On My Own

These two turkeys got in trouble yesterday evening.

They ripped the guts/stuffing out of every soft toy they own.  They created a sea of white fluff in the living room floor.  Boomer also got a hold of an extension cord that was behind a table and thankfully not plugged in.  He chewed both ends/plugs off of it.  If that wasn't enough, Dwayne stepped on an egg shell walking through the living room.  I wondered where that went!!  Boomer can reach everything on the counter now and often steals food items while I'm moving around the kitchen trying to simultaneously cook and wash dishes. 

Well the egg shell sent Dwayne over the edge and he decided he wasn't walking last night because he had to clean up the nasty living room.  No problem.  Be pissed off.  I'll walk by myself.  And I did!  I took myself to the park and walked 4 laps on my own.  I will continue to do this through the weekend and them bump it up to 5 laps on Monday evening.

I made beer brats on buns for his dinner last night w/ a side of baked steak fries.  I could have eaten my chicken sausages on buns since I can have 50g of carbs per meal, but decided not to.  I figured I'd try to get in a few veggies instead.  I sauteed 2 links with mushrooms, onions and yellow squash.  I sprinkled in some Tuscan seasoning while cooking.  After plated, I added some small tomatoes and some grated Parmesan cheese.  So delicious!

Had some cottage cheese, blueberries and walnuts for a snack...

And Boomer said to tell you to have a "chill" weekend.  He plans to.  ;)

Wednesday Already???

Man this week is flying by!!

Short post tonight...just the facts.  No walk this morning due to early morning errands that ran until 2pm.  No walk at 2pm...I convinced myself if I did, I would surely die of a heat stroke.  Got home and put some chicken in the oven that I'd been marinating in the fridge.  Tuscan and parmesan spice blends with olive oil and fresh lemon juice.  I went ahead and poured the marinade over the chicken and put the lemons in there, too.  I also added some fresh mushrooms and a few leftover stalks of asparagus to make sure they didn't go to waste.  I am really loving marinating with fresh lemon...the fresh taste just can't be beat.  So sunny and delicious.

Biz's Burger Salad post inspired me for tonight's dinner.  I already don't eat my burger on a bun when making them at home, but added a few cucumbers and carrots on top of the normal tomato, onion, lettuce and dill pickle.  Along w/ a swipe of mayo and my all important ketchup.  Totally delish.

So I told Dwayne that we needed to walk more than a mile at the park in the evenings.  3 laps is one mile.  He said he's concerned the dogs wouldn't be able to do 2 miles in this heat and humidity, so we're stepping it up slowly to see how they do.  I think the dogs will be fine, but I'm so tickled that he's still walking with me every day that I'll do whatever it takes to keep him happy.  So slowly it shall be.  Tonight we walked 4 laps instead of 3 and will do so the rest of the week.  Next week we will bump it up to 5 laps, and so on.

Tomorrow morning I have to head back to the tanning salon to do the red light therapy for the NLD on my legs.  They told me it will take 90 days for a full restorative cycle and to see a major difference.  Then they told me if I buy this $99 bottle of "effector" to rub on my legs, that it will cut that time in half.  Hmmmm.  45 days.  Is it worth it?  I don't know yet.  The fact is, I've been living with this crap on my legs for 7 years now.  It's doubtful that I'm spending $99 on a bottle of anything.  But we'll see.  I may get impatient and buy it.  When she saw me waffling, she gave me a $20 tanning pass that she said I could use as a coupon towards the effector, so now it's $80.  Maybe if she can get it down to $50, we'll talk.  :)

Up To 2 Miles

I finally made it on my morning walk today.  It was 11am and about 95 degrees outside, but I managed to eek out a mile.  It took me 25 mins.

Afterwards I dashed home to await the mobile groomer.  She took good care of my babies and we'll be using her again.  I took a couple of pics of them when she finished grooming them:

Scarlette was only 11 lbs to start with and now it looks like she weighs 5 lbs!!  I don't think she's ever had her hair cut that short, but it will be nice and cool for the summer.  Boomer got a bath and his ears and toe nails done.  Thank God because those things were starting to look like talons.  They were like weapons on your bare feet.

I took pics of us on our walk at the park tonight but apparently my camera ate them.  Tomorrow is another busy day...lots of errands to run.  I will most likely be having lunch out away from home but no idea where yet...that part isn't planned.  The goal is not calorie counting though...not right now.  The only goal right now is low carb until I make it to my next lab appointment.  I'm working very hard on getting used to eating the right amount of carbs so that it eventually becomes second nature.  When I've got that down, I'll go back to focusing on losing the rest of this weight. 

