Embarrassment of Zumba

Last night was Zumba class. I have been quite down the last several days ever since Saturday actually. I wasn't at all thrilled to be at Zumba class what so ever and I wore a frown the entire time. Why so down you ask? It is damn hard to live off of 1600 calories and have any extra energy to do a serious work out! I have been absolutely exhausted the whole week and the last thing I wanted to do was have a "fun" work out.

Well, Zumba class is held at an elementary school and last night they were holding Little League sign ups in the hall way right out side the gym where we Zumba our butts off. There I was not happy to be there, hungry, weak, tired, and shaking my stuff while parents and their young children tried not to watch. One mom found her son smiling and watching us she blushed and turned his head away! No the class is not that bad but there is lots of hip shaking and gyrating. It actually is fun to do when I'm in a good mood and people aren't just watching. How embarrassing...

With 15 minutes left in the class I was feeling faint but kept on shaking it. I finished the class best I could because I'm no quitter and I actually do want to loose weight. Right after class I found on of the main SS and said, "I'm in trouble, I just don't think I can eat so little, I barely made it through the class." She looked concerned and told me to go back up to my original eating plan and I would be needing more calories now that I'm working out more and harder. Duh...

I was quite happy and relieved to hear I could be eating more. Oh, who am I kidding? I was thrilled!! I feel better all ready and am ready to Zumba my little rear off tomorrow at 5:30 a.m.

Yes, and I have lost more weight. I don't know how much because I weighed on my friendly scale but I could tell it was even a little more friendly then usual.

I ...

gained a pound :-(

I did order a nice scale so I can weigh myself when I like to which is in the morning, after I pee, and naked.

I'm not sure how I gained a pound but what ever.

Starting next week I will be Zumba-ing 3 times a week and working out on my own either twice for 45 mins or three times for 30 mins. Not sure which I will do yet.

I have to admit I'm a little bummed and gaining a pound after my hard weekend isn't cool but I'm not giving up.

I'm sorry that dress doesn't come in that size.

I have been on a diet once before. I was in good shape when I got married and then gained about 20 pounds with in the first 6 months of marriage. I didn't mean to gain weight, I just really didn't know how to cook or menu plan and the weight just added up quite fast. I didn't realize the problem till it was time for my friend's wedding. I went to the store to get fitted for the bride's maid dress. I grabbed the size 13 and couldn't even zip it up, actually I don't think I was even able to pull it up over my hips, it had to be pulled down over my head. I wasn't concerned and asked the sales lady for a size 15 or 16 and she said, "I'm sorry that dress doesn't come in that size, the largest is a 13." Ouch. I bought the size 13 and had 6 months to fit into it. I left the dress at my husband's parents house and tried it on every weekend and every weekend it would zip up just a little further till 3 weeks before the wedding it fit! I was over joyed and looked pretty darn good.

So what I do then to loose 20 pounds? The soup diet. Just thinking about it makes me feel sick but it worked. It was basically a vegetable soup that Jeremy and I made every Sunday and ate for the whole week for dinner. Each night we would add some other ingredient to make it different and try to make it yummy. We ate light through out the day and always skipped desert. Every other Sunday we would go out to eat and order what ever we wanted which was nice because we could leave the soup at home. It wasn't easy for me then either. I felt hungry, sad, and grouchy at about 3 or 4 weeks in. I lost the excited feeling of how great it is going to be to loose weight and I started to feel deprived. I remember sitting on the couch with Jeremy feeling quite down and crying about how hungry and tired I was and how I was such a looser for missing regular food so much. Jeremy lovingly put some peanut butter on some saltine crackers for me as a snack and told me everything will be fine and that me feelings would go a way after my body got used to eating less. I made it though the diet and was working out in a kickboxing class and lost all the weight with out regaining it till I got pregnant 4 years later.

I have been feeling tired, hungry, and down again, I even cried today. And I'm encouraged to remember that I made it through once before and was able to keep the wight off before. I am hoping and praying that my body will adjust quickly and I can get out of this funk ASAP!

Jeremy has also recommended that I hold off on 5K training for now because I'm not on a training diet but a weight loss diet which is why I could be struggling now. I will start to train again once my diet and body are ready. Thank you Jeremy.

