Wakela’s World

Last night before running downstairs to watch Ruby, I thought that I would try an experiment.  I really wasn’t sure if it would work or not.  I started the patcher for City of Heroes/Villains.  I let the patcher run all night.  I figured what would it hurt.  So I patched a game and wouldn’t be able to play it.

Well….. I am able to log in and play.  I have to have the graphic options set down to minimum and I am laggy in the cities, but I can at least play.  So this morning I was running around doing missions on my mastermind.  I haven’t played that toon in ages.  It was a lot of fun.  I was shocked that there wasn’t a bigger patch then there was.  Think about it, this computer has been in the closet for almost 2 years now.  That is a long time in the realm of MMOs.  Heck, EQ2 has had 1 expansion and another is about to be released any day now since this computer was last online. 

Anyway, Ruby was awesome last night.  I really admire her for her strength and courage.  It really takes a lot of guts to go on TV and go through what she is going through.  I really think that she needs to tell Denny off though.  Seriously, the man is so shallow.  He reminds me of that movie Shallow Hal.   Hmm… Maybe he needs to be tortured by watching that movie over and over.  Then he might get into his thick skull that she is beautiful outside too.  Just because she isn’t anorexic like a model, doesn’t mean she isn’t beautiful. 

Sometimes I wonder what some of the old world masters would think of what we consider beauty today.  Think about it.  Look at all the old world painters (i.e. Titian).  They mainly painted women who were chubby.  The reason for that is because in the old days, if you were overweight that meant that you were rich and healthy.  Only rich people could afford to eat enough to become overweight.  Now only rich people can afford to eat the healthy foods since it is so expensive to shop at stores like Whole Foods.  Society has really taken a wrong turn.

Since my good computer is on the fritz, I have been spending alot of time reading. 

I just finished reading “Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder” by Joanne Fluke.  This is the 2nd Hannah Swenson murder book that I have read.  It is the 1st in the series though. 

Hannah runs a bakery/coffee shop in a small town in Minnesota.  Not only is the story well written and engrossing, but the book is peppered with wonderful recipes and baking tips. 

In fact, I photocopied a few of the recipes that I really wanted to try out before passing the book along to my sister. 

I just started reading another book called “Candy Cane Murder”.  This one actually has 3 short stories by 3 different authors.  The reason I picked up this book was because there is a short Hannah Swenson story in there.  Plus in addition to the usual cookie recipes, there are recipes for quiche. 

The second author I hadn’t read before.  So I wasn’t sure what I was in for.  I am halfway through her story and it is really boring me to tears.  The story line seems ok.  However, it feels almost like she came up with it at the last minute.  Plus some of the cliches that she uses are just too much. 

The third author, I have read before.  In fact, I had read a whole book by her and hated it.  I might just go ahead and read it to see if she does better with a short story.  I had previously read “Bake Sale Murder” and the storyline seemed to drag on.  The majority of the story she kept going on and on about he hazing the cheerleaders and newer football players were being forced to undergo.  Now don’t get me wrong it was actually pretty interesting.  However, that whole story line is wrapped up in only 1 or 2 lines.  There was no explanation of how or why.  It was just so and so doesn’t approve of it and it will no longer happen.  Umm… Ok….  That was a complete fumble on her part.  I like to have loose ends tied up a little more neatly then that.  It felt almost like she didn’t have enough to fill up the pages with just the murder mystery, so she added this other story line in and didn’t know how to end it.   I really have a feeling that the short story will be alot easier for her to handle.

 Well, only 15 minutes until Ruby comes on.  So I need to get downstairs, grab a huge glass of pomagranete juice and get ready.  I know that this week will be just as good as last week.  I don’t think that I will watch it several times though.  Then again, who knows.  I just might.

Wow!  They changed out the light bulbs in the office and it is now way to bright in there.  In fact, they had even changed out some of the light fixtures.  Now the lights they use put out much more light. 

I ended up leaving there tonight with a massive headache.  The light was bothering my eyes.

