I'm back!

Hey guys! I'm back! Long time no see. I switched google accounts and haven't posted for a very long time. Mainly because my current blog is in one google account and this blog was in the other. A marriage has been performed and we are joined once again!

Just to bring you up to date, the battle with weight and fitness goes on. Up and down and . . . wait, no just up. It's more than frustrating. I have a feeling my problem is my hormones. I'm all over the place. I've taken some tests and will start with bioidenticle hormone treatment. I'm very excited and everyone I've talked to who uses them, swears by them. I'll keep you posted.

You see, if I just had more energy, I'd be able to work out more. I wake up in the mornings feeling like I've just run a marathon. I'm exhausted all the time, and I mean really exhausted. My poor kids feel so put out, because mom never wants to do anything fun.

My appointment with the doc is on the 17th so I'll let you know how it goes. So far, I work out as often as I can and then lay on my bed the rest of the day. (pretty much) --not conducive to great writing. It's been a real push to write at all. Mainly because I'm so tired all the time. I'm at the end of my current ms and only have about ten thousand words to go, so let me tell ya, I need to feel better so I can finish this dang thing, and become rich and famous!

So that's my life in a nutshell. I'll keep posting and let you know of my progress.

My Update

I'm going to start off this post with some fun news - I've lost fifteen pounds. Woohoo! Now, with that important piece of information out of the way, I can proceed with the rest of my update.

As you know, on June 13th I had a doctor appointment and was put on a very limited diet. I have been living it almost faithfully. I say "almost" because about once a week, I do falter, and end up grabbing a sandwich or something like that. I'm also not weaned off caffeine yet, although that is my next big goal. Until I'm off that, I'm not really being compliant with the diet. But it has been over six weeks since I've had chocolate (or dessert at all, for that matter) pasta, rice, or other grains, and I am seeing changes in my body. Even though the weight loss so far is fairly small, the shape of my body is changing. I can feel it in the way my stomach hangs on my body. (Yes, it hangs - we're keeping it real, right?)

Weighing in at my doctor's office was a bit mortifying. My first day of this new lifestyle, my bathroom scale said I weighed 290. Whoa - okay, that wasn't delightful. But then when I got to the doctor's, and got on his very accurate, scary, frightening scale, it added ten pounds. That's right - I started this out at 300. I didn't think I'd gotten that heavy. Wake up for Tristi!! But according to his scale, I'm now 284.5, so yeah, fifteen pounds, and we're backing away from that frightening number that starts with a 3.

Now, I've been down this path before. Huh. A lot. I've lost weight, gained weight, lost weight ... this blog was started during one of those well-meaning fits of losing weight, but then I lost the momentum. This time is different. This time, I can't lose the momentum.

In addition to the food allergies, I've got some health problems. I'm not going to go into them all here, because that's depressing and all that stuff, but also because it would take a long time, but the upshot is that I have to take care of myself or my life expectancy isn't that great. My doctor put it bluntly when he said, "You won't get to see your grandkids." Up until now, I've been skating along, feeling like the golden child, not really affected by anything. These last few months, though ... my knee gave out at the LDStorymakers Writers Conference. I was having to walk a distance between my hotel room and the conference rooms, and I was flat-out exhausted. There are other health factors we've recently discovered that added to that, but the weight was killing my knee, and it plain gave out. I'm tired of all this. I'm tired of weight-related problems, things I can't do - I don't enjoy driving our small car anymore because it's too hard for me to get in and out of. I drive the minivan exclusively now, and it makes me mad that I'm limited in which vehicle I take because of the size of my body. I find that completely wrong.

What it has all come down to, though, is my kids. They are all candidates for diabetes and heart attacks - they got all the bad genes from me and from my husband, and they have problems assimilating sugar. So we're all doing this really limited diet together - no carbs. None. No grain, no fruit, no nothing. We're eating vegetables (but not corn or peas - too high on the glycemic index) lean meats, nuts and seeds, and a limited amount of certain dairy products. We're seeing huge changes in our health, for the whole family. But it has been a challenge.

My biggest challenge right now is that I need to concentrate on making food in advance. This week, I pretty much starved myself to death because there wasn't anything readily available that I wanted to eat, I went too long without eating, and I got sick. I've got to break that habit. My kids will cook up eggs or whatever when they're hungry, and they're fine, but you know, there are just times when I don't want an egg, and I need to be more creative, and I haven't been. This is a way in which I need to be a better guardian of my own health.

