Let’s Get Physical

Watching It

January 18, 2012

Well, even though I said I had changed my mind, I went ahead and signed up for Weight Watchers today. I thought about it a few times this morning and almost backed out of it, because I didn’t want to miss out on lunch with co-workers.

I drove over to the nearest Weight Watchers location, which is in Urbandale, a little less than 4 miles from my office.

I DID IT.

I signed up.

I resisted the urge to buy a bunch of stuff, and only paid for my monthly registration fee and the starter kit. I spent $77.90 ($42.95 for the monthly pass and $34.95 for the starter kit), which wasn’t bad. I didn’t blow money on the snacks and goodies like I have in the past, I didn’t buy a scale or any other fancy stuff they have there.

Then it came time to step on the scale. I was wearing fairly light clothing today– a skirt, tights, long-sleeve knit top and very lightweight sweater over it. I took off my shoes and stepped on.

I saw my weight pop up on the scale and almost cried. I could just kick myself because every time I start Weight Watchers, my starting weight is higher than the time before.

Ugh.

So I’m starting at a weight so high that I can’t even write it here, and it almost makes me sick because I think I now weigh more than my husband. I talked to my mom today and told her I had joined again (she and my sister both joined a few weeks ago), and when I mentioned how much weight I have gained, I started to cry.

Obviously, people that know me can tell I have gained weight over the years. It’s not hard to see. But to put a number on it and let someone know just how much I weigh, and how much I have gained… well, it’s embarrassing. I’m ashamed and it makes me sick to think of what I have done to my body over the years.

Now it’s time to start writing everything down. I have succeeded at this before just by being disciplined enough to writer everything down. I’m taking this journey one week at a time, and not a day more. This first week my only goal is to track my food. I’m not going to worry about exercise right now, because that will come later. For now, it’s all about changing my eating habits and tracking them.

Before I went and signed up this morning, I drank a bottle of A&W root beer. It wasn’t even diet root beer, just a big fat 20-ounce bottle of root beer. It sounded so good, and the vending machine is only 20 feet from my desk at work. So I drank it. I thought I’d better drink it while I had the chance, because I knew once I was doing WW, I wasn’t drinking it anymore.

A couple hours later, I’m sitting back at my desk at work writing down in my new food journal everything I’ve eaten so far. And I’ll be damned if that bottle of root beer was worth freaking SEVEN POINTS. I looked up the Points value on some of the other things I have eaten the last few days, and it’s sickening.

That Otis Spunkmeyer chocolate muffin I always eat for breakfast? FIVE POINTS.

The Chinese food I ate for dinner a couple nights ago? EIGHTEEN POINTS.

Yeah, EIGHTEEN.

It just goes to show that all of the stuff I’ve been eating have been so bad for my body. And I just keep eating and eating, thinking that eventually I will get around to changing things.

I have to start now.

So, update on my New Years Resolutions:

1. Join Weight Watchers – Long term goal is to lose 50 pounds. Short term goal is to lose 20 pounds before July 1st. JOINED 1/18/12

2. Read 52 books – I feel since I managed to do it in 2011, I can do it again in 2012. A book a week isn’t too shabby, either. Current progress as of 1/18/12 is FOUR BOOKS. Woot!

3. Find a church we like and start going again. Still have to figure out if we want a large church, small church, what denomination we prefer… DONE! As of 1/18/12, we’ve gone two weeks in a row and LOVE our new church!

4. Start budgeting again via the Dave Ramsey plan. We really only do it halfway right now, which I guess means we really don’t do it all… This is a work in progress. We’re trying to get back to it, but we just haven’t fully committed yet.

Filed Under: Let's Get Physical, Weight Watchers

Why do I even do it?

January 9, 2012

Make resolutions, that is.

To give you a reminder, here are the resolutions I made for myself for 2012:

See that one at the top? About joining Weight Watchers?

Yeah, I’ve already scrapped that idea.

You see, I had originally planned on going to Weight Watchers with two of my co-workers. So I would not only have the accountablility to my leader and weekly meetings, I would also be accountable to my co-workers (because we’d be going together).

I am so sure I will fizzle out and fail that I have decided not to even spend the money. My usual M.O. for trying these types of things is this: Go to first meeting and spend tons of $$$$$$ buying every book and gadget I can, thinking they will help me succeed. Then, I stick to the plan faithfully for about 3 weeks, maybe 4. Finally, I start falling off the plan, until about 8 weeks, when I cancel my membership and don’t go to any more meetings.

Why spend the money when I know exactly what will happen?

So, my new plan is this: I will start with baby steps. Making better choices — healthier choices– regarding what food I put into my body.

It won’t happen fast, but it’s baby steps.

