My Journey: Positive Outlook For 2013

The prednisone could definitely be the culprit. It can make you retain a lot of water, as well as be prone to gaining weight.
 
Cory, that's why I'm glad to finally be able to wean off of prednisone. It's definitely a miracle drug, but I really don't want to be on it much longer. The only bad thing is that it can take weeks or months for the methotrexate to completely kick in. My rheumatologist told me if I just quit prednisone cold turkey I'd end up in pain again which I don't want. So, for now I have to gradually wean off of it. At least I'm not gaining, aside from some minor fluctuations which may or may not be related to the medication. I spiked at 212.4lb this week, but this morning I weighed in at 211.4lb (my dreaded stall number once again!!!!).

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Yesterday I had a great day for food intake. Although, I did sneak a couple of bite sized Reese's cups. The old me would've had a few handfuls, but I was able to stop after 2. It's nice to develop some self control! :)

Exercise consisted of walking my dogs after work. My oldest dog is 10 so he goes on the shorter, easier route which was just under a mile. My mom joined me with the two younger dogs and we walked close to 2 miles. It took me a little over an hour to do both walks, but some of it was at the dog's pace and not mine. They have to stop and sniff everything! LOL My watch says I burned 480 calories so it was a decent workout.

Today's my early day from work so I'm coming straight home to do some tae bo. It's been 3 days since I've done it. I miss it!
 
Great job on the self control, Mandy. One or two is definitely better than mindlessly eating eating a handful or three. You should know that you are responsible for me adding a DVD workout to my routine... at least partially. I've enjoyed listening to your descriptions of your Tae Bo workouts, so I looked around and found a few DVDs I'm capable of doing... Biggest Loser Cardio and Yoga, so far. I've done one each day the last two days, plus my cardio workout afterward. I like it! I feel stupid, but I feel it working. Keep up the good work, Mandy!
 
Don, that's awesome! Don't feel bad about feeling stupid doing the video workouts. I still feel stupid the majority of the time, but it's just me in the room so it's fine. I still enjoy it. It ends up being a great workout and I can also feel it working. Last night I noticed that when I move my arms I can actually see some muscles working. It's pretty exciting! :)

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I didn't end up doing taebo yesterday. It was so beautiful outside that I decided to stay outside for the afternoon with my dogs. They played while I worked. I raked up a lot of pine cones, pine needles, and cleaned up some dog messes. It wasn't the most enjoyable thing to do, but it was nice to be out in the sun and fresh air. Later on in the afternoon I walked the dogs which was enjoyable for all. :)

My weight this morning was down again. I weighed in at 210.6lb. I'm hoping and praying that this isn't a water weight fluctuation and that it's the start of my weight going down again. I've been fluctuating between 211.4lb - 213lb for the last few weeks so I was pysched to see it lower this morning!

I'm always on the lookout for some new low calorie, healthy foods and last night I found a recipe online for banana protein pancakes so I'm going to give them a try over the weekend. Have any of you ever tried making protein pancakes?

Hope you all have a great day! :)
 
Hi there, Mandy! I'm slowly trying to get back into the swing of things here (I took a bit of a break) and I've gotta say, your diary has been a very happy one to read! You are doing great, keeping active, staying positive and upbeat... Very motivational!! Keep it up, I'll be back to check in on you for sure :) Oh, and let us know how those pancakes turn out!
 
210.6 is awesome!! Even if it IS a fluctuation, your weight hasn't fluctuated down that low before, right? That's a great thing!

By the way, raking is an AWESOME upper body and core muscles workout... I can attest to that after feeling sore the day after raking up my yard. :) Oh, and I kick the kids out when I do my DVDs... I don't need any giggling or finger pointing when I'm tied up in a knot, doing some pose.
 
Laura, thanks! I try to keep a positive attitude with this whole thing. I feel it's really the only way to do it. Being negative or throwing a pity party for myself wouldn't do much for my moral so I don't go there. I'll let you know how the pancakes turn out. I'm so excited to try them! If anyone's interested, here's the link to the recipe I'm trying: . My plan is to skip adding the sugar.

Don, the lowest weigh in I've had was 210.8lb which was 2-3 weeks ago. I'll have to look at my spreadsheet, but I think it only last for one day and then I was up and over 212lb again. Either that or it went to 211.4lb where I stalled for 4-5 days. Either way, I enjoy seeing that number and I hope it's the start of more losing! :)
 
Yay on the loss! And wow...banana protein pancakes sound delicious!!! Please report back on how they turn out!

The weather is getting nicer around here too! I love being able to go for a walk outside. I cannot wait until it gets even warmer :)

Hope the rest of you day goes swimmingly!

~Camila~
 
I'm glad you enjoyed the fresh air! I find that nothing invigorates me more than to get outside for my exercise.
 
Camila, I will let you know how the pancakes turn out. I might not be able to make them until Sunday morning, but I'm very anxious to try them!

