Friday, May 31, 2013

7 Quick Takes (Vol 9)


--- 1 ---


I'm like a regular blogger this week. It's part of what I'm trying to do for myself. I really enjoy writing, I mean I don't know if anyone reads what I write, but it's kind of cathartic for me. So, I'm hoping for some regular blog posts coming up 3-5 would be good.

--- 2 ---


The benefit of doing your quick takes late in the day is that you can wait to see what happens during Friday and talk about it in my quick takes. This time, I can ask my readers to pray for Dwija. She's 15 weeks pregnant, and could definitely use your prayers.

--- 3 ---


I'm working on potty training Dominic. Well, I mean, not really, because he would actually have to go to the bathroom on his little potty seat instead of just hanging out on it. We are using Pull Ups (which by the way is one of those things I swore I'd never do of course) and visiting frequently. Pretty much he doesn't have any interest going, he doesn't seem to understand when he's wet or dirty, so he doesn't tell us when his diaper needs to be changed. I'm trying not to push things with him because I know that it can cause problems, but we are still going to sit on the potty as frequently as possible. Also, the Pull Ups fit him well...he's a pretty big kid...the regular size 6 diapers do not fit him very well. Sigh.

--- 4 ---


I can't believe that I had an entire quick take that was about diaper/Pull Ups. Wow...I'm such a mom.

--- 5 ---


I'm trying to plan a staycation or vacation for us. Jason needs to take some time off, but I don't want our time to be doing things around the house or anything like that. Anyone ever do a staycation? What kinds of things did you do?

--- 6 ---


We have always been really laid back with sleep times/schedules. And by that I mean that I've always just watched for sleepiness and set naps and bedtimes accordingly. This worked great with Dominic...still would mostly, he'll go to sleep when he's tired. Christopher on the other hand, has been a troublesome sleeper. He has this window of time where he will fall asleep and if you miss it...you're out of luck. So, lately they've been laying down for naps super late and then taking long naps which means they go to bed late. I'm going against every fiber of my laid back mom being and trying to attempt some sort of a schedule. It worked for Dominic today. Christopher, not so much. As Dominic woke up I went in to see Christopher crashed on top of where Dominic was probably laying and he's still asleep. Boo. I'm hoping that as we instill early mornings, it will equal earlier naptimes. Meanwhile, I hope daddy will take over bedtime tonight. Hint, hint. ;-)

--- 7 ---


I only wear skirts, and I have a hard time finding skirts that I love. These skirts are so awesome. They are made by people who go backpacking and do all sorts of things that I don't do. But, I can clip them up into pants and ride my bike with them. And, best thing for a mom. They clean so quickly and easily...you can just wipe anything off and they dry so fast. Seriously, check them out; they're kind of pricey (but there's a sale happening right now!), but totally worth it. I own 5 and I rarely wear any other skirts.


So that's it for me! For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

Thursday, May 30, 2013

The Start of Something Good

So, this post is going to put it all out there. I'm going to announce to the public world some things that most, if not all, women keep close to their hearts. Even hating to share with their doctors. I'm going to give you my number. The big number...you know, the one we all avoid looking at when the nurse says "first I'm going to have to get your weight...". I'm doing this for a myriad of reasons.

1) This is my journey, I'm documenting it because it's something I need to do, something I want to show my kids later.

2) I want to inspire people to do something healthy...even if they love eating ice cream and brownies and ohmygosh the chips and salsa.

3) This is real people. I am like...what is it 80+%...of Americans who are morbidly obese. Those people who try to say the BMI doesn't take into account bone structure, or muscle mass (**disclaimer, it totally doesn't, but when you're off the chart, you know. You. Know.). The people who struggle with the mirrors in changing rooms, or change their normal type of dress because skinny jeans aren't skinny jeans when they're on a chunky person. The people who are terribly afraid of sitting next to another person on an airplane and taking up more than just their seat. The moms who don't climb on the toys, or go down the slides with their kids because they're afraid that they're too heavy. The moms who sit on the sidelines instead of going on the carousel because there's a 250# weight limit, and you're past that. This is real. This is me.

When I started getting serious about losing weight I weighed in at 274 pounds. That is the heaviest I've been aside from when I was 9 months pregnant. That's frighteningly close to 300 pounds. That is scary. And embarrassing. Shameful. But, it's where I'm starting.

