Lost 10 pounds

December 23rd Weight Watchers Meeting - met my 10 pounds goal, which is just over 5% of my body weight lost. 10 down, 45 to go!

On the same day I found out that I got a concussion trying out a Kung Fu class with Chase the day before. We were practicing what to do when someone grabs you from behind. Chase threw me to the floor pretty hard and I hit the back of my head. I got a minor concussion from it, and no gym for a week! It's going to be pretty tough to lose weight this week with Christmas & no exercise!

Chase signed up for the Kung Fu class! I hope he does well at it and enjoys it.

We also hired a lady that just finished college that majored in Special Education to work with him 12 hours a week.

Weight Watchers & Zumba Training

I started Weight Watchers November 6th, 2010. My insurance at work pays for it, as long as I keep going and following the program. I've put Mikey on it as well, he's just not doing the paying for it part! But I've calculated his points and we're eating the meals.

Day 1 - Well, had I eaten breakfast AFTER the meeting I wouldn't have gone so far overboard on points. But I started the day with HEALTHY Bob's Red Mill 10 Grain Pancakes with Blueberries, Smart Balance Margarine, Sugar-Free Syrup and 1 serving of bacon. The points wound up being 10 points!

I had Baked Shrimp & Vegies for Lunch (saved 2 servings leftover), and Deep Dish Taco Pizza for Dinner (saved 5 servings leftover). I'm pretty much hungry all day, though. Course, I got 9 activity points for Zumba and only took 4 anytime points, so it's no wonder I'm so hungry!

Day 2 - Morning: Started out much better with a WW Breakfast of eggs, canadian bacon, mushrooms & tomatoes. But I was still hungry after breakfast. I took the dog for a 1 mile walk, then came back and had a 2 point Yogurt & 1 point Hot Chocolate mix with my coffee. Then I did the 20 minute toning DVD that I was sent by WW, and 10 minute Abs by WW. I'm pretty much still hungry.

Lunch: I had the grilled Rueben sandwich (4 points, but it seems like it should still be more points, I wonder if the bread slices are the right calories). Still hungry though.

For a snack I the WW Cheesy twists (2 points).. Now THOSE are pretty tasty!

In the meantime, I've prepped for the next few weeks by baking:

Granola Muffin Frittatas - 3 points
Pumpkin Cranberry Muffins - 3 points
Chocolate Chip Biscotti - 2 points
Almond, Cherry & Oat trail mix - 3 points

I'm already stressing about next Sunday. I do my Zumba training and I need to be there at 8:00 am - it's an hours drive away, and I'll be gone all day (until at least 6 pm). That's why I'm doing SO MUCH prep. I guess I'll do laundry on Thursday and do any other needed prep for next week on Thursday. Whew!

By the way, it's 4:12 pm, I've already had breakfast, lunch & two snacks....and I'm still hungry! Will I ever not be hungry? Maybe I need to find something to eat that's 0 points? Agh!

Lost 5 pounds

Well, I was only on the Soup Diet for 2 weeks, and didn't lose any weight, so I went back to The Biggest Loser Meal Plans. One reason was because my son had his wisdom teeth removed & wasn't eating solid food, and I couldn't let my poor husband starve, and I wasn't going to knock myself out preparing food for 1. So I went back to the Biggest Loser & lost 5 pounds.

I'm still on the schedule of six days a week at the gym.

I'm riding my bike over 5 miles 4 - 5 days a week.

I'm walking the dog about a mile 7 days a week.

And I'm doing the Biggest Loser on Wii Fit 3 days a week.

My thought for the day on the last day of July: It's a loser easier to gain than lose.

9 days to go till he's 18, nearly there!

I think we're doing pretty well. The Guardianship has been filed with the court, should be complete on August 10th, 2 days before his birthday. Here's what we found out about getting a Guardianship for your child: It's cheaper to do it before they turn 18. After your child is an adult, there are hearings & court visitations involved that cost money. Find a good lawyer that knows what they are dong.

The lawyer got a call from biofather yesterday, no problems there, he doesn't want to contest the process.

The brokerage is set in place now.

We got his medicaid card last week.

All that's left to do is reapply for Social Security next month. For SSI, gotta have lots of documentation. Keep records of everything - doctor visits, hospital visits, etc.

Getting back on Track - restarting the diet

Okay, I've gained 10 pounds in the last month and Wiifit says I'm obese again.

