Health – Page 3 – p i x e l s c r i b b l e s

Getting toned

I was looking back through my “health”-tagged posts and realized I haven’t talked about what I’ve been doing lately.

The last weight I recorded here on my blog was 217. I’m sorry to say that I’m up to 230. I know some of that must be muscle, but it’s still been hard to see that number show up every time I’ve weighed in the last few weeks. I wasn’t very vigilant about eating right while on vacation, and I didn’t work out, either. But now I’m back on track, and I’m hoping that a new workout routine, plus packing my lunches, plus Sean and my decision to eat more home-cooked meals, will result in some weight loss.

When I got back from England, it was the middle of the week. I decided to just not worry about anything other than unpacking, organizing, and getting resettled at work. I didn’t even see my trainer until the following Tuesday. But starting at that point I began to build some good habits.

Every weekday I have been getting up sometime between 6 and 7. On days when I don’t see my trainer I go to the gym earlier than 8 and do 20-30 minutes of cardio, some strength training with free weights and machines, then some ab and back work. If I’ve made it to the gym early enough, I then go swimming for a bit, and sometimes even have time to sit in the hot tub afterwards. I leave at 9, the same time as I leave when I do see my trainer, which gives me just enough time to get home, shower, pack a lunch, and head out the door.

The first week I was pretty good about packing a lunch, but last week I slipped and this week has been kind of stressful, so I ended up eating out more than I should have. Still, I’m proud that I haven’t missed a single workout on the weekdays. I’m hoping to start working out on Saturday, too, but at my trainer’s suggestion I’ll leave Sunday as a day of rest.

To save money, I’m quitting Weight Watchers and have started using The Daily Plate at LiveStrong.com to track my food and exercise. The UI isn’t great, but the food database is exceptional, and I can use the iPhone application without having to be online.

I’ve already noticed that my arms and legs seem more toned. My trainer says my waist is more toned as well. I can’t tell, but I hope it’s true! I think I’m on the road to making real progress, rather than just talking about wishing I was.

The real issue with swine flu/H1N1 flu/whatever’s PC now

The main reason health officials are worried about H1N1 is not because it is somehow deadlier than other flus. The flu is pretty deadly. It kills around the same number of Americans each year as car accidents. That’s why we have flu vaccines; we try to predict which flu strain will be the most common and then prepare ourselves for it.

The issue with swine flu is that we don’t yet have a vaccine. We had no idea it was coming, so we were unprepared. As with any other flu, people who are very old, very young, and who have health conditions are the most at risk of actually dying, but anyone is in danger if they don’t take care of themselves.

Because we weren’t prepared for this, there’s more of a chance that it will affect more people. And the more people who end up sick, the harder it is for the nation to go about its business. If no one at a certain factory is able to work, for example, that’s a huge hit to that company and to all the other companies that depend on it. If police, firemen, doctors, and/or nurses get sick, that’s a safety issue. We need to have enough healthy, well people in our society to function.

So you can stop worrying about dying from swine flu. Instead, worry about staying healthy. Wash your hands and encourage others to. Eat right, get enough rest. And don’t let fear of the flu cripple your life.

Stay away from the farm: Swine flu

If you’ve been sick recently, doubtless someone has joked, “Maybe it’s swine flu!” The name may be funny, but the issue is serious. The virus is spreading and has already killed.

While it probably started in pigs, it’s obviously moving human to human now. So while avoiding pigs and birds is a no-brainer, there are other things you’ll want to do as well. Wash your hands, take your vitamins, try not to touch your mouth or nose, and stay away from sick people if you can. Make sure you’re getting enough sleep, eating healthily, and exercising. If you do get sick, don’t go to school or work. There is no vaccine, so be careful!

Here’s some general information about the outbreak.

Here’s some general information about swine flu from the CDC.

Here’s more specific information about the current outbreak from the CDC.

Here’s the CDC’s main page about swine flu, with links to more resources.

Here’s an interactive map of locations where swine flu has been reported and confirmed.

