It's tricky to find the right way to treat me

Yesterday I tried investigating some different exercises in an attempt to take some of the possible muscle development off my back muscles for a while. It's a tricky proposition, because of the limitations we have here. Traditional aerobics is out because of the stomping( we live on the third floor of a complex and my knee does to take well to high impact exercises). Running is completely forbidden because of the knee. I have no tread mil or other such equipment ( or space or money for one),no bike, re bounders aggravate my bladder ( you don't get far with calorie burn if you take three bounces and have to find a bathroom NOW), yoga and belly dancing aggravate the back muscles which then case pain when I lay down to sleep. It takes a lot of thinking to figure out what will get me moving, moving for a sustained enough time to get a calorie burn and will not aggravate my back or knee. The answer seems to be certain yoga postures, some walking and assorted calisthenics that do not involve impact with my knee. Squats are out but planks are okay for example. Hand weights and resistance bands are okay. Very modified crunches are also okay.It seemed to work well, and last night I got a decent nights sleep.

In other matters, my son is keeping count of the days till Halloween, and campaigning that we have a night of spooky looking food. Halloween is a pretty big deal in this house because of my faith path , because it honors the ancestors. My son knows this ( hubby and son are of an opposing faith), but still the commercial presentation of this holiday with assorted axe yielding maniacs and insane criminals seem to be everywhere. Some monster figures are okay , because they are depictions of our darker human nature or based on historical attitudes, so it's a somewhat gentle battle to reach a compromise. Thank goodness for Family Fun.com for their fun, spooky and healthy food ideas !

Speaking of food

yesterday's breakfast- a large egg scrambled with a slice of provalone cheese, 3 slices of turkey bacon and a Thomases English Muffin with butter spray for 300 calories

Lunch was a grilled cheese( slice of mild cheddar) on an Arnolds Thin with celery, carrots and a sliced apple for 300

I was kind of craving something creamy at snacktime so I opted for a carton of Fiber One yogert, a 100 calorie pack of almonds and a Wasa Multigran cracker for 200 calories

Dinner had one of my new weaknesses- roast root veggies ! This mix was butternut squash, sweet potato and blue potatoes. I am a sucker for colorful food ! Served with steamed spinach and a chicken breast cooked in Fit and Active cream of mushroom soup. Really yummy at 375 calories !

We caught Glee ( I think it is the most brilliant show on this season) and I snacked on a 100 calorie pack of almonds, a Fiber Plus bar and an apple sprinkled with cinnamon ( flavor, blood sugar stabilizer and flu preventative) for 300 calories. Total calories for the day 1470.

Today will be a day of walking , and begining to assemble goodies for the trick or treaters. I decided this year to give out 100 calorie packs of cookies instead of candy. First off, why would I contribute to childhood obesity when I am working so hard to correct it ? Second, when we wind up with leftovers ( which always happens here) I ill not be scrambling to figure out what to do with them. Seems like a win win thing.

Question- what are you planning on handing out this Halloween ?

Growth is sometimes painful

Things got off to a late start yesterday. While I was unable to sleep my son seemed to be able to get enough in for both of us, and so he woke up late. Not the end of the world, but one of those inconvenient details to work through the day. It gave me some time to try to think in logical terms about my knee and hip situation. No definite conclusions, but it seems logical that while I am doing some of the yoga exercises the muscles in my torso are becoming more defined, and in that process my spine is being held slightly different . As things are shifting, when I lay down to sleep one of my discs is being relaxed just enough to make it slip into an unaligned state , and it is causing the pain in my knees and hips.Solution is going to be get a new pillow and keep doing what I am doing so the muscles get strong enough to support as they should. I have been plagued with back problems in the past, and have learned first hand what weirdness it can cause in your body. So for now it is push on, grab as many cat naps as I can and just trust in the process.

After son got up we grabbed breakfast and then tackled our first work out session. I do not work out before breakfast because years ago I found that if I exercise before eating I would get serious heartburn . The option was a fast one - 1/2 cup cottage cheese, 3/4 c Special K and 1 cup frozen blueberries for 280 calories. Fun to mix !

