Susan's Epic Weight Loss 11/04/16

Weight: 298.4  (1.8 lbs lost since yesterday)
Workout: Bodyflex

Measurements (starting):

Neck: 16 1/4"
Bust: 50 1/4"
Bicep: 16"
Upper Abs: 53"
Lower Abs: 54"
Hips: 56 1/2 "
Thigh: 28"
Calf: 17"


Breakfast:  Nothing

Lunch:  Shari's Triple Decker Club Sandwich; Side salad w/ranch on the side (no croutons): 700 calories

Dinner:  Almond Chicken (281 cal) , Sweet & Sour Chicken (276 calories), Beef & Broccoli (338 calories), Egg drop soup (66 calories):  Total calories: 861 calories   Diet Soda to drink

Total Calories:  1561


Synopsis:  Not as much energy as yesterday, but I've been up since 5 a.m. and I didn't even try to take a nap today.  Plus, I never hit the treadmill.

On another interesting note, I only ate twice today, and aside from lunch time, which was around 11:30 am (because I never had time for breakfast), I wasn't hungry at all. In fact, I didn't finish by breakfast or dinner.

Went to the movies tonight (Hacksaw Ridge is AMAZING, by the way) and didn't buy anything to eat.  I think that's the first time EVER we've never bought food at the movies.  It's always been a ritual until today.  Woohoo! It's all about change, baby!

Daily Update 11/03/16

Weight (Starting again):  300.2 lbs
Measurements:  Not done yet. Will do tomorrow
Exercise:  Body Flex, Treadmill (30 minutes @ 3.0 mph, 2.0 incline; 1 stop @ 15.33 minutes)


Food:

Breakfast (9:40 am):  ZOI Greek Yogurt: Raspberry Cream:  190 Calories, 5 g fat, 7 g protein

Lunch: 12:45 pm:  2 egg rolls (400 calories)

Dinner: 5:45 pm:  1 1/2 biscuits & gravy (est. 600 calories)

Snacks:

1 handful Sunchips (est 150 calories)
5 Ruffles Chips with Dip ( est. 150 calories)
8 glasses water
2 Cups eggnog (300 calories)

Total calories for the day:  2090



Notes: Okay, so the first day back on the wagon is always the hardest. But I have a wedding (my daughter's) coming up in a little over a month, and I need to lose SOMETHING.  Bodyflex has always been the quickest way for me to lose inches.  Walking is has been the quickest way to lose pounds.  So, I'm doing a hybrid.

I'm doing my updated the day after on 11/04/16, because then I can review the overall success of the day.  And the results were interesting.  I literally sat in my seat in a stupor.

First off, my energy was off the hook.  I normally crash around 3:30 or 4:00 pm and take a nap so I can finish the rest of the night.  In my defense, my son usually wakes me up around 5:00 a.m. when he crawls into bed, and I never really go to sleep after that. And I usually go to be around midnight or 1:00 a.m., so I average 4-5 hours sleep per night.  Of COURSE I need a catnap to survive!

Yesterday, I laid down for my nap. Nothing.  I wasn't tired.  After 20 minutes, I got up and went about my day.  I was pretty beat by about 10:00 pm, so I tried going to bed.  I laid there for about 2 HOURS before I finally fell asleep.  This morning, my daughter had a nightmare and crawled into bed at around 3 a.m.  My son came to bed (as usual) around 4:45 a.m.  Guess who was too wide awake to go back to sleep? Yep.  Me.

I love how Bodyflex gives me tons of extra energy. From day 1.

Here's to hoping day 2 is just as productive!

My Epic (or not-so-epic) attempts to lose weight. Attempt #896ish

Five months since my last post.

Have I lost weight? Actually, yeah.  Just not as much as I wanted.  I'm down to 300.2.  What is that? Like 6 pounds?  Well, if you're Trying to lose 10 lbs, an six pound loss is pretty good.  If you're trying to lose 160ish, then eight pounds is paltry, at best.  Sigh.



In the last five months, I started working as an addictions counselor.  And I wouldn't consider myself a good counselor, unless I took the information I shared with my clients, and applied it to my own life as well.

Many of my clients have been in and out of the judicial system, and dealing with addiction for years or decades.  When you've been living a life like this on repeat, experiencing the same cycle over and over again, it is easy to get the F-it's.  Why try again? Why go through the hassle, if you know you'll end up right back into addiction?

