I had a day where I felt pregnant in every sense of the word! I am completely nesting. I have never had such an urge to reorganize and de-clutter. Seriously, ask my husband. He is so graciously staying out of my way except when I ask for help, which he complies to my demands without question. Smart man!
In all seriousness though, I have moved furniture, thrown out bags of papers and junk, bought tons of bins and am making everything look neat, tidy and as chic as possible (on a student budget, with 3 small children in a 900 sq ft. apartment).
I had a friend over today and we gabbed while she helped me organize the clutter all over what used to be my dining room floor. I also tried to relieve some of her fears concerning my unassisted pregnancy, but don’t think I succeeded. That’s OK, like I told her, they are her fears and not mine. (Love you Becky!)
I cuddled on my kids, but by late this afternoon wanted a break. It was a “no go” as my hubby fell asleep on the couch (darn those Part IV National Boards). So, I loaded up the kids and went to Target for more bins. I felt I was going to go crazy if I didn’t buy them today so I can finish organizing.
This evening I started having some mad cravings for Lebanese food. My family is Lebanese (OK, my great grandfather came over on the boat, so I have some Lebanese mixed with who knows what else). I LOVE Lebanese food though. My mom made it for the holidays when I was growing up and my grandmother pays a Lebanese woman to cook it for the holidays now. I don’t have access to that, so Whole Foods had to work.
I went to Whole Foods all. by. myself. It was wicked! I don’t get out enough! I went straight for the dolmas and started eating them right away (hey, they are already weighed and priced). I grazed through the store, after grabbing 5 containers of dolmas, for other food as well. I bought some of the yummiest food. Here is a plate of my (second rate, but worth it) Lebanese food. Dolmas (stuffed grape leaves), hummus, yogurt, pita and an olive tepenade!
I just had that ‘glow’ about me tonight. It felt refreshing to get out, take care of ME and buy food I was craving. I was giving off great energy and receiving it in return. One lady walked by me and said, “You look beautiful!” It was touching. I was waddling around, proudly sticking my belly out and enjoying each moment!
I will leave you pregnancy and birth junkies with a 36 and 1/2 week belly pic. Yes, I am huge and no there are not twins in there! You can also see the mid stages of my organizing in the background!
That’s right, you read it right. I have officially signed up for Weight Watchers. If someone told me a year ago that I would join WW I would have told them to get off the crack! Seriously, I was eating healthy and on top of the world. When I lost 60 lbs before becoming pregnant with Annabelle, I had it good. We spent about $1200/month on food. We were members of 4 farms and 2 organic produce co-ops, shopped at Whole Foods and Central Market. We ate all raw dairy, sprouted grains, mostly organic and a ton of delicious produce. I walked 6 days a week with Tatum and Trent in a double jogger with a friend or my husband. It was great. I was at a really good place.
Then we moved. I didn’t realize it would have such a big impact. I did know the main thing (besides some great friends) that I would miss about Dallas was the good food we had there. After being back in AZ over 8 months now, I am just beginning to get the resources I want and they are nothing like TX. That’s OK though. Also, I don’t have the same support. I am at home, with 3 kids and no car. Bummer.
I would normally tell you I don’t believe in counting calories. Interesting and humbling that I find myself in this position. I just haven’t had the motivation to stop and look at what I’m eating. I have taken all my good habits, crumbled them up and thrown them out the window, while opening the door to crappy old habits. So, I’m searching in myself to find those great habits I had formed. Why not do that with some support and with a breath of fresh air?!
Weight Watcher Plans
Right now, WW has 2 plans. The Flex Plan and The Core Plan. They give you a run down of what they are on their website. You can choose either plan and actually switch back and forth between them week by week.
The Flex Plan is their one and only Points System. It’s just like counting calories. Each food is given a point value based on calories, fat and fiber grams. You can use a slider given to you when you sign up and use the label to figure out the points. Also, there is a food companion and dining out guide you can buy to tell you the points of thousands of foods. Let’s say you eat a tortilla at a restaurant. They take 3 tortillas and average the nutritional value of the 3 and give you the points of the average. Pretty nifty, huh?
So, you are given a point value based on things like gender, age, if you are nursing (oh ya baby, I get extra points!), height and so on. You add up your points throughout the day and try to eat them all with out going over unless you are using some of your extra 35 free points you get for the week.
Then there is the newer Core Plan. Now, I personally think this rocks, because it is basically how I ate when I lost weight before. On the core plan you get a freakin’ awesome list of healthy foods that you can eat all you want of. You get 35 points for the week to use for things that aren’t on the list, like bread and ice cream. This way you can have a treat and not go nuts that it’s not on the list!
Personally, I think the Core Plan is healthier, but the Flex Plan is by far easier. I’m starting on the Flex Plan this week and counting points.
The Break Down
All right, I get 42 points (32 normally and 10 for nursing). That’s right, I’m fat. Get over it. That’s why were here though, right? Because I need to get skinny, not because I already am. If I was skinny, then maybe I could have named this, "Ha ha, I’m already skinny and you’re not". Just kidding. That would feel nice though, I won’t lie.
I weighed in at 246.6.pounds. OK, that totally sucks. It sucks bad. I want to scream at that. Did I mention it’s sucky?
Size 20.