I'm going to start checking in more and letting you know how I'm doing. I need further accountability. (Like the doctor's scary scale isn't enough ... ) But right now, here's my report:

1. I'm eating mostly clean. I have had some Wendy's over the last two days - starving, as I mentioned, and didn't prepare, so I need to reset the brain to cook in advance - but for the most part, I'm eating very, very well.

2. No desserts and no chocolate since the start of this diet. Yes, that means I've had no gummy peach rings, no chocolate-covered cinnamon bears, none of my old favorites.

3. I'm now drinking about 16 oz. of Coke - at least, that's what I had today. That's down from about 1 1/2 liters a day. Progress. Progress.

4. I'm not currently exercising. My workload has gotten super, super heavy lately, and what with signing books at Costco, etc, my schedule is more packed than it logically can be. I have plans to reintroduce exercise to my life next week.

5. My water consumption is about 3/4 what it should be, but again, progress.

So ... that's what's up in my world. I'm seeing good changes, I'm making good changes, and I'm very proud of myself. And that's what's important - proud of myself without making excuses. It's a good feeling.

Hey Mama Welcome to the 60's!

So the whole only weighing yourself once a month has been pretty easy this last three weeks since the battery in my scale died. I had a kind of bad 4th of July week in which I had a Pepsi at the Real Soccer Game, a handful of Red Vines on the boat, and an Oreo cookie here and there. Needless to say I wasn't looking forward to getting a new battery after that! But I was still a lot less than I had been and I needed a new swimsuit. My cute step mother-in-law, who is not much older than me, and has divine taste in clothes told me to come over and look through her old ones as she had about 10 extra ones. So I went and found a cute tankini that I looked good in (for the first time in years I was excited to see myself in a swimsuit.
Since the swimsuit experience had gone well I decided to use their scale to check my weight, because I knew from experience it was right on par with my scale. And I had to step on three times just to make sure....I'm in the 60's for the first time in years. I weighed in tonight, fully clothed and in the late afternoon mind you, at 165 so I have lost a total of 34 pounds since February!!! I am so excited. I couldn't help but think of the Hairspray song "Hey Mama Welcome to the 60's". Sixteen more pounds to go to hit that 50 pound mark I was hoping for. Here is hoping the next month goes as well as the last!

So ... Whassup?

Hey, everyone!

I've had fun scrolling down and checking out the progress updates - it's inspiring to me, and helpful to know I'm not alone in this battle. On days when things aren't going so hot over here, it's awesome to have people to look toward for motivation to keep going.

A couple of updates: when last I posted, I was doing my son's allergy diet with him. That went all right for a couple of days, but then he was restricted even further, and I lost my willpower.

This last Monday saw a huge change in my life. I had my own appointment with Joseph's doctor ... and let's just say, the kid comes by his health problems naturally. I not only am allergic to just about everything, but my organs (especially my adrenals) aren't functioning. So the doctor officially put me on a restricted diet, and he has given me a pile of pills to take to help kick-start the nutrition going. The pills are all condensed vegetable matter, and they look sort of like tiny little cow droppings - you know, dried up grass - but they aren't too hard to swallow.

The difficulty I'm having is just how very limited my allergies make me. I'm going to be having all kinds of treatments for them, so they shouldn't always be this bad, but it's going to take me a little while to figure out a routine that is best for me.

However, there is this - I started this all on Tuesday morning. I should have started Monday night, but we didn't get home until late. Anyway, I started on Tuesday, and when I got on the scale this morning (two days later) it showed a loss of 4 pounds, and I feel like it's a healthy loss, not an "I'm starving to death because I can't eat anything" loss. As my organs get the food they need and start perking up, I should have all kinds of energy and be able to stay better on top of things.

Perhaps what's helping me out the most right now is that the doctor has put me on adrenal support supplements, which is what I need to get me off the Coke. I haven't been able to get off it by myself because I couldn't function without it. Now I have something to help me function, and the doctor didn't take away the Coke entirely. We're weaning me off it slowly, which I think is awesome. As my adrenals wake up, we'll reduce the Coke even further until I'm off it entirely.

So - the upshot is this. I'm doing a very limited diet, taking lots of supplements, drinking three quarts of water a day, and I'm on doctor's orders to rest more and get more sleep. I'll keep you updated as we go along - right now I'm still in, "let's figure out what to eat" phase, but I can tell progress is already being made, and that's very heartening.

