Obligations

Well, not as good as I'd hoped, but I am down .5# to 175.5#. Can't wait to get back below 175 and on my way to mini-goal 2: 160#

Guess I'd better step up the activity level at my house. It's currently....um.....none. Oh, wait. I took a walk the other day.

Thanks to everyone who stops by with encouragement. It's good to know we're all in this together! Want to join our group and track you own healthy progress? Come on over to www.oneweighatatime.com

Obligations

I am cranky, bloated, pimply, and tired. And that was before I weighed in! (Is it next week yet?)

up 2# to 176# again.

I have been doing all good things, though! Swimming, yard work, walks, increased general activity, etc. I am hopeful that a positive weight change will soon follow.

Obligations

It's been a while since I actually had a post to go along with my One Weigh at a Time committment (my weight loss/ healthy living group). Sorry about that.

I am down to 173#
(.5# loss for the week)

Tada! or something.

Looking for a support group to encourage you in your own healthy goals? Come and join us!

Obligations

Weight: 174#
Change: Down 2#

I am within 10 pounds of my first mini-goal of 165, and I think I should make it soon. Yay!

I have exercised several days this past week and a half: sledding two days, family walks two days, increased activity at home - chores, etc. Haven't started the situp or pushup challenges, though I still plan to.

Working on your health and/or weight? Come join us at One Weigh at a Time.

Obligations

Well, it's that time again over at One Weigh at a Time.

Time to check in. I have gained. I am back a little bit from my peak this week, but due to my run-in with some gluten, I had quite a bit of internal inflammation and what not. I'm currently resting at 176#

In line with my goal to put some regular exercise into my life and to add to the muscle strength to support my back, I am doing several new things.

• Starting back up with regular trips to the gym -- soon (right? right.)
• Doing the 200 situps challenge (situps and back stretches are dr's orders!)
  
• Contemplating the 100 pushups challenge (see the sidebar for links on these two challenges)
  

Obligations

Looking for a support group in your health and/or weight loss endeavors? Come join us at One Weigh at a Time!

This week: 174.4#
Change: Down .6#

Thought of the week: It's not about the pounds off, but the good stuff coming in.

Obligations

Well, another week come and gone. I'm down half a pound to 175 even.
Yay.

Keep it up, fellow losers!

My Celiac Journey -- Part III -- It was Thursday

Just beginning the series? Here’s what you’ve missed.

Part I -- The Diet Contest

Part II -- “You look allergic.”

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Thanks for the comments last week. I hope you’re enjoying my story. This episode picks up where Part II left off: Tests and more tests. What was wrong with me, anyway?

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How is it possible for life to move too fast and too slow all at the same time? It was about a month from that first Thursday visit when I met Dr. Schultz before I knew for sure what was going on with my body. The time dragged endlessly before me, but now, remembering, I can’t recall having had the time to do a thing. Where did the time go?

I had returned for my follow-up appointment. The tests had come back negative, just like they always had. Dr. Schultz was sure I that I was experiencing problems from something in my diet, and based on our conversations he decided that it was wheat that was bothering me. However, he was not sure that the wheat problem was actually an allergy.

He decided to let me try eating wheat, to judge my reaction to it. It was quite awful - all the ickiness I had been experiencing returned after just a day and a half of eating wheat. So Dr. Schultz tested me for Celiac Disease: a simple blood test would check for the two antibodies produced by those with celiac disease. It would just take a little while to run the tests. I went to the lab. The technician drew more vials of blood. It was a Thursday.

One week later, I was standing near the phone, talking with my husband, debating how long it would be before the test results came back. I had spent the week researching Celiac Disease and its effects, and I was stressed. I didn’t WANT to have an incurable auto-immune disease. (Who does, right?) At the same time, I couldn’t deny that I had many of the symptoms.

I think I was hoping for a simple allergy. We have some weird dietary allergies in my family - what was one more? I could picture us all, sitting around the table, trying to one-up each other’s allergies. Yeah.

The phone rang.

We tensed.

It was the doctor. The tests for both antibodies were positive. VERY positive. I hadn’t eaten wheat for weeks, except for two days when I added it back it to see if it would affect how I felt. Two days, and the results were super high.

I don’t know what I said on the phone. I remember the sunshine in the windows. I remember the look on Jim’s face. I remember hanging up the phone and saying, “Well! … I guess … Aw, crap.” And then I cried. I don’t remember him moving, but suddenly Jim was there and hugging me. It was going to be Ok. It was. We could do it. We could do it together. We could.

There are very few moments that are frozen in my memory. This added one more to my list.

It was Thursday.

Obligations

This week, I am astounded to report a loss. After a week of being off schedule ENTIRELY, coupled with chili feasting and a pan of brownies, I actually did not gain.

Current: 175.4#
Down: .2#

PS Yes, I actually DO have to eat the whole pan. (They're gluten-free and the mix costs $6.50!)

