Becoming a Member & a ?*&%#$!*! Plateau

There is good news & bad news here in the McK household today. First, the good news. :)

I finally got up the gumption to step foot in the doors of a local "athletic club". I took a tour, with my two oldest sons in tow, & was mightily impressed with the facility & marginally impressed with the salesman. It sports a running track, full gym, aerobics/yoga room, two racquetball courts, two pools, a womens-only room, child care-included, & a bazillion steps on the massive staircase to get to it all. :)


That was fun. And I was slightly surprised to see that not every one was wearing a unitard & sporting fabulous leg warmers. There were no "jazz-hands" thrown out by the male aerobics instructor. All in all, not bad for a days work!


Now if only the husband will let me keep it. I signed up, knowing there was a 3 day rescission period that was designed specifically for people like my husband. It's not that he's not supportive of me, but that he's deathly afraid of commitment. I barely got him to marry me nearly 9 years ago, for heaven's sake! It's also a problem because he hates to feel like he's been "sold". He's a salesman & knows all the tricks, so when someone tries to use their punie Jedi mind tricks on him, he doesn't find it amusing; he just bolts.

Secondly, the sales guy asked me today if I'd hit a plateau in my weight loss yet. It didn't hit me until this moment that that is, in fact, what I'm dealing with here. I've had very small losses lately, a slight gain, then a stall for about a week or so now. It clicked in my brain, finally, that I was once about the weight I'm currently at for quite some time, several years ago. Dr. Simeons warns of this in his book Pounds & Inches. It's nice to finally know what the deal is & now I'm hoping to break through the invisible barrier & move on with my weight loss.

As of this morning, I'm down 24.6 pounds for this round. I reeeeally want to get to the 34 pound mark before my anniversary at the end of the month. And really, if I'm being honest here, I'd like very much to get to my goal before the quarterly mom's book club night where much cheese fondue will be had. Really. Really really.

8.6 pounds in 8 days?

Can I do it? I'm certainly going to try. I only have 8.6 pounds left to go until I hit my short-term goal of 34 pounds gone forever in this current round of hcg.

Just around the corner is a phrase I stole from other bloggers... one-derland! I'm only 8 pounds away from kissing the 200's goodbye forever!

I was thinking about this the other day while in the shower (it's where I do my best thinking, for those of you who wanted to know); I'm going through my options & thinking about the future. I know I won't maintain this weight I've lost if I return to my old habits when I finish with the diet. When all is said & done, I plan to join Weight Watchers. I know that sounds kind of backwards, but really it's just for the knowledge more than it would be for further weight loss. Plus, I told my husband I want a gym membership for Mother's Day. And I want him to join me with that membership.

A gym membership isn't likely on the top of the list for other mother's, but I'm fairly practical & it's something I've been wanting for a long time now, so it seems ideal for me. Plus, I figure if I get one & start getting more in shape, the husband will follow suit.

If I can get these last 8+ pounds off quickly, the sooner I can start using that membership! :)

Realizations

This time last year, I was working towards jumping through all the hoops my insurance company required to approve the gastric bypass surgery I was hoping to have done. It felt like a long, arduous task, but I managed to make it through the required period of time & in to the doctor's office for the consultation.

While there, I spoke with a counselor who gave me some very good advice. She opened my eyes to something I hadn't truly considered before. If I wasn't ready to change my lifestyle, I would be doing myself a disservice by going forward with this surgery. All patients will lose weight. This was not the issue. The issue was unless I make a complete lifestyle change, spending at least 30 minutes a day in exercise, eating nutritious foods, being constantly conscious of what I put in to my body, I had better count on gaining almost all (if not all & then some, if history truly does repeat itself) the weight back within 5 years of this surgery.

I also realized gastric bypass is a last ditch effort. It's for people who have tried everything else, & nothing has worked. I realized it's taking the hard way out. Big time. I've watched three of my family members, who have had various versions of this surgery, deal with a plethora of side effects from a very serious problem with a stricture, to dumping (you don't want to know), to blood infections, to constant hunger... pretty much almost every possible side effect listed except death.

Knowing all this, I was still headed down that same road. I was sick & tired of being sick & tired all the time. I wanted to lose the weight so badly, yet every time I did I would quickly gain all of it back plus an extra 10 or 15 new "friends" would come join the party. I was willing to do just about anything to fix this.

After speaking with the counselor, I realized I had some "me" things to work on before I could go ahead with the surgery. This was last summer when I met with her. My next appointment in that office would have been for the post-op check up. I was so close to finally making this happen. It's what I'd been working towards for so many long months before! It was at that point I completely backed away from it. I needed to work on me. I couldn't go through with it, knowing I hadn't made that committment to a lifestyle change yet, only to cause myself further hardship by going through with the surgery. And I'm so glad I didn't go through with it.

