Eating has been hard work today.
This morning I made French Toast for DS and I.
2 Eggs and 3 slices of bread. He had 2 slices and I had 1.
I had to be seriously careful with it. I was chewing that muck to death. Mega munched French toast is gross and I can tell you that the more you chew it, the less appetising it is. I wont be repeating that experience in a hurry.
I had a period of food phobia today... If I hadn't got a band, I would have thought I was pregnant. It was making me feel positively sick watching DS eat and apple, a banana, a yogurt, an ice cream, and watching DH slurp the dregs of his Slimfast for lunch - EWw. I could barely contain myself.
I have just tried something to eat (its 4pm) as I do feel a bit hungry. I made DS and DH cheese toasties the old fashioned way - cheese between bread and then toasted in a frying pan. Fluffy insides and crispy kinda burnt outsides. YUM.
I gave myself one slice of bread, cut it in half and put a small slice of cheese in it. I dry fried my measly portion and grabbed a tablespoon of Pickle to go with it. Oh dear. It was a problem from the first mouthful. I have eaten it, but it took a while. I had to wait a good 5 mins between bites. I even spat a couple of bites out and left most of the pickle and 1 whole corner. 1 slice of bread ain't that much man! I can't believe I left any!! 2 weeks ago I was a different lady.
I AM THRILLED THAT THIS IS HAPPENING AT LONG LAST !
I do know that a good and easy food for me to eat is curry. As long as its not got a lot of rice and is nice an saucy it goes down easy. But that's maybe not a good thing to know.
Foods that have given me trouble so far include:
chicken
crumpet
Finn Crisp crackers
cheese toastie
apple
chips
pasta
So there we go. Its very different. The thought of eating those things again also fills me with a sick feeling. I have eaten the crackers again because they are full of fibre, but I had to wait a few days! Too scary to try.
I know that the following are not my friends:
Wine
Sweets
I haven't had too much of either since the operation, but I know that should I have a down fall these are gonna be the culprits. I am fixing this problem to the best of my ability by not buying any more of them. The fact that we still have a bucket load of sweets in the pantry from when my Dad brought them up 2 weeks ago doesn't help. Also having an 8 year old in the house also kind of hampers a no sweet zone... but on the wine front its easy. I have told DH not to buy any more. He drinks beer (yuk) so it doesn't bother him.
So I don't know exactly what I am going to cook for tea tonight, but for me I guess it will be along the veggie line. I am thinking potato croquettes, Mediterranean veg and chicken... I don't know if I will have any chicken or not... maybe I will just have a small bit and see how I go. I will go slower than last time and see.
Daily update, here we go!
Breakfast
1 slice of bread
0.6 of an egg
Lunch
28g cheese
1 slice of bread
15g Branston Pickle
Dinner
1.5 potato croquettes
75g of Chargrilled Mediterranean Vegetables
28g chicken (two poxy bits!)
BBQ sauce
200mls milk in coffee's
Total calorie intake today = 790
I'm loving it...
Weigh in tomorrow... *BITES FIST*
*Just had some grapes and a yogurt total cals now = 980*
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Message for TINA - and other homeschoolers
Hey Tina! CONGRATULATIONS!!
You've done the hard bit. So, regarding your question "how do you fit in working with homeschooling..?"
Trust me, you are not going to have a problem as long as you take time out to prepare. Set aside a few days and plan what you want to do. Then once you have tried it, chop it down a bit! Its my guess, but we all start out making our kids do WAY too much stuff. They really don't need it.
If I had a £1 for every timetable I have drawn up and then thrown away, I would be rich!
Your situation, expectation, child and way of education will be totally different from any other homeschoolers. No one will be doing exactly the same as you. Keep in mind, that you don't now have to become 'the school' either. Your are simply a facilitator for your child's learning.
Working and homeschooling is not easy, but then what is? Its easier than seeing my child unhappy that's for sure!
Just for pure example, here's what we do:
We just cover as much as we have time to do. We don't worry if we miss a day of 'regular school work' because chances are its because we are shopping, or out meeting people or seeing something cool... our whole life and the way we live it has now become our 'school'.
Basically we do 'regular 3R's' in the mornings for about 2 hours a day. Doesn't seem much, but its HEAPS. Read the whole post to see why.
(Remember this is just me everyone! All homeschoolers are different.)
My DS is 8 (nearly 9). He would be in the UK year 4, US Grade 3.
