Scales down, finally

So I found a new diet called The Fast Diet and decided to read the book and give it a try. The premise is basically that we were once cavemen and ate like feast and famine and that our bodies need a break from the constant eating. Seemed reasonable enough to me. The claim is that it's better for your cells and organs to not be working all the time digesting food. They suggest that you eat 5 days normally, not counting calories or fat and such and then fast 2 days a week, not consecutively. The idea is that your body gets a break and is able to repair the damage done to it thus making you healthier and live longer. And they said a great side effect is weight loss. So I decided to give it a go yesterday. I ate Monday night around 9pm and then didn't eat all day Tuesday until about 3:30pm and then it was only celery and half an apple on the way home. Then for dinner my dad made beef stew and I had a biscuit. I cheated and had 3 cookies and few graham crackers. But then at 7 I made a deal with Elise that neither of us would eat anything after that. I felt good most of the day with only a slight headache and a little lightheaded probably from not drinking enough water. This morning I weighed and I was down 2 pounds!! Finally the scale is working the other way. I know it's probably water weight, but I'll take a down turn any day over the upswing.

So I'm going to eat normally today, already I've eaten what feels like a lot. Then tomorrow another fast and then my work weigh in on Friday. I know I'm up since the last weigh in but hopefully it will only be by a pound or two. I'll have to tell them in my defense that I've stopped breastfeeding since the last weigh in so for me to only gain a few pounds is a miracle (last time was like 20 pounds!). Well here's hoping for some good results with this. From what I can read about it most people drop slow and steady, which I like. It seems like it's not too difficult because on your regular eat days you can eat what you want and not have to worry about it, barring going overboard.

In other news I've put in all the applications I can for Kindergarten lottery. Here's hoping Elise will get into one of them! I should find out in the next few weeks if she's in or not. Oh and in other news I went to have my IUD put in but it didn't work. My cervix was closed too tight. So I have to take ceradil next week and we'll try again. If it doesn't work we'll have to try in a few weeks when I have my period and then if that doesn't work I'm scheduling surgery. 3 times is a sign. Oh the joys of mortality!

My venting place

I guess this is now my place to vent. I really should be posting happy pictures of my kids and family. Sadly I'm not that happy. My kids drive me bananas. The oldest is the epitome of procrastination. He had 10 days off school (counting weekends). I asked him last night if all his homework was done so he would be prepared for school today and his answer was not yet. I'm like really? I guess in his defense he did clean up some of his room. But seriously? You can't finish your homework in 10 days off school. Then I got a call from him this morning as I was driving to daycare asking to bring his book which he forgot. I refused. Sorry, harsh realities of life. You don't prepare your stuff the night before I ain't fixing it for you. Then the 4 year old is living up to her age. She didn't get to sleep last night until 10pm which is the norm because the daycare refuses to follow my direction about naps. I know she's a handful but she needs to be nap free in a few months for kindergarten. I'm going to really put my foot down by her birthday. So this makes for a very long night for all of us. The baby is fine except when it comes to about 2 in the morning and all of the sudden she's crying. I'm not understanding it at all. We feed her right before bed so why the constant waking up? She's 8 months and should be able to sleep through the night. The funny thing is that from about 2 until 4:40 in the morning I'm up with her constantly. Yet as soon as I get out of the shower and start getting ready for work both she and the 4 year old are fast asleep and it takes me forever to wake them.

Then this morning I get to work finally and find out that one the Project Managers hasn't followed policy for something and it just really makes me look bad. The training for this was months ago and should already be in place. Ugh.

What's the date today? Oh yeah, pms is in full swing, no wonder the annoyance at everyone and everything today. I need a t-shirt made as a warning. Ok, venting over for the moment but I can't guarantee it for very long.

Yesterday

Yesterday started out terrible and it just went downhill from there. I don't know what the heck was wrong with me. Luckily I had plenty of work to do at work so that was nice but I was just bummed out all day. My OB/GYN called me with all the test results. I was tested a few weeks ago because I'm having super duper heavy periods and it's driving me nuts. So she tested my uterus and nothing wrong there and did some blood work and nothing wrong there and did an ultrasound to check out my fibroids. She said they are fairly small, the biggest is less than 1 inch, which is good news considering they were gigantic when I was pregnant. My options now are only 2, an IUD or partial hysterectomy. After I heard all that and talked to the doc about pros and cons I just sat in my car and cried. I think more from just exhaustion and stress than anything else. I asked her about my mom dying from uterine cancer and she said that because all the tests came back ok that she wasn't too concerned. She said that the IUD would actually help prevent it so that's a plus. I just keep hearing all these terrible things about it. Hormones and me are not good friends so I'm not really excited about that but she said the IUD is local hormones and won't affect me like a regular birth control pill would. I talked with Jared last night about it. I'm leaning to the IUD right now and see how it goes and if it goes badly in a few months then I'll just have the surgery. 

