I Told the Witch Doctor . . .

OK, not a witch doctor.  :-)  A week ago today, we went to see a woman who'd been highly recommended to us in regards to helping the kids out with their allergies, eczema and asthma.  Tisha began her career as a nurse, then went on to get her Master Herbalist Degree.  Um, I don't really know what that means, but one can't argue with results.  One family we know, who's children had such severe allergies that in Sacrament they were passed a special rice cracker, since there were too many allergens in bread . . . one child was on no less than 10 different medicines at any given time.  Through use of diet and herbs, these children are thriving and living pretty normal lives with minimal medical intervention in their day to day lives.  I was so sick of slathering steroid creams and other chemicals on Ellie's skin (sometimes multiple times a day) and her still waking up in the middle of the night crying because her legs itched so bad.  Right before going to see Tisha, Ellie's eczema had spread to not only her hands, legs and feet (her feet felt like reptile skin, they were so rough and hard), and was now covering her chest, stomach and sides, and creeping its way around her back.  This is no way for an active two year old to live, and it broke my heart.  Add to that Annie's coughing and asthma (not to mention those expensive ER trips) and I was ready to try something better than what we were getting at the doctor's office -- which all seemed to be treating the symptoms (and not that well, since nothing was under control) and nothing was addressing the problems.  Ellie and Isaac had both recently finished some antibiotics as well, so the yeast in their bodies were causing all kinds of problems (aggravates Ellie's eczema and they both get yeast-diaper infections that have to be treated with prescription anti-fungals.  Yeast in your system also causes sugar/carb cravings as that's what the yeast feeds on).

So, we met with Tisha last Tuesday.  I already mentioned the two week allergen/yeast cleansing diet she put us on.  No yeast, dairy or sugar.  Also off limits: fruits (except pineapple and citrus), tomatoes, peppers and potatoes, processed foods (as much as possible).  And for me, eggs.  (Although I've cheated on that one -- no way I'm making dairy-free, sugar-free whole wheat waffles every morning and making a completely different meal for myself!)
We were all put on some herbs -- each of the kids are on some different things.  There's a line called Doctor Christopher's that makes decent tasting liquid herb complexes for children (their Kid-E line).  The girls also take another brand that's called "Yeastie Beasties" that's designed to help the diet clean out the yeast from their guts.  For myself I bought ground herbs in little baggies, mixed the prescribed amounts, and packed my own capsules, that I take with each meal.  I don't take very many compared to most people doing the cleansing diet (due to the fact I'm nursing a baby), but I'm still getting amazing benefits just from the diet.

Only three days in, I noticed a decrease in Ellie's eczema.  On day five it was nearly gone.  And this morning, the last stubborn patch behind her knees is gone.  I have spent so much time and money and effort in trying to treat Ellie's skin, I have been beyond amazed at our results.

Annie says she doesn't cough as much.  And feels better.

None of us (that I've noticed) have gotten the big burst of added energy that a lot of people who've done the diet have told me about, but I know for many this doesn't come until the middle of the second week.

The most amazing thing has been Ellie's skin.  The second though -- weight loss.  Holy cow y'all, I have dropped NINE pounds in less than a week.  You have to understand, I'm not a fan of crazy or crash diets.  Sure you drop a lot, but I don't consider it healthy to eat all lemons and wheat grass or something.  But I've been eating -- as much as I want, and I'm dropping weight like I never have before.  My cravings are rapidly diminishing, and my appetite is easily cut in half (I think if you know you can't eat any of the crap, you just aren't as hungry anymore) :-).  I eat a lot of veggies (we went through one of those boxes of spinach from Costco in about 4 days), chicken, whole wheat tortillas, quinoa, whole wheat noodles, green smoothies (spinach, almond milk, pineapple, frozen banana (we can have up to one banana a day) and some ice.)  And drink LOTS of water -- but that's not unusual for me.  While nursing I tend to drink about 100-130 ounces a day.  I am also supposed to drink raspberry tea every day . . . but I think it's kinda nasty tasting, so I'm not as great about that.