Biggest Loser, So Far

Well, I haven't been kicked off yet. I didn't have any weight change last week, which was lucky for me since I'd baked a batch of cookies and had soda. But so far I've lost 5.5 lbs. Normally I wouldn't be too excited about it, but because I crossed a difficult marker in the weight loss (getting myself under 140) I'm pretty stoked. Unfortunately the weight loss hasn't equaled a drop in pants size yet, but whatever. Hopefully I'll be able to keep going and eventually drop a shirt size as well as pants size. I had to buy shorts today (it's been in the 90s all week until today--in the 60s. I hate Cleveland.) and so I was bummed to still be in the same size, but it will all work out in the end.

Almost there!

The title of this post may be a little deceiving. I am still 25 pounds away from my goal, but I am only 1 pound away from my half way mark. My second month of primal went well, but there were a few more hang ups than the first month. Mainly a series of birthday parties with designer cakes that just kept begging to be tested until the last party when I finally gave in and went for it. I'll admit, it was tasty. But after the taste factor went away, eating a whole piece of chocolate cake after 2 months no sugar took its toll on my stomach. I think remembering that gut wrenching feeling will be helpful in the future to refraining from at least so much indulgence. So the big weigh in for the month put me at another five pounds gone away! 24 pounds in 4 months. If I can keep this rate up I will hit my goal by October.
I've found a lot of fun recipes for being primal. The family favorite is Macadamia Crusted Mahi Mahi, which thanks to Costco we can get the wild caught stuff. If you want to try it, just soak your Mahi Mahi in a dish of milk (if you are non dairy use coconut milk) then dip it in fine ground macadamia nuts (I ground mine in my 10$ Black and Decker coffee grinder that I bought at Target to grind my flax seed. Hint...Hazelnuts are too hard to do in this, but macadamia nuts are just fine.) Salt and Pepper and bake at 450 for 10-12 minutes. So easy and so good.
I am still in summer school and just got a part time job, so my grand plans for a workout routine that involves more than walking up and down the stairs at school is still in the idea process, but hopefully by next month that will be a reality. Until then, I'm still feeling great. For the most part being primal has been the easiest and most fulfilling "diet" ever. I can see this being a lifestyle change for good.

Cauliflower Again?

Okay so it is not just for mashing! I have now tried what is called cauliflower rice and it is yummy! I made it by shredding a head of cauliflower on a cheese grater. Then I used it in replace of rice in my stuffed peppers. It is amazing how this one vegetable can be a substitute for so many of the grains I used to use. It is more amazing that my family thinks it is much more flavorful and says they would rather have it this way always. The peppers were divine and I can't wait to try it just as a rice side substitute. I love CAULIFLOWER!

So. . .I Sold the Bike.

I had all these grand plans of exercising and then. . .nope. Didn't happen. After having my other kids I had to lay off the exercising because every time I didn't I lost my milk. This baby doesn't know what a bottle is and refuses to become familiar with one. I don't really have much of a choice here and I don't want to risk losing my milk when he isn't ready to be off.

So, I sold the recumbent stationary bike. I wasn't using it and I wouldn't be using it until after we move from here and I really don't want to take it with us (I'd rather have an upright bike anyway).

However, I have joined a Biggest Loser contest with some girls in my ward and now that I have $20 on the line and there's a competition going, I'm going to try harder to eat better (stop when I'm not hungry, not when I'm bursting) and get more regular exercise like walking and pilates.


I"m really excited about this and hope that it works out. We'll see how it goes!

I'm Hungry, I Yam

Today I showed a loss of 1.8 pounds. Woohoo! The only problem? I'm hungry.

It's not the diet's fault. I can eat all the meat, seeds, and vegetables I want. It's just that I'm totally not in the habit of eating this way. I didn't have a lot of meat as a child - we couldn't really afford it, so I'm not habituated to eating it. And I'm really, really not used to doing without grains. I've depended on those to help me feel full.

My mom is the one who led us to this way of eating, and she says that yams are what has taken the place of a filling food for her. So I've got my husband running an errand for me - he's going to go buy me some yams.

In the meantime, my son is just doing what he's told, no problems, no complaints, feeling better every day.

I'm sure I will too ... once my system acclimatizes.

How's It Goin'?

