Morning Over

So the worst of it is over... well mostly. Tomorrow I have my biopsies, that is not terrible but not fun.

This morning I was woken up at 6am (I told this to TE, and he asked "Do they know you?!" Ha!) for my weight, blood pressure, and set up for the resting metabolism test. Set up for me involves staying in bed. Fun!

The RMR test started at 8ish, they put this hood/mask thing over your head (clear plastic- you can see out of it) and it makes this wonderful white noise. Wonderful because it makes you want to sleep like you have never slept before. Buuut you need to stay awake for it- I try counting ceiling tiles, telling stories in my head, and this time I actually watched the screen measuring my metabolism. Always when I caught myself falling asleep it was the lowest. It kept things a bit more interesting than ceiling tiles.

I would say, just from my observations this morning- my RMR is around 1100 calories. That is to say - if I stayed in bed all day, I would need 1100 calories to maintain my weight. I think it is pretty much what I have been all along.

After that-I fell back asleep, had some crazy dreams about the King Pup (he has been acting out of sorts) and got re-woken up at 8:30(?) to start my glucose tolerance test. I won't go into the gory details- it is not terribly fun- especially because I am a big baby about blood lines in my hands. I am fine with lines in my arms, but I hate getting blood drawn from my hand. Regardless, my nurse was amazing and noticed that once my vein started to seize she needed to move the line. Fantastic!! I was also chanting (in my head) about my veins being rock-stars not disco dancers (okay, now I know I have not eaten/had coffee at this point-- but where do I come up with this stuff!?)

The glucose test was over by 12 (early!) and I got to have lunch (turkey and cheese on wheat bread) and head back to my room.

At 1pm I did about an hour of computer testing, which always make me feel like a dummy with ridiculously slow reflexes.

And that, my readers (if you are still reading), brings you all up-to-speed. I am about to start in on some work setting up my poster layout/outline for a meeting with boss-man tomorrow afternoon. Fun times at CALERIE high :)

Update

Well I am not quite sure if this is actually live blogging... but hey, it is what it is :)

So I did some work (some of my many experiments actually worked!?), watched According to Greta (eh), and 3 episodes of Ab Fab. Oh and ate. Something about being in here makes me starving!! Like insatiable.

And I am avoiding scratching at my arm where the allergy tests are planted. I have photos. They are gross.

Anyway- I thought you all may like this clip. If you have not ever seen Ab Fab before- you should. This episode is called "Fat" and if you do not want to watch the whole beginning you can fast forward to 2:35 when Edina asks why she is so fat. Enjoy and goodnight all!

Live Blogging Overnight

Wow. My last stay at the study center. 2 years! Where did the time go?!
Well today was a crazy day (it always is crazy the day I go in for my overnights) but I did manage to get in for my morning visit before 11 (my baseline and 1yr visit was at 11am, not 8:45 like it was today)!

So here is the run-down of my day so far (I know, maybe even more boring than my daily food records):

8:45- arrive at study center, drop off overnight bag and books. Blood draw (fasting). Temperature, blood pressure, pregnancy test.
10:05- Skin allergy test plant
10:30- Breakfast: my favorite- English muffin, peanut butter, apple, coffee, non-dairy creamer
11:30- Arrive at work -- proceed to frantically run though way too many experiments in a very short amount of time. I will, after blogging, look to see how one of them worked out. Given my mental state, I am not too sure about the success of anything I did today...
4:35- RUN out of the building with hopes of going to the post office. Arrive at the post office and notice the line is about 12 people deep (what is it Christmas?!). Forgo the post office and go to the subway.
5:15- arrive back at the study center, drop off bag (yes another bag) and coat, and head down to dinner.
5:45- Take my core body temperature pill (it is about the size of a multi-vitamin and is currently reading 36.84 degrees) The researchers will measure my core body temperature for at least 24 hours. Start unpacking.

Here is where things may get a bit more interesting... Here is the inventory of what I brought to keep me entertained in my time here (keep in mind I have a poster to make, plenty of work to do, and I will be discharged on Wednesday morning-ish). I began to amaze myself as I was unpacking it all...

Liz's Delusional Vision of the Number of Hours in an Overnight Stay

Movies:
According to Greta (Netflix)
A Mighty Heart (N)
Atonement (N)
Absolutely Fabulous Season 1 (so good!)
Charlie Wilson's War
Juno
All of netflix/hulu/tv streaming...

Books:
Middlesex (I am halfway through)
The Kite Runner (I know, I know... I have not read it yet- I will!)
Ask For It (a negotiation book for women)
Ashtanga Yoga- The Practice Manual

Magazines:
2 issues of The Week
2 issues of Paste

And then there is my work!! Which I am about to start now. More later!! Stay tuned...

Tuesday so far....

I had my first day of testing today. I recorded a play-by-play for those of you curious as to how I spend my time at the study center or just want to know what kind of rigorous testing I go through ;) You can find my food buried in the details!

