Thanksgiving

So how did your Thanksgiving go? I did very well. I made a totally low carb meal (with mashed potatoes and Stove Top for the hubby) and it was delicious! The highest carb item I made was a yam/potato fluff kinda thing. Here was my menu:

Turkey with homemade gravy
Sausage and herb "dressing"
Homemade green bean casserole
Homemade cranberries
Yam/ potato fluff
Mock and cheese
Pumpkin pie

My daughters especially liked the dressing. So did I. I think I'm going to make that a regular side dish from now on. I was able to eat a whole plate and not have the bloated, blah, sleepy feeling afterward. It was fabulous! I found most of these recipes online. Google is a wonderful thing. =) If you ever have a craving for something, just search... keeping in mind that your idea of low carb may be different than somebody else's. You can always adapt the recipe too. Add or subtract ingredients. For example, I added green peppers to the dressing. The recipe I was using didn't call for it, but I remembered seeing it in a different recipe. The yam dish was a combination of a couple recipes too.

I was worried about how my meal would turn out. I feared that I would feel like I was missing out, but I was surprisingly pleased with the results. My favorite part of the meal has always been dressing, whether it was Stove Top or homemade, I love it. I think I get that from my uncle. He always got his own big bowl of it. I sure do miss him. Anyway.. the recipe I made today didn't have any bread in it, but it was delicious. Next time I'm gonna double it so I can have lots of leftovers. I also found a recipe for LC bread to use in dressing. I may try that sometime too. My point to this rambling is that although I LOVE my mom's dressing, I have found a new one to love and I don't feel deprived in any way. There are so many recipes out there that you can make as alternatives to your high carb favorites. Granted, some may not taste exactly the same, but maybe you will find a new favorite! The key to making a diet change work is to experiment. Try new foods, new recipes. Keep your mind open. I have tried veggies that I've never had before and found that I enjoy them. Even if you don't love something the first time, try cooking it in a different way and see if you like that. My girls love the way I cook cabbage, but don't like the way my mom does. Mix things up. Keep it interesting and you won't get bored. ;-)

As far as my sickness goes.. I'm still not great. The hubby and I went to the store to get the ingredients for dinner and just walking around the store totally wore me out and made me start coughing. Ugh. I need to work on getting my strength back. (My voice would be nice too!) I might try to go to the gym and walk slowly on the treadmill tomorrow. I don't want to push it, but maybe a little bit of exercise that I can control would be good. Might try a cycle around the weight machines too. I don't know what else to do. My job can be crazy sometimes and I run around like a chicken with my head cut off. I'm not able to do that right now, but I HAVE to get back to work! Gonna give the light exercise thing a shot and see what happens. Wish me luck!

Falling down

I am still sick. Two trips to the Dr. A trip to the ED. Lots of different meds. I am still sick. I don't feel like I'm ever going to get better. Yes, I do feel somewhat better than when this first started. I don't have the head congestion or upset stomach. My cough is better, but still there. My throat still hurts occasionally, but not constantly, but my voice is still gone. Four weeks of not having a voice is really getting old. I still get short of breath if I'm too active. I'm very fatigued and weak. The PA in the ED gave me Advair. It causes me to tremble/shake. It kind of scares me, but if it will help me get over this, it's worth it. I've missed a lot of work. I feel like my coworkers think I'm being a slacker, even though they can hear and see that I'm not well. All of this has caused me to feel depressed. I'm still taking my Paxil, but being cooped up in the house and not feeling well is getting to me. I just want to get back to normal. My eating has slipped some. I can't seem to get back to 100% low carb. I'm working on it. Hopefully I can make it to work tomorrow. Maybe if I can handle my usual schedule, even if not totally, I will start to feel more upbeat. More normal. I just need some normal.

My life is not exciting, but I enjoy it. I have great family, friends, and coworkers. I appreciate all the concern they have given me over the past several weeks. I feel like I am letting them down because I can't pull my own weight. My husband has been fantastic. He's cooked and taken me to the Dr and just taken care of me in general. He's worried about me and our finances, as am I. I HAVE to get better. I HAVE to work. There is no choice, but I can't physically handle 12 hours on my feet.. running around taking care of others. I can't speak loudly to the older patients that are hard of hearing. I'm so frustrated and worried. What if I never get better? What if there is a more serious reason that I'm still having problems? The chest xray came back negative so I'm assuming there's no cancerous mass in my lungs (which I was worried about) but what if something else is wrong? I feel like I'm on an episode of Mystery Diagnosis. The trip to the ED was good and bad. Good because it wasn't pneumonia, but I didn't really get any answers either. "You had an infection and it's just gonna take some time to get over. Get some rest and quit smoking. Rest your voice. Take this Advair and finish your antibiotics and use your Albuterol inhaler." Thanks. Sigh. Ok.. I'm done rambling and whining now. Hopefully my next post will be more positive.

Back to work tomorrow

I'm finally going back to work. Of course, this is a week that I signed up for an extra shift too. Great. My wallet needs it, but I'm worried about how my body will handle it. I still get short of breath with too much activity, but I'll do the best that I can. I'm lucky to work with some great people that help others if needed. We have some fabulous team work in my unit.

