Long time, no write!

 Took a long walk today.  Roughly 40 minutes and about 1 2/3 miles.  Walked from work to Kwik Trip and back, during my lunch.  15k steps for the day.  

I have to schedule my mammogram and physical.  

Been a bit

 It's been super cold, and I can't bring myself to want to do stuff.  Don't even want to do my meds.  That seems to have spiraled out of control.  Some stuff is on auto, some isn't.  I don't know which is what.  Sigh.

I'm up to 175 pounds again.  

Haven't been to GP for a while.  Need to get my eyes and teeth looked after.  I don't wanna, anymore.  

WHINE

Hurting

 Still hurting.  Got a doctor appointment on the 27th.  I don't know.  Also have mammogram.  
Dedicated in spirit to Tina (miss you, hun!)

Sleep is hard, when moving wrong sends spikes of pain through the hip.  Been a long two months. 
I hadn't hurt my hip at my last post, or I would have mentioned it.  So probably did it on either the 28th or 29th of March.  
Who injures themselves doing physical therapy????

The difference two years makes

I weighed myself this morning.  174.4lbs  Two years ago, I would have been overjoyed at this.  10 pounds less than what I weighed at that point.  But, less than half a year ago, I was under 170.  

I haven't really been able to go out walking, because my back hurts too much.  I did yard work yesterday.  Wound up with like 12K steps.  With that, and all the bending, raking, and lifting... my back feels like someone is shoving a knife through my spine.  Not happy making.  

Of course, I keep forgetting to take any painkiller.  The memory thing isn't just for trivia.  

My scale seems disappointed in me.  It's biometric, so shows all the fun stuff like muscle/fat/protein/etc.

Or maybe I'm just disappointed in me.  I'm not gonna let it dusty my shiny.  I will keep doing my best to be the healthiest me I can be.  

HUGS

Not much

 Not much has happened.  I'm hovering at about 170 pounds.  My sugars are doing ok.  I've been in pain since my back went out.  I lose track of when that was.  So my heart rate and blood pressure have been high.  I've been very bad about watching it.  

I did take a walk this morning.  It's been unseasonably warm.  I think it got to 70 today.  

I've got a cold.  And feel like crap.

Just a random-ness

 Had another "ozempic moment", which is how I'm now referring to the nausea and vomiting caused by my ozempic.  

It's kinda getting old.  Not sure what to do.  I should talk to my doctor, but kinda don't wanna.  Since I did tell her that it was getting worse.  I might change doctors, even.  Sigh.  She seems good.  But I've heard less than positive things, now.  

I am down to about 170 pounds.  Which is super close to changing me from being 'obese' to just 'over-weight'.  I think another 3 pounds or so.  

Took a nice long walk on Thursday.  That was nice.  

Debating with myself about adding a B complex vitamin.  I'm usually tired.  And according to a med interaction thing I read one of my meds interferes with B absorption.  B are the energy vitamins.  Just refreshed my info.  B12 and folic acid.  Possibly a Coenzyme Q10.

We'll see what I do.  

I do know I am super tired of throwing up. 

Ozempic - my frenemy

 Ah, Ozempic.

I love how it controls my sugar and is helping me lose weight, too.

I HATE how if I eat the wrong thing, VOMIT.

I'm now consistently down in the 170s.  I have dipped into high 160s.  But this vomiting thing SUCKS.

2024 Physical updates

 My 2024 physical went well.  My A1c basically stayed the same.  Which, since I really wasn't doing much different, means that I am doing pretty good.  The number is 6.2, for those who wonder.  

oooo
Looking at results.  My "mean corpuscular volume" numbers are slowly trending down.  Still in 'normal' range, but within 2 points of being low.  I don't know what that means, but I will look it up.  

Looks like some liver stuff is going on, just going by my test numbers.  Yay.  

But I won't worry about it.  

My cholesterol is actually good.  triglycerides are a bit higher than ideal, but half of what they were two years ago.  Everything else is solidly in 'normal'  :D

"Officially" at 79.8kg.  But that's after eating and wearing jeans.  My scale had me at 79.5kg, before breakfast.  So, definitely under that 80kg.  

LOL
In normal terms, I'm down to 175.9 lbs.  After eating and while wearing jeans.  My skivvies weight is 174.2 lbs.  Either way, down 2ish pounds since April.  

I do still do some walking.  But I'm tired.  Just... tired.

A year plus after ozempic

 So, from my last blog, I mentioned a 'disastrous encounter with a zinger'.

