Relief... (maybe TMI for some)

I finally went to the store to get some relief after to many days (6) of not getting some relief. Don't freak out!! That is normal for me! Sounds like the Activia commercial huh?? I have inherited my mothers bowels!!

I pretty much eat (now) a well balanced diet with plenty of roughage but it never seems to help. I have turned to more natural herbs for relief because as a medical professional I don't care for chemical relief. Really bad for your system to get use to a chemical aid for relief.

I reviewed a few things OTC at Walmart and have found this specific herb at many stores including my vitamin store so I thought I would give this one a try.
The name is deceiving because it's really not a "cleanse". It is more like a laxative in the sense that it gives you relief. The dosage says you can take it every day. I have taken it once a day since Monday and found by Tuesday night it was working. So the overnight relief might work for some but not myself. A little cramping before relief came but nothing really bad. I'm not sure how I am going to handle the dosage at this point. Maybe just when needed.

Some time in the near future I do look forward to a total cleanse to kick off some more weight loss but for now this will have to take care of my current issue. I will be sure to update when I progress to the cleanse. I promise NO gory details!!

** Update **

Well I took my Colon Clenz Monday and Tuesday this week and I did get some relief both days. Was really looking for a more natural movement then the "laxative" type I got from this Clenz. Did feel really gassy the rest of the week so that was a little uncomfortable. Probably will not take this remedy again because of the gas pains felt later on in the week.

Will have to find another remedy for my relief. I did find some Pro biotic remedies that might be right up my alley. I know when I drink the LiveActive Crystal light drinks I get the results I am looking for but with added Aspartame in the ingredients I want to be carefull how much I "pickle" myself.

Survived My Birthday!

My Birthday's have never been big hoopla's. As most birthday's are big Calorie buster's I have to say this year I did pretty good! Of course I was not worried/watching Calories like I am now. It's easy to restrain from overloading when your stomach isn't use to over indulging in food.

My husband took me out to dinner (panicked ALL day about this) at a Chinese restaurant I introduced him to back in the day when we were kidless. At that time he was not crazy about Chinese food but this restaurant changed his mind. So we took a long drive to North Phoenix and ate at the Flamingo Palace (best chinese food EVER)!

I was half tempted to order a cocktail, but I didn't. I knew my dinner was gonna be a Calorie buster so why increase it even more with alcohol. Now if the dinner was lower in Calorie I might have added a nice cocktail with my dinner. Just balancing!!!

I did eat until I was comfortable and then had them wrap everything else up to go! I have three days worth of left overs. This restaurant (and I think most Chinese restaurants) serve family style, so the portions are large. I use to have no problem finishing everything I ordered BUT NOT this time!

So the stress of my Birthday Dinners (Red Lobster - inlaws, and Flamingo Palace - DH) has passed! Thank God!! I can get back on track now!

Back From Camping

We decided to take the family camping this weekend. So this was a true test of my calorie intake. As far as watching my calories I did pretty good considering all the temptations that were around. I made sure to pack some of my staples such as 1 cup of Cheerios in a small single serve container, small banana's, snack bags of almonds, fiber bars, and other calorie safe foods. Lots of water! I took my Phen with me and was on track taking it early in the am.

Not to mention the in laws took me and my husband out to dinner Sunday night at Red Lobster for our birthdays. I obsessed about the calories all day long. How do you go to Red Lobster and watch what you eat!! Then the German Chocolate cake and ice cream afterwards was an overload. So I chalked it up to my "Livin Life" day! So back on track today! This weekend was double trouble for me. Thank God German Chocolate cake is NOT my favorite. I won't be tempted to eat it!! The kids can have it since they burn it off faster.

Sunday night after all the calorie chaos I updated my food journal so I could see how bad I really was and I have to pat myself on my back. The worst of it all was Red Lobster! I do find when tracking my food daily my food/calorie choices get better.

I was curious (Monday's are my weigh in days) on how this past weekend was going to affect my results. Well I weighed in at 243.6 which is a 2 lb gain but then I realized I have not had a bowel movement since last week (sorry if that offended). So I'm increasing my water intake and find some relief with some extra fiber!! This should take care of the 2lbs hanging around.

Will update soon!

Upgrading the Food Scale

I have been needing a new food scale for quiet some time and I finally broke down and bought a new one. I figured since I was doing so well tracking my food/Calories and water intake that it was time to get rid of the old (dropped to many times to work accurately) and bring in the new. Here is my dinosaur food scale.

Here is the new age "Biggest Loser" food scale. I got it at Bed, Bath and Beyond for 15 bucks! That's with a 20% discount coupon.

Slow and Steady

Today I have been kind of worried that I was possibly slightly gaining some weight back, because I ate some items (while at school) that I did not know the calories for (pre-packaged sandwich) but I guess my wise choice paid off. I purchased a turkey croissant (ugh!! just saying croissant is making me feel fat) that had a leaf of lettuce, a slice of tomato and no mayo (mustard, salt and pepper). I only ate half the croissant and ate all the turkey. I was pretty proud that I was able to resist eating the whole croissant. Can't believe with all my tracking I have been doing I am now petrified of food/calories.

I have created a comfort zone at home with what foods we have, but the idea of going out and picking something off a menu (not knowing the calories) is beginning to scare me. Logically that is silly and it reminds me of one of the "Biggest Loser" episodes when Helen got home she was afraid of going outside the "Biggest Loser" eating habits and had a hard time adjusting. I'm afraid that's me now.

I have got to stop thinking that way. Logically I know my body will go through plateau's and possible weight gains here and there but I just don't want to get back to my old weight.

