So, I headed over for a quickie workout session with Marla (my friend the personal trainer) and I did a weigh in on this neat little contraption that not only weighs you but your water weight and so forth. I jumped on and I found that I had indeed gained weight – but only about 3 pounds. After the initial disappointment she looked at it, and realized that 9 of those pounds were a water weight gain. AHA! So, after doing some quick math it seems that I have lost about 6 pounds :-) Go Me!!! So after my happiness at that fact, we started talking about why I have gained so much water weight. Now, if you have ever seen me, the first thing that would stick out are my monstrously sized ankles and legs. Think tree trunks attached to a body. I keep water weight like nobody’s business… but still, Marla and the doctor that she conferred with agreed that it was a massive amount to gain in a week.

So, while the doctor ran back over to their suite (they are somehow connected which I think is cool), I did a workout of an exercise bike (because it is almost impossible for me to walk because my calves are so incredibly tight from the water weight and we didn’t want to hurt anything). I did that for only about 10 minutes or so, and then off to what Marla likes to deem “her favorite part,” the upper body workout. To me it’s hell, but to each his own! Wall push-ups, weight lifting (in several pain producing ways) and then some ab crunches.

Then back to the doctor where they saw me right away, which I can’t thank them enough for! They even agreed to do a payment plan and so forth, so I was excited! The doctor looked at me immediately and told me I had edema and possibly a thyroid condition based on the fact my mother has had problems with her thyroid for years and years and years. Cut to 1/2 hour later, I had 2 prescriptions in hand… a diuretic and a potassium pill so that when I lose water I keep some of my sodium and potassium in my body.

Today is my 2nd day on the diuretic and to say that it makes you pee is an understatement. I’m like a freaking waterfall, lol. Every 10 minutes… without fail. Thank goodness it only lasts about 5 to 6 hours! So, hopefully in about a week or so, I’ll start to see a real difference, not just in my weight, but in the ability to walk more than 2 minutes without having severe calf pain. It has been so frustrating to not even work up a sweat or be out of breath and my legs are literally shooting pain at me from every angle.

As for now, I’m sticking to the cardio on my Wii and my workout videos to make sure I get everything I need in! Not to mention wall push-ups and squats like it is going out of style. Yeah, fun is had by all in my house lately!!

I found this need little thing written by previous Biggest Loser winner Ali. Speaking of which – did you all see the finale last night? AMAZING! They all look fabulous, with huge weight losses. I was bummed to see Tara lose, but she looks wonderful, as opposed to Helen who is bordering on anorexic if you ask my opinion. Mike looked fabulous as well… as did Jerry! That man really is inspiring to older folks out there who want to lose weight! Anyhow – here it is…

To be a Biggest Loser is to:

* Believe in yourself again or for the first time in your life.
* No longer be willing to hide underneath pounds of fat or layers of inner conflict.
* Know when to forgive yourself.
* Embrace the greatness within you.
* Acknowledge your physical strength and endurance so that you will have the courage to participate in any activity you choose.
* Collect evidence for success.
* Know that you can do anything you truly believe.
* Acknowledge that you are the creator of your destiny.
* Have the courage to create your dreams.
* Give back and help others find their dreams

I am more than bummed right now…

I walked/worked out 5 days this week, in which 4 of those days I was drenched with sweat, walking/working out for an hour to an hour and a half… The 5th day I day I did a 30 minute walk. And you know what happened?

I gained 9 pounds. N.I.N.E.

How in the world does that happen? I’m a huge water drinker to begin with so it isn’t even water weight. I have been eating so healthy it is literally driving me insane. The night I went out, I saved up my calories for beer, and I never went above 1600 calories – not one day.

So, how do I gain the most weight in one week that I have probably gained in years and years? There has got to be a logical explanation for it… there really does. I swear I’m going to hunt this internet down until I find it too.

I almost didn’t believe it myself… when I got up out of my chair, walked downstairs, plugged in the mini-chopper and started beating 2 eggs mixed with onions and tomatoes. I stood there in a moment of shock when I realized that I was…

Cooking. For me. In the morning. Without someone asking me to.

I hate to cook, and I know hate is a strong word, but it is a word that must be used to show my level of disdain when it comes to cooking. Seriously, the only reason I ever do it is for my son… you know, because those darn kids have to eat! And honestly, it has been probably a year at least when I cooked something for breakfast. I’m not kidding you… waffles, toast, cereal, and bagels sure! But cooking an omelet for health and well being? PSHAW!!

But all this exercise and trying to eat right has already gotten me into a different frame of mind. I really wanted to cook a 2 egg omelet and mix it with colorful veggies… except I don’t have have colorful veggies like peppers and stuff, so I settled on onions and tomatoes. To go with it, 1 piece of whole wheat toast with 18g of fiber, and an 8 oz glass of V-8 juice (you know, because I’m still not at the point that I love to eat my veggies yet).

And you know what? It was quite good! I feel full and light and like I did something healthy for myself! It’s a good feeling :-) I’m not sure that this will be an everyday thing, lol, but for today I made a good step :-) Speaking of steps, I’m off to walk!

