I did ok this week. Not as good as I’d hoped, but my milk production is better. I’ve been drinking more water and eating better. I’m doing breakfast shakes again, and my energy level has risen significantly. I need to go grocery shopping to stock up on healthy and fresh food, but I haven’t had sufficient motivation to get me there with 4 kids. Not surprising. So I’ve done more junk snacking that I’ve wanted to.

The girls go to school starting Wednesday. I can’t believe it. Where did the summer go? But I’m hoping to start exercising by the end of this week. And I’m going to go to the store.

I have no idea what I weigh right now. The scale, which belongs on my bathroom floor, is homeless due to the remodel/repair and has been wandering around the house. Considering the way I’ve been eating and not exercising, I haven’t tried very hard to track it down.

Does anyone have anything to report/talk about?

UPDATE- I did my weights and physical therapy this afternoon. It feels really good! I can’t go for a walk or get on the treadmill until the blister on my pinky toe heals.

Here’s what I can tell you. I didn’t eat well on the trip last week, and this week has been too crazy to do very well. And I can feel it. My energy level and physical strength are shot. I started blending my shakes again Thursday, and it’s helping a little bit.

I’m having trouble with milk production. I think it’s because of the lack of eating and sleep on our trip. So I’m supplementing Clark with 4-8 ounces of formula per day. He enjoys the bottle, so that’s nice. And I’m trying to drink a lot more and eat better.

As for this week, my main goals are to eat really well and get re-hydrated, and to get my house back in order.

If those happen, maybe I can think about resuming exercise in two weeks, when school starts up again for the girls.

I can’t believe how fast this summer has gone, and the disparity between how I’d imagined it’d be, and how it actually was. It wasn’t bad, but I’d wanted to be much more social then we were.

And I’m dying to knit. It’s occupying much of my thoughts. I need the therapy, the relaxation, the creation, the color. I need to touch it. But Clark doesn’t let me set him down very much.

Good morning. It’s the calm before the storm. The girls are still asleep in the dining room on an air mattress.

Their rooms are full of furniture and boxes. The counters are still a mess and there are still piles around the floor that need to be moved. I need to move Ilsa’s tank and our bedside tables before the floor guy gets here.

We’re packed for the trip. We’re going to go to Wild Waves today, then we’ll sleep at my in-laws’ cabin in Belfair before heading south to Seaside, Oregon, where we’ll spend a couple days on the beach. On Thursday, we’ll go back inland to McMenamins Edgefield where my sister is getting married on Friday.

She’s hosting a golf tournament for the entire wedding party and guests between the ceremony and reception dinner. I haven’t golfed since the car accident. We’re really excited.

We will hopefully be home on Saturday, where there will be no beds or clean laundry, and not much of a way to get either of those things easily.

Health Group-

I did a little this week. It’s been crazy-busy. Basically, on Tuesday I did treadmill and weights, and on Wednesday, I went for a walk and did physical therapy.

The baby’s crying. Gotta go. Have a good week. We will have internet access in Seaside. Wednesday night if nothing else, so I might-maybe post then.

Good morning. This week was quite a slide for me, mainly because there was no time for exercise. I don’t even remember what all kept me away from home, but I wasn’t home, and aside from a fantastic, 50 minute walk through my in-laws’ neighborhood Monday night with a sister-in-law, I didn’t exercise. And there was a little bit of ice-cream consumed. And a chocolate bar. And some potato chips in small quantities. Oh, and there was cake, too. But all of the previously mentioned were legitimately consumed in small quantities. Even the chocolate bar was one of those thin, Hershey bars designed for smores.

I’m blaming it on the fact that I’m pseudo-menstruating.

So that was my “break” week, and I’m gearing up to return to regular exercise and healthy eating next week, possibly starting today.

