New Tab

Hi y'all.  I created a new tab so I can have PAGES!  I know!  Fancy!  Anyhow, for the moment there is Home, where you are now and there is a Pictorial Page.  Maybe I'll add more to come.

The Pictorial tab is where I'll be posting a pic at each 10lb mark - or if I have an amazing body change.  It is happening.  The fact that now I can SEE it happening is exciting!  It is the little motivator I have been needing.  Just looking at the 255 pic next to the 275 pic stuns me!!

I am still 99% vegetarian.  I have had a bit of meat recently and it was fine (a sub sandwich, a turkey sandwich, a bite of breakfast sausage), but think I am gonna stay veg for now.

Oh the other thing is that I am starting a cleanse tomorrow.  Not an all-liquid one, or anything like that, just one from Whole Foods that pumps up my fiber intake over the next 2 weeks, cleans out my nooks & crannies, cleanses my liver.. that sort of thing.  I have done it before so know how it works/how I work on it.  No explosive colon here!  (TMI? HA - as if!!!)

I think this will help me get back into my drinking lots of water routine and jump me off this weight-loss plateau.  And who doesn't want a healthier liver??

It does not say anywhere that I have to stop my daily coffee, so I shall not.  I will cut back some and supplement my afternoons with copious amounts of iced green teas!  MMMMMmmmm.

Stay tuned!

Short post

A short post to say that I have had to be out early this week for on-campus conference presentations, so have yet to weigh in.  So my WIW (weigh-in Wed.) will be a WIF this week, you know if I remember in the morning! HA!

Also, I just pre-ordered this: 

I have her other Clean-Eat Diet book and really like it.  It is so great because all the food is REAL. By real I mean it isn't fat-free this, or sugar-free that.  It is real food.  I am all about eating real food, not processed nastiness.  When I discovered that Fat-Free Half & Half had corn syrup in it I started drinking my coffee black... why the eff does half & half need corn syrup??  Anyyyyyyway....  I'll let you know how I like the veggie version sometime in May (or this summer when I have a bit more time!).

Damn it all!

So about 4:30 yesterday afternoon, after my annual "well woman" exam - all was found well with this woman, btw, I started to feel off.  Just chilly, so I turned the A/C up.  I was still chilly - like, had chill bumps cold....  so I took my temp, 100.6 - W.T.F?

This low-grade fever went until I sweat it out around 1:30 this morning.  I woke up at 10:30 with terrible earaches and the distinct feeling that my throat was swelling on the right side.  (so much for excellent bourbon and some terrifically hot habanero pepper sauce for a cure)

I SO DO NOT NEED THIS RIGHT NOW. (in short I have 2 academic presentations this week on campus, 2 more classes to teach, a luncheon, an awards dinner (hopefully), a girl-time catch-up brunch, a hair appointment, a friend's birthday dinner, and oh, MY birthday - which has been planned to the hilt by two of my finest friends and I cannot wait!

And it is my BIRTHDAY WEEK - RUDE!!  I think Birthday Week will now commence beginning on the day of (Sat, March 24) and continue for a full week thereafter.  Maybe it will be "Welcome to the Forties Week!" and I'll have champagne everyday.  I should lecture with chalk in one hand & a flute of champagne in the other, no? Herm, that may begin a bad habit I won't be inclined to quit....

So, I went BACK to the Dr. today at 3pm. No Strep - YAY!, but she is not liking the swollen gland (or whatever it is) or the now returned fever - is 99 my new number? I am on an antibiotic and taking acetaminophen, decongestants, a nasal steroid, and an allergy pill.  TMI ALERT: Sinus drainage seems to be an issue as well for the throat irritation.

Oh and waiting for me when I got home, the results of my blood work from Friday's physical - my cholesterol is a little bit high for the first time ever.

My "calculated LDL Chol" is 123. The sheet I received said it should be <100.  This only chaps my hide because I have always had great numbers - ALWAYS!  I have always been one of those very genetically lucky people who, despite being morbidly obese have great cholesterol, triglycerides, etc. I am really just mad at myself because Dr. Harvey warned me last year during my physical that this would happen.  Her exact words were "Mylynka you are going to undo all your good genetic gifts by being overweight."  And I really did something about it only sporadically.  I am really, really unhappy about all of this.  I would like to eat an entire pint of ice cream right now... but I stopped at 1/3. Well, there is something to that I should be happy about - I didn't try to drown everything in a full pint of Coffee Heath Bar Crunch, even though it made my throat feel better.

I turn 40 this week!

So I have been meaning to get back into a fitness routine. My vertigo has been in check, I am steadily losing about a pound a week because of my dietary changes, so it is time to add the exercise component back in. I know that if I am losing with diet only, exercising is going to add to that AND get me into a healthier body!

