nikkinvnow

I had a truly scary thing happen last night.  I have a wonderful friend who lives in WA and I live in NV.  We talk twice a day as I commute 30 minutes back and forth from work and usually every morning on the weekend.  Last night when I called her she didn’t sound right.  She could barely talk and she wasn’t making any sense.  She is a diabetic and has to use insulin.  I have seen her have lows before, but never this bad.  She lives alone and I knew there wasn’t anyone there with her.  Pretty soon she stopped talking and I heard the phone slide out of her hand.  So I hung up and called her clinic where she used to work and I knew they had a 24 hour operator on duty.  I told him who I was and why I was calling and asked him to call 911 and send an ambulance to her home right away.  Luckily they got there in time, but she was unconcious and had a blood sugar of only 25 (normal is between 70 and 100).  She called me about 30 minutes later to let me know she was okay.  Unfortunately they had to break her door in and that will cost money to fix, but she is alive today because I happened to call at the right time and that young male operator did as I asked. 

 I started this weight loss journey because of my fear of developing diabetes because it runs on my mom’s side of the family.  As I have watched what my friend has gone through in the last 12 years, having to quit her job because she cannot see well enough to read, cannot feel her feet so is constantly falling and getting hurt, having to give up driving because she has no depth preception due to her poor eyesight and now may go blind if an operation in February is unsuccessful.  This is a chronic disease but you do not have to have all these complications if you take care of yourself from the onset, but even better why not prevent it altogether by losing weight, exercising daily and seeing a doctor regularly and being tested annually if it runs in your family.  If it is caught early, it doesn’t have to change your longevity or the way you live your life if you give it the time and attention it deserves.  So today I’m thankful I have my friend still alive and I’m more committed once again to getting my body up and moving and following through with healthy food choices and activities.  Thank you God for all your blessings but most of all thankyou for saving the life of my friend!

Hi all,  Have had a rough couple of days.  My hubby left Monday to go to work in Brussels for the next 3 weeks.  Came home to an empty house after a terribly busy day and decided I deserved (not) a treat.  Ate my way through 3 Hageen Daz bars and no dinner.  Then on Tuesday, he called from the airport in Brussels and he had been pickpocketed and they had gotten a file that contains his passport and multiple credit cards, (double UGH).  So I immediately went into saver mode and checked our bank account and sure enough they were already raiding our account.  Got ahold of the bank and started the process of notification with the cards and talked with the State Department to get him a new passport.  So by the time I got home, I was sad, frustrated and scared.  Sat here feeling simply overwhelmed.  Starting on the web to figure out how to try and prevent them from stealing his identity and have that process going.  I just pray we’ve done all we can.  Now I’m sitting here blogging with all of you and discussing in my head what I’m going to fix for snack and lunch.  I’ve still been on track.  Need to get to 270 by 1/23/08 and should be able to do it if I keep my focus.  I’m going to print out my “before” photos and put those on the refrigerator here and the candy dish at work.  Just to remind myself  that I really don’t “NEED” that stuff, I’m just frustrated, sad, depressed, or is it tired or any and all of the above.  So I’m going to go get a fruit cup, 10 pecans and a nice cup of coffee and then have another bottle of water.  Might even start up an exercise tape since this is my day off and I promised to start them today.  So off I go, I feel better having blogged and been truthful about how much my emotions trigger my eating.  Did have a patient comment yesterday that he could see some changes.  We have a bet for 2 inches off combo of waist and hips over the next 6 weeks — either him or I — then we’ll see if he wants to go double or nothing (we live in NV).  Take care all, Nikki

Thought about this long and hard before I set my goal of weight loss being my primary past time in 2008.  I am a physician so I can quote ad nauseum all the reasons related to health and know them intellectually, but wasn’t truly feeling them.  I was able to block them from my heart for some reason, and now, I embrace them and accept that I’m not happy, truly happy or healthy at this weight and I need to take weight loss as seriously for me as I do for my patients.  That means putting a plan together, ie this blog and website, telling others that I am on this journey and being honest about its progress both trials and triumps.  I continue to record my food intake, water consumption and my exercise expenditures.  I have a great pedometer that I put on every day in hopes of getting to 10,000 steps daily until the gym opens in Fernley on 2/01/08.  Then I’ll start each day with an hour in the gym and then head to my office to get ready for my workday.  I’m best if I workout early in the morning, otherwise I have every reason in the world, not to do it.  I also am usually too tired in the evening and if I get inside my house — it would take an atomic bomb to get me out walking or doing an exercise tape.  So I’ll stick with the early AM because I know with that I can be successful.

 Also just got done setting goals for 2008 with my hubby.  I think it is smart to do that and review them every quarter.  It helps to keep me on track and remind me why I’m doing what I’m doing.  So we set a saving goal for our futures, set weight goals for our health and then goal for getting things done around this house and in the landscaping.  They may be a bit lofty, but I like to aim high and push myself.

Had friends over last night for dinner and conversation.  Pretty low key but fun and comfy.  Glad we did it and now my house is clean for the week.  Guess I’ll head off to open and unpack two boxes in the master bedroom.  Turns out I’ve just been recruited to put up pigeon deterents so I’m off to help.  Hope all are well and looking forward to a new and exciting year of changes!

Hi all, just getting started with this site.  Read an article in a medical journal of how blogging on weight and having online buddies has been helpful to most who are serious about losing weight — so thought I’d add this to my current program.  I am a physician who knows every detail about what my weight is doing to my longevity and how I am a timebomb (just don’t know when it will go off).  I have a strong family history of diabetes and I’m not going down that road!  I checked in with my MD before I started all this and found out my fasting blood sugar was 100 which is the upper limit of normal.  Should be down in the 70-80 range.  So that was 8 lbs ago and I’ll just keep on this journey until I can say I’ve lost the weight and haven’t found it again, if you know what I mean.

 Will try to blog most days, try not to complain too much and try to add some of the sunshine my patients give me every day.  They are some of the best supporters and so much understand wanting to be healthier!  I am off from work this coming week trying to get settled into a new house and finally finish unpacking all the boxes and my closet.  I find I tend to wear the same stuff every week because I haven’t gone through and tried everything to see what’s too small and what is just right.  So that will be my goal for Monday.  Off to my office right now to line out the work for the staff for the coming week.

Looking forward to the journey.  As Maya Angelou says, “You did what you did until you knew better and then you did better.”  So I’m on the do better path right now and know it is a long journey but truly the safest one for me.

Stay healthy all, until next time!