Well, this weekend went okay. I don't seemed to have gained anything. That's progress in my book.
Go Amy on the protein for breakfast! It totally makes a difference in keeping those cravings away. I have an omelet for breakfast nearly every morning and have for the past month. I'm not crazy about eggs, but I'm getting used to them. I used to get sugar dips all the time, but now that I have a protein in the morning, I haven't had one in a month and they really help out the cravings. Yayee.
I need to work on? Night cravings. We've been eating dinner earlier these days - around 6:30, which is great! (I had tofu steak last night, it was really heavy and filling, so that's something we'll do more often. Eggplant we did too, that is good and filling.)
We used to eat sooo late, no wonder I had a problem losing weight. New problem, I now get really "peckish" as my husband would say and I want to snack all night long. I need to limit it to one serving of a snack per evening AND stop eating after 8:30, or else I know this weight loss will NOT continue.
I brought a journal downstairs and my nail polish stuff, so next time I wanna graze around the kitchen I can either write down why I feel this way, maybe the feeling will pass and if not, change my nail color and let it pass!
What did we do this weekend? We took the dog to the dog park. Olivia just beamed and squealed at all the dogs running around. Got the fridge cleaned out - yayeee! I made up a weeks worth of baby food: pears, sweet potato, carrots and peas. Those peas were a pain in the you-know-what to deshell and a few shells ended up in the final product, but they do store bought as well, so I'm sure Olivia will be able to handle it. Enough talk of non-weight-related stuff.
I got 45 min of cardio in on Saturday, but not formal exercise on Sunday - just the walking from grocery shopping and going to the park. Good week to all!
I am afraid I didn't exercise today either (unless you count the walk I took to Starbuck's to get coffee). I would have liked to take a long walk outside but it is too cold to take the baby out and we didn't get going early enough this morning to go to the mall and walk before the crowds.
This past week I have been experimenting with egg sandwiches for breakfast instead of cereal. Basically, I toast one or two slices of cheese on light wheat bread and add microwaved egg beaters. Though it is slightly less calories than my normal breakfast, it keeps me satisified much longer. Every time I have this breakfast, I have snacked less and haven't been starving for lunch. It is a very strange thing, indeed, I didn't know protein was supposed to have that affect on you. Even though I don't like getting protein for egg sources, it does seem to be something I need right now.
Diet is going great even though exercise is lagging. I am cutting myself a break, getting as much done as I can.
Wow, week 8, feels great to have made it through the last two weeks to be here. Mike and I just ran out to get diapers and formula from the warehouse store, then to the three grocery stores for supplies this week. We have our list of dishes at the ready so I am anxious to get cooking again. If I can manage, I am making my fave tonight, risoto with asparagus and sweet potatoes. Mike is off to a movie in a minute, so I get to spent a few hours alone with my babe, who knows if I will have energy left over to cook.
I wanted to go to jazzercise this morning, but Iz had a bad night last night and I didn't get much sleep and so opted for more rest over exercise. There is always tomorrow.
Hello, I'm Nikki. I was invited to join your fine blog, by Cat. Thanks, Cat!
So here goes my intro: 23 yrs old, married for 4 yrs, 7 mo. old daughter, Olivia.
For show-off purposes: oliviajoyonline.blogspot.com.
I am also a PCOS-er, very big girl. I weighed 306 at 40 wks pregnant, then after having Olivia, my weight settled months later, at 286. I knew that I was gonna have to work to get it off and it wasn't actual "pregnancy weight". It began.
Weight Watchers. I've had success with them in the past, so I started doing it on my own again. However, we all know it's tough staying accountable to yourself. But fighting to keep my eating in check (I have a big binging problem) and exercising 3 times a week, I fought off 15 lbs.
Why did I suddenly want to quit even though I was having success? Fear of success, who knows.
Happy about the 15 lbs, "celebrating" the loss with food - yeah, that makes a lot of sense... not.
I started The South Beach Diet on February first with a girlfriend. I don't follow it exactly, but I cut out the white flour, potatoes and added sugar and excess fat. Thus far, I've dropped an additional 10 lbs. Happy that I no longer crave breads, potatoes and pasts with the lust I did before, I still have a hankerin' for sugar... chocolate, cakes, cookies, ice cream. I know I could now enjoy them in moderation, but I choose not to at this point because I don't feel I'm strong enough to move on... and not revert to my old bingeing habits. In time, I'll find that control.
Anyway, I started this past week to start exercising again. I didnt for the first 3 weeks because I felt sooo sluggish - and also very curious as to how this diet could be good for me if I'm feeling sluggish.
Now, it's passd and I feel wonderful and we all know that with exercise comes even more energy.
So, I'm feeling good and looking forward to the road in front of me.
Although it may not lead to Orlando (well perhaps for a visit one day), I root both you, Cat and Amy (and Paul, and are there other marathon bloggers here, to you as well then) on your upcoming marathon. Very exciting!
