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I never thought of myself as a runner, that was until today. I had a couple of things to finish up inside and my kids decided to go outside for a play. Now we live on 2 1/2 acres, and my kids know not to go out in the paddocks without me but Thomas, my 3 year old, decided to be a little adventurous and climb the gate into the back paddock. I ran out there looking for him....no Thomas. The adrenalin kicked in, as well as a fair amount of panic, while I am running through all of our neighbours properties looking for him. I could have kept running for miles today I think. Well anyway, my husband found him. He was playing hide & seek from me, hiding in the horse float. If I wasn't so relieved to see him I probably would have throttled the little bugger. Life is never dull when you have kids :)

I also have included my new starting photos, they really are not any prettier. You can tell they were taken late at night, I look like I am about to fall asleep. Maybe next time I should try some makeup to hide the black bags under my eyes :)

Anyway here is how my day went.......

Day 2 Nutrition: using the Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle principle

9:00- english muffin, 2 poached eggs, 1 apple, 3 fish oil
11:30- 1c yoghurt, mixed berries, 2T oats, skinny cappuccino
3:10- soup (2oz chicken, 1/2c onion, 1/2c zucchini, 1/2c asparagus, 1/2c basmati rice)
6:10- pw- skim chocolate milk
8:00- 125g hokkein noodles, 2.5oz chicken, 1c broccoli, 1/2c carrot, 2c spinach, 1/2oz cashews, 2T teriyaki sauce

*I am down a meal because I slept in this morning.
*3 litres water
*6 green tea
*1 tea w/ skim milk
*8 serves veg, 2 serves fruit

Hooray, Summer is finally here for my kids. All year long I had to drag their little bum’s out of bed at 7am to get ready for school.  Finally they can sleep in. Yipee!  Yeah, whatever. My kids had no such plans.  5:45AM!  I’m not exagerating! They were up at 5:45AM.  It’s Saturday, AND its’s summer! Come on kids, when are you going to start valuing the sleep-in days. When are you going to be those kids that sleep till 11:00am every day.  I won’t complain, I promise.

Kids need sleep.  Between ages 5-12 they need 10-11 hours per night.  When my kids don’t get enough sleep, they are moody, sensitive, cranky, argumentative etc.  But they have always been good sleepers. In fact, I used to tell people “My kids have always slept through the night… since they were 3 months old!” Till one day I told someone that, and my husband said, “They don’t sleep through the night, you just don’t wake up when they do.”  I sleep so soundly at night, I don’t even wake up when our kids do.  We had them in a basket in our room until they were three months, which is why I DID wake up when they did, and as soon as they went to their own rooms, I slept straight through their midnight waking.  I’m guessing they just started sleeping through the  night, cause no one was there to answer their cries.  Part of me feels like a bad parent, but part of me is glad they are such good sleepers now.

So, as a result, I can offer no advice on getting your child to sleep better, except advice I’ve heard from other people. 

1. Follow a bedtime routine.
2. Wind down by listening to wonderful lullaby music.
3. Go to sleep at the same time every night.
4. Limit caffeine in the afternoon and before bed.
5. Do not allow the bedroom to be a place for television.
6. As we spoke about Thursday, if they need a bedtime snack, let it be a small amount of complex carbs.
7. Keep them really active during the day, so they will be wiped out at bedtime.  (This is what we do)

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I am such a bad bad blogger. I seriously think I have ADD. It’s been bad the past few days. I can’t complete a thought half the time. Once upon a time I had a free psychic reading done. The guy told me “Your mind is a buzz saw.”

Well, duh. REALLY glad I didn’t have to pay for that bit of “insight”.

Add kids who are not really kids, in fact one is technically an adult, who never shut up to the mix and it makes, well, makes me want to do this:

UGH.

So, my final Ultimate Diet week went well. I was down to 134 lbs pre reload. Reload went good, I stuck to my target (whatever it was, I forget now, 5-600g).

Then something happened. I no longer had a goal. Well, actually my goal is maintenance.