First Goal is supposed to be 10% of your weight, so that will be a loss of 24 lbs for me.
My Healthy Weight starts at 160 pounds according to WW.
My Personal Goals is to get to 200 again and a size 16, then get to 150!
Day One
Today was fun. Of course it was, because it’s all new stuff. It’s like opening a new present that you get to mess with and play around with. The problem with something like this is that you can get bored of it just like the novelty of the new present may wear off. That’s what’s supposed to be great about WW though, is that you go every week and get support to stay on track. Actually, WW says that people who attend all their meeting and use their etools online are 50% more successful.
I actually ate 11 points under what I’m supposed to, finishing the day at 31 points eaten. I wasn’t going to post what I eat, but isn’t that what you really want to see?
Here goes:
Breakfast: 1.5 cups oatmeal, 1 tbsp. raw agave nectar, 1/2 cup wild organic blueberries Morning Snack: an orange and a small banana Lunch: Garden Veggie Soup (recipe by WW and 0 points), crackers Early Afternoon snack: handful of pecans and handful of grape tomatoes, small banana, a little later I had a McDonald’s vanilla cone (only 3 points)* Late Afternoon snack: G.T.’s Synergy Kombucha, another bowl of the veggie soup, few bites of a tortilla Dinner: tomatoes, sea salt, basil, fresh and minced garlic, 1 tbsp olive oil all baked and served on multigrain pasta.
*Somehow McDonald’s vanilla cones have become my weakness and treat right now. I’m such a hypocrite, I’ll admit it. Don’t start throwing the stones though, I am human. They need to open a Paciugo’s here, like NOW!
What’s Next?
I was right. Doing this made me stop and think about what I was eating. I didn’t have my usual 10 handfuls of chocolate chips today. So sad. That’s OK, I can have them if I want to use all my points/calories on them! What’s the fun in that though? I also think the soup is great, because I get my veggies with very low calories and it’s a filler.
I didn’t like my meeting. My leader was an old lady that had no spunk. She’d ask a question and you could hear the crickets in the back ground. I answered a few times out of pity. I’ll be finding a different meeting.
Today sucked. Yes, that is how I am starting this post! I woke up feeling congested, tired and had a headache. After breakfast and getting ready, I realized I was also very impatient. My poor kids! After getting frustrated with my daughter, I had to stop, breathe and get control. I put my head in my hands and said, "January, you are detoxing. It is causing you to be impatient. Don’t let it. You have control, be nice to your kids. Welcome the detox, let it do it’s job and ask it to leave when it’s finished." I felt much better after this. Becoming aware of and admitting what was happening gave me peace. I had a few close calls, but handled myself well.
I did have to eat a lot though. In the middle of the day I was feeling kind of sick and that headache would not go away! I got adjusted and grabbed the almonds! I figure I need to eat more calories, fat or whatever I can to make me feel like I can function right now! So that’s what I did. I think it took me 2 hours to eat lunch! I am not kidding. My jaw hurt.
I had a headache until 11 pm. It finally started to subside. Thank goodness. I just keep telling myself that "Tomorrow is going to be an awesome day! I will feel great!"
What I Ate:
Everything! Honestly, today I ate a lot of each thing I had.
-1.5 apples
-2 baby cucumbers, 2-3 handfuls of almonds, a banana, berries, 2 dates
-dried mangoes…I wouldn’t normally eat so many, but I needed it today
-Kombucha
-Home made guacamole: onion, garlic, grape tomatoes, avocados mixed in the Vitamix
-Raw Crackers
-Kombucha
Hmmm. After writing it out, it doesn’t seem like as much as I thought. I guess you can eat a lot of fruit and veggies, but it’s still not a lot! I do think that I need to be drinking more water. I am going to make sure I up my intake tomorrow.
I went shopping at Costco and Whole Foods today. Here is what I bought. Remind you, this is for a family of 4. Although I am the only one who is all raw right now, my husband and children eat high raw. We go through produce like it’s going out of style (well, it kind of has, but we are bringing it back!).
Costco:
3 blackberries (2 lbs. each) 3 blueberries (18 oz. each) 1 package/3 long seedless cucumbers 1 organic mixed greens 2 grape tomatoes (2 lbs. each) 1 Roma Tomatoes (2 lbs.) 1 bag minneolas/tangerines (8 lbs.) 1 bag Cara Cara oranges (8 lbs.) 1 box clementines (5 lbs.) 1 container large kiwi (4 lbs.) 1 bag avocados (5)
Total Cost: $91.12
By the way I went to Costco 3 days ago and still have some of that produce. Mainly oranges and apples. It goes fast around here!
Whole Foods:
4.98 lbs. organic red apples .22 lbs. organic garlic .18 lbs organic dates .60 lbs onion (1 onion) 6 count G.T.’s Strawberry Kombucha 2 pirates booty (for kids to snack on while riding in the cart) .83 lb organic dried mango (which I ate most of yesterday afternoon) .95 lb. organic peanut butter .29 lbs salad bar cheese pizza (also a treat for the kids) 1 organic Ezekiel bread
Total Cost: $56.63
Total Cost of Costco and Whole Foods: $147.75
Now, I will have to report back to you how long this actually lasts! 3 days maybe? I would like to work up to all organic, but for now having all this fresh produce is amazing and such a blessing!