I've blabbered on enough and say thanks for sharing your space. Have a great weekend all. Perhaps next time I'll answer those questions ya'll answered below. Another long blabbering email, hurrah, hurrah! N
I had to run to the grocery store yesterday for some last minute supplies for supper and realized I hadn't done a full scale shopping trip in two weeks. These last two weeks were tough, first Iz was sick, then I was sick. But I realized yesterday that we did the perfect thing, Mike ran out and got the bare minimum that we needed, we didn't worry about getting 5 veggies a day or how much protein we were getting, we just did what we had to do to eat an acceptable amount and not use getting sick and stressed as carte blanch for behaving anyway we wanted to. I couldn't be happier that we survived these weeks unscathed and am very excited about getting back to it this next week.
Today marks the final day of week 7. I am feeling mostly better and hope to get to jazzercise tomorrow morning. I don't think I will have any extra goals this week because my house needs all my free attention. Not only have we not finished our bathroom renovations, but the laundry and dishes and vacuuming have all fallen by the wayside as well. I hope this weekend can be a very productive one.
Amy and I have the same motivation this year -- the planning of a second child and the desire to be at a fitter starting point than with the first pregnancy. So I thought it would be fun to answer the same questions she's posed for herself.
Why am I fat?
For me? Living in my head for 20+ years and not really doing anything to support my body needs in a healthy way til I started feeling chronically ill and wondering what the hell was the matter with me. Doh!
All of my pursuits and interests tend to be introspective and creative ones -- writing, reading, crafting, darkroom/photography.
Not really encouraged to develop a physical interest as a child and the few that I had briefly wondered about were shot down as being too boy-ish. (karate). So I didn't examine physical interests again til I was looking to improve my health. Once PE was no longer a requirement in the 10th grade, I didn't bother taking it any more.
College stress, dorm living, and long job hours at minimal pay pave the road to a lot of drive-thru eating and subsequent weight gain too. That crap is crap. Fast, filling, and hot, but crap.
My mystery illness turned out to be PCOS/IR with some hypothyroid thown in. PCOS I've known must be with me -- I've never been regular with periods in my life! But to go from 12 years old to 25 years old without knowing what is causing that, what it is called, how to best care for it, or how to manage the condition is a long time without a clue.
I'm glad PCOS is easier to dx these days. If I've passed it on to my kid, at least we know what to be looking for from the start.
Hypothyroid sucks. I always know when I need to call Dr. H. to check my meds. I feel lethargic, my skin gets dry, I grow moody and slow, and my hair starts to fall out in chunks. Ack.
Why have other attempts to lose weight failed?
I haven't failed yet. Failure is quitting. Probably the longest ongoing weight loss in the world (fall 1997 to date) though.
In that time I've graduated, married, changed jobs, quit working, bought a house, been properly dx'd, spent a year adjsuting my thyroid meds, spent another year adjsuting my Glucophage for the insulin resistance, gone mostly vegan, had a child and more. Life doesn't stop just because you are trying to lose weight.
And because life keeps changing, your tactics have to change too. Changing gears and trying different approaches to meet different needs and conditions -- all that is part of the whole process.
And if you have a lot to lose... dude. it just takes a lot more time than losing 5 lbs. Plain and simple.
I prefer gym exercise. I'm doing home exercise because I've got an infant now.
She's not big enough to fit a helmet properly yet, so even though we're willing to switch over fall mountain biking with fall casual biking with her in a bike carrier thing we haven't been able to yet.
Christmas 2004 is the first Xmas since 1997 that I maintained within 5 lbs. So it took me 6 tries through holdiays season to learn how to work it and successfully learn that lesson.
I'm at my 3rd attempt through my allergy shot series and I think I'll make it this time... I've only got another 3 weeks to go. The first time around I got disgusted at how long it was taking and car problems followed by illness killed my desire to get out there to go. The second attempt? Found out I was pregnant after taking two shots so it wasn't worth pursuing til after I had the baby. This time I asked the doc if I can take it 2x a week (10 weeks) to get it to the once a month maintanence shot rather than dragging it out to five or six months on 1x a week and she let me.
This is my 4th time signing up for Disney's Half Marathon... so far the first time is the only one I've completed. The second time I got sick, the third time I found out I was pregnant.
Why is this time different?
It isn't different for me. It's the same methodical process it's always been.
I don't subscribe to Shape any more but I read the intro to this months' issue after a long time of not getting the magazine and it made me laugh.
Anne Russell writes:
"We all know what to do to lose weight: it's no secret. Jsut consume fewer calories than you expend on a daily basis, day and day. Create at 3, 500-calorie deficit and you lose a pound. Then do it again. And again. And again."
The last line makes me laugh because it's true. Every night I dutifully update my food log/blood glucose numbers... and turn the page to do it again tomorrow.