Well, today I started out really great.  I exercised this morning.  I had a pomegranate for breakfast.  I love eating those things.  They are a bitch to prepare, but once its ready…. OMG!  The taste is incredible.

For lunch, I had one of those Healthy Choice Steamers or whatever they are called.  This was the salmon dill one.  It has salmon, pasta, and broccoli with a dill sauce.  It was yummy. 

I did pretty bad at dinner though.  My brother-in-law made ribs tonight with pasta.  I only ate the ribs.  I didn’t eat any of the pasta.  And I didn’t eat a ton of ribs either.  They had left a half a rack there for me and I didn’t even eat all of that. 

Well, I am getting sleepy.  I need to go downstairs to take my nightly medicine.  I have to sit up for half an hour after I take it.  That kinda sucks.

Last night, I watched the premier of a TV show called Ruby.  Its on the Style Network.  If you haven’t heard of the show, let me tell you that it is truly inspirational. 

Its not just another reality TV show.  It is the journey of one woman to gain her life back.  At the beginning of taping Ruby weighed in at nearly 500 pounds.  Her doctor basically told her that if she didn’t do something now, there may not be a future.  I know that feeling.  I have heard those words before.

Each episode takes you through the struggles and triumphs as she attempts to overcome her weight. 

I have to say that after watching last night, I was truly inspired to start working on losing weight again.  I had become extremely discouraged when I started having the seizures.  I felt like I would take 1 step forward and 10 steps back.  Every time I would overcome one hurdle, another was thrown in my way.

I can’t keep thinking like that!  To take a wonderful line from Barack Obama, YES WE CAN!  That is going to be my new motto.  Every time I sit back and give up, I am going to remember YES WE CAN!  Every time I stop believing in myself, I will think of Ruby and how she isn’t stopping.  I will think of Barack Obama not stopping until he was president. 

I can do this.  I may not be getting any support whatsoever from my family, but I can do this. 

So this morning, I dusted off the Wii Fit and got to working out.  I was extremely exhausted but it really felt good to get up and move about.  I had to start back from the beginning.  The dang thing told me that I hadn’t worked out in 143 days.  Wow!  I really gave up.

I also ordered a book that I had been wanting.  My sister had promised to buy it for me for my birthday.  Well that came and gone.  Her husband is telling me that I should just print pages out off the internet. 

The book that I was wanting keeps track of any signs and symptoms that you are having.  Because besides overcoming my weight, I have to overcome several illnesses.  My seizures are out of control again.  This book allows me to track what’s going on in my body.

If you have illnesses that you are trying to get stabilized, then I highly suggest this book.  There are places to keep track of your medicines, your food, your symptoms, etc.  It really is a great book.

I am taking back my life with the words YES WE CAN! 

I have sort of been in a funk lately. I haven’t been posting as much as I would like.

The reason for this is because I had a follow up visit with my doctor. He wants to put me on an ACE inhibitor for my heart. However, the radiologist that I work for said that I should have my kidneys checked out by a nephrologist first. He thinks that the ACE inhibitor could cause some damage if my kidneys are already messed up. And yes, there is reason to believe that my kidneys are messed up…

My fun with Nutrisystem is put on hold at the moment until my health gets better. I wish I could still do it, but the doctor wants me to worry about everything else first. He said that the way my thyroid is right now, I would only get frustrated anyway. There is no way to lose weight with how far off my numbers are at the moment.

Anyway, on a more positive note, I have been voraciously reading through the Stephanie Plum series. I just finished Plum Lovin’ yesterday. Now I need to get my hands on Lean Mean Thirteen. That is still in Hardback though. I hate buying hardback since they are so expensive and I read them so quickly. I will probably use one of my credits over at BOMC2.com. That used to be Zooba. It is a neat place if you have a few extra dollars a month. Basically you pay $9.95 a month and they ship you a hardcover book that is on your list. Its sort of like Netflix, except you don’t have to return the book. And if you are in a real hurry to get the book, you can choose the purchase now option. I like it since I can pretty much find most of the books that I would like to read there. Plus it isn’t expensive at all. I just checked and Lean Mean Thirteen just shipped on Friday. So hopefully it will get here soon and I can start reading it!!

