Weight Loss Help

In my last post I talked about losing weight in ten pound increments and using the principles from the 6 week Body Makeover program.  I tried locating it online for those who may be interested and unfortunately it appears to have been "replaced" by the Food Lover's Diet.  I looked at the program's description and site, but was not impressed.  It appeared to be more expensive and more "material" that doesn't add to my interest in the program.  I am glad I purchased the original program a few months ago.
My first few weeks of eating better didn't go so well.  After all I am human and attempting to get my house in order and used to four small children proved too much for me to remember to eat small meals throughout the day.  This week has been much better diet wise and my wonderful husband was willing to do it with me.  Now I don't have to cook different meals.  He also told me about a free app for our cell phones that allows us to enter and share our daily food diary, tracks our exercise and calories each day, tracks our progress toward our goal weight, and allows us to encourage each other.  It is called My Fitness Pal.

Once you download the program you provide your weight, age, goal weight and how much you would like to lose each week.  Based on this information it provides a target calorie intake for the day.  Because it is a calorie focused program I use it primarily as a visual encouragement and accountability.  My reason for this is because of my experienced weight loss in the past.  When I followed the program I have restarted I lost 30 lb. in about 5 weeks; however, the program is currently projecting my weight loss at only 14.  I believe some of this is because I am eating foods that will jump start my metabolism due to the type of carbohydrates which encourage my body to burn the fat I have instead of using the "easy" carbohydrate energy and storing the fat for later.  I am not a nutritionist, I just know what worked for me in the past.  I kept the weight off too...until I got pregnant, slacked off, and gained 18 pounds over the weight of the baby.
You can add in your weight each day, or however often you decide to weigh yourself.  I like to weigh myself each morning as another way of keeping myself motivated and accountable.  i have always been told "professionals" suggest weighing yourself once a week or every few days instead of each day, but a little gain in between doesn't discourage me it keeps me motivated not to cheat.  This might not work for you so you can "weigh in" whenever you feel comfortable.  I have not been able to weigh myself since my doctor appointment Monday placed me at 268 and some change so I rounded it up to 269.  My scale is broken :-( which is driving me nuts.  I will be purchasing a new one today and weighing myself tomorrow morning so I can stay on track.  My goal is to lose 109 pounds.
I would encourage you to check out My Fitness Pal and if you join, you can add me (addisonrain1) as a friend so we can encourage each other in our weight loss journey.  If you are curious about what I am eating, let me know and I can start posting pictures of my completed daily diaries.

Happy Weight Loss and Healthy Living!

"TEN: Ways to Improve My Life By Tens"

Ten is a wonderfully even number that will allow me to begin to better my life and the life of my family.  I am currently staying home which is taking some adjustment after working full-time outside of the house for the last 10 years.  I am finding it easy to become overwhelmed so I have decided to break things into chunks.  Here's how it will work in order to overcome all the challenges I listed in my previous post, "The Challenge of Life Changes."

10 Items a Day

I was listening to morning radio around the first of the year and they were discussing a woman whose New Year's resolution was to give away or throw away 10 items a day.  This was the initial inspiration for the idea of 10s because when I thought about doing this to lower my own collection of things (some of which have been in boxes since we moved 4 years ago) it spurred more ideas.  My first plan is to get rid of or donate at least 10 things a day; my three children will be doing this same thing to help keep mommy from being over-run by toys.  I am adding "pick up 10 items" as an option to theirs as well since I have 33 years of collecting versus their collective 12.  I realize that some days, when I get on cleaning or purging roles I will most likely do more than 10 items, but the goal will be at least 10 items.  For example, yesterday I threw out two trash bags worth of old magazines, old lesson plans that I have in electronic format, and other miscellaneous doodads that were cluttering the family room edges.
This single goal should help me address the clutter challenge and the organization challenge, or at least begin to make organizing easier.

