I heard on the radio yesterday that the annual Texas Round-up kicked off yesterday. One sign up and track one's activities on the page.  There are events, teams, and so forth.  The event finale ends in Austin on April 26.  If any of y'all are from Texas and would like some more information, go to http://www.texasroundup.org.  I joined, will you?  Also, if any of you from Texas want to make up a team, let me know.

 

Tammy

I look at my goals daily - or more often.  When I put on the goals list that I will need new clothes, that is something that I feel a little guilty about.  Having a family, I want to buy and get things for them first.  My dear, sweet Justin wants me to buy pretty new clothes, but being obese, it is difficult to find clothes that make me look and feel pretty.  We will be married five years next year and I know that I have purchased fewer than one outfit per year for me during that time.  I do get other people's hand-me-down fat clothes, but I really want to have my own pretty clothes.  I want to be able to shop in the Misses, not "Women's" department.  I want to be able to buy things from Victoria's Secret again.  I want to wear pretty pantyhose and not have my fat belly make them start to roll down.  (It's okay, you can laugh at that.)

 

I did have "skinny" or at least "skinnier" clothes that I donated.  My closet was overfull and there was another weird reason behind it.  Years ago when I lost my weight the first time, I had given up on being in the one hundred teens, so I gave away all my skinny clothes to family and friends.  Then, I lost all the weight - I still wish I had the jumpsuit I made in Home Ec my Freshman year in high school, but I have my own sewing machine now, so I can remake it.  I figured, maybe I would have the same fortune if I tried that approach this time.  So far, so good.

 

I received a catalog with beautiful dresses and slacks.  I can't afford those, but I circled ones I like so that I could look for patterns and make similar ones, once I relearn how to use a sewing machine efficiently.  Speaking of clothing catalogs, have any of you ladies noticed that Lane Bryant typically sells to plus-sized ladies, but none of the models in their catalogs is plus-sized.  They may be tall, but they are all very trim.  How is someone to get a realistic idea of how plus-sized clothes will look on a plus-sized lady when the catalog doesn't even represent the customers to whom they sell?  I like Catherine's catalogs.  At least they represent their clientele by the models they choose for their catalogs.

 

Justin has some very nice suits that really show off how handsome he is that are a bit snug right now.  Once he loses all the weight he has to lose, we will either have to take those up (if they can be taken up that much) or buy him some new ones - and definitely more Wranglers.  He gave all his skinny jeans to the boys when they grew tall enough for them.  He would also like some western shirts - I've seen some of his taste in this area, so I will have to supervise. 

 

Does anyone else feel guilty about splurging on themselves?  My parents won't even give me the receipt for gifts that don't work out for me because they figure I will take the item back and get something the family needs instead of gettings something for myself.  If you have any ideas as to why I feel this way and what I can do to overcome it (within reason of course), I would really like your input.  I don't have martyr syndrome - one who enjoys doing for others and sacrificing for self just to show what a good person / parent they are.  I don't know.  Maybe I'm afraid that if I spend any money on me, the children will have an opportunity come up that we can't afford to allow them to do or something will break and the money I spent on me would have been just enough to have repaired it.  As I write this, I keep hearing our oldest son (at 13) who was furious with us because we bought a car (did not own one at the time) so we could get to work and the grocery store instead of buying him a go-cart to drive around town (fine of $500 for doing so).  He was irrational, but it still hurt that we could not do something for him that he wanted. 

 

Tammy

I am so glad tat Jillian brought in some emotional help for her team.  Bob commented that he wouldn't "thrust" that on anyone; however, Jillian has never done that before, but she could see in her team that they truly needed some emotional help before they could be completely successful with the physical aspects.  Most of us are aware of those issues that cause us to overeat and it is so important to be in tune with our emotions and our bodies.  I can't see Jillian doing that without seeing that her team had some open wounds that needed healing.

 

Personally, I am a "Jillian" type person.  I prefer her type of drive and strength to Bob's quiet nature.  I was in athletics too long - I don't like being coddled, but I do like being understood.  I do like that Bob does yoga with his team (I really enjoy yoga), and Justin is the quiet type, so he would be more of a "Bob" person.  Jillian and Bob both get good results, I just think that Jillian sees the whole person and really does a great job of getting her team to push beyond what they think is possible without injury.  Personally, I would love the opportunity to work out with Jillian in person, but there is nothing stopping me from emulating her drive at home but me.  I just enjoy working out with a trainer.  I've had some excellent trainers at 24-Hour Fitness in the past.  The only problem, there is not one within more than 50 miles of my home.  There are other clubs, but they either don't have trainers or are too far to drive or are not designed for families (women only).  That's ok.  I have two legs and can walk and do isometric exercises at home.

