Take #432

Had my annual checkup on Monday...

I was more than disappointed, I was BLOWN away! Instead of a HOT MESS, I'm calling this a Hematological DISASTER! OMG! My blood pressure is way up, my blood sugars are up, my A1C is up, my platelets are up! And to help out... my cholesterol is in OUTER SPACE!

So when the doctor says, "Hey, you may want to do something about all this." I laughed and replied "Ya think?". But in all seriousness I was panicking up a storm on the inside. I'm sure this didn't help my blood pressure at all. I'm not one to panic so to feel this way scared the shit out of me. Again not helping the blood pressure!

I've been under a lot of stress lately, for things well we just won't get in to, and I'm sure that isn't helping the blood pressure situation in the least.

My doctor discusses all my options, including weight loss surgery. I promptly tell her I am not going that route. I've lost the weight before I can lose it again. So she increases my Glucophage and adds a cholesterol medication and tells me get the weight off. I'm quite leery of the cholesterol medication as I had bad side effects from Crestor when I took it years and years ago. So we are starting with an extremely low dose and only every other day. I'm going to give it a shot! At this point there's not much to lose in trying this except for the money it's going to cost me.

I've known for years that the majority of my health problems stem completely from my weight. I eat fairly well and I exercise a lot on a regular bases. But if I'm being honest with myself my eating is the culprit, always has been and probably always will be. I love Tasty Klairs and Boston Creme donuts WAYYY TOOO MUCCHHHHH! The kids ask all the time to get a donut to reward them for their hard work. I definitely need to break this habit in them and myself! A donut is OK every once in a while but not a weekly basis.

The last think the doctor and I talk about is her thoughts on how I should eat. Well as you can imagine it doesn't sound appealing at all. In a nutshell its what I've termed the "Chicken, Lettuce and DIRT diet". Basically, it is a diet that consists of low carb, low fat, low sodium, and low calorie. Now for those that haven't dieted before or had to make significant changes in their eating habits, this boils down to chicken, lettuce, and dirt! What's worse is this is not the first time in my life that I've had a doctor tell me all of these things.

Seriously though, Chicken....I love, Lettuce....depends on the day, Dirt...I'll pass! There's not much flavor in any of this! And there is only so many ways you can prepare chicken before it becomes boring.

As I drive back to work and finish telling Chuck all the wonderful news the doctor had said my stomach turns to knots. The knots continued to grow as the day went on.

So what do I do for the remainder of the day?

• Do I contemplate how I'm going to get myself back on track? NO 
• Do I watch what I eat? NO 
• Do I relax? NO 
• Do I make any decisions on what I'm going to do? NO 

Instead, I ate myself into oblivion and made the knots in my stomach multiply! I didn't relax on the couch like she asked me too, instead I took the kids to practice and bought myself Fettuccine Alfredo, with chicken (because the doctor said to eat chicken), and then had cupcakes (mini ones....it doesn't matter) in celebration of Coach Robin's birthday!

It wasn't until later that night when I'm lying in bed, feeling like utter and complete shit, that I had my WHAT THE EVER LOVING %*@# moment! I told myself, starting right then and there I was going to get this under control, AGAIN! As soon as I could get out of bed without feeling like I was going to puke. 😓

Tuesday morning, I got up and said "It's a new day! I'm going to rock this diet!" Then I said "Stop calling it a dam diet! You need to change your eating habits for life!"

It's the truth, I have to stop thinking of changing my eating habits as a diet and instead not think of it at all! I need to change things in my life for the better. For my kids, for my hubby, for myself! 

My stomach still hurt unbelievably and the thought of food just made me nauseous. So instead of eating in the morning, I brought 5 bottles of water with me to work. I drank one every throughout an hour and then have an alarm set in my calendar that tells me "Water, Walk, Stretch"! 

Some may find this ridiculous, but it works quite well for me while I'm at work. I get up, go potty, take a walk around the wing I'm in, stretch when I get back to my cube and then pour myself another bottle of water. Yesterday, I drank 7 16.9 oz bottles of water while I was at work. Did I pee alot? UMMM, yeah! But I was definitely feeling better! 

I got back on My Fitness Pal (MFP) yesterday and started tracking everything. After doing some research and taking in my past experiences I felt as if getting back to a low carb intake, keeping my calories to 1200 - 1600 per day (depending on exercise) I should be able to get back on track.

I was also noting things in their notes section. Since I had no idea what was going to happen yesterday, I decided to skip breakfast and a morning snack; my stomach was a mess anyway. For lunch I went down to the cafeteria, had a snack when I got home, and then we made meatball pizza with Califlour's Italian pizza crust. I just love these things. 

Here are my notes to myself throughout the day (some TMI but I've never been shy about TMI):

Day 1 of  keto diet. Well I guess pre-keto diet. Until I can go to the bathroom I'm going to be drinking water and broth. My stomach is so upset there is no way I can eat any actual food. 

I don't plan on tracking my exercise through here. Just my food and water intake. 

Made a meal plan for the next few days.

It's 12 Noon and my stomach is starting to feel better. I'm assuming the water is helping. I still haven't had a BM but I'm hoping it happens soon. 

When I got home I felt unbelievably hungry. I had some hard cheddar cheese squares and some cashews. That seemed to help. 

Unfortunately, I felt completely stuffed at dinner. This was way too much food for me. Chuck felt the same way. Next time we are going to split the homemade pizza.  I may feel differently when I start swimming/running again. I'm giving myself a couple days off to help my BP settle down. 

Considering how crappy I felt for the majority of the day I managed to pull out by the end and feel better. I'm not the greatest about tracking my food, but I'm going to give it my very best so that hopefully I can see where a pattern may be.

It's Wednesday morning, the start of a new day! I lost 1.2 lbs since yesterday. It's a small victory and I'm quite happy with it!

I brought breakfast, lunch, and a snack to work with me. Breakfast was supposed to be the Jimmy Dean Bacon & Spinach Frittatas. UGH, those were completely disgusting and I will not be eating them again. I managed to take one bite and ended up spitting it out. No worries though...I've gone years without eating breakfast and felt much better for it. I have a feeling I'm going to be doing Lunch, afternoon snack, and dinner like I did for the majority of my life (especially when I was at my healthiest).

So here's to a new day, a new outlook, and healthier future!

Have a swimmingly great day!