Well, a few girlfriends and myself are making a weightloss challenge. We were messaging back and forth today and we decided on a weight loss challenge called "Fit For Fall". We figure it's already a bit late to become fit for Summer, so we will become fall fit.
The challenge starts on April 1, 2011 and ends on October 1, 2011. On April first we log into our facebook accounts and visit our group. It's a secret group, so that we can feel free to post whatever we want. On the start date we go into the group and we weight in. The first three of us that came up with the idea all have about 100lbs to lose, we are various heights and our end result varies as well, but in the end we all have 100lbs to lose.
So on April first we go to the group and we log our weight along with a photo or a video of us. The group is secret so if we wish we will be the only ones who see the pictures or the videos. I may use this site to post some of my videos.
The weigh-ins are bi-weekly. Again we will post our weight and our current photo or video so we can see the before and after.
If you happen to read this, feel free to come along and join with us. Start your own group and join in on the fun. I was inspired by two youtubers (their videos were published on here previously).
Wish me luck!!
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Friday, March 25, 2011
I need organization and a routine.
I believe I have a gift for Googling. I can out Google most people I know for information. So, I've decided to provide some links at the bottom of my rambling blogs. If you do not have the time or attention span for my blog then please check out my links, they may be helpful.
I'm a bit A.D.D., okay so this is not an official diagnosis. I've never been officially diagnosed, but I have three children and my oldest was diagnosed with A.D.D. and my middle and youngest child have A.D.H.D. They have all been officially diagnosed and are all in therapy. Only one of the children is on medication and it's Strattera a non-stimulant medication. It is one she must take constantly because it does have to build up in the system.
I've never been diagnosed but since all my children have a form of this learning disorder I can assume that I have it as well. Also, there is the fact that during my childhood the possibility that I had this did come up. I'm not sure who brought it to the attention of my mother, a teacher or doctor, but when my mother told my father he of course declared no child of his could have some mental disorder. Back then A.D.D. wasn't as common as it is now and people thought of it as some sort of retardation.
Once upon a time I was talking with a young girl’s great-grandma on the playground at the kids' school. The girl's mother was my age (I know this because she was a former classmate) and she was in prison for whatever the reason, and apparently the grand-mother was minus her maternal instincts (hence the reason the daughter was in prison). So the great-grandmother was raising the girl. This young girl had a lot of issues, she acted much younger than all of the others in her class and I believe she had issues with toilet training all the way up to second grade.
I talked to this great-grandma and she got a hushed tone and mentioned how she'd heard that one of the kids in the class had A.D.H.D. She said it was as if she thought the child was perhaps mentally challenged. I informed her that my child has this learning disability as well and was doing famously; previously the great-grandma had mentioned how much better my daughter was doing than her great-granddaughter.
It's just sad that this child will probably suffer first because of her situation and because her great-grandmother is sort of prejudice against anything regarding a psychological problem.
At times I want to rail against my own father for having the same sort of prejudice, because he never got any sort of treatment for me. Even as he was complaining to me with the diagnosis of my middle child (the first one to be diagnosed) because I refused to put her on medication after a bad round of stimulant medication. He told me that when you have a child you do anything and everything for that child... yes dad you do! Dad doesn't quite understand that there isn't a cure all for A.D.H.D. it's not like applying a band-aid for a wound.
I don't tell my father I'm upset that he didn't get me the help I need in my childhood, but it has been in my head before, especially when we were in an argument about medicating my daughter. Don't get me wrong I love my father dearly and he did a great job raising me (mostly along with mother). I do not blame him for my lot in life, everything I have or don't have rests entirely on my shoulders. I don't blame anyone else because I don't like it when others carry around their childhood trauma like some sort of get out of jail free card, so I cannot do that myself.
I do at times wish that I'd had some of the help my children now have, perhaps school wouldn't have been such a struggle for me and perhaps life wouldn't continue to be a struggle now.
With A.D.D. the most important thing is a strict routine and organization, but the very essence of Attention Deficit Disorder is disorganization and lack of structure such as a routine. We are flighty and lose concentration easily.
In this weigh loss battle it is so easy for me to lose interest, to not have the results in the time frame. Basically I want to wake up tomorrow and have the body I did in high school!! Yes, don't us all.
I need to set up a menu plan for nutritional meals. I also need an exercise plan. In the back of my head I've had a thought of setting up a meal plan for the week, but with no real follow through, this goes the same for exercise. I want to have an exercise routine with which I do cardio three days a week and strength training two days per week, but yet again I have no real follow through to implement these plans.
