Trim Healthy Me

I am a terrible dieter.  (But keep reading.)

I have only tried one weight loss diet before long before having kids.  (It was low-carb and low-glycemic.)  It worked, but was not sustainable long-term.  It never took care of my cravings, was a lot of work to prep all the food and I gained back all the weight and more as soon as I went off of it.  

Counting calories or points or tracking every morsel that passes my lips? Not for me!  Cutting out entire food groups?  Not going to happen!  I have tried to do the gym thing. Nope. Running makes me want to die.  (Seriously, I don't get it.)  I can get with some light yoga and dancing, but a jock I am not.  Anyone who has ever seen me in gym class and/or attempt an organized sport will attest to that!

Since having children, I have had more of an interest in healthy eating.  I have read a lot and dabbled in vegetarianism and raw foodism.  I had settled into a more “traditional foods” approach in recent years, but still indulged in the occasional fast food and sugary sweets.  Sweet coffee drinks, ice cream and chocolates being chief the offenders.  My homemade organic whole wheat sourdough loaded with local honey and butter weren’t doing my blood sugar any favors either.  Eventhough I was eating healthy food most of the time, I was going about it the wrong way and it was making me heavy, tired and achy.  I was always hungry and often gave in to late night cravings for sweets.   

With a family history of Type 2 diabetes and gestational diabetes while pregnant, I knew I had some blood sugar issues.  I was “good” when pregnant and managed the GD with diet and exercise, but was so tired and unmotivated to continue eating the same restrictive way once the baby came.  

I read about Trim Healthy Mama in a few blog reviews, but I was skeptical.  Then a friend decided to try it.  She was talking it up.  I read a review from another chunky whole-foodie that resonated with me.   She was puzzled as to why she was gaining weight eating whole foods, but Trim Healthy Mama gave her the answers.  That convinced me to at least read the book.

I got the ebook in April.  This information was the missing piece of the puzzle!  I knew a lot about nutrition but THM put that information together in a new way.  Plus there was bonus information on exercise, hormones and some other useful topics.  I slowly eased into the plan by starting with snacks and desserts and trying to apply the principles to foods I was already making.  It WAS a lot of thinking about food the first couple weeks.  I made mistakes.  I had a few off-plan foods here and there.  But something was working because the scale started to move.  

After a few foggy days of sugar “detox,” I started feeling less tired and achy in the mornings!  My increased energy was, and is, the biggest perk for me.  Before Trim Healthy Mama, not a day went by where I didn’t complain incessantly about being tired!  It is so much different now.

The weight loss has been slow but consistent.  I noticed a pattern of not loosing for a couple weeks and then seeing  a substantial jump after that.  Since mid-April (about 3 months ago) I’ve lost over 20lbs.  I’ve gone from “overweight” on the charts to just at the top of “normal.”  I’m down one pants size and everything feels like it’s shrinking.  I'm still a work in progress!  I'd like to loose another 10lbs and add in some consistent exercise.  Would like to work on healing my diastasis (aka mummy-tummy).  I have hope that I'll get there eventually.  If I had only had this information and these recipes when I was pregnant, I know the gestational diabetes would have been so much easier to deal with!

I don’t ever plan on going back to my old habits.  I love this way of eating and I love how I feel!  This plan is really adaptable to any lifestyle, from the "Drive-Thru Sues" to the "Whole Grain Janes!"  I am not posting this to brag about how hard I worked.  On the contrary, I'm posting this to get the word out.  If you struggle with your weight and are looking for a long-term solution, I urge you to give THM a look.  After all, if I can do it...

This January before shot is so embarrassing for me.  I was 6 months postpartum but my face looked thinner when I was pregnant!  At the time I didn’t realize how fluffy I looked.

 

 Here I am now.

If you want a good overview of the eating plan and book read Gwen's Review here.

