Last Night

As I went to bed last night, I reached over to my nightstand to turn off the lamp and found a little green sticky note. Katie had been drawing pictures and leaving notes all over the place yesterday and it kind of exasperated me because she used about 50 of them before I caught her. She also exasperated me yesterday by not listening the first 5 times I would tell her to do something. Oh and she wanted to take her puppy (stuffed animal) in the car but we couldn't find Kyle's so we had said no animals in the car so of course that led to a meltdown by both of them...so once again, exasperated. I know there were more times - it seemed like we really struggled yesterday to just relax and enjoy the day. Despite all of the meltdowns and exasperation the note said, "You are the best mom evr." My heart melted.

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The Weigh-In

Today was my weigh-in at the doctor's office. I was kind of dreading it because honestly I have cheated on this diet every day (except today) for the past week. Just a little cheating here and there and a lot of cheating sometimes, like last Friday night when I didn't have time to eat before heading to Bible Study. We ate a delicious chicken cordon bleu casserole, green beans wrapped in (my favorite) bacon (sorry Jen, but everything IS better with bacon), broccoli salad, again with bacon, yum. Oh and cheesecake. Again. So that was last Friday and that pretty much kicked off my week of cheating. The rest of the cheating was limited to rice cakes, fritos and rice krispie treats...that is, until last night when I stopped to fill up my car next to a Mexican food restaurant and I couldn't get that fajita meat smell out of my brain. Even an hour and a half later, I could still smell that meat. And I gave in. I did okay. I did skip the rice and beans and only ate one tortilla. But I did eat some chips and queso. Oh drat, I did put beans on some chips too. Forgot about that. So you get the idea. I really didn't do that well this week. But, the amazing thing is - I still lost 2 pounds! I was shocked. This diet works so well that I am a believer and I am mentally back in the game.

Some friends have asked what it is exactly. I'm on the Ideal Protein diet. If you look it up on the internet you'll basically get the idea that it's a really strict high-protein, low carb diet. But, you can only do it under medical supervision, so they make sure that you are getting the extra nutrients that you are leaving out of your food intake. In fact, my nutritionist who was new to the job last week mistakenly allowed me to purchase some food that I'm not supposed to have until I've lost 85% of my goal. So, I'm blaming those sea salt and vinegar ridges for making me crave carbs this past week! Well, that and my weak self-control.

So I'm down 10.2lbs from where I started on September 9th. Hooray!

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Sick again...

I thought we were over Kyle's illness last week. Apparently he didn't really get over it or he got another virus on top of it. Last week when he went back to school on Monday, he had another episode so I called the nurse. She asked if I had tried immodium, which I hadn't, so I gave him some on Tuesday and sent him back to school. He said his tummy still hurt, but his bottom didn't! I kept him on a diet of rice cakes, applesauce, bread, bananas, etc for three more days as well as giving him a 1/2 tablet of immodium each morning. By Thursday night it was evident that he was super hungry and ready to eat anything he could get his hands on. No complaints on Friday, no immodium on Friday and no loose stool on Friday. Saturday was any other day. He ate normally and we even went for a bike ride. He was so proud and said, "I'm really good at this bike!"

Sunday morning I awoke to "Mommy, my tummy REALLY hurts!" I told him to go to the restroom and I hear him struggling to get his clothes off and his cries for help so I go in there just in time to see him puke all over the floor I had mopped the day before (had to get that in there because it happens so infrequently that I need to make sure everyone knows that I did clean my bathroom this weekend - ha!). And the diarrhea starts all over again.

Needless to say, I finally took him into the doctor this morning. It could be a parasite (but she is doubtful since our little friend in carpool had it last week as well) so we get to collect stool samples - wow, twice in one year. But basically she said keep doing what you are doing - bland diet. On the advice of a friend (and a couldn't hurt from the doctor), I added in some florastor kids to his yogurt today to see if the probiotic can help rebalance the enzymes in his gut and help him get better.

As far as my diet has been going this week, I definitely did better last week. I think the comment from the nutritionist about not having to do everything to the letter of the law relaxed me a little too much because I have given in a few too many times. Friday night I didn't have time to get my meal together before heading off to Bible study so I ended up eating a delicious chicken cordon bleu casserole that my friend Carrie made for us...as well as a piece of cheesecake my friend Jen brought. I was good and made a broccoli salad, but it did have sugar in the dressing so that was a no-no too, but it was so good. Other than that, I've been eating pretty much on plan with a few bites here and there of things I really shouldn't be eating. I'll be happy if I lose one pound this week. But I'd be a lot happier if it were more than that!

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So Worth It.

If you read yesterday's post then you know I cheated on my diet. But you know what? I still LOST 8.2lbs this week!!!! The nutritionist at my doctor's office asked me for advice I could give her other patients because I did so well this week. Aw, little ol' me?

I'm not expecting anything near that next week since this was the first week, but at least it's a great start. The other thing is, I got Kyle's stomach bug last night so everything I ate yesterday vacated the premises by midnight last night. Luckily I was able to calm things down with some medication and was able to go to work today. But, I didn't eat the food I was supposed to today because I was worried I might get sick again. So I ate some soy crisps, rice cakes and two peanut butter crackers. All carbs, but it got me through the day and I feel fine now.

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Just a Sliver...

