Okay, so when I first saw the info on this documentary and saw that it was on HBO, I prepared myself to be underwhelmed and over-sensationalized. I also chuckled at the thought that overweight people are classified as couch potatoes and that this was encouraging them to sit on the couch for 4 hours of documentary watching. But I decided to watch the first one and then decide whether or not to watch the rest.
Part 1: Consequences starts with an explanation of how the calculation of BMI (Body Mass Index) was determined. This was really interesting to me, b/c I had never realized how it was calculated.
Then it goes into a section on the Bogalusa Heart Study. It was a study started in 1972 to study the overall health of children. The study continues today with many of the same people still being followed. It has proven that heart disease begins in childhood, which is something that I never would have imagined before. The study is in its 40th year of following over 16,000 children to adulthood.
One fact from the study that really struck me was that only 7% of children that were at healthy weights in childhood became obese adults. So if I help my son learn how to maintain a healthy weight, he's more likely to be healthy later in life.
On the other hand, with these findings, it's easy to blame your current situation on a past you had no control over. As a child, I didn't chose my foods, I ate what my mom put in front of me. And my health choices began at that time. I could easily cop-out and say, well it's not my fault. But I do have to take responsibility for my current self and step up and say, "No more. I'm not going to live this way anymore."
I was also surprised to find that obesity is as widespread as it is. All states, all income-levels, all races. Obesity no longer is limited to certain areas and people groups as it was before.
They also made a balanced case for obesity. They didn't skew too much to either the nature or nurture argument. Some people try to blame obesity all on genetics or all on where you grew up. Obesity is caused partially by genetics but is also influenced by environment and behavior.
Halfway through part 1, there is a section where actual doctors who have autopsied hearts show the differences between hearts of obese people versus normal people. It was pretty disgusting and really made me realize how I need to change for my heart's sake.
One study that was highlighted in part 1 was a study where they studied people, had them gain 5% more weight and then lose that weight again over the period of several months and studied the changes in their levels and organs. It was really interesting to see their findings in this study.
Overall, Part 1:Consequences, highlighted all of the problems created by obesity. The list of chronic health problems is just overwhelming. One that surprised me was: obese people are 80% more likely to have dementia because obesity even affects your brain. It also highlighted the healthcare costs and the overall impact of the obesity epidemic. It impacts the workforce, the armed forces, and the nation as a whole.
I found Part 1 to be very interesting, if not a little alarming. All the health implications that they put forth in this documentary were pointing at me. It made me see that something has to change or I would be the one having the heart attack or having a foot amputated due to diabetes. And that's a very scary thought. It's something that I know I don't want. And to avoid that future, I've got to make some changes in my life.
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Monday, May 28, 2012
Delayed
Sorry, no updates or recaps tonight. I have a serious migraine and looking at this screen right now is making me hurt. Hopefully better tomorrow.
Sunday, May 27, 2012
The Weight of the Nation
I've been watching a really interesting documentary online called The Weight of the Nation. It was shown on HBO, but is now available to watch for free on the internet. It's a four part documentary, each part lasting about an hour. I don't sit and watch it for long stretches, but I've been watching it little by little while folding laundry and doing mindless chores like that.
I thought it might be fun and interesting for me to post my thoughts and things I learned from each of the different parts of the film. So expect my "review" of Part 1: Consequences tomorrow.
Full disclosure, I haven't actually finished watching Part 4 yet. But I was completely convicted by Part 3: Children in Crisis and after watching it have really felt like I need to change my habits for the health and well-being of my son. So I decided to pass on the info that I learned from these films, in hopes that maybe it'll help others too.
I thought it might be fun and interesting for me to post my thoughts and things I learned from each of the different parts of the film. So expect my "review" of Part 1: Consequences tomorrow.
Full disclosure, I haven't actually finished watching Part 4 yet. But I was completely convicted by Part 3: Children in Crisis and after watching it have really felt like I need to change my habits for the health and well-being of my son. So I decided to pass on the info that I learned from these films, in hopes that maybe it'll help others too.
5/27/2012 food and exercise
Breakfast: A banana and some assorted berries that I took to Sunday School. 185 cal
Lunch: Tortilla soup from my favorite Mexican restaurant. Overall, not too bad if I could just avoid eating the chips. The soup only ran me about 450 calories. But w/ chips and bites of Agent P's enchiladas, it added up to 704 cal
Dinner: We kind of skipped dinner tonight. Agent P is spending the night elsewhere, so we just didn't cook anything. Then, as it got late, we went out for blizzards, because how often are we kid free? 650 cal
Snack: A glass of milk 129 cal
Total for the day: 1668 cal, which comes in under my daily calorie goal. I just didn't make the best choices to get there.
I worked in the garden again today. I worked for another two hours digging up dirt and grass and hauling it to the other side of the yard. The digging part is all finished, so tomorrow I can start laying the weed barrier, building the flower box, and planting flowers. I just have to decide what I want to plant. Anyway, all that heavy lifting and work in the 95 degree heat earned me a few extra calories. Tomorrow I start back with walking, since my gardening won't be so intense.
Lunch: Tortilla soup from my favorite Mexican restaurant. Overall, not too bad if I could just avoid eating the chips. The soup only ran me about 450 calories. But w/ chips and bites of Agent P's enchiladas, it added up to 704 cal
Dinner: We kind of skipped dinner tonight. Agent P is spending the night elsewhere, so we just didn't cook anything. Then, as it got late, we went out for blizzards, because how often are we kid free? 650 cal
Snack: A glass of milk 129 cal
Total for the day: 1668 cal, which comes in under my daily calorie goal. I just didn't make the best choices to get there.
I worked in the garden again today. I worked for another two hours digging up dirt and grass and hauling it to the other side of the yard. The digging part is all finished, so tomorrow I can start laying the weed barrier, building the flower box, and planting flowers. I just have to decide what I want to plant. Anyway, all that heavy lifting and work in the 95 degree heat earned me a few extra calories. Tomorrow I start back with walking, since my gardening won't be so intense.
Saturday, May 26, 2012
5/26/2012 Food and Exercise
Motivated by my previous weight loss, I did pretty well today.
Breakfast was a banana and a soy chai latte from starbucks (so gooooooooood!) 324 cal
Lunch was not much, I was hot and not hungry. A fat free yogurt, a small handful of pita chips, some veggies dipped in pico de gallo. 367 cal
Dinner was delicious, hamburgers and asparagus on the grill, fat free baked beans, and corn. And pickles. mmm. All portioned and measured to keep track of my calories. 700 cal
For a snack, I had a weight watchers snack size vanilla chocolate cone. 90 cal (I had to wait until Agent P was in bed to eat it, otherwise he'd want one too!)
Total 1481 cal for the day. I came in way under my new calorie goal of 1730 calories per day
Today, I gardened. Like ridiculous amounts. I spent 1 hr 15 minutes mowing the lawn with the heavy push mower. I also am working on building a flower garden behind my house. I dug up grass, carried buckets of dirt, carried landscape timbers and concrete stepping stones for almost 2 hours. In 90 degree heat. I am whooped and ready to go to sleep.
Breakfast was a banana and a soy chai latte from starbucks (so gooooooooood!) 324 cal
Lunch was not much, I was hot and not hungry. A fat free yogurt, a small handful of pita chips, some veggies dipped in pico de gallo. 367 cal
Dinner was delicious, hamburgers and asparagus on the grill, fat free baked beans, and corn. And pickles. mmm. All portioned and measured to keep track of my calories. 700 cal
For a snack, I had a weight watchers snack size vanilla chocolate cone. 90 cal (I had to wait until Agent P was in bed to eat it, otherwise he'd want one too!)
Total 1481 cal for the day. I came in way under my new calorie goal of 1730 calories per day
Today, I gardened. Like ridiculous amounts. I spent 1 hr 15 minutes mowing the lawn with the heavy push mower. I also am working on building a flower garden behind my house. I dug up grass, carried buckets of dirt, carried landscape timbers and concrete stepping stones for almost 2 hours. In 90 degree heat. I am whooped and ready to go to sleep.
5/26/2012 Weigh In
So I got up this morning and I weighed myself, first thing. I'm still not ready to tell you the exact number, but I lost 9.5 pounds since last weigh-in. That's a total of 18 pounds. Or 23 pounds from my in-a-towel-with-wet-hair weigh-in, if you count that one, which I totally do, b/c 23 pounds sounds really impressive! But I guess I'll go with the more accurate 18 pounds, which is still more than 5% of my original body weight. Which makes me pretty happy.
Even though I've had slips these past two weeks (the cookie incident), I've managed to stay on track enough to lose some weight. And I have to say, it feels good. My pants are a tiny bit looser. My bras fit a little bit better. I have more energy. And I sleep better when I exercise.
Now the bad part, when I input my new numbers into myfitnesspal, I totally lost 110 calories per day! That means less eating every day. But if I want to keep losing, I have to continue to eat less and less. (Teaser: More on that in a later blog, really interesting fact I found out.)
