Wowzers!!

After all that poor eating, I'm DOWN another pound! 

Yesterday was a great day with great choices.  I met a friend in the afternoon and we did a short hike with the children. Then we headed over to the apple orchard for some fun time.  While our friends munched on ice cream, we sampled apples and cider and then the girls munched on their Kashi cereal while I sipped my herbal tea.

Then we zoomed home so I could fix dinner. We had friends over for a meal and they eat ETL!!! It was WONDERFUL cooking for people that know and WANT to eat this way. No explaining, no defending, no need to feel *weird*.

I made a giant stir-fry with veggies from the garden, fridge, and cabinet.  Green beans, cabbage, peppers, onions, mushrooms, celery, broccoli, cauliflower, bean sprouts, Asian corn, and water chestnuts.  I mixed it with a sauce made of pineapple juice, ginger, red pepper flakes, a tiny bit of bragg's aminos, water, and arrowroot powder. 

On the table we also had brown rice, pineapple, and a melon salad.

Then came dessert. :)

My husband brought home a bag of freshly picked apples from my mother-in-law.  I just knew something creative could be done with those.  I peeked around at baked apple recipes on allrecipes.com and then went to work nutritizing one.

So, we cored the apples then sliced them in half.  Mixed some frozen blueberries with cinnamon and vanilla.  Fill the middle of the apples with the berry mixture. Bake at 350 for about 40-50 minutes.  They were amazing!!!! Everyone loved them.  The berries made this beautiful syrup that would be lovely over pancakes. :)

The best part, though, was having time to talk with someone using ETL and seeing her life change and feel better. We talked about how we see our physical bodies improving.  We shared ideas for recipes. We made a plan to get together to build our meal binders.  It is just so great to have a friend I can see face to face that embraces this lifestyle and *gets it*. 

Hello New Decade!!

I did it! I cruised right through the 190's and said goodbye without a tear.  I'm SO excited. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw those pretty numbers on the screen. :D

This weekend was another marathon of cooking and shopping.

I prepped a lot of baked goods for my new Continental Breakfast idea I have for back to school.  I'm planning to have a grain, fruit, nuts, and hard boiled eggs out for the children each morning.  They can make their own in hopes that our mornings will be a little more efficient. 

I found some great recipes to try at this blog.  I made Zucchini bread, Banana muffins, and Orange-Berry muffins.  Most all of those are in the freezer.

I also made up some nutritized Sloppy Lentil Joe's.  I then made some of our applesauce cornbread. I worked on putting some of the lentil mixture in with the cornbread batter to make some sloppy corn muffins for our picnic lunch tomorrow. The first batch didn't come out just right. Then I decided that I would work on it another day since I didn't want to be up until midnight babysitting muffins.

I did, however, stay up until 9 so that I could experiment with my Baked Oatmeal recipe. I am SO glad that I did!! I think it may be the best dish I've made yet.  Everyone was loving it this morning.  I posted the recipe on my Recipes page at the top.

Speaking of that page. I deleted a few recipes that are not Nutritarian.  I also highlighted a couple of the recipes in red to remind myself that I want to work on nutritizing those.  I think they are worth saving. ;)

Today we attended a church potluck.  They grilled chicken and we all brought the sides.  I brought a pot of Indian Spiced Lentils.  Not too many people ate it, but I sure was happy to have a filling and healthy choice for my lunch.  I also brought some raw cut vegetables.  Also a good choice, as the only salads available were covered in dressing.  I will admit that that Caesar salad looked really good and it was very hard not to take a little bite while I was cutting up the chicken for my younger ones today.  But, I was so happy to eat right and know I wasn't going to regret it later. I also packed a few strawberries and walnuts for myself and David to share.  I was surprised to see fresh fruit at the dessert table, so I enjoyed a little indulgence of extra fruit with my meal.

Oh! I also scored more points with our Sunday Munch today. (haha! I just made that name up, but it's cute!)  See, we used to enjoy this yummy dish on some Sunday afternoons. I would layer a pan with cream cheese, then salsa, then shredded cheddar or mozzarella.  Bake and serve with corn chips. Everyone loved it.  Especially David.

Today I wanted to use up some bean dip I made that was in the fridge.  I got the idea to try a variation on that cheese dip. 