Filed Under: Let's Get Physical, Weight Watchers

What are your Mammotives?

November 1, 2011

Calling all Iowa women! Have you checked out this website yet? Have you been getting your regular mammograms? What are Your Mammotives? is a very useful site for all Iowa women to get information and to share your experiences with others. Heck, even if you aren’t from Iowa, you might want to check it out!

Filed Under: Blog World, Let's Get Physical

Fit to be Tied

July 26, 2011

One of the benefits about working where I work, is that we have a fitness center. I’ve never used it before, but it’s there. We also have a staff of certified Wellness instructors, as well as two full-time RNs. Everything is free, including wellness assessments. They also provide free personalized workout routines.

Did I mention I’ve never used any of it?

Last week, I set up an appointment for a fitness assessment. I was told to wear workout clothes, as I would go through several assessments, including a step test.

So, last Tuesday, I schlepped my workout bag down to the locker room (which also– NEVER BEEN IN!) and changed. I figured this would be a piece of cake– I mean, how hard could it be?

OH MY FITNESS LIVING LORD. Maybe it was the shock of stepping on the scale and seeing how much I weighed, but by the time I was done– I was sweating horribly and I couldn’t catch my breath. My heart felt like it was pounding clear up into my throat.

The 20-minute assessment included seeing how many push-ups I could do (um, TWO), seeing how many crunches I could do (um, TWELVE), and several other tests. The final straw that broke ~~the camel’s back~~ my body was the 3-minute step test. I expected to spend 3 minutes stepping on and off of a step like this:

But instead, I got the crazy cakes fitness instructor, and she made me do 3-minutes of torture on THIS:

This, my friends, is called the HIGH STEP. It is twelve inches off the ground, and kicked my fat overweight hiney.

When it was over, the instructor told me I would get my results by the end of the week.

The results of my fitness assessment can be summed up as follows:

GIRL, YOU ARE NOT FIT. GET YOUR BUTT ON A DIET AND START DOIN’ SOME EXERCISING. REPEAT, YOU ARE NOT FIT.

Filed Under: Let's Get Physical

My name is Jenni, and I am a migraine sufferer.

July 13, 2011

My name is Jenni, and I am a migraine sufferer. These horrible headaches first began when I was 16 years old. That’s twenty-two years worth of headaches. They have varied in frequency over the years, and also varied in their severity. I have had mind-blowing migraines that have kept me in bed all day. Migraines that hurt so bad, I can hardly keep my eyes open– and make it hard for me to walk upright– the pain in my head weighing my body down. Migraines that have kept me hunched over the glorified “porcelain puke bucket” in my bathroom. Migraines that have caused me to miss work and even miss several family events.

I ruined a family vacation a couple years ago, because I had a headache almost every single day. This year, I ruined our family’s 4th of July fireworks festivities because I tried to sit through them with a throbbing migraine– feeling like I was going to toss my cookies the whole time.

Over a year ago, I wrote about giving up caffeine in an attempt to curb the frequency of the migraines. This past April, I celebrated the one-year anniversary of going cold-turkey– one whole year without any caffeinated beverages. But it isn’t getting rid of the migraines.

I have been on several different drugs to try and prevent the headaches, and more drugs to treat the ones I DO get. I have been on Paxil, beta blockers, multi-vitamins, Imitrex, Maxalt, Treximet, Topomax, Flexeril and countless others. I have seen many doctors, I have gone through months of physical therapy, and I have seen a neurologist – THREE DIFFERENT TIMES. There has been bloodwork and CT scans done over the last 22 years, and every doctor thinks they can be the one to help me.

But the truth is, I’m still getting headaches. Lots of them. I get so many, I finally resorted to keeping track of them in my planner. Just this month alone, I have had 5 migraines. FIVE.

I went back to the first of the year, and I counted 54 migraines. Can you believe that? Seriously people, that is one migraine every 3.5 days. I have used up sick days and vacation days at work for the ones that are really bad. But most of them time, I just suffer through them. I get so many headaches each month that I have started cutting my Imitrex pills in half, because my insurance doesn’t pay for enough pills for me to take a whole one every time I get a headache.

I have read articles, books and everything I can get my hands on, to help me find ways to identify what triggers the migraines. I have researched treatments, gotten my hopes up over new ideas, and still — nothing works. I have given up taking birth control pills, because I read that the estrogen can cause migraines. I take daily multi-vitamins, try to eat regularly and usually try to get enough sleep.

And the migraines continue.

So where does that leave me? It leaves me with the three things I have yet to truly make an honest effort trying — regular exercise, losing weight, and good old praying.

It’s time to change that.

Filed Under: About Me, Changing Our Weighs, Let's Get Physical