Bow Down to the Pumpkin Spice God!

For the past week or so since oral surgery (and since my awesome weight loss), I've been experiencing some trouble on the errr....bathroom front. To put it bluntly, I've been terribly constipated! I had been eating enough fiber and drank plenty of water, but the bowels just weren't moving much, and when they did, it hurt like giving birth. Well, I imagine birth hurts that much based on the movies. To use a term I'm familiar with, it hurt as badly as passing a kidney stone! My mom said the problem could be due to the lovely pain medication I was on. (BTW, I never ended up having any mouth pain, so they may have worked too well...they worked well for my shoulder!)

But, I discovered a cure that seems to work for now. Googling tells me it shouldn't work, except for one alternative cure site, but my body is all about defying the norm. My cure comes in the form of one pumpkin spice cappuccino in the morning! I hate anything that tastes too much like coffee unless it is doctored up with so much creamer or sugar that one could ask "Would you like a bit of coffee in your cream?" I have slowly grown to like some cappuccino flavors, and pumpkin sounded good, so I thought I'd try one. Coffee is a diuretic, so it usually increases constipation problems when drinking huge amounts. But, 30 minutes after I drink the lovely pumpkin spice concoction, I get the urge to go and I'm back to normal again. Yay!

In other news, I've found a new crazy weight-loss gadget for the week. Let me introduce you to the Diet Guard. It looks like the fancy mouth guard the dentist made me when I was treated for TMJ. I ended up grinding a hole through that bugger. For only $49.95 (or $99.90 for both your top and bottom teeth), you too can have a custom-molded mouth guard to prevent you from eating. Hello, if I was hungry enough, I'd pop that guard right out! I don't remember experiencing any lovely weight loss back then. If the gadget automatically stuck to my teeth until a programmed meal time, then we'd have a product worth buying!

Off to study before leaving for my pharmacy class, so I'll be back again tomorrow. (Seriously! A week with more than one post! Will the world stop turning?)

Second Verse, Same as the First

Weigh in: Down 0.4 pounds.  I am resisting the urge to kick or throw things! I expected to see a lower number due to eating mush for a few days after my oral surgery. Plus, my scale told me that I weighed 132.4 for three days straight. Yes, I still am stepping on my semi-broken scale. I knew for sure my body didn't lose that much overnight. Somehow, my scale magically changed to weigh in kilograms rather than pounds. I found the switch at the bottom...I have no idea how it was touched!

Since I have nothing exciting to talk about today, I'm posting a meme from Becklette.

1. Who was your FIRST prom date? I didn't go to the prom! None of my friends were going and I thought it sounded lame. From the stories I heard the day afterwards, I didn't miss a thing.
2. Do you still talk to your FIRST love? Did I ever talk to my first love? Did he know I existed?
3. What was your FIRST alcoholic drink? sips of beer from my grandpa
4. What was your FIRST job? Babysitting the brother of the most popular girl in school-I have no idea why the parents called me! I had only babysat my sisters in the past, so nobody would have recommended me. Maybe the sister thought who would be available on short notice?  LOL! The brother ended up loving me so I was his regular babysitter for a few years.
5. What was your FIRST car? 1996 strawberry Dodge Neon-I got it after beginning college and starting a "real" job. It was new and I loved it!
6. Who was the FIRST person to text you today? The Giggleman was the first with the important message "The Human Torch was denied a bank loan"
7. Who is the FIRST person you thought of this morning? my sister--I cursed her when the alarm went off since the only reason I needed to get out of bed so early was to drop her off at school
8. Who was your FIRST grade teacher? Mrs. Culey-she told my mom I was an excellent student but needed to learn to stop interfering with others getting their work done after I finished. I couldn't help it...I was done and they were slow! I needed entertainment!
9. Where did you go on your FIRST ride on an airplane? Phoenix, Arizona for a college band tour--my mom was more scared for me than I was!
10. Who was your FIRST best friend and are you still friends with them? my first best friend was Catrina Walsh in pre-school...we were going to be in kindergarten together until stupid boundary line changes! I lost track of her once we no longer went to daycare together.
11. What was your FIRST sport played? Soccer! I was horrible for the first year, but I loved it. I ended up playing up through high school.
12. Where was your FIRST sleep over? My best friend Sara's house...I remember being sorely disappointed about the Care Bears sleeping bag my mom bought for me
13. Who was the FIRST person you talked to today? Giggleman
14. Whose wedding were you in the FIRST time? I was the flowergirl for my mom's wedding.
15. What was the FIRST thing you did this morning? Grabbed my cellphone to turn off the alarm
16. What was the FIRST concert you ever went to? a concert with my parents to see Eddie Rabbitt and Sylvia at the Corn Palace...yes it was lame, and I'm not sure why I went since I wasn't a fan! I'm assuming my mom couldn't find a babysitter
17. FIRST tattoo or piercing? My ears for my 8th birthday
18. FIRST foreign country you went to? Winnipeg, Canada for a choir trip--I do not remember ONE exciting detail except it was colder than home!
19. What was your FIRST run in with the law? I haven't had one yet...
20. When was your FIRST detention? Never had one...yeah I'm sure you're all thinking I'm a goody-two-shoes dork with the band and #19, but truly, I've had my rebellion!!
21. What was the FIRST state you lived in? South Dakota-first and only
22. Who was the FIRST person to break your heart? Giggleman would be the first to truly break it...and I still hold a bit of a grudge about it even though we are together again!
23. Who was your FIRST roommate? (besides my sister at home) my freshman year psycho roommate Christina--I found out her first letter to me that summer was sent to me from the mental ward (not why I consider her psycho because I've been a guest there a few years ago!) She didn't like her things touched, she started not going to classes, and eventually moved out to live with her psychology professor.
24. Where did you go on your FIRST limo ride? the restaurant Spezia with a group of overachievers at work