10 Chapters a Day

A few years ago, I was going through a rough time in life and a close friend of mine suggested I try a Bible reading plan presented by Professor Grant Horner at the Master's College. 
-He has taken and divided the Bible into 10 sections (although for many who were in AWANA as children you will recognize some of the divisions as the poetry history, major prophets, minor prophets, etc, although these familiar divisions are not strictly followed). 
-From these 10 sections I read 1 chapter each day so that I am reading a total of 10 chapters a day.  **Let me take a moment to emphasize that I will not be "studying" 10 chapters a day, but "reading" 10 chapters so I will be looking at the text as a whole and not slowing down to back read, look up something I didn't understand, or memorizing.  The purpose of this task is to GET IN THE WORD and READ.  As a secondary and college level reading teacher I know that experience, exposure, and just plain doing will improve my comprehension over time (I have to retrain my brain muscle to Biblical text). 
The beauty of this system is that I will never read the same 10 chapter combination which will bring new connections and insights.  I will also read the Bible in LESS than a year because the longest section is 250 chapters so it would take 250 days to completely read that section.  i will list the section break down hear in a moment, but if you would like read the primary source information about the system or print book marks to help you keep track you may do so by accessing the document Professor Horner has created.  You will also find a portion of the document called "Secrets to Success" that will give you some pointers.

Professor Horner's Lists of 10:

List 1 (89 days)
Matthew, Mark, Luke, John

List 2 (187 days)
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy

List 3 (78 days)
Romans, I & II Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Hebrews

List 4 (65 days)
I & II Thessalonians, I & II Timothy, Titus, Philemon, James, I & II Peter, I, II & III John, Jude, Revelation

List 5 (62 days)
Job, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon

List 6 (150 days)
Psalms

List 7 (31 days)
Proverbs

List 8 (249 days)
Joshua, Judges Ruth, I & II Samuel, I & II Kings, I & II Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther

List 9 ( 250 days)
Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obediah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi

List 10 (28 days)
Acts

10 Day Meal Plan

I have tried meal planning in the past, but seem to lose interest as it gets further into the month.  My solution is going to be to plan ten days at a time so that I can make grocery lists based on sales and pay days.  Planning should help my budget go further and help us all eat healthier so I am hoping this will help with my weight loss goal.  I planned the first ten days of meal yesterday based on what we already had in the house and freezers...

10 Pounds

I have tried many times to lose weight and the amount I need to lose keeps getting larger with every child and every year that passes.  I have decided to focus on 10 pounds at a time.  I am all about small goals these days to help keep me from being overwhelmed by the large ones.  These days it is easy to get overwhelmed when I just think about getting everything accomplished for a family of 6.  I will keep you all updated on my success, struggles, and anything for the good of the cause as the days go.  In addition to eating better, I will be working out.  I would love to go to a gym, but with 3 small children and a limited budget a membership isn't practical.  After all I can't take a 4 year old, 2 year old, and 3 week old with me to the gym without paying extra for the "at gym" care.  I need to ease into things a little anyway as I had my newest one only a few weeks ago.  The plan is to workout using one of my exercise videos at least 3 of the next four days since I didn't get any workout in yesterday.  I plan to incorporate as much as I can of the 6 Week Body Makeover as it is the weight loss program I have had the most success with in the past.  I was looking for it online now and it doesn't appear to be available any longer if anyone finds it or my results useful.  If I come across it, I will be sure to post the information and/or link.

10 Minutes a Day

I am going to start by doing 10 minutes a day of "pickup" or light cleaning in each room so that I can try to keep ahead of things.  This ten minutes for the kids rooms will entail me "teaching" them how to properly pickup their rooms and make their beds so that eventually I won't need to focus on these rooms each day.  I am hoping that eventually this will turn into a little decorating time also since I have a number of photos I would like to hang, but never have because I feel like I am always cleaning when I get home from work.

10 Minute Story Time

I want to get back to reading with my kids so my plan is to read to them each 10 minutes a day...even the baby.  For my oldest, who is learning to read, I plan to alternate the days that I read to him and the days he reads to himself - or one of his siblings.  Not to mention my little ones can get bored is I don't plan to change things up.  The plan is for this to be a minimum and not a maximum so that as we get a better routine or as they would like me to, I can read to them for longer periods of time.

I hope some of you find this inspiring, motivational, interesting reading, or simply encouraging that you are not alone in your struggles.  I will adjust the plan I see what will work and what won't for my family.  After all a great plan that isn't easy enough to implement is just that "a great plan" that will never become action.



The Challenge of Life Changes

"Life Changes".  Most people and women in general experience life changing moments on a regular basis and have to learn to cope with those changes.  As a sex, I find women quite resilient.  I am glad this is true as I experience the birth of a fourth child, change in job or possibly career, and health changes that need to be made.  I am sure many women can identify with the struggle and joy that is being a mother, a wife, a friend, a sister, a daughter....a woman.  there are times when I have felt alone and wished I had someone to share the "fun" with, so I am beginning a new chapter by sharing it with anyone who wants to read. 