The pain, The horror, The indescribable saddens

My food has been cut. Apparently I'm just not cutting the muster. My starches have gone from 9-10 to 8. One starch is 1 slice of bread or 1/3 cup pasta type serving. I've gone from 7 down to six lean proteins which is one once of a lean meat. I know this doesn't sound like a lot of food but when your food intake has already been cut reducing it more is a big deal. I admit I'm bummed about having to eat less. When I signed up I thought sure, I'll give this a try and see if it works but what I've found out is that they are going to make sure it works. All I have to do is follow the rules and be compliant. It is a good thing I'm a loyal rule follower or else I would fall out of compliance all the time and be a very bad study subject. I need to pull myself up off the floor, wipe the tears from my cheek and the drool from my chin, and get a hold of myself. It is just food right? They are still giving me a healthy amount of calories which is now going to be 1600. I honestly don't know how that measures up to what people eat or a supposed to eat but I'm pretty sure there are some dinners at Olive Garden that contain that many calories in just one meal.

Yes I've been feeling hungry and look forward to my next meal or snack and no I haven't been satisfied. But, I signed up for this. I want to loose weight. I want the slim waist line that they are trying to get me too. I miss chocolate, snacking when I feel like it, cookies, ice cream, brownies, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, real syrup on my pancakes, eating when I want to instead of following a plan, THIS IS HARD! These are good changes I know but I don't think I was prepared for these changes, silly me.

W1D2 of the C25K complete!

One of my goals is to run. I want to first run a 5K and then work my way up to a 10K with hopes to make it to a half marathon. I'm sure I can make it to a 5K especially with this great plan and helpful site I found at http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml . I used to hate running. I would get a side ach, my knees would hurt, I would feel out of breath, and one of my feet would feel numb. This site gave me all kinds of great tips to help me overcome my chief complaints and gave me a great plan to get me to my 5K goal. W1D2 is week one day two. C25K is Couch to 5K. I felt great after this walk/run and very encouraged. I wonder what it would be like to run by myself because right now I'm pushing a 2 1/2 year old in a jogger and keeping a 4 1/2 year old with in talking distance while she rides her bike. I'm going to have to head out in the morning sometime and see how well I do when it is just me and my ipod.

Diet revisions.

In my nutrition class tonight we were told that some of us aren't loosing weight and will be cut down in our exchanges. She didn't tell us who it was and told us we would be getting e-mails by Friday letting us know how and were to reduce. I'm a little nervous. I am hungry some days but I did only loose a pound. SS says that 1-2 pounds a week is target so I'm hopping that I won't get my food cut.

I guess I'm not necessarily hungry just not satisfied. It is a weird feeling. I want to eat more but my tummy says "your full". I must be missing all the lovely sugar and fat I was accustomed to eating before. My nearly nightly ice cream, cookies, or brownies, giving them up has been noticeably different.

In class tonight SS talked about evening out through out the week. For example if you go over in one category one day then make up for it by going under for a few days after. This makes me feel like I can splurge and go eat a sugar cookie right now and just know that I will have to eat less fat and starches tomorrow. But then I worry about tomorrow. I may be happy for five minutes today but then I may be miserable tomorrow. I don't think I'll be giving this a go or if I do try I will eat less for a few days before I know I want to splurge like the birthday party I'm going to at the end of the month and the wedding next month. I figure that way I could see it as more of a reward then a punishment.

One pound a week is healthy weight loss. Oh, and I lost my underwear!

In all hilarity. In the beginning of this study the SS told us that we wouldn't be segregated in the Zumba class and nobody would know we were part of a study. I have all ready told you that we actually do stick out because of the separate card punch line and how we had to leave after 30 minutes the first week. Well today they singled us out once again. I'm not against all this singling out, I would even wear a tee-shirt advertising the study, but don't tell me nobody will know but then make it obvious. Tonight we had to weigh in at the Zumba class! We had to line up down the hall and into the bathroom and weigh in the handicap stall. Well if that isn't strange and obvious I don't know what is. People were wondering what is everybody doing in line and it is really funny but if people see people in a line they think they need to be in the line too and the SS told them it is only for the study participants. I think we should wear tee-shirts then maybe people wouldn't have to wonder what the heck is going on all the time.

