Results - Week 1

Last week I decided it was time to get serious... and I actually did it. I received some emails of people that are in the same boat as me... and a couple of comments. I figure I'm just going to post my results up here until I reach my goal. Might as well use my blog for me-stuff too, right?

(Again, I am way behind on pictures of the kids... hopefully I will motivate to do some of that again, soon.)

Here is what I accomplished last week:

• I kept a journal of everything that went into my mouth and all new activity for all 7 days.
• I monitored points, as in the past, but also kept track of calories, sodium and fiber. The results were much greater than I had expected. I guess getting out of practice on journaling, you really do lose control of what you are eating.
• I lowered my sodium intake by an average of 600mg each day - keeping around 1300mg a day. Sodium has been a key for me to lose weight from the beginning.
• I remained within my allotted points and did not use the entire 35 point reserve you are allowed during the week. I did not eat any of the activity points I earned.
• I increased my fiber intake, on an average of 4g a day.
• I faithfully drank my water every day. (And my daily diet coke - but never more than one in a day, which is an accomplishment for me.)
• I cut out the late night snacking! (Thank you Andy for the chewing gum tip.)
• Except for one day, I had 5 servings of fruit and vegetables.
• I actually fit in my dairy servings each day too. (Again, a huge accomplishment for me. Dairy and sodium do not mix ... so I haven't been great at that for awhile.)
• I did not have fast food once - although, I am looking forward to it this week!
• I increased my activity, doing something every day. In the course of the week I walked 17.67 miles in 4.8 hours... pushing a stroller most days. This does not include my 2 per day weekday roundtrip walks to the elementary school. I also gardened for 3 hours, and did massive housework. And I started, at the end of the week, to add in some strength training.
• For the last half of the week I had amazing energy during the day, and slept like a rock. One quirk - my body wakes up 7 hours after I fall asleep, and there is no going back to sleep. I would love for it to let me stay in bed for 8. But I guess, as a Mom, that is a silly complaint.
• I willingly ate an entire fish fillet for the first time. And it wasn't so bad. (It was basa - pretty mild catfish. And it was wonderful - Andy is really good on the grill!)
• I lost 3.6 pounds! (I am sure some of it was water weight.)

One big thing that happened during the week - on the second and third day I was starving. When I looked at my calories, I decided to go online to get some help to see if I was eating enough. I found a great calculator at www.nutritiondata.com, a website that has been awesome for the past while as I track my sodium. With my activity level, I decided to increase calories by 350 a day. This required the fiber boost, and helped me get the energy I enjoyed during the last half of the week.

Goals for next week:

• Lose 2 more pounds.
• Try to make my 5 servings of fruits/vegetables equitable between the two. (This week it was almost all fruit.)
• Continue to walk every day. Increase my Saturday walk from 1 hour to 1 hour, 15 minutes.
• Incorporate more strength training, rotating abs, arms, legs.

Time to Get Serious

So, I started losing weight about 18 months ago. And I am down 70 pounds. (And 6 dress sizes.) But I am stuck... in a horrible, horrible plateau. I keep going up 2 pounds, down 2 pounds, up 3 pounds, down 3 pounds, etc... for the last 2 months.

I guess that means that I now finally weigh what I eat.

The only problem is that I have 10 more pounds to go.

So I am getting serious again. Today I started tracking points, calories, sodium, fiber and fat. And I am trying to put more exercise back into my routine. I am ready to actually lose 10 more pounds. And hopefully soon.

If you're interested in joining me on my newest burst of weight-loss energy... let me know. I'd love to have people to compare tactics, goals and progress with!

Scrapbooking Retreat!

My next door neighbor is one of those truly wonderful neighbors that you wish for in life. Of the many things I appreciate about her, she has reawakened my love for scrapbooking. Jamie organized a scrapbooking retreat for friends and asked if I would like to come along. She had rented out officer's housing at Fort Worden, which is in Port Townsend on the peninsula. The cost was minimal for 3 days, I only had to agree to do one meal with a partner. 3 days, no kids, scrapbooking, and new people... it sounded like heaven.

I tried at first to find someone that I could bring that I knew well, but that didn't quite workout. I decided to go anyway, by myself, and meet new people. It felt really good to do something unknown and a bit spontaneous. Andy was wonderful and gave me absolutely no grief about being alone with the kids for three days. I am so glad to have such a supportive and understanding husband.

I had an amazing time! I got 15 pages done - which is really good for me. I carpooled with one of Jamie's friend - and made another new friendship that I'd like to grow. We took the ferry out, and when we got there we immediately went for a walk down to the beach. Then we did some shopping, ate some dinner, did some scrapping, and slept. The house was wonderful. The next day was very rainy - but we got in a ton of scrapbooking and exploring. Amy and I went for a walk for about 2.5 hours in the pouring rain and wind. We found a bunker that we had fun exploring and walked over to the lighthouse. My hands were bright red when we got back, and my cheeks were windburned, but it was a great little adventure. We scrapped until the wee hours of the morning, and then went back to sleep. The next day was all about packing, but we had fun goofing off and made our way back home.

