Jim's Week in review ... the post spring break edition

So, today is the final day of spring break. Spring break is ... well, it is fun. It is also my worst nightmare. Let me explain. I am a mindless snacker. If I am home, I will snack, pure and simple. It doesn't have to do with being hungry, it has to do with habit. It is a habit I am trying very hard to break. I can think nothing of watching something on TV and munching on a bag of chips or pretzels. As a matter of fact, I really AM thinking of nothing while I am doing it. So my main defense has been to not have those snack foods in the house.

Spring break, however ... well, it kinda queers things. I had my first family barbecue of the year during spring break this year. My brother and sister and their families came over, we fired up the grill and cooked up a storm. Chicken breasts, dogs and burgers (both beef and turkey). I limited the other items to veggie trays. No creamy potato salads and no pasta salads, both of which are absolute diet killers. My sister makes an awesome salsa, though. However, there is always an abundance of chips and pretzels at a barbecue, and now those are just sitting on my counter.

Add to that, there was Easter dinner yesterday, and I was invited to a Palm Sunday dinner last week. then during the week, I was on the go alot, so there was a lot of eating out. Needless to say, I didn't do so good this week. Have you ever felt like you were losing the same three pounds over and over again? I have looked at my posts since starting to blog here and realized I have been fluctuating between 275 and 272 most of the time. My trip to the scale today found me at 275 again. Over the next few weeks, I am sure I will lose down to 272 again, then end up messing up again. I really need to start thinking thin!

Well, back up on the horse ... time to drink water, stop eating and start exercising again ... and until Friday, I hope that you, gentle readers will do better than I have been. Anyone with a few ideas on how I can break the habit of mindless snacking, please drop a comment. I could use the help.

Happy End of the Year!

New Year coming, new ideas and new actions.  Over the past couple months, I haven't been taking care of myself the way I should be.  I have gained weight, and my blood sugar has been up.  So what are we going to do about all this?  Or better yet, what am I going to do about this?  Well, I am going to make one minor change ... and that is to move my weekly updates from Friday to Saturday.  There is no real health or weight loss reason for that, it is just for my personal convenience.
Secondly, I am going to start a food diary again.  I did this back when I was first diagnosed with Type II Diabetes, and I really need to do it again to get both my weight and my blood sugar under control.
Thirdly, I am going to have to change what I eat. I have bought some apples and oranges for snacks.  I will be buying more fresh fruits and veggies, too. Once a week, I used to eat a meal of rice and veggies for dinner, and I am going to start that back up too.  I am also going to give brown rice a try again.  I didn't like it the first few times I tried it, but I am going to give it a shot again.

Today's weigh-in, 279.8.
Morning Blood Sugar, 146

Luck and health to all of us in the coming year.

Pachacuti - The World Turned Upside Down

I haven't posted in a while, and really, I have no excuse.  I have reasons, but they are not, in retrospect, good reasons for missing my posts.  They tie in with my title today.  I taught Latin American history for a while, and there was an Inca Emperor named Pachacuteq, which means "he who shakes the earth".  As the Inca were invaded by the Spanish, pachacuti came to mean "the world turned upside down".  It referred to things being wrong and out of place, and that definitely describes my life over the past month give or take.

First:  I was under the assumption that seeking treatment for depression meant I would no longer have depressive episodes.  Nope, I was wrong.  I had a pretty major depressive episode over the past couple weeks, and have just in the past couple of days come out of it.  One of the things many of the people in my life don't understand is that when I have a depressive episode, I keep going.  I try to motor through it like a ship struggling through a storm instead of going around.  My depressive episodes don't really shut me down the way they do some people.  They do lead to other things ...

Second: I allowed myself to act like taking my pills for my diabetes was enough, and I didn't need to do anything else.  Diabetes requires a lifestyle change, and while I know that, and had been doing exactly that, during my depressive episode, I allowed myself to slip into some really bad habits food and exercise wise.  I stopped riding my exercise bike, I was eating ... alot.  It wasn't that I was eating necessarily unhealthy food, I was just eating a lot of it.  Even moderately healthy food causes weight gain if you eat too much of it.  Plus, not checking your blood sugar can lead to it going up because you aren't taking corrective action when it starts rising.

Third: I was just downright anti-social and embarrassed that I was gaining weight instead of losing.  'Nuff said.

