“Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.” 1 Corinthians 6:19, 20.

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Monday, December 31, 2012

Cardiologist Update

My last post was about my trip to the cardiologist. I forgot to update because the appointment got cancelled because they had accidentally scheduled me with the PA and she cant read the test. So had i gone that day i would have had no info. I did however have my echo done and I called a few days later an was able to get very basic results. The basic results were that my ejection factor increased (improved) by about 5% which I believe bumped me back into normal range.
I go back on Presidents' Day to see the cardiologist to talk in detail. I was pleased with the news!

Post coming tomorrow about my 2012 wrap up and my 2013 goals.

Sunday, December 9, 2012

Cardiologist....

Back to the cardiologist I go tomorrow. Tomorrow is going to be a crazy day. I am taking my boys choir and show choir to the courthouse to sing on live tv. Then I have my appointment right after school. Then off to my training/Christmas party with the jewelry ladies. Somewhere in there I have to stop to get my gift for the party. Whew! Then Tuesday I take the mixed choir and girls choirs (150 kids total) to the courthouse to perform live and then the concert with all choirs that night. I can't wait until Wed! Seriously. Anyhow. Back to what I was saying.

The cardiologist is supposed to test my ejection factor tomorrow. It is the strength that my heart has when it pumps. It had been weakened. Now that they've lowered my heart rate and palpitations with meds for a few months they are looking for an increase in my ejection factor. Lets go heart! I hope you're stronger tomorrow!!!

I won't know for some time though. I also get to tell them that a ran the 5K this weekend which is big because the palpitations had scared me from races for a little while. I'm proud of myself for moving on. Now I have a race with no medical tent under my belt as the most recent. No longer is it "last time I ran I ended up in the med tent for two hours"

I feel like all of my doctors need Christmas gifts this year... Hmmm...

Saturday, December 8, 2012

Jingle Bell Solo

So I ran the Jingle Bell Run 5K today with Jamie (my sister in law) and her BFF in Knoxville. We had fun. I was nervous. I've only run sporadically since my 13.1 and certainly hadn't "trained" for this 5K. But I knew that you don't lose your ability over night and I've done other exercises etc to keep in shape. So off we went. Today was Becca's first 5K. So Jamie was going to stick with Becca. We got there and it was a beautiful day. It was a running skirt/ short sleeve day. Could have even gone for a tank top. So we saw lots of costumes etc. it was fun.

I knew I'd be slower than them. I stick with them until .8 miles. I then swapped to intervals. Run/walk alternating run. Few minutes walk one min. At the turn around (half way) I was
.2 miles behind them. I was pretty excited. Thats when my legs started to fatigue though and I slowed my pace. That's when the solo happened. As I ran and my jingle bells jingled it was like a jingle bell choir. People and bells all around. Then it happened. I was jingling alone. Not because I was last but because I somehow ended up alone for like 3 min. Lol. Weird. Anyhow. The choir came back toward the end!
At mile 2.1 I stopped intervals and ran to the end (3.1). I ended about 10 min after them. I ended strong feeling good. Never really got winded today just tired legs.

Glad I did it. These are
The things I will be focusing on with my new type of doctor suggested goals as stated in last nights post.

Here is a picture. Me on the right. Becca in middle Jamie on left.

Friday, December 7, 2012

New puzzle piece.

Ok. So I've been treating hypothyroidism for a few years now with no significant weight improvement as I'd hoped. I've got fibromyalgia and Myofascial Pain Syndrome which I've learned over the last 12 years how to live with almost to the point of forgetting / ignoring. Both of these things can make weight loss more difficult. The Fibro / Mps also become better with weight loss success. Well what the heck?! I need to lose weight to make it better but it makes losing more difficult? Nice! Anyhow moving on that's old news.

So I went to visit my OBGYN a few weeks ago to deal with some pain etc. I was dealing with cysts on my ovaries. Something I'd dealt with before. Well while I was there the doctor and I discussed my struggle to lose weight. I've always made it clear on my blog and to my doctors that one of my main goals is to be at a healthy weight when Brandon and I decide to have kids. He did something nice. He assured me that my current weight is perfectly healthy for a healthy pregnancy. Good to know. Then..... We discussed how he thinks we are dealing with PCOS. I immediately burst into tears. Thank goodness my OBGYN is the kindest person ever. Brandon was sitting there and was mortified I'm pretty sure that I was having a break down in a public building where he was less than comfortable anyhow. So. I then get this sentence out.... "Add that to my list of reasons it's hard for me to lose weight". He passed the Kleenex and we continued. He shared that weight loss would also improve the PCOS. Me: "add that to my list of reasons I need to lose weight!" Bless his heart he just listened and nodded. We discussed possible medicine options that could be helpful but at the moment he was more worried about me feeling better from the immediate issues I was having which also added to my emotional sensitivity. Lol. So he wants me to get back into any healthy habits (exercise and nutrition) that I may have slacked on. He shared that simply being in shape can make many aspects of my health easier. He encouraged me that I've been working hard, doing great things, and just to keep it up and see him in Jan.

