Thursday, July 28, 2011

WW Weigh-In, Week 21

Weight: 136.5
Mood: Meh.

I'm up 3/4 of a pound from last week. I'm mildly bummed because I'd like to have hit the 134 range, but I'm also not surprised because The Main Source of my TMI-Fests is due on Monday. Joy. So I'm retaining a lake's worth of water, basically, concentrated in my lower abdomen and my chest.

Compounding the hormonal misery, I also ate out for lunch on both Tuesday and Wednesday. I stayed within my calorie range both days, but I know the sodium probably didn't help my weigh-in. My hope is that next week I'll have less eventful lunch hours and less fluid hanging out in my torso.

Outside of that, my exercise has been good and I'm even looking at bringing in some heavier dumbbells or something because the 10-pounders I've been using for my curls and triceps stuff are getting less challenging. I also need to find something to give my quad work more "umph", but I'm at a loss on that one because my exercise equipment at home is limited to the treadmill, elliptical, a stability ball (I use it at my back for squats for my quads, and under my legs while I'm reclining on the floor for some hamstring thingies), and the 3, 5, 7, and 10-pound dumbbells. I can't have much more than that due to sheer space constraints. Clearly I need to do some research.

So all in all? Not bad. I haven't even put on a whole pound, and I've had months where I think I've loaded on five. And the emotional PMS-fest isn't off the charts (yet) either. So that's a plus.

All I have to do now is make it through the weekend without making a peanut butter pound cake with chocolate ganache glaze. Not so sure how I'm going to do with that*.

*Not so sure I'm that committed to not doing it, either. Heh.

Monday, July 25, 2011

Music to My Ears

Bet no one's ever said that about their annual girlie exam before. Okay, now that I've already squicked out half my readership, TMI-fest incoming. If you'd like to avoid it and get to my findings on The Great Publix vs. WalMart Pricing Wars, scroll down below the ruled line.

We're all clear then?

Anyway, as you probably figured I had my annual girlie checkup today. I have a new GYN and she's awesome, I'm happy to report. As far as these appointments go in general, I'm good with the results. I had to go in anyway because The Yeast That Wouldn't Die is back, so I've got new medications incoming for that which should nuke it nicely. You'll all be so interested to know that I have a "classic" yeast infection. Thrilling stuff, eh?

The music to my ears part of this was when she looked over my anal-retentive records of two-years-plus of my cycles and said, "I don't like your periods." Yay! I don't like them either! So we're going to roll with the oh-so-fun pelvic ultrasound, followed by the endometrial biopsy, and then assuming everything comes back benign, Amanda finally gets her uterine ablation.

YES. I swear, I've never been so happy about a surgical-type procedure in my life.

On the downside, I'm also being scheduled for my First Annual Boob Squishing. I have really dense breast tissue, so this isn't going to be fun. But I've seen more than one woman with breast cancer who has my same family history of zero breast cancer prior to her own case, so better safe than sorry.

Still, not looking forward to it. Luckily, my GYN understands that I reserve the right to whine about any test she schedules... and that I'll go, regardless of how little I want to.

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Now for the grand price war results! I set my alarm like a good little price checker, and once the boys and I staggered around for awhile, we got out the door and arrived at WalMart at 5:50 a.m. Holy Jesus God that is early. This better be good.

It was, from the financial perspective. I did my grocery shopping, the boys waxed rhapsodic over the toy department, and then later on that day after I'd gone for a walk with my local SparkPeople team, I finished up the shopping with my Publix run to pick up sale items that were actually cheaper at Publix than at WalMart, as well as to cross-check my prices.

Some items were cheaper at Publix when on sale: Diet Coke was cheaper (3 12-packs for $12.00) and eggs were cheaper (2 dozen of my preferred type for $4.00). Overall, though, WalMart came out the clear winner.

Prices will vary from week to week at both stores, of course, and I'm far from crossing Publix off my list of places I'll go for groceries. I prefer to shop there even with the higher prices, to be honest. I like how they treat their employees and I want to support that as much as I am able. But the $13.75 speaks for itself. Over a month's time that's near sixty dollars, and with my income that's nothing to sneeze at.

Money in the bank, folks. And that, too, is music to my ears.

