weightnolonger

I’m hanging in there.  The doc finally called me in a prescription for some drops yesterday, although the nurse let me know that she doesn’t like doing that without an office visit.  At least I have my precious drops now!  I think an antibiotic would help also, but I’ll have to go in if I want that.  I think it is starting to get better, but it is hard to tell.  My ear, neck, cheek, etc are still swollen and hurting… and tonight I have to go to the band thing in the cold.  And I can’t even close my jaw, so not only do I look silly, but it is really hard to eat.

But all of this is an improvement… so that’s good, I guess.

The ear ache pain continues and it’s getting worse.  I’ve got a call in to see if the doctor will refill my previous prescription without another office visit… the prescription alone is $50 and that’s for a tiny bottle of eardrops WITH my insurance paying half!  Good grief, how can ear drops be so expensive?  But right now, I’ll pay $500 for those stupid drops if it will make the pain stop.   Woe is me.

I love Hydro Training, but I don’t know if I can keep going through this.  I get a massive earache about once per month, and that is with me using Swim Ear.   I never got earaches as a kid, what changed?  I was on swim team and swam daily all summer, and we lived across the street from the pool so I was there from open to close nearly every single day.  Never an ear ache.  Now, I have horrible ears!

I’m at work but every little sound is burning.  I closed my door to get some peace, but I still have phones ringing.  UGH!  Tomorrow night I’m supposed to go hear my son’s BAND play at a football game - this is his first game since he’s just in 7th grade, and I *have* to go - but it is sounding a bit horrific at the moment. 

I feel great energy-wise, got a lot of sleep to rest up this weekend.  I would love to hit the gym, but I just gotta kick this earache first.   I couldn’t possibly listen to the blaring gym music (which is usually motivating) today.

Hurry up and call me back, doc!  I’ve been waiting since 9 am!!!

Well, I’m useless at the moment.  I have yet another horribly excruciating earache.  I’m so sick of this routine… what is wrong with my ears????

I’m miserable and don’t know when I’ll be back at Hydro.  Where is E.T.’s healing touch when you need him?

I guess I’m pretty much an accident waiting to happen.  I like to think I’m a little more graceful than it would seem from reading this, but the truth is … not so much.   Since I’m sitting here agonizing over a sore leg, I thought it might be nice to hear from someone else who is a bit of a kluttz…  anyone?  anyone?  Bueller? ….

1.  Tuesday night at the gym, I stepped off an elliptical before the pedals had stopped.  Stupid, I know.  So what happened?  It came around and slammed me in the shin.  Ouch.  I played it off pretty well, but it sure did hurt and now I’m sporting a glorious technicolor bruise and cut.  (This wasn’t the first time either.)

2.  A few weeks ago, you may remember my story about shaking my booty in Latin Fusion class for 60 minutes… with a great big hole in the butt of my shorts.  Oy!

3.  Then there was the time a couple of months ago when I was just casually walking through the indoor pool, about ankle deep.  I slipped in the middle of the gym and fell on my butt.  That one was a bonus, cuz I made a huge splash!

4.  Oh yes, and another time I was at the gym with my bff.   I got off the weight machine for my calves, caught my shoelace on a bar, and tripped and fell like a complete doof.

5.  Before I started working out, I fell in my driveway one morning just walking out to the car.  Smack down on my knee really hard.  I thought for a while I had broken a bone, but I didn’t go to the doctor.  I still have a big dent in that leg.

So, just wanted to warn you, you might not ever want to be seen with me in public.  lol!

… a home-baked chocolate chip cookie, made with substitutions:  1/2 whole wheat flour, 1/2 unbleached whitewheat flour, Splenda instead of sugar, plus added ground flaxseed and wheat germ????  I ate about 4 of them (small) last night and they were sooooooo yummy….  but I’m not sure how to log them on my food journal.  The splenda should keep the calories lower and the whole wheat products are better than bleached white flour, but there were chocolate chips and butter and eggs involved… and I really haven’t got a clue.

I got there 15 minutes early for class.  I talked to a few other first-timers.  the instructor was there but doing her own thing and not talking to anyone.  I got my stuff set up in the back because I wasn’t brave, lol.  I was ready.  The instructor was kind of distant - she did ask whose first time it was and said just keeping moving while you learn the steps and you’ll get it… but she also commented that it was an intermediate class.  She was ok, just not fun or motivating.  Ugh.

I quickly realized that 60-min of this was going to kill me.  After 15 minutes, the other newby I had been talking to grabbed her step and put it away… and I decided to follow.   We just couldn’t keep up.  I want to try again, with a different instructor, when I’ve lost more weight.  Or maybe if I kind find a Basic Step class to start with.

Alas, I did not give up.  After 15-min of that torture (lol), I headed straight to the bike and did another 15 min on hills, then to the Arc Trainer and did 20 min on hill intervals, then back to the bike for another 25 min of hills.  By then my sister got there and she and I went around trying 5-min here and there on different ellipticals and cardio machines to get a feel for which ones work which muscles, burn more calories, etc. 

In all, I started class at 715 and did not stop doing cardio until 8:45 (aside from a quick drink at the water fountain).  So I didn’t complete the step class, but I think I did quite well. 

