It looks like I'll be resigned to weekly posts for the time being.
The right leg continues to heal, though progress is very slow. You know, the doctor original said "months" to heal, but since there was no break, I thought he was exaggerating a bit. Apparently not.
And the sore left arm may be more seriously hurt than first anticipated.
The doctor is concerned with the severe limitations of movement - well, I mean pain-free movement. There isn't much motion in my left arm. He thinks I may have actually torn a muscle. Can you believe it? I've heard of muscles being pulled, but torn? So, I am tapping the keyboard, one key at a time, with my right hand. Everything is off limits for the left - everything. I have to be scheduled for Dopplar (?) imaging of the arm. And then they "take it from there." Fantastic.
Honestly, I am OVER being incapacitated already. I'm down to one leg and one arm, for Pete's sake. All over a silly little patch of black ice.
Anyway, I did well last week, but admit over-doing the calories at the Superbowl viewing, which put me over for the day by almost 200 calories. Still, I didn't go crazy or anything like that, but I deviated from the plan for the first time. It is back on track today though. And I am a happy camper, because my beloved Green Bay Packers won the Superbowl! Yay, Green Bay!!
I didn't enjoy the first half very much, though we were way ahead. Let's face it, football games are always more fun when they are close in scoring. The Steelers finally decided to enter the game in the third quarter, and then things got interesting! I was happy with the final result, and my Steeler fan friends kept their dignity.
Next week is hubby's second surgery. I'm going to try to put off my arm stuff until after his post-surgery follow-ups. I don't want one to interfere with the other.
Well, time to catch up on emails and blogland posting! Comments will be limited, obviously, because of my one-finger one-hand typing method. You would not believe how long it took, just to write this!! And, I can only use one crutch - can't do anything with the left arm, remember, so mobility is still an issue. I can, thankfully, one-crutch it over to the computer now. I couldn't do that two days ago! Progress!!
STAY on plan, Everyone! This is only early February, but spring will be upon us in no time. Don't go chocolate crazy over Valentine's Day or anything. Hey, I didn't even have a slice of cheddar during a Packer Superbowl game! If I can do this ... yada, yada, yada ...
Stay healthy!
Monday, February 7, 2011
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Weight Loss Continues
I cannot WAIT until I can get on the scale again, to discover what exactly has been going on, but success is still measured in other ways:
Updated measurements (see side bar):
I've lost a half-inch off my waist! Yay!! I'm inching closer to getting that number out of the 30s.
Okay, the stubborn hips refuse to budge - my nemesis, clearly. Umpf.
The chest lost a full inch. (What's up with that?) I'll take it - the twins are more easily secured these days!
And here is the biggie, aside from the waist measurement ...
I've had to move my ring from the left-hand's ring-finger to the longest (largest) finger next to it, just to prevent from losing it! AND, my ring fits on that bigger finger comfortably!! I mean, holy smokes, it isn't even a bit too tight there, but just right. The ring keeps falling off the ring finger. Time for resizing soon, in the meanwhile, I will have to get a ring guard to properly secure my ring to the ring finger - once I can get out and about again.
I am so used to - over the years - having to make allowances for GROWING fingers, not shrinking fingers, that this is truly a novelty. This ring has never had to be down-sized before. I'm not sad about that at all.
So, the weight is a mystery for right now, but all indications are that my weight loss continues.
Oh, and I took a very careful right-thigh measurement, and discovered I have lost 4" - yes, FOUR inches - off one thigh. Folks, that is 8" just off the thighs. Is it no wonder the original black pants (in my photo) are so big? And that photo was taken at least 10 or 15 pounds ago, quite possibly (likely) more. Those pants fit me well, 13" ago ... thirteen-inches ago. That is against my 307 lb starting measurements. The black pants fit me snuggly at 327 lbs - I mean, I was in need of really having to up-size those pants.
I didn't lose 13+ inches overnight. Small steps, small steps ... a half-inch here, a quarter-inch there ... but it comes off and adds up. Heavens, I've lost OVER A FOOT off my waist!
