Recovering from Surgery

I had my hysterectomy surgery on the 9th of this month, and I'm on my way to feeling much, much better.  I'm glad the hardest part is over, and I can't wait until I can get out of total couch potato mode next week. My husband has been doing an awesome job of taking care of me. He cooks me breakfast in the mornings (we had biscuits and gravy and cinnamon rolls this morning) and dinner every night. He really is an awesome cook. I just hope I don't gain too much weight while I'm recovering. I haven't even been trying to track what I've been eating. I think it would scare me! Yikes!!!

I have been doing a little bit of walking, but I have no idea how far I'm going. It's not anywhere near the 2 miles that my hubby and I did at the end of November, but at least I'm able to move around.  The doctor told me to slowly start increasing my activity. I can start doing light housework next week. Yay... I think... ugh!  At least it will get me off the couch more.  I thought I was a couch potato before my surgery, but wow, my butt really gets sore from all the sitting!  I must get up from my desk a lot more than I realize when I'm working.

When I went to the doctor on Monday, I was a bit disappointed with my weight. I'm at 203.6.  That's almost identical to what I weighed on the 7th which was 203.4.  I was hoping that I'd at least lose a little from the surgery... oh well... I'll get there.  On the up side, my husband says I look healthier than before... my color is good and I seem happier.  I told him the happier part of that was due to not having to drag myself to work five days a week.  :-)

I don't have a scale at home, so I won't be able to post my weight until I am cleared to go back to work. Hopefully, I'll be able to lose a little before I start working again.

Have a Merry Christmas and a Prosperous New Year everyone!

Pumpkin Fluff Recipe

I forgot to talk about the pumpkin fluff I made at Thanksgiving. I turned out pretty good. :-)  It tasted pretty close to pumpkin pie. The best part about it is that it's SIMPLE, and according to Hub Pages it's only 2 points per serving if you're following the points system on Weight Watchers. :-)

Ingredients:

• 8 oz. sugar-free or fat-free Cool Whip, thawed
• 1 small box of instant vanilla pudding
• 1 can pumpkin puree
• 1 Tablespoon of pumpkin pie spice

Directions:

• Mix all ingredients together
• Serve and enjoy. Makes 4 servings. Keep Chilled

This recipe comes from hub pages. There are a couple of other pumpkin recipes on the same page.  Here's the link.  http://hubpages.com/hub/Pumpkin-Desserts-Low-Point-Low-Calorie  If you try it, let me know what you think.  If you have a recipe you'd like to share, I'd be glad to post it here.

OK... Why Does Exercise Have to Hurt?

Whew! I'm glad Thanksgiving weekend is over! I think I've eaten enough turkey to last me for a while! It sure was damn good though. :-D

My husband and I started walking/running yesterday. It was mostly walking, but we ran a little bit.  We measured out a 2 mile route and followed it yesterday. We started out walking and then we ran until I was sucking wind pretty hard then we walked until I caught my breath and then we ran some more. We did that the whole 2 miles... I'm surprised I even went 2 miles... I've never done that before. I'm desperately out of shape! My husband, who is a 2 pack a day smoker, can run farther than me before he runs out of breath! That's not fair! LOL  It's what I get for being such a couch potato for the last several years. Something else that's not fair is the way my legs feel today. They are very sore. When I stand up to walk, it takes me a few steps to stop feeling like I have knives stabbing me in my calves and shins. It'll be better in the morning... at least that's what my husband tells me. We'll see about that! LOL

I joined #DecGTD... December Going the Distance. Robby at http://fatgirlvsworld.blogspot.com
challenges us to "Go the Distance" each month. We set our own goals and then post our efforts on the spreadsheet Robby has provided. She's added some new categories this month... servings of fruits and vegetables eaten, ounces of water drunk, a column for how you feel. This is my first GTD. It will be a good way to track the miles I walk/run. I set a goal of 30 miles for December. I'll be out of commission for a while after my surgery, but I think I'll be able to manage 30 miles by the end of the year. Thanks for the challenge, Robby.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm so stoked!  According to my family, I made the most awesome turkey EVER!  All I can say is Claire Robinson is an awesome cook!  I used her recipe from her 5 Ingredient Fix show.  Here's the link again. :-) http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/claire-robinson/classic-turkey-in-5-recipe/index.html

This is what it looked like when it came out of the oven.  It was very moist and tender.  This was the first turkey that I've ever cooked and I'm 45!  I'm so glad it turned out so well.  :-D  My fantastic husband made the dressing and potato salad.  He also made a coke salad.  I love it when he cooks.  :-D

I did pretty well with my portions when I ate, too.  I usually fill my plate to overflowing and go back for more.  This year I only ate a small amount of everything and ate more turkey and salad than anything else... I did have a small sliver of my pumpkin pie, though.  It was good, too. 

