Friday, August 7, 2009

Goings On...

My 4th anniversary is coming up, and we'll have family in town for it. Though, I'm not at all bummed about having family around, I just wonder how we'll celebrate it. We are going to DC 2 weeks after, but that's for business. It will be just Sam & I, so I guess that's as alone as we'll get for a whole weekend. We'll be back in time for Labor Day--anyone BBQ'ing?
The other super cool thing is that Sam & I are both losing weight, although, our scale is now broken. Aside from our fat clothes not fitting so tightly, our fitness center has a balance scale (like the Dr's offices) that I've been able to track some progress with. Both fortunately & unfortunately, the complex has closed it for a couple weeks for remodelling. Though, I have seen diddly squat happen in there, nor has the equipment been replaced. It's still the same old broken down equipment. I do hope they keep the scale though.
When Sam & I started 3 weeks ago, he weighed 211 and I was 199 (on our scale...though come to find out that on the balance scale at the fitness center, we were probably both 10 lbs heavier than that, judging by the difference between the two). Since then, we've both lost at least 12-15 lbs, though I can't wait for our fitness center to open again so I can double-check. Today my scale said I was up 3 lbs since my last check was at 188. It's kinda rediculous. However, we keep pluggin' along until the end of our program.
What are you doing??--well, it's called Healthpointe 2.0; and I've done it once before about this same time with Melanie. When Melanie was 7 months, we started, and now that Celia's 7 months, I guess it just seemed right to start again. The only difference is that Celia still breastfeeds, although she is now on solids, so I don't have so much the requirement for all the demand on breastfeeding. This is my personal opinion, not a doctor's. However, in this program, you have about 5 sections. The whole program is designed around boosting your metabolism to burn your stored fat, rather than all the carbs and protein. Your body will start burning carbs before it burns fat, so yes, this is going to be a low-carb, low-fat, high protein program.
First, you prepare mentally. If anything, it takes the acknowledgment that you're even going to commit, so you start to eat normally, or in some cases, indulge in those last cravings before you really put your nose to the grindstone.
Second, you take 1-3 days as jumpstart days. These days you eat solely protein. The book/guide that comes with it has a few pages showing exactly how many carbs are in your protein choices, and for later, fruits/veggies servings. Nutrition facts are helpful, but for this program, you'll obviously be staying away from bacon, sausage, and most pork products as they are high in fat. Nonetheless, since Sam & I are with Amway (and this program comes from our networking group), we do use the Amway protein bars, shakes, and snacks. Thus, they do make these days easier, since they're designed to have the appropriate ratio of carb/prot/fat.
Next, you move on to menu days. The guide contains 10 menus each for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. In general, breakfast is a serving of protein and a grain or fruit. Lunch and dinner are both a serving of vegetables, protein, salad (either side, or used as main dish), and fruit (for "dessert"). As mentioned before, the guide contains a few pages for carb counts on the selected fruits & veggies. This you do for one month.
Next, you have two weeks of "Add Food Days" where you do just that, add food. You can start out by adding another fruit or grain to your breakfast, a grain to your lunch and/or dinner. Of course you start out slowly, because you're not instantly going to eat pasta and french bread for dinner. By the end of two weeks, you probably could, but of course within reason. If your body fluctuates more than 2 lbs, in either direction, then you should probably do a protein day.
Last, if you still have more weight to lose, start at the jumpstart days, and repeat. If you're satisfied where you're at, go to long-term maintenance.
Throughout this program there are some things you will have learned by inheriting a different lifestyle. You've been eating fresh fruits and vegetables for the last 6 weeks. You may have learned you really like the fajitas wrapped in lettuce, so you incorporate those menus into your regular dinner plans. It's actually rather refreshing too to have a fruit for dessert, and the rare occassion some ice cream too. You learn to not overdo it. Just because you can have your large burrito, doesn't mean you have to eat it all either. You learn portion control.
Other things you're supposed to do throughout the program: between meals, eat a snack. What?! Snacks? Yes, snacks--protein snacks, of course. When you feel hungry, don't just drink water to fill your stomach, eat something. This way your body is fueled (for your metabolism), and your body isn't starving. If it thinks it's starving, it will hold on to that stored fat to use it in time of need later. For those who do starve themselves to lose weight, it will work, but your metabolism wasn't changed, and therefore, you'll gain it right back once you start eating. Also, the goal is to drink 80-100 ounces of water per day. Drinking more might be okay, but it's recommended to not go over 100 (I haven't figured out why yet, but the idea is that if you're drinking more water, are you drinking to keep from being hungry, or are you drinking because you're thirsty?). I am still breastfeeding, so I do try to aim closer to 100 for myself, personally. And another thing to do in this program is to do light exercise. In the box, you receive a pedometer. The goal here is to walk 8-12K steps per day. Though, I'm a stay-at-home mom, I really don't get out much. So on a regular day with my girls, I get about 4,000 steps. Now, I take them on walks, take out the trash more frequently (go figure), get the mail, or something more. Even just jumping around while I'm typing on the computer, or other such thing. It's been quite rewarding anyway. I do go to the pool with Melanie & Celia on occassion, but not often. So most of my exercise has just been walking. Granted, if I'm only at 5K by 9pm, I know I need a walk. But since it's been cooling down at night, it really has been nice to get out too, after the girls are in bed.
I'm sure I'm missing a couple things, but that's the basics. Oh, and of course, document your intake of carbs, weight, steps/day, and water intake. If you don't write it down, you won't realize how much you're cheating, or losing. I had my day where I just couldn't live without another bite of peanut butter, but of course, I wrote it down, tried to take more steps, and knew why I hadn't lost much the next day. If you get stuck, there are some things to help you along, but also to realize. You're boosting your metabolism and sometimes your body "remembers" what weight you've been stuck at before, so it gets into old habits. You just have to keep going, because you're retraining your body too. It needs to remember what it's like to be skinny again...right?
Anyway, this is moreso just a detailed "report" of what I'm doing, and how I do it. The kit itself (pedometer, guidebook, journal, and "how-to" video) has been worth it. And since Sam does it with me, it makes it all the easier to try and lose as much, or more, weight than he does (since I'm of the competitive nature). The hardest part so far, aside from avoiding my favorite peanut butter, is making the PBJ, pasta, rice, etc for Melanie's meals. Though, she does love eating her fruit for dessert, and will eat the chicken/steak/hamburgers with us.

