Don't Eat That

*****Post written in multiple places, be prepared for jumping around…you might even lose weight that way….although I wouldn’t count on it.****

Ok, so I started a post on Education Uncensored and if you want to know how it all came to be about the following, you’ll need to jump over there, read down to the part where it instructs you to jump back to here and then go back there for the grand finale. 

Sound like a major pain in the butt?  Yea, it is but mostly a pain in my jaws….but we’ll get to that. At last week’s tally I had lost 16 pounds and not one soul noticed.  By the end of the week I was down a total of 20 pounds.  This post is late because yesterday when I weight, I had managed to find 4 of those and return those to my body.  Lovely! 

But now, now I”m looking at some bigger issues of how to gain weight, not lose it.  You see, here I am, torn cartilage in my jaws which has rendered me almost as helpless as my broken leg did.  I mean, you can use crutches or a walker (in my case) to get around with a broken bone and generally, you don’t have this feeling in your whole body of just general run over opossum.  And, to answer my cousin’s question, no indeed, I do not smell like road kill.

However, my jaws started to flare up about 2 or 3 months ago and of course everyone chalked it up to tension, stress, gritting and grinding my teeth.  But, I had already paid a small fortune for the diagnosis of a “grinder” and had a mouthpiece made to help with this.  So, now what? 

For 2 months or more, I’ve worn this stinking mouth piece day and night.  I take it out to eat, to brush my teeth and the appliance and to talk on the phone.  Talking in person is not so bad, people can generally make out what I’m saying.  But on the phone, I sound much like one big drug slur. 

And, still, no relief.  I saw an oral surgeon last week.  I had a test run the next day.  I saw him for results today.  And, the diagnosis?  Torn cartilage in my jaws. 

The answer?  There are several but the most obvious place to start is with cortisone shots.  Because hey, I’ve just lost almost 20 pounds, let’s go get some steroids shot up in us and see how long it takes to gain it back.

I am part of a team of EASports folks but because of my broken leg which I not even been given the all clear for major exercises, I’ve only been doing static exercises.  But, it’s amazing what static exercises and a change in diet (regardless of whether you simply decide to watch what you eat or your jaws hurt so bad that you don’t want to bother), the weight will start to dissipate. 

And the proud kicks in.  But, then, you look, 16 pounds gone and not one person has noticed.  How in the heck did that happen?  How do you lose 16 pounds, 20 now and no one notices?  According to my husband, you wear baggy clothes and pj’s all the time and no one can tell.

***************Jump back to the Education Uncensored story and then it will tell you when to come back here and finish!**************

Anyway, back to where I was going with this originally.  I have torn cartilage in my jaws.  Tomorrow, I will be sedated and this horrible steroid shots will be injected into my jaws and I, I hope to be a new woman in a week.  If not, then I get another set of these beauties.  And then, hopefully, I am back to being a chatterbox, verbally, not just with my fingers, and all is well for a period of time.

However, if no results come from these shots that are almost too painful to even think about, I will have jaw surgery.  Hey, that could render me losing some weight.  But….that’s not exactly what I had in mind either.

Now, honestly, I want and need to lose some weight.  And, if you’ve seen a photo of my face, you know that it is is swollen most of the time, here let me show you…

Notice that MY right is much worse than my left.  I have torn cartilage in both places but the right is worse.  And, the oral surgeon confirmed today that some (and of course he couldn’t know for sure) but some of that swelling could be from the torn cartilage.  I mean, duh, you get swelling in your knee’s when you tear cartilage, right?

And, normally, normally as in, in the past, when I have lost weight, my face is the first place to show the loss and the last place to show the gain.  But, this time, no loss was noticeable and possibly we know why now. 

And so the saga continues…2009…there’s just not much left for me to say other than…you suck….

For the remainder of this story, you’ll have to jump back over to Education Uncensored.  Sorry!

Well, I’m no where near ready for photos of me in a swimsuit or anything like that, and to be honest, this week was pretty insignificant since I managed to only hold steady at 209 pounds.  I do think that next week will be my release date for doing more, however, the ortho seems to think that I’ll never get the ankle as strong as I want or expect.

