Tuesday, July 28

July 29, 2009 - Sodium is the Enemy


Hello Everyone!

Well, I am a bit miffed at myself. I went away for the weekend and gained FOUR POUNDS!!! ugh. Fortunately, I do not have an "official" weight check until next week. Okay, I KNOW that it is just bloating because I did not eat that horribly, but the food did have a lot of sodium. However, it does make me obsess about the scale.

I have to kick it into gear and be sure to eat healthy, that is all. I also had a bit of a binge yesterday and today. So, first thing in the morning I will be referring to my journal.

The journal I carry has a list of the reasons I want to get healthy, what works, and the status of my goals. I keep this journal in my purse and refer to it frequently (except the last few days). I am going to forgive myself and do better starting first thing in the morning.


That's all I have this week,
Kristi

P.S. I will tell you all about my trip to the Wolf Park next week.

Published to http://kristiasher.blogspot.com

Wednesday, July 22

July 22, 2009 - Short Post


Hello,

I do not have much to say this week. I have an appointment with the doctor in a few hours, but since it is an afternoon appointment I will not be down any weight. I ALWAYS weigh 2-4 pounds more in the afternoon.

Here is what is on my mind this week...

I decided Dr. Pita has a pretty good gig when he is doing his Weight Loss Physician work (he does other things, too).

If you do well and lose a lot of weight...he can take credit (even though the patient does all the work).

If you do not do well...he can blame you for not doing what he says.

Sounds like a good gig.

On second thought, PT Bruiser has a good gig, too!

Published to http://kristiasher.blogspot.com

Tuesday, July 14

July 15, 2009 - Seeking Praise


Hello All!

I hope everyone is having a good week!

I am typing this early, so the post might actually hit the blog before Wednesday. I do not have a Dr. appointment tomorrow, but I do plan on getting weighed tomorrow because I am hoping to be down 75 pounds. We shall see in the morning! Once I am back at a computer after my visit I will update the stats on the blog.

Last week I had an appointment with Dr. Pita. While it is never a dull moment at the clinic, last week was especially exciting because I got my fasting blood test results. Well, Dr. Pita was quite happy with my results.

Which is good because if he is not happy with you then he grumbles. If I want to hear grumbling I have many other places I can go and it does not cost me any money!

I digress...

We reviewed the results and sure enough they were really good especially as compared to when I first went to the clinic 15 months ago! I do not want to bore you with the specifics, but we all hear about watching our insulin levels, glucose levels, cholesterol, etc. My numbers were all in the "make your doctor happy zone." Very exciting.

The only number I noticed on the paper that was high was my bad cholesterol. However, it was a lot better than when I first started at the clinic. Dr. Pita informed me that my good cholesterol was really good, so I needed think of it more as a total of the two numbers. I thought; "Okay, my cholesterol is GREAT!"

Getting the excellent test results was confirmation of how my lifestyle has truly changed my body. I feel better primarily because my body is working better! I still have a long way to go, but I am definitely a healthier person.

Dr. Pita babbled on about a few more topics before I left the appointment. It was at that point I was trying to decide who to call. No one REALLY cares about your test results but yourself and your employer who is paying your health insurance.

I shared with my employer. I got a "high five." Woo hoo! I thought to myself; "I must share with more people."

I shared with my Sister. She said; "That's nice." Hmmmm...never know how to take that one. I am relatively certain that she was happy for me, but she has made the comment; "..my sister loves her watch and annoyingly tells me every single, flipping calorie that she burns a day" on her blog.

Well, I decided to tell the woman who gave birth to me. How could I go wrong telling my mother? She listened politely to my results and said; "Those are good numbers, but you know the depression episodes will never go away." Hmph! Wonder who I get those from...hmmm?

Finally, I realized the one person who I REALLY needed to tell was my FATHER. He is always proud of whatever I do and sometimes even might say it! He also LOVES looking at health related things.

I think my father might have every copy of the Physicians Desk Reference published and a few other medical books. Physicians love him! He does everything they say and occassionally will have a weird ailment that they can write about in medical journals.

Again, I digress...