Since the beginning of the year I've made two purchases, one actual bike and one stationary recumbent bike. Right after buying the actual bike, I rode it twice and then we were hit with like 2 feet of snow, since then I haven't ridden the bike.
I have used the recumbent bike, but it doesn’t lead to very much calories burned. I’m not sure why but a basic stationary bike will burn more calories than a recumbent bike, I guess you have to pay for comfort.
I know what I need to do, but implementing these things seems hard. Then I also fear that if I do set up a successful routine what happens if (when) I find a job. I’m currently unemployed due to a lay off and I worry if I do get a routine going then two seconds later it all goes to hell.
Though I’ll say I’d rather have a job than a routine.
I just wish I could step out of my own way and do this weight loss thing. I so need to be healthier. I’m just struggling right now.
Related links: http://www.keepkidshealthy.com/welcome/conditions/adhd.html
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
March 23, 2011
Well, today was good. I ended up going for a walk with friends. One friend I'd walked with before called and asked if I wanted to go walking. I really wasn't planning on it, but I went for it.
We only walked for about an hour, and we only went about as fast as we could still walk and gossip.
I have plans to go out on Friday as well for a walk. Well, at this point I need to go to bed. I need to work on my sleep patterns so I can do more during the day instead of the middle of the night.
Oh one small thing. I was under my calorie limit for today, which is a good thing. The walking gave me 342 extra calories. I've made up my mind that I have to keep from re-eating my exercise calories, because then what's the point of the exercise. So, I was under my daily calorie limit by 471, so that's 129 of my regular daily calories that I didn't eat.
The calorie counter said that if I kept this up I could be under 240 in five weeks, like 237!!! Can we say awesome.
We only walked for about an hour, and we only went about as fast as we could still walk and gossip.
I have plans to go out on Friday as well for a walk. Well, at this point I need to go to bed. I need to work on my sleep patterns so I can do more during the day instead of the middle of the night.
Oh one small thing. I was under my calorie limit for today, which is a good thing. The walking gave me 342 extra calories. I've made up my mind that I have to keep from re-eating my exercise calories, because then what's the point of the exercise. So, I was under my daily calorie limit by 471, so that's 129 of my regular daily calories that I didn't eat.
The calorie counter said that if I kept this up I could be under 240 in five weeks, like 237!!! Can we say awesome.
10 reasons to lose 10 pounds.
This isn't mine, I found it while googling. http://just10lbs.com/10-reasons-to-lose-just-10-lbs
At times, the difference between what you weigh and what you want to weigh can seem insurmountable. You’re not alone in your frustration. The average American woman has a BMI of 28, which is overweight – nearly obese. Her waists measures 37 inches, almost 5 inches too wide, and she weighs nearly 165 pounds. In 1960, the average American woman’s weight was 140 pounds. If we continue at this rate, in the next 50 years, your daughter or granddaughter will weigh 190 pounds.
America is in need of a lifestyle change. It can be intimidating; however, the benefits of weight loss aren’t reserved for those who drop 30, 50 or 100 pounds. By losing just 10 pounds, you can prevent deadly illness, alleviate daily pain, and improve your quality of life.
Are you ready to change your life? Read on to learn all you have to gain from losing just 10 pounds:
1. A Lower Cholesterol Level
Being overweight is linked to high levels of LDL, which is the “bad” type of cholesterol. As LDL cholesterol circulates through your blood, it can deposit plaque in your arteries, narrowing them – which can lead to heart attack or stroke.
Exercise and a healthy diet will help increase your HDL cholesterol, which is the “good” type of cholesterol that stops LDL from depositing on your artery walls. Ten pounds of weight loss can lower cholesterol by more than 10%.
2. Lower Blood Pressure
Blood pressure measures the pressure on your artery walls, so if you have plaque buildup in your arteries, your blood pressure will be high. Hypertension thickens the walls of the heart, leaving them stiff and prone to heart failure. As the heart works harder, blood vessels in the kidneys can be damaged, which can lead to kidney failure. Losing 10 pounds will decrease your blood pressure, protecting your heart and kidneys.
3. Reduced Risk for Heart Attacks
Excessive plaque buildup can result in dangerously narrowed arteries. In the case of a heart attack, your coronary artery becomes completely blocked, cutting off the oxygen that your heart muscle needs, with possibly fatal results.