I think the trick now will be once we transfer back to a more normal diet.  The problem is all of us have at least some allergy to milk -- but man, I love cheese!  Tisha also advises that one should actually always avoid dairy and sugar . . . but she admitted to my sister that if you stick with the guidelines about 70% of the time, you shouldn't have any big problems.  (Things like peppers, tomatoes, fruit will become 'okay' again).  I want to transition some of what we've learned this last week and keep it going in our home as just our normal diet.  But then again, I really, really want a York Peppermint Patty . . . so we'll see how it goes . . . :-)

Annie's Prayer Part 2

My (saintly) parents took my two eldest children today for about 7 hours or so.  (Greg and I stayed home with Isaac and got lots done.  Well, I read a book and did some dishes.  Greg replaced rotors on his truck, changed oil in both vehicles and vacuumed out my van.  He possibly wins on the productive front.)  Anyway, the girls were excited to go up by Logan to see the elk at Hardware Ranch.  If you've never heard of it, it's a large working ranch where you get on big horse drawn sleighs, and they take you out into a big field where lots (usually) of elk are just hanging out and eating (the strategically planted food).  This is one part tourism draw and one part giving the animals some easy food during Winter.
They were also getting to meet up with Aunt Lacy in Logan too, another perk of the trip.
The girls were so excited -- until they got up there and found that it was closed for the season.  They had the last sleigh ride on Monday.  They still got to see some elk from farther away, and then Grandma and Grandpa took them out to lunch and to the Dollar Store to buy a 'prize', and on the way home went to an airplane museum in Ogden.  Everyone still had a lot of fun, although my father is possibly still grumbling about driving all morning just to eat at Rumbi's.
Still, the girls excitedly told me all about the airplanes they saw, and how "hoog" (Ellie's way of saying huge) they were. 
But it made me laugh when Annie was praying tonight and said, "Thank you we got to go and see the elk.  Please bless that next year we will remember that we have to go before March to ride the sleigh and see the elk up closer . . . "

An update on our dairy/yeast/sugar-free diet.  Going pretty well actually.  We're all eating food we really enjoy, and trying our best to ignore the food we really, really enjoy.  :-)  Ellie's eczema is very quickly looking the best it ever has . . . it's been amazing how much it's cleared up already.  Another happy side effect of all this healthy eating -- I'm now down five pounds since Wednesday.  This is helping me to make up any lost ground in our Biggest Loser competition -- that whole (horrible) month of February really worked out to be useless on the weight loss front, so this gets me back in the game . . .

At Least One of Us is Mobile . . .

Health update:  Greg and I are pretty much on the mend.  Annie is off on a preschool field trip.  That kid could not possibly be any more excited about FINALLY getting to leave the house.  I can only imagine how she feels . . . :-)  The two little kids are just having a really rough go of it.  It's breaking my heart (and seriously messing with my sleep), as they wake up nearly hourly throughout the night (and inconveniently, not on the hourly same schedule).  They sound and look just horrible.

But there's one thing I've kept meaning to mention, that I just keep forgetting.  Isaac's mobile now.  He chose this last three weeks of serious illness to really get his butt in gear, and you can't leave the kid in one place anymore and expect him to still be there when you get back.  It isn't really crawling, per se, and it ain't pretty, but that kid can get to anything he wants to now.  A week or so ago, I set him down with some toys in the middle of the front room, and went in to dishes.  Before I even had the dishwasher unloaded, I heard a happy grunt from behind me, and there was Isaac, all the way across the front room and at the edge of the kitchen, happily showing off his forward progression.  For awhile it was a bunch of rolling and wiggling to get where he wants to go in a roundabout way, but now it is full on forward progression.  He spent the whole morning while I was working out, happily moving himself from one side of the room to the other.  Finally interrupting my work out completely (which I was secretly grateful for) when he landed himself smack dab in between my legs.  He can also spend huge chunks of time just sitting there.  All proudly, and a tiny bit wobbly, but upright for a good thirty minutes or so at a time.  Sitting-mobile Isaac is a lot happier as an active participant in life -- but, then again, I can no longer leave the room with any kind of expectation of him being in the same place when I get back.  So, there are trade offs :-)