Turns out, it's the ozempic.  It's made me sensitive to several things.  Too much sugar, I will throw up or at least feel like I'm gonna.  The scent of several things now makes me queasy.  Lots of things I used to love, now are gross.  Lots of sausage varieties make me queasy.  I used to not care for fish sticks.  Now the idea of putting one into my mouth, I just gag.  Can't do it.  I tried.  

I'm not being very consistent with walking.  

Now, I'm gonna go throw up now.

Starting again.

 Well, more of continue, of course.  I haven't be INactive, but my back went out about a week or so ago.  

I've been doing my physical therapy exercises since the day after I did it. I tried to pick up a bag which had two gallons of water.  16ish pounds.  Should NOT have been an issue.  Back went pop, and here we are.

Been a few days!

 Or maybe a few months.  We put the chickens on the porch, and after we added the dust wallow, EVERYTHING was covered in dust.  

John got a sinus infection from running in it.  So, kinda scared to actually use the treadmill!

Just had my final (I hope) diabetic education class.  Educator is very pleased with my progress.  So am I, for that matter.  She said I was down 5 pounds since October.  Which might be true, dunno.  

I'm SOOOO close to going from 'obese' to 'overweight' as shown by my scale.  Very exciting.  

My current 'official' weight is 172.2.  :D

My 'got nothin in me' weight is 168.6.  (After my disastrous encounter with the zinger)

Obviously, I don't want a repeat of that.  

I might do some photos of me, to go with my before photos.  Kinda 'during' photos.

That's about it.  Live your life.  Do the things that make you happy, if it harms none. 

Luv ya!

"Recovery jog" - HA!

 Yesterday, I told you that I was scared of today's 'recovery jog'.

Well, yeah.

Five sets of 2 minutes push at 4mph followed by 2 minutes recovery at 2.5mph.  (my normal walking speed is somewhere between 2.8 and 3) I will say, that I was glad of the slow recovery part.  

That was... sweaty.  The porch is at about 57-58 degrees right now.  And I'm sweating.  

I'm gonna keep going.  I wanna be the fit me, not the slob me.  I know, I know.  Don't be mean to myself.  But, I see photos of me, and think, 'Is that what I look like?  I don't like it.'  So I'm changing it.  Not gonna quit.  

Still at it!

 Week 5 begins.  

Well, I guess it's week 6, but I took 'break' when we went to Las Vegas.  I only went to the gym to work out twice.  But I did do several walks.  I didn't skip the week.

So, this week is 3:1 work:rest ratio.  And tomorrow is a recovery JOG.  I don't know how I'll do with that.  I don't normally jog.  I either walk or run.  

I asked John to help me with 'during' photos. I have 'before' photos.  They might be worth putting up.  Not sure.  Is me in a bra and undies worth posting?  LOL

I am going to do the work to get healthier.  It's hard.  My legs ache and so do my arms.  

I'm trying very hard.  

I will say the ozempic has helped, by decreasing my appetite and making some foods taste icky.  

Kinda nervous about thanksgiving, since I don't really know what I'm doing with the chicken I'm cooking for dinner.  

Should be ok.  I'm a decent cook.  But that's a post for another day, so to speak.  

Do you, boo.

Back at it with the treadmill

I finished workout 7 of the second set of 10 in this series.  I believe there are 6 sets.
It was a 'recovery walk'.  I'm not sure how that works, but it seems to be a thing.  I have a 'body weight workout' on the schedule for saturday.  
I'm serious.  I want to be healthy.  See if I can come off a bit of my meds.  I don't know.  But I can only try, right?  

I know food shouldn't be a 'guilty' thing.  But I vaguely do feel guilty when I eat something like a tootsie pop.  Plus that sort of thing tastes less wonderful than I think it's going to.  

I do need to make a point of not drinking too much caffeinated stuff.  I couldn't sleep until about 1am this morning.  Much too late.  Screwed up the whole day.  

I didn't precisely take the Vegas trip 'off' as such.  I did go to the gym twice, and got a 4 mile walk in.  As well as MANY walks around the hotel.  

Day 10 of walking course on treadmill

 Oh man

this one beat my butt

I feel slightly queasy, but that could be the ozempic and covid and flu shot working together in an unholy combination.

Very innocent seeming.  Push for 5 minutes.

gonna go lie down, i think.

really don't feel well.

Day 3

 Did my third workout with the treadmill today.  

I like the big screen, so I can watch things.  The iFit training stuff is nice.  The trainer is taking us through some of the national parks in California.  

