I Can See 90 lbs

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Weighed in last night down another .8 lbs....puts a 90 lb total loss just over the horizon!

I've still been sticking to Jillian Michaels workouts.  This morning I did the 30 Day Shred Level 1 workout.  I could still feel it in my shoulders when I left for my walk!  I've tried others at the library but just can't get into them like I can with Jillian.  Have you tried any new workouts?

You've probably heard that Beachbody released a new program last week from Chalene Johnson - PiYo.  I wanted to get it right away but with our medical expenses up in the air Benny said it wasn't a good time.  Maybe with my birthday money or Christmas at the latest I'll be able to pick up one for myself.  In the mean time I'm running a challenge group starting next month...on Facebook or G+ depending on participants' preferences.  Here's the link for the event page on G+ https://plus.google.com/events/c4iel1889j03r2h8c26685lrmg4.  If you're on Facebook look for the event "PiYo Challenge" with this cover image

It's been too crazy at work so I haven't had a chance to schedule an appointment to see the doctor about the exercise induced neurocardiogenic syncope.  Kind of want Benny to come with me in case there are warning signs to look out for (and I might not necessarily notice) so he can hear it straight from the doctor.

We received the EOB from Benny's salivary endoscopy already....well at least some of them.  Our responsibility of the doctor's portion is $928, the surgery center's portion is $1182, and the pathology lab's portion is $23.  Not sure if we'll have a separate bill from the anesthesiologist or if that was included in the surgery center's costs.  Either way it didn't cost us nearly as much as we thought; we didn't max out his deductible.  The next challenge will be figuring out how we'll pay for it all.

As of Saturday my garden still looks critter free.  With this changing weather I haven't had to water much.  Looking out the window every day it appears the tomatoes are growing more but I can't tell much else from that distance.  How is your garden doing?

Last week I only walked to the farmer's market.  I picked up more broccoli and some Kickapoo cheese (inspired by the German Butterkäse Benny likes) from the Ludwig Farmstead Creamery.  Benny hasn't tried it though so I'm unsure if he likes this one.  On the way back I stopped at the tea shop that's closing and picked up a strainer to go with the loose leaf teas I purchased last time.  This afternoon I picked up some bell peppers and two different varieties of lettuce.

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88.8 lbs Lost!

I weighed in last night down another 2.4 lbs, bringing my total loss to date to 88.8 lbs!  I thought that was a funny number so I wanted that to be the focus.  Last night I also set my next goal.  I'd like to reach the 40% loss by Labor Day.  That's 2.5 months to lose 11.2 lbs.  I think that's reasonable...we'll see if my body agrees.

Is anyone familiar with exercise induced neurocardiogenic syncope?  Most of what I find online about it is more geared to those in the medical field so I don't really understand all the details.  Someone had posted in one of my Facebook groups about their client that passes out and throws up with their workouts.  A cardiac RN mentioned this condition as a possibility.  From what I understand it sounds pretty darn close to what I've been experiencing with my lightheadedness and nausea during workouts and showering during TOM.  I messaged the Doctor's office and they want to see me to evaluate my condition.

I finally received the bills from the ultrasound.  My EOB still shows the $1600-something amount but the bill from the doctor is only $100 and the hospital is $386.  I'm really hoping there won't be anything else popping up from this.  Since I had both bills I finally broke down and told Benny, using the good news bad news method (he wanted the bad news first LOL).  Of course he was upset and I told him he'd be upset no matter whether I told him about it before or not.  He must've agreed with me because he wasn't in his mad mood/voice/etc.

I checked on my garden Saturday. It's doing pretty well two weeks in. Spinach, pole beans, cucumber, broccoli (2 varieties), radish, kale, tomatoes (2 varieties), basil, oregano, bell peppers, and carrots are what I planted this year.  The six shown in the picture I thought had the best growth.  It doesn't look like any critters are eating anything this year; I hope it stays that way LOL.

At the farmer's market last week I picked up some giant kale (well, giant to me LOL) and a head of broccoli.  I've used the broccoli but not the kale yet.  Despite the heat and humidity this week I am walking to the market again today (will be my only walk).  I brought my XL shorts that I don't wear working out anymore (probably would fall off with all that movement) but I think should be OK to wear walking.  I put my 50 oz water bottle in the freezer so it'll keep me cool while walking.  I'll drink out of the small one until it's gone.

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A Stoney Walk

I've met my best pace and longest walk this past week.  I think it's funny that my longest walk looks like a muscular arm.  I really like this path walking to the circle and back, adding a little extra so I'm not back too early.  I have to be careful because I keep getting interrupted by people stopping me or the train.

I weighed in last night down 1.8 lbs.  On my home scale I'm about 15 lbs less than Benny so I kind of giggle at that.