7:20am- Arrive at study center
7:30- First urine sample: pregnancy test, other unknown tests. Change into scrubs. Realize I forgot my laptop power cord.. live blogging is going to have to be done the old fashioned way-- with a paper and pen. Nurses get my weight.
7:45- Blood work, back to room
7:55- Second urine sample
8:06am- Drink dose of labeled water (this is how they measure exactly how many calories I am eating over a one week period). Waist circumference measurements done. Go over my daily diary (I record any illnesses/drugs taken). Read some of my book.
9am- tune into Ellen show. I have actually never watched it before!
9:20- get picked up to go across the street for a DEXA scan (bone density)
9:45- return to room, catch the tail end of Ellen (Emily Blunt was on!)
10:15- start counting minutes to snack time.... (11:06)
11:06am- SNACK time! At this point I am starving- I stopped eating last night at 6:30pm. The Nature Valley Granola bars and OJ never tasted so good!! (293c)
11:15- go upstairs for strength tests
12:15- Finished with strength tests, started to fill out questionnaires- but got taken to get an EKG, blood pressure, physical, and visual computer tests.
1:26- Finished questionnaires. Begin the final countdown to lunch time!
.
.
.
.
2:06- final urine, then LUNCH!

Lunch Feeding Frenzy-800 calories (ugh!)
2 slices wheat bread
3oz roasted turkey
1T fat free mayo
1tsp mustard
2 slices tomato
1 leaf of iceberg lettuce
1c diet ginger ale
(saved the apple and bran cookie for later)

Left the center and picked up a coffee on my way into work...
Coffee- 40c
....lemon loaf.. (eeekkk) 350c (!!)


Leaving about 500 calories for dinner.... TE wants to check out a new middle eastern place in the neighborhood, so I am going to look up some options on Calorie King!

2 Weeks of Accountibility

So tomorrow begins my final testing (2 weeks long) of the CALERIE phase of my CR life. I will be getting my handy orange booklet to record all of my food- but I thought I could use the extra accountability and encouragement in this phase. Especially since it is going to be hectic with work (a lot of late hours) up through the end. So here we go again....
This is a picture of me at my 6mo testing recording diligently at a pizza shop in SF.

Monday- 1670 calories!

Breakfast (at study site)- 345 calories

English Muffin- 100c
3/4oz creamy peanut butter- 125c
1 med red delicious apple (I usually get a banana- but they did not have any this morning)- 80c
Coffee
1T cream- 10c

Then walk to S.bucks for more coffee (11oz coffee, 1/4c 2% Milk)- 30c

Lunch- 500 calories

Subway sandwich 380c

--Oven Roasted Chicken on wheat (320c)

with Provolone (40)
Spinach, Tomato, Pickles and Mustard (~20)
Diet Coke

Seminar Snack- 115 calories

Coffee - 1c, + 1T whole milk ~15c
Oatmeal Raisin cookie ~100c

Snack-180 calories

Yogurt - 130c
Bran buds- 1/4c- 50c

Dinner - 530 calories

The other half of my Subway sandwich- 380c

Kettle cooked potato chips- 1/2 bag 100c
Clementine- 50c

Winter Breakfast

In an effort to keep blogging I thought I would update you all with my current favorite breakfast. It is great for cold winter mornings. We first had this combination of oats, berries, and nuts in Texas while visiting our dear friends A&K. It was not necessarily as cold as it is here- but everything is relative...

Looks good, right?! I love my selection of mugs too, haha!! Also- notice my handy measuring tools in the background. Such a kiss-up!

Cranberry Walnut Oatmeal

serves 2
420 calories/serving

1C Mixed grain oats (260c total)
1.75c Water to cook the oats

1tsp cinnamon
1oz chopped walnuts (200c)
30g (one serving) dried cranberries (130c)

Cook Oatmeal according to directions (boil water, add oats)
Add cinnamon, nuts and berries to the oats about 5min before all of the water is absorbed
Put oatmeal into 2 bowls

Top each bowl with:
1T maple syrup (50c)
2T skim milk (25c)

Enjoy!

Big Month

February is upon us.

I am no longer counting the days left in the study- because I am no longer thinking of the study as being over-- it will continue as I continue keeping my CR dietary habits alive :)

Everything has been going well- I was inspired by the CALERIE party, met new participants, lost most of the weight gained over the holiday season, and generally feel better about things. Maybe it is the running, or the yoga, or not traveling... I am not questioning it.

I am very thankful that all my family and friends have been very supportive throughout this process. School is crazy and I need all the support I can get at this time.

In other good news, the weekend that the study is over TE and I are going on a winter wonderland trip! We are going to a state that I have never been to before, staying in a spa, snowboarding, and getting massages!! There is some academic purpose to this trip, but for now I am not thinking about it-- only the fun! :)

I am also planning a shopping trip for my CALERIE body wardrobe (to keep me this same size!) for March.

Two things to keep me thinking positively and giving me extra motivation to maintain my weight/CR diet long term and my outlook through the next few weeks.