Cory, outdoor exercise is the best! Just being out in the fresh air and sun is awesome. Especially after a long, cold winter! I noticed yesterday that the trees have little buds on them. Spring is definitely here. :)

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Yesterday was my rest day, but I was having tae bo withdrawals so I ended up doing an hour of it. The way I see it is that the walking I did, while great exercise, was more of a leisure exercise. I wasn't sore and felt like working out yesterday so I did! I really pushed myself and burned 967 calories. It felt great! :)

My weigh in this morning was just as I expected. A little bit up from yesterday at 211lb (even). I don't know why, but I had a feeling I'd be over the 210.6lb mark that I was at yesterday, but I wasn't *that* much higher so that's a great thing!

My plan for today is to drink lots of water. I've already had a liter so hitting the 3 liters for the challenge will be no problem at all. For exercise, I really want to do tae bo, but I may go for a long walk with the dogs instead. I feel bad for "ignoring" them while I'm working out so walking them gives us all quality time together. :)

I'm super excited for tomorrow to get here. I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE the ocean and photography so that's where I'm going for the afternoon with my camera. My mom and I usually go together to a place called the Parker River Wildlife Refuge. There's a section of the beach that you can find sand dollars and usually there's a good amount of bird activity too, but it's early in the season so I don't think there will be too much going on yet. Just seeing the ocean alone will be satisfying for me. Plus walking on the beach is great exercise, especially in the softer sand part. I truly feel at home and incredibly relaxed when I'm by the sea! I'll post some pics tomorrow night or Sunday. :)
 
Wow! You are a workout machine, Mandy! I wish there was a scale you could step on that shows fitness, because you KNOW that one would show how much fitter you are right now. Keep it up. Enjoy your day at the refuge tomorrow!
 
Storm, thanks! Some days are hard to stay positive, but I certainly try my best. It's the only real way to deal with this head on. :)

Don, I can definitely see some major changes with my body. Last night while I did taebo I stood in front of the mirror to see if I could tell that certain muscles were working. The people in those videos are already fit and toned so it's hard to judge when you're overweight. I could really see a huge difference. Even in my abs. That's my problem area right now. My gut just doesn't want to go, but when I suck my stomach in and do the moves I could see a difference. It's really a great feeling, but again I just wish the scale showed it too!
 
Mandy - You are doing fantastic! And making me so jealous with all of this talk about visiting the ocean and finding sand dollars..I want to come along! Seriously though, I think your will to workout is so impressive! Pets are funny that way...they can make us feel sooooo guilty for ignoring them for 5 minutes...coughcoughMYCATScoughcough. Ha I am sure your doggies appreciate you taking them for a nice walk!
 
Mom and I had a great trip to the beach today. The beach itself was very quiet. It was warm, hardly a breeze, and very peaceful. It was too peaceful! There weren't even many birds on the beach. We saw a single seagull and that's it. Normally we see tons of them along with some sandpipers, plovers, etc. Not today. Even looking for sand dollars was unproductive. We only found a few broken pieces. It was still so nice to see the ocean though.

The highlight of the day came on our way out of the refuge. There were a group of photographers lined up on the side of the road and I could tell by their camera equipment that the were birders. We stopped and sure enough they were photographing a juvie red tailed hawk. This hawk seemed to be very comfortable with all of us gawking at him. He just went about his business which included catching a bird (thankfully it was in some grass so we didn't see the gory stuff), but being that close to such a beautiful bird in the wild was an amazing experience. Mom and I were both in awe! I'm attaching a few pics so you can see. :)

Now, I'm going to be totally honest here. I did do my exercises in that I spent nearly 3 hours walking on the beach. BUT, it was a HORRIBLE day for food intake. We stopped at Dunkin Donuts for breakfast (I had a turkey, cheddar, bacon sandwich) before heading out. For lunch we ended up stopping at Kentucky Fried Chicken and we split a 6 piece chicken tender and we both had a small order potato wedges. Dinner consisted of bbq'd spare ribs, steak tips, and butter noodles and a can of soda (Mug Root Beer). I'm not even going to bother adding up my calorie intake, I'm sure I'm well over my limit, but today will be considered my cheat day and tomorrow I'll be back on track. I'm also not going to beat myself up over it. I did truly enjoy every bite and sip. It was a nice change of pace. I drank lots of water so hopefully that'll help balance things out. :)

Oh, this morning's weigh in was 211.6 which is .2 higher than last week. Ugh, why won't that number go down!?
 
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So the protein banana pancakes were a big hit. The were VERY good! The best part is that they're healthy. I'll be adding to my breakfast rotation. :)

Today got off to a better start food wise, but I still ate more than I should have considering it's Easter. At least the one thing is tomorrow is back to the normal routine so I'll definitely be back on track. I already got my hours worth of Taebo in today too which was good for 929 calories burned. It really kicked my butt today for some reason, but it feels good now that I'm done. :)

Hope you all have a wonderful Easter. :)
 
Those pics from your day at the beach are great! We also have a lot of red tailed hawks out here. In the past few years, we've even been getting several bald eagles. Very cool. No worries about food. I think a lot of us are going "off the reservation" for a little respite. C'est la vie! Happy Easter, Mandy.
 
