Humid

Friday:

I'm really struggling with the humidity this week. It was 87% yesterday, which means the air is so saturated with water that when you sweat it has nowhere to evaporate to so the body's cooling system doesn't work. The temperature has been varied, but its very hot some days and will be up to 39C on Sunday. Exercise is twice as hard as usual, it's impossible to sleep, and I just feel tired and listless. I'm always like this with humidity. I remember when we went to Shenzen, China - just over the border from Hong Kong - for a few days and it was so hot and humid I could hardly move. I hated it. Such a relief when we went up into the mountains one day.

Otherwise everything is fine.

But I didn't get much done today.

Sweat

Monday:

I weigh 72.9 kg this morning, so that is a loss of 2 kg this week. Excellent. Some of that is water weight, I would be delighted with 1 kg a week from now on. Also, my waist has shrunk 3 cm to 94 cm which is very exciting. I am an apple shape with a big belly and would love to get back to the hourglass I used to be. I don't mind curves in the right places!

School library volunteer day today. The new librarian/teacher was there, Mr Jones (Harry?), he asked if I was ok and just left me to it. It only took me 45 mins today to return the morning influx of books on the computer and to the shelves. Getting quicker. 

I walked there and back so that was a bit of exercise too. My doctor asked if I exercise enough to sweat and I had to laugh. I can sweat sitting quietly at a desk, it's not a very good indication of exertion level! But yesterday after vigorous dancing I pulled the elastic out of my ponytail and squeegeed a splatter of sweat out of my hair!

Last time I had a significant hair cut Ping commented that my hair was getting really long. What?? I just had it CUT! This time, it was Jo who said that my hair was growing really fast, wasn't it. Um, what? I just went from longish to shoulder length? They clearly see that something is different with my hair, but for some reason go in the wrong direction. I guess because when it's longer I pull the top part back always, but when it's shorter it's more styled around my face and you can see more hair? I just seems weird to me and I don't know how to respond to the comments.

Going well

Sunday:

Everything is going really well with the diet, in fact today I took back one pair of work trousers which I hadn't worn yet and still had the tags on and got the smaller size. I could squeeze into the smaller size when I was shopping two weeks ago, but it didn't look good! So I decided to get the bigger size, which was my 'old' size. I don't really care what the number on the label says. Anyway, I've lost 2kg this week and I decided to back myself to keep losing weight and fitting more smoothly into the smaller size trousers.

I'm eating healthy and in smaller portions, exercising, and sleeping better. No more nausea and the dry mouth is very mild, so it's back like the first couple of months I was on Duromine last year.

Life seems very busy at the moment. I need to spend more time on TAFE work, I’d love to do more gardening, and I have four birthdays this month to shop for - husband, niece, sister-in-law and brother! I’ve already spent a whole day on that with not much to show. After so many years of birthdays and Christmases you run out of ideas!

Back on

Thursday:

I went to my doctor on Tuesday after my haircut and got another script for Duromine, so you'll have to ignore what I said before about waiting a much longer time before trying it again! I was getting frustrated with my inability to lose weight without it.

Brief summary of Duromine history (all dates are Mondays which don't 100% match with actual start and end dates but Monday is my weigh day:

Start 16/08/17: 84.7 kg, waist 102 cm (waist not measured until a week later so might have been more)
After 3 months 13/11/17: 75.1 kg, waist 97 cm.

Loss of 9.6 kg and 5 cm off waist. Minimal side effects but didn't seem to be working much by the end of the three months. Delighted with result. Felt so much happier in my body.

More or less maintained over 2 month break including Christmas period.

Restart 01/01/18: 75.4 kg, waist 97 cm
After 1 month 05/02/18: 72.6 kg, waist 96 cm

Loss of 1.8 kg, 1 cm from waist. Much stronger side effects including nausea and extremely dry mouth. Also dizziness but my doctor thinks that is my low blood pressure and the flu not the Duromine, and it continued after I stopped the medication while I had the flu. The side effects didn't seem worth the relatively small weight loss so I didn't ask for a repeat prescription.

This Monday, 05/03/18: 74.9 kg, waist 97 cm, hips 107 cm, bust 101 cm.
Regain of 1.3 kg and 1 cm on waist, most of what I'd lost in January.

