Weight Loss Wednesday Link Up

I was reading posts on No Ordinary Blog Hop and came across a post that had me thrilled, Weight Loss Wednesday Link Up hosted by Mary!!!  I am So excited to find someone that I can support and be supported as well.  

I have always been heavy, from the time I hit puberty - if not even before!  I served a mission in Fortaleza Brazil for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints when I was 21 and lost about 40 pounds.  I looked good, and was at my lowest weight EVER - 180!  The day before I started college at Brigham Young University I fell down and ended up in non-weight baring casts for a year.  By the time I was walking again I had gained my weight back and it just increased.  

I succeeded on Weight Watchers and lost another 40 pounds before I got married!  My husband likes his women (me) on the larger size and I fell into a comfortable blur of wedded bliss and weight gain.  I soon ballooned to 260 pounds.  Each time I got pregnant it followed a period of weight loss (after years of infertility).  While I was pregnant I ended up with Gestational Diabetes and strictly followed the Diabetic Diet my OBGYN placed me on.  I wanted healthy babies. 

I remember being so close to under 200 pounds again after Amelia was born.  I promised myself that I would stay on the diet even though I didn't have diabetes anymore.  I lied to myself and as of right now I weigh 274 pounds.  I gasp as I write that number.  How did I get there?  It is from emotional eating, binge eating, eating at midnight because I stay up too late and get hungry.  I love the taste of food.  

BUT, I took my 2 year old to the Little Gym this week.  I was winded after running in a circle for less than five minutes.  I couldn't skip, or jump because I was just too heavy.  When I am on the floor I struggle to get up.  My doctor recently told me that my A1C had hit that critical 7 that indicates I now have type II Diabetes.  My mom has Type II Diabetes and I get angry with her for not taking care of herself.  I want her around for my children's weddings.  But what about myself?????  Don't I want to be around for my children's weddings???  I'm a hypocrite! 

I joined TOPS (Taking Off Pounds Sensibly) after Christmas.  I have not done very well, but am surrounded by wonderful supportive women.  I have a new bike that my husband bought me last year.  (I've only ridden it once).  I have new tennis shoes to wear while riding my bike.  I have my meds that I have to take each morning and night (which I forget to take half the time.) 

I need to buckle down and just do it!  

So here are my goals.

• Monday Wednesday and Fridays while Amelia is down for her nap and Scott is sleeping (gotta love those graveyard shifts) I am going to ride my bike.
• I am going to start counting carbs again.  I am allowed 75 a day right now.
• I am going to watch my fat intake - no more McDonald french fries for me! (Those are my weakness)
• My mom bought me a book called Eat To Live by Joel Fuhrman, MD.  I am going to start reading it.
• A doctor once recommended The Thin Commandments :  The Ten No-Fail Strategies for Permanent Weight Loss by Stephen Gullo PHd.  I am going to re-read it.
• In my church we have what is called the Word of Wisdom  It is found in the Doctrine and Covenants Section 89 (The Doctrine and Covenants are a compilation of revelations given to prophets in the latter-days which is for the establishment and governance of the church)..  I follow the no smoking, no drinking part really seriously but I don't follow the rest.  It tells us to eat fruits and veggies and give thanks for them.  To eat meat sparingly - eat them in the winter, or during famine or excess hunger.  I want the promises that are bestowed upon those that follow these Words of Wisdom.  I want to be healthy.  I want an increase in wisdom and knowledge, most of all I want to run and not be weary, walk and not faint.
• Make a meal plan.  I struggle with a weekly one, so I am going to take Mary's idea of planning the next days food the night before.  Maybe this will be more manageable for me.

My goal is to lose 10%s of my weight each quarter of the year.  So if I break it down it will look like this:

247 by June 1st That breaks down to 2 pounds a week

222 by September 1st Also breaks down to 2 pounds a week

200 by December 1st About 1 and a half pounds per week

180 by March 1st One pound a week

This post is linked up to Winecup Christian Academy

Weight Loss Wednesday Link up

Square Peg in a Round Hole

Five years ago we welcomed our second son into this world.  Gavin was in such a hurry to get here, and I am truly grateful that he did.  I posted his story on my other blog Mommy Can We Read.  The post Five Years in the Making gives a brief introduction to my Bubba (that is what I often call him). 

He is now finishing his second year of preschool in preparation for Kindergarten.  I have to admit that my heart quakes with a bit of trepidation at this new adventure.  Gavin has been diagnosed with Pervasive Development Disorder - Not otherwise Specified (which is a sub-threshold form of Autism).  Next year all this definition, as well as Asperger's, will be disappearing and there will just be Autism Spectrum Disorder.  If a child doesn't fit the social requirements then they will lose the resources that they are currently getting under the current definition.

My child struggles with many social situations.  He doesn't quite understand boundaries, he often misunderstands facial expressions and their subsequent meanings.  He ends up frustrating his classmates, especially when he laughs at their angry faces.  He thinks their reactions are funny!  However, and this is a big one, he makes eye contact.  He express emotions, and is an incredibly loving child.  He gives and takes hugs, on his terms.  Last year we had a formal assessment done at the Knights of Columbus Developmental Center.  He did not meet their requirements for Autism because he turned his head when the psychologist called his name.  He looked up at a blue balloon when she held it above his head.  He clapped his hands and congratulated himself when he did something correctly.  On this basis, and not considering any other information, they told us he wasn't autistic.  I was relieved, but frustrated too.  What could we do to help him if we didn't know what he struggled with!

He then went to a Neurologist.  This doctor looked over the information gleaned from Knights of Columbus, and said that he felt Gavin fit in the PDD-NOS category.  After our visit as we read over the confusing notes sent us by the doctors (She felt that the kids were too rambunctious and would just give us her notes instead of going over them with us - really wish we had another option of diagnosis!!).  I discovered that he did appear to have characteristics of a child with Autism(I think the doctors were not in agreement on the diagnosis, and one of them trumped them all), and he received a diagnosis of Receptive and Expressive Language Disorder.  Now I had a diagnosis, what did that mean?  I'm still trying to figure it all out!

Thankfully he attends a wonderful Preschool program in our school district.  He receives physical therapy, occupational therapy, language therapy, and other services.  BUT, next year this could all change!

Gavin learns at his own pace!  He is often in his own world.  What happens next year if he is placed in a classroom with thirty other kids?  He struggles with a classroom of fourteen, a regular education teacher, teachers aide, and a special education teacher!  He is going to be a hot mess!  OR am I underestimating my son?????  Time will tell!