One Choice At A Time

My Personal Journey So Far

Total Miles Walked - 1161

Weight Reps - 55,500 (5lb weights, 10-15lb kettle bells, curl bar, 6 or 8lb medicine ball)

Sit ups, crunches - 15,300

Push ups - 7000

Butt Lifts - 10,000

I added a new vitamin supplement today, a small Vitamin D supplement of 400 iu and a larger one of 1000 iu.  The Nurse Practitioner who treated me last Friday never called back.  Instead, she had someone else call me.  I'll admit I was a bit peeved.  The one who called never even introduced herself.  When I expressed my concern with what I thought was an excessive amount of Vitamin D, she merely said, "Well, that's what she wants you to take.  Its a boost."  I told her I wasn't comfortable with that much of a boost, that I preferred to ease into it.  After all, I wasn't that deficient to begin with.  I was only borderline deficient.  I said, "This is what is going to happen.  I am going to take a supplement in addition to what I am already taking.  I will start at 400 iu and ease into the 1000 iu.  I will also adjust my diet to include more Vitamin D rich foods."  She wasn't happy.  I guess they sort of expect folks to just accept what they prescribe.  Ignorance is bliss.  Me? I did my research.  She'll probably go back and write nasty things in my file.  Its happened in the past.  

The way I see it, I know my body better than anyone.  Right now, I feel amazing.  I don't need to shock my system into submission.  I am an intelligent woman and I'm making excellent choices when it comes my health.  They don't really know me.      

I guess I've had a few bad experiences in the past.  There was the time they gave me too much Topomax (for migraines I once had), twice the dose.  I was so out of it, I couldn't feel my feet.  I would've called the ambulance, but I couldn't reach the phone.  It scared the crap out of me.  When I finally got through, all I got was, "Well, that was wrong."  DUH!  There was the time, in physical therapy, when I was getting traction treatments.  The traction caused my pain to shift to a different location in my back.  They insisted they keep pulling on the same area as before even though it did no good in that location and caused me intense pain.  They said, "You have to go back to the doctor to change your traction."  I got up and left.  I never went back.  Once, long ago, a new doctor tried to put me on a medication with a laundry list of serious side effects without ever once glancing at my file.  Believe me...when it comes to my health, I do as Benjamin Franklin said, "It is the first responsibility of every citizen to question authority."  

Anyway, I advised the woman that called (whomever she was) to let me know if the Nurse Practitioner, who saw me Friday, still wished to retest me in a month to check my Vitamin D levels.  If so, I had no issue with that.             

I got started with the work out early this morning.  While I was watching the local news, I got down and knocked out my fifty push ups bringing me to a total of seven thousand for the year.  I had a small bowl of Fiber One original with soy milk.  Once the boys were gone to school and work, I headed downstairs.  I burned in excess of five hundred and fifty calories on the treadmill alone just by increasing my speed and upping the incline as I went along.  After that, I went straight into my sit ups and butt lifts.  Yes, that's right.  Ten thousand butt lifts for the year...so far.  I know, right?  I tossed the shirt.  It was positively drenched.  Still feeling great, I moved on to my arm exercises...three hundred repetitions.  Oh yeah!  

By now, it was 0830hrs.  I headed upstairs to get the slow cooker going.  My husband has company coming over tonight.  I'm making ground turkey stuffed peppers with whole grain brown rice.  Yum!  After showers, we (my Stepdaughter and I) headed to Costco to pick up a few things.  Then off to Panera Bread for an early lunch.  

At Panera bread, I had the 1/2 soup and 1/2 sandwich meal (black bean soup and tuna salad on honey wheat.  I was tasty and quite filling.  I finished a bottle of water, but I didn't have enough room for the apple.  While we were there, I asked a nice young man named James for the nutritional guide.  They were all out, but he told me about a website that has nutritional information on popular restaurants you might frequent.  www.dietfacts.com 

http://www.panerabread.com/

It's not bad.  You can also access Panera Bread's nutritional guide.  

So, we were home by noon, and it already felt like a full day.  With the stuffed peppers cooking, the house smells wonderful.  Well, would you look at that...the rain stopped.  Its going to be a beautiful afternoon.