Does it work? Sure. Julia just turned a year old and I'm 6 lbs under my pre-pregnancy weight. I'd like to changes happen faster, but I'm content.
Is it boring? Sometimes.
But that's just how it is. I'll put up with a little repetitious boredom for the sake of managing all my conditions properly and getting ready for the next pregnancy. We still nurse, and I'm not jeopardizing milk supply for faster weight loss either.
You just do what you have to and you take the good with the dull. Suck it up, get over it, push on -- whatever it is you need to do to get it done.
I am finally feeling better today, but Iz wasn't. The daycare called and asked for me to come and pick her up, that she was teething and miserable.
Anyway, I am at home and she is asleep right now. I finally got around to answering the questions that I asked myself last week.
Why am I fat?
I was just reading something on Oprah's site (don't ask why) and she said the answer to the question is that you don't put yourself high on your priority list, that you always do for others before you take care of yourself. You don't have time to exercise, you are too busy to eat right, etc. I think that is a pretty good answer.
I don't like this question because there isn't a single small short answer to why anyone struggles with their weight. Genetics, current eating habits, old eating habits, emotional connection to food, unwillingness to exercise, stress, lifestyle, etc. all play a part in our weight. For me, it is all these things and more. I could run through the list and say that I have always been overweight (true, but much less so when I was in high school. I thought I was a big fat cow, but when I look at my pictures, I was just about 10-15 lbs heavier than I should have been. I was never going to be twiggy.) I was a very unhealthy eater growing up and really never learned how to eat properly until I was on my own in college when I became a vegetarian. I never exercised, I had a letter from my doctor excusing me from gym because of a heart condition and I was happy to have an excuse to get out of it.
So if I made all these revelations and lifestyle changes in college, why have I only put on weight since then? I don't know, laziness. Love of food. Inability to control myself or accept responsibility for my actions. By the time I was out of college, I was 30-40 lbs heavier than when I went in, even though I was eating healthier foods and moving more than when I was in high school. I was also eating out a lot, eating lots of desserts, and even though I was making healthier choices, I was also eating way more than I needed. There is no other way to explain it.
My first year of grad school, I went into a deep depression (read - stayed in bed, skipped class, almost flunked out) and I put on another 40 lbs. There my weight has stayed except during pregnancy.
I guess the thing that floors me about my problem with weight is that I think of myself as a healthy eater. I try to make the right choices of food and have been a vegetarian for over 12 years now. But obviously, I was eating enough to maintain my weight. And when I went back and calculated the calories I was getting from my normal breakfast alone (bagel, cream cheese, blended coffee drink) it was almost enough for a whole day. So I was living in denial.
Why have other attempts to lose weight failed?
Another question that I am not sure that I have a good answer to. I did some starvation diets in high school, then weight watchers for a short time in college. I counted calories and attempted to run two separate times in grad school. When we were trying to get pg, I did weight watchers again and lost 30 lbs (then got pg so went off). The starvation diets were never going to work, I wasn't serious about weight watchers when I was in college (and it was the old program, where you kept track of breads, proteins, dairy, etc). The calorie counting in grad school would work for a while (I think I lost 20 lbs once) but then I would get bored or work would get really busy making it difficult to eat in or I would get sick or Mike would get sick and we would want comfort food. I would do it for a while, start to see results, then get distracted by other things and go back to old habits.
Why is this time different?
This is a simple one. My motivation is completely different. Every time I did some diet or exercise program in the past (with the exception of the time right before we got pg) it was for vanities sake. And I am not that vain. I am just not motivated to lose weight because of looks. I think I look great now and I have looked great all along. My motivation this time is to get healthy for pregnancy #2. And if I don’t get healthier, I might not have pg #2, I don't know if I want to put my body through an overweight pregnancy again and risk my future with Isabel. So the stakes are huge, the lives of my future children hang in the balance. I can't tell you what a motivation this is to me. Do I want that piece of chocolate? Yes, but not as much as I want to have more kids. Would I like dessert tonight? Sure, but I would much rather get pregnant without risking my life.
Feeling better today. Not well enough to exercise, but well enough to sit in front of a computer for a while. I have been able to keep track of my points over the past week of being sick and they have been ok, but I am upset that I can't get into a normal exercise routine. I just hope we don't continue to go through colds like this.
Easy walks Friday and Sat en famille... less than a mile and moseying along at times since I was carrying, pushing or walking along with the baby. Knee is doing well so hopefully I can get some formal workouts in this week.
Taking a break. Since waking up... have called sprinkler guy, scheduled doc appts for the whole family, two loads of laundry and working on two more, mowed lawn, caught up email, send family letters.
Now I have bills, soup for dinner and cleaning the house....
Busy, busy, busy.
[...]
Wiped out. Did a lot for the house today but not good for food and no formal exercise -- jsut lawn mowing.
I have a hard time juggling more than two things and since one of the things is always Julia... something slips.
