The ups and the downs

Since I am sharing some of my weight loss journey with you I thought I should share the not so great news right along with the great news. With Halloween, my daughters 8th birthday, soon Thanksgiving, and then Christmas. I need a new plan. In the past few weeks I have put on about 5lbs. That's not earth shattering or anything but for someone who has always struggled with my weight it is a red flag. It's just a reminder to me that I can't let my guard down. But at the same time I can't start into this Christmas season knowing that I will not eat any of those special once a year treats. So I thought I would share my plan to make it through the holidays.

For me the low carb thing seems to work the best. I have been unsucessful at other plans before. But the true of the matter is that I am addicted to carbs. They are my biggest weakness. So I found on things like Weight Watchers I would just eat all my points in "junk" because that's what I really wanted. But with low carb I really had to just say no to everything white/yellow and that did the trick for me. Now that I am done (for now) with the losing part I can add those back in on a small scale, but still avoid them when I can (ie don't keep them in the house). So my plan is that when I am home and cooking for myself and my family I will stick with a high protein, low carb (meaning only fruits and veggies, no breads, beans, or pasta....no matter what color it is) foods. Then at a holiday function or dinner I will allow myself protein as far as the food goes, and I will induldge in a treat. Notice I said a treat and not "all treats". With my running (I am aiming for at least 10 miles a week, with 1 long run a month). I should be able to keep things under control. That's going to be hard. That means when I bake something for the girls, I will remove it from my house ASAP. I won't make my treats days before I take is somewhere or I will want to eat it. I won't keep plates of it around the house. I will cook right before each holiday. If I am giving it as a gift I will make it the day before (or day of), giving it to that person.

So that's the plan. I don't want to come through this time of year with an extra 10lbs. I already want to lose another 10-15lbs once the holidays are over, if I add to that it will just be that much worse. So here is to a happy healthy Christmas season!

Celebrating Christmas

Every year at this time I get just a tiny bit frustrated, and I know it's a silly thing to get frustrated about, but it still bothers me.

As a family Nick and I decided not to teach our kids that Santa is real.....he's not. I know some people don't think it's a "lie", but I don't tell my kids that Barney is real, or that The Beast (as in Beauty and the Beast)is real, so why would I tell them Santa is real? Why would I tell them that a big fat man sneaks into our house in the middle of the night? Why would I tell them that Santa brings them toys? I really don't get it. We have wonderful memory filled Christmas' with our kids. We give gifts to each other, we buy gifts for others, we buy gifts for those who don't get any other gifts. We put up a Christmas tree, we read Christmas books (including those about mythical Santa), we watch Christmas movies (inlucing those about Santa). We look at Christmas lights at night, we bake Christmas goodies etc.... The ONLY difference is that we just don't make Santa a part of it (other than the books and movies). In fact I go one step farther and we research how other countries around the world celebrate Christmas (they don't belive in Santa either). This year each week leading up to Christmas we are going to learn all about one country, bake their Christmas dishes, and desserts, make their tradisional Christmas crafts etc.....

During Christmas we put 100% of our focus on Jesus' birth. Yes I know that this wasn't really the date of his birth, but it is the time that the church has set aside to celebrate. We read the advent, we sing Christmas songs, we read from the bible, we talk about the birth of Jesus and the meaning that has for us. It's a very special time for our family. We give gifts to each other and others because the wise men brought gifts to baby Jesus. We read the story of St. Nicholas and the impact that he had on others.

We make it about Jesus and giving, and love, and family, not about a big fat man who sneaks into our house at night. I know it sholdn't bother me what other people choose to do with their family, just like I hope they don't have options on what I do with my family. I just get sad when I here Christian families get so stressed because their kids are starting to not belive in Santa when we have a truly wonderful reason to celebrate apart from all of that. And I just find the statement "If you don't belive you won't receive" so very very sad. Belive in Jesus and receive his love, and his mercy, and his blessings, don't encourage your kids to belive in something false.

Off my soap box........

