Where has the week gone?!

I know I usually stick with my boring FITB picture, but Lauren’s shot on today’s post just looked too yummy to pass up:

Where has the week gone?! It really does seem like it was just yesterday that I decided to do this whole thing.

But you know what? As fast as the week has gone, some inches have gone also. Hooray!

I’m not really sure what’s up with the increase in my hip measurement. Most likely a water thing. But I am definitely pleased with these results! Especially considering that I’ve been eating lactation cookies like crazy, have resorted to heating up frozen meals several times, and went to a home-style (read: grease-and-sugar-filled) buffet for Mothers Day.

Here’s what a typical day has looked like this week:

Breakfast
½ cup egg whites with spice
2 tablespoons of shredded cheese
1 serving of a grain
0-6 oz juice
8 oz coffee
2 tablespoons creamer

Morning Snack
2-4 cookies or a banana
8 oz coffee
2 tablespoons creamer

Lunch
2-4  servings of veggies
1-2 servings of carbs
1-3 oz protein

 Snack
2 servings of carbs
8 oz coffee
2 tablespoons creamer

Supper
2-3 servings carbs
2-4 oz protein
1-3 servings fruits & veggies

Exercise
Ha! Does chasing around a 1 yr old who likes to get into everything count?

I did walk to the post office on Saturday, which is about a mile round trip. And I managed to do 20 minutes or less of ab work once or twice.

Water
My average water intake for the week was 8 ½ of my 16oz glasses per day. That’s about 134 ½ oz.

In other news, I finally received my Ultimate Body Applicator in the mail today. I applied it just before supper, so I won’t know my total results until Friday. (It only has to stay on for 45 minutes, but it keeps working for 72 hours.) But at the 45 minute mark I had already lost three quarters of an inch off my belly! I can’t wait to re-measure in three days!

What have you done this week to create a healthier you?

I am so glad Lauren does these. I don’t get a whole lot of time to myself, but filling in blanks on the weeks I get around to it really does feel like a mini vacation.Even if it is interrupted by innumerable instances of “Moooooommmeeeeeeee!” and spilled drinks.

She must know ho much we appreciate her, too, because she went out of her way to post a health-themed set of Qs, even though she isn’t feeling well. How awesome is she?!

Thank you, Lauren. Get well soon !

To join the fun, click to visit The Little Things We Do. Then comment and let me know you did.

1.  On a scale from 1-10 the frequency with which I get sick is,   a nine. I have virtually no immune system, so if anyone around me is sick, I get it too. 

2.   The last time I felt sick was  honestly? Every day. I have enough chronic conditions that an easier question for me would be, “When was the last time you didn’t feel sick?” But that’s okay. I’ve learned to enjoy what healthy moments I can get.

3.  The worst part about being sick is   trying to catch up with the things you’ve let slide once you’re better.

4. When I am sick I like to be taken care of by being left alone to rest, totally ignored until I ask for a water refill or a snack, then waited on per my specific instructions. (Yeah, you’re right. It never happens. In fact, it’s usually the exact opposite.)

5. Something I do to keep myself healthy is  research. Lots and lots of research. Chronic illness isn’t something that can be treated away. And for many, it becomes a way of life. I refuse to let pain and discomfort control my life, so I learn all I can about natural remedies and lifestyle changes. Then I experiment and employ the ones that seem to help. The only medicine greater than knowledge is prayer.

6. A secret remedy that I use when I’m sick is to   add lemon to my water and garlic and red pepper to everything else. They act as natural antioxidants, and garlic has great germ-fighting properties.

7.  One thing that always makes me feel better when I’m sick is darkness. I learned when I first started getting migraines (back in junior high) that sometimes the only thing that helps is curling up in a ball under a thick blanket in a dark, quiet room.

Like most women, I’ve been trying to lose excess weight for a while now. But somehow life keeps getting in the way. I’ll lose a few pounds, gain most of them back, lose a few more, gain back a little extra….

You know how it is.

Today I start fresh, and I need you all to help me.

How?

By keeping me accountable. You can help just by reading my posts – knowing that someone is watching will make me feel like I need to present well. You can help even more by commenting from time to time – comments : bloggers as cocaine : crackheads. Another option is hounding me on facebook – facebook is my best frenemy.

Today I will outline my goals and give my initial stats: weight and measurements for my neck, bicep, chest (under-bust, since breastfeeding makes my boobs grow and shrink constantly), natural waist, navel, mama roll (low belly/high hip), hips, and thigh.