Today was food and formal exercise -- did not do well there at all. 'nuff said. Try again tomorrow.
Good workout today. I was excited about it all day, but after I got home, made dinner, ate, and cleaned up, I had a hard time convincing myself to put on my workout clothes. I am thrilled i did.
Paul is home sick. I don't know if he will be up for watching Julia while I go to the allergist or if he will want for me to take her with me like I usually do.
No produce delivery today. I'm sad. But we've got plenty left from last week's basket so I did not order for this week.
I was reviewing my food log and some things worth noting...
1) Switching back to veg*n after a little over 1.5 years of non-vegetarian eating was a snap. I thought I was going to have some lingering hang ups like the first time I made the change but perhaps because it is already familiar it wasn't. My only hang up is cheese because I've yet to find a good soy cheese in regular markets and we now live 15+ miles from Whole Foods instead of 2 like before. Shopping over there is a lot harder when I have an infant in tow and interstate traffic to contend with. It has to be a planned event. It's not like driving really quick like when we lived at our townhouse. If I forgot something it was no biggie to just go get it and be back in 10 minutes.
2) I don't regret going non-veg and doing the suggested gestational diabetic diet in pregnancy and continuing it to Julia's first year. But as I meet the challenge of raising her veg*n, I feel more confident about doing my second pregnancy veg*n from start to finish. The pregnancy part is no longer new, and I know things now I didn't know then -- like how to pitch my expectations, manage my milk supply, etc.
3) Cooking is a bit of a challenge with a kid underfoot. She can see herself in the stove so she's obsessed with her reflection. Every time I open the fridge she runs over to look inside. So I like to do the bulk of my cooking when she's napping. That's also become a planned, deliberate thing. I can't just whip something up whenever I feel like.
4) One challenge is still exercise with baby in tow. I'm still trying to figure out how to make is work, and make it work not just for one day, but consistently. If it were all about me, I could deal. But it's not just about MY personal schedule for the day. It is making my schedule work with Julia's and Paul's. All three working in sync. Because I can't just take off without someone to watch her, and that someone has to be Paul.
5) And that's the biggest challenge. Paul. He's been slightly irritating me when he's supposed to be watching her lately. But that's just part and parcel of a larger issue, one that was there before Julia. Long story short? He keeps bizarre hours, skips meals, does not actively pursue healthy habits, and I can't stand watching it because I miss time with him, I worry about his health, and it irritates me that he doesn't value routine as much as I do.
I have a confession to make. After a week of being cooped up, I decided to go and take my sister out for her birthday last night. I was feeling better (worse now, though) and Izzy seemed completely over her illness. Mike was coming down with it and I thought it would be better for everyone to let him have a little time to himself to rest after a stressful week. On my way, I told myself that I was going to make healthy decisions at dinner, we just splurged for our 9 year anniversary last week so no need to have a similar event last night. Well, it didn't happen. First off, I was STARVING when I got there and we had to wait at least an hour, maybe an hour and a half before getting seated (the first place we went to had a 2 hour wait so we tried another). My entree was sensible enough (rice with steamed veggies) but then I got a salad (uh-oh, 250 calories worth of cheese and croutons and 150 calories worth of dressing). Then they brought the bread, the yummy yummy bread (150 points /roll, I had 2 plus 2 containers of butter for another 200 calories). When we got back to my sis's, guess who had cake and icecream??? I couldn't believe how quickly and easily I tossed the diet out the window. I calculated it all today and I went over my 13 points (650 calories). It will take me most of the week to "bank" those points again through exercise and eating a little less each day. It isn't unrecoverable, so that is positive, I am just disappointed in myself for not stickign to my original plan. What happens in restaurants that makes things go so crazy. For one, I am going to ask for them not to bring bread next time I eat out.
Have a sore throat and icky attitude. Hopefully it won't persist. My plan is to exercise Tuesday and Thursday this week.
Mostly a decent week upon reflection. Some stressy bits, and light on exercise but all things considered...ok.
Waiting for Holly to show up. Haven't seen her in months so we planned a mall day today to visit, lunch and shop. She's on a Valentine's Day gift hunt for her boyfriend. I'm on a hunt for post-partum clothing that isn't going to fit weird or make me crazy while nursing. Paul's sleeping in with the kid and will babysit. Nice end to my week.
Ate really well this week -- nailed all my 5-A-Days. Killer salad last night with homemade pizza. The organic tomatoes in this week's basket -- to die for! Makes up for the organic oranges that are a bit blah compared to the non-organic tangerines I had previously.
Did well on the friend-making scene this week too. I'm pursuing friendhsips with 5 different moms/kiddies. I don't think I've ever tried to make that many friedns in one go, but when you social time is limited you shoot for efficiency. When one relationship is resting, I can be pursuing another. (Actually, I DID pursue that many relationships at once before. But that was dating. So that's different. )
Julia's fever and rash are gone and she now sports a top tooth. Add the two bottom teeth and she looks like a cheerful thug.