I have one more Thanksgiving dinner to get through tomorrow.  I'm excited, though.  Mom is trying to lose weight, too so she said she would do things in a healthy way.  But what I'm excited about is that both of my children and  both grandchildren are going to be with us!  Our son has been in town from New Jersey and we're going to have him and his son with us tomorrow!  Our daughter has the day off from work tomorrow, so she and her daughter get to be with us, too!  After all, spending time with the family and counting your blessings is what Thanksgiving is all about.

I hope everyone is having a great Thanksgiving with their families and friends.

Pumpkin Pie... Yummy!

I must really love my family.  I made this pumpkin pie for my family for Thanksgiving.  It smells really good.  I LOVE pumpkin pie, but I won't be eating any this year.  My friend Ellen found a "pumpkin fluff" recipe for me.  I'll be trying it tomorrow.  I'll report how it tastes sometime this weekend.  :-)

Gary and I are making our first Thanksgiving dinner.  We usually have dinner with each of our families, but this year we're having one of our dinners at home.  The turkey is thawed and I will be getting up bright and early to put it in the oven.  I'll be using Claire Robinson's recipe from her 5 Ingredient Fix show.  Here's a link.  http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/claire-robinson/classic-turkey-in-5-recipe/index.html.  Wish me luck cooking my first turkey!

Good night everyone!

Surprise! Good Weigh In Today

I totally don't understand how I had a good weigh in today.  I didn't track my eating or get any kind of extra movement this past week.  (Back to the tracking and getting SOME kind of exercise this week).  I'm pleasantly surprised.... actually, I'm amazed.  I'm at 204.3. That's down 2.1 lbs. from last week. Only 4.3 lbs. to go to reach my goal.  :-D

I'm a bit fearful of Thanksgiving. I LOVE pumpkin pie. I look forward to it every year at Thanksgiving and Christmas. I had a tiny sliver of it at our work luncheon on Thursday, but I don't know if I'll be able control myself with the pie in my own house... I'll think of something.... maybe just a tiny piece... oh, crap!!!!  I'll have to fill up on salad and turkey.  :-(   Oh well, at least I won't be walking around saying, "I can't believe I ate the WHOOOOOOLE thing."

Well, I better go to bed now.  At least tomorrow is the end of the work week and I can look forward to a 4 day weekend.  And there will be NO black Friday shopping in my future... I'm broke!

What a week!

I've been avoiding writing this post all week. I don't know why, but I have. I gained 0.2 lbs. this week, but I'm okay with that. It's really nothing I can't overcome. I was even sticking to my food plan really well... until Thursday. We had our Thanksgiving luncheon at work on Thursday, and I ate too much! The will power and determination that I've had for the last three weeks just went up in smoke! There was pumpkin pie and sweet potato pie and that green jello salad with the mini marshmallows (I love that stuff!)... I did try to control my portions. I ate just a sliver of the pumpkin and sweet potato pies and just a couple of tablespoons of the green stuff, but boy did I feel guilty! I feel like I let myself down. I've been trying so hard to eat right, and I have for the most part, and I blew it on pie!

I was better on Friday, at least during the day... I stuck to my plan until I got home. I was SO exhausted when I got home, I let my tiredness get the best of me and ordered pizza for dinner. I only ate two slices, but not long afterward I fell asleep on the couch. I was in bed before 9PM.

Well, now that I look at it, I didn't do as bad as I thought. I didn't eat as much as I would have eaten in the past on a luncheon day at work. I didn't go home feeling all miserable like I've done in the past. I totally skipped dinner that night... I was still feeling full.

I'm pretty close to being back on track now. I made fajitas for dinner last night. No guacamole and only a small amount of sour cream on one of them. :-)  Tonight I had pork chops and rice... I really need to buy more vegetables for home! I eat a lot of spinach salad for lunch at work, but I don't have the same stuff at home for lunch on the weekends.

I'll get the hang of this! At least I'm actually trying!

