What I've Been Eating (with pictures)

Since I already said I'd post the pictures once a week, I'll make today the first of weekly food posts.
Now, I have realized that it's EXTREMELY hard for me to remember to take a picture of every meal. I remember maybe once a day. But I'm trying, so please bear with me.

Wednesday 10/12

Breakfast: Quaker oats, homemade applesauce (cinnamon)

Lunch: Buffalo Chicken Lunch Meat, Romaine Salad, Croutons, Kraft Italian 5 Cheese blend, and Ken's Ranch

For dinner: Subway, Chicken Bacon Ranch
Also had 3 Oatmeal chocolate chip cookies that a lady in my parents' church made.
Total Calories: 1,840

 
Thursday 10/13
 The same as the day before, but with lunch I forgot to take a picture until I was almost done...

For dinner was  a taco, with a romaine outer leaf as my "shell", 90% lean ground beef, Aldi's Casa Mamita taco seasoning, the Italian 5 cheese blend shredded, and on the side, 1 cup of red seedless grapes
For Snack (throughout the day, not at once) 1 cup of chocolate milk, 1 oz of Snyder's of Berlin BBQ chips (my Fav!)
2 servings of Star Wars Cheez-Its
Total Calories 1,567

Friday 10/14
Breakfast: 2 cups of chocolate milk, Chobani Flips coffee break bliss

 Lunch: 1.5 cups of broccoli florets, 3 oz carrot chips, 2tbsp Ken's Ranch (realized it was too much in the end) and 1 cup red grapes

Dinner:  Redo of the taco/lettuce wrap. Another cup of chocolate milk, and 3 of Isaiah's pizza rolls that he didn't want to eat

Snack: 1 serving of Star Wars Cheez-Its, 1 serving of Sour Cream and Onion Pringles
Total Calories 1,602

Also went to Sam's club with my dad (thank goodness I don't have to buy my own membership)

Saturday 10/15

Breakfast was oatmeal again, made the same way.

Isaiah had a flag football game, and I forgot to eat before we left (although I made both of us lunch, I left mine on the counter ☹ )

Dinner: I grilled some of the chicken tenderloins from our Sam's Club trip, with Pampered Chef's smoky barbecue seasoning, Bird's Eye Steamfresh Broccoli Florets (1 cup), and another cup of chocolate milk.
Snack: Not a great day, snack wise. I can tell that forgetting lunch was extremely detrimental to my carb intake.
Small DQ Arctic Rush Freeze, kiwi strawberry
Pringles (sour cream & onion) 1 serving
Fritos Flavor Twists Honey BBQ (2.5 servings)
and 3 Original Chips Ahoy cookies.
Yes, I am hanging my head in shame at this. However, I did manage to take Isaiah to the park and walk a mile while he was playing.
Total Calories: 1,820

Sunday 10/16
A little change up for breakfast, added cocoa powder. Needless to say, it did not work well for me. I'll work on it. I ended up not finishing it, but recorded the whole thing in my calories.

Lunch at my parents: 1 chicken leg, baked, roughly 2 oz of baked chicken breast, 1/2 cup idaho mashed potatoes (my mom uses the flakes), 2/3 cup corn  from the garden, and (ah...) 1 slice of cookies and cream pie

Buffalo chicken lunch meat, Italian 5 cheese blend shredded, Romaine outer leaf, and 1 tbsp Ken's Ranch

 Snack: Water with a packet of Strawberry Lemonade mix, 1 pretzel rod
Also, had another trip to a different park. We'll stick with the other one: can't really walk around this one.
Total Calories: 1,519

Monday 10/17

Breakfast: Oatmeal, added brown sugar this time. It's a keeper.

More chicken tenderloin, with the Pampered chef seasoning, romaine salad mix, croutons, same cheese as before, and 1 tbsp Ken's Ranch

Dinner with my parents again (Dad picks Isaiah up from school on Mondays for me)
Breaded, baked pork chops (my Mamaw's recipe that only my dad can make right), with saw mill (white) gravy, 1/2 cup mashed potatoes (again, the flaked Idahoan)

No snacks today

Helped Isaiah practice some football stuff after dinner.

