Small steps towards health

Net Kritterz

2012-01-14T13:05:00.000-08:00

Just found this great website that has a mom-approved list of kid's internet games. I've been looking for something like it for a long time. It's called Net Kritterz.

Keep on trucking

2011-05-17T13:49:00.000-07:00

Man, I don't know how people lose weight without feeling hungry. I mean, if you're in calorie deficit with the intake less than the output then it makes sense the body will feel hungry. How could it not? I've been hungry. Not dying hungry, but hungry. After 3:00 pm is when it starts. Funny how that is. I guess I just love the feeling of being full. I remember when I was doing the Points Plus weightwatchers diet and I just had a piece of fruit everytime I felt hungry. And, yes, that diet was a loser for me. Not a pound loser but a diet loser - it didn't work! But I'm looking forward to maintanence once I lose the weight and I can eat lots of fruit because it really helps get rid of the hunger!

Had taekwondo today. It was a great class - I felt good! I'll get to midterm (I'm a first degree blackbelt) in June. I hope that testing is not when I'm on vacation. And there's a tournament I can compete in this weekend! When I was a color belt I used to love competing and usually did well. But when I became a black belt, it stopped being fun. Mainly because they wouldn't tell me when I was competing so I had to wait around all day (7 hours!) waiting to be staged. And then I was up against 2nd and 3rd degrees. Anyway the tournament this weekend is small and I know when I'll stage so I'm very excited to compete again. I'l probably have 2nd and 3rd degrees in my ring but I don't care. I'm happy to just compete.

Tomorrow another front comes in. Ugh. SO SICK of snow in may. I know the Colorado foothills desperately needs the moisture. I accept that. But geez does it always have to be snow? I would love a good soaking rain and 55 degrees. That would be heaven.

My daughter got braces yesterday. And they are major braces with the Herpst device too. The actually pole was not in but all the metal. Her mouth is FULL of metal, way more than normal braces. And she is miserable. I really wish I could have the braces for her. I hate to see her so sad and uncomfortable. :-(

Gluten free Weight Watchers

2011-05-15T09:03:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was pretty good. Although the Colorado mountain weather is absolutely crappy (snow in May!), I dragged myself into taekwondo for sparring and black belt class. The master instructor was there and she knocked my socks off. In the years I've been doing taekwondo, I'm not sure I've ever had such a hard workout. I actually had to leave class for 5 minutes for the dizziness from exertion to go away. But I actually loved it. Really! I don't think I'd want every class to be like that but it felt good at the end.

Thankfully my son's baseball game was cancelled again. I just am not a fan of sitting out in 30 degree weather with snow/rain and watching 2 hours of baseball. Unfortunately there is another front coming in the middle of the week. We desperately need the precipiation because the fire danger is so high here (very dry winter) so I have to welcome it but I will welcome some warmth when it comes.

Gluten free. I mentioned it earlier. I have been gluten free for about 4 years now. I don't know why. It does not run in my family. I did not test positive in the blood test for celiac. But it just makes me sick. I have tried experimenting over and over through the years because I just can't believe it but my symptoms are getting worse. Now when I get a good dose of wheat then I get so fatigued that I just have to lay down for a day and have some intestinal distress to go along with it. Actually it's wheat that seems to cause my problem because I can handle barley ok. I love Amy's Barley Vegetable soup and it's really low in Weight Watchers points! But I just go by gluten intolerance because that's what's easiest to spot in the grocery store and online.

Anyway here is a great website with food ideas for gluten free Weight Watchers. It is brand new so hopefully people will send in ideas and turn it into a really good source.

My husband took the kids skiing today up at A-Basin which means a day off for me. I'm not big into skiing anymore since hurting my knee. I think I'll go out into the 34 wet degrees and go jogging. Up up up up! Get out of the chair and go! .....

Ugh

2011-05-13T20:42:00.000-07:00

Tough day on the dieting circuit. On the Wendie Plan the day after the "big" day is a minimum day. It makes sense. Get that metabolism up and then have a day without so much food. It's called point cycling. I was hungry today but made it ok. I discovered corn tortillas with WW cream cheese - pretty darn good!

This morning I woke up early (not by alarm) and decided I might as well go jogging. I enjoy getting out of bed before the rest of the family and getting out into the fresh air. We're still in a period of weather fronts so it was in the 20s but I really didn't notice. And I got an extra long run in because my dog decided to take a poop at the top of the hill so I had to run home to get a bag and run back up the hill to clean it up. Thanks a bunch pooch.

I guess I could have counted the exercise as activity points (probably 2) but I will try to restrain to really get the full effect of the cycling.

Did a ton of laundry and got the kids new shoes and me new PJs. I rarely buy myself anything but the huge holes in the PJs were getting out of control so I treated myself. Can't wait to settle in my nice warm bed tonight!