Well, I did it - I cheated. I had NO intention of eating anything but my own food today, but what should it be at work when I show up? Pot-Luck - for a birthday. And I was actually pretty good, but I was also REALLY BAD. For starters, I didn't even bother to look at the food that wasn't green. I pulled out my salad, dumped lemon juice on it and then headed over to pick a few pieces of broccoli out of the broccoli salad to dump on top of it. Then I got a small spoonfull of cabbage (covered in cole slaw dressing of course) and dumped that on my salad. Then I shook it all together and ate it. I decided to forego my planned entree of chicken soup and had some brisket instead. I decided I can have my soup for dinner instead of cooking tonight. I got out of there without the chicken salad, the croissants and all the other yummy looking things that I shouldn't be eating. I decided to head back to my office but I did tell my mom - when you cut that cheese cake, I want just a sliver. In my mind I was picturing about 2 bites. What she brought back to me was more like 10 bites. And as I was licking my spoon I said to her, I probably just undid EVERYTHING that I have worked so hard for this week. And you know what? It as WORTH IT! And if you don't think any cheesecake could be that good, you haven't been to Bella Cibo.

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Feeling accomplished

I didn't really accomplish anything other than sticking to the diet, but for me, that's huge!

Last night I stuck by my guns and decided NOT to meet my friends at our regular Mexican food restaurant, Mama Don'tEatUs, as Kyle affectionately calls it. But I had to meet them there later to head over to the Brad Paisley concert. So I waited an hour past when they were going and then met up with them. Unfortunately they were still finishing up and even offered me some food and hey, by the way, don't you want a drink? Um, not today but thanks! I did it - I sat there and drank a water and didn't even attempt to reach toward that basket of chips. I was so proud of myself. Then I went to the concert and while everyone else drank, I happily sipped on my $4 bottled water. I was really craving something salty, so I had my friends look out for pickles for me, but they weren't selling them. And I survived.

Today we headed over to Derek's parents' house to celebrate his mom's birthday. We went out for Chinese food which actually turned out to be a really good restaurant choice for me. I had steamed shrimp and broccoli. Ok, I did dip my fork into the hoisin sauce a few times, but considering that possible teaspoon amount of sugar is all I have had four days, I'd say I'm doing quite well. Yay me!

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What a Week!

Whew! The past two weeks have flown by. And this week has been just a little nutty. As you may (or may not) know, I started both of my jobs this week.

I dropped the kids off for carpool on Tuesday morning and came back home to finish getting ready. I was able to do some dishes, make the bed and clean up the living room before heading out the door at 8:01am. I gave myself a little extra time because I didn't want to be late. But, someone decided to get into a little fender bender (not me!) on the freeway which blocked 3 lanes...so, at 8:37am I called my boss (mom!) to let her know that I wasn't going to be there by 9am. I strolled into the office at 9:30. Ugh. Not the best way to start your day. At least I know the boss well! I was able to stay late to make up the 30 minutes so all was fine.

Wednesday was my first day of class with my new 3 year olds. I had a slight suspicion things were not going to go well since Kyle woke up with a sore throat and a tummy ache. He barely ate anything and had some trouble on the toilet before we left. I thought maybe he had accidentally had something he was allergic to, so I didn't think much of it. As we neared Spring Cypress (about 1 mile from school), I hear, "Mom, I'm throwing up!" and that he did. All over himself and all over the carseat. Gross. The good news is, that finally convinced Katie that she could be dropped off in the morning car line to walk herself to her class. Unfortunately I couldn't just turn around and take him home because I had to walk Amy into her class. I called my boss to let her know that once I could locate Derek (who was on a conference call at home), I'd get him to pick Kyle up. I drove over to take Amy to class, changed Kyle's clothes and ended up walking into the office to let her know that I was just going to drive him home anyway and I'd be back as soon as I could. She was very understanding. Lucky for us, MDO doesn't start until 9am and this all happened at 8am. So I got Derek on the phone and he met us at Target where we switched Kyle to a booster seat - I think we may end up retiring the Britax after this episode - and they headed home. He proceeded to have diarrhea all day long, poor thing. And I made it back to work at 8:55am. I was not nearly as prepared as I had hoped for my day. I didn't get the copies made that I wanted. I didn't get some things posted that I wanted, but in the grand scheme of things it was fine.

My kids were for the most part good. It will take a couple of weeks to get used to the rules and routine, but I was happy that they were excited about sitting for a story and singing some silly songs with me. There will be some challenges, but there are some adorable little personalities to make up for those too.

But, Kyle is still sick, so I've had to take two sick days - one at each school this week. Not exactly the way I wanted to start my jobs. But they will be there next week and I can start all over again.

Now for the other craziness of my week: I decided to start a doctor-supervised weight-loss program on Wednesday. Supposedly I will start to feel better after three days, so that should be tomorrow. My fingers are crossed because I have been fighting a cold while doing this so I don't know whether the diet or the cold is making me feel so lousy. I have almost constant headaches (although I don't have one right now, so maybe I'm on the upswing) and about 3pm I feel like I've been hit by a truck. I've been assured that the headaches will stop and that I will have more energy after my body gets used to the insanely lower amount of calories that I am taking in. So I'm learning a new way to eat and I haven't had any sugar or carbs (besides a strict list of vegetables) since Wednesday. The strange thing is, I don't crave anything sweet - it's the salty crunchy stuff that I miss. I'm definitely going to have to buy some soy crisps this week so I have something to crunch on besides dill pickles. I go back in on Wednesday to weigh-in and get my next batch of food, so I'll post my progress then.

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