Total Calories: 1,389

Tuesday (today) 10/18

Chobani Flips, coffee break bliss

Lunch: Taco bell (I know) 1 steak Quesadilla, 1 crunchy beef taco, 16 oz Airhead Mystery Freeze

Dinner: 1.5 cups broccoli florets, 1 tbsp Ken's Ranch, 1.5 cups chocolate milk

No snacks today (so far, I'll update this if I have anything)

Total Calories: 1,375

Well, 1 week down, and I managed to take a pic of at least 1 meal per day! We'll see if I can keep it up.

Have a great week! Weigh in will be on Friday.

Weekly Weigh In

It's only been two days since I first posted, and my 366 weight was from Monday. So 2 lbs in less than a week, and probably just water weight. But it's progress.

Reboot

Do I just delete everything and start over?
I would, but there are so many memories on here that I know I'm not going to.

Right now, I'm sitting on my couch contemplating life changes and I realized: I want to document this. I don't know if I'll keep it up, but I want the record for me at least. Also, why am I still watching cartoons, 2 hours after little man went to bed?

As for the life changes, I'll just list them:

1.) Quit my job.
2.) Enrolled in college (again... maybe this time is the charm??)
3.) I am officially single again. For the first time in 3 years.

Now, I'm focusing on classes, Little I (who is doing AMAZINGLY btw), and losing weight. Which brings me to the reason I'm here:

I want to document this journey. I have a TON of weight to lose. We're talking over 100 lbs, closer to 200. It all came on little by little, and before I realized it, I was where I am now.

All 366 lbs of me. I started tracking my food and calories last Monday. I actually started at 371 lbs, and have lost 5 lbs just tracking those.

My plans:
1.) continue tracking my food and calories. I also want to take pictures and post those either daily or weekly (knowing me, probably weekly)
2.) start working out again. Other than walking to/from class and playing around with Isaiah, I haven't been doing any activity. That needs to change. I still have all of the workout DVD's from Bob Harper, along with a couple other ones. I'm going to start with those. And then I'll start working out at the gym on campus while Little I is in school. So I'll write a post every week on what I did, or I'll include that in the next one:
3.) post weekly weigh-ins and some progress pictures every once in a while.

I'm debating making videos (youtube) but for some reason, that seems almost impossible for me.

I'm sure I'll update on other things too, but those are the three main types of posts I want to do.

Any suggestions or tips are more than welcome.

The story of the last year.

TL/DR: Kindergarten is Hell on Earth.







This is long. Bear with me.

I used to like writing. Before life became... life.

Before having a kindergartner became fighting for his right to learn.

Fighting to keep him IN class, rather than in the hallway or in the principal's office, or, too often to be real, at my parent's house. Suspended.

That was my crash course in parenting a child with ADHD. Or rather, a child who had been targeted by an entire school system because he has ADHD.

The school district we live in is horrible. Bad reputations and bad grades from the stated. So I decided to open enroll him to another district. Huge mistake.

I remember the first phone call. The one the day after kindergarten testing.

The one that told me he was a "bright kid" but had some "issues". Namely, sitting still, staying where he was told, and listening to commands right away.

The same phone call that told me the teachers were talking after testing, and were deciding who would take which of the "trouble" kids. And Mrs. B. She said, "I want Isaiah."

At first it comforted me to think that she wanted to take him. She must have wanted to help him, right? Then I got mad. They were labeling him before he even made it into the classroom! I should have known then it would not be a good year.

The first suspension was only one day. A couple weeks into school. He had hit another kid for being "in his space".

The second suspension was for 3 days. This time, he had been playing on the monkey bars at recess. Another kid came over demanding to use them, Isaiah told him no.
That kid pushed Isaiah. Then Isaiah pushed him back, and because of the size difference (hey, my kid is a giant) they fell. Isaiah fell on top of him.

Now, no adult saw this. The kid told a recess monitor, and Isaiah, my super honest-to-a-fault little boy. Isaiah confessed. Didn't tell them that the kid pushed him first. That didn't come out until we started counseling.

