August 23, 2012

Annual physical

I had a very busy day today! When I woke up, I was debating whether or not to do the Wii Active, and I decided I probably should (I had no legitimate excuses not to). Since I wasn't doing the 30-Day Challenge anymore, I could just pick whatever workout I wanted. I chose the 30-minute Advanced Full-Body workout.

It was a good variety, it included a few exercises I hate (meaning they work), and I feel like it's good strengthening for my legs, to avoid knee injury. Anyway, I finished that.

I took a shower, got dressed, ate my oatmeal, and read some e-mail, and then I had to take Noah to his third dentist appointment in less than three weeks. The first appointment was a cleaning, where we found out he had 5 cavities (!!!) and then he had two cavities filled last week. Today, they filled two more. Next week, they'll fill the last one.

We came home and had lunch, and then my mom stopped over to pick up the kids (since I had my doctor's appointment today). Today is her 60th birthday, so I gave her a gift that I've been working on. She's been trying really hard lately to follow Weight Watchers and get down to her goal weight, so I made her a recipe book--it's filled with 60 of my favorite recipes I used while losing weight (60 for her 60th). The best part is, I calculated ALL of the nutrition info for EVERY recipe. (Basically, I'm trying to stress how much work I put into it!) I also calculated the Points and the Points Plus for each recipe. I totally forgot to get a picture of it before I gave it to her.

She took the kids to her house, and then I went to my appointment. I got into a room to see the doctor right away, but I was there for over an hour! First, a medical student came in (the medical assistant asked if it was okay that a med student check me out, and I said sure). He was super nice (and young and good-looking).

He started chatting with me about my weight loss (he'd looked over my chart). I thought maybe he was just making small talk until the doctor came in, but we chatted for a long time and did the typical exam stuff--listen to heart and lungs, check out eyes, ears, throat, check reflexes, etc. I told him all about the Ragnar Relay--I somehow manage to work that into conversation pretty much everywhere, because I am so excited for it! ;)

Finally, the doctor came in and went over some more stuff with me. Then she gave me the lab results from last week. I was nervous about my lipid profile, because I haven't been eating that great lately, and if my cholesterol was high, then my insurance would have an uber-high premium. (Over the past couple of years, our insurance has set standards that we must meet as far as our health, otherwise it's much more expensive).

My weight was just two pounds higher than last year at the same time, so I was happy about that (not happy with my actual number, of course... am I ever?) When I saw the cholesterol, my heart sank. It was 202--over 200 is high. But the doctor said my cholesterol is fantastic, and she was very happy with it--the reason it is a little high is because my HDL is 100!! (HDL is the "good cholesterol"; the average woman's is 50-60, the higher the better).

I was very happy with that number, but still worried about the insurance seeing just the "202". I texted Jerry to ask what the cutoff was, and he said 240, so I'm in the clear. All of my other numbers were fine, too.


I asked my mom what she wanted to do for her birthday, and suggested doing something other than eating out, since we're both trying to lose weight. She said she'd like to go for a bike ride with my dad, me, and the kids (Jerry was invited too, but he was working).

So we loaded up all of our bikes and drove to the Metropark. We went to a park that I'd only been to a few times (with Jessica, while we were marathon training in the spring). The boys are terrible to ride bikes with, because they are constantly stopping to check things out next to the river or in the woods. Fun for exploring, but not so great if you're wanting to ride bikes!

We rode (and stopped) for about 45 minutes, and then my dad watched the kids so my mom and I could go at a speed faster than crawling down a different path. It was so nice, and I kept thinking how great it would be to run there, but I think I'd be too scared to run there alone. It's very secluded, so I'll have to save that for if I ever have a running partner.

It was really good to celebrate a birthday without food for once!

And speaking of food, I tracked my calories again today... still on the low end at 1468, but I was on the go all day. I didn't even get to eat dinner until 7:45. Can't wait to settle down with my book (Divergent) and relax!

13 comments:

  1. Happy 60th birthday to your mom! Unfortunately, some of that 202 could be genetics. No matter how well we eat and exercise, we can't change that. My mom's been fighting that for decades.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Tina SmithAugust 24, 2012

    What a nice way to celebrate your mom's birthday as a family. I hate that get togethers with friends and family are often so food centered when the real point should be spending quality time together. Congratulations on your great physical results. Gives me a kick in the pants to make an appointment for myself. It's been years since I had a complete physical, so it's definitely long overdue!

    ReplyDelete
  3. happy birthday to your mom and congrats for a great appointment! i haven't ever commented before but i have been reading your blog for a while now! you are so inspiring! thank you! i was wondering if you would sell your cook book? i would be interested in buying it.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Yay Katie... that's an awesome birthday gift for your mom. The 23rd is my Grandpa's birthday AND my mom & dad's wedding anniversary. It's an important day for us too. I love your blog... Keep it up girly. :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. I agree with Stacey....that cookbook would be interesting to a LOT of people!!!!
    I have been checking up on your food tracker on SP, good job so far!!!!
    ~Laura

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi Katie! I found your blog and have been reading for awhile now. I was also over weight but had the weight lose surgery. Lost almost 100 lbs. That was almost 3 yrs ago. I have put a few lbs back on and am now trying to take them off plus more. Found a great app on the phone called lose it, thought maybe you might like it. It's kind of like your spark page but on your phone and online....Keep up the good work! And a big Happy Birthday to your MOM!!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I need to wish your Mom a happy birthday, I added her as a friend over at Spark,but I've got about 800 friends and it would take forever to find her, so can you send me the link to her page? 60 is a BIG birthday. Hubby will be 60 on Monday! Wow--they're very close in age! Glad you found something besides eating as a way to celebrate. Too often our lives revolve around food. Like we have gone out to eat 2 times already for birthdays this month and will go out again for hubby's birthday on Monday! One of my goals when I hit 60 (1/1/11--I'm older than hubby), was to be below 200 lbs. I made it with a couple months to spare, but I knew 60 was OLD and I also knew if I didn't get the weight under control, OLD would mean not being able to walk, and even an early death. So I got serious about it. Now OLD, to me, means I can do anything I want! I know your mom never had much of a problem really, but happy she has been working to lose those few pounds she wanted to. GO KATIE's MOM!!!

    ReplyDelete
  8. What an awesome gift for your mom! I'm glad your physical went so well, even if it took a while. I really, really loved divergent. I'm hoping the whole trilogy is as good and if I ever find the time to read Insurgent I might know! Hope you ended up having a relaxing night.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Nice! I just got my cholesterol done a couple weeks ago for the first time in a long time and I was pretty happy with it. Normal cholesterol, but lower (40) on the good cholesterol. Working on it!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Yay for bike rides and Divergent! I was one of the few that recommended it so I'd love to know if you do or don't like it!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Omg, can I get a copy of the 60 recipes? I will even pay you if you want! I have little kids who are hard to please so if your recipes pass your kid's test on being good, sign me up! Will you let me know either way if I can have a copy or not? My email is luminajd@ hotmail. Com

    ReplyDelete
  12. whoa my good cholesterol rocks (my endo says that she can tell i work out a lot) but my bad cholesterol is horrible, but i didnt realize it was because my good was so high. im definately going to talk to my endo about this when i see her in september.
    that is strange that your required to get a physical every year, my insurance has never done that to me (ive had the same basic insurance carrier since i was 19).

    ReplyDelete

I used to publish ALL comments (even the mean ones) but I recently chose not to publish those. I always welcome constructive comments/criticism, but there is no need for unnecessary rudeness/hate. But please--I love reading what you have to say! (This comment form is super finicky, so I apologize if you're unable to comment)

Featured Posts

Blog Archive