204 pounds
2 pounds below my prepregnancy weight
eaten well all week. I started back with Weight Watchers and dropped my nursing points. Jospeh is still nursing, but is over 1, so I am not worried about supply. I joined a mini challenge on one of my favorite message boards and hope to drop another chunk before Christmas. GO ME!

http://www.5dollardinners.com/2009/05/the-dinner-solution-software-giveaway.html
Click the link! You can register to win software to help plan your meals! This will help your waistline and your pocketbook!

211

It is a big number. It is smaller than it used to be! My beginning point was 226. I am officially down 15 pounds. I will keep going.

I didn't realize I hadn't posted! I'm still a big loser! My weight is going down, slowly but surely. I plan on hitting 200 soon soon soon! I used almost all of my extra weight watchers points last nigh at William's birthday dinner! We had such a wonderful time! It is hard to believe that my biggest boy is 7!

Down a tiny bit this week, just half a pound. However, I went to a birthday party on Saturday, ate INSANELY good barbecue (check out http://ericthemeat.com/ ), delicious potato salad, a small slice of chocolate cake, and bounced in a big inflatable. It was AWESOME!!

The problem is that for dinner I ate a large fry and half of a Chik-Fil-A sandwich, oops. Otherwise I would have been fine. If you know better, you do better! So today I had my coffee and an Odwalla superfoods drink for breakfast.

I am off to make a yummy soup that is so good and healthy. No one else in my house will eat it, so it is all MINE!!!

I met my first goal. I lost 10 pounds. Guess what I did? I bought new undies! I haven't bought new ones in a LONG time. So I am tossing all my old ones and loading up with new ones!

GOING DOWN!!

STepped on the scale this morning. 215.5

I am losing. I am eating better. I am feeling better. I bought NEW SWIMSUITS which I haven't done in a few years. I love them too.

Just keeping it real.

Last night, I tallied my points and had LOTS left, but I didn't want to just eat 6 oreos. So I had WHOLLY GUACAMOLE and some corn chips. Then a few Kashi TLC cheese crackers. I was still a point or two low, but that was ok with me.

Well, today was a winner! Lunch was a the Chinese buffet. I ate less than a cup of rice, and a TON of veggies, very little meat. I ate ZERO crab angels, ZERO egg rolls, ZERO sugar donuts, and ZERO ice cream!!

For dinner, we went to Johnny Rocket's for Samuel's birthday sundae. I ordered a Patty Melt, and onl yate half. I didn't eat a milk shake. I ate ONE chili cheese fry, 3 regular fries, and had 2 bites of a milkshake. I was full, and proud of myself.

Skinny jeans, here I come!!

Down another pound. I have a wedding this weekend, and I DO NOT have to buy a new dress. I can officially fit into some of the cute stuff I bought for my sister's wedding a couple of years ago. I am, however, going to buy some new shoes!! I am taking the kids, except for Celeste, shoe shopping today!

Something amazing happened! The scale moved! 219.5, down 4.5 pounds from start weight! I started weight watchers last week and so far, so good. Nathan's getting on ahealth kick too, so we are going to lose it together!

I went. It kicked my backside, but I did it.

Circuit weights. 1 minute on each machine, light weight, as many reps as I could do. Alternate with 1 minute on the bike. I worked a little too hard on the bike and almost passed out, but didn't. I was lying on my face doing leg curls anyway, so I didn't even have to worry about falling.

Tomorrow, I will do my 30 day Shred.
Did you hear me? I am GOING to do it.

Back to the grind! I've missed 2 weeks of the Ultimate Loser. We were at the beach for spring break, then I had a baby with a fever and a snotty nose. Everyone is better today.

The weather is gross: rain, thunder, lightning. But I'm going!!

Phew! I kept my promise to myself. I did NOT wimp out. I went tonight. The girls went and took a Kids in Motion class and had a great time! I lifted weights and rode on the bike. I have decided I am a freak though. I can't do the tough cardio for another week or two. I want to be running the big hill or going up and down the stairs. I know the more I do, the faster I will be healthier.

I am going to be sore tomorrow, and I can't wait!

Delay delay delay
Samuel has an allergy nose and cough. I don't want the YMCA to think I am bringing a sick kid to them. So, no Loser this morning.

The good news? They do it at night too! Nathan is going to do his very best to be home at 5:30 so I can go at 5:45 and get my workout in. Isn't he great!

I AM SORE!! Not unable to move because I overdid it, but those muscles are there and worked hard and are a little SORE!1 The very very best most amazing thing? My stomach hurts! I have ab muscles somewhere in here! HOORAY!

