My quest to better health

The past three months have been quite a journey and I am pleased and proud.  On November 1st I joined Weight Watchers online and today I am 29 pounds lighter.  It's a wonderful feeling.  I still have a ways to go, but I know I can do it.  I am focusing on small goals one week at a time.

One of my dear friends is doing this as well.  We text and/or chat daily about what we've eaten, what the scale says, our frustrations and our thoughts through this process.  My quest is to get healthier, become more fit and not get so discouraged when shopping for new clothes. I do not have many of the problems associated with being overweight.  I am grateful for that.  Low blood pressure runs in my family and even at my heaviest my blood pressure was low, my cholesterol in the normal range and no diabetes.  The health issue that was really the catalyst for doing something about my weight was my hiatal hernia. I will always have it, however by losing weight I can lessen the symptoms that are so bothersome.  Already I am feeling better, I know the medication is a big part of it, but losing 29 pounds takes pressure off my diaphragm which in turn reduces the pain and problems the hernia has caused.

Last fall two different surgical groups recommended a Nissen Fundoplication to fix my hernia.  The long term side affects and potential problems really got me thinking. I am believer that anytime you can make lifestyle choices to solve a problem without surgery, then it's win-win.  The surgeons told me that medication and losing weight "may" help and I had about a 50:50 chance of seeing an improvement.  That was enough of a motivator.  I jump started things with 80 mg of prilosec a day (per Dr's orders), yes 80 mg - a normal dose is 20 mg per day.  My symptoms calmed down after 4 weeks and I've have since weened off the high dose.  I only take 20 mg a day now.  Prilosec is an antacid and in my case less acid means less vomiting.  And that's a good thing!

When I started this quest for better health I didn't tell anyone aside from my immediate family, sister and dear friend who joined with me.  It's not that I want to keep it a secret, it's just that it's MY journey, MY quest, MY thing.  I didn't, and I still don't, want advice from people on what to eat, what not to eat.  I feared people would question my food choices.  It isn't their journey, it's mine. I am doing it for me, and me alone.  I do think that's why it's working for me, right now at this time in my life.

Now that I've lost 29 pounds people have noticed and it's nice to get complimented that I look good.  But when someone tells me loudly in a public place with others (whom I don't know) very close by "you've lost a lot of weight and you look good", I just want to have the floor open up and suck me in.  It's embarrassing, you might have well just said "now that you've lost weight I realize how terrible you looked before".  It's nice that you think I look good and are happy I lost weight, but tact and decorum would be appreciated.  I've vented now, I'm over it.  Moving on.

This is what I just ate and boy was it delicious.  1 tablespoon of peanut butter on a slice of Sara Lee Delightful Multi-grain bread and one apple.  I think the peanut butter will have staying power, which is good because I've been so hungry the past few days.  This was after a banana and a hard boiled egg about an hour earlier.  I think my increased hunger is because I really upped my exercise while in New Orleans on a business trip with my husband.  I had to work out more to enjoy some of that yummy creole cuisine.  The extra exercise is good, I feel my legs getting stronger (and smaller) with each workout.   WW point count on the day = 6.  Egg (2), Peanut Butter (3), Bread (1), Apple (0) and Banana (0).   No deprivation for me!

I am pleased and proud that I have been able to lose weight through the holidays and while taking several trips (a week in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, four days in New Orleans, a week in Seattle, WA).  My mind is definitely in the right place and here's to the next 10 pounds.  I know I can do it.  I owe so much of my success so far to my amazing, supportive husband.  I've experimented with new recipes, rid the cupboard of junk food and he hasn't complained once. In fact, he's lost about 8 pounds.  He is such a blessing!

Time to get on the exercise bike!

30 Days of Gratitude - Day 30

It's finally over.  When I started 30 days of Gratitude I thought it would be easy.  How hard can it be to write about something you are grateful about during the day?  But it was hard, much harder than I thought.

I always had something I was grateful for, but how to translate that into a blog post that didn't sound obnoxious or cocky was difficult.  No one wants to hear that I was grateful I got to sleep in until 9 am on a random Tuesday or that I watched Ellen while I worked out.  It would imply my life is easy and that I don't work.  Though I know that's not true, I wonder what others think.  Perhaps I shouldn't worry about others because this is my blog not theirs.  But I do think about those things.  I do care what others think and how they feel.  Whether it's right or wrong, it's how it is.

As I look through my posts during this challenge I see that much of what I was grateful for are things, tangible things.  When did that happen?  When did I begin to place such esteemed value on the object/things in my life, that I felt the need to write about them?  Life is about people, emotions and events not things.  It makes me feel so shallow.  Something I will definitely need to think about and work on.

I have a great family.  My grandmother is still alive and lives nearby.  We get along well and I see her fairly often.  Though I am struggling with some of her neediness and wish my mom lived closer to help more.  I get along well with my parents and see them several times a year.   I love my husband and children.  My oldest daughter and I struggle with many issues and I hope and pray that one day we will have a close relationship.  But she is 21 1/2 and so sometimes I wonder if that opportunity has passed.  I hope not.  I adore my sister and her family.  We see each other often and I love spending time her.  I have good friends.  And great relatives on my husbands side of the family.   Family and friends - that is what I should be grateful for, because those are things that matter.

And good health.  You get to a certain age and you have friends that become ill or pass away.  It's hard and makes you think about you own mortality.  But today, right now, I am in good health.  And the people I care about are in good health, relatively speaking given age etc.

I am grateful that I am living and breathing.  I am grateful that I am loving and kind.  I am grateful to have a great family and friends and that I am in good health.  There is nothing else I need.  I am blessed.

What are you thankful?