So I've restarted my soup diet that I lost 70 pounds on, and I'm hitting the gym every morning for the summer. Here's the schedule:

Monday: Core-N-More 30 minutes, Zumba 60 minutes
Tuesday: Abs & Back 30 minutes, Yoga 45 minutes
Wednesday: Core-N-More 30 minutes, Pump 60 minutes
Thursday: Zumba, 60 minutes
Friday: Core-N-More 30 minutes, Pump 60 minutes
Saturday: Pilates 60 minutes, Zumba 60 minutes

Plus I'm trying to bike to & from the gym, for about 5 miles per day.

Plus I've restarted my Biggest Loser workouts & calorie control on Wii Fit.

Plus I'm walking the dog 30 minutes a day.

Yesterday I burned 900 calories, but overate by 400 calories.

Here's the calculation I received from my cardiologist last summer:

Multiply your current weight by 10 (169 x 10 = 1690) (a man would use 13 instead of 10)
That's the amount of calories you need to consume every day to maintain your current weight.
If you want to lose 1 pound per week, you need to cut 500 calories from that calorie count

3500 calories burns 1 pound = 3500 divided by 7 = 500

So 1690 - 500 = 1190.

That's the calorie consumption goal per day.

However, it is not recommended to go below 1200 calories a day for a woman, 1500 for a man. If you do, you will go into an anorexic state and your body will gain instead of lose. My current goal is 1340 calories per day, which is a little less than 1 pound per week.

Then I try to burn another 500+ calories per day in exercise to lose 1 more pound per week.

The Soup Diet was done by Good Housekeeping 3 years in a row, so they have 3 different weeks of menus.

Week One menu:
http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/food/healthy/amazing-soup-diet-1007

Year three menu:
http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/health/diet/third-annual-soup-diet-0302?click=main_sr

I can't find the second year menu online anyway. Email if you want a copy of it.

I use a calorie counter app on my droid to calculate my calories per meal, but also keep a spreadsheet and & journal. The calorie counter app is cool because I can scan a bar code on a food & it will give me the nutrition data & I can add it to my calorie count for the meal.

The calorie counter links to www.fatsecret.com.

For the most part, I use the CardioTrainer app on my droid to track my calories burned in exercise, but the caloriecounter app does this as well. What I like about the CardioTrainer app is that it links up to GPS tracking and calculates how far I've walked & how many calories I've burned. You'll see my posts on facebook about what kind of workout I've done, but you don't have to link it into your facebook profile if you don't want to.

http://www.worksmartlabs.com/cardiotrainer/about.php

Zumba is a great workout, and I go to Zumba 3 times per week:

www.zumba.com

You can find a class in your location at this website.

The Biggest Loser on Wii Fit helps keep me on track. It schedules workouts for me 3 times per week, I have a challenge & a weigh in once a week, and I have to put my calorie intake in every day.

I was doing a Biggest Loser club at the local gym, but quit for the summer. It was helping give me accountability. I'll probably start it back up in the fall, but we'll see how it goes. Because I'm not working over the summer, I've dropped out this expense.

I have not started riding my bike to & from the gym yet, but I did ride 4 miles on the stationery bike at the gym today. I have to get to bed early enough to ride to the gym.

This is week one day two. I've lost 1.2 pounds since restarting the diet yesterday.

4 weeks and 2 days until Chase turns 18

I contacted the attorney and started the process of guardianship. Unfortunately, I have to notify his biological father that I intend to gain guardianship of Chase. I've not received any communication, nor child support for 4 years now. I've been told that his father no longer lives in Oregon, but in California. If I can't find an address, I'll have a run an ad in the Oregonian & it will cost $3000. The guardianship needs to be filed before Chase turns 18, or it will cost more money and I will have visitors in my house doing an inspection.

So I've written a letter to Chase's paternal grandmother hoping she'll give me her son's current address. I think she will. I'm now playing a waiting game.

I talked with the summer school staff and convinced them I need a refund. Now I'm waiting for the check to come in the mail.

I've also talked with Chase about what we plan on doing. He will be subpoenaed to inform him of my plans.

5 weeks till Chase turns 18 - and diet struggles

It's almost exactly 5 weeks until Chase turns 18!

Here are the dones:

1) He has a checking account & his state ID card.
2) We chose a brokerage - ISN.
3) We met with NW Senior & Disability Services.
4) We went to Social Security, but they rejected his application until he turns 18, and they said to wait until September to reapply.