2013 School Year Wrap-Up

Yeah, about that blogging thing... I always have thoughts about resurrecting the ol' blog but considering it's been almost a year since I last posted, that might not be happening.  However if I cut back on my Facebooking perhaps I'd have more time. hmmm

I thought I'd write another wrap up for the school year.  I started out with the intention of "first grade" for W.  What happened was more like "transitional first" or K-and-a-half. ;)  I also realized that W's friends who are only a few months younger were in Kindergarten this year.  That's what happens with an August birthday!  So I decided to not worry about the grade and just continue on meeting him where he is at.  The benefits of truly individualized education!

Messy table, keepin' it real.  Also why I bought him a desk this year.

Challenges: 

It took me a little longer to figure out what was going to work best this year.  (Is it me, or are the first 6 months with a baby just a monumental adjustment for everyone?)  I started out thinking I was going to make all the copywork sheets and printing out worksheets and so on for most of our subjects.  Yeah, that got old quick.  I wanted to do Year 1 on AmblesideOnline which is aimed at a 7 year old.  So many of the readings were too challenging in the fall.  (I mean there is Shakespeare in there, people!)  A bit overambitious on my part.

I gave up on the copywork half way through the year when it seemed like W was forgetting the proper way to write many letters...frustrating for both of us.  (We switched back to a handwriting workbook then.)

Oh, Nature Study!  I had envisioned neat little nature observation workbooks filled with sketches and watercolors.  Perhaps a Waldorf-style nature table we could decorate for each season...  There is always next year, right?

Seems like there are always a few things that don't quite get accomplished.  Drawing with Children is another one.  We did some of the beginning work, and we both really had fun with it.  More often than not, drawing time was just W picking up a pencil and doing his own thing.  I had wanted D to do the lessons with us, but he just didn't have the attention span.  Might be a good summer project.

Preschool for D didn't quite progress as intended either.  I had times of keeping him busy with "busy bag" activities and days where he wanted to join us and do some worksheets, but mostly it was a matter of keeping him from distracting W.  Sometimes Often that meant a well timed show on PBS.

ice cream playdough

Nature class at the Wetlands Institute was a mixed bag.  W really struggled to pay attention in that setting and D wouldn't even sit through the "lesson" portion.  The facility was wonderful though so we continued to come back and will do it again next year.  The other nature classes we had planned on at the nature reserve fell apart due to issues on their end.

I'll throw in "bad attitudes" on my list of challenges.  (Including myself and my students on this one.)  This doesn't phase me too much though.  I know from my public school teaching days, this is going to happen in any setting.  Some days you back off.  Some days you change your approach.  Some days you just push through.  Planning and preparation (and coffee!) help me tremendously.  But I know some moms who get too stressed over "keeping up with the plan" and need to take a different approach.  How you handle it will depend on your own convictions and relationship with your kids.

Successes:

Circle time was resurrected about half way through the year.  It has been a great little start to our mornings and provides a nice transition into seat work.  We have been learning some classic hymns and memorizing some faith related pieces (catechisms, Apostle's Creed, etc).  I have been using YouTube to create a playlist: Pledge of Allegiance, new hymn, review hymn, maybe another song.  (YouTube is also great for all kinds of learning songs!  Love the old School House Rock ones.)



We really enjoyed the new homeschool group we joined this year.  We had one guaranteed trip per month and one playgroup per month.  We gleaned a field of tomatoes to go to a food pantry with Farmers Against Hunger, visited the zoo, awesome visit to the firehouse (D's favorite), learned about glassblowing at Wheaton Village, packed shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child, did some crafts with seniors at an assisted living facility, toured a working US Coastguard ship (W's favorite), visited an alpaca farm, learned about local birds and met a red tailed hawk.  I think I'm missing a couple there, but you get the idea.  To me, this is a huge benefit of school at home.  We get to spend lots of time out in the real world interacting with all kinds of people and learning through experiences, not just workbooks.

meeting a lamb

We continued through Math-U-See Primer and are well into Alpha now.  Still like the program. It's simple, repetitive, the lessons are short, the manipulatives tap into visual and kinethetic learning styles.

