Kathy S.

Send Message

Block

Add Friend

Well, I've PBd once a day for the past 4 days, and I'm getting tired of it.  Tuesday night, I lost my dinner after eating a corn muffin with my beef stew; Wednesday I coughed up my 2-3 bites of a sandwich I was having for lunch; Thursday I ate part of a grilled chicken snack wrap and got a bite stuck; and today I ate a bite or 2 too much of a tuna salad sandwich and lost it.   I don't know if I'm eating unreasonably or if I'm responding to stress.   I normally don't have problems with sandwiches if I take small bites and chew well.   In fact, I had a chili cheese wrap tonight and was able to eat 3/4 of it with no trouble.

I'm going to lean toward liquids tomorrow and see if I do better Sunday.  Thankfully, I have next week off for Spring Break so I can really track what I eat and I can take care of myself.

I have a clinic appointment on Tuesday, March 25.  I'm pretty sure I don't need a fill; if I need any change at all, I might need a slight unfill.  I'd prefer not to tamper with my fill level.  I need to start losing again.  The next 10 days are a good opportunity for me to really focus on my eating and see if I can drop a few pounds before my next weigh-in.

Well, my scale broke this week, so Jason bought us a new one.  I don't know what happened to the old one.  Jason stepped on it, and we heard a loud noise.  When he picked it up to look at it, the top and base were almost disconnected.  i weighed on it a couple of times only to discover that it was moving back and forth within a 6-8 pound range.  That wasn't good!  So he bought a new scale that (like the old one) measures body fat and water percentage, but it also (unlike the old one) allows 4 people to record and save their information.  So now when I weigh, it tells me how much I have lost from the starting weight (the first time I saved my weight).  I wish there was a way to input my original weight.  That would be very rewarding to have it tell me every day that I've lost 60+ pounds.  Alas, it doesn't do that.

Weighing on the new scale has been a bit disconcerting because my weight is not as low as the old scale said.  I'm still within a 5-pound range, but I'm nowhere close to 180.  I also have hit the ice cream this week, so I'm not losing.

A lot is going on right now--with school, with my niece and her new baby, with my parents--so I don't want to beat myself up for eating poorly.  I haven't exercised for several days either.  But today is the start of a new month, and I'm hitting the treadmill and taking the dog for a walk tomorrow.  It's time to instill some discipline back into my schedule.  I go back to the clinic to weigh in on March 25, and I'd really like to be below 180. 

I finally dropped to 180 this morning, and it's about time!  I went to the bariatric center Tuesday for my 6-week appointment and was stunned that my weight was the same as at my previous appointment--and the appointment before that!!  Good grief!  On the clinic's scale, I weighed the same as on December 19.  That's over 2 months without losing a speck!

Now, I know that the current weight increase was caused by my week on prednisone; as soon as I finished that treatment, I started losing again.  I've started using www.fitday.com to track my food again, and I've sworn off of ice cream for awhile.  My restriction is SO good that I ought to be dropping the pounds!  But to do that, I must watch the amount of sugar I eat and let my protein intake keep me satisfied.

So I just joined a Memorial Day Challenge with the goal of losing 15 pounds by then.  (I'd really love to lose 20!).   That's just under 14 weeks (95 days, to be exact) to lose a little over a pound a week.  It's time to get this renewed effort underway.

My eating has gone very well for several days now.  I really think the problem was that my cold / sinus infection / bronchitis / whatever was causing the problem.  Maybe I had so much drainage (resulting in "yuck" in my stomach) that my band just tightened up on me.  Regardless of the reason for the problem, I am doing better now.

I also went back to the doctor today  where I got an antibiotic shot in the rump, a breathing treatment to help clear my lungs, and prescriptions for steroids (to help with the inflammation) and cough "pearls" (to help control my coughing fits).  She told me to call if I'm not better by Monday, so she's expecting a quick turnaround this time.  I saw her a week ago Tuesday (10 days ago) after having been sick already for 6 days.  I've been on augmentin and prescription cough medicine for 10 days with very little improvement.  I'm sorry, but after 16 days of being sick, I'm ready to get better!!

Here's hoping the weekend is restful and healing for me.

I've had 2 very good days.  I've eaten fairly normally and have kept every bite down.

Yesterday, I had hot cocoa for breakfast and yogurt for lunch.  During the afternoon ( at a LONG meeting), I ate a package of sunchips.  For dinner, I had half a chicken salad wrap from Arby's.  I ate very carefully and didn't have a hint of trouble.

Today I've continued to eat pretty carefully, still with no concerns.  For breakfast, I had Carnation Instant Breakfast.  For lunch, we went to Max & Erma's, and I got tomato basil soup (ate about 2/3 of it), 1/2 a chicken salad croissant (ate all fo the chicken salad and 3-4 bites of the croissant), and 2 chocolate chip cookies.

Tonight, we met my brother and his wife a Joe's favorite restaurant for his 51st-birthday dinner.  I had half a roll with a bit of butter and most of the chicken, walnuts, and cranberries from an "anything and everything salad." 

I fel confident in my bite sizes and chewing, and it felt good to eat somewhat normally.  Maybe my problem was caused by stress from coughing or from restriction from my sinus drainage.  Whatever the reason, I feel as if I've moved beyond it and am doing okay now.

Okay, this PBing has got to stop.