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Christmas

So Christmas is almost as much of a blur as almost all my days now. I didn't get Sam any gifts because I must have been going around like a chicken with my head cut off. He got me a microwave and some towels. Our microwave had been broken since last year/January 08. So a year without convenience foods (which could be a good thing, I guess) and popcorn was hard on him I think. The convience foods, not so much really, but the popcorn Sam really missed. That was the first thing we used the microwave for: movies & popcorn. Some habits die hard though. We'd been having some cocoa (pregnancy craving) for the last few weeks, about every other day, and using the stove to boil a saucepan full of water for a cup or two. That night for our cocoa, I habitually put on a pot to boil, made the cocoa, gave Sam his cup, and he said, "You know we do have a microwave now right?" Oh well.

We tried to get Melanie a tricycle for Christmas, but the company we ordered it from backordered it, then cancelled the order because they didn't know when they'd ever be able to ship it. Sucks for them. Besides, it may be better suited for her birthday present anyway. Melanie did get a tea set and a little computer. The computer was more for a distraction for when Sam uses his. She didn't let anyone else touch her computer after it was opened. Her aunts and uncles wanted to play and push buttons too, but when Melanie saw them with it, she started throwing fits. Sad day... The tea set was opened while we were gone in the hospital (Celia was born 12/26. See future post...). Since then, she's pulled it out to pour me several drinks, eat her snacks on the plates, but hasn't quite gotten to eating with the forks/knives/spoons. She's super cute though, she loves it so much. Those are the items she's played with the most, and seems to love most too. Oh, she did get 2 jackets. One from her aunt Michele, and one from my mom. It was raining over Christmas, or at least it was cold. She loves both her coats, and if she needs to wear one, loves going to the closet to get one or the other. They both have hoods, to which she refers to as hats. Such a doll.