First of all, I just have to say, I'm having trust issues with Blogger right now. It ate two blogs from my regular site and it has since reposted one, but I'm still waiting for the other and I'm concerned that this one might not make it up at all. Keeping fingers crossed ...

As we discussed the other day, I'm changing my eating patterns pretty radically. My son has allergies and we're working on figuring out what's up, and his doctor is having him eat really simply for now. Yesterday I started eating alongside him, and I have to say, that kid is kicking my can. He's eating whatever I'm giving him and he's doing it without complaint. Me, on the other hand? I'm a whiner. :)

Yesterday I did pretty well except for two things. At 3:00, my energy dropped and I had a small Cherry Coke. Then at 9:00, I was on my way home from helping at a wedding reception and my blood sugar totally tanked. I pulled into Del Taco and grabbed a chicken taco and a small burrito. So I'd give myself about a 70% for yesterday.

Today I've done better. I did have a little bit of leftover rice from lunch - on this diet, I'm not supposed to have any grains - but I've eaten right the rest of the day. The other difficulty was the Cherry Coke. I am going to have to wean myself off it a little slowly. I'll give myself about an 80% for today.

I haven't weighed today, but plan to tomorrow. Sabine mentioned that on her plan, you don't weigh for a month - I need to keep tabs on things a little more often to keep myself motivated. :)

Talk to you soon!

Okay, Well, Here We Go!

I'm entering this next phase of my life with great reluctance. You see, I really like food. (I'm sure you've picked up on that along the way.) My favorites are chocolate and Cherry Coke. I started drinking the Coke because my adrenals are shot, and yes, I know that drinking Coke doesn't let adrenals heal, but I haven't found anything natural yet to take the Coke's place. So. Long story short, I'm not losing weight and I'm unhealthy and it's time to really, really do something about it this time.

The catalyst in all this is my son. He's currently going through some allergy treatments and his doctor has put him in a very simple, clean diet. It sounds pretty similar to the primal diet Sabine is doing - lots of clean, fresh meat, a ton of vegetables and seeds, no fruit, no grain, absolutely no sugar or chocolate or caffeine. My son is feeling awesome, although the adjustment has been a little tough for him. But he's such a good kid - he knows this will lead to better overall health, once all his allergies are isolated and we eliminate those things from his diet. He has hardly complained at all, which is a huge example to me.

So I'm looking at him, and I'm looking at pictures of myself from last weekend's LDStorymakers Writers Conference, and I'm thinking, you know what? If my nine-year-old can buck up and do what he needs to do, then I can too. He's probably going to have to have some kind of alternative birthday cake this year, and he's fine with that. Surely I can give up a few things I know aren't good for me.

I told him I was going to do this diet with him so he wouldn't feel alone, but in reality, I'm doing it with him so he can inspire me with his good attitude. I'm a whiner. I'm going to miss all my nummies. But I'm tired of being the largest person in every picture, or at every dinner table, or in every room. I'm tired of thinking I look pretty cute, for a fat person. Yes, I know that's a matter of internal self-talk, and that I have to change my perception before that will go away.

So, here I go, heading out into the unknown. I've been cooking for my son for the last little bit, so I know how to cook for myself. I'm going to eat right alongside him and let him encourage me not to cheat. Eating this way has worked marvels for a lot of people, and I'd love to follow Sabine's example and lose 19 pounds in a month. Most of all, I want to get off the Coke and stop feeling dependent on the chocolate.

I'm just so glad that I have a nine-year-old cheerleader on my team. I wouldn't do it for myself, but I will do it for him. He will help me get healthy while I'm helping him get healthy.

Expect to see me posting a lot more frequently, and probably with some whining, too - I can't whine at my son, so I need to get it out of my system somehow. :)

Today so far:

Weighed in to get a baseline

Breakfast - slice of turkey meatloaf I made with 97/3 ground turkey, chopped onion, celery, egg (no crumbs or oatmeal), 1/2 peeled cucumber, 4 oz. sunflower seeds, large glass of filtered water

I will probably have to taper off the Coke a little slowly. I haven't had any since yesterday - we'll see if I can do it cold turkey or if I need to wean.

Talk to you soon!

Cauliflower!!!