Hi my namesake :) You are doing very well Mandy. Great pix, by the way. Beautiful bird!

Those protein banana pancakes sound amazing!! Hope you had a fab Easter.
 
Don, we've also been seeing an increase of bald eagles. Such an awesome thing considering how low their numbers are. They're majestic birds for sure!

Thanks Mands! The hawk was a very pleasant surprise Saturday. That encounter made the trip a success in it’s own.

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Ok, here’s another honest post. Today has been extremely difficult for me. After eating relatively care free over the past couple of days I'm finding it so hard to get back on track. I really feel like I'm sinking today. It's like I'm a bottomless pit and all I want to do is eat, eat, and eat some more! Thankfully, I've been stronger than my cravings for the most part. I had my strawberries and cool whip for breakfast and followed that up with a couple of my protein banana pancakes. My afternoon snack was some Habanero BBQ almonds. Lunch was a garden salad. Afternoon snack was an orange. I did sneak some salt & vinegar pringles in as well as a handful of Skittles when I went home to let my dogs out at lunch time. The pringles are now gone, but I have about half a bag (one of the big bags, not a small vending machine bag) of Skittles left (it was given to me, I didn't buy it). I think when I go home I'm going to just throw it away. I hate wasting food, but candy's not really food is it? It's junk right? I came VERY close to getting some Reese's pb cups from a coworkers candy dish, but right when I was about to get up I popped a piece of Trident gum in my mouth so I wouldn't be tempted anymore. At least that worked! Dinner will be a steak with a baked potato on the side. Then I'm going to try like hell NOT to eat anything else, at least nothing unhealthy.

Ugh!! Anyone else really struggling today? How are beating your cravings?

Oh, one other thing. I weighed in at an even 212lb this morning. I guess I deserve to be up a bit considering what I've eaten the last couple of days. Thankfully the damage isn't too bad. :)
 
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MandyH said:
Ok, here’s another honest post. Today has been extremely difficult for me. After eating relatively care free over the past couple of days I'm finding it so hard to get back on track. I really feel like I'm sinking today. It's like I'm a bottomless pit and all I want to do is eat, eat, and eat some more! Thankfully, I've been stronger than my cravings for the most part. I had my strawberries and cool whip for breakfast and followed that up with a couple of my protein banana pancakes. My afternoon snack was some Habanero BBQ almonds. Lunch was a garden salad. Afternoon snack was an orange. I did sneak some salt & vinegar pringles in as well as a handful of Skittles when I went home to let my dogs out at lunch time. The pringles are now gone, but I have about half a bag (one of the big bags, not a small vending machine bag) of Skittles left (it was given to me, I didn't buy it). I think when I go home I'm going to just throw it away. I hate wasting food, but candy's not really food is it? It's junk right? I came VERY close to getting some Reese's pb cups from a coworkers candy dish, but right when I was about to get up I popped a piece of Trident gum in my mouth so I wouldn't be tempted anymore. At least that worked! Dinner will be a steak with a baked potato on the side. Then I'm going to try like hell NOT to eat anything else, at least nothing unhealthy.

Ugh!! Anyone else really struggling today? How are beating your cravings?

Oh, one other thing. I weighed in at an even 212lb this morning. I guess I deserve to be up a bit considering what I've eaten the last couple of days. Thankfully the damage isn't too bad. :)
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I am not trying to speak for you, so I'll speak for me. YES. I go through phases like that in life. Not so much since I started in January, but definitely in the past. For ME, I think I do it in an effort to sabotage my real desire to become healthier.

It's like I'm adrift in the open ocean only a few hundred yards from the safety of a floating raft... dieting and exercising is like me very slowly swimming towards the raft...sometimes making obvious progress, sometimes feeling like I'm paddling but making it no closer to that raft. In real life, when I find myself trying to satisfy some insatiable hunger, it's like my subconscious is trying to push me further from the raft... that if I get far enough away, maybe far enough that I can no longer see it, I won't have to keep trying to swim toward it anymore.

In the past, that is when I found it easier to just quit trying... to just stop swimming. That cannot happen this time. Even if I lose sight of the raft, I will keep swimming. I know the strokes. I know the direction I need to paddle.

Just swim.


I gained 4 lbs overnight due to overeating and making poor food choices all day Sunday. At 11:30 last night, I climbed on my stationary bike and pedaled out a 30 minute, 8 mile ride. This morning, after getting the ugly weigh-in, I drank a giant glass of water (the first of many today) and made a big cucumber and strawberry smoothy and gulped it down. I'll keep it going until I am firmly entrenched back in the routine that helped me get this far. I know how to do it and I know I'm going in the right direction.

By the way, you ROCK Mandy.
 
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