Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Gained this week... sorta

As I expected, I had a gain this week. It was about 2#. I wasn't surprised and, in fact, reacted to it with the "oh well" shrug. I knew that the Prednisone-induced eating would cause me to retain fluid and I also knew that the 2# was more than likely not -fat-. So, I'm looking at the gain and knowing that I -will- have it back off by my next weigh-in. I'm optimistic that it will take some of its friends with it. :-) This is a bad budget week, so I'm having to really use my Points creatively. I may still end up going over on my weeklies, but I'm going to try my darndest not to. We'll just have to see.

The news that got me worse that the scale was the test results I got back from my doc. My cholesterol/triglycerides are way up again. :-/ So, he's wanting me to add a super dose of niacin. Part of me wants to not do it and just get it back down with diet, but he also wants to re-test in 2 months. So, I figure I'll go ahead and fill the scrip when we get paid and give it a shot for those two months. If I can't deal with the side effects, then I'll talk to him about not using it anymore. I have set a goal that I will be off some of my obesity-influenced meds by next year. I'll need to banish quite a bit before the doc will be willing to entertain the possibility, I'm sure, but I want to give it the old college try. I'd really like to be at goal by the time I start graduate school, which is tentatively scheduled for Fall 2010 (approximately 16 months). If I average 2#/week, that gets me darn close. I know I can't count on even full pound banishments, but... I'm thinking positively. :-)

Right now, though, I'm concentrating on getting my lungs in shape so that I can start exercising again. That will definitely go a LONG way towards upping my odds of success. Yes, you can banish weigh on WW without exercise, but you miss out on so many of the benefits from exercise if you don't. Right now, I'm just doing short walks that probably don't even get my heart rate into the cardio range - I'll have to check that. But at least I'm doing -something-, right?

So, onward and downward. I'm pushing a lot of water this week because we're doing a lot of cheap food that is high in sodium. I need to find cheap meals that are still WW friendly so that, if a next budget crisis hits, we'll be ready. :-)

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Steriod beast

The next time a doctor tells me I need a steroid in either shot or pill form, I want a detailed explanation as to the necessity of said steroid and whether or not taking it will, in fact, benefit me to the point that eating the house while I'm on it is OK. I try to abstain from eating when I'm on a steroid, but I just get so gorram hungry. I've blown through all of my weekly allotment of Points and then some, and my week starts on Monday. I'm trying hard to stick to low Point foods to snack on, but I end up just eating more of them. I've pretty much decided that this week is a write-off. *sigh* But at least my lungs are to the point where I can walk more than 10 minutes at a time, so I guess that's something. Sheesh!

-So- not expecting a banishment this week. Heck, if I maintain, I'll be happy. Srsly.

I take the last Prednisone pill on Friday, so I'm hoping the effects of it (the eating like a horse and then eating the horse effects) are gone by Monday. I'll start fresh then. I'm still recording everything, so I can have a record of how bad it actually is, so that I'll have ammunition for the "nope, not doing that again" decision on steroids.

Hells bells, people! This is the second dose of them I've had this year. That's enough for anyone. Really.

If asthma treatment requires a regular intake of steroids, I'm just gonna suffer with it (the asthma) and make do.

Monday, April 13, 2009

To Breathe or Not To Breathe....

Asthma. That's what my doctor suspects at the moment. We've thought I might have it in the past, but my lungs will miraculously be symptom-free when he does the breathing test. But he thinks that the Whooping Cough damaged my lungs just enough that asthma is a strong possibility. So, he gave me an antibiotic for the current ick and I have a week on Predinsone and 2 puffs 3X/day of an albuterol inhaler to "tune up my lungs". Then I get to go through the fun of pulmonary function tests in 10-14 days. I guess all the meds are to make sure I don't get a false positive because of the current chest cold. Dunno. I'm a wee bit nervous about the tests because I've heard that one of them involves a blood draw from the artery in my wrist. Owie! I guess I'll deal, but, yeow.

In weight-banishment news, I've banished another 2#. I really wanted to be under 270 by our anniversary (that's today for anyone keeping track), but I missed it. So, that's my goal for the next WI. I know I'd be losing/banishing/releasing better if I could exercise, but even mild exercise tires me out so bad. It's gotten to the point where I have to rest about mid-way going to and coming from the bus... the stop is about 2 blocks away, people. I -know- I'm not in that bad of shape, so... I guess I'm just not getting the O2 I need.

For now, my exercise is going to be attacking the office/guestroom. I'll only be able to do about 15-20 minutes at a time, I'm sure - if that - but I'll at least be getting activity Points. :-)

TTFN.

Monday, April 06, 2009

Woot!

I direct your attention to my weight loss ticker. (<---- over there)

Yep. I've successfully banished 5.8#. I think I'm doing something right, huh?

Now, if the darn pollen will let me actually be able to exercise some, that'd be great. :-) That and the cold. Who said it could get cold again? Not I.