I've PBed the past few days for what seems like no reason.  I usually can tell why I've had a PB--eating too fast, taking larger bites, not chewing well enough, not being well hydrated.  But Saturday, yesterday, and today, I've had PBs that caught me off guard.  I guess I can blame them on this cold / sinus infection / congestion / whatever.  I've been sick for 12 days now and on an antibiotic for 6 days.  The medication sometimes makes me nauseated, so I have to be careful to eat something with it.  But tonight I ate part of a sandwich and was doing fine when, suddenly, I felt nauseated.  I took off for the bathroom, and up came some of the sandwich.  I didn't have any warning.  I didn't slime.  I didn't get a golfball feeling that let me know I was full.  I just threw up.  

The dog has started getting excited when I start coughing now because he hopes I'm going to throw up.  This is just too frequent.

I think I'll have liquids for a day or two and see if that helps.  Maybe I'm swollen from the PBs and need to baby my band a bit.

We ate out Friday night, and I had no problems at all.  I also had no problems with some of my meals during the past few days.  There's no rhyme or reason to this.  I think I have to blame this on my coughing and drainage and overall malaise.  After a few days of liquids, I should be able to judge how my fill is doing.

And I was expecting to get a fill a week from tomorrow!!  I don't think I need it!

I've been on an antibiotic (augmentin) since last Tuesday, February 5, but I sure haven't made much progress in shaking this bug I have.  The best I've felt was Thursday morning when I woke up after a FULL night's sleep--no coughing spells to wake me--but within 4-5 hours I was dragging again.  I know I feel better than I did last weekend when I posted, but I'm not well yet, and that's frustrating.  I'm just so tired of being sick and feeling bad.

At least my sore throat has cleared up.  Now I just have that horrible cough, a stuffy head and runny nose, and a headache.  I haven't even had a fever for a couple of days.  So I'm getting better; it's just taking so long!!!

Well, I feel absolutely horrible: burning throat, chest congestion, racking cough, headache, and fever.  But I got up and got in the treadmill for a moderate workout.  I walked over 4 miles for 85 minutes.  No weights or running this morning.  I was just trying to put one foot in front of the other and burn some of this ickiness out of my system.

Yesterday was Jason's and my 11th anniversary.  I had a CRC meeting from 9:00 until after 3:00 (and signed my named over 200 times!), then we went out to dinner, and last night we went to Studio Players to see Catfish Moon, a marvelous play written by Laddy Sartin and directed by Tim Davis.  It was a very nice anniversary with new memories.

Here are my minutes per workout:
February 2 -- 85 minutes          February 3 -- 70 minutes          February 4 -- 45 minutes       February 9 -- 40 minutes          February 12 -- 75 minutes        February 16 -- 75 minutes        February 18 -- 25 minutes     February 19 -- 80 minutes        February 24 -- 55 minutes        February 25 -- 20 minutes

I passed my 1000-minute goal for January, so I've signed up for 1500 minutes in February.  I like having a challenge and an accountabillity system.  It helps to have to report how I'm doing, even though no one knows me or really cares in a personal way.  But it's nice to have to check in each week and see how everyone else is doing.  It motivates me to do better each week.

So I'll have to fit exercise in during the mornings again like I've done in the past, or I'll have to be faithful to exercise in the evenings while Jason is gone to taekwondo class.  To get that many minutes in, I'll have to spread out the minutes over at least 5 sessions a week.  February will give me the opportunity to set a good pattern for the rest of the semester. 

Last night, Jason and I went to a local Italian restaurant for dinner.  I had bragged on our way there that I was able to eat pretty much anything, so I ordered chicken fettucine alfredo and was looking forward to my dinner.  Before our dinner arrived, I nibbled on a piece of bread with butter.  It was really good, and I ate it pretty quickly.  As soon as I finished it, I realized I was uncomfortable--that golf-ball feeling in my chest.  So I waited and swallowed and wiggled around, all to no avail.  So I headed to the bathroom to see if I could cough up the bread.  Before I made it that far, though, up came the slime, and I made a mess.  I slimed and PB and coughed until I felt better and thought I was going to be okay.  I had to clean the slime off of the front and sleeves of my sweater and off of the floor of the hallway and bathroom.  That was pleasant.  Then I headed back to the table.  

When my dinner came, I tried a tiny bite of the chicken, thinking that I would still be able to eat some dinner.  (I've been able to eat after PBing except for one really difficult time, so I thought I would be okay.)  Well, it hit me again, and I had to head back to the bathroom.  Thankfully, I made it that time and didn't have to clean up after myself.  At that point, Jason was nearly done with his meal, so he finished and we headed home.  I had some hot cocoa and went to bed.  

This morning my throat was sore, so I stuck to liquids for breakfast and had tomato soup for lunch.  Mid-afternoon, I had yogurt, and tonight, I had a protein shake before I worked out.  I just ate about a half-cup of the fettucine and did okay.  So maybe I've babied my band enough to allow any swelling to dissipate.

I had thought that last liitle tweak of a fill didn't do anything, but there I was PBing 16 days later.  I'm going to have to be alert as I adjust to what might be the fill finally kicking in.

On a brighter note, I weighed 181.5 this monrning.  (The scale registered 181 once, but since I couldn't get it to repeat that reading, I won't claim it yet as my new low.  Maybe tomorrow??)