But at least one of us is getting some exercise.  As for me, I'm just getting back into it after a several week break of craziness and non-fitness.  Am I the only one who watches Jillian Michael thinking, "That doesn't look that hard . . ." and then attempts it for 18 minutes and nearly dies and is grateful when the baby suddenly shows up under their feet and they 'have' to stop to take care of the baby?  It really doesn't look that bad, then you're doing it and thinking, "Holy crap?!  There are muscles there?!"  But, I figure my body needs a few days to get back into it.  I am finally feeling ready to get back into a healthier lifestyle.  My Biggest Loser competition has obviously fallen by the wayside, and I have put back on 1.8 lbs from my lowest weight, but I figure that since my baby has been dealing with RSV for TWENTY THREE FREAKING DAYS now, I'm not going to beat myself up over that.  I keep thinking that by nursing around the clock I should be burning enough calories to keep losing weight . . . but then I remember that my stress-coping-skills have pretty much bottomed out in the 'constantly eat Hershey Kisses' zone, and it becomes clear why I'm not losing.

I figure I'll just follow Isaac's example, and just get moving nonstop, and I'll get back on track in no time . . . 

Things I Love

Dear Kohls,

I love you times infinity.  Saving $129 on an $8.29 purchase made my day.  And two dollars of that Star had to pay me back, since she bought a $30 sweater that cost two bucks.  I'm also very excited about my new $70 running shoes I got for $17.

Love,
Shopaholic Hilary

---

Dear Pretty New Treadmill,

This really feels like the start of something beautiful.  Right next to my bed, your presence is going to be a constant reminder to get my butt in gear.  Plus, my iPod looks so pretty up on your console.

Love,
Soon-to-be-uber-fit Hilary

 ---

Dear Mechanically Inclined Husband,

Thanks for putting together aforementioned treadmill while I checked facebook and updated my blog.

Your most admiring wife,
Smitten Hilary

--

Dear Two Youngest Children,

Thanks for almost being over all your various illnesses.  Although, for feeling better, you're still awfully grumpy.  But your ever-present moodiness today has made me especially grateful for the hours that come after 8PM.  I have a greater appreciation for night time.  Thanks for being in bed and asleep (although, I guess I really owe your Dad on that one) by the time I got back from shopping with your Aunts and Grandma.  Let's get back to sleeping all night and not being tiny terrors during the day.  It'll be good for all involved.

Love,
Your loving, but-having-kids-scream-at-her-all-day-is-starting-to-get-old, Mommy

--

Dear Oldest Child,

You've been pretty well awesome.  Work a little harder on that whole not-smacking-your-obnoxious-little-sister-thing, and you'll pretty much be the most amazing four year old on planet Earth.

Love,
Don't-know-what-I'd-do-without-you Mom

Well, Last Night Sucked

So, Isaac woke up every two hours.

That I could deal with.

Ellie, on the other hand, woke up crying every single time she coughed.  With RSV and possible pneumonia.  That's a lot of coughing.  For the first part of the night, she'd wake up freaked out, Greg would go rushing in and comfort her back to sleep, sitting on the floor next to her bed until she was sound asleep again.  Then he'd do it all again 15 minutes later.  I finally suggested just bringing her to bed with us.  Greg claimed he'd never be able to sleep with her in bed.  I stared at him incredulously, "And we're sleeping now?"  So, he brought her in.  She heated our whole bed with her 102 degree body. She managed to wake up about every 5 minutes or so, suddenly opening her eyes and whimpering, "I don't want to cough," and then going into a coughing fit that ranged from just a few coughs to a long string of horribleness.  But then all three of us would pretty much instantly fall back asleep as soon as she stopped coughing.  It was long, and awful and sad, but by the light of day she seems a bit better.  I'm hoping now that we've had 12 hours of fevers, things will get better.  Of course, Isaac ran his 102 degree fever the night before his emergency room trip . . .

