Broken record

Trying something new, again. This time however, I feel like I've been given tools to make this a habit rather than yet another try. I am seeing a doctor at a weight loss center and she's a gynecologist. She has made it her mission to understand weight and why we struggle with it and how to overcome that. So I have rules to follow and pills/supplements to take. I weighed in at her office on 2/19 at 226. That absolutely is THE heaviest I have ever been. NOT okay with that. She did blood work and an EKG and talked over the program with me. Then sent me on my way with a prescription, a notebook filled with information, and good wishes. The prescription is phentermine, a weight loss pill. In addition to that, I take fish oil, vitamin D, a multivitamin, and a chromium complex supplement each day. Her focus is on drinking plenty of water (of course), and making sure you get enough protein each day (100g for women, 150g for men) and limiting sugars to 10-15 tsps per day. The latter is calculated by taking total carbohydrates minus fiber divided by 5. Another neat "trick" (I guess you could say) is to make sure you limit breakfast to 1 tsp of sugar so that your body is burning fat from the get-go. It's been really neat making these changes and learning to read labels better.

As for results? If my scale is as accurate as hers... I've lost 11 pounds this week. Pretty darn proud of myself. Hoping I can kick this once and for all!

Trying something new... again

I know anyone who reads this is probably laughing at my bouncing back and forth from plan to plan. I guess I just get bored too easily. And this time I'm going back to something I haven't tried in a very long time... weight loss/protein shakes. I did Slim Fast a long time ago with a little success. This time I'm using Lean1. http://www.nutrition53.com/lean1.htm

The taste is really good... and if I happen to be running errands and near a Smoothie King... they sell smoothies made with it! I'm using the vanilla right now and I tried the strawberry at Smoothie King. Both are pretty tasty. They actually have recipes for smoothies on the website and I loved the idea of the holiday spice one. I attempted it with just ice and water, the normal way you can drink it cause I am, sadly, blender illiterate. I thought the nutmeg was just too much, so now I just sprinkle cinnamon in my mix each time and I love it. A side note about blender bottles... that little metal ball thing doesn't work near as well as crushed ice in my opinion. HEB actually has the Lean1 powders on sale right now if you're tempted to try. So for now I'm using two scoops of powder for a shake twice a day, trying to eat a small snack of pistachios or PB & celery (trying being the operative word for now, yesterday I was really bad), and trying to eat smaller portions at dinner.

I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of my new running shoes so I can really get back into training for a 5k with Ashley! We'll be doing the Monster Dash 5k on October 27th. (Which reminds me... gotta register soon!) Very excited... though nervous since I've missed a LOT due to shin splints. But they are getting better and I'm praying they'll be gone with the help of the new shoes. They're due to be delivered by end of the day Thursday. Really hoping they get here in the morning so I can test them out while the kids are at Mother's Day Out.

http://www.newbalance.com/New-Balance-790v2/W790-V2,default,pd.html?dwvar_W790-V2_color=Green_with_Silver&start=27&cgid=201100

Those are the shoes I ordered. :-) Although they were on sale for $72!

New App

I found a new app this weekend that I think I'll find useful (and maybe you will too). It's called FoodTrackerPro. It allows you to track your food consumption by food groups and also has a nice serving size page for each food group with lots of examples. I tried to meet all of my goals yesterday and found myself ridiculously full after lunch and my snack. Need to learn to space things out a little I guess. My mom wants me to help her out cause she's signing up for Weight Watchers. I just cancelled our accounts. Lol. I'll still help her, cause it's a great program, I just got bored with it. Plus, I can do really well on that program, but that doesn't mean I'm eating well. I can eat/drink half of my points in 100 calorie snacks and beer if I want to. Not cool. That's why I like this app cause it's helping me focus on what's important. And after that day of being really full, I can adjust it to my size portions :-) Cause let's face it, no one my size needs to eat a whole can of vegetables in one sitting! I'm feeling so much better than I have in a long time (cause of various things I won't post here) and I hope it continues the more I strive to eat better and get more active. I know it won't hurt!