I mean, you know, really, I guess even if it does have a rod, screws and all that, it is probably way stronger than it has been since I was in college and spraining it every few weeks only to go back to the field before it healed properly.  Hey, we might have just figured out why this all happened in the first place, eh?

So, anyway, considering we ate out 3 times last week, holding steady this week is really an accomplishment.  And, well, count that piece of apple pie and you have a recipe for trouble.  So, here we go, a new week ahead and a fridge stocked with ice cold water instead of cans and cans of soda….woot woot!  Go me!

I’m writing this post a day earlier than normal.  I have a couple of reasons why, one being I am going to be extraordinarily busy tomorrow and I have some awesome news. 

I am currently down a total of 16 pounds.  I am still doing static exercises and if you think I’ve lost my mind and that I should just get over it already and do more exercises, you have to know that the bone graft area hasn’t healed an I’ve already fallen once when putting all of my weight on that food while stepping off my porch.  I have to have more strength in the ankle. 

The other reason that I’m writing this today…..is…I’m treating myself to a piece of apple pie.  And, when I say a piece, I honestly mean a tiny minute piece.  This little piece of pie is probably nt even 1/4 of the size I would normally eat.  But, I bought it pre-made and I”m assuming that the folks that marketed it had ever intention of me eating only one serving of it. 

So, as of October 11, 2009, I am down a rockin’ total of 16 pounds….but next week…..let’s just hope the apple pie doesn’t show up….

And, no one even noticed. Not one person has noticed. I finally asked my husband today and he said that I wear my clothes too baggy for him to notice….whatever!

Ok, so, for the first time since this blog went up and I took the challenge of getting some weight off of me, I’m here to tell you that, I have lost one pound.  No kidding. 

If you remember when we last looked in, I was going up 7, down 9, up 10, down 10, up9, down 8 and so forth. But, this is indeed the second week in a row that I have managed to see a lower number on the scales and not a higher one.

Now, I’m don’t think anyone can tell it.  I mean, I’m still wearing my maternity pants and some other pants that I’ve worn for a couple of years but they are baggy.  A small army could move in the backside of most of them.  But, no clothes purchases until I see if I can make something happen.

Two more weeks for rehab and strength building and then, EASports, here I come!

Yes, indeed, I give you 7 pounds…or more like someone gave me 7 pounds.  Sound impossible?  It does to me as well.  But, as hoped aboard the scales this morning, my eyes bulged from my head right before big tears of hate poured onto the floor.  How is this possible?

Yes, my foot still has me in physical therapy mode but I’ve cheated some and did a few odds and ends to up my activity level just to see how my foot would fair.  And, I only had one major breakdown last week when my husband brought home a milkshake and I simply couldn’t leave it to melt.  That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

So, up 7 pounds, I don’t know, I”m pretty disgusted and hope that very soon I can move into the EASports with a big bang instead of these little therapy sessions which apparently are strengthening my leg and ankle but doggone it, I need to give YOU 7 pounds, not the other way around.

I’ve mentioned this before but I’m going to “mention” it again.  I was diagnosed with diabetes and a thyroid condition in October or November of 2007.  Since that time, I have weighed as much as 224 and as low as 215.  I’ve gained and lost that same 9 pounds about 10 times.  And, then, in January, I broke my leg…and I was in a cast…until about 3 weeks ago.  I was in a brace until last week. 

Being bound to a chair with orders to stay off of your feet makes it pretty ridiculous to think about exercise and I am really crummy about my eating habits.  However, as of late, I have started keeping carrots and plums, nectarines and the like in the house instead of chips and chocolate. 

So, I was released last week as far as walking on my bum leg without any support goes.  However, I had twisted the other one several times trying to compensate I think.  Anyway, I spent the better part of Saturday and Sunday working in my house, shoes on (we are a remove your shoes at the door kind of family).  And, today, today I started my physical therapy for the foot.

And, since I have a degree in physical education and it would be a 90 mile one way drive for me to go the doctor for PT, I’m doing it myself and I’m using my bands and EASports Wii 30 Day Challenge to do it with. 