After a morning of chemistry, the Civil War and grammar it was lunch time

Turkey ham and cheese on Arnolds Thin, celery, carrots and a honeycrisp apple for 360 calories. There was a second session of Wii Fit Plus to help work out the tension from the morning and burn off more calories. Then back to the books to finish the day.

After school I had to work on the menu and grocery list for next week . Some times when I start thinking about what to eat in the future I get nibbly, so to prevent that from happening I grabbed my afternoon snack for 200 calories
I decided this time to try out some of the different options from Sparkrecipies.com, just to prevent us from getting in a nutritional rut. If you limit your dietary options for your main meals to only a certain rotation of foods, you can become nutritionally deficient, and it can lead to serious problems down the road. It is a hassle finding new things and calculating the calories, but it will help to keep you out of the doctors office in the long run. Plus, it allows you to take advantage of seasonal produce. Mixing it up is a very good idea.

Dinner was a baked turkey burger with roast Parmesan garlic zucchini, peppers and mushrooms and brown rice with a salad of romaine, cucumbers and tomatoes on the side for 341 calories . Roast veggies are sort of a natural pair with any kind of meat you roast in the oven. You can roast any veggie except lettuce I believe- though I may be overlooking some way to use lettuce !

Evening snack was 100 calories of almonds, a Fiber Plus bar and a much needed to be eaten pair for 300 calories. Day total was 1481.We settled down to an evening of tv, watching 18 Kids and counting to see the arrival of their first grandchild. Baby shows always make me think about having another one ( for a few seconds) , and affirming that if it does happen I would like to try a homebirth. It's not for everyone, and I had not learned that it was even an option till after my son was a toddler. Once I discovered it, I have not been able to get the idea out of my mind. I have had several miscarriages after my son, and with each one I considered a home birth option. What will be will be- and at 51 I seriously doubt it will be something I actually get to do !

Monday brings movement

Monday means back to school, back to routines and all that jazz. Thankfully it was an uneventful day on the negative side, but filled with a lot of those little moments that will stay in your memory forever. I like those kinds of days !


We began the day with Mom Mc Muffins- 1/2 cup egg beaters , 2 oz of turkey ham and a slice of provalone with a cup of french press coffee and cream for 300 calories. I am getting addicted to fresh ground french press coffee !

We did a Wii Fit plus workout, began school and then took a break to go for a walk, in search for materials for an art project- a bare branch that looks like a tree. It will be used in our Halloween decorations later. While out and about we also decided to try to get a closer look at this squirrels nest that has been outside our window , but hidden by leaves all season

Pretty big, isn't it ? There have been several squirrels living in it for the past couple of months, but now that the leaves are gone they seem to have moved on. After we found our branch we came back to do more schoolwork till lunchtime. It was a very good morning !

Lunch was an egg salad sandwich on Arnold s, mug of alphabet soup, carrots, celery and a sliced apple for 365 calories. Something about this lunch reminds me of my own grade school days when i would come home and eat lunch while my mom did her ironing and watched soap operas.After lunch we ot back to school , and during the afternoon session we made our anual sugar skulls for decoration. We are not hispanic, but Halloween is a religious holiday to honor the departed in my faith. These traditional Mexican crafts fit in very nicely with the holiday

Right now they are blank while they dry, but next week they will be decorated with frosting, sequence and more. We do not eat these, so non food items are okay to add on.To make them our way, take a bag of powdered sugar, a can of white frosting and knead them together to form a playdough like clay. Then shape and let them dry for about a week.

After school was done we did another Wii fit workout and had a snack- 2 rice cakes with 2 T whipped strawberry cream cheese. 150 calories. When you add a big glass of water, this really stays with you !

Dinner featured an old favorite done in a new way. Citrus Ginger Dump Chicken, whole wheat couscous and roast butternut squash cubes . I peeled and cubed a butternut squash , tossed the cubes in 1 T olive oil , spread on a cookie sheet and sprinkled with cinnamon and stevia. I roasted it at 425 for 30 minutes.We all really likes it, and it seems the stevia sort of caramelizes under heat. Tomatoes and cucumbers served on the side for 496 calories

After dinner it was a family Wii workout session, and then a snack while watching Dancing with the stars - a pear and Fiber Plus bar for 200 calories. Days total calories 1501.

