Ten Things Thursday

1. What the heck...I'll try this, it looks fun.  Not sure who started this or to whom to give credit, but my side bar of followed blogs indicates this is a popular post to do...so I'm in.

2. I have washed the clothes in my washer three times now.  I keep forgetting to put them in the dryer.

3. I am loving this fall/autumn weather.  I wish we had just two weeks of summer and just two weeks of winter and the rest of the year was fall and spring.

4. I cut up some jalapenos for the chili I made -- another reason to love fall -- and even though I've washed my hands like four times, my face under my nose and around my mouth are burning.

5. I touch my face way too much.

6. I sent home three kids with fevers today....the flu (influenza B to be more exact) has reared it's ugly head.

7. I need like three days locked in the house to get this place clean.  It's driving me nuts, but there is not enough time in the day.

8. One boy thought his fever was because his dad finally changed the light bulbs and there was more light in his house...thus making him hotter...thus causing the fever....kids say the cutest things.  When I started explaining about antibodies...he asked if those the ones shaped like X and Y...I said no, those are chromosomes. But didn't go further than that....that's a fifth grade discussion.

9. While doing this, my mom called and since no one in the family is having a crisis, I finally told her about the surgery.

10. This is not bad...I may do this again next Thursday.

Wednesday Weigh In

Starting Weight 320
Last week's Weight 256
This Week's Weight 255

I so know why I have not done well...I'm doing that come home at four and graze until dinner....what am I doing? I don't feel satisfied...I'm not hungry...I'm tired.

I'd be better off taking a nap.

Must stop doing this before it becomes a habit again...

Part of the grazing...

Rolos

bad bad bad Rolos.

sigh

Okay, back to basics...I've screwed up here and there, but this is the first time I didn't rally right away...so need to get it together!

Logging food
exercising
making better choices.....

I can do it!

Also thinking about changing jobs....I never got my pay increase for my Master's (we're talking 4,000 dollars a year) and I hardly make anything....not even on a teacher's salary.

I love my job...

but there is a certain lack of respect of the district when it comes to the nurses....and most of the nurses in the district do not need the money and so they do not fight...I like my position....I can keep working for this salary...but part of me also thinks...really?

Anyhow --- I did the numbers

My job now
1480 hours, 185 days and 30K/year
a job at a hospital in pre-op
3-12's
1872 hours, 156 days and 52k/year
more hours but less days and a lot more money...

hmmmmmm.

I really like my job though.

But I also like being debt free.

Tune in later.

Child Hood Obesity -- what to do about it?

Lap Band Gal blogged about being able to fit into a large child's sweater and wondered if the manufactures are designing/selling clothes that are cut bigger in order to accommodate the children of our nation who are becoming overweight and obese at alarming rates.

This is a subject dear to my heart for two reasons. One, my capstone project was how to teach school nurses how to teach about obesity prevention.  And secondly, my younger son is overweight.  His last blood work also indicated he's becoming insulin resistant.  It's scary. He's ten. It's also scary because although he needs help with portion control, he's a healthy eater.  He exercises daily (swim team, karate and on days he doesn't do that he is starting to do 20 minutes on the elliptical).  He is the unfortunate recipient of my wonderful genes.  If he actually liked foot ball, coaches would drool over him (he's tall and part of his weight is because he has some serious muscle mass on his thighs, chest and shoulders -- but I'm not kidding myself, he also has a tummy and chubby, adorable cheeks).  Because we are afraid of him developing diabetes at an early age we're putting more things in place for him. Instead of school lunches we pack his. We've nixed grazing and preplanned snacks are now the order of the day. We're reducing refined carbs to a couple a day and increasing his fruits and vegetables even more. We've reduced his 'sugar' days from the whole weekend to one day a week and on special occasions. He's on board. He understands that diabetes could be in his future and he does not want this to happen to him.

We go back in December to take a look at his blood work and see if his weight has maintained (the goal is to keep his weight the same and just let him grow into it).

