New Year, New Me!

[kkrichar]

It's so good to see you here!! I hope you stop by more often. I'm very happy you are doing so well. I got my copy of Forks over Knives a few weeks ago and still haven't watched it. I think I need to see it soon. Thanks for reminding me!!!!

[kirstykay]

Kelly,
It's great to hear from you! I'm glad to be back, and yes, I think I'll be posting more often. Yes! You have to watch the video! It's really well done and informative, and quite motivational! How have you bee doing?

[kkrichar]

I think I'll ask my vegan-night buddies (we have vegan night every Friday and make a McDougall friendly meal) if they want to watch the video with me.

I've been doing much like you only in reverse. I was doing great all summer, following the plan, losing weight and then classes started (I went back to teaching again this semester - one class a couple nights a week). Like every fall before it I immediately started eating bad food and gaining the weight back. I really, really want to stop this before I do any more damage. I think watching FOK and getting active on the boards again could help.

Having you here helps. It really does! Congrats on losing that 10 lbs so fast. Here's hoping I can do the same!!

[sksamboots]

I'm so proud of you. You go!!!!!!!

[kirstykay]

Thanks, Boots! I'm so impressed with how well you're doing!

Kelly, having your friends watch the movie with you is a GREAT idea! I think it will motivate and encourage you, and remind you why you're doing this. I was looking at your ticker and saw that you only have 25 pounds left to get to your goal! You are so close! You can do it! Just pull out all those recipes you love and treat yourself with wholsome, healthy foods! It makes sense that fall makes us want to eat more...storing up for winter and all that...but you can stop it!

Let me know what you think of the movie!

[kirstykay]

Mondays are always days of new beginnings...it's a new week, and I'm feeling great! I'm on track and hoping to have another week of weight loss and reaching little goals I've set for myself.

I'm feeling very grateful today for life in general and for health in particular. Thursday night I was awakened by a loud crash in the middle of the night. I jumped out of bed to find my husband lying face down on the floor in our bathroom, unconscious. I was able to rouse him after a few seconds, and we both saw a pool of blood on the floor where he hit his head. He said, "Oh no" and stood up to look at the gash on his forehead. Seconds later, he was falling into my arms, unconscious again. This time, I lowered him gently onto the floor and immediately called 911. I woke my son to go let the paramedics in, and went back to wait with my husband. The medics arrived minutes later. By this time my husband was conscious again but very confused and unable to sit up. I went to find my son. He was on the floor in his room, praying. By the time the paramedics got my husband on the stretcher and were headed to the ambulance, he was awake and talking. I think he even made a joke. I knew then that he would be okay. I just kept thinking, "this can't be happening, he just turned 46! There's so much we haven't done yet."

Well, to make a long story short, the CAT scan, EKG, chest x-ray and blood work they did in the ER all turned out perfect. They kept telling him he was the heathiest person ever to be rushed to the hospital! (Thank you Dr. McDougall!) The doctor said there is a thing called "micturition syncope," which is basically latin for fainting while (or after) urinating. It most often occurs in elderly men and is due to a sudden drop in blood pressure. The best we can figure is that it was due to a deep tissue massage my husband had gotten earlier that day to alleviate some shoulder/upper back pain he's been having. He's never had one before; and after some research we found that a deep tissue massage can raise your blood pressure immediately following, but then it's not uncommon for your blood pressure to drop. That's got to be what happened.

I've never been so terrified in all my life, or so completely relieved. He got 7 stiches in his forehead, and I made him spend the weekend taking it easy. It really makes you realize how fragile life is, and how none of us have any guarantees, and how it's important to make every day matter and tell those around you how much you love them. Because life can turn on a dime. We feel so blessed and grateful to still be looking toward the future together, and that it turned out the way it did. But, wow! What a reminder to value what you have!

I'm more determined than ever to finish this path to my right weight and complete health! I want to KNOW I've done everything I can to get the most out of this life, and I know that McDougall is the way to be healthy enough to do that!

Peace

[nomikins]

WOW. That must have been terrifying. I'm so glad he's okay.

[StarchBeet]

OH wow, kirstykay. Thank heaven for small miracles. That must have been absolutely frightening. I have a daughter with seizures and having seen her do this so often wears on me. Its scary.

I am with you on feeling like it's time to keep moving this tortoise shell along the sandy beach and make it to the water. I want to get down to my ideal weight! The summer had such bounty and I really need to amp-up my exercise because I ate too many wonderful fresh foods. It's time to get it all together and move in the best direction.

Here's to continued success and more health every day!

