New Era

Technically, it's still within 3 weeks, so that doesn't count as letting this thing go, right?

Darcy is 1 month old. Her weight issues are clearly in the dust, she's up to 6 lbs, 12 oz. She had gained 4 oz at the first doctor's appointment, back on my last post. Then she gained another 6 to get back to birth weight one week later, and gained a full 16 in the past two weeks. So, no more medical issues. Now we can just focus on the normal newborn stuff. Like trouble sleeping at night. She was better the past two nights with a humidifier in the room, but before that, we were practically having to hold her while she slept. Didn't remember Noah having that issue. The main thing now is just remembering all the little things that come up with newborns. Like how sometimes, she'll be mad until I stand and hold her. As soon as I sit, no dice. I'll get used to it....again

Noah is becoming every bit of a 3 year old. While that includes better performance in his toileting and being a sharp, observant chatterbox, it also include the terrible parts. Like trying to bite my shirt if I tell him "Noah, you can't possibly play with a guitar, a castle, two cars, and a cheetah all at the same time, please put some toys away". The worst is some of the things he says. I'm not talking curse words...I think we pretty much nipped that one by watching our own mouths and reminding him what was naughty, mistake words. No, this is much tougher. Like, when he doesn't like something we've told him to do or not do..."You don't ever say that again". I'm like "WTF kid???". But then, I remember, when he said something mean, I told him "Don't ever use that language". So he's really just trying to emulate us. Crap. Aanother good example is when he tried to run into the street, telling him "Don't ever do that". Yup, that got turned right back around on us. Also, not to brag, but my kid is uber-good at taking pictures. We got his spring pictures back and need to decide on a picture order. But it's too hard, because all his pictures look awesome. And he can suprise me a lot with the things he can do physically. Like about 3 weeks ago, we took him to an inflatable play place. So they have one of those big slides where you have to climp up the side and can slide down a 25 foot slide. Naturally, I'm too heavy to go on these things, so I was watching from the side. I was sure he wasn't going to be able to climb it, but sure enough...he climbed the thing about 5 times. On the 5th, he finally got scared of going down the slide. That gave me a nice 5 minute fright, trying to figure out how I'd go up and get him being that I'd probably cause the whole thing to pop.

Speaking of that...I finally decided to do something about this weight. I've been overweight...since grade school really. When I entered college, I was probably a decent enough weight, but Freshman 15 turned into Sophmore 30, turned into Junior 45, etc, etc. When I got married, I was at about 220 pounds and maintaining. But then, when Shannon got pregnant with Noah, I jumped to about 240. Since then, I've gained another 20, putting me at 260. Once I saw I'd jumped over 250, something just clicked with me. My BMI puts me in morbid obesity. Morbid. Diseased. This isn't just me being overweight, this is bad health. I think I've always put Noah, Darcy, and Shannon's health in front of my own, but the longer I stay this weight, the worse it'll be in the long run, and the harder it'll be to get back down.

So, after my team at worked kicked off a Fitness Challenge earlier this year, I decided to knuckle down and really start getting this under control. My plan, for now, is to use SparkPeople again to track calories, fat, carbs, and protein. Add into that, I'm trying to do about 3 days a week of walking/jogging or cardio DVD. I prefer the walking/jogging, because I can listen to my music and go at my own pace, but the cardio DVD is more convenient because I can do it in the living room. Progress will probably be slow, but I'm already down to about 258. My goal is to get to 160 by April 2012. 160 puts me JUST over the "healthy weight" line on the BMI scale. Hopefully, the weight loss and the exercise will also prep me to be able to do th Fit Challenge at work. It's going to take some time (They were using the Army Fit Test Guidelines), but my plan is to get in a respectable range there too. UPDATE: I also found this, which goes hand in hand with the "Army measuring stick"...http://usmilitary.about.com/od/army/l/blmaleweight.htm. My max weight for my height and age is 169-174. So 160 is a good target.

The dieting isn't too bad, because as long as I cut the right things out in the right places, I can still enjoy a splurge here and there. Example, one day this week Noah wanted Taco Bell. Instead of ordering my "usual meal" (2 Beef Chalupas, 1 taco = 930 calories, 56 g fat), I got 2 Chicken Gorditas and 1 taco, for 710 calories and 30 g fat. Still not the best for a diet, but I'm finding that cutting an unhealthy bit here or there makes a big difference.

So, between the dieting, the newborn, and the Terrible 3s coming, looks like a Brand New Era for the Hamilton Household.