Saturday, March 31, 2012

Weekly Wednesday Weigh-in: Starting week 16

 

I wrote this on Wednesday but then never posted it. Thanks Donor Diva for the reminder.

I suck.

I'm not sure why I'm even posting, I made little to no effort this week on any of my goals.
No weight lost, no weight gained. No progress, no changes.
I suck at this.
I'm halfway to my goal, that should be really motivating in and of itself, but somehow I just can't get going again. I'm really going to try this week. Really.

1. Reiterate my goal and where I stand in reference to this goal. (BMI info from this website)

Starting weight: 145        
Last Week's Weight: 136
Current Weight: 135 (-10 lbs total, 10 lbs to goal!!!)   
Goal Weight : 125       

Starting BMI: 26.5
Last Week's BMI: 24.1
Current BMI: 23.9 (In the normal range!!)
Goal BMI: 18.5-24.9 or exactly 22.1 for goal weight

2. Discuss what I am going to do to achieve my goals.

Progress on last week's activities:

1. Get to the gym and walk/run on the treadmill or go for a hike: Fail. Oh wait! I did go for a hike, but we had a 2 year old with us so it only lasted like 20-30 minutes, does that count?
2. Continue with no soda or beer: um...only diet coke, does that still count?...shit
3. Go to yoga class: Fail
4. Continue with My Fit.ness Pal app: I went back in and entered my stuff, so...go me!
5. Limit eating out this week to one time/one meal: need to get back on top of this one.
Activities for this coming week: (the more activities I attempt, the more I am likely to achieve)

1. Get to the gym and walk/run on the treadmill or go for a hike
2. Continue with no soda or beer
3. Go to yoga class: Canceled this week
4. Continue with My Fit.ness Pal app
5. Limit eating out this week to one time/one meal

3. Post a (reasonably healthy) recipe that I've tried, a cooking tip, a new idea for working out for people to try, a photo update of my weight loss, or anything else I feel like sharing. 

I intended to post a picture this week, but none of them turned out good because I was taking them at night.

I'll post one next week and take a pic in the morning.

I'm really very satisfied with my current weightloss, but I'm not satisfied with my body. I have what I refer to as a  6 pack of flab. My belly is really the only place I have to lose weight, maybe my arms too, but maybe posting a picture of myself will motivate me to get back on top of this. 

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Michele @ Nowhere in NM (TTCer) MFP: shesshells
Gee @ Gee Baby (TTCer)
Mag @ Witty Infertility (TTCer)
Shannon @ Arkansas Runner (TTCer)
Donor Diva @ Motherhood via Egg Donation (TTC#2) MFP: horn5378 
The Cornfed Feminist (Pregnant) MFP: katie112007
Nico @ Phred, Fwed, and Schweffel (pregnant)
Josie @ My Cheap Version of Therapy (postpartum) MFP: _Josey_
Kristy @ Relaxing Doesn't Get You Pregnant (postpartum)
One Day @ Are We There Yet? (postpartum - twins)
Laura @ Legos and Jets (postpartum)
ks @ Inconceivable!?!?! (postpartum)
jenn @ Adventures of a Nomadic Housewife (postpartum)
Holly @ Holly G. and Co. (postpartum)
Julia @ 3 bed 2 bath 1 baby (postpartum)
Meghan @ Maybe Baby, It's You...Two! (postpartum - twins)
Just Us & A Miracle Baby too! (postpartum)

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

My Thyroid

(Sorry in advance, the end of this post got a little science-y)

Last week, I went back to the endocrinologist to see about my thyroid. I had gotten my blood drawn the day before and went and picked up the results myself so that I wouldn't be shocked at the appointment time with bad results.

My thyroid was at 2.74. This is good, this is very good!

Ideally for TTC it should be down about 2.5, but at the appointment he told me that he was hesitant to change my dosage as my levels seemed to be steadily decreasing on essentially the same dosage and that he feels I will plateau around 2.5 anyway.

It had been 4 months since I last saw him and I followed his directions to the "T".

1. Get my thyroid rechecked every 2 months
2. Change to brand name medication for better absorption and more consistent dosage (upon my request mind you)
3. No more fertility treatments until my thyroid is under control for 6 months (RE appt is right about 6 months and what are the odds of it happening naturally at this point?)
4. If I should happen to get pregnant take 2 extra pills per week and call him (this wasn't necessary, obviously)
5. Take my thyroid pill last thing at night, several hours after dinner if possible
6. Spread my thyroid pill and all vitamins out as far as possible, so take vitamins mid morning

And because of all of this direction-following, the stars seem to be aligning! I am free to see an RE and my scheduled appointment falls at just the right time.

Extended Side note:

Did you know that the generic brand of a medication is not regulated as strictly in it's dosage as is the brand name? I didn't know why I should to take the brand name, but it had been recommended to me by many medical providers that I consider it given my fluctuating levels. See the example below as to why you should sometimes consider the brand name rather than the generic. I'm glad I made the change even without all of the information my endocrinologist gave me after the fact.

