HOLDING STEADY!

"THE PLAN" - DAY 21

Just wanted to include an update here on my progress on my weight loss plan:

I am currently "holding steady" at last week's statistics (Weight: 206).

I haven't lost any weight this week, but I didn't gain any weight this week either.

I'll take whatever small accomplishment I can rally.

By the way, isn't the cartoon to the left cute?

More to come. . .

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Congratulations to Green and his New England Patriots for their win yesterday!

On to the Super Bowl!

Who Doubted it?

*************

Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day to Everyone!

We all should have the same dream that a man or woman is known by the content of his or her character. . .

I VOTED!

I voted today!

Yes, it's a Saturday, and an unusually cold (42!) and quite rainy (here on the coast) Saturday at that, but I definitely voted in my South Carolina Republican Primary.

I would like my vote to count in a majority manner, but based on what I have been hearing for days from "polling" on the news and media, I am in the Republican minority in voting for Rudy Giuliani.

My vote for Rudy is based on a few simple reasons: (a) He is about strong national security which is a definite issue for me; (b) He turned New York City's economic spiral around when he was Mayor, and I believe he can do the same for our country; (c) He is known for his ability to work, problem-solve, and get things accomplished with Democrats as well as Republicans since that is what he did in New York since most of the members below him were Democrats; (d) He is a man of action and about solutions; (e) He believes in minimal government (unlike Obama and Clinton who have these "grand" plans, but who is going to pay for their plans? Us.); (f) He has a reasonable and effective tax plan; and (g) He has a well-thought-out immigration policy.

Rudy has not solicited or "stumped" for votes in South Carolina at all. He hasn't done that in any state except for Florida, and it seems to have hurt him based on what the media has had to say. I hope this isn't the case, and that his campaign success will turn around in Florida and the February 5th states.

There are a couple of positive ways to look at his choosing not to campaign in the early Primary and Caucus: (1) He is being financially responsible with the campaign's money and budget, and (2) If this approach succeeds, he will be seen as a smart planner and time-manager. (The flip side of #2, though, is that if this approach doesn't work, it will be seen as a monumental failure for a man who could have won.)

No, I am not bothered by his three marriages. More than half of America has been divorced at least once, sometimes more. I am not crazy about his current wife, but I don't see her as an intrusive force in his campaign or possible-Presidency (unlike Fred Thompson's campaign).

I always take my vote as a serious responsibility and as both a privilege and a right.

Yes, I voted today, and although my candidate may not win here in South Carolina tonight, at least I let his campaign know that there are some of us out here who think he would make a good President.

My vote still feels good.

TERRIFIC! FIVE POUNDS LOST!

DAY 13 of THE PLAN:

Weight: 206.8 (Down 5.2 pounds from 212!)
Measurements:
Neck: 14.5 (Down .2 of an inch from 14.7!)
Biceps: 14.5
Waist: 39.7 (Down .3 of an inch from 40!)
Forearms: L9.5/R9.6
Hips: 47
Thighs: L25.5/R24.5 (Down a half inch on both!)
Calves: L15.5/R15

My previous weight loss blog was a bit depressing since it seemed that I had gained two pounds, but I am back with much better news!

As you can see from the information above, the scale and statistics show that I've lost five (5!) pounds and roughly a half inch.

This may not be earth-shattering to most, but it is good news for me, especially with the Type 1 Diabetes. I'll take any success no matter how small right now.

SparkPeople.com!!

While I am hailing my small victory in weight loss, I HAVE to tell you about this amazing website called SparkPeople.com. Credit must go to DaBich here on Blogger for telling me about this online community.

Please take time to stop by and visit whether you need to lose weight or you want to be encouraged in your already healthy lifestyle. The site is phenomenally organized and very thematic. There are so many tools and success stories. There are numerous "Teams" and "Communities" with Message Boards and incentives. The whole website is incredibly motivating!

I am really excited about finding the website (as you can tell)! Join me if you like!

Until next time. . .

I hope you'll be seeing "less" of me! [Wink. Wink.]

Just So You Know. . .

As an additional note to today's blog and just in case any of you were wondering, Green and I mutually decided some weeks back that, for this season in our lives, we are best served being good friends. I do count Green as a true friend, and I have the utmost respect for him. There will be no change in our interaction here on Blogger, since we mutually came to this decision, and we still very much enjoying conversing. Green is a kind and wonderful man, and what you see on this blog is just a nice slice of who he really is. Rest assured, we should all be proud to count him as our friend.