Just a Quick Update

I don't mean to brag, but I've been having an awesome week, as far as my diet goes. :-)  I've been sticking to my eating plan pretty well. I haven't totally wasted my optional calories on soda, and I'm getting my 8 glasses of water in on most days. The cool thing about this plan is that you can use non-caramel colored diet soda as water, as long as you drink at least 4 glasses of regular water, too. I try to drink all 8 of my glasses of water as plain water and use my diet soda for a treat. :-)  Not drinking Dr. Pepper has been a challenge for me, but I've finished drinking the last of the caffeine-free Diet Dr. Pepper, and I promised myself I wouldn't drink it anymore. One of my friends at work is seeing a nutritionist and she was told that caramel colored sodas are really bad for people. I'll have to do some research on that and get back with you on it.

I made turkey/beef burgers and oven fries for dinner on Wednesday. They were really yummy, too. Even my husband liked them. To make oven fries, you quarter your potatoes long ways and lay them on a baking sheet. Drizzle them with a little bit of olive oil and season them with garlic powder, a little salt and pepper, and paprika. Bake @ 375 degrees until browned (about 35 minutes). According to my Weight Watcher's information, 10 oz of these is 2 Bread selections and 2 Fat selections. It's definitely a meal that is satisfying and feels like you're cheating, even though you're not. :-)

Well, my dishwasher is calling. I better get my dishes done so I can cook dinner in a little while!

Awesome Weigh In!

Great news! I lost 4.4 lbs this past week! I'm so excited! I wasn't expecting to lose that much at one time. I now weigh 206.2. Now I just have 6.2 lbs to go to get down to 200.

It's been a VERY long time since I've been below 200. I was about 180 when I met my husband in 1996. (We were both a lot thinner back then.) I've struggled with my weight most of my life. The only time I ever considered myself thin was at the end of my senior year of high school. I weighed around 120, which is good for my 5'3" frame. When I got to college, I put on the "freshman 15" and I just kept on gaining. I got married to my first husband just before I graduated from college. About a month after graduation, I got pregnant with my first child and gained even more weight. I managed to lose most of the weight I'd gained with my first child when I discovered I was pregnant again....

I've been on the "weight loss rollercoaster" ever since. Mostly because I've been lazy and haven't exercised or cooked healthy meals. I'm tired of being the lazy, fat, unhealthy person that I've become. My pending surgery has helped me focus on what I need to do to get back into shape. (and I don't mean round!) Health wise I am lucky that my body shape is a pear instead of an apple. I don't have high cholesterol or high blood pressure, and I'd like to keep it that way. I've promised myself I'm going to lose this weight! I'm so thankful for my family and friends who are so supportive and love me the way I am, but they know I'll be so much better off when I lose the weight and get healthier. I love all of you! Thank you for caring about me and showing your support.

Better Day

I had a better day today.  :-)  I was able to go to the grocery store this morning and get some good food.  I bought chicken and ground turkey and real vegetables. :-)  I had a good day sticking to my food plan, too. I only went over my bread selections by 1, and everything else was spot on! I even drank all of my water! Yay! It makes me feel good to meet my eating goals.  :-)  Two more days until weigh in.  I'm actually a bit anxious to see the results of my changes to my eating habits.  I know, I know... a few good days won't make me instantly thinner, but it's a start.  I'm encouraged by what I've been doing.  I haven't been feeling really hungry, either.

I forgot to state my goal for this month!  I'm wanting to get below 200 lbs. by the end of the month.  So I need to lose 10.6 lbs.  I'm having a hysterectomy on Dec 2nd and I don't want to be heavier than 200 lbs. when I go in.  I feel I will heal faster if I lose some of this weight.  I was over 200 in 2007 when I had an appendectomy, and it took me 2 weeks to recover.  Of course, it didn't help that they had to open me up instead of doing it laparoscopically.  I know a hysterectomy takes longer to heal.  I just want to give myself a good start.  I'll be starting my ab exercises tomorrow.  It can't hurt....

I better go to bed now.  I'm sleepy!  Sweet dreams everyone.

Feeling a Bit Under the Weather

Today's been a rough day.  I'm not feeling really well.  I did try my best to continue to eat right. I had oatmeal w/cinnamon, an apple, and a cup of skim milk for breakfast. Oatmeal is pretty filling and helps curb snacking for me.  Lunch was a bologna sandwich on wheat bread.  I know it wasn't totally healthy, but it's still within my diet.  Dinner is another story.  We had macaroni and cheese w/ground beef.  Since I wasn't feeling well, I didn't go to the grocery store today.  I hope I'm feeling better tomorrow.  I have to get to the store and get some healthy food!  Tomorrow should be a better day. :-)

Good Day!