While I’m back up at 220.5, I’m happy to report that…

Hold up. I was about to tell you that I measured myself 4 days ago and had gone down 1/2 inch in both my waist and my hips since I measured 2 weeks ago, but when I measured just now to make sure, I had dropped another half inch in my waist, and another 1/4 inch in my hips. (I showed another 1/2 inch in my hips the first 7 times I measured, but couldn’t really believe it, so on the 8th time, when it showed a bit between 1/4 and 1/2, I took it).

This brings me to a total of 1 inch lost in my waist and 3/4 of an inch lost in my hips since July 9th. And I know July 9th’s measurements were accurate, because I’d been measuring myself for much of the last couple months trying to decide which size of bridesmaid dress to order for my sister’s wedding, and I measured exactly the same throughout that period of time.

This calls for a celebration.

How ’bout an artsy shot of my tape measure?

FINALLY!!!

I’m under 220 again. I was beginning to wonder if it would ever happen! 219.5, baby! And look at this…

Stars! I’ve had another great week of exercise and looking at my calendar full of stars is very satisfying. The Blue stars are weights and PT, the green stars are treadmill, and the gold stars are walks through the neighborhood.

This week I went on a walk Monday evening, did weights only on Tuesday, treadmill on Wednesday, weights and PT Thursday, and took a great walk yesterday morning. As you can see from the picture, I’ve been doing my Saturday exercise on Sunday this month, but it’s getting done.

I think I need to up the weight I use on my pecs. It’s gotten a lot easier but I’m stalling because it’s no fun to move up. It makes it hard again.

My pants are still tight in the waist, which sucks, but I feel thinner everywhere else. My face looks better. My thighs are bigger, but that’s because I’ve been ripping them up on weights day doing squats. And it’s nice to walk around the house with my hands on my thighs, feeling the muscles in my quads move again. I’ve missed that.

We were busy and social this week, and I had the opportunity to eat junk almost every night. Particularly on Thursday when Nate’s siblings all got together. There was three times as much pizza as was needed, 2 huge cakes, a blueberry pie, some smaller cakes, See’s chocolates, chips, etc.

Did she falter?

SHE DID NOT! Whoot! And it wasn’t that hard, honestly. This whole eating thing I’m doing right now couldn’t be easier. I still look forward to my shakes. They’re still very satisfying, particularly in this heat.

And here I’ll take a side note- It is wicked hot in the house. It was 88 degrees last night inside, according to the thermostat, but it felt hotter. I don’t usually mind a hot and muggy day, but I like it to cool off during the night to wake up to a cool morning. Nope, nothin’. It only cooled down 6 degrees overnight. The windows are open, but there is NO wind. And it’s hot outside, even though there’s a cloud cover. If the clouds burn off and we have another scorcher today, and there’s no wind…. well, we’ll spend the day down in the basement, that’s what. But I’m hoping for a breeze.

So back to food. I bought some fish oil, spirulina, and flaxseed oil at the supplement store this week while buying more protein powder. My juicing book has a few recipes requiring the latter two, and fish oil sounds like a good idea. My friend Michal, who’s losing a lot of weight right now is taking it. I need to get to Costco today to stock up on produce again. I went through it this week, and I’m out of a lot of my juicing veggies.

I’ve done a vegetable juice almost everyday this week in the afternoon, and it’s a real pick-me-up. I was sad I couldn’t do one yesterday, mostly because I wasn’t home long enough, but also because I’m out of cucumbers, bell peppers, and the rest of my spinach is old.

And I know I’ve said so before, but this book is the absolute best.

However my favorite juice of the week is the one I made up myself, mentioned in last week’s Health Group.

How’s your week been?

Good morning! I’m very pleased with how I did this past week, and exercise-wise, it looks a lot like the last few weeks.

Monday- 35 minutes of treadmill. I was worried about my hip, but even though it is still giving me trouble, I seem to be able to exercise. Thank goodness.

Tuesday- I managed to get to my weights before going to bed.

