Leaving for college count down

Less than two weeks until I move my only child into the dorm.  Why is this so hard?  It's time for him to be going off to college.  I've done my job and it's time to let him fly but it is so hard.  I know I'm not alone, I know that there are millions of moms out there going through the same thing.  I know I will survive but there are days that are harder than others!

Since I'm about 98% sure that no one reads my blog it is more of a diary for me I guess.  I do feel very much alone these days.  I may have 300 Facebook friends but I don't feel like I have a true best friend.  I can't even talk to my husband.  I could talk to my family but I don't always feel like they really listen.  I wish I could talk to my husband, he is suppose to be my best friend but when you are married to someone with a mental illness it isn't always easy to talk to them.  Too often they are so self absorbed that they don't hear what you are saying.  They cannot comfort you in the way you need.  Instead they find a way to make your problems a burden to them.  Or worse, they only care about their own problems and do not even hear what you are saying.  I most definitely cannot talk to my child.  He may be a young man but he doesn't need my burdens laid on him right as he is starting the next exciting chapter of his life!

I'm having a pity party for one today.  I miss the one best friend I had who turned out not to be my friend in the end.  I have a few other friends but no one that I feel truly comfortable opening up and laying it all out there.  I'm sure I will feel better tomorrow.

On the THM front - I seem to be stalled at the same weight.  It's been two months on the diet and while I lost 15 pounds that seems to be the most I can lose at the moment.  After Andrew is off to college I will have to jump start something and get things moving.

Count Down to Empty Nest

Hard to believe that in three weeks our son will be away at college.  I'm not sure what to do with myself.  I thought I was ready but today I'm realizing that I am not.  My whole life all I ever wanted to do was be a mom.  While I know I'm still a mom it is a new and different chapter that I'm just not quite ready for but have no choice.  I'm very proud of Andrew and I know there are big and wonderful things in his future, it's just so hard to let go.

We just spent 4 days in Springfield, partly for registration and orientation and partly just to spend time together in the college town.  We went to a Springfield Cardinal's game, they are a farm team for the St. Louis Cardinals.  Totally went off our diet!  Both Bill and I were sure we put all of our weight back on over the four days in Springfield but guess what?  We didn't!  Neither one of us!  Now, I'd be lying if I said we didn't gain a little but I only gained 2 pounds and have already lost 1 since being home for only 2 days!  Bill gained less than 5 pounds.  We are back on plan now.

Just feeling sad today.  Emotions will most likely be all over the place for the next several weeks/months.

Stalled already

It's been a month since starting Trim Healthy Mama and I feel as though I've stalled.  Bill is still losing but I've been stuck at the same weight now for almost 3 weeks!  It came off fast and now it's just sitting there.  I will admit that we haven't always stayed on plan...Father's day and then the 4th of July holiday.  We've eaten out a few times and once at a place that had absolutely nothing on the menu that was in plan!  We haven't been exercising as much as I would like.  Summer finally arrived to the Midwest and the heat index is in the triple digits!  This week I'm going to be very diligent and make sure I do not stray.  I'm going to work some kind of exercise into my day as well though it will have to be an inside kind of exercise unless we can make it to the pool.  This coming weekend we are going to Springfield for 4 days and it will be hard to stay on plan 100%.

Here's to jump starting the loss and seeing the pounds fall off some more!

Another GGMS Recipe (Good Girl Moonshine)

I think I've found a GGMS that I can sip all day and actually like.  I do not care for the original recipe from THM and while the second generation is pretty good, it's not an every day sipper.  Here is what I concocted today:

Lemon Blueberry GGMS

2 bags of Lemon Zinger Herbal tea
1 bag of True Blueberry Herbal tea
Juice of one lemon
1 tsp of powder ginger
2 tsp fresh grated ginger
2 Tbs Apple Cider Vinegar with the mother
Ice 
Water

I steeped the tea for 5 minutes, poured over ice in 1 quart container and then using the same bags poured more hot water and steeped them again for 3 minutes.  Added the powdered ginger and the fresh ginger to the container.  Added the apple cider vinegar then ice water until the container was full.

