Friday, August 29

Surgery and frustration

Item 1: My bottom 2 wisdom teeth have been successfully removed with little to-do. My new love is general anesthesia. I was chatting with the dr one minute and waking up the next to, "Are you ready to try and sit up?" a mere 45 minutes later. I had maybe an hour of pretty severe pain once the first pain pill wore off but before the second one could be taken. And a few bouts with a minor amount of nausea. But otherwise not so bad. Eating yogurt, pudding (both fat-free!) and cream of chicken soup (low-fat and low-sodium). Seems like recovery will be fairly swift, thank goodness.

Item 2: I guess I am taking a different approach to the Biggest Loser contest than some of the others. Instead of truly counting my WW points, I am trying to change the way I eat in general. My diet has become about 20x healthier as a rule. I know I could probably cut back more points-wise. But what I really want to do is attempt to be a role model for my kids. I want to try to cut out more processed foods and eat in season. So it seems because of this, I am not losing weight as fast as I'd like. I have only lost 5 lbs in 3 weeks. Technically that is entirely acceptable, but with everyone else dropping some major pounds, I feel like I am not trying hard enough. That does frustrate me to some degree. I am exercising every day and I can feel that my legs are getting stronger. I hope I am making muscle and that is part of it. I plan to keep up the daily exercise for the duration of the contest (Oct 5) culminating in the Susan G Komen Race for the Cure 5K (with the Buddy Walk thrown in on the same day for good measure). After that, I want to make a plan (that works for my family) to continue to exercise at least 4 days a week. Hopefully that along with a new eating mindset will help me to eventually see the weight loss I desire. I am not expecting to win the contest with this course of action, but I feel like the long-term benefits are more important than the short-term. I just needed the contest as a beginning motivator and it has worked out perfectly for that.

So I guess what started out as a rant in my mind about the lack of weight loss, has really turned into a reality check for me. I am getting what I want out of all this, a healthier me and hopefully a healthier family. That is all I can ask for.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I know you don't really know me (I met you at Nikki's shower) but I thought I'd give you some encouragement. I did the same thing you are doing about 2 1/2 years ago. I did not drop the weight super fast! I just gradually dropped weight as I was eating healthier and working out. It was frustrating at times, but it motivated me to stick with it.

Now my whole family (husband, myself, and 2 kids) eat much healthier. I am down to the size I wore when I graduated high school, I weigh less than before I had kids, and my body fat % is significantly lower. My husband lost a lot of weight also, and we have both maintained it for over a year. Anyways, I feel the healthiest I have ever felt. So...stick with it! It's a very rewarding outcome :)

As a side note...my son had a Mother's Day Tea at his school. They asked the kids several questions about their parents and wrote down the answers for us to read. He said that his mom loved running, exercising, and drinking water. I had no idea that he even noticed. It was pretty cool to see that I was setting a good example for him. So...now that is huge motivation for me to keep up the healthy habits. Your kids will notice :)

Good luck!

Kathy

Keri Donald said...

5 pounds in 3 weeks just from changing your diet is really very great, Angelle! It sounds like the diet (and contest) hasn't consumed your life, yet you're still doing great with weight loss. It sounds like you're definitely doing the right thing for you and your family, and that's the very most important thing.

I, on the other hand, have been taking the extreme approach, and am now starting to get very frustrated with my slowing weight loss (or even gain on some days). Your approach has really made me think about my approach, and I think I'm going to be toning it down a bit so that it isn't taking over my life like it has been.

Keep up the great work! I'm very proud of you, and I'm sure your family is too!