Okay, so going primal has been pretty easy, but there are somethings I was not willing to give up. First up Spaghetti sauce. I knew I could do without the noodles, but not my meaty goodness (which now that I am making it fresh from my homemade bottled tomatoes is to die for). But what was I supposed to put it over? It was a sauce. My answer was Cauliflower. And it was a success, everyone loved it. So I have been sick this past week and wanted some comfort food. Shepard's Pie has always done that for me. At least the ground beef, mashed potatoes version. I know the real stuff is made with lamb, but I grew up calling this Shepard's Pie and so it is. Anyhow, being primal doesn't allow for the starchiness of potatoes, so what was I to do? My meat went fine with a few herbs, some beef broth, and fresh veggies added, but I needed a creamy white topping to make it perfect. So I used mashed cauliflower instead. I topped off my meat, put a pat of butter on top and 40 minutes latter had one of the best versions of Shepard's Pie I'd ever tasted. I can't wait to discover what else I can pair with this wonder vegetable! I didn't even think I liked it that much a month ago. Now it is a staple in my house!!!

Um ... Hi

So, it occurs to me that since I started this blog, I should probably post something, huh? I'm glad to see Brent's posts resuming - he's really inspiring with how he's taking this thing by the horns and wrassling it into submission. Every one of you inspire me with your successes and I commiserate when you have a day that didn't go how you'd hoped. I'm still here, even if I'm very, very quiet right now.

My thing is that I'm having issues with my body right now. After wondering just what was up with my back, I had some x-rays done. I've always known I have scoliosis - that was diagnosed when I was ten. But now I know to what extent I have it (quite a lot) and some other problems I have (I'm just a very interesting medical case). It really explains a lot, like why my ribs keep popping out of alignment, etc.

I've done, and loved, the Game On! diet, as I've mentioned here, but also as I've mentioned here, it's almost impossible for me to keep up with any healthy routine when my life gets busy. I can't concentrate on multiple things at a time anymore - I'm still blaming the concussion, but who knows who long I'll get away with that excuse. So as my author services business picked up, my healthy habits went by the wayside, and I'm weighing pretty much the same right now as I did a year ago. I did back down from that ghastly weight number we once talked about - the one I'm determined never to see - but I'm nowhere near close to the goals I had set for myself.

However, I'm soon going to be following Sabine's example and going primal. It's actually pretty coincidental that she's doing it - my son's doctor is doing some allergy testing, etc, on him and has limited his diet for the time being, and I'm going to join him next week. I'm away from the house Thursday, Friday, and Saturday (LDStorymakers Writers Conference) and I will have no control over my eating, so come Monday, I'm hitting the diet with my son, help him feel a little less alone. And hopefully, I'll drop some awesome weight too.

And that's all for now ... you guys are awesome, you're inspirational, and I appreciate you.

Wanting Some More Accountability

It's been a long time. I've been totally on the workout train the last couple of months (I won't bore you with the details here. Click here if you're interested in reading about it.) as I prepare for another triathlon in less than 3 weeks. (EEEEK!) But my eating habits have hardly budged.

I know I need to go on a no-sugar regimen and really fuel my body with healthy foods from now until race day, but I'm having a hard time committing to it. The biggest challenge I have is my daily routine of sitting down in front of the TV at the end of a long day with my hubby and eating lots of bad foods right before bed. Every night.

Any big ideas on how to combat the problem? I keep vowing to myself that I'll only eat veggies after a certain time at night, but when it comes to that time and my significant other sits down with a big bowl of cereal and some chocolate candy goodness, I can't stick to the plan.

Help??

Staying Primal

Well it has been one month since I went primal and for the most part I stuck to it. Yes, I messed up once or twice. I had a bite of my daughter's noodles when we went to Panda Express. I had one piece of milk chocolate at Easter, but I tried even on my mess ups to only let them be really little. And when I did my monthly weigh in I was down 11 pounds since April 1st! Wahoo. It worked, and with relative ease. I never went hungry. I ate as much as I wanted when I wanted it, just sticking with vegetables, fruits, and proteins and staying away from sugar, starch, and grains. So, that puts me at a grand total of 19 pounds since Feb 2. One thing for sure with this last month over the 8 pounds I lost the first two month when I just started cutting back...I don't have to go hungry, my posture has improved, and I have had so much more energy. I totally made it through finals week without a Coke! I have been finding some really good substitutes that even my kids like, to stay away from grains. On the menu for tonight is homemade marinara with grass fed beef over cauliflower (instead of pasta). My whole family loves it. I also want to start adding a little walking and a few WOW's (work out of the week from the primal blog...marks' daily apple). Here is to hoping at the end of this month you will still be seeing less of me!