Challenge 1: Mental and spiritual health


For the last 4 years I have been all about my work and all about the students.  The result was an unbalanced spiritual life, marriage, and family life.  One of the first things I need to tackle is restoring balance.

Challenge 2:  Adjust my method of organization

 

My husband is jumping up and down with the thought that I will improve my house keeping ability.  I will be the first to admit that I am not an organizer, a folder, vacuumer, or even a duster.  With small children our house is clean or picked up for about an hour if we are lucky.  I am an idea person more than a doer, so I have to become a doer.  I am happy to say that before number 4 came (literally the day before) I was able to reclaim my kitchen from the piles in the corners.  That's right, my method of make-shift organization is piles.  Hey, I know where everything is.  The only problem is no one else does...oh yeah and my piles tend to get moved, rearranged, or spilled on with so many sets of little hands and feet running around. 

Challenge 3:  The never ending laundry

Six people wearing an average of 2 outfits a day, unless you are a princess then the average is 4 a day, need I say more.  One frustration is that there is literally no end to laundry.  And let me emphasize how much I HATE folding or ironing laundry.  I would rather clean every bathroom in the house than undertake the task of laundry.  Alas it must be done, so I must find a better method.

Challenge 4:  Cooking on a budget

We love to eat out, but with unpaid maternity leave the budget is tight, so I will need to become a better planner for meals.  Oh, and actually stick to the plan!

Challenge 5:  Weight

So after 4 children and a stressful job as a high school teacher I am way beyond the weight I should be.  That's right I have to say it so it becomes reality...I am classified as Obese.  Luckily I am tall so it isn't as bad, but I don't want to be "lucky" any longer; I want to be healthy.  As of my 4th child I am 268 pounds.  In college I was 180 pounds and still not as healthy as I need to be now.  My parents and grandparents suffer from adult onset diabetes and I want to avoid that in my own life.  The only way to do so is to drop the weight and head toward the light of my goal weight: 160 pounds.  Reality check...that's 100 pounds I have to lose.

Challenge 6:  Education and attention for my children

 I have been so overwhelmed with circumstances in the past that I hate to say I have neglected my own children.  NO MORE!  Hear me now world!  "My family comes first and you WILL NOT MAKE ME FEEL GUILTY ABOUT IT!"

Challenge 7:  Career???

 

I have come to the conclusion that I must make changes and one is that I will not - under any circumstances - be returning to the disorganization, stress, and ingratitude that was my old position.  The question becomes...What do I do instead? 
Challenge 8:  Clutter

 

I am not sure why I have such a hard time getting rid of things, but I do.  I am not as bad as those people you see on television that are classified as "hoarders", but I do need to purge some items.
Since my maternity leave has begun I have identified a number of challenges as you can see from the list above.  Now I have to tackle the challenges and try to get some semblance of structure to my life.  In addition, my husband and I are tossing around the idea of me staying home since it is looking like I would have three in day care if I were to go back to work.  As a teacher the difference between daycare costs for two children and one infant and take home pay would be around $300. 

????????SOLUTIONS????????

I was inspired by something I heard on the radio so the first portion of my solution I cannot take credit for.  Clutter was lower on my list, but if I can take care of the clutter it will make the other challenges less stressful and more calming, and dare I say it...enjoyable.  I was inspired by the number 10 when I was listening to one of my morning radio stations (either Air One or KLove...I switch between so I am not completely sure which one).  The radio personalities were talking about a lady who was getting rid of 10 things a day for a whole year.  I really like that idea so I have begun to develop what I call "TEN: ways to improve me life by tens". 
This afternoon I will explain how "TEN" works.

Pusillanimous? Has it ever been used?

Okay, so when I was in high school I had a wonderful English teacher my Junior and Senior year who made literature interesting for the first time. She always had this tradition of sorts when students would participate in the ancient form of name calling, and some of us got pretty good at it. Whenever a student was caught red handed, actually since it was words I suppose you would say "red mouthed," she would have us look up a word in the dictionary.

Wait, did I say us...I meant them, because yours truly never got caught. Yes, I was that good.

Back to the point. I decided I would look it up today:

Pusillanimous

an adjective meaning lacking courage or resolution; cowardly; faint-hearted; timid; proceeding from or indicating a cowardly spirit
Easy enough right?

