3 weeks down, just 1 more to go!

Alright! This is my last week!! I will do 100%, I will! I am determined! I hope to be 155 on Saturday when I weigh in and take my picture for the last time. :) I'm not to my final weight desire of 130 but I am getting there! But I think I will just let it come off on it's own as I live my everyday eating and exercise life. Can't believe I've been at this for a year!!! wow!

Crash and burn!!

Oi Oi Oi. 30 days is to long!!! But I'm going to finish it! I will!!! 20 days down! 10 to go!

I crashed this weekend. Mostly because the temptation was around me, not because I wanted for something and I got it. We are moving in two weeks! TWO!! Wow! That came fast, so exited! Anyways, the law school does a family movie night every so often. Last night was the last one of the year, also our last one since Scott is graduating. It was pot luck dinner. I brought salad bar so that I for sure knew there was something for me to eat. It was yummy! Looked great! I had 8 different toppings and lettuce. I enjoyed a big plate! Everything else there was a no no for me at this time with the detox. BUT..I used the excuse that it was our last movie night. It was like a graduation party for Scott. I've been living on good stuff, avoiding the "bad" stuff for so long, I just couldn't help myself. I looked at all the food on the table and I tried to make good choices! I did. I had a small serving of the potato salad, yum. Then tried some crackers with it. Gave into the strawberry jello with banana's and strawberries that I made. Then Ellie didn't want her cookie so I ate it, which of course made me want for another one and I did. I also tried a small slice of the pizza I made. I love pizza, what can I say? So anyways. Luckily those weren't horrible choices, and it didn't affect my stomach at all! The only regret was giving in and not sticking to my detox! Oh well, moving on. Here comes Saturday, I'm going out for dinner with friends, luckily to Sweet Tomatoes. So, I did 72 oz of water from 9-noon, then 40 oz of vegetable juice from 1-3:30. I was sick of vegetable juice to finish the whole 72 oz I made.lol. After I made Scott and Ellie dinner, I was waiting for my friend to show up and in the mean time,  I snitch 3 small cinnamon-sugar biscuits, I was getting hungry at this point and they looked and smelled good, they didn't taste as good as they looked, but I was hungry. I was hoping that having that would help me just get a HUGE salad, eat that and be good. Oh no! I ate my huge salad, then wonder over to the soups just to see what they have. My favorite, brown rice and beans(pinto), got a bowl, and grab some SUGAR FREE lemon mouse. The sugar free made it okay, right?lol. Well I ate that, and was pretty much wanting for more, not because I was hungry, but because it TASTE.SO.GOOD. and my body wanted what it cant have. I went back for a 2nd bowl, good thing it was a small serving. Then we sat and chat, I said, alright, we need to go before I give into the breads! My friends start naming other stuff we could get/go to instead. Bless there hearts, they were trying so hard to keep me on tract, yet make my night enjoyable. But then we sat there longer, which only made me get up and go for more! Darn it! We should have just left when I mentioned it! sigh...I got some bread sticks and another small scoop of lemon mouse. I was stuffed! We needed to go, because I was about to go for a brownie! I had no room for all that I ate! I was not hungry for all that I ate! It was a deprived alcoholic at a all you can drink bar! This time around I did regret it! The stomach pain was bad! We were 10 minutes from my house, and all I could do was get into fetal position and think about when I get to my house I'm grabbing the trash can and sitting on the toilet so it can come out both ends. Excuse the graphic descriptions, that is how I felt! I was fearing the worse. It felt exactly how it did right before my gall bladder attack in January! But this time I really think it was more my IBS then gall bladder, and eating nothing but salad, steam veggies, and fish for a few weeks and then all of a sudden all of what I had Friday then today, sigh....luckily right before we got to my place the pain eased up, went away and I no longer need to use the restroom, and I was just fine the rest of the night! I was going to enjoy some dark chocolate so as to avoid the grasshopper girl scout cookies that have been in my freezer for weeks, UN TOUCHed! but instead I gave in, then Elizabeth and Sarah broke out the jo jo's, darn you Elizabeth and your jo jo's! lol. I know, I am silly, you would think after the pain I had, I would have said NO WAY to the cookies, but instead I deiced that I had already cheated and ruined my day what is a few more cookies going to do, meh! Well, tomorrow is Sunday, that is when I re-evaluate my needs and set goals for the week, I am going to do 100% next week. I did it last week, I know I can do it! But you bet once I am done, I will be doing 1-2 day detox from here on out!

  my name is Katie, and I LOVE food!!!

Wal Mart price matching

Have you ever price match at Wal Mart? 

I did it for the first time yesterday. 

I used 5 different grocery store ads, I got:

12 double roll TP-quilted northern
6 lbs strawberries
3 coconuts
8 avocados
20 Roma tomatoes
5 cucumbers
8 zucchini
2 bunches of cilantro

Only one trip to one store! 