I layered the white bean dip in a glass pan. Then I spread a layer of freshly cooked black beans.  Then thin layer or salsa.  I topped half of the pan with vegan "cheese" and the other I sprinkled with "parma". (Parma is finely chopped walnuts mixed with nutri yeast.)  Baked it for about 20-30 minutes.  I served it with some "chips" that I made out of some corn tortillas that I cut, seasoned (with lime juice, chili powder, cumin, onion and garlic powder), and baked in the oven with the dip.  I also served some carrot sticks and bell pepper slices to eat with the dip.

It was great!  I've been mulling names around for my new dish.  Layered Bean Dip, Sunday Bean Dip, but now I'm thinking Sunday Munch Bean Dip is perfect!  I'll work on getting the recipe posted soon. :)

So happy to see the scale go down again.  Man, am I excited to keep pressing on when I see that kind of progress. :D

Thursday, August 8, 2013

Snacky-snacky. 

That was me today.  The children and I made plans to go visit friends. I stopped to pick up some snacks for the children and caved when I saw those yummy Terra Exotic chips.  My oldest daughter and I munched on them in the van. 

We had to skip our visit due to a child getting sick on the way there.  Detour back home.  Cleaned up the house and then sunk down to enjoy a movie and snack.  More snacky. I munched on some blue corn tortilla chips and salsa. 

The food wasn't bad.  A little outside of ETL due to the oils and grains I'm supposed to avoid.  But, I really enjoyed the treat with the children. 

I felt SO full, though, by dinner time.  Maybe that was a good thing.  I made Lemony Steamed fish and chicken (separately, but same seasoning) and roasted vegetables.  I had one bite of chicken (eh, I haven't been missing much) and a small pile of vegies, only two bites of sweet potato in the mix.

I think I'm *okay* on calories for today. Maybe a bit over. But, wow, can I snack if I let myself! I really need to stick to that rule if I want to stay on track with weight loss.

I nutri-tized my taco soup recipe today.  I posted it on my recipe page. It turned out really good.  As I was eating it, I had the thought, "THIS is what I was wanting," as I remembered my frustration yesterday in finding something satisfying to eat.  I'm not sure what it was, the familiar taste/texture? This is one of our favorite meals.

Oh, and I weighed-in today. I'm calling that last weigh-in a fluke, as I'm up today. BUT, if I look at Tuesday's weigh-in compared to today's, I'm still down a pound. I will take that, for sure!

I pinned a few recipes tonight. I want to try making some crackers from juice pulp tomorrow when we finish up school.

My new habit building list has been a huge help to me.  I'm really happy with how our days are going.  We're getting lessons done and I'm pretty much keeping up with checking and grading work.  Still wishing I had a bit more time to keep up with meals, but, judging from the slow and steady progress we made with school and routine this week, I think it'll eventually come.

Sunday, August 4, 2013

I did it. :)

This evening I was looking for something for dinner. We're mostly grazing our way through a lazy Sunday here. ;) 

As I hunted I had that "I want to feel FULL" mentality going on. I had visions of tortillas and chewy pita bread filling my belly.  I hunted.

I was pulling out foods to fill the bread.  No beans.  Well, lettuce is good. I can do lettuce and sprouts.  But, I knew that tortilla was way high in calories.  Keep hunting.

I saw that massive salad my daughter was building for herself. Yeah, salad.  Haven't had that since...ummm....okay, not since yesterday. So, a salad it is.  If I could JUST find some dressing I like!

Hunt. Hunt. Hunt.

Build. Build. Build.

Romaine and swiss chard with shredded carrots and beets.  Check.

Alfalfa sprouts...mmmm....this is getting better. Check.

Protein...fats??.....Sunflower seeds.  Check.

Texture variation?  Raisins. Check.

Dressing??  Need me some dressing.  No oily Italian.  No to the salsa my daughter is using. Not what I'm after.  The lime juice isn't the flavor for those yummy sprouts. 

Hunt. Hunt. Hunt. 

I sure do like my spicy brown mustard. What can I mix with that to make a dressing???  Too lazy.

Squirt. Squirt. Squirt. (only about 2 tsp worth)

Add a side of cold, leftover corn on the cob. 

Chew. Crunch. Chew. Crunch. 

