Fat to fit Friday Patience and persistence

  Ugh. Ok. I lost a total of 4.5 lbs in September. The past two weeks I've been at a bit of a standstill. My computer is broken, my scale quit working and I've been in a bit of a funk. I turned 39 on the 1st and this was my first birthday without my mom. Once I had a good cry and got past my birthday, I started feeling better. I am amazed at how much better I feel.  I was really out of it and didn't want to to anything or go anywhere. I didn't keep my food journals or make any effort to work in extra exercise. I did try to limit my portions and eat high protein, high fiber foods. I also avoided bringing junk food into the house when I went to the grocery store. If it wasn't there, I couldn't eat it. As far as exercise went, I did make myself walk the kids home from school and a couple of days I wore ankle weights. Then I congratulated myself on being persistant in the face of blah.
   We're new to the community and I haven't met many people yet in large part because I'm actuall kind of a shy person.  The isolation hasn't helped my mood at all. So when the PTA had a Coffee Connections meeting the other morning, I went.  I got to meet a few of the parent volunteers and everyone was so nice. I left feeling a little more hopeful. Conversation with outher adults was rejuvenating. I realized I needed to be patient with myself and take "baby steps".  Exercise one step at a time (or one crunch or whatever). Change my eating habits one meal, one bite at a time. Build relationships one person and one activity at a time. And encourage myself one baby step at a time.
   

Fat to Fit Friday Accountability

  Down 3 pounds, so far this month. Not too bad since I didn't start until the middle of the month. This week I kept a food journal. I was really tempted to scrap it on occaision because hormones wreaked havoc on my brain and will power for a day or two.  Weight loss studies have shown this to be key in successful weight loss. Maybe it's the accountability or that writing down every thing you put in your mouth makes you a more mindful eater. It's probably a combination of the two because, when I think about it, the two really go hand in hand.
   I also moved more. My kids' school is 3/4 of a mile from my house. I drive them to school in the morning because, well, it's morning. Do I need another reason? But I do walk them home most days. That's a mile and a half I wasn't walking before. Plus, there's a good "dip" in the road so I really do get to walk uphill both ways. 
   10,000 steps or approximately 5 miles is recommended but all steps count so I'm trying to increase my steps in other areas of my life. Taking the stairs, walking to the corner store for a gallon of milk instead of driving to the grocery store and taking my own coffee cup back to the kitchen instead of waiting for someone else to head that way and asking them to take it with them are a few of the ways I've tried to increase my over all activity.
    I also started roller derby with the local recreational league because exercise should be fun, too. If it becomes work, you'll be less likely to do it. Also, there's something about being part of a team and having a set time and place where they expect to meet you. Would that be accountability? Maybe, but it's a recreational league and I'm not required to go. So maybe it's more about me holding myself accountable, deciding I'm going to do this and, daily, being accountable to myself. Because, at the end of the day, the only one who can really hold me accountable is me.

weird talents

  A co worker of my husband won second place in a national chicken calling contest. She even showed off her prize winning skill for him and let him record it on his phone. I watched it. She's pretty good. Her cousin took first place. I would have liked to have been at the next family function. I wonder if there was any enmity or if they gave one another pointers. Come to think of it, if cousins were THAT good, that one took first and the other took second place, family functions were probably pretty interesting to begin with.
  I am able to pick things up with my toes. I never thought this was remotely interesting until my husband and I were dating. In fact, until that point, I never really thought about it at all. My mom would do it if her hands were full and I just picked it up from her. My grandmother probably did it, too. I guess if we learned to carry things on our heads like women in Africa, we would be able to keep our hands free. But I digress...
  So one day after JR and I had been dating for a while, he dropped something small and after a few fumbling tries, picked it up with his toes. He beamed at me like a kid who'd just learned to ride his bike. I looked at him like you look at someone when it dawns on you that they're crazy.
  "Did you see that?! I picked it up with my toes. I can do it, too." I blinked my eyes as I tried to figure out how to politely say I just remembered I had to floss my cat tonight. "You pick up stuff with your toes all the time and you're gonna look at me like I'm crazy?"
 Now it was my turn to feel a little 'off'. I did do it frequently and sometimes caught myself trying to pick up stuff when I was wearing shoes. Like I said, I never thought about it. It's funny now but a little awkward then. I have passed my gift on to our children and they all at some time or another use their toes as a third set of fingers. And my husband is still a little amazed.
   What strange, bizarre, weird or "just a little quirky" talents do you have?  And do you keep your ability under wraps or do you let the world know just how fabulous you are? I'd love to hear your stories. I'll be in the next room trying to balance a basket of fruit on my head.
   Thanks for hanging out with me!