So did I loose or didn't I loose?? According to the scale I lost one pound! I'm cool with one pound a week because at the end that means 16 pounds lost! I have also noticed my cloths fitting looser. I am excited and can't wait to see more results.

I put on my Zumba cloths a few hours before Zumba class including a sweater that I haven't worn in a month or so. Nothing against this sweater but it doesn't have pockets or a hood and I have been cold and want my pockets and hood. Well after our worm up I was ready to take of my sweater. I pulled the sweater up over my head and saw something falling to the floor. I reached down and caught what was falling and was very surprised and embarrassed to see my lacy black underwear that I haven't seen in a month or so. I tried best I could to walk over to my purse and tuck them into my purse. I have been wondering about those undies for a while and am clad they showed up but just not in Zumba class.

This reminds me of the seventh grade. I had two cute bras at that time and could only find one for the longest time. I had some other bras too but I was missing my other cute one. Seventh grade cute is white satin with pink trim, nothing fancy here ladies. Just like this evening, I was wearing a sweater I hadn't worn in a while and I find my cute bra in the sleeve of the sweater. I wasn't in Zumba class at that time but I was in Mrs. Burgs class in the 7th grade and you know how embarrassing everything is in the seventh grade. I think I did my best to tuck it into my backpack then. It might be time to start checking cloths more carefully when folding laundry.

Oh, Chocolate how I love you.

This morning for my smoothie I decided to be creative and make a chocolate and banana smoothie with my protein powder. Good idea poor execution. Of course chocolate syrup would be the way to go but I don't have any and it would have too much sugar (counts as one of my 9-10 starches allowed per day) so that was out. I do have coco powder so I thought it would work out nicely and well, it didn't. It was chalky and didn't have that lovely silky creamy, I love you flavor I was desiring. I added some lite whipped cream to the second one to make it a little better, it wasn't. I chocked down both smoothies because I had to and found myself still longing for some chocolaty goodness.

I have never thought of myself as an emotional eater. Being sad or lonely doesn't make me want to eat but today I found our that I actually am an emotional eater. No I wasn't sad or lonely today but I was feeling a little stressed. With my stress feelings I found myself again feeling a need to satisfy my chocolaty craving. I always reach for chocolate it is my favorite and I will eat it in all forms except for maybe chocolate covered bugs...well maybe...no defiantly not. Jeremy had to work late and I did dinner and bed by my self. I got the kids in their pj's and loaded them up in the Jeep one because it needed gas so I can make it to my 5:30 a.m. Zumba class tomorrow but also because I thought of a way that might satisfy my chocolate search. I decided to get a decaf coffee with a splash of milk and some sugar free chocolate syrup. An other big fail. It didn't taste chocolaty and still all that lovely creaminess was lost. Humph.

I got home, put the kids to bed, and grabbed an other "free" fudge pop. It hit the spot. Why didn't I learn from the other day and skip all the silliness? So I am an emotional eater. I need to remember this and also stop letting chocolate lead my thoughts for a whole day.

Goals have led me to need to shave my legs.

I stopped shaving my legs in mid October. That is right, I haven't shaved them in about three months. My legs basically looked like they belonged to a 14 year old boy. I could even feel the breeze blowing in my leg hairs when I would walk. Some of you may be saying gross and too much information or but didn't I see you in skirts over the last few months. Well, I typically don't shave in the winter because I'm wearing pants and it is fun to see just how hairy they can get. Yes, I did wear skirts along with my knee high black boots so you couldn't see those hairy legs. No, Jeremy doesn't really mind and I don't show them in public. What brought on the momentous occasion? Zumba is kicking my butt!!! I thought I could just wear my cute new work out pants but they are just not going to work for this work out. I will be needing to show off the legs and they need to be shaved.

Shaving my legs was one of my goals but I wasn't going to do it till I was able to get into my cute little red dress. While doing my Christmas shopping I came across a very sexy red dress, a date night dress. I thought, "isn't that pretty. I would be so cool to be able to pull off a dress like that, maybe some day." and I walked to the check out counter and when he started ringing up my purchases I ran back and grabbed that hot dress in one size smaller then I currently wear and bought it too. I hung that baby in my closet and it sits waiting for a nice dinner date night with my honey. My goal, to look damn hot in that dress.