Every week I will give an update on my stats and summarize my food intake and energy output, which I will be journaling daily.

How long will the challenge go on?

As long as it takes. Once I hit my goals, I will need to maintain them. So this should be an ongoing series for, well, ever.

Goals

According to the jerks scientists who developed the BMI tables, a woman my height (5 feet, 3 inches) should weigh between 107 and 140 pounds.

Yeah, that’s so not gonna happen. I hit 150 for the first (and probably last) time in the 5th grade and 180 in junior high. When I got back down to 165 a few months before becoming pregnant for the first time, the doctor told me I was malnourished.

Because I have lymphedema, my weight is not a very good indicator of my overall fitness. In fact, it’s not uncommon for me to gain 10 pounds of water weight in a single day! I also have several medical conditions that affect the way my body and brain react to certain foods and activities. So my goals are going to be a little different than the average girl’s.

For instance, instead of shooting for a weight in the target range set by the BMI experts, I am shooting for a weight at which I have been healthy in the past. And instead of striving for a supermodel’s hourglass-shaped body, I am striving for the pear-shaped dimensions that I believe are achievable for me at that weight.

In addition to watching what I eat and exercising more, I will be using the ItWorks! Ultimate Body Applicator to detox and a sampling of their other products as my budget allows.

Ready to get your sexy back? Let’s get started!

And now, without any further ado, here are my beginning stats, with weight in pounds and all other measurements in inches…

I’m going to try to limit myself to weighing and measuring once per week. And I’ll post the results in a chart like this one every Wednesday.

So, who’s gonna join me?

Comments will be open to anyone wanting to nag support me and/or join in on the challenge. And if you want to do your own weekly posts, link up in the comments. If enough of you link here, I’ll set up a linky for the weekly posts.

Here’s to new beginnings!

Where did you put my blog posts? You said that, if I changed themes, then changed back, all my previous settings would still be here. So where the heck did my main page go?!

I really should start posting on non-Friday days again soon. But, hey, it’s something!

To join the fun, click to visit The Little Things We Do. Then comment and let me know you did.

1.  My bedtime routine includes saying goodnight to my facebook friends, sometimes watching TV with the hot Peruvian, reading (online, print, kindle, or a combination of the three), and doing a lymphatic self-massage.

2.   I am having a great time watching Star Wars with my family and eating too much junk food. Being lazy is fun!

3.  I can’t stand people chewing with their mouths open because crunching and smacking noises make my skin crawl.

4. My idea of relaxation would be what I asked for for Mother’s Day this year: a day in which I do not have to leave my bed (unless I want to), prepare or serve meals, change diapers and I do get to read without interruptions, have coffee delivered to my bedroom, and snuggle/play with one or two kids at a time.

5. If I had an extra $50, I would go on a date with my hot Peruvian lover.

6. The best thing about a bloggy friend is they understand if you lose touch for a while, because they’ve read about the direction your life has been taking lately even before you have a chance to talk to them about it, and they support you regardless.

7.  A recipe I’ve been dying to try is um… I had been wanting to try a recipe I wrote up for multi-whole-grain bread for several months, and I finally made it last night. We’ve been eating too much other stuff today to taste it, but I’ll be sure to upload the recipe if it’s good.

Hopefully, I’ll post again before next Friday, but until I do,

I’m taking a break from my break to do a quick Friday Fill-In. It’s just been way too long, and I miss you all! Plus, it’s my little girl’s birthday today, and giving them the day off school leaves me with a couple extra hours. And, really, what else would I do with that time – laundry? No  thanks! So here we go:

To join the fun, click to visit The Little Things We Do. Then comment and let me know you did.

1.  My greatest strength is compassion. I love and accept everyone, no matter what. (This may also be a weakness at times).

2.   My greatest weakness is my self-esteem, or lack thereof. Yes, I know I’m awesome. But sometimes I let all my faults (and physical issues) get in the way of my self-image, and I tend to blame myself for everything.

3.  People always compliment me on my kids. In public, they’re extremely well-behaved, and people seem to feel a need to tell me so quite often. I think people generally assume that – since they’d be overwhelmed by so many children – six is an unmanageable number, and they should, therefore, act as unruly as our family appears to the general public.

