I just wanted to let everyone know that I've moved everything over to my other blog, Homemade Living. The main focus on Homemade Living is the cooking I do for my family, but I also touch on our weight loss and other family stuff. Combining everything into one made sense to me, so I hope that you'll consider joining me there.
See you soon!
Monday, March 8, 2010
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Biggest Loser!
BIGGEST LOSER is back!
I am so very excited for another season. Last year when I started Weight Watchers, I watched Season 7 and I found it so very inspiring. I called it my weekly crying-while-eating-dinner event - LOL. I think seeing the family dynamics is what makes it even better for me than the Biggest Loser seasons where it's individuals. Since I am in the journey with my husband, I love seeing other people doing it with their friends or family as well.
One things I am so happy about this time is that every episode I can watch with David. Season 7 I would watch by myself most night since he was working and then as time allowed, I would rewatch it with him. This time around, like with Season 8, we can enjoy it together. It's good for us.
I have a hard time picking my favorites at this time. I do like the green team - they seem to be very strong women and I like that. Ashley on the pink team has me feeling like I am looking at myself before I started losing weight since my highest weight was 380 lbs (she started out a bit under that). Michael, who started out at 526 lbs, is someone we are rooting for. But gosh, I'm really happy for all of them with what they are accomplishing.
I'm sure as we get to know the teams more, I will have more definite favorites and not-so favorites.
I am so very excited for another season. Last year when I started Weight Watchers, I watched Season 7 and I found it so very inspiring. I called it my weekly crying-while-eating-dinner event - LOL. I think seeing the family dynamics is what makes it even better for me than the Biggest Loser seasons where it's individuals. Since I am in the journey with my husband, I love seeing other people doing it with their friends or family as well.
One things I am so happy about this time is that every episode I can watch with David. Season 7 I would watch by myself most night since he was working and then as time allowed, I would rewatch it with him. This time around, like with Season 8, we can enjoy it together. It's good for us.
I have a hard time picking my favorites at this time. I do like the green team - they seem to be very strong women and I like that. Ashley on the pink team has me feeling like I am looking at myself before I started losing weight since my highest weight was 380 lbs (she started out a bit under that). Michael, who started out at 526 lbs, is someone we are rooting for. But gosh, I'm really happy for all of them with what they are accomplishing.
I'm sure as we get to know the teams more, I will have more definite favorites and not-so favorites.
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Our Current 2010 Weights
Today I wanted to post our current weights -- here they are:
Brandie: 278.0 lbs (total loss 79 lbs)
David: 261.2 lbs (total loss 111.7 lbs)
I'm very fine with this total -- during the holidays I didn't track at all and many times (Thanksgiving dinner, Christmas Week, etc) I ate exactly what I wanted to eat. I think I gained about 5.8 lbs during November and December. David isn't as happy and says that he gained 17 lbs, but I am thinking this isn't accurate. But either way, there it is - our new, start of 2010 weights.
Our weigh in days are Fridays so next Friday I will share our weigh in.
Brandie: 278.0 lbs (total loss 79 lbs)
David: 261.2 lbs (total loss 111.7 lbs)
I'm very fine with this total -- during the holidays I didn't track at all and many times (Thanksgiving dinner, Christmas Week, etc) I ate exactly what I wanted to eat. I think I gained about 5.8 lbs during November and December. David isn't as happy and says that he gained 17 lbs, but I am thinking this isn't accurate. But either way, there it is - our new, start of 2010 weights.
Our weigh in days are Fridays so next Friday I will share our weigh in.
Friday, January 1, 2010
The Turning Point (also known as How A Hysterectomy Changed My Life)
Tomorrow, January 2, will be my one year anniversary of joining Weight Watchers. David asked me last night when I decided to join Weight Watchers and honestly, I couldn't remember an exact date, but it was during the holidays of 2008 that I knew I had to do something more to become healthier.
