Successful Week!

I went to my Weight Watchers meeting Tuesday afternoon and I was down 1.2 pounds!  Considering I didn't have that great of a week, I was VERY happy with that result.  I still haven't been able to fit in exercise due to EXTREMELY low energy levels.  Monday has the worst day thus far, which I will explain below:

I wake up to see that we have some very dangerous weather heading towards us, but they haven't cancelled school (I'm a teacher).  I continue watching the radar all morning, with a bad feeling in my gut.  When my kiddos went to there enrichment class, I went to my meeting out in the modular behind the school and, unfortunately, left my phone in my classroom.  In the middle of the meeting, one of the administrators comes in the modular and tells us we need to get into the main building immediately as we'd been issued a tornado warning for our immediate area. My co-teacher and I run across to the other building to try to find our class, but no one knew where they were.  Within minutes, the sky was PITCH black.  It looked like midnight, but it was only 10:30 a.m.  We get everyone in the school down into the downstairs hallway, with the kids hunched over in "tornado drill" position.  This is in southern Louisiana, so we are definitely not used to this.  By about 10:50, it was even darker outside and the wind had really picked up.  Around 11, it looked green outside (I was standing up and able to see through the doors of library to the library windows).  I have NEVER experienced anything like this, even during previous tornado warnings (which I guess means that there really weren't any tornadoes around me during those times).  We also lost power around this time.  We stayed crouched in the hallway for another 30 minutes before the all clear was given.  We returned to our classrooms and opened the windows to let in some light.  It actually didn't look that bad outside my classroom - just a few branches blown down and overflowing ditches, but this is how it always looks after severe thunderstorms have rolled through.  We then find out there was in fact a tornado that touched down a block away from the school.  The only damage, besides trees, seemed to be to a gate at the front of the street.  The rest of the day was soooo chaotic, as we couldn't officially call dismissal until the flooding receded.  Parents started showing up, and staff members were running around the school finding the kids and escorting them down to the office.  Official dismissal ended up being 2:15 p.m.  Luckily, everyone was safe.  Hoping we don't have another day like this for a very long time.

Now back to today.  As I was typing this, I hear a gushing sound coming from my laundry room.  My washing machine decided to EXPLODE!  Well, not quite explode, but the drain pipe backed up and was gushing water all over the laundry room.  Thank God I was sitting in the living room, because I never would have heard it from the bedroom.  My husband cleaned up and poured some drain cleaner down the pipe.  Hopefully this will clear it up! 

Trying my BEST not to succumb to stress eating.  I will instead come hear and type my feelings, worries, happiness, etc.  Speaking of happiness, my husband and I are going on our first cruise in 44 days!!!  I need to stay focused on that and losing a little more weight before then.

Exhausted!

I haven't been able to push myself to exercise yet.  I've been so exhausted from just trying to keep up with my house (which isn't going so well) and from taking care of my cat (he's 15 and is currently sick).  On top of that, we've had issues with our kitchen this week and I haven't been able to cook.  This has led to us eating out daily.  NOT good for the waistline at all.  I'm not looking forward to weighing in at my Weight Watchers meeting this Tuesday. 

I also have my one-month follow up appointment with my rheumatologist this Wednesday.  He's going to ask me if I've been wearing my braces everyday (I try to!) and how the medicine he gave me is doing to help with the restless leg syndrome (it's not helping at all!).  I'm really hoping he'll have some type of suggestion for how I can get more energy to get through the day.  I've been struggling with this for years now, with each year getting worse.  The best I've felt in a LONG time was my wedding week in Tennessee.  My orthopedic doctor had given me a steroid shot and given me the Methylprednisolone dose pack.  Unfortunately, that's not something I can keep using. 

I'll just keep praying that this week will be better.  That I'll have energy to at least exercise ONCE, and that I'll be able to use my kitchen to actually fix some healthy meals. 

Back at it AGAIN!!

Well, I've been gone for a while due to unexplained medical issues.  I finally found a doctor that was able to figure me out.  I've been diagnosed with Ehlers Danlos Syndrome Type III and Restless Leg Syndrome, on top of the Hashimoto's Autoimmune Disease that I already knew about.  Ehlers-Danlos Syndrom (EDS) is a genetic condition that affects the body's connective tissue, which is the glue that holds us together.  Basically everything in my is very stretchy.  This is why my joints have always been very hypermobile, which really helped with cheerleading in high school. Unfortunately, now it causes me pretty bad pain.  I'm currently required to wear braces on both knees, both ankles, and both wrists to try to prevent further damage.  The Restless Leg Syndrom (RLS) is also causing some significant issues.  When I stand or move around a lot, my heart rate gets very high.  This, combined with the pain and lack of sleep, leaves me completely exhausted everyday.  Add a full-time job into the mix, and, well, needless to say, exercise is very difficult at the moment. I'm going to take it slow and try to do as much as possible without causing further injury. 

Onto my new plan!  I recently joined Weight Watchers through my insurance plan.  I get 6 months of meetings for free!!!  I also wear a Fitbit Charge HR everyday, which automatically adds points for exercise to my WW account (and as an added bonus helps me to monitor my heart rate throughout the day).  I also plan on visiting my favorite weight loss site, 3 Fat Chicks on a Diet, EVERY DAY! The last time I lost a significant amount of weight, I faithfully went to this site each day and was an active participant.  It really does help.  I will also do my best to post here at least once every 2-3 days.  The less I way, the better it is for my poor, unstable joints.  I also have a cruise coming up in June.  It's a first for both me and my husband!!!!!!!

Little setback, but still improving!

