Tuesday with Mildred

I've been meaning to post all week, and finally found time right now to give you an update!  I went to see Dr. Pitt on Tuesday for my weigh-in.  In an effort to get me in and out of his office and off to work in record time (since all I was doing was getting weighed and having my blood pressure taken), Dr. Pitt invited me to sit in his office while he readied room 4 for me.  He wants me to always get weighed in room 4 for consistency.

So, I hear him moving the scale to the middle of the small examination room, he pops his head out the door and calls me in.  As I'm approaching the room, he says "Don't mind Mildred, she's here for her physical and doesn't mind you coming in at all".  So Mildred is this sweet, blue haired elderly lady sitting on the examination table wearing a laced up smock.  She has a huge smile for me and the three of us squeeze into the examination room.

Mildred says, "I promise not to look" and hides her eyes behind her hands.  Dr. Pitt weighs me and announces that I lost 5 pounds.  Mildred cheers like I just hit a home run during a world series game.  I never thought someone so tiny could make such a racket!  I thank her for the congratulations, and tell her that in her excitement, her smock has started to fall off her solider.  She smiles and starts making small talk with me.  I can't be rude, so I answer her questions while the smock threatens to fall off her shoulder completely.  After answering all her questions to her satisfaction and listening to her stories about her toy poodle Mr. Bojangles,  I politely say goodbye, straighten the shoulder of her smock and ask her to give her bridge club my best.

As I walk away, I hear her say to Dr. Pitt "What a lovely young girl...and so pretty!"  What a great lady.  She is my newest favourite person.  First because she called me lovely and YOUNG!  I may be half her age, but I'm not 16.  And she said I was pretty.  I know she's in her 80's and looked like she had cataracts, but I'll take it!  Any confidence booster is appreciated!  Thanks Mildred, your a sweetheart!

The humour of this situation was not lost on me.  Dr. Pitt kills me.  This latest episode did not surprise me because he has done stuff like this in the past.  When I went to Cuba in the 90's and got bitten by sand fleas, he called me into the next examination room to show my calves to a man who thought that he had a rash.  It turned out he had bed-bugs and he wanted to compare the bites to show him the similarities.  That was a bit embarrassing since due to the scabs on my calves, I couldn't shave, so had hairy, scabby legs.

I'm officially half way there.  I've lost just over half the weight I need to.  Again, I'm really pleased with myself because I never thought I would get here without medical intervention.  Never in a million years did I think I would get here on my own.  What I have been doing since September (metabolic diet) and what I have learned about my metabolism has been a real eye opener and I truly believe I have learned the tools to keep this weight off forever.  I know that if I do gain weight in the future, it is because I'm eating too much of the wrong things.  It's not because I ate too much sodium or because I have my period, it's because I have ingested more calories than I have burned off.  Simple, common sense.

I started my journey wearing a size 22/24 and I currently wear a 14.  I have not kept any of my bigger clothes like I have in the past.  I think that by doing that, I was giving myself permission to gain back weight.  I'm counting on my size dropping again in the next couple of months as Enz and I begin our running clinic (tomorrow).  We're also joining yoga through a local recreation centre which starts at the end of the month.  I have a feeling I'm gonna be sore on Monday because Enz emailed me and asked me to do the 30 Day Shred with her on Sunday after our run.  Wait!  That's Jillian Michaels isn't it?  I've already established that she's a sadist...so I just know I'll be hurting!

Breaking up is hard to do

That looks nothing like Dr. Stephen or Jillian Michaels!
If only either one had such a prominent chin, or blue hair.

So, it's official.  Dr. Stephen and I have decided to part ways.  And not because of issues I have had with him in the past, but because the clinic I go to is closing.  It's the closest clinic for me, and the other 4 are waaaaaay out of my way.  So we are breaking up at the end of February on amicable terms.  I'm not sure how I feel about this.

On the one hand, he's made me angry more than once because I felt criticized and not supported a whole lot.  We did have a heart to heart today and he knows how he made me feel and I know that he was just trying to be supportive.  He called me a mystery because I loose the same amount of weight every visit and the amount of fat vs. water weight always fluctuates which confuses the hell out of him.  Even though I never change my eating habits or do anything different week to week.  I told him today and I told him before, I don't care if the 5 pounds I loose is fat or water.  It's five pounds lost!  Since starting the diet, I have not ever gained, which I think is testament to the fact that I have in fact, not cheated.

On the other hand, I like going in for "official" weigh-ins because it keeps me accountable.  So what to do?  Well we discussed and decided that I would see him 2 more times, then I would continue to be monitored monthly by my family physician Dr. Pitt.  I love Dr. Pitt.  He got excited if I lost a pound a month.  He's gonna wet himself when I visit him in March having lost 55+ pounds!  The only thing I'm not looking forward to is having the LONG wait.  Sometimes it takes over an hour to see him.

Well regardless, I feel good about being able to continue this diet on my own.  Dr. Stephen did build up my confidence today and told me that he knows I can do this on my own.  He was very sweet to me today.  And if I start to falter, I can go back to the clinic, I just have to drive farther.  When I go to the clinic every other week, I just get weighed, get yelled at for not bringing my urine (I always forget it on the back of my toilet-gross), get my blood pressure taken (which is normal by the way and I'm no longer taking meds), and sometimes get into heated discussions with Dr. Stephen about how I'm not cheating.  I think I can give that up:)

I've also broken up with Jillian Michaels.  This was a more abrupt and "I'll call you when I'm ready" kind of break-up.  I learned three things last night:

1. That Jillian Michaels is a sadist.
2. That I am the least flexible person I know.
3. That yoga should not be attempted by novices.

I still really want to learn yoga...properly.  I will take a "gentle" yoga class this spring when it's offered through my local Parks and Rec centre.  Gentle yoga is pre-beginner yoga.  The beginner yoga tape that Jillian Michaels put out is for the beginner with 5 years experience type of beginner.  I will use her tape, 5 years down the road.

So that's my update.  I lost another 5 pounds, joined the Running Room, and will be signing up for the Chocolate Race this weekend with my pal Enz.  I was texting my sister-in-law earlier today.  She's been a HUGE support to me and just wanted to wish me luck for my weigh-in.  She mentioned that she couldn't believe I joined the Running Room (and neither can I).  I told her about the marathon too and I said that I was either really motivated or really stupid.  I'm gonna stick with motivated:)