Two recent things have made me realize that I want to be fitter. 1 - walking for several hours around Charleston, and 2 - physical labor - installing shelving in my office/moving boxes etc. yesterday. I want to be healthier so I can do these things with out being EXHAUSTED! (ok, 3 - I am turning 40 on Saturday.)


 My fitness goals for this week are the following:
- go to yoga Monday at 6:30pm
- start my BodyDrive Daily 10 again
- keep on eating healthy foods (my birthday week has always been a pass in the past & has always spelled the end of any New Year's inspired health initiative) 


Turning 40 is a "big" birthday, but I am not sure how I am supposed to feel about it.  I mean 40 really isn't old anymore and is the "new 20" (or 30 or whatever the media has chosen it to be this week).  I don't know what I thought 40 would be so my expectations are neither being met nor being dashed.  


A part of me is disappointed that I am not "fit" by this birthday.  I started this blog 18 months ago with the intention of being healthy and "fit" by 40. Well, life happens, and everyone on a quest for a fitter life will agree with me that it is not easy.  I know this is a life long journey and that saying "I'll lose X amount by X date" is setting myself up for failure.  I also know that it isn't going to get any easier as I age, so now is a pretty good time to start. So with that in mind, here are some more long term goals:


- getting into a regular exercise routine (even if it is just 10 mins a day at first)
- drinking more water more consistently (Sarah Fitness - I see you beaming!) 
- continuing to eat good, healthy meals
- not letting one rich, calorie-laden meal derail me and send me back to an eating free-fall back to bad habits.


So those are my goals going forward into my 40s and beyond!  I notice a theme of consistency.  So help me by encouraging me to be consistant.  What ALWAYS happens, and I am well aware of this, is that I get into a routine for about 3 weeks and something happens, I travel, get sick, have a birthday week, or whatever and then I just STOP.  I stop doing whatever I was doing towards better health.  I am aware of this and am working on maintaining my awareness.  I am particularly proud of myself for sticking to healthier heating and water drinking all during the vertigo.  It is probably why I am feeling good about getting back into a regular exercise routine.


Ok, more tomorrow after my first day back to HWY!


Mylynka

Weigh-In Wednesday

Starting weight: 275
Last Week: 260
This week: 257.4


Today I was ASTONISHED to see the scale move decidedly downward!  257.4!!  That is a 1.6 loss from last time.  It will be so cool to see 255 soon and know I have lost 20lb!!  Maybe I am finally over the 260 hump and will keep on cruising to the lower 250s and beyond!

In other news, my HeavyWeight yoga instructor (the best one ever!) is returning to teaching on Monday nights after the unexpected death of her husband the day after Christmas.  So, I am going to be getting back into a regular yoga practice!!

Also, all the walking around in Charleston really made me want to get out and walk more.  I need to get a walking buddy or something.  There is a short window of outdoor walk-ortunities in TX because it will be blazing hot soon.

What do you do to get your workouts in around the seasonal changes?

Mylynka

Blogging and stuff - I need your input.

Ok, OBVIOUSLY I am not a very good blogger.  So those of you who are need to give me some pointers.


Do you:

• blog daily? If so, do you plan ahead or is it "off-the-cuff" writing?
• have certain things you blog about on certain days?  I know some of you are part of memes, or themed days, how does that work for you? Does it make you blog more?
• How much time per day do you spend blogging?
• Anything else you want to share with me?

THANKS!!

Weigh-in Wednesday: I SEE A FIVE!!!

Hi y'all,

I have been remiss in blogging. I have had a lot going on health-wise, school-wise, life-wise... But I am back and with glad tidings!

So, Weigh-In Wednesday. The deets:

Starting Weight: 275

Last Week: 260.6

This Week: 258.8

You read that right two-FIFTY-eight-point-eight!!

Now, this is exciting for a number of reasons. Y'all know I like enumerated lists, so here it is:

1. I have not been on this side of 260 in over a decade. In fact I wasn't even sure my scale had a 5 as a middle number. HA!
2. This is really encouraging because I have not been working out due to near-constant vertigo (see earlier post on that here). This is encouraging because it means that by staying mostly vigilant about my eating, I have continued to lose weight. Like my friend Jenn. Coulter said to me today: " ‎80% diet 20% working out" and I am starting to see how true that is.
3. The scale is finally moving again, in the right direction!

I am pretty pleased with myself. Happy with my food choices, even though they have not all been stellar, and am exciting to get out of this 15lb plateau I have been in for what seems like ever!

I am off to meet my BFF Jeanne for lunch at Blue Mesa Grill in Ft. Worth. I have already inspected the menu and have planned out what I am going to order. I am getting better at this!

Have a great Wednesday!