[sksamboots]

I can't even begin to imagine how you felt. That had to be so scary for you!! I'm so glad he is okay and I'm even more happy that you are here

[kirstykay]

Nomikins, Starchbeet and Boots,
Thanks for the replies and well-wishes. Starchbeet, I don't know how you do it with your daughter! That must be a real challenge to live with. Yes, I'm really glad he's okay too! It really does make you appreciate the small stuff. Along those lines, I got a great email today from an old, dear friend that is post-worthy:

Written by Regina Brett, 90 years old, of the Plain Dealer, Cleveland, Ohio

To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me. It is the most-requested column I've ever written.
My odometer rolled over to 90 in August, so here is the column once more:

1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.
2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.
3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone....
4. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and parents will. Stay in touch.
5. Pay off your credit cards every month.
6. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.
8. Its OK to get angry with God. He can take it.
9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.
10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.
11. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.
12. Its OK to let your children see you cry.
13. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.
15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don't worry; God never blinks.
16. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.
17. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.
18. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.
19. It's never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.
20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.
21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.
22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.
23. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.
24. The most important sex organ is the brain.
25. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.
26.. Frame every so-called disaster with these words, 'In five years, will this matter?'
27. Always choose life.
28. Forgive everyone everything.
29. What other people think of you is none of your business.
30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.
31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
32. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
33. Believe in miracles.
34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn't do.
35. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.
36. Growing old beats the alternative -- dying young.
37. Your children get only one childhood.
38. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.
39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.
40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back.
41. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
42. The best is yet to come.
43. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
44. Yield.
45. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift.


Having a great day today. Today is the FIRST day in about 2 weeks that I actualy WANTED to go to the gym. I've been dragging myself through my workouts for the past couple of weeks, not sure why. Might be due to the fact that while I was on my "bender" in August, I lost a lot of my fitness level I had spent the previous several months building up. But, I'm happy to say that dragging through my workouts has paid off, and I finally feel like I can push myself again, and not just get through it. I didn't do anything miraculous today, I just felt energized and was able to do a bit more than I was, so I'm happy.

Now that I'm getting into a weight range where I can actually see some muscle that's been hiding under all this fat, I'm thinking about doing a more structured strength-training routine to actually have something there when the rest of this fat melts away...I'm looking into things online that look good, or I might just attend the strength training class my gym offers twice a week-that's just a little harder to control because I never know what they're going to work on. I'm open to suggestions, if anyone has any.

Peace

[kirstykay]

Another day! I am happy for the weight loss today. I have this fear that the weight loss will just stop. I think I fear this because I have never been so close to really seeing my life-long dream of health and a normal weight come true. It feels like a dream every day that I get on the scale and see that it’s gone down. It feels too good to be true…like I’m going to hear the clock strike midnight and the dream will be over and I will be left with one shoe and only a pumpkin to take me home. And I will have to return to the life that didn’t work for me and was a constant battle between self hatred and self indulgence. I am beginning to see and hear and taste what it would be like to live in the palace, and I want it so bad. But I am afraid that I will be told, “No, you don’t get to live there. Only special people live there, and you are far from special. This is all you get. You only get to look through the windows and wish and imagine that life of freedom. There is no freedom for you.” This is my fear because this has been my reality for 20+ years, longer, if I’m honest. Even in my young adult years when I was a “normal” weight, I was never free. I’ve always been plagued with the fear of rejection and the fear that I wasn’t pretty enough or thin enough to be loved. Maybe that’s why God gave me a man who was able to see past that and love me no matter what-how blessed am I????? I cannot fathom it. But, the knowledge that since I was 9 years old, I’ve been on or off some kind of a diet. I’ve spent virtually all of my life feeling less-than because of my weight. What a LIE! What a pitiful and horrendous prison I’ve been allowing myself to live in; bound by my own self-deprecation and fear. I feel sorry for that girl. I am not her anymore. I am changing the dance. I am really changing, from the inside out. And it’s real, and it’s beautiful, and it’s possible, and it won’t be taken away, because it’s in my own power to love myself enough to make the choice to choose life and freedom instead of death and bondage. And thanks be to God who has put the choice so clearly in front of me; and not only that, but given me ALL I NEED to be strong enough to do the hard work of making that choice every day, day after day! It is in my power, but I am not on my own.

[Loveskale]

Congratulations Kirsty!!!

[Chile]

Wow, scary experience with your husband's fainting. I'm glad it turned out okay and that you've got a renewed zest for life and getting healthy!

If you are interested in looking at my strength-training regimen, I recently posted it to my blog here. My goal is to have a well-rounded set of exercises that develop nice muscles (for a female ) and provide the strength I need to lead an active, athletic life. I'm also finding that the strength I've gained since I started this in May has led to reduced shoulder pain and a significant decrease in lower back pain when I overdo on yard work or other work. My endurance is gradually increasing due to the regular biking and walking, as well.

I, too, can't wait for the flab to be gone and uncover the muscles I feel beginning to take shape underneath!

[kirstykay]

Thanks Chile! That work out routine looks really good. Thanks for sharing it.

I did the strength class at my gym last night...I think I pushed myself a little too hard; I'm really dragging today. I'll just do some light cardio later today, but going to take it easy. My plan as of right now is to do the class on Wed. nights and Sat. mornings-My dh will join my on Saturdays, so that will be fun. We can stay and do some cardio if we feel like it. I love the instructor at the Wednesday class! She is really clear in the way she explains everything, and makes it easy to follow and to understand correct form. I have not always thought that in group strength classes I've taken elsewhere. I stayed after to ask her about a knee problem I was having during lunges, and she was able to completely help me! I didn't have ANY knee pain last night doing lunges...yay! It feels really good to be working out regularly again.

[sksamboots]

It's great to find things you enjoy. Keep it up!!