My mom is in her early 50s and running 5ks 10ks and I think even one half marathon. She started running about 2 years ago and she is doing awesome. She has been such an inspiration and if she can do it so can I. I hated running when I was younger, I hated P.E. and I did golf in high school because you don't run in golf. I am determined to get myself running, enjoying running, and running 5 and 10k's regularly with my mom and sisters.

For now and hour of Zumba 3 nights a week and elliptical or walk/running twice a week is my goal and well actually a requirement.

cravings

Dropping two starches in my day has had an impact. I found myself hungry and craving those ever so tasty and satisfying starches (carbohydrates). I did eat three free foods today, two little handfuls of low carb crackers and one that I will be getting to later. So yah! Free foods are available and I did need them today.

I ran out of yogurt today so I ran, no actually drove, to the store to pick up an other tub. I'm going through the yogurt quite quickly and one last me 2 1/2 days. Well while at the store I grabbed my yogurt and found myself looking at all the cookies sitting so nicely on the shelf. I thought, "maybe there are some super low carb cookies here that I could have, or maybe I could buy the bag of vanilla wafers and have one seeing as how it is a free food." I looked but really all I could see were the dark brown and white lovelies sitting in their neat little rows hidden in their blue and white package. Yes, that is right the Oreos called to me. Oreos are worth one starch and one fat exchange according to my diet. I thought, "I could eat one of those, I could plan around giving a starch and fat to my cookie instead of some other food that I eat during the day. But can I eat just one cookie? NO! Sure, I can eat one, one row." Yes, I like and can eat one row of Oreo cookies in one day and the next day I will eat an other row and so on till they are all gone. I like to eat my sweets quickly and get them gone quickly so they aren't there tempting me all week. I figure I'm going to eat the same amount of calories so who cares if it is in just one or two days instead of a week? I know I don't mind. As I'm standing there looking at my little lovelies I swear, I begin singing to my self, "Oh my darling you look wonderful tonight." That was when I knew it was time to just walk away and I did.

I came home, added my protein powder to my yogurt and put it in the fridge. I helped put my two sweet children to bed and when I came out of my daughter's room I went to the freezer and chose my free fudge pop. I feel good about today but I realize that 15 more weeks might not be as easy as I first thought. When I'm dieting for just me I will "cheat" or "splurge" and then get right back on track. I am in a research study. If I "cheat" then there aren't consequences for me but it affects the study and what they are trying to accomplish. I'm trying to decide if it is harder or easier to do this under the watchful eye of a research study and all the staff.

ok, so not perfict

It turns out that the yogurt I'm buying has one starch exchange in it. I thought that scene it was Nancy's plain with no sugar that it would only count as one dairy exchange and that is all. But, no I have been going over by two starches everyday:-( I think I'm going to be hungry again for a few days. I have good news thought...I have been doing great on all other levels!

My nutrition class was funny. The SS had to tell us how we shouldn't drink a bunch of alcohal. The ladies in my class must drink alot because they really kept hammering it in with laying off the beer. SS said to limit yourself to one or two drinks a week which made me laugh because I think I have one or two drinks a month at the most.

Included in this diet are "free foods" this is a list of foods that you can consume that don't count towards any of your exchanges. On the list are the obvious lettuce, cucumbers, celery...but also 10 goldfish crackers, 1 sugar-free fudge pop, 2 saltine crackers, 1 cup of light popcorn, and 1 vanilla wafer. The concept of free foods cracks me up because what if you only ate free foods all day long would that be like not eating at all? What if I ate 10 goldfish in the morning and then 10 at lunch and then 10 at dinner and the 10 right before I go to bed, do all those goldfish really not count? Last week when we started this diet the told us we could eat all the free foods we wanted and it would be ok. Tonight they told us that we now need to limit ourselves to only 3-5 free food per day. I sat in the front row and started to laugh lightly to myself as half the class lets out an "aww". SS asked me if that was going to be heard. I said, "no, I only ate 3-5 of them through out the whole week, it will be fine." I don't know, they are already having us eat 5 times a day. Really when do you have time to eat even more then that? Maybe things will change when I start counting that yogurt as a starch and I will need those free foods. The fudge pop is my favorite.