I took my paper of test results to him and started to share. My father turned to his dresser and pulled out AT LEAST 10 YEARS of his own blood test results. Yes, he started comparing my results to his.

While he was doing this I tweeted; "Trying to figure out who won the Best Blood Test Results. My 84 year old walking-pharmaceutical-experiment father or me."

He continued through the results for several minutes mentioning different particulars and finally pointed at my bad cholesterol number and stated; "My cholesterol was lower than that when I had my first heart attack."

Til Next Week,
Kristi

Originally published to http://kristiasher.blogspot.com

Thursday, July 9

July 8, 2009 - The Art of Taking Care of Self


Hello,

As you all know, it is not easy trying to be healthy. It is especially not easy if it is not inherent in us. For example, my friend tAmMY (I mentioned her before) normally eats healthy and gets the appropriate amount of exercise (MOST of the time). It is just what she does. She eats all the right things and takes care of herself.

Most of us however have a hard time with a healthy lifestyle. We might make excuses such as;

"Healthy food is too expensive."
"I do not have time to watch what I eat."
"I am too busy taking care of others."
"I am too busy at work."

Personally, I use all of the above excuses and many more. However, they are all a bunch of crap. It boils down to you are either going to do it or not. Make the decision and own it. For example, I did not feel like going to the gym on Tuesday. I told myself; "You are too busy at work today. You got a late start and need to get stuff done." At the end of the day on my "Daily Checklist of To Dos" I had to put a 'X' in the line for exercise. It was then that I owned my decision. I then had to say to myself; "You did not exercise today. You chose not to. Do it tomorrow." I did not beat myself up about it, it was in the past .. just did not do it.

Somedays it is that simple. I did workout Wednesday and noticed a difference in my mood. That was my reinforcement for why I do it.

It gets tricky when it lasts several days. That is when I need to look inside and see what the real reason is for not eating right and/or exercising. Sometimes, I need to call in reinforcements by reading my "What Works for Me", speaking to Miss Tappity Tap, the clinic Social Worker, or even fessing up to Dr. Pita about being lethargic. Sometimes, they are not available and there are even free resources that can help. Ultimately, the only one that is going to do it is ME.

Some of my friends and acquaintances say; "It has been easy for you because of blah, blah, blah." Again, bunch of crap. They have not seen the times I did overeat and then picked myself back up the next day. Or the time I really did not want to exercise, but did it anyway and cried all the way through it, but I did it.

I continue on because a fire developed deep inside. It was when I finally realized that I was worth it. Every day I stoke that fire.

Daily it is about investing in me so that the interest earned can be spent on the other things that matter in life, being there for others and experiencing all that life has to offer.


Til Next Week When I Probably Will Not Be So Preachy,
Kristi

Note: For those that read my blog via Facebook and RSS Feeds, you cannot keep up with my weight loss stats since I post them on the sidebar in my blog. So, I am wanted to let you know I am officially down 73 pounds. Woo Hoo! I have also lost 6 inches off of my waist since the 1st of November.

Published to http://kristiasher.blogspot.com

Wednesday, July 1

July 1, 2009 - PT Bruiser is Not Bendy

Hello Everyone,

PT Bruiser has never really experience my “wrath” on the blog. Honestly, she is a bit too nice to be made fun of too much, but this story is too good not to share.

When I workout with PT Bruiser we begin my training session on the treadmill. As I clod along she stands there cutely in her matching workout clothes while I start to work up a sweat (note: I have never see PT Bruiser sweat). As I get my heart rate dangerously close to the “be careful or drop dead zone” in my hot-pink-too-large shirt and non-matching orange pants, PT Bruiser regales me with humorous stories or points out that my clothes are too big. After getting my heart pumping we proceed to the stretching area.

When we stretch we perform the Standing Chest stretch. Notice how the lady in the photo is nicely arching her back and pulling her arms up while keeping her shoulders down.

















The following photo is a representation of how high up PT Bruiser is able to get her arms.





The following photo is a representation of how high I am able to get my arms.



Grasshopper, the student has surpassed the teacher.



Published to http://kristiasher.blogspot.com