So, that brings us to today.  I was up to 285.4 earlier this week, and this morning I am at 282.6.  I have over the past week, re-dedicated myself to riding my exercise bike on a regular basis, and I even got on the elliptical in the basement one day this week already.  I have kept a water bottle close at my side almost constantly, and I have started to more closely monitor my blood sugar.  Finally, I am exercising more portion control and cutting out the excessive eating.

Now all I have to do is stick with it while I am on Winter Break!

Post-Thanksgiving weigh in

274.4 ... that is a great number for me right now.  It is back where I was 2 weeks ago.  After spending the weekend visiting Katie for Thanksgiving (and an AWESOME turkey), I had to leave early to help fix a tenant's water heater.  So Sunday, I went hiking, and this morning after riding my exercise bike, I weighed in.

I'll see where this week takes me, but I had an ingrown nail cut out of my toe this afternoon, and I grabbed takeout on the way home, so that is not a good start to the week.  The toe hurts like heck right now, and I hope it won't slow me down too much this week.  Well, I will post on Friday and let you know how I fared.

What the .... ????

Hmmm ... 274.4 plus 3.4 equals 277.8.  And that leads me to my post title.  What the????  I haven't really done too much wrong this week.  Lets break it down, shall we?

First the good: I made it all five days this week.  I hopped on my exercise bike every day this week and rode for fifteen minutes each day.  WOOHOO!  Another good thing: my water consumption is up, about 48oz per day.  My short term goal is 60oz.

Now the bad: I ate out a few more times this week than I had for the past couple weeks.  I love Shrimp Fried Rice and Kowloon Chicken from Wong's Wok.  It took me a long time to get off the burgers, but now I need to find a better way to structure my food consumption of my new favorite fast food.  I know what the problem is: portion size ... they really load you up there.  If I were smart, I would bring a nice storage bowl and put half of it in there.  Oh, and if I eat out, I do it later in the day, so it throws my eating schedule off whack.

As the old saying goes, he knows what to do, he just doesn't do it.

Well, lets see what next week brings, shall we?

Three in a row ...

... can I make it all five?  Since Monday, I have been getting up as soon as my alarm goes off and hopping on my exercise bike for fifteen minutes of riding. Sure fifteen isn't alot, but it is more than I had been doing, which is zero.

More importantly, I have noticed a distinct change in my energy level during the day, and my attitude along with that.  Both are better wit the morning exercise than without.

Now before you say it, yes, I know.  I should remember this from before when I was riding the bike regularly.  All of the literature says exercise is good for the energy level and emotional well-being.  I know, I know,  So now, I just have to keep going.  Will I make it all five days this week?  I'll let you know on my usual Friday post!

Gold Star

I did it!  I got on my exercise bike this morning and got in 15 minutes of riding.  This is my goal ... fifteen minutes each morning when I first wake up.  I understand that the first day of any exercise program is the hardest.  But than again, I am sure the econd day will be just as hard.

Baby Steps

Sometimes weight loss is a study in what you are doing right and what you are doing wrong.  I have done plenty of wrong in recent days, and now I have finally gotten some right in there.  there is only one problem ... I am not sure what I am doing right.

I still haven't started exercising.  I am still not drinking enough water.  I am still eating out too much.  Those are my major wrongs.  But guess what, I am down another fraction to 274.4.  So somewhere, I am doing something right.  Maybe it was the Halloween candy.

I like to have lots of candy for trick-or-treating.  I remember loving knocking on doors as a kid, just to walk away with a tasty prize, and so I hate to disappoint the young ghouls and goblins when they come to my door.  This year, I got my huge bowl of candy together.  I flopped out on the couch to wait for the doorbell, and promptly fell asleep.  I had had a busy few days prior and was totally wiped.  So I missed the doorbell.  That left me with a huge bowl of candy, and only one mouth in the house ... mine.

So, I took the huge bowl of candy, dumped it in a bag, and took it to school.  Now I ask questions, and when a student gets it right, I toss them a piece of candy.  They are happy, and I am not eating the candy.  It is a win-win!

The holidays are coming, and I am sure I will waver a few times during the holidays.  Last year, I tried out a recipe for mashed cauliflower (to replace mashed potatoes) but used too much milk.  I will try to get it right this year.

