Struggles on the road to health

Hey Mindi!

Wow, it seems like you are doing great. I think it's time for a new pic! :D

As far as the rat terrier, we used to have one. The main key for potty training is to be consistent.

I like to use the crate training method - they go in the crate when you aren't home or are in bed (until they are "trained.) The crate has to be small enough so that they won't soil in it. For a puppy, I would just section it off - we did that with a piece of cardboard.

Puppy comes out of the crate, puppy goes outside. Then, say words that you don't mind saying - like go potty or something like that. Then, when she does give her a "good girl". Also, make sure she stays outside long enough to do 1 and 2. :) I know a lot of people make the mistake, oh she just went potty, she's done, let's go back inside.

After she eats, the same routine.

Now, some will put their dog back in the crate if they don't do the deed when they take them out. Keep the dog in the crate for like 5 min. Then, take them back out, until they go potty - keep repeating the process. I guess it's because they think it is time to play when they go out. And, always you have to watch them to make sure they are doing what they are supposed to.

It will take some time. But, if you're consistent, they will learn quickly. Rat terriers are pretty smart, but can be stubborn too.

Have fun with her!
 
You may be right about the picture....I'll work on a new one for sure!

Gosh...Daisy is a piece of work. We'll definitely need to section off the crate, but we don't know how. We thought of using cardboard, but...well....she goes through cardboard like it's hot butter. Maybe she won't, though, if she doesn't have the room to really get her teeth into it....it's worth a try.

Right now she's peeing outside without a problem, and won't do that in her crate unless I'm late taking her out (only a couple of times, ever). But the solid stuff...two or three times a DAY she does it in there. So maybe closing it off a little will work.

My biggest problem with her is that it takes her forever after she eats to need to do her business. Like hours. So I always miss it, even though I go home every two hours to take her out.

She IS pretty smart...we've already taught her to sit, lie down and we're working on getting her to stand/walk on her back legs, just for fun. I need to start leash training...then she can walk with me!
 
My attitude is totally sucking recently, regarding working out. Time for a reminder of where I've come from, and where I am now (140 this morning...down a few – WAAAAAAAAAAY away from 220 when I started).

Befores - July-ish 2007
Afters - Septembr 2008!
 
oh wow Mindi!! You look so beautiful and sexy!! How did you do it and for how long? You are my inspiration! I really want to be where you are now!!
 
Thanks, Cybermama...I counted calories, did cardio 5 days a week and lifted weights three times a week. It took about a year to get here, but it was worth it. If only I could hold onto that same motivation to get my butt up and working out like I should all the time!!!
 
oh wow! Im sure you will be able to do that. If you have reached and completed the hard part, others can come easy for you.

Is it true you continued to eat 1500 calories? I was reading part of your diary and saw this.
 
Cybermama...I'm probably closer to 1,700 or 1,800 a day now...I had to increase more to stop losing weight when I got where I wanted to be!

Thanks, Sweatpea...I like the way I look, as far as how skinny I am. There are parts of me I'd change if I could...but maybe that'll get better in time!
 
Well there are always going to be parts you want to change, but just love the body you got! :)
 
This weekend was HORRIBLE, food-wise. Too much eating out!!

On Saturday we got tied up running an errand while we were out of town, so our plans of a lunch at Applebee's, where I was going to have stuff from the Weight Watchers menu, fell through. In fact, the first meal I ate all day was at 3 p.m. and consisted of a cheeseburger and small order of fries. Then I topped it off that night with a pumpkin pie Blizzard from Dairy Queen. :leaving:

Sunday I got up, ate a bowl of oatmeal and things quickly spiraled downhill. Lunch was fast food...tator tots and popcorn chicken bites. Dinner wasn't fast food, but wasn't much better. :ack2: I stayed within calorie ranges both days, but I can tell it had an effect on me. Weigh-in this morning was 145. I know I didn't gain three or four pounds over the weekend...must be all the fried nonsense!!! Not again!
 
My how things change...starting to worry

I called an end to my weight loss at 160 pounds back in July. I started upping my calories slowly, but kept losing. At 150 I was still happy, not too thin...then I hit 145 and got stable. Or so I thought.

This week I'm weighing in at 138. My ribs are showing, and I'm too thin to be 5'9" with my body. I know for some people it's not too thin...but on me it certainly is. I've gone from 38D bra size to 32B-C...size 16/18 pants to 6/8. XL shirts to medium. It's time to stop.

Only it's not stopping.

I'm working out 20-30 minutes a day (cardio), five days a week, and weight training moderately 3X a week. When I was TRYING to lose I was doing weights three times a week and 45 minutes of cardio five times a week. When I was losing I was consuming around 1,450 calories...now I'm at 1,650-1,750 on normal days.