As mentioned above, weight loss lowers your blood pressure and cholesterol. Incredibly, just 10 pounds of weight loss can result in a greater than 50% risk reduction for heart attacks.
4. Reduced Risk for Dementia
Nearly half of Americans have too much visceral fat, the abdominal fat that surrounds your internal organs, visible in their protruding bellies. The danger is this: visceral fat contains cells that release inflammation-causing chemicals in the body, which can cause memory loss and increase your chances of developing dementia.
Additionally, 2 symptoms of obesity, high blood pressure and high cholesterol, can put you at risk for stroke. Some strokes, known as “silent strokes” can occur without symptoms – but each time, blood is cut off to the brain, resulting in damaged, dementia-prone brain tissue. High blood pressure and cholesterol can also increase the likelihood that you’ll develop Alzheimer’s disease.
5. Reduced Risk for Sleep Apnea
When you are overweight, extra tissue thickens your windpipe wall, narrowing your airway. Consequently, the size of your tongue and tonsils become a threat to the narrowed airway – especially when you are sleeping, and can cause a life-threatening condition known as sleep apnea. In this illness, an unsuccessful effort to take in air results in a dangerously low oxygen level. Your brain shocks your body awake to keep you alive. If you have severe sleep apnea, you can be woken up hundreds of times a night.
Losing just 10 pounds can widen your windpipe, helping you sleep through the night and reduce your risk for developing sleep apnea. And when you sleep well, your levels of leptin (the hormone that signals when you’ve had enough to eat) rise. So, a good night’s sleep will help you lose even more weight.
6. Reduced Joint Pain
Being overweight puts huge pressure on your joints. For each extra pound of excess weight on your body, you add 3 times that amount of pressure on your knees. This means that 10 extra pounds equates to 30 pounds of pressure grinding down. And when walking up stairs, multiply your extra weight by 7. Thirty pounds of pressure just became 70 pounds. Over time, this force wears away your cartilage, leaving an area of arthritis.
As you lose weight and reduce the pressure on your joints, the cushioning between your bones will build back up. A 10 pound weight loss over 10 years may result in as much as a 50% decrease in your odds of developing osteoarthritis.
7. Reduced Risk for Cancer
Obesity increases cancer risk. The exact reasoning remains unclear– but fat cells are highly active, releasing large amounts of hormones like estrogen, insulin, and insulin-like growth factors that can fuel many cancers.
Obesity increases cancer risk. The exact reasoning remains unclear– but fat cells are highly active, releasing large amounts of hormones like estrogen, insulin, and insulin-like growth factors that can fuel many cancers.
The risk for many types of cancers declines when you lose weight, but it’s particularly true for breast and uterine cancer, where losing only 8 pounds can significantly reduce the levels of specific carcinogenic hormones.
8. Reduced Risk for Diabetes
The more excess weight on your body, the less sensitive your cells become to insulin, the hormone that manages the movement of sugar into your cells. Being overweight puts you at huge risk for developing type 2 diabetes, where your body’s cells become resistant to insulin and cannot function properly as a result. By getting active and controlling your weight, you can increase your response to insulin. A weight loss of 10 pounds can reduce your chance of getting diabetes by 60%.
9. Improved Sex Life
Your sex drive is affected by high blood pressure and diabetes, conditions you’re likely to have if you’re overweight. Additionally, erectile dysfunction can be a problem for as many as 80% of obese and overweight men.
10. Taking Less Medications
Even if you only reduce the dosage you currently need for high blood pressure or diabetes, you’ll still save money on your prescriptions. A recent study estimated that cutting just 100 calories a day could prevent or eliminate 71.2 million cases of obesity and save $58 billion annually in the United States.
BONUS: You’ll Feel better!
Your omentum is the pouch that contains your belly fat. The extra weight you are carrying on your omentum begins to squeeze your kidneys. Your blood pressure raises and your liver fattens; the accumulation of this fat characterizes nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. This added weight leaves your liver unable to process toxins. Over time, your liver hardens, and scar tissue begins to build up to replace liver cells. This scarring is called cirrhosis, which leaves you feeling tired and groggy.
Your omentum is the pouch that contains your belly fat. The extra weight you are carrying on your omentum begins to squeeze your kidneys. Your blood pressure raises and your liver fattens; the accumulation of this fat characterizes nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. This added weight leaves your liver unable to process toxins. Over time, your liver hardens, and scar tissue begins to build up to replace liver cells. This scarring is called cirrhosis, which leaves you feeling tired and groggy.