Well, that's all for now.  If anyone has a good healthy holiday recipe, let me know!

In a holding pattern ...

Another week wondering ... why o why am I stuck?  This morning's weigh in: 275.6.  That is actually up a fraction.  Hmmmmmmmmm.  OK, to be honest, I haven't been "working" at losing weight lately.  I have been rather discouraged about the whole thing lately.  I know what I NEED to do, I am just not doing it.

Well, OK, maybe little things here and there.  For instance, I am slowly ratcheting up my water intake.  Everyone knows that water intake is beneficial to weight loss.  I have been grazing a lot lately at night, and I really need to change that.  I have a HUGE bowl of Halloween candy from trick or treating (I fell asleep on the couch during trick or treating and missed all the kids ringing the bell).  I have been taking that to school in little dribs and drabs and using it as inducements to students when asking questions.

Now on to the future:  I will try to drink more water and eat better this week ... I'll let you know how it all goes.

A scary moment ...

So last week on Wednesday, I was asked to run another teacher to the hospital.  He was having mild cardiac symptoms, and needed to get  to the hospital.  I got him there, and a few hours later, we got the word that he had had a mild heart attack.  This of course has created a little concern for me, as he is in better shape than me.

Of course, do I do anything about it?  I talk a good talk, but when it comes time to put my words into action, not so much.  I actually did get on my exercise bike twice this week, and on the elliptical once.  But the real test is the total action.  Lately, I have been on a bit of an eating binge, but I am slowly getting it under control.  Now If I can get consistent on the bike, well, that would be awesome.

My weigh in this week was 275.2, which is a whopping .2 loss.  Wow?  Whatever happened to my 1-2 pounds per week?  Oh wait, that's right, I have been grazing like an overmilked cow.  Once I get the grazing under control I will hopefully get back on track.

This weekend is the annual Ice Age Trail chili campout at Lapham Peak State Park.  I will take a bunch of pictures and post them and see if I can find some great (healthy) recipes, but a chili campout may not be the best place to find them ...

Here's hoping for the future!

Skipping along ...

So this week has been a bit of a roller coaster.  The week started out well enough, and then kinda leveled off.  Yesterday, however, after being just another day for most of the day, I spent the time after school getting some stuff done.  Got some laundry done, went shopping and picked up a couple great shirts on clearance at Kohls, I even treated myself to a pedicure.
This morning, I woke up a half hour ahead of my alarm, and I got some laundry switched around, and if I get the stuff out of the dryer, I may be able to wear one of my new shirts today.  I know, I know, this sounds kinda lame, but I take the little joys when I can get them.
So on the weight loss front, I haven't really been trying that hard, to be honest.  My big downfall was and still is eating out.  So, I am thinking that I can shift gears on that.  I have in the past, been taking soup to work for lunch.  A can of soup like Progresso or a similar soup is under 300 calories for the can.  I may make it a normal part of my diet.  I need to ratchet up my water intake, and hopefully get my weight under control.
My doctor always tells me that HEALTHY weight loss is 1-2 pounds per week.  If you have a random big loss, don't get freaked out by a rebound and radically change anything, just be steady and you will eventually lose weight.  So this week, I am up, but after a seven pound loss over the previous week, I am not so worried. My weigh in this morning was 275.4, which is up 4, but still down 3 from two weeks ago.  My short term goal is to break through the 270 barrier I have been hitting, and by gum, I am gonna do it this time!

Jim's Week in Review

Hello my freaky darlings!  (I wonder how many of our readers out there recognize that movie reference)
So it has been two weeks, and what a two weeks it has been.  I have been busy, busy with school, and I have hardly been able to do anything around the house.
At school, I have two independent study students, one in Civics, and one in Economics.  I haven't done an IS for Econ prior to this, and it has been a few years since I taught the class, so I am doing a little extra reading and prepwork for this.  I also am setting up a trip to Washington DC through the Close-Up foundation (www.closeup.org) for ten students.  Add to that my regular courseload and being the stage manager, and I am one busy teacher.
In life, I have finally taken the step of ending the relationship I was in, and I am getting treatment for depression (I think I mentioned that two weeks ago, if not ... well, I mentioned it now).
My blood sugar levels have been in my target range, and health-wise, I have been feeling pretty good lately.  My weigh in this morning was a pleasant surprise, weighing in at 271.6, which is a drop of almost 7 pounds since my last post.
Hopefully I have enough momentum to break through that 270 plateau I have been hitting all this time.
Well, I have to dash ... mandatory training in 1 hour and I need to get going!  Happy losing!