Well, tonight they weighed us. I don't have a problem with being weighed but I have an issue with how it was done, no, they didn't strip us down naked, announce it to the class, or any thing strange. But they are comparing it to our original weight from when we first signed up for the study. That was the beginning of November, two holidays ago! I don't remember what my weight was that day two months ago but I'm worried that it will show that I have gained weight scene starting the study but that is because around Christmas I ate fudge for 5 days. Me, and a lot of the women may have, a little, gone slightly overboard over Christmas knowing that the diet started after the first of January. I am just wishing that they would have weighed us last week the night before the diet and exercise plan was put into place. We will weigh again next week so my plan is to call the weight that I weighed tonight as my original weight. I will let you all know if I lost or not after the next weigh in.

Is it a little too easy?

I was told that it would take around two weeks to get this diet down and it probably wouldn't be easy to learn. As a matter of fact they wanted us to mostly focus on getting our breakfasts and snacks figured out when we are using our protein. The first two days were not really easy but I made it through but now I'm finding it easy. I usually have my breakfast and plan my dinner and then eat accordingly for the rest of the day. I am eating all my exchanges and making healthy choices. So, what I'm trying to figure out is; have I simply just done a good job and learned the diet or am I missing something and totally not following the rules. I'm leaning towards the first one but still I wonder. Tomorrow night is an other nutrition class and I have a few questions. Hopefully they will say I'm doing great.

One thing that has been heard is dropping all the random snacking. I plan out what I'm going to eat for the day and there isn't room for a hand full of this or that. I teach 4 year old Sunday school a few times a month and we had Teddy Grams with our snack. There were plenty and my normal tendency would be to just grab a handful and eat them. But instead of my brain saying "yum" my brain said 1 starch exchange per 10 or so and I don't want to eat my starches that way.

This has got me thinking what happens after the 16 weeks of the study? Do I live in exchange world for ever? Are they going to teach me how to eat like this with out counting all the time? Do I just learn how to eat better by all this careful practice for 16 weeks? I just don't know but like every body else once the weight is off you don't want it back on again and if this leads me to a thinner middle I want to stay.

Success

Last night I went out to dinner and a play with one of my good friends. She told me about four days ago about that dinner would be at Olive Garden. At first I was excited because I love Olive Garden and go maybe once a year but then I panicked about what on earth I would order. I am pleased to say that I did a little research and was able to eat my full plate of Shrimp Primavera with a salad and a glass of white wine. What I did was go on line to Olive Garden's web sight, look up the nutrition info, pick something that would be yummy and have low enough carbs and fat that I could justify eating it. I did the math and figured out how many exchanges I would consume at dinner and eat accordingly for the beginning of the day. It worked out great!

Today I went over to my mother and father-in-law's house. My mother-in-law always has chocolate and treats around in little candy dishes and on the counter. I have the hardest time not snacking when I'm there because snacks are all around me and yummy ones too! I walked in and recognized my first inkling was to go looking for the chocolate. This startled me into paying attention to my self and my cravings. I did eat two small cookies but they fit into my exchange plan and I stayed on track.

People keep asking me if I have lost any weight. Well, I don't know. I have only been doing this for 5 days but I've been doing a good job following the rules so maybe but I still don't know. The problem is my scale weighs not really in pounds but more in "ranges". I just always make sure I'm in the same range. The other thing with my scale is it is a little friendly, about 5 pounds friendly. It is really funny when ever somebody comes over and they use my bathroom they always anounce they lost five pounds. This always cracks me up. Why are people weighing them selves at my house? I wonder, do these people just hope on any scale they see? The other thing that is funny is how happy they are when the announce their weight loss. We won't even be on the topic of weight or any where close and then somebody pops out of the bathroom and shares with a big smile that they just lost five pounds with out even trying! I start to smile and say, "Well my scale is a little friendly and weighs 5 pounds under." They get sad and say I wish my scale was friendly. No, I don't like to crush people but it still is funny, try it some time. So here is my dilema. I would like to be keeping an eye one on how many pounds I'm loosing but I don't want to suddenly gain 5 pounds when I get it. I like to pretend that my scale is accurate and the doctor's scale is always wrong. Isn't ok to like in ignorance? But I do think I will buy a nice digital scale and I will let you all know when I loose a few pounds.

It is so early!!