Mmmmmm....Satisfaction.

I love that fully belly feel from foods that are nourishing me instead of weighing me down.  Walked away from the Empty Grain Craving victoriously. :)

Took a break from weighing in today.  I avoided fruits today since I felt overloaded by them yesterday.  This morning I just had some leftover stir fry for breakfast.  For lunch I gobbled up some corn chips and fresh salsa on the way home from church.  So, see? I DID have grains today and that just left me craving for more.

I had some fresh veggies and hummus and a bowl of leftover Mushroom Soup when we got home from church. Sort of an extended lunch. Then I had my salad and corn for a late dinner.

Not the best day as far as avoiding snacking.  But I'm still counting it a win that I trumped that bread craving and lazy bent for stuffing my face.

David went back to full juicing again. He has a good friend that started his juice fast today, so they are in it together.  He's looking amazing!

Sunday, July 7, 2013

Good Things:
Great choices while eating out after church
Snacked on the way home, but healthier choices than old habits
30 minutes on the wii, added hand weights to my advanced step
Scale is going down again

Not So Good Things:
Too much salt with my snack
Sugar today

I was so glad to be exercising again. The last two days have left me with no activity and I was feeling so sluggish.  I got in a good 30 minutes that left me sweating.  I was down 1.5 since my last weigh-in.  Whew!

David got some greek yogurt bars at the store today. I have such a hard time saying no to him when he gets me a treat. Thing is, I didn't WANT to eat it, it was high in sugar. And, even though I did, it didn't even taste good, so it felt like a waste of a treat. I need to figure out a kind way to decline or at least redirect his efforts. I did the same thing with Josh this week when he saved part of his sub sandwich for me.  

I know I shouldn't rejoice so much over the scale going down. But, well, I am.

Thursday, July 4, 2013 - Independence Day!

Today's Good Things:
Had a fun day celebrating the Fourth of July
Stayed away from the meats from the grill, didn't even mind it
Made great choices for my celebration feast
Enjoyed my afternoon blogging
Got in 20 minutes on Wii Fit and a few games with the boys on Wii Wipeout (I don't count that one as exercise, though)
As a rare treat, I have the house to myself this evening. The little girls are asleep and David and the older children went for a drive. Lovely. :)

Today's Not So Good Things:
I overate at lunch. I didn't over eat calorie-wise, but I didn't eat slow enough or take smaller portions like I should have. I left the table feeling over-full.
This evening I am feeling SO snacky! It must be because the day has been rather lazy. Or, maybe it has to do with this dreaded poison ivy that is making me INSANE!!!  Whatever it is, I gave in and had an evening snack. Sigh.
I've been battling irritability all day.

Some pics of our Independence Day Feast:

 

And here's a pic of what was on my plate. All good stuff!!

 

And, guess what I learned today. Go ahead...GUESSSSS. :) 

 

I like Brussels sprouts!! All these years I thought of them as stinky, soggy, yucky cabbages.  But, today, with the yummy marinade my daughter made, they were divine!! And, with just a brief bit of reading, I can see that Brussels Sprouts are definitely going on my weekly list of vegies. Yum.

 

My snack tonight was a rice cake topped with natural peanut butter and all fruit. Good choices as far as food goes. Just not a great choice as far as timing and intent.  However, it's a holiday, I'm still under on calories for the day, and I did give myself permission to loosen up for the day.  With all that, I can give thanks to the Lord and enjoy my pb&j happily.

Daniel Fast - Day Fifteen

June 24, 2013

Day Fifteen

Today all that energy I've been talking about went missing. I was slow and quiet and not moving much at all. We tidied the house some, but I was mostly directing.  We got in a bit of reading and a couple of people worked on writing some letters. I did some lunch prep, made dinner, and read my book most of the day.  I'm embarrassed to say how much I enjoyed such a relaxing, lazy day. *blush*

I finished my day under on calories again. I'm starting to even out how many calories I eat in a day. When I look at my chart, I can see I may be forming some consistency in my portions and choices for meals.  I'm also going to start dropping snacks and work on consuming all I need during my meals.  It's hard to change my brain about that.  After being pregnant so often, I tend to just eat those snacks as a matter of habit.  I want to try going longer between meals, though, to learn my body's cues for real hunger.