And here’s a dose of reality. Do some research before you freak out! Remember, you can’t get swine flu from eating pork–it’s a flu virus. Just do what you would normally do to avoid getting sick, and pay attention to whether or not swine flu has been reported in your area.

Setting a routine

On Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, I see my personal trainer at 8am. This causes me to adhere to a strict morning schedule. Unfortunately, on other days I am less rigid. On weekdays this means I might sleep in and not work out at all. On weekends I likely won’t do anything productive.

I’ve decided that the best way to make sure I’m on track each day is to set up a routine that I’ll do every morning, regardless of what day it is. I can then add items to my evening and weekend schedule as appropriate.

Here’s a rough draft of what I’m thinking:

7am-8am: Wake up, do a little reading, get dressed in workout clothes.

8am-9am: Work out, either with N or on my own.

9am-9:30am: Shower and pack lunch.

9:30am-10am: Commute.

10am-7pm: Work. Try to get in a photowalk at lunch :)

7pm-7:30pm: Commute.

7:30pm-9pm: Work on projects.

9pm-11pm: Goof off.

11pm-7am: Sleep.

Second measurement data

Submitted without comment (because I have no time and because I’m annoyed), here are my measurements from today alongside my measurements from last time.

Height (in)	63.3	63.3	–
Weight (lbs)	214	217.2	+3.2
Chest Girth (in)	45	45.25	-.25
Abdomen Girth (in)	40.75	41.5	+.75
Waist Girth (in)	40.5	40	-.5
Hips Girth (in)	49	49.5	+.5
Waist to Hip Ratio	.83	.8265	-.003
Bicep Girth R (in)	14.2	15	+.8
Thigh Girth R (in)	26	25.875	-.125
Calf Girth R (in)	16.5	16.625	+.125
Body Mass Index (BMI)	37.5	38.4	+.9

Negative, of course

Today, it’s over a week since the day my period would have started, if I were on a normal cycle. I wouldn’t even know this, but it happened that I had two cycles recently, exactly 30 days apart. That hasn’t happened to me without the application of hormone therapy since before I had cancer.

It didn’t take much for me to begin to hope that my reproductive cycle had recovered somehow. So I waited to see if I would have period #3. And waited, and waited. If a week goes by, I told myself, I’ll take a pregnancy test.

This morning I took two. Just in case.

They both rather quickly came back with the “Not Pregnant” message.

As you might imagine, I had been hoping for more than a regular cycle. I hoped that the missed period not only meant I was normal again, but that I was fertile.

I seem unable to keep from hoping.

It is a good sign that I had two periods in a row. Maybe I will have another one at some point. Maybe if I can get back into my healthy habits and lose some more weight, I’ll be able to have them regularly again.

That won’t mean I’m fertile, though. After all, I did undergo hormone therapy. That should have helped me get pregnant, if it were possible. It didn’t happen, and that is likely my answer. Even if my ovaries do recover, it’s likely that none of my eggs are viable.

I’ve known all of this for years, though, and it doesn’t matter. I’ll probably keep on hoping until I’m 50.

Data

I was very “Oh, I’m so awesome!” in my New Year’s Resolution post, but since then I haven’t been awesome at all. I can place some of the blame on two unexpected periods, and some of the blame on cold weather that discouraged me from getting on the bike…but these are excuses, not reasons. The fact is that I have been lazy.

I’ve also been weak; the photos on this blog can attest to that. Look at all the crap I’ve been eating! I’ve fallen back into my old habits, where I feel bad, so I eat, and then I feel bad about eating, so I eat more.

If this doesn’t stop I’m never going to lose any more weight. In fact, I’ll gain it all back.

It’s gotten to the point that I hate looking at myself in the mirror. I haven’t felt this way in a long time.