One evening,  I handed this quote out to each person.  The explanation behind it is:  If you give up, you've lost already.  It's the person who keeps trying over and over and OVER again who will succeed.

And that is why I'm back at it again.

I'm Baaaaack!

Have you missed me?  I've missed me.  Well, I've missed my weight loss journey.  Since my last post, I finished my interning.  Then I started college.  To give you an idea of how crazy it got there for a while, an average college student takes 3 classes per semester.  I was taking five and six each QUARTER. Online.

No. Online isn't easier.  It's harder.  They expect more participation from you.  There are several assignments per week, and you're expected to not only post on the message boards, but interact with the other students and site sources justifying your answers.  Luckily, I only had to do two quarters.  I seriously think I would've shot myself if I had to do another quarter.  Remember, I have four kids and a husband to worry about during this process too.  It's not like I didn't have other things to worry about.  Life still went on.

Anyway, everything except the absolute essentials stopped for six months.  And I mean ESSENTIALS.  Laundry? Meh.  Dishes? Eventually.  Vacuuming? Nope. Tubs & toilets? I now know at what point the toilet will talk back if you don't clean it. (shudder).  I won't lie.  It was a dark time in my life.  We ate out A LOT. I gained weight. Go figure.

Now, college is complete, I just passed my test, and should be starting my new job in the next few weeks.  Now, it is time to return to my life, and establish my new normal.  ...Just in time for Summer break . Gah!

But that's okay.  I will make this work.  Somehow.  Some way.

First, I need to establish my new weight:  306.4 lbs  - I was up to 311 lbs about a week ago, and that was the catalyst for me to STOP what I was doing.

Yep.  Don't judge.  Okay, judge all you want.  I don't care.  It is what it is and no amount of shaming is going to change that.  What's important is that I'm taking a stand now.

I'm back on the trails, which I haven't done in more than eight years.  I realized that the treadmill wasn't working for me.  I would only do about 7 1/2 minutes (yes, I'm THAT out of shape), then the pain in my back, compensating for the weight in my stomach and boobs, would be so much that I'd stop, rest for 10 minutes, then get back on again.  By the time I was done, I'd complete 1 mile and would've taken an hour to do it.  Pathetic.

So, I hit the trails knowing that however far I went, I still had to turn around and come back!  It worked. But it was also friggin' HELL.  Luckily there were park benches along the trail (whoever thought of that should get a special place in heaven for being so thoughtful).  I hit my half way mark, sat for about 10 minutes, then started heading back.  By the time I hit the final curve, and could see my car, I was desperately trying not to limp...or crawl.  After all, there was a huge group of retired people, some with walkers, on the trail at the same time as me.  I had to at least do better than them!

By the time I was done, I had walked nearly two miles in about 45 minutes.  Still not fantastic, but a heck of a lot better than the stupid treadmill.  Plus, I got to view lots of pretty scenery!!

Beauty-Licious Products

The last several weeks have been CRAZY.  I've averaged 50+ hours of work each week as an intern, then have come home to be a mom to the kiddos.  My oldest daughter has been watching the younger ones, and now has a very strong appreciation of what I've been doing every day for the last 20 years.

Even now, though, I give her a bit of a break.  For instance, this morning I had to leave for work at 6:00 a.m., so I let her sleep while I played with the youngest at 5:00 a.m. and let him hang out with me while I got ready for work and we ate breakfast together.  It was precious little time spent together, as I wound up coming home 30 minutes before his bed time.  Sigh.  Only two more weeks.

In spite of it all, I've managed to squeeze in some product testing on a few "beauty-liscious" products.  They were my indulgences over the last few weeks. Ways to remind myself that I'm worth the effort, even if it's for only a few minutes.

Hello Cutie Mud Mask:  This was a fun product to try.  It is made with things like pomegranate, peppermint, and green tea extract, among other items.  I loved the peppermint smell, which was the last thing I expected from a black mud mask.  I liked having a brush to 'paint' the mud onto my face, and how my skin instantly felt tighter when the mask was removed.  Just be sure not to remove the mud with a white washcloth!  That black is hard to get out! Overall, I really liked this mask.  I'm saving it for a "pamper me" weekend with my two daughters so we can all get masks together!

