Week 2 Profile by Sanford & Skoolie update

For ease of simplicity, I'm going to refer to my weeks on Profile by Sanford vs days. I'll try to remember to put at the beginning that my Profile weeks run from Wednesday to Tuesday, since I started on a Wednesday. I weigh in the morning and we do measurements at night. This week we got a better tape measure so the measurements felt a bit off kilter but not too bad and certainly nothing to fret over. Next week they'll be back in sync with the new tape measure. I did decide to continue the app, Weight Track Assistant and in the "forearm" part I'm putting my calf measurement. My blood pressure is in a Blood Pressure - MyDiary app as well.

So. Week 2 results:



Certainly no complaints there! There were a couple of challenges - and there always will be - Friday night my first childhood friend invited us to her home for dinner and was very accommodating of my needs. We had a lovely time with her family and I'm hoping we will get to spend more time with them. Casey and her oldest daughter had a great time talking about knitting and I foresee several knitting-on-the-back-porch sessions! We went out to eat a total of 3 times (2 planned, 1 unplanned) - and I did really well, I think. Friday night we went to Chilis and I got their Ancho Salmon with broccoli - I swapped the lime-chili rice for asparagus and tomatoes and that was a lot of food for not a lot of calories and zero loss in taste. And Casey helped me clean my plate, which also helped! :-) (Although in hindsight, still about 570 calories...and that's off the "ligher fare" menu!)

Saturday we did a town run. It's really hard to look for things for the Skoolie after work and I really wanted to see "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them." We planned on lunch at Panera and I got the Spicy Thai Chicken Salad, half size. I swapped the edamame and wonton strips, chose the more greens option for lettuce, and had the dressings on the side. About 260 calories all told. And water to drink. It was a packed house and a couple sat next to us and asked about bussing tables (it was so packed people were sitting at tables before the poor staff could clean off the tables!). I noticed the scarf she was wearing and asked if she knit it - she had! Lovely conversation later, we made hopeful new friends, too! (And look for Brim Collections on Instagram - knitting patterns and yarn coming soon!)

We then went to the Restore Store and got some things for the Skoolie - the kitchen sink, included! We got new seats for the benches - the pieces look like they're from a corner bench table set and they'll be a lot more comfortable than the plain plywood - these have the gentle curve for sitting and they're a good, solid wood. We got a toilet set because it was shell-shaped (and only $1.50!!) so we can start plans to build the composting toilet too. (And I have an excuse to buy octopus stuff! Ha!) We got a very ornate towel holder - the wall-mounts look almost Victorian, and we found some lovely drawer pulls, too. All in all, $50! We did look at hardwood flooring but felt that was an area we didn't want to skimp on and what they had was kind of rough. (Menards quite conveniently put some on sale today along with free underflooring with mail in rebate! Guess where we're going tomorrow!) The stove top is on order as are the EnviHeat heaters. We're still deciding on the size of the shower (we have it marked off at 36 inches square but may be able to go smaller) and then countertop. They had some nice counters at the Restore store, but the holes were for a double-sink and ours is a single sink. So we'll look for that next, I think, plus wall paneling. It's exciting to be getting close to being done - and to being able to find a place to park it to live in for awhile!