So with that said my fears put me on the scale and I was 241.0. Still loosing but slowly. I am totally ok with that!!

Weigh In

Weighed in at 242.0. I am soooo excited!!


My very smart BIL reminded me that our scale also measures the BMI and Hydration levels. So from now on I will be measuring those as well. That way I can tell if I am actually loosing fat or just water weight. So thankful for my BIL reminding me of that!!!


BF 39.8
H2O 43.2

Skinny Me

Here is me at 175lbs. My motivation!

Goals

(update 9/20)

• Adding cardio exercise M, W and F

Still Learning

I have had a few challenges with taking my Phen on weekends when I work. I work the night shift at a hospital as a CNA so my challenge has been when to take the Phen if my goal was to take it early in the AM. Monday-Friday I am spot on with taking my Phen! My first Friday I took my Phen and I could not get a nap in for the life of me before going into work. Here some background - Monday thru Friday I spend my time up early in the AM getting kids ready for school, doing errands til I pick up my pre-k daughter, Mon/Wed/Fri I spend the rest of the day with her cleaning and playing, Tue/Thur I have to take her to Grandma's because I have school, then when the kids and hubby get home (around 3) it's homework time, dinner time, and getting ready for bed time. So needless to say there is a routine. The weekends have been a challenge because I normally take naps before a shift and finding the right time to take the Phen will probably change every other weekend. Last weekend I decided to skip my Phen on Sunday because if I took it in the AM or PM I may not get any sleep at all. I still monitored my Calories and did fine. May have been a little more hungry but I think that had to do with the weekends screwing up my eating schedule.

Goals

Wanted to set and record goals to help remind myself.

• Take Phentermine on a daily basis early in the AM
• Increase water intake dramatically
• Daily Calorie intake 1300
• Track daily food and water - good or bad
• Journal my "lesson's learned"

Update 9/20

Tomorrow is weigh in day! A little anxious only because I noticed my scrubs were fitting a little looser this weekend. I have had to talk myself out of weighing today because I had made my goal to weigh in weekly. Crossing my fingers tomorrow will bring some results.

Weigh In

Day 7 (9/14)

Weighed in at 244.8

Yippee!!

Weigh In

Day 1 (9-07)

Weighed myself at 251.4. : (

As I looked at my scale the only thought that came to my head was that I was back to my pregnancy weight with no baby aboard. Today WAS the day!!

Food Journal

Day 1



**Will update in the near future

Update 9-20-09

As of September 7th, 2009 I have been taking my Phentermine on a daily basis religiously early in the AM. I was advised I needed to take it 10-12 hours before bed time - WHAT?!?!? What was I getting myself into? So I took my Phen 0530 AM and the Journey began!

I'm not sure on my first day I really noticed much because I was for warned of some possible side effects from a friend of mine who had been on Phen. I was preparing for NO appetite, cotton mouth and some possible jitters. I made sure I ate and drank plenty of water (more then I am use to, which is none -Ooops). But with all said and done it was just another day in my busy life. I did not notice much of a loss of appetite because when I get busy I (or my husband) normally have to remind myself to eat. So that wasn't unusual for me.

I have been pretty good about tracking my food in a composition book. I keep it close to the fridge so I can be sure to track my food intake. Pretty proud of myself because I think it takes great discipline to track food daily. So far I have been pretty good about keeping under 1300 Calories per day. Why 1300?? Not sure, just sounded like a good number that wouldn't make me completely starved for food and end up cheating. Since I have been tracking I am sooo much more aware of what I eat and how many calories are in a serving/portion size. All I can say is OMGosh!!! I'm pretty sure the "normal" amount of Calories I had been eating were astronomical. Really makes me think about what I have been doing to myself over the years. I so far have tracked and kept under 1300 Calories for 14 days and counting. I'm hoping I hit day 21 and these habits will last me a life time.

I have not (shame on me) added any extra cardio/work outs to my schedule YET! I have found that the Phen does give me a great boost of "non-jittery" energy. I have been in the best of moods even though my daily life can be chaotic. Without the Phen effects I would normally stress and freak out over the simplest things. I don't find that I am stressed as much and handle life issues more level headed. Who would !have thunk!! As of this week I had committed to my youngest that we would ride our bikes to pre-k instead of drive. We are less than 5 minutes away from our kids school. I figured if I was already on the bike, that maybe on the way home I might find myself taking the scenic route home. (wink wink)

So here's to the next few days on my Phentermine Journey

Phentermine Journey

I have for the longest time yo-yo'd in my weight! I have been comfortable in my skin since my husband and I met 10 years ago. At that time I was 5' 7" and 165lbs. Probably not a healthy 165lbs because of my eating habits. Loved food to much to binge, purge or starve myself. Somehow I was able to manage that weight for a long time until my first daughter came along. AHHH the freedom to eat whatever I wanted. Well that happened every time I got pregnant until my second daughter came along and gestational diabetes popped into the pregnancy. Fortunately after the pregnancy diabetes disappeared just as fast as it popped up.

So ever since then I have teetered my weight. I have worn rose colored glasses for to long because as I get older I am more concerned about the diabetes coming back. So with that said I made an appointment with my Family Doc with my concerns and we both agreed it would be a good time to work on getting healthier. We did blood tests and an in office ECG which all came back normal. He prescribed Phentermine as an appetite suppressant and I have made the commitment to watch my calories very carefully and add exercise to my regime. I started this Journey as of September 7th and have successfully tracked my calories, water intake, and daily notes in a composition book. After a weeks worth of tracking I thought "Why not blog this?" So here is my weight loss blog.

My goals are to loose a healthy amount of weight, watch my calories, increase my water intake, track and blog my results good or bad!!