Infomercials are Products of the Devil!

Before I start rambling, let me get my weigh-in digits out of the way. I had a good week...staying within my points, eating breakfast (I know it is the most important meal of the day, but I tend to skip it too often!), and getting some exercise in (not as much as the week before, but better than nothing!). Would the scale reflect my changes on Saturday? YES!!  I lost 2.8 pounds!! This loss is my biggest drop since joining WW and the BLBE. Losing so much slower than before is so frustrating, but maybe it means I am doing the right things to keep it off this time.

I just got back from my dentist appointment with a numb left side of my mouth and an aching right jaw. Lovely! My dentist has personal TVs in each room that swivel so they are parallel to the ceiling. It doesn't help much once his head gets in the way! So anyway, while he worked, the morning talk show stopped and infomercial time began. Joy! The dental hygienist started talking about how she got sucked into something called the Bender Ball. She ended up getting sent two instead of one and was charged for both. When calling in, the rep told her she could keep the second for 10 bucks or wait for return labels and credits. Today, the infomercial for Malibu Pilates was on the TV. I had never heard of it and saw Susan Lucci on the screen. Geez, she promotes the makeup, has clothes on one of the shopping channels, and now is spewing exercise products?  Acting isn't lucrative enough? From what I gathered, it has to do with pilates moves on a chair. I kept thinking, "Wow, what lame person thought of this?" Then, Mari Winsor pops on the screen a bit later. I should have guessed...she is the one who sucked me into her pilates videos back when I lost a ton of weight. (I think they are great and would use them if I could find where they were packed in the last move!) Now, I can't get the darn chair out of my head.

Self: "Ooh, I could do that while I'm watching TV or at the computer!"

Brain: "Just say no. Do you really think you'd get any real cardio?"

Self: "But look! They just showed how their heart rate increased!"

Brain: "Get some use of the exercise tools you have now, and then we'll discuss this purchase."

Yes, I have a problem!

Also, I have one last piece of cool news. Despite the slow loss, I have officially went down a size in pants!  Last week, I realized my pant legs were dragging when I walked. Doing more research, I discovered I could pull my pants down without unbuttoning or unzipping. So, I decided to buy some new ones...I tried on a few different styles in different sizes. The ones a size smaller looked and fit better on me than the others. So, woohoo!

Time to find something mushy for lunch, so I'll be back tomorrow with more updates!

Taking Care of Me!

Helllloooo out there! It's been quiet here for the past few days...sorry! But, I have been doing well with food this week and have been tracking! I said I was going to post totals here, but I did that back when I was doing South Beach and nobody is really interested unless you have awesome recipes and such. I don't. My food is boring! Instant oatmeal, cereal, peanut butter and banana wraps (I Heart Flat Out Wraps, BTW!), chicken, broccoli, turkey burgers, oranges, apples, and other mixed frozen vegetables do not make entertaining reads. Once I am a culinary goddess, I could change my mind!

I just got back from my regular dental checkup...marking the second dentist visit in two weeks. Here is a tip from me to you: Do not go back to school, quit work and lose insurance, and then return to work and be too absentminded to set up appointments. My lovely crown issue made me realize how neglectful of my body I've been in the past three years...no one should be shocked to hear that I gained back all that weight I lost during this period.  I have two more dentist appointments next week...one with my dentist to repair another chipped tooth that I didn't notice and one with the oral surgeon to get the tooth that had the crown yanked out. The dentist also gave me an estimate of what it would cost to repair the one that is getting yanked. He wants me to do an implant which costs $1900 and is NOT covered by insurance. Plus, I'd have another oral surgeon visit for part of the procedure. Or, I can do a bridge which will be weaker but is partially covered and only be out $1000. Crap! All this for one tooth? He also recommended a gum shaving for my top front teeth. I've always been extra gummy in pictures, my teeth look small, and it's annoying. So, I'll probably do that sometime next year.

