The Denora » Weight Loss

Step Out Yet Again!

Denora — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 13:50:08 +0000

For the last two years I’ve been participating in Step Out: Walk to Fight Diabetes put on by the American Diabetes Association, and for the last two years, you’ve all been amazing when it comes to supporting me. I’m hoping that this year you’ll do the same. This year I’m getting my donation page up a little earlier since this year I have a bigger goal to reach. Not only did I bump up my monetary goal (and my goal to get more donations than Donald), but this year I made a new personal goal of running or jogging throughout the entire course.

Yes, you read that correctly. I’m not walking this year, I’m running/jogging. I’ve been working on the Couch to 5K program for the last few weeks, and by October 16, I’ll be fully able to run an entire 5K. Since the route we use has a lot of hills, and my practice route has exactly none, I decided I’d be safer to give myself some wiggle room when it comes to running the entire thing. I will run as much as I can and jog the rest if I need to. The downside to this plan is that I’ll be doing it on my own. My friends will all be walking the route while I run. I’m hoping that with enough training, I can run through the entire 5K, and then catch up to my friends and walk the rest of it with them. Since it’s July, and the event is in October, I won’t make any promises just yet. But that’s my ultimate goal.

So here’s where you guys come in. I need support. Monetarily and emotionally. If you can come and walk or run with us, that’d be great! I could use a partner or two to come run with me. If you can’t be there in person, I hope you can support us with a small donation. Every dollar counts, and if you can only spare a dollar, it’ll mean just as much to me as if you can spare $100. Last year our team raised the 4th largest amount at the event, and this year we want to do better. This year my unofficial niece, Kyla (a sister of my unofficial nephew, Jaxson) is representing the American Diabetes Association as the 2010 Step Out Youth Ambassador! Kyla is the main reason we all participate every year, and I’m so proud of her for taking on this leadership role!

The link to donate is on that big button up there on the right sidebar, or you can click the link below. I appreciate anything you can donate, whether it be money, time, or just your good wishes. Here’s to hoping that we find a cure!

Donate or Sign Up here:

http://main.diabetes.org/goto/denora

Step Out Again!

Denora — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 00:57:38 +0000

Last year I participated in the Riverside Step Out to Fight Diabetes Walk, and I’ve been asked to participate again this year. Kyla, who is Donald’s niece, is the team captain, and basically the person we’re all walking for. Kyla has Type 1 diabetes, which, for those of you who don’t know, is the ugliest of the major types. She has to count her carbs every day, and give herself insulin injections all the time. She’s been doing it all herself since she was diagnosed in 2006. I can’t handle having someone else stick a needle into my arm once a year, but this amazing girl does it multiple times a day. Did I mention she’s only 12?

The Step Out walk will take place October 17, and we’ll be accepting donations until then. I know money is tight for everyone right now. Trust me, I know. But still, I’m going to donate my money and time, and ask you for donations anyway, because I think this is a great cause. And I couldn’t face Kyla knowing that I didn’t try my very hardest to do whatever I could to make her life better. So I’m asking you to donate to find a cure for diabetes. If you don’t do it for Kyla, do it for your kids, or your friend’s kids, or any adult that you know who has it, had it, or might get it. You could be saving their life, or at the very least, improving the quality of it!

The link for donations is here. A dollar will help, if that’s all you can spare. Every single penny counts. And! As an added bonus, you will receive a personalized thank you card via snail mail (yay!) to show you my appreciation! (Provided of course that I already have your address, or that you send me an e-mail with it. Addresses will only be used by me, and not passed on to Step Out, the American Diabetes Association, or anyone that does not have the name Denora on their birth certificate. I promise.)

Thank you for your thoughts, encouragement, and donations. I appreciate it, as does Kyla and everyone suffering from this disease. Let’s find a cure!

Donald, Kyla & Denora – 2008 Step Out

Ready…Set…OW!

Denora — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 18:03:39 +0000

My legs are on strike. They’re currently threatening to secede from my body, unless drastic measures to reduce their pain and suffering are taken. Negotiations are at a standstill.

A great start to my week.