My comfortable shirts (and obese people like myself most often prefer baggy) started at 4x. Again, that was pushing it. The bagginess was gone. The 4x fit, but not loosely. Now? 2x is baggy ... and I wouldn't need that, except the twins need the space still. The tummy, does not!
I've accomplished all that since late July. It will be so much fun to see where I am this summer. Warmer weather won't be long off now, so no putting off tomorrow what we can do today, right? I refuse to have another miserable summer like the one I had last year. Morbidly obese and hot, humid weather just don't mix. I won't be at my ideal weight, but I'm going to be so much more comfortable than I was last summer.
Will you?
I hope so!!
Updated measurements (see side bar):
I've lost a half-inch off my waist! Yay!! I'm inching closer to getting that number out of the 30s.
Okay, the stubborn hips refuse to budge - my nemesis, clearly. Umpf.
The chest lost a full inch. (What's up with that?) I'll take it - the twins are more easily secured these days!
And here is the biggie, aside from the waist measurement ...
I've had to move my ring from the left-hand's ring-finger to the longest (largest) finger next to it, just to prevent from losing it! AND, my ring fits on that bigger finger comfortably!! I mean, holy smokes, it isn't even a bit too tight there, but just right. The ring keeps falling off the ring finger. Time for resizing soon, in the meanwhile, I will have to get a ring guard to properly secure my ring to the ring finger - once I can get out and about again.
I am so used to - over the years - having to make allowances for GROWING fingers, not shrinking fingers, that this is truly a novelty. This ring has never had to be down-sized before. I'm not sad about that at all.
So, the weight is a mystery for right now, but all indications are that my weight loss continues.
Oh, and I took a very careful right-thigh measurement, and discovered I have lost 4" - yes, FOUR inches - off one thigh. Folks, that is 8" just off the thighs. Is it no wonder the original black pants (in my photo) are so big? And that photo was taken at least 10 or 15 pounds ago, quite possibly (likely) more. Those pants fit me well, 13" ago ... thirteen-inches ago. That is against my 307 lb starting measurements. The black pants fit me snuggly at 327 lbs - I mean, I was in need of really having to up-size those pants.
I didn't lose 13+ inches overnight. Small steps, small steps ... a half-inch here, a quarter-inch there ... but it comes off and adds up. Heavens, I've lost OVER A FOOT off my waist!
My comfortable shirts (and obese people like myself most often prefer baggy) started at 4x. Again, that was pushing it. The bagginess was gone. The 4x fit, but not loosely. Now? 2x is baggy ... and I wouldn't need that, except the twins need the space still. The tummy, does not!
I've accomplished all that since late July. It will be so much fun to see where I am this summer. Warmer weather won't be long off now, so no putting off tomorrow what we can do today, right? I refuse to have another miserable summer like the one I had last year. Morbidly obese and hot, humid weather just don't mix. I won't be at my ideal weight, but I'm going to be so much more comfortable than I was last summer.
Will you?
I hope so!!
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Choose Your Destination
Right. Let's get to it then ...
Small steps lead to big results. It is true in life, and it is true in the journey to lose weight.
While it will obviously be a while before I can stand on my own again, I am making progress. I hobbled to the bathroom on my own this morning, for the first time in over a week. It was a slow and pain-filled trek, but I did it. Weight loss is like that too - sometimes slow, often pain-filled, but ultimately there is progress if we stick with it, right?
I am still in awe at how much pain a person can have, without actually breaking a bone. And I also see the wisdom in what the ER doc said, in that a break would've been better and faster to recover from, but that is another story.
I can't stand on a scale, but I can take masurements. So, tomorrow, I am going to try that, as a way of tracking how I am doing.
Someone suggested in the comments of my last post, to work the upper part of my body, or work what I can. What a great idea! So, I've been trying that this week, very carefully of course. My husband burned through a week of vacation, just to stay home and take care of me. Getting to the bathroom unaided today was a big step to independence. He can set me up in the morning with food/water on my handy TV tray (can't stand, so can't make use of the kitchen, which is a loooooong way from the recliner), and go to the office on Monday. Small steps, more progress.
