Progress Report

A quick blog to update my progress.

I am still going to the gym - most days actually although my target was five per week - and I'm genuinely beginning to enjoy it.  I always thought that idea of an endorphin hit after exercise was just sporty people being, well, sporty but it seems I was wrong!  I am loving how I feel after I've really worked hard.  So that's good.  Also, if you time a trip to the gym right you are forced to watch Jeremy Kyle with subtitles and that's hilarous... sick but hilarious.  Afternoon sessions mean a full dose of Come Dine With Me (also with subtitles).  The reason I don't take earphones and listen is twofold.  Firstly, my lack of coordination is likely to mean if I multitask by listening with something that needs plugging in to both a machine and me, anything could happen.  Second, the people who actually write subtitles are appalling and make some superbly funny mistakes.  Today for example, whilst rowing (2,000 meters in under eleven minutes - I thank you) the news was on and the journalist was talking to a group of be-hooded young men about their recent involvement during the London riots.  The caption underneath read:

"Yeah, we was like at Tottenham, Bromley and cat food"

worth every penny of membership fee I think you'll agree.

Anyway - to details of my progress... drum roll... (me tapping the keyboard will have to do...)

• I have lost just over a stone in weight so far (this means I now weigh 72 kgs in new money so have 99 to go - which sounds a lot but I'm thinking slow and steady wins the race etc - and the race is only with the Grim Reaper so hey ho!)
• My fat belt has been put on one side to go on the bonfire I plan to have with my old clothes.
• My old thin belt has been tightened to the third notch.
• My bra size has reduced to 36D (which is still plenty thanks - a later blog on the purchasing of sports bras will follow when I have some more time)
• My knickers are now size 12 as are the jeans Frankie bought for me yesterday.
• SIZE 12!!! To be brutally honest, although I can do them up and could wear them all day, it is going to be another week before I can say I'm totally comfortable which is why they are hanging up in the sitting room to be admired - Label 'size' to the front.
• My blood sugars are good although I need to pick up a prescription of lancets in order to be able to test now so it will be a few days before I can check it properly.  Last reading was 5.3 - which is pretty ok.
• The vile 'lavatory based' side-effects of Metformin (diabetes medication) have worn off and their appetite suppressing qualities seem to have kicked in.
• My BMI has dropped to a point or two and is just abot the 'normal' range (it was far closer to 'obese' before) but I am expecting to hit normal any day now. 
• I'm crossing my fingers that my next cholesterol test will show results even though I am not taking the statins prescribed for me as I am convinced they give you brain damage (no - I have no logical reason - I just get totally ditsy when I do take them and they make my legs ache). If weight loss, healthy eating and exercise doesn't have a massive impact, then I will take the doctor's advice and swallow them.  I just have to try for myself first - that's my call, not something I am suggesting anyone else does. 

As my prize for doing so well, I have, in addition to my 'Jeans as Curtains' display (until next week), a beautiful turquoise and silver pendant, earrings and (once it has been made SMALLER!!) ring.  From the wifey. For which I am most grateful - they are very beautiful - gems and wifey: only a star like her would opt to do the diet, gym etc alongside me all the way and help prep the meals (apart from the odd bottle of beer she's following the same 'regime' - but I think that's a carb or two well earned). She is currently working across the table from me which is good because just a few minutes ago we had a slight panic that her specs had gone in the washing machine but it was a false alarm (PHEW!)

One or two people have asked me what I'm doing diet-wise and whilst I must point out I'm not qualified to recommend diets to anyone and if you plan to do a diet it is your own and your doctor's thing, I am finding Patrick Holford's 'Low GL Diet' very good.  It is basically sensible eating with portion control and very carefully managed carbohydrates (my weakness and it would seem, my poison).  The only part I haven't mastered yet is the giving up of the tea.  I did try cold turkey but a pick-axe-like headache and a lack of vision made me decide to come back to that once things elsewhere are more sorted!  I think for now the vice of tea is a fair one.  Otherwise it is ok - some nice recipes and two snacks a day on top of meals.  The Patrick Holford recipe for Chicken with Cherry Tomatoes is particularly yummy - no, actually, really, really yummy.

Well, that's about it.  I'm delighted I've managed a good start but I'm not complacent.  I've already upped my game at the gym by moving onto a more intense 'workout'.  Sometimes I even get my legs and arms going at the same time on the crosstrainer but it does depend on who is next to me.  I find it very difficult not to fall off when on one side there's a great, fat, sweaty bloke going really slowly and on the other an abnormally muscled child-woman going at 300 revs a second.  It throws my rhythm all out and things get a bit fallopity in the arms and legs department! 

