Results - Week 4

I did better this week! I decided to stay on my bp medication for one more week to give it a chance to level out, so I felt pretty normal. (Despite the fact that it was still low and I did get one reading at 83/60... yowsers!) I did go off the medication on Sunday, for the last two days of this week... so far, so good.

One thing I learned that disgusted me this week... I took the kids out for a random treat last Tuesday. We went to McDonald's and I got them chocolate dipped cones. I pretty much never do this, usually our treat is a Jamba Juice if we are having something. Watching Charlie try to eat that thing was quite amusing. I got myself an Oreo McFlurry. Yum. Then I went home and looked it up. That thing has 550 calories and cost me 12 points! Holy cow! I knew it wouldn't be healthy, but that is really, really NOT healthy. I only get 23 points in a whole day!!! Bye-bye McFlurry's (except for the rare occasion of course). I did find out that there are a couple of Dairy Queen blizzards that are 2 points better.

Here is what I accomplished:

• I actually did cut back on my candy consumption. I love candy and have had a bad daily habit for awhile now. I abstained from candy for two days back-back this week. (And promptly had Starbursts the following day.)
• I lost 1.5 pounds. I was hoping for 2 because I lost so little last week - but, 1.5 is not too shabby! I am now down a total of 7.6 for the first month. Really close to an average of 2 lbs per week!
• I did pay a lot more attention to calories. I averaged 1371 calories per day this past week. Sodium remained great at a daily average of 1598 mg. However, focusing more on calories than points seemed to have quite the negative effect on my fiber... I only averaged 11 g a day.
• Points-wise... I did better than any of the other weeks on saving my weekly 35-pt allowance. I still had 15 extra points at the end of the week!
• I really increased my activity. I took 2 days off of walking - one due to weather and one just because I didn't feel like it. But, I did add in an extra morning walk with Boone halfway through the week. Over the course of 5 days I walked 21.6 miles in 6.4 hours. I did also add running in two days of the week.
• I did rejoin the gym! (I had initially quit to save money, but now I've decided that is money well spent.) I went and rode the bikes and started using the resistance training as well. I also ordered a new swimming suit, because my old one is falling off of me, and it should arrive this week. I'm really excited to go swimming again.

Goals for next week:

• Add a fiber supplement. It's time.
• Lose 1.5 more pounds.
• Continue to walk Boone in the mornings to increase exercise to at least 2x on most days.

Homeschooling Update

Last week we finally got the approval to homeschool Lynnae, on Thursday.
Today I got the Notice of Intent filed with the district office and then withdrew Lynnae from her class. (First I had to search 4 bookshelves to find her 1 missing library book.)

We are now officially a homeschooling family... wish me luck!

Results - Week 3

This week was not as good as the first two...

Because my blood pressure was adjusting to a lower medication level, it was raising and lowering throughout the week. This made me feel alternately bloated, dizzy, shaky and generally weird for a good portion of the week. I also developed two huge blisters on my toes which prevented me from being able to walk for a couple of days.

But I did still make some accomplishments:

• I lost .4 pounds... 1.1 away from my goal for the week... but at least I didn't go up!
• I stayed within my weekly point allowance. I again had a huge appetite all week, and I caved more than I have for the past two weeks. On Mother's Day I ate what I wanted to - with a result of 1959 calories consumed... but I had saved up all week for this!
• My calories, sodium and fiber all were a tiny bit worse than the previous week... but not enough to make a huge difference. I averaged 1513, 1686mg and 14g respectively.
• I walked 14.48 miles in 4 hours. This is about the same distance as the previous week, but in twice the time. We took more leisurely walks this week because I was trying not to aggravate my blisters. However, I did introduce jogging for 1/4 of the last two walks of the week. On the two days I did not walk, I tried to do more activity at home... (like vigorous house cleaning.)

So, there are some clear things that I see here that I can change to have more success next week. With that in mind my goals are:

• Watch calories more closely instead of points. Try to average around 1450 for the week.
• Try to increase fiber through diet. If that doesn't work, consider adding a supplement.
• Go back to the gym and negotiate to see if I can get a membership at a better deal... It would have been nice to have had something else to do when my feet were blistered... like swimming or even riding a stationary bike.
• Lose 2 pounds next week... hoping for a better week since the loss was so small this time!

Hair Cut

Nearly one month ago to the day, I finally got my hair cut. I told myself that when I lost 50 pounds, I would treat myself to a nice new hair cut. Well, I believe that was in October... and I still hadn't gotten it done after several months.

Those of you that know me well know that I have a bad habit. I get my hair cut and then I let it grow and grow and grow and grow. In fact, I have donated my hair twice before because I had that much to cut off. Well, I finally realized that this time I had let it go waaaaaaaaaaaay too far. I was too embarrassed with the state of my hair to go get a really nice hair cut... so instead I called a pretty nice place and figured that I would do something simple.

Turns out that I really liked the salon and the person that helped me. I did go super-simple - just a straight cut. 10 inches gone... and here is what was left!

One Beautiful Day in the Snow

It has happened again. I am a bit behind in my pictures. I’ve actually been quite busy focusing on some other things, and editing photos has gotten away from me. But I figured Mother’s Day was a great time to sit down and look at some photos... From 2 months ago.

This winter we had a lot of snow. Luckily, we missed the brunt of the bad weather when we were down in California for Christmas. Instead, we got just the nice little snowstorms for the kids to play in. We did have one bout of snow that ended up turning to ice, and stuck to our porch for about 6 days. (Our porch is in the shade, and no matter what we do it is an ice-hazard.) So Lynnae and I became adept at slip-sliding our way down the path every morning before school.