 

I think Bob has got to be frustrated - he hand-picked a team that should be able to drop big numbers and he's still losing to Jillian.  She really is amazing.  I don't dislike anybody on the Blue team (okay, not crazy about Mark and Jay) but I am rooting for the Black team.

 

Justin got home in time to watch the last hour of Biggest Loser with me last night.  (He usually helps with Boy Scouts on Tuesday evenings with our son, so he sometimes misses the episodes.)  I hated to see Trent go because he truly was there for all the right reasons, but he definitely needed to get his knee looked at before he did any serious damage to it.  That would be really hard for a teammate to vote his own teammate off, but he cared enough to look out for the best interest of his friend.  Trent looks like he is doing really well - a tremendous change in his health for himself and his family, which is what all of us desire.  Justin could certainly relate to the knee injury.

 

Some of the challenges they design do seem a bit dangerous, lost tooth (last season), injured knee, and I was concerned that Dan was going to hit his head as he fell.  Jump rope is my type of challenge - the worst I could do is trip and fall from that, but I haven't done that yet, and I hope to keep that record - and improve my actual successful jumps record. 

 

Well, I'm about to go work out now.  I hope everyone has a great day!  Go Losers!

 

Tammy

I was really worried about my weigh-in day all last week, but I wound up with a 1.4 lb loss.  I am missing my 2 lb / wk goal by 2.6 lbs, but did better about closing in on that goal this week than last.  A loss is still a loss, and honestly if I only lost one pound per week, at the end of one year it would still be 52 lbs, which would be less than I have weighed in a LONG time.  I am just eager to get below that 200 lb mark to start.

 

Justin weighed 217 lbs this morning.  I really think he would have weighed less had he not eaten at 8:00 pm last night because he did a good bit of walking this weekend to set up an orienteering course for the Boy Scout troop he assists.  His knee is not hurting, but he still has a limp.  I hope this week at work goes well for him and doesn't aggravate his knee again so that we can get back to walking together.

 

Have a great day!

 

Tammy

Okay, we finally got the pictures taken to show us as we are today and to remind us of our goal - that we NEVER want to look this way again!  Yuck!  At least Justin has sexy, although bowlegged, legs and a cute derrier.    I could open a bakery with all the rolls I have.

 

Also, while I attempted to do the jumprope challenge, I took the opportunity to work with our four-year-old on her jumprope skills.  She is doing much better.  She can't do the process in one continuous motion, but she can do it twice in a row by going through consecutive steps and she didn't give up.  Her motto was, "Try, try again."  The rope is a tad long for her and a tad short for me.  I had two nice jumpropes, but after we moved, we haven't been able to find either one.  I am sure they will turn up as soon as I buy another one.  I figured I would include the pictures of her learning with the two of me because she is adorable.  BTW, she was the photographer on my jumprope pics.

 

Speaking of the jumprope challenge, I only got to 27 before Justin decided the rope was too short and he was cold - I think he's coming down with something, it felt nice to me, but then again he's been out in our crazy Texas weather all day and all night for the last couple of days.  (For those who live in other parts of the country, in Texas, it an be in the 20's or 30's in the morning and the 70's or 80's in the afternoon.)  So, I definitely didn't win, but had fun trying.  You know, it was much easier to jump rope when I was 8 than it is now.  I guess I need to go ahead and splurge and get my own again so I won't have any excuses for the rope being too short.  To anyone who got to 100 without requiring oxygen, WAY TO GO!!!

 

Weigh-in day is tomorrow.  Check in with us for our results.  I should have them posted the morning.  In the meantime, browse through our new pictures for a chuckle.

 

Tammy

This morning, it dawned on me why so many people who plan at the beginning of the year to lose weight - and we are really sincere about it - do not succeed.  In reading other people's blogs, I realized that we are not the only ones with illness (ourselves or children) or injuries.  In the past I would get to a point where things were really going well and I was really motivated, then things would come up that would make it seemingly impossible.  I'd figure, well maybe now is not the time to do this.  There are just too many things going on.  When aren't there too many things going on?!