This book, Eat to Live: The End of Diabetes has my mind spinning.  I'm not convinced this is the plan the Lord has for me, but I have certainly gained a great deal of information and learning from it.  I am more firm in my convictions regarding vegetables as the core of my diet. I am intrigued by what I'm learning about legumes and nuts and seeds.  Intrigued enough that I'm considering purchasing the book for myself.  I'm going to keep praying on this. 

One argument that Dr. Furhman makes is that you can easily obtain the amount of protein you need daily from a plant-based diet.  I know that many have said this isn't possible. In fact, that's one of the biggest reasons I almost didn't read the book. Yet, as I've been plugging in my food on myfitnesspal.com, I can see that I am easily achieving the protein goals I set for myself back when I was aiming for a high protein-low carb diet.  Amazing.  Today the largest source of protein I had was one peanut butter ball at breakfast. The rest was simply lentils, beans, broccoli...nothing I would really consider high protein foods. Yet, there I am. Right at my high-protein goal.  And feeling full as all get out at that.

If I wasn't doing this fast, eating a plant-based diet while reading this book, I would never have believed what I'm reading.  But, I'm experiencing so much of what he's saying, I can't help but lend it some validity. 

Off to do some more reading and praying.  My husband has chosen to do a complete fast for this week.  Nothing but prayer and water. If anyone out there is reading this, please pray he remains safe and healthy. He is working hard outside in the heat all week painting on ladders. We need the Lord to keep him alert and clear headed. Thank you!

Journal Notes from Day Four

June 13, 2013

 

"Behold, how happy is the man whom God reproves, so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty. For He inflicts pain and give relief; He wounds, and His hands heal."

Job 5:17-18

This  verse is my promise of hope.

This fast. This pain and discomfort to my body. This is your reproof to my pride and indulgence. You bring this so that I would see the abuse and misuse I have in my life. I have wrongly fed and tended my physical body and soul. I have wrongly used food to cater to my desires. I am so humbled. First, by the fact that I have seen how a silly cup of coffee or tea makes me feel valued or gives me a sense of worth. That it feeds my selfish desires to feel I somehow deserve praise or reward for my work in day.

Lord, this work I do should be my act of service and worship. I do this for Your praise. I should allow You to bless me - not use Your blessings to reward myself - especially with things that harm me. I see, as my body is releasing whatever it's been holding, this pain in my joints, muscles, head, this reveals the physical damage I've done and the sin that brought me there. So many ways my body cries out, "Sinner! Selfish! Indulgent! Lazy!" 

Lazy.  Oh, how my laziness is revealed. I am always choosing an easier way. Yet, this fast causes me to choose and work for those foods that cleanse and heal. To provide what is healthy for my family I must work and not choose those things which are easy if they are not healthy.

Please continue to work in me. I am, right now, in a time of humility and grief over my choices. I didn't expect to feel so badly. Show me what is hurting me most. Teach me, especially regarding my flesh, teach me and heal me.  I joyfully accept your wounds and inflictions of pain - pain of body and spirit, because I know the promise of Your healing and relief accompany them.

Your wounds bring healing.  This fast (wound) brings healing. The world's wounds (foods and indulgence) bring more pain leading to death. My flesh (choices regarding food and drink) bring pain and keep me from You, which is a life empty and pointless.

Your wounds bring healing.

Monday July 9, 2012

Today's Good Things:
Resisted a lot of treats today
Made a good choice with my extra calories tonight
Had a good start to my day
No soda :)
Prepped my citrus water
Tracked my food

Today's Not So Good Things:
No exercise
Stressful day with crabby children
Overdid it with my afternoon snack

Today was a good Monday. Hoping tomorrow is a good repeat. I'm doing better with my food choices. Feeling better about some of my limitation. Becoming more aware of my portion choices and remembering those habits I have regarding stress/boredom/fatigue eating.

Just tucked baby in for an early bedtime. I'm going to eat up my yummy fat free plain greek yogurt mixed with frozen fruit and then drift off to sleep. :)

Monday July 2, 2012

Today's Good Things:
No soda :)
Short walk after lunch
Family walk after dinner
Ate raw at each meal

Today's Not So Good Things:
Poor choices for snacks
Missed a lot of sleep last night so was dragging and very sedentary all day

Was super hungry at mid-morning and went with the easy-out...animal crackers with the littles. Boo.  Also added some chocolate chips to my peanuts this afternoon. Well, I add peanuts to my choc chips because I've been munching on those too much lately. So, maybe it was actually an improvement.

