Ain't Computers Grand?

I use Sparkpeople to do my food journal, so I rely on having Internet access. A couple of days ago, I didn't.

Turns out, I had purchased a webcam and when I loaded the program for it something went haywire and sent my computer into a tizzy. I couldn't get the computer to do anything. It wasn't recognizing my commands and it was taking forever to load what it did. I'm exaggerating only a little bit. I couldn't even use Task Manager to end programs. I had to manually shut down, which I've been told is not a good thing to do.

So, I did what I usually do. I didn't know whether it was a program I had loaded (I had loaded several that day) or whether it was a hardware problem, or even a virus or something evil of that nature, so I disconnected everything from the computer and left it off overnight. Several times, I've done that and when I reconnected everything, all was good. I talked about it with a friend (who is also doing the weight program) and she gave me the number of a friend of hers who is an IT guy. She told me later that she called him and told him to "do right" by me :D

As it turns out, I didn't need to call him. When I got home, I opened up in "safe mode" and started deleting programs and reset the computer defaults to before the programs were loaded - the last time I knew I didn't have a problem. After I deleted the webcam, everything was back to normal..or close. I still had one program that was apparently corrupted somehow. I deleted that program (a favorite game) and reloaded, but it still wouldn't load. So, I downloaded the game from the website and paid to register. I bought the game twice now (from different vendors, darn it), but it's loaded and I can play!!

I've considered trying to reload the webcam program, but I'm a bit skittish about doing so. Maybe when I'm off next week, I'll give it a try. I'd really like to have the webcam going so I can talk to my niece and nephews. If not this one, then another one. But dang it! I don't want to buy another one! Maybe I can get another CD from the manufacturer if I keep having problems.

In the meantime, I have to hop over to Sparkpeople to enter my food for today.

Another Setback

As I've posted before, I have my Wii and my Wii Fit. I now need to get a switcher so that I can automatically switch from TV to DVR to TV and Wii. The one I have now only has plugs for three devices.

I went to Walmart, but the one I bought doesn't accomodate coaxial cables. I guess that's because it is for HD, which I don't have. It's got loads of plug-ins though. I'll save it since sometime in the future I will probably have HD.

The problem is, every store I went to had either HD switchers or none at all. So, I went online and found one at Walmart. The very one I need. I was getting ready to print out the information so when I went to Walmart today I would know exactly what I wanted. Then I realized that it's not available in the store, only online. So I ordered it.

It will be another few days before I can get the Wii hooked up, but when I do.....

::grin::

Not So Successful This Week

I weighed in today and found that I had gained a bit this week. Less than a pound, but it was a gain. I won't let it get to me, though. I looked at my food and don't see anywhere that I went over my allotments. Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later. If I'm right about why I didn't show a loss this week, next week it should show up.

I did the 3-month analysis today. Some more disappointment, although the news wasn't bad. My BMI is down, which is good. Still not where I want it, but it is coming down and that is good. I was disappointed that it wasn't more, but that's me, and not that I haven't done well.

Of my 29 pound weight loss, 17 was body fat and 12 was muscle loss. Obviously, I need to work on strength more to keep from losing muscle mass. In reality, I haven't been working on the strength training end of my exercise until just recently, so it's not unexpected to have lost muscle mass. Dr M said this is common and not to worry about it, but to step it up.

I talked about the analysis with Dr M and she understands what I am doing and will be doing and appears to be happy with my plan. She also was happy with my progress and congratulated me on my progress.

I'm an over-achiever in some ways (which will probably come as a surprise to people who know me), so I'm disappointed that I didn't do better, but happy that I did as well as I did. The upshot of the whole thing, and what I must focus on, is that I'm 29 pounds lighter than I was 3 months ago.

And that's a good thing.

I'm on the 30 Yard Line

So to speak. I've officially lost 30 pounds now. I weighed in yesterday and got the good news.I still have a long way to go, but I will make it.

A couple of us on the program were talking Thursday about another employee who started it, but quit. I really don't understand. This is the easiest time I've ever had with a diet and I've been on many.