Completed week 5 of my allergy series! 5 more to go.
I'm done with the book for book group, so now I just have to write up my thoughts on it and discuss. Now I can face my books for church. We have new member class in March. Feels weird that I'll be ina class with Paul. Never did that before. can I cheat off his tests? Hahaha.
Never Ending Roof Saga. BLAAAAH! Just when I think I'm making progress... roofer came, we signed intent for work, went to deposit check, notorized permit paper junk... I come to realzie I need anothe signature from my MORTGAGE company. Why don't they send you a list of things to expect and what you will probably have to do? Insurance companies deal withthis stuff allt he time. It is their job. Me? I've never done this. And while this makes me ignorant, I'm not stupid. Give me directions and I can deal with it. But this ping-ponging from one thing to another and being told when something is wrong and not how to make it right.... frustrating as hell.
Answer the following questions: Why am I fat? Why have previous attempts to get healthy failed? What is so different about this time?
First off, I am tickled to be entering into the 6th week of my little journey. If I were counting down instead of up, I would say I had 47 weeks to go until Disney 2006. This last week was particularly difficult with a sick baby but she seems to be almost over it. Last night was the first night she slept through till morning. So I am looking forward to a really great and productive week at home, at work, and at fitness.
I decided to answer some questions this week as my 3rd goal. I wanted my third goal to be something mental/emotional instead of something to do with diet or exercise. I am trying to make exercise a routine so I don't want to stress myself by upping the ante just yet and, though I have some ideas about some improvements to my diet I want to make in the near future, they will take a lot of work and I don't know if I have the mental energy to deal with them this week. I struggled to come up with this third goal and wasn't initialy thrilled about the idea of answering these questions. For one reason, I think the answers can be quite boring (I am fat because I eat more calories than I burn, etc.) and I usually avoid other people's explanations as to why they are fat. (In doing the research for these questions, I found some dooseys online.) But in the end I decided these questions would give me the opportunity to do some soul searching and think about my current circumstance, take responsibility for it and hopefully move forward.
10:23 a.m.
Exercise:
What: jazzercise
Time: 40 minutes
There was some confusion at jazzercise today so they started 10 minutes late. I ducked out after 40 minutes between the cardio portion and the toning/strength work. I had to stop by the market on the way home and didn't want to leave Mike alone too long with the baby (shouldn't have worried about that, I came home to them taking a nap together, too cute.)
One thing I was thinking about during jazzercise today was a comment in Oprah's book about how she used to go the gym and she thought showing up was all she had to do. It is very possible to do the jazzercise routines and not really get your heart going. I kept thinking about how I needed to take responsibility for my own exercise and make sure I get a good workout. Having a class and an instructor and heart pumping music is great motivation, but I am the one that has to move my feet.
She did mainly the same routine today with a few new ones. I like that there are a few songs I know, I have a few favorites already.
What a bad week! I did ok on diet and exercise (thank god I got my 3 exercise sessions in early in the week) but the stress and anxiety of caring for a sick baby made it very difficult to stick to the plan. We ended up going out last night for our 9 year anniversary, I needed a break from the house and the craziness. We splurged, but it was ok. Back on plan today.
Still thinking of goals for next week. I will post them tomorrow.
Still trying... but exercise keeps slipping me by this week.
In order of most time consuming... my morning got taken up by the roofer, church, and parents.
The roofer that stood us up Monday? His car was stolen. So now he's trying to catch up on all his missed appointments and after some phone rigamarole we agreed on 1 PM tomorrow. So I had to get Paul on the phone (and he was to and fro convention center and hard to get a hold of) so he will come home for lunch to meet with roofer with me. He wants to talk to us both and make sure we're all on the same page before proceeding.
More phone hooha getting us registered for the new member class at church and requesting child care while we are in class. Thankfully, there's childcare on site, but I have to register Julia too so she can use it while we are in class.
Then Mom called and wanted to invite us to dim sum for Chinese New Year but Julia was snoring and I didn't want to wake her and abruptly take her out (My parents need to realize I live with a child who needs ramp up time to go out to do things) and I didn't want to eat out in the middle of the week. I'm trying to save it for Friday night with Paul (pseudo date).
Then I had to get firmed up about having a playdate tomorrow and sort out direction to my house... looking forward to having M. and J. over.
By this time, Julia was up for the day and wouldn't you know it? She decided today was going to be a nurseathon type day. Baby at the breast alllll day long.
Amy -- re: mental and emotional goals next week... What are you in the mood to tackle?
Part of mine of the year have been spiritual and social. To seek and find a church home for our little family and make some new friends through playgroup. We're making progress here. We're even making progress on the better eating... just need to put in more effort to get better progress on exercise.
