My Fat Butt

 

Well, I guess it's about time I updated you on my fat butt.

In November I started a second round of meds. Except... my bloodwork showed such improvement that we dropped two of the meds. Yay! me.

However... the meds I am on aren't having as great an effect on my weight as they did the first round. Like... at all.

At my initial weigh-in I had gained rebounded about 5 lbs since my last visit. I was disappointed, but he said that was actually really good, and was another testament to how much my body chemistry has improved since I first saw him, and how much I have been trying to improve my lifestyle.

But... since then, I've only lost 4 lbs, even on the meds. It fluctuates slightly month-to-month, but minus 4 lbs is pretty much where I'm at. I'm sure my blood levels are probably continuing to improve (they only check it every 6 months), but the needle on the scale isn't moving (and this is a Fat Butt update, after all).

I know part of it is because I don't have nearly as much to lose now. I am down roughly 50 lbs from my starting weight, there's no more excess water to lose, my body is no longer turning everything I eat into fat. I am, in fact, really close to the weight my body had been plateaued at for years prior to getting pregnant.

So I wonder if this is where I will stay.

To make it more difficult, my back injury means my exercise is extremely limited. Walking (but not too much), swimming, and I might try bike-riding now that the weather's warmer. And if we can work a bike into our budget.
In addition, I've been really super-stressed at work, and the truth is I've always been a stress eater. So it's been extremely difficult for me to maintain my eating plan.

And... I've stopped one of my meds. I can't believe it took me this long, but I finally had the realization that I was having a side effect. A pretty serious one. And of course, one of the "less common" side effects. And something that (for me) could easily be translated as being due to something else. I'm thinking about blogging about it, but... I don't know. It feels kinda personal, so I'm debating. We'll see.

Anywho, so that meant I had to stop of one my meds. I had actually suspected the side effect for a while, but was in a type of denial, even though I did reduce my dosage (after informing my doctor) in an effort to alleviate the side effect. Since the side effect didn't go away, I convinced myself it wasn't the meds. But it was. So I stopped. It's not until next month that we can discuss an alternative option.

And so... considering all these things... and because Jason was already talking about doing it himself... I'm starting Weight Watchers in a couple of weeks.

A couple of men at our church have lost a significant amount of weight on the program, and Jason has been lamenting his weight gain over the past few years, so he was tossing around the idea. Online of course. Because men hate to go to "women's" meetings (my scarcastic, teasing words - not his).

I've done the program a few times in the past. Never with much success. But I always liked the program because it was a great way to keep proper portions in mind, and would help me get on / stay on track with regards to healthy eating, even if I wasn't losing weight.

I'm hoping this time... I'll drop some poundage as well.

First of all, because since seeing the endocrinologist, he feels confident that my struggle to lose weight in the past was primarily do to my endocrine disorder. Now that that is well-controlled, he believes I should be able to lose weight "like a normal person".

Secondly, I know a few people who didn't have success with WW in the past, who decided to try the new PointsPlus program, and found it to work much better for them.

I hoping that those two factors indicate I'll have better weight-loss success this time.

So that will be my next adventure. And Jason's. We're doing it together.

Why in a couple weeks? Several reasons:
    1) in a couple weeks comes a clear break point for us that will give us a good clean start date
    2) we need to buy a scale. ours hasn't worked since the move. unless I actually weigh six pounds. in which case I don't even need to lose weight.
    3) I'll need to do some grocery shopping to prepare. More. Veggies. Always a struggle point for me.

And if nothing else, I know it'll be good for me as a reminder of healthy portion sizes, and good eating.

As always, thanks for checking in!