Moving on..

I left work on Tuesday afternoon throwing up.

No I'm not pregnant!

I went right away to my general physicians office to make sure I didn't have the flu it's running around pretty crazy right now.

The nurse practitioner saw me. I like her I've seen her before. She walked in and said let's double check your meds. Wanted to make sure her computer was updated. She listed the med the endocrinologist put me on in early Oct. I said "yeah, just picked up a new prescription at the window when I checked in (offices connect). I don't think it works but oh well. Whatever."

So it led us into the infamous weight conversation. She said she wanted me off that med. she agrees with the cardiologist who couldn't "recommend it". She worried about it affecting my heart. So off of it I go.

Then she says. I just happened to notice something interesting on your blood panel from May... She turned the computer around to show me. My glucose was 126. It was the 3rd out of 4 panels if had since establishing care with them. Two were normal two were high. We aren't sure if it was fasting. We don't think it was. Had it been fasting it would have indicated type 2 diabetes. Thank goodness it wasn't so it just indicates higher than normal levels. So she says this with no knowledge of the OBGYN appointment. "Have any of your doctors ever discussed the possibility of PCOS with you?" I almost fell out in the floor. I said yes and described my recent discussion with the OBGYN.

In case you don't know PCOS causes insulin resistance which causes weight gain especially in the mid section.
She talked with me about the same
Med that he did. It is actually a diabetes med that helps with insulin I guess. I haven't read a whole lot yet. She said that if they use that medication and it works I will begin to lose weight because my body will use insulin properly and it will decrease the ovarian cysts.

She said that she thinks this may be the missing puzzle piece to my weight loss success. So I have to eat low glycemic index foods. Kinda like a diabetic eats. She then continued with a discussion about weight. Here was her advice...

Put your scales away. Focus on goals like "running this distance", "going down a pant size", "meeting work out goals" etc. she talked about setting aside society's expectations for my weight and focusing on getting healthy. We talked about her experience recently with working extra hard to she'd an extra 25 lbs. we talked about how when I look back at the half marathon in April I weighed the same
But looked and felt better. I didnt even notice my smaller waist so much because I was stuck in 195 lbs that I was when I ran. All 195 lbs of me ran all 13.1 miles that's all I could think of.

She did give me a plan to combat the icky stomach virus I had and I'm almost 100% again.

So now my plan. To reevaluate my goals listed here on my blog. I'm not going to have goals for every five lbs now. I'm going to have achievement goals. I'm going to set the scales aside and weigh again in a few months. I also see my cardiologist this week. Hoping my heart ejection factor has improved. )That is the strength my heart has when it pumps.) Then I'm making an appointment to discuss PCOS options with my obgyn in Jan. in the mean time I'm working to structure my workouts, nutrition, and goals to accommodate my latest puzzle piece.

New goals coming soon. Accepting all ideas you have.

Thursday, December 6, 2012

Upcoming post

I'm sorry I never posted today. I didnt feel well most of the day and was home from work. Then once I started feeling better I got busy doing other things to prepare to go back to work.

Ill try again tomorrow. :)

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Changes are under way...

So tomorrow when I have more time I will be writing a good post and revamping part of my blog (the goals
Section). I was redirected in my goals
At the doctor today. A lot has happened medically since my endocrinologist appointment. It's a bitter sweet type update. They may have found the problem, but unfortunately there is a problem.

Last week I visited my obgyn and that's when this began. Today I had to leave work with a stomach virus and I went to my doctor. I saw the PA there and she had noticed some things in my chart leading to discussion about my weight which all came full circle to
The obgyn's opinion again.

I've been on the couch with diet ginger ale and whole wheat saltine crackers all afternoon/night. I would love to post now but I am tired and would like to have better focus when I make my changes and my post about the changes.

Check back tomorrow for the new post.

Lose it before they do challenge. I lost 1.5 lbs in Nov. how did y'all do?