Thanks for checking in on me and for reading my blog. The encouragement and help I've received from my friends is keeping me focused. I've usually lost that focus by now, so thank you!
Even though I've had slips these past two weeks (the cookie incident), I've managed to stay on track enough to lose some weight. And I have to say, it feels good. My pants are a tiny bit looser. My bras fit a little bit better. I have more energy. And I sleep better when I exercise.
Now the bad part, when I input my new numbers into myfitnesspal, I totally lost 110 calories per day! That means less eating every day. But if I want to keep losing, I have to continue to eat less and less. (Teaser: More on that in a later blog, really interesting fact I found out.)
Thanks for checking in on me and for reading my blog. The encouragement and help I've received from my friends is keeping me focused. I've usually lost that focus by now, so thank you!
Thursday, May 24, 2012
Seriously?
Something that made me laugh at the grocery last night:
Gordo's? Really? Gordo means "fat" when translated from Spanish. I know that cheese dip probably tastes so good, but anything named "fatty's cheese dip" should really be avoided for obvious reasons.
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| Gordo's cheese dip |
5/23/2012 food and exercise
Rough day. Made some poor choices. Went over my calorie budget. :( It really stinks.
Breakfast - I was out of smoothie materials, so I had cereal. Way more calories than my smoothie and it didn't keep me full as long...
Lunch - A smart ones microwave meal, 2 of my sons leftover fish sticks (bad idea, why couldn't I just throw them away) and 1/3 c dried cranberries (I should have gone for something more filling.)
Dinner - Had the choice between a hot dog on a white bun or baked spaghetti. I really wasn't sure which was the smarter choice, so I went with the baked spaghetti, in hopes that it'd be more filling. I added a little bit of a side salad without dressing. But then I also added an enormous chocolate chunk cookie. (Why can't I just walk past the desserts at church? Agent P wanted one, so of course I took one for myself too...)
After I put Agent P to bed, I ran out to the grocery to pick up just a couple of things. The total came to $5.45, but I had a coupon for $6 off my next purchase, so I quickly looked around for something to fill in the gap. Bad idea. Grabbed a pack of Nutter Butters (b/c they were on sale), telling myself that I'd save them for Agent P to eat another day. In actuality, they didn't make it home. "Oh I'll just have one," quickly transformed into "No point in saving it now."
So my poor choices started at breakfast and just got on as the day progressed. Which just goes to show that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. And if you start off on the right track, it's easier to stay on track.
In other news, I don't usually get in a workout on Wednesdays, but I did manage to play the dancing game with Mr. P for 20 minutes before naptime. It wasn't much, but every little bit that my heart pumps helps.
Breakfast - I was out of smoothie materials, so I had cereal. Way more calories than my smoothie and it didn't keep me full as long...
Lunch - A smart ones microwave meal, 2 of my sons leftover fish sticks (bad idea, why couldn't I just throw them away) and 1/3 c dried cranberries (I should have gone for something more filling.)
Dinner - Had the choice between a hot dog on a white bun or baked spaghetti. I really wasn't sure which was the smarter choice, so I went with the baked spaghetti, in hopes that it'd be more filling. I added a little bit of a side salad without dressing. But then I also added an enormous chocolate chunk cookie. (Why can't I just walk past the desserts at church? Agent P wanted one, so of course I took one for myself too...)
After I put Agent P to bed, I ran out to the grocery to pick up just a couple of things. The total came to $5.45, but I had a coupon for $6 off my next purchase, so I quickly looked around for something to fill in the gap. Bad idea. Grabbed a pack of Nutter Butters (b/c they were on sale), telling myself that I'd save them for Agent P to eat another day. In actuality, they didn't make it home. "Oh I'll just have one," quickly transformed into "No point in saving it now."
So my poor choices started at breakfast and just got on as the day progressed. Which just goes to show that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. And if you start off on the right track, it's easier to stay on track.
In other news, I don't usually get in a workout on Wednesdays, but I did manage to play the dancing game with Mr. P for 20 minutes before naptime. It wasn't much, but every little bit that my heart pumps helps.
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
5/22/2012 food and exercise
Yesterday, I made a really thick smoothie for breakfast. Since I didn't thin it out with water and divide it, the smoothie had a lot more calories than normal 276
For lunch we went to chick-fil-a and I had the chargrilled and fruit salad w/ no dressing and diet lemonade to drink 292 calories
Dinner was leftover easy tortellini toss and some cereal w/ skim milk 674 calories.
I made a really poor snack choice yesterday and had Doritos, costing me 520 calories (for a snack!)
Total 1762 calories. I still came in under my calorie budget, but just barely.
I played 30 minutes of just dance 3 yesterday.
For lunch we went to chick-fil-a and I had the chargrilled and fruit salad w/ no dressing and diet lemonade to drink 292 calories
Dinner was leftover easy tortellini toss and some cereal w/ skim milk 674 calories.
I made a really poor snack choice yesterday and had Doritos, costing me 520 calories (for a snack!)
Total 1762 calories. I still came in under my calorie budget, but just barely.
I played 30 minutes of just dance 3 yesterday.
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
My walking buddy
Lately Agent P has not wanted to go walking with me. He tells me "I'll just stay here." Which would be fine if he were older, but he's two. He can't stay home by himself. So for the past week or so, I've come up with a plan to get him to go walking.
I promise him a stop at the park when we're almost done.
There is a park about a half mile from our house, so I worked out a big 2.2 mile loop to the park, and if he behaves during that loop, we get to stop at the park and slide and swing and play.
It's not a big park, but Agent P thinks it is super awesome getting to go there. And I get my exercise and he gets some too when we get there.
We'll usually play for about half an hour, and then I tell him it's time to go home.
After all that climbing, he never wants to get back in the stroller and ride. So I let him walk beside me while I push the stroller. We go a lot slower, but it keeps my son happy. And that keeps me happy.
But I think his favorite part of the walk is when we get back to our court. Then he gets a turn to push the stroller.
He'll push it all the way down the street to our house and he's always so proud of himself afterwards. I love that I have an opportunity for special moments with my boy. In changing up our walking plan, he's taught me to slow down and enjoy the morning. On the first part of the walk, I always rush, trying to be speedy and improve my fitness.
But on the second part of our walk, Agent P and I talk about all the things we see. Ducks, dogs, flowers, cars, clouds, trees. We even spent some time yesterday talking about our health and how walking helped us to "get strong."
I love those peaceful, slow walks with my son.
5/22/2012 food and exercises
Breakfast: Smoothie w/ cherries and flaxseed, extra calories but extra health benefits too 225 cal, 2 fruit servings
Lunch: a navel orange and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich (i had been craving this for a week, so I got out my measuring spoons and carefully measured all the ingredients out. not as good as a sloppy, gloopy pb&j, but it still got rid of my craving) 439 cal 1 fruit serving
Dinner: A Pumpkin pasta recipe I found in Parents magazine. 1 cup has two servings of vegetables (or is a pumpkin a fruit? I guess since it has seeds, it's technically a fruit) I had two cups for 616 calories and 4 fruit/vegetable servings
Snacks: I had 1 Hershey kiss and 1 potato chip. Not sure the calorie total for that.
Total calories for all meals 1280 calories
Went for a morning walk with Agent P. Stopped at the playground and played. Did lots of cleaning.
Lunch: a navel orange and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich (i had been craving this for a week, so I got out my measuring spoons and carefully measured all the ingredients out. not as good as a sloppy, gloopy pb&j, but it still got rid of my craving) 439 cal 1 fruit serving
Dinner: A Pumpkin pasta recipe I found in Parents magazine. 1 cup has two servings of vegetables (or is a pumpkin a fruit? I guess since it has seeds, it's technically a fruit) I had two cups for 616 calories and 4 fruit/vegetable servings
Snacks: I had 1 Hershey kiss and 1 potato chip. Not sure the calorie total for that.
Total calories for all meals 1280 calories
Went for a morning walk with Agent P. Stopped at the playground and played. Did lots of cleaning.
Monday, May 21, 2012
Warning: This Post is About PMS!
I felt like I needed to throw that title out there, because you might not want to continue reading. Because seriously, I'm writing about PMS.
This month, my PMS has been so much better than it normally is. And I've got to attribute the difference to my diet and exercise. I mean, normally, I'm sooooooo moody. And lethargic. And grumpy. And riddled with bad skin for the whole week.
This month, I haven't been nearly as moody or tired or grumpy. My skin is still bad, but not as bad as it normally is.
I've got to say that the changes in my diet and exercise must have given my hormones a better sense of balance or something, because it has been really not that bad (knock on wood). Hopefully that means that my least favorite aunt will be gentler on me too.
It's good to know that my body is responding positively to these changes. Even more reason to keep them up!
This month, my PMS has been so much better than it normally is. And I've got to attribute the difference to my diet and exercise. I mean, normally, I'm sooooooo moody. And lethargic. And grumpy. And riddled with bad skin for the whole week.
