Uncovering the Truth

This will be short because I am drop dead tired of taking care of Immanuel, the toddler. I have been grazing on carbs, which were brought into the house by the dear hubby, to keep our energy up while trying to take care of the toddler. It has been hard these past few days because I have not had time to create a proper meal because I am giving Immanuel pedilyte in a dropper every 10 minutes so that he will not get dehydrated. Sigh…

Anyhoo, today is my birthday. I am 33, yeah me. I will reflect on my efforts for the past year tomorrow and catch up with my blogmates.

Onward and upward,

Tania

So I have decided that in order to get my body back to regular and flush out all those bad carbohydrates, I need to plan my meals. I decided that in combination with my points, I am going to start back using Calorie King (CK). What CK does is take your weight and establish daily goals as far as calories, fat, fiber, and protein in addition to water and exercise intake to assist in weight loss. Why am I doing this? Well I am beginning to add on muscle and in order to not bulk up and have the scale continuously fluctuate, I need to add protein. I remember reading somewhere that you are supposed to eat half of your body weight in protein grams a day. Low and behold, when I look at the CK, it tells me that I need to aim for 114 grams a day, which is almost half.

Now this is no way stating that I am on a high protein type of diet. This is not the intent. While WW keeps me within my daily portion range, CW is helping me with the nutritional value. How CW works is that it is a large database of almost every food product out there. From salad dressing, oil, nuts, chicken, etc. it has it. You set up how many meals and snacks you are going to eat daily. Then you start filling in your menu and it shows you the value breakdown. The gauge within each value (fat, fiber, calories, protein, etc) goes up every time you enter a food item.

I have used CW before and confess that I really did not pay attention to the fiber and protein values. As long as the calories and fat gauges did not turn red, which means I have exceeded my daily limit, I really did not care. As I began to plan my day, I realized I had a problem. My fiber and protein intake was non-existent. I mean it was creeping along but NOWHERE near even 5%. *Sigh* It was then I decided that (1) I would be pulling out my bag of flaxseeds that was somewhere buried in the cabinet and (2) this would take more effort than I thought. I am not dismayed because in 3 days I will be the “big” 33 and am nowhere near I thought I would be in regards to my weight. This will be fine with me because I am currently on the path to a healthier life, not just thinking about it.

On another note - Immanuel, the toddler, went to the hospital today. Around 5pm, he started vomiting so we took him to Urgent Care. They sent us home with instructions in case it gets worse. We stopped by Target to get a few things and got home and he vomited again. So we went to the Children’s Hospital and found out that a virus is going around. So on top of him getting in four of his teeth as we speak and battling an ear infection, now he has a virus; poor baby.

In between us running from the urgent care, to the store to the hospital, it has been about 7 hours. I was snacking all the way worrying about him. *sigh* I guess this is what flex points are for. Now the hubby and I are going to start cleaning up all the vomit and disinfecting the house. Apparently this virus is very contagious. It is going to be a long night.

Tania

As I pulled out my scale this morning for my weekly weigh – in, my hubby asked what I was doing. I was weighing myself, duh … was my response. He told me not to do it because I had been carbo loading for the past few days in addition to being on an airplane for ten hours for the past two weeks. He claimed my body was not back to normal. Granted, we did just get home Friday afternoon.  I told him that I needed to do it to stay true to myself and my routine. So I did it. The numbers screamed at me 237.0.  I am thinking, ok breathe. I stepped on it again about five minutes later so that the scale could think about its prior actions, it still glared 237. Ok, wait for it … hmmm… I did not have a melt down. It was literally impossible for me to gain 7 lbs in two weeks while my pants have been falling off my butt from all the walking I have been doing.

You see that, I did it. I did not have a melt down, start crying, or yell at the scale. I even told the hubby he was right (he better write that one down!). I was at peace and told myself that it is time to make another u-turn. I can pinpoint where it went wrong. It was when I got sick. I CRAVED carbs, I had chips, fries, any and everything that dealt with carbs. After my research, it appears that my sinuses wanted carbs to thrive which leads to weight gain and bloating. Duh! I have never had so many white processed food items in one week than the ENTIRE last year. Yep, last year! We only have whole grains in our house, and small bags of sugar and flour which are only used for those rare occasions that I cook something that needs them.

