I recently went totally free of sugar substitutes, and though I initially gained 5 pounds I have now stopped the rising weight.  What I would like to say though, is that I feel really great, I feel like I now have the energy to do more and be more active.  I also wonder why no one ever told me before that the sugar free crap was making me sick, perhaps they didn’t know like I didn’t know, I have been having “sugar free” stuff since some where around 1996 or so, it has been a long time since I have known anything else!  But since I have gone sugar free a few friends have told me things they never have said before. Examples; “I have always thought that fake sugar was always bad karma, something for nothing”, and “Did you know that when you use sugar substitutes your body thinks it is about to get a load of sugar and ramps up insulin production and then it doesn’t know what to do when it has no sugars to deal with, and that can make you gain more weight!?!?”.  I had never thought or heard anyone say these things about fake sweets, and I have not been healthy for about as long as I have been on fake sugar….you know I wasn’t feeling good about myself, I was gaining wait in high school, I start with fake sugar I loose some weight but still feel bad, and have struggled ever since.

I am not blaming all of my woes on fake sugar, but how many people are sick all of the time because of this?

I have now cut back on real sugars, and am using things like agave syrup which is a natural sugar that is sweeter than sugar cane and corn syrup and has a lower glycemic index too boot. 

There was a recent report that said women need an hour of vigorous exercise 5 times a week. If you do this you will decrease your chance of aggressive breast cancer by ~20% and not so aggressive breast cancer by ~30%  

So…  

Last week I exercised on Feb 26^th, March 3^rd  

This week so far March 4^th  

All for over an hour and all mostly “vigorous” exercise, when I did use the heart rate monitor I was told me to “slow down” so I ignored it the rest of the time and decided I knew my body better…so far I feel pretty good, though my knee is bothering me when I run(crunchy and twingey (not good, I know) I an hoping I can work on knee strengthening exercises and that will help), so I am walking fast and using the elliptical trainer and then cooling down on the recumbent stationary bike. They have a pool too, but when the weather is so cold out I find it hard to motivate myself to get nearly naked and jump in….knowing I will have to get out and possible go home with wet hair (I am a wimp, and I don’t like to use hairdryers).  

Plan tonight, at 7pm after the nightly news I will get out one of my Pilates DVD’s and do that and maybe walk on my dreadmill treadmill…what ever I have to do to fill up an entire hour.  

I am not up to 5 days yet, but I am working my way up…  

~Loretta

Blogging…I am not sure what my hold up has been.  I have had a total lack of motivation, not only in my blog but in my life.  I need to snap out of it ASAP!  I can’t tell you how many times I have started a blog entry…saved it…re-opened it a few days later, only to be completely annoyed with my story/news/life.  I have either re-written or deleted so many entries….and now I don’t know where to start!

Let see….I have a clean bill of health if you had been reading earlier.  But I haven’t gotten back in the swing of things, and have not been running…fav things sitting on the couch…and eating ice cream….ugh…oh yeah and can’t forget the best thing…sleeping!

So I am in a funk and need to get out of it.  I have an expensive gym membership that expires on January 25^th, so I need to go like every day till then to get my moneys worth.  I think that Winter Quarter at my university I will take a recreational sport class…they have a class on jogging that if you take you have to take it with another class on conditioning…having to be graded and the chance it will effect my GPA if I slack, could be good motivation.  They have another class that is done online…about increasing your recreational activities…that may be a great way for me to stay motivated; getting graded and what not……but on my own schedule…so it would not  conflict with my work schedule…

If I am scheduled for classes I am forced to pay for the university gym membership…which in the past would have sucked…because it was old and smelly and gross…but now it is new and state of the art, and getting rave reviews from students who frequent the gyms…other students grumble at the new fee attached to tuition….I see both sides…but since I want to be more active and cost is an issue, this is a cost effective alternative to renewing my expensive gym membership.

So, let me look in my calendar and get everyone caught up…

October 27^th was my 27^th birthday (apparently this is called a “golden birthday” which I have never heard of before.)  There was a celebration at work on Thursday, and then there was a party at Hound Dogs…a local pizza and beer joint on Friday night followed by a halloween costume party…I was a lady bug…then the next day we had a birthday dinner for me at Mark’s parents house, and a month ago before my mom moved to Ireland we had another celebration with my mom and all my immediate family.  My birthday was spread out for a month! Here is what I got :)

• ·        I received from my parents a cool new laptop!  A Toshiba Tecra® M4 Tablet PC (you can write on the screen it has a combination with the laptop screen and a Wacom writing tablet).  It was so expensive that it is my birthday and Christmas present combined….but since I haven’t had a new computer since 1997 it was about time I upgraded!
• ·        I also got some money….I was going to get roller skates  ….the old fashioned kind…not blades…but practicality won out and I bought some new pants that fit instead….since I have lost weight and my pants are getting so big can’t walk for more than 20 feet without pulling them back up!  (I know that is a good thing, but I am poor and don’t think of clothing that you need for work as a gift…but I am grateful for the financial opportunity to get new pants at all!)
• ·        I received a gift card for Bath and Body Works (here is a link to my fav sent there).  My mom and I joke that we go in there and the scents make us loose our minds…it is like they are drugging you when you go in… you can go in saying I will on spend 20 dollars and then there are so many overwhelming scents and everything is by 3 get 1 free…and the next thing you know you have 100 dollars worth of soap and perfume!  I haven’t used it yet but plan to do my shopping online so that I go in with a list of what I want to the penny….that way I won’t get side tracked or stupid by all the yummy smells.
• ·        Most important I got a lot of love and affection from my friends and family and that is what I wanted most!