Busiest Day Of The Week

I had a to-do list a mile long today and I got just about everything on it accomplished....except the morning walk.  I fully intended to.  I told everyone I was headed out the door to get it done.  And then I decided to do this one little chore real quick.  And then create a word doc that someone was waiting on.  Then assemble some receipts an Errand Fairy client was waiting on.  And this and that and before you know it, the clock said 3:30pm and my morning had escaped me.

I'm more than a little irritated with myself but then again, I should have never said I'd start that on a Monday.  Those are always my busiest days...I always squeeze just as much as I possibly can in on a Monday so that by the end of the week, my load is a lot lighter.  Oh well.  Tomorrow is another day!  And I already have my walking shoes in the car, lol. 

My first errand tomorrow is the tanning salon to use the red light therapy for the NLD on my legs.  I want to get there as soon as they open.  The treatment only takes 12 minutes but it's a good 20-30 minute drive from my house depending on traffic.  Next I'm headed straight to the park, which is only half a mile down the road from my house.  Then I have to be home by noon...we're trying a mobile groomer for the first time.  I hope she works out well and does a good job since she's the same price as the grooming salon I've been using the past few years.  It would be nice to have someone come to my house instead from here on out.  We'll see how she does.

No pics of anything today.  Will try to take some tmrw...probably the dogs since they'll be freshly cut/washed.  Love my babies...can never have too many pics of them.  Oh, and we just got in from our evening walk.  I'm thankful that it's been over a week now and Dwayne is still doing this with me.  That may be some kind of record for him. 

I believe it was last Monday when I got on the scale and found a 3 lb. drop from 242 to 239.  I jumped on this morning fully expecting to see some sort of gain, if even just from sodium, due to 3 restaurant meals over the weekend.  What I found was 238.8.  So virtually the same.  I'm completely shocked, but ever so thankful.  My food was good today and I got one good walk in.  Drank all my water and took all my meds.  I'm going to bed satisfied that I'm one day closer to reaching my Summer Challenge goal of better lab work in a couple of months.  Nite Nite.  :)

Wobbly Weekend

Well, I had a plan.  It just didn't work out.  Unexpected things happened on both Sat and Sun that led to one lunch eaten out as well as two dinners.  We did manage to get ourselves to the park on Saturday evening and get a walk in.  I finally saw a little sign that said 3 laps around the track is one mile, so at least now I know how to track how far I'm going.

I've got a new plan to start walking one mile in the morning with one of the dogs, and another mile in the evening with Dwayne and both dogs.  I'm looking forward to getting started with that tomorrow morning.  I've got a jam packed day planned for tomorrow so it will be nice to start it off right with a walk at the park.

Friday's lunch was the best I've had in a long time.  I had a few things to use up in the fridge, so I put them together and came up with this...

I had a couple of squash and a little bit of asparagus and a handful of fresh mushrooms.  I sauteed them with a new Tuscan spice I picked up a couple of weeks ago when the McCormick spices were BOGO at the store:

In a separate pan I sauteed about 8 oz. of shrimp with some fresh basil and then combined them.  I had some fresh fruit on the side and the rest of my baby carrots.  Sooo good!

One of my favorite snacks continues to be the cottage cheese and fresh berries:

Friday's dinner was chicken fettucine alfredo.  For myself, I took 2 oz of noodles and tossed with an entire bag of steamed broccoli and a few mushrooms.  I topped it with a sauteed chicken breast that I cut into pieces.  This was delish but I left at least half the broccoli on my plate.  Silly me forgot to put half of the bag in a separate bowl to use for another meal...I shouldn't have dumped the whole thing in this dish!

Last night I made my batch of egg muffins for breakfasts for the next few mornings.  I sauteed some yellow squash, mushrooms, onions, a couple of pieces of deli ham and few little breakfast chicken sausages I had opened earlier in the week:

I am not a big cheese person, but decided to buy something new and try it on sandwiches last week.  Turns out I do not care for havarti cold or "raw" as I like to say.  However, I didn't want to waste the whole pack so I broke up a couple of slices and put a little square on top of each cup of goodness for my egg muffins.  This cheese tastes MUCH better melted.  It was the perfect touch!

After adding the cheese, I used one of the small cartons of Egg Beaters and poured over top of all 12 cups and voila!