In other news, I shocked myself at this week's weigh in.  After a two day hospital stay where I was barely able to shower, and I was tethered with a 10 foot oxygen tube around Isaac's crib, you can imagine that my working out fell by the wayside.  I went from working out 6 days a week, with some pretty awesome intensity, to sitting in a rocking chair for two straight days.  It must've been the stress though, 'cause when I weighed in I was actually down 1.4 lbs for the week.  I was pleasantly surprised, to say the least.  Of course, now I'm on day 6 of being way off my workout routine and stellar diet and this morning I found that 1.4 pounds, plus another 10 ounces of its closest friends, found their way back to my midsection.  Sigh.  I decided today was the day to get back into the routine, so after a healthy breakfast I put in an aerobics video, then promptly quit it about 7 minutes later.  I couldn't do it.  I could barely move.  I forgot how tired and sore and tired my body is.  (Did I mention tired?)  And I'd forgotten about my own 100 degree temperature last night.  I think I needed to remind myself there's a time and a place -- and two sick kids, a complete lack of sleep for nearly a week now, and a possible oncoming illness -- probably not the time for kick boxing.  I'll focus on the healthy diet thing, and just some walking, and we'll work up to working out . . .

Loser-ish Update

I'm down 4.5 pounds.  Woo hoo!
I'm eating pretty well, nothing crazy or fadish, just good foods that are good for my body.
I'm working out 6 days a week.  Usually workout videos, anywhere from 20-50 minutes.  I also occasionally throw on my ipod and dance around like crazy, something my kids find hilarious.  (As would anybody else, but ain't nobody else getting to see that.)
And I'm feeling good.
Even if I'm in second place.

In other news, my kids are still kinda crazy.  The girls are grumpy and ornery and possibly possessed.  They're fighting a lot, and I'm not sleeping much, which is not a good combo.
Isaac is sick.  Poor kid is dripping green gunk from his nose and eyes, and he's not too happy about it.  He pretty much insists on being held during all his waking hours.  And he's not sleeping much.  Add to this, Ellie follows me around the house, grasping at my legs, and whining, "I need you Mom, I need you . . . "  Something she says almost as often as she says, "I'm hungry Mom, I'm hungry!"  Which means I have two kids grasping at me crying, while having to prepare something for Little Miss Growth Spurt something new every hour or so.  I'm so sick of my kitchen. 
When Greg comes home from work, I pretty much throw the kids at him and run into a vacant room for 20 minutes of nobody. freaking. touching. me. 

Have I mentioned I'm really, really done with winter?


And how glad I am that I'm trying to live by a 'this is but a short season' mantra right now?

Losers

It's on again.

Family Biggest Loser Competition.

Well, a competition between two of my sisters and myself.  We voted Talina off the 'Biggest Loser' island, 'cause she's too skinny.  But the rest of us are having a race to lose the first 20 lbs.  My baby weight is not getting the message that I'm so over it, and it looks like I'll need to evict said baby weight by force.

I've been exercising really well -- my body is a nice mild soreness all day.  I don't know what raises my heart rate more though -- the working out, or the listening to the baby cry the entire time I'm so cruelly ignoring him in his exersaucer. 

I'm working on eating better.  My biggest problem right now is that I need to eat like every 2-3 hours (this is my norm when I'm nursing a baby), but I have absolutely NO patience for eating.  I'll eat while standing and cleaning and I'll only get half way through but just be done with eating.  Like it's taking up too much of my time or something.  But, I'm hungry again just a few hours later or less, and I live off of things I can eat quickly. Which isn't always the healthiest.  (Except fruit -- I need more fruit.) 

What are your favorite workouts?

Favorite healthy snacks?

Any ideas on how to sabotage my sisters?

Forfeited: Biggest Loser

So, I've officially forfeited from our Biggest Loser: Family Edition competition.

Dramatic weight loss not being all that desirable in the first trimester and all. (Um, not that it was much of an issue -- I haven't been making much of a showing in this particular competition.) And, my scale's still broken. But mainly that first one.

My sister Lacy says that my ability to procreate doesn't get me out of the Thanksgiving dishes though. I'm still trying to argue that a woman in my delicate condition should be allowed to just sit next to the winner and help direct the dish washing from the comfort of an upholstered chair. Lacy, being quite cruel, informed me that she will sit back and play with my children while I'm elbow deep in dish water.

Star, Talina or Cody -- one of you needs to do something drastic (possibly cut off an arm) and kick her trash at this competition. Do we really want Lacy lording over us all Thanksgiving Day?! You know she'll be demanding foot rubs . . .