This fine morning I got up at 5:00. If you ready my first post I mentioned some of the down falls or cons of this study. Zumba at 5:30 is deffenetally one of them. I don't like to move at all at 5:00. If my kids try to get up that early I always put them back to bed. I only like to be sleeping and that is it. I didn't even sleep well last night because I was soar from my first Zumba on Wednesday and my 30 minutes on the elliptical yesterday. I ate a piece of toast with three ibuprofen to make my self feel better, we will see how that goes.

Smoothy, smoothy. Yesterday I had my two smoothies and they were lovely. My recepie is as fallows: 12 oz of plain Nancy's yogurt, 1/2 cup mixed frozen fruit, and 1/2 a banana. These makes two servings. When I first got the yogurt I mixed in the appropriate amount of whey protein ahead of time as they suggested to make it less noticeable and surprise, surprise it worked.

Well the rules are you have to consume your protein 30 mins after a work out. I got home this morning at 6:15 and of course everybody was asleep but I needed to make my smoothy. I put all the ingredients in the blender and took that puppy to the garage. Nobody was bothered by it and I was able to follow the rules;-)

I am far from great at Zumba and I really need to find some rhythm and I need to loosen up the hips of mine. Hopefully in a few weeks I will find my Latin rhythm and be able to salsa and rumba my hips out.

Smoothies may be the way to go!

This morning I had my lovely protein powder mixed into a fruit and yogurt smoothy. I made two servings at once, drank one and put the other in the fridge. The one I drank in the morning was ok. I could still taste the powder but this may be one of those things that you can't really hide you just have to deal with. I placed the other smoothy in the fridge fearing it would be terrible when I had to drink it later in the day after my Zumba class. We have been asked to consume the protein once in the morning and once with in thirty minutes after our work out.

Today around 2 in the afternoon I found myself hungry and crabby. I really enjoy some sort of sweet around that time and man, I didn't realize how much I would miss it. This has happen to me in the past when I reduce my sugar/carbohydrate intake and it always leaves me with cravings and grumpiness. I really hope this feeling goes away soon.

Zumba Zumba Zumba! I got to class a little early and could hear the class that was just finishing up. I could hear the instructor and she sounded familiar but I couldn't see here. Once I am able to go it there she is! Amy! I took a class from her several years ago before I had kids when she taught at the local gym. I took a weight lifting class from her then and she was very fun, perky, and hysterical. I was just as excited as could be to have her as the instructor. I knew she was going to be fun and engaging and she was and she really got a good work out out of me then. Half the women in the class were regulars and the other half were us study participants. Amy jumped right into class and it was learn as you go with one rule, "just keep moving". I was expecting to be able to keep up for the most part because I have danced in the past but man, she moves fast. I was a bit lost occasionally but I saw some other women who were hopelessly lost and felt quite out of there element and I do have to confess that all the hip shaking, pumping, and popping was a little uncomfortable with it as well. I do hope that my hips will loosen up a little I can move them they way they were meant to though.

So at one of our first informational meetings the SS told us we would be doing Zumba but we would be blended into the class and people wouldn't know we were part of a study. B.S. I think it is a little obvious that us study participants (SP) have to line up in a separate line then the regulars but maybe people didn't notice. What would you think if after 30 minutes into the class 1/2 the class leaves? Do you think you would notice they all left? I don't know maybe that is obvious to me but perhaps there are some out there that wouldn't notice. I honestly don't care if people know I'm in a study but don't tell me I will blend in when I don't. One more rant. Now people want to ask me questions about the study and I don't always feel like talking to people. I'm not rude on unpersonable I just don't always feel like talking.

Ooh, I know I'm just going to direct them to my blog. That should answer all there questions.

Oh and by the way 30 mins of zumba totally kicked my but.

And that second smoothy; I put in a freezer cup before I left for my class and left it in the car. I drank it after class and it was good! Like eating a milkshake just after a work out! Yum.

And it starts today.