Thursday, July 21, 2011

WW Weigh-In, Week 20

Eating is good for you. Who knew?

135.75 lbs., yay! And now I've finally officially lost all my "baby" weight...

...from the 12.5 year old. Somehow I think after a certain point the weight became less about "baby" and more about "Doritos". Ya think?

I need to remember that 1200 calories only works for me when I'm not exercising. And for those who want to know how in the world I can forget that, bear in mind that I've been at this for awhile, and over time I've become well accustomed to what foods will both fill me up and provide my nutritional needs for a minimum of calories. I'm not starving by any means at 1200 calories, and even manage to get in a couple of scoops of ice cream.

Daily. Plus chocolate. So I'm not suffering.

But yeah, about that ice cream. Now bear in mind, it's Edy's Slow Churned Yogurt Blends Caramel Praline Crunch (With Live and Active Cultures!), so it's not as if I'm chugging down the Blue Bell. Plus I can even argue -- badly -- that it's good for me. I can guarantee you, though, that eating two scoops of it wasn't helping matters. I needed something a bit more nutritionally dense, so I switched one scoop out for a 1/2 cup of Cabot 2% Vanilla Bean Greek Yogurt and a cup of blueberries.

I kept the other scoop, and they'll have to pry it out of my cold, dead fingers.

I've also thrown some avocado back into my life (love avocado!), and that combined with the yogurt and blueberries -- which run a bit higher calorically than one scoop of the ice cream -- plus a change-up to quinoa and chickpeas from my standard lentils or black beans has given me that extra 100+ calories for my day. So yep, going to keep it about 1300 - 1400 calories per day from here on out. Although 1200 calories is sufficient for the nutritional needs (see WebMD or a host of other legitimate and sound sources regarding the 1200 calorie threshold) of a 41-year-old sedentary woman who isn't gestating or breastfeeding or anything like that, it's definitely not sufficient for this 41-year-old woman, even though my activity level can be described as "moderate" at best.

I also had salmon twice this week, and tilapia twice, lessening the legume onslaught. So I may have to watch the seafood sales more closely and see what I can do to keep the fish consumption happening.

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Along those lines, I'm actually going to brave WalMart for my weekly shopping on Saturday. Usually I go to Publix, which is a local chain down here in the southeastern US, but although they have good sales at times, their base prices appear to be markedly higher than WalMart's prices. In general I'd feel the markup is worth it for the atmosphere and the customer service, but in this economy I'm going to attempt to just suck it up and deal.

That said, I'm not dealing with the WalMart crowds. No way, uh-uh, ain't gonna happen, kids. I'm setting the alarm for 5:00 a.m. on Saturday, and I'm going to drag my bleary-eyed self out the door and get the shopping handled before the rush hits. I've done grocery shopping at WalMart during the day before on rare occasion, and it is a flat-out misery. Early morning* is the only way to go.

On the bummer side of this, I kind of thought my early rising meant I'd get to go shopping alone for once in my life. Nope! As soon as the Elder and the Gum Zombie heard where I was going, they excitedly opted in. The early hour was no barrier. It would appear they have some allowance burning holes in their pockets, and because I tend to avoid WalMart at all costs, this is like a trip to freaking Disney for them.

Hopefully they'll remember there's a real trip to Disney happening later on this year (four nights -- squeee!!) and let that guide their spending, because what they manage to save will directly affect Choreboy's and my contribution to The Offspring Souvenir Fund.

*Looking at my weights from last August, which is when that link was located, I'm over 10 pounds down -- yay!

Thursday, July 14, 2011

WW Weigh-In, Week 19

138

No tenths or hundredths... just flat-out 138.

I should be more excited, because hey, I finally dropped a whole pound after FOUR WEEKS of this 139/ 139.25 stuff (yay!), but because I'm a moron I weighed myself on Monday and was 137.5 then, so now I'm wondering why I gained a freaking half pound.

I know, a half pound fluctuation is well within normal limits. I just wish it had been fluctuating in the downward direction today. Oh well. Good news is, the near-plateau is busted!

Now I just have to figure out what to eat when I'm actually, say, exercising. Because I'm thinking the big reason I haven't seen much movement in the past 8 weeks (just over 3 pounds down) is because during most of that time period I've been exercising more while keeping my food intake right around 1200 calories/ 29 Points+.