I'm fairly pleased with myself today.  :-)  I finally got all of my vegetables in for the day... plus 1!  I found a recipe that I had gotten in '94 for pumpkin muffins.  They actually taste pretty good.  The best part about these muffins is you get 6 muffins for 1 serving!  I'm glad I decided to bake them last night.  (I even made a special trip to the store to get the ingredients.)  They really helped me stay (mostly) within my allowed selections.

The last three days have shown me how terrible my eating habits have been.  I still haven't gotten my protein selections down to 5, but at least I only had 6 today.  I had 9 1/2 on Tuesday!  Once I do my grocery shopping on Saturday, I'll be able to put some menus together and plan my days.  I didn't get where I am overnight.  It will take a while to get back to a decent size.

Finally Getting Back Into the Groove

It's been too long since I've really tried to eat right.  I decided today that I want to follow the classic Weight Watcher's plan that uses food selections instead of the points system.  I've followed each of them before, and I was much more successful with the food selections.  To me, the points system allows too much flexibility.  I really have to have more structure than the points system provides.  I won't be going to any meetings, but we are still doing weekly weigh-ins at work.  I told the girl who keeps track of our weight of my plans, and she was very encouraging.  There is another girl at the office who is following a different program who was also encouraging.  I'm making myself accountable to her as well.  I'm hoping that a little more accountability will give me the small push I need to keep me on track.

Today was a challenging eating day because I didn't plan my grocery shopping this weekend. I bought the usual ground beef, processed cheese product, sugary cereal, white bread, and whole milk that have brought me to this point instead of the chicken, vegetables, whole grains, and fresh fruit that I need to be eating.  This will surely be a challenging week!  Fortunately, I DO have some tuna and oatmeal in the pantry and broccoli in the freezer.  (I just had broccoli for a snack!)  I might make it through the week with those. :-)

I took my measurements again.  My bust is 44", waist 41", hips 50", and thighs 26 1/2".  I have actually lost some inches since the first of the year... 1" in the bust and 2 1/2" in the thighs!  Wow! I figured it would be worse.  When I weighed this morning, my weight was 210.6 lbs.  That's a loss of 5.6 lbs since the first of the year.  Pretty sad for 10 months. :-( 

I'm going to be taking a trip to the grocery store tomorrow to get a few more healthy foods to get me through the week. I'll have to plan a menu for next week and plan my grocery buying accordingly.

Better get to bed for now.

Another Successful Weigh-In!

I'm stoked that I lost another 1.2 lbs!  I now weigh 211.2.  Eating a healthier diet is helping a lot.  I had another pretty good day food wise today.  Here's what I ate.  Breakfast:  2 slices of wheat toast, 1 medium apple, and 1 large banana.  Lunch was a large salad of Romaine lettuce, baby carrots, and a tomato topped with fat free Italian dressing.  (I did have a few pieces of candy corn and a 16oz Dr. Pepper for a snack... bad me!)  Dinner:  1 medium pork chop simmered in cream of mushroom soup, and 2 cups of rice.  I went overboard on the rice, but I have learned from past experience not to leave myself hungry when I eat a meal.  Eating filling foods helps curb cravings and snacking on junk food.

Gary and I went to the gym last night.  It was our third visit.  We used the exercise bikes for the cardio portion of our work out.  It was much more enjoyable than the treadmill.  We were on the bikes for a little over 15 minutes, and I got my heart rate up to the 150's pretty quickly.  My average heart rate was 146.  Monday, when we walked on the treadmill, I only got my heart rate up in the 140's and my average heart rate was 136.  We also used some of the weight machines.  We did leg extensions, leg curls, and the lat pull down.  All-in-all we worked out pretty hard.  I was surprised that I could do leg extensions with 60 lbs.  I don't think I've ever gone that heavy with the weights before.  On the leg curls I got up to 90 lbs and could still do about 15 reps.  I'm going to try to do 100 lbs. when we go back tomorrow.  My upper body needs a lot of work.  I think I did 40 lbs on the lat pull down.  I was pretty proud of myself for what I did.  Tomorrow I plan to do more weight machines.  I'm working myself up to doing all of them eventually.

I'm sure it seems like I'm taking very small steps, but I know that a person as out of shape as I am has to work his/her way up the fitness ladder.  I will continue to progress and get in better shape as I go.  I can't wait to start taking yoga classes, but I want to lose about 20 lbs. first.  I think it would be hard for me to get myself into the poses at my weight.

