Jump Around

Edited to add:

You have got to be kidding me.

Rainy Monday! Yesterday was glorious in Seattle, and the kids and I took full advantage of it. We stopped at Subway for a picnic lunch, then made it to the zoo before 11 a.m. and spent the day. Then we went home and barbequed in the sun! Excellent day.

Today, it's rainy and dark, and at least 10 degrees cooler than yesterday. Ah, Seattle. How I love to love thee, and hate thee, too. When you are good, you are very, very good, but when you are bad, you are awful.

I did well with my exercise last week. I neglected to copy over last week's plan before I started this post, but I did the stairs every day, I did deep water aerobics and yoga. I will call the week a smashing success!

This week, the plan is pretty much the same. Stairs, water aerobics, yoga. Oh shoot, my ex is out of town, so I have the kids. The likelihood of the evening classes working out is actually quite slim, I just realized. No child-free nights this week!

Regarding the living situation. I decided last night to sign another lease at my condo. This house-hunting is draining. There is no inventory, it is so stinking competitive, and I am not feeling like a contender. There was one ass-ugly (from the outside) house in my neighborhood that was out of my price range. Inside, it was quite nice - 4 bdr, all hardwoods, very much what I was looking for. I was scheduled for the second of two mass showings. They canceled the second showing because they got so many applications during the first. Also, a 3-bdr in my condo complex (all individually owned, thus no ability to "get on a list.") became available. It was ridiculously expensive. I went to look at it - it was awful. The most claustrophobic floor plan, with bizarre use of space.

Anyway. I called my landlord this morning and told him I'd sign another lease. There is a curious development. He wants to continue with plans to show my condo to a woman tomorrow night. She rents a home just a couple blocks away, but only has one kid and wants to downsize, while still staying in the immediate neighborhood. My landlord, as it turns out, knows the owner of the house she rents. They have been talking - perhaps a tenant-swap is in the works! All I know of the place is that it is at least three bedrooms and only a block or so from the elementary school. Those are two big pluses, right there. The other home currently rents for $1650/mo - my landlord told the other guy that I can't pay more than $1600 (ha, negotiating rent on my behalf, I love it). We'll see. Tomorrow, he will show my condo, and I will get more info about this house. If it works out, it is an amazing happy coincidence. I am hopeful, but trying not to get my hopes up: there are so many variables that come into play here.

If not, I'll just sign another lease. Put away money, have a lease expire early next spring and get into the market early and with great vigor. Now, my spirit is pretty beaten up over the whole process. Last night, I drove the kids by a cute house that is out of our immediate neighborhood. My 5th grader could finish at his school next year, but my kindergartner would have to switch schools. My middle schooler would stay at the same school. "Kids," I said, "I think our options are go for this house, or stay in the condo another year." They both resoundingly said they'd rather stay in our condo, in the same neighborhood (little guy was crashed out from the zoo, so he didn't get a vote).

We'll see. On other fronts, I am glad I'm tracking my eating on myfitnesspal.com. I would characterize yesterday's eating as a train wreck, but looking at it online shows me it was only a fender bender! Calorie count less than 1000. Not too much damage in fats or carbs. I need to be more forgiving of myself - the website tracker is helping me see when I'm doing really good, and that my "bad" is not as terrible as I let myself believe. That will be a helpful tool in fully understanding the effects of food on my body, especially as I transition more into maintenance (which is not anytime soon, hahaha).

I'm so glad I took out the IUD. In general, I just feel better. I am making a conscience effort to not yell at the kids - trying to break the habit so I can see how much is habit and how much is relieved by correcting the hormone situation. I just don't *feel* like yelling - I don't feel as impatient or short-tempered. It is cRaZy to think that this might have been an external force this whole time. (Not wholly, of course, but I mean in a general sense.) The fairly immediate drop of five pounds in the week following its removal did not go unnoticed, either.

Oy, that "Jump Around" song by House of Pain has been stuck in my head since I read some reference to it last night. Now maybe it will be in yours, too! With love, from Julie. :)

Buh-lieve It, My Belly Changed

Oh, and not for the better! In just the last couple days, my abdomen looks different. More...flumpy. Squishy. Hmm, not attractive, but definitely noticeable, to me, anyway. Just clothes not looking the same.

I will call this "deflation of the distended abdomen caused by Mirena." Ew. Isn't that CRAZY? It's noticeably different, I tell you.