Weight loss will allow your liver to recover. As it repairs itself, it decreases the toxins in your body. You’ll see changes in how you feel and behave.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Weight Loss Struggle.
I mainly started this page because I was bored and wanted somewhere to vent out my boredom, but now I think I'll use it for a greater purpose, the weight loss struggle.
I won't go into my entire history right now, not for the lack of ability to do so, but mostly because I have other stuff to do and it would take me awhile.
I'll be painfully honest, when I started this weightloss adventure I weighed in at 264.4 lbs, I'm about 5'7" tall, I was in the 41 BMI range which is considered heavily obese. This is more than I weighed while I was pregnant each of my three times. I have since shed 12.4lbs. my goal and to get into a safe BMI range is 145lbs.
Even though I'd love to be the 120lbs I was in high school I figure that's too hard of a goal at 32 years old and three c-sections later. 145 lbs puts me into the healthy BMI range and that's all this is about is being healthy and well putting on those skinnier jeans wouldn't hurt.
Friendly support only, I don't need any naysayers I have enough of those in the real world.
I won't go into my entire history right now, not for the lack of ability to do so, but mostly because I have other stuff to do and it would take me awhile.
I'll be painfully honest, when I started this weightloss adventure I weighed in at 264.4 lbs, I'm about 5'7" tall, I was in the 41 BMI range which is considered heavily obese. This is more than I weighed while I was pregnant each of my three times. I have since shed 12.4lbs. my goal and to get into a safe BMI range is 145lbs.
Even though I'd love to be the 120lbs I was in high school I figure that's too hard of a goal at 32 years old and three c-sections later. 145 lbs puts me into the healthy BMI range and that's all this is about is being healthy and well putting on those skinnier jeans wouldn't hurt.
Friendly support only, I don't need any naysayers I have enough of those in the real world.
Monday, March 14, 2011
Are crime dramas overexposing us to human depravity?
In my house I do not control the remote. I live with family and so I do not have any control as to what appears on the television. We watch a bunch of crime dramas, CSI, NCIS, Criminal Minds, Cold Case, etc.... the list goes on and on.
My father and mother argue about what to watch on the television, my father prefers his crime dramas even if he's seen them a thousand times over, mother would prefer to watch nothing but the hallmark channel if my father would let her. We mostly end up watching crime dramas.
I feel that this over exposure to crime dramas and this window into the utter depravity of the human condition just adds to the overall depression of my family. My parents both have battles with depression, even having to take medication previously and I think I face my own battles with depression.
Now I don't believe that the crime dramas are the sole cause of our depression, I know there are probably a hundred extenuating factors that aid to our depression. But, my question is with this depression do we really need to add the intimate details of a fictional serial killer, who tortures a family before putting them all to death? How many people in American take drugs to deal with depression and how popular are the crime dramas? We can't be the only family facing depression and a strange obsession with crime dramas.
I'm a self confessed Sci-fi/fantasy geek, I love the fantastical and the mystical stories. I feel that the fantastical and mystical are less likely to be real (at least in my lifetime if at all) than a the wickedness of a single human being. Give me an old rerun of Charmed to that of an episode of CSI-NY. I want Eureka or Stargate Universe more than I want Criminal Minds.
I feel this subject matter pulls into reading as well as television watching.
After reading an especially graphic James Patterson novel called the Swimsuit in which the serial killer beheaded some of his victims. Mr. Patterson gave a pretty graphic description of the evil protagonist in the book sawing through the back of a woman's neck while she was still alive. I read the rest of the book, but it still made me want to hurl. I've got a pretty overactive imagination and I think that my head can think up images worse than any movie director ever produced. There was another book I read I believe by James Patterson as well, in which the killer would go after moms' and their babies, and put a bullet in each of their heads.
Since those books I've decided to give up on Mr. Patterson for awhile. I've started reading some fantasy books, which include witches, vampires and weres of all kinds werewolves, werecats, werepumas. Oh and in my fantasy books the vampires aren't some emo, looking like heroin addicts, angst-filled teenagers.
People just say no to Twilight, please!!
I think my switch in reading material has lead to me reading more and enjoy what I read, I only wish I could block all crime dramas from the living room television. I could go without watching an autopsy during dinner time, especially on spaghetti night.
Good authors to look for: Karen Chance, Marjorie M. Liu, Yasmine Galenorn, Eileen Wilks.
