Mom2Five

I finally crossed the 180’s line, and have dipped into the 170’s.  Sittin’ on top of 179.12 (81.25 kg).  Slowly, slowly, slowly…but this makes it 30 lbs down from 209 back in October for me.  Now, for the next 30!!!!

Groan.  I know that was a horrible pun.  But, I was excited that I dropped another 2 pounds (10 days, had to reschedule my weekly weigh-in), and that was in *spite* of my birthday night out, another couple of dinners out (strange and rare to have the opportunity to eat out at “grown-up” restaurants when you have 4 young kids), and Valentine’s Day with hubby, and all the evil leftover Valentine’s Day candy that my kids brought into the house.  I can’t log 1/2 pounds on here, so I’m actually at 181.5 (showing as 182 on BuddySlim).  2 more pounds down, and I’ll be dipping into the 170’s!  Yippee!  My, I don’t know what I should call her, “coach” who has taken me on as her pet weight-loss project, told me that I still must have been making good choices most of the time and not-so-bad choices even when I was splurging on my birthday and Valentine’s Day.  And you know what?  She was right.  Compared to choices I would’ve made in the past, I still didn’t go toooo crazy with portions, foods w/ really high calories/carbs/fats, etc. 

I have a short 4 days till my next weigh in, so I don’t expect to see any big swings, but I’m looking forward to Monday for my next weigh-in.  Hope to keep making progress.

Have a good, healthy weekend everyone.

I crossed the line over my first mini-goal, which was to reach 185.  I weighed in just a bit ago (she uses kilograms), and I went down from 86 kilos to 83 and a tad under a half.  So, we estimated about 83.4, which is about 183.5 pounds.  My weight ticker on buddy slim shows a start weight of 205, but when I started working hard on all of this in October, I started out at 209.  I’m officially down 25 pounds+!!  I set a new target mini-goal of 175.  I’ve decided that I’m rewarding myself with a shopping outing when I get there!!

Do you ever have “skinny” days and “fat” (or “fatter”) days?  I woke up yesterday morning *feeling* thinner.  (Ever so slightly.)  And my scale yesterday morning jumped 2 pounds down (it only swings, usually in 1.5 lb increments), so I was elated to see it finally move.  Made good choices all day, and then late last night, I was sooooo hungry (late) and had much to do before going to bed (laundry, laundry, never ending laundry w/ 4 kids), and I just blew it w/ a big munching frenzy.  So, this morning, I was pleasantly surprised to see that the scale didn’t jump back up to its previous number in spite of my late night binge. 

But–the best thing was that a gentleman that I work with spoke to me out in the hall just a bit ago and said,  “Donna–have you lost weight?”  (he says, nodding) “‘Cause I knoooow you have…”   Yay!  Thanks, Carl!  

When I walked back into my office, I said that Carl had just made my day and my week.  My boss said, “Did he just tell you that you look like you’ve lost weight?  Because, I was meaning to tell you that I could really tell, too!”  Yippee!  I figure that I’m down about 25 pounds total with about 45-55 to go.  Looking forward to my official weigh-in on Monday.  Hope to avoid that munchie monster over the weekend! 

Have a great, healthy weekend, Buddies!

My official weigh-ins at the Human Performance Lab on campus are always on Mondays, but I missed this Monday since I was at home w/ my kiddos (snow day).  I have been weighing almost every day at home, and hadn’t seen any change for about 10 days.  Until this morning!  This silly scale of mine (digital) doesn’t seem to move in anything but 1.5 pound increments, so I’ll either see 1.5 pound swings when it does move or even 3 pound swings if I’m not weighing every day.  Crazy.  Anyway….today, my home scale finally budged.  By TWO pounds.  Yippee Skippy!

Let’s see… only 1/2 pound more on my home scale, and I’ll be down to what I was about 8 years ago when I thought I was so heavy I started seeing a nutritionist.   :)  

So…I’ll be weighing again “officially” with the HPL on Monday, so I better keep on track through the weekend.  Might be hard, because I’m going to my mom & dad’s this weekend.  And, oh, how I love to eat my mother’s cookin’. 

Now for a rather personal question for you thousands or so Buddies….  I have never (in my adult life or even what I can recall as a child) had any trouble with, well, constipation.  But starting about 2 weeks ago–I’ve been dealing with being “irregular” and I’m not sure why…  Like I said, *never* had this problem.  Anybody else suddenly having to contend w/ this issue due to weight loss?  I think I’m getting plenty of fiber, and I think I’m getting plenty of liquids, too (more than I ever used to). 

Need to sign off and get back to work.  Have a great day, buddies.  Take care of yourselves! 

So, I just thought I’d share this food product that I recently discovered, and I’m wondering–where has this stuff been?  Maybe it’s been around for a long time, and I just didn’t know about it.  Anyway, it’s my new favorite item in my healthy food arsenal.  It’s called Joseph’s Flax, Oat Bran & Whole Wheat Flour Lavash Bread.  It kinda looks like a big oversized rectuangular tortilla.  I don’t know if all grocery stores carry it, but I found it in my local Wal-Mart.  I’m guessing some health food stores might have it, too.  A package contains 4 of these oversized rectangles, but 1/2 sheet is one serving, so I just take my kitchen scissors and cut the whole stack (all 4 of them) in half all at once and put them back into the ziplock bag so they’re ready to grab and go. 

Each one is only 50 calories (about like 1 slice of bread, but I don’t know about you–I don’t like having a sandwich made out of one slice of bread) w/ 2g Fat (0 trans, 0 saturated), 0 cholesterol, 260 mg sodium, 7g carbs (but 3g of fiber, 0 sugar), and 5g protein. 

