) pounds since I started on Feb. 9. I'm really proud of myself and fairly surprised that I seem to be doing this. I've felt so defeated for so long when it comes to my weight. When you fail over and over at something your whole life, it's hard to rationalize the effort to start over. Especially when you have so much to lose; it just seems like an impossible goal to achieve.

When I went up a pound last week, I never would've imagined going down 8 this week. But if there's one thing I have learned in my life of dieting, it's that weight loss is a roller coaster ride and you just sorta have to keep on putting one foot in front of the other and do your thing.

I've been using Sparkpeople to keep a food diary and weight-loss tracker. I really can't say enough good things about the site. You simply input your goal (for me, it was to lose 40 pounds by my next dr. appointment in Detroit, April 24) and it tells you exactly how much you need to eat every day to meet it. There are message boards, groups you can join with members who have like-minded goals, exercise videos, etc. All for FREE. My nutritionist at Henry Ford kept repeating that: "Did I mention it was free?" It's a pretty cool place. You have your own profile page like on My Space or Facebook and you can post blogs there, too. Here's a screenshot of my food diary for this past Thursday:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v74/Cindi94/Misc/diary.jpg

I recently revamped my goal and now I have more calories to eat - before it was 1,700-2,000, so that's why it seems like I didn't eat near the calories I was supposed to. And that was a bad veggie day for me, I know. See how it keeps track of water intake, calories, carbs, fat and protein? Then you just do a search for the food you ate and click to put it in your diary. If it's not there, you can input it yourself and other members can access it for their use later. This was a real eye opener for me and really puts things into perspective. Not only does it keep me on track by showing me, in black & white, the value of everything I put into my mouth, but it also lets me know that I can eat maybe more than I thought or maybe things I didn't think I could. As long as I meet those guidelines every day, I can have whatever. I do try to keep track of sodium, too, and it allows that and does it for me in separate area. I've also noticed that snacking isn't evil and if I can spread out those calories as much as possible, then I'm not hungry - ever. It's a good thing.

So check out Sparkpeople if you're so inclined. I think it's been the best tool for me so far. And to think I was dreading keeping a food diary! This is better for me because it totally breaks things down. Plus I can type and not write. I've become very lazy about handwriting, as I think a lot of people are.

Gearing up for another week! Thanks everyone again for reading!

Too little, too late!

When I got to work yesterday, I had three people rushing to tell me about this article:

http://news.therecord.com/article/493038

Basically, the Canadian government has finally realized that it costs much more to send its citizens (or permanent residents, like me) to the U.S. for a surgery that can be performed in Ontario. DUH! BIG RED TRUCK! So over the next two years, the Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP) will open 4 bariatric clinics across the province and increase surgeries performed in Ontario by 500%. One clinic will be about 30 mins. from me, another about an hour. JOY! Does me no friggin' good whatsoever. *sigh* That sucks for me (and the hospitals in Detroit and Buffalo catering to Ontario bariatric patients), but on the other hand I'm very happy for the people who will benefit from this. It's about time!

I hopped on the scale this morning for my regular Tuesday weigh-in and I'm up a little over a pound. Hm. I don't really know why - yes, I did eat at a Chinese restaurant on Saturday - BUT - I did mostly veggies, chicken, grilled steak and fruit. I was in line with my calorie, fat, carb & protein intake that day. I did SO much better than I normally do. I was proud! So I'm not sure why I gained but I'm trying not to let it get me down too much and just keep on doing what I'm doing.

I need to thank all of you guys for reading. The hits to this blog far exceed anything I could've hoped for and the comments mean the world to me! And we're just getting started!

I've had people ask me what I'm doing to lose this weight. Well, I'm just trying to make smarter choices, eat more vegetables and move more. That's about it. Instead of a double with cheese & bacon with a large fries, I'll get a grilled chicken sandwich and small chili. Stuff like that. I joined Sparkpeople and it is so great. They told us about it at the surgery seminar in Detroit. The link is at the end of the page with my other links. I plugged in my goal - "lose 45 pounds by April 24" and it tells me exactly how many calories, carbs, protein and fat I need to eat and how much exercise I need to do each day to reach that goal. I don't always get the exercise in (I'm doing what I can), but I hit the nutritional requirements every day. It's a great service and it's free. I highly recommend it.

The chase for choices

Erich and I saw this commercial the other night and burst out laughing because this is so me. I'm just not really into the veggies, especially V8 juice. YUCK. I did buy a bottle of the V8 Fusion and drink a small serving of it in the morning instead of my regular OJ to get some veg in any way I can. It does have loads of sugar, but alas, the V8 Fusion Lite isn't available in Canada, so I make do. It's a problem.

Oh! Erich hopped on the scale last night just for kicks (he's down a few pounds!) so I did, too, even though I'm supposed to wait till Tuesday. I said at the beginning of this I wasn't going to become obsessed with the scale and only get on it once a week. But guess what? 4.4 more pounds lost. Since Tuesday! I'm feeling pretty good about it and I'm counting every single "point-whatever". LOL! I actually got on the thing three times to make sure it was accurate because I really couldn't believe it. There were tears. Yes, I'm a sap. That's 9.6 pounds in about 12 days. Not too bad.

But getting back to choices. I'm frustrated with the lack of availability of low-sugar, low-carb, diet options here in Ontario. But I guess I shouldn't be surprised in a country where I never see people who look like me. I used to say 'there are no fat people in Canada'. There are, but not like at home and not like me. Clothes are also nearly impossible to find. There are two plus-size department store chains here; in one, forget it. In the other it's really tough, but if it's "made big" and I can find one in the biggest size the store carries, then MAYBE it'll fit. Thank god for ebay and my mother-in-law, who, as a former seamstress, has made clothes for me almost since the day I set foot on Canadian soil.

When I was first diagnosed with diabetes a few years ago, I expected to go to the grocery store and load up on everything I needed. Not so much. I guess this country hasn't rocketed to the obesity/diabetes/early death epidemic that the States has because there is very, very little to buy in the way of sugar-free and low-carb. And believe me, I've looked.

On the other hand, it's very easy to find a nice variety of good produce here. Where I come from, the produce section is what most people stroll through in a hurry to get to the meats, the chips and the donuts in the bakery section. It's a small corner of the store. Which is probably one reason I ended up this way! On our visits to Ohio, Erich has expressed his dismay at the fantastic array of....ah....apples and bananas? But when we move down, we'll work it out.

I've had several people ask if I'm growing more fond of veggies. In a word, no. But the ones I've found that I do enjoy, I'm eating the heck out of them and really trying to step out of the comfort zone a bit and try things I always said I didn't like. I bit into a cucumber the other day. Meh. Kinda like an apple or something but not sweet. No taste. That's the difficulty with veggies, they have no taste. Or at least I don't think they do. And I also don't like the mayonnaise-y, vinagar-y dips and dressings people use to give them taste. Sigh.

Just thought I'd give an update since it's been a few days since I posted. I love ya'll for reading! *hugs*