Next I put ice in my Tervis cup and poured the beverage in and now I have a refreshing healthy beverage to sip today!

So far the diet is going good.  I've lost about 15 pounds thus far.  Started walking but need to add a little more vigorous exercise soon!

Oh no Shingles!

Still on plan with Trim Healthy Mama!  I really haven't found this to be much of a challenge.  I will need to start exercising to really see results faster.  According to my doctor's office I'm down 14 pounds, my tracker I had only 12!

Reason I went to the doctor yesterday is because of a rash around my right eye that itches and burns.  As I'm typing right now it itches so bad!  Doctor believes it is shingles!  Why?  I've had them before when my son was a toddler.  Then I was very stressed between being a single mom and a job that was killing me.  This time, I have no idea what would have triggered shingles.  I'm convinced that I am getting the shingles because my case of chicken pox went completely undetected.  Pay back for teasing my brother when he had chicken pox!  I'm taking medication and I have an appointment with the eye doctor to make sure that it isn't in my eye.  Fun times.

The plus side of course was discovering that my weight was 14 pounds down since my last appointment with my doctor back in April.  I didn't actually start Trim Healthy Mama until June so I may have lost 2 pounds before I actually started.  I highly recommend this way of eating.

Progressing along...

Tonight we had General Tso's Meatballs and it tasted very close to a Chinese restaurant's General Tso's Chicken!  I thought it was awesome!  Of course Bill said it was "okay" but since he isn't a big fan of Chinese food, I am really not that surprised.  Everything we have been eating has been really good.  I know I've made mistakes - had a little too much healthy fat in one sitting or a little too high on the carbs but that is to be expected.  The good news - weight loss!  I'm down 10 pounds as of today.  I do not feel like I'm missing anything.

Tomorrow I'm making bread that has been fermenting in my fridge all week.  I cannot wait to try this artisan style bread that is low on the gylcemic index.  I also discovered that a lot of the foods that are plan approved are available at Dierbergs and Walmart!  I've even gotten some supplies from Big Lots!  I actually like Truvia and haven't missed sugar.

Best thing I've had so far falls into the dessert category and that was a chocolate peanut butter shake!  OMG that was awesome!

This weekend I'm going to a winery for a girls day out.  Even though I will be drinking and most likely will have something that is off plan but I will just jump back on plan and not sweat about it.  I had sugar over Father's day weekend and I still lost weight.

Time to start exercise!

Good Girl Moonshine and our diet

Good Girl Moonshine or GGMS as it is called in the Trim Healthy Mama world has many variations out there.  I've tried the original and the second generation but didn't really care for the original though I did like the second generation.  I've always liked "The Republic of Tea's Blackberry Sage tea" so I thought why don't I invent my own GGMS based on that and the results are not too bad.  I need to tweak a few things.  I'm very sensitive to caffeine so I only used one bag of oolong tea and two bags of decaf tea.  I need a stronger tea taste so I need to add more tea than just three bags.  I used fresh blackberries and fresh sage (garden is being overrun with sage right now), ginger powder and apple cider vinegar.  Because I do not like sweet tea there is no sweetener in mine but certainly one could add stevia if they like it sweet.  I cannot taste the sage at all so I would probably add a little bit more of that as well.  Still taste very good and this is my sipper for today.  Once I have the recipe just right I will post the recipe.

As for the food, well so far I have no complaints about the food, in fact last night's dinner was a huge success with everyone (Andrew and Rachael)!  I made pizza casserole and it was very tasty.  My favorite thing I've made thus far is the no noodle lasagna, yummy!