This month, I haven't been nearly as moody or tired or grumpy. My skin is still bad, but not as bad as it normally is.
I've got to say that the changes in my diet and exercise must have given my hormones a better sense of balance or something, because it has been really not that bad (knock on wood). Hopefully that means that my least favorite aunt will be gentler on me too.
It's good to know that my body is responding positively to these changes. Even more reason to keep them up!
Weekend Recap
I got busy this weekend and didn't have time to post my food or exercise. Nothing really big to report.
Saturday, I kicked butt doing all that Zumba and came in way under my daily calorie count. And I did some gardening. Then I spent the rest of the day being exhausted and playing video games. Also, we finally turned on our air conditioning. We were really trying to hold out until June, but I just couldn't take it anymore.
Sunday was a little tougher. We had a meal at church and it's always tough to figure out how many calories are in something if you didn't make it. So I try to over-estimate the amount of calories I consumed. I also didn't get any exercise in. Sundays and Wednesday are just days that it is tough to get it in. I also added some dark cherries and flaxseed to my smoothie, which increased the antioxidants and heart healthy omega-3 oils. But it also increased the calories. So I only came in like 10 calories away from my goal. I still stayed under, but it was close and if I didn't actually over-estimate the dish from church, then I'm all wrong...
Today is a new day. I hope to go for a walk this morning and really clean my kitchen today. Play with my son some and make a grocery list. Then I've got super fun club tonight (hooray!)
Saturday, I kicked butt doing all that Zumba and came in way under my daily calorie count. And I did some gardening. Then I spent the rest of the day being exhausted and playing video games. Also, we finally turned on our air conditioning. We were really trying to hold out until June, but I just couldn't take it anymore.
Sunday was a little tougher. We had a meal at church and it's always tough to figure out how many calories are in something if you didn't make it. So I try to over-estimate the amount of calories I consumed. I also didn't get any exercise in. Sundays and Wednesday are just days that it is tough to get it in. I also added some dark cherries and flaxseed to my smoothie, which increased the antioxidants and heart healthy omega-3 oils. But it also increased the calories. So I only came in like 10 calories away from my goal. I still stayed under, but it was close and if I didn't actually over-estimate the dish from church, then I'm all wrong...
Today is a new day. I hope to go for a walk this morning and really clean my kitchen today. Play with my son some and make a grocery list. Then I've got super fun club tonight (hooray!)
Saturday, May 19, 2012
Zumba Till You Drop
Two friends invited me to a Zumba event this morning to raise money for the American Lung Association. I got a killer work out while I was there.
Spending 2 hours dancing and shaking my groove thing burned 1788 calories!
And it was so much fun! I looked at the clock and 50 minutes had passed and I didn't even realize it! Can you tell I'm all hopped up on endorphins? Notice the exclamation point usage!
They also offer a regular Zumba class on Monday nights. I'm hoping sometime soon that I'll get to go to that. Mr. Incredible just has to make it home from work in time for me to go, on a night that I don't already have plans. (I have a lot of Monday night plans, people!)
I'm sure I will pay for this tomorrow, but for today, it was totally fantastic!
Spending 2 hours dancing and shaking my groove thing burned 1788 calories!
And it was so much fun! I looked at the clock and 50 minutes had passed and I didn't even realize it! Can you tell I'm all hopped up on endorphins? Notice the exclamation point usage!
They also offer a regular Zumba class on Monday nights. I'm hoping sometime soon that I'll get to go to that. Mr. Incredible just has to make it home from work in time for me to go, on a night that I don't already have plans. (I have a lot of Monday night plans, people!)
I'm sure I will pay for this tomorrow, but for today, it was totally fantastic!
5/18/2012 Food and Exercise Log
Totally uneventful day yesterday. I was kind of proud that I was able to jump back into it after my big fail on Thursday. Those type of events have usually derailed my train by now.
Breakfast: Green Smoothie - 1 full serving of fruit and 1 full serving of veggies - 167 cal
Lunch: Smart Ones frozen meal, had a full serving of veggies, A Yoplait light vanilla cherry yogurt 390
Snack: light string cheese - 60 cal
Dinner: we had a cookout with some friends, so I did have a hot dog and bun, but I loaded it up with salsa as my condiment. I had a few Cool Ranch Doritos (oh how I love thee!). But I also had a big old heap of watermelon. - 2 servings fruit 860 cal
Total for the day 1477 cal
Exercise: I spent 60 minutes working in the garden. We've got our vegetable garden and our herb garden planted. I also thinking about making a flower garden by the back door soon. (more exercise calories coming my way!)
Breakfast: Green Smoothie - 1 full serving of fruit and 1 full serving of veggies - 167 cal
Lunch: Smart Ones frozen meal, had a full serving of veggies, A Yoplait light vanilla cherry yogurt 390
Snack: light string cheese - 60 cal
Dinner: we had a cookout with some friends, so I did have a hot dog and bun, but I loaded it up with salsa as my condiment. I had a few Cool Ranch Doritos (oh how I love thee!). But I also had a big old heap of watermelon. - 2 servings fruit 860 cal
Total for the day 1477 cal
Exercise: I spent 60 minutes working in the garden. We've got our vegetable garden and our herb garden planted. I also thinking about making a flower garden by the back door soon. (more exercise calories coming my way!)
Friday, May 18, 2012
Full Disclosure
I decided when I started this blog, that I was just going to be completely honest. Only my close friends read it, and it would be wrong to lie to them. But really, today I debated about lying about my yesterday. I had a great breakfast, and a really low cal lunch. I walked for 45 minutes, then I took Ezra to the playground and we played for 75 minutes, climbing, crawling, rolling down hills, running, jumping. But then, I don't know what happened.
Last night, I ate a ton of cookies. :-( It wasn't stress eating. It wasn't boredom eating. I don't know what it was. Lack of self-control, I guess. Or food addiction/binge eating. I just ate and ate and ate cookies. And I feel awful about it. And really depressed about my failure. I had been doing so good. And I didn't just fall off the wagon, I jumped off the wagon with both feet and landed in a big pile of cookies. For dinner last night, I ate 2200 calories worth of cookies and 3 cups of milk.
And after, I thought about lying on here about my dinner. I thought about avoiding the subject entirely and just not posting. I felt like a failure.
But if I'm going to have any success, I've got to be honest about the good and the bad. I've got to work to make things like today happen less and less and less. I feel like I'm starting back at square one.
Last night, I ate a ton of cookies. :-( It wasn't stress eating. It wasn't boredom eating. I don't know what it was. Lack of self-control, I guess. Or food addiction/binge eating. I just ate and ate and ate cookies. And I feel awful about it. And really depressed about my failure. I had been doing so good. And I didn't just fall off the wagon, I jumped off the wagon with both feet and landed in a big pile of cookies. For dinner last night, I ate 2200 calories worth of cookies and 3 cups of milk.
And after, I thought about lying on here about my dinner. I thought about avoiding the subject entirely and just not posting. I felt like a failure.
But if I'm going to have any success, I've got to be honest about the good and the bad. I've got to work to make things like today happen less and less and less. I feel like I'm starting back at square one.
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Eating my emotions
Yesterday was one of those days where parenting was not a joy. Don't get me wrong, I love Agent P everyday, but some days just come easier than others. And on those easy days, I rejoice and thank the Lord for the joy I have in my son. Yesterday was just not one of those days; he tried my patience and wore it very thin.
He whined. He cried. He begged. He pleaded. He hit. He got timeouts. He terrorized the cat. He didn't listen. He threw fits when asked to sit on the potty.
I guess it's all just average 2 year old stuff. And he's in a world that doesn't always give him what he wants, and he's not emotionally capable to deal with all that yet. I get it.
But when I put him to bed last night. I just felt so blasé that what I really wanted was a big bowl of ice cream to make me feel happy inside again. I didn't have a big bowl. There was half a carton left, and I could have eaten the whole thing. But then I knew I'd have to report it back on here. So I checked my calories and realized that I could safely have a little bit.
So I got myself out an itty-bitty bowl. Measured out half a cup of ice cream. Told myself that was enough. And savored every bite.
Did it make me feel better? Actually, yes it did for a little bit. I guess that's why so many of us keep going back to comfort food. So what's the moral of this post? I'm not really sure...
Maybe that if you're going to emotionally eat, just don't overdo it. Save it for special occasions. No, that's terrible.
Everything is fine in moderation. Not that either.
Honestly, I don't really know what the point is. I know that it proves that even though I'm doing well, I've still got many food demons to conquer.
He whined. He cried. He begged. He pleaded. He hit. He got timeouts. He terrorized the cat. He didn't listen. He threw fits when asked to sit on the potty.
I guess it's all just average 2 year old stuff. And he's in a world that doesn't always give him what he wants, and he's not emotionally capable to deal with all that yet. I get it.
But when I put him to bed last night. I just felt so blasé that what I really wanted was a big bowl of ice cream to make me feel happy inside again. I didn't have a big bowl. There was half a carton left, and I could have eaten the whole thing. But then I knew I'd have to report it back on here. So I checked my calories and realized that I could safely have a little bit.