Pictures from Lindsay

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WOW Before/After

Today after looking back at some old journals I realized that from my highest weight to my current weight (lowest in over 8 yrs), I have lost 70lbs. 45lbs of that has been since Easter of this year. I don't know if this picture was taken at my highest or not, but the beach picture was taken about 5lbs above my current, so it's pretty close I'd say. I am AMAZED at the difference in how I look(ed). I never want to be that girl again. I feel so much better now that I ever did then. It's almost embarassing to post, but at the same time I hope maybe it offers some encouragment to anyone who is currently struggling. This change didn't take place overnight. It was something I struggled with for over 8 yrs, and even now at my lowest weight in a very long time it's still a daily, sometimes minute by minute struggle. I know I will be dealing with my weight for the rest of my life. So all I can do is lift of a prayer for anyone dealing with weight issues, and pray that God gives them the motivation to find success in their weight loss journey. God gets all the glory from me, because without him I wouldn't be where I am today.

Running

On Friday night I ran 8 miles without stopping, except to drink some water. I kind of had a "break through" as far as what I think about while I'm running and it was a huge help to me. Normally when I go run it's either getting dark, (because I run in the evening when it's a little bit cooler), or I have to get back because Nick needs to leave, or it's getting ready to storm ect... you ge the idea. There just seems to always be a reason that I can only go 4-5 miles before I need to stop. But Friday afternoon it was cooler, and Nick was home from work that day because his dad and brother were here. So I wasn't in a hurry to get back for anything, I could just run.

About 3 miles into my run I was trying to decide if I wanted to do 4 miles or 5 miles. 5 miles had been my longest up to that point, so that was still a big thing for me. So I took a personal check of myself. I was breathing okay, my legs were tired, but not too bad, I wasn't hot, I had water ...... So I decided to go for 5 miles, but while I was running that 5th mile I did that body check again, and thought I'd go ahead and go for 6 and beat my record. And I did that every mile after that. At mile 8 I briefly thought about doing 10, but I really was tired, and by that time the hamburgers that Nick and been grilling for us were done. So ended up stopping at 8 miles. But still I am AMAZED I was able to do it.

I am training for a half marathon in late Feburary. And I really never dreamed I would run the whole thing, but now I am thinking that I can. If I run 9 miles in October, 10 in November, 11 in December, and 12 in January, then I'll be ready for 13 in Feburary. So I will keep doing 5-6 miles 3-4 times a week, and once a month I will go for a "long run" with that mileage.

Who knew I would actually enjoy running? :)

Weight loss

I haven't posted on here in a very long time. Life gets crazy. :) But I did want to come on here and announce that after 5.5 months of hard work I have reached my goal weight, with a total loss of 47lbs. I now have a BMI of 23.8 I started at 33.4. I have also lost 5 pants sizes. From my highest point I have lost 60lbs. I feel amazing!

Many people have asked "how" I lost my weight. Here is my short answer. I cut out processed carbs. I am now eating mostly lean proteins (with the occasional high fat protein), and fruits and veggies, with the occasional "healthy" carb. I dont eat potatoes, white rice, white bread, pasta...anymore I do on occasion treat myself to a small dessert, but it's rare. I have also started running and I am up to 4 miles without stopping 3 times a week. Now that it's starting to get cooler I will increase my mileage. My ultimate goal is to run a half marathon in the Spring.

Now that I am at my goal I really still want to lose another 5lbs or so, but I am not working super hard at it right now. I need a break, so I am just trying to maintain for awhile and be happy with where I am up. I still struggle with my body image. I still look in the mirror and see fat on my body and get discouraged and so I am working on my self image. I've had 3 kids, including a c-section, and I'm not on my 20's anymore. My body is not going to be perfect. I need to be happy with what God has given me.

So that's about it. It's been a long journey. I know I'm not done. I hear all the time "I lost weight and gained it back and then some", which gets discouraging sometimes. I am determined to not let that happen to me. I have changed my way of eating and I am not going back to the Carbs like I use to. This is my new lifestyle.

Some pictures

Our new house

The kitchen

The livingroom

The Family Room

Easter 2010

Capri sleeping in her "big girl" bed

Capri's birthday

Sage's dance class

Daddy and Capri

The girl's at the Easter Egg Hunt at church

Swimming in Grandma and Papa's pool

Capri at a t-ball practice

Sage playing T-ball

Preview of the girl's dance recital

Wow time flies.

Lets see since my last post.

1. We have been in our new house for almost 3 months, and LOVE it! We have been having people over like crazy which is so much fun. I love sharing the blessings that God has given us with others.

2. I started a new "diet" and have lost almost 20lbs, and I am so much healthier. I feel great, and am looking forward to losing another 20lbs.