I made a list of the things I wanted DS to cover at the beginning of this year - not what the state system want him to cover - what I want him to cover.
For me, the following are really important:
English/ language arts
Maths
Reading
Handwriting
Spellings
These form the core of our 'curriculum' if you can call it that.
For English, Maths, Social Studies and Science I use http://www.time4learning.com/ which is FABULOUS and they can do it on their own with minimum input. They love it because its on computer and has games after their set lesson time. It is a tutor too, not just a load of questions. Its also all backed up with worksheets that you can spend a couple of days printing out, binding etc. It takes time, but it totally worth it.
I also use http://www.meleto.com/ for maths as this is a British site therefore covering English money and other things not covered by the US sites. So really poor DS is doing twice the amount of maths that he should do, but all it does is reinforce and support his learning.
For learning to read (as DS could not read when I took him out of school) I use a book called Toe by Toe by Keda Cowling. www.toe-by-toe.co.uk its EXCELLENT. For kids, for adults or anyone with reading problems including dyslexics, or simply just learning to read which is what I used it for. I used this along with the Ladybird books (Peter and Jane books).
I also use http://www.readinga-z.com/. Its got a load of printable books online and http://www.raz-kids.com/ has the same books online with quizzes too. Its good because you can use a benchmark book with your child and work out their reading age and if they are doing well and stuff. Again, takes a bit of time reading and getting your head around, but I worked it out, so anyone can!! All you need is time, and a glass of wine!
For spelling I use http://www.wizardsspell.com/ which is hard work to prepare at first, but once its up and running (i.e. you have created all the spelling lists for your child from their extensive graded library) its a piece of cake. DS does this before DH and I are even out of bed and I just test him once a week. If there are words he still needs to practice, then he gets them for another week ;o)
For handwriting I usually find online poetry or stories and cut and paste them onto word. I then highlight them and change the font to D'Nealian handwriting or Cursive. I then make sure its just one A4 page and print it off. I clip this weeks worth onto a clipboard and cover each sheet with tracing paper and he does it every day. We use cursive now for all handwriting, and although he used to be really bad (spiders crawling all over the page) now its becoming more and more obvious that its working from his independent writing he does. Its also amazing how quickly this has happened. Its also amazing what he picks up as he can't help but read as he goes along! Simple, but VERY effective.
There is an excellent course for learning to write properly... expository, fair tale, composition, that kind of stuff. It helps them to organise their thoughts and make it in a logical order. Again prep time for you, but easy learning for kids. its at http://www.writinga-z.com/ You can mark it using the 6 traits which are used in schools in the States. (I even learned stuff too!!!!)
So, I have printed all the supporting worksheets and booklets and things IN ADVANCE - takes me about a week to prepare for the whole year. Yes, it takes time. Yes, its a hassle, but I know that the week I take out to do it saves me Soooo much time as a working Mum. I then look at my writing my timetable.
I work on Monday 3:30 - 9pm, Wednesday 3:30 - 9pm and Friday 1:30 - 9pm and all day Saturday teaching the piano.
I work for myself, so it changes often - People drop out, new people come and I don't work holidays and stuff like that. But basically we only have the mornings to do home school
So on any morning of the week, as I have already prepared his stuff, he does his spelling and handwriting on his own. He then has breakfast and plays about until DH has gone to work. I then start to clear the breakfast things, do the dishwasher etc whilst he does his Time4 learning. He will do what we call 'One circle' like a module. If he gets stuck I go and help him. The computer is in our classroom which is downstairs, so he is close by. Then he will probably go and feed his fish and muck about for a bit. Then I will go through the Toe by Toe book for a couple of pages where we are working. We are currently just over half way through the book and we have been homeschooling for 3 years now. This doesn't mean we have taken 3 years to get half way, but that we don't have to do it every day religiously. We have months off. I just judge how he is and let him go at his pace. I don't want to force my son to learn, or for him to be too far ahead of his peers as I think that's just as damaging for them. So I let him run with the things he wants to do, and make sure he does a little of the stuff he doesn't!
So after Toe by toe, I will get him to do another 'circle' on time4 learning and go through the worksheets with it for maths or whichever circle it is he is doing. Then probably that will be it. He will watch kids TV for schools or go and read a book. Right at the moment he is asking me if we can smelt lead this afternoon *SIGH*.
It seems to be that you need to forget what regular schooling is.