Wednesday- I did the physical therapy I was supposed to do on Tuesday, plus Wednesday’s 35 minutes of treadmill.

Thursday- weights and PT

Friday- I started out on the treadmill in the morning, and realized after my warm up that it was gorgeous outside, so I went on a walk through my neighborhood. It was glorious. I was gone for about 40 minutes, plus my warm up, and went up many hills.

Today I will get in the weights and PT again. This makes four weeks in a row of good exercise. My calendar has foil star stickers all over it again. My resting heart rate is back at 60, which gives great satisfaction.

Last week I talked about how bad I had been eating, particularly since starting exercise again, and that I was going to do better this week. And I DID!

I’m doing one of my homemade breakfast shakes for breakfast and lunch and eating a good dinner. No sweets. No desserts. No refined carb snacks. It is working really well. I had intended to do more healthy snacking, but aside from the fact that we’ve been busy, I haven’t been hungry. And I think the fact that I’m eating a lot of fruit helps keep me from feeling deprived.

(I made the most fantastic spinach salad a couple days this week for dinner with spinach, grilled chicken, grape tomatoes, mushrooms, chopped almonds, avocado, and parmesan cheese in a dressing of a little bit of olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Yum, yum, yum).

At the beginning of the week, I made a list of acceptable snacks and then went grocery shopping to stock the fridge. Part of my problem is that if I hit a “desperate” time when I need to eat something, I can’t always think of a healthy option in the heat of the moment. So I made a list to go to of things I have stocked. I thought I’d need it more than I did, but I really didn’t snack much. Here’s my list, in case it’s helpful to anyone.

1 string cheese per day. I had to put a limit on it, because I can pound 5 of them without hesitation. This week, I only had two.

Freshly made vegetable juice. I made the yummiest juice this week. It was 2 organic carrots, 2 stalks of celery, 1/2 an english cucumber, and 1 red bell pepper (they’re cheap at Costco). I can’t find my notes, so I THINK that’s all that was in it, but I’m not sure. It was a little too sweet, so next time I’m going to try 1 carrot and three celery stalks. One time, I tried adding a tomato and just one carrot, but it was too watered down tasting and I didn’t really like it. I added the carrot back to strengthen the flavor.

Cut up vegetables like mushrooms, cucumber, baby carrots, bell pepper, cauliflower, grape tomatoes, celery, sugar snap peas, etc.

Grapes

Nuts

Almond soakers

Apple

A peanut butter and banana shake if I’m desperate for sweet. It’s on the list because it really saved me once before. It’s nice and rich.

A Talking Rain

Yogurt

Dried Apricots

Hummus and celery

The list is long and varied because if it were just “vegetables” for example, how boring would that be? I’m not always in the mood for vegetables. There are sometimes when I want something sweet, (yogurt, dried apricots, peanut butter shake, carrots), and times when I need something more filling or substantial, (nuts, string cheese, hummus), and times when I’m really not that hungry, but I want something, (Talking Rain). The variety of options is helpful. Having them written out is helpful. If I were just having a sweet craving, I’m going to instantly think about the ice cream in the freezer, and I won’t necessarily think about the yogurt or fruit until later.

Any ideas of things I can add to my list?

How was your week?

Oh, one more thing…. I finally ordered a soy milk maker from Soykits.com. They’re also Wheatgrasskits.com, who I ordered my juicer from, and who gave me tips for growing wheatgrass. As it happens, right now their soy milk maker is $30 off. It doesn’t say that on the website, but apparently they have a newsletter, and they’re running a special. They offered me the discounted price, which I appreciated, and said they’d give it to anyone for the next week or two. They weren’t specific on the timeframe. I bought the kit which comes with beans and a natural sweetener or something. I have beans, but figured it’d be good to try others.

Hi there!

Once again, I’m happy to say I exercised very well. And once again, I’m sorry to say, I ate like a pig. I think my body is trying to maintain its sick sense of “balance”, because even I can’t believe how much crap I’m eating.

