Hey, strangers!

Well, did you think I'd dropped off the face of the earth? Nope, just life. I wanted to give an update. I've stopped getting the meals for a little bit. John's been out of town quite a bit lately so I've been eating what we had stocked up while he was gone. I've been cooking some also. My weight is fluctuating a bit but I'm keeping around the 183 mark plus or minus a pound.

Nicky started preschool! Just part time. 3 hours a day, 3 days a week. It's absolutely perfect for him and he loves it. It's a half hour drive to get there so the babies and I tend to stay in town running errands, going to the park, or just walking around. It's starting to get nice walking weather. You may be thinking, it's September and it's not walking weather?! Mid to upper 80's is too warm for me. So I did a little geocaching in downtown Fayetteville. What is geocaching, you say? Well, it's a way to make walking have a goal. I've never been one to just walk. I want to have a reason. It's not the journey, it's the destination. So there's over 900K little capsules or containers hidden around the world. You find one, you write your name in it and then you replace it. www.geocaching.com.

In another episode of my "why can't they market healthy foods" saga, the babies are eating solids pretty frequently. Catie more often than Jason. She will eat just about anything. He's going to be a picky one. Anyway, when we're out and about, I need something to feed her. I've always made their own food instead of buying the jar stuff. So little containers of applesauce or fruit. But do you know how hard it is to find fruit that is healthy? Other than the produce section. She's not quite up to munching on a peach off the shelf. I finally found one (ONE!) container that was made with 100% juice. All the others have artificial sweeteners or sugar. I've tried the "very light" syrup ones and they just taste sicky-sweet to me. They're doing much better with 100% juices. Why can't they use those to put the fruit in?

So facebook. Yeah, I'm an addict. I'm connecting with a lot of people I haven't talked to since college, 18 years ago. (ACK!!!) I wanted to share a comment someone made. After viewing my profile picture, they said "Good Lord Girl, you look dang near the same as your Kville campus days. Nice job." How's that for combatting the "I'm almost 40, look at the new wrinkles" feeling?

Gotta run. Babies get their yogurt and oatmeal at 7:30. Then wake up Nicky at 8:00. In the car to leave for school by 8:30. Life is a schedule. If you're lucky!

Stop and Take a Breath

As the great Ferris Bueller said: "Life comes at you pretty fast." I would also add that relativity is a b*$@#. High school seemed to last forever but my son has been alive almost as long and that feels like an eyeblink. It seems like time just races by lately so I apologize for the lack of posts.

As I predicted, I had a gain for last week but not too bad. With the weight loss this week, I'm less than half a pound up from where I was. We haven't been getting a lot of sleep but it's been getting better. Last night Nicky slept through the night for only the second time in the last month. His skin is much clearer and through a bit of mental manipulation, we hope to get sleep more often than not.

Nicky had his allergy testing yesterday. Interesting results. Oak and hickory which accounts for the outside reaction. Fish, shellfish and treenuts which means we get to start carrying an epipen around. He's actually never had shellfish or treenuts so we don't know how he'll react. And dog. He's allergic to dog. Both the previous renter at our old house and this current one had dogs. So we're getting some high quality hepa air filters, shampooing the carpets abd getting the air ducts cleaned. Wow. Gotta say, didn't expect that.

So with John back to work and Nicky doing better, I have high hopes for a nice steady weight loss the next couple weeks. On the food front, a couple interesting notes. The shrimp in the dishes tends to be a little tough. Not sure if that's from the freezing or the reheating. But there's a dish on the mail-order menu only that I had for the first time. Shrimp and pasta salad for lunch. Oh, that was yummy. It was shrimp and spaghetti with red peppers in a vinegar based dressing. We heated it just a little and it was quite, quite tasty.

Time to put itchy boy to bed and do a little messing with the head. He knows that his allergies make him itchy. So last night, I asked him if he had licked a dog, tree, fish or nut. At first he said he licked a fish but we giggled him out of that. I told him that if he hadn't licked any of those, he shouldn't be itchy. We'll try that again. Convince the mind, convince the body, huh?

What a Week!

Can't believe this week is finally over. It seems that we've been going night and day. Literally. Nicky has had a couple bad nights. Last night I got about 3 hours of sleep. I can't wait to figure out what he's allergic to. It's something outside. He was fine yesterday morning. Then we went out to Chuck E Cheese and the outlet mall. His face started getting red last night and he itched all night long. Hopefully staying in all day will have cleared up his system.

We finished the playset Made one error that we didn't catch until it was too late but it was cosmetic, not structural. Of course, with 95 degree heat and him rashing up outside, he has only done a test run on it. Jason loves the swing, though.

Lost a little bit last week. Another 0.6 for a total of 27 so far. People may wonder why I'm happy with such low numbers. That's because I'm not really trying. I've been treating a lot lately. John is still home from the move so we've been doing a lot of family outings. Whuch means eating out a lot. Any weight loss makes me happy. This week is already a wash. Lack of sleep means major snacking all day long. It's the only way to keep my brain functioning above the level of chimpanzee.

Midnight Ramble

The doctor here is wonderful! We left with five prescriptions to clear up his infection, calm his receptors, and clear his skin. He started doing better right away. We have to wake him up in the middle of the night for his antibiotic but he was sleeping well. Until tonight. He's been up for two hours tonight. We've learned a valuable lesson. He was outside right before bed so there wasn't time for a bath. Next time, we make time! Poor itchy guy. It's something outside, that's for sure. Just a little sad because Jason woke up at 4:30 yesterday and now I'm looking at the clock wondering if I'm going to be able toget another two hours sleep for a grand total of five hours!

The building of the playset is going well. I'm really glad we followed the advice of people who boight it and labeled everything. Some boards were identical except for 1/4" length. Some were identical except the pre-drilled holes were placced 1" differently. Sheesh! We can only work on it when the babies both nap and only in the morning. (I don't do NC summer sun) So we've only done about 5 hours work and we've finished 11 steps of 27. We'll get it eventually. Had to go out and get longer bolts for one step. I'm not trusting my kids to hardware where the nut only goes on half its depth. But it's going well. We've got the swing side done and so John lifted up the horizontal support beam to give Nicky a chance to test the glider. He likes it so far.

Posted a loss this week of 0.6 so I'm at 183 pounds with a total loss of 26.4 pounds. I've talked before about setting smaller, reachable goals. I haven't been under 180 since I don't know when. At least since before I got married 13 years ago. Probably college. I'm wearing clothes I wore in college. So I have a short-term goal of seeing 17- on the scale. Long-term goal, and I can't believe it's possible that I'm talking about this, but 14 pounds will see me no longer classified as overweight! The medical term is "normal". Which I kind of resent because that means I'm currently abnormal.

What I really like about DTG are the people. Besides being some of the nicest people I've met, they really do care about their customers and listen to them. I noticed this week that the shipping containers were reinforced around the lower edge. They are constantly working to make everything better, from adding an entire new week of meals to using more recyclable containers to adjusting shipping procedures to find the best way to insure proper procedures.

Had one of my favorite meals this week 0 chicken pesto sandwich. I was slightly disappointed that the pineapple in the regular meals is replaced with mixed fruit. I like putting the pineapple in the chocolate pudding. But the meal was still tasty.

Pining about the Pines

We're heading to the doctor tomorrow to get Nicky a referral to an allergist and a dermotologist down here. I've been researching allergies, particularly to pine. We're absolutely surrounded by lodgepole pines. Now it seems that since we've moved down here, every time Nicky goes outside, he comes in with flaring eczema and itching eyes. Which is frustrating when we try to enjoy our back yard. Hopefully, we'll be able to get a resolution to this. We've kept him inside the last two days and last night he slept all night without waking. The night before, he was up for three hours because he couldn't stop itching. Poor little guy.

I did a preliminary weigh today. I shouldn't do that. I know I shouldn't. But sometimes it's necessary to see if I'm on track for the week. Unfortunately, if it's a good weighing, I get worried for the last half of the week, wondering if it's a fluke or an actual weight. We'll see. It does tend to keep me behaving better than a bad weighing. Now I want to make sure I get that good number as an official number.

We trekked to Raleigh today to go to a Natural Science museum. Nicky doesn't get a whole lot out of the displays. He tends to look for a second and then say, what's over there and run on. We had a nice sensible lunch there. We split a cheese and spinach sandwich and a chef salad. But by the time we hit the mall, I was hungry again. That's the thing about DTG meals. They're filling. I was glad I had my salmon at home for dinner. John had the red snapper. I like the snapper but I like the salmon better.

Our swing set gets delivered tomorrow afternoon. I've got to clear room in the garage to lay everything out and label it. We've got our drill charged up and we're ready to go. John has already said he's expecting a traumatic experience so he won't get frustrated as easily. Does that make sense?

Could Have Been Worse

I've been bad. This week was an indulgent week. But again, I'm wondering if my idea of an indulgent week is a non-DTG person's idea of a normal week. Because I stayed steady exactly where I was last week. Even though I had pizza for lunch and dinner on Sunday and some cheesecake. John went back to Chicago over the weekend and brought home an Eli's chocolate chip cheesecake. Now, I'm not normally a cheesecake fan but there's is NOTHING like an Eli's chocolate chip cheesecake. Of course 1/8 of a 10" cake is over 300 calories and about 20 grams of fat. So a meal.

