Random Thoughts

I hadn't seen my best friend in awhile....since our date to see "Sex in the City" to be exact. But she came over unexpectedly today and it was so good to just sit and talk. I don't have a huge posse of friends anymore, just a few amazingly important women that I talk with here and there. But I think these are the best friends a girl can ask for...you know, the friends you can just pick up a conversation with as if you chatted every day.

I have been getting emails, calls, and texts from my close girlfriends recently b/c of baby news. These bits of contacts and seeing D today just made me stop and think of how lucky I am.

BTW...my LA-based girls....there is a possibility that I am spending a week in LA next week. I'll confirm so we can all have dinner. We haven't gotten together since our Pasadena dinner 3 years ago!! (not counting the bridal shower, of course!)

Love you all!

That would be soooo cool!

So, Michael and I have decided not to find out the sex of the baby. We would like a surprise since surprises don't come that often in life when you're an adult. Mikey would like a baby brother while Jacob is convinced he's having a baby sister. My mom wants a boy. My mom-in-law wants a girl. So, pretty much down the line, either is wanted.

I am leaning towards a girl. I switched my mind for a while since boys are so cool....but we definitely need anther female in my house.

This weekend, we went to a BBQ and two of my friends enlightened us to the Chinese Birthing Chart. They said everyone they know has been successful in finding out the gender of their baby and the chart I found on-line claimed 99% accuracy. I looked today to check out if Mikey and Jacob's were accurate and THEY WERE!!!! What you do is look up the mother's age when the baby will be due along with the month the baby was conceived and the chart will say MALE or FEMALE. Should I tell you what we got?!?!? Or keep it a secret? ha ha

Tired and icky-feeling

I am not quite sure what is going on, but I have soooo lethargic and tired. This weekend, I swear I slept about 80% of the time. I am not sure if the pregnancy has anything to do with it. But I just don't feel like myself.

Today was the first day of summer school and I just ask "Why did the time drag???" Just three more days of this.

I worked out today and felt good except that I puked my guts out right afterwards. See? What's wrong with me?

Wild Animal Weekend

Wow....okay. It started out Friday night when I came home from a conference I had to attend for my masters program. Michael told me we had new additions to the family. Apparently the guys spotted two newborn wild ducklings on the side of the road and they decided to pick them up and bring 'em home. They were simply adorable. Loud, but definitely cute. We kept them overnight and Michael took them to a bird rescue the next morning.

We went to my in-laws new cabin in Lake Tahoe for the Father's Day weekend. It is a very beautiful and scenic place...very calm and fresh. We had a good time. The first night there, we were all playing cards and we heard rustling outside. The neighbor told my father-in-law that there was a good sized bear that was coming around at night, so we naturally freaked out at the sound. Turned out to be a big-ass raccoon looking for food on the deck. That sucker wasn't afraid of people AT ALL. The little ones thought it was the coolest thing to see a real live raccoon....right out of "Over the Hedge."

Then Father Day afternoon, the entire family drove to Emerald Bay for a 2-mile hike that took us to Eagle Lake. It was a hike that kicked our ass, but it was very fun and well worth it. My legs are still throbbing....LOL I am proud of myself for doing it without complaint and being pregnant!!! Once we reached the lake, we saw chipmunks and blue jays.

So as you can see, we had a wild animal weekend.

Today I went to school for a summer school meeting. Seems like summer school is going to be quite fun. The district spent lots of money on giving us plently of supplies. Makes me wonder why they don't take care of us like this for the regular school year. I'll be doing 2-3 combo...and guess who is in my class? Lil' Walter. Oh boy.

Blog-Snooping

I saw this as someone's favorite interest and it made me laugh. I am on summer vacation and have time, so I thought..."Why not keep up my blog?" Besides, I blog-snop on others all the time.

Well, some news for those of you I haven't spoken to in a while:

1. I had completely fallen off the wagon in terms of my great cholesterol-lowering diet....I mean, I wasn't pigging out and laying on the couch with a bag of chips (much), but I kinda stopped working out and checking numbers. SO I am at it again. Not sure if I want to do the blood-checking thing since it hurts and all, but I am working out again and trying to eat well. I really do think that writing it all down helps. (Knowing that people are going to read that I ate a million bowls of ice-cream....That's a bit embarassing.)

2. I am starting grad school soon! Yay!! I will be going to Sac State for my administrative credential and masters. It is an excellerated (did I spell that right?) program which will take me 3 semesters. I LOVE LOVE LOVE school, so I am super excited. I know.....what a nerd.