Still need to start the Guardianship process.

Have an Adult Neurologist visit scheduled for August (finally)!

He was trying to get credits over the summer for his modified diploma during Summer School, but the class was too hard and it wasn't working out very well. So we dropped that.

Now for my progress with weight loss.

I've gained 10 pounds since summer started! Yikes! I dropped out of the Biggest Loser for the summer. I didn't go to the gym for 2 weeks because I was just too darn busy, and my hamstring was really bothering me so I decided to give it a break.

So I made it in to Ela's Zumba class Monday morning, and then I could hardly move yesterday. My thighs are SO SORE, I could hard sit. I overslept Yoga class yesterday, but made it to Ela's Pump class this morning. Amazingly, I think more squats and more lunges helped, rather than hurt.

So now I have 37 pounds to go to meet my target, and I've set a goal of 20 pounds by the end of summer - which is 9 weeks until school starts. Really? 9 weeks till Fall? I need to get busy on my other summer projects now.

Running

I've run a mile for my Biggest Loser Challenge, and there's an article "yes, you can run" in the June Prevention, which gets you up to running 3 miles in six weeks. I'm going to try it. I found a website to map out a course at walkjogrun.net according to the article. I sure wish I could find someone to run with. It would be a lot more fun if I were doing this WITH someone!

Chase has his state ID card now and a checking account. I need to schedule an appointment with the Disabilities Office, I've got to return a call there.

This coming Wednesday is my one year follow up with the cardiologist. I'm looking forward to what he has to say.

Busy Day - New Focus

It's been a busy day. I finally got my meeting with the dietician that I won through the Biggest Loser Support group this morning:
* Try Dinner before workout & Snack after workout
* Increase breakfast to approximately 400 calories (adds 100)
* I may be salt sensitive, need to cut my salt intake IN HALF (1500 mg day).

Then I met with Chase's case manager through the local Developmental Disabilities office, to work on transition to adult services:
1) Contact the adult disabilities agency.
2) Contact Social Security for Intake Appointment.
3) Choose a Brokerage
4) Guardianship - I guess this is necessary - they can hold IEP meetings without us present after he turns 18.


Then I went to the back to inquire about getting him set up with a student checking account. Which is prompting me to get him a state ID card - I just looked it up - it costs $44.50.

The attorney fee for the Guardianship is going to be $800 - $1000. Welcome to life as the parent of an adult I guess.

I'm excited about the dietician changes, I hope these will help me to stay on track. I'm not excited about all the work I need to do to transition him to an adult.

Two steps back

Well, it was a rough week - what can I say?
Saturday I had about 10 small bags of regular chips from Chase's stash in the pantry - about 150 calories each, plus 1/2 a box of Girl Scout Cookies - Thin Mints, plus a couple of Skinny Cow Fudge Cones (150 calories each). I also didn't eat my soup dinner, but had pizza instead.
The week continued in much the same way. I bought chocolate for work for the other people helping test in the lab, and probably ate about half of the chocolate myself. One night (I think it was Wednesday), I came home from step class and made my soup, but didn't eat my diet dinner...in fact, I didn't eat dinner at all. I had several bags of chips from Chase's stash and more junk food - fudge cones, weight watcher ice cream bars.
I've been mostly stressed out about work, probably shouldn't post any more than that on the internet though.
So all in all, I've gained 5 pounds this week, and am back at my previous weight from the beginning of February.
I also fell over a student's backpack at work on Monday and hurt my leg, then developed a cold the next day.
Maybe if I weren't doing this dang soup diet and just eating healthy meals...per my Biggest Loser Club strategy, I would be dealing with all this better, but I doubt it. Maybe I need to journal my feelings more? I don't know.
On the plus side, I have my soup made now and it's a new week, so I'm all set to get back on track.

Overweight!

Well, after 45 weeks, 64 pounds, 756 miles walked/biked/stepped/zumba'd and 337 hours of exercise I am officially now overweight and no longer obese! Woo Hoo!
# inches lost – 23.75, % weight lost – 27.47%

Am I stopping there? No, I am not. In roughly 35 more pounds, I will be at a healthy weight. My target is by May, when I go see the cardiologist again, but if I don't make it by May I'm not going to give up. See, I'll have all summer off from school and I figure I can go every morning, six days a week, to classes. I WILL get there!