 

This is a couples match-up so that we have someone to count on to support us and join us in our journey; however, this has turned into so much more than that.  Look at how we relate to one another, help, encourage, and support one another - even though we've never met.  That is so wonderful!  We keep each other motivated for one more week, and another, and another...  I know all of you keep me motivated.

 

Today, I'm struggling, because while the baby is mostly feeling better, the older daughter woke up screaming and crying in her sleep last night because her ear hurt her so much.  I gave her some medicine.  She wouldn't let me apply a warm washcloth or hydrogen peroxide, but she let me give her a soft, baby wascloth to put on her pillow and she slept on it.  She has no fever, but got sick first thing this morning.  She even asked me this morning if I could hear the band in her ear.  I asked her if it sounded like a drum and she said it did.  Poor little thing.  Personally, I feel slightly better than death-warmed-over, but not much better than that.  I can see the computer screen and don't have a fever, so that is a plus.  I just don't feel like preparing anything right now.  I did have some forsight at the grocery store yesterday and bought a can of soup, but it is just not quite hearty enough.

 

I think I'm going to go ahead and lay down since the girls are resting / entertaining themselves.  I may have a lousy weigh-in on Monday, but I am NOT going to give up.  You have been too supportive and encouraging to allow me to do that.  It is just one week among several and tomorrow is a new day and next week is a new week.

 

I wish all of you the very best!

 

Tammy

We met Justin for lunch today while we were running errands (dentist and so forth).  When Justin came toward the car, our teenage son said, "Wow!  Dad is getting slimmer."  That is a terrific compliment for Justin considering how much his sons enjoy teasing him.  He's right, you can tell Justin is getting slimmer - yes, I keep trying to get the full-length pictures taken, but when I think of it, it is late or we are in the middle of something.  I will do my best to get those taken and posted by Sunday.  Way to go, Justin!  I am so proud of you!

 

Love,

Tammy

I just got muscle cream and a massage last night instead of working out to address the pain in my arm.  The baby woke up at 2:30 with a mild fever and took 45 minutes to go back to sleep and was up again at 6:30 this morning with a low fever.  She is doing better now and is eating better.  That is a relief.  She is also more willing to give kisses again, albeit runny-nose kisses, but kisses nonetheless.

 

My arm is better today as long as I don't have to hold the baby while I'm standing up for too long.  It pulls my shoulder muscles if I do.  Why, being so predominately right-handed, I only hold her in my left arm is beyond me to some extent.

 

My older daughter is feeling better, also.

 

Justin's knee is doing better.  He has to do several days of work that can put a strain on his knee starting tomorrow through early next week, so we discussed that as long as his knee is better after that, then the following week he WILL get back to walking with me, YEA!  I am really looking forward to that.

 

A friend of mine who went to WW to lose her baby weight after #7 was born told me that she used to walk with her daughter until her daughter went away to college.  Since the next older children were boys, she continued to walk alone and used that time to talk with God.  I think that is a great idea.  I have been trying to do that myself, but am going to have to work on quieting my mind as I do this.  She also gave me the suggestion of using the time that Justin can walk with me as "our" time to discuss the day's events and so forth.  When we did get to walk together, that's just what we did, so I am looking forward to that time together again.

 

I did not have a Coke last night, as much as I wanted one.  We did pretty well on watching our food today.  Thank goodness the h/m choc. chip cookies are finaly gone!  I took the opportunity tonight to go for a long walk after floor exercises.  I won't get to do that again until Sunday, if then since Justin and our son are going on a Boy Scout camping trip this weekend and I won't take the girls out this weekend since they are trying to get over nasty ear infections.  I did notice my walk seemed easier tonight, considering when I started, I could only walk about a half mile before my back started to hurt and today I did 3.7 mi again without pain, this is COOL.  Time to start increasing the pace.

 

For those whose weigh-in days are coming up in the next few days, I hope the scales are kind to you.  We are cheering for you!

 

Tammy & Justin

I was so excited yesterday because I had the opportunity to go for a nice long walk - it wound up being 3.7 mi round trip - a little over a 5K.  After I had written the blog yesterday, I saw that the Susan G Komen Race for the Cure is going to be May 3rd in Central Texas. 

