Saturday, May 23, 2009

I know you have been sitting on the edge of your seats

Remember about a month ago when I was rambling on about my visit to the doctor and the discovery of my high cholesterol levels and need to drop some poundage?

Well it has been a little over a month now and I just KNEW that you have been thinking, "Gee I wonder how Missy is doing on her Journey to Better Health?"

Your wish is my command.

One month and a few days in to THE JOURNEY and I am o-ficially down 9 pounds.

Not too shabby.

I have been exercising pretty religiously. I think I skipped three days out of the last month plus. Once because of cat trauma, and two days for illness. I have been trying to exercise for half an hour every day. That is 7 days a week people.

As far as diet goes, I am really not doing anything fancy. I found a free online calorie counter, put in my goal weight and the date I would like to reach it, the computer calculated how many calories I need to consume to reach that goal. I enter the food I eat and try to keep it at or below that number every day. It has been eye opening to see how many calories are in something like a breadstick. It has helped me get my portions more realistic and I certainly see now how my ignorance about how many calories foods contain helped get me in this mess.

Overall it has not been too bad or crazy making. I am not depriving myself. I have had pizza, and an occasional cheeseburger and fries. Now I eat less of those when I have them, and try to keep a low calorie morning and afternoon if I know I am going to indulge in that manner. I am also putting a big emphasis on eating the recommended daily fruits and veggies.

Now I have to remember to keep an eye on the cholesterol thing. In reviewing my progress, I have discovered that I have lost some sight of the need to control my cholesterol, and focused more on the calorie reduction and weight loss. Need to make sure that even though I can eat pizza and cheeseburgers occasionally and still drop pounds, they are not good choices to reduce the cholesterol and need to be very occasional foods.

I don't feel that I am obsessing as much now, and that is helpful. I tend to overestimate how much I have consumed at times and leave myself hungry at a meal in my effort to be disciplined, but do also enjoy that I can have an extra snack when that happens. It's like a little present.

The only thing I am really struggling with is when we go out to eat. I have done well choosing healthy options, but I find myself getting irritable and sometimes even angry when I watch others at the table consuming how ever much they want of whatever they want (read what I want!) Now I am not saying that I have had thoughts of stabbing someone with a fork as I watch them gobble up a plate of fries while I slowly chew my lettuce, but it might have crossed my mind.

So that is my progress for now. I know that takes a huge load off of the 4 of you who read this. You can carry on now.

3 comments:

Ali said...

CONGRATULATIONS! That's awesome, Miss. When you come up I'll have to try and absorb some of your willpower! (Can't wait to see you, BTW.)

Ali said...

Sorry, reading old posts - what was the result with the thyroid? High cholesterol was how they detected my thyroid problem.

(Psst - I also commented on the post where you left town for a day, in case you don't scroll.)

Missy said...

I am so excited too! My thyroid checked out ok. Which is a good thing I suppose. Would have been a little nice to have been able to blame this issue on something besides my crap diet and no exercise. But really, not the compromise I was looking for.