I'm hoping that getting back to my normal schedule will help me get back on track with eating and exercise. There is an exercise challenge at work that starts tomorrow (today) so that should be motivational. I'm going to try to go to the gym every day that I'm off. My plan is to do 30-60 minutes of cardio and a cycle of the weight machines that I do. I need to get back to strength training. I had gotten out of the habit and was only doing cardio. I need to do both. I'm also thinking about walking a little when I get home from work in the mornings. I usually don't go straight to bed. Often I come home and check email, facebook, and all that other stuff so I could take a few minutes away from that and take a quick walk around my apartment complex. We'll see how it goes. I was up a couple pounds yesterday.. probably water retention, but I don't like it and need to get on top of it before it continues to go up. My jeans were snug and made me feel icky. I don't like icky.

I was reading a blog the other day and the lady was talking about vision boards and 101 in 1001. I'm thinking about doing both of those. I need some "feel good" inspiration in my life. I've fallen into a rut and need something to break it and keep me going. A vision board is where you take words or pictures from magazines or whatever and post them to a posterboard or cork board. These are things that you want in your life. I think it would be pretty cool to do. 101 in 1001 is a to do list of 101 things to do in 1001 days. Things you want to accomplish. Places you want to go. Stuff like that. I'm a huge list maker, so that's right up my alley. I found a site to make lists online so I may use that, or maybe I'll just do it in a Word document. First I need to get some ideas. 101 things is a LOT!

Has anybody done either of these things? Any suggestions?

Will it ever end?

So.. I am STILL sick! I've missed most of the past 3 weeks of work. Much of my time has been sitting on the couch watching tv or messing around on the computer because I get really short of breath if I try to do too much. It really sucks. It's funny how when I can't exercise, I want to. I would give anything to have gone to the gym while I've been out. I've had plenty of time to do it, but the feeling that I might die kept me at home. lol

I went to the Dr. last week and got several meds.. an antibiotic, inhaler, cough syrup, and steroids. I took everything like I was supposed to, but still didn't feel much better so I went back this week. They started me on a second round of antibiotics (a different one) and told me to keep using the inhaler as needed. FINALLY today, I feel a little better. I hope this is going away and not just another false hope day. Over the past 2 weeks, I've had a couple days or hours where I felt better, but then I went back downhill again. Keeping my fingers crossed.

I have the best friends in the world! Many of them have showed concern and checked up on me while I've been out of work. That absolutely means the world to me. I'm so grateful to be surrounded by such wonderful people.. at work and outside of work. I'm a lucky girl. =)

As far as eating goes, I've only been at 90-95% lately. It's getting way too easy to cheat and I need to get strict again. I haven't had full meal cheats, but bites of this and that and a few sugary desserts. Afterward I feel like crap and wonder why I keep doing it! *Idiot* I want my next A1c to be good! I want it to show me how well low carbing works. My fasting blood sugars have been good (except when I was on Prednisone because that raises it) so I am hopeful. Surely it HAS to be better than my last one. Eek! Starting now I'm back on track. No bites. No desserts unless they are LC. I'm not where I want to be and those things are not helping. I'm done.

I'm not sure how much exercise I can do without losing my breath and having a coughing fit, but I'm going to try to at least get outside and walk a little tomorrow. I'll keep my route short in case I need to come home, but I have to do something! I feel like a big ol blob for sitting on my ass for 3 weeks.

I've been reading a couple blogs lately. They are very motivating. This one.. Escape from obesity was so inspiring that I went back allllll the way to the beginning and read to present day. I highly recommend it. The other one.. Skinny Emmie I just started and I'm reading it backwards, but I'm hooked on it too. Take a look at them and let me know what you think.

Ok.. I'm gonna get back to reading blogs and hit the sack soon. Have a fabulous day! =)

Not down with the sickness

I have been sick for over a week. It's really getting old! It started with a sore throat and upset tummy. Then came head congestion. Then stuffy nose and cough. I think it's turned into bronchitis. Great. I tend to get that pretty easily. I have since I was a kid. Oh.. and this whole time, my voice has been gone. Ugh! I've done fairly well with my eating. The first few days, I didn't eat much because it hurt to swallow and my upset tummy didn't want it anyway. I have had a few carby things.. saltine crackers, a few pieces of Halloween candy, chili with beans (which technically I can have since I'm on maintenance, but it still feels like cheating. lol) I made a delicious chicken/veg soup and have had several bowls. With a couple of bowls, I've added a few crackers, but it's good without too. I'm hoping to make it to the Dr or CVS Minute Clinic tomorrow. I need an antibiotic and maybe an inhaler too. That's helped before. We'll see.

Here's what I did for the soup...

Put 3 chicken breasts in crock pot. Added chopped celery, broccoli (frozen), can of green beans. (Wanted to add cabbage but the pot was too small.) Added water, spices, and chicken bullion cubes that I had heated in the microwave to dissolve the cubes. Cooked on low all day.

Now.. the broccoli pretty much dissolved by the time it was done so I would suggest adding it later. lol The next day, I boiled some cabbage and broccoli until soft and added it to the soup from the crock pot. Very good! My daughter said "I have to be honest. This doesn't look good (the broth turned green) but it sure is tasty." That's good enough for me. =)