Iz is very very sick (after temp of 104 last night and 12 hours of vomitting, we took who the doctor who concurs) so diet and exercise is last thing on my mind. I am still eating properly though.
6:46 p.m.
Taking a short break from the baby to write and brag on myself a bit. Though I have been stressed, short on time and long on vomit and it would have been 10x easier to order a pizza and be done with it, I have stayed within points for the day. I realize the key to me eating well is to make it more convenient that eating out or ordering in. My saving grace was the lunches and leftovers from the weekend. We had the hummus sandwiches for lunch and the left over risoto (what is quickly becoming my favorite meal) for dinner. I recognize stress is one of my triggers for eating poorly (really, it is just one of my excuses). I was happy at least for today to overcome it.
Speaking of triggers, I am trying to think of a new goal for next week. I want it to be a mental/emotional goal because I am still working on making exercise a part of my weekly life. Something to read/think about/write about? Do you have any ideas Cat?
Sometime Sunday night Julia erupted in an alarming dispaly of red dots all over her head, chest, and back. So I got a bit of a shock Monday morning when the light started coming in the window and I could actually see her nursing -- all dotted up!
I spent Monday with all normal business suspended, narrowing down reasons, and trying to score a walk-in appointment.
Dr. S. confirmed our suspicion that it was an allergy thing and gave us a liquid antihistamine.
We've narrowed it down to three possibilites -- the red dye in the Children' s Tylenol we had given her the day before for the teething fever. A moth that flew into the house. Or the mulch at the church playground -- some people can't deal with pine/cedar type woods.
And now I know the helpless feeling of knowing something is the matter with my kid and not really being able to do anything. And this is with her just having rash and acting normally! If she'd been listless, lethargic, crying in pain -- yargh.
I told Paul having children would be like having our hearts running around outside of our bodies.
Every time I start exercising, I switch on howard cosell's voice in my head, narrating my every move. I start thinking to myself that if I really work at it, I could be the best walker/jogger/jazzerciser on the planet (howard concurs). When I realize about halfway through that I am slow or an uncoordinated doof (mainly when everyone else is doing the grapevine and I am marching in place with a puzzled look on my face) that I will never be the best or even in the middle of the pack of exercisers, it makes me want to quit right then and there. I would consider myself a pretty successful person, but maybe because I have only tackled challenges when I knew I could succeed quickly and easily. I need to let go of the idea that I have to be the best at everything and just do the work in front of me. Basically, I need to put Howard's ass on the street.
Last night at jazzercise, they did the same routine as they did on Satuday morning so at least I was familiar with it. I tried to think about all the motions last night, make them more controlled. This morning my abs are sore. I don't know that I have ever had sore abs before, but here they are, front and center.
The strength/control exercises are killing me. After 40 minutes of aerobics, we do situps, leg lifts, and other stuff like that. Who knew that lifting your leg to the side was so challenging? And I walk on these legs all the time, don't i normaly use these muscles? I can't make it through the last 20 mintues without stopping.
10:24 a.m.
Baby is sleeping for a bit. She is still running a high fever, but acting like herself when she has some tylenol in her. I am staying at home, fighting the munchies and playing free cell. I don't feel well myself, but no real symptoms have developed.
got my 3 exercises in early this week which is a good thing. I came home to find the kid with a high fever. Don't know what the rest of my week will hold.
Amy -- no I keep on with the shots as planned, just have to plan to hang around after getting them now instead of just leaving if I'm reacting to the stronger doses. Dad is home and doing fine. It was a medicine reaction thing -- got the dose changed.
We went to church today and it was very enjoyable. Checked out the nursery and met the teachers there and Julia was pretty much ready to run off with any and every child she saw. Next Sunday we'll split up and one of us will stay with her in nursery while the other goes to service. Before I feel comfortable surredering my kid to strangers I need to get to know them so they aren't strangers any more.
Put in my organic produce order and loosely planned the meals for tomorrow. So the 5 a Day goal is looking good this week.
Made some playdates and church dates, so the make-new-freinds-this-year goal is also looking promising.
Laundry done, workout clothes on treadmill for tomorrow morning, so the exercise goal for this week ought to be good too.
I don't have any idea how long it took us to get around the 1.6 mile loop today. It felt like a long time, like we were moving in slow motion, but I assume it was like 35-40 minutes. It was warm (for february) and pretty and I wanted to let Isabel be outside, she has been cooped up the last two weekends with snow. It was nice.
I was able to buy almost everything I need for the early part of the week at Trader Joe's so I only had to go to one grocery today instead of two. I took Iz with me. When it is cold, I hate to take her out, but when it is nice like today, I figured she would enjoy it. I spent some time just browsing, mainly cereals and sauces. I wanted to see if there was a good whole grain option other than the kashi go lean we tried last week that had lots of protein. I didn't see one, so I got the kashi again. This week I will be weighing instead of measuring the portion sizes though. I was also looking for a pad thai sauce but couldn't find one. They did have some thai peanut sauce, maybe we will try it on tofu in the future.
ooh, and I bought some edamame! I have had it before roasted in restaurants, thought we would try the frozen variety (without pods) for a side dish this week. Time to go make th fruit cups!