4. If you found me procrastinating you’d probably find me on facebook.

5. The most cozy place in all the world is sprawled on the floor with a pile of (my) kids on top of me.

6. Something new that I tried recently was   uh…um…I have no life. Wanna take me somewhere to try something new?

7.  This weekend I would like to  tackle Mt. Laundry, clean the bathrooms, buy a new computer to replace the one that broke this week, and organize my desk and office area. Realistically, though, I’ll be lucky to get one of those things done between kids’ birthday stuff and the hot Peruvian’s extra day at work.

So there ya have it. Almost the length of a Dora episode wasted. And I enjoyed every minute of it =D

This is last year's picture. Silly me forgot to take my camera =( But I'll update the post when I get a copy of this year's group shot. Can you find me? (Hint: I'm the preggo in a floral shirt)

First I must say, the women’s retreat was AMAZING!!! God poured out His Spirit on our group of 40 women in a way I know many of us have never before experienced. God is awesome! (But you knew that.)

Another interesting side note is that, at my boys’ psychiatrist appointment on Friday, it was made pretty clear that I have some sort of Autism Spectrum Disorder. Yup, it’s actually my fault (genetically) that my kids are so kooky. So once we’ve finished overcoming all the trauma, chances are we’ll all stay at least as kooky as we are now. And ya know what? I’m cool with that!

The real reason for this post, however, is to state that I am taking an official break from posting for a while. Sure, I’ve barely been on here, anyway, but this time it’s on purpose. I just started back to school, and I really don’t wanna screw it up! But I’ll most likely still feel the urge to do a Fill In the Blank Friday or a Wordless Wednesday every once-in-a-while.

Also, I’ve been strongly considering moving back to blogger. WordPress is great, but I’m a Google girl (yes, even thought they have that scandalous new privacy policy). So you may or may not see some changes at my dot-com within the next several weeks. Keep in mind, though, that it’s me… so it’ll most likely take forever for any changes to actually happen.

So anywho, that’s that. If you’re a new reader, please click around to read old posts. If you’re an old reader, try and see if you can find anything you missed the first time around. And, no matter who you are, feel free to email me or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers!

Have a happy, blessed day =)

Every child's favorite riding toy.

I’m sure you know by now that I’ve taken a break from classes. Luckily, I was able to get an actual leave approved from a few days after everything went crazy around here until the new quarter.

Which starts Monday.

Which means I get to log into my new class tomorrow!

Yippee!

I mean, Eeeek!

I mean…

Yook, Mommy! I may a etter X!

I don’t know what I mean.

Part of me is super excited – especially since this class is on writing short fiction, which has to be fun (right?).

But part of me is terrified.

• What if one of the kids goes nuts again?
• What if I get another kidney stone? (I didn’t mention it on here, but I passed a kidney stone last Friday. Take the pain of childbirth, multiply by 12, remove the prize at the end… Now you have an idea of how it feels.)
• What if my professor is really picky and I get overwhelmed and I fail? I can’t fail!
• What have I gotten myself into?!

It doesn’t help that this is happening the same weekend as my church’s women’s retreat. I am going. I’m looking forward to the peacefulness and the fellowship. But it has me a little stressed, too.

• Will I get behind before class is officially started?
• How will the hot Peruvian survive 48 hours alone with all six kids?

Getting them all in one shot is even harder outside!

• And how will Gab react to not having Mommy there to nurse him through the night?
• And how will I get through Two. Whole. Days. without my baby there to drain my boobs?!

It also doesn’t help that we’ve all been fighting the stomach flu for a couple weeks now. Or that I’ve been neglecting the house for all that time. Or that we have a doctor appointment over an hour away early Friday morning.

But most of these things are good things.

And God is good!

I'll give you a taste of my lollipop. But first you have to give me a kiss.

Things have been much better around here for the past month – even after counting in the physical illnesses and teething baby.

Plus, we got a nice tax refund and get to go on a real vacation in a couple weeks (16 days, to be exact), and I got an amazing deal on a suite at the SHERATON: 3 nights for only $312!

I have also just become an affiliate for Woot! and Audible. Cool beans, dude!

I love having my whole family at the dinner table... capes, messy faces, spilled drinks, and all.

So there’s a lot going on. Life is picking up speed again. And we are happy.

But, please, pray for me. After the long, twisted, unpredictable roller coaster that we’ve been on for the last several months, it’s hard for me to be confident that things will work out okay.

Thanks.