Well, I heard that train a coming, it was rolling round the bend… to the inevitable stall. I haven’t lost anything in almost two weeks – not since twisted my ankle coming down the last step to my carport, where I blindly put my foot down on my dog’s damned tennis ball. I did the whole RICE thing (Rest, Ice, Compress, Elevate – that four years of college really paid off. My parent’s would be so proud) but my ankle is still achy and sore.
When I went to my doctor on Friday, for my usual med-check, he was excited that I’ve lost 11.5 pounds since he last saw me in February. I talked about what I’ve been doing and we debated about the longevity of the low carb diet. I told him it was more of a lifestyle thing for me than a diet. He had no complaints about how well it is controlling my blood sugar though and was happy to see my A1c go down from 7.0 to 6.9.
We debated the usefulness of statins in someone that does not currently have heart disease (me) or elevated triglycerides and LDL (me again). I refused to take them and threatened to bring a stack of research contradicting his “Statins are the Best Thing since Sliced Bread” mantra. He acquiesced because, he’s actually more interested in working with me on what I will take rather than bullying me into what I won’t take and I personally think he likes the banter. Strangely, we laugh a lot when I come see him. He is still concerned about my low HDL labs from the Health Screening they did at work. He had the nurse take my blood because he only trusts his lab work. I had agreed to take Niaspan back in February and he doubled my dosage because he was working me up to 1000 mg, anyway. Yay, Niacin. I will say as an aside, the worst side affect is flushing, which has awakened me at three in the morning every day since the dosage increase. Being me, I searched the information highway for a way to combat this. Ibuprofen seems to be working as long as I take it with the Niaspan.
My doctor also asked me if I was exercising to help with the weight loss, which is when I mentioned the whole ankle twisting debacle and cursed my dog’s name under my breath. He gingerly prodded and twisted it until he elicited the inevitable gasp of pain and then he told me….wait for it… that I’d sprained it. He earned his co-pay with that one, people. Because of the way I sprained it and the location (above the ankle where the calf muscle attaches), he called it a high sprain and suggested I put heat on it and take ibuprofen. I swear to god, I should have gone to medical school because I was already doing that. If it’s not better in another week, he said to come back. Until then, no exercise.
I’ve read many times that diet is the biggest impact on weight loss. I’ve witnessed it in my own case. But it seems that the older I get, if I’m not doing some sort of exercise along with the changing of my eating habits, I just don’t lose anything.
So, I’m waiting for my ankle to heal so that I can go back to Jazzercise. I’ve also picked up The New Rules of Lifting for Women: Lift Like a Man, Look Like a Goddess by Lou Schuler, Cassandra Forsythe and Alwyn Cosgrove. I’m all for looking like a goddess. And as soon as I’m able, I will start adding this to my routine as well. If you have any experience with this program, I’d love to hear about it.
And, all this down time has left me experimenting in the kitchen. Next post I should have a couple of recipes to share.
In the meantime, I’ll be hanging out in Stallsville, cooking and nursing my stupid ankle until I can catch the next train out.
1 Comment
September 2, 2009 at 8:24 pm
It’s nice to hear that there’s actually a doctor who expresses excitement that a patient has lost weight. Sounds like you’ve hooked up with a caring physician.