I need to go back to bed and rest some more while baby is sleeping, but it feels like weekend mornings are the only time I get good computer time without having to schedule or fight Mike for it.
I didn't post my 5 a day yesterday, but I definitely ate them! Yesteday, I made risoto with sweet potatoes and asparagus and a nice big salad on the side for dinner (plus grapefruit juice, an orange, and green beans earlier in the day). It is what I would consider our "fancy meal", one we make when company is coming, but I like to make it just for us sometimes too. It isn't the easiest meal to make, the risoto is time consuming and there is lots of stirring involved, but every now and then it is worth it.
In my overzealous hunt for new information on diet and exercise, I picked up the Time Magazine special edition on health. It contains articles on lots of different health issues, but has several sections devoted to diet and exercise. I read the diet one last night, it was very intersting. One thing it pointed out was that the serving size listed on the food pyramid has nothing to do with the serving size listed on the box of food at the super market (which is controled by the FDA). For instance, one serving of pasta on the food pyramid is 1/2 cup and one serving of pasta according to the FDA is 1 cup and one serving of pasta according to the average american family is 2 cups. I remember when the FDA started regulating the serving size information. There was a news story about how some manufacturers were putting unrealisticly small serving sizes on their products (like saying the little bag of chips that was packaged to be a single serving was really 2.5 servings) to make their nutritional information look better. Now it seems like we may need to go backwards and look at what a serving consists again.
There was also some discussion about protein, how much is required and where to get it. I didn't walk away from the article feeling better about it, that is for sure. I maybe get 40-50 grams of protein on a good day (one where we eat lots of high protein food). They said the minimum we should be getting with regards to protein was 70 grams. Maybe in a couple of weeks, I can make my goal to count protein for a week to see if I ever hit the 70 gram mark. I don't think I do. I wonder if I ate more protein, if I would feel better/heal easier/ be less sore after working out. The other frustrating thing about the article was how it made it seem that americans didn't have a problem of getting enough protein, most americans get way more than 70 grams a day. Well, this american doesn't and would like some helpful hints on getting protein, esp. protein that does come from cow's milk.
Friday's allergy shot was ugh. I reacted to it and got hot/itchy and swollen at the injection site so I had to hang about to see if it would worsen or not. Lucky, it didn't, but it was still REALLY itchy and uncomfortable.
Julia's teething. Her top teeth are coming in and she's in quite a bit of pain and feverish. She's been drooling excessively, biting me when we nurse, gnawing on her fingers, and cranky. Friday night/Sat morning she shot up to 101.4 deg so we had to give her baby Tylenol to bring it back down.
This morning we got a call from Mom to tell me Dad went to hospital for chest pain. He spent all day there but he's home again. Going to pop over there after church to see him and how he is but a very scary day. Not as bad as last year's heart attack and emergency surgery and him having to be helicoptered to another hospital but still... yargh!
I got partial groceries this evening instead of full groceries. My trip to Whole Foods was bumped off to next week because I wanted to be near the phone for Dad updates.
Now that I know he's home again and ok, I can go deal with making food ahead for next week.
Let's home Sunday is calmer than my Friday and Saturday.
Being the first saturday of the month, we weighed in this morning first thing after our morning trip to the bathroom. I have lost 8.5 lbs in the last 4 weeks, v. v. good, things are working. I immediately started my calculations on how much Iwould weigh at the next weigh in if I lost 1lb/week, 2 lb/week, etc until I finally cut myself off and vowed to move the scale back downstairs as soon as my brother in law wakes up. I am not safe with the scale around. I liked seeing some results though, so for all my "my health is what is really important" speeches, I am not ready to chuck it out the window yet.
Review of Week 4:
This week I challenged myself to try nutritional carbs in place of non-nutritional carbs. We tried whole wheat buns with our gardenburgers, light brown garlic bread with our pasta, and brown rice with our beans and a more nutrtious cereal instead of my normal sweetened flakes. I am sorry to say that I didn't like most of the substitutions, the whole wheat buns were keepers, even though they require us to go to a different grocery store, and the cereal was good except that the serving size is 1 cup or 2 oz and 2 oz is more like .5 cup. But the brown rice with beans and brown light bread didn't work for us. We will keep the brown rice to go with other dishes (it goes really well with bbq tofu) but we won't be buying the brown light bread again. (I think our dislike for it was because it was light bread, not because it was brown bread.)
Goals for Week 5:
Keep track of points
Exercise 3 times for 30 minutes
This week I am back to the exercise goal. My stomach isn't completely healed yet, but I will keep an eye on it before and after exercise. I am actually going to try out jazzercise this morning at 9 and it is supposed to be a nice weekend so hopefully it will include a walk outside!
