Kathy S.

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Well, I got my first 2 weeks of Invisalign aligners this afternoon.  They feel kind of funny in my mouth, but I think I'll get used to them almost immediately.  I'll wear each set for 2 weeks, and I have 23 sets before my teeth should be straightened.  That means I could be finished on March 4 if I'm able to keep all of my 2-week goals.  I don't really expect that to happen because all kinds of things can go wrong between now and then.  But if I can wear the aligners for 22 hours a day, and if my teeth move the way they're supposed to, I'll be done in early March--46 weeks, 10-1/2 months.  Wow.

I've had them on for about 2 hours already, and I can already tell they're working.  I have a slight headache from the pressure on my teeth, but that's to be expected.  It might last for a day or two each time I change to a new set of aligners.  

But the neat thing about this type of teeth straightening is that I have to take them out to eat, and I don't want to take them out!  That should cut down on my snacking.  I'll have to really think about my meals and my preparations.  I'll take the aligners out to eat, and then I'll have to clean them and brush my teeth before I put them back in.  And I want them to be out no more than 2 hours a day.  No more eating in the car, no more snacking on the run.  This will even change how I have breakfast every morning; usually I brush my teeth as soon as I get up, and I eat breakfast an hour later on my way to work.  But if I do that now, I'll have to brush my teeth and put my aligners back in as soon as I get to school.  I'm not sure I want to have to do that.  I'll have to develop some new patterns, and I think they'll be good habits.

I finally got on the treadmill again this morning and did 45 minutes of walking.  It felt really good to sweat.  I've been eating pretty carefully since my last fill, and my weight is slowly inching down, but I hadn't done any exercise for weeks.  In fact, I can't remember the last time I used my Polar heart monitor and walked on the treadmill.  The entire months of February and March I was sick.  And then I had another week in April when I had strep throat and another week when I had an intestinal bug.  I am SO tired of being sick!  But I feel as if I'm finally in the swing of things and am getting back into my groove.  I get weighed again in 9 days and REALLY want to have lost some weight.  I was the same since December, and I'm tired of this stall.  So I'm back on track and moving down.

I'm FINALLY below 180 pounds!  Granted, it's only by a fifth of a pound, but under 180 is under 180.  The scale this morning said 1-7-something, not 1-8-something.  If there's something good about my having been sick for 3 days, it's that my weightloss might have gotten a jumpstart.  I have floated between 180 and 185 for over 3 months now, and I'm SO ready to see that scale start moving.  We'll see what the scale says in the morning.

This last fill has really given my good restriction, and since I've been sick, I haven't had any appetite, so maybe I can resist sweets for awhile and let my band really work.  It certainly worked well today.  I had no cravings, and when I did eat, the band let small amounts of good foods fill me up and keep me satisfied for hours.  

As I said, I'll see what the scale reports over the next few days.  But I feel like I'm in a good place.

I'm still fighting that stomach virus, and it's a doozy!  I felt better for awhile yesterday and planned to go back to work today.  But Jason started getting sick around 2:00 this morning, and by the time I got up around 7:00, I had diarrhea again.  He threw up everything he drank until a little after 9:00 this morning, but he still has diarrhea.  He's slept most of the day and is beginning to feel better.  I haven't thrown up today, but diarrhea has kept me close to the bathroom all day.  Several times I got a 10-second notice that I needed to go, and that's not much time!  I still am pretty loose, but I don't have the immediate pressure to go.  I also eaten a little bit throughout the day, even though I've felt nauseated most of the day, and I'm beginning to feel better.  I don't feel like I have a fever anymore, so I'm hoping to be able to go to work tomorrow.  Whew!  I'm tired of being sick.   And poor Jason.  What a way to spend his Spring Break.

Thankfully, we were able to get together last night for dinner with all of my family.  There were 15 of us gathered at Logan's Roadhouse.  My brother was in from out of state, and my niece and her 8-week-old baby were able to come in.  So we had all 4 generations together for the evening.  Now I just hope I didn't pass my bug to anyone!

Oh my gosh.  I woke up around 4:00 this morning with an upset stomach and the need to go to the bathroom.  Thankfully, I made it before all heck broke loose!  I had terrible diarrhea, and once that started, I also started retching into the wastebasket.  Of course, there was nothing in my stomach to throw up, and I tried to control how violently I retched because I didn't want to upset my band.  After a couple of retches and some sliming, I started burping up air from down in my stomach.  It sounded like Linda Blair in The Exorcist!

I've felt miserable all day.  I've raced to the bathroom throughout the day with extreme diarrhea (as if I were preparing for a colonoscopy!)  I haven't thrown up since about noon, but I also haven't had any appetite to speak of.  Jason fixed me some chicken noodle soup for lunch, and I had some more of that and a few bites of a grilled cheese sandwich for dinner.  I've also had 2 slimfast shakes to try to get some nutrients into my poor, unhappy system.

I really hope this is just a 24-hour bug.  I certainly don't feel as bad as I did this morning, but I don't feel good at all.