Once I ditched the copywork, I ordered the first grade Handwriting Without Tears workbook which has been a great reinforcement.  (I'm saving the copywork until he has this down solid.)  D has joined in on building letters with the wooden manipulatives.

We did eventually ease our way into AmbelsideOnline.  The readings have been interesting.  We have especially enjoyed the Aesop's fables and Paddle-to-the-Sea.  I found some coloring sheets for W to color while he is listening to the fables.  (I made some on Word following the same format as well.)

Keeping in the living books for science, we have been reading through a couple great books about the sea and seashore: The Seashore Book for Children and Spring Comes to the Ocean.  We also did a couple webinars.  One was on alternative energy and we built a solar cooker.  The other was on aerodynamics and we had fun with some paper airplanes afterwards.  The local Earth Day Fair provided some great info and materials about renewable energy, recycling, protecting our waterways and conservation.

Franklin Institute table at the Earth Day Festival

This scripture memorization system has continued to work well.

Discovered the Venzia Artists series at the library.  Perfect to go along with our monthly Art classes!  The boys both have an interest in art this year.

Picasso inspired sculpture at art class

We liked Explode the Code workbooks the first half of the year, but switched to Reading Eggs once I found a deal a membership.  W likes ending his mornings school work with this program.
(Computer Time = Incentive)

Will definitely continue alternating with Explode the Code.

And for next year...
Keep doing what works, ditch what doesn't!
I feel like I am finally getting comfortable with this role.  In the beginning it seems like there are SO many directions you can go in and it never feels like you are doing enough.

(Should my 6yo be learning Latin? Should he have hours and hours of unstructured play outdoors? Should I be doing flashcards with my baby? Should the 3yo be memorizing poetry? Am I providing enough sensory play opportunities?)

I'm more focused at this point.  Feeling more confident with my teaching approach.  (Still love Charlotte!) And I am more selective in my curriculum purchases.

I intend to keep doing some "school" through the summer, mainly handwriting, math and Reading Eggs.  I find that we get off track around the holidays and cold/flu season enough to keep going with the basics year round.  Learning is a natural part of life after all!

Was thinking about starting Before Five In A Row with D in the fall.   Loved that when we went through it the first time.  I think we will continue to work on Ambleside Y1 in the fall for W.  And next year I want to make a circle time board (like this).

No plans for beyond this upcoming year, but enjoying this journey (and lifestyle) more the longer we do it.

She's Here!

Our sweet baby girl finally arrived the end of July!  She was a bit "late" but worth the wait.  I had typed up the looong birth story but don't really feel like doing the edits to put out in the public domain.  (If any of my friends are really interested I can share with you.)

Three weeks in and we are all still adjusting.  I realized I am in the new mom haze today when I got the youngest two napping and big kid playing on my Kindle and I was faced with what to do with my "free time."
Do I a.) shower... so very needed  b.) nap... also needed or c.) eat something.  Well if you've ever been a mama nursing a newborn you know I chose c.  Eating wins!  I might squeeze in a shower too but sadly a nap just won't fit.

People keep asking how I'm doing with three.  Honestly?  Some days are better than others.  So far it is harder going from 2 to 3 than it was to go from 1 to 2.  My middle kid is still very "two" in his actions and he needs more hands-on parenting than I feel I can give at times.  The older one is better but he has his moments too.  He is just newly 6yo so it's not like he's super grown up either.  But hey, everything is a phase with kids so I know things will change again (and again and again).  I'll find a new normal at some point here.

I have also been in planning mode for the new school year.  First grade for my 6yo and some pre-school for my (almost) 3yo.  I have put together a board on Pinterest for all the Charlotte Mason Style resources I have been collecting.  Sigh.  There are almost too many homeschool choices these days!  I have an idea of what I want to cover this year but still am less than confident about how it will come together.  I suspect I will feel something like this the beginning of every school year though.

My kids are super cute and funny and I generally like being with them.  On we go!