Fasting Fest This Weekend

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frozen custard

This is what freaking out over your first radiation treatment leads to!

I planned to do a 5-day fast this week but chickened out at the last minute. Tuesday was my first radiation treatment and I was a bit too freaked out to try fasting. So I opted for some frozen custard instead.

Peanut Butter Brownie & Chocolate, to be specific.

A glorious LARGE one, to be even more specific.

Yes, I needed comfort food (told you I freaked out). No shame in that.

Thankfully, the freak out was for naught. The painless treatment lasted a total of 5 minutes. As for side effects, the only thing I experienced was some major fatigue. I did some serious napping for two days. Of course, I’m assuming it was the radiation. It could have been a carb coma from the big ass frozen custard. Read More

After Whipping Obesity, I’m Now Fighting Cancer

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June 12th was the last time I posted an update on my weight. A few days after that, I received some of the worst news I’ve ever had in my life, and stepping on the scale was the farthest thing from my mind. While running errands, I got a call from our fertility doctor and was told the reason for my constant spotting. I have cancer.

I remember pulling off the side of the road, but not much after that. The second I heard “cancer” my mind sort of went on autopilot. I vaguely remember hearing something about “survivability” and “cure rate.” The only thing I could think of was getting back home – fast.

Once home, I made it to my front door before the doctor called me back, letting me know the oncologist he told me about would see me next week. I don’t even remember him talking about an oncologist, but I said fine, sure, and we hung up.

I spent the rest of the day crying my eyes out. The news was a double whammy. Not only were our hopes of having a child via IVF dashed, but now I’m googling “survival rates” to see what my chances of living were. That weekend (yep, I got the news Friday morning) I spent most of my time vacillating between stewing in my emotions (sadness, fear, anger) and Googlepalooza. Read More

IVF, Hormones & Diet: The Balancing Act

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weigh in may 22

So the weight gain thanks to my estrogen injections stopped…for now.

This week I bid adieu to my estrogen injections and (temporarily?) the weight gains. My weight held steady this week, and considering my hormones are all over the place, that’s a victory.

I still feel bloated and a bit moody … a bit like having PMS on and off for 2 weeks. Ugh!

Estrogen Injections – Mixed Results
(Warning: Female stuff ahead. I suggest the more delicate flowers out there read with caution or skip to the diet changes.) After 2 weeks of taking estrogen, the results were a bit mixed. On the plus side, the ultrasound indicated that my uterine lining thickened like it was suppose to.

On the minus side, while I was taking the estrogen, I noticed that the day following the injection, I’d start spotting. While it’s not typical to have vaginal bleeding during these injections, some women do. It turns out my estrogen level is lower than the doctor would like.

So now I’m 3 days (out of 7) into taking my new med – progesterone. The idea is that the new med will get my menstrual cycle properly regulated. About 5-7 days after my last dose, it will induce my period. Then the birth control pills start up.

Yep, I need birth control pills to get pregnant. Oh, the irony.

Then a saline sonogram and afterwards we might start the estrogen injections again.

Improving The Diet … & Bank Account!
On the diet front I noticed that I’m experiencing cold hands and feet on fasting days. What’s up with that?

I have too much of a calorie deficit on non-fasting days. Seems strange since I only eat when I’m hungry. That means I need to retool what I’m doing by upping my protein back to 6 ounces per meal. I cut back to 4 ounces months ago. Sure enough, I started feeling colder not too long after cutting back and just didn’t put 2 and 2 together.

I’m also making a sincere attempt at adding more fish into my diet, eating it twice this week. In June I’m going to start a seafood challenge – eating fish 2 times a week. That means I’m on the hunt for recipes as culinary skills in this area are severely lacking.

Besides improvement on the fish front, efforts to cut coffee from my daily grind are going well. This week I only enjoyed the Black Java during the weekend and limited myself to 2 cups in the morning. I expect by June I’ll be so over coffee.

As for cutting my ties to wine, I’m making progress there too. We no longer have bottles at home. But when I go out for dinner, I have a glass or two with my meal. I’ve essentially created a habit. Normally I’d consider this a little indulgence rather than a habit. The problem is we’re going out to eat far too often – 4-5 times a week! That’s a lot of wine.