Baked at 375 for 20 minutes....breakfast perfection. :)

As I said, all plans fell apart this weekend and a lot of unexpected stuff had to be taken care of, so I didn't get my meal planning OR my grocery shopping done.  I haven't even had time to look at the sales ad yet.  Those 3 of the things on my list to do tomorrow morning after my walk....check the sales, meal plan for the week and grocery shop.  Hoping this week goes a lot smoother than the weekend did, and I look forward to doubling my exercise this week from last week with adding in the morning walks.  Hope everyone else had a lovely weekend. :)

Progress With The NLD

I mentioned before that one of the diabetic related issues I have is something called NLD (Necrobiosis Lipoidica Diabeticorum).  It's a skin condition that is very rare and there's no cure.  It's basically a collagen deterioration that cannot be explained.  It causes bright red marks on the lower half of your legs and can be very painful if you touch it too hard, scratch an itch too hard, your dog sticks a claw in it, etc.  I have been searching and searching for some sort of treatment to lighten it and maybe have it go dormant for a while, which I have read online is possible.

I have an old blog friend from my previous blogging days that has the same condition.  She was telling me that red light therapy or photo facial therapy helped her.  I finally found what I thought was it at a medical spa, and scheduled an appointment for a free consultation this morning.  Turns out, the photo facial is actually a laser treatment called IPL and you have to be licensed to administer it.  It's anywhere from $150-$300 per session/treatment, depending on which spa you choose.

I told her about my friend and the red light therapy she used.  She said that's something totally different.  People use that for wrinkles because it boosts collagen in the skin, and sometimes you can find it at tanning salons like my friend did.  There just happened to be a tanning salon 2 doors down from her office, so we walked down together and spoke to the person there.  They used to have that type of unit, but not any longer.  I told the guy I had called multiple tanning salons and couldn't locate one.  He said he only knew of one salon locally that had what I needed and gave me their name.

I called that salon and they DO have it....they call it the "Beauty Angel Unit"...I have no idea what that's all about.  She said she's running a special right now...$39/month for unlimited use.  She said I could go every day like she does if I wanted to.  I'm not sure about every day because I still don't understand the technology.  My friend said it doesn't burn...it heals.  But I still think I will stick with every other day for now...3-4x per week.  I had too many errands to run today so I will start at the salon tomorrow.  I hope I have finally found the right solution to this problem!

Kim came for dinner tonight and I made BLT's with a bowl of lasagna soup on the side.  Boy was it delicious...both of them!  She had a migraine so she didn't walk with us as previously planned.  After she left, Dwayne and I took the dogs for what is becoming our nightly stroll around the neighborhood.  It only takes about 25-30 mins though so I really need to start doing a morning walk as well.

I will be honest...the walks do hurt.  What used to be so simple back when I was losing weight is just ridiculously tough now.  I feel like I'm 80 years old...pain in my feet, legs, lower back, even my butt!  But I'm trying to keep things in perspective.  I could be in a much worse position like my Dad, who has MS and can't really walk at all and is confined to either his motorized chair or his bed.  I know that he would much rather endure a little pain like I have if he could just have back the freedom of movement.  When I'm midway up the Hill from Hell, everything hurting and feeling like I'm gasping for my last breath, I quickly change my attitude and tell myself, "Shut your trap Tammy & get your ass up this hill...at least you CAN walk...MOVE IT!!"

I was away from home 6-7 hours today and the eating was BAD.  Period.  It sucked.  Getting right back on track tomorrow.  I think the only errand I have away from home is the spa for the NLD treatment so should be out and back within an hour.  All meals will be eaten at home.

Oh and one more thing.  I mentioned yesterday that I finally got to talk to the nurse at my dr's ofc.  She left free samples for me at the front desk that I picked up today of a THIRD diabetic medicine I am now taking.  Between the diabetes, the triglycerides and the hypothyroidism I am now on 5 pills per day.  To put a positive spin on that, I am thankful that the pharmacy gives me the metformin for free, and thankful the doctor gave me 6 weeks of free samples on this latest med.  I am to start taking it today and go back in 6 weeks from now for more bloodwork.

I've been cutting the carbs and taking the pills religiously for 3 weeks now.  I can already tell that my sugar has come down.  I can now sleep 5-6 hours straight w/o having to get up and pee...used to be I couldn't make it longer than an hour or two, so I was up all night and my sleep was horrible and nearly non-existent.  Also, I used to drink 3-4 (32 oz) glasses of water a day, no problem, due to my constant thirst.  Now, I'm having a hard time remembering to drink at least 64 oz because the thirst is gone.  This is encouraging!  I'm headed for bed so ta ta for now. :)

The Doctor Said No - Round 1

A bit of good news.  The downpour last night was fast and furious, but short lived.  We actually made it out the door with the dogs at 8:30pm for a 30 minute jaunt around the neighborhood.  Getting out and walking 2 days in a row made me feel SO much better mentally.