When it comes to the effects of the Mirena IUD on my body, there are two key things about me that are relevant here: 1) I am soooo unobservant. Don't hire me to be your private eye. 2) I am not a conspiracy theorist. So when I do something like, oh, get an IUD, I am not exactly thinking, "wow, I am inexplicably gaining a lot of weight," or "hmm, why did I just start losing all this hair," or "hmm, I sure am a stark raving bitch, I wonder why?" And when I review all these websites complaining about side effects of the Mirena, I have a big part of me that says, "oh, you're just blaming xx on the IUD."

'Cept when I look at the complaints, I am just so struck by things that have affected me since getting the IUD. I *am* a stark raving bitch (oh gosh, only to the people I love most in the world, don't worry, yeesh). I have experienced hair loss for years, and I have always been the first one to tell you that while I have some bad eating habits, I didn't have 263 pounds of bad eating habits. Except for my lifelong battle with nighttime eating, I have never been one to eat all that often or all that much. Poor food choices, sure. Too much eating out, too big of portions at dinner, too much eating before bed. That's what got me fat. Oh, and no exercise. Mirena may have played a hand in it, too, but I wouldn't have noticed because...well, I don't notice.

Have I ever told you that I drove myself to the emergency room in the middle of the night for horrible stomach cramps, diarrhea and vomiting, only to be fine once I checked in? Like, completely and utterly fine? Or how I assumed that the fondue restaurant gave me food poisoning not once, but twice? Uh, a few years later I figured out I was lactose intolerant. And I didn't figure it out until a good friend said, hey dipshit, you're lactose intolerant. So I guess I didn't figure it out at all, haha.

Anyway, there are a litany of complaints of side effects of the IUD and I have, oh, probably 3/4 of them. I am so INTRIGUED to see how things change for me now that I've had it out. And am paying attention.

Weight this morning is 209.2 so maybe things will start happening on the scale again. I started using myfitnesspal.com yesterday and plan to track my food and exercise like a mad woman. I am always reluctant to track food, but now have found the motivation and expect it to stick with me. If you're on the site, add me as a friend! I'm 'freejulie' there, too.

Hmm, also on the IUD front, I am still emulating a stuck pig. :|

Nest Stress

Ah, you know it was a tough week - not getting that house we wanted. So imagine how my stress level shot up when I saw my own *current* townhouse that I *actually live in now* listed on craigslist yesterday! OMG.

Apparently, my landlord did not get my message or text that I did not get the house. They listed the condo on craigslist - for more than $100/month than I pay now. I called him in a panic yesterday afternoon. He said they won't rent it from underneath me, they were sure I got the house (gave the other landlord glowing references). The ad says available June 1st. Thank God I'm on a lease until 6/30 - I am just panicked over the prospect of losing this place before I have found another in the neighborhood.

The landlord says they want to test the waters to see if they get any calls at the higher rent. It seems too high, to me. I don't think they'll get it.

Stress, stress, stress. I was going to spend the day playing in the sun, but I hadn't formulated an actual plan. Instead, I guess I'll do some spring cleaning and move-prep.

Hey, as far as removing the Mirena IUD. It came out Thursday morning. This morning I woke up with my period with a vengeance. A vengeance, I tell you. Hopefully this won't last long, but last time it was a good six weeks. I am using my "iPeriod" app on iPhone to track what's going on. That's a great little app, I tell you! My weight is 210.6. No, really, body, it doesn't hurt my feelings that I am exercising like a mad woman without losing weight - I climbed twelve flights of stairs five times yesterday! Plus yoga and water aerobics and, and, and...

No, it doesn't hurt my feelings. Really. Hrumph. It seems very important to my body that I lose five pounds, then hang out at that weight for a couple weeks, then lose another five pounds, etc. I don't know if I'm sabotaging myself with food (it was kind of a rough eating week, with my sulky bagel bites the night I didn't get the house, and over-snacking at a friend's house last night). At any rate, I'm working on it and will continue to push for results. I am not amused to be doing all this exercise and not dropping pounds - I will find the key to making it work for me.