So with all of that going on I ate terrible yesterday, but I did manage to get a workout on the treadmill in and ran for 22 minutes without stopping :) I need to keep that going. I really enjoy it and feel much better when it's over and done. I found a few good songs too so that's motivating and heard a few on the radio driving to work that I think my amp up the running to a quick pace. 

This morning I'm having a protein shake so hopefully I can keep eating good stuff today. I'll be glad when Easter is over, then there's really no more candy holidays until Halloween :) 

New day/New outlook

Well after the rant of yesterday I'm feeling much better. I am in last place with the competition, but I'm just going to keep trying. We still have 2 months and most of the losers so far can't keep dropping weight like they are for much longer. Slow and steady right? I'm going to be really good about watching what I eat and if I want a treat I'll keep it very small. I'm also going to walk every day at work, 2 times a day. I have a great route going, I just got new headphones and I need to update my walking playlist to include some good, fast songs. And since Jared doesn't have school the rest of this week I can get on the treadmill and do some running. I did it for 30 minutes on Saturday (walked for 5, then ran without stopping for 20, then cool down for 5). Gotta do that every night this week. The scale has got to move down somewhat right? Just going to take it one day at a time. And thanks Lindsey for the encouragement! Maybe I need to post everyday what I'm eating and be accountable for it. Hmm. That's a idea. Well then let's start with now!

So far today I've eaten (or will eat shortly):
small bowl of cinnamon chex with milk (gonna stop that habit tomorrow)
clementine
string cheese
protein shake
plain old celery
lean cuisine
1 bottle water so far (gotta get more of those in)

Ok, commence new day and new outlook on this!

Discouraged

I'm feeling like poop right now and don't really want to post on FB. And since I know pretty much no one reads this it's the perfect place. I'm so discouraged. At work I signed up for a weight loss competition. It was expensive to enter. I figured it really wouldn't be that hard. And I thought it was the perfect motivation for me  to continue my weight loss journey now that having babies is in the past. Well it's been a month (tomorrow is the weigh in) and I'm pretty much down only 3 pounds. I hate that I have zero will power and can't even stick to a 3 day diet for 3 days. I've been doing shakes but that isn't working anymore. I feel like I should just give up and say to hell with it all and get fat again and not worry about it anymore. You know when people say that want to live to 100 or whatever? Well I don't feel that way at all. I mean I want to be around for my kids and maybe one day grandkids but I'm really ready for the next life. This one is just really hard and I don't like it most of the time. Why can't I control what goes into my mouth? Why does it have to be such a struggle? I see skinny people and they are eating whatever they want. Or I see fat people and they diet and lose weight. I just don't get it. I know some of this is coming from sleep deprivation. I haven't had a full night's sleep in close to a year. So maybe that's why I can't get this weight off. I'm tired at work so to stay awake I eat. I don't know, just needed to get this out of my head. Maybe should have just posted on LJ instead.

New year, new goals

I know it's almost March and I'm terrible about blogging, but I'm going to lose this weight if it kills me. I was challenged at work with a bunch of my co-workers and there is money involved so I'm going for it. Everyone has to put in $300 and there are 15 of us. First place would get $2,250, 2nd place gets $1,350 and 3rd place gets $900. I'm hoping for at least one of those spots. I know I can do it. I just needed some motivation to get moving. So I weighed in at 222. I gained 13 since my lowest of 209 and I don't want to creep up anymore. I'm going to be doing shakes for 2 meals a day like when I first had surgery. I have lots of healthy snacks at my desk now too. I'm hoping to get down to 199 and finally be in the 100's again. I also started on the treadmill last night again. It's been a really long time since I've worked out. I need to do it. So I walked/jogged for 26 minutes and 1.5 miles. I need to sign up for another 5K to motivate me. I'm excited about this. I need to get this weight off and I'm ready to get it going.

In other news Jared got hired full time (salaried) for the place he's been working at for a while now. I'm happy about that. But his car needs to be fixed now since he had a fenderbender a few months ago. Here's hoping it can be fixed and not totaled by the insurance company.

Kids are good. Growing up fast. I'm ready for Kindergarten to start. Elise stays up way too late from the nap she gets at preschool. Now it's just a matter of finding one, which is a huge pain. Erik needs to get going on his eagle project and all the test for SAT and ACT. I can't believe next year he will be a senior and graduating. The time really did go by fast.