I'm starting to have a lot more energy, and can now do jump rope, jumping jacks & jogging. I don't mind looking in the mirror at the gym any longer, and am really starting to enjoy the Zumba classes, because I can do the moves so much easier now.

Life is good. When I go to the next Biggest Loser meeting, I'm going to tell the nutritionist that I've decided I do want the nutrition counseling, rather than the personal trainer. I want to get a handle on how much I can cut my calories down to a day without starving. I want to keep in my snacks, and I might need to adjust my diet so I can keep the weight coming off.

This week I kept pretty strictly to the diet and I lost 7 pounds (so far). I'm also doing 1 hour of cardio a day, for this weeks challenge. It's nice, but I would like to get back to a weights workout, so I'm going to take tommorrow for a strength training day instead of cardio.

Another good week, even though I struggled...

Okay, so I was totally prepared to go in and explain what a difficult week I had staying on my diet tonight. I was totally prepared to have gained weight, or just stayed the same. You know, like Bob & Jillian giving that gal grief over just losing one pound on the current season of The Biggest Loser? Well...I still lost 2 pounds from last Monday's weigh in! How the heck did that happen?

Thursday I was bad...Friday I was bad...Saturday I was bad....Sunday I was bad....today I was bad! According to my scale here at home I've gained.

I won last weeks challenge to eat 8 servings of vegetables a day, get in a different workout, and lose the highest percentage of weight. I puzzled over whether to go with the dietician consultation or the personal trainer session, but CB convinced me to go with personal trainer and win another challenge so I can get the dietician as well. So I have to work really hard to win another dietician consult.

Anyway, I haven't made my soup yet, but I still feel like I'm getting back on track. I still worked out at 6 different classes last week. Now to get my snacking back under my control and my calories back under my control. Here's hoping for another great week!

This week's challenge: 25 - 35 grams of fiber per day. Guess, what, I just tallied my fiber count for today and I already made my 25 grams today. I don't think it's going to be as hard as they were saying it would be. Wish me luck!

My new focus!

Has it really been almost a year since I posted to my blog?

I realized recently I should be updating my blog with my current life and my goal to improve my health.

In April 2009, I started having heart issues, my BMI had just turned morbidly obese, and my weight was 233. I couldn't lean over and tie my shoe without getting seriously out of breath. I couldn't walk around the block without getting seriously out of breath. One day, I looked up symptoms and drove myself to the hospital. The E.R. diagnosed me as having adult onset asthma and put me on an inhaler & prednisone. It didn't really help.

About three weeks later, I was driven back to the hospital by a coworker. This time a cardiologist came in to check me out and decided I should get an angiogram. What he found was that I had developed diastolic dysfunction, which meant that my heart was not pumping correctly and was not relaxing all the way in the diastol portion. His advise, it was reversible, but I needed to lose 20 pounds and get exercise 3 times a week. I was sent to cardiac rehab at the hospital to exercise with the geriatric patients. That was an eye-opener! How did I get to this point?

I spent the summer focusing on my health: and through diet and exercise I lost 35 pounds over the summer. School started back up...and my concern was could I keep losing weight and exercising once I went back to work?

I joined Cindy's Gym, a local gym for women only, and started taking zumba classes 2, then 3 times a week. I lost another 15 pounds and then hit a plateau. I no longer had the nurses to tell how much I weighed 3 times a week, so I was accountable to no one!

Over Christmas vacation, I gained 9 pounds!

Starting on the new year, I joined a Biggest Loser support group at the gym, and have lost the 9 and another 5, for a total of 60 pounds lost. My current target is a total of 70 pounds, which would put my BMI at overweight, instead of obese. But my overall goal is a healthy BMI, which means I have to lose another 40, or 100 altogether.

I'm now exercising in step classes on Monday & Wednesday nights, Zumba on Thursday nights and Saturday mornings. My latest addition was Friday Yoga classes. I have attended 2 classes so far, and was surprised at how well I can do the positions now, but learning to relax for 15 minutes at the end is a real struggle for me. The first time I tried I turned my cellphone off because it kept interrupting the class, and I wound up crying for 15 minutes because I was so stressed turning it off. Chase was home alone and I couldn't relax without my phone off. This last week I left my phone on, but it was on vibrate and my bluetooth was on so I would hear if he called.

I'm supposed to go back to see the cardiologist in May, and I'm really pushing for the 100 pounds gone by then. I have my setbacks, though. This week I blew off the diet on Thursday and Friday and have eaten like I used to.