I realize that I never did post about my contest yesterday – but I have a good reason! I was at the hospital all day – don’t worry, I’m okay :-)

I’ve been sort of in a funk the past week or so, and here’s why. When I went to the walk in clinic last week for my chest pains, they ruled out a heart attack but they did an x-ray and found what looked to be a mass on my lungs. According to them all signs pointed towards lung cancer, but they said it was much too early to tell. To say that I was freaked out was a complete understatement.

As you know, I don’t have insurance, but besides the point, after I started Googling the STC cancer that it looked like it could be, I realized that I could have as little as a few months to live, and I would never make it over 5 years. Scared me to death honestly.

So, yesterday they made me an appointment at a hospital to get a CT scan. Well upon arriving at the hospital, the doctor agreed that I needed more than that done. He said that he needed to rule out a heart issue himself, so he took another x-ray, 2 CT scans (one for the chest and one for the head for the numbness and blurred vision I have been having), as well as an MRI and another test where I stand in front of moving machinery while it floats around me – not sure what that test was called.

I was at one of the best heart and lung hospitals in North Carolina so I felt sure that I would get the answers that I needed. And I did. I got the full workup about 10 hours after I arrived I got the results.

No congestive heart failure
Nothing wrong with the brain
and best of all?
No lung cancer

What I have is an inflammation of the cartilage surrounding the lungs probably gotten from a bout of pneumonia which is what the “mass” was that they saw on the x-ray. My pneumonia, although they can’t be completely sure that is what I had, was covering the lungs making it look much much worse on x-rays than what it really was. Once I did the CT scan and MRI they realized that it was just leftover inflammation from the pneumonia and that because I am a smoker, when coupled with the gray shaded areas from my years of killing myself, looked a whole lot worse than what it is.

So, I went home with a 1-800 number to call to learn how to quit smoking, anti-inflammatory medicine for the inflammation of the cartilage as well as some medicine to help clear up what they think was pneumonia. Basically he said that I had pushed myself so hard while I was sick that I honestly didn’t even know I was sick. Which makes sense, because I’m so the person who will go out with a fever and not even realize I have one. I’m not intolerable to pain and sickness necessarily but I just deal with it more than most and tend to not even notice it… as a lot of moms do they said. I also went home with an almost $8,000 bill but they agreed to let me pay it over the next 2 to 3 years which breaks down to about $200 a month. If I can prove 200% poverty level they can drop the bill even further, which in my case won’t be that hard, lol. Since a lot of my money is side money I can do that easily and it should drop the bill to a reasonable $3000 to $4000. Not ideal, but better.

So, besides a little prehypertension because my blood pressure was too high, I’m A-OK :-) I can’t even tell you what a complete relief it was to see all my bloodwork, tests and so forth in black and white and know that I’m actually much healthier than previously thought. So, YAY! I feel SO much better.

But I tell ya, it was a wake a call that I certainly needed. He flat out told me that I wouldn’t stay this healthy if I keep up with my bad habits, so this weekend I think I’m going to join the YMCA and set yet another quit date for smoking. I feel like I only have about 1 more chance to change my life, and I think it is about time I did :-)

I’ll be posting about the contest later on today, so make sure you come back!

I KNOW I talk about this show way too much… but man its good. Did you see the amount of weight they all dropped last night? Ali has lost 99 pounds and they all look so amazing… but will they keep it off? I hope so! But damn, that is a lot of weight to lose in such a short time. Roger for instance has lost 144 pounds – DAMN! 5 months and a 144 pounds. And yes, I know they work out for like 4 to 6 hours a day but DAMN!

I have recently gotten back on track with my own weight loss. I did get off track, and that’s okay… but at least I’m back to walking and eating better. It sucks to be “this” close to summer and feel so crappy about myself. Summer starts early here in North Carolina so basically I’m looking at less than a month before I’m wearing shorts every day and that is a scary thought!

First we have my little edema problem which is not so little. Every time it gets hot and humid my legs, ankles, and feet swell up to at least 3 to 4 times the amount of regular people. I can’t wear most of my shoes and I just look like an idiot. Of course doctors attribute this to my weight, but what people don’t realize is that even when I was thinner I had swelling issues. My sister does as well – and it sucks! We have the tiniest ankles during winter but look out when summer comes! You can see my feet showing up well before I do.

I’m hoping walking will help that again, but more so, it just looks better to be thin with fat ankles then it does to be fat with fat ankles :-)

You may have noticed I took down the post from yesterday. Quite frankly I feel that it is over, and I have to let bygones be bygones. We must move on and get over the anger and all the negativity. So, we’re onto bigger and better things!

Just because we’re out of the blog business for a little bit doesn’t mean that I’m giving up the weigh ins that we conducted every Friday at Our Wicked Weighs, just as I hope the rest of you that weighed in with us are going to still get on that scale this morning. (HINT HINT – GET ON THE SCALE!)

For those of you who aren’t making lifestyle changes you can still weigh in with us! There is no harm in finding out if perhaps you could stand to lose a pound or two ;) I’m mostly talking to the guys here who year after year they think they look exactly the same even they’ve moved their belt loop down a couple of notches, lol.

So today and every Friday until our blog is fully up and running, we’ll be doing the weigh ins here. So let’s hear it – what happened? Did you lose the Thanksgiving weight yet? Or have you fallen off the wagon completely? Either way, we still love and support you but believe me, I will be sending you a motivational email later on today if you aren’t back on the wagon and soon! ;)