Fat to fit Friday

  From November 2009 to April 2010, I lost 33 pounds on Weight Watchers. On the way out to Oregon from Alabama, I fell off the wagon and so far, haven't been able to stay on for any length of time. Consequently, I have gained most of the weight back. Several factors contributed to this but I don't want to go into that just yet. The important thing is that I have made a conscious decision to change it. My goal is to lose 5 pounds a month for a total loss of 73 pounds and give a weekly update on Fridays.
  Looking back over my old WW journals, I realized that was about my average. Some weeks were great with a 2-3 lb loss and some were not so great and I either stayed at the same weight or gained a pound or two. I learned that while the destination is important, the journey is equally important and what I learn on the journey will help me sustain my forward momentum.
 Another goal is to accomplish this in a way that fits our single income budget. I know lots of hints and tips for weight loss. I should. I've been on some sort of weight loss program since I was 12. But knowing what to do and putting it into practice are entirely different things. I'm ashamed to admit but I've really developed some bad habits over the years. They've become ingrained and I'm having to reteach myself. I'm sure every step of the way isn't going to be easy but some things I've started changing have been easier than I thought they would.
  I intend to educate myself as much as possible from all the cheap to free resources I'm able and use this information to keep myself focused. Then I'd like to share interesting findings here for anyone else that may benefit. One of the things about Weight Watchers that kept me motivated was the accountability. A moderator saw what I weighed and kept a record of it. Plus the other participants would always be asking each other how much they'd lost that week. That was pretty motivating to me! So I also intend to share how much I've lost each week and (briefly) what I did to accomplish it. Or...if I hit a plateau/ gained- what didn't work. Finally, I'll share my goals for the weekend and the coming week.
  To that end, my goal for the weekend is to make smarter food choices than I usually do on the weekends and to find a way to incorporate fun activity into my schedule, like playing tag with my kids or going skating with them. During the week, I want to start studying the WW cookbook I bought at a yard sale last month and see what my family will eat and modify some favorite recipes so they're healthier and lighter.
  Thanks for coming with me!

Our first year Part One or "how did you wind up out there/here?"

  Last July, my husband and I packed up our 3 younger children, a cat,  and 4 days worth of clothes in an SUV, essential furniture in a U-Haul trailer and drove from South Alabama to Portland Oregon. The lunacy of this still strikes me occasionally. To clarify, we didn't just wake up one morning and say, "Hey! I know what we'll do today...Let's quit our jobs, leave our families and completely uproot every other aspect of our lives so we can move to a different planet where we only know two people!"
   It all began when we decided we wanted to stay in the small Alabama town my husband's family is from. You can't throw a rock without hitting someone he's related to and we wanted our kids to grow up around family. We were having a hard time saving the money to build the house we wanted and since we're both RNs, we decided my husband would get a travel nurse assignment for some fast money. We decided on the Portland area because my dad grew up in Oregon and my aunt lives in the area.  Then we got the bright idea that the kids and I could go out with him and get to know my dad's side of the family over the summer. He registered with a travel nurse agency, got his Oregon nursing license and put in his notice at the hospital where we worked. Weeks turned into a month as he put in for travel assignments that didn't pan out. He stayed on at the hospital in an intermittent capacity. The hourly rate was higher but we had no insurance. The thrill of anticipation turned to stomach knotting dread as we lived in fear of our children getting sick or injured. They had already hired my husband's replacement so going back to his old job was not an option.  We had to make a decision.
  This all started because we wanted to give our kids roots in a small town surrounded by family.  We looked at me going back to work full time, purchasing our own insurance or giving up the dream and JR finding full time employment at a local hospital. The more we discussed it, the more clearly we saw that the fourth option was the one we SHOULD pursue. Between nursing school obligations jobs and family connections we'd moved around between Mobile, Alabama and Meridian, Mississippi quite a bit in the span of 8 years and just wanted to give our kids a permanent home. JR didn't want to uproot them any more. I wanted them to be around family.
 Sooo... JR applied directly to a Portland area hospital and within 3 weeks they had hired him over the phone. Two months after we started discussing a summer project, we were moving to Oregon!
  Of course, it was just temporary because we wanted to give our kids a permanent home, in a good area, around family.