 

I got home from the walk only to discover that the baby had a 103 F temperature.  Our son had given her acetomenophine at 7:30 and I got home about 15 minutes later.  He thought he had given her ibuprophin at first, so I panicked thinking that if ibuprophin hadn't brought her temperature down, this was bad.  Fortunately, it was only acetomenophine, so I gave her the ibuprophin and her temperature began to drop as I took her to the doctor's office.  She does not have flu or strep, but her allergies had caused her to develop a bad double-ear infection.  With that high of a temperature, the doctor prescribed some antibiotics for her.  Poor baby has lost 1-2 lbs because she couldn't eat (she's a GOOD eater) since her throat hurt and she couldn't breathe through her nose.

 

Because it wasn't contagious and her sister had roughly the same symptoms with a very low-grade fever if any, she got to go to ballet, and our son got to go to his multitude of 4-H and Boy Scout activities that afternoon and evening.  We took Justin to the doctor after work while our son was at his first activity.  They gave him some anti-inflamatory meds and told him to let them know if they work or not.  Justin and I did manage to eat healthy among all this.  Yea!

 

Also, on the way home, I talked with Justin, and I am going to sign up for the 5K.  If his knee is better by that time, and I hope it is, he can sign up, also.  I can do this.  We also talked about starting to play golf together with our two older children.  I received a set of new-to-me clubs last year, but have not used them yet since I couldn't leave the baby long enough to go play.  Since we were discussing this in relationship to exercise, he said, "So I guess that means no carts, huh?" "Nope."    Finally, we have an annual festival in our community that includes a volleyball competition, I want to get a volleyball team together to compete.

 

Melissa and I got to watch Biggest Loser last night.  I don't know about any of you, but I like rooting for Jillian's black team.  I was SO proud of them last night, winning the cooking competition and the overall weight challenge.  That whole team did an amazing job.  When Jillian talked to them about their calories, I could completely relate.  Her recommendation for milk was one that Justin can employ.  We keep reduced fat milk around for the children (mostly) and Justin and for cooking, but I don't think Justin has been drinking 24 oz per day since milk is so pricey.  I can encourage him to drink more since he enjoys it.  After the challenge, I thought Jackie was a little pushy (at least in what they showed) in the way she handled talking to Trent, so it was no surprise that she was the one voted off.  Since she was getting much closer to her ideal weight, the guys were generally going to be able to pull off the bigger weight losses to keep themselves competitve.  She looks absolutely awesome at her current weight.  I intend to look that good in 15 weeks.  By then, Justin will only be 10 lbs shy of his ideal weight.

 

Today, was our baby's actual doctor appointment for her one-year check-up so we went to that.  She received six shots.  Our older daughter received only one, her flu shot and threw a bigger fit than the baby.  She got stickers, though.  (She has an ear infection and tonsilitis also, but since she doesn't have the fever, she didn't need antibiotics, just allergy medicine and decongesants.)  By the time we got through there and got the prescriptions filled, it was lunch time, so the baby ate the food we packed for her, our older daughter ate corny dogs, and I succomed to a Whopper Jr. and Cheesy Bites - no soda, but does it really matter?  Also had two h/m choc. chip cookies that our son had made.

 

Had a women's meeting later this afternoon that I went to, before picking Justin up from work.  My arm (shoulder to fingertips) started really hurting before I left and is still hurting even after an Aleve, which usually fixes this type of pain up pretty quickly.  I am sure it is from having to hold the baby in the most consoling way for her for so long.  Before I left, I figured two choc. chip cookies was better than being tempted by delicious pies.  I avoided the pies successfully, but managed to allow my feelings to get hurt by some comments.

 

Picked up Justin from work.  Was bummed when I got home from the meeting.  I was going to go for a walk before Ash Wednesday services, but by the time I helped the guys get dinner ready after they decided what they wanted (two crazy days threw me off schedule for planned meals), I had a couple more choc. chip cookies, some whole wheat pasta w/ h/m sauce and a salad.  I REALLY want a Coke.  Justin had one cookie, pasta and sauce, and a nice salad.  He's doing much better than I am on his diet today.

 

The baby fell asleep before supper, so I am home with her while they went to church.  I'm going to go get a big glass of water, do some stretches and floor exercises, put the heating pad on my shoulder and relax, I hope.