24 K Gold Vitamin C Serum: This stuff is fancy!  For some crazy reason, I thought the gold would disappear, but duh! It's gold!  It doesn't disintegrate.  Luckily, it wasn't overwhelming, but it did add a little sparkle to my face.  It did a pretty good job of moisturizing the skin too. My favorite aspect though, was that it was a serum and a primer wrapped up into one.  One of my biggest pet peeves now that I'm 40 is having to layer on product after product before I even begin putting make-up on!  This enabled me to take a couple of steps out of the process.


Thin Botanicals:  Thin botanicals are a body wrap, which seems to be all the rage.  The wraps were quite simple to use, and I must say the customer service is UH-MAZ-ING.  I spoke with them several times about the wraps and was given several tips to maximize the results from the wraps, as well as other weight-loss related information. They really went above and beyond with their service.

Hair Growth Accelerator:  All I can say about these is WOW!  No seriously. WOW.  I'd normally tell you that I was so impressed that I'll be putting it on my Amazon Wish list to buy again later.  However, it's worked so well, I don't want to get any more!  I've been taking the capsules for about a month, and I've added several inches to my hair, my nails have completely quit splitting, and I've begun biting at them because they're so long (remember my hair was just below my shoulders at the end of May)!  Is it possible for something to work TOO well?  If you're looking for longer, thicker hair, or stronger, longer nails.  THIS is what you must buy.  Look no further.

Teeth Whitening:  I'd been really excited about this product because I'm pretty self conscious about my teeth.  They've got a nice yellow tinge to them, but I've heard horror stories about teeth whitening products.  I finally relented though, and gave this a try.  I loved how you could put the mouth guards into hot water and they'd soften up enough for you to create custom trays for your teeth (pretty stinking cool!).  But I quickly discovered that the bleach provided began to burn my gums and top of my mouth.  I was only able to handle it about 5 minutes before I had to take the product out and rinse my mouth out.  In their defense, my daughter had the same problem with the teeth whitening products our DENTIST gave her.  I think this is one of those hit-or-miss products that you'll just need to try yourself and see if you can handle it.

Slim Extreme 4D Thermal Cellulite Serum:  This is another product I tested because I've used Evaline products before.  In the past I've purchased their 

"Slim Extreme 3D Thermo Active Serum Shaping Waist, Abdomen and Buttocks", "Slim Extreme 3D Super-Concentrated Modeling Bust Serum - Total Push-Up Effect", and a third lotion that has a cooling effect instead of a warming effect.  Needless to say, I like their products.  This one, was also pretty good.  When your stomach is as big as mine (remember I'm still 280 lbs), you can't expect the lotions to make your stomach disappear.  But what it does do is firm the skin and tissue, as well as increase it's tone.  And this is what I'm looking for.  I want my skin to have elasticity so that, as it shrinks, it won't become some wrinkly nasty flabby mess.  I'm running a marathon here people!  Not a sprint!

Pedicure Callus Remover:  OK, so I totally cheated on this product.  I got one of these a couple years back as a Christmas gift because everyone in my family has notoriously nasty feet.  I have been hooked ever since.  So, when I had the chance to test a newer version, I totally jumped at the opportunity.  And guess what?  It was all I hoped it would be.  The callus remover turned my feet from uber nasty-icky to almost normal in just a matter of minutes.  I love these things! PLUS, this thing is rechargeable, instead of the battery-operated one I used to use.  Upgrade!!!




UPDATE:  Courtney asked for a girl's night and guess what we did?  Good times!!!

*I received these products for free in exchange for an honest and unbiased opinion.

Ademia Theraputic Lotion - The Ultimate Skin Healer

Although this is a weight-loss related blog, I want to write about something that, in my estimation, is just as important as weight-loss itself. That's the emotional side of why we lose weight and the necessity of sifting through our emotions in order to have a healthy mind AND body.

One of my biggest sources of emotional angst growing up has always been my father. My reasons are private, and I won't share them here,  but I still grapple with these issues, even years after his death. And I stuggle with whether I let those issues affect the care I gave him in his dying months.

Dad was a diabetic.  He was the kind of diabetic that took insulin pills, needed his blood tested several times a day, and had serious issues with his circulation.  So badly that he needed toes amputated.  His legs would swell up to three times their normal size and the skin would literally split because it couldn't handle the swelling, or he would weep fluid from his skin.  Somewhere along the line he contracted MRSA, which inhibits the body's ability to heal.