We've been exploring things around town. Found a bouncy world for Nicky. Discovered the Joe's Crab Shack down here has a huge playground. Remembered that the best diet in the world is taking babies to a restaurant. And we took three! So I didn't get a chance to eat a lot of my crab nachos which wasn't such a bad thing.

On the DTG meal front, our delivery today arrived well and frozen. The meals have been very yummy, as usual. I've got them stacked and organized in the freezer so that every night, I take out the top two lunches and the top two dinners for the next day. Then, if something comes up, like going out to lunch today, the meal that was going to be today's is still good tomorrow.

We hope to get Nicky swing set delivered in the next couple days. While I'm tempted to set up the video camera as I'm sure there will be some America's Funniest Home Video's moments, we don't have the battery life or the storage for the amount of time it's going to take us to put it up. Steve, if you've got any DIY advice, I'd be happy to hear it!

Busy week

Okay, one more installer to go today and then we're done with installers and repairmen. Hopefully. The washer turned out to be an easy fix. Not one we could do but they did it in about two minutes.

I've found a meal on the frozen plan that isn't as good as the fresh. The Hungarian Turkey just lost something in translation. I'll be changing that one out next cycle. Everything else, though, has been quite satisfactory. And I posted another weight loss this week. At least I did before I made Toffee Bars to take to the neighbor as a thank you. You never return an empty plate! So I was at 183.6. I've lost 25.8 pounds!

We're picking up a new kitchen table today. It'll be nice to be able to eat at a table again. Our dining room table is too big for the eat-in kitchen and the dining room has genuine hardwood floors. I'm not sure what squash and pears or oatmeal with applesauce, not to mentioned regurgiated formula would do to that so the babies are staying out of there. And of course, there's no way I'm letting Nicky carry food there. So, we will be eating in the eat in kitchen. We also ordered a swing set for Nicky. Putting it together will be fun, I'm sure. The hardest part will be finding safe things for Nicky to do to "help".

Our delivery came yesterday and everything was just fine. We have a freezer full of meals. Taking them out one day at a time is working well. That way, if something comes up, they'll keep until the next day and we're not wasting any food. So we're both really happy with the delivery plan. The food still tastes great and if anything, it's even easier to use. The lunch sandwiches are already put together for you! The turkey ham salad on pretzel roll (one of my favorites) was ready to eat from the fridge. Perfect to stick in the cooler to take on outings.

Speaking of outings. Nicky and I went to the local children's museum. A far cry from the Baltimore children's museum but actually better for him. It was only one floor and much simpler. He's not a fan of crowds, especially louder older children. So he had a grand time. On Saturday, they have a model train display so we'll probably go back.

So we're settling in down here. It's so quiet and peaceful. I have to admit, though, that I giggle watching the traffic on the news. They actually devote airtime to that! Oh, look. A car! DC traffic has warped my sense of normalcy.

Another Town, Another Zoo

We've been here less than two weeks and we've already headed to the zoo. It was only 80 today! Had to go. It was a pretty nifty zoo. But boy, is it sprawling. It actually warns you on the map that there are over five miles of paths. And I think we hit them all! Nicky had a grand time. He got a little startled at the sea lion pool. And I don't know which he liked better, the tram ride or the polar bear. Both were huge hits.

So I got my exercise for the day. Which hopefully makes up for the peach pie that our new neighbor baked for us. I was doing pretty well this week. I did my weekly official weigh-in this morning and I'm at 184.2. So I lost almost a pound since I found the scale over the weekend for a grand total of 25.2 pounds so far!

I think thawing the meals is the best option. I tried cooking a frozen lunch the other day, the turkey-swiss sandwich (John and I are sharing the lunches he got). The cheese is oooey-gooey anyway so the extra time needed to defrost as well as heat wasn't so good. I heated it for a minute at a time so the cheese didn't melt out everywhere and I wasn't able to get the middle totally warmed before I got too hungry! So I'm putting two lunches and two dinners in the fridge to thaw for 24 hours before we eat them.

Dinner tonight was chicken parmesan. It was quite good and the only difference between the fresh and the frozen was that the chicken was just a little tougher. However, as the chicken in the fresh meals is tender enough to cut with a fork, I'm okay with that. The pasta, sauce and cheese were exactly the same. And I think the broccoli was actually a little better.

One thing I learned, however, is that it's best to not stack the meals as I thaw them. The chicken hadn't totally thawed and it was because there was some ice between the packages.

So the shipped/fresh comparison is doing fine. I always said that frozen dinner plans were terrible but I think there's a big difference here because DTG flash-freezes them and then ships them to you right away. So they don't have to add all those, well, additives to get them to you still tasting like food. Oh, speaking of shipping. This week's shipment arrived perfectly. The frozen ice packs in the cooler were still frozen. So a freezer full of food to eat this week. Which is good because I have a garage full of boxes to unpack. (or look through and leave out there!)

Liquid Cheese and Other Tales

We had our first frozen meals last night. I had the salmon with rice and vegetables. The salmon was a little dry. That's easily fixed. I always add a sprinkle of water to rice when I re-heat it so I just need to put a little moisture into the salmon. The taste was still good and I thought the rice and vegetables were yummy.

John had the chugwater chili. After an overly long debate on re-heating, it turned out mostly well. The instructions on the frozen meals say heat for 5-9 minutes. I had the hardest time convincing him that bread, shredded cheese and sour cream should definitely NOT be heated that long. The heating instructions on the fresh meals are very specific about removing items before heating. I always got a bit of a giggle out of that. Kind of like restaurants needing to label a coffee cup as hot. However, I see now that specific instructions are very helpful in preventing arguments with literal people. Sigh. His shredded cheese got a little liquified due to a bit too much heating but the bread and sour cream were salvaged.

I found my scale! So many boxes to unload. I was pretty happy, though. After two weeks of stress, sleeping on the floor for a week, and eating fast food or packaged convenience foods from the grocery store, I managed to lose more weight. I'm down to 185.0 now for a total of 24.4 pounds lost. I probably would have lost more if I'd been able to eat my DTG food what with all the exercise I've been getting. But I like being able to get a chicken mcnugget happy meal with apple slices and be satisfied. Part of what I've learned eating DTG is what a full stomach should actually feel like. Not bloated, not stuffed, not I've-got-to-get-out-of-these-pants-and-into-sweats feeling. Treats are fine in small amounts and sensible eating is a lifestyle.

I'm here!

We made it. Finally. You would not believe what's been going on. Oh, I was reading something in my last post and I needed to clarify. I stated that I couldn't use the ramp on the big truck but didn't say why. It drizzled all day. I tried going up the ramp once and about halfway up, had to hold the dolly steady while I slid back down. Needed a video camera for that one.

So, let's see. What a mess. The worst move I've had. We were told during John's relocation meeting that we would have movers pack and load on the 25th and 26th. Well, the day before they were supposed to get there, I still hadn't heard from them. No walk through. No interview. So I had John go by TMO (the military office that handles moving people). They said oh, here's the phone number of your mover. But don't call them for half an hour because we need to fax over paperwork. THEY HADN'T SCHEDULED US!! So I called the guy and asked if he wanted to do a walkthrough and he said they didn't have time and the packers would be there the next day. So the next morning, we moved everything we didn't want them to pack into Nicky's room, set up the babies in the playpen, established Nicky with some videos and waited. And waited. And waited.

I called and the guy said, oh, traffic, they're on their way. An hour later, I called again and he said he'd see what was going on. So he calls back and says, well, we're going to have to pack and load you in one day. Okay. That's doable if they get there at a decent hour. So we head to Chuck E Cheese to spend the tokens and tickets we've accumulated over the last two years. They have a chicken ciabatta sandwich which, if you leave off the mayo, and get fruit on the side, is a reasonable lunch. Nicky was pretty happy because Mommy got on a roll on the drop-in-the-coins-and-see-if-anything-falls game and won almost a thousand tickets. So the other kids watched in open mouthed awe as Nicky picked out a 5000 ticket Matchbox set.

Friday comes. Once again, we move everything into Nicky's room. And we wait. And wait. I call again. Oh, traffic, they're on their way. They finally show up at 11:00! One man and two women in a 16' truck. We live in a three story townhouse and have about 10,000 pounds left. They were expecting a 4000 pound job. At 6:00, another team with another truck shows up. Then they go and bring another truck. At 11:30pm, they moved the remaining items into the garage because we had cleaners coming the next morning. John stayed in town to outprocess but me, grandma, and the kids headed out. So indoor camping for a few days.

Our food delivery came on Wednesday. Unfortunately, our furniture with the spare freezer didn't arrive until Thursday. So I had to make a lot of room in the kitchen freezer. Not as much as I would have, however, if the cooler hadn't had a serious warpcore breach. One side of my cooler was basically broken off. Not good in the Carolina summer. My dinners were fine as they were on the other side. The lunches were totally thawed and at room temp. So those had to get tossed and I got a credit for those. Once again, the customer service department at DTG demonstrating their client-centric attitude. I love those people.