By "exercising more" I mean just the mere fact that I've been exercising, by the way. I burn between 1000 - 2000 calories per week with cardio, along with whatever unknown number of calories I'm burning with my 2-3 20-minute resistance sessions a week. Clearly I'm not killing myself here. It's a moderate effort at most. But it's also the one thing that really changed that correlates directly with my weight loss slowing down to a dead crawl.

However, during the past two weeks while I've been marginally out of commission due to The Illness, I've actually lost a pound. Still eating 1200 calories/ 29 Points+ per day. So... I'm thinking I'm going to go up a hundred calories per day (and up by whatever number of points corresponds to that) for the next two weeks and see what that does for me.

And if the scale won't budge, I'll go up another hundred. Like they say, if you keep doing what you've always done, you'll keep getting what you've always got.

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In other news, Choreboy is made of awesome. I know this comes as no shock to regular readers of my blog, but he really is.

My refrigerator gave up dispensing water and making ice back some time in 2008. Or it's not so much that it gave up as it is that the water dispenser refused to shut off and poured water all over my floor, and the ice dispenser refused to dispense, which caused the entire ice maker to freeze up... it was ugly. Eventually, we just shut off the water to the blasted thing.

Then last weekend we took it into our heads to clean off the top of the fridge. And by "we" I mean "he" and by "our" I mean "his". During this bit of family fun, his interest in the dispenser was piqued, which resulted in me coming home to a functional water dispenser and ice maker on Monday. Yay! The ice dispenser portion still wasn't working, but only for lack of a part which arrived yesterday, and now we have full functionality for a financial outlay of $40.

Excellent. The man seriously rocks.

And then there are the cats. Three of 'em, to be precise. I brought the cats into the home knowing fully well I was allergic to them, and Choreboy married me knowing I had cats and that he was also allergic to them. What can I say, we're gluttons for punishment. Anyway, allergies must run in the family because the largest of our cats, Daniel, is allergic to fleas. Kind of inconvenient when you're a cat, especially when you live in a house along with a tiny, yappy dog who will insist on going outside to go potty rather than using a litter box like a civilized creature. Even one flea will drive Daniel into a frenzy of scratching and hair loss, resulting in a mostly bald, bloody, pitiful, angry feline. Needless to say, this is unacceptable both to him and to us, so we take the cat in every three months for a steroid shot which helps immensely with the itching.

And this is another time when by "we" I mean "he". Historically, Daniel has made resistance to getting into The Box nearly a pathology. He runs. He hides. He braces himself against the box. He shreds any human attempting to put him in the box into bloody ribbons (did I mention all the cats are fully clawed?). This makes transport somewhat... iffy. And since our vet's office has only limited office hours on Saturday, which is the only day I could get him in (assuming I didn't bleed out in the process), it usually falls to Choreboy to do the deed.

He hasn't needed a transfusion yet.

Monday was The Day for Daniel. He'd actually gone quite a long time without a shot this go-round, due in large part to a change in his diet which appears to have greatly lessened his itching issues. But it's summer, and with summer comes more fleas, so into the vet he went.

And this time. This time, the super-sekrit-cat-whisperer-who-is-my-husband got Daniel into the box without bloodshed.

Not only that, but when they arrived home from the vet's office, Daniel walked right out of the box as calmly as if he did it every day.

Made. Of. Awesome. Truly, I am wowed. And grateful, both for the functioning fridge as well as for the change in The Daniel Cat's behavior. Yay, Choreboy!

Thursday, July 07, 2011

WW Weigh-In, Week 18

Followed By Bonus Overshares!

Week 18: 139. Ish. I'm not entirely sure, because I'm still running a fever so I'm not yet back to work. This means that I don't have access to The Official Weigh-In Scale, located at my parents' house (plus they'd really prefer I didn't spread The Plague over their way). So instead this morning I got on our little floor scale, which has an accuracy best described as "quixotic", further aided and abetted by the fact that the dial is way way far away from my aging eyes, and even with my glasses on my reading of it is... iffy at best.

It looked like 139, give or take the wiggle of the dial as I struggled and squinted, so 139 it is.