Ok, I'm putting it ALL out there. I went to the YMCA yesterday and had a decent workout. Things were a bit scrambled at the beginning, but I did all my weight work. I also weighed and measured and got my BMI. I am going to be brave and post it. This blog is mostly for me. I know you people in cyberworld read it. I know I am big big big, but I want you all to celebrate with me when I am going down down down!

Sit-ups: I can't do any. None. I managed 20 crunches in 1 minute
Push-up: Girly style. I used to do them manly! 18 before fatigue
Chest: 45"
Waist: 48"
Hips:51.5"
R Bicep 14.25"
R Thigh: 22.25"
R Calf 15.75"
Weight: 224 lbs
BMI: 37.3
Age: 33

My goal is 150 pounds. That was my weight when I got pregnant with Celeste, my oldest. I got down to that before I got pregnant with Lydia, and got close before I got pregnant with William. If I get lower, then great!

Off we go!

Tomorrow is the big day. I start my Ultimate Loser Challenge at the YMCA tomorrow. I promise to post pounds and inches lost, in addition to my workouts!

Praise the LORD! For He is able to do exceedingly abundantly more than we can imagine!

I went to the doctor for, hopefully, my final followup on the stress fracture. I still have some swelling and tendeness. I went for a bonescan. The Doc was concerned that I wasn't healing and would need to be in a cast. NIGHTMARE!!

The bonescan revealed that my stress fracture is almost completely healed. My right foot was "hot" from the instep of my foot up through my ankle since it has been picking up the slack. She said I NEEDED to be out of m yboot for the sake of my right foot. I am to wear my good tennis shoes around the house. I should wear the boot if I go walking somewhere, the zoo, the mall, for the next 3 weeks. Then I am clear!

I signed up to participate in the Ulitmate Loser program at my local YMCA as well. So far, there is only one other participant. I get 11 weeks with 2 sessions per week with a trainer for 1 hour. I only have to share her with one other person!

I can't wait to get started!

Ok, I'm still in a boot for the stress fracture. The upside is that it is finally starting to feet better. Only a week and a half until I go back to see the doctor and hopefully, I can get this thing off! Still waiting for the couch to 5k clearance from my doctor. I have good shoes, a couple of things to wear to exercise in. I must must must go buy a good sports bra. I won't air out my cup size online, but suffice it to say I don't want any black eyes when I start jogging.

Tonight for dinner, fish in a pocket. My kids love this meal and beg for it. I take a tilapia, or whatever white fish filet is on sale this week, and put sliced zuchinnin and squash and onions on top. Add salt and pepper and go for it. I had some garlic lemon butter left from last week, so I sprinkled some of that on. I also had leftover spinach dip from the Sit and Knit at my friend Amberly's house last week. I put some of that one on filet as well.

Oh! The pocket part! Wrap each individual filet and its veggies up in aluminum foil. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes or so. Yummy, fast, no clean up at all.

BEEP! Dinner's done! More later.

What's your biggest problem? I'm going to post this here, and on my other blog as well. So, what is it? What's your biggest problem?

Maybe you are disorganized
Maybe you are broke
Maybe you don't have a job
Maybe you have a stress fracture in your foot
Maybe you have no kids and want some
Maybe you have too many kids

your kids are growing too fast
or aren't growing
or are grown up but not responsible

Maybe you have a limp
or are deaf
or are blind
or can't smell

Maybe you can't read
or write
or don't have the time to sew
or cook food from scratch
or live your dream

Maybe you need a car
or a house
or a husband or a wife

Guess what. That isn't your biggest problem. My biggest problem and your biggest problem is sin. That's it.

I've been telling myself that often over the last couple of weeks. When I start to get discouraged or irritated about something, I remind myself. "My biggest problem isn't this boot. It's sin."

Mull that over for a while. I have been. It's changing my life.

Oh, and if you want some more Bible study, check out
http://vestavia09.blogspot.com/

I'm getting ready! I have had to put my exercise on hold due to the boot I am wearing for my stress fracture. My visit to the doctor to hopefully lose this boot is on Thursday. Yesterday I printed out the couch to 5k program. I am pretty sure I can do it! I installed iTunes on my new computer so I can dowload the C2/5K podcasts. Today I'll get my nano set up and music on there. Now, just to get this boot off.

