Thursday Feb. 28

Hi Everyone.  I know I've been missing for awhile.  It's hard to explain.  I'm just so sick of trying to figure out my health and weight loss, you know?  When I first started Jorge's BFC it was so great, and I was losing just about every week and I liked what I was eating.   It was almost a game to come up with great BFC options that I liked and was helping me to lose weight.  I dropped about 25 lbs fairly quickly and then about five months after I started, things slowed down, way down.  Months would go by without a loss.  I would change things up and try new stuff and still either no loss or a VERY slow loss.  It took me another year to lose another 10 lbs.  When my Mom got sick this past summer and then died, I still truly thought I was sticking to my version of the BFC, although I wasn't weighing myself and I was drinking more than usual.  Around November I finally got on the scale and was shocked to find that I had gained back weight -6-7 lbs worth.  I got drastic and tried scaling back even more; I gave up snacks, then grains, then my heavy cream in my coffee.  I tried Maria's supplements and protein and fat week.  Guess what?  I went down a pound and then right back up to the new weight.  It's all so frustrating.  I started reading about Atkins and looked at what people were saying on the Atkins bulletin board and it got me even more depressed.  People are talking about barely any carbs, and monitoring carbs, fats, proteins, and calories!  That is SO much to try to keep track of!  I'm turning 52 in a few weeks and I don't feel like doing all that, it's why I started the BFC to begin with. Next I sent away for a home Thyroid tests from ZRT labs and also signed my husband and I up for the 50,000 mile check up at a hospital in Baltimore, all along severely limiting my carbs, dairy, grains, and making no more "healthy" snacks.  I drink 1/2 my weight in oz of water EVERYDAY!    Our test results came back this week and here are the results that showed as abnormal:

From ZRT Labs:

My TSH was high 4.7 (.5-3.0 is normal range)

My cortisol level was high in the morning but normal at noon, evening and night

My Vitamin D, 25-OH D3 was low at 24 (32-100 is normal)

My Vitamin D, 25-OH total was low at 24 (32-100 is normal)

From Hospital Screening:

CBC:

My RBC, HGB, HCT are slightly elevated but the notes said this can occur in post menopausal women

Hemoglobin A1C (this is the blood glucose one) - 6.1% (4.2-5.6% normal range)  What!!!

Cholesterol: (did not do fasting blood test)    

     Total:  272 (120-200 normal range)          Yikes!!! 

       HDL:   78 (40-59 normal range)

      Ratio:  3.48 (should be <5.1)     

      TSH:  1.84 (.400-4.0 normal range) - Normal here but not on the ZRT Lab - weird!

Plus my blood pressure was high.

So how is that for depressing?  I've been low carb for almost two years and my Hemoglobin A1C test comes back as pre-diabetic!  How can that be?   

Plus my Cholesterol is so high! I guess the good thing is my good cholesterol HDL is also very high which balances it out a little.   I'll now have to get a fasting blood test done because I have no idea what my bad cholesterol or Triglycerides counts are, and that's important.

My husband’s report was just as bad, except his total cholesterol was 290 and his HDL was only 61. His Hemoglobin A1C was slightly higher than mine.   Also his liver enzymes were high, suggesting a fatty liver.  

All this time we've been eating what we thought was low carb and healthy.   Maybe our results would have been even worse had we not been eating this way.  Who knows?   What I do know is that I'm now at least 20 pounds overweight and my numbers were not optimal. I'm happy for those of you that can gain 5 lbs and then be a tiny bit more diligent and the 5 lbs is gone three days later. That just does not happen for me.  I also know what I'm doing is not working anymore. It used to work, but not anymore.  I know that writing down the nutritional amounts of everything I put in my mouth is not something I want to do. I know that I can walk around the field behind my house and I can do a small kettle bell routine in the morning but I am not willing to put hours into a gym workout. This all might just be harder post menopause for some reason.   Somehow I have to figure out what is going on and why all of this has to be so difficult.  I will continue to eat this way for now and think my next step will be to make an appointment for a real physical and maybe seek nutrition advice with someone I can actually go in and talk to.  I know a lot of you have found what works for you and I am so happy that you did.  It gives me hope that eventually I can figure out what will work for me that I am willing to live with. 

Time to get a little drastic

Hello everyone it's a grey Tuesday morning here in Maryland.  The Ravens won the Superbowl and I think the big parade is happening down in Baltimore today.  My son works down there so I'll bet he will have a fine time with the traffic coming and going.

I've been following the BFC very strictly for the whole month of January but also severely limiting my wheat and guess what?  I've lost nothing!  I've spent the last three or four days pouring over articles and doing research on why I'm not losing weight at this point.   Is it because I'm post menopause?  Did I have too much stress over the last months with the loss of my mother?  Am I too sedentary?  Not enough exercise? Too many carbs?  Too many calories? Hormone unbalance?  All of the above?  The possibilities are rather endless. All I know for sure is that what I'm doing isn't working anymore.   I decided to treat myself to a little consult with Maria Emmerich to see if she could come up with the reasons I'm SO stalled.  I've always liked her blog and she never deviates from the plan she sees as healthy (I'm talking to you Jorge Cruise!).  Anyway, I've also decided to get a full Thyroid Panel done and see if there is any obvious problems with my hormones.  This will include testing for Vitamin D, and my Cortisol levels.  Also I saw this neat little program offered at the Medstar Hospital in Baltimore called "50,000 Mile Checkup".  For a small $50.00 fee they check:

Height, Weight, Body Mass Index (BMI), Blood Pressure, Pulse, and Respiration Readings

Vision Exam to test visual acuity and look for signs of macular degeneration, cataracts and other abnormalities.

Comprehensive Laboratory Tests (including cholesterol panel, metabolic panel, complete blood count, thyroid function, iron levels, kidney function, liver function, and urinalysis)

Comprehensive Heart Screening
Vascular Screening
Lung Capacity
Oxygen Level
Ankle-Brachial Index Test
Walk Test
Bone Density Test
Sophisticated Hearing Rest
PSA Blood Test (for men)

I'm going to sign my husband and I up for this and see what we find.  Hopefully I won't have to wait forever to get in.  

Maria suggests I start out one week kind of neutralizing my body by eating only proteins and fats and of course no alcohol.   The only bad thing for me is that she wants me to give up dairy.  She suggested no dairy for four months (ha!), but I don't think I can do that.  I can probably give up cheese and stuff for awhile, but no cream in my morning coffee!!!  No can do!   

I am going to give her plan a try this week by eating only proteins and fats BUT I will have my first cup of coffee in the morning with my cream.  After that I'll switch to hot tea instead of my usual second cup of coffee.  For hot tea I don't need any cream.  So for this week, no more spinach smoothies, no cream cheese, no sour cream, no butter,  no wheat, no more 86% chocolate, no nut butters, no baked treats.   It will be one strict week!  Like she said, we can all do anything for just one week right? (well, except the cream in the coffee thing).  

I'm also getting back in to my kettle bell routine.  The routine I'm trying to create is to get up, take care of the dogs, have my cup of coffee and hot tea, do my little kettle bell routine, then breakfast.    This kettle bell routine I came up with is very mild, but to me it's at least do-able everyday.  I've actually already started  and after the first two days I've got to tell you I was SO sore!!  But I'm keeping up and I'm almost sore-free now.    

So that's the plan for now.  My official trial week for all of the above will start tomorrow because I need today to get some foods ready so that I can keep on track.   I'll report back and let you know how it goes!