The doctors at my clinic rotate every six months or so, I once tried going elsewhere to get continuity of care but didn't like the doctor who looked at my high blood sugar and obesity and basically said 'you're fine'. So I went back to this place. I have liked every single one of the doctors I've seen here over the past two and a half years (five of them I guess!) and this new one is the nicest yet! There had been a change since I last went. They are all young, female, straight from medical school I think and this is part of their work experience, up to date with new information and keen as mustard. Not much experience though. (There is also a experienced male doctor continuously there but I like to see a female.) Anyway, she gave me a month of Duromine (have to see her again before I get repeats) and wants me to get down to 65 kg which means losing another 10 kg, but she didn't just hand me the script. We talked about weight loss strategies for now and in the future when I'm no longer on Duromine, and somehow I found her more motivating that other people who have probably said the exact same thing. Probably a combination of her charisma and attitude and my own mental state. Things like restricting treats to weekends, exercising more, reducing portions, drinking more water, all stuff I know but don't always do. She wants to see me again in a couple of weeks.

Yesterday I started taking it again (have to take it early in the morning) and felt energised and appetite-suppressed all day. I foolishly read a book on the train on my way home from the city, which can give me motion sickness at the best of times, and got a bit nauseated which took a couple of hours to subside even after I got home. I had 2 fruits and 5 vegetables and some lean protein, small amount of fat, ten glasses of water. Excellent day. Nearly an hour of brisk walking, made up the last four minutes jogging up and down stairs at home because I wanted to hit an hour of exercise.

I slept poorly last night, just lay there wide awake quite a bit. Also had to get up five times to pee! Probably got four good hours of sleep. That's fine, I know it will take only a couple of nights to resolve then hopefully I'll sleep really well like I have in the past.

A little bit nauseated all day, dry mouth but not unbearably so like last time. I really hope the nausea passes soon. I keep burping (and feel better) so I seem to be creating gas in my stomach? I did 60 mins dance this morning and went for a 30 min walk in the afternoon. Tired now - that is a lot for me! Eating was good.

Haircut

Tuesday:

Who invented the photograph? Horrible things! I'll think I look ok, pretty good actually, rocking an outfit, the mirror is being kind, but then I take a couple of selfies and... oh. Damn.

Here is me in my new dress a couple of Sundays ago. Not the best lighting.

I took some photos yesterday of me 'dressed up' to work in the school library, but I'm not very happy with them. I look fatter than I felt, and having my hair pulled back like that is not kind to my face. But I'll post one here anyway.

I decided that a haircut was in order. I had been growing it longer but it wasn't working for me. I had a cut this morning. I like the hair, but my face looks tired and jowly and old...

Oh well, I wasn't wearing any makeup apart from mascara (that makes eyelashes darker, for you non-makeup types) and I am 47! And tired. I need a photo with a thick layer of foundation to cover up the dark circles under my eyes!

I know that a) I've never been photogenic at any age and b) I'm no good at taking photos either! But I feel like I should have some record of what I look like at this time. So just be aware that actually I look much better than that. :)

Library volunteer

Monday:

A few weeks ago Aiden's school library asked for volunteer helpers and I put my name down. It took a while to get the roster organised, but I started my one session a week today.

I really enjoyed my morning at the library. The teacher/librarian Debbie had only asked for half an hour but I stayed until 11:00. I think she was only planning to get parents to help with putting books on the shelves and maybe covering them. She seemed delighted when I said I was nearly a Library Tech, she showed me the computer system (very similar to the one we used at TAFE) and I did the returns on the system as well as re-shelving the books. All basic stuff, but she was actually teaching classes the whole time and only had a few minutes to show me in between kid-wrangling so it was good I was confident with it. I didn't do the loans today because students don't have their own library cards, the barcodes are all in a folder and Debbie knows all the kids' names so she's much quicker. I would have to ask every child their name and find their barcode. 

She's about to go on holidays for three weeks to China, they've only just found some one to replace her, I'm guessing the new person won't know the kids' names either! 

They use the 'Oliver' computer system which was also the one used by that other local school I was going to apply for a job at before I found I wasn't qualified - so it might be a common one at least in schools and therefore very good that I'm getting some experience with it. I learned what to do if the book was returned overdue (nothing!) or if they wanted to borrow more than the four allowed (let them!) or if a book was returned two years after the student left the school (excellent, finally!). All looks great on the resume!

It was definitely organised chaos, there were the classes that Debbie was teaching (researching sharks online) who returned and borrowed books, and also several groups of children (including my niece Emma) returned big baskets of books from their classrooms, and a few kids running in for other reasons like they left their mouthguard in the library on Friday. And they all seemed to accept me as a librarian and asked me stuff and gave me books to return. And an empty plastic bag, which I had no idea what to do with, but I accepted it as if I did. Turns out if they forget their library bag, the librarian gives them a plastic bag to use. It was great. 