November 08

In this photo, we're hanging out at M&D's, getting ready for dominoes (cuz I wanted something different than a card game). Sam had just set up a domino rally, Melanie was trying to help daddy put up another one, but knocked it down. This is the mini aftermath of that.

So for the month of November, I still don't remember what happened. Yes, there was Thanksgiving. We spent the Sunday prior to T-day at Sam's grandparents' house. It was his Grandma's birthday. Lucky for me, that meant that I could be with my family on Thanksgiving. His grandpa is good and all, but his grandpa's turkey dinner is NOTHING compared to my dad's. I hope we figure out how to do a smoked turkey before it's ever too late. Dad says it's easy, we just need to find the 10 hours (or so) to spend with him to find out how it's done. Anyway, so grandma Hinkson was down for Thanksgiving, and coincidentally, Billy & Jillian's sealing. Yeah, that was a busy week, as the memory is coming back to me.


So grandma H was down, and we totally planned the menu. Now, I don't recall every thanksgiving dinner, but I don't think we've ever actually sat down and planned a menu. This year, we did. We had the usual turkey, mashed potatoes, and the infamous butterhorns. I don't think Mom will ever forget to make butterhorns again (since that one time several years ago when we all complained about not having any--we Coleman's hardly forget things like that). The neat thing we had this time was mashed sweet potatoes. Yes, they were from a box (thanks to Betty Crocker), but with the embellishments Kristen made, they were fantastic. Just enough for everyone too...since Billy & Jillian, Bob & Emily, and Becky & Gary/fam, weren't there. It sure seemed like a skimpy Thanksgiving without so much family around. It was smaller than our regular Sunday dinners. The odd thing was that we had pineapple upside-down cake as one of our desserts. It's not often that we have something other than pie for dessert for T-day, so this was strange. It must have been a pregnancy thing for me, because I think I was the only one who ate a piece that day, and the rest was eaten on the following Sunday, I think.


Billy & Jillian's sealing the next day had the rest of the family together, though still without Becky & Gary (they'd gone to the Bailey's annual Branson T-day trip). Billy & Jillian were sad that they weren't there, but Billy had been forewarned. If Becky hadn't been pregnant with Scarlett last year, Becky & Gary wouldn't have been at their wedding either. Anyway, so Grandma got to be there for their sealing, which was fantastic. It was neat to be in the temple with so much family, as it should be. Afterwards, my family was trying to take pictures like crazy, and Jillian's family didn't make such a big deal of it. It was weird to me. So, yeah, it's not a traditional WEDDING-wedding, but it's still just as important. Her family did still help set up a reception luncheon thing, but they weren't around for any special day photo shoot. Billy & Jilly are broke anyway, so it's not like they had a professional photographer, fancy dress, or anything. I guess I'm just saying that her family could have acted more like it was a special day, rather than just showing up for the sealing and food. (But, with her extended family that did come down, I didn't see Billy for another week and a half because they were spending so much time with her family, so maybe they did do some celebrating?)


So yeah, grandma was in town, we had a great thanksgiving, and billy & jillian got sealed. Yay!

Halloween 08

I did tell you that my blog wouldn't be updated very often because I'm on facebook more than blogger right? That said, let me blog about the last three months...if I can remember it all.



So Halloween went well. We went trick or treating with Bryan & Tara, some of Sam's coolest friends EVER. If I had friends like that from High School, I wouldn't be so desperate to hang out with my family all the time, I think. (It's weird talking about Halloween when it's the middle of January.) Point is, it was great fun. Sam refused to dress up like a chef if I was to be an oven (bun in the oven. Get it?). He didn't like the inuendoes. I saw pictures on facebook of one of my friends. He dressed up like a chef, and his wife (due the same time as me) had the T-shirt with the oven & bun picture. It was so cute, and I showed Sam, but he still refused. He said Eric, the friend, was a brave man. When I mentioned it to Eric, he said that he had needed some convincing to wear it too. When I would suggest other ideas to Sam, he declined and didn't seem to understand that we're a family and it's utterly cute to dress up as a theme. Turns out, he did end up dressing like a bumble bee, I was a ladybug, and so was Melanie. Ours were hastily put together costumes from what we had. Sam had a huge yellow snow jacket, and Melanie had gotten some bug hats for her 1st birthday. She'd already torn off one of the antennaes, but Sam wore the hat and the jacket and made it work. I wore the ladybug hat she'd gotten, red shirt and some black pajama pants that were still kinda fitting. Melanie just wore last year's costume, and it fit much better and looked tons cuter when we stuffed the back with some grocery bags.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