 

I hope all of you who were getting nasty bugs are over them and that everyone stays well.  Tomorrow is a new day...

 

Tammy

 

 

Okay, laugh at me if you want, but while I watched the last part of Gladiators tonight, I got to thinking, wouldn't that be cool, or even if not to be like one of the challengers and go back to doing gymnastics.  I LOVED doing gymnastics.  My daughter is only four, maybe I could get back to where I could do gymnastics and REALLY embarass her.    (She won't let me sing or dance in her presence, not even for VBS , and no, I am not THAT bad.  Justin and I discussed this tonight also, maybe it was the dancing I was doing a week or so before she was born when she was already overdue to try to hasten her along that started all this.  Hmmmm...)  One other thing, I do floor exercises and uneven parallel bars.  I DON'T do balance beams.  Four inches wide and four feet off the floor, nope, not me.

 

Anyway, I got to thinking, what are your pie-in-the-sky, really outrageous ideas for things you think would be fun to do when you reach your ultimate goal weight?  I promise not to hold you to it, but thought it might be fun to hear from you about your ideas.  I know some people want to run a marathon.  That's an outstanding goal.  I've NEVER been a distance runner, just a sprinter, so that one is out for me, but if you do make it to a marathon, especially a televised one, let me know and I'll watch and cheer for you.  I know I could walk a 10K when I get stronger, but I don't know about run in one.  I'd be willing to put it on my list of things to try, though.

 

More realistically, I would definitely like to get a local volleyball team together.  I'm short, so I'm not great at spiking, but I can dive for those balls and dig 'em out of the net like nobody's business, well I could and I will be able to soon enough...

 

Hope to hear from you.

 

Tammy

Today was weigh-in day. 

 

Justin weighed 217 lbs this morning, which is a .8 lb loss from last week, 7 lbs lost so far with 53 more to go, although 217 is +1 lb from his weekly goal.  He has had a week-over-week loss.  His knee is still bothering him and was really swollen and hurting him yesterday.  This is 2 weeks now that this has been going on.  He is planning on making an appointment to see the doctor.  I just hope the doctor really looks at it and doesn't just give him some pain killers and anti-anflamatories and say, "Sorry about your luck.  Next..."  He, our son, and some other men did help rebuild some benches and load a truck with recyclable items at a church retreat this weekend, so he did get some exercise, he's just not going to be able to walk for exercise until his knee is better.

 

I (Tammy) weighed 207.6 lbs this morning, which is a 2.8 lb loss from last week, 6 lbs lost so far with 89.6 more to go, although 207.6 is +2 lbs from my weekly goal.  I have had a week-over-weekl loss.  I was sore from walking extra / playing with the girls Saturday, but it was mostly a good sore.  I cleaned yesterday for my exercise.

 

The girls are both sick, particularly the baby, so I will be watching them closely the next few days and exercising while they rest.  (The baby has a croupe and a 101.9 F fever.)  The older daughter has a cough and gets hoarse easily but, fortunately, no fever yet.

 

I hope everyone's scales were nice to you for your weigh-in days. I'm off to fix some breakfast before I get the munchies...

 

God bless you all for your continued support...

As I was fixing my salad this afternoon for lunch, I found myself pining for our garden already.  I've read in the Old Farmer's Almanac, we could have already started flats of lettuce, but we tried that with bell peppers last year and that did not work out so well.  We will probably grow lettuce and spinach the same way we did last year - just less of it.  We were up to our eyeballs in lettuce and spinach last year.  We were eating salads with every meal - Justin and I both love salads and our son tolerates them - and still we had more than we could eat.  I am ready for fresh-from-the garden greens and vegetables that I don't have to drive to the grocery store to pick up (the nearest one is 15 miles away) or wait until Justin gets home to get them.  Also, the prices and quality fluxuate so at the grocery store, we can never be sure if we are going to have to pay a premium or just not be able to get the vegetables because they look so bad.  Also, we grow our garden without pesticides or other nasty chemicals.  We cannot say that about what we get at the grocery store, unless we want to pay considerably more for organic - if they have any.

 

Well, it is a gorgeous day, with just me and the girls.  I'm going to take advantage of it and walk to the park with them and play.

 

Have a great weekend everyone!