Example:

My Synthro.id dosage is labeled 88 mcg, Synt.hroid (brand name) is very likely to be that exact dosage or extremely close to that labeled dosage or at least consistent dosage over time as it's always made my the same manufacturer in the same place. Whereas Levothy.roixine (generic) might be labeled 88 mcg but actually be as low as 75 mcg or as high as 95 mcg. All of these levels must be within a certain level of error (my example my not be totally accurate in the range), but all are allowable as long as they are within the limits (Shit...I just looked this up and it looks like the confidence interval is 85-125%, that's a huge interval!!!!). So I might be prescribed 88 mcg, but actually receiving 75 mcg (and not know it). Because it is all about the blood levels rather than the dosage of medication, none of this matters if your pharmacy continues to get the medication from the same manufacturing facility and gets all of it's different dosages from that same manufacturing facility. If they all come from the same facility, the error will be about the same for each different dosage and you will continue to receive the same dosage and a predictable increase if your dosage should change. However, if you were on 75 mcg and upped to 88 mcg and they came from different manufacturing facilities you may actually be going from say 65 mcg to 95 mcg and not know it...gah!

Essentially this is a good reason to go with a brand name of a medication if your levels are varying and creating a mind-fuck situation.

I believe this to be true for nearly all medications. It really compounds the idea of variability in medical treatment, doesn't it?

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Weekly Wednesday Weigh-In: Starting Week 15

 

Wednesday's are coming so quickly now, I'm sorry I'm not posting on anything else, but besides trying to lose weight, not much else is going on.

I was lazy this past week (again) and haven't really gone to the gym or worked out until last night. Which is why I didn't get around to posting, but I count Wednesday's as part of the new week, so I'm already starting off at a good note! Still, I didn't lose any weight, just maintained. I am shooting to lose 1 pound a week from this point on, time to get back on track!

1. Reiterate my goal and where I stand in reference to this goal. (BMI info from this website)

Starting weight: 145        
Last Week's Weight: 136
Current Weight: 135 (-10 lbs total, 10 lbs to goal!!!)   
Goal Weight : 125       

Starting BMI: 26.5
Last Week's BMI: 24.1
Current BMI: 23.9 (In the normal range!!)
Goal BMI: 18.5-24.9 or exactly 22.1 for goal weight

2. Discuss what I am going to do to achieve my goals.

Progress on last week's activities:

1. Get to the gym and walk/run on the treadmill or go for a hike: Fail
2. Continue with no soda or beer: It was St. Patrick's Day, I'm part Irish and I'm from Chicago, does it suffice to say that I drank? Anybody out there heard of Unofficial? If you know what I'm talking about, you're cool in my book.
3. Go to yoga class: Fail
4. Continue with My Fit.ness Pal app: Fail
5. Limit eating out this week to one time/one meal: um......oops...
 
Activities for this coming week: (the more activities I attempt, the more I am likely to achieve)

1. Get to the gym and walk/run on the treadmill or go for a hike
2. Continue with no soda or beer
3. Go to yoga class
4. Continue with My Fit.ness Pal app
5. Limit eating out this week to one time/one meal

3. Post a (reasonably healthy) recipe that I've tried, a cooking tip, a new idea for working out for people to try, a photo update of my weight loss, or anything else I feel like sharing. 
 
Ok, so the organic food delivery from this week included bok choy and kumquats, so I'm thinking that sometime soon I will make chicken stirfry with vegetables including bok choy and also adding the kumquats. However, there are a lot of kumquats, what do I do with all the kumquats?

Side note: The more you say/type kumquats, the less it sounds like a word. And, seriously?! who came up with that name, kumquats...what is that? it's not a real word!

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Michele @ Nowhere in NM (TTCer) MFP: shesshells
Gee @ Gee Baby (TTCer)
Mag @ Witty Infertility (TTCer)
Shannon @ Arkansas Runner (TTCer)
Donor Diva @ Motherhood via Egg Donation (TTC#2) MFP: horn5378 
The Cornfed Feminist (Pregnant) MFP: katie112007
Nico @ Phred, Fwed, and Schweffel (pregnant)
Josie @ My Cheap Version of Therapy (postpartum) MFP: _Josey_
Kristy @ Relaxing Doesn't Get You Pregnant (postpartum)
One Day @ Are We There Yet? (postpartum - twins)
Laura @ Legos and Jets (postpartum)
ks @ Inconceivable!?!?! (postpartum)
jenn @ Adventures of a Nomadic Housewife (postpartum)
Holly @ Holly G. and Co. (postpartum)
Julia @ 3 bed 2 bath 1 baby (postpartum)
Meghan @ Maybe Baby, It's You...Two! (postpartum - twins)
Just Us & A Miracle Baby too! (postpartum)