Sunday, November 1
Tomorrow is the big day…my first weigh-in. I really did a great job with the meal plan and didn’t cheat one time!
Saturday, October 31
Another quiet day at the Colemans. Wayne spent the day watching college football and I spent the day freaking out because my computer acted up. I was sure I lost everything. I was on the internet and wanted to open a Word document. Word hung up and I couldn’t open or close the program. I even brought up the Task Master and couldn’t get out of word there either. One of my really bad character traits is my inability to be patient so after a few minutes I restarted the computer.
As that was being done I saw that Windows Update was attempting to install 2 new downloads. So I patiently (for me) waited until the 2 downloads were installed. Then the computer continues to shut down. That damn little blue circle went round and round and round and round…nothing was happening. By this time my heart was racing and I didn’t know what to do. So…I held down the off button until the computer shut off.
The next hour was not pretty. To make a long story short…I finally got everything working by restoring my system to a point about two weeks ago. OMG I thought I was going to have a stroke.
As soon as the net was up and running I went to Carbonite and bought a year subscription to their backup software. I’ve been meaning to do that for a few weeks and did some research on the products available. I couldn’t decide between Carbonite and Mozy. I went with Carbonite because it’s rated the best by Kim Komando on her site and on nextadvisor too. It will take hours for the site to backup my files but once the initial backup is done it continues in the background updating any new or changed files.
I got a little creative with my shakes today. I have to find a way to make the vanilla palatable or I’m going to have a bunch of expensive white powder to get rid of. For my first shake I cut the water back to 6 ounces and added two tablespoons of the caramel syrup to the mix. Instead of blending the ice with it, I just poured the mixture over a glassful of ice. In this way the amount I had to drink was less and I think using ice cubes actually made the drink colder than if I crushed it into the shake. The next one I made the same way but instead of caramel I put the raspberry syrup in the mix. I also had two protein bars… that makes 4 meals for today. I’m supposed to have 6, but I’m just not hungry.
I’m surprising myself by drinking 64 oz of water a day. I’ve never been a water drinker but I’m determined to follow the program to a T. Crystal Light is a great product to make water actually tasty.
On a lighter note:
Every night Wayne gives griffin a piece of ham with a pill in it. It's a treat for the dog and it's the only way we can sneak the pill past his tongue. Tonight Wayne left the ham out on the kitchen sink. When I went in to make my shake I unconsciously reached out for the ham. I stopped myself before I actually took a piece, but I found it funny how I just did it without thinking. I've got some really bad habits to break in the coming weeks.
Hope you all had a great Halloween…. Mine was candy free for the first time EVER!
As that was being done I saw that Windows Update was attempting to install 2 new downloads. So I patiently (for me) waited until the 2 downloads were installed. Then the computer continues to shut down. That damn little blue circle went round and round and round and round…nothing was happening. By this time my heart was racing and I didn’t know what to do. So…I held down the off button until the computer shut off.
The next hour was not pretty. To make a long story short…I finally got everything working by restoring my system to a point about two weeks ago. OMG I thought I was going to have a stroke.
As soon as the net was up and running I went to Carbonite and bought a year subscription to their backup software. I’ve been meaning to do that for a few weeks and did some research on the products available. I couldn’t decide between Carbonite and Mozy. I went with Carbonite because it’s rated the best by Kim Komando on her site and on nextadvisor too. It will take hours for the site to backup my files but once the initial backup is done it continues in the background updating any new or changed files.
I got a little creative with my shakes today. I have to find a way to make the vanilla palatable or I’m going to have a bunch of expensive white powder to get rid of. For my first shake I cut the water back to 6 ounces and added two tablespoons of the caramel syrup to the mix. Instead of blending the ice with it, I just poured the mixture over a glassful of ice. In this way the amount I had to drink was less and I think using ice cubes actually made the drink colder than if I crushed it into the shake. The next one I made the same way but instead of caramel I put the raspberry syrup in the mix. I also had two protein bars… that makes 4 meals for today. I’m supposed to have 6, but I’m just not hungry.
I’m surprising myself by drinking 64 oz of water a day. I’ve never been a water drinker but I’m determined to follow the program to a T. Crystal Light is a great product to make water actually tasty.
On a lighter note:
Every night Wayne gives griffin a piece of ham with a pill in it. It's a treat for the dog and it's the only way we can sneak the pill past his tongue. Tonight Wayne left the ham out on the kitchen sink. When I went in to make my shake I unconsciously reached out for the ham. I stopped myself before I actually took a piece, but I found it funny how I just did it without thinking. I've got some really bad habits to break in the coming weeks.
Hope you all had a great Halloween…. Mine was candy free for the first time EVER!
Friday, October 30
I had my Cardiac Ultrasound this afternoon and on the way home stopped by our veterinarian about Griffin (our 17 year old mutt). When Dale and Jenn were here, Dale found a lump on Griffin and Jenn said it looked like melanoma. So, I scheduled him for surgery on Monday to have it removed. There’s not much we can do except remove it and hope it hasn’t spread.