3. I started running again. I am on week 6 of the C25K program and am running 3 times a week.

4. Sage is almost done with VPK. She has her graduation on Thursday night. She can't wait to be a kindergartener.

5. Avery is almost done with 1st grade. She has 13 more days of school.

6. Capri is now 2, and talking a whole lot more. She is every bit of "2" ....which has prooved to be a little bit challanging in all of our end of the year activies. Although I can say that being the 3rd baby she is much easier to deal with even when she's in a "mood". But even though she has her moments of being "2" she is still my sweet baby girl most of the time....just don't take her shopping.

7. Sage has started playing t-ball at the YMCA

8. Both older girls have 2 more weeks until their dance recital so we've been busy with that.

9. We're planning summer activies like crazy.

10. Nick and I celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary.

That's all I can think of off the top of my head. We're busy busy busy. I feel like we are rarely home these days, and when we are we are getting ready for some kind of party or gathering. But I wouldn't change anything about our life. It's great and I am loving every minute of it.

I gave up soda

I am on day 6 of giving up soda. Last Thursday Feb. 18th 2010 I decided that I needed to overcome my addiction to soda. If I can get over that I can do ANYTHING. There have been LOTS of days that I drank a glass of milk for breakfast and then drank nothing but soda the rest of the day. I would make special stops to get soda. I spent LOTS of money on soda. I thought about soda all the time. Not like dreamed about it, but I was always trying to remember if I had some at home, or if I needed to stop and get some. I would ask Nick to bring some home on his way from work. You get the idea. An addiction. So I gave it up.

It hasn't been easy. I get tired of drinking water, and I don't really want to add in artificially sweetened drink mixes because that's not good for me either. A friend gave me some ideas to add fruit (not a fan of lemons), to see if that would be better. So I am going to give that a try. I do like unsweetened ice tea, and when I get settled in the new house I will make more of that. But until then I will carry my reusable bottle of water with me everywhere I go and hopefully my cravings for soda will lesson with time, and I'll learn to like plain water better.

10 days to go......

We close on our house in 10 days. 1 week from today (Tuesday) we have our first walk through at the house. However the days seem to be crawling. For our room we have a new bed, new bedding, new bath towels and mats. For Capri's room we got all new bedding, for her queen size bed that she will move into after she moves out of the crib. The girls have new bedding for their bunk beds. They also have new stuff for their bathroom. We got new lighting, and ceiling fans, for every room of the house, and a new rug for the livingroom. I have all my paint color picked out for the walls. In other words.....we are ready!!!! I have had a blast shopping for all this new stuff, but now I am ready to decorate with it all. We are ready to move out of our small rental house and be able to put things away instead of just "somewhere". We are just ready to spread out. It's been a very long time coming.

I am sure I am boring all my friends with the day to day talk about the new house, but I am just so very excited!!!!! So until then I am doing a lot of reading, and we are keeping netflixs busy. :)

Getting excited!

Now that we know that we don't have much longer until our house is done Nick and I are getting super excited (and the girls). We know there are a lot of things that we want to change or add once we move in. Paint, lighting, shelving, new bedding....... So we are having so much fun looking for all of those things. I finally bought some bedding last night after spending lots of time online browsing different websites. Tonight while the girls are at Awana we are going to go to Home Depot and Lowes to look at lighting. We need ceiling fans, overhead lights, bathroom lights, kitchen lights, lamps.... It's really a lot of fun. Unfortanatly with all of that fun shopping comes a large price tag. We are thankful to be getting a decent tax refund this year as well as the government tax credit for buying a new house. I know that overtime we will make this house be perfect for us! After 8 yrs of living in a "fixer upper", and 5 months of living in a small rental house I am VERY ready to move into our new, bigger, house.

It's been a long time.

Since everyone I know is on facebook now I haven't blogged nearly as much. But I really should because it's kind of fun. Although I am not a very talented writer.

A quick update on the house. Our house is about 45 days from being finished. We have had so much fun watching it be built. We got by every single day after school to see what they have done that day. We are also watching all the other houses in the neighborhood go up. Right now there are 8 houses being built. It's amazing how quickly they are being built. They really change from day to day. Up until about a week ago we went inside every day, but now it's all locked up and we can only go inside when someone is there. Otherwise we just have to look in the windows.

The outside is painted and the stone was being put on today. The driveway is ready to be poured but it rained most of the day today so they haven't done it yet. On the inside the walls are painted, the bathroom cabinets are in, as well as the kitchen cabinets and counter tops. They were working on something inside today but I didn't see what that was.

Here are a few current pictures.