When you divide the 6 hours your child would be at school between each of the 30 children in the class... you kid can only get 12 minutes of one on one attention from the teacher. That's if they don't have play times and lunch. You are looking at an awful lot of time working with on their own, or just playing about. DS gets about 2 hours one on one... It seems like so little but in fact its Sooooo much more.
Schools work the way they do as there is no other way, but we don't have those confines.
I make sure he does the 3R's regularly each day and does them well and everything else will come during the normal day... for example... I don't know what category to place smelting lead under but I am guessing it will mostly be in SCIENCE, I am guessing we will chat about the HISTORY of metal work and other stuff too. Conversations tend to lead to different things and cover a huge range of topics... so I think he has a seriously rounded education to be honest.
He also gets to explore what ever he wants to for the rest of the day. At present he is MAD for Robin Hood and Warriors, and battles and Medieval ages and castles and knights and did I mention Robin Hood? So he watches the film a lot, plays with his bow and arrow that he made a lot, pretends to be Robin Hood a lot, asks a LOT of questions a lot... etc etc.
That's our schedule.
Homeschooling doesn't take a lot of time, but it takes a HECK of a lot of preparation. The more prep you do, the better. If you have just taken your child out of school, I would consider not bothering with anything structured for some time. DS needed a period of UN-schooling. He couldn't get to grips with learning at home until he realised that it was going to be different, and it wasn't going to be boring. He learnt all kinds of things in that De-Schooling 6 months or so. I took him out of school at the beginning of starting this blog (you can read it in my history on the right) and we weren't really into any kind of routine until the following September, and that was mainly because he had to chill out, and I had to prepare.
Home schooling is actually easier if you work I think. If I was home all day long with DS, even though I obviously love him to bits, he would do my head in. Going to work gives me a chance to do my thing and be on my own and stuff like that.
There is a saying that "If you have got something that needs doing, give it to a busy person to do". Busy people are better at pigeon holing time, and fitting things in.
Also remember that schooling doesn't have to be from 9am-3pm it can be at any time.
So a sum up of fab sites to use,
http://www.time4learning.com/
http://www.meleto.com/
http://www.writinga-z.com/
http://www.readinga-z.com/
http://www.raz-kids.com/
http://www.edhelper.com/
http://www.wizardsspell.com/
Now, each of these are subscription, but surprisingly cheap.
The a-z ones are part of the same family group. The others are individual.
If you are not sure of what you want, try http://www.edhelper.com/ as it has every subject and all kids of worksheets in grade order just to keep you going until you settle on something comfortable. Its taken me about 2 years to get to this comprehensive list. I don't use anything else other than these to educate my son (well, other than the library and my own time and brain and stuff).
There are so many different places to go to get stuff for homeschooling, but a lot of them are not comprehensive or easy for your kid to use on their own. That's important as they like to be independent and you want time to get on with housework or cooking dinner or something.
This works great for us, but there are as many ways to home school as there are grains of sand in the desert! You might really want to push your child, or you might want to take a completely autonomous (child led) approach. Basically just remember that you do what YOU and YOUR CHILD want. School is over now. So are their constraints. Your child is now totally free range!
If you want any further info on anything I have written, then just leave a comment or email me at cge@talktalk.net
http://www.education-otherwise.org/
You've done the hard bit. So, regarding your question "how do you fit in working with homeschooling..?"
Trust me, you are not going to have a problem as long as you take time out to prepare. Set aside a few days and plan what you want to do. Then once you have tried it, chop it down a bit! Its my guess, but we all start out making our kids do WAY too much stuff. They really don't need it.
If I had a £1 for every timetable I have drawn up and then thrown away, I would be rich!
Your situation, expectation, child and way of education will be totally different from any other homeschoolers. No one will be doing exactly the same as you. Keep in mind, that you don't now have to become 'the school' either. Your are simply a facilitator for your child's learning.
Working and homeschooling is not easy, but then what is? Its easier than seeing my child unhappy that's for sure!
Just for pure example, here's what we do:
We just cover as much as we have time to do. We don't worry if we miss a day of 'regular school work' because chances are its because we are shopping, or out meeting people or seeing something cool... our whole life and the way we live it has now become our 'school'.
Basically we do 'regular 3R's' in the mornings for about 2 hours a day. Doesn't seem much, but its HEAPS. Read the whole post to see why.
(Remember this is just me everyone! All homeschoolers are different.)
My DS is 8 (nearly 9). He would be in the UK year 4, US Grade 3.
I made a list of the things I wanted DS to cover at the beginning of this year - not what the state system want him to cover - what I want him to cover.