We went to the movie and I was not at all tempted by the popcorn - even after walking up three floors to the screen the movie was playing! And he got me a large water, so I was good there. We went to the 4:00 show and it was 6:15 before it was done. We decided to go to IHOP for supper. I don't think we'll be going again. It doesn't look like upkeep is high on the owner's priority list - it's not a very old building but it looks like it. Our server also left a fair bit to be desired. I asked for water and he asked for coffee. Over 5 minutes later she came back with 2 coffee cups, a carafe of coffee, and no water. She apologized, and it took close to another 5 minutes before she finally brought 2 glasses of water. That probably should have been a clue to just leave. A salad at a fast food joint would have been better. I ordered the white-egg veggie omelette, swapping the avocado for mushrooms, sourdough toast as the side (for Casey), and a salad. Casey ordered a steak omelette with hashbrowns for his side. She brings me the omelette (made correctly) with the fruit cup and toast (so 2 sides instead of 1) and Casey's omelette with hashbrowns. I said this isn't right because I can't have fruit. "Well, this is what I wrote down" as she's looking the printout - "Oh! You ordered a salad! I'll be right out with it, I'm so sorry!" She said she'd cover it, which was nice. I ate the omelette, started on the salad pulling out the occasional "slimy" pieces. Not a big deal, it happens. Except I looked closer at a speck to see if it was bad or just a spot I could remove - and it moved. Casey pulled over the other waitress (who we've had in the past and is fantastic) and pointed it out to her, just politely saying that they may need to check their stock and I declined another salad as I was quite full and she immediately went back and told our server to take off 20% of the meal. So they made it right for the most part, but overall it left a bad taste in my mouth - literally as well as figuratively.

So lots of progress this week - we sat down and did a basic menu for the week trying new recipes that hopefully won't bore Dad. hehe Wednesday night his lady-friend will be cooking for us, and will be baking chicken and making a salad. She works in a hospital so Dad is confident she can accommodate my needs. We've never met her before, so it will be an interesting evening!

Until next week!

Life...again.

Well, Optifast will be getting put on hold until the next round - we need a car and soon and until Casey is working again, that became a priority. I was a bit frustrated that the clinic never called with the financial department's information so I could talk to them to see if something could be arranged but it's better not to have an extra payment until we know what he'll have for income again. In the meantime, I can still work on the little things - not feeding the vending machines being the biggest one!! But those chocolate iced honey buns....yum!!

I've tried a lot of things over the years, and have lost nearly 50 pounds three times, so I know I can do it. It's just that for some reason, just before I hit that 50 pound mark, it's like a switch flips and all the work I've done to create new habits flies out the window. Part of the appeal of Optifast was it not only takes the "work" out of it by literally giving you their meal products (which sounds so sci-fi, I know!) and telling you how much to consume a day and about at what times, but they also work on the behavioral and emotional sides, along with the personal trainer once and the nutritionist weekly. It is a very rounded program and the only "reward" system is your health. Another blogger (I've read so many, I wish I would have taken notes!) said she didn't like Weight Watchers at that time because you could earn back more food - if you worked out more, you could eat more - and I agree. I think that food as a reward kind of defeats the purpose of watching what you eat. I do know I have comfort issues with food as well, and so between the two, I have some issues! (Boy, I hope my brother doesn't read that! haha)

So, while I've postponed the Optifast program for now, I do want to review our budget, and do an Overall Health Assessment, which includes:
• Body Composition Analysis
o Results provide an easy and quick overview of your body make up including lean body mass, body fat mass, basal metabolic rate.
• Functional Assessment
o Assess strength, flexibility, range of motion and functional health of your body
• Cardio Assessment
o Assess cardiovascular health and stamina
• Overall Assessment and Fitness Improvement Plan
o Completed by Certified Personal Trainer
I’ve done the Body Composition Analysis already and it was also a chance to meet one of the personal trainers on staff. He was very nice and informative and I felt comfortable with him, which is always a good thing. The price for the assessment is currently $60 and I feel that there will definitely be value there.

The other thing I want to budget for is Nutritional Wellness Counseling. The description from the Regional Weight Loss site is:

Nutrition Wellness Counseling (pricing plans are identical to personal trainer options, listed above)
Take charge of your diet to promote health, wellness and a healthy body weight.
One-on-one nutrition counseling with a registered dietitian
• Supportive and non-judgmental environment
• Advice about weight control and healthy eating
• Set realistic short and long-term wellness goals
• Develop a unique plan to help you achieve your goals
They have very reasonable rates and package options so for both the nutritionists and the personal trainers and so I think that this well be a good start in the right direction. There is room in the budget, I think, for both as long as we focus.

