Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Weekly Weigh In - Week 1, and the ER

Well, for the most part it's been a great week! I posted last Tuesday that I was at 184 pounds. Yuck. When I woke up Tuesday morning I weighed myself again. 182. I love that you lose weight over night without doing anything. :) I figure it doesn't count if I didn't work for it, so my official starting weight will be 182.

I got my rear out of bed at 5 am Tuesday morning, had a bowl of oatmeal with lots of fresh berries, got a couple of things done, and then ran for a mere 20 minutes on the elliptical machine. Kind of a bummer when I was up to running 40 minutes before, but I decided that I don't care because at least I'm doing SOMETHING! I have continued throughout the week to get myself up every morning at 5 (which is ridiculously hard for me, but when else will I be able to workout?!), and ate healthy, but still yummy meals and snacks. Within two days I felt so much better than I have lately!! It's so hard for me to start doing this, even when I know how good I'll feel, and then once I start all I can think is, "I love how I feel! Why haven't I been doing this all along?!" Hopefully I'll remember that the next time I feel like giving up!

I have done the elliptical every MWF, and a weight training dvd every TThS. Love Sunday morning breaks. Plus I let myself sleep in until 6. :) Last week I just did my 20 minutes on the elliptical and a 30 minute weight video. This week it's 30 minutes on the elliptical and a 50 minute weight video. I hurt. The good hurt. Love it! Although, I have yet to workout this morning, and I'm coming up with every excuse to postpone it because I know there will be pain. (Don't worry, I'll do it.)

I have found several new healthy recipes and have tried a few this week (all of which I posted on my other blog). I love finding healthy versions of the stuff I already love! Like lasagna! I found a GREAT lasagna recipe! So delicious! I ate a small salad first and then had 1 piece of lasagna and was completely stuff! And it was amazing! I felt like I was indulging, but I wasn't! Those are the best tricks to sticking with it.

I've been enjoying cooking again too. When I make the same things over and over again I get bored and then I quit and we ended up eating out way too much. So I do a little online exploring here and there and I end up trying all kinds of fun new things! Like making my own lasagna from scratch. Or like cooking with bulgur! And today I'm making a hot and sour soup which has bamboo shoots which I've never cooked with before. Then tomorrow night I'm cooking a Moroccan soup that has some weird ingredients that I'd never even heard of (like garam masala). Things that used to seem intimidating to cook with (like eggplant) are becoming fun and familiar!

So far I've met or exceeded most of my goals. I guzzle 96 ounces of water or more each day. I'm working out my 6 days and definitely reaching my calorie goals. And I've lost more than the 2 pounds per week this week. (Although I'm sure a great deal was water weight and that number will slow down in the next week or two). As for sleeping 8 hours each night, well...that one's been tough. I either have had to much to do and gotten to bed a little late, or the kids wake up, or something else happens. But I'm averaging seven or so hours each night. I'm sleeping better because of the exercise, so I wake up feeling pretty good. And that's really what the goal was about anyway. :)

As for numbers, well, I'm pretty excited about them! I weighed in this morning at 175.5 pounds, that's a 6 1/2 pound loss in 7 days! And My BMI is down from 29.7 to 28.3. Wahoo!! Of course it's not what it was a few months ago when I was doing so well, but I'm definitely headed in the right direction!

The best part of all of this is the way that it has affected my everyday life. I get up and get moving. I have more energy to get the millions of things done each day that are waiting on my to do list. I'm so productive lately! I love it! My stress level is easing, and between counseling, medication, and a healthy diet and exercise program my anxiety is way down! Don't get me wrong, it's still there! But it's becoming so manageable. I'm really feeling like myself again.

Now that's not to say life is perfect. Because it's not. Let's take last night for example. I had such a busy day yesterday. And I managed to stay on top of everything. I was pretty proud of myself! I finally the kids fed and bathed and we had scriptures and prayer, so I sat down to fold some laundry and watch Biggest Loser until it was time to put the kids to sleep (at 8). At 8, I had a couple of things left to fold from a load of laundry and was just about to finish and put the kids to sleep. They were chasing each other around the house and laughing. Until Jack slipped on the linoleum and slammed his head on the floor.

He's at that age where he constantly has a bruise on his head from one thing or another. Most of the time he gets up and laughs it off. If not, I hold him for a minute, kiss him better, and it's over. But last night he couldn't catch his breath. It completely knocked the wind out of him. After about 30 seconds (which feels like 10 years when your baby isn't breathing) he caught his breath and started to cry. But it wasn't a normal cry. It was a weird sound. I can't even describe it. He went completely green and just sat with me for twenty minutes. Not normal for my boy.

So we headed to the ER. After waiting for 2 1/2 hours, we headed home. Jack had a concussion. Yuck. Luckily, by the time the doctor saw him he was acting more normal. They told me to give him Tylenol (not ibuprofen, apparently it will make the brain bleed if you have a concussion, who'd have thought!), that I could let him sleep, and that if he threw up more than one time to bring him in immediately.