Saturday was Step Out, and it was fantastic! There were far more people there than I expected (I don’t know how many, but I’d guess over a thousand) and it seemed more people than the organizers expected as well. Our team alone was comprised of over 50 people! We made the third most money of any team participating, and Kyla made more money than any other individual! (Donations, if you’re wondering, are still being accepted here or here for a few more weeks. Help us get to number 1!) The route we walked ended up being a 6.1K (3.8 miles) instead of the 5K as planned, but it was a beautiful day and no one seemed to mind the extra distance. The group was so large that we ended up walking in the streets, because people could not fit on the sidewalk. Our route took us down a few streets in Riverside and then around Fairmont Park which is home to a rather large lake. Some people with children stopped to feed the ducks and geese, while others just kept trucking through. The entire almost 4 mile route took us around 80 minutes, I think (It was way too early for me to be paying attention to what time we began, but I know we were back at the start around 10:30). The line for the free lunch was incredibly long, but some of the vendor/sponsor booths had apples and granola bars available, so we snacked on those. By the time we got home at noon, I was exhausted. I ended up taking a 3 hour nap, and was still tired when I woke up.

As if I hadn’t punished myself enough for one week, I chose Monday night to start the Couch to 5K program. It wasn’t so bad while I was doing it. It hurt at first because I didn’t stretch properly before hand (how do you stretch your shins? Anyone?) and because I’m in desperate need of new running shoes. But after the first couple intervals, I was feeling pretty good. And by pretty good I mean I was sore and tired and wanted more than anything to quit, but still managed to keep going. When I got back to my apartment after those two miles, I collapsed on the floor in front of the couch and attempted to stretch. My legs had taken on the consistency of jello, so standing wasn’t an option. It got better after a little while, though I was still stiff when trying to walk around.

Yesterday wasn’t the nightmare I thought it would be, but considering I thought I would be calling in sick to work due to lack of functioning limbs, my expectations were pretty low. I was stiff and sore, but could walk without any noticeable limp or wailing. Getting up off my super comfy and squishy couch is quite the chore (and should be loads of fun when I’m hugely pregnant someday) but I’m able to do it. Going from a standing to a sitting position (and vice versa) are the worst parts. My quads are on fire and just flat refuse to cooperate. I’ve tried bribing them with ice cream, but even that isn’t doing the trick. They’re just going to love me tonight when I start day two of the program. I might have to get one of those Life Alert necklaces. “I’ve fallen and my legs refuse to pick me back up!”

Catching Up

Denora — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 20:12:46 +0000

(Let’s just pretend it hasn’t been a week since I’ve posted, shall we?)

My meeting with the surgeons is scheduled for Friday. Can I just tell you how much that scares me? I mean, I knew it was coming. I’d even called to try and get it done sooner, because they were originally not going to see me until February. But it’s next week! I think it’s the title that scares me. In my head it sounds much more like Attack of the Surgeons! I’ve already been warned that they’re going to do everything within their power to scare the hell out of me. They want people who are serious about this, and not people who are going to back out at the last second. (Although that didn’t work so well the last time.) I really don’t think there’s a whole lot they can tell me that’s going to scare me further. Yeah, I can die. I could also be in a car wreck tomorrow and have the same fate. I could get an infection and stay in the hospital longer than normal. That would suck, but I’d manage (more vacation from work!). I could develop kidney problems when I’m older and go on dialysis. That’s true even if I don’t donate a kidney. Really, I’ve thought this through completely. I don’t understand how someone could go into this and not over analyze it like I have, but apparently that happens. I’m prepared. Scared to death, but totally prepared. I hope.

I started my workouts with a new personal trainer on Wednesday, and I already feel better about my weight loss path. I haven’t lost a pound since I started training. Not a single one. In fact, despite my mass consumption of water, my resolve to only eat healthy foods, and my 5 days a week cardio program, I have GAINED weight. What the hell? I can’t figure out why. So I explained this all to Mike, my new personal trainer, and together we came up with a plan. Already this is a vast improvement over the last guy, who never asked me anything about what I wanted out of this training, and just dumped me on a machine so I could work and he could watch the hot chicks wandering around. (Sidenote: Am I the only one who is completely intimidated by the hot chicks at the gym? I always picture them thinking “Oh look at the poor fat girl.” I know this is my insecurity rearing it’s ugly head, but please someone tell me that I’m not the only one. Lie if you must.) Mike, on the other hand, didn’t have me do anything until we went over what my goals were. I don’t want to be able lift a car. I want to lose weight, and firm up the leftover skin. That’s about it. I need to lose 15 pounds to meet UCLA’s requirements (They changed my goal weight to 5 pounds less than the original weight. I think they’re trying to make me cry.) and I don’t want my triceps flapping in the wind when I wave hello to someone. I also store most of my fat in my thighs and stomach, so I wanted to concentrate there. So he designed a program to fit my needs, and off we went! He pays attention to me when we’re working together, and he’s pretty damn funny. Trust me, trying to do a sit up while laughing hysterically does much more for your abs than doing 100 stomach crunches with a straight face. Try it.