Quilts are getting done too. I finished one for Lindsey's baby shower this past weekend. I have another one to do before the end of March for Barbara's sister. Then after that I need to use up all my stash before buying anything else. I have a really cute one in the works that I want to finish. Plus I have one from my virtual bee last year that I need to put together. It's a Christmas quilt so I need to get that done before the end of the year.

I'm anxiously waiting for the summer and fall. Jared will be done with his credential class in August and then Elise will be in Kindergarten. Erik starts senior year. Katie will hopefully be sleeping all through the night. No flu or cold season in the summer (because I'm so sick of everyone being sick). Oh and I'll hopefully be done pumping in a few month :) Oh so many things to look forward too. Plus I'll hopefully be down 25 pounds or so by then :) Yay! Looks like 2013 is going to be a great year :)

Katie Rae Pickett (Finally)

So it's been a really, really, really long time since I've posted to my blog. I just hate adding photos because I think it's so not user friendly but I'm going to try anyway.
July was a busy month for me. I worked up until July 13 and then took off work for Maternity Leave. My doc said I could schedule the c-section for July 26 and I said let's go for it (her due date was originally Aug 3). I had a c-section because I had a section with Elise. I thought I could VBAC but it turns out I have a large fibroid right next to the old incision and they didn't want to risk rupture. The great thing about it was that I was able to schedule it. So that morning we dropped off Elise at a friends house at 4:30 am and got to the hospital at 5:00 am. They took us right into the labor and delivery prep. I changed into my gown and they started with the blood work, IV and pressure checking. My blood pressure was high but that was because I was nervous about the whole thing. Then around 7 am Dr. Calder came in and asked if I was ready. I said let's go. So in we went to the surgery room and I got my spinal and laid on the table. Dr. Calder said everything was going great. When the baby finally came out she said "What an adorable face!" I was so happy to finally be done with pregnancy. I also got my tubes tied at the same time. I even asked her a few times if she was sure they got both sides. Jared was at my head the whole time but really wanted to be right in there for the birth.
Katie Rae was born at 7:51 am weighing 6 pounds, 15 ounces. She was 20.87 inches long. She had strawberry blonde hair, which kinda surprised me and she sounded like a cat meowing when she came out. They brought her to me after she was all cleaned up and laid her on my chest when they wheeled me into recovery. That's the part I don't remember because I was pretty groggy at that point. So then I was in recovery for a bit while they monitored both of our vitals. Katie was a peach during that time. She just laid there wide awake on my chest looking around and not crying a bit (kind of a curser of things to come which I didn't know at the time). The nurse gave her a bath right there and cleaned her up. Then it was time for me to be transferred to the postpartum unit. I thought that she wouldn't nurse like Elise so I didn't even try. I pumped a little and gave it to her. Then a little while later I was tired and figured that I could just try to nurse and see how it went. She was a complete natural from the start. I had no problems whatsoever. I was so excited to not have to pump. It was heaven. She was (and is) such a calm, mellow baby. She hardly ever cried except when she is hungry or tired or being bugged by Elise.
My hospital stay wasn't the most pleasant and I had to say a few extra days because my blood pressure was high and they didn't want me to have a stroke at home. So I was finally release and able to go home. I have to say that the pain was so minimal. I mean my incision was painful but not for very long and recovery was really fast. I was up really quick from surgery and was able to sleep in my bed from the beginning. I had great friends come to visit during my stay including the Burr's, Dutton's, Christina, Jen and even some of my work friends :) It was so nice of everyone to come see me.
Being home was a blur and after not sleeping for about 3 weeks I finally gave up on breastfeeding. I still pump every day, 5 times a day, I just never feed her on the boob anymore. It was so much work every few hours that I just didn't have energy to do it. Plus I knew I would be heading back to work eventually and needed to switch over. She is doing great with the milk. I have given her formula 2 times when I didn't have enough milk but she vomited that up everywhere. I'm glad we don't have to buy formula and that I have enough milk for her. Soon we will be starting on solids, but I'm trying to wait until at least January.
Katie is such a great baby. She is really calm and mellow and I love her little personality. She loves to just look and observe. Yesterday at dinner we were sitting at the table and she was reaching and grabbing at toys on her chair. Both Jared and I were amazed at her progress. She is already growing up and I don't want it to happen. I'm not ready for the crawling phase and the putting everything in the mouth phase because that means I'll have to be uber clean and tidy up all of Elise's toys. Anyway, I'll have more to post about the rest of the stuff I did this year and hopefully it won't be so long in between posts :) Here are some pics from the hospital.