I'll keep you posted on my progress.

Weigh In Day

I had my first official weigh in day of 2010 on Wednesday.  I weighed 212.4!!!!!  I lost 3.8 lbs in a week!  It's been a long time since I lost that much in one week.  I was very happy with myself.  :-)  Now I have to keep going.  I don't want to get back into the cycle of losing and gaining the same 10 lbs.

I've been pretty good at not eating too much that's fattening this week.  I've been having fruit and toast for breakfast, and salad for lunch.  Dinner has been a little more substantial.  We had baked chicken 2 nights this week, Subway one night, and sandwiches last night and tonight.  Our biggest problem is we haven't made menus or planned out our meals before we went to the grocery store.  I don't know about y'all, but I HATE going grocery shopping.  It's annoying to me to have to go back to the store to get something in order to finish cooking a meal.  We didn't plan really well for the entire week, so we ended up running out of the things we needed to cook proper meals.  The first goal for this week is to plan our meals and make a shopping list.

Gary and I have only been to the gym once this week.  :-(  We still haven't figured out a routine to get us on the right track.  I know, that's a lame excuse.  We're just going to have to put on our big kid britches and go!  We'll get that worked out.  I'm looking forward to getting into better shape.  The second goal for this week is to get to the gym more than once.

Over all I think my first week on my journey has gone well.  I'll keep working on those goals and get better habits as I go.  I know I can do it this time.  I'm determined.

Our First Trip to the Gym

Gary and I went to the gym last night.  We didn't want to push it too hard, so we just did some cardio.  I did about 2 minutes on the elliptical machine and 30 minutes on the treadmill.  I can't believe how out of shape I am! I felt really light headed and out of breath when I was finished.  I gulped down some water to try to recover.  My legs felt like Jell-O.  That tells me I have to keep going and get into shape.

I weighed myself at the gym.  According to their scale, I weigh 213.7 lbs.  That's less than the 216.2 I weighed on Wednesday at work.  My official weigh-in will be on Wednesdays.  We weigh at the same time every Wednesday and that is a better indicator of my weight loss than weighing at different times of day at the gym.

I had a pretty good day as far as what I ate.  For breakfast I had an apple and a banana.  I had a salad for lunch with fat free Italian dressing.  I had a turtle and a couple of cookies at break time for a snack. (Oops!) Dinner was a turkey and ham on honey oat bread from Subway.  I actually got 48 oz. water in through the day also.  :-)  That's a lot better than my typical 2 or 3 20 oz. Dr. Peppers.  I still need to get some milk in my diet somewhere.  Yesterday I had a smoothie for breakfast.  I got up too late this morning to do that.

The Journey Begins... Again

I know it's cliche to start a health and fitness program on the New Year, but there's no better time than now to get busy getting healthy.  My husband Gary and I are both overweight and out of shape.  I'm on my way to a heart attack or diabetes if I don't do something about my weight and sedentary lifestyle.  I've been losing and gaining the same 10 lbs. for the last three years.  Some of us at work weigh every Wednesday.  We each pay $4 a month and whoever loses the largest percentage of their weight wins the money.  I've never won the money.  We've been doing this since September 2006!  I weigh virtually the same as I did when we first started!  I've got to get serious!  I don't want to weigh 216 lbs. any more.  I've got 2 beautiful grandbabies I want to see grow up!

This is me.  Gary and I took pictures of each other yesterday to document our appearance.  I not only need to work on my weight and shape, but my rosacea is horrible, too.  A healthier diet will take care of some of it.  I have to totally cut out the caffeine, too.  That's my biggest weakness.  I LOVE Dr. Pepper!  No more!  I know I should be drinking water, I just don't.

We also took our measurements yesterday.  Boy that was an eye-opener!  Here are mine:  Neck: 15", Chest: 45", Waist: 41", Hips: 50", Thighs: 28 1/2".  The only good thing about these measurements is that my waist is smaller than my hips!  No more!  I have a picture of me when I was in college.  I want to look like that again.

My first step toward my goal was to join 24HR Fitness.  Gary and I went there yesterday and took a tour.  It was better than other gyms we've used.  I liked the pool area.  It looked cleaner than others I've seen.  Tomorrow, Gary and I are going to the gym to work out for the first time in quite a while.  I'm looking forward to getting started.  There are yoga classes I want to take on Tuesdays.

I better get some sleep now.  Got to get my rest.