Anyway, waiting around for furniture on Thursday until 11. Maybe it's just because I get up at 5 but 11 is late. My day is half over by then! All of our things arrived, which is a plus. Not in one piece, which is a minus. Our solid pecan bedroom set which has been in the family for over 50 years is majorly gouged along with scratches in basically all the other furniture. Two wooden DVD storage units had the bottoms ripped off, and then the nails tacked down! Tall lamp and wooden uniform stand both snapped in half. Finally found the crib hardware in a box of hangers so the babies can get back to a normal schedule. And my washing machine no longer works. I had to trek to the laundromat early Sunday morning. Sigh.

Oh, and we get to do it again in two years.

Anyway, we haven't had a chance to try the frozen as my parents are still here. Mom forgot to do a final weigh before they packed the scale and I haven't found that yet. But she said it's obvious to her that her energy level is a lot lower not eating DTG.

Lots to do but it's so nice here. Nicky seems to be developing allergies but he loves being able to run in the backyard and go to his sandbox whenever he wants. After I get the ants out of it in the morning. I've sprayed with vinegar which helps but I've never seen so many ants. They're everywhere. Which makes the plethora of orbweaver and wolf spiders very happy.

So I'll let you know how the first frozen meal goes. Trying to decide if I want to thaw them in the fridge first or just put them in the oven or microwave frozen. I must say that so far, I like the convenience of frozen. Now, we'll see how they taste!

I Cannot Believe It!

I did it. Whew. There is no way I could have survived the last two days before DTG. Absolutely, positively, no way.

So I picked up our rental truck (the 16' one) and brought it home to load. John was late getting off work so I started loading it about 10. He got home about 1:30. We were done at 3:30. When I took it to get it weighed, I was expecting about 1500 pounds. My jaw dropped when I saw we had loaded 4120 pounds!!!! In the rain. So I couldn't use the ramp and had to lift each box up into the truck. Now, I was calculating (it's the math major in me, I can't help it.) and if you consider the 50 pounds I used to carry around and add that onto each trip out to the truck I made, that would have been about a thousand extra pounds of toting that barge and lifting that bale. Well, lifting those boxes of books anyway.

You're probably thinking, wow, you much have been exhausted. Nope. Part of it was the endorphin high. But part of it was just that I'm in such better shape now that I've been in 20 years. But that Mac & Cheese was the perfect dinner after that. Not too heavy and cheesy - carby yummy.

So this morning I got up at 3am and drove down to Fayetteville. John got up a little later and followed. He caught up to me around Raleigh. We got the keys to our new rental and started unloading the truck. That backyard may not look too impressive but to us, it's wonderful. It's pretty sandy so not a real lawn but Nicky is going to be ecstatic.



It took about two hours to unload all that stuff and then we headed back home. So a nice 14 hour day with a whole lot accomplished.

It was especially nice added on to my other physical accomplishment of the week. 1.8 pounds lost for a total of 23.8 pounds. Remember back in May before we went on vacation and I couldn't get into my shorts? So last night I tried them on and they fit like a glove. It's such a weird/wonderful feeling to remember putting these shorts on and feeling like I was trying to stuff a sausage into its casing. The little roll that wouldn't get tucked in and wouldn't let me button them. Today, they fit absolutely perfectly.

So before you start your DTG, try on that pair of "skinny" jeans that you haven't gotten into in so long. Believe me, a couple months later when they slide on like silk, you will be like me and the rest of my fellow bloggers, so thankful that you decided to go for it!

Listen to Your Stomach

You know, I've heard about muscle memory. When you train in an athletic , your muscles become used to performing specific motions in order. That's why you hear about athletic trainers changing up routines to wake up your muscles (shout out to you, Steve, our workout role model!) I know that the stomach is not a muscle, but I swear that not only does it have a memory, it's got definite opinions.

We went to a picnic with some co-workers from John's last stationing, Knob Noster, Missouri. (Look it up, it exists.) We encountered a common problem at picnics: what to eat. We took a vegetable tray and set it next to the cheesy potatoes with potato chips on top, the greasy barbecue brisket, the chocolate cake, the cookies. Oh, and the fruit plate. So Nicky ate fruit. I made a mistake. I had a bratwurst. It had been a long time and that was all I ate. And then it sat like a lump in my stomach. Just sat. A big congealed lump of fat. Ewwwwww. Never. Again.

Dinner tonight was spaghetti pie with cauliflower. Spaghetti in a tomato sauce and absolutely covered in gooey cheese. (Arggghhh, cheeeeeeesssseeee) I ate dinner and my stomach was happily full. No lumps sitting in there for hours. I think the phrase "you are what you eat" definitely applies to bratwurt.

Okay, a slight case of hysterical laughter today. We're renting a 10 foot truck to take some stuff down to NC. In the military, if you move things yourself, you weigh what you move and get reimbursed for it. So I've been packing lots of boxes full of books so we can move the heavy, easily boxed items. I got a call from the truck company today. They don't have any 10 foot trucks so they're upgrading us to a 16 foot at no additional charge. My immediate response was hysterical giggling and saying "I haven't packed enough for a 16 foot truck". She actually understood and said it's common at this point to go a little crazy. So now we're looking around the house for things to put in the truck. Now, not for weight but just to keep things from sliding around! But on a good note, the bigger truck has a ramp which will be useful with all the boxes of books!

Still here!

I think I've gotten a lot done this week. And I've got quite a bit to talk about so settle in

We're going to take a truck load of things down ourselves next week. Since there are thing the movers won't move and we'd have to rent a truck anyway, we've decided to go ahead and fill it up. I've discovered that U-haul actually has the perfect size box. It's wonderful. Fill it up with books and you can still lift it. I was packing my china and Pfaltzgraf yesterday and it's wonderful how things set it in snugly, not leaving extra room to fill with peanuts. We've got some memento wines (John's first promotion, honeymoon, etc) and after wrapping them, they fit perfectly in there.

I know. A weird thing to get excited about. But I love puzzles and I love efficiency. There's this bed that I want to get for each of the kids from Berg Furniture. It's not as tall as a bunk bed and not as short as a captain's bed. Instead of a ladder to get up there, it has stairs. And the front facing of each step is a drawer! And under the bed is your bureau. It's so efficient! Anyway, I've got 15 boxes of books packed, 3 boxes of DVD's, a box of CD's and 6 boxes of breakables so far. I've still got plenty of books to get packed up before we head down. (We love books!) We're actually doing a one day trip. Leaving here early, early and getting back before Nicky goes to bed. I'm very grateful that my mother is here to watch the kids for me.

While cruising the DTG website, I found a couple things you might find interesting. I have the website as a favorite because I like reading the blog articles http://diettogo.com/blog like the summer foods to avoid and enjoy or hearing about the 9 people who lost over 300 pounds in 8 weeks. Way to go!! So I recommend checking the blog out for tidbits.

I realize it's been a while since I've posted an official weight loss. My mind has been busy adjusting my "don't forget" list like business to get the address changed, things the movers won't move (don't forget the propane tank!). I guess I'm just so used to making progress, I just assume I will be down. I never thought I'd be in such a mental state. I'm not obsessed with the scale!!!

But I'm at 187.4 right now. 3 pounds from my pre-pregnancy state. Also known as the lowest I've been in 18 years. I lost a pound last week. The previous two weeks I held steady and lost .4. All that box packing gave me a bit of exercise this week. So my total weight loss right now is at 22 pounds. I've topped the 10 % of my body mark. 10%!


I also wanted to post pictures of the kids. Sheesh, they're getting big fast!

Let's Get a Move On!

Well, I've plateau'd again. (I really need to look up that spelling) I lost less than a pound last week. More like a couple ounces. Part of it is a little bit of sleep deprivation. Jason is such a lark. He's been waking up before 4:30 every morning. And he's so happy and talkative in the morning that he's been waking up Catie as well. So quite a few early mornings lately.

It was such a beautiful day today we went out to Manassas for the train festival. Nicky got a new Thomas train and got to ride on the VRE train for a 30 minute train ride. He is fanatical about trains. Not only does he have a Thomas train setup but also a Geotrax train setup. And he plays with both of them equally. Thank goodness for ebay.

So our movers are scheduled to come on the 25th. I've got three weeks to get ready. I think everyone should move every few years. It's a REALLY good way to re-evaluate what you have in the house. If you look around your house with the attitude of "where will I put this when I have to unpack it" you end up wanting to get organized pretty quickly. I've put John to work going through a stack of computer cables, boards, books and CD's. Do we really need the restore disk for a computer we no longer have? Hmmm.

Mom is now a DTG advocate. She's amazed that she lost another three pounds this week even with eating until she was stuffed at every meal. So she's lost five pounds in two weeks and is still really liking the food. The Szechuan Turkey burger was a bit spicy for her and she refuses to eat carrots (something about not eating orange food. I don't know) but she's definitely happy with such an enjoyable way to lose weight.