I'm using MFP right now but not as exact as I could. I don't have the patience to enter in my recipes, so I'm guessing a bit on some things.

I really liked getting out after lunch today. The rest of this week will be hot, so I'm going to aim for some after lunch exercise on the wii instead. I need the stress release right now as much as the exercise.

Feeling pretty good about my start this week. Just the fact that I'm here logging in is a step in the right direction. I'm not where I used to be, but I'm not where I *used* to be either. In fact, I'm here in July and that's really good for my pp habits. Hopefully, I can at least curb the 20lb pp gain I usually do if not see significant loss right now. I sure do want to work for the loss, though.

Wednesday, May 30 2012

Today's Good Things:
Good choices for meals
Summer wardrobe switch for 4 girlies (one task on babymoon list done)
Swept stairs, stairway, and family room = activity
Rested all afternoon on couch
Nice visit with in-laws
Extra snuggles with 2yo (she needs it right now)
Did well feeding every 2 hours
Got in my serving of oats today

Today's Not So Good Things:
Handful of chocolate chips in a desparate and foolish moment of weakness
No naps to catch up from a tough night with baby
Poison ivy is itching like crazy

I had been hoping to get in a nap today, but a visit with my in-laws was nice. I don't often see them or visit with them when my husband isn't around, so this has been a nice season for that.

I wish I hadn't seen that bag of chocolate chips in the freezer. I am starting to battle some *snackiness* in the afternoons. I think that's due to being tired and not terribly active. I need a distraction of some sort, but with a baby in my arms most of the time, it's hard to find a good one. Naw, that's not true. There's always a basket of laundry to fold somewhere. That's what I'll try tomorrow. :)

I was able to read a few recent posts on some of your blogs today. It's nice to see how everyone is doing. Still need to get to a few more. Hope you are all having a good week. :) Tomorrow is Thursday!! My favorite day of the week. :D

Quick Update

I haven't journaled for a bit. My numbers have all been amazingly low.  So much so, that I have even gotten a little lax on how I round out each meal. I'm still being cautious on portions and amounts of protein. Actually, what I've been lax about is not eating enough most of the time.  I don't leave the table hungry, and with all these snacks, I guess it's just feeling hard to make my meals as large as the menu says they should be.

That said, I had 2 slices of Sam's pizza over the weekend while we were out shopping.  I thought for sure it was going to do me in.  Not so! My numbers were perfect! I don't get it because pizza before, especially 2 slices, would have sent me way over. Could be the meter. Could be insulin, I guess, even though I'm still only taking 10 units at bedtime.  Could have been all the activity I had that day with shopping and such.  Whatever it was, I'll take it!

I haven't been doing any official exercise.  We have, however, been doing a lot of cleaning, purging, and moving as we are rearranging most every room in our house right now.  My husband finished his last exam this past weekend (woohoo!) so we emptied his office and that leads to an avalanche of "newness". ;) 

His new "thing", he declared, now that this year of studying and testing is over, is Diet and Exercise. I'm excited! First my daughter, now my hubby!  It's amazing to watch everyone get excited about health and strength and want to do it together!  A little weird it is happening now that I can't fully join in, but I'm so thankful.  And, to be fair, I *am* working hard on my health, just not on weight loss, so I guess I am still part of the team. ;)  Just need to focus a bit more on strength than I have been.

The last two days I've worked hard at rearranging shelves, books, toys, furniture, you name it.  Today is going to be a rest day while I catch up on grading and school stuff.  I'm hoping to get out for a walk after lunch, though.  I have one here who has been super hard to love and I think a walk for the two of us would be a good thing.

My daughter and husband have been planning a family celebration for Valentine's day.  She's planning to make some mini-muffins for our dessert so we have something more "healthy". Love that girl.  I'm feeling a little bad that I'm not real involved in the planning and prep. But, honestly, I'm feeling swamped right now with duties and I just can't keep up.  So, I'm choosing to be blessed and enjoy their efforts. :)

Blessings to you all this Valentine's day!  Enjoy your treats, but remember to strive for balance as well as grace!!