Right, nose back to the grindstone - dissertation time. I have a hot date with Mr. Dickens and he doesn't like to be kept waiting...

Foodstuff

Foodstuff and the failure of super-powers

A breakfast of yogurt (calcium and vitamins), oats (filly-uppy and cholesterol lowering + fibre), walnuts (good for the blood sugar and cholesterol levels), almonds (ditto) and apple (quercetin - I think that's the right spelling, if not, apologies - also for blood sugar and general filly-uppy-healthy stuff)... topped with a sprinkling of... GARAM MASALA.  Yup. Should have been cinnamon (helps increase the body's ability to use insulin effectively).  I know Garam Masala has a little cinnamon in it, and it is fab on a curry but for brekkie... on my oats and yogurt...  BLEURGGGHHHH!!!

Please note, and Frankie can confirm this, one of my usual super-powers is to be able to open the spice drawer and go straight to the one thing I want/need accurately without having to rummage - which is impressive given the chaos in there - this morning my powers failed me and I have learned that sometimes reading the label like ordinary folk is a good idea.

Just peeping out from under the organic (ooh, get me!) stock cubes in the green pack there's a tub with a white lid.  This is a mystery item.  Label: lost... Use by date: uncertain... Contents: unknown.  Yet still I don't throw it away.  Perhaps I should sprinkle it on my breakfast tomorrow and see what shakes down?

A brief hello

This is just a very quick post to update on my health progress - I'm going to be eyebrow deep in dissertation stuff for the next couple of weeks so may only dip in a bit.  Once that beast is out of the way - well, the PhD starts (at least, it is supposed to - I'm wondering if I want to put myself through it right now!).

Anyway, latest news is my blood sugar has been regularly hitting 5s which in 'Diabetes World' isn't bad AT ALL compared to the double figures I was hitting.  When I wake it is low 6s which is also an impressive drop.  Now I just have to maintain that.  Which is the hard part.

Weight-wise, I'm doing OK so far I have lost 10 lbs 7 oz - I have been making it to the gym at least 5 times in a week and sometimes Yoga too.  I've had a no Yoga week this week due to pulling my back (not doing anything bendy or gym-tastic - I bent over to get a drink of water from a water fountain and it twinged just a bit so I've been resting it a little).  The whole what to eat thing is a whole other blog and I'm going to be delving further into the ridiculous amount of conflicting, mad and downright dangerous suggestions out there for diabetic blood sugar/weight control.  Low carb, high carb, high protein, low fat, high fat - you name it, someone's selling a book about it. And claiming that their 'diet' will cure diabetes... er.. yeah - I'll come back to you on that one.

My weight loss so far means I am on the verge of moving from a BMI in the 'overweight' realm to the land of 'normal'.  To have a major impact on my diabetic control, I have to head deep into normal before I can relax a little so there's a long journey ahead.  ONWARDS! Through the Valley of the Diets with its protein pits and carb caverns, into the great big beyond...

In other news, I saw a real dragonfly yesterday and my sunflowers are about to bloom.  Which is good because wifey is away and I need to fill up the gap with something smiley.

Probably a day off gym tomorrow as the parents, sister, nephew and nieces are coming for the day - and possibly my youngest boy (20) and his girl too.  This means noise, cooking, eating and more noise.  It'll be fun. Staying focused on the sensible will be a bit of a challenge but I'm ready.  Except for the hoovering....

I saw this and just thought, how pretty so here it is...

Goodbye my old... friend?

When I quit smoking for the zillionth time it left a scar.  One of those livid ones that will always be a little tender to the touch.  I know for certain that should ever the medical profession suddenly announce it was all a mistake and they aren't shockingly bad for you, I'd be the first in the queue clutching my tenner and sparking up.  This is not, nor is it likely to be the case so I have to face the fact that my dear old pals - they saw me through some tough old times I can tell you - are no longer a part of my life.  I will never forget them.  I think of them wistfully in moments of stress or anxiety - these are common moments for me as adrenaline, cortisol, and anything else the body usually produces as a fight or flight thing are a major part of my natural state - something I daily try to overcome and hope the Yoga will continue to help with.  Or when I'm working on something 'academic' and having to concentrate properly like a grown-up; with certain people; in certain places; after a good meal; first thing in the morning... these times, I still get a flash of yearning for a Camel Light or even a Silk Cut (Silver would do...).

