The Upside to Downsizing ~2~

That almost never happens.  Thanks for the new room Saphy. 

Bren

Last night. Very cute, very thought provoking movie.

My dd wants to see Get Smart. I'm not so keen on it, can wait for it to come out on video. Dbf and I plan on going to see Wanted one night this week. Will have to see if dm will watch dd so that we can have a date night.

J

Well my week of reprieve is up.  I am back to work.  Had a good time over the break though.  Did some hiking and bike riding, ate some delicious food but still managed to lose 3 pounds.  Must of have been the hiking and biking.  It is pretty quiet in here.

Hope everyone is having a good summer and not being flooded with the rain.  Gas and food are really going to go up if our crops continue to get flooded.

My scale still says the same.  *sigh*  But I've been getting more exercise.  We've been working on our pond, so I've been shovelling dirt, etc.  And today we had a truckload of split logs delivered which I stacked as dh threw them off the truck.  I also "ran" a mile on my elliptor in 7 minutes.  Whew!  My knee was sore for a whole day after that, but it seems to be okay now. 

I look in the mirror, and it seems like my middle is smaller than it was.  I hope so, as that worries me more than the weight not moving. 

One of dh's cousins from Germany is here right now.  She's staying at dmil's but has spent a lot of time with us and our kids.  She's in town right now shopping, with another cousin.  She'll be here for several more weeks, so we're going to have a couple of family BBQ's for her.  That'll be about 50 people each time.  One will be here, and another probably at dbil's place. 

It must be summer, everyone is outside -- too busy to sit at the computer. . . 

Kelley, don't be discouraged.  You're doing great.  I've been working on losing weight for 2 1/2 years now, and have lost 30 lbs.  I'd like to lose another 20 to 30 lbs, but I'd even be happy with 10 if that's all I could manage.  As long as I can keep my blood glucose under control, and bring down my cholesterol, I'll be satisfied. 

Congrats Kelley!!  You'll come out of your plateau and start losing again soon I'm sure.  I know how frustrating hitting that plateau is.

I have unfortunately gained some weight back myself.  I am feeling ok now but I was so sick the past two weeks with a chest infection.  I couldn't even walk the length of myself for about a week.  Besides that my appetite was fine....

I'm not sure how much I am up for 2 reasons.  The first I am just finishing up my monthly.  The second is that I have been retaining fluid since Thursday.  My feet, ankles, and lower legs have been swollen to one degree or another at all times.  So I haven't stepped on the scale.  Once the swelling goes down I'll step on and see the damage.

I am going to start walking again!  I'll go for shorter walks at first then increase the distance.  I don't want to push myself to soon and have a set back.  I have asthma and catch things quite easily.  So gradually increasing my exercise is the right thing to do for me.

Hopefully I'll be back on track in no time!!

it's just been frustrating that nothing was happening. In actuality it may very well be because that was about the time I started going to the gym. so it could just be an increase in muscle mass. But the down side is regualr gym workouts meant my metabolism sped up and I was hungry ALL the time. So I was eating anythign and everything in sight.

I DID get into some of my "skinny" clothes last week though so that was exciting to be able to wear something that hasn't fit in about 3 years.

I'm in Vegas this week for work and I have a vacation end of the month. So I'm giving myself more flexibility right now, not following the plan stritly. I didn't want to be worrying about it here where I hear stories about how good all the food is. And vacation is vacation so I don't want to worry about it.

After vacation though - I'm back on the plan 100%

I haven't been in here in ages.

Since everyone's fessin' up, I stepped on the scale the morning after it was unpacked and darn near died of shock.  Stress + travel + homelessness+ no furniture really took its toll.  The good news is, once I got furniture, I started walking 3-5 times a week and i've been in the pool every day almost. As well, I'm actually COOKING and not eating out every other day.  I'm down about 8 of those pounds, but I'm still not fitting into most of my clothes. 

It'll come though.  THe puppy dog is coming in a few weeks and I'm definitely more active here, and happier too.  I just finished making my strawberry jam.  We won't have a garden this year, but I'm hoping for next maybe.  Even without, there are lots of places to get fresh produce.  ANd we have raspberries and blueberries right on our property.  The blueberries are coming on and the girls are going to pick some so I can make muffins.

So that's it.  :-)

Donna

I just used the one on the certo box.  And I prefer liquid certo, though I've used the crystals.  I made 2 double batches last night.

A single batch is 1 3/4 cups mashed berries, plus 4 cups sugar (you can probably sub splenda, but that's mighty expensive).  Stir in the sugar and let sit 10 minutes.  Then add 1 pkg liquid certo and 2 tbsp lemon juice, and stir constantly for 3 minutes.  Put in jars or  plastic containers and put on the covers, let sit 24 hours and then freeze.  It's SO easy!

Donna

LOL, eating Chinese whilst your sis has her gall bladder out!

I haven't been doing much of anything, but on that note, I haven't been gaining either. I know there's a lot of changes coming this fall, for the ultimate good. The one thing that is going to change, one way or another, is my hours at my pt job will be cut. And I know, that working less, even though it means having considerably less money, will be the best thing I can do for me and mine. And I won't be at all surprised to see the weight just start dropping off me when I can actually take the time and focus on me for a change. It'll be tight, but it'll make me happy.

