Losing Weight

When we got Elijah's bloodwork, back and it showed he was susceptible to diabetes, I made the decision to put him on a diet. I also added walking to his daily routine. I also decided it was time for me to lose some weight and change some of my habits. Elijah's cholesterol was also a little high for his age so we are working on that too.

He is now eating a cup of Cheerios, a bowl of strawberries, an egg(made with egg beaters so no cholesterol) and a half a cup of milk(to drink) for breakfast. There is also a half a cup of milk with his cereal. Lunch varies depending on the day, but he likes to have a ham or turkey sandwich with an apple most days. Dinner also varies, but thankfully we had already added vegetables to his routine so we didn't have to worry about trying to get him to eat vegetables. He is averaging between 1200 to 1600 calories a day. His snack in the afternoon consists of half a cup of Greek yogurt(no sugar added) with strawberries, blueberries and sometimes pineapple. At night he usually eats a Skinny Cow no sugar added ice cream sandwich. I found them on sale and stocked up! He usually has a cup of milk too!

He lost 1.2 pounds the first week and then at our second weigh in today he lost another 2.6 pounds! You can really see the weight loss in his face and his stomach seems to be shrinking some. He is also walking between 1-2 miles a day with me. I am averaging 2-3 miles walking, with another 2 miles during the day doing housework or daily activities. My FitBit keeps track of that for me! I have found that measuring and weighing food makes a HUGE difference for both of us. A cup of milk really isn't a whole lot of milk and both of were probably drinking twice as much as we are now. It also helps that I am off this summer and have the time to walk and keep track of calories.

Elijah really hasn't complained too much. He sometimes doesn't want to walk, but he usually can be coaxed easily to come with us. He earns more time on electronics when he walks! He is really enjoying the fruit and LOVES pineapple! He could eat it with every meal I think. Hoping for a good weigh in next weekend!

Finally, Summer Is Here!

We all made it through another year of school. I think I was as ready as the boys were for this year to be done. I really had a rough few weeks, but it is all behind me now. Jacob finished off the year pretty well. He will be a junior next year and he will be getting his class ring. He starts driver's education on June 18th for three weeks! He turns 16 in July, but has to wait six months after the driver's ed class before he can get his license. Elijah will be going into the sixth grade next year! He had a pretty good year, but there were definitely some bumps along the way. We both survived them though.

I do have some school work during the summer. I am attending a three day workshop that is about 30 min from the house starting on June 12th. I then go to Houston at the end of July for a three day state wide conference for deaf and hard of hearing teachers. I am also presenting at that. I will be seeing two babies during the summer too for ECI services. One of my other teachers is helping out with that as well. I am also back on Weight Watchers and hoping to lose some more weight this summer. I have lost a few pounds so far, but want to lose more! My mystery shopping will keep me busy too! I have set aside several days for the kids and I to do things.

Jacob and I will be taking German lessons from my partner two days a week for the summer. We also set aside days to go to the Rec center here in town. I set aside one day for cooking lessons for the boys from me. Elijah will also be working on school work during the summer and of course, he will be playing either the Wii, on my iPad or on his nintendo during the day some. My plan is to try to limit that to three hours a day. We shall see how that goes.

I plan on taking them both shopping tomorrow for a few summer things. Both boys need some shorts and Elijah needs a swim suit. We plan on swimming at my dad's house whenever we can. Hopefully, it won't be TOO hot to swim this summer. I hope to get to the movies a few times and see some new releases. OH and we plan on going to my mom's house in a few weeks for a three days! That will give us all a break!

There are a few doctor's appointments that we have over the summer too. Both boys go to the pulmanologist on Monday. Elijah has an appointment with the psychiatrist towards the end of the month and he goes to the endocrinologist in July! FUN STUFF, right??

So that is our summer! I'll let y'all know how it goes and hopefully I will learn more German by September!

Two More Weeks until Summer Break

Both the boys and I have two more weeks until summer break! We are all ready for it. Of course, we will be a little busy during that time. I have a three day workshop about 30 min from home in June and then I travel to Houston in July for the Statewide Conference for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students. My partner will keep the boys while I am gone for statewide. I think that will be an interesting experience for all three of them and probably for me! Thankfully, Jacob is old enough to help babysit Elijah. I will pay him to babysit during that time and to help his step mom with Elijah so she can work during the day.

Jacob is taking driver's ed for three weeks and we have to go and camp out at the DMV to get his permit. He then has to wait six months to get his driver's license. I will have to make him an appointment some time after he finishes driver's ed to take his driving test in six months. YES, you hear me right, make an appointment to take the test. I have hear the horror stories of parents and kids getting in line at four in the morning and still not getting to take the test. The DMV only does so many driving tests a day and if you don't make it, well then you have to come back. He turns 16 in July, but he isn't just chomping at the bit to drive yet!