Here's the thing, I thought it would be exactly the same grieving process with my dear old pal 'Vino'.  I thought not downing a gallon (or even a galleon) of wine at a party would mean I sat alone in a quiet corner pretending to sort out the fascinating contents of my handbag.  But no! Not only have I not yet missed having any booze at all for some weeks now, I'm actually preferring it.  My whole adult life (well, since about 13 I guess) has been punctuated by hangovers, groggy days and dehydrated nights with a tongue swollen to 8 times its usual size yet simultaneously wrung out like a giant sun-dried tomato (ew! that's those off the lunch menu then).  I've lost whole evenings to the demon drink - and days too.  I've danced on tables, fallen down stairs and philosophised about the most random things in that way only a drunk person can do - earnestly and repetitively.  I have thought the world my best friend and sobbed uncontrollably whilst babbling total nonsense to complete strangers. Once I was even told to quieten down and go home by a (frankly, rather stout) policewoman. 

I'm not, by the way, a raging alcoholic, but I've always loved a drinkie as many people do and since I passed 40, I'd begun to notice it's taken less to hit me hard and increasingly longer to recover.  Oh, most of the time its been great of course: shared meals and lazy afternoons with friends and hysterical evenings with family, Birthdays and Christmases etc., laughing, dancing, singing (oh and I am AWFUL so it is best left off for that reason alone) and I'd not change a single thing.  It is not worth regretting stuff - life is WAY too short but despite the many good times, most of the bad times I've had were never helped by drinking (and frequently made worse).  My choice was made for me with this diabetes thing and the medication I have to take so I thought I'd kick up and resist.  I believe some people do get away with one or two 'now-and-again' on Metformin  but somehow it just felt like a good time to call my love-hate relationship with alcohol off.  Quit while we are both still in with a chance of finding love elsewhere (I'm speed-dating rebound drinks at the moment. Diet Coke was a one-night-stand and a mistake - makes me burp too much to be sociable.  The fruit  juices are too sweet and soda water looks like I'm trying to be cheap; so far, slimline tonic is looking like she might get a second date...)

But, but, but, I cannot believe just how liberating it is to be free of alcohol.  Not only am I losing weight (not just giving up the grog is doing that, I know, but it is making a difference) I'm sleeping won-der-full-yyy and dreaming things I can remember and want to!  I have slept right through the night every night, for a few weeks now and it's great. That alone would make it worthwhile.

I had two 'events' last week that would usually have involved a lot of boozing, carousing even! And I'll be honest, I wasn't sure how it would be for me (that's a bit sad isn't it?!). The first was a dinner with my wifey (yes, wifey - tis no great big deal these days I hear) and the two Es - the funniest pair of lively, young buddies who make each other laugh and it isjust plain fun to be around them.  The dinner was to be followed by a game of 'Cranium' (we live right on 'the edge' in Surrey - sometimes we even play board games... outside).  I would usually drink throughout the evening.  Probably a couple whilst cooking, a couple whilst eating and a couple more to follow.  I'd wake the next day, groggy but functioning but very much aware of being tired, a bit grumpy (a bit grumpier than usual) and just a bit 'off'.  I'd also probably doze off at some point or be wanting to during the evening.  Instead, I had a brilliant time, slept like a log and woke up raring to go the next day.  A lovely, relaxed night - aah, my team lost the game but you can't have it all.  A board game that involves 'play-doh' and 'eyes-shut drawing' is bound to be a challenge.

The second event was a party for a gay friend - this I mention purely for the reason that only when you know this (if you also know gay men) can you get a full picture of what the evening would, inevitably, be like.  Middle-aged gay men, cake and champers = a definite, full-on, camp carousing opportunity: heavy on the fabulously scented grooming products and no holds barred on the designer footwear daahling.  This was no exception.  Birthday boy was already flying when we arrived and so was his Mr.Right.  Naturally, as you would expect (no point in avoiding stereotypes when they are so very right) the food was delicate, decorative, canape-ish and "Oh, had it delivered in, love, by a little woman just locally, pricey, but so worth it!".  The cake was two cakes (well, of course), one being an enormous pavlova, the other a large, gooey, creamy, spongey affair that called to me like a lacivious old hooker from the minute I arrived.  I resisted  obvious charms but by god it was tough.  Anyway, you get the picture, it was a lovely do.  And there was champagne. CHAMPAGNE! No-one turns that down. Do they? Well, yes indeedy:  I do!  I enjoyed my slimline tonic water rather more than I thought I would (it was a warm night and I was actually glad not be be dehydrating) and I had lovely chats with lovely people and I can still remember their names and what we said - which was, on my part, coherent. Imagine! How cool?  Well, to most people, probably not very - but to me it feels like something of an achievement.