Really discouraged with the business. Really really discouraged. Thinking seriously about quitting or becoming a shoot and burn. Found a local startup who stole 2 of my clients with dirt cheap prices. :-( Really need to figure out what I have to do. And I might lose my two big public displays. Double Sigh.

Tomorrow will be a better day. Tomorrow will be a better day. Tomorrow will be a better day.

Success!

2011-05-13T10:57:00.000-07:00

Yes I’m back on the weight losing bandwagon. Not that I fell off the bandwagon but the bandwagon was stuck in the mud. The traditional Weight Watchers Momentum/flex points system helped me lose 1.8 lbs in a week. I am so jazzed especially after 6 weeks of Points Plus disappointment.

Today was my big day. I like to cycle my points using the Wendie Plan to help keep my metabolism up. So Thursdays are my big days and I celebrated in my usual way by having a Three Musketeers bar. I’m not sure if that’s bad or not. I’m thinking that if I treat myself once a week then maybe I won’t crave them so badly and maybe I won’t beat myself up (and give up) when I slip up. It’s worth a try. A yummy try.

My daughter had her 5^th grade end-of-year orchestra concert tonight. My eyes teared up during their practice scale. How pathetic is that? Ever since my pregnancies, the littlest thing makes me tear up. It is so annoying but I really can’t help it. Anyway I’m happy to say that I was able to get things under control for the most part for the rest of the concert (which was really awesome I must say). It’s amazing how far those kids have come in the last two years.

I mail ordered some of the best ever gluten free rolls – Schar’s Ciabatta rolls. They are SO good. And they’re only one point. After I order a bunch of them I discovered that they might be in the local Safeway store. Oh well. I should be happy that I might be able to get them all the time instead of bumming that I wasted $15 on shipping. They are so so so yummy with Weight Watchers cream cheese on them. Mmmmmmmm.

Did I mention that I am a gluten-free weight watcher? Not by choice. I’ll blog about that some other time.

No exercise today. My ankle hurts – I think I did something to it yesterday in Tae Kwon Do. Maybe I can do some running tomorrow.

Whew.

2011-05-11T17:43:00.000-07:00

Well my nervousness continued until early afternoon. The endocrinologist wouldn't leave a message on the answering machine when I was gone so I thought he had bad news. But when he finally did reach me, it was good news! No change since my last thyroid ultrasound 1.5 years ago! And then he told me that my thryoid blood test was a little high???? Meaning that I am slightly hyperthyroid. Geez so how bad is the new Weight Watchers diet when you can't even lose weight when you're hyperthyroid? Well I'm not so bad that he needs to change my medication. I feel fine. I guess I've been really lucky because I always feel the same, whether I'm hypothyroid or hyperthyroid.

We had a boatload of snow today - in the middle of May! So I went out three times to shovel snow on top of the garden. The garden needs the moisture way more than the steps do. And it was good exercise for my arms. And of course the snow should help the fire danger somewhat. And the final good thing is that my son's baseball practice was cancelled so I could go to Black Belt TKD class. It was a really good class and I was breathing hard through a lot of it - more great exercise. Let's hear it for the snow!

Tomorrow is my first weigh-in since I started the old Weight Watchers Momentum diet. I'm still thorougly annoyed that I wasted 6 good weeks on that stupid Points Plus plan. That's 6 good weeks of motivation down the drain. So I just have to be extra strong to keep going. I pray for some weight loss on the scale or I'm going to.....um I don't know..... keep trying?

Tomorrow is also my big day using the Wendie Plan. Super yay!

Thyroid ultrasound

2011-05-10T22:11:00.000-07:00

It is so easy to get so caught up in nuances. My endocrinologist actually recommended I get an ultrasound of my thyroid - he's never done that before. So I had it done today and it seemed like the tech who did it took a million pictures and measured things over and over with the computer. What the heck was she measuring? Were they tumors??? I didn't ask. I knews she wasn't supposed to tell me. Oh god, I just wish my prompt endocrinologist would be prompt and call me with the results. I'm calling him tomorrow if he doesn't call me.

Otherwise I'm forging ahead with my diet. I'm back on the Weight Watchers Momentum/Flex plan. As you know I completely gave up on the Points Plus. What a scam. I mean, honestly, how can they expect someone who had a ton of weight to lose to have the same daily point allowance as someone who had 20 lbs to lose. It just doesn't make sense. And I've read a ton on the internet about other people like me who didn't lose or even gained on the new plan. How could Weight Watchers overlook us? I have 21 daily points on the old plan. Just for grins I figured out how much I ate yesterday in both plans. It was 21 points with the old plan and something like 24 points with the new Points Plus plan. Duh. The new Points Plus plan thinks I should eat 29 points a day which is way more.

Anyway I'm still doing the Wendie Plan because I can hardly live on 21 points a day, day after day. So today I got more points and tomorrow I'll get less. And Thursday - big day! Yummm!