So I got myself out an itty-bitty bowl. Measured out half a cup of ice cream. Told myself that was enough. And savored every bite.
Did it make me feel better? Actually, yes it did for a little bit. I guess that's why so many of us keep going back to comfort food. So what's the moral of this post? I'm not really sure...
Honestly, I don't really know what the point is. I know that it proves that even though I'm doing well, I've still got many food demons to conquer.
5/16/2012 food and exercise
I'm a day late on posting this. sorry...
Breakfast yesterday was a green smoothie, which actually ended up having less calories than my regular smoothie at 163 - 1.5 servings of fruit and vegetables
Lunch was a smart ones meal and 1.5 cups of watermelon 368 cal - 3 servings of fruit
Dinner was whatever they had at church, it was cornbready and chili-y, delicious but strange. and a mixed greens salad - my estimate 836 cal - 1 serving of veggies. I also managed to avoid the giant, delicious-looking Elmo cake that was calling out, "Tickle me, Krystal. Tickle me, with your teeth!" Okay that sounds a little creepy. Nevermind.
Afternoon snack was peanut butter on some graham crackers 155 cal
Evening snack was half a cup of ice cream - 190 cal
Total 1712 cal (still under my goal for the day) - 5.5 servings of fruit and veggies, which is an increase over the day before. hooray!
For some reason, it's really tough for me to get exercise in on Wednesdays. So I just made it my "off" day. I still walked from the Fern Creek library to Kroger and back, but that was about it.
Breakfast yesterday was a green smoothie, which actually ended up having less calories than my regular smoothie at 163 - 1.5 servings of fruit and vegetables
Lunch was a smart ones meal and 1.5 cups of watermelon 368 cal - 3 servings of fruit
Dinner was whatever they had at church, it was cornbready and chili-y, delicious but strange. and a mixed greens salad - my estimate 836 cal - 1 serving of veggies. I also managed to avoid the giant, delicious-looking Elmo cake that was calling out, "Tickle me, Krystal. Tickle me, with your teeth!" Okay that sounds a little creepy. Nevermind.
Afternoon snack was peanut butter on some graham crackers 155 cal
Evening snack was half a cup of ice cream - 190 cal
Total 1712 cal (still under my goal for the day) - 5.5 servings of fruit and veggies, which is an increase over the day before. hooray!
For some reason, it's really tough for me to get exercise in on Wednesdays. So I just made it my "off" day. I still walked from the Fern Creek library to Kroger and back, but that was about it.
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
my first green smoothie
So I put it in a dark glass with a straw so that I wouldn't have to look at it.
And it gets me another half-serving of vegetables! Winning!
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Sleep When I'm Dead
The experts all say that if you want to lose weight, you need to make sure you're getting enough sleep at night. I know that I never get to bed at a good enough hour. But it's so hard to make myself go to bed. I always have something else to do. But it could improve my weight loss significantly.
Maybe I just need better time management skills, so that I accomplish more during the day.
Maybe then I'd be able to go to bed early.
But, realistically, I'd just come up with more things to do into the night.
Do you go to bed at a decent hour? How do you do it?
Maybe I just need better time management skills, so that I accomplish more during the day.
Maybe then I'd be able to go to bed early.
But, realistically, I'd just come up with more things to do into the night.
Do you go to bed at a decent hour? How do you do it?
5/15/2012 Food and Exercise
Breakfast was Krave cereal, milk and watermelon 232 cal
Lunch was a microwave Smart Ones ravioli florentine 270 cal
Dinner was pizza hut (I know, not healthy, but my mom invited us over and bought it.) 2 breadsticks and 3 pieces of a medium pizza
Snack was a few bites of chicken nachos at a Pampered Chef show I went to.
I stayed within my calorie range today, but honestly I didn't do very good. Not nearly enough fruits and veggies. All told, I only had 3 servings today. My goal for tomorrow is to eat more fruits and vegetables.
Exercise today was I spent 50 minutes mowing the lawn and 25 minutes playing Just Dance 3. I really enjoy playing it. I think I like it better than a DVD workout because I can switch this up and do something different everyday. DVDs can be sort of monotonous. I earned 656 calories for exercise today.
Lunch was a microwave Smart Ones ravioli florentine 270 cal
Dinner was pizza hut (I know, not healthy, but my mom invited us over and bought it.) 2 breadsticks and 3 pieces of a medium pizza
Snack was a few bites of chicken nachos at a Pampered Chef show I went to.
I stayed within my calorie range today, but honestly I didn't do very good. Not nearly enough fruits and veggies. All told, I only had 3 servings today. My goal for tomorrow is to eat more fruits and vegetables.
Exercise today was I spent 50 minutes mowing the lawn and 25 minutes playing Just Dance 3. I really enjoy playing it. I think I like it better than a DVD workout because I can switch this up and do something different everyday. DVDs can be sort of monotonous. I earned 656 calories for exercise today.
Monday, May 14, 2012
Minor Improvements
I don't know if any of you get the daily Hungry Girl emails, but they're usually pretty good. They have fitness and food news. Reviews of good-for-you foods. Tons of healthier recipes. And even some recipe swaps for famous restaurant foods. Today's email had a bit of news about making small changes in your life. Here's the excerpt from it:
Research shows that even minor improvements can make a huge impact. For example, if you're intimidated by weight lifting, you'll be happy to know that a recent study found lifting light weights can be just as effective at building muscle as lifting the heavy stuff; as long as you work your muscles until fatigued, the amount of pounds doesn't matter. And when it comes to childhood obesity, every calorie counts. New research suggests that reducing the average calorie intake among children and teens by just 41 calories per day could end the steady increase in weight among American youth. We're guessing it wouldn't take a much bigger cut to turn around the adult obesity trend. And if you're the type who thinks calorie burning means a major workout, good news: Results of a new study show that walking in place during commercial breaks can torch a considerable amount of calories and help establish healthy habits. So lift a light weight, cut a few dozen calories, get up off the couch... Just do SOMETHING!It was encouraging to know that the small steps I'm taking now really will add up in the long run as long as I keep at it.
Does anyone else do this?
At the request of Mr. Incredible, I went to the grocery today for bananas and bread. I came back with almost $50 worth of food.
It didn't help that I took Agent P with me. He always has special requests at the grocery, usually involving sweets (cookies, donuts, or ice cream most of the time). Today his special request was a watermelon. They're still not in season, so those things were $6. But after having some delicious watermelon at the Mother's Day Breakfast on Sunday, I just couldn't turn him down because I wanted it too.
And so we got home from the grocery half an hour after his bed time, sliced that melon in half, busted out the ice cream scoop and he went to town.
But I like mine chilled. So I'm looking forward to having some with my lunch tomorrow.
Point being: This is why they tell you to go to the grocery as little as possible, and to make a list and stick to it. Otherwise you end up spending way more than you intended. Lesson learned people.
It didn't help that I took Agent P with me. He always has special requests at the grocery, usually involving sweets (cookies, donuts, or ice cream most of the time). Today his special request was a watermelon. They're still not in season, so those things were $6. But after having some delicious watermelon at the Mother's Day Breakfast on Sunday, I just couldn't turn him down because I wanted it too.
And so we got home from the grocery half an hour after his bed time, sliced that melon in half, busted out the ice cream scoop and he went to town.
But I like mine chilled. So I'm looking forward to having some with my lunch tomorrow.
Point being: This is why they tell you to go to the grocery as little as possible, and to make a list and stick to it. Otherwise you end up spending way more than you intended. Lesson learned people.
5.14.2012 food and exercise
Today I felt way hungrier than normal... I tried not to give in and instead have a glass of water every time I felt hungry, but I definitely pushed my calorie counts to their limits today. I didn't go over, and I didn't use up all of my exercise calories, but I wanted to...
Breakfast was a smoothie, I was ready for a snack at 10:15, so I had a light cheese stick.
Lunch was an imitation crab pita, we're out of "crab" and pitas, so it'll be interesting to see what I have for lunch the next couple of days... and 2 servings of sugar snap peas w/ 2 T of hummus. I had a yogurt for a midday snack today.
Dinner was baked chicken, roasted asparagus, and mixed vegetables. Tonight I was craving crunchy/salty, so I had a small bag of veggie chips.
Total for the day was 1900 calories.
Exercise today. I played Just Dance 3 with Agent P for 25 minutes and took him for a walk this evening. We didn't go far or for very long because he was very antsy and kept trying to get out of the stroller, so we just went back home after only walking about 15 minutes. I guess I caught him at the wrong time of day.
Breakfast was a smoothie, I was ready for a snack at 10:15, so I had a light cheese stick.
Lunch was an imitation crab pita, we're out of "crab" and pitas, so it'll be interesting to see what I have for lunch the next couple of days... and 2 servings of sugar snap peas w/ 2 T of hummus. I had a yogurt for a midday snack today.
