Wednesday Weigh-In

 Remember when I had my stress echocardiogram in March of last year? All those resolves I had to lose weight, attain better lab results?

Well, somewhere along the way I've strayed.  Mightily.  Chalk it up to whatever, but they are only excuses, not good reasons. My doctor has only been prescribing a month's worth of anti-cholesterol tabs at a time, as this is his way of blackmailing me to come in, so I caved and went and had my labs drawn.

Yesterday was my appointment to go over the results with him.

They were awful.

I had a suspicion they would be; after all, I reached my highest weight ever about 3 weeks ago. I have been so uncomfortable, huffing and puffing at the least bit of exertion, almost unable to tie my shoes.  It was disgusting and disheartening.  The South Beach Diet worked for me before, but I kept putting it off, dreading doing without simple carbs for 2 weeks. Who really wants to give up ice cream, baked potatoes, bread, and those yummy Reese's cups?

But something clicked in my head.  Enough.  I scheduled the labwork, started the diet, and bit the bullet. It hasn't been easy.  The first two days I felt awful, headachey, irritable and overwhelmed. Jack is trying to be supportive, but he's a white bread, sweets after supper, meat and potatoes kind of guy. Some nights I end up cooking different dishes for each of us, and there have been a couple of off-days spent cooking to have things ready to take to work. I really don't like to cook.  I just like to eat.

But the good part is, I've lost 12 lbs already!  Although I haven't dropped a size yet, my clothes are not so constricting, and I haven't had to buy the next size up, thank goodness.  My center of gravity has changed, too, making me feel lighter and more energetic. Another few pounds and I will start an exercise program.  My knees have been taking the brunt of the weight, and the left one has really been bothering me, so I need to lose just a little more so it can tolerate long walks.

My doc and I have set a date in December to recheck my labwork.  Hopefully I will be able to come off the diabetic medication he started me on yesterday. I hated to start it, but it's time to swallow my pride and accept that I need help--from several sources.
To that end, I've also joined Stephanie's Wednesday Weigh-In to hold myself accountable. Her blog is A Ditchin' Time Quilts and she's had this group going for over 3 months now. The group loss should exceed 200 lbs sometime today! Check it out, and it's not too late to join up with us, if you're facing the same challenges. There's comfort in numbers, you know. Well, numbers of people, not numbers of pounds.

And if you're interested in the South Beach Diet, besides the official website, there's a blogger who has been developing some really yummy-sounding recipes after losing 42 lbs on the diet. Her site is Kalyn's Kitchen, and I plan to spend some more time browsing her blog. Her recipes are a bit more down-to-earth than the South Beach folks'.

So, anyway, every Wed. I'll have a brief post about my progress.  This is your advance warning, in case you want to skip it!