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Well… been meaning to post this for a few weeks, but wanted to make sure I was REALLY on the right track. I think I am. But I need your help… I think maybe if I post here and let the “world” know then I will be more likely to stay on top of this.
So many of you know that in 2004-2005 or so I was doing Weight Watchers and I ended up losing a whopping 40 lbs! Yay me…
However by the end of 2006 and starting 2007 I stopped counting points and for a while I pretty much kept it off, but by the time I started Rose Petal Betty in full force my mind was consumed by that and I let other things slide.. like paying close attention to what I was eating.
By the end of 2008 I had gained 26 of that back. Blech, blech, blech.
In November 2008 I realized that I was going to be one of those people who gained all their weight and then some back if I didn’t get my butt in gear. I started paying closer attention to what I was eating and I started exercising about 3 days a week.
I decided not to do WW again because I just don’t think that for me it is realistic that I will count points my whole life. I really wanted to make a life change not just a means to an end, which is how I looked at WW.
So by February I had only lost about 3 lbs and I was so frustrated. I knew something was going on because it was becoming soooo difficult to lose weight. I heard on a radio show about someone who was diagnosed with PCOS (poly-cystic ovarian syndrome) and I had all the symptoms of it. I went to the doctor and she said that there is no real test to determine if you have it, it’s kind of a process of elimination. And the only reason they really go through the process of elimination is for people who want to become pregnant (if you have pcos it is harder to conceive typically).
I’m for sure not trying to become pregnant, so I decided that it wasn’t worth really trying to get diagnosed. She just said they tell women to lose weight to help control it because the risk with people who have it is that they can more easily become diabetic. That scared me a bit.
Guess what the top symptoms are? Difficulty losing weight and carrying weight the upper half of your body… Hello Apple? Just like me. So I don’t know for 100% if I have PCOS but I have 15 of the 18 symptoms and I have all of the most common symptoms, so I’m just going on like I do.
So over the last couple of months I’ve been trying to read up on losing weight with pcos and I’ve recently discovered that those who are successful have to eat higher protein and lower carbs. This has been a real light switch for me. I was eating so many carbs, but keeping my calories down, so I didn’t understand why I wasn’t losing. I was eating fruit like a crazy person and whole wheat breads and sweet snacks like sherbet for dessert instead of ice cream, thinking that since I was keeping my calories at about 1200 to 1500 calories that I would lose weight.
Well… this is like a killer for someone like me. Keeps me nice and chubby! I was so happy to learn this, but it has been very difficult to adjust. I’ve only been trying to get more protein and less carbs for about a month and some days I slip and eat way to many carbs. I’m supposed to keep it at about 40% which seems like a lot but trust me it is hard, for a carb girl like me.
I also knew I would have to really step up the exercise. When I lost that 40 lbs on WW, I didn’t really exercise at all. I knew I wouldn’t be able to lose and keep anything off without working out this time. So in April I decided to start jogging… I know!! Crazy! I’ve NEVER jogged, never wanted to jog, never thought I would jog, but I now jog.
When I started I could only jog about .4 to .5 miles without stopping and walking, but I just kept trying. I’m ecstatic to report I jogged 2 miles today!! Without stopping once! Yay me again.
There are times when I’ve not done very well (like getting ready for the Funky Junk Show and right after it) where I’ve gone more than a week without jogging at all, but I’m just going to keep trying. In the past when I’ve done bad at eating or working out I’ve gone into a spiral and stopped altogether. But I’m determined that this is my new life, so even if I go a week or two and I only eat bread and cereal, I’m going to get back to focusing and start again.
The thought of having diabetes scares the bejeebers out of me. So now when I eat carbs without protein I feel differently than I use to. It would have never even occurred to me before, but now I realize what I’m doing and at least try and get some protein.
So in the last month I’ve lost 4 lbs, instead of 3 lbs in 4 months! This last weekend I ate WAY too much, but starting yesterday I just got back on the wagon without too much beating myself up like before.