Yesterday, Duke and I took a trip to the Huntington Library to pretend we know anything about photography. It was awesome. They have all these beautiful gardens you can wander through and look at. There’s a Japanese Garden, Desert Garden, Lily Pond, Herb Garden, and Rose Garden, just to name a few. I was most looking forward to the rose garden, but was disappointed to find that January is not Rose season. There are quite a few spots within the grounds that would be perfect for just sitting quietly and reading a book, or having a chat with a friend. In fact, I’m very much tempted to go back and pay the $20 entrance fee (thieves!) to do just that. There was one particular spot that was so blissfully peaceful, I just wanted to lay down and take a nap right there in the middle of the grass. But alas, I could not, for a stampede of loud children descended upon the place and shattered all the blissful peaciness (yes, peaciness, because I am The Denora: Inventor of Words that Shouldn’t Exist). Altogether, the three hours we spent there were some of the best hours I’ve had recently. As I’ve written before, I always enjoy hanging out with Duke, and today was no exception. I sure wish we could do it more often.

I leave you with some of my favorite photos from our excursion. They’re not retouched, nor anything spectacular. Just the ones that made me smile.

The Day After the Holiday…

Denora — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 02:01:33 +0000

Well Merry Belated Christmas! I had 5 fabulous days off work, and subsequently stayed as far away from a computer as I can get. Ok that’s not altogether true, but I did try to do more people to people things. Like go to the gym, and shop for Christmas presents on Christmas Eve (which I wouldn’t have had to do, had people just told me what the hell they wanted!). I also baked cookies to give away as gifts, bought super cute pre-decorated boxes to put gifts in (since a third grader can wrap presents better than I can) and watched a DVD of Jeff Dunham, one of the funniest ventriloquists I’ve ever seen. Of course, now I can’t stop shouting “Silence! I kill you!” to anyone who gets within 10 feet of me. (Get the DVD. Trust me.)

Christmas went well. We always go to my parent’s house in the morning and open stockings and gifts, and then we drove out to Jason’s aunt’s house to do our gift exchange and have dinner there. Both places were fun in their own way. My family does stockings in a slightly unusual fashion. We get the requisite candy and such, but we also get weird gag gifts. Bungee cords, cigars, anchovies, tire gages, miniature bananas, dog toys, and twist ties have all made an appearance in our stockings over the years. After we’ve pulled out our treasures, we barter and trade for other things. My dad always gets the cigars and anchovies in exchange for some form of candy. My sister trades away anything that isn’t plain chocolate in exchange for pretty much anything else. It’s always a lot of fun to do. We didn’t get to stay long, though, since we had to go out and see Jason’s family too. I was all sorts of domestic, helping his aunt get dinner made and on the table at a reasonable time. I really like his family, so it’s no hardship getting stuck in the kitchen with his mom, grandma and aunt while the menfolk stand around outside. The food is always good. I was proud of myself for not eating the plethora of cookies, and fudge, and other non-diet friendly treats available to me. I even kept my dinner portions pretty small, so I wouldn’t over eat. His mom and aunt both sent us home with a HUGE basket and platter of Christmas cookies, fudge and candy. It’s sitting in the fridge tempting me right now. I’m hoping Jason ate it all while I was at work, though I’m not holding my breath.

Work is very slow right now, which is great. I’ve got a lot of the end of the year work done already. Once that’s complete, I can clean my desk and work more on the company website. Both are things that I’m really not looking forward to, but that my boss has been a bit naggy about. But I deserve it. My desk is in a perpetual state of “Oh-my-hell-a-file-cabinet-exploded!” which works fine for me, but irritates everyone else. The website is coming along much more slowly than I’d thought it would, since I keep getting stuck on how to do new things. I just need to put my nose to the grindstone and push through it. Maybe tomorrow…

Ow.

Denora — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 21:30:42 +0000

So Wednesday was my first night with the trainer at the gym. He’s pretty nice, and pushed me right up to my limit, without making me feel like an idiot. Of course, it was only my first night, so he was probably going easy on me. The only exercise I had trouble with was the squats. My quads are very weak, it appears. You start with your feet spread just past shoulder width, with your arms straight out in front of you, palms facing the floor. Then you squat to a seated position, trying to keep your back straight, and getting your knees to a 90 degree angle. Sounds easy, right? Try it. Step away from the computer and do 15. And on the 15th one, hold the squat position for 15 seconds. It hurts like hell. I did 3 sets of 15, and almost passed out from the pain. It was a killer. I managed to finish out the half hour, and still did another 30 minutes of treadmill when I was done. I felt pretty good that night after the workout. Thursday was a different story entirely. Oh I was completely fine as long as I didn’t do anything complicated. Like walking. Or sitting. I was in SUCH pain. My legs had gone on strike. My knees buckled every 3 or 4 steps. It was like walking on two sticks of jello. Or two sticks of unbendable iron, depending on how my legs were feeling at the moment. I pushed past it though. I went back to the torture chamber (formerly known as the gym) and did another half hour workout with the trainer, followed by another 30 minutes of cardio. But I feel good about myself (certainly not to be confused with feeling good, period). I’m not going to quit this time, not when it means so much.