3. Did I mention I am on vacation? LOL

4. Okay...the big news.....Michael and I are expecting a baby!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I apologize to you in advance if we haven't called. It's still very very early, but we are with child and the doctor has been carefully monitoring me. I think it's mostly preventative to check....I am hoping it's not a risky pregnancy. The boys are excited (Jake's reaction was "Wow Mom....I'm hungry.") and I have decided to take things easy. I have been doing a ton of organizing in the house, but for every space I get cleaned, there's a nap involved.

5. And lastly, check out "Sex in the City: The Movie." It was delightful although I didn't like the ending....:)

RESULTS IN......

Friday morning, I went to get an ultrasound to check my overall internal health. Also had to fast and get a new blood test. So, I had my follow-up appointment yesterday and I was a bit nervous. I had to bring in the blood sugar results as well.

EXCELLENT NEWS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In three weeks, I brought my cholesterol level from 305 to 160! I also lowered my LDL (bad cholesterol) from 231 to 93! This was the number that the doctor was real concerned about. So the doctor went from telling me that she has never seen numbers this high in her entire career to asking me if I would speak to her cholesterol classes about my hard work and determination. She said I should be the poster kid for mind over matter because reducing my numbers this much in just 3 weeks is the result of listening to her and working hard. The medicine is helping, but the doctor said the medicine alone wouldn't have dropped my numbers this quickly. I am thrilled!

Regarding my blood sugars, she was originally concerned that I was skirting into the pre-diabetic category, but now she said I am working my way out of the woods. My evening numbers are perfect, but the numbers when I wake up are too high....the result of being over weight. Her suggestion was to just continue working out and eating right and I shouldn't have to take medicine for pre-diabetes.

I am continuing on my cholesterol medicine and will keep on working out. I do feel soooo much better. The main goal in sight for me is, of course better health, but also a baby.

I lost 3 pounds, which isn't newsworthy except for the fact that the doctor told me to limit my weight-loss to a pound a week, which will keep the weight off as opposed to crash dieting, losing a ton of weight, and gaining it all back. Since it has been three weeks since my last appointment, I am right on track. I weigh 189 pounds. Goal weight is 140.

Thank you Jill for the great tip to track my progress. I am so happy that you and my aunt are supporting me. (Michael FINALLY starting reading!!!!) I am going to check out the website right now.

Speaking of Michael, he's currently playing Metallica on his mouth harp. What a dweeb. LOL

So hungry after work

My blood sugar numbers have been awesome after work, right before dinner. But weirdly enough, the numbers are high when I wake up in the morning. I realized that I can't starve myself at night b/c my numbers are real high. If I have a smallish snack my numbers are improved, but I can't seem to get the number lower than 145ish. The doctor wants all readings to be around 80.

I have been eating breakfast and lunch regularly. Dinners have been okay, but harder to make healthy since the family and I are STARVED when we get home. I've thought about pre-packaging healthy snacks to pull out when we walk in the door.....celery and peanut butter, cheese and crackers, cut up fruit. Today we were so hungry we just drove straight to Mimi's Cafe (Jake's favorite). I had salmon and a salad, but ate tons of bread since I couldn't wait.

I haven't worked out, but need to. Tonight I won't since I am beat and we need to get started on our taxes. Forget about laundry, too. I am pissed I have been too tired to read any of my Harry Potter.

Tia Sisi, THANK YOU for being so supportive! (I finally got Michael to read, but he hasn't made any comments. ) :) I am proud of you for jumping on the "Skinny Beotch" bandwagon. :)

Breakfast: Coffee, NutriGrain Cinnamon wafflea and sausage
Lunch: Lean Cuisine pizza and sugar-free jello with water
Dinner: Grilled Salmon and salad, coffee, vanilla ice cream

No snacks today

Yesterday:
Blood sugar AM: 149 PM: 85

Today AM: 145 PM: didn't take

Second weekend of diet

I haven't posted all week because it's been so darn busy!!

In a nut shell, I worked out alot and ate right. Still haven't weighed myself. Blood sugars are high in the mornings and just right before dinner.

Doctor told me not to work out so much. I am supposed to lose only a pound a week. Still haven't weighed myself. I feel so flabby.

Oh yeah, shared a pitcher of blackberry maragritas on Thursday night. It's fruit, right?

Carry on and push forward

So, one of my girlfriends came over for dinner yesterday and I hadn't seen her since the beginning of December. When she came in the door, she said "Look at you Miss Skinny." Wha?!? That made me VERY happy.