At the moment, my SOE account is suspended. I didn’t have the money this paycheck to renew it. In the mean time, I am keeping myself busy with City of Heroes. I might even check out Guild Wars to see what is going on over there.

Well, I have been in serious need of some sort of exercise.  I am not allowed to do anything too intense.  I am still not cleared from surgery to do any lifting either. 

So aerobics and weights are out.  I believe pilates are out as well.  So I have been thinking, I used to love doing yoga when I was younger.  I really enjoyed it immensely. 

Yoga helps to tone your muscles.  Yoga helps to relax the mind.  It helps to bring your entire being into balance.

However, since I haven’t done yoga in ages, I wouldn’t even know where to begin to look for yoga class locations.  So I found a great website that lists yoga teachers all over the world. 

The Secrets of Yoga also has articles and other information on yoga and the different types of yoga that there are.   After looking at that site, I was shocked at how many different types there actually were. 

I am not sure which type I had done in the past.  I will definitely want to check that out so I can find a teacher along the same lines as what I used to have.

As I lose more and more weight, I am getting concerned about all of the lose skin around my abdomen.

It just seems to hang there loose and lifeless.  It is rather disgusting.  So now I have to start looking at things that I can do to get rid of it.  It isn’t going to go away on its own.  In fact, you can even check out this post to see how bad my abdomen is hanging.  Warning!!  The pictures are not very nice looking.

One thing that I have been considering is going to a cosmetic surgeon.  CS from work had suggested this one over in California.  I was extremely impressed with his website.  There was a lot of great information about tummy tucks on his site.  At least after reading his site, I feel much more informed about the procedure.

It will be quite some time in the future when I will be able to even seriously consider this.  I have a lot of weight that I still need to lose.   Plus I would have to save up some money in order to do this.

However, I like to look into things before hand so that I can make the best decision ever.

As you all know, I have been attempting to lose weight.  I have just started my second week on Nutrisystem.  I have lost a total of 11 pounds so far.  I am not sure if I mentioned this other great site that I read all the time.  It’s called Our Wicked Weighs.  They have tons of great articles on weight loss and health. 

Anyway, they have a contest going on to win a gift certificate.  Today’s post was on getting stronger abs.  So they want us to post before pictures of our abs.  Now, I really hate pictures.  And I am warning you that you might suffer brain damage looking at them.

The first two were taken the night before I started Nutrisystem.  I weighed 218 pounds.  And being only 5′4″, that is a lot of weight.  Those pictures were taken by my brother-in-law.  He was shocked and scared that I asked him to take them.

These next two are the ones I just took today.  These ones actually show my bare abdomen.  I wore the same clothes as in the first one to see if they fit any different in the pictures.  My brother-in-law wasn’t around to take these, so I had to manage with a mirror.

I have come to realize that all those fad diets don’t work.  Yes, I had lost a little bit on the South Beach Diet when the doctor put me on it.  However, I think a lot of that was water weight and also the fact that since I was gung ho about it, I was eating less.  Not the fact that it was that specific diet.  In fact, after being on it for awhile, I stopped losing weight. 

Now, Nutrisystem is helping me.  This isn’t a fad diet.  It is actually a well balanced meal plan.    I get all the nutrients that I need in a day.  I am not forcing myself to avoid certain foods because they are bad.  It is just helping me to eat healthier.

Besides, I am pretty lazy when it comes to food.  So I won’t usually go out of my way to prepare a meal when fast food is way to easy.  So these meals make is easy for me to keep healthy.

I have officially finished my first week of Nutrisystem!!

I can’t believe the amount of weight that I have been losing.  My clothes seem to be getting baggier.

I really need to make an appointment with Dr. Abrams, but I want to wait until I get to 199.  I want to be able to walk in there and show him that I broke the 200 mark! 

I am so excited about all the weight I have lost.  I just can’t believe that it has been this easy. 

Heck, I haven’t even started exercising yet.  I should add that into my routine so I can lose even more!!