Saturday, May 8, 2010

Day 33 - To Burger or Not To Burger?

Diet tip of the day: Pick a diet buddy who will tell you "NO" when you need to hear it. You'll hate them for the moment when they tell you know, but you'll thank them later when you still fit in your jeans.

I'm still in the middle of my exam week, writing two 4-page essays for my History exam. One is about the Cold war and social reform, and the other is about why the U.S. has fought so many wars. Needless to say, they are difficult questions to answer in 4 pages. I worked on my first essay from 10 am to 6 pm with minimal breaks. After that, I felt kind of brain dead, so my boyfriend and I went out to dinner. I spent quite a long time on the drive to the restaurant, while we were waiting to be seated, and while we were waiting to order debating whether or not I should get the burger I was craving. In the past 33 days I have only had beef 4 times. I am a HUGE fan of red meat, so it has been a huge adjustment to mainly eat only fish, chicken, and sliced turkey.

As I sat there, mulling over my options, I asked my boyfriend for permission to break my diet due to the severity of my craving for red meat. He said it would be okay, but each item I asked him about (ribs, sirloin, burger, bacon burger, BBQ burger) he said no. I got frustrated with him and finally ordered a Southwest grilled chicken salad. It took about a second to get over it and go back to being a happy couple, and at the end of the meal, I was happy and satisfied. I am glad I listened to him, because we're going to make some burgers tomorrow for lunch. We have some raw patties in the freezer at his apartment still from the last time we made mozzarella/basil filled burgers, so it will be even easier this time.

I was looking at my Facebook profile picture today. It's a picture of my boyfriend and I when we went to Kentucky last January. It's the first time I've really looked at it since we started dieting, and I can see how much weight he's lost just in his face. I never noticed as he put on the weight with me, but it's so much easier to see on the way back down the scales. I know we'll never look like that again. Just one month of dieting and we've lost a considerable amount of weight. I can't wait to see where we are at the end of summer. I notice my belly getting smaller and my pants fitting better, but I haven't noticed it in my face as much, maybe just because I haven't been too concerned with my face/make-up lately because of all the studying I've been doing. I'm sure I'll start to notice it when I get back into my normal routine.

I was doing some research today during one of my writing breaks, looking up some information for the doctor's appointment I'm going to schedule for the week after school ends. I'm trying to figure out what medications I should ask about for my PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome for anyone who hasn't read my older posts), and I read a statistic I hadn't seen before. I was reading about stress and depression as a symptom of PCOS, and the article said that it was unknown whether the depression is caused by biological factors or as a psychological/emotional reaction to other factors. Some of the side effects of PCOS are obesity, acne, and sometimes infertility. But this was the scary part. The article then said that a lot of PCOS patients suffer from depression because of miscarriages they have experienced, and that the miscarriage rate is 45% higher in women with PCOS. I'm not worrying right now, because I'm at least 5 years away from having children. However, it is a scary statistic. But instead of getting upset about it, I'm going to use it as motivation.

My boyfriend and I both love kids and if it is God's will, we will try to have kids about 3 years after getting married, as soon as it is financially possible. If I want to increase my potential to have children, I need to lose weight. One thing my doctor has told me time after time is that losing weight often helps all the symptoms of PCOS, especially fertility. It's not a fix-all, but it will help considerably. So beyond just helping me live a happier, healthier life, losing this weight will give me much better odds of having the family I hope to someday have.

Sorry about all the personal/medical stuff. This was more just something I needed to get off my chest. Plus, it never hurts to be informed, especially considering it's estimated that 1 in 10 women in the U.S. have PCOS.

For exercise, here's one that targets a lot of muscles. Lay on the ground and lift your legs off the ground,keeping them parallel to the ground, but a few inches off it. Lift one knee, keeping the other leg elevated above the ground, then pull your other knee up while simultaneously returning your other leg to hovering position. It will be something like a bicycle, but less circular and without propping your back side up. Repeat 10-20 times, then rest for a minute, and repeat. Try to do it three times. Good luck! Send me your recipes!

2 comments:

  1. Good for your boyfriend for helping you through that craving! And good for you for getting over it! It's important to have help, especially from someone who's going through some of the same things. Of course he can't know what the PCOS is like, but losing weight is a tough enough thing to deal with without also having a condition that's fighting against you. Keep up the good work! You are not alone....

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yay that you have someone who's supporting you! It always helps. I've been kicking around the burger craving for a few weeks now. What I've really wanted is a Big Mac. I know I can fit it in my budget, but do I want to waste so many calories on one meal? I think not. Meh. Hopefully your mozz/basil burgers are yummy!

    ReplyDelete