The Chair

Just about a year ago, our church remodeled one of the auditoriums. This is a gathering room where Wednesday night services are held, along with some special services involving certain ministries, etc.
    
Daniel's choir class sings, often in the Wednesday service, and we went to the auditorium to watch the fourth grade sing a few weeks after they reopened the auditorium.

Imagine my horror when I saw that the pews had been replaced with this theater like seating. My heart immediately sunk, because I knew I would never be able to squeeze my ample rear end into the seats. I precariously perched myself at the very edge of a seat, causing my knees to scream under the added pressure. I sat and felt hot, humiliated tears roll down my cheeks, tears I held back until Daniel left to join his choir,

I was so distraught that I penned a letter to the pastor, telling him I felt like I was being fat shamed out of the services. Randall tried to be as supportive as possible, telling me about several other members of the congregation that he saw also struggling with being comfortable in the new seats.  I love him for trying to help, but it just didn't.

I never sent the letter, and over time, I made my peace with the issue, and only went to the auditorium when I absolutely had to. It made my heart sad that I was missing services that the church had, but felt like I had no choice. As I lost some weight, I also luckily found a few Handicapped seats at the very back that had one  arm that would raise, and it allowed my overflow to overflow that side, making the seats more tolerable. At the same time, it made me feel even worse in a way, just making it all that much more blatantly obvious that my weight was handicapping me, preventing me from experiencing all that my life could offer me.

Two weeks ago, Randall and I started a training series at church on Sunday mornings - we were chosen to represent our Sunday School class, so there was no way we would decline the opportunity. Imagine my chagrin when I found out it was being held in the auditorium!

Of course, the instructor wanted everyone to sit at the front, which made me feel even more like a circus freak show when we sat in the back row where the handicapped seating was. I was just grateful that we weren't made even moire of a spectacle by the instructor.  

Fast forward to week two. We came in to class yesterday and took our seats. I did notice that sitting there was even more comfortable than before to sir there. I looked at Randall and said," I think I'm going to try a regular seat. " I could tell he was a little apprehensive, not wanting me to be hurt again.

I got up, and slowly lowered myself between the two arms.

All. The. Way. Back.

I fit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

For the second time in just a year, these seats reduced me to tears, This time, very very happy tears. I had been a bit lax in my carbs lately - case in point - Randall and I split a muffin before entering the auditorium that day - and but was sure fire motivation.

Bacon and coffee for breakfast this morning, and then its on to a Memorial Day cookout at Mom's - steaks and cauli-rice.

Its nice to be back to being a loser.  Ha! Made you smile!

Two Weeks Down

Short and sweet...

Randall started at 283 - after one week: 271.  This week: 267. He lost 4 pounds, a total of 16 pounds.

I weighed in at 358 .8 --  after one week: 344.8.  This week 339.8 I lost 5 pounds a total of 19 pounds.

I've got some sort of stomach thing going on. Feeling rather icky. Hope to be back on soon.

Whole30: One Week Down...Our Progress So Far

Here we are starting our second week, and what a difference a week makes!

In case you missed the day one post, here is our comparison:

Randall weighed 283 - THIS MORNING: 271. He lost 12 pounds

I weighed in at 358 .8 -- THIS MORNING: 344.8. I lost 14 pounds!!

My fasting blood sugar was 157. THIS MORNING: 114. Down 43 points!!

My overall feeling right now is some slight nausea, definite gas, and joint pain especially my knees. I look forward to seeing all of these things change this month. THIS MORNING: I haven't felt this good in years - no nausea, no tummy issues at all, and my joint pain is GONE. Not lower....GONE.

Randall feels better too. Both of our moods have improved.

I decided to take a progress pic yesterday, just for historical sake. When I first looked at it I thought "Aw man, look how huge I am....I look no different." Then I looked at the only "before" pic I had. To think it wasn't even the heaviest I got. Wow.

Now I'm at 109 pounds lost - the most I've ever lost in one "try". I hit 100 lost in 2009, and immediately started going back up. Speaking of most....who loses 14 pounbds in one week? The lost I've ever lost in one week is 6.5.

I prayed for weeks asking God to help me find something that would be healthy for me and help me lose the weight and I know He guided me here. I am so happy and so blessed! Daniel is going to finally have the parents he deserves. It can't get any better than that!

I'll summarize the rest of the week's foods in another post later today. In the meantime, please, join me in a happy dance!!

Whole30: Day Four

More progress! I'm now down about seven pounds Randall's down 8.

Wednesday night we went to the store and picked up a few things that I was so excited about. 

One was tomato juice as I'm getting really tired of drinking only water. Another was some sausage that did not contain anything we shouldn't have.

Breakfast consisted of two of those sausages, along with a few baby heirloom tomatoes and some avocado along with a big ol glass of tomato juice. I was so full I felt like I had just eaten 

Thanksgiving dinner. It was crazy.

 

Lunch I also got some ground chicken breast and I made some homemade sausage and had two patties and an apple for lunch.

 

Dinner was tomatillo chicken soup. I really liked it but it wasn't a favorite of Randall. I think the acidity of the tomatillos didn't sit too well with his taste buds.

 

The only snacks I had or handful of sunflower seeds and a few plantain chips.

I've realized that the true Whole30 does not want you snacking. I told Randall This and like he said right now things seem to be working well for us so why change it as long as we're both happy and satisfied? So we decided unless we hit a plateau will keep going as is.

 My blood sugar was 118 again today and I'm good with that.

As day five is nearly over I'll be reporting on it tomorrow, but going into the weekend has me thinking. It's usually when we always cheated on our other diets. We're also so busy, it's sometimes hard not to just grab something somewhere. I know we can do this. Can't wait to report what happens!

Here We Go!

Yes, Its Monday morning... So we know what that means!

I decided that Mondays will be my status updates. One of the rules of the whole30 is to not wait until the end of the 30 days. I however, will have to break that rule because of the swelling issues. I have to weigh every few days to make sure I'm not rapidly gaining weight due to excess fluid buildup. Other than that, I plan to run this game like it's supposed to be ran.

So without further adieu, I bring you are weigh ins...

Randall weighed 283
I weighed in at 358 .8
My fasting blood sugar was 157.
My overall feeling right now is some slight nausea, definite gas, and joint pain especially my knees. I look forward to seeing all of these things change this month.

I will be taking snapshots of all our dinners and posting them the following day. Today I sent in Randall's lunch some tuna salad made with a boiled egg, tuna, diced celery, and some diced tomato on a bed of shredded lettuce. For his snacks he has some strawberries, and an apple with some almond butter. I'm not sure what my lunch will be yet, but I'm about to get my breakfast. I'm pretty excited about all of this and only hope it meets my expectations.

Looking forward to sharing this experience with all of you! Here we go!