It is what it is and this is life. I’ll get busy, I’ll go on vacation, I’ll eat too much with Karen… ☺ I’m not going to give that up, but when I can I’m going to jog and when I’m at home I’m going to pay attention to what I eat.
Most of all I’m going to TRY and not focus on the scale. This last 7-8 months has been torturous not losing much weight yet feeling like I was trying… But I think I’ve got some good new information and I plan on sticking to it!
So the reason to post all this is…. I need your help! ACK! I would love advice, things that worked or not worked for you any higher protein healthy recipes that you love. But now that it is “out there” maybe it will be just one more reason to not give up! Plus I know losing weight is a struggle that many of us have, so maybe I can give someone a reason to keep trying and going for it!
I'll probably always be an apple... but I'd love to be a smaller one someday!
Oh and when I'm in Oregon I'm going to get new running shoes... I'll go to a specialty store to get the right shoes for my feet. Hey...a girl has to be excited about running and all the positives of running... and new shoes always make me happy.
Here are some shots of our last day of T-ball and Baseball for the spring. They were taken a couple of weeks ago and I forgot to post them!
Here is Ben in the outfield.
Here he is hitting. He REALLY improved throughout this ear with hitting. The last couple of games he was really getting the hang of swinging whereas before he was trying to make contact with the ball, almost kinda bunting. But this one he really smacked and it was so nice to see his confidence improve with hitting.
Playing the field he really hasn't gotten the hang of much yet. He is soooo not aggressive and prefers for anyone but him to get the ball. :) We'll work on it this year and see if we can't get him some more confidence in that area.
Here is Sam hitting as a lefty. Someone asked me at the game if he hit right or left and I said that it depended on the day and that is so true! The last couple of games he hit left... the middle of the season he hit right and at the beginning he hit left as well. And believe it or not he can hit equally good on both sides. Lets hope this trend continues.... :)
He and his brother are so different... Sam will run after a ball hit to the pitcher if he is playing right field. :) He just LOVES it.
By the end of the season he was so confident and he said he was going to get every ball... I told him to go for it. Normally I tried to explain how we have to play our own position.. etc, etc. But the last game of the season I just let him be. Luckily he played pitcher, first base and short stop... So going after every ball in the infield didn't look as crazy as if he was playing right field!
I'm so proud of both of them and it was fun to watch... Although I do have to admit that I was glad it was over for awhile... :) 2 kids in sports had us running every which way, I seriously don't know how people with more than 2 do it!
Here are a couple photos of the fancy trellis I bought at the show last weekend
I love it and my Clematis looks even more happy now!
Don't mind the weeds at the bottom... My backyard has been sooo neglected these last few weeks. As has more than a few other things around here! Now with the show over I have no excuse not to get some things done...
But I still feel like I need to rest. On Monday my mom and I unpacked the cars then priced things for the antique mall and then put all of that back in the cars...
Then yesterday we took the kids and unloaded at the antique mall (which took forever with two boys whining the entire time). Then we had to hit the great St. Vincent Depaul in Tacoma... Then we had lunch and went to the Goodwill. :)
This morning my mom left for home and I went and did some helping at my church (with two boys whining the entire time).
So today and tomorrow I plan on not doing too much. I still feel like I need a day of rest!
Oooohhh, but it was all worth it! Already counting down until we can do it again... And I found some great stuff thrifting yesterday. Some days are good and some days thrifting are bad.... but yesterday was VERY GOOD! Yay!
More soon.
What an amazing time we had at the Funky Junk Sisters show! Every booth there was soooo good and I had such a hard time not shopping them all! Looks like we were not the only ones.
Here is the line on Saturday morning about 15 minutes before the start of the show...
Let me see if I can give you a feel for the show here.
Right when you walk in the door!
And I know I didn't get shots of every great booth, but I know I got a few.
This is JohnBob Cool Junks booth. I spent a few minutes talking to them and they were so nice and friendly. They have been doing this awhile so they gave me the 411 on some shows in the area. They also have some booths at the South Tacoma Antique Mall, which is the same mall that my booth is in. And if you want to know the truth I like their booths better than mine. They have amazing talent at display and they pick up the best junk at great prices.