My Celiac Journey -- Part II -- “You look allergic.”

Just beginning the series? Here’s what you’ve missed.

Part I - The Weight Loss Competition

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Thanks for the kudos last week. I hope you’re enjoying my story. This episode picks up where Part I left off: Was I being a hypochondriac or was something actually wrong with me?

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I couldn’t stop thinking about how, 2 years earlier, I had done some research and realized that I was showing symptoms of Bi-Polar Disorder. I had taken my fears to a psychiatrist, and he agreed with me. He started me on Lithium, which I hated, hated, hated. But it seemed to help. It was bad enough learning to cope with that. I wasn’t sure that I wanted to find out something else was wrong with me.

I lived in denial for as long as I could, making excuses for myself. Eventually, I could stand it no longer. That night I bit the bullet: I pulled up to my laptop and typed in WebMD.com. I started searching by symptoms:

1. Fatigue - slept about 9-10 hours a night and still needed an afternoon nap. Check.
2. Achy joints - even on warm days now, and can't write for very long anymore either. Check.
3. Strange, triangular flush/rash on my cheeks - and it's spreading now, too. Check.
4. Tenderness in my skin. Check.
5. Easily bruised. Check.
6. Blood sugar irregularities. Check.

WebMD came back with a variety of results: Rheumatoid arthritis, Cronic Fatigue Syndrome, Lupus. Wait. Lupus?! I pulled up the symptom checksheet for lupus. It wasn't a perfect fit, but it was really really close. I was terrified, but I just couldn’t bring myself to face another diagnosis like that. I kept talking myself out of going to see a doctor.

Then I got the Headache.

It wouldn't go away. It didn't matter what I took, it got worse and worse and worse. My co-workers and students questioned my health, I shrugged it off. One night I got a glass of wine to try to relax, not knowing that the tannins in red wine can actually cause headaches.

The pain in my head exploded exponentially, and I ended up in the urgent care, thrashing in the worst agony I had ever felt. I missed 2 days of work before it faded back to a steady ache. I had that headache for 2 weeks before I dragged myself to a doctor.

I needed a new doctor, so I searched for an office that had an endocrinologist on staff, just in case I did have Lupus (God forbid). I made the appointment, left a little early from work, and went to see Dr. Shultz.

Dr. Shultz looked like he should be a jolly old grandpa, sitting on a front porch somewhere, drinking lemonade and telling stories. His eyes were twinkly, and he had a very friendly smile, and I knew, just looking at him that he was really, really, really smart.

He took one look at me, cocked his head to the side, and said, "I think this is a visit that I need to sit down for." He sat, crossed his legs, and waited. “What’s wrong with you?” was all he asked, and then he let me talk.

I poured it out to him: everything EXCEPT my trip to WebMD. Would he say lupus? I didn't know. All I knew was that I didn’t want to say that word. I had always wondered in the back of my head what the psychiatrist would have said if I hadn’t gone in biased towards a diagnosis. I didn’t want to influence this doctor, too.

When I stopped, Dr. Shultz just made a grunting noise, as if in agreement with what I had said, then he did a quick examination. He touched the hot patches on my cheeks, looked at my cold, cold hands, felt my neck, checked my reflexes and the joints in my wrists and fingers. And then came the questions:

1. Did my hands, feet, or face fall asleep? .....yes
2. Hmm. Did the cold make my hands hurt? .....yes
3. Hmm. How long had I had that acne? (And here I began to wonder where he was headed) ...since my pregnancy - my son was born 9 years ago
4. MmHmm. Did I get gassy a lot? Belching? Passing gas? .....I guess so.
5. More than I used to? ......yeah, but I'm starting to get older. (Here he gave me a fairly dirty look over the top of his glasses. I grinned sheepishly.)
6. MmHmm. Diarrhea? (Now I was really confused) .....I guess so, sometimes.
7. What's your favorite food? (I stared at him blankly.)

He sat down again, licked his lips, and smiled. He didn’t seem to care that I hadn’t answered that last one. He just looked at me over the top of his glasses again, and said:

"You look allergic."

Those three words changed my life forever. He took me off of all wheat, corn, and dairy products, as well as all artificial flavors and preservatives. It would clean out my system, he said. You’ll lose some weight this week, he said, and that’s ok. Just be sure to keep eating balanced meals.

In addition, he told me that I have Renaud's phenomenon - that was the cold hands and feet.

Finally, (just in case) he was having me tested for rheumatoid arthritis and lupus, and he ordered a broad blood test which would look for other, similar issues. Then he sent me home and told me to come back in two weeks.

Those were the longest two weeks of my life. All I could hear, over and over was the word "lupus". He had said it. He had really said it.

On the bright side, I won the weight-loss contest for the first time in forever: that first week I dropped 10 pounds.