Problem: I don’t know how to do maintenance mentally speaking. I’m fine if I have to lose. I suppose I would be OK even with gaining muscle, dunno, haven’t tried it.

It’s this not going anywhere thing that I can’t get my head around, and consequently I’ve put on uhm a few pounds over the past week. I don’t know how many are legitimate fat though. I was 143.5 this morning but I had a “carb up” last night. So, today’s weight doesn’t count. I’d been holding around 142 for the past few days.

Also, I’m am EXTREMELY irregular. I went yesterday but that was the first legitimate movement since whenever the last time I blogged I went was - May 17th - that’s like 12 days!!

I literally look to be a few months pregnant. My abdomen sticks out just like there’s a baby in there. It’s hard like there’s a baby in there too! This soooo sucks so badly, I can’t not describe in words how badly.

I’m full of gas, really bad smelling gas, so much so that I can’t stand myself. It’s making going out in public quite difficult.

And no, I’m not pregnant. Well, if I am, I’m about a month over due. And besides, if I were pregnant, I think my GYN would have caught that before he inserted the IUD.

So, I assume that since this has been going on for a month now I qualify as having IBS (irritable bowel syndrome). Laxatives do nothing useful at all. I’ve been doing max doses of Metamucil and a softener the past 3 days. Fiber’s at 30-40grams. Water is 80-110oz.

I was so excited when I was able to go yesterday I seriously considered taking a picture of it! I feel like that was the last one I’ll see in a while. This makes me very very sad.

The real pain though is that I’m supposed to have the abdominoplasty in 25 days!!!!! I’m starting to worry that if things don’t start moving I’ll have to delay the surgery. I already feel like I’ve put my life on hold until after surgery. I actually HAVE put my life on hold! I do not want any delays. I’m too old to wait anymore. I feel like I’m waisting my life right now. I feel like I don’t have much time left for some reason. I’ve felt like that since I was about 30 years old.

So, not too happy today. I just want this, well, I was gonna say stuff, but really it’s crap lol or shit, literally and figuratively, OUT of me!!!!

Even smoking doesn’t make me go! I tried that a few weeks ago. Nothing. It tasted like total crap and made me really dizzy AND it didn’t work!!! How do I make a mad smiley? So I smoked the whole damn pack anyway. Just cause.

Week 106 - Yes I know everyone is waiting with baited breath for my usual Saturday morning weighin.  I’m sure my lack of posting the scale readings will affect the betting odds in Vegas for all those who gamble on how much I actually gained this week.   But I have decided to totally ignore the scale [...]

How Well Do You Know Your States?

You Know Your States

You got 10/10 correct. You’ve got a pretty good handle on US geography. There’s a good chance you’ve visited at least a dozen of the fifty states.

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As we gear up for tomorrow’s bike clinic, I went on a specific hunt through my husband’s Velo News for women bike racers. THERE ARE WOMEN BIKE RACERS!! I’m annoyed. Women are so rarely even discussed in Velo News, it’s like they don’t exist. I went page by page and found 2 articles in (April 7th issue) one article on Dahle Flesja, Mountain Biker, and Emilie Fahlin, High Road’s youngest road racer. Invisibility of women in the magazines will not promote to the general public that racing bicycles is even a possibility. On any given Sunday, there are ten races for men and two races for women. Almost all of the mens races are PACKED with a minimum of 100 riders, the women’s races might have 100 racers total for both races. This is a nasty cycle: women underrepresented in magazines, lack of quality races for women, lack of even remotely equal prize money, as well lack of opportunity for women to start engaging in the sport of racing.

So, I’m annoyed, because of the TWO articles in the magazine regarding women, one of them is THIS. “Miss March High Road’s youngest rider is quickly becoming a household name” by Neal Rogers. Ugggggg. Emilie Fahlin “Miss March” is featured in the German Calender called Cyclopassion 2008.

So, what’s your opinion? How is this helping the sport?  How many of you readers race bikes?  How many know women who do?  How many would try if given the opportunity?