A bit more good news...we just walked in the door from tonight's walk around the neighborhood so hooray for 3 straight days of exercise. :)  Tomorrow we'll be walking at the park again.  My darling friend Kim is coming over for dinner and a walk.  And to see my babies of course.  I think she loves those little turkeys as much as we do, and I love that about her!  She's going to be walking the Peachtree Road Race 10k here in Atlanta on July 4th weekend.  She says she needs to get a little practice in before the race, but the truth is, she's been doing this 10k for several years in a row now and she always finishes just fine.  She's in WAY better shape than I am, that's for sure.  She inspires me.  Love you girl!

On to the crappy doctor news.  I had expressed concern that I thought he may be trying to drop me since he referred me to an endocrinologist.  I was pretty much right.  I called the dr's ofc today and instead of leaving a FIFTH voicemail, I stayed on the phone with the receptionist until she went and got a nurse and put her on the phone.  Finally!

I found out that yes, the dr most certainly did intend for me to follow up with the endocrinologist for further diabetes and thyroid care.  I mentioned before in this blog that my last labs were really bad.  The nurse said the diabetes was starting to affect my kidneys in a negative way, and the doctor, being a primary care, didn't feel well enough equipped to continue treating my diabetes and thought an endo would give me more specific treatment and care.

However, what he did NOT know is that I already talked to the endo's office, found out an initial visit is $350, and with my $4500 deductible, there was no way in hell I was going to be able to pay that much per visit with a specialist.  It's just an impossibility.  So once the nurse found that out, she said she would relay it to the doctor and try to get my meds refilled. 

While I had her on the phone, I mentioned a couple of other things.  One, that the Januvia he prescribed was rejected by my insurance...they refuse to pay for it.  And two, I have serious concerns about my thyroid.  I told her I've been on synthetics like Synthroid for 13 years now and yet I still have a list a mile long of hypothyroid symptoms, as though it's not being treated at all.  I told her to ask the Dr if he would prescribe a natural treatment such as Armour or Nature Thyroid.  She said I can already tell you NO on the Armour.  I asked why.  She said most doctors just won't prescribe Armour.  I said, "But do you know WHY?"  She said they just don't think it works and won't prescribe it. 

Alrighty then.  My first rejection.  I do wonder how many more there will be before I find a doctor who will give me a natural med for this.  From the books I'm reading, I pretty much already knew the answer would be no.  There is absolutely nothing progressive at all about my doctor.  I knew he was traditional, so I was ready for it, but I had to ask to make sure before moving on to someone else.

Here's the really annoying thing about it.  I doubt I'll find any primary care doctor to approve it.  I think it will take a specialist of some sort.  And now we're back to specialist prices that I can't pay.  Not sure how it's going to work out.  Just going to pray that the Lord's will be done and that he'll point me in the right direction and open the doors that I need opened. 

On a brighter note, I made the lasagna soup that Biz makes like every other week, lol.  I keep seeing her pics of it and I finally decided to make it today.  I only made the soup part....I haven't made the pasta yet.  I will do that tomorrow.  She said to make them separately so the pasta doesn't soak up all the liquid by combining them.  She gave me the original recipe and I did not make the cheesy part...I'm just not a huge cheese fan so I'm not one to put it on everything I eat.  And I must say it is absolutely delicious without it.  So spicy and flavorful.  I used hot Italian sausage links...3 of them.  I think it called for 1.5 lbs of sausage.  I didn't bother measuring the links on the food scale...the package had 5 links in it and I just decided to scramble up 3 of them and froze the other 2 for next week's batch. ;)  Oh, and the fresh basil!  Oh my Heavens...that fragrance is divine!  I don't remember the last time I put fresh herbs in something but there is just no substitute!  Ahhh....so good.  I can't wait til lunch tomorrow.  :)

And finally, I dropped 3 lbs.  FINALLY.  When I started eating better and seriously cutting the carbs and axing the Cokes altogether, I just knew I'd drop like 20 lbs in a couple of days.  At least that was my hope.  Well, not only did I NOT lose last week...I GAINED 2 lbs.  Went from 240 to 242.  This morning I stepped on and finally saw 239.  I'll take it.  And hopefully it's just enough inspiration to spur me on to get as far away from the 240's as possible and keep myself focused on reaching the 220's. 

I saw the cool quote Biz posted about this morning.  And I saw where one of the girls in the challenge said she was going to post it on her wall, maybe over her desk or something, I can't remember.  All I can remember thinking is if I did that and my mother came to visit, walked in and saw the "F" word hanging on my wall I'd have to scrape her off the floor...after she was done beating me, LOL.  'Nite all.  :)