Because Jason's coworker got him started doing P90x and his wife wanted me to do Insanity with her, we got into Beachbody's workouts. I had heard about them but wasn't sure I was really that dedicated. Jason would go over and workout, then come home, then I'd go to their place to workout and we'd finally be home and all together at around 8ishPM. It sucked. The workout was great, but I hated being away from each other. So, I ordered Insanity and we started doing it together when Jason got home from work. Then, we switched to doing it in the morning. This is an extreme, high intensity cardio workout. It is really, crazy, insane hard. But I did it, 6 days a week. The only days I missed were when I caught Christopher's stomach bug. Then came the max interval time, 30 more days of super high intensity. After the first day I wanted to give up. But then I told myself that I didn't give up the first 30 days so I could keep going this time. Then about 3 or 4 days in my knees started hurting. Did you know that for every 1 pound overweight you are it adds 4 pounds of pressure to your knees? That's 400 pounds of pressure on my knees...and I was doing jumping jacks, hop squats, and several other jumping exercises. On top of that I had gained 4 pounds. That's right folks, now I was up to 278 pounds. It was too much.

I got really disappointed in myself. I didn't want to give up, gosh I want to get fit. I'd drastically changed my eating habits. I'd followed the formula to get my calories in line. Apparently when you're as heavy as I am, dropping to 1,800 calories a day puts your body into starvation mode. Oops. So, I started doing some more research on Beachbody; looking for a workout that would be OK for my bulk, and OK on my joints. There are a few different ones, but I settled on the 10 minute trainer. It's Tony Horton who does P90x and he breaks down the workout into basically 3 10 minute workouts a day, 7 days a week. If you don't have enough time, well surely you have 10 minutes. When I started this week my weight was 271 pounds. So far I'm following the schedule, I'm on day 4 and I'm actually burning more calories than I was with Insanity. I think because I can actually do all the activities on 10 minute trainer.

I also bought their shakes. These shakeology shakes actually have all the veggies and super foods you need for one day in one shake. It's kind of pricey, but I figured that it's time to spend money on something I'm doing for me. I got the chocolate one and it comes with some recipes to change it up a bit so that you aren't drinking the same old thing every day. I'm eating one for lunch each day, then trying to eat some veggies for a late afternoon snack. Cucumbers, carrots, peppers, etc.. They taste pretty good, though I've had some that were gross. Like frozen berries, milk, and the shake mix. Yuck. The chocolate mint one wasn't very enjoyable either. So far my favorite is the banana and peanut butter one. So yum!

Some things I think are important for starting a weight loss/exercise program:

Make sure it's something you'll do. I desperately want to be a runner. But, those extra 400 pounds of pressure on my knees? Kills during a run. I have tried a few times and it gets me depressed which spirals me into a "I'll never change, I'm destined to be fat my whole life" spin.

When changing your eating habits, don't go huge. Look, I know this isn't what people normally say, but seriously? I can't suddenly choose a veggie burger over a cheeseburger or broccoli over french fries. What I can do? Learn portion control. Last night I was craving brownies big time, so I made a brownie in a mug. 200 calories, and no chance of me nibbling on an entire pan until it's gone. In 1.3 days. We're still eating pizza and burgers, I'm just limiting my intake of those things and trying to add other, good for me things.

Get a heart rate monitor that can measure calories. I am using myfitnesspal to track my calories in and out. It's awesome. But apparently 30 minutes of cardio does not burn the same amount of calories for me that it does for whomever put that in. If you have something that can tell you how many calories you have burned, then you can track the appropriate amount.

This post has turned out to be way longer than I intended. If you're still reading...thank you and I'm sorry. :) I hope to have more tips and updates on what I'm doing. Possibly some recipes that I'm trying out that are good and good for us too.

I'm making a good beginning, I hope that I can continue to keep it up and I hope that I can keep a healthy body image in mind. I'm not doing this for looks. I'm doing this for health and to be here for my boys and for healthy pregnancies (hopefully!) in the future.

Theme Thursday

Linking up with Cari again because I just can't stop myself. Even if this one is a tough one for me. I hate taking pictures of myself. I am still struggling with self-image because of my weight. So, probably this is a great one for me to do.

This is me, post-workout, pre-shower. So everyone...this is real. ;-)

20130530_095232

More of my shoulders than anyone EVER sees...I had to get a tank top to work out in which in and of itself is a big deal. I actually fit into workout clothes now. Woooo! Big deal people!

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Maybe A Different NFP Post

I said maybe because, well, I haven't actually done much searching on the interwebz for NFP so possibly there is another (probably better) blog post or article regarding this exact viewpoint on NFP.