Back on track ...

So my last post talked about the fact that I have been gaining instead of losing.  I gave some reasons, but mostly because I have been in a deepening case of depression, and as I am want to do, I self-medicate with food, hence the weight gain.

Well, I am now actively treating the depression.  It is slowly working and I am starting to see the sunshine again, as it were.

I have been out hiking again, and the exercise is doing me well.  Last weekend we hiked nine miles on the Greenbush Segment of the Ice Age Trail, up and down many hills.  When we hike, we track our hike with a handheld GPS unit, and I found a way to display the vertical profile (read: hills) on our hike and thought that I would show it here:

I just thought it was cool.  If you want to check out my hiking website with maps of our hiking, go to http://mnjhiketheiat.net.

Well, on to the stats ... last week I was back up to 281.0.  This morning, I stepped on the scale and it had some GOOD news for me for once.  I showed that I was down almost three full pounds to 278.2 pounds.  Hopefully, next week has more good news.  Until then, happy losing!

It's Almost Like Visiting an Old Friend ...

Yo-Yo (slang): Fool or idiot.
Yo-Yo (noun): A child's toy that goes up and down on a string.

And if I ever find the dang string attached to the number 281, I will find the biggest scissors I can and cut it!

For the past year, I have been yo-yoing between 281 and 271.  I am back at the top of the string again, and I am NOT happy.  For the past month, I have been out of my routine, and I am finally settling back in to a routine.  School has started back up again, and that helps immeasurably.

I could focus on what went wrong, or how I feel about it, but instead, I am going to focus on routines.  the routines will all be based around being in school again, obviously.  My lunch period is kind of late (1:45-2:45pm), so I think that part of my routine will have to be a set time for a healthy snack in-between classes.  Actually, since my morning free period is second period (about 10:05-11:05am), maybe I will eat right near the end of my free period.  After all, in my schooldays routine, I eat breakfast around 6:30am, which puts that free period about four hours later, and maybe I can keep a few granola bars around for my lunch period later in the afternoon.

Now I have to think about a few other things to work out in my routine and then I can hope to watch the pounds melt off. First things, first, back to work, then on with life and weight loss.

Oh, by the way, I feel like a fool for the way my weight has gotten out of control.

Summertime Blues and Dangerous Dieting

Well, it has been quite a while since I have posted, so I should give a brief summary of all that has happened to me in the past couple of months. Well, school came to a screeching close way too soon for me (I never seem to have enough time in a school year to accomplish everything I want to accomplish), I went to Washington DC with a group of teachers for a week, and I got very involved in a new relationship which created far too much stress in my life. It has been unbearably hot outside, and I haven't been hiking for the first two-thirds of the summer.

I am starting to get the relationship stuff figured out, and think it needs to come to an end, which of course will cause more stress. I got out hiking this past weekend (it felt good to put a few miles under my feet again), and I am slowly getting myself together with a little counseling and support of good friends.

So my weigh-in first: 276.8. I am up from my low of 271 point whatever, and down from my start weight on the blog of 277 and definitely down from my start weight when I first started trying to lose weight of 294. So, hopefully I will get back on track now.

I have some friends though, that have lost huge amounts of weight, 18 pounds in the past month, give or take. It is kind of depressing, until I learned exactly what they were doing. They were following a fad diet from the 70's which has become repopularized of late called the HCG diet. The diet involves a strict calorie limit of 500 (in their case 700) calories per day. Everything they eat is low-fat and they cut sugar and starches almost completely out of their diets. They take a multivitamin, and they take HCG drops to aid in the weight loss (FWIW, even without the drops, a 700 calorie a day diet would cause dramatic weight loss).

Katie and I did some talking about this diet and researching it, and learned some pretty interesting facts:

• HCG is a hormone created by a woman's body to nourish the womb and make it a good place for a fetus to develop.
• More than a dozen clinical trials tried to verify the value of HCG in weight loss and found no direct benefit.
• HCG influences other hormone levels including estrogen and progesterone.
• The FDA considers HCG illegal as a diet aid and prevents direct-to-consumer sales.
• The National Institutes of Health say that the minimum daily caloric intake should be 1,200 for women and 1,500 for men.
• A 1981 study found 17 people who died after following severe calorie restriction diets for 5 months.