Dinner was baked chicken, roasted asparagus, and mixed vegetables. Tonight I was craving crunchy/salty, so I had a small bag of veggie chips.
Total for the day was 1900 calories.
Exercise today. I played Just Dance 3 with Agent P for 25 minutes and took him for a walk this evening. We didn't go far or for very long because he was very antsy and kept trying to get out of the stroller, so we just went back home after only walking about 15 minutes. I guess I caught him at the wrong time of day.
Updated Calendar of Goals
I've got lots of things coming up that I really need to be more physically fit for.
June 23 - Indatus 5K Run/Walk to benefit Family Scholar House - 40 days away - my only goal: to beat my previous 5K time. Must keep walking and increasing my speed to do this.
June 25 - Cedarmore with the Youth - 6 weeks away. Cedarmore has tons of hills. I don't want the youth being embarrassed by their asthmatic, wheezing chaperon.
September 5 - Disney World - 114 days away. The average person walks 10 to 12 miles a day at Disney World. I've got to increase my walking and physical fitness to avoid sore feet, a hurting back, and other pains while I am there. Also to look good in the pictures I will one day scrapbook and show to people.
My first weigh-in
I finally bought a scale. Our original one wasn't working anymore. So I haven't been able to weigh myself.
I'm not sure what my first official weight was. I didn't do it very accurately. It was the end of the day, when I'm always heaviest with water retention. I had just taken a shower at Cinderella's house, so my hair was wet and I had a big heavy wet beach towel wrapped around me. I was really unhappy with the number and I think that is what kicked this whole thing off.
To account for all of the issues above, for my starting weight on myfitnesspal, I entered 5 pounds less than that number.
Two weeks into this, on Saturday morning, I weighed myself. This time, I did it in the morning. Without extra clothing/towels weighing me down. According to myfitnesspal, I've lost 8.5 pounds. But from that original number, I'm 13.5 pounds down.
I still have a long way to go. But seeing a loss still feels like a small victory to me. Here's to more small victories in the future.
(I've made up my mind that I'm going to weigh myself every other Saturday morning to gauge my weight loss efforts. There is too much fluctuation in the day to day water weight to do it any more frequent than that. So expect these posts every two weeks.)
I'm not sure what my first official weight was. I didn't do it very accurately. It was the end of the day, when I'm always heaviest with water retention. I had just taken a shower at Cinderella's house, so my hair was wet and I had a big heavy wet beach towel wrapped around me. I was really unhappy with the number and I think that is what kicked this whole thing off.
To account for all of the issues above, for my starting weight on myfitnesspal, I entered 5 pounds less than that number.
Two weeks into this, on Saturday morning, I weighed myself. This time, I did it in the morning. Without extra clothing/towels weighing me down. According to myfitnesspal, I've lost 8.5 pounds. But from that original number, I'm 13.5 pounds down.
I still have a long way to go. But seeing a loss still feels like a small victory to me. Here's to more small victories in the future.
(I've made up my mind that I'm going to weigh myself every other Saturday morning to gauge my weight loss efforts. There is too much fluctuation in the day to day water weight to do it any more frequent than that. So expect these posts every two weeks.)
A day of rest
Sunday was mother's day. Me, being the mother that I am, and having worked so hard on Saturday, decided to take Sunday off. I made healthy choices, but I didn't calorie count. I didn't exercise and just let my sore muscles rest. I took a 3 hour nap. It was glorious!
But today, it's back on. Gotta keep it up if I want to be healthy.
But today, it's back on. Gotta keep it up if I want to be healthy.
Building a garden
Saturday, after the 5K, I had wanted to come home and take a nap. I had stayed up a little late the night before and hadn't slept well b/c of my nerves. Instead, from 10 am to 5 pm, I worked in the yard.
First, I used landscape timbers and built a raised bed vegetable garden. Mr. Incredible rented a garden tiller from Home Depot, and when he got back with it, I tilled up the soil where the garden would be placed, along with another garden in our backyard. While I tilled, Mr. Incredible went and bought a truckload of mulch. I must say, using that tiller may have been one of the hardest physical things I've ever done. It required so much upper body to control it and so much of my core to keep it from driving willy-nilly all over the yard. When I told Mr. Incredible that, he laughed at me and said, "I was using bigger tillers than that when I was 6 years old." As much as I love that guy, sometimes I just want to deck him.
When he got back with the mulch, he pushed it off the back of the truck into Agent P's new playground area that we built. He went for a load of dirt for the vegetable garden. Meanwhile, I shoveled and raked and carried the mulch all around Agent P's swingset.
When Mr. Incredible came back with the dirt, we unloaded it and loaded up the vegetable garden. I also moved all of that dirt around.
While Mr. Incredible took the tiller back, I mowed. Our house sits right next to a drainage ditch and the hill leading down to that drainage ditch is pretty steep and very precarious to mow. I had never mowed that part before, always opting to leave it for Mr. Incredible's strong arms to mow. But I decided on Saturday that I could do it. So I mowed the front, side, and scary drainage hill sides of the yard. When he got back, Mr. Incredible gave me grief about not mowing the backyard too. Again, see my comment from above. I think he just likes to give me a hard time. I told him not to worry, I would mow it for him on Mother's Day, because that's how much I love him. (Thank goodness it rained on Mother's Day and I couldn't mow!)
Finally, I washed out the truck bed, so that we could return it to Mr. Incredible's dad. All told I spent about 7 hours out there working in the yard, with only a break for lunch and to drive to my parents to pick up more landscape timbers.
Since there were some breaks in there, I decided to underestimate the amount of time I spent working. I only entered 4 hours of gardening on myfitnesspal. Between the gardening and the 5K, it told me that I burned 2464 calories! That's more than I get in a whole day for eating! That night we celebrated Mother's Day with my mom, I made healthy choices at dinner, but I did use some of my extra calories for some ice cream later in the night. It was completely worth it!
On Sunday, every muscle in my body ached. But now we have a nice, fancy vegetable garden (we just have to plant the vegetables). Agent P has a soft place to land if he falls off his monkey bars. And the front yard looks nice for a few days. It was a very successful, active day and I really enjoyed it.
(Sorry for the lack of pictures, I was going to take some, but it is still raining pretty hard.)
First, I used landscape timbers and built a raised bed vegetable garden. Mr. Incredible rented a garden tiller from Home Depot, and when he got back with it, I tilled up the soil where the garden would be placed, along with another garden in our backyard. While I tilled, Mr. Incredible went and bought a truckload of mulch. I must say, using that tiller may have been one of the hardest physical things I've ever done. It required so much upper body to control it and so much of my core to keep it from driving willy-nilly all over the yard. When I told Mr. Incredible that, he laughed at me and said, "I was using bigger tillers than that when I was 6 years old." As much as I love that guy, sometimes I just want to deck him.
When he got back with the mulch, he pushed it off the back of the truck into Agent P's new playground area that we built. He went for a load of dirt for the vegetable garden. Meanwhile, I shoveled and raked and carried the mulch all around Agent P's swingset.
When Mr. Incredible came back with the dirt, we unloaded it and loaded up the vegetable garden. I also moved all of that dirt around.
While Mr. Incredible took the tiller back, I mowed. Our house sits right next to a drainage ditch and the hill leading down to that drainage ditch is pretty steep and very precarious to mow. I had never mowed that part before, always opting to leave it for Mr. Incredible's strong arms to mow. But I decided on Saturday that I could do it. So I mowed the front, side, and scary drainage hill sides of the yard. When he got back, Mr. Incredible gave me grief about not mowing the backyard too. Again, see my comment from above. I think he just likes to give me a hard time. I told him not to worry, I would mow it for him on Mother's Day, because that's how much I love him. (Thank goodness it rained on Mother's Day and I couldn't mow!)
Finally, I washed out the truck bed, so that we could return it to Mr. Incredible's dad. All told I spent about 7 hours out there working in the yard, with only a break for lunch and to drive to my parents to pick up more landscape timbers.
Since there were some breaks in there, I decided to underestimate the amount of time I spent working. I only entered 4 hours of gardening on myfitnesspal. Between the gardening and the 5K, it told me that I burned 2464 calories! That's more than I get in a whole day for eating! That night we celebrated Mother's Day with my mom, I made healthy choices at dinner, but I did use some of my extra calories for some ice cream later in the night. It was completely worth it!
On Sunday, every muscle in my body ached. But now we have a nice, fancy vegetable garden (we just have to plant the vegetables). Agent P has a soft place to land if he falls off his monkey bars. And the front yard looks nice for a few days. It was a very successful, active day and I really enjoyed it.
(Sorry for the lack of pictures, I was going to take some, but it is still raining pretty hard.)
Throo the Zoo 5K recap
I was totally nervous when I got up Saturday morning. I got a pre-made smoothie out of the freezer, made myself an iced chai latte (it was early, I needed a little caffeine jolt), and got dressed.