I love these things.  They’re  soft and stretchy, put some healthy stuff inside ‘em and roll’em up.  Stick ‘em in a ziplock bag and it’s an easy thing for me to take to work for lunch each day or make myself something healthy to eat if I’m not having what my kids are eating.

Since I’m trying to watch sugars and starches and high carb things that might cause me to have insulin spikes, I’ve *loved* using these as a replacement to sliced bread and tortillas. 

Just FYI in case you’re like me and are always trying to find something that makes fixing food easier and healthier at the same time!

Just a quick note to say…

I never thought I’d feel all warm and fuzzy about safety pins, but I gotta love these two little safety pins that I have used to temporarily cinch in the sides of my dress slacks that I’m wearing to work today.  I bought these about a year ago, and earlier this fall, even these “fat pants” were getting snug.  But now, if I didn’t have these safety pins in them, I don’t think I’d keep them up.  Who knew that using a couple of safety pins could make one feel so encouraged!! 

I weigh-in on Mondays with a gal who works for the Human Performance Lab at my University, but due to MLK day last week, I had to reschedule and went in on Thursday.  And now we’re back on schedule, so there were only 4 days between weigh-ins.  No change on the scale today, but I’m counting that as a good thing considering we celebrated my father-in-law’s birthday, my mother’s birthday, took the kids to the movies, and had pizza on Friday night (son had a sleepover).  Considering all of that, I think I showed remarkable restraint, so no change in weight in 4 days is okay with me.  Here’s to a good week everyone!  I hope to see the scale move down next Monday.  I challenge myself and all of you to drink plenty of water and make healthy choices.  I hope to start making it a point to go to bed earlier and get more sleep.  But, this is when I do laundry, make sure all the kids clothes are ready for the next day, prep my breakfast and lunch for the next day, and just have some *me* quiet time…  It’s a bummer that I’m not one of those people who only needs 5 hours of sleep each night.  I *need* more like 7-8, but about 6 is all I am able to muster. . . . Better get off of here now and head to bed!!

I normally weigh-in on Mondays, but since the University was closed on Monday, I didn’t meet with Julie at the Health & Physical Education & Recreation (HPER) building on Monday.   We rescheduled for today, and I walked (it’s a mighty hike) over there from my office today.  The walk over was cold and icky, but at least getting there is downhill the whole way.  Had a good 10 days.  Down 3 more pounds.  I’m one pound away from my first mini-goal!!!  Yippeee!!!  It almost made the whole walk back (uphill, the whole way) bearable!!  I’ll be weighing in again on Monday, so that’s only 4 days away, so I’ll have to be prepared to not see a *huge* difference between now and then. 

Keep plugging away people.  Drink your water.  High fructose corn syrup is evil.  Be good to yourself.  If you’re young–treat your body right and don’t abuse it while you’re young, because if you don’t, your body will abuse you back when you get older!  (Words of wisdom from my mother when I was 17 that I did not heed….)

Well, I was all about losing weight there for awhile last spring, and then, well…work, kids, stress, food addictions, stress, emotional eating, kids, work, stress, compulsive eating, etc. etc. etc. and like any other addict…I withdrew from anyone who would’ve been holding me accountable to my weightloss endeavors. 

So, here I am about 7 or 8 months later, reporting back in.  I think when I was buddy-slimming it before, I had dropped about 6 or 7 pounds.  Then, over the summer through the fall, I put all of that back on and then some.  (Sound familiar anyone?)  In October, I joined a health program offered through the University where I work.  I felt terrible, and I knew I needed to get back on track.   It was an 8-week program that included pre- and post-blood work-ups, weight and girth (ugh!) measurements, one-on-one nutritional counseling, weekly weigh-ins (private, with the group leader) and 4 information sessions. 

My October 29th #s were:

Weight: 209

BMI:  35.9
Resting BP:  115/75
Resting HR:  78

Blood Lipid Analysis
Total:  193
LDL:  110
HDL:  39
Glucose 128
Triglycerides:  223

The program ended on 12/15, and my final #s (I’m leaving out my girth stuff for now!!):

Weight:  197.3

BMI:  33.8
Resting BP:  112/78
Resting HR:  72

Blood Lipid Analysis
Total Cholesterol:  179
LDL:  98
HDL:  39
Ratio 4.5
Glucose:  132
Triglycerides:  208

So, I had dropped some weight, my cholesterol levels were improving, but my group leader said she was concerned about my fasting glucose levels, and that I should see a doctor (normal should be 80-100).  So, I went to the doctor.  My fasting glucose levels at the doctor’s office were 107, but my glucose tolerance test #s were over 180.  (200 is considered diabetes!!!!!)  He diagnosed me as having impaired glucose tolerance (pre-diabetic).  That was right before Christmas. 

There’s nothing like being scared straight.  The Christmas holidays were surprisingly easy to make it through (RE passing on seconds, too-large portions, sugary holiday treats, etc.).  I’d look at something and say, “Do I want to take insulin injections for the rest of my life?  Nooooooo…..”  So, I avoided the sugars, the simple carbs, the overeating, etc.   I went back to the group leader this Monday for a follow-up weigh-in (even though the program is over), and I was down to 189.  So, 20 lbs down since October!!   They’ll do another blood work-up on me for just $30 anytime I’d like, so I think I’ll probably ask for another blood analysis here in a month or two.  Will be seeing my doctor again in March for follow-up bloodwork as well. 

I already feel about 100 times better than I did several months ago.  And I’m looking forward to continued improvement.  I’m doing pretty well with eating right and drinking plenty of water.  What I still need to improve on is exercising.  (Exercise can *lower* your glucose levels!!)  That’s my next goal to really start working on.

That’s all I’ve got for now.  Hope to report more success at a later time.