ON DECEMBER 26th - MY BIRTHDAY

This is a picture of me on my birthday on December 26th. The picture was taken at Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina by Green.






Fort Sumter actually sits on and makes up a whole small island in Charleston Harbor on the way out to the Atlantic Ocean. It is literally a fort which encircles the entire island. The first shots of the Civil War were fired here, and we happened to visit the Fort on the anniversary of it first being occupied on December 26th.


Green took the above picture of me on the second story overlook. I sent him all of the pictures of him, and he says that he is going to post them, but he hasn't yet, so I'm posting one of him here. He likes history and especially the Civil War, so visiting Charleston was right up his alley.







Green is actually QUITE photogenic, and all the pictures of him are really good. He is entirely too modest about how good he looks in pictures. I wish he would post some of his pictures for you to see. I don't know why he has delayed.





Perhaps we should ask him. . .



********************** ME TODAY:

This last picture is of me and my puppy today - actually just a few minutes ago. I'm just adding it because I feel like it. . .Enough of a reason. : )

DISGUSTING

"The Plan" - Day Five (5)

I'm stressed.

I'm disgusted with myself.

This has been one of the hardest weeks I've ever had in my life (and I've had some hard ones previously).

I make a New Year's Resolution, and all *?#! breaks loose.

I shouldn't be surprised, though. Besides this Weight Loss Plan, I am on a 21 Day Fast for spiritual reasons. I have given up one of my favorite items that I could have had in abundance on the Weight Loss Plan, but I'm giving it up to gain more clarity in a certain area and be more sensitive to God's voice and design in my life. I should have known that whenever I start a fast all hell really does seem to break loose. I must remember "to count it all joy" (or at least the working of greater joy in my life). It's still rough, though.

The picture I have posted above comes from another Faculty member who took my picture at an early December Winter Formal Dance at the high school where I teach. I posted my own pictures to this event on my December 15th blog.

I am mortified by this picture, but I am also disappointed because the faculty member kept saying what an excellent picture of me it is before I actually saw it myself. I was horrified and wanted to start crying when I finally saw it. Granted, the picture was taken a month ago and the angle wasn't that flattering, BUT it is a traumatizing picture, and it makes me think that I must not see myself as fat as I actually am. That chin scares me. It's worth about four chins, and it makes me think of Santa Claus when Christmas is now over. : (

As to my results for this week, I am baffled. According to the scale I actually added two pounds to my original weight, but according to my Body Fat Percentage, I went down by one percentage point this week. Did I gain that much muscle in a week? I don't think so, and, although I'm thrilled by a lower Body Fat Percentage, I find the scale result disappointing nonetheless.

I'm wondering if the higher stress load this week (I got some unexpected and devastating news that has set me back emotionally) may have caused a release of cortisol and those other "weight holding" hormones. I also didn't weigh myself at the same time today, so that could make a difference too. In the end, it really doesn't matter whether either of those is the cause. Bottom line is that I gained two pounds, lost one percentage point of fat, and feel like I'm off to a failing start in this desperate need to lose weight. I feel like a failure about a lot of things right now, and it's not helping my outlook on life or my hopefulness about a lot of things. I have to remember that today is a new day, and I have to put any setbacks behind me and believe the best and better about myself and my ability to succeed at and with this goal.

Here are the statistics on Day Five (5):

Weight: 212.2 pounds (up from 210.8)

Body Fat %: 44.2 (down from 45.9)

Go figure.

Actually, my mantra should be: "Figure, Go!" Current figure that is.

[Note: I don't know why Blogger sometimes refuses to honor new paragraphing and indentations, but it does. At the time I am posting this, Blogger is not recognizing my actual paragraphing of this post, and I have tried to fix it four times. Does anybody know why it does this? It is a ridiculous issue with this blog site. Is there a fix to the problem?]

OVERHAUL - AN ODE TO THE NY BROOKHAVEN OBESITY CLINIC

Greetings to 2008, and Happy New Year!

** Two Quotes to Think About in the New Year:

We tend to seek Happiness when Happiness is actually a choice.

It takes nothing to Dream and everything not to.

OVERHAUL

My birthday just happened on December 26th, and I am now 37.

Although my life is nowhere near what I envisioned so many years ago, in so many ways it is far better. In other ways, like so many individuals, I have suffered significant loss and have grief for things that have not transpired to this date and age.