For me, the following are really important:
English/ language arts
Maths
Reading
Handwriting
Spellings
These form the core of our 'curriculum' if you can call it that.
For English, Maths, Social Studies and Science I use http://www.time4learning.com/ which is FABULOUS and they can do it on their own with minimum input. They love it because its on computer and has games after their set lesson time. It is a tutor too, not just a load of questions. Its also all backed up with worksheets that you can spend a couple of days printing out, binding etc. It takes time, but it totally worth it.
I also use http://www.meleto.com/ for maths as this is a British site therefore covering English money and other things not covered by the US sites. So really poor DS is doing twice the amount of maths that he should do, but all it does is reinforce and support his learning.
For learning to read (as DS could not read when I took him out of school) I use a book called Toe by Toe by Keda Cowling. www.toe-by-toe.co.uk its EXCELLENT. For kids, for adults or anyone with reading problems including dyslexics, or simply just learning to read which is what I used it for. I used this along with the Ladybird books (Peter and Jane books).
I also use http://www.readinga-z.com/. Its got a load of printable books online and http://www.raz-kids.com/ has the same books online with quizzes too. Its good because you can use a benchmark book with your child and work out their reading age and if they are doing well and stuff. Again, takes a bit of time reading and getting your head around, but I worked it out, so anyone can!! All you need is time, and a glass of wine!
For spelling I use http://www.wizardsspell.com/ which is hard work to prepare at first, but once its up and running (i.e. you have created all the spelling lists for your child from their extensive graded library) its a piece of cake. DS does this before DH and I are even out of bed and I just test him once a week. If there are words he still needs to practice, then he gets them for another week ;o)
For handwriting I usually find online poetry or stories and cut and paste them onto word. I then highlight them and change the font to D'Nealian handwriting or Cursive. I then make sure its just one A4 page and print it off. I clip this weeks worth onto a clipboard and cover each sheet with tracing paper and he does it every day. We use cursive now for all handwriting, and although he used to be really bad (spiders crawling all over the page) now its becoming more and more obvious that its working from his independent writing he does. Its also amazing how quickly this has happened. Its also amazing what he picks up as he can't help but read as he goes along! Simple, but VERY effective.
There is an excellent course for learning to write properly... expository, fair tale, composition, that kind of stuff. It helps them to organise their thoughts and make it in a logical order. Again prep time for you, but easy learning for kids. its at http://www.writinga-z.com/ You can mark it using the 6 traits which are used in schools in the States. (I even learned stuff too!!!!)
So, I have printed all the supporting worksheets and booklets and things IN ADVANCE - takes me about a week to prepare for the whole year. Yes, it takes time. Yes, its a hassle, but I know that the week I take out to do it saves me Soooo much time as a working Mum. I then look at my writing my timetable.
I work on Monday 3:30 - 9pm, Wednesday 3:30 - 9pm and Friday 1:30 - 9pm and all day Saturday teaching the piano.
I work for myself, so it changes often - People drop out, new people come and I don't work holidays and stuff like that. But basically we only have the mornings to do home school
So on any morning of the week, as I have already prepared his stuff, he does his spelling and handwriting on his own. He then has breakfast and plays about until DH has gone to work. I then start to clear the breakfast things, do the dishwasher etc whilst he does his Time4 learning. He will do what we call 'One circle' like a module. If he gets stuck I go and help him. The computer is in our classroom which is downstairs, so he is close by. Then he will probably go and feed his fish and muck about for a bit. Then I will go through the Toe by Toe book for a couple of pages where we are working. We are currently just over half way through the book and we have been homeschooling for 3 years now. This doesn't mean we have taken 3 years to get half way, but that we don't have to do it every day religiously. We have months off. I just judge how he is and let him go at his pace. I don't want to force my son to learn, or for him to be too far ahead of his peers as I think that's just as damaging for them. So I let him run with the things he wants to do, and make sure he does a little of the stuff he doesn't!
So after Toe by toe, I will get him to do another 'circle' on time4 learning and go through the worksheets with it for maths or whichever circle it is he is doing. Then probably that will be it. He will watch kids TV for schools or go and read a book. Right at the moment he is asking me if we can smelt lead this afternoon *SIGH*.
It seems to be that you need to forget what regular schooling is.
When you divide the 6 hours your child would be at school between each of the 30 children in the class... you kid can only get 12 minutes of one on one attention from the teacher. That's if they don't have play times and lunch. You are looking at an awful lot of time working with on their own, or just playing about. DS gets about 2 hours one on one... It seems like so little but in fact its Sooooo much more.