My body's been weird again.  Normally I'm only lightheaded during TOM.  Sunday I almost didn't complete my workout because of lightheadedness.  Monday I was lightheaded in the shower.  Both days I was sweatier than normal.  Yesterday and today I just didn't have the energy to work out; perhaps that's from this rainy weather.

Yesterday's weigh in wrapped up a crazy day.  Benny finally got the stone removed from his salivary gland.  The day started out with me being tense, on edge, and feeling rushed. Benny was sort of dragging his feet so I had no choice but to take the highway to get to the Multi-Specialty Surgery Center in Carmel.  My car is crap and I don't trust it on the highway; the rain didn't help either.  Benny never seems to think about rush hour traffic when we go places.  So I had all these things whirling in my head while driving.  Benny was smart and chose not to respond to my commentary about everything that was wrong about the day LOL.  My stomach was all in knots and I felt nauseous the whole way.

We arrived about 10 minutes before his scheduled time (9 am) but had to wait 20-30 minutes before he was called back for pre-op.  Some time later they called me back to collect his ring and wallet before whisking him off to surgery.  I think some of the nurses were crazy because they said it was hot in there and I was freezing!  During the endoscopy I read a little, watched TV, and played on my phone.  I don't think I did a single thing for long periods of time.

When they were done Dr. Fritsch came out and talked to me.  Everything had went well.  There was only one stone (normally there are several).  It was 1/2-3/4 inches long...not sure how wide.  The Dr. sent me back to the waiting room for some time before the nurse brought me to Benny in recovery.  I kept chuckling how Benny looked, trying to fight off the sleep.  They had given him some water and goldfish crackers (their way to make sure patients aren't too sick from the anesthesia). Benny was very thirsty and had to have a refill on the water.  The only thing that was bothering him was that his tongue was swollen.  The nurses weren't concerned about that so I guess it's OK.  (It was still swollen this morning.)

The last thing they do to make sure a patient is OK to go is send them to the bathroom.  As long as the patient can pee they're good.  The post-op instructions said if they don't pee within 8-9 hours then there might be a problem.  It was almost 1 pm by the time we got out of there.  Benny wanted to take the stone with him but they said that it has to go for testing.  I guess for them to determine if it's a calcium deposit like kidney stones or something else.

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50 Inches with Fido

Adding the 8.1 miles of walking last week led to me maintaining weight instead of losing.  I haven't done any walking this week yet.  I'm still pretty much sticking with Jillian's DVDs.

 

It's been a little more than a year since I started working out with Tai Cheng.  Benny took my first measurements on 5/13/13 and the latest Monday night.  Over the past year I've lost almost 50 inches over my whole body!

 

 

Yes, you're seeing things correctly - that's 12 Dress Sizes!

A little frustrated with my phone (more than usual).  Since the new month rolled over it's not syncing properly (even though it says it is).  So my pictures aren't being backed up!  When I have to do another factory data reset or try another phone I'll lose everything from June 1 onward.  Any ideas how to fix this?

 

Something to think about....some of the exercises you do are similar to a dog's playful behavior.  Here's a workout routine from DogVacay.com that you can do to get fit like Fido.  I've done all but the ladders one since I'm not a runner.

 

Those of you with a dog, have you tried working out (besides going for a walk/run) with your pup?

FINALLY planted my garden Sunday.  Benny's still trying to figure out some kind of gate to put on the fence so I can get in and out.  (I tried stepping over and that didn't work to well.)  This was just in time for the rain.  A little bit on Sunday evening and downpours Monday and today.  I just hope this rain doesn't jumble up all my seeds!  My starters were duds this year so I'm starting from scratch.  Tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, kale, broccoli, spinach, radishes, carrots, pole beans, oregano, & basil (I think that's everything LOL) are on the menu this year.  How is your garden going this year?

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Walking to Weigh in

Last week everything felt so crazy.  I started to write my post and kept getting distracted.  Even had to play IT manager again with our main computer at work.

What didn't get posted last week....
We had so much rain last week.  I STILL haven't been able to do anything with my garden.  It's just a bunch of weeds!  Is there a way to get rid of the weeds that won't damage the seeds when I plant them?

I took my first walk around the neighborhood on Sunday.  I was nearly chased by a goose protecting its family.  I had to walk fast and sideways so I could keep an eye on it while I went past.  Here are my stats from that walk.  (I'm using the MapMyWalk app to track what I'm walking.)

We're doing a 7 mile walk/run challenge this week and next.  Since I only walked Sunday I'm way behind LOL.  Monday I didn't feel like walking.  Tuesday I had car trouble so I couldn't go to Weight Watchers to weigh in.  Yesterday I weighed in down 1 lb!  It was such a stormy afternoon and evening there was no chance that I could get out to walk.  I need to remember to bring some kind of bottle to work for my water so that I can walk during my lunch hour.