Despite how painful it is, I periodically get off the chair. I don't want to develop blood clots in the leg, from inactivity, so I stand (lean, more like it) on the crutches for a few minutes every few hours. Even THAT is like a weight loss journey, if I stop to think about it. If we don't move, we can do great harm to ourselves. What is the old saying? Move it or lose it? I have to put movement into my life, so I don't lose my life. As I struggle with these injuries, I think how easy it would be to just sit here - eat, watch a little TV, nap, eat more ... And then I think to myself, "No excuses!" I don't want to let myself down. I've given myself a free pass for decades. And, if it wasn't this injury excuse, it would be another, so I'm not even opening that floodgate. I know where it leads - and it is not where I want to go.
I choose another destination for myself.
That is really how I've come to think about these struggles. Life tosses all sorts of things at us. Do we let ourselves float on the ebb and flow of every little whim that makes up life? Or do we choose our own destination, and pick up the oars to at least try to get there? I could easily take a vacation from the weight loss journey, trust me. I am in pain. I can't move. I have every excuse in the world, and TONS of sympathy, so who would blame me? But, if I were to do that, where will I be a month from now? Better off? Or worse off? Yes, we know the answer to that one already. So ...
I choose my destination.
I am moving toward improved health, and less weight. I'm eating on plan, I'm doing a little bit of exercise from my chair (something is better than nothing), and I've got my eyes on the goal. Sure, I may be using oars on the ocean right now, but it is better than floating unaided. Sometimes, in our journey, we will find ourselves in a motorboat, sometimes in a row boat, rarely (I hope) adrift with no method of propulsion. If we can't row by ourselves, it is as easy as getting someone to help. Find your inspiration, and use it.
I am tossing out a challenge for just today, that you choose your destination this day. Will you have something good to look back on today, as you lay your head upon the pillow tonight? You can, you know, if you choose to do so.
Do something positive, to move toward the destination you choose for yourself, whatever that may be.
Just for today, choose the destination!
Small steps lead to big results. It is true in life, and it is true in the journey to lose weight.
While it will obviously be a while before I can stand on my own again, I am making progress. I hobbled to the bathroom on my own this morning, for the first time in over a week. It was a slow and pain-filled trek, but I did it. Weight loss is like that too - sometimes slow, often pain-filled, but ultimately there is progress if we stick with it, right?
I am still in awe at how much pain a person can have, without actually breaking a bone. And I also see the wisdom in what the ER doc said, in that a break would've been better and faster to recover from, but that is another story.
I can't stand on a scale, but I can take masurements. So, tomorrow, I am going to try that, as a way of tracking how I am doing.
Someone suggested in the comments of my last post, to work the upper part of my body, or work what I can. What a great idea! So, I've been trying that this week, very carefully of course. My husband burned through a week of vacation, just to stay home and take care of me. Getting to the bathroom unaided today was a big step to independence. He can set me up in the morning with food/water on my handy TV tray (can't stand, so can't make use of the kitchen, which is a loooooong way from the recliner), and go to the office on Monday. Small steps, more progress.
Despite how painful it is, I periodically get off the chair. I don't want to develop blood clots in the leg, from inactivity, so I stand (lean, more like it) on the crutches for a few minutes every few hours. Even THAT is like a weight loss journey, if I stop to think about it. If we don't move, we can do great harm to ourselves. What is the old saying? Move it or lose it? I have to put movement into my life, so I don't lose my life. As I struggle with these injuries, I think how easy it would be to just sit here - eat, watch a little TV, nap, eat more ... And then I think to myself, "No excuses!" I don't want to let myself down. I've given myself a free pass for decades. And, if it wasn't this injury excuse, it would be another, so I'm not even opening that floodgate. I know where it leads - and it is not where I want to go.
I choose another destination for myself.
That is really how I've come to think about these struggles. Life tosses all sorts of things at us. Do we let ourselves float on the ebb and flow of every little whim that makes up life? Or do we choose our own destination, and pick up the oars to at least try to get there? I could easily take a vacation from the weight loss journey, trust me. I am in pain. I can't move. I have every excuse in the world, and TONS of sympathy, so who would blame me? But, if I were to do that, where will I be a month from now? Better off? Or worse off? Yes, we know the answer to that one already. So ...