So these to things, especially the second are what make me interested in ways to help the young make healthier choices.  I can't change the world, but I'm lucky that I'm in a position of a school nurse and I can give the kiddos information as they come into my clinic for various reasons.

My big thing right now is sugary drinks.  It's crazy what our kids are consuming.  This New York Times Article  was very interesting. It's about two different studies that show staying away from sugary drinks such as sodas and juices help children lose weight.  Such a simple thing.  I made this poster for the hallway outside the clinic.  Not only are the adults liking it, I get comments from some of the kids that they aren't going to drink certain drinks any more because of it.  Here's a picture:

 Meanwhile...I'm also really excited to share....Isaac's new big boy Karate-Americana bedroom....We finally finished it...you can read all about and see pictures here on my other blog, Zimmerhouse.

oh alright pictures

so today was an inservice day so the district nurses had a meeting where we learned about useful things like concussion management and how to get rid of bird mites (itch much?)  I finally wore my smaller clothes and I got lots of, "wow, you're looking great," or "wow, how much have you lost" Truthfully part of it felt good, but part of it made me super self conscience. My friend, Martha, fellow nurse, although she's nurse extraordinaire...seriously she's super smart, and other friend and fellow nurse, Pam (amazingly caring!) and I went out for lunch and afterwards Martha told me to give her my phone so she could take pictures of me....I've been meaning to blog ME with my new clothes -- so why not!

 Me and Pam....She's letting it all go gray and is looking great! I'm thinking of doing that myself.  I can almost see a waist!

 Hmmmm....well, work in progress....but hey, they're blue jeans...haven't done that in awhile.  oh and better yet...$21.99 at Ross -- my new favorite store.

The sweater/cover $10.99 at Ross. I like my new jeans...if they had a pair one size smaller, I would have bought it at that price for a couple months from now (yeah, I'm optimistic)

Have a great Friday!

Wednesday Weigh In

Starting Weight: 320
Last Week's Weight 258
This Week's Weight 256

I've been so bad about blogging. I used to blame it on getting my master's.  I blamed a lot of things on getting my master's and yet I am still dropping the ball on a bunch of stuff.  Ugh. And I'm not getting my master's any more (because I have it, not because I gave up). So...I think I finally have to admit it to myself.  I am a flake.

ugh.

The good news.  I went shopping and bought some 2x stuff.  Then kept it on the chair in my room for a couple of days wondering if I should try it on.   So I tried it on and it fit...WOW. I really am a size smaller.  It's been a long...LONG time since I've been there.  Not only did they fit, but I could see a difference when I wore those clothes.  I showed my husband - who was not quite as excited as I was.  When I asked him why, he said he wasn't surprised because he's been telling me I'm smaller for weeks now.  I'm the one that had to 'catch up'....

So caught up now....

Will post pictures later.

Have to go do really important pre-work things...like brush my teeth and get dressed.

Wednesday Weigh-in, actually on Wednesday

Starting Weight 320
Last Week's Weight 261
This Week's Weight 258

I hit the 60 pound park...wow.

So let's talk about hair....I didn't worry so much about the loss of hair because I have a lot of it.  Well, now I'm not sure I have enough to sustain the loss I'm experiencing (and yes, I'm taking Biotin).  When I wash my hair, the hair coming out gets tangled in my fingers. Today the shower wasn't draining as quickly and when I explored why, it's because of my hair. I have to clean my brush out a couple times a week.

It's a little crazy.

I would much rather have the be cold all the time...I'm waiting for that one!

Any other suggestions besides biotin on what to do with hair loss? Has anyone tried that shampoo, Ovation?

Other than that, even with that, I'm happy with my results. Yay me.

can you lose 60 lbs in just your face?

I posted pictures (under pictures tab) since I'm at the 60 pound mark. And I know I've posted this before but it's really hard for me to see a difference, or much of a difference. My husband says he feels it when he hugs me. I see it in my face (but hard to believe most of the 60 pounds is in my face). I see that my clothes are little baggier, but they do still fit....it's not like they're falling off of me.

It's amazing to me that I became this overweight.  I don't think it's so much that I'm used to being thinner that I can't see the difference but more that I never looked at myself because I was too afraid to do so.

