Monday Day 1 Week 3 - Induction continues, 26 Jan 09

"To Thine Own Self be True, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man."
Inspiration for Monday of Week 3 Induction Continues: "What goes up, must come down" ("with a little help from my friends" (me!))

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Random Thoughts:

Not sure what's going on.

Concerned about all the pain in my left arm (hand, elbow, upper arm and shoulder) as well as generally along my left side: arthritis that began in left foot (toe), left knee being "spastic" at times (can kneel on it wrong on the bed even, which you would think was soft enough), left hip usually tightest...now my left arm and shoulder.

My left hand particularly is worse than my right hand when I wake up in the morning, or anytime after falling asleep really, waking with two hands that feel frozen into claws like I'm dead and in rigor mortis. When my fiance drapes his arm around me and rests it on my left arm, it hurts.

These things and the way it makes me feel weak, are driving me nuts. Still, I did the Total Body Sculpt show yesterday with Gilad on FitTV and it was fine. It's the zumba that is the hardest for me to do!! And being an instructor that's doubly hard on me.

(Btw, Discovery Health (FitTV) is sponsoring a
National Body Challenge where you can get some of Gilad's DVDs and get a free
30-day pass to Bally (be careful there as the Bally gym itself may require you
to sign up with a credit card for 12 months to get 13 months (one free!) - seems
there are always gimmicks like that out there, but still, perhaps you can quit
after the first month with no charge or get the year's membership reversed on
your credit card. If one is near you - this could be good for you!)

Sure, I'm following Beto's video's so they are high-intensity (he's instructing the instructors for one thing), but then I got qualified to teach under Beto and he had us in high-intensity cardio for 9 hours the first day. Also, trying to do zumba on carpet is not a good idea: not a good place to do dance moves - too much friction - and not good to go barefoot. Moving to the wood floor near the kitchen is okay for some moves, but not enough space to do others.

I need to get my endurance rate up. Maybe working with a timer in the gym on a bike or elliptical and see how easily I can do 30 min, and that would give me a better measuring stick to see if the carpet is more of the culprit than I think it is.

PERSONAL HAZARD (S)- Not feeling well; getting winded so easily with anything cardio (including laundry, which is usually not a cardio activity.)
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Assignment:

Progress so far:

Doctor Appt: Did it. The follow-up checkup is already scheduled for March.

READ THE BOOK: Did what I needed, still referring to as I "work the system."

ONGOING ASSIGNMENT: Induction continues: Food, Water, Exercise!!

NEW ASSIGNMENT: Working on creating an exercise schedule.
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Vitals:
BP -
Weight: 186.0
Cholesterol: Numbers from 30 May 08 (Doctor's office):
Total: 250
Trig: 56
HDL: 93
LDL: 146
Vitals that day: Wt: 171 BP: 126/82 Pulse: 72

Exercise:
Stretching 30 min yoga, concentration on shoulders
Cardio 60 min zumba
Strength

Water: 96 oz + 8 oz = 104 oz.

Food:
Breakfast: 1 mug of coffee; not hungry, time flew, it's lunchtime too early
Lunch: ground beef from the eggplant dish (Mousakas) using onion powder instead of onions
Dinner: sauteed shiitake mushrooms (3 packages) with 1 onion; mixed that with some of the beef leftover from lunch
Snack: 1 cup of celery sticks while reading and watching tv (yeah, yeah, I multi-task, lol - it's a symptom of Adult ADHD I think - tv shows go too slow and commercials are the worst thing for your sanity and your health; I often mute during them; sometimes I do crossword puzzles, but I received a bunch of books yesterday that I wanted to read and then I like dancing, so I was watching the "finals" apparently for SuperStars of Dance, which appears to be an International Dance competition)
Dessert: 4 oz of Coke Zero, one scoop (1/4 cup) of Carb-Smart ice cream by Breyer's (chocolate) - it has 4 net carbs per 1/2 cup, so that was 2 net carbs (and I just double-checked the label to be sure!)
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NOTES:

Wt: Up the most it's been yet since i started. Sure, I carbed yesterday, but usually it takes another day or two to show up. Is "TTOTM" coming this week? Another reason to cancel my doctor's visit (which I better do soon as I only have 24 hours to do so FREEly). I actually usually lose just before TTOTM, too. Then gain it back at the end. People vary, that was my body's way normally....even drinking all my water (most important at those times, yes?)
BP: Lately, I'm winded from walking up stairs, from lifting laundry into the washing machine. I can barely make it thru one zumba song, harder in the beginning. So I took it today to see what was going on - even tho I wonder if taking it too often is part of why my left arm hurts so much.
Ketones: skipped today, but so many carbs yesterday would definitely throw me out.

Sunday Day 7 Week 2 Induction, 25 Jan 09

"To Thine Own Self be True, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man."
Inspiration for Sunday of Week 2 Induction: Is exercise the key to freeing my shoulder of pain?
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Random Thoughts:
Today I really don't feel well. My fiance gives me a good massage where my shoulder/back pain feels tighter than ever. We then both apply a massager to it, then he gives me a heat-sticky-pad for it which works really well and I take 4 advil and 2 excedrin (hoping whichever kicks in first will hurry up) and lie down.