I say we start this competition again, sometime end of next summer. You know, when I'm dramatically losing baby weight at an unprecedented level. We should compete for cash next time too . . .

'Tis the Season . . .

For parties and candies and black cats and costumes and everything orange.

Halloween is just fun . . . Annie and Ellie are so excited about dressing up and their various costumes (yes, they both have multiple costumes). And they think all this candy is a pretty good deal too.

Annie wore one of her new Halloween shirts to preschool on Tuesday (our compromise, since I told her she wasn't allowed to wear her costume until Thursday to class). And Ellie literally dove into frame for the pictures.
Then she got to wear her Cinderella costume today to dance class. And Ellie ran straight into the picture and started posing too. I don't think we have to worry about this one being camera shy!






I put some mascara on Annie this morning as part of her Cinderella costume. Dang that girl has long lashes . . . she'd blink and I had to keep wiping mascara out of her eyebrows! I'm hoping that she inherited her father's brains for math and science along with his ridiculously long lashes!


In other news, my sister Lacy is starting to text-harass me, being all, "What's your weight? Why haven't you weighed in yet? What was your loss this week?" for our Biggest Loser: Family Edition. She is not giving me much credit for my 'scale is broken so how can I possibly weigh in accurately' excuse. I'm working on some better excuses to get her off my back . . .

Loser?

I know it sounds like a lame excuse, but my scale isn't working, so I have no idea how I'm stacking up in our Biggest Loser: Family Edition contest. (I mean, I have an idea how I'm doing comparatively (Seriously Lacy, you're down over 10 lbs!? That's inhuman!), but without an operating scale I can't actually measure my progress (or lack thereof) against my siblings.)

Is a broken scale grounds for no-fault forfeiting?

Loserish Update

So, a few of you possibly noticed (and mentioned) that I made no mention of last week's "Biggest Loser Family Edition" results. Um, yeah.

I may or may not have weighed in at exactly what I started this contest at last month. This may or may not have had anything to do with a steady diet of M&Ms. My sister Lacy may be rubbing in her nearly 10 lb. weight loss with reckless abandon, and threatening to eat off of no fewer than 3 plates at Thanksgiving.

Let's never speak of this again.
(Unless I do better this week, of course!)

Biggest Loser Update

So, week two of our family Biggest Loser Competition has (thankfully) come to an end.

Um, yeah . . . it didn't go so well. I'm up. But just a little teeny bit, and still under where I started the competition. I'm blaming the fact my kitchen is torn apart and I avoid the construction areas of the home at all costs, so we've been seeing a little too much of our good friend Little Caesar this week. And it doesn't help that, as previously mentioned, my main stress coping techniques basically consist of eating M&Ms.

I'm starting to get the feeling that I may not be the one lounging and mocking during the dishwashing after Thanksgiving dinner. But, none of my siblings should get too overconfident yet, as I'm not out of the running . . . and since I have not yet received a single gloating text or phone call, and not even an update, I'm thinking nobody is too 'on fire'.

This competition isn't over yet . . . I went to the store tonight and just totally restocked my produce drawer with a ton of fresh veggies and fruits (um, and bought some mini M&Ms, crap! It's an addiction.)


Oh, and unrelated to my horribly poor showing at the contest, Fox 13 finally broadcast that story about Greg's Grandpa. That's my cute little family there in the beginning . . .

http://www.fox13now.com/videobeta/watch/?watch=93e18a3a-9bd4-4575-9f1a-f8c82a83879f

Biggest Loser Update

Weigh-in isn't until Wednesday, but I'm already dreading it.

Until this weekend, I was feeling pretty good about things. I was even down almost another pound in only three days. Then it was Conference weekend. Which in my awesome families means lots of good food. Including, but not limited to, amazing garlic bread from Costco, root beer floats, birthday cake, absolutely horrifyingly-bad-for-you-but-so-tasty breakfasts, and more ice cream later on that day accompanying late night card games.