Today, Lydia and I did LOTS of math. We did it all in the kitchen. We also worked on life skills and hospitality towards our brethren. We made cakes! Ina Garten, otherwise known as the Barefoot Contessa, has a yummy recipe for orange pound cakes. It starts with two sticks of butter, so it can't be bad! We made one batch of orange and another batch of lime. Both are delicious. We will be giving almost all of them away at church tonight. We have a visiting religious historian coming for a meeting this weekend. We'l lbe giving him the biggest of the lime cakes, since he is the guest. Others will receive the fruits of our labors. They will have cake, and we will be edified in giving, not to mention you can't eat the junk food if it isn't in your house!

I weighed myself yesterday. I've been trying NOT to step on the scale every day. I've lost another pound and a half over the last week. Nathan and I took my brother in law, Henry, out to dinner last night at Highland's Bar and Grill. As always, it was divine! I ate light yesterday, knowing I was going to indulge last night, but I wasn't bad! I had 1/2 dozen little tiny oysters on the half shell, yummy. I had a mushroom soup that was basically pureed mushrooms and stock. There was a drizzle of olive oil and a few crisps of prosciutto on top, yum. For dinner, I had snapper with haricot verts, a fancy wor dfor baby green beans, tiny carrots, and beets. There was a little crabmeat with Hollandaise sauce on top, but not too much. All in all, for a fancy dinner out, I ate very reasonably, and didn't feel like I compromised anything! I even had a dessert, which as DIVINE! I ate most of it myself, but did share a little bit with the men folk!

So, it was time for our Bible reading. From the other room I hear,"Why do we have to do this together? I could do this by myself. It always interrupts my evening." This was issuing forth from the mouth of Celeste, my nine year old. I calmly asked what I had heard from her.

"I don't want to sit here with everyone else. I want to do it by myself."

"Oh, ok. Here's your Bible. We are reading Matthew 21-22 tonight. I love you."

I started reading. She sat with us. It was nice to have her there. Lots of parables and Pharisees and Saducees. The denominations were there, even when Jesus was around.

Oh, making a double batch of soup is good. Freezing the extra batch for later is really good. Having that bag of frozen soup jump out of the freezer and attack your foot is bad, very bad.

I'm still here! I promise! I read through chapter 19 of Matthew this week. So far I'm keeping up! Nathan has been out of town with my sister Leah's husband, Henry. (Hi Leah!) I took advantage of not having anyone around in the evenings. I cleaned my closet out in a serious serious way. I have FIVE big black garbage bags full and one tall kitchen bag of fabric for friends to sort through then to donate, one big black bag of clothes for Kathy, one white bag of fabric and projects for Anne, and am making a bag of shoes for a friend of Amy's.

Then, I got busy on Nathan's closet. From his closet I filled one big black bag for donation, two big bags for the cleaners, and a big bag of trash. I also collected a grocery bag, Whole Foods reusable thankyouverymuch, for Dawn for her contributions to the Kid's Market sale.

Oh. Yeah. I also got tired of only having 8 dinner plates. So I ordered 24 white dinner plates, 12 white salad plates and 12 white bowls. I packed up the remainder of our old dinner plates to be put into the attic for storage. I moved the drawer of kids' plates and cups so it is easier to reach when unloading dishes. I also hit the Dollar Spot at Target and restocked their drawer with plates and bowls. I also went to Hobby Lobby and got Valentine's day cups to refill the drawer.

I haven't been doing any formal exercise, but I have been working hard and moving around more. I've been eating less and making better choices. Well, not today so much. I had macaroni and cheese and fish sticks for lunch, but I limited my portions and ate slowly. For breakfast I had a superfruit smoothie. I got 3 servings of fruit in before 8am.

Off to teach the children something! Celeste has a holiday today, but she has a book report due tomorrow. I am going to attempt to teach all three of them at the same time. I suppose you could call it a trial run!

I'm still here! We got behind a tiny bit on our family Bible reading, but I caught myself up. Last night we read Matthew 10. William read part of it. Have you ever watched a 6 year old try to sound out "whosoever"? It was fun! Once I pointed out the words inside the word, he was fine though. Alpheaus was also fun to try!

I'm continuing to eat better. I am trying to slow down and eat food when I am hugry and stop when I am NOT hungry. I put 2 slices of pizza on my plate last night and left half a slice. I wanted it, but I wasn't hungry anymore, so it stayed on the plate.

I need to go grocery shopping but it is COLD out there and is only going to get colder. I think I'll just send Nathan to get milk and eggs and bread tonight. That should keep us happy through the weekend.

Oh! Jason Cicero, our young guy preacher, has continued blogging this year. Every day correlates to the daily Bible reading! vestavia09.blogspot.com

Food for today
Cup o coffee w/ .5 n .5 and splenda
water
bowl of soup, 2 servings progresson light soup

As for Bible reading, we doubled up last night! We have church tonight, so we won't have quite as much time as usual. We doubled up so we wouldn't get behind. See! We are keeping up!!