What's crazy is that I've been snacking a LOT recently (and going over that daily limit) and have lost weight rather than gaining any. It's almost as if eating more is making me lose.

So...are my calories too low? Do I raise them? Work out less? Is something WRONG with me that a doctor needs to test? Any advice would be wonderful!
 
Oh wow. I don't know what to say. Have you been to the dr. recently even for a check-up?

Maybe your metabolism has just caught up?
 
I went to the doctor Friday, for some other reasons.

For several months now, I've been having issues with dizziness when I stand up. It doesn't happen ALL the time...mostly at night, every time I stand up, and a little during the day. I had a spell in the shower a few months back where I was dizzy, nauseated, had ringing in my ears and had my vision blacking out...I had to get out and sit down for about five minutes, until it cleared up. Then about a month ago the same thing happened again. At that time I attributed it to the fact I hadn't eaten in several hours, and was fine after I ate something. Then Wednesday of last week, while at a graveside service for a high school friend of my husband's...out of nowhere it happened again. I was standing there, just fine, and all of a sudden started shaking, sweating, feeling nauseated, ears ringing and vision blacking out. I had to go to the car and sit for five minutes or so, and was weak the remainder of the afternoon.

So Friday I went to the doctor. I'm having a glucose tolerance test on Wednesay morning to see if I'm hypoglycemic (he's thinking maybe reactive hypoglycemia). If that's not it, he's testing blood pressure and for heart problems.

It almost makes me mad...one of the main reasons I started out to lose weight a year ago was to be healthier and avoid the diabetes and heart problems that've killed SO many people in my family. I drop 80 pounds, get into size 4 (YES, 4!!!) jeans, and now I may be having a problem that will, according to the doctor, most likely turn into the problems I've been working to avoid?

Maybe I was healthier at 220 than I am at 137. :ack2:
 
I hope they checked your ears. Also did they say anything about vertigo?
 
They pretty much didn't say anything about the ears, vertigo or anything else....gosh...maybe if this test doesn't show anything, I should find a new doctor.

It's just awkward...my mother-in-law is this doctor's nurse...so I almost feel obligated to use them.
 
Wow! Great job Mindi....you mentioned something about WW and counting calories...which did you have more success with or did you just count calories....what kind of cardio did you do and did you notice yourself getting flabby at any point? if so, how did you counteract the flab?....can you PLEASE give me some suggestions?
 
Well, with the dizziness and such, I would think they would check you for vertigo or check your ears at least. But what do I know? LOL
 
Family reactions

Did ok with Thanksgiving...ate well, but not too much. Stayed within my calorie limit, or only JUST above with a quarter piece of pie thrown in. Did horrible with water consumption, though, and I figure that's accounting for the 141 showing on the scale this morning. Not that it'd hurt me to gain weight...at least according to my family..

I haven't seen them in a few months, and was probably about 10-15 pounds heavier then. I haven't seen my dad or sister in even longer than that...maybe back over the summer, 20+ pounds ago and in a size 12.

So my sister and I are looking through some old pictures from a few years ago, at Christmas with the family. I'm 220+ in these pictures, and she says "I think you looked better with more weight on you. Your face is all drawn and skinny like a skeleton."

Thanks, sis.

Then my dad calls the next day and goes ON and ON about my weight..."How much do you weigh? And don't go tell me it's 140 or 150 because it's not!"

Yeah, dad...138-140 is normal, I tell him. He thinks it's 120 or below and that I'm "starving myself" because I didn't totally pig out at Thanksgiving. My sister also commented on "how little" I ate, when I ate a TON of turkey (oven roasted, no skin or butter or anything like that), some pea salad, some green beans, some stuffing, a tiny bit of potato salad, a couple of deviled eggs and a little piece of chocolate pie. And a red velvet cake cupcake with cream cheese icing.

On another note...went shopping for a minute with the husband a couple of weeks ago. I got tired of him griping about how my jeans and shirts were too big, so we hit a sale at JC Penney. I was wearing size 8 jeans, and found a pair of size 6 pants in the same brand and style, and some 75% off shirts to try on. He said I should take a size 4, just in case.

"No...no WAY I can get into a 4" I scoffed. But I did it anyway, just to see how far off I was.

Got to the dressing room. Some shirts worked (2 in fact) and others didn't. I'm down to a small or medium shirt (depending on how it's made), and a size 4 or 6, in numbers.

Tried on the 6 jeans...too big. Tried on the 4s...too big. Went looking for size 2!!! Didn't find any. Changed style, and the 4s fit better...so I'm wearing a size 4.

Still can't get my head wrapped around it...from a 16/18 to a 4. Wow.
 
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