One Friday it snowed a couple of inches and then stopped... And the sun came out. I figured it was perfect snow-play weather. So we dropped what we were in the middle of and headed out for an hour or two. Boone came outside with us as well. Charlie and Lynnae had a blast. We love the fact that we have our big backyard with our own fresh snow that isn’t touched by other kids. We had snowball fights, made snow angels, played with making tracks. Lynnae even built a mama and a baby snowman... Pretty much all by herself! The kids also had fun playing with Boone... Lynnae was aiming snowballs at him that he would promptly swallow. Charlie was running all over the yard while Boone gave chase. I finally brought them in with both of their noses were bright red. We had hot chocolate with marshmallows and watched the Polar Express. Even though Christmas was past, something about the snow made us all want to watch it! It was a great day, and I got some great pictures. (At least I think so!)

Results - Week 2

Well, I am a little bit late posting this, considering week 3 began on Tuesday... oh well!

The biggest thing to happen during week 2... LOW, low, low blood pressure zapped my energy for most of the week and made exercising a challenge. Many of you know that I was diagnosed with high blood pressure a little over a year ago. It is a genetic thing that runs on my dad's side of the family. I have done a lot of work in the last year to lower it... I watch my sodium, increased potassium, increased exercise, decreased fatty foods, and as a result have lost weight. The bp I had last week was kind of ridiculous. It was measuring around 93/60 for almost the whole week. (Really good bp is around 105/65... lower than that is not great.) When I would go out for a walk, I would start to get a tight headache and feel dehydrated. This is despite the fact that I am drinking over 60 oz of water a day. Then I would sometimes see black pulsing in my eyes, which can be a sign of low blood pressure. So I had to cut down on my exercise. I still walked almost every day, but I didn't have the ability to walk at the speed or distance of the week before. It was very frustrating. I also passed out in the Safeway parking lot. It was after that that I finally made an appt to see my doctor. More on that later.

What I accomplished this week:

• Although I had a voracious appetite, (I think it was my body looking for energy because of my lowered bp,) I still managed to leave 8 points available in my weekly point bank. My calorie, sodium and fiber intake remained healthy every day - averaging 1489, 1545, and 15 respectively.
• I started strength training for half of the week. It was at that point that my bp made it a bad idea to continue for the time being.
• I faithfully kept my food journal every day. (Even when I didn't want to write down the fact that I ate 3 brownies on Friday.)
• I walked 6 days, traveling 14.63 miles in 2.20 hours. The day that I did not walk I spent 2.5 hours in my yard raking moss out. I figured that was enough for one day!
• I successfully split my fruits and veggies intake almost 50/50.
• I lost 2.1 more pounds!
• Most exciting - at my dr appointment on Monday, we created a plan to see if I can go without one of my bp medications. This week I am taking only 10mg of lisinopril. (I used to take 30.) If all goes well, next week I will try to cease the medication. I will still always take HCTZ, which is a water pill and helps ensure that water retention will not raise my blood pressure. I am really hoping that it works and that I do not have to rely on lisinopril for the time being. If I ever decrease my exercise intensity, it will most likely affect my ability to stay off of the medication.

Goals for next week:

• Lose another 1.5 pounds.
• Try to increase my exercise intensity again.
• Eat less candy.

The Homeschooling Quest

I never really thought that I would homeschool a child. I have also never really had anything against homeschooling. It's just that the pressure of being the sole provider of education, and the question of a well-rounded social life have always kept me from picturing it.

Here I am, on a quest to homeschool my 8 year-old I-only-have-six-weeks-left-of-school third grader.

Why a quest? Let me tell you, this has been quite a year. Without going into great detail, homeschooling has been constantly becoming our best option to move Lynnae's life forward. But it's not that simple for us. Why? Because, technically, she is still a foster child. So I need state permission in order to pull her out of school. If I could, I would have pulled her out a month ago. So, I continue to try to get this done so that we can salvage the remainder of the school year. Every social worker and therapist that I have mentioned this idea to has backed this 100% as a good option for Lynnae. Now I just need that permission!

But... next year... I am all over the homeschooling option. I'm 99% sure that Lynnae's school life will take place in our home for fourth grade. And I think I've found a way around the "homeschooling a foster child" problem.

Our next door neighbors have homeschooled for the past couple of years. At the scrapbooking retreat I asked her where they went - because I knew they used a school to supplement their home-based learning. She proceeded to tell me about an education center in a neighboring school district that has the most amazing programs. If we are successful at registering in one of these programs, Lynnae will technically be a public school student. She'll spend a portion of her time at the school every week, to supplement our at-home learning. Curriculum will be provided to us, so that I don't have to completely invent the wheel. And they have amazing programs... robotics, Irish dancing, environmental science, Digipen... the list goes on.

We visited the school on Friday after our weekly therapy appointment. I was about 85% on board with the idea when we parked the car. Lynnae was about 0% onboard with the idea! Somehow I got her to walk in the door.

Five minutes later, she had wide eyes and a huge smile. I know I did too. I saw tons of kids - every one of them happy and participating. Just as many parents, and little ones in the halls. I was so impressed. And now I am worried that Lynnae will be crushed if we can't get in. We were both 100% onboard with the concept when I finally pried Lynnae out the door.

So, whatever your thoughts about homeschooling, keep your fingers crossed for us. I know that this school and their programs are the right solution for our family. Send us good thoughts for getting in!!!