Author: eaumaison (Page 112 of 210)

 Surprise!  Ben and I have been on the Atkins diet for a week.  I have been journal writing along the way but wanted to wait to post until I had stuck to it for a while and had some progress.  So I’ll post those entries now. 

Thursday May 17
I’m keeping a journal of my dieting experience.  I hadn’t posted it yet because it’s kind of embaressing to admit you are dieting, and using a 10 year old semi-fad diet too!  This is mostly a record for me to see how far I’ve come and measure my success.

Here’s the gist:  Induction stage of Atkins is a two week long diet to”kick start your body into a fat-burning machine!”  Basically you super restrict carbs to force your body into a ketogenic state, so it starts burning fat for fuel instead of expecting carbohydrate deliveries.

Key point:  Net carbs = total carbohydrates – fiber
Induction = net carbs/day.  Subsequent stages allow more daily net carbs.

I weigh 162 pounds (varying from 158 to 164 over the past 3 months).  Before Jack I consistently weighed 158, but was chubbier than I liked.  At the end of college I weighed about 146.  At the end of high school I was around 132.

I think a safe, reasonable goal for me is 150.  12 pounds.  It’s not too much, really.  According to the Atkins plan I could start at an easier stage, limiting my net carbs to 30 or even 50 a day.  But I’m
going to start with 20 per day for three reasons.

One: I want to do the diet right.  I have failed at other attempts to self regulate.  I hope to have more success by following a strict regimen to the letter.

 Reason two: Won’t I lose faster if I start at the hardest level?  All the better for me (see birthday cake, above).  I don’t plan to be low carb for life (tsk tsk says Dr. Atkins).  I hope to do some power
losing and then go back to my steady maintenance with a better awareness of carb intake (hopefully making better choices along the way).

Reason three:  Ben is doing the diet with me.  Lying bed one night I was moaning about how fat I felt.  He said he wanted to lose weight too and his doctor had actually recommended the Atkins diet. So we teamed up!  I’m going to stay on the low carb path as long as Ben does.  Possibly at a more lenient level.  But I want to be supportive for him.

Day 1
I’m excited!  I had planned to do a “test day” by counting my carbs and seeing how low I could go without strictly dieting.  I had half a slice of toast with eggs for breakfast.  11 carbs, yikes!  We talked
about how hard it will be to diet on Jack’s birthday (I MUST bake a real cake!) and with family visiting.  Later that morning Ben and I decided to plunge in.  We will always find excuses not to start. Today is no worse than any other day!

Enthusiasm has made it easier than it will be later.  I spent much time reading Atkins materials and recipes.  I bought low carb foods to stock our pantry.  I bought an app to keep track of my intake.  Again, the diet change feels . . .weird.  I already miss sugar.  I didn’trealize just how badly sugar is EVERYWHERE.

 Jack is making a sartorial statement I imagine is unique to toddlers.  If we are going “out” then he simply can’t go without donning:

1.  Blue straw fedora: usually worn sideways but always smashed down flat against his head.  Sort of a theatrical 20th century street urchin.

2.  Kipper: a stuffed animal based on his favorite TV show of the same name.  My Dad jumped through some hoops to get this imported from Amazon UK, since it is a British show and they don’t sell merchandise here.  An early birthday gift.  It came with Pig and Tiger too, but Kipper is preferred.  Jack is smitten and Ben is terrified that we will lose it.

3.  Plastic duck bill necklace: Ben purchased on a whim for 33 cents in the post-Easter clearance bin.  Jack can blow it to make a duck sound.  He certainly likes to quack it, but lately only quacks on request. 
 No, he just likes to wear it.

So these three things must be before we can walk out the door.

Whether taking a car trip.  Or shopping at Target.  Or frolicking at the playground.  Or any other excursion you can think of. 

As you saw, my parents came to visit this weekend. They will be gone for Jack’s birthday so he got to open some early presents. Then he opened our presents from Mothers’ Day, because that’s what moms do. My mom made this adorable apron for Jack to wear while baking. I love it! We put it to work and it did a great job.

This is the amazing breakfast Ben cooked for me (and everyone).  Thick cinnamon chip bread from Great Harvest, spread with Icelandic butter, bacon from Whole Foods, perfectly cooked (as close as you can get from a store to a) farm eggs with oregano, and a side of OJ and chocolate milk. 
 Jack bought me this grapefruit sugar scrub.  Seriously!  Ben was at the mall and he ran into the store and grabbed it off the shelf all on his own!  Hiding underneath is a Coldwater Creek Spa gift card for an “ultimate massage.”  Ben really spoils me on Mothers’ Day. 