I know you shouldn't weigh yourself every day and this week I haven't been but today I stepped on the scale for the first time since our weigh in day of Sundays.  I haven't lost any more weight BUT I haven't gained any either.  I was hoping to have lost at least another pound.  I've been doing this for two weeks approximately and am down 7 pounds and Bill is down 10!  Men!  They always lose faster.

Anyway, things are going great and we are going to keep trucking on!

Pounds lost!

Not surprised to learn that Bill lost more than me in one week, men usually do lose faster than women.  Bill lost 10 pounds and I lost 4.3.  I've lost 7 total since I started a little earlier than he did.  It really hasn't been a challenge at all and Bill has stopped complaining!  We even went out to eat two nights and stayed on plan!  We do not feel deprived at all.

The biggest challenge right now is that our kitchen is a mess due to a major leak!  We had to tear up the floor and the sink.  Putting in a new garbage disposal so the sink is out of commission and the dishwasher.  I can function without the floor being finished but the sink and dishwasher is making things very difficult.

Well, on to the next week and hopefully more pounds shed!

Bad Almond Milk?

I'm down 5 pounds but I'm not sure it is all the diet!  Yesterday I made a drink called the "Shrinker" and it has almond milk.  My almond milk has been open and in the fridge for awhile, the date was still good but I think it might have been bad.  It wasn't long after drinking it that I became ill.  Lost my lunch and then had dry heaves for awhile after that.  Didn't eat dinner because I was still feeling queasy.  Felt okay this morning and had some zero Greek yogurt with added blueberries and some oats.  Very yummy.  Then I wasn't convinced the almond milk was really bad so I made a fat stripping frappe.  I knew the yogurt wouldn't keep me full until lunch or a snack (need to eat every 3 hours).  Well, two things - first I put too much stevia in the frappe so I couldn't stand how sweet it was and the after taste.  Second, I started feeling nauseous before I could get it down.  Threw away the almond milk.  I have more in the freezer but I'm going to take a few days break from almond milk.  I hate being sick and I usually break tiny blood vessels in my face, yesterday was no exception.

Going to keep going with the diet.  Bill is doing well with it so far.  He stopped complaining anyway! 

Day One - Trim Healthy Mama

So day one of THM eating lifestyle has been going pretty good so far for me anyway.  My husband is already complaining!  I admit that breakfast was not so good.  We had blueberry muffins in a cup which didn't turn out.  They didn't cook all the way and were not too tasty.  We did not have a morning snack but for lunch we had sandwiches on Joseph's Pita with carrots sticks for a side.  I've been drinking my "Good Girl Moonshine" today, it's an acquired taste that I hope I will grow to love.  The apple cider vinegar is a wee bit strong.  Maybe I can cut back on that a little.  I found several variations for GGMS on Facebook and will definitely try them.  I need to do some more research as to how drinking this is healthy.  Had an apple for an afternoon snack.  Tonight's dinner is cooking in the crock pot - roast beef.  We are going to have loaded mashed "potato" cauliflower to go with it and another vegetable.  I am going to make a cottage berry whip for dessert.  So far I don't think this is so difficult.  My husband will be a challenge  but I hope he can stay the course and we both lose the weight we so desperately need to lose.  Baby steps and one day at a time.

Trim Healthy Mama adventure

I've been gathering recipes, purchased the THM book and started a shopping list so that Bill and I can embark on a healthier lifestyle.  We both have put on so much weight and have all these aches and pains that we have to do something.  Neither one of us has diabetes yet but we need to keep that from happening.  Hopefully this new journey is something we can stick with and lose weight.  So many people have been successful so here we go.

To help keep me honest, I've returned to my blog.  I'm on Pinterest as well following all kinds of THM bloggers.  I hope to lose 65-70 pounds in the next year.  I'm not sure how much Bill wants to lose, probably 40.  As you can see in my picture above, I have a long way to go but as I progress I will post pictures of our results.

Cheer me on and give me strength to make this lifestyle change.  That is what we are embarking on, a lifestyle change and not a diet.  Here we go....