I have good restriction since the fill on Tuesday, and I'm glad to have it.  I've also made pretty good food choices since then.  Of course, Tuesday I had only soft foods to give the fill time to settle in and any swelling to dissipate.  Wednesday night, Jason and I went out to a new restaurant (for us) to use a gift card a friend had given me.  I was able to pinch off  a few tiny bites of bread and spread them with yummy garlic and herb butter, and for dinner I had a bowl of beef and potato soup and a crab cake.  Thursday, my niece-in-law and I went to Ohio to visit my niece and her new baby, so we ate fast food, but all I had were 2 small chilis from Wendy's.  Jason had baked a Mexican chicken casserole Leslie gave him for his brithday, and I had about 12/ cup of that afer I got home that night.  Yesterday, I went out with Elizabeth after work (to celebrate her first month on the job and the approval of some new curriculum she had written for the equine program).  She wanted to introduce me to sushi, and I was game, so off we went.  Thankfully, she knew what she was doing because I wouldn't have had any idea how or what to order.  We got 3 kinds of sushi--california rolls, philadelphia rolls, and easy man's rolls--and they were pretty good.  She had said she feels healthy after eating sushi, and I experienced the same thing.  The meal was filling but light, and although I ate a lot, I didn't feel full or heavy.  And last night when I weighed, my evening weight was lower than it had been in quite a while.  I don't think I would eat sushi often, but it was a nice meal for an occasional treat.

I weighed in at the clinic today at 186, up half a pound from my last weigh-in (and the 2 weigh-ins before that).  So I haven't lost anything since December.  It's time to get serious and start working this band.

I got a small fill today of .1 cc.  Hopefully, that will make some difference in how much I eat and what kinds of food choices I make.  I know I've been making really poor choices lately--lots of sandwiches, cookies, etc.  I also haven't been exercising since I've been sick for the past 6-8 weeks.  But I'm feeling nearly well now, and I'm ready to hit it again.

It's time to lose some weight.

Sure enough, I have strep throat.  I knew I didn't feel good, and I've NEVER had a sore throat this bad before.  But I still was stunned when the PA told me the test was positive.  So I'm on amoxicillen for 10 days.  I took the first dose this afternoon to get the treatment kick-started.  I'll still be contagious for the next 48 hours.  I have to go to work tomorrow and Wednesday although I'd love to stay home and recuperate.  But I have to go over a test tomorrow in my class and meet about curriculum after that.  And Wednesday, I need to start the final unit in my class, see the chiropractor, and then hold a curriculum committee meeting in the afternoon.  About the time that meeting ends, I should be reaching the non-contagious stage.  Geesh.

It hurts to swallow.  I've never had such a sore throat.

I just finished my spring break week, and I'm about halfway ready to start back to work tomorrow.  Thankfully, the break came about 2/3 through the semester, so we have only 6 weeks of classes left.  

I got word last Wednesday that I'm being recommended for promotion to associate professor, so that was a load off of my mind.  I had submitted my promotion request notebook back in January and had been waiting for the promotion review committee and the college president to review it and make their recommendations.  I met with the president Wednesday, and she gave me the good news.  I've had a very busy and stressful year with high-profile state- and college-level responsibilities.  I certainly don't want every year to be as stressful as this year has been, yet I've enjoyed many of the responsibilities and have certainly been stretched by them.  I'm glad to know that the promotion is supported by the college.  Now the request will be submitted to the system, and I should hear from the system president or chancellor later in the semester.

I PBd only once last week, so I feel I've made better choices with my eating.  I have a fill appointment for next Tuesday (March 25), but I don't think I'll need a fill.  I just want to have lost some weight.  The last 3 times I've weighed in, I've weighed the same.  It's time to lose some weight!! 

I hope to be able to get in to see my GP tomorrow.  I have a terrible sore throat with no cold symptoms, so I'm afraid I might have strep throat.  That has kept me on mushies and liquids most of the day.  I haven't had much appetite either, and that's a good thing!  I'm going to take it easy this week and see if I can drop a couple of pounds this week.

Finally--a day without PBing!

For breakfast, I had 6 ounces of light vanilla yogurt with 1/2 cup of Kashi GoLean Crunch cereal stirred into it.  For lunch, I had creamy tomato soup and 1/2 a turkey and cheese tortilla wrap (a tortilla, 4 slices of turkey [5 slices are a 60-calorie serving}, and a slice of 1% cheese); I could eat only 1/2 of it but didn't have any problems with it.  For dinner, we went to Panera, and I had a bowl of tomato soup and 1/2 a tuna salad sandwich on honey wheat; I ate all but 2 or 3 bites of it.  I also had a nutty chocolate chip cookie for dessert.  This evening after church, I had some hot chocolate and a biscotti.  I also ate several milk chocolate kisses.

It felt good to have a succesful day.

I also exercised for 70 minutes this morning--walked on the treadmill and lifted weights.

On the new scale I was finally below 185 for the first time.  It's been frustrating to have the scale weigh so differently, but at least it seems to be consistent.  With the old scale, I sometimes weighed 3 pounds different within a few minutes.  That was really irritating.  This scale weighs to the tenth of a pound (or maybe to two-tenths), which is nice.  Anyway, I hope to drop closer to 180 before my next clinic weigh-in on March 25.