Thursday of this week is the 10th of the month and as I have mentioned before, we always go out for a special date on the 10th of the month. This month is even more special because it marks 9 years of dating so we are taking the day off together and hopefully spending it walking around georgetown, catching a movie, getting japanese food (the weather says snow that day so we have to change it to a different indoor location.)
2:13 p.m.
Actually went to jazzercise and liked it. I felt like an uncoordinated doof, but I was surrounded by other uncoordinated doofs so it was ok. The leader was an older lady (early 50s) and very curvy and in very good shape. There were a few licra clad skinny model types in the class, but there was a wide range of fitness/ability/licra. I liked it. I am going to try at least one or two more classes before signing up for a month, but all systems looking good. And it was a good workout. Who knew marching in place for 40 minutes could kick my butt, but my butt stands corrected. Also the strength/toning exercises they did afterwards kicked my everything. Hopefully I would be able to go to two evening classes during the week (6 pm) then one or two on the weekend. Of course, I don't want to give up walking as exercise, want to continue that at least once a week to do something with Mike and the kid.
After jazzercise and shower, I ran out to whole foods, my second grocery store stop over the weekend. I have got to find a way to consolidate our food into less trips to the grocery (maybe buying different brands at whole foods?) because having to go to 4 grocery stores over the weekend is just setting myself up for failure. I think I am going to make the risoto tonight.
All day long, I am thinking about to write in this journal, all my witty, appropriate, sentimental entries. I really wish I could write in it during the day, but I don't feel comfortable writing from work. The first couple of hours after I get home are hectic, clean the kitchen, make dinner, pack lunches, clean kitchen, clean baby, feed baby, play with baby, put baby to bed. When I finally have a moment to sit and write, my mind goes blank. All the things I was thinking about during the day seem distant and unimportant. One thing I can say is that I have been doing this for 4 weeks now and having this journal to record the mundane and the thoughtful has been essential. Sometimes, it isn't enough to just think about it or talk about it to mike, I need to write about it.
I had another good day, another good sandwich. Work is keeping me very busy, but I am making progress. My 5-a-day were: grapefruit juice, 2 cups of fruit, 2 pita breads stuffed with lettuce, carrots and cucumbers, a big salad with lettuce, carrots and cukes, and green pepper and onion on my pizza (and mushrooms, but they aren't a veggie, are they?). We tried the soy pepperoni tonight. It was ok, not great. High salt content, but a good way of adding some extra protein and toppings to our pizza. I had a pizza craving tonight. We make our own and make thin crust and keep the cheese pretty low, but it is still 8 points/serving. Every now and then, it is worth it.
Every week Mike and I discuss what we want to eat the next week and make a list of meals along with the grocery list. We usually don't asign days to the meals (with the exception of the ones that take a long time to prepare, those we do on the weekend.) I like having this list and the fact that every week our list of meals changes at least a little bit, pasta, soy dogs, and gardenburger almost always make it. This week we are making risotto again, haven't made that in a while, with asparagus and sweet potatoes.
hi there. I missed you. I had a great day. I had an orgasmic experience with my sandwich over lunch, I got to hear one of the most famous female astronomers give a talk, and I had dinner at one of my favorite restaurants. What else can you want in a day?
My "5 a day" today were the same as yesterday except I had a HUGE salad for dinner. Very delish.
I have been crazed lately with finding information on fitness, exercise, and diet. I want to read other journals, articles, magazines stories. I have been watching the discovery tv show "body challenge" and the one of vh1 with "celebrities" (even though I have only seen the baldwin before). I just can't get my fix. Please point in more directions so I have more articles to read tomorrow.
I had a better day today, no more sour mood. I came home to find my w2s so I spent the evening doing taxes! Nothing like lots of tables and math to cheer me up (and I am not being sarcastic, I am a physicist by day). We are getting back buckets of money and I am going to celebrate with some low fat chocolate yogurt (wild thing!)
I had a new lunch - hummus with 1/2 pita and veggies, curried lentils with rice. The lentils with rice were better than I thought they would be. Not somethign I am dieing to have every week, but a definite pinch hitter. I LOVED the hummus. We got it at whole foods, it is 50 calories for 2 tbsp and totally delish. I wasn't crazy about the pita (also from whole foods). It was made at whole foods so had a fresh bread quality that I thought I would like better than the kind you get in a pack at the grocery. But it didn't have a proper cut down the middle of the bread so it was impossible to make it into a sandwich (I ended up folding it in half and making it into more of a taco). I went to trader joes after work and bought some different pita, hopefully they will work better tomorrow.
I like Cat's five a day goal, here is mine: 1.5 cups grapefruit juice, 2 cups fruit salad, lettuce, carrots, and cukes on sandwich at lunch, green beans for supper. 5.5 today!