You can also check out a lady called PC Cast, though be wary she sometimes writes a few books geared to the teenage audience and I find them far too advanced to give to my thirteen year old daughter and far to preachy for me to read all the way through. I merely gave her a second chance because she hails from and writes about my hometown. If you know of any other authors who write fantasy, let me know.
Thanks,
M.G.
My father and mother argue about what to watch on the television, my father prefers his crime dramas even if he's seen them a thousand times over, mother would prefer to watch nothing but the hallmark channel if my father would let her. We mostly end up watching crime dramas.
I feel that this over exposure to crime dramas and this window into the utter depravity of the human condition just adds to the overall depression of my family. My parents both have battles with depression, even having to take medication previously and I think I face my own battles with depression.
Now I don't believe that the crime dramas are the sole cause of our depression, I know there are probably a hundred extenuating factors that aid to our depression. But, my question is with this depression do we really need to add the intimate details of a fictional serial killer, who tortures a family before putting them all to death? How many people in American take drugs to deal with depression and how popular are the crime dramas? We can't be the only family facing depression and a strange obsession with crime dramas.
I'm a self confessed Sci-fi/fantasy geek, I love the fantastical and the mystical stories. I feel that the fantastical and mystical are less likely to be real (at least in my lifetime if at all) than a the wickedness of a single human being. Give me an old rerun of Charmed to that of an episode of CSI-NY. I want Eureka or Stargate Universe more than I want Criminal Minds.
I feel this subject matter pulls into reading as well as television watching.
After reading an especially graphic James Patterson novel called the Swimsuit in which the serial killer beheaded some of his victims. Mr. Patterson gave a pretty graphic description of the evil protagonist in the book sawing through the back of a woman's neck while she was still alive. I read the rest of the book, but it still made me want to hurl. I've got a pretty overactive imagination and I think that my head can think up images worse than any movie director ever produced. There was another book I read I believe by James Patterson as well, in which the killer would go after moms' and their babies, and put a bullet in each of their heads.
Since those books I've decided to give up on Mr. Patterson for awhile. I've started reading some fantasy books, which include witches, vampires and weres of all kinds werewolves, werecats, werepumas. Oh and in my fantasy books the vampires aren't some emo, looking like heroin addicts, angst-filled teenagers.
People just say no to Twilight, please!!
I think my switch in reading material has lead to me reading more and enjoy what I read, I only wish I could block all crime dramas from the living room television. I could go without watching an autopsy during dinner time, especially on spaghetti night.
Good authors to look for: Karen Chance, Marjorie M. Liu, Yasmine Galenorn, Eileen Wilks.
You can also check out a lady called PC Cast, though be wary she sometimes writes a few books geared to the teenage audience and I find them far too advanced to give to my thirteen year old daughter and far to preachy for me to read all the way through. I merely gave her a second chance because she hails from and writes about my hometown. If you know of any other authors who write fantasy, let me know.
Thanks,
M.G.
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Welcome.
Hi, I'm M.G. I'm a single mom of three. I'm currently a laid off graphic designer, up until September 3rd, 2010 I was working at a local printing company. I've been sending out my resume and I've had a few interviews but not real bites.
I have a plan to go back to school and get into healthcare. I'm hoping to get into a course to become a Certified Nurses Aide. After I get a job as a CNA I plan to go to a local university and get a degree since at this point I do not have a degree. I'm not entirely sure what I plan to get a degree in, perhaps radiology tech or something where I can combine healthcare and computers.
I'm currently taking an online course for Administrative Medical Assistant. I'm planning on hitting the streets soon and instead of trying to find a graphic or web design job I'm going to take any retail job I can find. I thought I was done with retail, but it seems I am not.
Anyways, here's my blog on my life or my thoughts.
Thanks for reading,
M.G.
I have a plan to go back to school and get into healthcare. I'm hoping to get into a course to become a Certified Nurses Aide. After I get a job as a CNA I plan to go to a local university and get a degree since at this point I do not have a degree. I'm not entirely sure what I plan to get a degree in, perhaps radiology tech or something where I can combine healthcare and computers.
I'm currently taking an online course for Administrative Medical Assistant. I'm planning on hitting the streets soon and instead of trying to find a graphic or web design job I'm going to take any retail job I can find. I thought I was done with retail, but it seems I am not.
Anyways, here's my blog on my life or my thoughts.
Thanks for reading,
M.G.
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