I was feeling soooo much better on Tuesday and Wednesday that I think I overdid things a little. I did a good bit of cleaning, did some painting, Pilates, and went to a baseball game.  I was extremely exhausted yesterday and didn't really get much accomplished.  The only reason I even left the house was because I had to visit my allergy specialist for them to take blood for allergy testing, and while I was out I went to the bank.  Not long after I go home, I took a 2.5 hour nap.  The good news, is I woke up today a pound lighter! I'm now at 222.4, which makes a total loss of 10.6 lbs this summer. Averaging 5 pounds a month is GREAT for me!  I've taken it pretty easy so far today, but did do 30 minutes of Pilates. I guess for now I'll aim for every other day.  I've also decided to start going by Weight Watchers Points Plus again instead of calorie counting (I use an app that isn't actually affiliated with the Weight Watchers company).  Hopefully this will help a little more!

More Energy!

Hello all.  I started taking ThyroGold last Thursday, so it has been almost a full week.  This medication has made SUCH a difference in the short amount of time I've been taking it.  It technically is a supplement, since it is purchased over-the-counter, but it works just as the prescription natural dessicated thyroid hormones. Therefore, do not take this supplement unless you know your lab numbers and are sure that you have hypothyroidism.  Yesterday was the first day that I felt GREAT! I do feel my body start to crash when it's time for my second dose though (I split my ThyroGold dose in two - one first thing in the morning, and the other around 3 pm).  Today was the first day I attempted to exercise since taking this new medication.  I decided to do low impact exercises for now, so I started Denise Austin's Shrink Your Fat Zones: Pilates. I'm going to follow their 21 day suggested routine, which is 2 of the 3 workouts from the dvd per day for a total of 30 minutes of exercise for the first 2 weeks, then all three workouts for the last week (45 minutes total).  Today I did the abs and upper body workouts. I didn't quite finish the upper body, but I decided that it's super important for me to listen to my body so that I don't do more harm than good.

I strongly suspect that I have adrenal fatigue.  I ordered the STTM 24 hr Saliva Cortisol test, which will hopefully come in soon.  This will tell me for sure, then I can bring the results to my doctor for appropriate treatment.  Until then, I will just ease into the Pilates.

The good news though, is that I didn't gain any weight this past week, even though I didn't exercise! I'm still at 223.2.  I also got my wedding dress in, and as of right now it doesn't need any alterations.  Since the dress is a corset back, I should be able to lose another 15-20 pounds and hopefully not have to alter it (unless I lose the weight in my boobs, then it will need alterations lol).  I will be doing my measurements on Friday, so hopefully I will see some inches lost.  I did put a pair of work pants on the other day, and they are a bit looser!

Much Better!

So I've been doing much better as far as exercising goes.  I actually was able to workout a total of 5 days last week! I'm down to 223.2 lbs!! It's mainly water weight though.  I realized exactly how puffy I was from water retention, so I started taking my blood pressure med again. It definitely gave me a big whoosh.  I've still been feeling horrible in regards to symptoms of crazy thyroid hormones. This new medication is NOT working, so I ordered ThyroGold to use until I can find a doctor to prescribe the natural thyroid hormone.  I'm really hoping it will come in soon, as I NEED to start feeling better before I go back to work (which is in 2 weeks).  My eating has been mostly on plan, until yesterday.  I completely went off yesterday.

I have noticed that retail therapy helps much more than eating when I'm emotional.  Great for my waistline, not so great for my bank account lol.  My most recent purchase is from Erin Condren. She has a great line of products to help with organization.  I already own the Teacher Planner and the Life Planner.  One of the ways I use my Life Planner is as a weight loss tool.  I have a page for keeping weight records and I use the side of the monthly spread for monthly measurements. I also have pages for meal planning and an exercise schedule. Today I bought 2 notebooks.  One will be for work, and the other will be to track my symptoms and any new info I have to share with my doctor.  I can't wait to get them in!

Check out the link below. If you sign up through this link you get $10 off your first purchase!If you'd like more information, there are plenty of YouTube videos about the planners. It is definitely worth the money! Remember: You only get the $10 off if you sign up through the following link!

SIGN UP HERE!

Better Now!

Wow, I really need to get better at updating.  I've been doing much better with staying on schedule lately.  So far this week, I've actually exercised every day.  Monday I did 30 minutes on the treadmill, yesterday I did upper body weight training with my fiance, and today another 30 minutes on the treadmill.  When I'm on the treadmill I use the per-programmed workouts, so it's intervals of various speeds.  I think the problem before was that Zumba was just a little too much for me right now. I would be absolutely wiped out and take days to recover.  I don't have that problem with the treadmill.  I'm still tired after, but it only takes a couple hours to recover.  I've been doing okay food wise as well.  Not perfect, but much better than before.  We went from eating fast food for dinner about 4-5 nights per week, to only getting it maybe 1-2 every two weeks.  I'm really hoping I can keep this up once I start back at work in August.  My weight this morning was 228.6, so I'm still having trouble keeping the weight off.  I'm hoping that consistent exercise will help with that.  My fiance, on the other hand, has lost about 10 pounds in 2.5 weeks while doing hardly any cardio! He does work with weights for about 15-20 minutes 5-6 days a week though.

 As for my thyroid disease: So far I think that Tirosint is working better for me than Synthroid, but I still want to try the natural dessicated thyroid medication and low dose naltrexone.  I keep reading that that combination rids people of almost all symptoms and their hormone levels become optimal.  I still have to take naps every now and then to get through the day (normally around 1 or 2 in the afternoon I crash).  Most days I try to fight it, but I'm not always able to.  I've also been feeling really anxious, but I know exactly what's causing that.  I had something unexpected come up Monday afternoon, and visited this person yesterday.  Think good thoughts for me that this works out the way I'd like please!!  It is something that would definitely relieve a lot of stress from my life!