Baby Steps V: Being Careful and my medical support system

Saturday, January 01, 2005

Being Careful and my medical support system

I get a full physical, blood work, mammogram and the like EVERY year.

I do consult my doctor before changing/starting something new - like they always recommend. This is a very good idea. And all those stats on blood work, blood pressure, etc. are very good indicators (besides the scale) on progress!

I see my GP once a quarter (minimum). I see an Eating Disorders Therapist - once a week - I started with her very early in 2007. I also started with a psychiatrist August of 2007.

My therapist, GP and psychiatrist are all involved in my medications - prescription and over the counter.

They also correspond with each other about my progress/medical status/blood work both physical and emotional.

I also consider all my yoga instructors to be a central part of my support system. Yoga has been just as important to my process as all the other weight loss factors - maybe more so. Yoga (and Pilate's) have increased my tone and body awareness. Yoga has taught me lots about living in my own skin and clearing my mind.

I have learned to ask for help and to express myself - through therapy and through this blog - I have learned to let it all (mostly) hang out here - I appreciate all of your comments immensely!!!!

Barbara: "I often remind people that their new eating habits are a gift they are giving themselves. “If you are going to give yourself that gift,” I say, “then DO it! Don’t pull it back at the last moment just because of the Christmas cookies!”

"I think that maintainers understand more about this gift than dieters do. This is because we have to experience a period of prolonged maintenance to “get it”; to feel the true benefits of changed eating. While staying at a lower weight is part of that benefit, it is often a smaller part than we might have expected. The gift we receive is a feeling of being in healthy harmony.

"This harmony allows us to enjoy powers of energy, a new smoothness of mood, a feeling of strength, and a body that stays well when other bodies fail. Escaping from the daily fear of illness – that’s probably the ultimate maintenance gift."

The Years (in a nutshell)

I did lose weight once before and part of that story is here. I worked hard on food. Was NOT exercising. And did NO work on the inside parts. And yes I regained. That posting is VERY long, should probably have been split into three different topics, but I have left it as I first wrote it.

(The VERY beginnings, of the story, of this weight loss journey are NOT on this blog. I was not blogging then. This blog starts at the tail end of that initial weight loss. )

The end, of the story, of this weight loss IS ALL here on this blog. There are over 1600 posts talking about all the odds and ends connected to weight loss and maintenance. Somewhere long ago I wrote - if you think I have gotten off topic - look again - it is all sooooo inner-related.

Getting into my goal range was 2 years almost exactly - 2005 and 2006. I started with exercise and don't know my heighest weight. I didn't get on a scale until 6 mos into this process. I weighed 214 lbs. Then I concentrated on learning about food, exercise, and all the other basics like sleep. I started my yoga practice and got brave enough to join a gym. Here is a posting that gives a recap of my thoughts about all the changes I have had to make over the years with exercise facilities.

Then 2007 was all about tone and getting on the right psych medications. I found my therapist and then, in turn, added my psychiatrist. My original goal was 140lbs. But, I ended up choosing to stay in the 150-155 lb range. I was in "maintenance mode". And on the way to maintenance mode, I had a few interesting twists. Read this one first and this one second . Here is a posting that talks about what maintenance mode ended up looking like (to me) when I got there.

2008 - Still holding at 150-155lbs. This was maintenance mode. And the year of getting my lower back and uterus 'corrected'. Those posts can be found in March, April, May, June, July of 2008. It wasn't easy at the time, but in the long run ended up being really good for me. I was in physical therapy for over two months. And that is when I learned how to REALLY exercise.

2009 was the year of surprises - my insurance changed (January) so that my therapist is/was not covered. After a couple gasps for air - my therapist and I decided that it was probably a good opportunity. A good chance to wean me - see if I was ready to stand on my own two feet. The second surprise was my deciding to lose more weight . After two years of maintaining in the 150-155 lb range (high end of normal BMI). I decided to drop a few more pounds (low end of normal BMI) and continue to work on tone. I actually hit my new goal range Thanksgiving week and went back into maintenance. How ironic is that? There is something very empowering about finishing. I now maintain in the 134-135lb range. Those posts can be found starting late June 2009 and continue-ing through November 2009 OR in my 'last 20 lbs' section. (The link puts the most recent posts on top. If you want to read them in order, start at the bottom. There are over 85 posts in this section - it spans 6 months of weight loss time.).

Leslie again: "Where I am today is a direct result of beginning the sober journey and finally growing up and daring to face myself. At a glacial pace, but always with progress. Putting down booze was a cakewalk compared to ending my eating disordered patterns, and stopping drinking was HARD. In AA, they say that the only "thing" you have to change is "everything". Long, slow, hard, endlessly rewarding. Layers upon layers slough away with the sanding tools provided by the 12 steps of the AA program and other suggestions of the program that surface over time."