I choose my destination.
I am moving toward improved health, and less weight. I'm eating on plan, I'm doing a little bit of exercise from my chair (something is better than nothing), and I've got my eyes on the goal. Sure, I may be using oars on the ocean right now, but it is better than floating unaided. Sometimes, in our journey, we will find ourselves in a motorboat, sometimes in a row boat, rarely (I hope) adrift with no method of propulsion. If we can't row by ourselves, it is as easy as getting someone to help. Find your inspiration, and use it.
I am tossing out a challenge for just today, that you choose your destination this day. Will you have something good to look back on today, as you lay your head upon the pillow tonight? You can, you know, if you choose to do so.
Do something positive, to move toward the destination you choose for yourself, whatever that may be.
Just for today, choose the destination!
Monday, January 24, 2011
Pass Me A Plate of Milk Chocolate Please - And Supersize That
Let me just say, a human body should never ever be the deep shade of purple and blue that my right leg is right now. It is U G L Y .. now, I hurt even more, just looking at it.
Yes, I'm having a pity party today. I'm miserable. I'm incapacitated (nothing humbles one faster than not being able to go to the bathroom unaided). My poor husband had to use a vacation day today, because no one could babysit me. And I'm miserable. Oh wait, I said that already.
Misery loves chocolate, as every woman on the face of the earth knows, and I want chocolate - lots and lots of chocolate - milk chocolate, to be exact.
There, I said it. I feel sorry for myself, and chocolate makes all things better. Well, no, it actually doesn't, but interesting that in my hour of pain, I pray first, then go right to chocolate - in thought anyway.
And no, I'm not actually eating chocolate. I just WANT to. My pity party says I deserve at least that, but hey, irrational thoughts can justify anything.
Milk chocolate may taste good, but it solves nothing. In fact, it makes things worse. I don't need to be incapacitated AND putting weight back on, so I am not giving in to the urge - the very, very strong urge.
After losing all this weight, it is interesting that the mind still goes there though, isn't it? But, where I used to just give in, I now shrug it off. That is something, anyway.
More of me hurts, but that is to be expected, I suppose. I feel like I've been run over by a truck, or what I imagine being run over by a truck should feel.
I neglected to relate an interesting event from Friday. The nurse/technician who helped me in radiology, was positioning the inflexible, injured leg to get a proper scan of it (assuming it may be broken). While moving the leg, she stopped and looked at me with a puzzled expression. She asked if I'd lost a lot of weight lately, and added, "I mean, a LOT of weight." (Yes, I said, why?) She was trying to adjust the leg, and the skin on the thigh just moved, like it was a loose blanket covering my limb or something. It was really weird. I guess I only really saw my leg when I was standing, and didn't really pay it much attention before the injury.
I don't track my thigh measurements really, but I did have a thigh measurement from my 307 weight (the RIGHT thigh, as it turned out). Figures, it would be from the injured side, right? Anyway, I need to remeasure it, to see what changes have taken place there, once I am capable of doing that again.
Has anyone else noticed loose thigh skin? Great, that my attention has been drawn to mine, just at the time I cannot exercise to help that issue. Well, I can't let that worry me, or detract me from my diet plan. I'm not as well hydrated as I have been, which is actually taking some time for me to adjust to, but I have to be practical with my lack of independence and need for assistance right now. The other diet challenge I have right now is not what I eat, but when. I am doing a lot of sleeping right now, so I am missing snacks and sometimes even a meal. My hubby knows my sleep has been sporadic (due to injury/pain) so if I happen to be sleeping through lunch, he lets me sleep. While uninterrupted sleep is a good and necessary thing right now, I hope I can get back to a regular eating schedule before too long.