I had a VERY small dinner tonight. And I worked out for an hour. I feel a little bad right now....During my workout, I asked Michael to refill my water bottle. Well, he took it to the kitchen, but never returned. After awhile, I stopped my workout and saw him eating ice cream on the couch. I bitched him out for 1. forgetting my water and 2. eating ice cream when he should have been working out, too. I am wanting a team mate, but sometimes I feel he isn't giving it his all. Maybe I am wrong...I know changing routines and habits is a difficult thing to do. I apologized to him.

Blood sugars: AM 110 PM: 99

Breakfast: coffee with creamer, Cheerios with low-fat milk
Lunch: Lean Cuisine (boring) with water
Dinner: Left-overs....small plate of enchilada, rice, beans (saucer dish size)...and brownies (sheepish look on my face.)

LOTS of water today!!!!!
Calories burned after an hour on eliptical: 675 (seems a little high)

Now, it's off for a shower and a few chapters of Harry Potter. :)

Yay for Friday

Am I glad it's the weekend. All this rain combined with bad kids (students) makes me very very difficult to get along with.


So, day three and I sat and told some of my collegues about my diet. It was interesting to hear all the stories and little did I realize that most of my co-workers are on diets, too. I am a firm believer that all this madness stems from the great American life-style of being on the go too much. So we move move move and when we stop for a second, there's only enough time to grab a burger or junk food from our pantries. Oh yeah...and it's much cheaper at Sam's Club or CostCo, so let's get the BULK. I digress.

I am feeling more energized actually. I sleep whenever I can, but I have noticed in the two solid weeks of dieting and a few days of exercise have helped me gain energy. I am still scared to get on the scale though.

It's the weekend and I am hoping I stay busy enough to stay away from food.

Blood sugars: AM: 128 (ice-cream after being on eliptical) PM: 89

Breakfast: coffee with creamer and cereal with low-fat milk
Lunch: Lean Cuisine Panini and tons of water
Snack: orange and tea
Dinner: 1 chicken quesadilla and salad with Italian dressing
Snack: tiny bowl of low-sugar ice-cream

I am drinking tea now. Late night is the worse for me. I get the munchies like crazy.

Total calories: estimated 1390 (190 over recommended)

Day 2: Achy a Bit

I am not sure how often I should weight myself....the number I see is so depressing, so I would rather not know.

This is how serious my cholesterol is....I got a call today about coming in for an ultrasound to see how badly damaged my liver is. Yikes. (Guess I should have drank myself silly in college anyways, huh?) I started the medicine today and have to go in 2 weeks for a check-up to see if the meds are working. I think the doctor will also be checking my weight.

A victory....today there was a surprise lunch for the principal with a baseball theme. There were BBQ hotdogs, chips, cracker jacks, peanuts, popcorn, soda, and cake. (A CostCo cake no less.) And I touched NONE of it. I am pretty proud of myself. I sat with some friends with my boring Lean Cuisine. We were gossiping like crazy which kept my mind off the junk.

I exercised last night for an hour and tonight for an hour. Total calories burned in both nights? 1497!!! HOWEVER, it takes me double this time at the gym, so I am thinking my personal elipitical is calculating too quickly. No worries. As long as I am on that thing for an hour and see some results.

Thank you to Deanna and Michelle who both took the time to read my first entry and who commented back. Your support in this in invaluable, even if it means just logging on every now and then to see what I am up to. I can't even get Michael to read. Bum.

I will be logging on some numbers just as a way to keep track without having to use pen and paper.

Blood sugar AM: 158 PM: 95 (yes, I have to do this as well. Life sucks, but now Michael doesn't have to do it alone...)

Breakfast: coffee with creamer
Lunch: Lean Cuisine (turkey and sweet potato), Diet Root Beer (8 oz)
Snack: Yougurt Smoothie and 2 graham crackers
Dinner: Salmon, Brown rice, salad with water (Helpful diet tip #1: One piece of salmon was a little under-cooked, which grossed me out enough to where my appetite went away. COOL! LOL)

calories (estimated): 1300 (100 over recommended)

Day 1: And so it begins

Day 1: 192 pounds and full of cholestorol. I had my follow-up appointment today and it wasn't exactly good news. I think the worse part of all was that the doctor suggested that we wait to have a baby and it's the one thing I want so bad right now.

Gotta start to exercise, diet, and write everything down to get healthy again. This is why we ceated the diet blog. I could hand-write, but I'd much rather type and I am so addicted to blogs anyways.

Food for today:
Breakfast: coffee
Lunch: Lean Cuisine (Chicken and pasta)
Dinner: Chicken Fetticini and salad with bread
Late night: coffee (cinnamon mocha from Seattle's)

Yes...lots of bad things today, but I got bad news and this is how I dealt. Guess this is how I got in this place to begin with.

Good news: Gauntlet 3 starts tonight and I'll be watching while on the eliptical.