I was over at Joe Thorn’s blog, which I have just discovered and I noticed his post called “The Morning Runs“. As I prefer to run in the morning (at least to get it over with) I had a read and got some value from Joe’s perspective: 2.5 miles into the rising sun, and 2.5 miles [...]

Around 300 people turned out for the opening day of the Conway Farmer’s Market, according to Phyllis Strackboard, board member and treasurer for the Farmer’s Market.

Early birds bought bundles of lettuce, new potatoes, cabbage, squash, peaches and even herbs like cilantro, basil and sage from local farmers.

“We’ve been busy since 6 o’clock out here,” Phyllis Strack, said. “It was one of our largest crowds starting up.”

Strack said the market will get much larger as the season progresses.

“It’s the beginning of the season, so most people’s gardens aren’t quite in yet,” she said. “Next week, you’re going to see quite big difference.

Strack said nine booths were set up on the first day.

“Next week, there’s going to be 12 at least,” she said. “All the rain that we had in April delayed the gardens one week to 10 days.”

Lisa Gardner of Mount Vernon added, “We didn’t get ours planted until like April 20. We’re planned on planting it (around) the end of March.”

Despite late plating there was plenty of fresh produce and neighborliness.

Sonny and Macell Davis of Faulkner County said it took them about 30 minutes to sell all of the lettuce they brought for the market.

“No one else had lettuce,” Macell said as she and her husband sold the last bit of garlic bulbs they brought.

For the first day, the couple sold radishes, daffodil bulbs and bird house goods as well.

The retired couple who moved back to the country to be farmers.

“I was raised in the country right across Toad Suck Lock and Dam. I went to Little Rock and married this city boy,” she laughed. “I ended up back where I started from. He loved the country.”

“That’s where she used to have to go milk cows every morning,” Sonny interjected.

“We love the country,” Macell said. “It’s too early in the year to have much of anything. We had probably 20 peppers. We sold out in about an hour anyhow.”

Macell said they will soon have squash and tomatoes.

Fresh herbs grown in Conway were also for sell at the market, and like everything else, they went pretty fast.

“I’ve mostly sold everything, the basil, the cilantro, rosemary.” Letitia McMasters of Conway said.

She said she will have sage next week. In addition to herbs, McMasters had honey and farm eggs.

Also the Ozark Foothills Beekeepers Association had a booth selling honey and special blends of honey such as blueberry honey made in the Satillo area of Faulkner County. They also had information for anyone wanting information about getting started raising bees.

Farmers from Horshoe Mountain were selling peaches, which were early to the market for the first time, according to Strack.

“Tomatoes usually come after Father’s Day, but this year it will be a little later than that,” Strack said. “But in four weeks we’ll have tomatoes, blackberries green beans in a couple of weeks.” She said that a vendor should have cheese next week.

Gardner had a booth sat up with her daughter, Rachel, who was selling eggs from chickens raised as part of a 4-H project.

“My daughter did the poultry training, the brown hens (bovine brown egg layers), and so that’s where we’re getting the eggs from this year,” Gardener said.

She said they bought chicks from the Faulkner County Extension Office and raised them. The chickens are shown and judged at the county fair on well they are raised and the amount of eggs they lay.

“She bought 15 chickens and 14 of them lived, so she did really well with that part. And they are laying,” Gardner said, adding they now have 17 chickens and get more than a dozen eggs a day.

The Farmer’s Market will be open Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays from 6 a.m. until produce is sold out through October and will be closed the week of the fair.

For information on the market or for information about setting up a booth at the Farmer’s Market, call Strack at 450-9308.

(Staff writer Monica Hooper can be reached by e-mail at monica.hooper@thecabin.net or by phone at 505-1266.)

Source: TheCabin.net

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Here is an example of the support from the TT Forum
Quote:
Originally Posted by babylon

Hey Kel, I wanted to share about something that I've found really helpful with improving food choices. (Maybe you already do it too, I don't know.) Every evening before I go to bed, I write out exactly what my meals for the next day will be on the left side of a piece of paper. Then, as I eat throughout the day, on the right side of the paper I either check off that meal or write down what was different, what I actually ate.