It's a girl!

So I haven't scanned any of my ultrasound photos in, but I will announce that it's a girl. As much as I'm always wishing for a boy, it doesn't make a difference with the DNA. Sam & I have suspected all along that it would be a girl, so I've been contemplating some girls' names for a while. I like Celia a lot and I've almost settled on it, but still want to give Sam an opportunity for input. It's similar to what I did with Melanie. He offered input (Ruth), but it turned out to be Melanie's middle name because he otherwise had no preference. We tried to implement another of my family names like Aurelia, but it didn't go with Ruth. So, this time, we may end up with Celia (not a family name) and try a middle name that is a family name. Family names suggested have been Vernessa, Lucinda, Colleen, Lois, Kathleen, Clarice, and Elsa. I like Elsa too, but someone in my ward JUST had a baby and named her Elsa. I would find that very awkward unless we move out before I deliver. It's like in the other San Bernardino wards when 3 girls were named Emma within months of one another. It's tacky--even though they've all 3 moved to different areas now (Utah, Idaho, and the other in CA still I think). So Elsa will probably be for later, but not for this time. And Vernessa you may say should be Vanessa, but there really is an "r" in it. Wild, I know, but it's family and my grandma seems really keen on seeing that one live on. My sister does wild extraordinary names like Daphne, so maybe she'll pick it up instead. I do like Clarice, but Sam says it's still too close to the era of "Hannibal" and the line where he creepily says, "Hello, Clarice." Give it up! It's rated R and by the time she's old enough to have heard of it, it'll only be adults talking about it. Even with the crowd we hang with, I doubt anyone will give her grief about it, much less us because it is family and was around before the movie came out!

Thus is my rant on names and congratulations on having girl #2!

Friday, September 12, 2008

Atlanta

So with all the hurricanes going about, our trip to Atlanta we expected to be more rainy than anything. As it turned out, because it was all conference and one day of play, we really only saw the inside of our hotel, and it was reasonably sunny outside. Part of the reason is that I ended up with pink-eye (again? yes, again.) and the condition makes you so sensitive to light, I couldn't wear my contacts and I don't have prescription sunglasses on purpose (because I always wear contacts), going outside would have been torture. It was hard enough being in a dark room watching a TV screen. Though my eyes watered often, it was hard to stay focused without getting a headache. I'm just glad Sam let me sleep as long as he did. I think it really helped.

We left Melanie with my sister and my mom where she ended up with a terrible rash that I've been trying to soothe for the last 5 days. She's had yeast infections before, and since the rash ointment isn't working on it's own, we're using the additional cream from the prior infections. It's calmed it down a bit, but for goodness sakes it's so persistent. Sam and I bought a potty top for the toilet before we left and let her sit on it a couple times. When I hear Melanie getting gassy, I ask if she wants to go to the toilet. She says, "Poop" and runs to the toilet for me to take off her diaper and let her on the toilet. She loves taking the toilet paper and putting it in the toilet. Though I haven't established a routine of going at a particular time (after nap, every hour, after dinner, before bedtime, whatever), it seems to work for me for now. She's actually gone poop once and pee twice. Yay! Either way, she's comfortable sitting on the toilet, and if she enjoys it enough, maybe she'll train herself enough to where I'm not buying a case of diapers once/month.
With a newborn on the way, my diaper purchases will be increasing as it is, but to buy only one instead of 2 cases would be much more preferable.