Eureka!!!

Experiment complete, evidence conclusive. Results: possible overdose of estrogen?

Stepped on the scale this evening and the numbers came back in the negative (which is a positive for me!). 7.2 is what I am down - making the total loss of the last three weigh-ins -9.1 (-6, +4.1, -7.2).

And I know that this must be right because I have not been very good this past week, somewhat on purpose, and still lost a lot. I can't wait to see the doctor to discuss this with her. I've decided from this point on I will just go with one patch instead of two, changed twice a week, and see what happens until I see my doctor!

The proof is in the (sugar-free, fat-free) pudding!

If I didn't have any reassurances before that there has been a change in my appearance since I've been doing Weight Watchers, I've got it now.

We went over to have new school ID's made today. I just got mine renewed in March (about the same time I started WW) after about 5 years because I knew my old one was outdated and I was going to need to borrow some AV equipment from the library to use at my Grandmother's 90th birthday party.

So, here's the comparison - then and now:



I can tell that my face is a bit thinner, I actually have a neck, and instead of a double chin I've got a chin and a half! Hair looks better, too. I was obviously having a bad hair day back in March....... or hat hair.

Well, it's Wednesday - weigh-in day. I haven't plastered a patch on my body since Friday morning. And, according to the scale at home, I've dropped back to about the weight I was two weeks ago. So, I am thinking I may have proved my theory and will be talking to my lady stuff doc in Nov. about this. I'll report the actual results either this evening or tomorrow morning!

I also went for my Glucose Tolerance Test (GTT) on Monday. I'm waiting on pins and needles to find out if I've crossed over the diabetes border or not. I vote NOT. I hope I hear something before the weekend.

See....I told ya!

Yep, as I predicted in my previous post, Wednesday night's weigh-in had me up 4.6 after my magnificent loss of 6 pounds last week. OK, so combined that's a 1.4 pound loss in 2 weeks so I really can't complain much.

So today starts the Big Experiment. I removed my "Patches" this morning and did not replace them. I am going to go all weekend without them, and we'll see if my theory holds water......or if *I* hold water. LOL.

I did go to my regular doctor yesterday, I felt I needed to because my blood levels for cholesterol, sugar, etc. has not been monitored as closely with this new doctor I had started seeing at the beginning of this year as my previous doctor (who would see me every three months) had been. I've also been having some foot issues lately that have had me concerned.

I have a bony growth on the back of my right heel that has been affecting my walking due to it being quite painful. My previous doctor said that I had plantar fasciitis and gave me some exercises to do to stretch my Achilles tendon. She didn't even LOOK at the "knot" at the back of my heel as I had mentioned to her. I asked my new doctor about it, she took a look at it, and right away said, "Do you know what that is? That is a condition called "Haglund's deformity." Which, in essence, is a bony protruberance at the back of the heel bone. There are some treatment options from simple exercises to surgical removal of the bony growth.

However, there is another concern that has taken precedent over my heel problem. The other foot issue has affected both my feet and could be a symptom of something more serious. I have been having some numbness in my toes, mainly when I am walking or have my feet on the ground when I am sitting. I mentioned this to my doctor yesterday, and she decided to have me tested for diabetes, as the toe numbness could be diabetic neuropathy - or nerve damage. I have been borderline (termed insulin-resistant or glucose-intolerant) for a long time. This is what had caused me to have PCOS which eventually led to the hysterectomy last summer.

SO, on Monday I go to the lab to have a 3-hour Glucose Tolerance Test done. I had this test done several years ago after Tal and I got married, which diagnosed my insulin resistance and PCOS. If you're not familiar with it, first they draw a blood sample, then you have to drink a glucose solution (think overly-sweetened uncarbonated Coke), then they draw blood samples at intervals for three hours. My doctor wanted to test to make sure that I had not "crossed over", or developed full-blown diabetes. Let's pray that has not happened.

If it is not diabetes or diabetic neuropathy, then it could possibly be nerve damage just from hauling my nearly 400-pound butt around. That's a lot of weight on these poor feet of mine! In any case, this has really bothered me. I've been trying to get more walking in, and it really has helped me to lose weight. But it's hard to walk when you can't feel your toes, so I end up stumbling a lot.