I was able to get in 2 shakes and 3 protein bars today. I’m not feeling hungry at all which I really find surprising. I thought I’d be starving but that’s not the case at all. If anything, it’s hard to get 6 meals in at all. I seem to be only able to do 5 a day but I think that’s what I start next week anyway. The first week is supposed to be 6 meals because they don’t want you to be hungry at all. Having the meals spaced 2 ½ - 3 hours apart keeps your blood sugar at a good level…no real highs no real lows. It must be working….
Tomorrow is Halloween and we are NOT having candy in the house. We’ll turn off all the lights so no one comes begging. Truth is, we’ve been here 5 years and haven’t had one single trick or treater. Of course that didn’t stop me from buying Snickers, Bit O Honey, and other goodies…knowing full well that I would get to eat them.
Thursday, October 29th
Not much to report today except that I got through another day. I’m having a little problem getting down the vanilla shakes. I’ve tried mixing in both the caramel and the raspberry syrup and it’s pretty bad. I did get one strawberry and one chocolate down.
The problem is I bought two boxes of the vanilla shakes. I’ll keep trying to find something to mix in. If anyone has any ideas, feel free to let me know.
Wednesday, October 28th
Another day over and I made it with NO CHEATING! Really, I can’t believe it myself.
I couldn’t do the three shakes… I had the chocolate powder this morning mixed with one once of caramel syrup. It was pretty good and I blended a ton of ice into it. It took me 45 minutes to finish it. I sure do miss my hot tea in the morning (or when I get up for those of you who know me, I don’t crawl out of bed until late morning). I can’t drink tea without milk so I just decided not to have it at all. I looked up in the cupboard and saw that Wayne has 6 boxes of Lipton tea bags in my stash; I hope they’re still good when I start drinking it again.
Later in the day I made a strawberry shake and I didn’t care for it very much. The one I had yesterday was premixed and I thought it was good. Maybe I need to blend a little longer next time. In between the two shakes I had 3 of the protein bars. That’s 5 meals for the day…but I should be doing 6.
The Lemon Meringue bars are awesome! My grandma used to make lemon meringue pie every time I spent the night at her house. So…I think of her and remember all the good times we had. She would take me on the bus from Nelson Avenue to downtown Cleveland. We’d go to the basement of the May Company and have a malted milkshake and always bought me licorice from a small candy store on Cleveland Square. Now that I’m a grandma I so appreciate all she did for me and how special she made me feel. You know what??? My grandchildren all call me Grandma Licorice… How cool is that?
Tuesday, October 27th
I was up early this morning so I could go to the doctor with Wayne. He had a couple of old people’s barnacles frozen off his back, chest and forehead. It didn’t hurt me a bit!
In addition he had an A1C because his glucose numbers are slowly getting higher. As a result, he’s now going onto diabetic medication.
What I bought today:
While we were out I did some more shopping. I went to the World Market to get some syrup to add to my Optifast shakes. I picked up a large bottle of Caramel and a tiny bottle of Raspberry. I’ll give them a try in the next shake I fix.
A stop at Nutritional Solutions was necessary because I need some of the protein bars. Originally I was just going to go straight liquids, but I tried a couple of the bars yesterday and they were pretty good. The brand is Health Wise not Optifast. They are going to phase out this brand so I figured I best get loaded up before they are gone. I got 3 boxes: Lemon meringue, Cinnamon Raisin and Double Chocolate. The price however about put me into cardiac arrest. Each box has 7 bars and the price I paid was $16.99 which works out to $2.42 a bar. My total spent on the bars was $50.97.
Since I’ve never bought supplement bars I have no idea if that is price is good or not. Does anyone know? I’m going to google the brand and see if I can get them cheaper online. I think a look on ebay might be in order too.
Wal-Mart was our next stop. I got 3 boxes of Chrystal Light drink mix @ $2.50 each and one box of an off brand for $1.79. Colace was on my list so I found a generic brand for $3.78. So all in all I spent another $73.99 on things to help me stay on this program.
I was able to get in 2 shakes and 3 protein bars. I really like the protein bars and could probably just get by with them. Unfortunately, I’m only supposed to have 2 per day.
I went online and tried to find these Health Wise protein bars that I like so much. The company only sells them to weight loss centers. I did find some other brand that looks promising for $9.99 a box of 7. That sure beats the $16.99 a box I paid today.
You know if I spend all this money on the shakes, I won’t have any left to buy new clothes. I certainly hope I have that dilemma.
Tomorrow I’m going to do at least 3 shakes and add the Torani Syrups I bought.
Monday, October 26th
The group meeting:
The first thing I did was go to the Group meeting at 10:00... can u believe I was up and functioning that early?? The topic was "body image". Mine's not too hot right now. I enjoyed the presentation and got to talk with a few people. There were a few average weight people there, so I see that the program works.
Vital Signs: I weighed in, had my BP taken (120/70), had a Body Composition Analysis and an ECG.
