Updates of various kinds

[thistlechaser]

Nutritionist: Apparently I'm ahead of the game. She said most people lose 15-20 pounds in their first month, and I've lost 30. She made the same suggestion most of us (me included) already knew: Don't weigh myself every day. She said to do it every two weeks, but I think I'd go crazy waiting that long, so going to go back to doing it once a week and trying not to check other times.

Diet: Just to keep record of things, I've "cheated" twice on my diet:

Once was "on purpose" (last week I was so miserable, crying at everything, losing no weight and eating nothing and thinking my life would never be happy again because I'd never eat "normal" food ever again), so I went to Popeye's (fast food fried chicken). I got a kid's meal (one chicken finger and some fries), gave the drink (soda) to the guy standing behind me on line. Ate half the chicken finger, and amazingly didn't get sick (in fact, I felt better after eating it than when I eat food I'm supposed to). It's amazing the changes that half chicken finger did for my mood, like night/day changes.

The second time, yesterday, was "not my fault" (excuses, it totally was). Panda Express has a chicken and green bean dish, which is just plain chicken breast and green beans in a soy sauce. Seriously low calories, low fat, almost no carbs, so fine to eat. I had a buy one get one free deal, so I went in and ordered two small sides of it. One I ate for lunch, the other I had for dinner... but somehow the woman at the counter packed the wrong thing as the second order and I had a side of orange chicken instead (sweet, fried, spicy). I had a little bite of it, "just to see", and it was so good I ate more (about a third of the small container). I was so certain it would make me sick, but it didn't.

I'm not happy that I cheated, though neither was too horribly bad. Those two things were the only fried things I've eaten in more than a month, the only time I've broken my diet at all. I want to live by "all things in moderation" if possible, though I'd rather start it later, once I'm done with the healing diet part of this.

Flight Rising: I don't need another obsession, but when accounts opened up yesterday, I decided to make one. I'm ThistleChaser there. I told myself I was making one "just to see what the site was like", but that's what I said about Neopets more than a decade ago, and then I was active on the site for ten years. I'm amused at how the first thing that happens after you make a dragon is that some random wild one shows up to breed with it.

RP: Oh man, I'm getting so much RP and it's so good. More than that, I'm getting a lot more social interaction/chatting because of the forum RP group. I'm in the great position where I actually sometimes turn down RP now because I have so much! Even though I write all day at work, writing for RP is a totally different animal. It just feels so good to write that way.

I'm really missing reviewing books. I'm about 25% into the second Stormlight Archive book, and there's still 18 hours of reading left before I finish. x.x I'm really, really loving the book, but man has the series killed my book count for the year. I was on track to beat my 50 book goal, but now I doubt I'll get out of the 30s. Still, it's worth it.

Comments

[oracne.livejournal.com]

There's a Dreamwidth Community for FR: http://flight-rising.dreamwidth.org/

A few people are giving away dragons to newbies there.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Oh thanks! Checking it out now. With more dragons I could breed more, then have more to breed, then have more to breed... I see where this is going! :P

[gonzostar.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad you were able to see the weight changes with more perspective meeting with her! I didn't lose that much my first month. ;) I weigh about once a week (and I keep forgetting this week!) Have you been taking pictures for yourself to compare?

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

I didn't ask, but I suspect I lost more because I have a lot more to lose than most others. That's just a total guess though. Meeting with her really did help, I didn't expect it to be as useful as it was. (Mostly because of the forced six month of meeting with her, I guess...)

I skipped the pictures for a couple reasons. To me personally, it feels like it would be more shaming the old me than to be cheering the new me. I know everyone is different and most people don't feel the same, that's just how it is for me. The other reason is that I'm not doing it for that reason (changing how I physically look), or at least not directly. I want to be able to fit in a seat on an airplane, yeah, but if it were just me personally with no outside interaction, I don't have an issue with staying how I am/was. Alas the world requires outside interactions. :P

[gonzostar.livejournal.com]

Also it's expected you'll lose more than me due to bypass vs. sleeve. Is it more for health reasons that you chose this then? You will undoubtedly feel better and have more energy. Plus things like diabetes, the sleep apnea, high cholesterol, high blood pressure... those can all go away. I hope you get cured of all that! anything that ails you. (Edited because I am not assuming you've got all those issues!)

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

True! I keep forgetting about the sleeve vs bypass difference.

Sort of health reasons. At my weight, I wouldn't be living to a ripe old age. I was half-expecting to be dead by 50, and I'm approaching 45 now... It'd be nice to get off the medicines I'm on, so that was part of it too.

It's a bad reason, but a big part of it was because my mother wanted me to. (And because I want to be able to fly to see her and not just make her fly here.)

So lots of little reasons, some of them not very good. I guess the biggest reason is "not dying soon".

This whole thing is a little harder because I had been comfortable in my own skin and in my life before starting this process. More than comfortable: I had been happy.

[isiscolo.livejournal.com]

If eating things that are cheats don't make you sick, then how are they cheats? I had thought the issue was that you couldn't eat these things because you'd have bad reactions, so it seems to me that if you don't have bad reactions, AND it lifts your mood, it should be okay!

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

I like that logic! We're supposed to be following a strict diet though (forever...). No fried foods, all low fat, low calorie, low sugar. The bad reactions are just the "stick" to keep you eating good. The "carrot" is... a carrot. :P Once you reach your goal weight, then you can loosen up a little, but weight gain is easy so not by much.

Sounds fun, no? :P

[fbhjr.livejournal.com]

You did wait longer than normal to go to solid food, so that could explain your loss being a bit above average.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Oh that's a good point! Thanks for reminding me, I bet you're right.

[ani-mama.livejournal.com]

30 pounds in a month is a lot! Don't be too hard on yourself, I think you are doing fine.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

I'd be happy if I could keep that rate up. :D Haha.

Thanks!

[donnaimmaculata.livejournal.com]

Oh hai, I must have missed a ton of your recent posts, but it looks like you're doing much better than you did after the surgery. I wouldn't worry to much about the cheating; seeing as you've been losing weight and felt good after eating it, it's probably okay. Your entire post makes it sound full of positive energy actually :-)

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Hi! :) I'm glad the post came off as positive, since I feel like I've been posting mostly negative things lately.

Physically I'm doing much better than right after surgery, though mentally and emotionally I'm pretty blah. Hopefully that will turn around soon.

Thanks! :)