After my scale attacked me (ha,ha), I spent the day cleaning up. I cleaned out my email, which had over 300 messages. I printed out my Motivated Moms Cleaning Schedule, read my Bible, clipped coupons, washed all the clothes from traveling and tried scheduled the rest of my week. The toddler has been especially clingy today holding onto my leg, so I was somewhat limited. Since the toddler is now sick, we cannot do any outside activities and he really doesn’t want to do anything but lay on the couch, so I guess he can watch TV all day. It will only be for a couple of more days, the doctor stated the infection should pass in 7 days. So Seseme Street and everything Disney, here we come.

Now let’s reflect. I did not do anything crazy today. I did not mope. Although I did down half a bag of Biscoff cookies because I was reading; it was a good day. (Note to self, need to find another snack food for reading and studying). So while the scale put me at my highest weight EVER existing on this earth, it is all good.

Later on:

After I wrote this post, the toddler threw up all over the place. He couldn’t hold down his food, medicine or liquids. It is going to be a long night but I will remain positive. Even though I feel a carb craving coming on because of this stress, I won’t let it get me too bad! Ha ha

I will get back to logging my food tomorrow and try to figure out how to make a chart to track my weight progress. Now I am off to continue trying to get the floor cleaned up from vomit and wash the soiled clothing. Pray for me!

Tania

There were a couple of things that I said I was going to research before and while I got sick. The first thing I wanted to investigate was the connection between sinuses and carbohydrates. I started googling. I went to several websites and ran across almost the same message. When your body is ailing, it is going to crave things that it can feed on such as salt, sugar, carbs, and caffeine and yeast products. Thus when my sinuses started attacking me, in order for it to thrive, it needed carbs. Carbs only makes the symptoms worse and lengthens the time to recover. Sneaky, sneaky ailment! So while I was feeding my aliment, it was not only getting worse but it was potentially putting on weight and holding on to water.  

I decided to see if this theory worked for the monthly friend. During this time, I usually crave chocolate and carbs, again. So, I went to WebMD and this is what I found:

“The hormonal ebbs and spikes that occur throughout a woman’s cycle are the major culprits in PMS. As levels of estrogen go up and down, so do levels of the stress hormone cortisol, explains Pamela Peeke, MD, MPH, author of Fight Fat After 40 and assistant professor of medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in
Baltimore. “It’s a very potent little partnership. The body wants to keep them aligned.” And when cortisol levels are high enough, the body turns on its fight-or-flight response, a woman becomes more metabolically charged, and her appetite is stimulated. This, in turn, causes a woman to seek out carbs and fat, “the actual fuels of the fight-and-flight response,” Peeke says.”

So if this is the case, what exactly are we women suppose to do during this time. Here are some of the suggestions:

• Eat complex carbs
• Avoid processed sugar
• Try foods high in essential fatty acids
• Drink plenty of water
• Shun salt
• Avoid fat
• Limit coffee and cola
• Cut meals in half
• Avoid stress
• Abstain from alcohol
• Get plenty of sleep
• Have a routine

In addition she suggests exercising (especially yoga and tai chi) and sweating a lot during this time. Not only will it get rid of the bloating but it raises serotonin and lowers cortisol levels. It also dissipates anger. Okay then, I guess the goal is to continue doing what I am suppose to be doing as far as eating healthy while raising my levels of exercising. Well duh!