Today too was a good exercise day. I took a TKD class (shortened because of the ultrasound) and I went jogging. I'm up to 20 minutes. This is huge for me since I haven't run in 15 years. Barefoot running seems to be working for me although it causes my left calf muscle to hurt a bit. But no major knee problems which is AWESOME!

One of my favorite clients, Dave, called today and told me that his wife, Eileen, has inoperable stage 4 ovarian cancer. I really like Eileen and feel so sad for the whole family. Life is so so unfair.

I need to sleep. Good night.

Mother's Day hiking

2011-05-08T20:43:00.000-07:00

I really miss hiking. I mean real hiking. We've been taking the kids on little journeys but usually nothing significant. But today was Mother's Day. So I had the choice of my husband taking the kids skiing so I could have some me-time (I usually pick this option) or we could do something else. It was such a gorgeous day that I didn't really want to spend it alone so I decided I wanted to do a family hike. My husband suggested Bergen Peak which we haven't done in 11 years since my daughter was 6 weeks old. I loved the idea of a bigtime hike! It is 10 miles long, 5 miles up up up (2000 feet) and then 5 miles down down down. My 11 year old daughter did great! No complaints at all. She aspires to climb a 14er this summer so she knows she has to grin and bear it to convince us that she can do it. My 9 year old son had a rough time but kept on. A promise of a double scoop from Baskin Robbins at the end was excellent incentive AND the fact that there was a geocache at the top. He love geocaching more than anything and it was very fun for him to log that cache that was so hard to get too. I thought once we got to the top that the trip down would be easy. But that's when the real pain set in - mainly our feet although my legs/knees were feeling it too. I feel about 80 years old right now but have a sense of happiness too that we all achieved such a difficult goal today for Mother's Day!

BTW, the nonfat vanilla hard yogurt at Baskin Robbins is really good! Honestly I can't tell it from ice cream. Only 2 points (old WW system) for a kids' scoop. Yum. Tomorrow is a small day on my Wendie Plan Weight watchers journey so it goes well! Who knows how many activity points I should have given myself for hiking for 6 hours. Ow.

How to waste time in one easy step

2011-05-06T21:50:00.000-07:00

So in my goal towards being healthy I'm trying to keep up with my scheduled doctor's appointments. For instance I have to go to the endocrinologist every 4 months since I had half my thyroid removed about 5 years ago (tumor). Anyway, I get a call two days ago that I have an appt this Friday (today). That's weird. It's not on my calendar. I'm usually quite good about getting things onto my calendar. So I put it on my calendar and this morning I start off on my 1 HOUR drive to get there. When I get there I notice that the woman signing in before me has the exact same name as myself. And we both have appointments at 9:45am. Shit. It turns out that SHE made the appointment and they called ME to confirm. :-( How to waste 2.5 hours in one easy lesson. Anyway at least while I was there I scheduled my annual ultrasound for next week to make sure no tumors have returned to my thyroid. I've been putting that off just because I'm so frickin' busy.

So busy.

So busy.

How can I catch up?

Today after school - pick up son, pick up daughter, feed instant dinner, drive son down the hill (we live in the mountains above Denver) for baseball game, drive daughter up the hill for school spring fling, get ready for portrait studio session tomorrow morning, collapse. Oh shoot - forgot that I have to sew stuffed animals for birthday party tomorrow that is after the portrait session and another baseball game. House is a disaster. Clothes need to be washed. Body needs sleep.

Points Plus doesn't work

2011-05-05T21:51:00.000-07:00

It doesn't work. It just doesn't. I've been on the Weight Watchers Points Plus plan now for 6 weeks and nada, nilch, nope. Well actually I did lose 3 pounds at the very beginning but the last 4 weigh-ins have not budged. I've tried everyone thing to shake it up. First I tried the Wendie Plan which worked GREAT for me with the old Weight Watchers Momentum flex points. Nothing. Then I tried counting points for the fruit. Nothing (except I felt like I was starving). I'm starting to wonder if my scale is messed up. But that's pathetic - of course my scale is fine. My clothes aren't getting any baggier.

So my next plan of action is to say forget it. Not to losing weight and becoming healthier. I say forget it to Points Plus. I'm going back to Momentum flex points. I'm SO happy I saved my old calculator and points book. Now I just have to relearn point values since I am geared towards the Points Plus values right now.

Am I excited? No. Am I feeling positive? No, not really. But I feel good that I have been able to keep a level head through all this and haven't given up and scarfed down a bag of chocolate chips.

I'm going to start the Momentum flex points with the Wendie Plan because I just love it. Today in fact was my big today. Tomorrow I'm down to 21 points. It's going to be tough to adjust but I CAN DO IT!

I've actually been reading quite a bit about other people who say that Points Plus doesn't work. I'm curious - what do we all have in common? My friend told me it doesn't work for middle aged women with less to lose which describes me. I'm 46 and need to lose 15 pounds. Please chime in if you're in the same boat.