Procrastination and Diet Adventures

I'm experiencing motivational difficulties today. It's almost lunchtime, and I've successfully avoided my to-do list in its entirety. But, I'm running out of procrastination ideas, so you get a meaningless blog post! Don't you feel lucky?

If I were a better blogger, you'd get an updated photo of NSTR, which is looking wonderful, if I do say so myself. Another day or two of typical stitching time, and I will have the second major page completed! The chart is organized so that four of the eight pages have about 75% of the stitching, while the other four pages contain border and some stray stars in the sky. So finishing this page will put me at more than a third complete! I will post a pic when I finish this rotation. Promise.

If I were a more creative blogger, you'd get some lovely spring pictures from my yard. However, that would mean I have to dig out the camera and go outdoors. We have an air quality warning today for excessive pollen. It's such a wonderful thing to live in the Great Basin in the South during allergy season (not). So, in the interest of not wanting to inhale more than my fair share of the pollen in the air, I will remain indoors until I must provide Perfectionist Child with chauffeur services this afternoon.

I'm still nursing battle wounds from the latest round of teenage hormones in my house. Some days I wonder why I bother speaking to Diva. There is nothing that could come out of my mouth that would result in a happy outcome no matter how hard I try. Last night's explosion stared with, "Goodnight. I love you." Kid you not. Thankfully, Perfectionist Child is not similarly full of hormones - today. Tomorrow who knows. It's kinda like spinning the roulette wheel - you never know which personality you will get at any given moment. Times two.

In further randomness and trivia, I started a new weight loss program four days ago. For those who haven't heard the very boring and whiney story of the last four years, allow me to summarize: Yours truly has been on virtually every "healthy" eating plan known to mankind and exercises quite faithfully, yet cannot lose weight. Rather, the reverse seems to occur. I swear I absorb calories from the air. Been to a bajillion doctors/medical professionals all of whom know less about metabolism/weight loss/etc. than do I. So, after really not doing anything special the past few months (but continuing to exercise faithfully and trying to eat relatively healthy meals), I decided to begin researching the less-than-healthy weight loss alternatives.

After lots of research, I found an OB/GYN locally who has recently started a women's wellness component to her practice. After meeting with her, we decided I would commit to a six-week liquid diet plan. The plan consists of four specially-formulated shakes and a protein bar each day, plus 32 oz of water. I still get to drink my coffee with my low fat creamer, and I can drink diet drinks as long as they are not carbonated. I did have to give up my wine with dinner (and, well, any other time the teenage hormones might drive me to drink). Let me say that this doc seems to understand a great many things about women's health that no one else I have seen in the last four years has even come close to, which is why I decided to give it a shot.

I've lost almost six pounds in four days. I know that a good bit of that is water weight. But, I'm seeing a number on the scale that I haven't seen in almost a year (before I started on the beta blockers). That has me pretty motivated and excited at the moment. The idea, should it come to fruition, is to lose about 25 pounds, maintain that for six to nine months, and then resume the liquid diet to lose the approximately 20 additional pounds I need to lose (for a total weight loss of 45-ish pounds). The number of pounds is my estimation. This doctor is much more concerned with body fat percentage versus pounds, so that's the number she's concentrating on. Oh, and she *hates* BMI as an indicator of pretty much anything. Love her.

I expect the weight loss to slow down after I hit about the 10 day mark. Supposedly to to three pounds per week is considered more normal at that point. Still, that's more movement downward than my scale has seen in a long time. We shall see what happens!