My improved endurance always amazes me!  I’ve been thinking of making a list of 100 things to do before I die… I had kind of pondered this in the past but didn’t finish it.  There were things I wanted to add in the past, but I didn’t because I knew at my current weight I physically could not do them… hike down in the Grand Canyon, climb to the top of the Statue of Liberty, skydive, etc.  But now, I really think I could accomplish these things!  

I’m having a very positive day today. 

I’m planning to try it tonight at 7:15.  Will I live?  It is a 60-min class.  I’m still 262 lbs, which makes aerobics a challenge.   I called the gym to ask if it was multi-level, and after getting transferred 4 times the guy said “Hmmm…. I think it is a beginner class.”  That isn’t too encouraging, but I think it won’t be too impossible.  At my local gym they are called Intro Step, Intermediate Step, and Master Step.  …  But this class (same gym, difft location) is simply called Step… which to me suggests multi-level? 

I want to try it, but I want to live through the experience.   Tell me you’ve survived while overweight?

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again.  I’m determined… D-E-T-E-R-M-I-N-E-D… to do what it takes to lose weight.   With that in mind, I went to the gym tonight for my beloved Hydro class.  This is were things went wrong.

The universe was telling me not to go, but I didn’t listen.  First of all, a storm blew in today and the temps dropped 25 degrees instantly.  It was our first cool day at 58 degrees after a Houston summer.   The storm took out power and my husband is an electrician, so he was stuck working late tonight and couldn’t go.  That didn’t stop us, my son and I headed to the gym alone.

There was no time for dinner, since my husband wasn’t home early to make it as he usually does.  So, we’d be working on empty stomaches.  No problem.

I also managed to pop an enormous blister on the bottom of my foot today, so that was terribly sore.  I bandaged it up… it didn’t hold, but still - I was tough, and I’d stick it out.

We got there, got changed, and hit the pool just in time.  This is where the ice comes in… the water was ICE COLD!!!!!  But we got warmed up and it wasn’t too bad.

I was half-way through class, jumping on this blister that was aching, and suddenly there were flashes of light.  It was the fire alarm.  The staff kind of looked around and checked to make sure it was legit, then asked us to EVACUATE!   No one really knew if it was a drill or what, but here we are a bunch of overweight people in swimsuits being asked to evacuate the building while soaking wet… in 58-degree temps????  And me with a 12-yr-old boy who has to go in the men’s locker room alone, not really knowing what to do?

So, we hopped out of the pool, grabbed a towel, and I told him to just follow the crowd and if the staff are saying to get out, just throw on a shirt and meet me out front.  I threw on jeans and a sweater over my WET swimsuit, grabbed my bag, and fled for the door.  I got to the front and didn’t see him… there were people EVERYWHERE crowding the halls and they were making announcements to pick up your children at the childcare center.  I walked to the front doors, but they weren’t letting anyone back in… so I didn’t go outside, headed back to the men’s locker room and luckily I found him in the hall shortly after.  I realized I didn’t know if they would make him exit the building, or if I should’ve waited there for him… didn’t really know what to do at all!

I’m not sure if it was a drill or a minor fire or something.  I didn’t see smoke, but there was a firetruck with lights on and firemen entering the building. 

It made me realize that we should ALL have a good plan for evacuating the gym as a family in an emergency.  It never really occurred to me that it could be a problem, but wouldn’t you know it is the one night my husband isn’t there to be in the men’s locker room with my son.

So my workout was cut short, but more importantly… I learned a lesson.  Make sure if you take your kids to the gym, that you have a plan for exiting together in an emergency.

I was so excited to see the scale move again that I almost forgot to post the good news.  I’m not half-fat anymore.  That is, I’m under BMI of 50 finally.  Yes, still way overweight and definitely still obese, … nothing to be proud of really.  But my BMI is in the 40’s now.  I haven’t had it profesionally done or anything, and I’d guess it is even lower since I’ve built some muscle.  I even have visible muscle in my legs now - woo hoo.  But strictly basing it on height/weight… I am finally below 50% and that little milestone rocks my world. 

The weather was gorgeous, which is quite a rarity in Houston.  So, off we went to the zoo for 4 hours this afternoon to make use of our membership.  We love the zoo.  :)  But this time was different.  

I haven’t been to the zoo in months actually because Houston summers are miserable, so this was the first trip post-weightloss.  It was an amazingly different experience, and I’m just over the moon about it.  In the past, after the hike in from the parking lot, I’d be out of breath and my feet would be aching already… not this time.  In the past I’d have to take frequent stops to rest at a bench, and my legs would hurt for days afterward.  Not this time.  I just walked and walked and it felt great!  We did stop and sip (diet) soda under a shady tree when we got a bit hot mid-afternoon, but I wasn’t too exhausted to go on.  Then we went to the park outside the zoo and walked around and watched pigeons.  I wanted to walk the whole park, but MY HUSBAND was too pooped and was ready to go.  Let me assure you, he was NEVER the one to tire out first in the past!  It was a lovely day and I could’ve stayed all afternoon.  I am loving the new me, and I can’t wait til I lose more and more and more… and feel better and better and better.  It’s like I had forgotten what normal life was like… and I’m starting to see a glimpse of it again!

Now we’re back at home and I’m already planning out our evening at the gym and the pool.  Go go go… I can’t get enough of it. 

Life is beautiful, and I’m ready to start EXPERIENCING it again.  Like the say, life is not a spectator sport, right?