Taking less time, and only having to get Ellie out of the car once!!!

  Total: $20.48!!!

Vroom, Vroom...

I'm ready to go, lets get outta here!!!

Ellie loves it when we get in the car and drive around the block. I'll pull out the keys to go get the mail, and she will take them from me, "mine", go to the door and say "bye, bye". We get in the garage and she is already trying to open the car door. Forget the mail, it's all about driving! We let her sit in our lap, put the seat belt on, she will even try to put the key in her self. She is to silly! Gotta love her!

 And another fun photo of the week

They love coloring!! or anything that allows the gate to come down and them to run free in the kitchen and get into everything. This was the best thing I could do to allow them to be curious in the kitchen but stay in one spot and not take my cupboards and drawers apart. lol

You got the brains, I got the looks...

...let's make lots of money!!!

 Shout out for smarty pants Scott!!!  WAY TO GO SCOTT!!!!!!!!

Here is an email he received today! To protect others privacy, I block out the others names with ...

The following students will be recognized for their academic accomplishments in the graduation program.  

SUMMA CUM LAUDE :"with highest honor" (direct translation: "with highest praise")
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4. Scott Brian Wiser

MAGNA CUM LAUDE: "with great honor" (direct translation: "with great praise")                                                        
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CUM LAUDE     "with honor" (direct translation: "with praise")                                                                   
1...
2...
3...
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Good bye dear friend

 What's that? Something seems to be missing in this photo?

My latest addiction I need to break, the scale! I check every morning!!!! I have never had issues with it being a problem, but now I see that I am addicted and today was the first time it depressed me. My weight went up instead of down and it's all because of the joys of being a women once a month. I so want another little one, yet, I can't believe I'm saying this,  I want to be pregnant! You could give me a child tomorrow and say its mine forever and I would adopt it and love it like my own, and fulfill my want for another little one, but, it's the whole pregnancy and experience I yearn for right now and want. To feel that special little someone growing inside of me. But each new month when I get my special red gift from mother nature, I am only saddened more, and I think it hit me more then I would have like this time around. Maybe because of all the changes I am going through with weight loss, diet, detox, packing, moving, Scott graduating, leaving my Vegas friends, coming home to my mommy, family, friends, and so much more, it took a toll on me today and I said ah heck with my weight, and I gave into strawberry short cake for breakfast, FOR BREAKFAST! Heaven help me that I can make it through the next two weeks without giving in ANYMORE!!! It's not about my weight this month, it is about my health and that is why I am doing this detox, for my health, not my weight. I need to focus more on health, and less on weight. So... my dear dear friend the scale, good bye to the top shelf and you can come out to play on Monday's! Period! That's that! Don't even dare get down! Don't even look at me when I open the closet. Don't even think about  haunting me in my sleep. This conversation is through!

Katie Update

2 weeks down! 2 weeks and 2 days to go!! 

I did really really good last week!!! I didn't cheat once! I stuck to all my tasks/goals! It felt great to accomplish that! there were so many times when I could have enjoyed "just a bite, I've been good all week" But no! I wanted just one good week and I did great!!! I, of course, have stepped on the scale everyday this week. Can't help myself! I have gone down in weight EVERY DAY, even if it is just .2, everyday has been .1+ less then the day before, that has been really nice!!! This morning, I woke up sluggish and was up a pound! I did really good yesterday! So why? The gain would have been one thing, but the sluggish is another. Why? I started thinking on it, and looking at my cheese, which I am allowed goat's cheese, it is the wrong cheese!! I have been eating cow's milk cheese all week! Had plenty of it on my salad last night. And I may have had one to many eggs this week. So, you can over eat and indulge on food even on a diet. lol. But no matter, I cut the cheese and egg out of my salad today and I am feeling much better then when I woke up. And I still lost weight this week so that makes me happy! And I am still feeling great and not bloated that makes me extra happy too

new shoes

We have been blessed enough to get hand me downs OFTEN! Thank you Elizabeth and Calli! Sadly, our little friend we get from skipped size 5 shoe so she has very few, SO, Ellie got new sandals, yet dressy for church. We tried to get a photo of her today, but she didn't want to sit still long enough. :)

mmm....eggs

This was the only way to get her to eat them and not throw them at me. lol

"Ellie"

Elle saw her reflection today and said "Ellie!" as she points at her self.

Measurements for the week

I woke up feeling good about my self. Got dressed, and deiced I do look good! My tummy is my mommy tummy and I am proud of it! I feel good in my skin! I just may do my hair and make up and take a picture. It's been awhile for me to feel this good about my self after getting dressed. Usually I go through one shirt after  another feeling like a beach whale. I'm no where near super model material, but I am HAPPY with who I am and what I look like. Photo to come......