Obligations

Week three has arrived, and it's time to announce my change for the week.

Current: 175.6#
Change: down 1.4#

Think slim, huh? Ok... I need to increase my activity. As fun as it is to sit around stimulating only my mind, I am more than just a brain in a box. Time to round off the corners and pay attention to my "container" as well as my noggin.

My Celiac Journey - Part I: The weight loss competition

This begins a series of weekly posts chronicling my journey through my diagnosis with celiac disease. I began my blog with the intention of doing a celiac entry each Thursday (the day of my diagnosis), but I wasn't ready. I didn't know enough about what was happening to me.

The first several weeks will be a look back to the first months of 2008. Eventually I will catch up to the present. Perhaps then I will return to a weekly journal of my current life with Celiac Disease. Until then, I hope you enjoy reading my story.

(I know I say in the catchline that "predictability's for chumps", but I guess I can make ONE exception, right?)

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Part I: The Weight Loss Competition

I teach high school, not the most active of trades, and in January 2008, the beginning of second semester, my friends and I formed a weight loss group. $5 to get in, $1 a week from each losing competitor. Whoever saw the most improvement in their BMI would win the kitty. We decided pounds off was not just unhealthy, but unfair, as we were all coming from different starting points.

We locked the door to the bookroom, took our "before" pictures, and broke out the measuring tape. We brought in a communal scale for our weekly weigh-ins. We set BMI and weight loss goals. We swapped exercise stories and favorite workout class info and changed to healthier eating habits.

I found a great website called TOPS: Taking off Pounds Sensibly, joined up, and started following it as closely as possible. I was working out and eating right and drinking lots of water. And I got GREAT results, at first. I started to feel better and trim down, but then...

Something strange started happening to me.

I started feeling really sluggish, for starters. It got harder and harder to make it to the gym because I was so sleepy, just bone tired. I've always been able to sleep at the drop of a hat, but I lost the need for the hat. I would often come home from work and crash on the couch for a nap. Eventually, I'd have to drag myself to the kitchen to make dinner, and then I'd go back to the couch. I usually was able to stay up past the kids' bedtime of 8:30, but often I'd fall asleep while watching TV with Jim. I'd sleep for 8-9 hours before getting up the next day and starting all over again. This pattern became more and more normal for me.

I was SO tired. The tired-ness started affecting my work habits, my dress, my attention span, everything.

Imagine you're a teen-ager for a minute. You go to English class, and your teacher is pushing papers around, shuffling through different stacks. Then she picks up an attendance sheet and proceeds to take attendance for the last 3 days. This is then followed by the question, "Alright, what did we do in here yesterday?" and once in a while this one, "I didn't give you homework, did I? No? Good."

We made it work, somehow. My students still had about a 98% pass rate on their state tests that year, and most of them passed the class, too. I had no trouble teaching or grading, but my memory of what was happening day to day was shot.

I lost everything: keys, glasses, papers, homework, my purse, my phone... you name it. Most of those things were found later. Most.

After a while, I started noticing changes in my digestive system, too. I started getting really gassy, especially if I ate fast food, but for the most part I was eating well, so I didn't know what was up with that.

To make matters worse, even though I was still going to the gym once or twice a week, and only eating about 1,000-1,300 calories a day, I wasn't losing weight. I was gaining.

I blamed it on stress. I blamed it on my busy schedule: I had the school newspaper to revive, a college level class to teach, a regular level class - I was the anime club sponsor and the lead teacher for the 11th grade English as well. I blamed it on getting old, I was 30 after all. I blamed the weather. I blamed my lack of a work-out buddy. I blamed my lack of sleep.

It didn't matter what I blamed it on. The longer we dieted together, the less I could keep up. My friends were all losing weight, slimming down. They were looking better and getting bouncier. I was getting slower. My initial weight losses reversed. My measurements were going up. All my health problems were getting worse instead of better. And then, I started developing new problems.

I was scared.

My friends were confused. I was eating so well! Lots of whole grains, nice balanced meals, fruits and vegetables, too. I was working out. It was so strange. “Was I cheating at home?” they wondered. No. No, I was not.

I told myself it was nothing. It was just me being a hypochondriac again. But a little voice inside me pointed to the last time I thought I was being a hypochondriac.

I ended up with a bipolar disorder diagnosis.

See you next week for Part II: “You look allergic”

Obligations

Well, I was supposed to weigh in before breakfast, but I forgot in the flurry of excitement of having a guest in the house, waking up late, and watching inaugural coverage on cnn. So, I did my weigh in after I ate breakfast. Oh, well.

Still down 1#... now at 177#.

Obligations

I joined a weight loss group. --sigh-- I miss my in-person group, but I need some accountability.

178#, down 2.

Tip of the week: Portion sizes are key. You really don't need an entire 1.3# steak at dinner, pal.