Tammy

I wish I could say that was I - spicy and sweet.  What I have known for a long time now is that when I eat spciy foods, and I LOVE spicy foods, I want something sweet afterward.  Considering I had Buffalo chicken tenders last night and leftover ones for lunch and then REALLY spicy taco meat for a taco salad this evening, I was definitely wanting sweets.  And yes, I gave in.  Spicy foods are supposed to help our metabolisms, but I don't think it does much good when you have a sweet afterward.  No, sugarfree gum does not cut it.  A small sweet would work, like a mini Reese's peanut butter cup, but they don't sell those at the local convenience store and I don't keep those at the house because I can't have just one - or just five - if they are around.

 

Justin likes a glass of milk with his spicy food.  I wish I could get him to try going to 1% fat milk, but so far, 2% is the best concession I can get.  At least it's not ice cream or chocolate like me.

 

If you are like me and are beating that temptation, please let me know what works for you.

 

Have a great day tomorrow, everyone.

 

Tammy

We had a terrific weekend just being together and watching movies.  We did not get to walk or do some of the things we had hoped to do because Justin's knee was hurting him so.  By Sunday, it was swollen to 1 1/2 - 2 times as large as his other knee.  I had him stay off of it.  I'll admit that I was disappointed because it was a gorgeous weekend to be outside together and we won't have a weekend together for 5 more weeks.  I am really concerned about his knee.  Aleve seems to help the pain and even the swelling some.  He kept it wrapped at work yesterday and it looked better.  We'll just have to keep an eye on it for now and using the RICE method to get the swelling down.

Justin's weight this morning was 217.8 lbs - Yea!!  My weight is 207.4 lbs.  I did not get to eat like I should have this week, and yes, the weight came off, but the body fat percentage went up - we have a scale that calculates body fat as well as weight for all of our family members except the youngest.  I am writing this blog now because our weights may go up after this weekend, but it is okay.  Some friends of ours are taking all three children for the weekend so we can have a honeymoon we never got to have.  .  We are planning to go to the movies, out to eat, maybe to the museum or dancing or a pops symphony this weekend.  I don't want to blow it this weekend, but food is part of the fun we plan, and so is exercise.  We will be making relatively good choices, but I do know of a few treats I personally want to enjoy.  Wishing everyone a wonderful weekend a great weigh-in days!

It's time to plan the bi-weekly grocery list.  We do enjoy breakfast, but it will be interesting as we try to find high-protein, low sodium foods to enjoy for breakfast.  With Justin's high blood pressure, we really must be more vigilant about the food choices we make for all meals.  Oatmeal is okay, but none of us are crazy about it for every day.  He enjoys grits, but since the corn is soaked in lye to make the hominy, they are really high in sodium.  Also, carbohydrate rich breakfasts leave me craving carbs all day.

As I am allergic to milk eggs and turkey, cereal, eggs, and turkey bacon are not options for me personally.  Since we get up at 5:00 am with Justin, I'm not real eager to make multiple breakfasts at that time.  I am not opposed to making breakfast burritos for Justin and our teenager who enjoys them, just trying to find the right foods to incorporate.

I'll let you know how what we try works for us.  If you have any suggestions that are working for you for breakfast, please leave a comment on this blog entry.  I could really use some creative suggestions.

Justin lost 2.2 lbs and I lost 1.6 lbs the first week.  Not great, but still a loss.  We'd  both rather take it slow and develop good habits than lose weight drastically and then gain it back and then some - that's how I got to this point in the first place. 

 

Unfortunately, we've been battling tummy bugs in our family.  This threw things off track regarding exercise starting Saturday.  Our daughters got it first, then me.  I've lost 2.6 more pounds since Monday - the hard way.  I just hope I can keep this off since it came off while I wasn't feeling well.

 

I have started keeping a personal journal.  I discovered that due to a number of factors that began when I was a teenager (ulcer-induced anorexia, parents owning a fast food restaurant so we did not eat together unless it was 10:00 or 11:00 at night - and then not healthy foods).  These factors were were exacerbated due to working so many hours in my 20's and early 30's and just trying to keep my energy up when I might not get to eat, that I don't have the self-discipline to eat when I should.  I am working on this.  I discussed this with Justin and the impact it has had on our family.  He has agreed to help me with this so I can develop good habits and a healthy discipline to benefit our family. 