My next thought was, "How would anyone know what you were talking about if they hadn't had our wonderful Mrs. Neely as a teacher?" Then I noticed a link to the left of the dictionary.com page, "pusillanimous quotes." I was intrigued. Was this going to be a link showing quotes that used pusillanimous, are there quotes using pusillanimous? Or better yet, was this going to give me examples of pusillanimous quotes, or cowardly sayings, people in history had said?

My curiosity prevailed and I clicked on the link which gave me a list of links...don't you love when you get link after link after link as the answer to a question? Sometimes I think they should call google the list maker instead of a search engine, but that's another blog.

I was somewhat disappointed by the first grouping of quotes which were mostly related to government officials being cowardly, but alas does anyone think they are brave? I found these quotes rather dull so I continued down the list of links and discovered an interesting bit of trivia I had not known. I found a quote that used pusillanimous in a MOVIE! the movie is even better though....wait for it....wait for it....wait for it....

The 1939 Wizard of OZ!
I was pleasantly surprised when I discovered it is from the scene where the Wizard of OZ is addressing the scarecrow, who has straw for brains, desire to have a brain.
"Why anybody can have a brain. That's a very mediocre commodity. Every pusillanimous creature that crawls on the Earth or slinks through slimy seas has a brain. Back where I come from, we have universities, seats of great learning, where men go to become great thinkers. And when they come out, they think deep thoughts and with no more brains than you have. But they have one thing you haven't got: a diploma."

Wisdom from the great beyond! I have discovered on many occasions that the only thing separating students from their perspective teacher is that diploma. You know the one I mean. The piece of paper that says, "I know how to do school and waste money without really learning anything and now I am going to teach you to do the same thing." Or more simply put, "Look I am a lemming and you will be too!" Thankfully for me Mrs. Neely knew what she was talking about and loved what she did.

Then I discovered yet another movie that uses the word, Look Back in Anger (1959). I have never seen this particular flick, but the quote was quite interesting:

Jimmy Porter (some character, remember I haven't seen it): "Nigel and Alison, they're what they sound like, sycophantic, phlegmatic and pusillanimous."
Cliff Lewis (another character responding): "Big words."
Jimmy Porter: Shall I tell you what they mean?
Cliff Lewis: No not interested, don't want to know.
Jimmy Porter: "Soapy, stodgy and dim."

Okay, so I may just have to go watch this film now because I LOVE Jimmy Porter's translation of his "big words." Apparently there is another use for pusillanimous that dictionary.com missed. It can not only mean cowardly, but not very bright which again makes the Wizard of OZ quote that much more ironic!

There are many other quotes out there, but I hope one day to do Mrs. Neely proud and use it in the natural flow of a conversation.

LG WM2277HW ... Not Working? No Problem!

I was in Phoenix for 3 weeks teaching and training with my new district. Stressful enough to be away from the family like that right?! Well 2 days before I was to head back, my husband informs me that our washer has stopped working.

Stopped working! Crap!

I asked him if he tried the things I did previousely when we had a similar problem and was told, "yes, it didn't work." So needless to say, I stressed for 3 days. Once I got back I diagnosed the problem and found directions to fix it!

I thought I was something on a stick, so I ordered the part (#6501KW2002A) from Sears Parts. It came 3 days later, and today I undertook the task of replaceing the sensor. I used the following article to diagnose and begin fixing my washer:

http://www.fixya.com/support/t1627370-lg_tromm_front_load_washer_drum_spin

So step 1. Unplug the machine. Got it, no problem.

2. Take off the back plate that has 4 small screws. Easy Peasy! What next?

3. Unscrew the big bolt in the middle. What the....!!!??? What the directions neglected to tell me was to have a second person hold the drum still or immobilize the "hubcap looking thing" with a screw driver. I chose to have a second party hold the drum still by opening the door, reaching in, and holding the water jet strips while I turned that stinking bolt with all my might! After some good old fashion "English" the stupid thing loosened enough for me to move to the next step. (1 hour of trouble shooting later)

4. Take off the hubcap looking part the bolt was securing. This should be easy, scratch that...the thing won't budge. Again the directions should have mentioned that you would have to break the magnetic barrier created by the motor (which means pull HARD!!) and pull at an angle that is the same as teh angle of the drum itself. I actually had to sit on the floor and brace the machine with my feet so it wouldn't follow me around the laundry room.