Next task: find a new doctor and set up an appointment! I know I keep saying this, but I will make it happen this month! I haven't been to one since last November when I knew my benefits were going away due to switching jobs and not wanting to pay COBRA beaucoup bucks. In that appointment, he went over my lab work, talked about my lack of energy issues, and gave me a bunch of samples of Synthroid. I'm assuming that my thyroid levels were actually low, and I was too dumb to ask that day. He never used to be one to throw pills at me like candy at a parade! He used to be so on top of things until he got remarried. Then, I had to guide him to making a diagnosis. A neurologist that saw me in 2005 when I was going through hell found things that my doctor missed and sent the info to him and advised I should hear from him in the next week about new meds, etc. I didn't hear a peep until he ran into my family in the hospital with my grandma THREE MONTHS LATER! I should have changed doctors then, but I figured I'd give him another chance! I should have been more proactive as well, so I know I'm part of the problem. Heck, he's been my doctor since age 4, used to be head of family practice at the hospital, and never pushed any weight programs or had any other fat doctor horror issues I've read about. But, he knows squat about PCOS and as I said, he just doesn't seem to figure out problems anymore!

I also finished signing up for benefits next year. I already had my health insurance and 401k since becoming official, but this year I had a ton of other options to go through plus make any other changes. For instance, for a small payroll deduction, I could choose to add up to one more week of vacation time to the already generous amount given. Even better, if I donated a larger amount to the United Way, I could wear blue jeans for two days each week next year. How sad is it that I upped my donation solely due to that fact? Sure, I'm helping people, but I get to experience FREEDOM FROM DRESS PANTS AND SKIRTS!

I'm off to workout before heading to work, so I'll cut off this ramble now and be back tomorrow with a killer weigh-in (I HOPE THERE IS CHANGE!!!)

Just a Quickie!

Somehow, I slept through most of the day and am running behind!!  I have my food for yesterday logged in the lovely WW e-tools so I'll share it along with Wednesday foods by tomorrow.  I had my flu shot yesterday...wonder if that has anything to do with my sleepiness?

I did watch the Biggest Loser last night and am pleased with Brady going home! I really wished it would have been Vicki, but evidently she is working out as well as conniving schemes! I'm a bit worried about her state of mind with her Revenge note shown for next week. Yes, I paused the screen so I could read it all and she's out for blood!

Time for breakfast...errr make that late lunch and then I need to fly to work! I'll have some better news to share tomorrow (including pants excitement!)

Let it Snow!

Contrary to my title, I DO NOT WANT MORE SNOW!! We were lucky last week and only got about an inch of that white stuff to stick around. People forget how to handle driving in the snow every year...too fast and they end up in a ditch or too slow and they end up getting rammed in the back end. I'm a perfect driver, of course :)

First, my weigh-in. I thought I put in great effort last week and I get a big goose egg! 0.0. Zilch. Nada! I had my internal pity party for about 20 minutes in my WW meeting. Then, my motivation refueled after listening to a particular success story. There was one man at my meeting who looked pretty darn fit and healthy. I was wondering where the wife that must have dragged him in here was! Well, he earned a star at our meeting for losing weight. Not just 5, 10, 20, or 50 pounds. HE LOST 150 POUNDS SINCE JANUARY 15TH THIS YEAR! Holy shit! He said that a group of guys from his workplace joined a meeting at work and all were kicking ass! He was doing the Core program and working out a bit more. I'm still wowed. He has lost an average of 15 pounds a month. And here I am trying to get a 5 pound loss to stay after 7 weeks. I never have had such issues with dropping weight when I worked at it before. So WTF is my problem now?

Well, Angie gave me a little kick in the butt in her email yesterday. She is so good about it...she had a great post about being accountable and calling people out on excuses last week too. She let me know about how she lost weight when she couldn't move by being awesome on the nutrition front. Thanks, Angie!! I thought I was doing well, but being honest, I'm half-assing it. I am back to rarely eating breakfast, sometimes miss lunch, and then let Giggleman make dinner decisions. He usually cooks, but sometimes I come home to pizza or chicken wings. Not cool! So, I'm taking control over my kitchen again and will be planning each and every meal. I blame my tiredness on my thyroid which is whacked, but truly, I'm not giving my body the stuff it needs to keep running. That is why I crash! Starting tomorrow, I'm going to begin posting my meals here also. If you see that I'm missing something, smack me!