We're debating whether exercise will help the tendinitis the most, while the advil will keep the pain from the "early degenerative stages of arthritis" at bay. So, I get inspired to do a sculpting/toning show on FitTV with Gilead. It's not so bad on my body and the moves are good. I write it down on a weekly schedule to do it at least every Sunday, and maybe to find other times it comes on and do it then, too. A bellydance exercise class called Shimmy I had tried before and I did not do this Sunday (tho it's good) as I wanted to try the sculpt class and didn't want to be too tired. I see it is on Tuesday evenings and write that down on my note card as well. I'm on my way to building a weekly workable exercise schedule. I'm liking this FitTV!

The class worked well, I get back on the couch. But I've already started into comfort foods: grilled cheese on LC bread (but 9 carbs a slice) with cream of tomato soup. The canned soup has a lot of carbs per serving, so I will need to make my own in the future, but I'm wanting something comforting and I go for the soup. Later, I follow these up with Low-Carb (Sugar-Free) jello pudding - chocolate! another 24 carbs for the whole box I ingest. But I'm feeling better :)

Low Carb Bread, btw, appears to be a locally produced commodity. In Ohio, I could find it for 6 carbs a slice; in NC, the only one I find has 9 carbs a slice. Regular bread tends to run about 20-24 carbs a slice. Some, like pumpernickel, are lower, tho I don't know why. Pumpernickel is great for fat-free yogurt by the way, tho I have not yet discovered what that is for low carb...probably a great big dessert! Add some lox and cream cheese instead and maybe that works?!?? I'll find out another day.

I try to do my (small) cleaning bit around the house. Yesterday I vacuumed downstairs and halfway up the stairs. I want to finish.

The vacuum is already on the landing, but just moving it up the stairs to finish, then to do the baseboards on the stairs and the downstairs hallway, does something to the pain in my shoulder. I put the vacuum up upstairs and lie down with the massager on my pain again. Two more advil would not be a bad idea. The massager helps and I go back downstairs and lie down for the rest of the day.

My computer needs cleaning up. I delete files I have no idea why I have so many (java) and find out later that apparently I needed one of those -if not all - in order to access my blog. I don't feel well enough to sit up at the one computer that I didn't screw up, so I keep tinkering with my laptop.

Cookies are turned off, it complains. I turn them back on.

Against my better judgment.

Still not enough.

I may just need to do a system restore, then go back and try to delete things again. This has been a frustrating day - between the pain and the computer - and I succumb to more carbs. I have a biscotti leftover from the gingerbread biscottis available only during the holidays. Already I feel better.

I have another biscotti later. Then go for a chocolate one (smaller) before I stop for the night. It should probably matter to me more because they are each about 24 carbs apiece, that I've just eaten about 75 carbs of sugar and flour...and not much else.

I'll be like Scarlett tho and worry about that another day. It's not going to undo my efforts entirely; it's just a little TLC that will set me back. As the saying goes, "Another Day, Another Dollar" and I'll be able to knock the effects off. Plus I know that in the past, when I hit a plateau, a good carb fest somehow knocked me right off the plateau and back into weight loss.

It seems also as if I am more impacted by the exercise than the food, tho I know i have to keep the carbs down. And I notice that I am just getting bored with food again (happens on Atkins).



PERSONAL HAZARD (S)- Pain in my shoulder, frustration, boredom with food, diminishing possibilities in the fridge, no romaine, no eggs

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Assignment:

Progress so far:

Doctor Appt: Did it. The follow-up checkup is already scheduled for March.

READ THE BOOK: Did what I needed, still referring to as I "work the system."

ONGOING ASSIGNMENT: Induction continues: Food, Water, Exercise!! Plan the menus, work the plan. 30 minutes of zumba daily - at least 3x a week, maybe instead.

NEW ASSIGNMENT: . Make sure I get in my strength exercises as well - focus on making sure I get these in.

Vitals:
BP -
Weight: 184.5
Cholesterol: Numbers from 30 May 08 (Doctor's office):
Total: 250
Trig: 56
HDL: 93
LDL: 146
Vitals that day: Wt: 171 BP: 126/82 Pulse: 72

Exercise:

Stretching 10 min throught the day
Cardio
Strength 30 min

Water: 96 oz

Food:
Breakfast: eggbeater omelet with onion powder, cinnamon and splenda, 2 maple sausage links, 2 mugs of coffee with S/L and milk, total carbs: 6 carbs for the meal
Lunch: grilled cheese sandwich on Low-Carb bread (9 carbs each) and cream of tomato soup (prob 24 carbs for the soup): 42 carbs for the meal (way over daily limit)
Dinner: cheese toast made in the microwave, 2 slices, second one with italian seasoning - another 18 carbs
Snack: 1 package of Sugar-Free Jello chocolate cook-n-serve pudding (20 carbs) and about 9 cashews (10 carbs? more) - at least 30 carbs
Dessert: 3 biscottis, each about 24 carbs - about 75 carbs total

What's the total carb count? 181??? My last maintainable carb limit (while exercising with a high metabolism) was 100 carbs...I will note that this time, the carb fest did not knock me out (put me to sleep).....

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NOTES:

Wt: up 1 pound - not so good
BP: not taking regularly anymore - will begin to look at it monthly
Ketones: a few more days before I check