Schools work the way they do as there is no other way, but we don't have those confines.
I make sure he does the 3R's regularly each day and does them well and everything else will come during the normal day... for example... I don't know what category to place smelting lead under but I am guessing it will mostly be in SCIENCE, I am guessing we will chat about the HISTORY of metal work and other stuff too. Conversations tend to lead to different things and cover a huge range of topics... so I think he has a seriously rounded education to be honest.
He also gets to explore what ever he wants to for the rest of the day. At present he is MAD for Robin Hood and Warriors, and battles and Medieval ages and castles and knights and did I mention Robin Hood? So he watches the film a lot, plays with his bow and arrow that he made a lot, pretends to be Robin Hood a lot, asks a LOT of questions a lot... etc etc.
That's our schedule.
Homeschooling doesn't take a lot of time, but it takes a HECK of a lot of preparation. The more prep you do, the better. If you have just taken your child out of school, I would consider not bothering with anything structured for some time. DS needed a period of UN-schooling. He couldn't get to grips with learning at home until he realised that it was going to be different, and it wasn't going to be boring. He learnt all kinds of things in that De-Schooling 6 months or so. I took him out of school at the beginning of starting this blog (you can read it in my history on the right) and we weren't really into any kind of routine until the following September, and that was mainly because he had to chill out, and I had to prepare.
Home schooling is actually easier if you work I think. If I was home all day long with DS, even though I obviously love him to bits, he would do my head in. Going to work gives me a chance to do my thing and be on my own and stuff like that.
There is a saying that "If you have got something that needs doing, give it to a busy person to do". Busy people are better at pigeon holing time, and fitting things in.
Also remember that schooling doesn't have to be from 9am-3pm it can be at any time.
So a sum up of fab sites to use,
http://www.time4learning.com/
http://www.meleto.com/
http://www.writinga-z.com/
http://www.readinga-z.com/
http://www.raz-kids.com/
http://www.edhelper.com/
http://www.wizardsspell.com/
Now, each of these are subscription, but surprisingly cheap.
The a-z ones are part of the same family group. The others are individual.
If you are not sure of what you want, try http://www.edhelper.com/ as it has every subject and all kids of worksheets in grade order just to keep you going until you settle on something comfortable. Its taken me about 2 years to get to this comprehensive list. I don't use anything else other than these to educate my son (well, other than the library and my own time and brain and stuff).
There are so many different places to go to get stuff for homeschooling, but a lot of them are not comprehensive or easy for your kid to use on their own. That's important as they like to be independent and you want time to get on with housework or cooking dinner or something.
This works great for us, but there are as many ways to home school as there are grains of sand in the desert! You might really want to push your child, or you might want to take a completely autonomous (child led) approach. Basically just remember that you do what YOU and YOUR CHILD want. School is over now. So are their constraints. Your child is now totally free range!
If you want any further info on anything I have written, then just leave a comment or email me at cge@talktalk.net
http://www.education-otherwise.org/
Monday, November 19, 2007
1st Day back to work
It's all good!
Went to work and did 6 lessons back to back without any problems. Strangely I am sitting here at the computer blogging my day and I am not in pain... unusual after a full afternoons work.
Today has been very nice indeed to be honest.
I got up late - 11:30am - and just pottered about. DH's car has been fixed and all is sorted with that... nothing more than a 'simple' computer malfunction. Gone are the days when it needs a fuse huh! So they rebooted the car (yeah it make me laugh too!) and it was fine.
I was busy talking on the phone for ages and at about 2:30 I realised I had better eat before going to work. I made myself one of those pasta and sauce thingies. They TRULY are disgusting, but, hey! Its easy. I gave myself half a packet... however could only eat 1/4 when it came to it. So went to work on 1/4 packet of pasta 'n' sauce. That's a first for me! Work was good, and the new colour hair went down well, with a lot of people actually doing double takes and not recognising me! HA HA.
I got home from work about 8pm and nuked some Sri Lankan curry I put in the freezer. Yum.
I ate in front of the telly with 2 glasses of wine (wow - how light weight I am these days!) and a couple of episodes (3 actually) of Heroes Series 2. FABULOUS.
towards the end of the 3rd episode, I realised that the ancient Japanese proverb *Curry, sans rice, slips through band easy* was taking place and I had the munchies. I grabbed some Finn Crisp Thins (6) and half a tub of houmous (100g).