Thursday January 26, 2012

Today's Good Things:
Up 30 min early (5am)
Morning pilates (10 min)
Bible & journal
Story hour at library with littles
followed my meal plan with lunch exception
24 min on wii fit this afternoon (*instead* of zoning out on computer)
Pushed through dinner and ended night working on some lesson work we've been behind on
My husband was home at 7pm tonight..yay!!

Today's Not So Good Things:
Caved to my craving for frozen pizza for lunch (aka cardboad pizza as my husband calls it)

Today's Food Choices:
Breakfast: 2 oz cheddar cheese, 1.5 sourdough rye krisp crackers, decaf black
Snack: 1 slice hm LOOM bread with raisins, buttered
Lunch: 3 pieces of frozen pizza (cooked, of course!), carrot sticks, 2 pieces of ants-on-a-log (celery w/ pb and raisins), diet soda, 1 spoonful of pb
Snack: grapefruit and *maybe* 1 oz pepperoni
Dinner: 2 reg sized bowls of tortellini soup, (second bowl I removed the tortellini ;) ), 1 slice of ww italian bread-buttered
Snack: greek yogurt with fruit bowl (thawing as I type. ;) )

Today was good. Okay, the pizza wasn't a great choice, but I did chase it down with fresh vegies.  I'll never understand why I still like that stuff so much. I grew up on it (among other prepackaged gems) and I just can't shake the taste for it. I rarely buy it, so it always feels like a treat when we have it. I was glad to follow it up with some yummy homemade soup LOADED with vegies tonight. :)

I made a great choice this afternoon to put aside my computer and "sitting work" and get in some exercise on the wii.  It's fun and wakes me up a bit during the afternoon slump. Because of some school issues happening here, I'm not yet comfortable to leave the house for my afternoon mile like I used to, so this was a good substitute. 

That's all I've got for tonight. My husband is enjoying some time with the children before they head to bed, so I'm going to join them. :D

ETA: I added the recipe to the tortellini soup to my Recipes page at the top in case anyone wants to give it a try.

Wednesday January 11, 2012

Today's Good Things:
Up at 5:30
Morning Pilates - 10min (core)
Bible time
Family bible time
Breakfast on time
Productive morning school wise
Lovely bible study with friend
Stuck to my menu plan well
Enjoyed a delicious nap snuggled up with the baby on the couch.  <3
17 minutes of wii fit this afternoon
Kept up with our basic routine decently

Today's Not So Good Things:
Can't think of any :)

Okay, so today was about the little things.  I worked hard to make the little choices and little things count well today.  This afternoon, after I finished my snack, I was rummaging through the house looking for another "little something".  After picking up and putting down various items, I chose to have a cup of black coffee instead.  From there, I chose to get on the wii and do some moving while waiting for the children to finish up their choring.  After that, I was so pleased with myself that I didn't even want to bother with any little somethings.

Speaking of the wii. My intention on using it today was to weigh myself. Our scale broke a while ago and I haven't really been able to keep track of how much I've gained this pregnancy very well. According to the wii, it looks like I'm up around 14 pounds so far. That's more than I gained last time, but still not as bad as I was thinking.  Compared to the scale at the doc's office a couple of weeks ago, I'm down a couple of pounds even. But, comparing different scales is obviously not helpful.  So far, I'm still under my highest weight when I started working to lose last year. That's a comfort. Watching the wii tease me about being "obese", however is not a good feeling. Wish it could hear me when I say, "Hey! I'm PREGNANT you know!" :-P

I still have my evening 20 minutes of pilates to get in. I'm actually excited to do it. I'll wait until after our family movie time is done and the children are in bed. I have to say, though, my legs are sore! I knew that was coming.  Pilates is one of those things that feels like you're not really working hard but it hits you the following day and you KNOW you were working your body in completely new ways. I like that feeling.

Had to reschedule my u/s for Friday due to a big storm coming our way.  I'm still struggling to feel great during the day, but maybe some shoveling will be a decent remedy. ;) 

My husband just called me while on his way home from work asking if I wanted anything from McD's.  Since I know he'll be eating too when he gets home, I decided to have a small chicken sandwich for my evening snack tonight.  I miss him when he's gone working late, but it's fun to have some special time together late in the evening too.

