Sunday, April 3, 2011

Weekly Weigh-in sans Weight Watchers

After the shenanigans of last weekend's Weight Watchers meeting that saw me quit - twice - I had thought to give myself a week off from the pressure of losing weight. This was also a busy week for me with two evenings out in a row (that just sounds so sad and pathetic), and I knew I wouldn't be able to do a mid-week fruit & vege top up shop. All in all, I felt it was an appropriate time to eat Easter buns with lashings of butter and to drink a couple of bottles of wine.


This morning I forced myself onto the scales to face the result of my slight slip into Bacchanalia. Just to be clear, after I bought the scales last weekend I jumped on them on Sunday morning to see how they measure against the WW ones. I was somewhat crushed to find the needle sitting at 81kgs instead of 79.4kgs, which probably fuelled the gusto with which I went at the buns. As a result, this morning I was feeling more than a little trepidation at finding out what damage I had done. Imagine my shock when the needle settled at 78kgs. Finally a result that is clearly below my 80kg mental hurdle.


Perhaps part of this sudden drop was due to the fact that I did go out two nights in a row. A little change in routine can shake things up nicely in the weight loss department. I also had a fantastic time at my flatmate's fashion and theatre show on Wednesday night. She was the fashion side of things. It was a fabulous evening of bubbles, fashion, real women, performance and a serious amount of laughter. See the flyer here, but I hope to get a couple of pics to put up http://www.velvetsushifashion.com/2011/03/fashion-show-march-30-and-march-31/. The other outing was my school's 'Surf Carnival' which involved students playing beach volley ball and teachers cooking a barbecue. I left before the dancing and serious beer drinking got under way. 


I have been slowly recovering from my hypoglycaemic attack the previous week - perhaps another excuse to ease up on the dietary strictness that was making me a little miserable as it does when you are not getting the expected results. And, I have also gone back to basics to try to manage some of the many thyroid symptoms that appeared or reappeared since moving to Oz.


Although the days are still hot here, I bought a pair of winter boots. I can fit my orthotics into them, and wearing them reduces my leg pain, therefore reducing my overall daily pain load. I got a massage which stirred everything up, but now it's all settled. I discovered the cause of my daily morning headache that would become thunderous during the day. My TMJ (temporomandibular joint) was acting up severely. When I opened my jaw up fully, there was a great big knot clearly evident on one side, so I worked on it for a couple of days. This involves pushing on the knot firmly enough to cause pain but not so hard as to cause damage, and holding that for a couple of minutes. This stimulates your body to send all sorts of chemicals to the site including your natural pain killers, which all aid healing. 


The next step was to figure out WHY this had happened and as severely as it did. Once the fog of the headache had cleared it was quite easy to see. I have a rather small bedroom with insufficient storage space so my little notebook computer lived on the beside table right beside where my head slept. This was also the side of my jaw with the big knot. I started putting the notebook on the floor before bed and hey presto! headache gone. This prompted me to move all the furniture around in my room and deal with the lack of space issues, which I had been avoiding as I didn't feel up to doing anything about. I have actually managed to create space, and now my notebook is well away from me and even has a place where I can use it. I also moved my bed from under the window as although it is still warm, cooler weather is on the way. This has also improved my sleep no end as the silly, rattly, vertical Venetian blinds no longer wake me up during the night. Even my tooth pain has reduced.


I found one last sleeve of Levo nicely tucked away in a cooler place, so there was the possibility that they had not been affected by the heat. I chucked the other sleeves I had been using, and started on it, and it seems to be better as my thyroid is no longer painful to the touch. Also after a timely reminder in Mary Shomon's latest newsletter - or was it on her facebook? - I am regaining control over my completely out of control coffee consumption. Note to self once again (us Hashis are slow learners), waiting that little bit of extra time in the morning between taking Levo and taking coffee is really, really important.


Now that the fog is lifting, I can see that I need to make some big decisions. I don't really like Perth, or rather, I'm not feeling it. On the one side, it's a bit too family for me, and on the other side, it's a bit too feral. Thinking of Melbourne...

what's in a name?

I have re-named my blog to be more fitting for my current situation. After trying to figure out what to do with the name, the solution became apparent after just one good night's sleep. As it turned out, it wasn't rocket science.