Last night I had to bowl, and after warming up I felt ok. I only had pain right as I bent my knee to release the ball, so I’d grimace, and straighten out and everything would be fine. With the exception of the frame where instead of swinging the ball past my leg, I swung it right into my thigh. Not a fun experience on any other day, but it’s far more excruciating when your legs are already screaming with pain. I’d love to say that was the reason I didn’t bowl well, but I’d be lying. Have you ever been good at something, taken some time off, and then come back to not being good? It’s so frustrating. I know that I just need to get back into the swing of things. I took 18 months off and can’t expect to be back to where I was in a short 3 weeks. But it’s hard knowing I can do better, and I’m just not. I feel like I’m letting down my team. Of course, they’ve never said or done anything to make me feel that way. This is all me. But it’s making me crazy.

Panic Champ

Denora — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 07:10:18 +0000

My first appointments for second stage kidney donation testing are next Tuesday. They’d originally told me that it would probably be 2 to 3 weeks before I could get an appointment. I guess they were just kidding! I have 5 days to prepare for the beginning. My second appointments (there are 2 each time I drive up there) are scheduled for January 3rd. But it’s good that this is going so quickly. It’s less time for me to panic about it (though I’m becoming a champion speed panicker), and it means Kelly will get her new kidney quickly. I admit I’m really nervous. But it’s weird, because I’m more nervous about the pre-surgery testing than I am about the surgery. I’m afraid that not only will they reject me as a donor, but they’ll find something else wrong with me in the process. I realize that’s not likely, but it’s a thought I can’t seem to get out of my head. I spent a while today talking with Kevin (Kelly’s brother) and Eric (Kevin’s cousin, who donated his kidney to Kevin in October) abut the tests and surgery and after care. It’s actually a bigger deal in my head than it is in real life. Eric was very cool about giving it to me straight. Parts of it will suck (the 48 hour pre-surgery liquid only diet, the major post-surgery bloating from the CO2 they pump you with, the aches and pains) but it’s been almost two months, and he says if not for the scars, he’d never know he did it. I’ve done a ton of research on kidney donation, but hearing the real deal from someone who’s actually gone through it was a lot more comforting than reading facts and figures online.

In other news, I’m joining a gym tomorrow. I’m going to work with a personal trainer to lose the weight that I can’t get myself to lose. I lost some, gained some, lost more, gained more, gained more, gained more. I’ve gone back to only drinking water, and eating as many vegetables as I can get my hands on. But without working out, it’s all for naught. I need to lose 10 pounds to get back under the "obese" line that the BMI ~~arbitrarily~~ marks off. It won’t be too hard, as I’ve done it before. But this time I need to do it quicker, so I’m going to get help. I hate the gym. I hate feeling like everyone is looking at me and silently mocking the "fat girl." Irrational? Yes, since no one in there could possibly give a damn what I look like or what I’m doing there, but that’s my insecurity rearing it’s ugly head. I’ll start slow at the gym, so I’m not dying by the time I get to bowling. This weekend (thanks to the fabulous coupon sites y’all sent me) I’m going shopping for ONLY healthy food. If Jas wants junk, well he can store it in his car. It’s a well documented fact that I have no willpower, so I’m going to make sure there’s nothing in the house to tempt me. We’ll see how long that lasts.

Breaking Barriers

Denora — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 05:12:57 +0000

Yay! I’ve lost weight! 3.5 whole pounds. Not bad considering in the first two weeks, I gained 2lbs. So really, I’ve lost 1.5lbs. But that’s better than nothing, right?

What I’m most excited about is that I broke the 200lb barrier. (For the record, I’m not afraid to state my weight. I’m a big girl. Figuratively and literally.) I’ve had trouble forever getting under 200lbs. A few months ago I got down to 195, and I damn near scheduled a parade through the city. Of course, the second I hit 195, I rocketed right back up to 205. It’s been 4 months or so since I’ve been under 200, and I’m super excited. Again. But this time I think I’m postponing the parade until I’m under 190.