Today's Food Choices:

Breakfast: 1 english muffin with peanut butter, decaf coffee - black

Snack: 2 oz cheddar cheese, 8 triscuit crackers, decaf chai tea - black

Lunch: hm turkey soup, 1 dinner roll w/ butter, water

Snack: 1/2 grapefruit, 1 cheese stick, water

Dinner: 2-3 oz turkey, Nachos (corn chips, pintos, cheese, salsa, sour cream, lettuce), water

Evening snack: Chicken sandwich? Still unsure, as I was really looking forward to my plain greek yogurt and orange segments.  Maybe I'll offer the sandwich to a helpful child instead. ;)

ETA: For some reason, blogger isn't letting me access the comments page so I can respond to the notes left from yesterday. Thanks for your encouragement, ladies! It means a great deal to me. :)

FINAL REPORT:  Gave the sandwich to the girlies. Just finished my 20 minute exercises (buns & thighs and flexibility).  I am about to enjoy my plain greek yogurt with diced orange sections. Mmmmm...my favorite. :)

I'm choosing to ignore my nasty heartburn and headache. :-P
Great day!

FYI

Here's an FYI for you.

 

I had an order for my labwork from my OB. My frugal hubby called around to compare prices for the hospital lab versus another lab recommended to us by Samaritan Ministries. (our healthshare newsletter) Turns out that even after the hospital's self-pay discount their lab was still more than twice the price of the new lab we found. Unbelievable! And, even if you have insurance, I'm guessing that, depending on your co-pays, you'd still pay less going self-pay, since they have to mark up the price insanely for insured patients. One test we needed was priced at $40 for self-pay and $200 for insured patients.

 

We used www.saveonlabs.com. Thought I'd pass the info along for anyone willing to do some comparison shopping. It was well worth the $140 savings for us! Something tells me if we all started price shopping, we just may see some changes in the medical market.

 

Still, we got there a little late so my bloodwork and glucose test have to wait until tomorrow. It feels good to have a little bit of control with some of our choices, though. :)

Saturday December 24, 2011

Today's Good Things:
Lovely morning opening gifts with our family
Made wise choices for dinner, avoiding the unhealthy carbs.
Controlled myself to take one small bite of "petz" which had enough sugar in it to last. ;)
Enjoyed a mid-morning nap

Today's Not So Good Things:
Still not getting my exercise in
House is pretty trashed, but I'm letting it be okay.

I feel pretty good about how my day went today. I did well with my choices at dinner at my il's as well as eating at home. I haven't been keeping up with my snacks as well as I should, but I'm still working to be careful. And, I'm applauding myself for that considering we're smack in the middle of the Season of Indulgence.

I spent my day yesterday an emotional wreck. I felt I had ruined Christmas by not working hard enough to make it special. I know I could have worked harder, but I am so grateful to the Lord for His patience with me.  He is gentle and His burden is light. If only I would truly learn to carry His burden rather than the one I strap on myself.  Today was a precious day with our children and again, with David's family. I believe our most meaningful Christmas Eve we've ever spent with them.  I'm humbled to see the Lord continuing to work and build our lives up and closer to Him. 

Tomorrow we spend our day focusing on your word.  Please help me to press forward with a heart eager to serve and obey.

That's About the Size of It

Found out a couple weeks ago we had a little Poppy Seed growing.  The following week it grew to the size of an Apple Seed. This week we are enjoying our little Sweet Pea even though he or she brought an abundance of fatigue, moodiness, and nausea along. 

So, the plan changes for the coming year. I'm grateful I can rest in the confidence that these are God's plans.  Over the past several months, the Lord has been working on this heart of mine teaching me new lessons in contentment.  Gone are the fears and anxiety that I was carrying regarding the prospect of a new pregnancy.  The Lord has moved me over to peace, surrender, gratitude, and joy.  We don't know how long this little one will be with us, but we are all being careful to enjoy each day.  The children are over the moon with excitement.  They've been taking extra special care of their dear ol' Momma with a fervor. What a blessing. 