We had no full length mirrors.

If I ever looked in a mirror is to concentrate solely on my face -- IF I decided to wear makeup that day.

I really didn't know what I looked like. A general idea, but not until I started taking these pictures did it really hit home.

And to know that I got to the point where 60 pounds lost isn't a much more dramatic change is a bit depressing.

I'm not depressed, just this thing is depressing.

I know that I'm taking charge of my life, that this is in the past. But it is something I need to address with myself, so that it doesn't happen again.  I can't be so easily swayed by denial.  Denial is a very comfortable place to in...but not healthy, at least in this case.

So for this day forward, no more denial about what fat/obesity looks like - physically and emotionally.

It may not be comfortable but I can handle it and it's good for me.

Wednesday Weigh In - on Thursday again..

Starting Weight: 320
Last Weight: 264
Today's Weight: 261

Total weight lost: 59 lbs.

Almost to 60 lost....so close...whoo hoo...I think next week I'll get there!

We've been doing C25K (you can see the schedule here here) now for three weeks. Although, we are only on week two of the schedule...we're taking it slow. Well, I'm taking it slow and my husband is just amusing me.  I do have to say it is getting easier each time we do it.  I was telling Jason, my husband, that it's still hard for me to believe we'll be at a point where we're running the entire time.

And by running, I mean bouncing at a walking pace.

Have a great Thursday everyone....Just two more days until the weekend.

Unless you have kids in sports, which I do, so really there is never ever a weekend.

Ever....

This is not something other parents told us when we were contemplating parenthood......

New Blogger

A friend from the neighborhood has decided to blog about her experience. She had bypass two years ago and has gone Vegan. She's blogging about it here.  She's an awesome writer and she's a beautiful person to be around too.  Check out her blog and say welcome.

What size am I?

I had a recent follow-up appointment with the nurse at the surgeon's office. She told me how great I was doing and I said, 'really' because I don't feel much smaller.

She totally understood. She has had this surgery herself. She called it fat-girl syndrome.  Even though she is at or close to her goal (I didn't ask, she just looked like she was), she said that she still feels like she's too big to fit into certain sizes, or through the door.

She said, I should probably start buying smaller clothes.  At my highest I was in a loose 3x or sometimes a 4x.  My 4x clothes are really loose and my 3x's are loose but wearable and even though this is the case, the thought of even trying on a 2x is too out of my reality right now.  Because I really don't feel like I've lost enough weight to be in a smaller size. I really (at almost 60 pounds lost ---- SIXTY) do not feel smaller.

Very frustrating.

A little scary too -- frankly, not sure if I'm more scared to feel smaller or that I'm not feeling smaller.

She suggested that I go to a store...not buy anything...but try some smaller stuff on. And by smaller, I mean 2x stuff -- it's not like she's asking me to be self-defeatest and try on a size 6 something.

We did both agreed that it's great wearing scrubs..because you can get away with wearing those through a couple different sizes.

I was shopping with a friend and I saw a pretty cute outfit. I also have to go to a wedding in October (husband's boss's son's wedding).  Soooo, I thought, why not? I bought it in a smaller size (2x). I didn't try it on (too scary) but I do think with the way things are going I'll be there by October (even if I won't feel like I look differently)

Here's the outfit. Cream colored sweater set (and yeah, I'm going to wear pearls with it, because pearls and sweater sets go together like PB&J). And a long A-line skirt  with a fun raised patter on it.

It's actually an outfit, I'd wear as a skinny person (yeah, yeah, I run a little a preppy that way).  I feel myself getting closer to shopping at regular stores...I, at least, can shop in the big section at the regular stores now...The 3x's there run a little smaller than the 3x's at, say LBry-ant or online and I was limited to very few choices.  So now I have some more choices...I'm liking that.


Oh yeah, also liking the health benefits and more energy...Because it's not JUST about the clothing choices....(insert wink here).

HAPPY LABOR DAY!  one of the nice benefits of being a school nurse is holidays OFF.