He woke up fine this morning. And although I was frustrated with waiting around for what felt like all night long, I was glad I went in, if only for my own peace of mind.

The bummer was that my baby was hurt, the wait was irritating, I had to drive 20 minutes home at 11 at night, and I miss Biggest Loser. Also still had to wake up at 5 to work out. The good news is that Jack is fine. And although I let myself sleep in half an hour, I still got up at 5:30am with only 6 short hours of sleep.

Well, there you have it. Here's to a crazy, busy, healthy, happy week behind me, and another one ahead of me! And it's Conference Weekend! Yay!! I love conference weekend! Although I have a ton of stuff to get done in between sessions. Yikes.

So, how have you all been doing? And seriously, share any yummy healthy meal ideas!! I don't know what to make this week!

17 comments:

Unknown said...

Way to go girl!! You give me hope and I see so much of me in your struggles. However you are a better woman than I. Five in the morning is not a respectable hour for me to be awake. :) Love your thoughts. I don't think you know what a strength you are to some of us that have never met you.

Funny thing last night I kept thinking I was missing some show but wanted to keep tv off and your post reminded me I missed BL. I have to watch in online as a reward for getting my list done today.

Tiffany said...

5 AM!!! wow!!! that's better than me! i'm lucky to be up working out at 6:30 or 7... good for you! keep it up! you can do it! sounds like you've got lots of people doing the same thing along with you... i'm a 6 day-a-weeker also... love my sunday breaks as well!

camille said...

You are such an inspiration Mckenna. I love that you are so honest and sincere and don't hold anything back. I love reading your updates. Thank goodness Jack is ok. Good luck in your goals!(thanks for the comment you left on my blog, made my morning!)

Kathlen said...

Keep up the good work!! You are my inspiration to lose weight. Glad that Jack is ok! It stresses me out when Brett or Katherine aren't doing well. So proud of you!!

r said...

CONGRATS!! You are so awesome! I feel totally motivated to do the same thing :)

And poor little guy! I'm glad he's ok!

Linda@CraftaholicsAnonymous said...

I didn't know 5am existed!! jk Way to go! That's SO awesome you lost over 6 pounds in 1 week. Glad Jack is ok. I can't believe how scary it would be to have your baby not breathing. ugh.

Scott+Kimber+Ruby=Scimby said...

Man, I seriously admire you for your dedication! There is NO WAY on this green earth that I would have the will power to get get up at 5am to WORK OUT! I used to get up at 4:30am to get ready for work. That sucked, but when you have no choice it makes it easier to get up. When you actually have the choice between glorious sleep and working out, THATS where it gets hard! So I applaud you my friend!

XO said...

So - I just did a surface posted about locking our dinner in the oven - I was planning on doing a whole metaphor about how I feel all "locked in" right now, but then I thought it would bore the world for me to write about and would just make me cry.

I am so glad you post stuff like this. It makes me want to try harder to feel good. I am struggling.

Liz said...

You should come live with me and be my personal trainer....cuz I will never have enough self-control to wake up at 5am...I am uber-impressed! Hurray for you victory this week!! and Hurray for having healthy happy children - you are a great mom!

Anonymous said...

You are an amazing person McKenna! Keep up the good work, I know it will help you through some tough times. I'm glad that Jack is ok, I'm sure that was kinda scary. Good luck with your new routine, let me know how it works out!

Kristin said...

i am super impressed! Go you! You can give me a pep talk this weekend about going to bed early and wanted to wake up before the kids are jumping on you!

Tabitha said...

It's so scary when your already adventurous children "really" hurt themselves. You boy sounds like mine. What normal parents would go.. Oh no.. you laugh off because he's a dare devil. I can only imagine how you felt! I'm glad he's okay.

:)

Mrs. Dickson said...

Hey! Way to go! I read your last post and I thought "well good for her, I wish I was ready to try again" and low and beyold, I've been working out and eating better too! Maybe you were in my subconscience and motivating me to do better. So wow! again way to go!

Megan said...

Good for you...and sorry to Jack! Poor guy. Hey, can I get your address? Want to send you a baby shower invitation, just in case you're in the area. You can e mail me (meganfly@gmail.com) or comment on my blog or whatever is easiest. Love ya!

Lindsay said...

You are just plain awesome!!!

Lynette said...

Dang Mckenna! That is awesome that you have the stamina to stick with it! I know you like people to be honest so I'm going to be-you look like you lost weight in your picture you posted on the left! You look great!

That would be so scary to have a kid with a concussion! I would have been freaking out! I am so happy to hear that everything is okay now!

Mandi Roth said...

I am so glad Jack is ok. I bet that was pretty scary! glad your doing so well, and loosing weight. Keep at it. You inspire me, and i hope to get started one of these days. I miss you too. we do need to catch up.. Let me know when you have some time. Take good care of yourself. :)