It is easier said than done…

Tania

I recieved this in my email a year ago and kept it.  I think I need to put it in a more public place so that we all can pull strength from it. I have no idea who the author is.

~~~~~~

There are some people in your life that need to be loved from a distance.
    
It’s amazing what you can accomplish when you let go, or at least minimize your time with draining, negative, incompatible,  not-going-anywhere relationships, friendships, fellowships and family!

Everyone Can’t be in Your FRONT ROW.

Observe the relationships around you. Pay attention to: Which ones lift and which ones lean?

Which ones encourage and which ones discourage?

Which ones are on a path of growth uphill and which ones are just going downhill?

When you leave certain people, do you feel better or feel worse?

Which ones always have drama or don’t really understand, know and appreciate you and the gift that lies within you?

Everyone Can’t be in Your FRONT ROW.

The more you seek God and the things of God, the more you seek quality, the more you seek not  just the hand of God but the face of God, the more you seek things honorable, the more you seek growth, peace of mind, love and truth around you, the easier it will become for you to decide who gets to sit in the FRONT ROW and who should be moved to the balcony of your life.

Everyone Can’t be in Your FRONT ROW.

You cannot change the people around you…but you can change the people you are around!

Ask God for wisdom and discernment and choose wisely the people who sit in the FRONT ROW of your life. Remember that FRONT ROW seats are for special and deserving people and those who sit in your FRONT ROW should be chosen carefully.

Everyone Can’t be in Your FRONT ROW

So while I am on the upswing, toddler is on the downswing. We just got back from urgent care and he now has ear infection. It started when we got home on Friday. He was playing with his ears but we thought it was just because he was getting his ears to pop from flying. It went downhill on Saturday. Today it got worse so we let him nap and took him in to the doctor. Now I am running after him making sure that his snot balls do not contaminate the whole house.

I weigh in tomorrow. *Sigh* Even though my clothes are way loose, I am not sure about the pounds. I will reflect on it tomorrow. I have just finished up responding to my blogmates, since I have been MIA for the past couple of days. Now I have to focus on the toddler and getting him to a comfortable state before bed.

Tania

So we are back home where it is 9 degrees and I am totally off. My nose has cleared up but inside I feel off balanced. Have you ever felt your inside’s racing while your body is standing still? I feel dizzy but I am sitting down. I think I need to rest and am overwhelmed by how much I have to do. We just got back home yesterday after a day of travel. I wanted to sleep in today to get back on track, but the toddler decided to get up at 630am!!!  Today is my hubby’s and my mom’s birthday, Monday is my dad’s birthday and Thursday is my birthday….  Good night!!!

I have no idea where I am at point wise because of my sinus issue and craving carbs. Now I have had to eat out today because everything is soo frozen. I am suppose to be cooking a dinner for the hubby …. I am going back to bed.

Tania

Yes I am still battling these sinuses and it is getting on my nerves. I am carbo loading and have no idea why. Yet another thing to research when I get better - carbs and sinuses. I want to know the connection.  I will have more to write this weekend. We are going home tomorrow, woo hoo. I will then be back to a constant temperature. I will not weigh in until Monday. Oh, I have to fix my weight progress page. I walked a total of 11 miles this week. Today I only walked 2 because I really was not feeling well but did not want to deprive the toddler of his outside time. Oh no, I am rambling. Need to go to bed. Pass the tissue!

Tania

This is my second day of my 3 mile walking. For some reason, it was harder this time. I think it was because the sun was beaming down. It was fun to see all the people walking and running along the trail. The toddler was especially happy to see all of the birds flying … we was actually trying to jump out of his stroller. I hope he doesn’t get too disappointed when we get back to snow city.  

When I came back from my walk, I was SOOO RAVENOUS! I could not explain it because I ate some oatmeal, toast and bacon before we went out. Another explanation could be that a cold is trying to catch me. Yep, it is trying to catch me, I am not trying to catch it! The weather here has been schizophrenic for the past couple of days I am hoping that the toddler can make it through. I mean, it starts out like 40 degrees in the morning, 75 by noon, 50 in the afternoon and 70 at night. UGH! I am loading up on Airborne and Zicam. Because the toddler is under 2, there is nothing that I can do for him besides give him vitamins and OJ.  

I have come to the realization that I need to measure myself at the beginning of the next month. The clothes that I packed when we let home almost two weeks ago now have a little breeze under them. I am surprised. I already have a non-scale victory without even measuring because the hubby says I am getting smaller and my pants are getting big. WooHoo! Even though this is all fine and dandy, I am still somewhat obsessed with the scale numbers. J 

I cannot wait to get back home to Maggie. I miss her so. I hope she is okay with her downtime. I am also heading straight to the store for some squash and steel cut oats. It is amazing how you miss home cooking when you are away but when you are at home, you want to eat out. Yes, I know, makes no sense. However, it is time to pull out the cook books (all healthy) and start fiddling around the kitchen again.  

I am going to rest my aching bones. I think I will cash in my spa certificate when I get back. Momma needs some massaging! I am thinking hot stones but I will let you know when it happens.  

—- 

Okay after I wrote this I sent hubby out to get dinner. I could not believe how hungry I was feeling. I ate my turkey burger without one half of the bun – yeah! However, I took down the fries and ate some candy!  I admit it, I slipped. I could not figure out what was wrong with me. I was downing Airborne and Zicam all day. Then the hubby said, I think it is allergies. Well duh, it makes sense now. We are in
Florida where the allergens are running wild in addition to the weather. So today I went into my flex points. However, I am now making my next available u-turn.  I just took a Claritin. It should kick in soon! 

Tania