Radio Silence

I hate Mondays, but I’m sure by now I’ve made that perfectly clear. Today I’ve made an important decision; in order to preserve my sanity, I’m going to work my frustration off. I’m going to stick to my program (Couch to 5k) and make it work. I’m going to be sensible about my diet and simply avoid sugary snacks/drinks while adhering to a single serving on a modestly sized plate. Most importantly I’m going to practice a form of radio-silence and not discuss it on the Facebook page that my husband sees. I’m going to be quite sneaky about it and hide my shape whenever I see my in-laws, although my face and neck are a giveaway because they get more defined as I lose pounds. Why you ask? Well it’s because I’m going to be selfish for once. I want to see his jaw drop when I go to Mexico in February. I’ve never had the body of a model, but I’m going to have the best body I can manage.

The first week of the program started on December 4th and I discovered that I can handle it. Sure I was wiped out for an hour afterwards and that first day I was so tired, but the next day I felt better. I didn’t have any breathing problems (suck it exercise-induced asthma!) and I wasn’t wobbly from working harder than usual. I think I would have been setting myself up for failure had I not been working out 3 times a week on the machines at work. This program is set up to be 3 times a week for 7 weeks, so we’ll see just how well I progress. I’m not afraid to repeat a week if I think I need more time to get used to the jogging before advancing.

Today, I feel…

Very upset.  It has been a while since I have gotten this upset about something while still at work, but this was bound to happen.  On Tuesday this week Graciela emailed me saying that she had found a Doctor that was willing to travel to the jail to conduct Alberto’s immigration medical exam.  Graciela made sure to warn me that health insurance does not typically cover this exam, and the doctor was estimating charges in the amount of $350.  I guess the arrangement with that particular doctor fell through.

So today, Graciela told me about a different doctor who was able to conduct the physical on Friday afternoon so that we could have this taken care of before the hearing on Monday.  I guess they wanted to have some progress to report in order to secure the continuance.  Anyway, Graciela asked me if Alberto had ever had the chicken pox and if immigration have his passport.  According to mi suegra, Alberto had varicella when he was only 1 but it was a mild case.  According to the records from when he was enrolled in school in Minnesota, he had also received the varicella vaccine.  Actually he received the full battery of vaccinations because his sister didn’t have his records from Mexico and he couldn’t be enrolled in school until they were done.  Graciela told me the exam was estimated to cost $400 and I needed to call the clinic right away to arrange for payment.  I called and I talked to Sally who told me that prepayment was mandatory for all immigration physicals since health insurance hardly ever covers them.  Sally told me they would not go see Alberto for the exam until the prepayment was complete.  This is how I got upset.  How in the hell am I supposed to prepay a $400 medical exam when I don’t even have $40 between all of my bank accounts combined?!  I called my mom and asked the hardest question of them all; can I borrow $400 in order to prepay Alberto’s immigration exam?  The exam will take place Friday afternoon and I was able to tell Alberto all this during our Thursday visit.  Lance tells me I just purchased a continuance, as if that will make me feel better.

April Showers…

A weight loss update is a good beginning for this particular post.  I may not be losing a lot of weight so far, but the inches are coming off so I must be doing something right!  My latest data is from this morning; so far I’ve lost .9 lbs and 9.75 inches in the three weeks I’ve been on the New Leaf program.  I feel better since I’ve been exercising and using the calorie counter on MFP helps me think before I eat something.  I still have to ask myself if I’m really hungry or if I’m just bored, but I think I’m getting better at avoiding the mindless munching.  I’ve missed two weight lifting sessions so far, one because I fell asleep and the other because I was too sore to lift any weights.  I will not allow myself to skip any other weight lifting sessions.

Ashley had her first dental appointment on Thursday and it went much better than I was afraid of.  I got to fill out the small mountain of paperwork, while she got to watch ‘Dudley dinosaur goes to the dentist’ on the TV.  I should mention that this is a pediatric dental office with every amenity possible to help keep children from freaking out.  We had been to this office before when Ashley had a tooth that was changing color as the result of a fall.  Since she was very unhappy after that past appointment because the dentist pushed and pulled on the tooth in question to make sure it wasn’t loose, I was worried how this appointment was going to go.  They painted her teeth pink to show us how she needs to be brushing, and she was very good while the hygienist was polishing her teeth.  She got up multiple times while we were waiting for the dentist because she was bored and she allowed him to pick her teeth without a fuss.  She got 2 stickers, a tiny plastic kitty, and super ball for being a good girl.   She was so happy with her new treasures.

Turning over a ‘New Leaf’

I have always had trouble losing weight.  It’s a battle that is hard won no matter what the commercials for the latest fat burning pill or metabolism boosting supplements say.  I have to keep telling myself that the solution will not come out of some cleverly packaged capsule or beautifully designed box.  Such a shocking concept!  I realized I couldn’t afford WeightWatchers anymore so I did a few things on my own.  I joined myfitnesspal for the support, and started talking to my coworkers who I know were working on losing weight.  I needed a program that would work for me with the amount of time I had available and hopefully get results I could see.  I even talked to a personal trainer at my gym to see what he thought since I had been working out full tilt without seeing changes.  He told me that I was probably working too hard and burning the wrong calories, carbohydrates instead of fat calories.  I wasn’t about to brush off the type of advice I had been looking for, so I continued asking questions.  Within 30 minutes I was signed up something I had never heard of before: New Leaf Metabolism testing.

I presented myself at the gym at the appointed hour, a time I often refer to as the butt crack of dawn, unsure what to expect.  We sat down in a consultation room and talked about the program and what this test was about.  Today we were going to do my resting metabolism test to determine how many calories I burn daily based on my lifestyle, height, and weight.  The machine measures how much oxygen you inhale and how much carbon dioxide you exhale, so you have to wear a mask.  In the interest of conquering my fat deposits, I decided to bite the bullet and get it over with.  I wasn’t expecting it to look like some sort of fetish mask!  It reminds me of the characters (called snowths apparently) from the Muppets that were in the Mahna Mahna song!  I went through it, and the first test was just me sitting on a chair, breathing, for 20 minutes.  Exciting right?  I made the second appointment for later in the week, dreading having to exercise with the stupid thing on.