Maybe it's because I'm finally at the mindset I needed to lose the weight. I have the passion and the drive to continue on and complete the program. I admit that there are incentives besides the weight loss that are part of my reasons for completing the program. But honestly, this has been easy.

I haven't really done much in the way of exercise yet. I was sort of waiting until I hit the dreaded plateau before kicking the exercise up. Next week I'll do the analysis again which will tell just how much body fat I've lost, and if my BMI has gone down. I know I'll have a good showing. I'm already 12 pounds past where the doctor thought I would be at the three month mark. In your face, Doc!

No actually, I'm sure she had good reason to believe I would have lost only 18 pounds in three months. I'm just glad I've lost nearly twice that. It would be very difficult to do, but if I could lose another six pounds this week, I can make it double. It's doable, but difficult.

I was afraid Thursday would be a difficult day. I cleaned out my work lunch bag to repack it before leaving for work Thursday morning and left my pills sitting on the kitchen counter. Of course, I was at work before I realized it and live too far away to go get them during my breakfast break. Oh, well. As it turned out, I did fine.

I haven't had a chance to try out my Wii Fit yet. I know, why not? Well, I've been busy with other things. Yes, I could have done it, but it's not the end of the world that I haven't. And as I said earlier, I've deliberately waited to kick up the exercise. The Wii is mostly set up, I just need to actually plug it in and do whatever it needs to set it up. Tomorrow is another day.

And I have a week's vacation coming up in a couple of weeks, if it's not up and running then, it will be.

Blood Pressure - What's Good About it?

One of my reasons for losing weight was because I was concerned with my blood pressure inching higher every year. I have my BP taken at weigh in every week and on Thursday, had a discussion with the nurse about my blood pressure.

I remember when I was a kid in school, I learned that the top number should be 100 plus your age. I have learned over the years that the bottom number is of the most concern. When it hits 80, it needs to be addressed and anything over 90 is dangerously high. But since it's been a long time since school, and so many ideas have changed in medicine since I was a kid, I think I'll do a bit of research to see what constitutes a "good" BP.

Last week, J, the nurse was a bit concerned that my BP was 142 over 70. She seemed surprised that I wasn't on BP medication. Personally, I thought that was pretty good. I was okay with it, but thought I'd like to see the 72 come down a bit. I was happy with the 142. My doctor wasn't concerned when he got a similar reading during my physical last year. If it didn't bother him, I definitely wasn't going to worry about it.

The good news is that my BP was 117 over 72 this last week and J was happy. I'd still like to see the 72 come down some, but that's one of the reasons I'm doing this, isn't it?

Weekly Weigh In

I weighed in on Thursday last week. It was good news, I lost another two pounds. This is a grand total of 28.5 pounds since May 8th. I was stoked!

I've got to change my "workout" routine. I've been walking at work, but I'm concerned that I'll hit that dreaded plateau soon if I don't mix things up a bit. I do have a Wii Fit which is still waiting for me to hook it up. Just procrastinating, I guess. But, I will get it together. Both myself and the Wii Fit.

Actually, I just have to plug the various cords into various outlets the plugs need to go into. So that will be done probably tomorrow. I had to clear some stuff out of the living room and I've done it. I really need to wait until tomorrow just because the lighting in my living room is so atrocious that I'll need daylight to see what I'm doing. I wouldn't want to plug the wrong plug into the wrong outlet.

So, on with my plan. I have the program that came with Wii Fit and I have the Dance Revolution pad and program. I can get my exercise by dancing and from the Wii Fit program. I will be closing the drapes when I dance because I know it won't be pretty, but I will enjoy it and I will benefit from it.

Wii Fit

I finally got my Wii Fit the other day. I haven't set it up yet, that will be done tomorrow. I should have done it today, but today was not the day to do anything that might require much thought. Actually, most of it is ready to go. I just have to plug it in and go through the initialization process and I'll be ready to go.

Thank you, (online) Walmart!