Katie update

I hope ya'll enjoyed Ellie's story :) I had fun writing it, but boy did it take a few days to put together. I best not get that far behind again. lol

 Now that ya'll have see that Ellie is doing well and fine and enjoying life, here's an update on me. Please bear with me. It's been a few weeks, so I'm playing catchup.

I've been sticking to my journey pretty well. Texas gave me a few pounds, but, I can say that I enjoyed my vacation and still was able to make good choices here and there, also able to say, awe what the heck, I'm on VACATION! lol. I may have enjoyed one too many doughnuts and Mexican food. Make that six too many zits from it. But it was all worth it. My face is clearing up, I've lost the 2 pounds and I am back on track and enjoying life.

My latest journey,

After the Gall bladder attack in January, thank you healthy eating, jump onto a cruise ship eating, confuse my body out of control and now have gall bladder issues, I've been to my doctor a few times. My blood, urine and stool, test all came back GREAT! My ultra sound, well, that's another story.

I got a phone call last week. Yikes, was my thought. They said they would call if there was concern.

Here is what the notes from my ultra sound say:
_________________________________________________________________________________
Findings: The liver and spleen are normal in size with no focal lesions identified within. There is no evidence for intrahepatic or extrahepatic biliary dilation. the common duct at the level of the porta hepatis measures approximately 4 mm in AP dimension.

There are multiple minute, up to a few-millimeter calculi identified in the gallbladder. There is no evidence for gallbladder wall thickening or pericholecystic fluid.

The pancreas and abdominal aorta appear unremarkable. The kidneys are normal in size and echotexture with no evidence for focal mass, calculi or hydronephrosis. No abnormal intra-abdominal fluid collections are identified.

Liver-normal-13.5 CM AP
gallbladder-abnormal-stones
Pancreas-normal-WNL
CBD-normal-4MM
Rt. Kidney-normal-9.9x4.6x5.0
Lt. Kidney-normal-11.0x5.5x5.5
Spleen-normal-10.3 cm ap
Aorta-normal-1.3 cm ap

Comments: Many tiny echogenic, shadowing structures in GB, all 5mm or less. Rt gassy in rt flank area. No other abnormalities noted.
________________________________________________________________________________

With moving in 4 weeks my doctor put a stat on my file to get me in next week to get my gall bladder removed. I am choosing to decline. I've done plenty of ponder and prayer, even got a blessing from hubby, so please don't be concerned  that I'm not following doctors order, I just think this is best for me.

My blessing from hubby was wonderful!!! Before I share a few words from the blessing I want to add. About 20 min after the blessing. Hubby comes to bed and say's something along the lines. The priesthood is pretty amazing!. I love giving blessings. Not knowing what I am going to say and it just comes to me, is pretty cool. I loved hearing that. That is the first time he has said something like that to me. My want for a blessing was pretty much to know if I should go through with surgery or not. The Lord told me, that he knows all. My experiences have been for my learning and growth. I would have the knowledge and wisdom to know what to do through study and prayer.

I love the Lord, and I feel even more confident that I will be okay. It is a wonderful feeling! Since this blog is somewhat, or pretty much my only journal, I want to add some personal thoughts to the blessing. Read on, or skip to next paragraph. I know the Lord knows all. I know so even more. I have found more and more, day in and day out, that these health issues, and weight gain I have had this past year have been for my learning and growth, and for the Lord to tell me that, just reassures it even more so, and makes me want to study health more and more! Watch out google here I come! I hope to someday be able to share more of what I learn, but for now, it is for my learning and growth, so I really don't know how to explain why I do what I do, I just know that it is the right thing for me. So please if you question or ponder on something I do, please feel free to ask, but you may get a very vague answer and highly recommended a few books, and told to do the research yourself. Of course all said out of love :) I have been needing and wanting to better my self spiritually! I quickly came to realize at the begging of this journey, that this body of mine is more then what I have been taught, a temple of God, it is, oh it is! But it is more, it is a gift from God!!!!!! Everyone gets a body, male or female, tall or short, gay or straight, Christian or not. It is our blessing and gift from God and it should be treated as such! But I've also come to realize this gift was meant to be a dwelling place for a "sweet spirit" our spirit. If we aren't feeding both our spirit and flesh, our life can get hectic and out of whack. So yes I've been improving spiritually and so it was nice to have the Lord remind me that through study and prayer I will know my answer! And last but not least. He reminded me that I was a great mother with love for Ellie AND CATHERINE! My love for Ellie comes so naturally, another child not so much. I have been praying for patience and love for Catherine. I think it is mostly struggling with the terrible twos and how stubborn she can be at times. But never the less, I can react over the silliest things, and it makes me wonder if I truly am being the loving mother they both need. And yes, you may come into my home and think I am one of the most relaxed loving mother, but I don't always feel that way, so I do need the Lords reminder that I am doing right with my kid and even other children. Good thing she loves me and gets exited each day she comes over, otherwise, I don't know what to think if she didn't, so will just stick with thank goodness she loves me even if I don't always let her do things she wants that I see as not safe or nice to Ellie. I am a good mother. I think all we mothers need that reminder now and again, and so it was nice for the Lord to remind :)