So today has ended with a very respectable 830 cals.
Without the crackers and houmous it would only have been 580!! SCARY!
Nighty Night Peeps
Went to work and did 6 lessons back to back without any problems. Strangely I am sitting here at the computer blogging my day and I am not in pain... unusual after a full afternoons work.
Today has been very nice indeed to be honest.
I got up late - 11:30am - and just pottered about. DH's car has been fixed and all is sorted with that... nothing more than a 'simple' computer malfunction. Gone are the days when it needs a fuse huh! So they rebooted the car (yeah it make me laugh too!) and it was fine.
I was busy talking on the phone for ages and at about 2:30 I realised I had better eat before going to work. I made myself one of those pasta and sauce thingies. They TRULY are disgusting, but, hey! Its easy. I gave myself half a packet... however could only eat 1/4 when it came to it. So went to work on 1/4 packet of pasta 'n' sauce. That's a first for me! Work was good, and the new colour hair went down well, with a lot of people actually doing double takes and not recognising me! HA HA.
I got home from work about 8pm and nuked some Sri Lankan curry I put in the freezer. Yum.
I ate in front of the telly with 2 glasses of wine (wow - how light weight I am these days!) and a couple of episodes (3 actually) of Heroes Series 2. FABULOUS.
towards the end of the 3rd episode, I realised that the ancient Japanese proverb *Curry, sans rice, slips through band easy* was taking place and I had the munchies. I grabbed some Finn Crisp Thins (6) and half a tub of houmous (100g).
So today has ended with a very respectable 830 cals.
Without the crackers and houmous it would only have been 580!! SCARY!
Nighty Night Peeps
Losing 20 Pounds in Three Months
David Eigenberg has lost twenty pounds in just three months. What motivated him to lose the weight? Eigenberg is one of the male stars in the movie, Sex and the City. Apparently the movie producers asked him to hit the gym before filming began.
He says: "It's harder to be a man on Sex and the City than a woman. They [producers] can't tell the women to lose weight. They tell the guys to lose weight. They told me to lose a couple of pounds."
Source: Sky Showbiz
Sunday, November 18, 2007
The end of the weekend is nigh
Well yesterday turned into a fun filled night!
We were about 15 minutes into the journey to DH's Mum's pub and the car broke down.
Yep, it suddenly lost power like it jumped out of gear... the oil light came on, an alarm sounded and it had STOP flashing on the screen. So that's just what we did. 1 and a half hours later the RAC arrive and we get taken home in the back of a truck with the car loaded behind.
At least we didn't have to do Karaoke I guess!
So we got home and everyone was starving. We ordered curry, and it was the best curry I have had for AGES. We don't normally order from our village, because they all taste a bit bland after Sri Lanka, but this was really really nice. I had a plain prawn curry. Nice and hot and eat it with boiled rice. I chewed that baby for England, and it went down fine.
It meant my calories peaked since re-banding at 1500 yesterday, but I was also necking wine too. Still under my guideline for losing 2lbs a week though - banded or not!
So I was chuffed.
I was suffering this morning though. I actually didn't get up, and stayed in bed right up until 4:15pm when I couldn't sleep anymore. I had an apple, and then a coffee and then another apple and then took DS to skating. When we got back DS was starving hungry and I was a little peckish so I made baked beans on toast and that filled us up.
I took my time with that too because if I didn't chew it completely I could feel that warning feeling. So I was really careful. I seem to be able to eat soft mushy things with relative ease. Curry was no problem because it was wet, beans likewise.
So today I have had 2 apples and beans on toast... the grand total of 540 cals. Woowee
Back to work tomorrow for real, and hopefully I wont be too shattered and sore by the end of the day as I usually am.
We were about 15 minutes into the journey to DH's Mum's pub and the car broke down.
Yep, it suddenly lost power like it jumped out of gear... the oil light came on, an alarm sounded and it had STOP flashing on the screen. So that's just what we did. 1 and a half hours later the RAC arrive and we get taken home in the back of a truck with the car loaded behind.
At least we didn't have to do Karaoke I guess!
So we got home and everyone was starving. We ordered curry, and it was the best curry I have had for AGES. We don't normally order from our village, because they all taste a bit bland after Sri Lanka, but this was really really nice. I had a plain prawn curry. Nice and hot and eat it with boiled rice. I chewed that baby for England, and it went down fine.