I’m posting this in the hopes that it will serve as fresh motivation. Last week I started going to a personal trainer; we did measurements, and they are as follows:

Biometrics
Height (in)	63.3
Weight (lbs)	214
Chest Girth (in)	45
Abdomen Girth (in)	40.75
Waist Girth (in)	40.5
Hips Girth (in)	49
Waist to Hip Ratio	.83
Bicep Girth R (in)	14.2
Thigh Girth R (in)	26
Calf Girth R (in)	16.5
Body Mass Index (BMI)	37.5
Body Composition
3 Site Skinfold	25.2%
Lean Body Mass	160 lbs
Sum of Skinfolds	67.5

A horrible day turns good, then weird (TMI)

Today I felt terrible. I was on the verge of tears well into early afternoon, and then I actually did cry.

It started with my new, poorly-researched diet plan. I had had high hopes for the iPhone application Dietician, and what happy changes it might bring to my life. I got up at 7 and fiddled around until around 8:15 and then went shopping to get the groceries to follow Dietician’s plan for this week.

And already I’d hit a stumbling block. Dietician’s shopping lists are “today”, or today plus 7 or 14 days. Think about the logistics of shopping for today’s meals for a minute. So I’m supposed to go to the grocery store before breakfast, and then cook everything that needs to be cooked when I get back, before work?

I ran around the store in a frenzy, trying to get everything on the list, which was very inconveniently not sorted by grocery store section. Making matters more difficult was the fact that the amount of each food item was not totaled up; I had to do it in my head as I went. I had known about these cons to the program when I bought it, but I hadn’t realized just how much of a pain they were going to be until I actually tried it.

I got as many of the items as I could before I realized I was way out of time–another con: when you have Dietician open, you can’t see the clock! Then I checked out and hurried home and threw everything into the refrigerator and freezer. Of course, I had no time to prepare the recipes that were assigned for today. So I gave up and tossed cereal and my leftover meatloaf sandwich half in my lunch box and flew off to work.

I hadn’t had anything to eat and the new diet plan I’d had such high hopes for had turned out to be a disaster. Those were perfectly good reasons to be upset, and so I figured that was all it was. I was as pleasant as I could possibly be to everyone–fortunately I wasn’t in one of my evil moods, just a very self-piteous one. But I had trouble concentrating and ended up eating what I’d packed for lunch almost immediately, and then, over my late lunch break, I decided to escape to Boll Weevil. I started crying almost as soon as I got into my car and the tears didn’t stop until I got there.

Originally I figured I’d eat something ridiculously bad for me that I hadn’t allowed myself to eat in awhile, but after that meatloaf sandwich I really didn’t feel up to it, so I ended up having a salad with chicken salad on top. The chicken salad was a treat; I’ve hardly ever had it in the past year due to all the mayonnaise. Then I decided I wanted cake. Big gooey all chocolate cake. So I ordered a slice of Perfect Chocolate Cake, which is really the equivalent of two or three pieces, and ate quite a bit of it.

It was simply amazing how I felt about a half hour after that. My concentration returned. I was smiling. I felt productive. I had honestly expected to be even more miserable due to guilt over eating so much bad-for-me food, but that feeling was nowhere to be found. I felt…happy.

I finished up some niggling tasks and laid out a plan for tomorrow. Finally it was time to leave. I stopped in the bathroom on my way out…and that’s when I discovered what might account for it all.

Blood. Just a trace.

“You’re kidding,” I said aloud. I double-checked. “You’re not kidding.”

When I got home I looked at my calendar. I’d had a period in January that lasted nine days. It had started on January 10–30 days ago.

This could very well be a regular cycle.

You must understand, I have not had normal periods without the assistance of hormone medication since before I had cancer in 1997. I have occasionally had periods, but each one was isolated, with the next coming months or years later.

I am still having trouble believing that I’m having one now, so soon after the last. So…normally!

It is obviously premature to assume this means anything, other than perhaps that my weight loss efforts have helped my whole body become healthier. But if you know me, you know that my thoughts immediately went to the possibility of children. Try as I might, I can’t imagine that I’ll give up all hope until I’m too old.