Then in my new tradition of Mother’s Day portraits, I made Amanda and Mom pose with me.  We put Andy and Jenn on facetime too!

Here are my pictures with Jack.  It wasn’t easier than last year getting a good one.

On the left is from Friday when Jack was in a super cuddly mood.  He has grown affectionate and likes to give hugs and kisses.  I welcome it, along with this short spell of cold weather.

On the right is from tonight: me walking with Jack and his new Kipper doll.  He barely put it down all day.  

My folks came to say hello this weekend! Jack is emulating Grandpa in form and style (from behind you could see the matching elbow pads).

Today started with a short day at work.  I had one smooth treatment in the morning, then some training seminars through the early afternoon.  I got home right after Jack woke up from his nap.  We ate navel oranges on the patio then walked to the park to chase robins.

Jack had been playing with my watch and dropped it somewhere in the park.  A little later Ben took Jem for another walk.  She used her beagle powers and found it easily in some tall grass.

Back at the house I grilled up the rib eye steak Ben had picked up at Edward’s Meats today.   It turned out PERFECT.    I transformed leftover hot dog buns into garlic bread and served up artichokes.

Mmmm.

Then the pager went off.

 I told them I needed 15 minutes to enjoy my steak and then I hurried back to the city to change out a clotted CRRT system.  Oh, so you gave him platelets and a plasma transfusion and his dialysis lines clotted?  Just like that?  Yeah, that’s probably because you gave him platelets and plasma.  Now most of the platelets are sitting in the trash-can.  Seriously docs, let’s think this through! 

But it was a quickie call back and early in the evening, so I was eager to do it.  Because we alternate with a partner I’m #2 for having to go back in now.   I made it home in time to give Jack a bath and put him to bed.

Barely 2 years old and practicing his lady killer look.  This kid is great.

Yup, they needed me. I had to go to the ICU for a patient with aspirin overdose. I hear that Jack woke after an hour with a fever again. Ben’s got it all under control now. 🙂

Sorry I’ve been busy lately. A lot of work and a lot of fun stuff at home. But mostly work.  Right now I should be at work, doing a fourth shift this week.  But Jack woke up in vomit with a fever (he had a fever last night too).  So I’m sticking around for a while to help Ben.  We got juice and crackers and gave him a bath.  I’ll probably go into work a little later this morning.  Right now he’s watching Curious George and trying to get some banana down.  He did well with his apple juice and Kipper earlier this morning.  His fever went away too.  Tylenol is awesome.

So here are some pictures from the fun times I had last week! 

 We weaned Jack off his pacifier last week.  Went cold turkey 8 days ago.  It breaks our hearts that he still cries when we put him down.  He used to be such a happy sleeper!  It’s like he mourns his pacifier every time he goes to sleep.  I wish he could understand why we are doing it, instead he probably thinks we are being mean.

Off tangent now, but my point was this: to celebrate his first night without his pacifier we baked together the next day.  He LOVES baking with me.  I set him up with a bowl, cups, spoons, some flour, and sprinkles.  I made pizza dough and cookies.  Those cookies didn’t last very long 🙂  The pizza was really good too.  Ben raved.  I made a pepperoni and roasted pepper pizza, and a veggie pizza with the peppers, asparagus, and feta cheese.

 

The yarn shop by my house had a little fleece festival.  We took Jack down to meet some lambs, goats, and alpacas!  He was scared at first but eventually fed them grass and got his fingers nibbled.  He’s into sheep, likes to say Baaa (probably because one of his shows is Shaun the Sheep).  It was fun letting him hear Baaa in real life! 

I went on a spinning spree after this.  I even took my wheel to craft night at Fancy Tiger earlier this week.  Mavi came with which was good because I’m horrible at small talk and meeting new people.  I’m teaching her to knit and she’s doing very well.

Last weekend I went to Sipping and Painting in the Highlands.  It’s one of those wine and painting places that are popping up all over Denver.  I, of course, had a caffeine-free diet Coke, because I’m a wild thing like that.  The painting was really fun!  Amanda, Brian, Mavi, and Angela came with me.  I like how different they call came out.  My only complaint is that the time went too fast!  I love that they ask zero clean up from us.  That might have been the best part.

So that: lots of knitting and West Wing, taking Jack to playgrounds, and going to work has constituted most of my time lately.

What a sight to come home to!

PS: there’s a plane overhead. Jack wanted you to know.