I got to the zoo early and picked up my packet. I had bib number 1412, but I saw bibs as high as 2200, so that's at least how many participants there were in the 5K. And I got an awesome t-shirt too.
I met up with my best friend, Cinderella, who had agreed to do this with me. She got to the zoo a little late and had to park on a side street b/c they were already closing roads. And then we headed towards the starting line.
We were still 10 or 15 minutes early, so we stood around and people watched.
I got to the zoo early and picked up my packet. I had bib number 1412, but I saw bibs as high as 2200, so that's at least how many participants there were in the 5K. And I got an awesome t-shirt too.
I met up with my best friend, Cinderella, who had agreed to do this with me. She got to the zoo a little late and had to park on a side street b/c they were already closing roads. And then we headed towards the starting line.
We were still 10 or 15 minutes early, so we stood around and people watched.
Finally, the whistle was blown and we started moving. Because of all the people, the first mile was really clogged and it bottle-necked in a couple of places, really slowing our pace down. But we still did that first mile in about 19 minutes, including the time it took before we crossed the start line.
I felt like the second mile was the longest. It drug on forever. Cinderella had shoe problems and we had to stop. We ran into two old friends and slowed our pace to chat for a bit. And we slowed to pick up some water. It was a good mile but a slow one. But still we finished it in 17 minutes.
The last 1.1 miles was the one that was technically "through the zoo." It felt like a breeze because I'm so familiar with the layout of the zoo, I was able to tell myself how much farther we had to go. I would say in my head, "We've just got to go past the monkeys, then the elephants, then the giraffes and the carousel and we'll be to the finish." It was really motivating and made it feel like it was going by really fast. Although going up the hill by the gorillas almost did me in.
Finally, the finish line was in sight. I asked Cinderella if she wanted to jog the last little bit. She responded by picking up the pace, while saying, "The real answer is no." But we pushed through and ran the last little bit to the end, finishing just as the timer flipped to 52 minutes. We had done the last 1.1 miles in 16 minutes, a new best for us.
According to the "official" race results (there was a computer chip thing in my bib, since with so many people, it can take a while to cross the finish line) we finished in 49 minutes and 40 seconds. 1683 out of 2204 participants. There were 35 people in our age group (25-29 female) that finished after us. But there were 3 females over the age of 70 that finished before me (that kind of stings).
How does it feel? I feel more confident now in my abilities. I feel like I want to keep going and do more.
Cinderella has agreed to do this with me on a monthly basis. So right now we're talking about doing one June 23rd. It's great motivation to keep training and keep going. It's only 40 days away.
Slacking
Sorry that I haven't posted much, the funeral kind of interrupted my week and ever since then I've been busy. Rather than skip out on other things, I've let this slide. But I'm back now with lots of updates!
Saturday, May 12, 2012
Not a real update.
Fantastic, tiring day today. It'll probably take me like 8 posts to catch up. Instead I'm going to get some rest and you can have all the details tomorrow afternoon.
Friday, May 11, 2012
5K Tomorrow
Tomorrow is the day of the Throo the Zoo 5K. I'm really glad I signed up for it and am grateful for a sweet friend who agreed to do it with me. I'm actually a little nervous though. It's farther than I've gone before. And there will be other people around. And lots of hills. Way more than I'm used to. I hope I don't peter out before the end. I haven't accomplished anything in a long while and I wonder what if I can't do it? We'll see how tomorrow goes...
5/11/12 Food and Exercise
Breakfast - a smoothie
Lunch - pickles and an imitation crab stuffed pita, and a couple of bites of Josh's pizza
Dinner - We went out for Mexican at El Nopal. mmmmm. I ate too much chips and salsa (but I did keep count of the chips I ate so I knew how many calories to count). And I ordered pretty healthy. I love their tortilla soup, it's very yummy. It's made with rice, shredded chicken, avocado, chicken broth, and pico de gallo. I add a squeeze of lemon and some mild salsa. I did my best estimate on the calories in it by adding up the individual parts.
Total: 1431 calories for the day.
Exercise: I walked my usual 2.8 mile loop. Mr. Incredible and Agent P went with me. We got distracted with a stop at a yard sale, so I don't know how long it took. And I worked out in the garden all afternoon. I have a warm little sunburn to prove it too.
Lunch - pickles and an imitation crab stuffed pita, and a couple of bites of Josh's pizza
Dinner - We went out for Mexican at El Nopal. mmmmm. I ate too much chips and salsa (but I did keep count of the chips I ate so I knew how many calories to count). And I ordered pretty healthy. I love their tortilla soup, it's very yummy. It's made with rice, shredded chicken, avocado, chicken broth, and pico de gallo. I add a squeeze of lemon and some mild salsa. I did my best estimate on the calories in it by adding up the individual parts.
Total: 1431 calories for the day.
Exercise: I walked my usual 2.8 mile loop. Mr. Incredible and Agent P went with me. We got distracted with a stop at a yard sale, so I don't know how long it took. And I worked out in the garden all afternoon. I have a warm little sunburn to prove it too.
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Family Get Togethers
It's very difficult to eat well at family gatherings. At one of the meals, it seemed that everything was either fried or covered in cheese. And desserts were everywhere. When you're trying to do good, it can feel like a nightmare. It's so hard to make healthy choices when all of those fatty, cheesy things were calling my name.
Sometimes I was able to make healthy choices over the poor ones. But other times it wasn't as easy. So today, I started over and made healthy choices again.
I think that's the pattern that I've had so much trouble with before. Before I'd do poorly, and then I'd give up and continue on my bad trek. But this time it's really trying to stick. And so I'm starting over again today. And that's the way it's got to be everyday. I've got to make the choice everyday to start fresh and do well.
Sometimes I was able to make healthy choices over the poor ones. But other times it wasn't as easy. So today, I started over and made healthy choices again.
I think that's the pattern that I've had so much trouble with before. Before I'd do poorly, and then I'd give up and continue on my bad trek. But this time it's really trying to stick. And so I'm starting over again today. And that's the way it's got to be everyday. I've got to make the choice everyday to start fresh and do well.
5/10/12 Food and Exercise
I forgot to eat breakfast until I was packing our lunch to take to the zoo. So I had a light string cheese stick.
Lunch was sugar snap peas, celery with peanut butter and grapes
Dinner was ground chicken burgers, corn on the cob, baked beans, and macaroni and cheese.
For snacks, I had a yogurt snack and a glass of milk today.
Total calories 1643 cal.
Exercise: We went to the zoo and walked around with friends today. We spent 4 hours at the zoo, some of it was spent sitting and eating, but I assume most of the rest was spent walking around. Then I came home and played Just Dance 3 for 25 minutes.
Lunch was sugar snap peas, celery with peanut butter and grapes
Dinner was ground chicken burgers, corn on the cob, baked beans, and macaroni and cheese.
For snacks, I had a yogurt snack and a glass of milk today.
Total calories 1643 cal.
Exercise: We went to the zoo and walked around with friends today. We spent 4 hours at the zoo, some of it was spent sitting and eating, but I assume most of the rest was spent walking around. Then I came home and played Just Dance 3 for 25 minutes.
I'm back!
After a short trip out of town, we're back and I'm back on the wagon.
It was nice to see so much of Mr. Incredible's family over the past two days. The circumstances were of course bad. But it was comforting knowing that his Papaw, loved the Lord, loved his family, had lived a long wonderful life, and was ready to go home.
Agent P had so much fun playing with his cousins. We've got to make another trip soon so that they can all play again.
It was nice to see so much of Mr. Incredible's family over the past two days. The circumstances were of course bad. But it was comforting knowing that his Papaw, loved the Lord, loved his family, had lived a long wonderful life, and was ready to go home.
Agent P had so much fun playing with his cousins. We've got to make another trip soon so that they can all play again.
Monday, May 7, 2012
Loss
Don't expect too much from me in the next couple of days. Mr. Incredible's grandfather passed away, so we're going out of town. I won't be able to blog or post. We're both sad as we mourn his passing, but we rejoice in the fact that he loved the Lord and loved his family very much. He will definitely be missed.
5/7/2012 Food and Exercise
Breakfast: Smoothie! 200 cal
Lunch: Pita w/ crab, 1 cup of grapes 240 cal
Dinner: Greek salad, no dressing just olive oil (so gooooooood!) 460 cal
Snacks: 1 homemade iced chai 64 cal, 1.5 cups of milk 130 cal, and 2 chocolate chip cookies 260 cal
Total calories: 1354 calories
Exercise: Agent P and I went for a walk this morning. Kept up a steady 3.5 pace for 46 minutes for 2.7 miles. Then we came back and Ezra wanted to play Just Dance 3, so we played for 26 minutes and it made me sweat. A lot. He loves this one song that has Japanese Power Ranger like guys that do ninja moves. And it is very active. There was some down time in picking the songs, so I'm counting it as 20 minutes of dancing. And then later, I totally power-scrubbed the bathroom tub, toilet, sink, and counter for 10 minutes (at least).
According to myfitness pal, I burned 638 calories today on those activities.
