Friday, December 23, 2005

Which Reindeer Are YOU?

You Are Blitzen
Always in good spirits, you're the reindeer who loves to party down with Santa.
Why You're Naughty: You're always blitzed on Christmas Eve, while flying!
Why You're Nice: You mix up a mean eggnog martini.
Which of Santa's Reindeer Are You?

Thursday, December 22, 2005

Photos YUK

I decided if I am really serious about this whole weight loss thing I need to get some evidence to show that I have made some progress so... today I have posted my start pictures. Although they look bad, they dont look as bad as I expected, but still pretty bad. The side on view is deceiving, because I was twisting to take the photo I look thinner than I really am, but the front on... well enough said about that.

I will update the photos each month with hopefully better ie thinner looking ones.

I jumped on the scales this morning - yes I check every day, and I am down 2.5 kg since Monday YAY. So I am now 80.5 as opposed to the very scary 83 that showed up on Monday. I have been very careful with my food choices, and the DH has grilled me every evening about how my day was. He is not the most gently supportive of weight loss coaches, his method is more crack the whip and shame the fatty, so for the most part I dont listen to him when he is being drill sargeant, but he does act as a good conscience for the days when my own willpower is low.

I have wasted most of the day doing stuff that needed to be done, but overall dont seem to have helped me move forward in getting organised for Sunday. I am sure though once I clear the clutter that has accumulated via three children being under foot things will be better than they seem. Tomorrow I have a big day of cooking ahead, then cleaning. After that it is only little things, present wrapping and trying to maintain the house till Christmas is over.

Hope everyones lead up to Christmas is running smoothly.

three sleeps

I cant believe Christmas is almost here again. I still have heaps to do, but at least now the kids are finished at school so I dont have the schedule constraints that imposes anymore. Thankfully all of the shopping is done, I got the last of that finished on Tuesday. I am also finished work for the rest of the year. Just groceries today, and then cooking and wrapping for a few days, then it is all done YAY.

The news on the scales this week has not been good, I have gained 3.5kg! Not happy. I think some of it can be put down to the surgery, I have been retaining fluid and quite swollen since then. But unfortunately some of it can also be put down to the eating I undertook on the weekend when we went to my parents for Dad's 60th birthday party. Thankfully 1kg has gone again, but I am really watching what I eat this week to try and get the other two moving and regain some momentum.

Anyway, off to face the hordes in the grocery store now - you gotta love Christmas right?

Monday, December 19, 2005

the bees knees

Well mine actually, according to my surgeon the knee is unsuitable for the cartilage grafting, and other than major surgery (as if the graft wasn't bad enough) there is little he can do.

My body has already started generating fibrous cartilage to cover the open area, but it will never be strong enough for high impact stuff. His belief is if I look after myself really well for the next six weeks or so and don't bend my knee past 20 degrees I have a good chance of getting good coverage. This will then hopefully see me through the next five to possibly ten years before I need any other intervention.

All of this is of course speculation, and I could find in 12 months the pain is so bad I am ready to cut the damn thing off, but so far my pain as all but disappeared so I am taking the optimistic outlook for now. So I walk up and down stairs like a two year old, one step at a time, and I will be walking a bit stiff legged for a few more months, but I have hope that I will be able to use my knee better for a few more years at least.

So enough about the knee for now.

The other comment he made was that it is important for me to keep my weight "under control". Given that my husband was present when he said that he may as well have said "loose some lard tubby" because that is what my DH heard. So he has volunteered to go on a diet with me so that he can lose a few pounds while I lose a lot of pounds. I guess I should be happy that he is being supportive, but his support usually involves hard labour so it is a double edged sword.

I know I need to lose the weight, and I want to lose it, but it is no fun when you get told to do it. I have this stubborn streak in me, and I hate people telling me what to do. Luckily in my own head I knew I had to lose the weight before anyone else told me to, or else I could be really fighting with myself on this one LOL.

So onwards and downwards (on the scale at least) I have pulled my finger out!

Friday, December 16, 2005

Triple J




When they are driving me crazy I should remember that they aren't always that bad LOL
James, Jane and Joan.

Christmas a knee and a small loss

I cant believe how busy I have been lately, I have hardly found time for anything I need or want to do, just for the things I have to do. Today is dedicated to going slow and doing some things that I have neglected.

Christmas shopping done! Just need to get it all wrapped now which wont take too long. Everything for the nieces and nephews is finalised and ready to go into the car. We are driving to Sydney tonight to spend the weekend with my family as it is my dads 60th birthday tomorrow.

Now for the knee - first operation successful. I am so happy. I went in early yesterday morning and was home again by lunch time. The surgeon removed a large chunk of cartilage that had been moving around in my knee and getting caught as I was trying to walk. I cant believe how much better it feels already. The pain factor has been negligible, only two pain killers since waking up from the operation yesterday. Best of all I can walk, and I mean properly walk, not even a limp. I have not been this mobile for eight weeks now.

I am still all bandaged up so we dont know how much flexion I will have without pain, that will come over the next few weeks. Unfortunately the damage was too great to do the harvest for the cell implant, so that option is now unavailable to me, and we will have to examine further areas of treatment. I am almost certainly going to end up with osteoarthritic pain at some stage as I still have an area of bone that will be in contact with other bone in the knee, but for now I am feeling so much better than I was even two days ago, and the constant pressure, pain and aching has all but disapeared. So for now I am celebrating that, I will worry about the other possible problems next week when I go back to see the surgeon.

As for the weight loss, I have am now at 79.5, which is a 400g loss from my last weigh in. But considering my last weigh in was November 21st, things have been on the back burner to say the least. I am more committed to losing this weight now than I have been for a long time. The failure of this cartliage implant option for my knee has really made me think. I only have one body and it has to last me a lot longer yet, so I really need to take more care of it. There are some things that are beyond my control aka knee injury, but there are some things that are totally up to me to control and the biggest of these is my weight.

It's time to take some action