On November 7^th I gave blood…

On November 8^th I got my flu shot…

You may think I must love needles or something….but I don’t

Mark (my husband) has been asked to run as Ohio Lieutenant Governor with the Libertarian Gubernatorial Candidate!  This is very exciting and a huge honor.  I am so proud of him!  He is so smart and thinks thing out and researches topics/issues/ideas so much that he is a great person for the job( he never makes an uneducated decision)!  So if you are in Ohio or can vote in Ohio elections please vote for him…or at least sign the petition to get them on the ballat.

Thursday is the US holiday of Thanksgiving.  It is my second favorite holiday (first being Halloween) we will be going my uncle Johnny’s and it will be a large warm family crowd…I love it…I will be making 10+ lbs of Mashed Potatoes…yumm!  Mark’s family is all over the board with schedules so we will not be having thanksgiving with them until Saturday.  This is kind of sad because I will miss the chaos we usually have; going to a early dinner at Mark’s parents house and then having a second one with my family….but at least this way I can appreciate both meals and not get too stuff.

So back to my health…it is a vicious cycle…the more I don’t exercise the more I don’t want to, the more I have trouble sleeping, the worse my mood gets, the more depressed I get, the more emotional eating I do, the more digestive issues I have, and the larger I become. So I must break through and exercise because the benefits outweigh everything (literally), I sleep well, I eat less, I have more energy to do things outside of my 40 hours of work, I feel better about myself and my body, my health is better in general, I digest food better, I loose weight (even when I eat ice cream several times a week!). 

There was some story I was telling Mark…a little thing that I witnessed or did….…he said I should blog about things like that…I don’t remember what that was about though…so I think I might carry a notebook…and make lists of things like that, I make lists all of the time…of all kinds of things…..but usually loose them and find them…and then make new updated ones…if I have them all in one little book and not on the back of envelopes maybe I will feel I have more control over things… Shauna over on Dietgirl got me thinking about this (I have been slowly catching up with my bloglines!)  Mark if you remember anything you thought I should blog about; please leave a note on the subject of it.

Speaking of bloglines…I am very behind on not only the writing, but the reading of blogs…I have had a real hard time motivating myself to use my computer outside of work….after 8 hours of working on the computer it is very easy for me to ignore my own machine (even my new one!) until the weekends.  So please if you haven’t seen me yet or missed my insightful comments ;) don’t be offended!  I will hopefully get caught up very soon and be back in the swing of things.

I have also been unhappy with the quality of my writing.  I would love to better my writing skills and learn from my mistakes.  So please email me if you have any constructive criticism or suggestions for me.  The better my blog the less likely I will start to ignore it!

A suggestion to anyone who has a blog that does not have a RSS feed….please get one and let me know when you do!  I hardly get up to date with those who do not have it…the days of checking every blog I like daily for updates is gone…I depend on bloglines to tell me something new has happened!

Best regards to all!

Love, 

~Loretta 

You can do this yourself at "My Virtual Model™"

I figure I will do this every 10 lbs or so...

it is a little annoying because it has a weight/height ratio thingy, and it will not work with higher weights and shorter people....for example: it works for me now at 5'3" and 202lbs, but it will not show a picture of someone who is 5'3" and 220lbs (my start weight)...

they have models of men and women....and one my guy friends, who is 6 foot and 300 lbs can not be modeled....it is kind of said that they could do every variety of people....maybe it will only show models that can fit into the clothes at stores involved.

all in all it is interesting and I was impressed to find a model of a girl who really does look like me...I mean it is very close...

I went running with Mark Sunday.  I am still doing c25k:

5 minute warm up walk,

3 min run

90 sec walk

5 min run

2 min walk

3 min run

90 sec walk

5 min run

2 min walk

Unfortunately I felt really bad afterwards...dizzy and out of breath (kinda wheezy), I got inside and looked in the mirror and my lips were blue!  I started feeling better about 30 mins later and gained some color back, but it took a couple of hours to feel 100% normal. 

I am kind of afraid to run again until I know what might be wrong....

I have called my doctor...but she can not see me until a week from Wednesday! That is far to long for me to wait…. and I will be out of town on my honeymoon then...so I left a voicemail for her and her nurse and am hoping they will make time for me tomorrow....or at least call me, so we can start to figure out what is wrong....I am kind of afraid to run until I know what might be wrong....