Andy did a fantastic job with the kids. It was good for me to be away - both to get my break, and to remember why I wanted to be home. I think we all need to remember that sometimes! I can't wait for the next retreat - hopefully in October! If you're local, and are interested in joining, just let me know.

A Special Lunch

Last week, during Lynnae’s Spring Break, we had lunch with some very special people. My old boss of many years, Kari, invited us and Candice and Carleigh over for lunch. Candice and I caravanned down to Sammamish and Charlie and Lynnae were very excited to see everyone... But I think they were most excited to see babies Tanna and Caleb.

Kari had a lot of really good food... And a lot of really good treats for afterward! The kids watched two movies – one of them was Finding Nemo, but I can’t remember what the other one was. Jacob and Charlie had fun running around, the babies both behaved beautifully, and the three of us girls had fun visiting. Even Joe came along. We stayed for a long time, long enough that Kari’s daughter got home from school while we were still there. It was a lot of fun for everyone, and I hope we can do it again!

House Call

So, there has been quite a bit of sickness in the Kovar househould for the past two months. And most of it has been me. I have spent about 80% of the last two months running a fever. Three colds, one stomach flu, and one flu-flu. Lynnae has had two colds, Andy has had one. Charlie has had one stomach flu, one cold, and croup. Nobody has escaped, but nobody has approached my level of sickness any single time. Is it the mom syndrome? You spend so many hours awake and caring for others that you can't get the downtime needed to recover? Maybe...

During that time period I have been to the doctor three times. Once I got nasonex, once I got nada, and two days ago I finally got azithromycin to fight the "severe sinus infection". I was rejoicing the whole way home - finally some antibiotics! I filled the prescription, took it home and took it right away. Later that night I had the worst coughing fit of my life. I was coughing so hard that I could not, for the life of me, catch my breath. I finally starting wheezing. Since Charlie had just gotten over croup, and one thing I'd done to help him is take him outside into the cool air, I figured maybe it would help a normal cough too. So I ran outside. And I don't know if it was the cool air, or me calming down, but I finally caught my breath. And I haven't had another attack like that yet.

Mid-morning yesterday I looked in the mirror and saw tiny red dots all over my entire neck. And my cheeks. And my forehead. And my eyelids. It looked like the dots I get if I cry really hard... but I'd never seen them on my neck. So I called the nurses line. I told them about my coughing fit, about my 4-day fever that had just broken, and about the new medication. They said that they are always careful about red dots as a sign of meningitis. That didn't really calm me down. But since my fever broke, it was highly unlikely that was the cause. They told me they wanted to send a doctor out just to make sure and to check for an allergic reaction to the medication.

Send a doctor out?

Yeah... to my house.

10 minutes later I got a call from the doctor, and an hour later she arrived on my doorstep. She stepped in the door with her kit, and Charlie promptly ran to try to pull stuff out of it. I suggested maybe he get his own doctor kit... which he did. The doctor spent a few minutes playing with the stethescope and blood pressure cuff with him, and got a kick out of his pager. But she thought it was hilarious when he kept working on his friends and then calling her, "Hey doctor kit, come and look!" She mentioned she had never been called a doctor kit before. :)

She spent an hour with me. Yes, an hour. And the tiny red dots? They were from coughing. Yep, I coughed so hard that I made blood vessels pop all over my neck and face. (And inside my mouth.) Better yet - she said they will be there for a few days. At least I do not have meningitis and I still am allergic to no medications.

She also talked to me about my medical history and my family history. She talked to me about my care and my treatment for high blood pressure. She gave me suggestions to have my congenital heart murmur reviewed so that I might not have to take 1000 antibiotics before every dentist visit or surgery anymore. She told me about a medication that I actually can take for high blood pressure AND be pregnant at the same time. Not that we're getting pregnant anytime soon, or possibly ever with our track record, but it is nice to know that there is an option... I had previously been told there wasn't. It was very comforting to hear that she, herself, was a high blood pressure patient that has a healthy baby at home. So maybe that door is not as closed as I thought it was. She did also detail for me the conditions of her pregnancy and the things that she had to do to ensure things went okay.

I have never enjoyed a doctor so much in my life. Or taken such comfort from it. And thanks to Andy's wonderful insurance, it's all covered. I felt like Laura Ingalls Wilder with a doctor knocking on my door. I didn't have to drag my son into a waiting room full of sick people, or drag myself out of the house either. This house call thing is amazing!

Cake Baking

Charlie had a bit of a potty-training regression about a month ago. He was so easy to potty train in the first place that I suppose I should have expected it! I started offering him different rewards for waking up dry/staying dry for about a week... Until the regression was over. One night before bed I asked him what he wanted to do if he woke up dry the next morning. “Charlie will bake a cake!” He was very excited at the idea, and must have looked forward to it enough because he earned his reward. That afternoon we made his cake. It was the first time that I’d let him do everything. He is a pretty good stirrer. Once we got it in the oven I turned on the light so that he could watch it. He remained glued to that oven until it came out. He was very proud of his cake!