Taste and Smell

Not a big surprise that Mom has a new favorite. She tried the Chicken Alfredo Melt last night. That is, beyond a doubt, the best meal DTG has. She wasn't too impressed with the Roasted Tomato and Basil soup. Said it was too spicy even for her and it was a little disappointing after the week and a half of dietary deliciousness she's experienced.

I had the Italian Pomodoro for the first time. I changed our menu to get that instead of the Lobster Ravioli. Two meatballs bigger than golf balls, about the size of a small lime. Lots of noodles and sauce and sprinkled with shredded cheese. I assume the meatballs were turkey and not beef but I couldn't really tell. I also liked the side being both broccoli and cauliflower. So it was really good.

Even with five weeks menus, there are some meals that you get a little tired of. That's part of the reason I like getting six days. I can mix up the Friday pickup to replace a meal that I don't want anymore. Same goes for the special dinners. I can put those in and out of the menu for a change of pace.

I'm slowly getting things done around the house. We hope to have our orders this week so I can actually plan days for movers and cleaners. I got Nicky's closets cleaned out and his bathroom mostly emptied. I also did under the bathroom sinks. If you've never had professional movers before, you may not know that there are things they won't move. Cleaning supplies and candles among other things. So I started filling a box of things we have to move from under the sink. I also threw out things that I had forgotten about for the five years we've been here. Since Nicky has eczema, I don't wear perfumes or lotions other than his hypoallergenic lotion. So I had body sprays and perfumes that I haven't used in years. And believe me, perfume goes bad. Ewwwww.

Different Strokes

It's becoming interesting how different the babies are developing. They say that girls develop faster but she was almost a pound and a half lighter at birth. And that disparity is definitely showing up. Jason can sit unassisted for about 10 or 15 minutes. Catie tends to topple. Which is surprising given how bottom heavy she is. Jason is chowing down on cereal and has gone through allergy checking two foods, banana and sweet potato. Catie just can't keep her tongue from spitting it out. However, they've both gotten really good at taking toys and pacis that the other one has. Thus, it begins.

Mom is liking the food. She is really liking not having to cook it. So far, she says her favorite is the Tuscan Boats with Wheatberry salad. And our family favorite, Turkey BBQ Melts. That's on the substitution menu but John says he could have that every other day. She also lost over 2 pounds in the first week. She was a little disappointed in that until I reminded her that she had a chocolate TCBY in a waffle cone after getting a Quizno's sammie. Not exactly a healthy option but it had been a decade since she had it. I also reminded her that she's been eating until she was stuffed at every meal and having enough leftover for snacks between meals. Easiest 2 pounds ever.

I stayed exactly level this week. That's just weird. Our scale does .2 intervals. So it's a little strange that after a week, it's exactly the same. I'm not upset at the lack of weightloss. After all, I, too, had TCBY. But my indulgence was dinner with my closest friend who comes into town once a year. So I was happy to maintain the status quo. Go quo!

So much food, so little time.

Sorry for the lack of posts. It's about 2 1/2 weeks until we move. Probably. Still waiting for orders but we start paying rent on our new place on the 15th. So things have been a bit busy around here.

Mom started getting the food on Friday. She says she's having problems eating it all. She's getting the lunch and dinner plan for 6 days like me. 1600 calories. There may be a bit of confusion when I say that. The 1600 calories is the plan name, basically. That's for the entire day of food. So when I only get lunch and dinner, that's going to be about 1100-1200 calories. You can always check it. http://diettogo.com/menu-nutrition/local/nutritional-information/low-fat-1600. Anyway, we're discussing whether to drop her down to the 1200 calorie plan. But she says she likes this plan because she doesn't feel like she's on a diet.

I will try to post when I can to give some updates. They may be quick, though, so I apologize for that. Sometimes I wonder if having professional movers move us is more or less trouble. Right now, I'm trying to clear out Nicky's room so we can use it as a "don't pack the stuff in here" room and a place for the cats to be (bathroom) and the babies to nap (bedroom).

Week 17 Results

Perspective is a crazy thing. Four months ago, I was thinking it's so long until May. When people start a diet plan, looking down the road it seems almost endless. And then when you look back, you think that didn't take so long after all. If you're reading this and thinking about whether to try DTG, I can only tell you why I finally did it and hope it strikes a chord.


I've been overweight for a long time. Once, in college, I got down to 135 and fit in size 10. I was 5' 10" so for me, that was pretty darn skinny. I'll never get into 6's or 8's. But it was all downhill from there. Or uphill, I guess. I always had "reasons" why I wasn't able to lose weight. The one I used most often was the "life is short, eat dessert first" argument. I would say that we need to enjoy life, which meant having ice cream or brownies or chocolate when I wanted it. Sound familiar?

Here's the thing. Being overweight makes life shorter. Eating healthy extends life and makes it easier to enjoy it. Just a few short months can make such a difference in your life. Really, what do you have to lose? You've spent money and time on so many other ways to lose weight. Why not try one that actually works?

Week 17 Starting Weight: 191.0
Week 17 Ending Weight: 188.8

Week 17 Weight Loss: 2.2 lb
Total Weight Loss: 20.6 lb

So I've crossed the 20 pound mark. 20 pounds! Now I'm going to go enjoy the day.

Feelings . . .

A commentary on texture today. My babies are starting to eat cereal now. She has the interest but needs to learn the skill. He has the skill but not the interest. The first few times he had cereal, he made quite the ewww face. Did the whole scrunching the face and shaking his head thing. He was not a happy camper. So unless it changes, it appears he's going to be a texture baby. You know, one of those babies who doesn't want food that isn't smooth. Won't eat crunchy things.

This is in my mind because of dinner last night. I revamped our menus, changing some of our substitutions and removing some. Last night was the first time John had the Tomato Veggie Casserole with Cous-cous. He saw me warming it up and made a face. I admit, it's not the most physically appealing dishes that DTG produces. His comments were: "What is that?" "Am I eating the same thing?" "What are you doing to it?" My responses were: "Casserole" "Yes" "Adding texture". I was mixing the cous-cous in with the casserole. Picking up the fork, making a similar face to Jason eating cereal, he took a bite. Then he had to admit that it was good and texture was a good word.

For me, a good meal has a mix of colors and texture. Could be from a home-ec class in middle school when we had to create menus. Anyway, the veggie casserole, which has lots and lots of melty drippy cheese by the way (arrrrggghhh, cheese), has finely diced vegetables. Putting the cous-cous in means that every bite you take has smooth cheese, small bites of vegetables and grains of, well, grain. So a good variety of texture and yummy tastes.

How Do I Spell Relief?

D - T - G. As in, Diet-To-Go. Ah, the contentment of having a fridge full of food and knowing I don't have to worry about what to eat. I was glad John had gone out of town a couple times so we had a couple lunches and dinners in the freezer. So I got to have a salmon burger for lunch in between sorting things for the garage sale tomorrow. Hopefully, the rain will hold off until I get everything sold!

I've got Mom's food scheduled to start on Friday. I may have to get a little creative to get it all in the fridge but it will be worth it when she weighs herself after that first week! It was seafood fetuccini for dinner tonight. A family favorite. I add some crabmeat to it because John loves his crab alfredo. Just a lottle bonus. I also add a bit of salt. I know that DTG food is within the daily recommendations of the American Heart Association but sometime I need to add just a bit of salt. Just a pinch. In a pinch.

Life's a Beach

Virginia Beach, to be precise. Vacations are a lot of work. I wasn't sure I would make it. It started the day before we left when I entered the parking garage at Nicky's doctor. Now I've never had a luggage carrier on top of the van so I will use that as my excuse for ripping it half off the top of the van. So I'm 20 minutes from home with all the kids in the car and the crossbars and big luggage holder on the ground at the parking garage. After his appointment, I pushed and prodded and finally got it into the van with Nicky putting his legs over the arms of his seat. John was able to get it back on, thankfully, and we loaded up and got them to the train station 15 minutes before the train. That was a bonus for Nicky. I picked them up in Richmond.

With the kids and my desire to keep the junk to a minimum, we got a hotel with a kitchenette. I had a cooler full of fruit and milk and a box full of cereal, crackers, granola bars and other snackables. So we didn't do too badly at the beach. Went to a buffet but they had really good steamed vegetables so that was the only thing I went back for seconds on. Steamed seafood and a little bit of prime rib. I think the boardwalk walking helped.

The time in Fayetteville house-hunting wasn't as good, food-wise. There's a Cici's Pizza there. I'm glad they cut the pizza into small slices and I'm very glad they use thin crust. The thickness of the crust makes a big difference in calories. Eating three slices of white pizza probably wasn't so good. And the Sonic's down there all have playgrounds. They've got a new dollar menu which helps in ordering smaller portions.

We found a house to rent, which was good. Ate a lot of junk, which was bad. So I was sure I had gained a couple pounds. Imagine my surprise when I posted a loss! I lost the same amount I gained last week so I'm at 191 still. A couple theories on the loss. I worried about what I was eating but I'm well-trained by DTG in portion size so I didn't over-eat on junk. Or, I was PMS-ing the week before and that was why there was a gain. So the loss was actually a hormone adjustment result. Probably both. Regardless, I'm ecstatic that five days away from home didn't sink me!