Thank you, to everyone who commented and/or has expressed well wishes and prayers. I really do appreciate it. I don't want my blog to degenerate into a litany of woes though, so I'm going to try to return the focus to weight loss, where it belongs. It is all about getting healthy, right? I just think how much worse this would've been at 327 lbs ... so, losing weight has all sorts of unforeseen advantages.
Stick to the journey, reap the benefits, lessen the negative ramifications!
I told my husband that not being able to stand (so not being able to weigh-in) has one advantage. It will be a suspense-filled surprise, to see what it reads, when I eventually am able to get back on the scale. I'm working hard through it all, to ensure the number will be a pleasant surprise, not an unpleasant one.
Eat so there are no regrets, right?!!
Onward and downward, everyone - if I can do it, like this, almost anyone can.
Yes, I'm having a pity party today. I'm miserable. I'm incapacitated (nothing humbles one faster than not being able to go to the bathroom unaided). My poor husband had to use a vacation day today, because no one could babysit me. And I'm miserable. Oh wait, I said that already.
Misery loves chocolate, as every woman on the face of the earth knows, and I want chocolate - lots and lots of chocolate - milk chocolate, to be exact.
There, I said it. I feel sorry for myself, and chocolate makes all things better. Well, no, it actually doesn't, but interesting that in my hour of pain, I pray first, then go right to chocolate - in thought anyway.
And no, I'm not actually eating chocolate. I just WANT to. My pity party says I deserve at least that, but hey, irrational thoughts can justify anything.
Milk chocolate may taste good, but it solves nothing. In fact, it makes things worse. I don't need to be incapacitated AND putting weight back on, so I am not giving in to the urge - the very, very strong urge.
After losing all this weight, it is interesting that the mind still goes there though, isn't it? But, where I used to just give in, I now shrug it off. That is something, anyway.
More of me hurts, but that is to be expected, I suppose. I feel like I've been run over by a truck, or what I imagine being run over by a truck should feel.
I neglected to relate an interesting event from Friday. The nurse/technician who helped me in radiology, was positioning the inflexible, injured leg to get a proper scan of it (assuming it may be broken). While moving the leg, she stopped and looked at me with a puzzled expression. She asked if I'd lost a lot of weight lately, and added, "I mean, a LOT of weight." (Yes, I said, why?) She was trying to adjust the leg, and the skin on the thigh just moved, like it was a loose blanket covering my limb or something. It was really weird. I guess I only really saw my leg when I was standing, and didn't really pay it much attention before the injury.
I don't track my thigh measurements really, but I did have a thigh measurement from my 307 weight (the RIGHT thigh, as it turned out). Figures, it would be from the injured side, right? Anyway, I need to remeasure it, to see what changes have taken place there, once I am capable of doing that again.
Has anyone else noticed loose thigh skin? Great, that my attention has been drawn to mine, just at the time I cannot exercise to help that issue. Well, I can't let that worry me, or detract me from my diet plan. I'm not as well hydrated as I have been, which is actually taking some time for me to adjust to, but I have to be practical with my lack of independence and need for assistance right now. The other diet challenge I have right now is not what I eat, but when. I am doing a lot of sleeping right now, so I am missing snacks and sometimes even a meal. My hubby knows my sleep has been sporadic (due to injury/pain) so if I happen to be sleeping through lunch, he lets me sleep. While uninterrupted sleep is a good and necessary thing right now, I hope I can get back to a regular eating schedule before too long.
Thank you, to everyone who commented and/or has expressed well wishes and prayers. I really do appreciate it. I don't want my blog to degenerate into a litany of woes though, so I'm going to try to return the focus to weight loss, where it belongs. It is all about getting healthy, right? I just think how much worse this would've been at 327 lbs ... so, losing weight has all sorts of unforeseen advantages.
Stick to the journey, reap the benefits, lessen the negative ramifications!
I told my husband that not being able to stand (so not being able to weigh-in) has one advantage. It will be a suspense-filled surprise, to see what it reads, when I eventually am able to get back on the scale. I'm working hard through it all, to ensure the number will be a pleasant surprise, not an unpleasant one.
Eat so there are no regrets, right?!!
Onward and downward, everyone - if I can do it, like this, almost anyone can.
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