Here is a little vingette from Todays Country Store. They have a brick and mortar store in the lovely town of Sumner that I have been shopping for years! It really is a great place to go see, it's one of my favorite in the area. I should have gotten better shots of a lot of these vendors, but it was almost time for the doors to open so I was rushing around frantically trying to get these shots before it opened.
This was Tiffany's booth from Shabby Scraps. Again I should have gotten better shots. She bought a few fun things from us during the show. I think it was a really cute pink apron and a silver tray... The apron looked so cute on her, it was ridiculous!
Oh and see that locker on the photo on top? That was in the booth next to hers... It is now in my garage... Waiting to be spray painted to come into our house! Wait till you see it better!!!
Okay this shot is really embarrassing. I was sure I got a better photo of this booth and this fabulous piano, but I didn't!! It's Debi Ward Kennedy of Retreat Design. She and her husband were so nice and gave us all some great advise! She spoke the night before the show, giving us all tips and tricks to make a better set up. And this piano>>>!!!!! WAS FABULOUS! She and her husband made it into a piano bar... Really.... Inside there are racks to store wine and liquor and a little mirrored shelf pulls out the front to set drinks on. What an ingenious idea! Plus it's decoupaged with musical note paper!! LOVE IT!
So probably the most embarrassing thing for me was that I didn't get a shot of my two great neighbors booths. This will be one thing I must get better at when I do shows. Our neighbors across the isle were Julie and Marybeth of Poppyseeds . They have a brick and mortar store in Stanwood Washington. The thing I loved about their stuff was it was so bright and colorfull! You can see it on their site, since I'm such a loser at taking photos!
Then there was Stacie and her mom in the booth right next to ours. She has Tates-Totes. Great bags, pillowcases and the best aprons EVAH! She is going to make me one and when I get it back, I'll take a photo of it for you. I can't wait!
It was so nice to pass the time with Marybeth and Stacie during the show. Super nice and fun girls!
Here are some more shots of some great booths...
Oh... this is another shot of Debi Ward Kennedy's booth. Yay, I did have another!
Aren't these big letters the coolest!
I loved this hanging planter. The lady that ended up buying it also bought one of my dads cool cabinets!
Love the red and blue here!!!!!
This was the booth that kept sucking me in.... See that fabulous (magic blue) washstand? It's now in my house... I also bought a cool white trellis from them and a bracelet! I'll show you those later. By the end of the second day I told myself I wasn't allowed to go near their corner of the warehouse.
On Friday night I had Jason make a quick sign for me and I threw it in a frame I had. I think I'll make this better for more shows (yes more shows, I have the bug now). But it did the trick for the time being.
Here is one more shot of my booth.
Anyway it was super fun and now my mom and I have to unpack the cars and recover from the busy weekend!
Still have a few more things to do, but here are a couple shots of my booth for tomorrow!
It's gonna be a fun one!
Hope to see you there tomorrow or Sunday!
Sam and I went down to one of the local farms here to pick up our summer share. Here is the site to the farm we got to... Terry's Berries
So basically we pay in advance and for the whole summer and then we go once a week and get a "share" of the harvest. So as we say in this house... "you get what you get and you don't throw a fit".
We are looking forward to experimenting with all sorts of new veggies this year. Terry even sends out a newsletter with recipes for things that you look and and go "huh"? We are very good with trying any and all fruits in this house, not so much on the veggie front, so we are going to be brave this summer!
Here is our first week's haul...
And can you believe we got a 1/2 share! A full share would be a crazy amount of fruits and veggies! It's heavy on the greens right now because we are just coming out of spring and it's been a rainy one boys and girls! I couldn't even fit all of it the photo though, there is a 1/2 lb sack of spinach hiding in the back.
This week the only things I'm not familiar with too much is rhubarb and bok choy but I've got plans for them both!
Oh and I don't think I've ever bought a shallot in my life. Is it like an onion or garlic? If it's near either one of those I'll be happy. I'll let you know how we do!