For breakfast I had my oatmeal with protein powder. I put the dry oatmeal in a bowl, mixed the powder and water together, added it to the oatmeal, and microwaved. Well...when I brought it out of the microwave it looked like a breast fed baby had spit up in my oatmeal and truthfully it tasted like it too. I know you know what I'm talking about. Little white chunks in a milky fluid splattered all over the place and the milky over done smell. Gross right. Couldn't get any worse right? Well it did. The texture was a lovely combination of rubbery chewiness. I typically really like oatmeal and will eat it regularly. I add a little plain apple sauce and maybe some molasses or jam, it is very good. So I decide to add some apple sauce to my baby spit up oatmeal and it basically just makes more rubbery grossness for me to eat. I add some honey which, you guessed it, just made it a sweeter rubbery grossness. I finished it because the SS asked me to but I actually felt like I might vomit afterwords and I hardly ever ever feel like that. Oh dear, oh dear why did I ever think this would be a good idea? And I have to do this two times a day for sixteen weeks!?!
Whey powder number two. This time I go for the powder in yogurt. I mixed it about an hour before I planned to eat it in an effort to avoid dry chunks and thankfully chunks were avoided. The taste was not lovely but was much better then the oatmeal. But I still didn't like it. Will I ever like it? Who really does this everyday? Do people do this every day? Why?.....
I think I did a pretty good job following all of my eating exchanges rules. As of now I am to eat 9-10 starches, 4 veggies, 2 fruits, 2 dairy, 7 proteins (not including the powder), and 3-4 fats. I found out that these don't represent serving sizes but exchanges and if you google exchange diets you will find out more info. I'm not going to explain it here. But I did a pretty good job and met my quota for the day but I found out that the creamer I added to my coffee probably counted as one starch which means I went over on my starches by one. I find myself craving my end of the day sweet treat and I know that is going to be the struggle for me.
I didn't exercise today but am looking forward to Zumba tomorrow. I will let you know how it goes.

I brought my grocery bag

Tonight was my first nutrition class for the study. They split ups up depending on if we were in the 25% protein group or the 15% protein group. I am unfortunately in the 25% protein group which means the protein powder for me. Yippy, not.
I have to get side tracked for a moment. I'm not sure but I may have an obsession with bathrooms, I even dream about them. Of course I needed to use one before my class, I always like to be prepared and not have to go in the middle of something. My class was in a building other then the one I have already talked about and this building doesn't have scary hallways but it does have an interesting bathroom. This bathroom didn't give my the horror movie feel like the earlier one but more of an ironic feel. The counters are worn burnt orange vinyl with chipped white porcelain sinks. The walls are a mish-mash of off white colors peeling is some areas and bubbling in others. The doors sag on their hinges and are a trick to lock shut. And to my surprise, dividing the three stalls are two inch thick marble slabs. Strange right?
Moving on.
Our class was much what I expected the oohing, awing, and disappointment over what an actual portion or serving size is according to the exchange method. I was sitting with four other women at my table when we were asked to place a single portion of pasta on our plate. One women is shocked, she claims to eat about six to five portions of pasta at a time. I am a little surprised she seemed so surprised she was eating so much more then recommended. Seriously, if you were eating the portions you are supposed to be eating you wouldn't have signed up or been qualified to be in this study. I'm a little board during this portion of class. I already know I eat more then recommended and I know what a serving size looks like I am just currently choosing to eat a little more then recommended, especially in the chocolate category (not an actual category).
Then next part of class is more interesting. It is all about the protein powder. I am required to consume it two times a day once in the morning and once after my work out. The part of the whole study already feels like a chore. I am not looking forward to having to consume anything let alone something obscure two times a day. They (the SS) tried to make it interesting and divers. "You can cook it into your oatmeal", "put it in a smoothy", "mix it into juice", "put it into yogurt". And they tried to give some helpful tips, "mix a five day supply ahead of time" (stomach turns), "the longer you let it set the better it will be, drink it right away and it will be dry and lumpy" (barf), "It will thicken what ever you add it to so don't be afraid to water it down" (you want me to consume this twice a day for 16 weeks?).
Next we get to try some!! I really didn't want to try any. I just wanted to go home and eat dinner but I figured I could try a few ways tonight that way maybe I could avoid some trial and error latter down the road. I tried it in the oat meal and I think that will be the way I eat it in the morning. I am a fan of oat meal and the powder just make the oatmeal seem more creamy I wouldn't have guessed it has something added to it. I also tried it in yogurt which again I couldn't tell anything had been added so this sounds like a good option for the second consumption of the day. Other options to try were added to fruit juice or in a smoothy. I opted out of trying these two but I may experiment in my own kitchen later on. I will let you know how they turn out.
By the end of the class we were each given three large container which looked like 1/2 gallon jars of honey but are actually brown translucent plastic. The jars are a lot lighter then I expect but I am glad I remembered my sac because they would have been a pain to carry. I am also given the privilege of picking out my own shaker cup. I choose pink and I think it is lovely. Perhaps I will use it to mix a nice lovely whey protein and V8 fusion supper drink. mmmm....mmmm....mmmmm