We read chapters 3 and 4 tonight as a family. Lydia read all of Matthew 3. William read the firs part of Matthew 4, and Celeste read the rest. They enjoy reading. William erally shocked his Daddy with how well he can read. He only needed help with a handful of words.

When we got done, Samuel asked me to read some more to him, so he could read it. We read Psalm 100 in tandem, he repeated each verse after me. Then we read some more verses in Psalms. He pointed and I read.

Lydia took notes, then sat and copied Bible verses for 20 minutes when we were finished.

I think my children have been hungering and thirsting for the WORD and I have been starving them. I am so glad we are doing this.



Food for the day.

Cup of coffee 1T half and half and some Splenda
Smoothie! banana, sweet potato, carrots, OJ, ice Amazingly good, really
leftover shrimp fried rice
cabbage
broccolli
3 chicken meatballs
butterbeans (I MADE THEM!!)
2 squares Hershey's dark chocolate
small bag of honey wheat pretzels and 2 triangles of laghing cow light cheese

Plenty of water thrown in for hydration.

What do you like to do for exercise? Do you love a good cardio workout? Is yoga more your style? Maybe you like to be finished in 30 minutes.
Guess what? Chances are pretty good if you get cable that you can get all of those workouts and more! On FitTV, there are 6 or 8 workouts each morning. I set my DVR to record the 30 minute yoga show. It rotates each day to be a little different.
I';ve spent no extra money, and I can have a new workout whenever I want it! GO check your line-up and find something you like!

I'm off now to have a cup of coffee!


Also, we read the first two chapters of Matthew last night as a family. We talked about the prophecies in the Old Testament that said that the Savior would come from Bethlehem, Egypt and Nazareth. God fulfilled each of those prophecies! Our God is TRUTH!

In addition to reading, we are making three lists. God is, Jesus is, and the Holy Spirit is. You can only put something on the sheet if you have a scripture for it. LAst night we added Jesus is Christ, to bring slavation to all men, and Emmanuel, God with us. I reminded the kids that the Holy Spirit was also mentioned! Celeste added, Holy Spirit put Jesus in Mary's belly!! God works in the most amazing ways!

Food for the day

I forgot to eat breakfast, oops. I had a cup of coffee with 2 TBS half and half and Splenda. I know it's bleach and sugar, but one vice at a time!!

Snack
8oz juice
blueberry/pom mixed iwth
GReen Superfoods
Both Naked Juice blends

Lunch
1/2 sweet potato
2cups spinach
1/2 cucumber
1/4 avacado
4 chicken meatballs, which were YUMMY!
1Tbs balsamic vinagrette

BIG glass of water


Dinner
Mediterranean pork with pasta

I was hungry/munchy after dinner. I drank a big glass of water, then a small glass of good juice. I finally caved and had
1.5 cups pasta with butter and parm and lots of pepper. It was delicious and worth every calorie!

Ok, I got my calender for reading yesterday, Sunday. I started last night because I had a few minutes of quiet, few and far between in the Johnson's house.

Intersting things I notice as I go along!

Rahab is in the geneology. Do you know her story? Joshua 2

Bathsheba is in the geneology as well! 2 Samuel 11

17So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; from David to the (J)deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations; and from the (K)deportation to Babylon to the Messiah, fourteen generations.Isn;t that AWESOME! Throug time God's plan happened just as he purposed!God watched over his Son so perfectly! He brought the magi, He told Joseph to flee to Egypt, He returned the family safely. God cares just as much for each of us!

My friend Kristen said she learned the geneology in song and posted this link if you want to buy the book with a song! Here's a book with a CD of the song: Amazon.com: The Ballad of Matthew's Begats: An Unlikely Royal Family Tree: Andrew Peterson: Books

Happy New Year!

Good Monday morning everyone! I've made two goals this year that I hope will change my life for the better. This is my journey there.

Goal #1 I will be reading through the New Testament this year. Everyone at church is doing it and I don't resist GOOD temptation by my peers often. I also don't resist cheesecake often, which leads to

Goal #2 Be healthier. I have a specific weight in mind, 150 pounds, that I would like to get to by the end of the year. I don't know if I can get there, so my plan is to be healthier. I will be eating less and exercising, hopefully resulting in less of me!

This is my personal page, to share if I want to, to vent on, to keep track of what I am reading and thinking about. I will also keep up with my food and exercise here.

Pictures to come. Love ya!
Hayes