Add to that Ellie is still in a phase we have aptly named: Crazy. (Mixed with a side of Refusing to Sleep). Annie is three, therefore being obstinate. And a wrecking crew came today and poked holes in my ceilings, ripped out carpet pad and demolished my kitchen floor. And I now feel like I'm living inside a hurricane, what with all the fans and dehumidifiers running loudly throughout my house. I have to keep reminding myself not to shout into the phone when I'm having conversations with people not actually inside the wind tunnel. I'm trying to keep my children confined to parts of the house that are not being sucked and blown dry by large expensive equipment, or where floors are not torn up and exposing tack strips and bare, wet wood. They're getting a bit pissed about this. And bored. Did I mention our playroom is one of the rooms most affected?

I'm a tad stressed (although still focusing on the new kitchen floor I'll get out of this whole deal . . . and not the $500 deductible I'm trying hard to forget writing the check for earlier today). And I self medicate with M&Ms. This will not be a good weigh-in this week.

Not Quite the "Biggest Loser", but a Loser Nonetheless

Week one of our family "Biggest Loser" competition has come to an end.

Everyone lost weight (which makes me proud of my family, but a little concerned about the competition), including me. Which was actually kinda shocking to me, to find myself 1.8 lbs. less than last Wednesday, as my unstable hormones and moodiness the last week pretty much demanded at least one meal a day consist entirely of chocolate. Sometimes, with ice cream for dessert. Exercise was also kind of non-existent, as my mood was more of a 'lay in bed and wallow in self-pity' than 'go on a walk'. I made sure to eat breakfast though, preferably a high protein one. And I ate my fair share of fruits and veggies. My body, despite it's crankiness as of late, apparently decided to cut me a break and work with me on this one. And I still can't believe I lost nearly 2 lbs.

I'm excited to see what actual effort will produce this week though . . . cut out the M&Ms for lunch and I may drop another couple pounds!

Not everyone has reported in their exact weight to Lacy, keeper of the excel spreadsheet. But, I'm estimating I'm right about in the middle of the pack. Not quite the amazingness of Lacy's weight loss, but a loss nonetheless. I'm actually going into this next week very encouraged . . .

Pillow Talk

Annie had dance yesterday, and has since been walking around singing something that closely resembles the following tap song:

"Ellie the elf, sitting on a shelf, full of mischief as she can be.
Ellie the elf, all by herself, plays tricks they blame on me.
She takes scissors and cuts my curls, then she breaks poor Mommy's pearls.
When my Daddy dear tries to nap, takes my shoes and makes a tap, tap, tap . . ."

It's all very cute, and Annie thinks it is sooooo funny that the elf is named after her little sister. She is now referring to Ellie as an elf on occasion. Then laughing about it for like two minutes.

Anyway, last night Greg and I were getting ready for bed, and the song was totally stuck in my head. I started by humming it, but then I actually started singing the parts I could remember. At one point Greg (probably in an effort to get me to stop singing children's songs in bed) observed, "That's one evil elf, interrupting Daddy's nap."
"Um, in case you didn't notice, she also cut off all of Annie's curls and broke my pearls! I think tap dancing through Dad's nap is a fairly slight infraction . . ." I said. Plus, it's not like Dads can't sleep right through that . . . Greg can sleep in the middle of the day with both girls crying, crawling all over him, and screaming his name . . . and yet I can't have the TV on when he's ready to go to bed at night 'cause it 'keeps him awake.' Anyway, off topic.
Greg argued, "No way, messing with Dad's nap is by far the worst offense."
"Then cutting hair and breaking expensive jewelry? Whatever," I said, "either way, I think it's kind of the point of the song. This is obviously an evil goblin type creature, bent on destruction; not one of those sweet cookie making kind of elves."
"Ah, so like a Keebler elf."
"I have no particular elfen brand loyalty, I just like cookies. And any elf that makes me cookies is OK with me. There's no need to be a elf snob, Greg," I said mildly condescendingly.
And then my mind was stuck on cookies. I totally think I dreamed about cookie making elves last night, but the details are fuzzy by the light of day. (I also had another dream where I pinned my sister Star to the couch with my knee to her chest and told her that if she ever did that again, I would kill her. I don't know what happened that pissed me off so much, but I was fairly angry in my dream. Um, yeah. It was weird. Hi Star!!) So, last night I thought about asking Greg to go to the store to buy a package of the mint grasshopper cookies that the good tiny folks at Keebler make so well. (Even if the sanitary conditions inside a tree are questionable.) But between it being 11:30 at night, and having that stupid "Biggest Loser" competition going, he was off the hook. This time.