(start of some gross stuff - might not want to read if squeamish)
In February of 2008, I had a complete hysterectomy at the age of 34 (complete meaning EVERYTHING). I had two grapefruit sized cysts on each ovary causing me excruciating amounts of pain. I was anemic. Horrible back pain if I stood for more than 5 minutes. I menstruated so heavily with such large clots (sorry to gross you out) that I couldn't go anywhere or do anything without fearing that I wouldn't be able to finish my shopping without ruining my clothes. I had to wear two pads, plus a super plus sized tampon and sometimes those would last me only 30 minutes maximum. It was ruining my life.
I had been to the emergency room many times with my cysts, but in February 2008, I had an attack of pain that felt 1000 times worse than any of the ones before. I knew something wasn't right. I went to the emergency room and I was weighed on a big scale (the first time I had been weighed in a long time) and I weighed 380 lbs. I couldn't believe I weighed that much.
The end result of that ER visit was a emergency hysterectomy.
During the prep for my surgery, I had countless people working with me and with each new person, I found myself more and more embarrassed. There was constant concern over my size. "Due to your size blah, blah, blah...", "We have concern over your size...". I had to lay on the bed on top of a blow up mattress so that after the surgery they would be able to slide me easily from one bed to another.
I was so scared before the surgery from all the concern over my size that I wrote love notes to my children and husband because I literally thought there was a good chance that I wasn't coming out of my anesthesia or there would be some other complication.
After the surgery, but still groggy from the anesthesia, I realized I was alive. And that I would see David and the kids again. And I was happy.
There is a lot more to my story I can share about my hysterectomy. Like how they say that one of my ovaries and fallopian tubes black and twisted up. I could share the emotions just before: wanting to rip out the IV and run out of the hospital. To the emotions after: not being a "real" woman and would I ever enjoy sex again. Maybe I'll share those stories at a later time, but let me just say: having that surgery was one of the very best things that ever happen to me. It was the start of giving me back my life.
After I recovered, I realized that just about all the pain and discomfort that I felt pre-op, was related to my cysts. So once they was gone, I started to feel so much better.
During 2008, I lost some weight. I went from 380 lbs to 357 lbs just by making some simple dietary changes in my life. During the year I thought often to how scared I was of dying on the operating table. That I didn't want my children to continue their lives without me. That I wanted to continue my hot love affair with my sexy husband :). So during the holidays, I decided enough was enough...and it was time to get serious about it. My decision was to join Weight Watchers and I did. I joined on January 2, 2009, and got started. Two weeks after, my husband started with me.
The last four months have brought some great challenges to our family and our weight loss has slowed. For the last two months, we have even stopped my daily weigh in's (the weights on the right are out-dated and we've lost more than that). But we are determined that 2010 will be the year we reach our goals and I KNOW we will.
I plan to keep blogging daily here about our weight loss. We need accountability and while we have it with each other, I believe that our friends online, on Twitter, and those we've met through blogs are a huge part of the success we've had so far.
So, here's to 2010 - a year of learning to live healthy! Tomorrow I will share our current weights (which haven't been done in a while).
(start of some gross stuff - might not want to read if squeamish)
In February of 2008, I had a complete hysterectomy at the age of 34 (complete meaning EVERYTHING). I had two grapefruit sized cysts on each ovary causing me excruciating amounts of pain. I was anemic. Horrible back pain if I stood for more than 5 minutes. I menstruated so heavily with such large clots (sorry to gross you out) that I couldn't go anywhere or do anything without fearing that I wouldn't be able to finish my shopping without ruining my clothes. I had to wear two pads, plus a super plus sized tampon and sometimes those would last me only 30 minutes maximum. It was ruining my life.
I had been to the emergency room many times with my cysts, but in February 2008, I had an attack of pain that felt 1000 times worse than any of the ones before. I knew something wasn't right. I went to the emergency room and I was weighed on a big scale (the first time I had been weighed in a long time) and I weighed 380 lbs. I couldn't believe I weighed that much.
The end result of that ER visit was a emergency hysterectomy.
During the prep for my surgery, I had countless people working with me and with each new person, I found myself more and more embarrassed. There was constant concern over my size. "Due to your size blah, blah, blah...", "We have concern over your size...". I had to lay on the bed on top of a blow up mattress so that after the surgery they would be able to slide me easily from one bed to another.