There is no magic cure for obesity. There is no superdiet out there waiting to be found. Common sense at the table and moderate physical activity are what are needed to lose weight. Time for me to get back on track!

Jim's Week in Review: Saturday Special.

So, life is rather interesting for me right now. It is the end of the school year, which is always a busy time for me because in the final month we have a concert, a play and two or three graduations which all require stage services, and I am the stage manager in my school. Add to that the fact that I teach a full load of classes (actually a full load plus 1 extra class), and I have to write and administer exams for 180-some odd students. Needless to say it is a busy time, lots of stress and I really don't eat right during this time of the year.

Add to that the physical aspects of the past couple months, plus getting used to cooking different because I am in a relationship with someone who has severe food allergies, and my life has definitely changed. My girlfriend is allergic to products made of corn, and my favorite sweetner, Splenda(TM) is a corn product, so it is either NutraSweet(TM) or regular sugar. Sheesh! From time to time as I find/create recipes that are compatible with both her allergies and my diabetes and weight loss goals, I will post them.

Anyways, my weigh in this week held a shock for me. so much so that I actually got back on the scale twice to confirm what I saw this morning. Last week, I was 274.2. This week, I am at 271.8, for a loss of 2.4 pounds (go me!). Well, I really need to start my day, so happy weekend one and all!

Oh! Shameless self-promotion: I have another blog about one of the greatest TV Shows ever (and the longest-running non game or news show in the science fiction category), Doctor Who. It is a running commentary as I watch new episodes and discuss all things Who (and maybe discuss older episodes that are part of my DVD collection during production breaks). Feel free to check it out at http://watchdrwho.blogspot.com.

Stress, Stress, Stress = Yo Yoing

Welcome to crazy Jimville! My life has been a crazy roller coaster of stress and sickness. We have finally established that the most likely cause of my gastrointestinal distress over the past month has been the Byetta. I tolerated the starter dose well, but the full dose was just too much for my system, I guess. I am off of that, and seeing how things go taking just Metformin for the summer. Why? because being off the Byetta for a couple weeks while sick, my blood sugar stayed close to normal (120-135 range) and my A1C, which is a long-term indicator of healthy blood sugar was 6.0 (top end of normal range is 6.1).

I am a stress eater, and there has been plenty of stress in my life lately. the school year is rapidly coming to a close, and I am nowhere near ready, either educationally or financially. Also, I am in a new relationship which is going well, but that adds a whole different set of stressors. Add to that I haven't been sleeping well, and I am up to 274.2. Of course, thanks to hiking, I do most of my losing during the summer anyways, so I am looking forward to that number changing over the next few months.

Well, that teensy tiny update is all I have time for right now. Happy losing out there!

Jim's Week in Review ... Evening Edition?

Well, happy Friday one and all! It is late ... 8:58pm to be exact. Normally I post in the morning right after I wake up, but this morning, Blogger wasn't available. Silly blogger! So I waited until this evening, and now, after a long day, here I am! And guess what? Those two mystery pounds are here again too! But, I am getting ahead of myself.

Last week I was sick. I had, with the advice and consent of my doctor's office, discontinued my meds while I was getting over the stomach bug that was kicking my tail from here to the Himalayas. They told me that there is a stomach virus working its way around the community, and it is one that hangs around for a few weeks instead of the usual day or so variety stomach bug. By Sunday, I felt somewhat improved, and by Tuesday I was in the pink. We decided to start me back on my meds with a slightly different dosing schedule. The new schedule will take some getting used to, but we decided to do it in order to reduce the number of pills I was taking at one time first thing in the morning. So far, so good, although one symptom of my sickness returned with my meds, so we will be discussing this as we move forward. At least some of my gastro-intestinal distress is being caused by either my Metformin or my Byetta. Since the problem predates me starting on the Byetta, my money is on the Metformin.

So, when I could suddenly eat again ... well, lets just say my weight bounced back up ... bad. however, by the time I weighed in this morning, I had settled down to 272.2 pounds. Again. What is it about that blasted number that it keeps popping up?