I love this new doctor - she's a little bit wacko, but she's MY kind of wacko. I mean, how many doctors give you a hug and kiss (on the cheek) when she's done with your exam. (Please.....don't answer that.....and get your mind out of the gutter.) She's sweet, and smart, and she also has a bit of meat on her bones so she certainly wouldn't be one to get preachy about one's weight. And, good grief, would you believe she's a big fan of Mr. Talmadge Q. Gleck??? I swear, at my very first visit with her, when she found out he was my husband she was so excited that she high-fived me. And then when I told her that he was planning to see her too, I thought she would just turn inside out!

Needless to say, Tal and I truly love having her as our healthcare provider. :-)

So, anyway, that's what been up with me this week. :-)

W....T......F.....?!?!?!?!

OK, I have the most puzzling thing going on. I think I MAY have figured it out, but then again it will take more experimenting and consulting with my doctor to prove my theory.

I have the most yo-yo'ing weight loss ever, it seems. I'm down one week, up the next, BAM! big weight loss then it's like, "Oh, wait, we accidentally took away too much weight and we're going to give you some back."

Saturday morning, my pre-shower Nekkidweight® was 352.6. Monday morning, it had crawled up to 358-ish and then this morning it was 357.2. I just can't figure it out - it's not like I went totally wild this weekend, I didn't eat any worse than I did the weekend before and I lost 6 pounds after last weekend.

Then I got to thinking, the last time I had a big drop (over 5 pounds) like that was after the weekend with my cousins in August. And then the next week I had a gain. What did the two weekends and subsequent weigh-ins have in common?

Well, see, after I had my reproductive plumbing removed last year, my doctor put me on Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT). I use the Vivelle Dot patch - 2 transdermal patches changed twice a week, worn on either the lower abdomen or lower back hip region and alternating sides with each change. My patches - I have this song that runs through my head as I pull the old ones off and replace them with new ones "Patches" by Clarence Carter......"Patches, I'm depending on you..." LOL.

But I digress. What the two weekends have in common is that I did not have my patches on. I probably removed them and forgot to replace them, and therefore went the entire weekend without. I'm just wondering if the lack of estrogen during that time is what caused the significant drop in weight? The patches supply estriadol, for whatever that's worth.

That's just a theory, which I am going to pose to my doctor when I see her again. Unfortunately I can't get an appointment until November. So, until then, I will experiment. I am going to try to go weekend or two without and see what happens. It may be that I am getting too much estrogen - I mean, two patches? And they are both of the highest dose available for Vivelle.

I welcome any insights into this theory if you have any.......... :-)

Seraphim "how the hell do you remove transdermal patch adhesive??" Gleck

Here comes Ike - let the party begin.

I was looking through the slideshow on Yahoo News at some of the pictures of people in Texas preparing for Ike's arrival. Most of the pictures were showing flooding in some areas where Ike is pushing the surf in, getting plywood, generators, etc. in preparation, etc. But there were a couple of pictures that really caught my attention:

This first picture is of a tow truck driving along a sea wall in Galveston - LOVE the sign. The second picture is captioned," Customers prepare for Hurricane Ike in Angleton, Texas on September 11." I love how they prepare. Look at what the middle guy is holding:

I don't know about you guys - but I'm totally with this guy, and his friend behind him holding the bags of Fritos (or Cheetos, I can't really tell). I mean, after all beer is the perfect survival essential, isn't it?. You've got your water for hydration, and the grain, hops, etc. provide nutrition. And the alcohol, well it just kind of makes you chill out so you don't freak so bad when you come home to find your car in your living room. In my perfect world, I imagine the guy at the counter is buying a bottle of Jack Daniels, a 3-liter of Diet Coke, and a box of Little Debbie Oatmeal Cream Pies. Oh...and some boiled peanuts for Tal. Now THAT's a hurricane party. :-)

Seriously, though, let's pray that the folks in Ike's path fare the weather safely. It's been stated that if those living in the low-lying areas do not follow the mandatory evacuation orders, they will face certain death. Let's just hope they are smart enough to heed the warning.

Deja-PUKN

So I was leaving work yesterday, and parked 2 cars down from mine was the infamous "LIL PUKN" car. All I could do was roll my eyes as I passed it.

Water you up to?