Cage-Free, Hormone-Free, Free-Julie

Okay, in the tiny townhouse, I still sort of feel caged! But I am hormone free, and IUD-free. Do you want me to tell you I went to the doctor, or do you want me to tell you I yanked that sucker myself? Believe whatever makes you most comfortable. :)

At any rate, thus begins the saga of trying to notice a difference in a hormone-laden, versus an added-hormone-free, uterus. My weight this morning was 210.2, I was only spotting the tiniest bit. Hmm, what else should I track? Mood-wise, I have been feeling really great these days. Dang, exercise is good for me. I feel downright giddy, lots of times. I have been tearing up my facebook page with the most ridiculous (and even risque!) of comments, and being quite the little chatterbox. It feels good to feel good. I hope I don't drive away all my friends with my goofiness. :)

Hmm, mid-section weight and bloating. I will measure my waist, hips and big gut. We'll see how much difference I see in the coming weeks and months.

Oh heck, we'll go ahead and do all the measurements, it looks like it's been awhile.

Dates (1/11/11, 2/26/11, 4/21/11)
Waist 49.5, 44.5, 42.5
Big jelly belly --, --, 48
Hips 49, 43, 42.5
Left arm 17.25, 15.5, 15
Right arm 16.5, 16, 15
Left thigh 27.25, 25, 23.5 (thank you, stairclimbing!)
Right thigh 28, 26, 24
Left calf 18, 16.5, 17 ?
Right calf 18, 16.5, 17 ?
Neck --, 15.75, 15
Around breasts --, 50, 46.5
Under breasts --, 40.5, 38
Anyway, I'm off to yoga class in just a few - I will coddle my wrist and see what I can do without further injury!

Hormonal Musings about the Mirena IUD

A friend told me yesterday that with rapid weight loss, the Mirena IUD can become less effective. She thought it was due to the device shifting in the uterus, but I haven't seen a lot of information online about it. What I have seen is a lot of women complaining about a lot of things that I also experience.

Now, I've had three Mirena IUDs. I had one place right after my ten-year-old was born. Five years later, I had it replaced. A year after that, I yanked that sucker when I was suffering from a lot of cramping. Sometime last spring, I had another one placed.

I'm resolute in my desire to not have more children. I would happily have my tubes tied, but the appeal of the Mirena IUD is the lack of periods. I like not having periods! 'Cept...I'm having a lot of periods. Bah. Since surgery, I'm cycling pretty rapidly, and when I'm not on my period, I'm spotting.

This would wear off, I would think. I know with rapid weight loss, they say your hormones are wonky because you store hormones in fat cells. There's more, though. A lot of people online complain about Mirena IUD and hair loss. I have hair loss! I've had it for years. I chalked it up to breastfeeding, to a drug I took for migraines called Topamax, to stress, etc. When I read posts online about weight loss surgery and hair loss, I've wondered, well, does it get worse, or is this already what I'm suffering from?

There's more. I read a lot about women complaining about mid-section bloating and the Mirena IUD. For awhile, I took a prescription water pill because I just felt so damn bloaty. I never noticed much of a difference from the water pills. And women say that their stomach is basically distended with the IUD.

My friend and I were just talking about how I'm losing weight disproportionately: it's very noticeable in my face, neck, chest, breasts, legs, butt...and not so much around my apple-shaped mid-section. Sure, it's changed a lot, but not proportionate to the rest of my weight loss. And sure, it is just my body shape, and I have a lot of weight left to lose.

But isn't it interesting to wonder about how much the continuous hormones might be affecting me? I went through a similar process last summer when I stopped taking antidepressants. I had been off and on them for years, but finally got to a sad, flat state that made me wonder, "how much is me, and how much is the medication?" All these months later, I have to say I'm so delighted I stopped taking them! I feel much, much better.

Ugh, I hate having periods. I know women have endured it, but I am whiny and want to be outside the fray. There's not even anything especially grueling about my cycles. I'm just a baby. But, the good thing about the months that I went without the IUD last year was my cycles evened out and normalized. After a good long six week period, sigh. They think that's what (combined with my every 56-day blood donation) tapped out the iron in my blood, leading me to get all those iron IV infusions.

Anyway. I think I'm going to yank that sucker. Or, as my friend suggested, make an appointment to have a doctor do it. ;) It's a bummer, because that first five year Mirena was SWEET. Since then, it's been downhill.

Also, I'm like the world's worst person for noticing how things I do affect my body. The absolute worst. It took me FOREVER to figure out I was lactose intolerant, and these were some pretty horrible reactions to it. It could well be that an observant person would have notice bloating, mid-section weight gain, hair loss, etc and tied it to the Mirena IUD, oh, I don't know, TEN YEARS AGO.

Or maybe not. I think I'm about to find out.