Step One - Remain Calm

I always got annoyed at that silly list of instructions/test that's supposed to teach you to read through all the questions first. You know, there's 25 questions and they take a lot of time and then the very last one says only do the first question. Well, if you only do the first question, then you can't do the last one which says to only do the first question. Circular logic irritates me. Cutesy ways to prove a point also irritate me.

There's a point to this. I like following instructions. So I really love the new lables on the meals. Last night, I had the salmon. Way out of order but the weekend was busy. It comes with a pineapple crisp which I have commented on before because the raisins are pined (is that an actual word?). Anyway, the instructions state that the crisp is best served warm. Now, I would consider myself to be a DTG old hand. Six months when Nicky was born and going on four months now this time. But I've never warmed up the pineapple crisp. If I was allowed to call myself names, I would. It tastes amazing warm! 30 seconds in the microwave and it really brings out the juicyness of the pineapple.

Oh, I'm not allowed to call myself names because of Nicky. He's at the repeat-everything-you-say stage and he also asks a lot of questions. So mellow is the word. Which is hard to do when someone won't let you merge into traffic and then makes an obscene gesture at you. Seriously? What did I do? So I had to calmly explain to Nicky why Mommy calls other people idiots sometime. I don't curse so at least I didn't have to break myself of that habit.

I'm worried about this weeks weigh in. I suspect some of last week's loss was due to the bug we all had. I haven't had time to walk this week due to getting things ready for the garage sale. Organizing the garage, while tiring, isn't aerobic activity. Mark your calendars! Kingstowne community yard sale is on the 16th. I've also been trying to set up appointments to look at houses when we head down to Fayetteville. I've been thinking. John made some comment about me having to start cooking again when we move. That made me sad. So I'm thinking I may start dropping oh-so-subtle hints and comments about the fact that DTG has a mail-order option. Hmmmmmm.

Here I Am!

Okay. I think it's over. Wednesday night I ended up taking Catie to the E.R. just to make sure she wasn't getting dehydrated as she hadn't eaten more than 5 ounces all day. She wasn't but it was heading into overnight and as any parent knows, that's when everything happens. We finally got 4 ounces of Pedialyte in her so the doctor and I were happy with that. Both babies started eating better on Thursday and had semi-solid outputs. So to reward Nicky with being so patient the last few days when I was concentrating on the babies, we headed to the zoo. We saw a couple animals but I think his favorite part was sitting on the walkway overlooking the construction of the new elephant area. I spread a blanket and put his lunch down there with him and we sat there for almost an hour. I ate my chicken burger substitute lunch and some yogurt. Nicky had animal shaped nuggets and apple slices, rejecting the fries. My son, the healthy eater. So when we ended up at the plane museum yesterday, grabbing his lunch at McD, I got him the apple slices instead of fries. After a brief fuss at the thought of dipping the apple in the caramel, he happily ate all of his lunch. It looks like he's outgrown fries. I once again took my lunch. One of my favorites, turkey ham salad on pretzel roll. I just love that mustard base. It's so satisfying and filling.

I can't believe it's May. I almost hyperventilated this morning when I realized that. I have SO much to do in the next six weeks before we move. Like find a house to move into. There's a community garage sale on the 16th here in Kingstowns and I've been trying to purge the house. I've got four black garbage bags full of outgrown baby clothes! Luckily, my parents are coming to help me with the garage sale. Mom to babysit and Dad to help with the sale. And then I think I'll keep my Mom for a while. She'll be getting Diet to Go while she's here (like I'm going to cook!) so I'll be able to give you another person's opinion.

Last night we had the chili. We're a day behind due to not eating dinner when Catie went to the doctor. This is why I'm glad the meal plans are so flexible. By getting six days, we have a cushion for unexpected things and we don't waste food. So the chili was very yummy. I've mentioned it before but it's worth repeating that the little touches DTG give you make a big difference. Like a container of cheddar cheese to sprinkle on top of the chili. It really makes it feel like a home-cooked meal and not take-out.

Oh, and may I just say that once again, people are learning that quick-fix diet pills don't work. Hydroxycut is bad for you. Really? Can't possibly imagine why. If you have questions about what works and what doesn't, ask the DTG experts http://diettogo.com/ask-our-experts. I get just as caught up in the marketing as anyone else. It's very tempting to think you can take a pill and drop weight. But it seems there's such a surge of eating organic and healthy cleaning products. Why would we ingest a product that most of the time doesn't even say what's in it!!! (proprietary blend, my foot) Whew. Now I'm too tired to clean out the garage. Darn.

Quick and Very, Very Dirty

Don't have much time so I wanted to get this posted while two of the kids were still sleeping. It's been a very dirty few days. All the kids got a stomach bug. Nicky had it for two days Thurs & Fri but then he got over it. He's not a concern as we can give him Pedialyte freezer pops. But then the babies got it. I thought Jason got over his on Monday but then he vomited yesterday and started back up. This will be Catie's third day of diarrhea and Jason's second. They're still eating so they're not getting dehydrated but oy, do I have a lot of laundry to do. I empathize with my mother who had cloth diapers to dip in the toilet to clean.

So, by the numbers:

Week 14 Beginning Weight: 193.6
Week 14 Ending Weight: 191.0

Week 14 Weight Loss: 2.6
Total Weight Loss: 18.4

Average Weight Loss: 1.31

The 180's are knocking on my window with their friend, 20 pounds gone. Hopefully, they'll be ready to settle in for a nice long visit next week.

Negging Questions

I'm curious. Have you noticed that negligible has the same root as negligent? So I'm wondering what I neglected this week. Stress was quite a factor. I neglected to eat all my meals this week due to time and giving Nicky things he may enjoy like the smoothie. The point is that after failing to negotiate a better answer, I failed to post a negative number.

Today was a better day. Benadryl early to cut off any potential itching. Phone calls to providers and insurance companies to get a referral to a new doctor. Mentally writing a very nasty letter to the doctor, the hospital, my insurance company and any other individual/company that I can find online to complain to. Playground, nature center, walk around a pond where we lay on our bellies and watched a goose dive underwater repeatedly.

Did you know that calories burned depends on your weight? It's interesting finding calculators online to find actual calories burned for my walk. There's also calculators for the actual number of calories you should be getting instead of the generic answer. Those are interesting.

Mental Exercise

We spent the day at Chuck E Cheese today. All day. Seriously. 6 hours. By 8:30, Catie had been crying off and on for about an hour and Nicky had already scratched his foot bloody and he was crying. A major distraction was needed. I took my turkey and swiss sandwich with me. We got a plate of fries and an unlimited salad bar so we were set for fruits and veggies. Ten bucks in tokens and Nicky was a happy carousel rider. I have no regrets at that as I was in the first arcade generation. It was easy to drop ten dollars before the movie in the arcade playing Joust. Of course, the evening ended similarly to how it began. It's a bad, bad feeling when your son starts crying because you put on lotion. I was going to call the dermatologist and let them listen to the crying because I'm royally ticked at them for not calling me back since my Monday morning call. The answering machine says they return the calls within one business day. Ha. There will be a letter. Actually, according to John, a Letter.

Dinner tonight is yummy Brunswick stew with lentil loaf. I actually claimed John's lentil loaf and gave him my stew. I really like the stew but I really love the lentil loaf. After Nicky fell asleep on me at 6, I had the option to go for a walk or spend time with the babies. John and I laid the babies on the floor and did Wheels on the Bus and tummy zerberts. While not as good for me physically, it was much better for me mentally.

Walk it off, baby.

I was going to talk about the website but honestly I haven't had time to really explore it. As soon as John got home tonight, I bolted out the door for a walk. We think Catie is either sick or teething something fierce as she cried just about all day when she wasn't asleep or being talked to. This, of course, upset Nicky so he got all rashy this afternoon and scratched a number of places bloody. Then I have my heart break to have him cuddled up on me saying "Mommy, I'm sorry I scratched." (We've taught him to rub the itches, not scratch) Jason, my little zen baby, lays back and watches the other two cry (he only cries when he's tired) but he didn't want to eat today.

Thus, the walk to clear my head and restore my equilibrium. And once again, I cannot imagine what my stress levels would be if I had to find something for dinner. One of my comforts is being able to turn off the voice that used to sound constantly in my head "what am I going to fix for dinner". You know, the one that you hear all day, every day. It doesn't matter if you're actually sitting down to dinner, you're still thinking about the next day's meals, or what you could do with leftovers, or if you need to go to the grocery store. Again.

I just saw a commercial for Pizza Hut's Panormous. Seriously? We need a pizza with a pound of cheese on it? We went to the mall last week and got a small gelato for Nicky, as I was sitting with him and watching him eat it with that little spoon, I saw people with the large bowls of four scoops and polishing it off. Oy boy. On a related note, why do many fast food places no longer have a size small? Sometimes, it's just frustrating. I do like that BK has a $1 value size drink and that they now have Coke Zero.