Has anything interesting happened to you on a walk or run?

I weighed in last night down only .2 lbs.  That came as a surprise for me as I felt heavier and expected a gain because of TOM.  But that feeling could've just as easily been bloat because of the heat and humidity.

I'm on a Jillian Michaels kick right now.  All but two DVDs from the library are her workouts.  Jillian isn't as tough with these workouts as I expected.  Sure, I can't do all the moves and have to modify the modifier sometimes but I still push through.

Benny didn't want to tell us what we were doing Monday; he kept saying it was a surprise.  Austin guessed it correctly shortly before we left.

We did the whole 18 holes (9 just isn't enough) but a lot of the time was just standing around waiting for the people in front of us to get out of the way.  The group kept discussing their play or something and wouldn't move on to the next hole.  It was very frustrating with them doing that.  I stayed on my feet the whole time but Benny and Austin would occasionally sit and wait.  Every time we play I win; I know it's not them just letting me win since we all stink at it LOL

 

I walked through the neighborhood east of work during lunch yesterday.  It was a little too windy.  Silly me didn't think it all through and didn't even have pockets.  So I had to manage my wallet, phone, and water bottle while holding my skirt.  It must've been a funny sight to those walking and driving by.  If we don't have popup shower today I'll take a walk to the west.  Eventually I want to walk over to the City Market and shop the Farmer's Market on a Wednesday.

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Bye Bye 170's!

I knew I'd lost weight last week but not that much!  I was so happy with the loss that I didn't bother with checking my home scale this morning.  When I got home and told Benny my loss he asked where it went.  I told him that I gave my weight to him LOL.  After all I'm about 10 lbs lighter than Benny now!

My GYN called the other day.  They got the official reading from the ultrasound.  Apparently it looks like there's a polyp that they want to take a look at.  I told the Dr. that I didn't want to worry about it right now.  We have no clue how much it's going to cost with Benny's stuff so I'll have to wait until we get other insurance or next year, just depends.

What's with the cost estimator on Anthem's site? When I had looked at the estimated pricing for the ultrasound it was always around $1000 or less.  Why in the world is the EOB showing my portion is $1600-something?  I never told Benny that I was having this ultrasound done (only kind of knows about it because the Dr called when I was home) so he's going to be pissed when he sees the bill!

On the exercise front I've been experimenting with various workouts from the library.  Here's a sampling of those I've tried this past week.

 

The dancing ones that require coordination aren't for me!  I can't keep up with whatever moves they're doing.  I got my best burn ever (I think) Saturday with a Jillian Michael's DVD.

 

 

 

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Freschetta Gluten Free Pizza

I was excited to be able to participate in the Freschetta Gluten Free Pizza BzzCampaign.  This would be my first known experience into the gluten free world.  I received my BzzKit and was really exited to try the pepperoni pizza since that's what we normally get at Little Caesar's.

When I got to my local Kroger I was bummed that they only had the 4 Cheese Medley.  I started to leave without picking up a pizza.  I got to the other end of the aisle and had Austin run back and go ahead and grab the cheese pizza.  Having a cheese pizza is like having a blank canvas to work with.  You can add whatever toppings you want!

Sunday night we decided to try the pizza.  Taking it out of the box it just looked like an ordinary thinner crust pizza.

Benny wanted just tomato, pepperoni, and onion on his half.  I used one whole onion and one Roma tomato over the whole pizza.  Then I added about 1/4 cup bell pepper to my half in between the tomato slices.  Finally I topped it with pepperoni.  I don't know how many I had on Benny's side but I made sure that I only had 14 (one serving) on my side LOL.

This was my first ever known gluten free meal.  It tasted great!  Not sure if it was the Freschetta pizza itself or the combination of everything but it was a lot sweeter than what I'm used to with frozen or fresh pizza.  Is this how gluten free tastes?  It wasn't as salty or greasy as Little Caesar's pizza either.  When we would purchase frozen pizza before and add toppings they would slide off.  Not so with the Freschetta.  The cheese oozed through and held down everything.  I really liked that I didn't have a mouthful of only toppings!

 

As you can see, adding the toppings to the Freschetta 4 Cheese Medley makes it about even with what I'm normally eating but it's still the healthier option since it has veggies.  I still would love to try the Freschetta Gluten Free Pepperoni Pizza to see how it compares to what I made.  I'm sure it'll still have a great taste!  As with anything gluten free the price is higher than the same product with gluten (was $9.99 at Kroger) but I think it's still a comparable price with other frozen pizzas.

Would you buy a gluten free frozen pizza?  What toppings would you use?