 

Fortunately, our children are perfectly healthy.  We want them to develop healthy habits for their own lives.  It is somewhat hard to plan meals (but all the more critical) because our older daughter and I are highly allergic to certain foods - none of them are the same.  She's allergic to 6 key foods - wheat, corn, potatoes, fish, beef, and peanuts.  Fortunately, most of those are not particularly good for us (except the fish).  On the other hand, I am allergic to a huge number of healthy foods - olives, melons, green beans, pinto beans, soy beans, milk, eggs, turkey, shrimp, venison, and my favorite flavor-enhancer, onions.  My husband and son have vowed not to find out to what they may be allergic - they just don't want to know.  I have to get really creative with food choices.  I try to limit the foods I eat at a meal to only one food that I am allergic to at a time since it is just too hard to avoid everything.  This has seemed to work pretty well.  It also means I need to pay particular attention to vitamin and mineral supplements, particularly calcium, which I have not been taking regularly.  Boy, am I a work in progress!

 

We took the time to generate a list of meals that we enjoy on a regular basis, particularly the healthy ones.  The less-healthy ones have as a treat once in awhile (such as hamburgers or chili dogs).  This will allow me to begin preparing menus that can repeat on a biweekly basis, provide healthy leftovers for lunches, and try to develop more structure and discipline in our lives.  We'll see how this goes as we begin to implement this.  This can help me with time management and both Justin and me with food management.

 

I hope everyone's having great success in addressing their weight challenge and making changes in their lives day-by-day.

I ate WAY more calories than I intended to yesterday - I had 2696 calories and only wanted to eat between 1800-2000 calories, but after exercising in the morning and afternoon for about 15 minutes each, I still lost 2 lbs today.  I discovered how much bread I was really eatng by journaling what I ate - at 70 calories per slice, that is a lot.

 

My husband, Justin, walked with me after work last night.  He did not lose any as of this morning.  He also did not eat as frequently as I did.  I have got to get more planned meals for Justin to help him lose weight more effectively.  I received a new crock pot for Christmas.  It is high time I start using it.

 

In the past, I have generally worked out extremely hard and not fed my body sufficiently which is most likely a huge part of my lack of success.  I would eat 800-1100 calories per day, work out for 2-3 hours, and may not lose weight.  I found that sometimes, if I splurged on that burger, the plateau I had hit would suddenly move.  Yeah, because my body figured that I wasn't starving anymore and wasn't holding all that in reserve.

 

I have "discovered" Ziplock Zip n' Steam bags. They are awesome!  I can fix fresh vegetables and they don't come out soggy and my family will actually eat them without their having to be fried - which is great for when we have our garden this coming spring.  That also helps make our portions work out better and increases our ability to get our vegies in each day.

 

I had a tough day today with a tummy bug for me and the baby and horrendous allegies and high wind.  (Today was our monthly family outing all-day-day.)  I worked out this morning on my abs for 20 minutes, but did not get my walk in.  I'm hopeful that the wind will not be such an issue tomorrow so I can go walking.

 

I would like to jump in to walking 3 miles, but I have learned to take it slowly over the past few years in my attempts to lose weight.  I would start out gung-ho and either get very ill (like pneumonia) or hurt my back.  Even last night, I could feel my lower back pulling in just 3/4 of a mile.  How lame is that?!  So I added a cool-down lap and left it at that (just 1 mile).  I'm glad I did or I would not have been able to walk this morning.  I'll just keep stretching and adding a little more to each walk until I am up to 3-4 miles 3-5 times per week.  I would like to add yoga in the evenings, but I want to add a little at a time for now so that I don't feel too overwhelmed and give up.

Justin and I are entering the Biggest Loser's Million Pound Match-up because we want to team up to lose weight for ourselves and our family.  I enjoy being fit and healthy, but haven't been at a weight that I liked for 15 years now.  Justin was within 5 - 10 lbs of his goal weight until I began gaining weight with our first child and then he gained "sympathy weight" with me.  We've continued to gain since then.  As of 1/7/2008, I need to lose 95 lbs and Justin needs to lose 58 lbs for a combined weight loss of 153 lbs.  For starters, we need to eat more frequently and exercise together - and lose the sodas (that will be the biggest challenge).  I have lost weight before successfully and kept it off for several years.  I know I can do this with Justin's support.  I know he can with my support and healthy meals prepared for him and our family.