WOO HOO

It's been forever since I posted, but it's been a tough week. Monday I lost my job, and it made me mad as hell. This weekend was the final weekend of Scarby for the season. It was up and down, and I expected it to be, but I made it through.
In the last few days, I managed to break 250! I weighed in this morning at 249.6. I haven't been under 250 in over 10 years, to the best of my recollection. The trick now will be maintaining it and continuing the progress.
Today is unpacking the car, getting groceries for the next few days, clearing out my stuff from the site, and getting situated to do some hardcore jobhunting!

Walking

My legs feel like I walked about 42 miles today. It wasn't truly that far, because, in deference to the rain and mucky conditions at Scarby, once I made it to Pecan Grove, I didn't get back on either bridge until I was leaving, so I didn't go very far. I did, however spend what time I was on walkabout gingerly picking my way around, trying to avoid the really horribly squishy mud, but I was having to work a little harder to keep my footing.

I took measurements tonight, to use as my benchmark and starting place. All are in inches

Bust: 47 (43 around the underside)
Waist: 45.5
Hips: 59
Arms: R-17.5, L-17.25
Thighs: R-35, L-33.5
Calves: R-18, L-17.5

I find it amusing that my right side is, indeed larger than my left. I've known for most of my life that my right hand and foot are bigger than my left ones, but I guess I never thought about the rest of my right side being larger as well.

I do find it HORRIFYING that my hips are quite nearly as big around as I am tall. somehow in my clothes, they don't look THAT big.

I am sure that most women have some sort of unrealistic body image issues, however I just don't think I look THAT fat. I mean, I still have a defined waist, and I do have a lap when I sit down, I don't have to buy bigger than a 2X in most places, and frankly, here lately, I've been buying more XL than 2XL, which is progress, despite not seeing the scale move. I truly don't believe that I LOOK like I am nearly as round as I am tall.

There are changes that I know that I cannot realistically expect, like thighs that are thin enough to not rub together when I walk. Even when I was wearing 10s and 12s my thighs touched, and I hated to wear pantyhose for fear of setting them on fire from the friction of the nylon! My calves will never be thin... they never have been. In my life, I have owned exactly 2 pairs of boots that covered my calves. The first pair, I was somewhere between 8 & 10, and they were white gogo boots, that were that pleather stuff that was so popular back in the 70s, so they were stretchy. The second pair I spent $250 on, more than I have EVER spent on shoes, but I LOVE them, even if I don't wear them a lot some years. They are custom made Medieval Moccasins. In fact, I am planning to wear them with my pirate outfit and socks tomorrow. The good news is that my Birkenstock arch supports fit inside them nicely, so hopefully my fasciitis will settle back down again and my heel won't be bothering me for the entire week.

Now it's off to bed for hopefully a good night's sleep before another full day of faire.

Beginning

I am REALLY bad about updating Raevyn's Nest, and rather than cluttering it up with random weight loss stuff, I'm setting up a separate spot to document my progress.

Let's start with this:
Hi, I'm Raenell, and I'm a PEPPER, preferably the kind from Dublin, TX that's still made with real sugar instead of corn syrup.

Truthfully, I have never been thin, nor do I expect to be. When I was a kid, I was generally heavier than most of my classmates, at least in my own eyes. In reality, when I graduated from high school 20something years ago, I weighed 150-155 lbs, which, according to the charts that were out at the time, was anywhere from 15-25 lbs overweight, but I my clothes were 10s & 12s. Current weight charts indicated that a healthy weight for me is 145-155, based on my large, albeit short, frame. My ultimate goal is 155. Less than that and I suspect I would go from thin to SKINNY, and that is not what I want.

I am starting at 255, as of this morning's report by my scale. and size 22/24 jeans/pants, with size 18/20 shirts in most cases.