And its wrecking havoc on our bank account (cost of restaurant + wasted food at home = stupidity). It also kicks me out of ketosis since my body burns the alcohol before any fat. Not to mention the sugar in wine is getting stored somewhere.

It also can’t be great on the hormone front either.

I don’t want to set foot in a restaurant until June. And even then I’m limiting eating out to twice a month. That way its more of a special treat.

Weekly Weigh-In: The IVF Side Effect

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weigh in May 14

Yes, I’m up 4 pounds. But it isn’t all food. My IVF treatments are coming with a little side effect.

I’m up about 4 pounds this week. After a slight freak out this morning, my husband reminded me of something that may have been the big contributor to those extra pounds – I’m taking estrogen injections.

I started the injections 10 days ago as part of our in vitro fertilization plan.

The estrogen is helping build up my uterine lining. Next week I go in for some blood work and a transvaginal ultrasound lining check. If my lining is thickened and my hormones are raging at the appropriate level, then I may have a new medication to take along with the estrogen before we begin our first embryo transfer.

The shots, taken every 3 days are intramuscular, and have to be given in my butt. So that’s how the hubby is participating in this…he gets to stick a very long needle in my ass. So far he’s doing a good job – not much pain and no bruising. Read More

Losing Weight In Public — Week 6

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Plateau at Golden Bay, Malta (top/middle)

Week 1 weight: 305 pounds
Last week’s weight: 292 pounds
Current weight: 293 pounds
Weight lost since last week: -1 pounds
Total weight lost: 12 pounds

*Woo hoo, my first plateau!

Funny story about a plateau. Years ago, in college, when I was studying abroad, I visited a beach in Malta. Bisecting the beach was an enormous plateau. It looks tiny in the picture, but I promise you, it was huge—and very high. Like an idiot, I chose to climb it rather than relax and enjoy the water like everyone else. I found a crack that ran all the way to the top and used that to make my ascent.

Now, understand: I had no training whatsoever. Nobody knew I was there, and if I slipped I would have died.

At one point, I reached for my next handhold—and then stopped myself. To this day, I don’t know why I stopped. I climbed an additional foot or so using a different, less convenient handhold, and then looked at what I’d almost grabbed. Nestled there like a bomb was a giant wasps nest boiling with wasps. If I’d continued blissfully climbing, I would have grabbed it, and those wasps would have stung me hundreds of times — with me, dangling precariously way up high on the side of that plateau. My guess is I wouldn’t have been able to control myself and then fallen to my death. Instead of that, my dumb ass skirted around the nest (about two feet from me at the closest) and continued the climb.

So as you can see, plateaus are VERY dangerous. (Hmm, wait, that’s not true in weight loss, but whatever, just go with it). But if you conquer them, the journey will have been worth the struggle. (Okay, not true at all as it pertains to spurious rock climbing without ropes or people who know you’re there, but shush).

Last Week’s Successes:
Didn’t eat any catering at work.

Last Week’s Failures:
Went out with my mom-in-law for her birthday and ate more cake than her. (Pie, actually, but it makes a better story if I say cake. Why do you keep interrupting my stories?!?)

See you next week.

*Ok, fine: it would have been a plateau if I’d maintained my weight, but I gained a pound.

Plateau From Hell: Battling My Body’s Set Weight Point

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weekly weigh in april 30

Not the progress I was expecting this week. I’m up a pound. Time to rethink my tactics.

Bleh! I was expecting a loss this week and instead I’m up a pound. What’s really frustrating is I’ve been bouncing between 182-185 pounds for a year. One. Freaking. Year.

Rethinking Tactics
I recently finished reading The Obesity Code by Dr. Jason Fung. Regular readers know I love Dr. Fung’s blog and his online lectures. A review of his book is coming soon (hint, you should read it!), but right now I’m looking at shaking up my intermittent fasting tactics for one simple reason — changing my body’s set weight point.