For now, though, I’m concentrating on immediate truths: that ultimately this is a good thing, that I’m getting healthier, that there’s nothing wrong with me…and that I can cure PMS with chocolate.

I wish I could go back in time and comfort mid-afternoon me, who sat in her car wailing “Why does this keep happening to me?” with tears streaming down her face.

It’s okay, me. It’s just your period.

A salad that will not destroy today’s points total

Half a chicken breast, a cup each of store-bought spring mix and locally-grown Romaine, half a locally-grown hydroponic tomato, half a store-bought carrot, and 1/8 cup shredded Swiss cheese. The chicken was seasoned with pepper and salt substitute and cooked on the stove in olive oil. Took about 25 minutes.

Resolution

On June 3, 2008, I weighed 261.5 pounds. This morning I weighed in at 212.9 pounds. This means I lost 48.6 pounds in 2008–almost 50 pounds in 30 weeks.

In 2009 I intend to continue losing weight. I have set a goal weight for myself of 138 pounds, a goal I plan to meet by the end of the year. As of today, I have 74.9 pounds to lose. This means I must lose an average of 1.44 pounds every week in 2009. Since I managed an average of 1.62 pounds a week in 2008, I find this goal more than reasonable.

It’s also unbelievable, and exciting.

I’ve talked, read, thought, and dreamed about losing weight since I was a teenager. I’m well-versed in the theory. Set goals, take it day by day. But never until now have I been successful at putting that into practice.

Always, I’ve had a “want it now” mentality. If I can’t achieve it in a day or two, I tend not to do it. I am capable of doing many things in a few days, but losing over a hundred pounds is not one of them.

Even though I knew all this, knew that weight loss was a commitment and wouldn’t happen overnight, I still burned myself out on lose-weight-quick diets and gave up whenever I stumbled. I never had the long-range view necessary for success.

Then I was diagnosed with congestive heart failure and told I would need to have a defibrillator implanted in my chest to protect me from heart attacks. It was a horrible way to achieve clarity, but that’s what happened. I saw that if I didn’t change my life, I couldn’t be healthy. In that moment, worries about being unable to achieve my goals in a day vanished. Instead of focusing on where I wasn’t, I focused on making healthy changes every day. And step by step, I gained stamina, lost weight, and ultimately didn’t need the implant.

It wasn’t–and isn’t–easy. Without that change in perspective, everything I’ve achieved this year would have been impossible. And now that I’ve achieved the goal of avoiding the defibrillator, I’m in danger of thinking I’m “done”.

The fact is, I will never be “done”. I will have to make healthy decisions every day for the rest of my life. And I choose to do so. I choose to be healthy, I choose to be my ideal weight, I choose to feel good and look good and be happy.

Part of taking a long-range view is allowing indulgences and moving forward thereafter. I’ve learned to forgive myself this year.

The holidays have been a big stumbling block. I did very well on Thanksgiving, but the days after were full of leftovers and lost resolve. Christmastime came, and with it countless goodies. Each day I chose enjoying food over staying within my Weight Watchers Points limit.

Now that the holidays, and 2008, are over, I am rededicating myself to my health. I’m forgiving myself and moving forward.

A year ago I never would have thought I could lose 50 pounds. This year I can say I’ve done it, and I’ll do it again, and half again.

And when I get to 138 pounds at the end of this year, I’ll look back on 2009 with pride, and look forward to further health and happiness in 2010–whether that means maintaining 138 or losing a little more.

I proved in 2008 that I can do the things I put my mind to. So my resolution is this: to continue.

Fatitude

Actually, this post is about losing weight, I just thought the word “fatitude” was funny.

Check out what I looked like back in July!

And now look at me from two days ago:

Can you see the difference in my face? I sure can. Wow.

Aunt Carol update

Mom went to Peoria this past Tuesday to be with Aunt Carol, and she tweeted me this morning to let me know what’s going on. She says Carol is doing much better. Thankfully, it wasn’t Respiratory Distress Syndrome after all. Carol is off the ventilator and sat up in a chair for two hours this morning!