Back in February, one of my friends & coworkers learned she was pregnant (happy happy joy joy for her & damned glad it's not me). Suddenly, within a week or so, my ankles and feet were swellling every day. Ok, I told her that apparently I'm getting the puffy feet in this pregnancy, and just tried to make sure I was drinking more water and natural juice, and taking in less sodium and caffeine. It was pretty much under control, combined with sleeping with my feet elevated and some OTC water pills.
Last week, on Wednesday, they seemed a little puffier, but by Thursday, there was a marked difference in my left and right ankles, and my left leg hurt, so I went to the doctor, cardiovascular disease runs on both sides of my family, and ultimately, my mother lost one leg and couldn't withstand the surgery to amputate the 2nd one several years later as a result of Peripheral Vascular Disease. Ok, major swelling and pain in my legs are NOT ignored. My blood pressure was up a bit, not high, but higher in the normal range than it usually is. The NP called in a prescription for a mild diuretic, hydrochlorothiazide, and a new prescription for my happy pills (wellbutrin). That day, on the doctor's scale (and again on my scale at home) I weighed 267, which is the highest my weight has ever been. Within 48 hours on the diuretic, I was down about 7 lbs, and in the days since, I've dropped another 5 or so, to get me to my starting point.

My weaknesses:

• bleu cheese dressing - yep, I eat some moldy cheese. I've been spoiled of late by a friend's homemade dressing recipe and the only commercially available variety that I will spend my money on is the bulk version from Central Market, and I doctor that up a bit, adding more seasoning and cheese crumbles
• bread - especially soft gooey, just barely cooked all the way through bread
• cheese - I love a variety of cheeses, and have, in the past year or so, virtually eliminated 'pasturized cheese products' like good ole American cheese slices and Velveeta from my diet. I have developed a tendency to buy my cheeses fresher and in greater variety at Central Market. I've found that buying richer cheeses gets me the satisfaction of having some cheese with a smaller portion to begin with.
• red meat - I try to make sure that I don't have it every day, but I do have more servings per week than I should.
• potatoes - preferably with LOTS of butter and cheese
• Totino's Pepperoni frozen pizza, with extra pepperoni & cheese

Changes that I've made already that have kept me from gaining in the past year, though I haven't lost much.

• Bison - I was already spending extra money to have the leanest cuts available, even in ground meat, and I've discovered that the ground bison is not really much more expensive than the leanest hamburger. I buy very little beef these days
• Eliminate highly processed pre-packaged meals from my kitchen and pantry as much as possible.
• Buy fresher fruits and vegetables, in smaller amounts so I can actually eat them before they go bad.
• Buy fresher bread from the bakery, and only keep out a few slices at a time, the rest in the freezer so it won't go bad before I can eat it, because let's face it, no single person can eat an entire loaf of bread in 3 days.
• Ground Turkey is my friend if I want meat in my spaghetti sauce.

Challenges to getting everything I need:

• Fish-all kinds of water dwelling creatures and my body do NOT get along. It's not really an allergy, it is more of a sensitivity. I've never been particularly crazy about any of it, and I just plain don't like the texture of most creatures that have more than 4 legs. If I eat a single filet, I will smell it for at least a week coming out of my pores
• Pork - I'll eat it, but I am not crazy about it, well, unless it's bacon, and then it's ON! Ham has too much sodium for my taste, and I've never been a sausage eater, other than kielbasa, pepperoni, or salami.
• Veggies/fruits that I just don't like and am not going to eat: beets, cooked spinach, cooked carrots or cauliflower, broccoli, raw onion, asparagus, most peppers.

Other Challenges:

• Laziness - yep, I admit it, I am generally lazy.
• Poor time management - I want quick and easy to fix, and I'm learning to make things ahead of time that I can have quick and easy later, and to keep more fresh fruit/veggies for quick and easy.
• I spend way too much time on the computer at home instead of going to the gym, or doing a yoga DVD
• I am tired much of the time. Hopefully the new prescription of happy pills will help me stay awake enough during the day to actually sleep through the night, so I'm not so tired all the time
• Lack of good motivation. I have periodic motivation to make changes, but I suck at following through. I know this, and I'm working on that.

Ok, I think that's a pretty good start. Tomorrow night I'll get measurements done and posted, and maybe a photo or two, to watch my progress