It’s believed that our bodies have a set weight point. When a healthy person’s weight goes above or below that set weight, the body compensates — slowing or raising metabolism, increasing hunger or satiety hormones — and works to get back to that person’s set weight point. Read More

Loose Skin Triggers Belly Button Infection

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belly button

Thanks to lots of loose skin around my stomach my belly button is infected. Keeping the moisture out is going to be a challenge this summer.

This weekend I got a nasty surprise – a yeast infection in my belly button. I didn’t notice until Saturday morning when my belly became very itchy. When I looked to see what was going on I discovered an infection.

If you have an innie, fungi love them. They provide a warm, moist crevise to grow in.  What they love more is lots of loose skin. Moisture getting trapped between the folds is a big problem. That’s how it start.

Since last summer I’ve dealt with an inflamed belly button a couple of times. After a run, if I forgot to dry it out after a shower, I’d find a very pink belly button in a day or so. This time was different.

After some soap and hot water it was time to dry my belly button. Here’s where I think my problem lies. Simply using a soft towel isn’t working anymore. My belly button is pretty deep and I have a lot more loose skin around my abdomen, making it difficult to get in there with a towel. Read More

Weekly Weigh-In: Self Sabotage!

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april 10 weigh in

I’m up 2 pounds from the last time I posted a weigh-in. Eating out is the culprit. But I’m back in the kitchen with abandon.

Holy crap! I haven’t posted a weigh-in since Feb. 29. Truth be told I’m working on a big project that’s consuming a lot of my time. I can’t say anything now but hopefully by this summer I’ll have good news to share.

After reading those awesome books by Steven Pressfield, I’m determined not to let my weigh-ins slide anymore. So weekly posts are back.

My Feb. 29 weigh in had me at 182.5 lbs, but by the time April 2 rolled around I was back to 187.5. With some changes this week, I dropped 3 pounds and now weigh 184.5.

So I’m trapped in a weird super moon bounce of my own making. Just bobbing up and down 5 pounds. What the heck is going on, Dot?

Self sabotage, that’s what! Grrrrrr!!!!!
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Weekly Weigh-In: Same As It Ever Was

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feb 27 weight

I ended February weighing as much as I did when the month began. Thanks to lots of eating out, I put the brakes on my weight loss, loss sleep, experienced digestive problems and had no energy.

I started February weighing 182.9 pounds. I end the month weighing 182.5 pounds. While I hoped to leave the 180s behind, I see this as a small victory. Even when I’m “bad” I can maintain or course correct pretty quickly with my eating habits.

Now when I say “bad” I’m talking about eating out and enjoying wine way too much. The middle of the month the hubby and I ate out about 10 times.  Of course, I had wine with my meals.  Ugh!!!  Thankfully the last 10 days I’ve worked diligently about cooking my own meals and forgoing the vino. And the results showed not only on the scale, but in how I physically felt.

Lack of Sleep & Feeling Crappy
What did all that eating out and wine get me? Between February 8-21, I gained 5 pounds. I know some of that was water retention, but when the pants started fitting a little tighter than normal, it was time to make a change.

Besides the pounds, I noticed a couple of things about my physical health: 1) poor sleep ensued, and 2) The morning after, my body let me know it did not approve of such behavior. Read More

Reason #3 Why Workplaces Are Bad For Your Weight

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With all of the bitchin’ and moanin’ coming from corporate HR departments about the cost of health care (and the bitchin’ & moanin’ is quite justified) you have to wonder what companies are thinking when they bring in a spread like this for their employees to see first thing in the morning.

workplace food 2

This was the scene yesterday morning at my husband’s job. A healthy dose of fast digesting carbs — muffins, bagels and croissants. Oh sure there was a small bowl of fruit, but for those employees who are already overweight or obese, the seemingly healthy option just worsens their insulin & insulin resistance. Dear Corporate America, if you’re concerned about the health of your employees, then don’t do this!

Really!

My husband is doing his best to eat healthy, real foods. He’s also joining me in my daily 24-hour fast I’m doing for Lent.  Yet this is what he saw when he walked to his cube (oh and he sits near this stuff too). My hubby, whose favorite food group is “pie,” was pretty miserable that morning. Fortunately he resisted the temptations. Read More