This sounds annoying (and it kinda is), but I find that going through the mental process of making all the food decisions the day before (including taking into account eating out, etc.) actually makes the next day a lot easier. And it really doesn't take all that much time. The days when I have eaten really badly are usually (not always, but usually) days that I didn't plan out the night before.

Good luck and we're proud of you for staying in the game! There's no way you'll regret it.

Thanks for your input Julia, in fact this is exactly what I am doing. It is so much easier to follow your meal plan when you actually have a plan, instead of going through each day blindly guessing what your intake is going to be. In fact, thank you to everyone for all the support I am receiving here at the forum.

If it wasn't for the support on the TT Forum I would most definitely have given up on myself as a lost cause.

Anyway this post is for day 1, which was yesterday, and I am off to a great start. I have not exercised for a whole week now since I have been sick and I am really itching to get some exercise in. I am still not feeling 100% and I was going to resume my exercise on Monday, but I might try and get started today, even if I go a little lighter than I normally would. I'll see how things go, sweating it out might even help

Day 1 Nutrition:
Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle

7:30- 1c wholegrain cornflakes, 3/4c skim milk, 2 eggs, 3 fish oil
11:30- 1/2c blueberries, 1/2c yoghurt
1:50- beef lentil soup (1.5oz lean minced beef, 1/3c lentils, eggplant, zucchini, broccoli, capsicum, tomato = 3 serves veg)
3:50- 1/2oz cashews, 1 apple, 3 tofu rice patties ( tofu, basmati rice, egg, curry paste)
7:00- 3oz chicken breast, 1/2c carrot, 1/2c capsicum, 1/2c broccoli, 2c spinach, 1t olive oil, 2T cous cous

*3 litres water
*4 green tea
*1 tea w/skim milk
*8 serves veg, 2 fruit

Day 1 Training:

Rest

I have taken my starting pictures, no matter how many times I do this it just doesn't get any easier. I am dying for the day when I am proud of my bathing suit shots. This is one reason why I want to start to take weekly photos, so I can do a side by side comparison. The scales are not always your friend but a photo never lies!! Also, I never seem to notice changes in myself in the mirror. To see changes comparing photos is great motivation, to see that something is happening and all the hard work is paying off. I still have to download them off my camera so I should have them up tonight.

So until then......Eat well, train hard, be happy, never give up :)

Lisa at Iowa Avenue tagged me for a meme. I know I've done this before 6 word memoir.

What are the 6 words I live by? Well, here's another deep thought that may be better than Homer Simpson eating a donut.

Always live life in the moment.

1. Making the better choice food wise is not always possible. Do the best that you can do and think about the better choice.

2. Don't deprive yourself. If you want a slice of cheesecake, eat a slice, just not the whole cake. If you deprive yourself the slice, more than likely you'll compensate by eating something else and probably go back and eat the slice of cheesecake in the long run anyway.

3. Move more. Don't sit and think of all the different ways you could be or should be exercising, get up and do it. There is always time even if you are super busy.

4. Make yourself important. Our lives are stretched in many different directions: family, work, friends, etc. and we seldom take time to take care of ourselves. This is especially important when you have children. Side note: I often reprimand my wife for getting her plate ready before she serves the kids. I should just step back and be glad that she is taking care of herself as she needs it just as much if not more than the kiddos.

5. There is always tomorrow. Don't beat yourself up for not making the best choices. If you realize what you did, you can do better next time. Learning from experience is important too.

6. Nobody's perfect. Enough said.

Apart from my own desire to be more healthy, I read some really good blogs about what others are doing. These are “normal” people who have similar desires and struggles that I have. So to see them succeed and read their story it really (I mean REALLY) is inspiring. Check ‘em out … REALLY! Andrew Bob Joe (I love [...]

This is becoming concerning. Two weeks where I haven’t kept up the regularity and haven’t swum AT ALL! As an HR Manager I have been speaking with staff about Performance Reviews this week and last. One of the messages I have been sending is: “if we can find out what successful people do and then help you [...]