The Heat is On

My family has just instituted a new "Biggest Loser" contest.*

Weigh-ins: Wednesday mornings**

The Prize: Winner is excused from helping with dishes on Thanksgiving.

Bring it, baby. That is all the motivation I need.


*Due mainly to the fact that many of us have many of those same pounds to lose again. Oops.

** 'Cause there was much whining last time with it being on Monday mornings, right after the weekends, which are fundamentally harder on diets and therefore were discouraging for some of our weekend warriors. Also, we wanted the contest to end the day before Thanksgiving, so we could all guiltlessly gorge ourselves on carbs, as is the tradition and all.

Thump!

That sound you heard? That was me. Falling off the wagon.

Weird how you can go several weeks of eating well, feeling great and losing weight and then all the sudden eating a Snickers with Almonds seems like a good idea for lunch. There's some protein and omega 3's there though, right? Right?

I am blaming it on all this talk of exercise. :-)

I appreciate everyone's input. Bobbi, I've been really interested in P90X, being that I'm a sucker for all things infomercial. Upon reading up on it a little further though, I think I'm making it a goal to work up to being in shape enough to even attempt it. I think it would leave me a weak, sniveling pile of fetal-positioned-gelatinized-Hilary on my front room floor, and that would just be embarrassing, and possibly dangerous. :-) I'd really like to see myself get in shape enough to make a decent stab at this program though. Maybe I can ask for it for my birthday! (May 30th, mark your calendars now!) I don't want to necessarily go out and spend money on new equipment, but I have to admit I was intrigued by Jackie's suggestion of the portable pilates studio pictured below. Plus, according to her facebook status today, she's apparently back into her size 4 Lucky's, and if that's not a testimonial, I don't know what is! And at $30, we could swing the expense (given our awesome tax return which should be arriving any day).



So the plan for now is to try out this thingamajig when it arrives from Amazon. That and the Latin Cardio moves video I just picked up from the library. And I'm gonna make sure I do an ever increasing number of crunches and pushups each day. Turns out my ward does a resistance/strengthening workout three times a week at the Church. I could make that more of a priority. And my favorite exercise of all, laying down with Annie flying like Superman up on my feet . . . I really feel the burn after awhile, and there's no exercise I enjoy more. I'll continue to lug around my 15 lbs of Ellie wherever I go too, so that should help. And the carseat . . . if that's not weight training, I don't know what is! I'll keep walking the girls to all the local parks and chasing Annie around the grass. And we're in a tri-level house now, I'm doing more stairs than I ever have before (maybe that's why I've lost weight since we've moved in!) In a nutshell, I'm going to be more active. I'm going to try and do some form of 'formal' exercise for a decent period of time, 4-5 times a week. I haven't decided if I'm giving up sleep in the morning for this venture, or alone time with my husband in the evenings once the girls are asleep. And don't take it personal if I chose the latter honey, I just really miss sleep. All this is me working towards the goal of being able to get into the smallest jeans I own (unfortunately not size 4 Lucky's, I think I got them at ShopKo or something, but I feel just as hot in them) and to be ready to tackle P90X by my birthday in May. Wish me luck. Anyone who wants to stop by and work out with me, feel free!

Results . . .

So, my sister Lacy may not be allowed to ever officiate such a family contest again. She still hasn't let us know the final results. I think it's 'cause she wasn't in the running, and therefore lost interest. :-)

Here's what I've pieced together though. My Mom won. I came in second. The difference between us is .12% . . . see, I wasn't even exagerating, it was ridiculously close. Possibly even came down to the fact that my Mom cheated and had her colonoscopy just a few days before the final results were due. :-) We're pretty sure that Talina's come in third with Cody coming in fourth, but that not's final. We decided Cody may not be allowed to compete in weight loss competitions with us girls again. The kid completely ignored most of the contest until he had a few days off school and didn't eat pizza and fries for lunch four days in a row and was hit with the realization of, "Wow, I lost four pounds just by not eating complete crap for lunch." Then proceeded to drop like 5 more pounds in the next week or so with barely trying. Boys.