So, tiring day. I just finished my chicken parmesan as I was writing this. I'm going to go savor the lemon yogurt which comes with it then toddle off to bed. Every day is an adventure and in many years, I will wish for even a bad day if I could have them all with me again.

All jeans are not built the same.

I just got back from a Pampered Chef party. The only type of "Amway" party I go to because I do so love the kitchen gadgets. Especially collapsible kitchen gadgets. Anyway, since I was going to an "event", I thought I might wear something better than my baggy size 16's. Now, you know that different brands fit differently. I had tried on a pair of size 14's last week and they wouldn't button. Today I tried on a different brand. Oooooooo. As long as I sat up straight when I sat down, (no overlapping for me, thank you!) I was good to go in my 14's. Woo hoo!

Yesterday was so beautiful, we went to the National Harbor. Nicky loves to play in the "sand" there. It's more like really small orange gravel but he loves it. There is one thing about going there that I don't like. There are no barriers on the pier to keep small toddlers from falling into 20 foot water. I think the role of mommies is to anticipate every possible bad thing that could happen and stress about it. At least it was a beautiful day. The good thing about being transients is that we know we only have a set amount of time in an area. Therefore, we make sure to see everything and go everywhere we can. Not saying it's easy. Takes about 10 minutes to get everyone out of the car. Then another 15 to put them back in. And that's assuming there's no additional tasks such as emergency diaper changes. But it's worth it when Nicky spends 3 1/2 hours at the Loudoun Heritage Farm Museum milking fake cows and running a general store.

So, in an effort to keep my hand in last night, I took the DTG dinner of Southern Cod and baked it into a casserole. I had some extra broccoli from Nicky's dinner and threw it in with the rice and vegetables that came with it. I chopped up the cod and threw in just a bit of skim mozzarella (less than 90 calories). It baked up into a very nice fish casserole. I'm not saying we don't like the cod as it was. It's just that I had a little bit of time yesterday afternoon with Nicky being in a good mood and the babies sleeping. And I do like to cook when I have time. Of course, with everything already chopped and cooked, it took less than five minutes to throw it together in a dish and stick it in the oven. That's kind of like cooking, I guess : )

Lunch today was the reuben. When you receive this meal, remember to put the sauerkraut on after you heat the sandwich. It give it a very nice warm/cold ratio that's perfect for a reuben. The DTG lunches are surprisingly filling. I can never eat more than the sandwich at one time. Oh, and Diet to Go just rolled out their new website. I'm exploring it and will comment on it next time.

Week 12 Results with a side of water

It's 7:45, do you know where your kids are? I do. Sleeping. All of them. Woo hoo! Even night-owl Catie is down. She may wake up but by that point, John will be home. He's a night-owl also. My boys are larks, usually up with the sun. It's absolutely amazing. Nicky's new medicine seems to have cleared up some of his eczema so bedtime is no longer an extended "mommy, rub" drama until he falls asleep from exhaustion. We got to do our two Boyntons, a kiss, and off to sleep. Boyntons, you ask. Why, let me explain. If you've got kids or grandkids, Sandra Boynton has some necessities for you. One of our favorites are Fifteen Animals because the punchline still makes Nicky giggle and he loves saying Bob over and over. But the grand poobah of Boynton has to be Personal Penguin. I don't know whether it's the fact you can download a track of Davy Jones singing it (ooooooo, Davy!) or maybe it's because Nicky sings it with me and it's so adorable hearing him sing "I want to be your personal penguin". Anyway, check those out.

Let's talk water. I once thought it was common knowledge. But one time I mentioned the phrase "water weight" to John and a blank look in return. So I guess it's just something women are familiar with: the unrelenting roller coaster of weight loss and gain throughout the month combined with ankles the size of cantaloupes due to water retention. But what I didn't know until I did a bit of searching is that one pint or 16 ounces of water equals one pound. There's some interesting bits of information combining water and weight loss.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/expert.q.a/04/10/water.losing.weight.jampolis/

Oh, speaking of weight loss -

Week 12 Beginning Weight: 194.6
Week 12 Ending Weight: 193.2

Week 12 Weight Loss: 1.4
Total Weight Loss: 16.2

I'm over halfway to my goal of 30 pounds. Another 10 pounds will take me to my pre-pregnancy weight. I spent last weekend going through boxes in my garage, getting ready for the move. All size 18 pants are now history! My 16's which I'm currently wearing are loose. I'm not down to a 14 yet because all my pregnancy weight is around my hips (mummy tummy!) but I'll get there!

Turkey et. al.

I haven't been able to enjoy my new books yet, unfortunately. Tonight was cold and rainy and last night, Nicky didn't get to sleep until almost 9. Poor kid. He was itching so much yesterday afternoon that I gave him some Benadryl. He usually only gets it before bed because the inevitable happened. He crashed at 4:30. So after a two hour nap, he wasn't going to go to bed for a while. So no walkies for me and it will probably show in the weigh-in. Sigh.

For dinner tonight both John and I have a substitution: Turkey BBQ Melts. This should really be on the main menu. It's one of our favorites. Shredded turkey lightly coated with BBQ. I love the light coating. I prefer to taste my food and not the sauce. Then, it's heaped (because there's a lot) on bread rounds with two different cheeses melted on top. For sides, there's cole slaw and some sort of peachy-onion thing. I don't know what it is because as I've mentioned, the substitution menu doesn't list the side items and the new labels haven't caught up to the subs yet. Anyway, that's one side item I don't eat. Peaches and onions just don't seem to match up to me.

In the delivery today I saw that it's cheesy soup and pretzel week. To my fellow DTGers, I again recommend cutting up the pretel and soaking it in the soup. John tried that last month and found it yummy.

For this weeks temptation . . . another holiday

I went to the library to get some books on CD. So much better than books on tape. It used to be difficult to find unabridged versions of books. Now it seems just about all of them are unabridged. That's good. Abridged books are no better than Cliff's Notes which I'm proud to say I never used in school. I love to read. When we read the classics and had a chapter assignment, I usually had to go back and re-read it because I read the whole thing the first day. Anyway, I needed something to listen to for walking. We have a ready made track loop right outside our door. 1/2 mile of street making a loop. But I find sidewalk walking boring and the books should keep me occupied. And I'll get the chance to "read" books I wouldn't normally get. Like Life of Pi which I heard was pretty good.

Indulged a little bit today for Easter but not too much. No jelly beans. No M&M's. Just a couple chocolate marshmallow eggs. I love those. And they're only $1 at Walmart. We got Nicky some electronic eggs. They're too funny. After you press the button, you hide them For 30 minutes, they'll call out things like "I'm hiding" and giggle. And the best part is if you forget where you hide them, they won't start smelling after a week!

John got behind on his breakfasts and then skipped on the weekend so unfortunately, we have to toss the breakfast pizza. Something to remember with DTG is that the meals are prepared and refrigerated, not frozen. (For local pickups) They follow the same rules as any other food you put in the fridge. The pizza was made on Tuesday and meant to be eaten on Friday. Tomorrow would be six days, which I think is too long to wait to eat it. I should have put it in the freezer Friday but I thought he'd eat it on Saturday. Bummer. I would have gladly eaten it if I knew he was going to skip breakfast on Saturday. Just helping out : )

Week 11 Results

We need to go to the zoo every weekend. Happy times!

Week 11 Starting Weight: 197.0
Week 11 Ending Weight: 194.6

Week 11 Weight Loss: 2.4
Total Weight Loss: 14.8

Basically halfway to my goal. Averaging 1.35 pounds per week. That's even with the gain last week. How sweet is that?

Time for a story. When I was young, my mother gave me the traditional chocolate for the holidays. A bunny for Easter. "I 'heart' U" for Valentine's. And every time, I'd stash it away like a squirrel, usually under my bed. And every night I'd have one small bite. (My weight issues started after I got married) So my treat would last a very long time.

Today for lunch was grilled cheese with brownie. Have I mentioned how chewy gooey yummy this brownie is? Reverting to my hoarding tendencies, I had a slice of the brownie and put the rest up. Spread the joy! Just need to put it out of sight so I don't spread the joy to the rest of the household. I'm needing my chocolate this week. I'll show them I love them another way.

Economics at the grocery store

Food pickup today! I love unpacking the bags. Particularly this week. I know I've mentioned before how much I LOVE this pickup. Chicken pesto sandwich, grilled cheese and BROWNIE, mac & cheese. Yummmmmm.

So here's a happenstance that's saving me money. I still go to the grocery store for milk, food for Nicky, fruits and vegetables. With the three kids, it's a bit of a trial. I have to bring in our stroller which is 5 feet long (that is not an exaggeration) and then have to manage a cart as well. So I've started going first thing in the morning on Saturday when John can stay home with the kids. Now, we happen to be military so I take advantage of going to the commissary. I don't know how many of you have been to a commissary before but they basically have one line for all the checkouts, like Toys R Us does now. Anyway, I went at about 2:00 one Saturday afternoon. The line was four aisles long. Really. Down and up, down and up, and heading down again. I should have been worries when there were no carts outside. So I decided to pare down my list to the bare bones, figuring express has got to be shorter. After getting what I considered to be my 20 essential items, I hurried to the express line. Where I was third in line! Wow. Talk about positive reinforcement.