Meeting with Dr. Browne:
I really liked her and we talked about my history, meds, labs, tests and then she explained the program she wants for me.
History:
There is nothing in my history or my current health that prevents me from doing this program. I was a little worried that all the meds I take might be an issue but... NOT SO...yeah!
Lab work:
The good news is that my HDL (good cholesterol) is great @ 84. But, as I expected, my cholesterol, triglyceride and LDL cholesterol results were all high.
The shocking lab results were my glucose and AIC results were both high.
Holy crap!!!! That means I'm heading toward diabetes if I don't get this weight off. It's ironic that I didn't mind when students practiced venipuncture on me in class... I used to come home with bruises all up and down my hands and arms. I believed that they needed to have a "real" person to stick not one of those plastic arms. Now, if there is a chance that I'd have to give myself insulin shots...I'm freakin' out. NOT GONNA HAPPEN... when I lose this weight the numbers should drop into the normal range.
I was impressed with the amount of lab done. It was really comprehensive and even included a full thyroid panel with TSH, T4,T3 uptake and Free thyroid index.
Another nice thing was that I received a copy of all the tests without even having to ask. Now I can take them to my doctor in a few weeks.
ECG:
I am happy to report that this was normal. I've had myocarditis in the past and always look for my T-waves to be inverted. Now THAT would NOT BE GOOD!
Body Composition Analysis:
OMG...These numbers are embarrassing. I know I'm overweight (OK FAT) but I sure hate to see real numbers, ranges and percentages that prove it. So, my Body Mass Index (BMI) puts me in the World Health Organization classification at Grade II Obesity (there's only one grade that's higher than that). Fat % should be 36% and I'm at 50%. No wonder I floated in the pool at Captiva. I just bounced along sitting on my purple noodle like a fishing bobber. Fat Mass is 112 - the desired number at the top of the range is 62. So what have I learned???? I have a lot of work to do and I'm ready to do it! Also, my hydration level was at 36%... I don't drink enough water. This too shall change.
Pedometer:
Yep, I bought one. I need to put it on in the morning and take it off at night. Right now Dr. Brown agrees that I shouldn't get into an exercise program for a few weeks. But, I can keep track of the # of steps I take in a day, eventually working up to 10,000. "Do pigs fly yet?" Naw...just kidding, I know I can get there. I just have to be realistic and build up to it. So, I put it on after I got home at about 1:00 pm. So far today I walked 409 steps. Most of them were trotting (literally) to the bathroom since I already drank 48 oz of water and had a couple of shakes. Janet at the center showed me her pedometer at about noon...she had over 5,000 already today. Oh yes, I have a lot of work to do.
What I paid today:
$100.00 towards my enrollment fee.
$39.99 for the pedometer
$29.99 for a 30 day supply of a fiber additive. I imagine I can get it cheaper or use Benefiber instead, but it was there...on the shelf...calling me. You're right, I was too lazy (and tired) to go to the store. Anyway, this stuff is colorless, odorless and GRITLESS... I mixed a dose with a Strawberry Shake and really didn't taste it at all. OK, back to what I spent... So that's $1.00/day to ward of constipation which can be a problem on Optifast. Darn, I was looking forward to chewing the bark off a tree. I also have to get some Colace and keep the ExLax handy. Sorry...too much information huh?
Optifast: I need to have 6 meals a day during this first week. So, I bought 5 boxes of the powdered shakes @ 20.49 per box. 2 chocolate, 2 vanilla and 1 strawberry. Some of the women gave me hints for increasing the tastiness of the shakes by adding flavoring. They were so helpful... thanks ladies!
I had a coupon for $100.00 off the drinks and $5.00 off the pedometer. Drum roll please.... the total paid today was $175.09 including tax.
What I had today
1 strawberry shake, 1 chocolate shake, 1 Double Chocolate Bar, 1 Cinnamon Raisin bar (these were given to me to try when I signed up and were not Optifast bars. They were actually pretty good, I'm going to see if I can buy more)
My journey began today and I survived it.
It's almost midnight and I still have to drink at least one more shake and another 16 oz of water.
Feelings:
Overall I had a great day. I met some very nice women. One in particular really made my day....I was paying for my food and Kim, a lady I talked to in the hall while waiting to see the doctor, came over and handed me a paper with her phone number on it. Wasn't that a nice thing to do???? She invited me to call her anytime.
When I got home I sat down and explained everything to Wayne. He is still a little skeptical about my commitment to really do this. I can't blame him because I've said I was going to do things in the past and my resolve only lasted a few days. I really feel that this time I will change in my life and I will be successful. I have to do it for me and for my health.
I have to admit that I thought about the ice cream in the freezer and the hot fudge in the refrigerator. I had these thoughts "no one would know", "I can wash the bowl so Wayne won't know", "I'll really start this diet tomorrow", "I'll have a small bowl"... and guess what??? I DIDN"T ACT ON THEM.