I’m a member of Sparkpeople and while I am definitely a fan of the creator (he self-funded the site to make it a free site for all users) and they have a lot of great information and people and tools – it was also disheartening for me to see people making so much progress and I would be making none. I’ve also realized I was using it to stay on the computer – which isn’t conducive to health improvement! I tried MyFitnessPal.com as well and while it was a little easier to use as far as tracking, the forums are less than pleasant. I did meet a few fantastic people and there were a few family members on there as well, but I just couldn’t get past the unpleasantness if you asked questions on the forums. A lot of people were friendly and tried to help but it felt like a few were there specifically to promote their own agenda and their own views and if you disagreed they were very rude and judgmental. Which defeats the purpose of an online support system, I think.

So, this week I’ll be refocusing on not feeding the vending machine, getting a budget put together again, and baby steps again. The hardest part about that is that we’re staying with my father and I feel a little obligated to be social and that makes it hard to go upstairs and do a Leslie Sansone WATP dvd or a yoga video or meditation or anything like that. He’s like me – it’s hard to really understand something you’re not directly affected by and so for him, it’s all about moving more/eating less but yet evenings are for relaxing and watching TV. It’s how I grew up. What he is unable to grasp, because he’s not living it, is that essentially my inner organs are smushed in a corset with limited room to move so deep breathing doesn’t happen, my heart rate is slow so I can get dizzy easier, and then add to that an additional 100 pounds of body weight he’s not carrying. I think if I could somehow put him in that situation, that sensation, he would definitely grasp it and it would be easier for him to understand. I can do a fair bit of walking yet – last weekend we had a lovely time with my brother, sister-in-law, nephews, and Dad walking to see a couple of waterfalls – and that was a lot of walking for me! I could do it – albeit slowly – but I was definitely wore out. (And I am so grateful that there were no comments about my slowness, only patience – even from my not-so-patient brother!) Baby steps. And perhaps some communication improvement. :-)

The Skoolie is nearly completely gutted inside as I’m typing this. The mattress has been put in plastic and into the garden shed. The bed framing has been removed and sitting on the driveway for now. Dad was amused by the amount of clothes Casey had tucked away. The man has more clothes than most women do! To be fair, a lot of his attire is bicycle-specific and since that is usually his preferred form of transportation, it’s necessary. But I’m also pretty sure he could get by with not wearing the same t-shirt more than once in a 90-day period…

We’re looking at vinyl planks for the floor, in a hardwood pattern. Easy to clean for me! We’re still working out configurations for things, including the bathroom. It’s a 32-foot long bus, but we lose about half of that in the engine compartment. So we have around 24 feet to play with – and of course the king-size bed takes up a fair chunk of that! We’ve met a couple of fellow Skoolies, including Dredman, and they’ve had some neat ideas that we’re hoping to make our own. Our biggest problem is the bathroom – we’ll be using a composting toilet so plumbing and black tank for that won’t be an issue – but bathing is a necessity. There are plumbing holes in the floor already so we’ll just have to see what we can do with what’s existing and kind of design around that. Our intent is to have all the plumbing on the driver’s side of the Skoolie so the sink will be there as well as the Panda washing machine. It will be a challenge, but a fun one!

They did put in new roof vents – we purchased two with fans and two without. Over the bedroom area will be the fan blowing into the Skoolie, then a fanless, then a fan wired to blow out of the Skoolie, then the other fanless vent. That will make for some respectable air circulation. We are planning on getting at least two LED-lit garnish rings and possibly four. And as I was typing this – they are down to the wall framework and lots of cleaning up of fiberglass insulation and general debris. They’re speedy!

As I mentioned in a previous post – there will be some changes. I’ll be monetizing this site so look for some Amazon links and probably Google ads if I can figure out why they aren’t working. We’re looking at other things to do for supplemental income and so down the road we may have some pieces of art for sale as well. I’m going to put up a progress sidebar for my health tracking as well. Stay tuned, folks!

~Heather