So, I started a 30 day detox, Monday April 5th. I have been on it now for 7 days. It is going well. The main focus of it is to starve the yeast. To help remove the excess yeast and bacteria our body creates by what I like to call the American diet. Which I have enjoyed the American Diet, Italian Diet, Mexican Diet, Chinese Diet and then some over the past 26 years so my body needs plenty of help. As we can see, since I reached a BMI of 40, looked 5 months pregnant when I was not, had weight induced asthma, IBS, and now gall bladder issues. What's next, cancer? NO THANKS!!!!! Hence the need for detox/cleanse and getting control of my body, not my body having control over me!

 Yes this detox is very strict! Yes I have been tempted left and right, and have given in a few times ! But I am determined to finish it through and reap the rewards of treating my body better! I deserve better!

My latest finding is that I can really say even more so then I have been saying for months. FOOD IS AN ADDICTION! My addiction! My taste buds loveeeeeeee food! mmm...sugar, salt, bread, cheese, ice cream, chips, fries, Wendy's spicy chicken sandwich, pizza , breads of all flavors, ..........

 I plan to continue to enjoy foods that aren't the best for us for many years to come. But in moderation! I feel this detox not only will help cleanse me, hopefully remove gall stones and allow my gall bladder to not work on over drive, but to also jump start me for life in clean eating and making right choices.

 Day 1 I gave in and ate Ellie's small slice of pizza, no big deal it was small, right? Day 6 Ellie was starving, I was starving, we were at the fair with friends, I got the healthiest thing around us, a soft pretzel with no butter or salt, I had 3 bites, no big deal, right? Since I was still starving we grab a bite to eat on the way home. I had mashed potatoes, tomato basil soup and a salad, for sure no big deal, right? I feed the yeast, so the next day I WANTED for more, I ate a few of Scotts chips, then I "ruined my day" so I had a slice of wheat bread with lunch. Really no big deal, especially wheat bread, well they are a big deal for me. I'm on a detox not a diet! Once I'm on my "diet for life" I would have enjoyed two or three slices of pizza, it was homemade, I knew what ingredients was in it. I would have enjoyed the WHOLE pretzel, its a state fair! It had no butter or salt on it! Mashed potatoes, TOMATO soup good choice! Well, not on the detox. I can have sweet potatoes with real butter and sea salt, but not mashed potatoes from a restaurant with milk, sour cream ,butter, salt and  not even knowing how much they used. And sure tomato soup is good for you, when you make it your self and know that it isn't high in sodium and what not. sigh...You may be thinking "you are silly" "you're being hard on yourself" but I need to be. You wouldn't serve a tablespoon of beer at a AA meeting. You wouldn't give someone trying to stop smoking a pack of cigarettes and say once a week! So I should not give into the things around me. But it is so hard! I will finish the next 23 days, and I will finish them strong. I might have a glass of "beer" and smoke a few "cigarettes" but you can bet that I will do my best not to! I need to avoid situations that allow me to "cheat" and do all that I can to make it through to the next day.

 I do really well morning and day, it's when the night falls that I struggle. One of the best advice from this detox is a hot bath, meditation, bike ride, long walk, something to clear your mind. It helped me the other day. On day three I had made Scott and Ellie ravioli and I so wanted some. I quickly served them and left the room. My hot bath was relaxing and I was able to talk with the Lord and remind my self why I am doing this and how much I need his help to get  through this "fast". On a positive note, day two I had to quickly throw Scott's bag of chips he sent home with me, it the next trash I passed on the way to the car. I just know I would have eaten a few, more like the whole bag! And, and, and, we ate out Friday, day five. Mimi's! Mimi's bread, mmmmmm....I DID NOT EAT ONE SLICE! not even the muffin that came with my meal. I ordered my salad with no cheese, or dressing, asked for avocado to be added. leave out the marinated(who knows what it was marinated in) artichokes and asked for grilled asparagus and had the red potatoes on the side for Ellie to eat. And the Salmon just grilled, no sauce. It was delicious! And most importantly, I ate out! I made good choices! Avoided temptation, and stuck to my "diet" It was a great moment with a great feeling. It's moments like that, that i have to recall to memory to get me through moments of when I am HUNGRY and all I have is carrot sticks in my purse, so I give into a yummy soft pretzel. Who can't?. You can only eat so many carrots before you want for the whole garden!

A friendly reminder of why I even started this journey.

I'll post a new photo on May 1st :)

Life is good!