Today, I realized something new. I don't qualify for the surgery anymore. With the work I've been doing, trying to get my life (weight, self-control, etc.) back in my own hands, I couldn't get my insurance company to pay for this surgery even if I wanted it! I don't meet the qualifications anymore. The only one I ever met was the one concerning BMI. Thankfully, I have no health conditions that would qualify me for this. That is to say, I didn't have them yet. With what I've been doing, my chances of dealing with those weight-related health issues have dropped dramatically. And the more I work, the less my chances are of EVER having to deal with them.

To me, this is much greater news than any number on the scale! For the first time in a long time, I feel like I know where I'm going. And I like it. :)

2 pounds GONE!

I got up this morning , did my thing, & I'm down another .14 ounces! So far, that's a 2 pound loss!!

I struggled a bit yesterday. I was hungry. I stayed out of the kitchen as much as possible. Even washing dishes was difficult (maybe I should mention this to the husband... ). One thing I remember from the last go at this protocol is how much better I felt, physically, while on it. I had more energy & I just felt well.

I spent 20 min. on my glider yesterday, but that was pushing it. After the walk the husband & I took, my lower back is protesting (rather loudly) to nearly everything.

One more thing I noticed is how many stupid food commercials I must endure just to watch a show. Thank goodness for the mute button. It seriously made me want to get up & EAT!

Another LOSS!

Yesterday's post of a pig represented my first load day (the day prior). If I were being totally honest about yesterday's monumental effort to consume as much crappy stuff as I could, it would look more like this:

Wow, you say? Yeah, me too. It was MISERABLE!

I wound up with another loss, only this time it was down .12 ounces from yesterday's weigh-in. You'll hear no complaining from me! That's over a pound loss in 2 days! I just hope it doesn't come back to bite me in the toosh.

I managed to get some alone time with my sweetheart & we took our dog Ginger on a walk. We went 3.1 miles & wore out the poor girl! (the dog, too) It took us a whole hour, which seems kind of long for that distance. We weren't walking slow, either.

Today is my first day of the very low calorie diet & so far it's going good. I had some crackers sitting in front of me, looking at me in that way they do, but I didn't cave. I put them away & cut up an apple for breakfast. I know it's only the first hours of the first day, but I'm feeling really good today!

Prepare to be AMAZED!

First of all, if you haven't seen the movie Meet the Robinsons, you need to. I love that movie!

On to the amazing part...

I just spent the past 21 minutes (yes, you read that right! TWENTY-ONE!) on my glider-thingy. (!!) I didn't know I could do that. All it took was rearranging my play list, adding in a little Pink (LOVE her... she's spunky & feisty, just like my closet-self), & there you have it!

I'd love to find out what you're listening to. Leave me some love. You know I don't hate comments. :)

Monday-Funday!

After the husband came home from a day of golfing, proclaiming he is *never playing again* (it's frustrating to play poorly), we laced up our shoes, snuck out the other side of the house (the little kids would have wanted to come, but Ty agreed to watch them) through the little garage, & headed off for a brisk walk.

My lower back isn't always cooperative, but we wound up walking 1.8 miles anyway. I hate not knowing distances, so when we got home I loaded up my cranky kids (apparently they noticed we'd left & didn't like it very much) in the car & drove the route we took.

After our short trip around the block (& me realizing how truly spoiled I am... I didn't realize how far that walk felt until I drove it in no time flat) I drove the kids over to McDonald's & bought them each a sundae. It's something we rarely do, but they love it & I felt like showing myself I didn't really want what they were having, or anything else there, & could just as easily do without.

That mission was accomplished! Baby steps...

In all, I walked &/or glided about 2.5 miles yesterday! If it's not at Disneyland (with a stop at every third booth for a caramel apple, or cotton candy, or other things of the like), that's a lot of extra walking for me.

I'm excited to get started with the HCG so I can begin to see some results! Once I get that going I'll start posting my weigh-ins daily. (gah! I'm *so* not looking forward to sharing my actual weight with anyone!!)

The Reward

After 11 (whole) minutes spent on my glider-exercise-contraption-thingy comes the reward. Before even minute 3 rolls around, my chest is burning with each breath... yes, I'm that out of shape... but I hang in there for the sweet reward of some Kanye West's "Golddigger". Not only does my stride lengthen at the onset of this song, but my neck also gets a workout from all the Kanye-esque neck jerking that goes on.

So, I guess that's my first in an assuredly long list of embarrassing confessions.

No, I don't love Kanye. Yes, he's a pig-jerk. No, I really don't love the words to the song. But there's something about that beat that makes me want to move! Kind of like Prince's "Kiss".

So, how about you? What songs move you?