On the phone with Lacy and my Mom now . . . Mom, Hilary, Talina, Cody . . . we're all within a half a percentage point. Dad refuses to give his results, even though he did in fact lose weight. Star and Lacy both lost good, but were at a pretty steep disadvantage, as they'd both been consistently losing weight for months and had no big 'drop off' at the beginning. But actually, it was pretty much a perfect family weight loss competition, since every single person who did it lost weight. And we've decided that most of us want to keep going with this until our family vacation in May. We're planning on getting together on Saturday to go to Leatherby's to plan the next phase of our weight loss plan. Kinda ironic (or stupid, whatever.)

Workout Tips, Suggestions, Advice?

So, as far as working out . . . what works for you?

Your input is greatly needed . . .
Are you a gym person, or work out from home?

Mornings, afternoon, evenings?

What's your biggest obstacle?
(For me, it's time (which is just a matter of priorities really) . . . and not wanting to get my hair sweaty . . . is that lame or what?!)

Weights, cardio, core, strength training? What do you like best? What gets you the best results?

Can you recommend a favorite workout tape/DVD? I've been thinkin' of maybe some cardio/core latin dance video or something, but there's SO many out there. I've been checking them out from the library, but except for one or two that actually made it into the DVD player for a few minutes before Ellie puked on something or Annie pooped on something, most sit on my counter until I suddenly realize, "Crap!!! These were due yesterday!! I'm gonna spend $4 in fines for videos I never even tried!"

So, what works for you . . .

Still Waiting for Results . . .

So, I'm personally down 10.8 lbs in the last four weeks. But because my stinky 17-year old brother forget to weigh in before going to school, we're all stuck in limbo whilst waiting less-than-patiently for the final results. I wanna know if I won money! First, second, third and fourth place are going to be so ridiculously close it's seriously going to come down to whomever emptied their bladder the most this morning.

What really amazes me that is on top of the nearly 11 pounds I lost in the last month, I'm realizing that since Thanksgiving I am down a whopping 23 lbs. It was like the nursing finally kicked in and the weight started coming off, combine that with some actual real effort on my part and I am now 12 lbs less than where I started pregnancy with Ellie at. This means I've lost ALL my baby weight and then some. I'm actually 4 lbs. less than when I married Greg. I'm within 5 lbs. of the lowest weight I've ever been as an adult. And yet. I feel fat. I feel no thinner, despite the constant assurances of my mother and sisters (who are like contractually obligated to mention me looking thinner, as they know I've been losing weight.) I don't really notice it. I'm not really wearing different clothes yet (although I think if I got some of my smaller pants and shirts out I may actually find I can wear them). I did look at some family pictures from this summer and did notice my face is thinner (it darn well should be, I weighed like 30+ more pounds in those pictures, Ellie was only a few months old), but overall, I'm not noticing it. I think unless someone knows I'm losing weight, they probably wouldn't notice it either. Like I said, only my sisters and Mom seem to see it at all, and they're looking for it. Of course, I'm looking for it, and I'm not really seeing it. I don't think my husband's really noticed (probably too much of that 'love you no matter what' makes him more blind to the ups and downs). Shouldn't 20+ lbs be more noticeable?! Seems for every couple pounds I put on I have to pull out a box of bigger clothing . . . but 25 lbs down and nothing seems different.

A lot of this has to do with tone. Despite weighing less than when I got married, I don't think there's a snowball's chance of me fitting into my wedding dress (at least not without the help of some super amazing infomercial girdle I'm too cheap to buy). I don't think I can even wear most of the shirts or pants I could wear in 2004. I may be weighing less, but I'm not smaller. Just flabbier. I was fitter before, more toned, more muscle mass to count towards those pounds. I think part of the lack-of-joy in this weight loss is that as the weight has finally been coming off, my poor stomach seems to just be getting flabbier . . . it's like with the loss of the firmer, filling fat I'm left with more skin than I know what to do with. Stupid genetics leaving me with very un-elastic skin!

Of course, the answer to this is more exercise and strength training. I'm workin' on that . . .

Pregnancies, weight gains and losses . . . these things really do a number on your body. And mind.