J

We had blueberry pancakes this morning - with blueberries the girls picked on our lot.

Can I tell you how much I love my life right now?  Even if I am stiff and sore from gardening today????

Donna

Barbara - we moved to Nova Scotia.  Dh got a transfer and promotion and off we went!  I will say the bigger house takes longer to clean...though today I've been cleaning AND unpacking a few boxes AND doing some laundry.  And the house was quite dirty...unpacking constantly has a way of doing that.

I am going to put up some pictures tomorrow though on my blog!  I took some today of a few rooms, and the view from our room of the front yard.

Donna

donna just saw your chocolate cake recipe in the dessert thread. and wanted to say that the term "MIX Master" simply relates to a brand of electric beaters here in the states that copyrighted that term. i believe it was Sunbeam used that name. so your "electric beaters" was spot on cause that's just what they wanted you to use, an electric mixer of some kind.

cake sounds good but I'm not likely to try it soon, too rich for my diet. 

Donna~I feel your pain. I've been in my new apartment for nearly two months and I've still got a couple or three boxes I haven't unpacked. And the spare bedroom is still a mess. LOL  You'll probably be long finished unpacking and I'll still have those same boxes. hehehe

Sounds like a lovely place you've moved to, though, from all you've said. Can't wait to see pictures. :)

Hi, all those blueberry pancakes, etc. sound wonderful. And healthy too. I'm still having remediation work done outside our cond and now am in the middle of having new floors put in inside so cooking is pretty well out. But it gives me lots of motivation to get out and walk. At work we had a challenge where we used pedometers to see how far we could walk. I also did it with a friend. When I first started 6000 steps during the day was amazing. Last week I did over 90,000(for the week). Also there's a web site done by BC gov't you can sign up for to track your progress. I don't think you can do it unless you live in BC though. Pedometers are cheap though. We got them free through work but you can also get them at Running room. It does seem to work because you start realizing what you're doing and do things like park further away etc.

Pat

Jana, that's wonderful!  If I had quit watching, I'd be up 15, I'm sure. 

Donna, cool pictures.  When's your first pool party? 

I'm getting a little concerned.  My bg's been up in the 7 - 7.5 range for about a week now, and I don't know what's wrong.  I'm not doing anything differently, I'm getting (if anything) even more exercise than before, yet I can't seem to get it down in the 5 - 6 range that it was before.  I can't even call my dr as he's on vacation till the end of Aug.  I think I'm going to call his office and see if his nurse can tell me anything, but she's likely on vacation, too. 

Gotta go see if we can get the rest of the rocks on the waterfall before we have to go to town.  I've also got a haircut appointment in a few minutes.  Good thing my ddil only lives a couple blocks away. . . 

My ds spent Sat helping his neighbour build a fence, and then chopped some wood.  He spent the next night and day in the emergency ward -- he's got torn rib muscles.  He'll be sleeping sitting up for a while as he can't breathe when he lays down.  He's on vacation starting tomorrow, so at least he won't be missing a whole lot of work. 

DonnaH~Hope your ds heals up quickly. Sounds like an awefully painful injury. Bg is a mysterious thing. My mother's been struggling with some higher numbers than she'd been having, too, and can't find any explanaton other than stress. You been stressed out much lately??? Either way, hope you get it figured out soon.

Pat~Thanks. I AM a pretty happy person most of the time. And I'm under no delusions that any weightloss would make me happier. I just think it'd make me feel better. Both phsycially and emotionally. I could use the confidence boost, yanno? Besides, my goal has never been to be a size 0. Heck, I'd be thrilled to be a size 16-18. lol But you're right, we do need to find peace with who we are right now, now who we want to be.

I've got one of those pedometer things, too, and I've tried using it a few times, but it seems like I either don't walk much on the days I wear it, or it doesn't work properly because I can never make sense of what it tells me.  It's only a cheap one, but I'm supposed to be able to adjust it to the length of my step, but then it goes all stupid and tells me really strange things. 

I've upped my exercise.  I've started going two miles on my elliptor each day regardless of whether we go for a walk or a bike ride in the evenings or not.  Dh doesn't like to power-walk, he's more into a Sunday afternoon stroll, and there's something wrong with the gears on his bike, so I'm the one doing the leisurely "stroll" and he's huffing and puffing. 

This morning my bg was 8.5 (fasting)  Yikes!  But I ate strawberries last night in the evening.  After my meal when I tested again it was 5.9.  Now that's more like it.  Maybe I was just doing too much experimenting. . . 

My dmil is at home baking a strawberry torte, and we're invited over there tonight for a slice.  Yum!!!  Good thing I don't have to test until after lunch tomorrow.    Actually, it won't be that bad, as she uses a sponge base, so the only thing not the best for me will be the whipped cream on top. . . 

Barbara~You're on the right track. They (nutritionists) say it's actually better to eat several small meals a day than three large one. It keeps your metabolism stable and helps burn more calories. So you're doing excellent.

