Biggest Loser is back!

I like Biggest Loser.  I find it very motivational.  I really am surprised that they voted Jen off when they should have voted off the big mouth that was slamming Jen for not having lost more.  Ah well....  Leaders and sheep.. that is what it is all about.

Anyway... I'm starting up my exercise program tomorrow.  Visiting Paul last weekend was a lot of fun, but it really messed up the dieting for me.

I am homeschooling my son now.  That takes a lot of my time.  Worth every minute, but still a big time stealer.  I'll get it together though.

Here's a quote that I found inspirational this morning:

" How soon 'not now' becomes 'never'."  Martin Luther

Second Week Weigh In

I am fighting a cold.  My head is all stuffed up.  I feel like crap.   And my weigh in this morning was not as great as I'd like it to be.   I believe my period is due any time, so I'm hoping that is part of the less than stellar performance of this week.  Although ... the back to back birthdays probably aren't helping either.

Anyway....  My weight this morning was: 220.4

I am up .7 from last week.  I am okay with this.  I have been doing well with the eating,so I am sure I will see changes in a week or so (depending on when TOM finally shows up).

Birthday Central

This part of September is always hard on me.  Kimberly, my middle child, was born on 15 September, and Kendra, my oldest, was born on 20 Sept.  So in the span of a week, we end up having two birthday cakes in our house.  This year is made slightly more hazardous in that we are going to spend next weekend down in Alabama with their dad and he has ordered a third cake for them to share. LOL.. it seemed like a good idea at the time.

This year Kendra turns eighteen.  I am the mother of an "adult".   How wierd does that feel?  Now, mind you.. I get to ignore this for several months since she doesn't graduate high school until this May.  I don't think you are really an adult until you are all through with your basic learning.  Still.... wow.. how the last 18 years have flown by!

 

What Happened to Yesterday?

I could have sworn I made an entry yesterday, but clearly I did not.  I guess it was a long day.

Kendra had an appointment with Dr. Cartwright up at Walter Reed AMC.  Dr. Cartwright is the current Pediatric Urologist Head at WRAMC.  I don't know how much I might have said about Kendra in the past, but she was born with bladder extrophy.... which means her bladder was incomplete, as was the closure of her abdomen.

Her first repair surgeries happened at 7 days old at WRAMC.  Kendra was born in Germany during our first tour there.  We had to be "medically evacuated" to the states because there were no doctors that could care for Kendra in Germany.  We've been blessed with a great deal of continuity in Kendra's care from the beginning.  Her first surgeon/urologist was a Dr. Skoog, and his intern, Dr. Peppas.  When Dr. Skoog retired, Dr. Peppas stepped up and continued to provide most of the care Kendra has needed from time to time.  Kendra has had several surgeries along the way.  Her final surgery was in 1998, when they augmented her bladder and created an abdominal stoma (opening) through which she does her catheterizing. 

The last few years we've been moved so often that we seem to never be with one specialist very long and we seem to end up teaching them all that we know about this affliction.  Anyway, now that we are back here, Kendra wants to see about making some modifications so that she feels less "obvious".   This doctor (who happens to be female) was fabulous!  She really sat and listened to what Kendra had to say and addressed so many of our concerns and hopes.  It was a great visit.. I can say that Kendra was moved to tears, the news was so good.

OMG... LMAO.. I am such a dork... you can't tell now, but I accidently deleted the whole above text.  I was sitting here pissed off at myself and my son wandered in and showed me how to get it back.  YEA MAC!!!!!!!!!  He's the hero of the day!

Anyway... diet wise things are still pretty good.  I did have three dunkin donut munchkins (those are the donut holes, right?) while we were up at WRAMC, but other than that.. I've been good.

No exercise yet this week though, other than the typical daily chore stuff.

Week 1 Weigh in

I Lost 4.3 pounds this week!

My kids have today off because elections for local offices are being held.  I'm hoping that today I will get more work done in the house, the boxes are starting to drive me nuts.

I am really excited how well everything is going on this diet.  I believe I am ready to have all this change happen.  I know the first 20 lbs will be easy to lose, it's going to be after that, that the true fight begins.  Still... for now I can take my success and keep running with it.

When it rains...

Well... as luck would have it, the meds Mac has been getting for his constipation kicked in this morning and he has had diarrhea all day.  The longest time frame between bathroom visits was an hour, until the last time .. which was at 1 pm.  So presumably, he's kind of caught up now.  Poor thing... no more drugs for him. Now we have to wait and see if the pain he's been having is relieved.

He wants to be homeschooled.  He says there are no problems going on at school, that he actually likes the school and has made a couple of friends.  But he says he just wants to be at home with me.  I think this is because his dad is gone.  He asked to be homeschooled when we were in Colorado as well. I think he feels a bit insecure when Paul is gone.

I've been looking at programs.  I am not sure which way I want to go.  I asked him to go back to school for this week and we could talk about it again next weekend.  If he still wants to homeschool, I think I am going to do it.  I love homeschooling them, and this would be the last year that I feel competent enough to do so.  Next year, he'll be in high school and all my opportunities to homeschool will be gone.

My diet has remained intact, even with all that has been going on the past seven days. I'm very proud of myself and I am looking forward to my weigh in tomorrow.

On a Roll

Well... this week the diet is going well.  I finally figured out how to hook up the DVD player and now I'm all set to start my workouts tomorrow.

The day got away from me today and even though I planned to make chicken, I ended up going to McDonald's after I did my shopping. I bought for the kids, but I did not buy me anything. 