Other people

 Bad stuff happens to other people. You see them on the news and they live in a faraway place, California, Ohio, Timbuktu. Bad stuff doesn't happen to you or in your neighborhood. That's a nice secure thought we have as children. Then we grow up and get divorced. Or endure the loss of an unborn child. Or someone close to us goes to jail. Our friend's parents, or our own, die.

  Our secure bubble bursts but we make another one by saying, "well, at least THAT didn't happen." as we watch the evening news and say a quick prayer of gratitude. 

  I was walking my kids to a playground in my neighborhood today and was reminded that tragedy strikes very close to home and doesn't give a flying fig about your bubble. Not far from my home, a young girl was shot to death by her 16 year old boyfriend. Her body was hidden in the woods on the side of a hill near my house. There's a park at the top of the hill where you can see all of Portland, it seems, and my smaller kids love to go up there and play.  She attended the same high school my older daughter, Bekah, will attend in the fall. And, she was last seen at a fast food restaurant a couple of blocks past the school.

  As we walked through the neighborhood and by the school, I wondered about the other people in the area who were touched by the lives of these two young people. What about her friends and classmates? The people she saw on the bus or in the restaurant? The people who remembered seeing her?  What about the people who lived near them? Did anyone hear the shot that night but dismiss it? I think about the kid who did this. That's what he still is- a kid. He was on the news sitting in a courtroom and that's all I could think, "He's just a kid! He looks so young (because he is) and his life is over."  

  Lastly, I think about the parents of these children. The young man's father had to move out of the house where the shooting occurred. Both families lost a child. How do they go to sleep at night? How do the get up in the morning? How do they relate to other people now? And will they ever be able to go about their lives and  conduct them just like other people?

Mom's on strike!

OK. Not really. But I was ready to declare a strike. I've been a stay at home mom since we moved to Oregon this past summer and my younger kids seem to think that amounts to a built in maid. Between their fractured school and activity schedules, my husband's odd work schedule and attending to the little 'things' that pop up frequently when you have kids, trying to get organized has been a challenge to say the least.
  A couple of weeks ago, it occurred to me that if they can get in the kitchen and fix their own snack, they can clean up after themselves. In the past, I've given up on getting my younger two to help because they put up so much resistance, it was easier to do it myself than wrangle them into doing something. My two older daughters, Sarah and Zoe are generally very helpful and do a lot without being asked. The younger two were turning into a couple of self-centered, entitled...brats, for lack of a better word.
  I read a book on time management and the author talked about teaching children as young as three how to help out around the house. She made it sound so simple, I thought I'd give it a try.
  I called a family meeting. This was met with much enthusiasm. They were so excited you would have thought I'd told them it was time for their booster shots. Among the things we discussed was the daily and weekly assignment of chores. Again, there was much rejoicing. (I'm telling this. I'll remember it the way I want.) I showed them a sample chore chart with everyone alternating chores daily so no one got stuck with something yucky. I was hoping that having to keep an area clean would encourage them to police one another instead of me having to walk around behind them all the time.
  A week later, I showed them the real chart and they drew to see who would start out with what chore. The next day, their name moved to the chore above the one they would have on Monday.  We (I) talked about the upcoming implementation for a few days to let them get used to the idea and posted the chart on the refrigerator where they could see it and get used to checking it. So far, no objections.
  Yesterday, we put our (my) plan into action. I steeled myself for the onslaught of whining, complaining and general objections. I had my responses ready. I was going to stand firm. I was not backing down this time. I matter of factly told Ian and Lia that today was the day we were starting our chore charts and they were to sweep the dining room and kitchen respectively. The only objection I received was from Zoe who usually sweeps when she gets home from school. I offered to let her switch with Ian if he was amenable. He was actually enthusiastic about helping with the dishes. (he'd complained at the original assignment because Zoe and I always "got" to do the dishes) Lia readily attacked the dusting and mopping downstairs.
  Chores done, we sat down to play a game of Whoonu. I emphasized that since they helped me, I had more time to do "fun stuff". I actually got to bed at a decent hour and woke up a little bit cheerful this morning.(Again- this is MY story. I'll tell it the way I want)
 Today, they again accepted their assignments without complaint. Lia had to vacuum up crumbs in the living room after smuggling a muffin in there. When she tried to sneak a cookie upstairs, I informed her that she would have to vacuum  any crumbs she got on the floor and she quickly retreated to the kitchen.
  I'm not sure how long this trend will last (probably until I awaken from whatever drug somebody put in my tea) but I'm enjoying it and hoping it will just continue to gain momentum and become habit before they know what hit them.