Yes, the Wii 30 Day Challenge has tons of “games” you can play. Sports of all kinds.  But, I am hardly ready for that.  But, what you might not know is there is a section on really static strengthening exercises as well.  And, it’s pretty obvious that my left ankle (the one that I recently had surgery on) is weak.  Earlier this morning while leaving Wal-mart and twisted it again, just a mild twist but it is definitely sore.  So, yes, strength and range of motion right now are big. 

The other ankle is not really swollen anymore but it is sore so definitely the strengthening and range of motion will be helpful there as well.  That said, I kicked my butt in gear, broke out the bands and got started this morning. 

I decided to take a starting weight before I began this morning (and I am glad I did) and I am starting the PT and subsequent 30 Day Challenge at 213.  To you, that might not be a big deal, 213 is a lot of weight to carry around.  But, considering that during the time I have been in a cast is when my weight soared to 224. 

So, let the games began…will you join me?

I’ve spent the last several days on my feet.  And just ask my leg that I had surgery on and it will tell you that indeed, I did too much.  I go back to the doctor tomorrow but I still walk with a horrible limp.  I know I sound like such a wimp but honestly, I just don’t know what to make of it all.

In the meantime, I’ve managed to twist the other ankle a total of 4 times, the last one being on Friday and it is swollen.  Is it bad? No, it isn’t broken.  Does it hurt?  Yea, a little.  Now what?  I wish I knew.

I have no clue what the good doctor will tell me tomorrow but I will most definitely keep you posted.  I honestly don’t look to be released and ready for action since I am still limping so much but you never know, stranger things have happened.

Actually, it is more like August 2nd and pushing really close into August 3rd.  Why is that?  Well, I have on internet at home and the fast food places turn their wireless off when they close at night (just kidding, I’ve not stayed that long in any one place just yet).  I should have internet service no later than Tuesday afternoon so when you read this, I will surely be moved on to another topic.  Hopefully because really, I’ve beaten this dead horse to the pits of hell.

So, am I part of the 30 day challenge on EASports as of August 1st?  Resoundingly the answer is still no.  I have managed, by some stroke of luck (and lots of carrots) to maintain this weight of 215 which I have bounced from and up to 225 about 10 times since I was diagnosed with thyroid disorders and diabetes.  So, if I can just hang on (and eat more carrots), hopefully the increase in activity level will make a huge difference.

So, with that, what’s my plan?  You know, I always have a plan.  The good news is that my foot is much better.  I actually wore 2 shoes for the past 2.5 weeks with a little black ankle brace and part of the time I even sported a flip flop instead of a tennis shoe.  I go back to the doctor this week and my only issue left to address is that my ankle hurts.

Yea, well that was the issue we were addressing about 7.5 months ago too, eh?  But, in some ways, the ankle seems very weak and I know that part of my problem is shear apprehension that by putting too much weight on it I will cause more pain or even cause it to twist again (which isn’t likely since there’s all kinds of metal in there).  However, a bigger issue in my opinion is the spot where the bone graft was done has a penchant for causing burning sensations and quite painful aches about 95% of the time.

So, what’s a girl to do?  I wait.  I will see the good doctor on Thursday I think and explain the dilemma which I already know he is going to answer with “the graft site has healed, we already saw that on the x-rays” which is all well and good but for some reason, healed is not equaling “pain-free”.

So, I do hope that soon I am on track and I have some other announcements coming in a few days as well….with a few days being relative to when I ever get my internet service back, gah!

I made the decision that the broken foot/leg would not allow me to be stopped from participating in the EASports.  My goal was to go through the exercises for my upper body, have a good time and then as soon as my foot was given the "go for the gusto" from my doctor, I’d be ready to hit the challenge and I was aiming for July 1st for that.

Well, it’s addictive people.  I get over there, I am going to watch my kids and husband play a little bit and of course, they are all doing their stuff standing up.  I have to show them just have tough I am at doing the same exercises sitting down.

Now, here’s the pisser………….and you are not going to believe this.  But, I played for almost an hour an a half.  I was so excited to see my calorie’s burned and my graph and all that jazz and guess what?

My sweet adorable husband didn’t switch the profiles over before giving me  the controls and I was so excited to show them how I could kick their tales that I didn’t even think about it.

So, just for the record, I have 120 calories burned as a 6′ 220 pound man instead of myself and surely that should count for something…..yea?