But enough of that.

Monday I did my 35 minutes of treadmill.
Tuesday I spent celebrating the fourth of July, and didn’t do my weights and physical therapy, but I picked up the PT on Wednesday and still got in Wednesday’s treadmill.
Thursday I did weights and physical therapy.
Friday I did my treadmill, and was even going to push it to 40 or 45 minutes, but for some reason my hip started hurting really bad. I had to slow down to finish the 35 minutes I’m used to and had a hard time walking the rest of the day. Today, it’s touchy.

I have no idea why or how. I wasn’t jogging. I haven’t done anything stupid. I’m doing my physical therapy, which includes some modest hip exercises and stretches.

Whatever.

I’m really hoping that it corrects itself by Monday so I can get on the treadmill again. I’ve got momentum. I don’t want to stop because my stupid hip hurts.

Today I need to fit in weights and PT and I’ll have another solid week of exercise behind me, bringing it to a total of three consecutive weeks!

I’m saying it again. Three weeks!!!!! Yay me!!!

I’m still up at 226 on the scale, and I don’t wonder. Even with as open and shameless as I am to publicize my weaknesses and goof ups on my blog, I can’t bring myself to tell you just how bad my food consumption has been.

So, now that I’m in a good exercising habit at the moment (ignoring the hip and thinking positive), I’m going to work on my diet next week.

Really, I am. My clothes are pathetic again. Either they’ve lost their shape, don’t work with my nursing bra, or are stained and spotted. So I need new ones, and I want to hold out buying them until I drop a size. Or get more desperate than I am now.

All in all, I’m happy to be doing better than I have in over a year.

How was your week?

Good morning! I had another good week with the exercise, but I’m still struggling with food.

Monday- 35 minutes of treadmill.
Tuesday- didn’t have the opportunity to do anything, but we DID get to see Superman at the drive in.
Wednesday- I did the 35 minutes of treadmill and picked up the physical therapy from Tuesday
Thursday- weights and physical therapy
Friday- I snuck the treadmill in, 35 minutes again, right before midnight.

Today I will do my weights and physical therapy.

The scale did a weird thing this week. I’ve been between 221 and 223 for a couple months, and then out of the blue, I jumped up to 227 one morning. The next day, I was 226. The next day, 223.5, which is where I was this morning as well.

I don’t know what that’s about, but whatever. I know I’m gaining muscle already, because I can see it in my quads and my biceps.

How was your week?

HA! HaHA! HAhahaha. Hahahahahaha. Haha.

I kicked butt this week.

THIS is the type of Health Group entry that I’ve wanted to post for the last year or more. So let’s get to it, shall we?

Monday- 35 minutes of treadmill
Tuesday- weights and physical therapy
Wednesday- 35 minutes of treadmill
Thursday- weights and physical therapy
Friday- …

Well, Friday would have been the 35 minutes of treadmill, but I got roped into taking the kids to the zoo unexpectedly with my sister-in-law and her kids first thing in the morning. We were there all day, hit the grocery store on the way back, made dinner…

Another aside, I made up the most excellent BBQ sauce yesterday. Fortunately, I wrote it all down. It was incredibly good. Nate gushed and gushed. We grilled chicken drumsticks. Mmmmm.

Ok, back to Friday. Immediately following dinner, Nate decided he wanted to take the girls to the drive in to see Cars. We didn’t get home until midnight, and I had NO time to exercise, however I did walk the zoo for 4 hours carrying the babe in the sling as well as a very heavy day pack with food, diapering necessities, camera, phone, wallet/Franklin, and an ample supply of water.

Like I said, heavy.

So I am content to say that I picked up Friday’s treadmill this morning, and still did the weights and physical therapy for the day.

I’m so proud. I’m so excited. I’m not even bugged that I jumped up a few pounds to 223. It’s muscle. I swear it is. And it feels great.

How was your week?