Off to study so I'll be back later with more updates!

Everything is Sunshine and Sparkles!

First of all, I'm stoked that Obama won the election! As I said yesterday, he didn't win our state but he didn't lose by a landslide either! I'm also happy about the abortion bill going down. When they interviewed the ringleader of those who got it on the ballot, all she had to say was the third time will be the charm! I'm sorry, but even with making exceptions this time, you didn't get any more people to vote for it than the first. Give up! Oh well, I guess I have to admire her perseverance. I had to work so I missed getting to watch all the results hoopla, but Giggleman taped Obama's acceptance speech. He knows my geeky political side too well. Then, I had a lovely conversation with my crazy Republican friend where he let me know how much I'm going to enjoy Socialism. We had a rousing debate about health care until he started whining about other things. I heard a funny commercial this morning about how the nation will be all sunshine and raining candy canes for now on since we made this change...at the end it said Same Crap, New President. Guess we'll have to see!

I had my dentist appointment today. I was there for about 25 minutes at the most! I had a lovely x-ray for where my cap was and then I sat watching TV until he came in. Unfortunately, my fix isn't just bond the bugger back in and everything will be cool. Of course not, this is my life! My remaining real tooth left in there is so miniscule and weak so that won't work. He said that they could do something called tooth lengthening where they mess with the gum and bone below it, but it would still be weak and would probably crack again. So, he recommended that I go get the tooth extracted by an oral surgeon, wait 6 weeks or so for it to heal, and then getting a bridge or something else put in. Ummmm, ok? I didn't understand half of what he meant...the only time I've been to an oral surgeon was when my wisdom teeth were removed, and I had a lovely bruise on my cheek for awhile. I just nodded in agreement and am hoping that insurance covers well! So, I get to look goofy for awhile! The spot where I'm now missing a tooth except for a stub is pretty noticable when I open my mouth. Lovely! I did get one piece of good news at the dentist. They offer free teeth whitening every six months to their patients. Guess I hadn't been there since they moved locations...oops! So now I can have sparkling white teeth for free!

I have to do some homework and other fun stuff, so I'll be back again later!

One Way to Avoid Candy!

Hello, November!  Glad to see you and the extra hour of sleep you gave me yesterday! I am so happy that the last week of the month is over...I just had no time to do anything. My blog was feeling neglected.

I found a new way to avoid Halloween candy on Friday. Lose a cap while chewing on a Rice Krispie bar! People were offering goodies like mad at work and that was the first thing I decided to actually eat instead of save for Giggleman when I got home.  Well, somehow it yanked out my cap on my tooth! (My teeth are weakened by grinding, and that one cracked so they capped it!) I was chewing and found a really hard part...which was my tooth! I popped it back in and it will have to do until the earliest dentist appointment available on Wednesday. They also let me know that I haven't been in for a couple years! I hadn't realized I let it go so long! I've never had a cavity, so hopefully my record stays that way. Everything just a bit sticky or chewy is knocking it loose, so I'm avoiding most things until then. Guess that's one way to get rid of the pound I gained this week!

I don't think I've mentioned my lack of cooking on here. Wait, I take that back. Back when I was trying out South Beach (which was wonderful for one month), I did attempt some dishes. I guess I'm spoiled by Giggleman's talent in the kitchen. If only he was talented in cleaning up after himself! I had to make a pasta salad for a work potluck on Thursday. I could have made soup (who decided to make the theme soup and salads?) but I figured I'd never survive driving with it! I asked my mom which type of salad would be the quickest and cheapest to make. She said my favorite Spring Salad would work the best. Seriously, the way my mom makes it is the bomb! Due to the kitchen mess, I headed over to my mom's to cook (aka let her make it while I nod my head and work so slowly that she takes over). Well, I had to make it ALL myself...I even chopped the 4 or 5 cups of veggies by hand. She didn't even whip out the trusty Salad Shooter for me! Nobody died after eating the goods and many asked for the recipe. I guess the key to yum was sweetened condensed milk in the dressing. I have no idea how many points or calories it is...probably 5 zillion! I did use the light Miracle Whip and put more veggies in it though.  I don't think I'm a bad cook, I just find ways to avoid cooking!

Finally, I'm trying to read up on all the issues to vote on tomorrow. Why must every November election be so jampacked with other measures? My presidential choice is easy (Obama is getting my vote even though McCain will surely win my state. SD hasn't had a democrat win since JFK...not even when McGovern ran and he's from the state!), but then there's the US Senate and House candidates, the state house and senate candidates, 5 million measures including one to outlaw abortions, plus more I'm forgetting about. I hope the lines aren't too long!

So, I better skidaddle if I want to get everything done today. I'll be back tomorrow with more news!