The counselor helped. She's the one who suggested we have him tested for ADHD. So two weeks later, I sat at the doctor's office talking to Isaiah's doctor. The same one we've seen since he was born. At the same practice I've gone since I was his age. The nurses and doctors still remember my whole family. The doctor said he was active, but no more so than any other 5 year old.

Because he had been suspended, she agreed to look into it.

The teacher and I filled out forms describing his behavior. Hers were so off the charts, I almost thought she was describing a different kid.

I was desperate to help him, so he started medication.At first he hated it. felt like his head was fuzzy all the time.

We also started having IAT meetings. (Intervention Assistance Team) The principal,

Things were looking up. He was doing better in class. He went an entire month without a suspension.

But then, a few months later, a few suspensions later, two new medications later, and a new class/teacher later, we were worse off than I ever imagined.

He started peeing his pants. Daily. Sometimes twice.

He was aggressive. Hitting, kicking, talking back. even at home. This was never a problem before.

We thought it was the medication, but I'm not so sure.

We ended up setting up an IEP. I was naive and thought that was to help him. But the more I learned, the more I realized it was just them covering their butts.

I learned that an IEP is only for kids whose "issues" cause them to have difficulties learning, or cause problems for others.


Isaiah excelled in almost everything. He had IQ testing for the IEP. He tested at two points below what his school used for their "gifted" program. He was reading at a 3rd grade level.

But... he hated school. Begged me not to make him go.

I gave up on that year. We were weeks from the end of the year. I just wanted to finish the year and find somewhere new for him to start over.

I applied for him to go to a private Christian school where my aunt and cousin work. With a grant from the state and a partial scholarship, it's free for him to attend.

So we visited the school, gave the application, and waited. And prayed.

Two weeks after school ended, I got a letter. Isaiah was no longer allowed to come back to that school system 

So we prayed some more. Asked our church to pray.

Finally, I got another phone call. He was in!!

To be continued...

Hello again

It has been over a year since my last post.

A year. Wow.

I'm not sure how to feel about that, other than to say that I definitely needed the break. In fact, I took a break from just about everything then. So much has happened in this year. Isaiah and I have made friends, lost some, and even made an enemy (more on that another time). We've  had some amazing times, and some awful ones, and we've grown a lot as individuals and together.

I'll hopefully be posting about once a week or more  Yeah. That didn't happen, sorry. from now on, but my first post will be the same as my last one, a year's (ish.. condensed version of what I have written down) worth of "Isaiah-isms."

So, on to the "Isaiah-isms":

Did you know that dinosaurs like the T Rex and the corithosaurus (sp) died when the volcanoes were flowing?

Mommy, did you know that some caterpillars can spend 17 days in his cocoon? A real, live caterpillar?



Did you know that the elephant is the strongest herbivore since the dinosaurs died? But the hippo is heavier.



We put it all together! Are you kidding me?! We should rule the world!!

Him: Can I sleep in your bed?
Me: No, but I'll come cuddle with you for a minute.
Him: (pouting) But I want to keep you.
Me: Why?
Him: Because you help me sleep and have good dreams.
  
Him: Mommy, does 4 mean stop? 
Me: No. 
Him: What about stop signs?
Me: They have 8 sides. 
Him: But they have 4 letters inside them. 

I took a baseball away from Isaiah. His response?
"Fine, then I'm not going to give you any sleep tonight."

Isaiah has informed me that after Christmas, he wants 2 sisters and 2 brothers. Yeah... good luck with that, kid.

He complained that one of the boys threw a toy at him. I asked if he was bleeding. (He wasn't)
His response: "Jesus saw me bleeding"   

On the phone with my dad: "I was wondering... after I get up from my nap, can I come over so mommy can make more cookies?"

Isaiah: What are you doing, Mommy?
Me: Going upstairs to go potty.
Isaiah: Don't let the cows bite you.
Me: ....Okay.  

I'm fast because I have a big powerful engine in me.
Well, I'm made of concrete. I'll never break.
 
"No, no, no. Underwear don't go in the dishwasher."

Isaiah: Mommy, my pweeno is broken!
Me: Your what is broken?
Isaiah: My pweeno!
Go upstairs and see the legs to his little piano came off the base. Oh. Piano.