So now, every Saturday when I go to the grocery store, I limit myself to 20 items. It's amazing how quick the trip is and how much money I save by not buying the non-essentials. I'm not filling my cabinets and freezers with food that Nicky might like. When I have extra "room" on my list I get one or two new things. I recommend giving express line buying a try for a few weeks. DTG makes it very easy to do!

It's a Beautiful Day!

What a beautiful weekend! We spent most of it outside, of course. We all walked to the playground on Saturday. Although I think Nicky would be happy with a huge pile of wood chips in his backyard. He usually ends up sitting on the ground, playing construction site. We stopped by McD for dinner on the way back. We only do 6 days so we have a lunch and dinner on the weekend to do for ourselves in case we're out and about. I had the grilled chicken sandwich with no mayo. And only a couple of fries. Then it was time for the walk back home up The Hill. John was pushing the stroller though and Nicky wanted to hold Mommy's hand. I discovered that The Hill isn't as hard when you aren't pushing 70 pounds of stroller. Of course, when your 3 year old walks over a mile. you can't really whine about the trek. Stubborn tired kid didn't want to ride. So I had to keep coming up with distractions to keep him happy.

Yesterday was even more beautiful so we went to the Maryland Zoo. Nicky hadn't been there. He was a big fan of the giant tree slide and the rocket ride. The penguins were his favorite. Gotta take him to St Louis zoo. I've never seen a better penguin aquarium. You stand at the edge of the tank which is about waist high. You could touch them if you don't mind losing a finger.

Anyway, so we spent two days outside walking around. What I really liked, however, was riding on a ride with Nicky. When we first moved out here five years ago, we went to Six Flags. On one of the rides, it was very, very hard to get the seat belt on. I was sitting in one of those spinning ride seats with John and having to suck in to get it buckled. That was not fun. So yesterday, I was a little worried when Nicky wanted me to go on a ride with him. It was a kid's ride! But I climbed in the little plane and Nicky climbed in next to me. I loosened the seat belt and it buckled over both of us! And I wasn't even sitting flat. There wasn't room for my legs so I was kind of sitting on my hip. But there was still enough room for us both. Wow.

We should have brought lunch to the zoo. I am amazed by the zoos out here and their lack of adequate concessions. Standing in line for a pretzel (Nicky), nachos (John) and a grilled chicken sandwich (me) served in a tent which cost more than I'm willing to admit I spent. We had a lunch to fill, though, so I really didn't have anything at home to bring.

So a weekend with somewhat healthy eating and lots of walking should hopefully get rid of the gain from last week. I'm anticipating a challenge next month, however. We'll be going to VA Beach in a couple weeks. And like my fellow blogger, Bo, I do love my seafood. He would probably be disappointed in the quality of seafood served at the countless buffets there but a midwesterner like myself doesn't have the experience of fresh like he does. I'm not picky. We'll see if I can resist.

I want a Mulligan

Well, I went ahead and did it. I weighed myself today. Sigh. At least the gain was less than a pound. Bad, bad chocolate and ice cream. I am SO very glad this week is almost over.

Luckily, I just got a little sore throat. The girls faired better than the boys. Nicky was unhappy. If you were to ask him, he'd probably say he was miserable. And boy, has it made his eczema flare. Poor kid. Jason wasn't happy either. He got up to 101.7 and spent a whole lot of time sleeping. Unfortunately, he wouldn't sleep unless I held him. This is unusual for him because obviously I don't have the luxury of time to sit and snuggle with one baby. (I really miss that). And if I put him down too early, he'd wake up and start screaming. I'm not used to my mellow zen-baby screaming. (He's my zen-baby because if I need some outside emotional stability, holding such a calm baby for just a few minutes is very relaxing)

Once again, I am thankful I don't have to worry about fixing meals. We currently receive our meals locally here in DC. Now, I'm wondering if, after we move to NC in June, whether I should continue to get the meals by mail order. Also, while I normally complain about daylight saving time, I took advantage of it this evening. There was time after Nicky went to bed and John came home to go for a short walk. Alone. By myself. Solitary. Wacky.

Pass It On

Just a quick note to explain the lack on communication. Nicky got sick Thursday night and has been pretty miserable the last few days. Then the babies got sick Sunday afternoon. So today, I've got three sick kids and have already had times when all three were crying at once.

I anticipate this week being a wash, weight loss wise. I confess to popping mini chocolate bars for that quick happiness fix. While momentarily considering not weighing at all, I probably will as I still hold out hope that at least I stayed steady and didn't gain.

Gotta run.

Week 9 Results

Little goals are supposed to be useful in weight loss like events or activites. See, I have a goal to get to before my target. In May, we're going to the beach for the weekend. We've discovered it's a lot easier to go to the beach for a long weekend twice a year (May & Sept) rather than a long vacation once a year. It'll be our first trip with the babies so that'll be fun. Did you know that many hotel rooms have a maximum occupancy of 4 people? And with the multiple nap and bedtimes, it's really convenient to have two rooms. So our options are kind of limited. But we've got a really nice suite right on the boardwalk at Virginia Beach.

Anyway, my minor goal is to be able to get into my shorts by our trip. I bought some cute shorts when I lost my weight after Nicky was born. Last year, it wasn't an issue because I was four-six months pregnant with twins. No cute shorts for me. But I figure if I can get below 190, I should be able to get into some of them. I'm on track to hit that goal so we'll see if it's enough.

Week 9 Starting Weight: 197.6
Week 9 Ending Weight: 196.2

Week 9 Weight Loss: 1.4
Total Weight Loss: 13.2

Saw a friend of mine that I haven't seen since right after the babies were born and she commented on my weight loss. It's nice when it's noticeable.

Dinner last night was yummy. Chicken pizza. I actually put it in the microwave for too long. (So much for convenient instructions, huh?) And the chicken and cheese slid off the bread. So I cut the whole thing up and cut up the broccoli and made myself a chicken pizza casserole. It was gool. The broccoli added a nice texture to the meal.

Acai You, Scammer!

It's been a tiring week. . . . What do you mean it's only Tuesday?!? Aw, @!#*&.

Didja see the reports on the Acai Berry scam? It's not enough that it's being investigated for claims of being everything from magic weight loss to an emission-free fuel. Okay, maybe not fuel but still. Don't these people remember the claims of the cabbage soup diet, or the 48 hour Hollywood "diet". The sad thing is that there have been so many different fads, there's an actual book about the fad books. The Encyclopedia of Diet Fads by Marjolijn Bijlefeld and Sharon K. Zoumbaris.

Anyway, so now it turns out that the Acai Berry websites have been scamming people out of money by continually charging their cards and making it impossible to cancel. Kind of like that "final notice of lower interest rates" call used to be. If it was the final notice, why would they keep calling me? There was a new option on that message that supposedly reported you don't want it and to remove your phone number. We'll see. But if you get those, don't hang up right away.

Where was I? Oh, yeah. Long week. Delivery today was interesting. The food now has detailed labels. DTG went green by not including the menu and heating instructions on separate pieces of paper. But now, they've put that information on the food labels. I like that. Mainly the menu day. Lobster Ravioli for dinner last night. Yep, still good. Still not sure what's in it. But tasty, nonetheless.

Well, the children are all sleeping. Not for long, I suspect, as Catie has been pretty persnickety the last couple days. Won't eat for being tired. Won't sleep for being hungry. Luckily, when I get frustrated, I can just look at Nicky and know what my goal is.

Eat a Tree Today

You know, there are moments (rare, but there) where I think, I'm a good mom. This week has not had many of those. More of the others, actually. Turns out I've been giving Nicky too much of one of his meds. The nice people at poison control reassured me that he was still under dangerous amounts. But due to the rash he has developed, that one has been discontinued. Which is okay by him because it was the one he didn't like. Anyway, I'm sure you've noticed a couple times when I've mentioned him eating at McD's. And yes, he does get french fries. But I draw your attention to the photographic proof of why he gets french fries when he asks. He grabbed the broccoli off the counter and just started munching. He LOVES his veggies. A neighbor was surprised once when he took a red pepper out of the grocery sack I was bringing in and ate it like an apple. So one thing I am proud of as a mother is fostering a love of vegetables in my son. I am so grateful that I did DTG right after Nicky was born. That way, by the time he was ready to start eating, I had the right attitude towards food.

There was a post on the forum saying they're going to be changing the website so that we can view our menu and substitutions. I'm really looking forward to that. I love the customer service people, I really do. But I have to admit I'm getting a little frustrated with having to change my menu twice whenever I make changes. I'm difficult, I know that. I make substitutions and then change those substitutions. I change around the meals we get on our Friday delivery. But I am really looking forward to being able to view my menu myself. We ended up with three dinners of Langostino and Cheese grits this weekend for the two of us. Good thing we like it! I must say, though, that they readily credit me for any mistakes made.

Speaking of like . . . CHICKEN ALFREDO MELT!!!! Nuff said.

