Dogs, steroids, and any excuse to not work out...

Wassup party peeps! I apologize for the lack of posts, but my dear doggie has been having some severe health issues, and I’ve been shuttling back and forth to vets, hand feeding her, and other assorted sick doggie activities. Right now the preliminary diagnosis is a slipped or herniated disc that has been causing lethargy, pain, lack of appetite, and a desire to not move her hind legs. The neurologist vet (yes, we’ve gotten to that stage) put her on steroids (my own little Dobie Bonds!) to see if they can reduce any inflammation in her spine. If they work, great. Still, on Tuesday she goes back to the neurologist for an MRI to specifically identify the injury. Even if the steroids reduce the inflammation, and the combo of ‘roids and doggie pain pills have given her her energy and appetite back, it’s likely that without surgery the problem would crop up again. So any good thoughts you can send towards Ginger and improvement to her health are much appreciated. And with that, on to my fat.

It’s a little frustrating. On August 27, my weigh-in was 279.2 lbs. At the time, it was the first real progress I’d seen in the month of August, and my next goal for 9/3 was to be 277.2 lbs. Ginger’s problems first cropped up that Thursday, August 30, and kind of screwed up my exercise over the weekend. I did get some weight-lifting in, hoisting 75 pounds of Dobie in and out of the Jeep, but with her lack of energy and pain, our 45 minute dog walks were reduced down to at most a lap around our condo building. I actually did pretty well on the eating end of things, especially impressive given the holiday, and wound up with a 9/3 weigh-in of 277.6 lbs, just .4 lbs shy of my goal. All things being equal, not bad.

Since I got so close, I set today’s goal at 2 pounds less than where I had planned to be last Monday, 275.2 lbs. Tuesday and Wednesday were both vet visit days where I ate no breakfast and didn’t go into the office, and thus didn’t really snack much. Wednesday’s weigh-in was actually 275.8 lbs, so I was actually pretty excited about making my goal. Unfortunately, Wednesday and Thursday’s gym opportunities were shot when I had to head home and take care of the dog, because DAPGF’s boss kept her late and she lost her window of time between work and teaching on both nights. And the weight had crept back up into the 279 range by Friday morning. I went to the driving range Friday at lunch, and I made it to the gym Saturday morning and was rewarded with a weigh-in of 278.2 lbs. Yes this was above where I started the week, but given the peak of the week (hey! That rhymed!) of 279.4, I was pretty pleased. Sunday I made it to the gym and managed to post a weigh-in of 277.8. Yay me! Fighting back! Sunday we went to Mimi’s Café for brunch. I had this stuffed BBQ chicken quesadilla. Now, I’ve had this thing a couple of times and it is just the perfect amount of food, IMO. It is tasty, satisfying, and just filling enough (it’s an appetizer, not an entrée) without making me feel stuffed. Sunday, though, I’m not sure what happened. I ate it and it just sat in my belly like a lead weight, and all I could think is that this was totally going to screw my Monday weigh-in. DAPGF went out with some friends, so I just had some Uncle Ben’s instant rice (about 400 cal. worth) and some baked Lays potato chips. End result, today’s weigh-in hit an ungodly 279.2 lbs. I gained almost 2 pounds this week, and wound up 4 pounds north of what my goal had been! I think they snuck some lead weights or something into my quesadilla.

You know, though, I’m disappointed but I remain optimistic. This recent effort that began in earnest on July 3, when I discovered My Fitness Pal (still the greatest weight-loss tool I’ve come across), and although the majority of August was lacking in progress, I didn’t backslide either. I’ve come to realize that I actually can control my weight. Logically (duh) all it takes is portion control and exercise. It sounds simple, but it ain’t the easiest thing to do. Especially when you are constantly bombarded by restaurants that have ever-increasing portion sizes, and fast food joints who charge $3.29 for a southwestern chicken pita sandwich that rings up at 254 calories (and is really tasty, btw – Jack in the Box) and $1.49 for a medium diet coke, but only charges 30 cents more to make it a combo with fries and a soda, or charging $2.29 for one sausage mcmuffin and $2.69 for 2 of them. Despite not needing a full combo, or 2 mcmuffins, I have such a mental block when it comes to trying to get my money’s worth, and I have such a hard time justifying to myself the idea of not getting the combo or not getting the two-fer deal. That being said, I’ve been really good at not hitting the drive-thru’s, and avoiding the Chinese buffets. I know I can do this. I’ve been doing it, and there’s no reason why I can’t. Given today’s weigh-in, my goal for 9/17 will be 277.2 lbs. I’m going to actually aim for where I should’ve been today, 275.2 lbs, but I’m trying to stick with the two pound drop per week. Wish me luck, and thank you in advance for any good vibes for Ginger.