For the 11 months from the time of my mother's death until my father's own demise, his foot did not heal from his latest surgery.  He had wound care nearly every day, but because his skin was so thin and frail, it would split, then ulcerate, then leak  and so on and so forth.  The ulcers were so bad, that the nurses would use baby diapers to catch all the fluid because normal bandages could not absorb the fluid.  If he left his legs open to the air, he would drip.  Graphic enough for you?

OK, what's the point to all of this?  My father ultimately died of Gangrene.  His ulcers became so badly infected, and deep, that he died an incredibly painful (and disgusting) death.
 A few weeks back, while doing my product testing, I came across a product called the Adamia Therapeutic Lotion.

The company that sold this product touted it as a lotion that could be used on the elderly, or those who have highly sensitive skin, dry skin, cracked skin, even burn patients as a means of healing their skin.  I remembered my father and his legs and I was intrigued.  So, I ordered my free sample.  They sent me a large bottle of the lotion and I tried it on my hand that first evening.

The difference was immediate.  I used it on the rest of my skin and I noticed changes there as well.  I was impressed.

Fast forward three weeks, and I was interning - sitting in on a case management client with many of the same issues as my father.  I cannot tell you how wonderful it was to give this woman my lotion, knowing that I had something that could help her, even if a little bit.  Not only was it nice to give to someone who needed the lotion more than I do, it was cathartic.  I'm not sure why, aside from the fact that she reminded me of those heart-breaking moments with my father in pain. And though I couldn't do anything to help my father at the time except to be there for him, I was able to do something for her.

Would I recommend this lotion to other? You betcha. I hope many others have opportunities to use this product and see the effects for themselves.

Changing the Dynamics: I'm Going Back To Work!

Holy smokes!  What have I got myself into?!?

My First Day of Work!

After nearly 21 years as a stay-at-home mother, I have decided it's time to go back to college.  I'd been toying with the idea off and on for several years, but it never seemed to be the right time.  6 years ago, I was preparing to enter the work force full time.  My kids were in school full-time, my online business was BOOMING, and I was putting out feelers for people I could hire as employees.  I was ready to take the leap.  All the sudden, after 10 years of infertility, I wound up pregnant.

When we started having children the first time around, my husband and I agreed that we would not bring children into this world, if I was going to hire someone to raise them. So, I put my personal aspirations aside, and put all my energy into being the best mother I could be.  I'm certainly not the best in the WORLD by any stretch of the imagination.  But I was the best I could be.

When I wound up pregnant with our third, I put aside my aspirations again, and prepared for another round of motherhood.  Then, 6 months later, BOOM! The pregnancy bomb hit again.  We were going to have a fourth.  This time, he was special needs.  All my attention was needed to care for him, so I sold my online business and got serious about this mothering thing.

It's been nearly 5 years now, and little Jacob has one more year until he's in school full-time. This year he will be gone approximately 4 hours in pre-school and therapies.  So, after much discussion with my husband, and exhaustive research, we decided that NOW was the time for me to get my education so that I could re-enter the workforce next year when he starts school.

Luckily, I had one year of college under my belt from before we were married, and I had taken 12 courses (yes, that's 6 per semester).  Most of those classes still transfer after all these years (crazy, huh?).  So, I am going to major in Addiction Studies (or Sociology, depends on what the counselor says when I talk to her next week).

I am working toward getting my ISAS - Idaho Student of Addiction Studies certificate - which only requires 8 classes (2 quarters of classes for me) and 300 internship hours.  Rather than taking the courses and THEN interning, I'm doing this backwards.  I have 1 month to get my hours while my oldest is still home from school and I have family to care for Jacob and minimize his shell-shock of me being gone.  Then, when Elisha goes off to college, I will also go back through online classes so that I can do my work while the little ones are in bed. My daughter and I will both be Sophomores in college - AT THE SAME TIME!

At the end of my two quarters, I will in essence be just a few classes away from graduating.  Until then, I am working 40-50 hour weeks this month, as an intern, learning all the in's and out's of addiction, case management, counseling and what-not.  Wish me luck!  And pray for me!  It's been a really really REALLY long time since I've been in the work force OR in college.  And I don't want this new endeavor to affect my family too terribly much.  But I think the time is right for me and our family.

Cross your fingers!

...Oh, and by the way, I went to work with two different sized earrings on.  Yeah, that's how I roll! :)