I was so scared before the surgery from all the concern over my size that I wrote love notes to my children and husband because I literally thought there was a good chance that I wasn't coming out of my anesthesia or there would be some other complication.
After the surgery, but still groggy from the anesthesia, I realized I was alive. And that I would see David and the kids again. And I was happy.
There is a lot more to my story I can share about my hysterectomy. Like how they say that one of my ovaries and fallopian tubes black and twisted up. I could share the emotions just before: wanting to rip out the IV and run out of the hospital. To the emotions after: not being a "real" woman and would I ever enjoy sex again. Maybe I'll share those stories at a later time, but let me just say: having that surgery was one of the very best things that ever happen to me. It was the start of giving me back my life.
After I recovered, I realized that just about all the pain and discomfort that I felt pre-op, was related to my cysts. So once they was gone, I started to feel so much better.
During 2008, I lost some weight. I went from 380 lbs to 357 lbs just by making some simple dietary changes in my life. During the year I thought often to how scared I was of dying on the operating table. That I didn't want my children to continue their lives without me. That I wanted to continue my hot love affair with my sexy husband :). So during the holidays, I decided enough was enough...and it was time to get serious about it. My decision was to join Weight Watchers and I did. I joined on January 2, 2009, and got started. Two weeks after, my husband started with me.
The last four months have brought some great challenges to our family and our weight loss has slowed. For the last two months, we have even stopped my daily weigh in's (the weights on the right are out-dated and we've lost more than that). But we are determined that 2010 will be the year we reach our goals and I KNOW we will.
I plan to keep blogging daily here about our weight loss. We need accountability and while we have it with each other, I believe that our friends online, on Twitter, and those we've met through blogs are a huge part of the success we've had so far.
So, here's to 2010 - a year of learning to live healthy! Tomorrow I will share our current weights (which haven't been done in a while).
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Renewed Enthusiasm
While watching the premiere of The Biggest Loser last night (loved it, of course, but I'll share my thoughts on that at another time), I thought several times how I MUST start updating this blog more often. I think this blog - and journaling our weight loss - is a huge component for our success. Plus, I enjoy it and want to have this to look back on; and I want to be able to share this experience with others.
I got to also to thinking about all the weight loss blogs that have been abandoned on the web. Some because the person lost interest or just doesn't have the time, but I would imagine that many are because the person lost their commitment to losing - even if only temporarily.
Well, that is not our situation, but I wonder if my lack of posting might tell others that. The truth is that while we've had weeks that we've gained a bit, David and I are still going strong. The past few weeks have been crazy, with stressful situations hitting us at every turn, but under the circumstances, I think we are doing good.
So my goal at this point is to post 5x's a week, but I would prefer daily. I think with most everything in my life, it's a matter of it becoming more of a routine. Once it does, I won't forget about it so often. So here's to a renewed enthusiasm to our weight loss blog! I don't know if anyone is actually reading along, but even if no one is, I'll just keep doing it for us - that's the most important thing.
I got to also to thinking about all the weight loss blogs that have been abandoned on the web. Some because the person lost interest or just doesn't have the time, but I would imagine that many are because the person lost their commitment to losing - even if only temporarily.
Well, that is not our situation, but I wonder if my lack of posting might tell others that. The truth is that while we've had weeks that we've gained a bit, David and I are still going strong. The past few weeks have been crazy, with stressful situations hitting us at every turn, but under the circumstances, I think we are doing good.
So my goal at this point is to post 5x's a week, but I would prefer daily. I think with most everything in my life, it's a matter of it becoming more of a routine. Once it does, I won't forget about it so often. So here's to a renewed enthusiasm to our weight loss blog! I don't know if anyone is actually reading along, but even if no one is, I'll just keep doing it for us - that's the most important thing.
Friday, July 10, 2009
weighing more than him
Today's weigh in was a 3.4 lb loss! It feels so great. That brings my total to 67.8 lbs GONE since January 2, 2009.
