119.8 at meeting with long pants, heavy shoes, sweater, pockets full, after breakfast and water
111.8 at home, clean weight
Some things I've learned this past week:
- a REALLY good way to lose weight is to limit yourself to the same 10-12 foods for an entire week. By the 3rd day, you're sick of everything. By the 5th day, you can kill your hunger just by THINKING about eating something on the list. Then it's a matter of forcing yourself to eat just because you know you need to eat SOMETHING!
I didn't make it the full week...I started adding foods back in on the afternoon of the 5th day...I couldn't bring myself to eat another bite of any of those foods = (
But the super strict diet accomplished what it was supposed to...Betsy is happy and only complains to me when I eat something that irritates her...and then it isn't as severe as it was before and the painful burning passes much more quickly.
I've been able to hone in on that specific feeling...burning...that means I've eaten something I shouldn't have. I've been making a list every day of things that could possibly irritate Betsy...keeping track of what does and what doesn't.
I find myself testing the boundaries quite often! Like yesterday...we picked some tangerines from the neighbor's tree. They smelled HEAVENLY...and I haven't had any citrus fruit in almost a month! I decided to try one small section...oh.my.goodness.
Then I told myself that "maybe" I didn't really have IC...maybe I have something different and it might be perfectly fine to have citrus! So I talked myself into eating the whole thing...enjoying every bite!
Yep, you already know what I'm gonna say...I paid for it several hours later =( Betsy let me know LOUD and CLEAR that I do, INDEED, have this crazy condition that I didn't even know existed until November 2, 2012...the day my life changed.
As long as I can keep the thought of that uncomfortable and/or painful burning in the front part of my mind, I'll have the motivation to NOT eat citrus, no matter how fresh, delicious and tempting it might be!
- another thing I learned is that when I eat healthy foods, my body fat percentage responds quickly...much faster than I would expect. It dropped 3% for the week I was eating the strict diet, which only allowed me to have Nilla wafers for a "treat".
In case you're curious, here are the other foods I could eat:
Proteins - plain chicken breast, cottage cheese, eggs
Complex carbs - plain white rice, white bread (bagels ok, which is what I got and they tasted good...for the first 3 days!)
Veggies - plain potatoes, corn, green beans
Fruits - blueberries and pears
Treat - Nilla wafers
- straight running DOES irritate Betsy. I haven't yet learned how much I can do and still be in the acceptable range of discomfort. I've been experimenting with run/walking and also shuffle-running. I've been able to do both of those for 5 miles and more with burning that lasts only an hour or two afterwards.
I'll be keeping track and fine-tuning...maybe running 2 miles, 3 days a week and then walk/running or shuffle-running on the other days. I guess it will also depend on whether I've eaten anything that is also upsetting Betsy.
- I completed my week-long assessment with the ActiveLink and I'm very pleased with my results...proud of myself, even!
Click on the pics to enlarge so you can read them = ))
- I'm at the 23 pound weight-loss point. This past Sunday I had a number of people comment to me about my weight loss and how good I looked. No one has said ANYTHING before this...but I just now hit the "more than 20 pounds" weight loss.
The first time I lost weight with Weight Watchers (9 years ago), I was really disappointed that no one was noticing. A lady told me that you usually have to lose 20 pounds before people start to notice. It appears it's still true!
And actually, I've just now gotten to the point where I think I look "ok" as in "not fat anymore". I've always thought my optimum weight was around 108-112 but I was scared to try for that when I officially signed up with Weight Watchers because of the unknown of maintaining that range through an entire year...cold winter season included!
Anyhow, I'm gonna see how things go now that I'm not eating the strict diet anymore. I know these pounds I've lost lately are not a true loss but more of a "sick" loss.
- I'm ending this week of Thanksgiving on a very thankful note. Thankful that I'm feeling better, thankful that my doctor was able to diagnose the condition quickly, easily, without needing a lot of unnecessary tests which can make the condition SO much worse. Thankful that the condition is controlled almost exclusively by diet and not prescription medication with side effects. Thankful that already I'm learning to recognize what foods bother Betsy and what doesn't. Thankful that even though I haven't been running my regular schedule, I've been able to walk much more, still enjoy myself as much as if I were running (even more really, since my Sweety Petey has been coming with me!!!) and not gaining any weight back. I'll be WAY over 100 miles for November!
Hope you've had a wonderfully Happy Thanksgiving too!