Donnah~Mmmm...enjoy the torte. I'm jealous.

I switched from the cinnemon sugar bagel today to the honey whole wheat bagel. Turns out it's the reduced fat honey almond cream cheese that I love more than the cinnemon sugar. So, maybe I just lucked up on a smarter choice! hehehe

Haven't gained or lost this week so I'm proud of myself.  And I've walked every day this week.

will usually have a snack about two hours after each meal if her bg has been okay. I think she only checks it twice a day now unless she suspects that it's high or low.

A snack for her usually consists of a granola bar smeared with peanut butter, a piece of fruit or a small container of yogurt sweetened with splenda. Something high protien, low carb, or natural sugar. Apples are her safest fruit, although I think strawberries and banannas don't tend to run her bg up either.

That is ideal, Barb, but I have a tendency to go way up after a meal, and then I have to fight to bring my levels back to where they actually should be. 

Some people go low, and they need to keep eating to have their levels where they should be.  That is definitely not me.  My fasting bg is always way high.  I'm told it's because my body dumps sugar into my blood stream.  I still don't totally understand it, but we're working on figuring out when and why so I can control it better.  At least I don't have to worry about passing out because it's gone too low. 

Janna, I used to eat carbs (1) for a snack, but have since quit that habit.  Now I eat a piece of cheese, or some low fat/low sugar yogurt, or even just drink a glass of low fat milk.  I can eat apples, and strawberries seem to be okay for me, too, but even half a banana sends me skyrocketing.  I made myself some special banana bread a while back, with non-hydrogenated oil, and splenda.  I ate one piece, and 2 hours later I still tested over 12.  Blueberries, saskatoons, and cranberries are okay for me, too.  I love pineapple, but my tongue gets sore when I eat more than one or two bites, so I don't indulge in that too often. 

She just tests twice a day, now, Jana?  Yikes!  I was hoping I could convince my Dr. to let me only test once a day next time I see him.  Not much hope of that, I bet. 

Barb, I had heard that about pumpernickle bread.  I don't mind it once in a while, but mostly I stick to the whole grain/multi-grain stuff if I eat bread.  My favorite breakfast is still oatmeal with flax and cinnamon.  I grind the flaxseed in a coffee mill and add about 2 Tbsp to my oatmeal after it's cooked.  So I get the benefits of fibre and good cholesterol oil at the same time. 

I have a whole great big hard-cover book about the Glycemic Index.  Maybe I should read it one of these days, you think? 

DonnaH~When she was first diagnosed, she'd test and hour after every meal, first thing in the morning and before she went to bed. Now that she's had it under "control" for a few years, she can pretty much tell without testing if she's in a safe zone. But still tests twice daily to keep track of her monthly average. The doctor always wants to know the average when she goes so that he can adjust her medication accordingly.

You're doing good to know your trigger foods so early in the battle. It took my mom a while to figure out what foods where her "skyrocket" foods and which ones were safe. Grapes, melons, potatoes--or all white starches, actually--are her skyrockets. And sometimes she just randomly has a huge raise in her bg for no reason she can pinpoint. Except for stress. Stress is a key factor to bg levels. It's baaaad for bg. lol Stress is baaaad for everything, though.

I now officially hate am proud of my oldest sister. She just emailed this...

We’ll folks, I weighed in at 117.2!!!!!!!! I like 4lbs meeting my goal and ideal weight! Talk about feeling good…..

She joined Weight Watchers a month ago to lose ten pounds because she was feeling like a cow.

Huh. If the 120's is a cow, I must being a freaking herd of elephants.

No, I'm happy because she's happy but sheesh...Where's the fairness?

*sigh*

I'm feeling a sudden need for chocolate.

Ah, Jana, that's awful great news about your sister.  And yeah, I'm right in there with your "herd". . . 

I thought I was missing a message, but didn't see where any had been deleted.  Then I discovered that I'd written notes, but hadn't written the message. 

Jordanne, your Mom's been testing for 17 years and she still tests twice a day?  Oh my!  I test more than twice a day if I feel the need to, but sometimes (like when we're eating out, or visiting somewhere) it's rather a nuisance to carry the thing around with you, even if it is small. 

Jana, is your Mom on insulin?  If I'd had to test that often, I'd be dead (broke) by now.  Those stupid little strips are expensive !

With my folks coming this week-end, I'm a little stressed, too.  They haven't been here in quite a while -- a couple of years, I think -- so I want everything to be extra nice for them. 

Barb, hmmmm, if you're another "sugar dumper" and grazing works for you, maybe I should (will) give it a try. 

Right now, though, I'd better give my bed a try -- we have to be in town at 8 a.m. so that doesn't give me very many ZZZZZ-hours. 

pat i saw a nutritionist when i was first diagnosed and I was in the Hospital for something else? anyway she believed that the only way was the exchange system and I know that doesn't work for me because she was recomending white bread, potatoes and crackers with peanut butter.  of course that was a long time ago, but still I can't  follow that. I try to follow the glycemic index/load per meal and I try to eat whole grains, good fats and fruits and veggies not overloading the portions either.