Instead I came home and had one of my favorite meals.  I had two nutri grain waffles covered in strawberry white chocolate yogurt with a banana cut up on top.  Very good and very quick.

My first official weigh in is Tuesday and I think I'm doing really well so I am looking forward to that. :)

 

Reviewing my first four days on the diet

First of all... I cheated this morning and stepped on the scale.  This isn't an official weigh in, but... I weighed 220.9 this morning.  WOO HOO it's going on the right direction!

My calorie counts for the last four days have been has follows: Tuesday -2275, Wednesday-1238, Thursday-1746 and Friday-1348.  I think Tuesday was a fluke, but I do like how no two days are exactly the same on calories.  I think that helps.  Not that it was intentional.  What was intentional this week is making sure that I accounted for everything I ate. I could have blown off the food diary, and was tempted a couple of times, but I know that in the long run I do better when I can see what I'm eating.  If I stay on top of it all day, I can adjust for when I wasn't as perfect as I could have been.

Another exciting aspect to this past week is that I've been able to make 4 dinners in a row for the kids and me. We've been eating a lot of fast food because of the chaos that has been happening here with all the moving boxes... but I've managed to carve out enough space in the kitchen that I can now cook more often.  I have even found all my favorite cookbooks, so hopefully by next shopping trip, I'll be ready to start making some new dishes for us to all try.

I still haven't been able to exercise... too much lethargy and too much to do in the house.. but this is my last weekend to not worry about it.  I think the exercise is just what I need to push this into high gear.

 

Odd and Ends

Stress comes in all forms.  Yesterday's stress came in the form of two phone calls from Mac's school.  I've been keeping him home because he is just miserable with this stomach pain.  I'd hate for him to be at school, in the middle of class and finally have something work....quickly.  Anyway, the calls were from the counselor and the principal.  I explained what was going on and assured them that I hoped he'd be back in school by Monday, but if not.. I would come up to the school and start whatever process needed to be done to have him tutored until he could come back.

He's been keeping up though.  The school system here has the teacher's submit their homework to be placed on the school website.  Mac pulls his homework each afternoon and does it.  I will contact the teachers today to see if there is anything else he needs to have done to be caught up when he returns on Monday.

Yesterday's eating was a little erratic, but I kept my calories to about 1650.  I did get some of my list done for yesterday, but not all.  So I'll be working on the list still today.  I spoke with Paul last night about the DVD connection.  He wrote me an email later, reminding me that I could pull out the book we got with our DTV, he says there are all sorts of diagrams for the various ways to hook up all the stuff.  So.. I'll be looking into that book today, maybe I already have the cables I need.

If I haven't solved the DVD issue by Monday, I'm going to start going to the gym here on post.  I don't know why I didn't start that sooner... but I'm gonna chalk it up to being distracted with Mac not feeling well.

 

Yesterday was a good day, diet wise

I am pleased to announce that my total calories for yesterday were 1263.  I am trying to keep my calories between 1200 and 1500, so yesterday was a very good day.

Still haven't found the cables I need to hook up the VCR/DVD player to my TV.  I keep getting sidetracked by other things.

Today, my goals are to find the cable, finish clearing the kitchen of its current mess, do some more laundry, clear off the packing stuff from the dining room table, and run to the commissary to pick up apple juice for Mac.

Let's see how much I get done.

I was attacked by Apple pie

Well..  I caved yesterday at lunch. Up until then, I was doing pretty good, but then I found some apple pie and the next thing I knew I was finishing the dang thing off. Still.. I was honest with myself and noted everything I ate yesterday.   When all was said and done, I consumed about 2700 calories (!).  

I have to say that today I am doing a much better job.  No cheats of any kind.  I did do my grocery shopping today, so I'm set for the next several days.  I think I can manage from here on out.

Still no cables to hook up my VCR/DVD though, so still not exercising beyond the daily routine stuff.

Today I was out of the house more than I was in.  I had to run errands, do grocery shopping and take Mac to the doctor.  I really didn't have time to hunt for cables.  That will be my goal for tomorrow's activities.

 

Found the Scale, Can't hide any longer!

Well, I found the scale finally.  It arrived in good condition and so my weeks of not having any number staring at me is over. 

My START OVER weight is: 224

I'm not too upset about the gain.  It could have been much worse.  I'm still not quite as ready to start into the exercise program.  I haven't been able to find the cables I need to hook up my VCR/DVD player. I think I may stop by the NEX and pick up some new cables today if I can't figure something out before I leave the house.

For the moment, I am following the guidelines my sister sent me from her Jenny Craig program.  I still have not located all my WW stuff to be able to track points.  No biggie, the JC program will allow me to do my shopping today and keep myself on track until I find the WW stuff.

My weekend was interesting.  My friend Lisa and her boys came down to visit with us from Ohio.  Lisa and I have known each other for close to 15 years now.  We used to have so much in common but it seems that at this point, we just like to talk to each other.

She has been stuck in a dead end relationship for over four years now. They break up, they patch up, they break up.  He has a drinking problem, and he will use drugs if he can get them easily.  I have been the one that she calls when he is making life miserable for everyone. Of course, my advice is always the same "dump his ass."

Anyway, I mention this  because she seems to have lost her joy of life. I constantly felt like I just couldn't keep her entertained enough. They are on a "break up" part of the cycle right now... so that could have been part of it.  But I have to say ... I'm pretty impressed that she didn't bring him up at all while she was here.  That was a first.

While she was here I enrolled her into Match.com.  I figure anything off of there has got to be better than him. 

Well.. that is all I need to purge for now.  I'm sure I'll be back at the end of the day to check in with my information.