A couple of disclaimers. I think that NFP is an awesome gift that Holy Mother Church has given us and just because we don't use it doesn't mean that we think anything bad about it. I do not judge anybody's choice to use NFP to avoid or to conceive...in fact, I really don't think about why you might or might not be using NFP and whether it's a valid reason. I try to assume that you and your husband are prayerfully discerning whether or not you have reasons to avoid. I ask the same of you.

Last week on my Quick Takes I asked for prayers for a special intention. My special intention was that this month would be our month to conceive. That didn't happen. We have been trying/hoping for about 8 months. I've struggled with being sad and angry and unwilling to accept this as God's will. But, the other night, I had an epiphany. We have prayerfully discerned that there are very few reasons that would make us decide to avoid (this is of course from the perspective that we are at right now, no, we can't possibly know what the future holds) and these reasons would probably serious enough that avoiding long term would be more likely than temporary abstinence. We have decided to be completely open (**another disclaimer, I'm using this in relation to not using NFP to avoid or conceive, I think we all know that using NFP is also being open to God's will and I'm not minimizing that, it's just difficult to verbalize it**), and it struck me that this means that we have to be open to becoming pregnant, as well as not becoming pregnant.

Yes, I know that NFP could help us conceive, and I have some minimal knowledge regarding STM so I know what to do if it seems that something is wrong with me. But, I think that in keeping with being completely open, it means that we have to accept those months that we don't conceive, just as much as we have to accept getting pregnant sooner than we expected. It was kind of scary to get pregnant with Christopher when Dominic was 4 months old. I wasn't sure my body could handle it, but I trusted God to provide me with the grace that I needed to get through the pregnancy and handle some Irish twins. ;-) I need to trust God that He is timing our next one to His perfect timing. No, it's not what we had hoped/expected (after getting pregnant with Dominic and Christopher so easily we expected that we'd have babies much more frequently), but accepting that it didn't happen that way is just as important as accepting babies when they come sooner than we expect.

In the meantime I am using this time between babies to overhaul myself. Spiritually: I've been better about getting up for morning prayers and Mass together as a family on a daily basis. Physically: I'm heavier than I've ever been before in my life and I'm working on getting healthier. When I say heavier I mean dangerously obese, I'm going to do a post later this week about the start of my journey on weight loss. On my vocation: I need to focus more on the boys that I have...being in the moment. Trying to focus on the boys and playing with them as much as I can.

Friday, May 24, 2013

7 Quick Takes (vol 8)


--- 1 ---


Someone hacked my blog. I mean...I can't imagine WHY, but being married to an IT guy made it so I could figure out how. Apparently some of the WordPress themes can sometimes contain malicious software. Oftentimes Google would catch this, but the last time I updated my themes I was on my phone and or my tablet. On the WordPress app. Needless to say I won't be doing that again.

--- 2 ---


If you follow me on Twitter you may have caught my rant the other day. I ran into a family member at Walmart when I was trying to let Dominic walk with me. He's used to doing that with daddy, who is able to shop, hold Christopher and chase him down. I am not that awesome. So Dominic's walk with me was interspersed with giggles and "look! momma!" and mild-large tantrums when I tried to direct him. I don't think I was even angry, a few times I was firm because, hey, even though we live in a small town, I don't desire to lose my kid in a store. I have a loud voice, it carries and this is the only thing I can attribute to this family member saying she could hear me screaming at Dominic. This was after she called me a bad mom. :( I always have had issues with this family member, and this shouldn't have surprised me but for some reason it still surprised and hurt me.

--- 3 ---


Jif

I found this at Walmart last night. Ohhhhmygosh this is so, so good! I've eaten it on bananas so far but think it would be great on graham crackers or just toast. Oh yum!

--- 4 ---


I don't know if you follow Caitlin's blog, but seriously the way she shared her news with her readers and her family is so cute! You should totally check it out!

--- 5 ---


Christopher is a little delayed in his speech. As in, he's not speaking. When we were first worried the ENT told us that after he got tubes in his ears that should help him start speaking. But that was done in January and still nothing. I bit the bullet and got him evaluated for the early intervention program. Right now they agree that he needs services but we don't know for sure if he has any hearing problems. He will not allow us to do his hearing test. We tried two different ones, but still nothing. The auditory specialist wants to suggest something where they put him under to check his ears. We aren't sure what we should do yet.

--- 6 ---


We've been doing the Insanity workout which has been going pretty well. I mean it's crazy hard, but I've stuck to it. That is until the last week or so. We moved up to the max intensity and my knees are killing me all. the. time. I've ordered 10 minute trainer from beachbody so hopefully it comes soon and I can get back to my workouts.

--- 7 ---


I'm asking for prayers for an extremely special (to me anyway ;-)) intention.


For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!