It meant my calories peaked since re-banding at 1500 yesterday, but I was also necking wine too. Still under my guideline for losing 2lbs a week though - banded or not!
So I was chuffed.
I was suffering this morning though. I actually didn't get up, and stayed in bed right up until 4:15pm when I couldn't sleep anymore. I had an apple, and then a coffee and then another apple and then took DS to skating. When we got back DS was starving hungry and I was a little peckish so I made baked beans on toast and that filled us up.
I took my time with that too because if I didn't chew it completely I could feel that warning feeling. So I was really careful. I seem to be able to eat soft mushy things with relative ease. Curry was no problem because it was wet, beans likewise.
So today I have had 2 apples and beans on toast... the grand total of 540 cals. Woowee
Back to work tomorrow for real, and hopefully I wont be too shattered and sore by the end of the day as I usually am.
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Sagging Skin : A Better Perspective
A reader saw the post on sagging skin after weight loss and has this to say about it;I am noticing a lot of articles about people who have lost a lot of weight and are upset about the sagging skin. I think the more important thing right now is to be healthy. I have a lot of weight to lose myself and I am a little worried about the sagging skin as well but...I won't be having any surgery. I made the decision to have a life change and that includes rigorous workouts at least five days per week. Once I reach my goal size (not weight) I will be contacting a trainer from my gym that will give me advice on toning. It is very important, and I know this because it has been proven to me, to use weight training as a means to tone muscle and tighten skin. Tightening sagging skin will not happen over night but it will happen and to different degrees for everyone. Sagging skin should only be bothersome, in my opinion if it hinders your health. Looking good is great but it is not as important as feeling good or being healthy. There are, however, exercises that are specifically designed for that purpose. It takes research and patience. Don't give up! I would not preach this if I had not seen it with my own eyes. I feel sorry for the people who have had weight loss surgery and lost it so fast that all that extra skin is just left hanging. For those of us who choose to lose it the old fashion way..Weight training is the key. It will cause you to not see as big of numbers of weight loss on the scale but that will be fooling you. While you are losing weight you will be gaining muscle and muscle weighs more than fat so you will still be losing but as you continue your workouts your muscles will be becoming more toned and refined which will aid in fat loss and toning. I say all of this to encourage all of us out here to MOVE! Lift those weights, do that cardio and eat lots of good foods, NO refined carbs and no sugar! When we do this it all aids in fat loss and minimal hanging skin in the end. Any remaining skin can be toned and depending on our ages and leftover elasticity in our bodies that will determine the end result. My point is this...Please don't dwell or let this get you down and cause you to give up. It could take years of toning to satisfy your cosmetic aspects. Instead, hold your head high and be very proud of what you have accomplished. You have given yourself years to live and made yourself healthy and that is the most important thing!
Thanks much for your comment!
The beautiful poster above is Evening Mood by William Adolphe Bouguereau
Just had my nails done
Just had my nails done with this new lady who comes to your house. I had a gel overlay this time with something called Calgel... Very interesting. Its like a mega thick nail varnish which cures under a UV light. I had a french manicure as usual and it looks just as good. She says it will look a lot better once all the acrylic has grown out. Its much much thinner than acrylic nails, which is good too. So, we shall see how it goes.
I am in much much less pain today. I am really please because I was starting to think that it would never lessen. The pain from the second operation has not ever been that bad, just sore and annoying... cut muscular kind of pain around the port area, but not as bad as the first time. However it never got any better... just sort of carried on being the same pain each day, but today is the first time I have done a few things around the house (cleaned the kitchen and bathroom including the bath) without it being too obvious that I had surgery. I am sitting here typing this and I cant tell at all. So there has definitely been a big big improvement. I am glad as I need to go back to work on Monday.
I took my steri strip stitches off the other day and the scar is quite neat and tidy, not oozing or red or hot or anything else. Its not that bruised either and certainly isn't as annoying as the last scar was. I have been wearing trousers all week and to be honest, I always avoid them because they hurt my port because its right on the waist band, but it doesn't seem to bother me this time around. Dee says she doesn't notice her port at all, so hopefully neither will I. I seriously hope not as its horrible doing my job and having to adjust my waist band when I have to lean over the piano and stuff.
It will be nice to just forget I have these things to be honest and just concentrate on the rest of my life rather than every waking moment wondering if I am gonna be in pain or not from doing this or that or the other.