When I talked to the receptionist at the Dr’s Office she was surprised I hadn’t gone to the ER…but then went on to say I could see her for over a week…what kind of sense is that?  “You should have gone to an ER!  How’s a week from Wednesday?”  Usually they suggest I meet with another doctor in the practice when I have a problem and my doctor is all booked up or unavailable.

I am planning on running again Tuesday night.  If I don’t here from them I will just have to be careful and at the first sign of any trouble breathing or anything I will just start walking….until I know what is going on I guess I am in a holding pattern….unless I go like this for awhile and don’t have another problem…then I may try to push some more…

I really want to be ready for a 5k by October 28^th….that is when there is a Halloween Costume 5k “be your fav dead celebrity”…

Any costume suggestions….or running/health suggestions for that matter?

I have been sick all week with a sinus something…yesterday I went to the doctors and they said it could be viral or bacterial or maybe just my allergies acting up…..well I could have told them that! 

“Hmm I have a sinus problem! My head is full of mucus! My head and ears ache! Hmmm I wonder if I am really sick or if this is just my allergies?….let’s see do you know anyone who is also sick like this?….hmmm my mom a few weeks ago….I wonder how she is feeling now….(called she is getting over it now)…she doesn’t have allergies and she is a RN at a hospital…she could have a virus…or maybe it is bacterial?....hmmm, I should see the doctor if things don’t seem to get better…” (Conversation I have with myself ;))

So I go 3 days later and they tell me what I already know…they say they don’t think it is allergies because I feel achy and so tired…I had a low grade fever at the time….he said I should wait till Sunday or until my fever spikes up….if it does that or I am still not on the road to recovery by Sunday I am to fill a prescription for some antibiotics….he wanted me to just take them right off….but I said “if it is viral them wouldn’t I not need the antibiotic”  he said that was true and then said I could wait till Sunday…

gosh I swear I should just be able to call the doctor tell them how I feel take my on temp and let them know what it is…and then say “I think it is these things, can you send a prescription over to the pharmacy for antibiotics so if I am not feeling better or things get worse I can start on them??”  Then I wouldn’t have had to get out of bed and sit at a doctor’s office with sick people and wait for an hour….I could have rested and drank lots of fluids…which was suggested….along with continue on my self medicating of “Sudafed Sinus Head Ache” , “Benadryl”, “Flonase”, and “Claritan”...

But, that isn’t the worst of yesterday!  I had called the doctors office at 8am when they open to see if I could see my doctor…”she is not in today or tomorrow”  but this other doctor can see you at 11:30am….i said ok and went back to sleep….woke up at 10:45 took a shower and left…I waited for the doctor and then an hour or so later I left…and I was starving…and it was hot and I felt horrible…and my AC in my car doesn’t work and I hungry (I mentioned that…)  So I went to the grocery store thinking I could get a deli sandwich or something…..but then I say the cheese (mmm brie) and the lady was putting fresh warm baguettes out….and  I said I will have bread and brie…and then I was walking along thinking I should get some yogurt….and I saw wee little donut holes….and then I say that “Ben and Jerry’s” was on sale…and I went over and pick out 2 pints of lovely ice cream…and I was leaving that isle and this lady said “would you like to try these new “Dove chocolate cookies?””  I said “sure”…and then she handed me a coupon and said “they are on super sale and with this coupon the whole box is less then a dollar!” Aaahhhhaaahhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I had no will power I was sick and uncomfortable and all alone for the whole day and I was sad….

So I left….with baguette, brie, donut holes, ice cream, cookies, and (no healthy yogurt).

I went home and had about 6 inches of baguette with thin slices of brie then went for…about 6inches….and then I ate 3 donut holes, and then I had three week cookies (1 serving I checked the package) and about a cup of ice cream…..oh and several Diet Cokes…and “tuna helper” for dinner.

Would you call that a binge?  I think it was binge shopping, but I really think I did pretty well with the portions…Mark ate the rest of the donuts holes when he got home and some of the cookies….I still have the brie and bread and ice cream…but I think I came pace myself…

Mark says I should really log what I eat….but it is hard for me…calorie counting is sometimes a lot of work…searching all over the internet for more than one place to agree on calories in an apple…also…Chinese food….why/how can they hide/not post their “nutrition facts”  I thought there were laws about that…

Ok….enough….later!

I will do my Wednesday Weigh In entry later when I get home…

I have added two things to my blog today.

 My running log  

 My diet & fitness log 

I haven’t done much with the diet one yet….but I want to start keeping track of what I put in my mouth….I will start keeping track tomorrow.

Mark won James Taylor tickets and the concert is tonight so between work, dinner, and the concert I will hopefully blog once more, and take a wee nap….I am exhausted for no reason!

-- > SEE: http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/dietwlth1.htm