Yay for progress

I saw my regular doc this morning and had a pretty good check-up.  My blood pressure is doing great with the drug I'm on.  I'd like to get off of it, but that is further down the road apparently. My resting pulse has gone from 90 to 70. He was also very happy with the 20 pounds that I have lost.  I wish it was more but my weight loss has been stagnant over the past few weeks. I do have to work harder.  But it was super to see how my progress is positively affecting my health.

Low iodine diet (LID): Day 1

Today was the first day of my low iodine diet.  For those of you who aren't well versed in the whole thyroid cancer world, the low iodine diet or LID is necessary in preparation for radioactive iodine. I will be getting a small dose of radioactive iodine at the end of the month for scanning purposes so this diet is necessary for me. So why low iodine of all things?  Because our thyroid cells are the only ones in our body that uptake iodine.  The logic behind the LID diet is to starve the thyroid cells of iodine so that when the radioactive iodine is introduced into the body, those cells will suck it up like a sponge. For about 3 weeks, I will need to do this diet.  And it SUCKS!  If you want the full scoop on LID, please visit the Thyroid Cancer Survivor's Association  for more info.

The hardest part for me about LID is that I can't eat the foods that were a big part of my healthy eating plan such as turkey bacon and dairy. Fresh fruits and veggies are great, but they can get boring in a hurry for me.  The challenge for me is to make the fresh fruits and veggies interesting.  This is hard to do when so many key ingredients are on the "not allowed" list for LID.  We did hit Jewel today and found a butter substitute which makes life easier.  Fleischmann's margarine does not have any dairy or salt in it.  Woot!  I am also very lucky to have a supportive & empathetic husband who loves to cook.  He made me some Indian flatbreads that I can either eat plan or use as a sandwich wrap.  They are a little plain but beggars can't be choosers, right?

On today's LID menu was:
*bananas
*raisins
*homemade chappattis (those flatbreads)
*orange juice (which I normally don't drink because of the calories)
*fruit strips--my only "packaged food" of the day
*sauteed onions, tomatoes, garlic and mushrooms--these were great with the chappattis.
*Aldi's fruit punch drink mix (happily does not have the disallowed dye)
*about 4 ounces of grilled chicken

For my healthy eating plan, I typically eat 1850 calories per day.  Today I ate 1178.  Yay for eating less of course because I am working on losing a lot of weight.  But what sucks is that I feel like I ate less.  I feel hungry and just "off".  Hopefully tomorrow will be a little easier for me.

My favorite foods for today:






Chapatti, chicken, sauteed veggie sandwich:

(Drumroll please) The List

So I have said why I'm taking the semester off which means it would only be right to share my list of goals & things on my agenda for the semester. It's a list for me, because I like crossing things off of lists. And hey, since it's my blog I can post whatever I want right?

• Deal with health issues: sleep apnea, weight, thyroid, and some fun female stuff.
• Study for the GRE.
• Take the GRE and get an impressive (to me) score.
• Get letters of recommendation from my former professors (before they forget who the heck I am).
• Write my charming and intelligent "statement of purpose" for graduate school applications.
• Apply to graduate school(s).
• Work on making our master bedroom more of a sanctuary for the hubster & I rather than a dumping ground for laundry, Barbies and things that no one knows what to do with.

Specifically I want to:

• Lose 35 pounds.  I'm tracking my weight loss at the bottom of this page.  
• Exercise 3-4 times per week.
• Refinish our bedroom furniture and shelves.
• Paint our walls.
• De-clutter our bedroom.
• Redecorate our bedroom.  My very talented LJ buddy Eve gave me some awesome ideas which she posted on her blog, Modachrome Home

• Take the GRE by the end of October.

Bonus points if I get to: scrapbook, read a bunch, and learn how to play my didgeridoo.

Operation get healthy: an update

I went to see my primary care doctor this morning and got pretty good feedback. My blood pressure is under control with the 20mg of Lisinopril I've been taking. I shared my frustrations about adjusting to my cpap machine and was really pleased with his reaction. He said that my neurologist should change my mask and/or machine. If he doesn't, my primary doc will send me to someone else. He also referred me to an ENT to see if having my tonsils out will help with my apnea. My objection to that surgery is that my tongue may still fall back over my airway, but I'm willing to see what the ENT will say. If they felt I had a pretty good chance of curing my apnea with surgery, I'd consider it.

I did get a reminder to work harder on the weight loss. I'm working on it. I eat mostly low carbs these days, but that emotional eating is the hard part to overcome. I deal with it in my weekly therapy to some extent. It's hard to undo 33 years of dealing with my emotions through food. I started reading:





I feel like this book was written with me in my mind. If you have issues with emotional eating, I recommend checking it out.