The start of a new stage of my life...

3 months again...how does that happen?  LOL

What does that mean--starting a new stage of my life, you may wonder...  Well, after more than 10 years of adult education and advocacy in special education, and 3 years teaching high school history, this year I am switching things up again!  Last Monday, I began the "middle school" phase of my life again!  And, it is at the same middle school I attended as a teen and the same middle school where I did my student teaching all those years ago....well, sort of--the same school but in a newer building at a new site all the way across town!

SO, what is this new middle school phase?  After all those years in advocating for the rights of children with disabilities, I am now a full-time ESE (Exceptional Student Education) teacher for 7th and 8th grade here in LaBelle.  That means that I am the "special ed" teacher for all of our LaBelle Middle School students who have a 504 or IEP (Individualized Education Plan)--whether in an ESE class or not.  I am the one who helps keep up with/monitor their IEPs.  I am the resource room teacher and the one who does the consults on the kiddos who don't spend any time in an ESE classroom, but have special needs.  We had our first round of IEP meetings this week and everything went great!  The Staffing Specialist for our side of the county (the ESE person from the Board of Education) is an old friend and teacher of mine.  She was a science teacher when I was in Middle School.  She was a CHADD member when I founded the first CHADD Chapter of my CHADD career (anybody remember the "duck tape" story?), and she's a great friend and parent of 2 pretty ADHD kiddos...well, young adults!  We've worked together over the last 3 years while I was the "regular education" teacher for lots of children with special needs at the high school.  Now, we'll be working together a bit more and with a new focus--for me at least!

On other fronts, I need to get my butt moving--literally...  I spent too much time on the road and eating out this summer.  I need to lose about 20 pounds to feel the way I used to feel...  I know HOW to do it and I know I have the tools to do it.  What I am lacking is motivation.  Snugly fitting clothes is about to do it though!  I refuse to buy new clothes instead of taking the weight off!  The bike tires are pumped up...I just need to get them rolling!

Working every day...and an update!

Working every day... Unique concept! Well, for some of us it is! I have not actually worked (outside the home) every day in over 10 years... And even then, I only worked 3 to 5 days a week, not every day Monday through Friday every week. Since I went back to teaching though, that has been the case. I have worked every day and for the first few weeks, it was pretty tiring and hard to get back into that work loop... I was used to getting my daughter off to the bus in the AM and then hitting the bed for a bit more rest as I was a night owl who stayed up till about 2 AM every night. I'd get her up and off to the bus (gets on bus at 6:50 AM) and then go back to bed till some time between 8 and 9 AM. Suddenly, I was getting up at 6 AM and leaving the house by 7 AM and not home again till 5 ish and required to stay awake and alert for that time span! Talk about a shock to your system! LOL

Now those of you who are used to it and work every day are thinking, "what the hell is she complaining about???" LOL I'm not really complaining, just finally getting my body's timeclock shifted to where I am in the bed (and asleep!) by 11 or midnight and am able to wake up pretty much on my own around 5:30 or 6:00 and stay up through the day without feeling like a kindergartener who needs a nap after lunch! It has taken me this long! And, now I really think that my thyroid meds are off kilter again as I'm sort of dragging and I am hungry all day long! I won't have new labs done till after Jan 1st (lovely insurance!), so won't really know till then, but in the meanwhile, I am trying to cope... I've been really trying to find better snacks to carry me through the daytime munchies and been really trying to say no to munching on something before bed or when I wake up in the middle of the night. Some nights, I feel sort of loopy and think it is low blood sugar (usually nights we've had an earlier dinner) and I do go ahead and grab a small snack. Other nights, I know it is just head hunger and just say no!

I'm also retaining water in my legs and feet and can see how much they are swollen by the end of the day when I've been on my feet at work. I'm not sure there's anything I can do about that as my doc keeps telling me no about the water pills and to "just stay off your feet..." LOL Yeah, don't I wish! LOL

Other than these minor complaints, life is pretty good (well, these minor health issues AND a pain-in-the-ass teenager!)... I'm still below 210 pounds (over 200 pounds lost) and I am more active than I have been since I was a young child. And I mean young--as in less than 10 years old. I climb the stairs easily several times a day at work. I'm never out of breath or even strained when I reach the top. I can be on my feet without the excruciating pain in my knees and lower back. I no longer have issues with high blood pressure... I'm not worried about being diagnosed as diabetic... The world is much better for me post-WLS!