It learns how I need to go, as it goes.  The trainer said at one point, that I should have a 5-6 effort at that point.  My effort was closer to a 3.  So I increased the pace by .2 mph.  That worked perfectly.  My normal walking pace is pretty close to 3mph, and it seemed to think it was like 2.5 or 2.6.  So the increase helped it learn that I don't need to be THAT slow.  

I have discovered that potatoes spike my sugar HUGELY.  :(
But pumpkin bread does not.  :D

Treadmill & iFit

 John got a new treadmill.  It arrived last Thursday.

I started using it yesterday, started a walking (I think) series.

This is my first one.

My next one, today's, was a recovery walk.  Pretty easy, actually.  

This was today's set.  
Heart rate means nothing, to me, since my resting heart rate is like 100ish.  (103 right now, and I've been done for half an hour.)  So, I guess my rate increased about 20 bpm.  Not too bad, I suppose.  Dunno how much it's supposed to increase with exercise.  But I never see more than like 145, no matter how hard I push.  Too weird.

Anyway.  I've got tomorrow's walk queued up and ready to go.  

Just had a thought!

 Yeah, I know.  :)
How's that a new thing?
Well, the thought is that I am at 174 pounds.  

My 'goal' weight is 155.  I'm technically under 20 pounds to my goal.  O-O 
SPAZZZZZ

I'm... word escapes me.  If it was a bad thing, it would be aghast, but it's a good feeling.  Maybe stunned?
Oh, the scale I use is called "Fit Index" and they are a biometric scale company.  It connects via bluetooth to the phone.  John bought ours before his bariatric surgery.  I've purchased two for friends.  I really like them.  Got it from Amazon, for about $25.  They still go for about that.  
I might change my goals as I go, I don't know.  I picked 155 as a nice number to aim for.  But it might still be too high.  Dunno.  I don't know that I ever thought I'd GET to it.  So any number was a good target.

Weirdness

 So, I'm having an interesting time eating.  

Animal proteins now seem to have an 'off' flavor.  Fish is a BIG no no, although tuna from a can seems ok.  I'm gonna try some chicken tonight, and see how that is.  

Carbs are ok, but if I eat too many of them, I get queasy.  

So, that's all fun.  

On the plus side, I'm down to 176 pounds.  

I might post some 'before to now' photos.  I've got the post primed and ready to go with the before pics.  Just need to take some now ones.

Stay fabulous, my people!

July 24th Physical news

 So, loyal readers.

I had my annual physical today.  

I'm down to 178 (with clothes, LOL) 
My A1c is 7.0, down from 7.7.  WOOOOOT!

My cholesterol/HDL: 2.4.  Down from 6.5!!!
HDL is 48 , which is up from 40, but still well withing the 40-60 range.  :)
LDL is calculated at 35, my last one couldn't calculate, because of elevated triglycerides.  BUT, much under the <130.  :D
Cholesterol is at 115, down from 261.  and WELL within the 50-200 range.
Triglycerides are still a bit high - 158, but compared to my last one - 526, I'll take it.  Ideal range for that is 25-150.  I *think* when/as my average blood sugar goes down, so will this one.  :)

I don't know what this is, but it's now in normal range: Alanine Aminotransferase 74 U/L and it was 94, with a normal range of 12-78.  
Oooo, of course I looked it up.  high levels happen with liver damage.  hmm.  I guess I might have been on the way to hurting my liver, but now it's better?  
copy/paste from my quick google search.
Alanine aminotransferase (ALT) is an enzyme found primarily in the liver and kidney. It was originally referred to as serum glutamic pyruvic transaminase (SGPT). Normally, a low level of ALT exists in the serum. ALT is increased with liver damage and is used to screen for and/or monitor liver disease.
Another one, probably liver associated: Aspartate Amino Transf.  is 31, was 50.  With a normal range of 15-37.  I'll do another search!  Yep.  another liver one.  I know one of the things I might have is a fatty liver, and losing weight will/can help with that, and guess who's lost like 6 pounds so far.  Yours truly!  So, going by numbers, I might just have been at the edge of doing major damage to my liver!  boggle.
ok.  
Yet another liver one.  Bilirubin  - 0.9 with a normal of 0.0 to 1.0.  previous was 0.8.  hmm.  gotta take better care of my insides.  

Average daily glucose level 142, down from an uncontrolled 253.  All of these before numbers come from April of last year, by the way.  

On the whole, I think I'm doing amazing, with the help of meds.  I hope I can maybe someday come off of some of the diabetes ones.  Not likely to stop using thyroid meds.  sadly, once that beast stops working right, it rarely comes back.  

I don't need any invasive stuff for a couple of years.  Flu shot later in the year.  But that's it.  

Stay awesome, my people.  LUV YA!