Boredom

Story of my life when it comes to dieting. And once again I come to the conclusion that I hate dieting and just want to change and be better. Which means getting active. So now I'm back to the pedometer. I absolutely loved the idea of Fitbit and came very close to buying one since it was on sale on Amazon yesterday. But after reading the reviews, decided against it. Sounds like it is a great idea in concept but they just haven't figured out the kinks yet. And I've also had lots of trouble finding the battery to replace in my pedometer. So I just bought a pedometer app for my iPod :-) Ahh technology, what would we do without you? As of right now, I have taken 2414 steps. Almost a quarter of my goal of 10,000 steps (seems to be the standard when you look up anything about pedometers). Shows me just how lazy I've been. I bought the iTreadmill app ($1.99) and it is quite slick. Lots of customization and I especially love the auto pause/start feature. When it senses you've stopped, it pauses it. And it has its own screen lock so it'll keep running in your pocket all day long. Seems to not be a big drain on the battery either, which I was worried about.

Just in case you haven't heard of fitbit:

http://www.fitbit.com/product

The biggest draw of it for me, other than the obvious pedometer features, was actually that it monitors your sleep patterns. I'd be very interested to see what that is for me.

11 lbs

11 lbs lost since we started Weight Watchers. :-) Although I have to say that I'm not really understanding the "new" system. I started out with 29 points and now I'm down to 27 per day. When I was on WW before, you lost a point when you got down in a new set of numbers. Like when I went from the 180s to 170s and 170s to 160s and so forth. So I have no idea why I've lost 2 points from 189 to 178. Makes no sense to me. But I suppose since I'm still successful, I won't question it too much. I'm having to pace myself with my "extra" points (you're allotted 49 each week, which used to be 35 I think when I did this before). This week, for example, I have my monthly girls night out on Tuesday. My "extra" points reset every Thursday, so this is kinda tough for me. We're going to Biergarten this month which is right next door to our neighborhood. Love that place! Especially when they have the polka player out on the patio. I already know that I usually order a 2 bratwurst plate with french fries and each brat is worth 8 points (according to my app). I also know that beer is 5 points per 12 ounces. This takes lots of extra planning. So I probably need to stay within my normal points for the next three days so I can splurge on Tuesday. Now if only I can think in these same terms once I get down to my goal weight... They say habits take 6 weeks to form. It's gonna take a lot more than 6 weeks to lose all that weight!

Success!

I have lost 10 lbs so far on Weight Watchers! So I'm back in the 170s for the first time since before I got pregnant with Kaylee. I had a bad week the week of Easter but back on track now. If I behave and keep tracking my points then I should be back in the 160s by my fabulous 30th birthday weekend in Las Vegas! So factoring in the birthday weekend and whatever else happens that causes me to get off track, I'm hoping to be at my goal weight by Kaylee's birthday. If I was super strict and didn't allow any straying I would be at my goal weight by the end of August. But I know that's not reasonable. But it could still happen if I also exercise. I really need to get a routine going with that.

In medical news... I went to an ENT and am now on a sinus cleansing and nasal spray routine. So much fun, let me tell ya. Not sure if it's really making me feel better. I mean I haven't gotten another cold but I've been exhausted and feel stuffed up for part of every day. He said everything sounds like allergies to him. Probably means I'll go find a new allergist soon. But not until after my next ENT appointment. He did ask if I'd ever had a CT scan of my sinuses. Kinda hoping he'll do that next time. I'd just like to make sure there's nothing wrong with my right ear. I have not what I would call chronic ear pain but definitely frequent. Then this week I went to our new primary care doc. After waiting FOREVER and consequently missing my friend at the zoo, I finally talked with the doc a bit about history and stuff. And since heart disease runs in the family he wanted to check my cholesterol. After a failed attempt to take my blood I got a second nurse and even though she got my vein quickly, she bruised me. Terrible. But I also got the results the next day. And got news that I was pretty sure was coming but just one of those things you hate to hear. My LDL (the bad cholesterol) is 129 which at the top of the optimal range. So doc said low fat diet should get it back down.

So life continues and hopefully more weight loss news soon :-)

Update

So things are moving along steadily for us in our goals to get skinny again. Weight Watchers is so much easier to follow. I have lost 8 lbs total in the first two weeks and Brent has lost 11. He has 23 to go and I have at least 30. I haven't decided on my goal weight yet but 30 would get me back to pre-Brendan weight. And that would make me REALLY happy. As far as BMI stuff goes they say I should be in the 130s. I just can't imagine myself at that weight again (I graduated high school weighing 130). So probably 145 will be fine by me. Which means I have 37 lbs to go. Actually looking forward to bathing suit season for the first time since 2009 :-) P.S. Anyone else having trouble with Blogger not posting in the format you typed in? For example, I put a space between my paragraph and this p.s. and I know it won't be there when I hit publish.