5. Unclip the two sets of wires on the bottom of the circle you are looking at (the set of wires to the right are connected to the sensor assembly you want to replace). Okay, well at this point I was thinking it couldn't get any harder, but the space you are working in is relatively tight and the wires don't just "pop out". The one on the right had a telephone cord like clip that, due to lack of space, I had to use a flat head screw driver to push in while I pulled the clip down. And that was the easy one! For the wires on the left I had to unscrew the little clamp that kept the wires tight against the back of the machine (about 1/4 of an inch below the portion I was supposed to unclip) so that I could reach in to push in the pressure clips that are on either side of the wires. Now, I had to actually use pliers because my hand strength was so minimal at this point...did I mention that first bolt and removing the hubcap thing was DIFFICULT!

6. Unscrew the 6 smaller bolts to take off the circular piece that the sensor assembly is snapped to. This went relatively smoothly; however, don't assume this piece is light. It is basically like 30 heavy duty magnets that spin to create the power for the motor so it is rather heavy. The bolts were 10mm so once I found the right socket head I was good to go.

7. Mark with a pen where the sensor attaches so you know where to snap the new one. Okay this step was pointless because of the way the sensor snaps on...there is only one place for it to go.

8. Unclip the old sensor assembly and clip on the new one Praise the Lord, something that was easy again!

9. Reassemble. This was the easiest part of course. Be aware that, due to the magnet force, when you put the hubcap thing back on it will actually jump out of your hands...it kinda freaked me out. Then you have to screw the bolt in to actually pull it tight...pushing doesn't do anything.

I found the manual to be quite helpful also.

Needless to say for the price of the part (17.49) and the price of express shipping (18.00), I can now do laundry again! Watch me dance :-)...never mind you will have to imagine that one. I do a very good happy jig though.

Take that customer service (who said they wouldn't walk me through anything)!

Take that repair men (all said either next week, $80 to $116 just to diagnose the problem, or "we don't service that area...I thought that only worked with pizza delivery)!

Take that doubters who thought me a woman couldn't fix a washer!

Honey, you get underwear again!

Let me know if you found this helpful!  I always enjoy hearing about times when something I have learned or shared helped another.

Domestication

Domestication...what is that?

Growing up I heard the word domesticating, and it's various forms, used with a rather negative connotation. As a woman closely nearing my thirties with a wonderful husband, two beautiful children, and two somewhat shall we say complex dogs, I have come to the conclusion that those people had no idea what they were talking about.

According to dictionary.com, domestic means all of the following:

1. of or pertaining to the home, the household, household affairs, or the family: domestic pleasures.
2. devoted to home life or household affairs.
3. tame; domesticated.
4. of or pertaining to one's own or a particular country as apart from other countries: domestic trade.
5. indigenous to or produced or made within one's own country; not foreign; native: domestic goods.

So are any of these truely negative definitions? I say no. Of course I am somewhat bias seeing as how I classify myself as domestic. I take care of my family, but not just in the stay-at-home aspect because, well, I don't stay at home. I am a high school reading teacher. However, I cook, plan the meals, clean, do laundry, mend clothes, and the like.

I am also devoted to my home life. The place I most want to be is with my family. Helping my son learn to read, creating things for my home, gardening, or fixing things around the house. Yes, I said fixing things.

I suppose you could say I am tame, however; I don't view this negatively either. I get things accomplished and have mellowed as they say in my age. I get more done now that I am "tame" than I did when I was in college, high school, or younger. I prefer to think of this as educated and mature as opposed to the type of taming that takes place after you break the spirit of an animal. As I am sure you have already gathered, I have spirit to spare.

I create baked goods and homecrafted items to trade outside my home. So I also see business and a business mind as being central to a domestic woman. So you ladies who say you aren't domestic because you work in the business world, I would disagree. We all have different strengths, but you provide for yourself and trade services that are uniquely yours for that very purpose.

Those who I believe are blessed with the opportunity and ability to stay home and take care of everything are also involved in the business world. They are training up the next generation and producing goods that stay within their "country" or home. I know my own home is like a foreign country to some.

I am proud to be called domestic and hope to never loose my passion for my home and family.

What?!

You refuse to do work
Let's do it for you

You need food
Let's stop growing it

You over stretch
Let's hold your hand

You spend irresponsibly
Let's give you more

You should fail
Let's bail you out