Oh, and if you want the entire numbers rundown, check the sidebar under my Followers widget. Once I passed 12 weeks it started getting a bit unwieldy; I finally caved and just made it a page element. It is to be hoped that I have a more accurate reading for next week.

Preferably lower as well.

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Okay, next is the overshare part. Anyone reading who doesn't want to be exposed to information about yeast infections, menstrual cycles, ice cream or chocolate needs to go away now.

You have been warned.

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So it's not enough that I'm sick. Oh no. On top of that, I developed a charming yeast infection. I held off asking Choreboy if he'd please pick up an over-the-counter treatment pack for me for two days because I kept thinking surely I'd be better in the morning and could get it myself before things got too bad.

Needless to say, that didn't quite pan out. Bless Choreboy (best husband in. The. World. Bar none.), he went out with my detailed description of the particular pack I needed -- the one with the inserts, the ointment, and the wipes, thankyouverymuch -- and after only a little struggle due to labeling issues, he returned home with the goods.

I raced to the bathroom for some desperately needed relief and quickly discovered that the degree to which I was hosed had just doubled. Nay, quadrupled. Because not only was I dealing with yeast infection treatment (which is sticky and ooky and just plain aggravatingly messy at best), but my period had started!

Ah, good times.

See, you can treat a yeast infection while menstruating, but tampon usage is not recommended. I bleed like a stuck pig for the first 24-48 hours of my cycle which is bad enough with a tampon/ backup pad combo. With only a pad? Basically, I get to sit here and pray I don't spring a leak.

Then to top it all off, my pads were in short supply because my usual weapons of choice in the period wars are tampons, preferably of the "suck up the volume of a lake" caliber. Since I had to drag myself out of the house anyway, the boys got their dearest wish and went to their summer program for the first time this week and I then went straight from their daycare site to the grocery store one block away.

My plan was to buy pads and two cans of soup.

I walked out of the store with two boxes of "Shamwow is Jealous" absorbency pads, two cans of soup, one box of Skinny Cow Dreamy Clusters in dark chocolate, and two 2-for-$7.00 1.5 quart containers of Edy's Slow Churned Yogurt Blends -- one of Caramel Praline Crunch, and one of Chocolate Fudge Brownie. Chocolate much? I am such a freaking hormonal stereotype.

I'm just grateful tomorrow is Friday so if I go to work I can wear jeans.

Wednesday, July 06, 2011

Tardy

Weigh-in for Week 17 was a solid 139, without the point-two-five. I had excellent intentions when it came to blogging, but I got hit by company coming into town followed swiftly by the 4th of July holiday weekend, which was then followed by the post-4th-of-July gastro-intestinal virus.

Fun!

The Fourth of July weekend was actually a blast. We went to my brother's house on Sunday for swimming and sloppy joes (nine Points+ -- yipes!), then repeated that process on the 4th itself, sans sloppy joes for me (I packed some of my lentil soup instead). And for dinner that night I made burgers, oven fries, and broccoli, followed up with Edy's Slow Churned Yogurt Blends Caramel Praline Crunch, which is made of awesome.

My stomach started feeling a bit "off" after dinner, but I chalked it up to two days of being in the sun for hours in the heat of the day, along with the attendant pool chemical inhalation. By the time Choreboy and I got to bed, though, my entire stomach was cramping up. I spent the night in and out of the bathroom, and by morning when I felt like if I could just hurl (I never did -- I was spared that aspect, something of a mixed blessing) I might feel better, but then again maybe not since again with the gut cramping and toilet-sitting...

Uh, yeah.

So. In light of the fact that in the past forty-eight hours I've consumed precisely one piece of toast topped with one tablespoon of peanut butter, who knows what tomorrow's weigh-in will bring?

I think I'm doing better, as evidenced by the fact that I've actually eaten something and it's stayed where it was put with minimal ill effects. I mean, my stomach feels a bit worse for having eaten, but I'm not screaming and I haven't lost it, so that's a plus. The worst thing right now is the achiness (body and head) which may be caused in part by being in bed all day yesterday. So I'm up and vertical today -- even did some typing from work that they brought over -- and my hope is to be back in the office on Thursday.

Prayerfully without a bucket.