We are not going on vacation at all this summer, really. We will probably go see my mom in Marshall for a few days at some point. I hope we can go to the movies and do some fun things in the area! We also have a membership at the recreation center in town so we will be visiting there often. I plan on staying on my weight watchers and losing as much weight as I can! My partner plans on teaching Jacob and I a foreign language!The boys have a few doctor appointments, but nothing too exciting.I will also be doing my mystery shopping, but have VOWED not to sign up for a billion shops and never be home. I like the extra money though and that money allows us to do some of the fun things we want to do!

Trade Offs

I just did more research on two medications that Elijah takes. I had looked at it before, but was looking again due to the weight gain. Both have increase in weight as a side effect.

It is so hard to know if the meds are even helping with the tics. The risperdal did seemm to help back in January. I started weaning him off of the seroquel back in June...he had been on 400 mg of seroquel during the day(200 in the morning and 200 in the afternoon) and now he only takes 25 mg in the morning and will stop that next week. He continues to take 400 mg at night.

He takes 1 mg of ripserdal at night, half a miligram in the morning and half around lunch. For the last two days I have not given him the half in the afternoon because his tics have not been AS bad as they had been. He does seem to be craving less food during the day.

He is cute though. He asked to play in the sprinkler so I let him. When he came in to bathe he said, "Mom we forgot to walk." I am glad he doesn't see it as a chore. I told him we would walk tomorrow. Working on the weight will take some time, but we are starting off well!

Stress and Weight

Thankfully I am not stressed today. When I am stressed, I eat and that is not good for someone trying to lose weight. I joined weight watchers online back on January 4th and have lost 14 lbs since then. I have also been working out with the Wii Fit Plus and doing step aerobics.

I have three stressors in my life....my job, my youngest son, Elijah, and my exhusband. How I choose to deal with the stress is up to me though. I do have choices. Thankfully my job is not always stressful, but does have times when it can be a huge stress for me. Elijah is the joy of my life as is Jacob, but Elijah can cause me so much stress. I have to be so consistent with him and really can never let my guard down with him. I won't even get into why my exhusband stresses me, it is nothing that he does intentionally it is me and my OCD and worrying about money.

I hope to keep making good food choices and to keep exercising. Exercising also helps with the stress! Kill two birds with one stone!

It Aint Easy!

Well is isn't easy to lose weight! Oh my, I am into my second full week and I AM HUNGRY. I did exercise last night and tonight so I earned me some exercise points. I am meeting my brother and his family in a bit to eat out. I just have to watch myself and eat what I have put in my weight watchers plan. I am doing well eating my sandwich and pudding for lunch. It has also helped my pocketbook!! Now if I could just keep the sweets out of the house. Jacob and Elijah like so many different things and they are temptations!

I did buy some blueberry pie filling and an angel food cake mix. I will mix them together to make blueberry squares. They are very good and low in points. It looks like a purple mess when I mix it together though!

I also got some ground sirloin to make the weight watcher's salsbury steak. I still need to find some onion flakes but then I am good to go to make it tomorrow night! I weigh in on Tuesday of next week and hope to show a loss!

Otherwise things are going well. Elijah didn't make it to level 5 in the 15 days given so he has to start over on level 4 on Tuesday of next week. That is ok though, he still needs some refining on his behavior. He is still so much better than this time last year. His "bang bang" tics are still around and still loud.

Jacob had semester exams this week. I'll have to check his grades in a bit. I had to have a chat with him this afternoon about his attitude. For some reason he thinks he can talk snotty to me and I aint putting up with it anymore. I can still take that child down!

Weight Loss

I am on day seven of starting back on Weight Watcher's online. I lost about 60 lbs when I was on weight watchers in 2004. It took almost a year but I did it. Unfortunately I have gained the majority of this back in the last four years. I decided I just had to do it and get back on it. I have done pretty good this week. Even though I started on Sunday, my weight in days will be on Tuesday. I am curious to see how I will do this coming Tuesday.

I have been exercising using my Wii fit. My biggest challenge will be remaining consistent with this exercising. I did 20 min of step aerobics today! There are lot of other exercises. I like the boxing one too. The problem is LIFE gets in the way and I find excuses. Well, no more of that. I just have to stop and do it!

My goal is to lose 45 lbs. I haven't given myself a deadline on this. This is a life change and it won't be easy but I did it once before. I allowed myself to eat and eat and gained it back. I forgive myself for doing it and am now losing this for ME!

I'll keep y'all posted!