Next step is to work on my new menu plan. My goal is to combine the GD plan I used with my last pregnancy with Dr. Brewer's pregnancy diet, hoping my hard work in these areas will keep away the GD issues that plagued us with our last baby.  Please pray I can be diligent with exercise, discplined in my eating choices, and persevere in prayer regarding my health and Baby's.  Above all, I continue to desire the Lord to be glorified in all of my life.  I may not be decreasing physically in size in the coming months, but I pray the Lord's purposes, presence, and power will continue to increase in every way.

Broken

A couple weeks ago, I broke my pinky toe. Silly, but painful.  That took me out for walking. Just when I was gearing up to get back to my morning mile, my back went out this weekend. As in, bend over and don't get back up. That's what I get for nursing a broken toe, sitting on my backside all week working on the computer, and...well...I don't know. But, it sure is frustrating.

So, here I am, lying flat most of the day. But, I am able to walk now and getting in my mile actually makes my back feel much better. So, I'm likely going to get out there several times a day, hoping it strengthens my core for now. I'm doing some light stretching, per my chiropractor's orders. I'm getting very little sleep, however, so that is making life a little hard. 

Wish I could say I've been eating next to nothing with all this lying flat. Sadly, I've been eating more with all this lying flat. :(  Easy food for the children to make while helping means lots of munchies and not so good eats for the fam. Sigh. One thing and then the next, right?

Tomorrow, I blog, log, and walk at least twice.  Once I'm able, I am most definitely getting back into my ttapp workouts. I have to strengthen my core so I don't ever go through a week (or more!) like this again. Ugh.

Monday July 18, 2011

Today's Good Things:
Morning and evening walk (at least 3 miles total)
Good choices for meals, lovely salad from the garden for dinner!
Ditching the soda
Oh, and some good time in the pool yesterday! (just throwing that in because I'm so glad I did it. ;-) )

Today's Not So Good Things:
Caved in to my sweet craving at snack time :(

I met with my friends for our coffee night tonight. It was lovely, as we ended the evening with a great paced walk that lasted about an hour.  I also skipped the coffee and had a bottle of water. I haven't been drinking enough, so that was a good choice. (Especially since I had already had plenty-o-decaf already today.)

Cycle started today and I feel so much better. The last few days have been yucky and a little up in the air wondering just what to think about a 38 day cycle. ;-)  All the tests were bfn's, but, I admit, I was starting to wonder. So, I have another month (or longer!) to keep working at getting stronger, wiser, and more faithful in my choices to honor the Lord with my body.

Would you believe I forgot all about my weigh-in this morning? I was so occupied with starting my day that I completely forgot. I have no idea what to expect, as I saw a huge drop after my cycle ended last month. But, when am I not afraid to step on that blasted scale, right? I guess I'll give her a go tomorrow and see how bad it is. I definitely feel bloated and like I've gained a good 10lbs in the last few weeks. Sigh.

Either way, I'm going to keep up my momentum for the week. I'm going to work on logging tomorrow as well as keeping up with my early morning walk. I'd love to get in a swim tomorrow too, since the day promises to be a hot one. (though I don't get in all that much swimming with so many little ones to watch ;-) )  I've been fighting some insomnia the last few nights, so I hope that doesn't leave me to worn out to get up and going in the early morning.

Feeling Lost

I'm not even sure what my plan is this week.  Well, I guess my plan is no plan, really.  I have been up each morning at my 5am wake up to pray with my sweet husband and then out for my 1 mile walk, my oldest joining me today.  My sweetie and the boys have been getting in their pt in the mornings too, they even got in a quick swim after their run this morning. It was already that hot at 6am!!!

So, I'm doing pretty well getting back to that part of my routine. I haven't been logging, though, or blogging.  I didn't weigh-in Monday. I was just too scared to see the number. I didn't want to feel down about it, since I do think I worked hard to do well while on vacation. I didn't do well on our weekend of cookouts, however, so Monday I was hiding from the scale. *blush*

I'm still so super tired from our trip. The 1 mile a day is about all I can muster aside from the work of getting our home and hearts back in order.  I even caved on date night tonight and devoured my very own Mocha Chip ice cream.  Sigh.  I guess being tired and worn down weakens my resolve. 

So, for the rest of this week I'll put rest, walks, and more water on my goal list, praying those will strengthen me for making better choices.