Yesterday, our WW leader mentioned that to achieve good weight loss you should take your weight number, divide it in half, and that is how many ounces of water you should drink every day.

OK....I now weigh(brace yourself, this is the first time I've actually revealed the true number) 353. Divide that in half - 176.5. How in the heck am I supposed to drink 176.5 ounces of water a day?? That's approx. 22 8-oz cups of water.........5 1/2 quarts......1 1/4 gallon.

The water bottle that I've been drinking from at work holds 36 ounces. I would have to drink 5 of those a day. I just finished the second - so that's 72 oz., plus the 16 I had this morning before I got to work - that's 88 oz. so far. I've been to the bathroom three times already before noon and looking at a 4th trip before I head out for lunch and owie (allergy shot - yay). And I feel bloated. Ugh. Good news is that I'm not hungry, so I guess that's the big benefit. :-)

I'm only 90% the woman I used to be!

Yay! Last night I finally reached my 10% weight loss goal. It took a little longer than I'd hoped to get there but I GOT THERE!!

Last week, after a 1.2 gain, I was hoping I would at least have lost that plus the 0.9 that would get me to my 10%. As I stepped on the scale, I told the receptionist, "Well, here's hoping that I at least get to my 10% goal." And she looked up at me and said, "Well, you did that plus some!" The scale showed that I'd dropped 6 pounds! That brings me to a total loss of 43.6!

I certainly didn't expect that, but it certainly was nice after a month and a half of yo-yo'ing. I was hoping to have lost 50 by Labor Day, but that didn't happen either. But that's OK....I'm still losing!

I hope that after such a big loss I don't start with the yo-yo'ing again. I'm not quite sure what I did right this past week - I did make sure to drink my water, tried to plan ahead and track ahead (I think that helped a LOT, I have noticed that on weeks that I was lax in my tracking is when I do my worst at weigh-in) and stick to what I tracked. Tal and I also did a good bit of walking last week.

I have been working really hard this week on my portion control. I also have started doing the "eat 1/2 and then see how I feel before I clean the plate" thing. That seems to be really working for me. For example, the elder Mrs. Gleck made spaghetti for supper Saturday evening. I did dish myself up a rather large plate of it, but then I only ate half. I also had a pretty big salad with Newman's Own lowfat Sesame and Ginger dressing. I did eat almost all the salad. But never fear, the remaining spaghetti did not go to waste - we had a very big and happy pup on our hands afterwards (Smokey - Tal's canine "brother").

And on Sunday, Tal and I stopped at Cracker Barrel on the way home from his parents' house this past weekend. I had the grilled chicken tenderloins with mashed potatoes and some white gravy on the side, baby carrots, corn, 2 corn muffins, and 2 biscuits with butter and apple butter. And I washed it down with some unsweet raspberry tea. I decided I would eat half of everything, and I did. Then I boxed up the rest and had it for breakfast (biscuit and apple butter w/ an orange) and lunch (the remaining half of the chicken, potatoes, corn, carrots, and corn muffin).

I did the same thing Monday night, only eating half of my meal and boxing the rest for lunch the next day. Tal is not practicing this method but then again he really doesn't have to because his method seems to be working well for him! :-)

Speaking of Tal and his weight loss - he and I did something rather unconventional last week in order to solve a problem that he had recently developed. Our wedding bands are the same type, and so I had an idea for us to exchange bands since mine was a couple sizes smaller than his and I have the engagement ring to hold the band in place. And so we did. As Tal stated, he has not removed his wedding band since the day we were married. I can't make that claim, as I have had a few surgeries that required me to remove all jewelry - and as a woman I am also known to slather hand cream on and don't want to get the rings all goopy with lotion. Tal has stated that the only time he would allow his ring to be removed, it would be removed by me and replaced by me. And so, upon exchanging our rings, we did so rather ceremoniously. I removed his ring and he removed mine and I placed my band on his hand and he placed his on mine. And so they will stay until both of us start having trouble keeping the rings on.....THEN we will take them to be re-sized. :-)

Next mini-goal: 1.4 pounds for next week. That will take me to 45 pounds removed!

I would do anything for cake.....

.....but I won't do THIS.

File this under "WTF were they thinking????".

That's just scary. What's next - exploding pinatas???