Winter is Back!

I woke up this morning to 4 new inches of snow. I actually had to wear my boots to work again. And the latch on my car door was stuck in the open position, so it would stay closed. This has happened before in cold weather, but it didn't happened when we were have the sub-zero temps, so I wasn't expecting it. I sprayed WD40 in the latch mechanism and connected a bungy cord around the handle and over to the passenger seat. As soon as the car warmed up (about half way to work) I tried shutting the door again and it finally caught. What a pain though.

Sheesh I was so hoping the snow was over with.

New Topic: I have decided that I need to get back on my exercise program. I kind of petered out over the last year. I did so great last year. I lost 30 lbs and over 27 inches. I was working with a group (B100 fit club) sponsored by the local country radio station. But once that ended I lost my momentum. I work better with a group then I do by myself. With the group, I am held accountable if you know what I mean. By myself, I'm not accountable to anyone but myself, so if I don't exercise no one knows. Well, I've fallen back into the same routine as before I lost the weight and gained back about 15lbs. I go home tired and nap on the damn couch. Then I can't sleep when it's time for bed, stay up late and wake up tired again. It's a vicious circle.

I also donated blood last month and got a new reading (non-fasting [NF] of course) on my Cholesterol In January 08 when I lost all the weight, my NF Cholesterol total was 132. So that has definitely gone up. And I pretty positive that means my Triglycerides have gone up too, which was one of the reasons I had originally started my exercise program.

I am determined to do something. So I dug out the book "The Cardio-Free Diet" that we were using with the B-100 Fit Club. And I am re-starting my exercise program. I know when I mention the book on my blog, that the author Jim Karas will get dinged on his blog. I'm kind of embarrassed for him to read this, because I was doing so well before.

I'll keep you all posted with my results.

The Results are In

I had my bloodwork retested last week. This was my 3 month checkup after I got the last results on 10/4/07 .

Here are my new totals:
Cholesterol = 139 (total) - Down from 157
HDL = 39.0 - Down from 41.0
LDL = 53.0 - Up from 45.6
Triglycerides = 209 - DOWN FROM 352!!!!
Calcium = 8.9 - Up from 8.3
Hematocrit = 33.8% - Down from 37.5%
Blood Pressure = 118/81 - Down from 136/75

The nurse, who called with the results, said the Dr. is a little concerned that the HDL has gone down because I guess they don't want that number to be too low. Not sure of the specifics as to why, but.... Anyway, I explained these were my 3 month check-up after I had been on a new diet/exercise program. I have lost a total of 24 lbs so far. I can't believe that my Triglycerides went down that much! I am so proud of that. My Hematocrit has dropped lower even though I have been taking an Iron supplement. I asked about that and she asked whether it was a OTC or a prescription. It was an over the counter supplement from Walmart. So she said they would call me in a prescription for another iron supplement that I will need to take 3 times a day. And then come have my iron retested in a month or two.

I think I have hit a plateau with the diet/exercise program. I have been exercising 3-4 times a week, but I have been slack on the food front. I just get tired of cooking for one and start looking for short cuts. But now that I see that it is really working, I need to really start watching what I eat again. I mean, I haven't gone back to my old ways of fast food or fried food, but I have kind of gotten tired of fish and chicken.

Updates

I finally get the pictures downloaded when I say I'm going to download them and then blogger pukes when I try to download them. I'll get them up as soon as blogger starts cooperating. Promise.

Well, here are some other updates that I forgot to mention.

Blood Test Results - I went to the Doctor to get my results from the bloodwork they drew on 10/4. Here they are:

Cholesterol = 157 (total)
HDL = 41.0
LDL = 45.6
Triglycerides = 352 YIKES!!! Should be below 250
Glucose = 76
Calcium = 8.3 (lower limit = 8.5, so I have to start taking a calcium supp. since I already either drink milk each day or have a yogurt.)

I went mainly to get my iron tested, because I had been having problems donating blood.
Hematocrit = 37.5% (too low to donate, but above the 35% lower limit so the Dr.'s not worried)

My white blood count was high too, so the Dr. re-ran the CBC blood test. I should have those result this week.

Even before I had this bloodwork done, I knew I had to go on a "diet". I have been listening to B100, a country music radio station, and they are having Jim Karas come in this weekend to give a lecture on his book, Cardio-Free Diet. You concentrate on strength training and building muscles. I had already planned to attend and it's a good thing too. Got to get the weight under control AND work on those triglycerides. They say the best way to lower the triglycerides is to cut back on sugar and carbs (I love sweets and I love bread). Also, I have decided to go ahead and take the iron supplement each day along with the multi-vitamin and the extra calcium. I have been doing this for the last week and I don't know if it's just a mind thing or not, but I seem to be feeling better. Low iron makes you tired all the time, because red blood cells carry the oxygen around. Therefore low iron means not enough oxygen. I havent' been feeling so extremely tired by the time I go home and I haven't knapped on the sofa before dinner once this week.