David had another phenomenal loss of 6 lbs this week for a total loss of 117.9 lbs. He's looking amazing, and is now wearing a size 38" waist jeans. His weekly loss average is about 3.5 lbs per week. Seriously, he was always so sexy to me, but oh boy...he's even looking even hotter! :)
He has lost a lot more weight than I have and, I'm going to bring this up again: it is hard sometimes. It's a hard balance to be supportive of him, but also realize that I am so much further behind him. I know it's not a race. But it's that thing I've mentioned before -- I've NEVER weighed more than him and now I weigh almost 30 lbs more than him.
I don't want to be a wife that weighs more than her husband. I mean no offense to anyone who does weigh more than their husband, but for me, well, he was always a big guy and I was always smaller than him...when we dated, when we married, and all through our years. But, while I don't want to weigh more than him, I also don't want to be a total b*tch and make him feel bad for his great loss. I refuse to do that.
Other than just that he is male and I'm female, but I understand why his loss is greater: his job is physically demanding. He's standing or active most of his day. My job has me sitting most of the day at my computer. Huge contrast there. He also eats almost exactly what I eat. I get (now, as of today) 34 pts. Our dinner plates are pretty much the same. I eat basically all my points each day and he really doesn't eat all his (I think he still gets 40 pts?) because he eats what I eat.
And in addition to all his physically aspects of his job, anytime I walk for exercise, he walks for exercise. The same miles. The same speed.
We've consulted with his doctor on his loss and while his doctor does agree that 2 lbs a week by Weight Watcher standards is best, he also says that he doesn't want him to stop what's working for him because being as obese as he was was a greater health risk than losing over the recommended weekly average. Makes sense to me. And the health benefits - related to his diabetes and asthma - have already been wonderful. He's been taken off all his diabetes medications.
I support him and I am VERY proud of him. He's totally changed his attitude about food. TOTAL change. He is working hard for it, but will tell anyone that it hasn't been as hard as he thought it would be. It's so much easier than you are really ready and really motivated. He was really ready for this change in his life and it shows.
And sometimes get (happily) emotional. While we were/are both so obese, he's the one who had a lot of health problems because of his weight. Seeing his health improve makes me so happy....and that is what I focus on any time I start to stupidly feel sorry for myself.
Next month we will have been married for 19 years and it's pretty awesome to think about what another 19 years will be like. I love him dearly and I love that we are doing this together.
Just some thoughts I had. Funny thing is that I didn't plan to blog these thoughts at all tonight - I had planned to talk more about now being able to sit in restaurant booths. Ha. Funny. It totally took off in a new direction. I'll talk about the booths next time (or maybe not...LOL). Or maybe about how I need new bras. ;)
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
101.3
This week, David has officially lost over 100 lbs -- 101.3lbs to be exact. I am so very proud of him. He's done fabulous and looks awesome. I can put my arms around him, his tattoo is getting smaller (I now call it his baby tattoo since it's so much smaller than before), and he just tried on a pair of 38" waist short and guess what? They FIT.
Seeing how happy this weight loss is making him just makes me SO happy too. And, gosh, that man is such a hottie! Congratulations to him!
Random thought: doesn't 101.3 that sound like a radio station? Kinda crazy to think that our weight loss can be the frequency of actual radio stations. LOL And, I googled 101.3 to see what I came up with. There is lots of 101.3 FM radio stations. Here's three of them: STAR 101.3 in San Francisco, 101.3 KDWB in Minnesota, and KC 101.3 in Southern Connecticut.
Can't wait until my weight loss can be measured in radio frequencies. :)
Seeing how happy this weight loss is making him just makes me SO happy too. And, gosh, that man is such a hottie! Congratulations to him!
Random thought: doesn't 101.3 that sound like a radio station? Kinda crazy to think that our weight loss can be the frequency of actual radio stations. LOL And, I googled 101.3 to see what I came up with. There is lots of 101.3 FM radio stations. Here's three of them: STAR 101.3 in San Francisco, 101.3 KDWB in Minnesota, and KC 101.3 in Southern Connecticut.
Can't wait until my weight loss can be measured in radio frequencies. :)
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