Leslie:
" There's a saying in AA: "It's easier to stay sober than to get sober." This has endless relevance for all recovering alcoholics, but especially those in early days of new found sobriety and peace after the heaviness of an alcoholic existence. Things are going well, and then something happens: a wedding, a death, a loss, a work issue, or even just a sudden desire to drink that comes from out of the blue. Many folks do relapse a few times before this adage sinks in, and find that once a relapse happens, it gets just a little harder to do it the next time. Stopping drinking the first time is almost always easier than stopping subsequent times, because the mechanisms of obsession and compulsion get more firmly entrenched and resistant to change. And that's definitely the same with food addiction and bingeing."

Hanlie (comment is here): I think people have trouble tying consequences to their choices. Ultimately they don't want to change and in the process they sacrifice not only their own well-being, but that of their children. These are often the same parents that would emphatically declare that they only want the best for their kids. The thing is, your awareness and the way you live, is not the norm and most people have been so conditioned to function within the norm that they can't see that it comes at a huge cost.

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time; Enjoying one moment at a time; Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace; Taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it; Trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His Will; That I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with Him Forever in the next.
Amen.--Reinhold Niebuhr
From my Blame Game posting.

Hanlie's book review post:
In Kathy’s own words -
"Many of the tools that are mentioned in this book come down to one basic concept: Loving and respecting ourselves enough so that we can focus on our own need to find balance in our lives. It’s about raising our self-esteem so that we can find the strength to reach whatever goal we wish to achieve, whether the goal is a healthy weight or something else. And above all, to feel connected, so that we do not try to fill the emptiness of feeling disconnected with excessive amounts of food."

Shauna (Dietgirl): "Weight loss isn't about willpower or motivation; it's just the cumulative effect of tiny actions over time. Putting down the chocolate bars, putting on the running shoes. You just have to keep picking yourself up when you fall, over and over again, for however long it takes."

Another Shauna Quote
(on Lyn's blog):
"It's taken me two years of maintenance to admit this to myself - weight loss and maintenance are pretty much the same. When I was in weight loss mode, I hated when people said, "Weight loss is SO easy! Just wait to you start maintaining little missy - that's where the real work begins!" Grrrr! Neither of them are easy. They both can be really, really sucky sometimes. I've discovered I need the same basic, never-say-die mindset as I did for weight loss. Things like taking one day at a time, setting goals, trying to make the healthiest decisions I can, focusing on my positive actions and not beating myself up for the crappy ones, and most importantly, just never giving up!"

And this is soooo good that I am not quoting - take a minute to go read the whole thing.

Vickie Said: I love to read those Warrior Heart maintainers write about their feelings and drive and effort. I have read everything (I think) that Shauna has published - her whole blog, her book, and now am enjoying her blog book tour.

Quote: “How about looking at maintenance with a completely bold vision? Maintenance is nothing short of a complete remodeling and re-envisioning of you and your relationship to the world. To do this, you must both embrace the world in a new way and utterly reject other parts of that world. You must embrace the natural world including sleep cycles, physical activity, interaction with the sun and the elements and the foods that are original to man. You must reject modern eating patterns, the intrusion of man-made stressors like the constant presence of noise, media and artificial environments. You must become a rebel. An original person in a world that largely moves in an unthinking mass. "

This is the image that I focused on all morning: I am standing in open ocean water - on a wooden post. If I make the post very small - then it only holds one of my feet and it is hard to balance. If I make my post a little bigger - I can balance on two feet. I am not waiting for a boat to come in and save me. I am not trying to swim the whole ocean. I am also not trying to build a whole island at once. I am doing what I can. I am staying up out of the waves. My post is small but secure. I am shoring myself up - on my post - for as long as need be.

"We cannot help the birds of sadness from flying over our heads, but we need not let them nest in our hair."

It is only when we have the courage to face things exactly as they are, without any sort of self-deception or illusion, that a light will develop out of events, by which the path to success may be recognized. (translated from I Ching, an ancient Chinese text and shared by my psychiatrist.)

Briefly stated, the three laws are: An object in motion will remain in motion unless acted upon by a net force. Force equals mass multiplied by acceleration. To every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. (Laws of motion by Sir Issac Newton)

Lisa (downtown Yoga instructor that moved to NY state spring of 2007) once said - "You don't have to start OVER, you just begin again - from where you are."

"I've learned you get to your goals in a zigzag manner, and you have to enjoy the zigzag."

and

"All the little pieces of myself came together. I no longer think in terms of black and white: extremes don't interest me anymore." (Lorie Marino, Model/Designer in February 2008 issue of MORE magazine)

MORE Quotes.

Saturday, January 01, 2005

Being Careful and my medical support system

Baby Steps V

Yes, it's me (Vickie)

The Years (in a nutshell)

Things about me

Take What is Helpful and Leave the Rest

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