Hey, though, that's life.

John Lennon summed it up best in one of his songs written to his son Sean: "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans." (I'm not a particular John Lennon music fan, but I can't get away from this quote, so I quote it frequently.) : )

The tile of this post is "Overhaul," and I know that experts warn not to expect too much or set goals that are too high at the New Year's. I also know that most resolutions are broken within three weeks of January 1st. Yes, I know all this, so why did I title my post "Overhaul - An Ode to NY's Brookhaven Obesity Clinic"?

Because I have to.

No, I've never been to Brookhaven. I've never even laid eyes on the place. No one I know has either.

No, I'm not morbidly obese.

Yes, I'm overweight and fleshy, but if you passed me on the street you'd think I am "average" for the U.S. My dearest friends who know my weight are always shocked when they learn my actual weight. They always insist I "carry" my weight so well. That's nice, but it makes it no healthier for me.

I used to be a Cross Country runner and loved aerobics in high school and college. I'm fortunate that my body type has kept that layer of muscle underneath my layer of fat. This adds to my weight, because muscle is heavier than fat.

I am also a Type 1 Diabetic diagnosed in my early 20s. My pancreas just quit working. I was thin then, so the disease was brought on by genetics and heredity. I started putting on weight when I started taking insulin (a fat storing hormone) and when my marriage became a depressing and debilitating cavern of pain, but. . .

I digress.

This post is an ode to Brookhaven Obesity Clinic, because I know of this place because of The Learning Channel's program about its patients. Brookhaven's patients are morbidly obese with weights of generally 500+ pounds. They're too heavy to even have Gastric Bypass Surgery at their current weights. Wow. Most of the patients, however, don't seem to overcome their food addictions, and after prolonged stays of several months to, in some cases, YEARS, they don't lose the weight and often actually regain any lost weight plus more.

Here's the thing, though: I have to thank this Obesity Clinic for helping me see that even though these patients are horribly overweight, they are merely an exaggerated form of me. How can I judge their need to lose hundreds upon hundreds of pounds when I need to lose my own average amount of weight for my own health and I have been nothing but ineffective at doing it?

I can't believe I'm going to say this in a public forum, but I have to. I can't make excuses, rationalize, or be in denial about this.

I CURRENTLY WEIGH 210.8 POUNDS. I am 5'8" in height.

Gulp.

AT MY HEAVIEST LAST YEAR, I WAS 225 POUNDS.

In 2006, I worked with a Personal Fitness Trainer and lost 27 pounds. I had to stop because I couldn't afford the Trainer's cost anymore on my teaching salary. I should have maintained the weight loss, but I have yo-yoed since then and even ended up in the Intensive Care Unit this past April related to the Diabetes and Salmonella poisoning from a raw egg. Being in the hospital didn't help my morale in the weight loss arena, but I don't want to be there again, so in that way it was a wake-up call too.

I need to lose at least 65 pounds and possibly another 10 to 15 from there. I need to do this for my health more than for the obvious cosmetic reasons which I will love too. What woman doesn't want to feel slim, athletic, desirable, and sexy?

I can't do this without a plan, though, so I've started today, and I'm going to list my plan right here. Failure is assured when not prepared, so I want to be prepared.

THE PLAN:

1. Start the eating plan the Personal Trainer gave me in 2006. It worked with the exercise then, so why not do it again?

2. Record everything I eat in writing in a designated journal. I had to do this last time too. It worked to help me see that I was adhering to the correct foods.

3. Do at least 20 minutes of aerobic exercise five days a week. This gets the heart rate up and increases oxygen flow.

4. Do weights/resistance training at least twice a week (more if possible) to increase muscle mass for higher caloric burning. Invaluable.

5. Record my progress and feelings here on Blogger in writing, in pictures, and/or with a video diary (if I can get the videos to upload properly) weekly. I love "Before and After" stories, so I'd like to be one of those too.

6. Weigh and Measure at least once a month. I don't think it is good to weigh or measure too often since it can be discouraging if done too often, so I'm aiming for once a month, but I may do more. How one's clothes fit tell the story too.

Day One - January 1, 2008:

Weight: 210.8

Measurements: (These are embarrassing, but true!)

Neck: 14.7

Shoulders:

Biceps: 14.5

Waist: 40

Forearms: L9.5/R9.6

Hips: 47

Thighs: L26/R25

Calves: L15.5/R15

Well, here goes everything!