Lunch: Pita w/ crab, 1 cup of grapes 240 cal
Dinner: Greek salad, no dressing just olive oil (so gooooooood!) 460 cal
Snacks: 1 homemade iced chai 64 cal, 1.5 cups of milk 130 cal, and 2 chocolate chip cookies 260 cal
Total calories: 1354 calories
Exercise: Agent P and I went for a walk this morning. Kept up a steady 3.5 pace for 46 minutes for 2.7 miles. Then we came back and Ezra wanted to play Just Dance 3, so we played for 26 minutes and it made me sweat. A lot. He loves this one song that has Japanese Power Ranger like guys that do ninja moves. And it is very active. There was some down time in picking the songs, so I'm counting it as 20 minutes of dancing. And then later, I totally power-scrubbed the bathroom tub, toilet, sink, and counter for 10 minutes (at least).
According to myfitness pal, I burned 638 calories today on those activities.
Current pictures
I keep meaning to post current photos, so that maybe I can compare them as time progresses and see some progress. So here they are. Unretouched, unphotoshopped, straight out of the camera. Just me. No sucking it in, no putting one leg in front of the other to make me look smaller, no hand under the chin to hide my neck fat. This is me...
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| From the front. |
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| Geez, I look pregnant, maybe I should have sucked it in. Or had better posture. |
The Talk
No, I don't mean that terrible daytime television show with Sharon Osbourne.
I also don't mean the talk you have with your preteen.
On Friday, I sat down and talked with Mr. Incredible about all that I had been dealing with. While Agent P (our son) watched a movie, Mr. Incredible and I were able to retreat to the bedroom and just sit on the bed and talk. I was so nervous and worried that he was just going to find me detestable. That he wasn't going to understand because it's a battle he's never had to deal with. I didn't want to "come clean" with my husband because I was ashamed.
He knew I'd been dealing with depression. He saw me on the days that I had trouble getting out of bed.
I was able to tell him why. I was able to express my fears about losing his love by my being overweight. I was able to tell him about how hard it's been on me and about all the yo-yo-ing I've done. I told him that it upset me that I wasn't a healthy mom for my son. I told him that it was probably my fault that we haven't been able to get pregnant, since I'm so overweight and that messes up your ovulation.
I was able to tell him how I was consumed with this sin problem. I laid it all out in front of him. And then I stopped talking. And waited to hear what he had to say.
And from his mouth came words of love. And words of encouragement. And then he held me close and told me that we'd do it together, that he'd be right there for me through it all. Because he loves me. And he told me he always will.
I felt silly for having worried and put it off for so long. None of the things I had worried about happened. It's funny/sad how our demons can make us believe things that aren't true. But if we step out and actually do something, they're shown for what they truly are: lies.
I also don't mean the talk you have with your preteen.
On Friday, I sat down and talked with Mr. Incredible about all that I had been dealing with. While Agent P (our son) watched a movie, Mr. Incredible and I were able to retreat to the bedroom and just sit on the bed and talk. I was so nervous and worried that he was just going to find me detestable. That he wasn't going to understand because it's a battle he's never had to deal with. I didn't want to "come clean" with my husband because I was ashamed.
He knew I'd been dealing with depression. He saw me on the days that I had trouble getting out of bed.
I was able to tell him why. I was able to express my fears about losing his love by my being overweight. I was able to tell him about how hard it's been on me and about all the yo-yo-ing I've done. I told him that it upset me that I wasn't a healthy mom for my son. I told him that it was probably my fault that we haven't been able to get pregnant, since I'm so overweight and that messes up your ovulation.
I was able to tell him how I was consumed with this sin problem. I laid it all out in front of him. And then I stopped talking. And waited to hear what he had to say.
And from his mouth came words of love. And words of encouragement. And then he held me close and told me that we'd do it together, that he'd be right there for me through it all. Because he loves me. And he told me he always will.
I felt silly for having worried and put it off for so long. None of the things I had worried about happened. It's funny/sad how our demons can make us believe things that aren't true. But if we step out and actually do something, they're shown for what they truly are: lies.
Sunday, May 6, 2012
5/6/2012 Food and Exercise Log
Breakfast was a smoothie and 1 muffin
Lunch a pita w/ imitation crabmeat, a green bell pepper sliced up, and some hummus
Dinner was chicken and rice with mushrooms and carrots
Snack was some Krave Double Chocolate cereal (I am in love with that stuff too!) and some skim milk
All told 1342 calories
Exercise was dancing to wii's just dance 3 for about 15 minutes with Ezra. Not great, but it's something. We need to bite the bullet and turn on our air conditioning, so that it's not so hot and I can work out longer. Maybe tomorrow...
Lunch a pita w/ imitation crabmeat, a green bell pepper sliced up, and some hummus
Dinner was chicken and rice with mushrooms and carrots
Snack was some Krave Double Chocolate cereal (I am in love with that stuff too!) and some skim milk
All told 1342 calories
Exercise was dancing to wii's just dance 3 for about 15 minutes with Ezra. Not great, but it's something. We need to bite the bullet and turn on our air conditioning, so that it's not so hot and I can work out longer. Maybe tomorrow...
Throo the Zoo 5K
Thanks to my bff, who agreed to go with me. I signed up for the Throo the Zoo 5K. It's this Saturday morning. I've been doing 2.8 mile walks so far, so I don't think it'll be tough to tack another 0.3 miles onto that. Even though I haven't been training very well, I can do this. I walked 5 days last week. I'm going to try to go for a walk everyday this week too.
I'm thankful that I have awesome friends who will support me and help me with the challenges I'm going through.
I'm thankful that I have awesome friends who will support me and help me with the challenges I'm going through.
Saturday, May 5, 2012
What is surimi?
On second thought, don't tell me. I'm not sure I want to know. You work in the food service industry long enough you learn some weird things that are in your food.
But I'm in love with imitation crab meat which says it's made from the fish protein surimi. I'll just keep blindly eating my faux crab and I'll be happy about it.
But I'm in love with imitation crab meat which says it's made from the fish protein surimi. I'll just keep blindly eating my faux crab and I'll be happy about it.
Guess what came in the mail today?
I am totally stoked. It was on sale on BestBuy.com for $13.99 I don't know that I'm going to have time to walk tomorrow, so I think I'll work in some dancing. Yay!
Agent P is totally excited about dancing with the "bo-bots." (robots!) He's so funny!
5/5/2012 Food and Exercise
Breakfast: A smoothie. I'm not really sure about the calories on this one. I added more strawberries and ice water in order to stretch it out more because Josh wanted one too. Also, my portion was smaller. So I'll just go with my regular stats of 189 cal.
Lunch was a imitation crab pita with hummus and a strawberry. Josh's dad came by and distracted me in the middle of my eating. 275 cal
I had a yoplait light yogurt for a snack 100 cal.
Dinner was turkey bean enchiladas - 575 cal.
A nighttime snack of graham crackers, peanut butter, and a glass of milk. 336 cal
Total 1407 cal
I walked for 45 minutes and stretched afterward for 10. It was really nice because Mr. Incredible and Agent P went with me on my walk. They're pretty sweet.
Quack quack
The mommy and animal lover in me knew I couldn't stand by and watch this. I tried to squeeze my arm through the drain, but I couldn't reach the bottom. So then, using my superhuman strength, I lifted the grate over the drain. (Lifted might be an overstatement... It was more like pulled up a couple of inches and slid off to the side.) Then I laid on my belly and pulled out the baby ducks.
The mom eyed me warily the whole time. It was totally creepy. But the babies were reunited with their mother. Having done my good deed for the day, I slid the drain back into place, continued my walk, and texted the picture to my best friend. Here's the conversation that ensued:
C: Awwww. Mommy duck thanks you!So I finished my walk and even increased it a little bit. It was a good morning.
Me: More like looks warningly at me with her creepy eye. Does this mean I can cut the walk short? That metal drain must've weight at least seventy pounds
C: No, that was weight training. Still need cardio :)
Me: Dang it.
Friday, May 4, 2012
5.4.2012 Exercise Log
This morning I got up and walked. There was a break in my walk (more on that here), so I'm not sure exactly how long I walked, but I know I went 2.8 miles. So I'm saying 45 minutes. Plus I spent 10 minutes afterward doing yoga-like stretches.
5/4/2012 Food Log
Breakfast was a banana and a sugar free iced chai 145 cal
Lunch was a pita with imitation crab and hummus, some celery and salsa 224 cal
For dinner, my bro took me to Fazoli's. I knew I was low on calories, so I totally had 4 breadsticks and they were sooooo good, along with a kids marinara spaghetti for 820 cal
And I liked Ezra's ice cream cone when it was dripping, so maybe another 50 cal
Grand total about 1250 cal
Lunch was a pita with imitation crab and hummus, some celery and salsa 224 cal
For dinner, my bro took me to Fazoli's. I knew I was low on calories, so I totally had 4 breadsticks and they were sooooo good, along with a kids marinara spaghetti for 820 cal
And I liked Ezra's ice cream cone when it was dripping, so maybe another 50 cal
Grand total about 1250 cal
Thursday, May 3, 2012
5/3/12 Exercise
2.7 miles this morning.
walked a block from the car to the parade and back
held a 30 pound boy on my shoulders for about 45 minutes and lifted him up and down off of those shoulders. that's totally strength training. I should've counted the reps.
walked a block from the car to the parade and back
held a 30 pound boy on my shoulders for about 45 minutes and lifted him up and down off of those shoulders. that's totally strength training. I should've counted the reps.