Well, I really should get going. I am up early tomorrow to head down to Illinois for a special lunch event with Emilie and her mom, then we are driving back up for my brother-in-law's 50th birthday party. then Sunday will be a nice relaxing day, and then back to work on Monday.

So, drink your water, eat lots of protein and fiber, and next week, hopefully the scale has good news for ALL of us!

Jim's Week in Review ...

Let me go on the record as saying that I hate being sick. No, seriously, I HATE being sick. I am not a mountaineering, rock climbing, mountain biking, dancing 'till the sun comes up go-get-'em yuppie, but I do consider myself rather active. Of course, the way I got this way was my activity being walking from McDonald's to Burger King, but nowadays I fill my time with better things, mostly work related, but once in a while, I fill it with good friends. Well, when you are sick, that doesn't really work out that well. Being sick takes almost all of your attention. Well, as reported last week, I am sick. More importantly, I have been sick off and on going on two weeks now.

Well, after I returned from hiking, I turn a really bad turn, and Sunday was horrific. I wont give you the gory details, but I spent a good bit of Sunday evening when I needed to be sleeping with my face in the toilet. We have a shortage of substitutes for schools right now, so I have made a decision that I must be in school unless I feel like I am on my deathbed. Well, after my close encounter with the plumbing, I felt much better, so I went to work. Had a pretty normal day Monday, then Tuesday I started heading downhill again. By Wednesday evening I was wreck again.

I sent of messages to my doctor's office and we decided to stop all of my meds except my blood pressure & cholesterol, and for me to take the pro-biotic suppliments to replenish the good bacteria in my system which seem to be in short supply right now (oddly enough the same suggestion my friend made if you remember last week's post). Well, it is a little early to say if they are helping much, but we were expecting a spike in my blood sugar due to stopping the meds, and this morning it was 131 which is just one point outside my target range. So for that I say so far, so good.

Due to being sick, my water intake has been great. Of course, all the diarrhea and vomiting still leads to the possibility of dehydration, so I think that in the grand scheme of things, I am basically just keeping up. I can tell my system is a little out of whack because for the last couple days I have had these monster salt cravings. Those are mostly over now, but now I occasionally get a little craving for something sweet. I have always believed that your body gets cravings for things it needs, so I assume this is my body's way of trying to restore its equilibrium.

Anyways, I said all that to say that this morning I woke up a little crampy, and I am hoping beyond hope that I am not heading for another bad day, I am way too busy today and tomorrow. All that being said, what's my score? See for yourself!

Weigh in: 270.4 (-2.8)

Down 2.8 feels good, and before you say it is all due to being sick, right after one of my monster barfing sessions, I randomly weighed myself and was down to 266.5 ... boy I wish i could have used that as my official weigh in! However, I am ever closer to breaking the 270 barrier, and I hope to have great news about that next week. Until then, keep drinking your water, and I am out like a fat kid in dodgeball!

Jim's week in review ... back in the saddle again

Yup! Back in the saddle indeed! This has been a good week! My water consumption was up (2-3 bottles per day) and ... don't freak out on this one ... I have been riding my exercise bike again! Every morning this week I have spent 15 minutes on the bike. Honestly, I had forgotten how good that felt. On Tuesday, I went in to work having ridden and a couple teachers mentioned how chipper I was looking.

This weekend, I will be out camping and hiking We will be hiking on the trails of the Northern Kettle Moraine State Forest on the Parnell Segment. First we will be heading to a camp shelter near the Parnell Observation tower and take fresh pics for the front page of my hiking website (which I really need to update). The website can be found at http://mnjhiketheiat.net (shameless self-promotion). My plan for Saturday is to hike and aside from breakfast, eat nothing but a couple protein bars and drink nothing but water all day.

A couple times in the past week, I have had some severe intestinal issues, including some bloating, belching (a nasty, sulfuric affair) and diarrhea. A friend suggested a nice little OTC remedy, and I took it for the first time last night and the early results seem promising. I will post more about the results of trying this out next week.

And now, the moment of truth. If you remember my post last week, I had gone back up to 275. Well, today I am down to 273.2 (loss of 1.8). I think that once I break through the 270 barrier, I will probably start losing more rapidly ... I just need to break through that barrier.

Well, off to work for me, and happy losing to you!