Though my belly does still shake like a bowl full of jelly, unfortunately, I can't say that this has been a fabulous Christmas. So far, it has been quiet, which is a blessing, but due to financial strife all month, there was little money for gifts and I barely managed to get things for everyone on the list. My stress levels have been very high all month, and my Crohns has been flaring in response to that stress. Of course, I have also been terrible at resisting emotional eating and chowing on sweets, but I have kept up with my workouts despite illness and crazy weather and scheduling conflicts. Last Thursday it took my husband's vanpool THREE hours to get from Redmond to Maple Valley, and I couldn't make it to the gym because my son was ill, and they don't allow sick kids in the daycare. So there was that added frustration, and now my hubby is extremely ill, and barely able to make it out of bed to open presents today, so I am trying to make up for his non-existent holiday cheer by being extra attentive to my son, family and friends. I still am planning on a nice Christmas dinner of ham, mashed potatoes, corn and tofu-pumpkin pie for dessert.
Traffic has been insane in the whole SE King County area, and there was snow and sleet on the ground today. Because I do not like to drive anyway, the traffic conditions and rude drivers have only added to my stress levels. I actually ate two-thirds of a box of dark chocolate cordial cherries Monday night. I just could not stop eating them. My son was despondant, so I had to buy him his own box of milk chocolate cherries, which he ate in one day. Sigh. Nice job of passing on my bad habits there.
But I have avoided some of the more onerous holiday snacking, such as eating whole bottles of marachino cherries, or making sure that I make several dozen sugar cookies and eat at least a dozen myself. This year, Santa got chocolate mini-kiss cookies that I couldn't eat because they had eggs and dairy in them. And the cherries stayed on the shelf. So I figure if I have a small soy pudding later in the week, that will be okay, I will work that in to my calorie count for the day. And January, with its resolutions won't intimidate me this year, because I know that I can lose weight sensibly without starving. And one final note, my neighbor actually called me "buff" the other day! Ha! I don't consider myself Bruce Lee, but I do feel more toned and muscular than I have in 20 years.
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Saturday, December 8, 2007
Coming off Cortisone
Greetings from upholstered belly central!
I finished my last round of antibiotics and my week of prednisone last week on Tuesday.
Now I just have to be patient and continue to exercise off the 4 pounds of fat and 5 pounds of water I gained while taking the steroids. I have to admit that I wasn't going to take the prednisone, but my asthma got so bad that I was having trouble breathing through the night, and kept waking up coughing and wheezing. The cortisone really helped my reactive airways and allowed the antibiotics to rout the rest of the pneumonia from the bottom of my lungs.
My PCP wasn't happy to hear, during my third visit, that I'd been exercising all month while battling the pneumonia. She felt I should have spent at least two weeks on bed rest. I didn't really feel the need for bed rest while I was sick, though, and I felt able to continue my regime of light/low impact workouts at least three times a week. I doubt that these workouts had any deleterious effects on my healing ability. In fact, I think they helped my immune system in dealing with the bacteria in my lungs.
I also think I would have gained three times more weight had I not continued with my work out routine. Especially considering the Thanksgiving holiday, my husband and sons birthdays were all food fests that I fully participated in, though I did try to limit my portions on Thanksgiving. Still, the soy chocolate/vanilla pudding and the Rice Dream peach non-dairy ice cream I've consumed in the past couple of weeks can't be blamed on the holidays...I just gave in to my cortisone-cravings for sugar.
Meanwhile, I've been assigned an article on three local gyms and their programs to help people lose weight and get in shape for the coming year. I'm really looking forward to talking to Janice Zander and Carol Kayler of Work It Out Women's Fitness, as I believe that WIO's boot camp and other new classes will be a good fit for many local women seeking a way to get in shape for 2008. I'll probably end up writing the story on Wednesday, Dec 12, which is my 47th birthday, but I am okay with that, as I really want to be paid as soon as possible so I can go Christmas shopping for my son, husband and parents. I am trying not to stress about the state of our finances, but I find myself wanting to do some serious emotional eating when I think about how tough Christmas is going to be this year.
Thank heaven for the endorphins and friends I have at Work It Out, because without them, I'd be an anxious mess.
I finished my last round of antibiotics and my week of prednisone last week on Tuesday.
Now I just have to be patient and continue to exercise off the 4 pounds of fat and 5 pounds of water I gained while taking the steroids. I have to admit that I wasn't going to take the prednisone, but my asthma got so bad that I was having trouble breathing through the night, and kept waking up coughing and wheezing. The cortisone really helped my reactive airways and allowed the antibiotics to rout the rest of the pneumonia from the bottom of my lungs.
My PCP wasn't happy to hear, during my third visit, that I'd been exercising all month while battling the pneumonia. She felt I should have spent at least two weeks on bed rest. I didn't really feel the need for bed rest while I was sick, though, and I felt able to continue my regime of light/low impact workouts at least three times a week. I doubt that these workouts had any deleterious effects on my healing ability. In fact, I think they helped my immune system in dealing with the bacteria in my lungs.
I also think I would have gained three times more weight had I not continued with my work out routine. Especially considering the Thanksgiving holiday, my husband and sons birthdays were all food fests that I fully participated in, though I did try to limit my portions on Thanksgiving. Still, the soy chocolate/vanilla pudding and the Rice Dream peach non-dairy ice cream I've consumed in the past couple of weeks can't be blamed on the holidays...I just gave in to my cortisone-cravings for sugar.
Meanwhile, I've been assigned an article on three local gyms and their programs to help people lose weight and get in shape for the coming year. I'm really looking forward to talking to Janice Zander and Carol Kayler of Work It Out Women's Fitness, as I believe that WIO's boot camp and other new classes will be a good fit for many local women seeking a way to get in shape for 2008. I'll probably end up writing the story on Wednesday, Dec 12, which is my 47th birthday, but I am okay with that, as I really want to be paid as soon as possible so I can go Christmas shopping for my son, husband and parents. I am trying not to stress about the state of our finances, but I find myself wanting to do some serious emotional eating when I think about how tough Christmas is going to be this year.
Thank heaven for the endorphins and friends I have at Work It Out, because without them, I'd be an anxious mess.
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