A narrative of my journeys with diet, exercise, and various healthcare professionals
Just because Dreamfields pasta is yummy and much less grainy than normal low-carb pasta, this does not give the watcher of carbohydrate intake the license to eat a plate and a half of Hamburger Stroganoff made with said pasta.
[cookiemonster] Ohhhhh… Diana eat too many noodles… [/cookiemonster]
I practically had to take out a loan to order my new glasses today.
Is six months at 0% financing on credit close enough?
I took the afternoon off of work today so I could go to my 2:30pm appointment at Lifetime Vision Care in Maumee (formerly the office of Eugene Levey Philip Levy, Aaron’s optometrist since 1980—now a partnership between Dr. Levey and Dr. Henry). The exam was no sweat; typical questions (any problems? headaches? changes in vision?), typical tests (which is clearer: 1 or 2? A or B?), and to my joy, I got to forego the jet-puff-in-the-eyeball glaucoma test in favor of the yellow eyedrops. Yay!
Now, the bad news. My headaches may be caused by eyestrain from working at the computer all day (ya think?). The solution? Two pairs of glasses: one for computer-work, one for everyday use.
Oh, my God… It’s like having reading glasses. I’m getting old.
But the humiliation of having two sets of eyeglasses isn’t the end of it. Don’t forget the price of said eyeglasses.
$693.71—and that’s after insurance and discounts.
After I’d picked my jaw up off the office floor, Dr. Henry’s wife gave me a credit application good for 0% interest and no fees, as long as I get my seven hundred bucks paid off within six months. That I can do, so I gratefully and willingly signed on the dotted line. I’ll soon be receiving a card that I can only use at Lifetime Vision Care, that’s mainly just a reminder that I still owe them a crapload of money.
Granted, I’m looking forward to being able to see properly again, and to not having headaches anymore… and I’m highly grateful to Dr. Henry for the 25% discount on the second pair (since Aetna only covers the exam, $15 toward lenses and $30 toward frames)… but still. My God.
…I looked like this:
A year before that, even, I was saying things like this:
26 September 2002:
I really have gained a lot of weight. I realized this as I looked down at my shadow before me. Then I realized that my arms touch my sides when I walk. Not just at my hips, not just my armpits, and not just my boobs. My entire side. This was somehow more disturbing to me than my recent discovery of a “gut flap.” It only strengthened my resolve to somehow lose 45 pounds…
Today, I’m feeling so much better than I did back then. I know I still have a little ways to go to reach my weight and fitness goals, but being back to the weight I was in high school and early college makes me feel so much better about myself. I haven’t lost any major weight in a while, as I’m stabilizing at my new, healthier weight, so I’m not quite as giddy about my weight-loss as I was, say, in October or November.
I took this self-portrait in July, when I weighed only two pounds more than I do today.
I have collarbones! Holy shit! When did that happen? I also have ample space between my waist and my elbows, and the hideous “gut flap” mentioned above has thankfully shrunk down to a mere crease. I can’t imagine what I’ll look and feel like in another 25 pounds or so.
This morning, I decided to be all spiffy and make Spicy Chicken Papaya Curry for lunch. Aside from some minor papaya issues (hey, the recipe didn’t say to peel the damn papaya!), it was quite tasty. I’d include a link to the recipe, but the people at the Cooking Club of America don’t have it listed on their site yet. Bah. Anyway, if you like fruity and spicy Thai-esque foods, lemme know and I’ll type out the recipe and post it. It was really delicious… after we sliced off the papaya skins. 🙂
Then, this afternoon, we stopped in at the Low-Carb Solutions store on Reynolds, hoping to pick up some Cinnamon & Butter Flavored Pork Rinds. Unfortunately, they were out of the pork rinds, but we found a new snacky food: Parmesan, Garlic & Olive Oil “Soy~Teins.” Yummy, yummy stuff… as was the Asher’s Sugar-Free Dark Liquid Raspberry chocolate bar we shared. And Heather, the owner, was nice enough to take down our name and number so she can call us when the pork rinds come in.
I also picked up a bottle of Da Vinci Gourmet Irish Cream Sugar Free Syrup. I’d heard those Da Vinci syrups were supposed to be absolutely scrumptious—and I’d heard right. When we got home, I looked up a recipe for Italian soda (since we have a whole two-liter of club soda leftover from making our low-carb pizza crust). OMG. So, so good. I’m going to be buying more of these Da Vinci syrups. *yum*
You know, self-portaiture isn’t quite as easy as it might seem, especially without a professional portraiture setup. In other words, finding an appropriate spot to set the digital-camera-on-a-timer in my house is a challenge. But I wanted to share my small joy with you, so… ph34r my new tank top. Rah.
To celebrate my return to this-is-how-fat- I-used-to-be- before-I-got-sloppy, I scrounged up a few pics of myself over the past 10 months or so and made a weight-loss montage. I didn’t seek out too many pictures, and I didn’t scan anything; it was just what I had already on the computer for whatever reason. But I think it gets the point across. And not only do you get to watch my double-chin melt away through the photos, you also get to watch my hair grow. 🙂
Aaaaaand I’m done.