My bruise from the needle for the anaesthetic on my arm is fading, but still quite obvious. It's still 2 inches square (yes really square!) and painful to bump. Its in a good place through. The last time (and also when I was taken into hospital when the whole mess started in May) they put that big old needle into a vein on the inside of my elbow. It was really really sore. I can remember lying in hospital feeling dead sorry for myself, and tracing the plastic tube that ran up the vein to deliver the fluid via drip. My arm was bent and I could feel the tiny plastic catheter turn the corner and bend around with the vein. YUK.
This time, its on my forearm, between my wrist and my elbow on the inside, so its not anywhere that really gets knocked, you don't have to lean on it and it doesn't have to bend so its been much less of a bother. I know my veins are quite deep, even when I am thin, and they always have trouble getting blood out of me or liquid into me. Having DS was a nightmare, and I still have the scars from the holes they peppered me with on the backs of my hands, forearms and elbows. One good thing is that I am not scared or bothered by needles one little bit. I had to inject myself in the leg for the whole of my pregnancy, and that about cured me, but what with everything else, its just no problem anymore.
Right, foodwise...
This morning we slept in until 11:30 so missed breakkie.
I had 3 cups of coffee with milk and then felt shaky so had 1 weetabix with a teaspoon of sugar.
I will update what we have for the rest of the day later, but right now I am tired and am off to have a lie down. We are going to DH's Mums pub tonight for Karaoke. I expect to eat there, so I don't know what I shall have yet. I am also going to have some wine as I haven't had a lovely glass of wine for a week now. Boo Hoo. I know its stalls weight loss, so I am going to try and have wine just once a week for a treat. I don't know what day will be my treat day, but I am guessing its will most likely be a Saturday.
L8erz
I am in much much less pain today. I am really please because I was starting to think that it would never lessen. The pain from the second operation has not ever been that bad, just sore and annoying... cut muscular kind of pain around the port area, but not as bad as the first time. However it never got any better... just sort of carried on being the same pain each day, but today is the first time I have done a few things around the house (cleaned the kitchen and bathroom including the bath) without it being too obvious that I had surgery. I am sitting here typing this and I cant tell at all. So there has definitely been a big big improvement. I am glad as I need to go back to work on Monday.
I took my steri strip stitches off the other day and the scar is quite neat and tidy, not oozing or red or hot or anything else. Its not that bruised either and certainly isn't as annoying as the last scar was. I have been wearing trousers all week and to be honest, I always avoid them because they hurt my port because its right on the waist band, but it doesn't seem to bother me this time around. Dee says she doesn't notice her port at all, so hopefully neither will I. I seriously hope not as its horrible doing my job and having to adjust my waist band when I have to lean over the piano and stuff.
It will be nice to just forget I have these things to be honest and just concentrate on the rest of my life rather than every waking moment wondering if I am gonna be in pain or not from doing this or that or the other.
My bruise from the needle for the anaesthetic on my arm is fading, but still quite obvious. It's still 2 inches square (yes really square!) and painful to bump. Its in a good place through. The last time (and also when I was taken into hospital when the whole mess started in May) they put that big old needle into a vein on the inside of my elbow. It was really really sore. I can remember lying in hospital feeling dead sorry for myself, and tracing the plastic tube that ran up the vein to deliver the fluid via drip. My arm was bent and I could feel the tiny plastic catheter turn the corner and bend around with the vein. YUK.
This time, its on my forearm, between my wrist and my elbow on the inside, so its not anywhere that really gets knocked, you don't have to lean on it and it doesn't have to bend so its been much less of a bother. I know my veins are quite deep, even when I am thin, and they always have trouble getting blood out of me or liquid into me. Having DS was a nightmare, and I still have the scars from the holes they peppered me with on the backs of my hands, forearms and elbows. One good thing is that I am not scared or bothered by needles one little bit. I had to inject myself in the leg for the whole of my pregnancy, and that about cured me, but what with everything else, its just no problem anymore.
Right, foodwise...
This morning we slept in until 11:30 so missed breakkie.
I had 3 cups of coffee with milk and then felt shaky so had 1 weetabix with a teaspoon of sugar.
I will update what we have for the rest of the day later, but right now I am tired and am off to have a lie down. We are going to DH's Mums pub tonight for Karaoke. I expect to eat there, so I don't know what I shall have yet. I am also going to have some wine as I haven't had a lovely glass of wine for a week now. Boo Hoo. I know its stalls weight loss, so I am going to try and have wine just once a week for a treat. I don't know what day will be my treat day, but I am guessing its will most likely be a Saturday.
L8erz
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