On the Verge of Losin’ It

I am on the edge…..I am on the verge of breaking 190 lbs.  I can almost feel it gone.  I am down to 191 lbs.

Breaking 200 pounds was a big deal.  Hitting 200 pounds on the nose was a big deal.  When the excitement was new, when I pronounced having lost 27 pounds, my teenage son asked me how much I weighed at that time.  NEVER ask a woman her weight, her age or her dress size.  I laughed hysterically when I told him, shoulders shrunk in, that “I weigh 200 lbs

I couldn’t stop laughing because I still weighed pretty high.

But now I am on the verge of losing it.

Today I swam for 30 minutes and loved every back stroke. 

I am having difficulty with dehydration, though.  Water sports and baths dehydrate you (that’s what the wrinkling of the hands is about).  I can drink a quart of water during and after, and still it doesn’t make a difference.  Must be a diabetic thing going on.  I have been asking Heavenly Father to help me with this dehydration problem/high blood sugar problem.  He informed me that it stems from missing 2 days of exercise over the weekend and missing 3 days the week before.  Okay.  I won’t miss.

So He is counseling me on what I can eat and when.  “No you may not have any spaghetti.  You may have the turkey meatballs with a little bit of sauce and salad.”

Notes to self:

• Remember to counsel with the Lord in all my doings, including EVERY time you eat.
• Kudos for swimming again and keeping up with exercise every day this week
• Remember to drink LOTS of water
• Kudos for your clothes getting too big
• This high  blood sugar with pass
• You have been promised in a blessing that your health will be restored.
• Heavenly Father is your doctor ,knows what He’s doing and knows what your blood sugar is doing.
• No decent looking Hormel Turkey Pepperoni on the shelf  *;-.)

Today

I am still in recovery from the 55 minute swim.  It sure caught up to me.  I am swimming for only 25 minutes to recover!!

55 Glorious minutes

Today I swam for 55 glorious minutes.  I watch the clock as I swim, taking note of how much time is passing.  It's easy now.

I also watch for my markers, the flags at either end of the lap swimming lanes, so I don't konk my  head on the side of the pool again.  *;-.)

Since my swim clothes (shorts, top and a tank shirt) have been getting too big, I wanted some real swim wear (something modest), but on clearance since I'm losing weight.  Didn't want to put a lot of money into something that will fall off me in the pool in 2 months.  I prayed about it, and that day found on clearance a pair of boy cut bottoms for $3, a swim skirt for $3, swim shorts for $5 and a long top for $7.  My sport bras fit me again so I can wear it under the top (everything seems to be an extreme cleavage shower anymore).

notes to self:
1. Kudos for swimming for 55 minutes.
2. Kudos for being able to swim for 55 minutes
3.  Kudos for being dedicated
4. Kudos for resisting your binge urges (I want everything I love!!) and turning to your Heavenly Father to help you through them.
5.  No Hormel Turkey Pepperoni for days!  What's up with that?!

Long time no see

Knowing how to lose it and actually making yourself do it can be two entirely different things.
I've now had to be compelled.
After warnings from the Lord and His good counsel, I've had to be compelled.  But in this compulsion, I am being blessed.

I have been ignoring symptoms of diabetes for a couple of  years now and in mid-october, I was hit hard.  My pancreas had had enough of the fact that I am a carb junkie.

After mighty prayer and being totally willing to listen to the Lord, we are working on managing my glucose levels.  I was allowed to eat small amounts of only certain things.  Some days, I figure I was eating @ 900 calories, at best.  Everything made my sugar level go up. Including lettuce.  Didn't matter.  I was having to drink apple cider vinegar 3 times a day to get the levels down (it has tested out to lower blood sugar levels in obese women up to 42%).  I went back to the gym.

What is happening is that, the Lord is letting me know what I can eat and how much, until I can learn what I need to know from books.  For instance, He wants me to read labels.  So I say to Him, "according to this box of Whole Wheat Saltines, I am allowed 7 crackers for 1 serving.  Can I have that?" and He says, "You may have 5."

As things stand, I am allowed apples (small), grilled chicken in a home made marinade (sparse on the processed foods), I am allowed salad.  They glory of it all is that I LOVE  my grilled chicken salad.  I make home made soups, but have to take my soup out before we add rice or noodles (certain carbohydrates I am not yet allowed, as I have realized I am also being treated for Candida--massive yeast overgrowth throughout the body)  I can weigh out 2 ounces of home made noodles and put it in my soup after they have cooked in the big pot.  If we  have pizza, I am allowed 1 slice and a salad. *;-.(   I LOVE pizza.

I am exercising at the gym.  I was going upstairs to the machines and free weights, but it started aggravating my old snow shoveling injury, so now I am in the pool, doing water aerobics and have graduated to swimming back stroke (with a floatation belt since I am literally related to Mount Rushmore~~I sink like a boulder) for 30 minutes.

Though I am experiencing this adversity, I am being blessed.  I really do not miss all the things I can't eat right now  ( except for pizza).  I am not hungry.  I have lost 34 pounds.  20 of which have been since  mid-october.  Today is December 1.  The Lord wants this weight off fast.  I did have a plateau in mid-November, but it's going again.

2 weeks ago, my blood pressure was 120/80.  Yesterday is was 117/63.  Today I weigh 193.6 lbs.  Most of my clothes are too big.

Kudos to me for:
1. having the faith to listen to the direction of the Lord.  He is my doctor.  He is my dietician
2. exercising and loving it
3. asking the Lord what I can eat when I am not sure
4.  following His direction ( I do not want to feel bad any more for eating bad things)
5. keeping consumption of Hormel Turkey Pepperoni to a minimum

Grilled Chicken Salad
boneless chicken breast marinated for a few minutes in a mixture of Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Herbed Vinegar, garlic and Italian spices, salt and pepper.

1.  grill chicken of a George Foreman-type grill
2. cut chicken into bite sized pieces to your liking
3  Add it to salad greens of your choice--skip the Iceberg lettuce as there is very little nutritional value
4.  Add yellow tomatoes for fun, green olives, black olives croutons and sunflower seeds.  '
5.  I usually pour 2 TBL of Herbed Vinegar (home made) and 2 Table Spoons of Green olive juice. (yes, sodium, sodium, but my blood pressure is okay).  Sometimes I pour a little home made dressing on.

normally what I'll eat for breakfast is:
A  2 eggs and 1 slice of double fiber whole wheat toast, buttered, cut in half. One half is sprinkled with Saigon Cinnamon and the other half covered with 1 tsp of my home made Peach Strawberry Vanilla Jam.

B  1/3 cup gOatmeal, sprinkled with 1 TBL Wheat Germ, 1 TBL Milled Flax seed. 2 TBL chopped pecans.  I add some boiling water, then 1 tsp of my Peach Strawberry Vanilla jam and leave it to sit for a few minutes to saturate the gOatmeal.  I add Saigon Cinnamon and enjoy a tasty breakfast.

I can eat graham crackers for a snack.  I can eat almonds (they are wonderfully sweet).  I can eat apple sauce.

I usually have Grilled Chicken Salad for lunch.  Leftover soups are out of the question since the broth has had time "starch up" overnight.

Dinner is soups or chicken  chilli (1 cup) or chicken with some vegetables.  I'll give more details later.

ta ta for nah