Do Big Breakfasts REALLY Help Dieters Drop Pounds?

In life, there is one thing that many folks think is gospel. That thing? "Breakfast is the MOST important meal of the day!" Why? There are all kinds of reasons, but the biggest one is that it supposedly gets your metabolism jump-started for the day. Another is that it is supposed to help keep you from being so hungry as the day goes by...

In a recent net publication, researchers argued that big breakfasts really do help folks who are dieting to drop pounds AND to keep them off longer. Researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University created a diet plan to help folks maintain weight loss. Their plan was to eat a protein heavy breakfast and then low calorie and low carb meals the rest of the day. Their control group was on a classic, carb-restricted diet. Did it work? Well, from the numbers they now tout, you'd think it did. Not only did the participants lose weight, they tended to keep it off better. After 4 months of dieting, the classic, carb-restricted dieters lost an average of 28 pounds. The protein heavy breakfasters lost an average of 23 pounds. BUT, after 8 months, the carb-restricted dieters had gained back about 18 pounds and the protein breakfasters had lost another 16 pounds, bringing the average weight loss to 41 pounds! Over time, they reported that the protein breakfasters shed about 21 percent of their starting body weight, while the carb-restricted dieters averaged a loss of less than 5 percent.

Now that was a research project that we WLS postops can get behind! We're ALL about the protein! And, in general we follow low calorie and low carb diets for life. Now if I could just get the hang of eating a big breakfast! LOL I am SO not a morning person! And, it is hard for this night owl to get motivated to get up and cook a big breakfast--even when it is for more than just me!

Vitamin D--whether you've had WLS or not!

As WLS postops, we fight various vitamin deficiency possibilities. The fat soluble vitamins are of particular concern to those who've had an RNY as we malabsorb the fats due to our rearranged intestine... Those vitamins include vitamin A, vitamin D, vitamin E, and vitamin K. It is recommended that we take those in their dry form for better absorption.

I know that I, personally, went into my surgical journey already low (almost depleted) in vitamin D stores. The "normal" level these days is anything between 32 and 100, with 100 being the preferred end of the spectrum. Mine was 24 preop. At 3 months postop, I was down to 17. At 6 mos postop, I was down even further to 11. Yes, ELEVEN! Another thing with vitamin D is its interaction with calcium and how being low in vitamin D and calcium can mess with your parathyroid levels as well. Your parathyroid levels will go up if you are low in D and/or calcium as the parathyroid overworks to try and find the calcium elsewhere (like from your teeth and bones--not good!). So, while my blood calcium level registered an "okay" number (middle of the normal range), my vitamin d level was bottoming out and my parathyroid numbers were climbing, indicating that I was not getting enough vitamin d OR calcium and that I was on my way to osteoporosis! SO, I started taking very large doses of vitamin d (about 14,000 iu daily) as well as became very diligent with taking my daily doses of my calcium supplements. Over time, my vitamin d level is climbing (though very slowly) and my parathyroid is dropping back towards the normal range. My dexascan showed that I did not have significant bone loss, but that I need to work on increasing bone density.

What prompted this blog entry on vitamin d??? Well, a dear friend was diagnosed this week with fibromyalgia. She's been dealing with some truly severe pain and thought it was just her arthritis worsening. And, part of the prescribed treatment her doctor has started includes--yep, you guessed it--daily doses of vitamin d! Vitamin d is truly drawing attention lately as being sort of a wonder-nutrient... Being deficient is capable of causing all sorts of things--including joint pain!

So, I wanted to share some links to vitamin d info with you all! If you are not already supplementing this (whether you've had WLS or not), please consider doing so!

http://www.lewrockwell.com/miller/miller25.html
http://www.vitamindcouncil.com/
http://www.fightingfatigue.org/?p=1220
http://www.slate.com/id/2105560/

Sam's Club sells a 400 count bottle of 1000 iu vitamin d tablets for less than $5. They are a small to medium sized tablet and are easy to swallow even as a WLS postop. I also buy my calcium citrate there (630 mgs calcium citrate plus 400 iu vitamin d). Those are just shy of $9 for like 400 tablets (200 doses). Those are a larger tablet, but they are scored in the middle and break very easily if you need a smaller tablet size.