I felt all businessy too (but still friendly and approachable), I wore a new outfit of navy pants and a white top and my ankle boots and strutted my way up to the school. Look at me, off to work! lol. The boots are very comfortable, as shoes go, but can't compare with sneakers. I was glad to get home and change after two hours on my feet. I'm not used to even low heels. 

This morning I weighed 74.9kg, a bit less than last Monday.

Last night a branch of the family who are always included in the Sunday dinner invitation but who rarely come, came. Without telling us before hand. So I didn't make enough crème brulee for everyone. And they are practicing Lent, so are not eating meat. I can usually cope with these large dinners, I'm used to it now, but still go into a bit of a brain meltdown when I have to deal with last minute stuff like that! The kids got ice cream instead of crème brulee, and the Lent adults insisted they were fine with whatever, which in this case was tortillas with just a bit of salad instead of the beef and chicken fajitas everyone else was having. I would have been so happy to organise some seafood for them if I'd known they were coming! I found it very stressful. I could have rushed around and tried to whip something up, but I decided if they turn up without notice and say they're fine, I will have to take them at their word.

Is it normal to not let your child eat sugar but be fine with them chewing on a crayon? Non-toxic doesn't mean edible!

Eleven red-back spiders

Saturday:

At TAFE this week we did a practice exercise where we had to brain-storm and then mind-map a random topic. My group got the topic 'diabetes'. In case this is the first time you've read my blog, I had gestational diabetes with my second pregnancy and now have pre-diabetes, I've been to government-run classes and am active on forums and have read just about every book out there on diabetes and know a lot about the history of treatment and recent scientific breakthroughs. Anyway, it was funny because it was supposed to be a team exercise so I had to button my lip and let other people contribute! That was kinda hard for me!

I was cranky (quietly) at the teacher of my online 'integrated' subjects (three subjects related to the work placement I'll be doing next term) - she only gave us access to the material at the end of last week - two weeks after the term started - then sent around an email this week to remind us to get going with it and not get behind! Arg! I mean, yes, but she could have acknowledged it was her fault we're behind in the first place!

Yesterday I came around the corner of the house and startled Draco the water dragon (and he startled me!) and he ran along the path a bit but then stopped and posed for photos. He's an imposing fellow, longer than my arm and very fast when he runs. I haven't seen the blue-tongue lizards for a while, I know they spend some of their time next door.

The big frangipani that we moved from a pot and put in the ground has finally flowered, months after everyone else's, and to our surprise ours is pink! White with a yellow heart is the usual colour combination, this one was left behind by the previous owners - probably because the roots had snaked through the pot holes and delved deep into the ground, we had to saw them off - and I don't remember ever seeing it flower before. Hopefully it is happy now in the ground with lots of sun. I don't know if it flowered so late because of the cultivar, or because of being moved. It only has the one flower cluster so far.

We have a lot of spiders around, I let most of them get on with eating bugs and only swipe down their webs if they are right in the way, but we had quite a few red-back spiders which seem to prefer living under our garden furniture or in cracks between bricks rather than in the garden. Very venomous and nasty, though small by Aussie standards. Today I emptied a whole can of surface spray in the various danger zones, gave the spiders half an hour to die them swept them all up. I counted eleven red-backs! And that's just the ones I saw, some probably didn't come out of their cracks to die. Quite a few egg sacks too. Shudder. I'm glad I didn't know how many there were, before. Scary.

We're into the start of autumn now and have had some cooler weather, so less swimming. Today was quite hot so we put the pool heater on in the morning and had a swim in the afternoon. Lovely. I hope we get a few more swims in before the weather gets too cold. Even with a heated pool, I don't think it's pleasant to swim in winter.

Jasmine had a band concert tonight, with a sausage sizzle and cake stall to raise money for the school band program. I stole an idea I'd seen in Canberra to contribute to the cake stall, fun-size Milky Way 'cars' with smartie wheels and a Tiny Teddy driver. I think they are so cute!

The concert was great, it was two school bands combined plus the local Fire & Rescue service band(adults) because one of them is the music teacher plus they have a precision marching team. Most of the extended family came along and it was all very entertaining, even the little kids seemed to enjoy it. The only bad thing was that the audience was in a flat hall but the stage was very high, so we could only see the front row of musicians plus the top of Jasmine's head in the second row. Everyone else was hidden. Jasmine's own school has a much better venue with the band on the floor and audience raised in ranks so you can see everyone, but the room is much too small for a combined event (not enough seats even for just Jasmine's own school concerts). Oh well, we still got to listen. It was a good evening out.