Week 8 Results

I got to take a bit of a walk yesterday. Not as long as expected. Did the mile and a quarter to the playground. Was all set to head up The Hill back to the house. Nicky decided he needed dinner which took long enough for Daddy to get home and he came and picked us up. Better a little than nothing.

Speaking of a little being better than nothing.

Week 8 Starting Weight: 198.8
Week 8 Ending Weight: 197.6

Week 8 Weight Loss: 1.2
Total Weight Loss: 11.8

As long as I lose at least a pound a week, I'm all good.

----Later
I needed to add. I just finished dinner and I've got to say how much I like eating the proper amount of food. I am full and satisfied but I don't have that overeating bloated feeling when you don't stop eating soon enough.

Funny is . . .

Honestly, Big Bang Theory is one of the funniest shows on tv. It may be because I'm a math person but just a sample:
"You have about as much chance of going out with Penny as the Hubble Telescope has of finding that at the center of each black hole there's a little man with a flashlight trying to find the circuit breaker."
"Oh, well, this would be one of those circumstances that people unfamiliar with the law of large numbers would call a coincidence. "
"I'm not insane! My mother had me tested! "
And of course, nothing compares to Sheldon's Rock-Paper-Scissors-Lizard-Spock game. Look it up.

Forcing a crying toddler to take his medicine twice a day is not funny. Not fun. Nope, not at all.

Opening up the DTG bag and seeing Turkey Swiss sandwich for lunch is fun. Two of them as I made a substitution to get it twice. Very fun. I squeaked.

Mother Necessity

Saturday night Catie was really fussy. She's teething so she just couldn't settle down. It was salmon dinner night so I was a little sad that she started crying just as I sat down with my dinner. But it actually ended up with a positive. The salmon dinner comes with a ciabatta roll. After chowing down on the rice while fixing her a bottle, I ended up making a salmon ciabatta sandwich. That was really, really good. There's a salmon burger on the menu for lunch. I highly recommend that sandwich roll be replaced with a ciabatta roll. The strong bread goes well with salmon.

Now if I can just come up with right combination to give Nicky his medicine. He got two different antibiotics today at the doctor to clear up some infections in his eczema and that did not go over well tonight. I was surprised because he takes his benadryl every night without issue. Asks for it, in fact. He was a brave boy and took it while crying. He's got one twice a day for a week and one twice a day for three weeks. Poor little guy. He's been promised a train when he's done with the medicine. It may be a good time to teach calendars. So tomorrow we start trying different things to help with the taste. Maybe I should ask the DTG chefs.

Vacation - All I Ever Wanted

My apologies for not blogging for a couple days. My parents are still visiting and I'm really enjoying my "vacation." Having extra hands around definitely makes life easier. They're leaving tomorrow for the 900 mile drive home, not to return until May. Sigh.

I'm proud of myself for my self-restraint this week. Throughout the week, I've made two batches of muffins for Nicky, chocolate strawberry blueberry pancakes and cupcakes with strawberry icing. I had one pancake. If you've got toddlers, I recommend Martha White muffin mix. I make about 20 mini muffins out of a bag and Nicky eats them all day. But the reason for the recommendation is the amount of nutrition in them. Seriously! There's 6 servings per bag and each serving has about 10% of the RDA of many, many vitamins and minerals. Including iron! And that's for a 2000 calories diet. I don't know about you, but getting him enough iron is a challenge.

So, we got Chinese take-out. Actually, one of the easiest to not screw up, I think. I had steamed vegetables with chicken and rice. The place I order from has six options steamed without salt or cornstarch. I did get white rice because I didn't know if their brown rice was any better. Really. People automatically think that brown rice is better for you. Next time you're at the store, compare a box of brown rice with enriched white rice. You'd be surprised.

Anyway, my parents have been pretty impressed with the meals. My father is raving over the dressing used in the Bistro Chicken Salad. They are both amazed at the amount of food I get to eat. (Notice I say "get" to eat. Unlike most diet plans where you "have" to eat specific food)

I'd better run. Since we got take out last night, my meals are postponed a day. I get salmon tonight. I love salmon. If you ever make tuna fish sandwiches, I recommend replacing the canned tuna with canned salmon. Tastier, in my opinion, and much healthier for you. I made the switch when I was pregnant the first time and never went back. So I love seeing the salmon dinner in my fridge waiting for me.

Week 7 Results

I wonder how long it takes for your metabolism to wake up in the morning. I've noticed that my weight fluctuates quite a bit during the day. Weighing during a night feeding (they happen sometimes still) is significantly different compared to a weighing a couple hours after we get up.

Anyway, the numbers please -

Week 7 Beginning Weight: 200.2
Week 7 Ending Weight: 198.8

Week 7 Weight Loss: 1.4
Total Weight Loss: 10.6

This is a bit of a relief. I have to admit to feeling a little discouraged the last couple of weeks, thinking that I wasn't going to get over the hump and I would be stuck over 200. It's amazing how that 10 pound mark and getting south of 200 makes a difference. Suddenly, my goal feels like it's in range. It's totally mental but my outlook has totally turned around.

Price and Preparedness

Okay. Remember last week I talked about doing a grocery list of ingredients? Here's my list of disclaimers:

1. Items selected would be what I would normally buy. As in, store brands for some items but brands I would normally buy like Kraft cheese.

2. Not all ingredients are priced. Spices are assumed to be already in the cabinet. There are ingredients that I was unable to determine.

3. Individual items were purchased in most cases. One potato instead of a 5 lb bag of potatoes. However, it must be stated that purchasing the larger quantities only saves money if you actually use them.

4. It must be acknowledged that a few ingredients will have enough remaining to be used in another meal. However, I believe that number is balanced out by the spices and unknowns.

5. There were a few ingredients that I didn't price as I would logically use another, already purchased ingredient instead. For example, instead of buying both sliced American and sliced swiss, I only priced the American. Instead of three different kinds of sandwich bread, just one.

6. However, in many cases, like buying one type of pasta instead of three, the variety was priced. Reasoning being part of the advantage of DTG is the variety.

7. Taxes have not been incorporated but it must be mentioned that I believe DTG charges less tax than the grocery store.

8. Ingredients only have been priced, not time or labor. If I estimate a half hour to fix lunch and an hour for dinner (the bare minimum), 9 hours a week would be spent on food preparation. With minimum wage at $6.55, that equates to a minimum value of $58.95. I left this amount off as I am, without a doubt, worth more than minimum wage! And that' just preparing time. I haven't considered the time actually spent at the grocery store, the time spent planning, or the time spent getting frustrated with my husband who, when asked what he wants for dinner, shrugs and says "I don't care". Argh. Of course you care. If I put wet cardboard on a plate in front of you, would you eat it? I don't think so! Hmmm, should I calculate how much money in marriage counseling DTG is saving me?

9. And of course, I wasn't able to put a specific amount for the impulse buying. I'm a sucker for new items. If it's new, I've got to try it. If I'm hungry, I buy more than I need. Without a doubt, keeping out of the grocery store saves me money!

I think that's all the disclaimers. I may think of a couple other things I thought of as I was "shopping" but the results are:

For my meal plan: 1600 Calories, 6 Day, Lunch & Dinner - $102.99
Purchased groceries for this week of meals - $110.88

Detailed listing follows if you care to see the specifics:
I apologize for the big space. Couldn't remove it for some reason.

So my conclusion would be DTG is actually more cost effective than cooking the meals myself. Which I kind of knew already. But being the math person that I am, it's nice to have a logical, calculated proof. Again, this is only about ingredients. There's really no price I can put on the extra time I have to spend with my children or the absolute relief of having dinner made after a tiring day. Oooh, wait. Have to restate that. Ready . . .

Getting DTG meals - $102.99
Not having to stress about cooking dinner - priceless

Asparagus	2.50
Broccoli	2 @ .99 = 1.98
Baby carrots	1.33
Tomatoes	1.33
Celery	1.33
Cauliflower	2.50
Potatoes	0.59
Apple	0.99
Red Pepper	2.00
Grapefruit	1.00
Oranges	0.89
Zucchini	1.25
Carrots	0.99
Black Beans	1.29
Pearl Onions	2.29
Mushrooms	1.00
Corn	1.25
Mandarin Oranges	1.35
Spinach	1.00
Chickpeas	1.29
Pineapple	0.99
Lentils	0.85
Applesauce	2.19
Pita Bread	2.89
Dinner Rolls(3)	3.49
Hoagie Sandwich Roll (4)	3.99
Shredded mozzarella cheese	3.99
Sliced cheese	3.99
Cheddar cheese	3.99
String cheese	3.99
Pesto sauce	3.29
Marinara sauce	2.99
Alfredo sauce	2.50
Rice	2.99
Shell pasta	1.00
Rotini pasta	1.00
Fettuccini pasta	1.00
Brownie mix	2.29
Chocolate pudding	1.20
Ground turkey (2 servings)	5.69
Chicken breast (5 servings)	2.5lb @ 4.99 = 12.48
Shrimp	6.59
Tilapia	4.99
Turkey lunchmeat	0.79
Milk	1.59