Dexascan

Instructions received via e-mail. Don't be pregnant, don't wear any plastic or metal, don't take a calcium supplement with in 24 hours, and don't have any other exposure to any type of x-rays with in 48 hours of getting dexascan. A pregnancy test will be performed before your scan.
No metal or plastic. So no jewelry that is easy. But then I start thinking about any other metal or plastic I might wear. T-shirt, easy. Stretch pants with our any metal or plastic tie ends, got that. But what about a bra...Obviously hooks and under wire are out. How about one of those tank bras? No, adjustable straps have little plastic circle things. I tell my husband about my dilemma. I refuse to go with out a bra but don't know what to wear. Husband says, "What about a sports bra?" Wow, can't believe I didn't think about that. Thank you my darling for solving that one for me.
I go to my appointment assuming the pregnancy test is going to be a urine one so I make sure I drink lots of water that way I can pee. If you didn't read my earlier post about having a problem with this earlier I suggest you read my earlier post titled "I have to go to the bathroom".
The dexascan is in that same creepy basement mentioned before but I'm feeling brave tonight and head down stairs while following the signs that are pointing me to the right lab. Take a deep breath. No bad guys in hall ways, check. I walk into the lab office and am kindly informed to please wait while a SS (study staff) comes to take me for my pregnancy test. I am assuming we are going over to the student health clinic for the pregnancy test so I put my coat and mittens on for the cold walk out side. SS and I walk down the hall way and instead of heading up stairs as I expect we head for the women's locker room. Are you kidding me? My heart quickens in beat just thinking about it. Take a deep breath. On a bench next to the peeling white paint is a medium sized card board box with little, and I mean little, plastic cups and thin white test strips. "Ok" SS says, "go a head and fill this cup about half way, bring it out here, and then we will test it." So, I need to go into a stall, pee in a little tiny cup, smaller then I ever have before, all the while she stands in the bathroom with me. I have been here before and it didn't work out but I drank lots and lots of water, I can do this. I can hear her sigh and put on a rubber clove. I think about asking her to turn on the water but again don't want to sound like a weirdo. I sigh and then I pee! I did it and I got into the cup! Victory! I awkwardly carry my little cup of pee out to her while she dips the test strip in and asks me to continue holding my little cup of pee while she makes sure the test works. It does and I am asked to dump the pee in the toilet and I found out that it is indeed negative. Now on to the dexascan.
SS and I walk back down to the lab and am shown into a basic office looking room with some cubicle dividers, a small desk, and a x-ray bed/table with a large white arm type thing curving up and over part of the bed. I am instructed to remove my shoes and have a seat then lay down on my back on the bed. SS places a strap around my feet so they can be relaxed but hold still. SS runs his hands under my shoulders to flatten them our and he places my arms and hands with my thumbs tucked under my palms down along my sides. I sneeze and SS asks me to hold still. I am told the entire test will take 3 minutes. I am asked not to sneeze or move but I can breath regularly and blink. When somebody asks me not to move I smile. I just can't help it. I can't keep the smile to myself and I hope that this doesn't count as moving. The machine begins to move the table goes up and the arm starts moving up along the right side of my body. The arm makes two more passes once down my front and once down along my left side. I feel a sneeze coming on, hold it, hold it, OK, it goes away. I feel a smile coming on each time the arm comes over my face and I bit the inside of my cheek to avoid it, ouch but smile moving avoided. The machine comes to a stop and I am done! SS tells me I can get down and put my shoes back on. SS wishes me a good night and reminds me to bring my grocery sac to bring home all that protein powder home from my next appointment. I think, "Oh, I can't believe I'm going to have to drink that crap" but I say, "thank you for the reminder, good night".