Thanks to everyone for your well wishes!

(Previous Aunt Carol post is here.)

Aunt Carol

(Update: Click here)

My aunt Carol, Mom’s oldest sister, tripped and fell last Wednesday, hitting her head. She is now in the hospital in a great deal of pain, on a ventilator. At first they thought something was wrong with her bowel, so they did surgery, but found nothing.

She was moved to what Mom says is a better hospital, and now they have found pancreatitis. Unfortunately Aunt Carol has also entered into Adult Respiratory Distress Syndrome. They’re not sure of the cause.

Originally we were hoping that Aunt Carol could be weaned off the ventilator and sent home in a few days, but now it’s uncertain when that might happen. Mom may go to be with her (Mom’s in Kentucky and Carol’s in Illinois).

This is the same Aunt Carol who had a heart transplant. The Aunt Carol who suffered gangrene and had to have a toe removed. The Aunt Carol who lost her husband to a stroke. The Aunt Carol who lost her only son when he was just a teenager. The Aunt Carol who sacrificed so much to take care of her ailing mother.

My Aunt Carol has always only ever wanted to live quietly, love her family, and do her own thing–write, paint, and enjoy life. But she keeps having obstacles thrown in her way.

She’s a fighter. She’s gotten through everything up until now. She can get through this too.

But if you could keep her in your thoughts, we would all really appreciate it.

My heart has almost completely recovered

I have been working very hard at leading a healthier life these past couple of months. I detailed the steps I’ve been taking here. I’ve gotten to the point where exercise in the morning is part of my routine. I bring my lunch to work a lot more, and when I do go out I make healthy choices. On days that I bring my lunch, I try to go for a walk, and I recently went to the Y during lunch when it was raining. I’ve also started going on 45-minute bike rides after work.

It’s paid off in many ways. My measurements are shrinking, I’ve lost 30 pounds, and I feel wonderful. Today, I reaped yet another reward.

Last October, I was diagnosed with congestive heart failure. After six months, heart medicine had helped my heart function improve from 15 to 20% up to 35%…but I was still too far from normal, 55%, for my doctor’s liking. She strongly suggested I get an implanted cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD).

At that point, I wrote, “I think that if I had worked harder to improve my diet and exercise, it would be better than it is…and I think if I work on those areas now, I can help it improve even more.” And I decided to work on my diet and exercise to see if I was right.

It turns out, I was.

Today I had my echocardiogram, three months after the ICD was suggested and ten months after my diagnosis.

My ejection fraction is now 45 – 50%, just 5% away from normal.

Measuring progress

As I’ve been working towards my weight loss and health goals, I’ve been tracking my weight quite a bit. I take my weight every day and put it in a little calendar. On Mondays, I put that weight into Weight Watchers Online, too. The Wii Fit takes my weight and calculates my BMI daily. And on Fridays, we have a weigh-in at work for the weight loss competition Amanda and I organized. But I haven’t really done much else in terms of tracking my fitness, other than noticing I can do more things now than before.

So today I took my measurements. I had taken them when I first started on TurboJam…unfortunately, I’m not sure when that was. I also took them on June 29, almost two months ago. Here’s how I stack up:

	Undated	June 29	August 20	Difference
chest	48.5"	48.5"	47.5"	-1"
right bicep	17.5"	15"	14"	-3.5"
left bicep	18"	16"	15"	-3"
waist	48"	47"	45.5"	-2.5"
hips	56"	55.5"	53.5"	-2.5"
right thigh	30"	29.75"	28.5"	-1.5"
left thigh	30.5"	30"	28.5"	-2"
right calf	–	17 7/8"	17"	-7/8"
left calf	–	17 7/8"	17"	-7/8"
neck	–	16.25"	15.5"	-0.75"

I’d say those are some pretty impressive changes! I’m looking forward to watching more inches “melt away”, as the cliche goes.