5/3/12 Food log
Smoothie for breakfast 189 cal
An iced chai made at home w/ 3/4 c skim milk and sugarfree chai mix for 64 cal
Lunch was a fat free yoplait yogurt, and a pita with imitation crab and hummus 315 cal
Dinner was the majority of two taco bell bean burritos (we were at the parade, options were limited), a bite of cotton candy, and a few craisins for a total of 841 cal
Daily total was 1403 calories
An iced chai made at home w/ 3/4 c skim milk and sugarfree chai mix for 64 cal
Lunch was a fat free yoplait yogurt, and a pita with imitation crab and hummus 315 cal
Dinner was the majority of two taco bell bean burritos (we were at the parade, options were limited), a bite of cotton candy, and a few craisins for a total of 841 cal
Daily total was 1403 calories
It's 9:10 in the morning
It feels great to already have my workout in for the day. I left Agent P in his pajamas, fixed him a waffle and a smoothie to go and we went at it first thing this morning. Not only am I glad to have it over with, but I feel like I really accomplished something and it's not looming over my head all day. And those aren't the only benefits. Agent P normally watches cartoons while he eats his breakfast, but today the world was his tv show. So that cut down on his tv time too (something I've been meaning to do for a while now).
If only I could get this motivated every morning.
We did 2.7 miles in 45 minutes. Not quite a 4 on the treadmill, but better than a 3 (a 3.6 if my calculations are correct). I used to be able to walk at a 4.0 and much higher no sweat. In my best shape, I could jog at a 5 mph pace for 4 miles straight. Some day...
(And yes, those are totally my shoes. The ones we blamed one of the girls for leaving on C's floor Sunday morning while we were trying to leave for church. I didn't even know what my shoes looked like. Gotta tell the girl sorry for that one...)
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Seconds?
I'm really not all that hungry, but I just want to eat. I make something tasty for dinner and I just want to have more of it, even though I'm full. I'm just not overly stuffed and I'm not used to that feeling.
My belly says it's full, but my mind says it wants more.
My belly says it's full, but my mind says it wants more.
5/2/2012 Food log
While I didn't do great on exercising today, I did pretty good on my eating.
Breakfast was another smoothie 189 cal (noticing a trend here? It's Ez's new favorite thing. I think it's b/c he thinks he's getting a milkshake for breakfast.)
Lunch: A whole wheat pita pocket filled with imitation crabmeat, a light string cheese and a few strawberries 263 cal
Dinner was eaten at church, I had a smallish chicken thigh, lots of mixed vegetables, and one slice of bread with a little bit of butter on it. 528 cal (and since I didn't measure my portions, I made sure to over-estimate them when I counted them. ex: I think I used about 1 1/2 tsp of butter, but I counted it as a Tbsp)
Snacks: 2 graham crackers w/ peanut butter in between them 155 cal. oh and 1 white chocolate m&m that my son gave me.
Total calories 1135 (plus 1 m&m, how many calories is that?)
Breakfast was another smoothie 189 cal (noticing a trend here? It's Ez's new favorite thing. I think it's b/c he thinks he's getting a milkshake for breakfast.)
Lunch: A whole wheat pita pocket filled with imitation crabmeat, a light string cheese and a few strawberries 263 cal
Dinner was eaten at church, I had a smallish chicken thigh, lots of mixed vegetables, and one slice of bread with a little bit of butter on it. 528 cal (and since I didn't measure my portions, I made sure to over-estimate them when I counted them. ex: I think I used about 1 1/2 tsp of butter, but I counted it as a Tbsp)
Snacks: 2 graham crackers w/ peanut butter in between them 155 cal. oh and 1 white chocolate m&m that my son gave me.
Total calories 1135 (plus 1 m&m, how many calories is that?)
5/2/2012 Exercise
Honestly, I didn't do anything today. I got a new book from the library and I just wanted to sit and read it. And we ran too many errands, but I did park by the Fern Creek library and walk all the way down to Kroger and back. And I parked far away at Target. And I was carrying my 30 pound son. So I got some cardio, just not enough to really count. I wanted to walk after I got home from church, but J isn't home and I can't leave a sleeping two year old alone in the house.
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
The imperfect mom
I often feel like a failure as a mother. It was amazing to me to read this blog today and see so much encouragement for the imperfect mom. It's not about getting everything right, because I will never do that. It's about loving. As the writer of the article says:
I've got to show my son that I love him, all the time, in the same way that God loves us.To be quite honest, there are a million ways that I stink at being a mother.But there is one way that tells me I’m a great one: I love my kids with everything inside of me.
Calendar of Tangible Upcoming Goals
I've got lots of things coming up that I really need to be more physically fit for.
May 12 - Throo The Zoo 5K - 11 days away. Back in March, I said I was going to do this. I was going to train, do a couch to 5K program, and jog the whole thing. I did the program 6 times and then it rained or my son refused to nap and it died off. If I walk every day between now and then, I think I could still do it. Just walking though, not jogging.
June 25 - Cedarmore with the Youth - 2 months away. Cedarmore has tons of hills. I can't spend all of camp looking like an out of shape loser to the youth, huffing and puffing up all the hills.
September 5 - Disney World - 4 months away. The average person walks 10 to 12 miles a day at Disney World. I've got to increase my walking and physical fitness to avoid sore feet, a hurting back, and other pains while I am there. Also to look good in the pictures I will one day scrapbook and show to people.
May 12 - Throo The Zoo 5K - 11 days away. Back in March, I said I was going to do this. I was going to train, do a couch to 5K program, and jog the whole thing. I did the program 6 times and then it rained or my son refused to nap and it died off. If I walk every day between now and then, I think I could still do it. Just walking though, not jogging.
June 25 - Cedarmore with the Youth - 2 months away. Cedarmore has tons of hills. I can't spend all of camp looking like an out of shape loser to the youth, huffing and puffing up all the hills.
September 5 - Disney World - 4 months away. The average person walks 10 to 12 miles a day at Disney World. I've got to increase my walking and physical fitness to avoid sore feet, a hurting back, and other pains while I am there. Also to look good in the pictures I will one day scrapbook and show to people.
5.1.2012 exercise
Morning stretching yoga video 10 minutes - 50 calories burned
Taking Ezra to gym class and participating with him/ assisting his flips, turns, and other manuevers - strength training. The class is 45 minutes, I'd say I was active with him a good 15 minutes of it. 103 calories burned
Playing Just Dance 3 with a friend for an hour, but we took a few long breaks in there, so I estimate my actual time spent dancing was 40 minutes 395 calories burned.
Total 548 calories burned with exercise today.
5.1.2012 food log
Todays meals were
Breakfast smoothie 189 cal
Lunch Chick-fil-a chargrilled chicken and fruit salad, no dressing, with harvest granola on it and 2 medium diet lemonades 320 calories
Dinner 5 grilled shrimp, chuck roast cooked in the crockpot, with rice-a-roni wild rice, broccoli, and steamed vegetables 448 calories
Snacks light string cheese 60 cal and a lick of Ezra's ice cream when it was running down his cone. (how much does that count for?)
Total 1011 calories plus the cone lick. But I'm a little hungry now and really want a snack... maybe some more graham crackers for 130, bringing me to 1141 cal for the day.
Breakfast smoothie 189 cal
Lunch Chick-fil-a chargrilled chicken and fruit salad, no dressing, with harvest granola on it and 2 medium diet lemonades 320 calories
Dinner 5 grilled shrimp, chuck roast cooked in the crockpot, with rice-a-roni wild rice, broccoli, and steamed vegetables 448 calories
Snacks light string cheese 60 cal and a lick of Ezra's ice cream when it was running down his cone. (how much does that count for?)
Total 1011 calories plus the cone lick. But I'm a little hungry now and really want a snack... maybe some more graham crackers for 130, bringing me to 1141 cal for the day.
Praying for self-control
Spent part of my prayer time this morning just praying that God would help me with my self-control.
I was reminded of 1 Corithians 10:13:
Need to spend more time on my knees and less time stuffing my face.
I was reminded of 1 Corithians 10:13:
No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.Bits and pieces of it are committed to memory, but this week I'm going to memorize that Scripture in full. I'm going to claim that promise from God as my own. Because for me, food is my temptation. And my over-indulgence is sin. God demands my repentance and my turning away from sin. He'll help me through it.
Need to spend more time on my knees and less time stuffing my face.
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