I am up blogging at this hour because I cannot sleep. It seems that on the nights when I do work outs I fall into a deep sleep for about an hour and then wake up with intense pain in my hips and knees that herbs or OTC pain medications will not relive. On the nights when I do not work out, I sleep deeply without pain. If I do not work out, the weight loss slows, but if I do not get enough sleep my adrenal glands start pumping high levels of cortizol and it causes numerous problems in my body ( arterial problems, throws my thyroid out of balance, sends my cholesterol levels into the dangerous range and aggravates my arthritis). I am not sure what to do about this.

Sunday was a "stimmy" day

WARNING- the following contains content that may not be appropriate for more sensitive readers, people eating , or anyone with the ability to read between the lines. If this is you, you might want to skip down to the pictures.

Being the parent of an autistic child has some great challenges. You sometimes wind up doing things that you never visualized yourself dealing with while you wer dreaming of baby names and shopping for all those pink or blue outfits. Autism takes those dreams and gives them a whole new slant. You never considered it would have to be pink or blue AND of a texture that did not make them non communicative. You never dream of hearing them say their name ( or some other nonsense sort of detail) over and over and over again day after day because the cadence of the speech comforts them. You aspire to feed them healthy food and give them good toys, never imagining they would eat the packaging , wrappers and sometimes the toys them self. But when you have an autistic child, these things happen. Son has been making real progress, but he is still autistic. There are still some behaviors that show up , which means we still have work. He may never be free of these. The two that linger the strongest with him are repetitive speech ( recites the upcoming schedule of events over and over and over) and he eats non food things. It is not Pica ( a condition where a person craves non food things because of a deficiancy) , but instead a neurological stimming mechanism. In autistic children, a stim helps them to stay present, or acts as a comforting device.

Yesterday morning I woke up with a really stiff neck, and I tried to get a little more rest after hubby left. Son was watching a DVD and went to the bathroom. He yelled the potty was backed up and he would plunge it. Well, he does not totally understand the process, flushed again, and I was alerted to a flood in the bathroom. Gallos of water and....you get the idea. Two rolls of paper towels, three bathtowels, rags, a sponge mop and bailing with a bowl later and the mess was cleaned. Mommy using the plunger got the glog busted. But in the process, I discovered son was once again eating non food. Wrappers, small plastic toys and more. It is a miracle this stuff passed without pain or got stuck in his appendix ! What a mess- and what a morning ! However, i did explain to son that this is one reason we do not eat non food. He helped clean the mess up every step of the way, and I hope this experience helps him to learn how to control this stim- if that is even possible.

Okay- enough about that. On with the good stuff for the day. The only exercise I got in was a short walk , but rest days are importaint. If you can call yesterday a rest day !

Breakfast was crocopot pumpkin grains. For us it was 1/3 cup whole wheat, 1/3 cup barley and 1/3 cup steel cut oats with 1 can solid packed pumpkin and 4 cups of water, 1 T cinnamon and 1 T brown sugar. Place in a crockpot at bedtime and it is ready in the morning. Top with 1 T peanut butter, 1 T Pumpkin Butter, 1 t flax oil, 2 T ground flax and t T crasins for 434 calories. This was really, really good !

Lunch ( after the flood) was a pizza made on an Aldi's original wrap ( 90 calories) topped with 1/4 cup Italian blend cheese, sliced mushrooms and bacon bits. Celery , carrots and a tomato joined in for 330 calories

Snack, after running to the library and the store for more paper towels was an apple and a Fiber Plus bar for 200 calories

Dinner was roast root veggies ( turnip, sweet potato, carrot, blue potato) topped with a turkey burger and gravy. Tossed salad ( romaine, tomato, cucumber) on the side for 347 calories


Evening snack was a sliced bartlett pear and 100 calorie pack of almonds for 170 calories. Total calorie count for the day was 1484 calories.

Here's hoping today is not another "stimmy" day !

Mausoleum 1 K day

We came, we saw, we tackled the whole thing ! I still do not know the entire distance of the floor plan of Queen of Heaven Mausoleum, but we gesstimate it is 3/4 of a mile to walk the length of all 3 floors. Based on a cemetary map, odometer, adjustments for bends and so forth it is the best we can figure. It was a great day !


The day began with pumpkin oats . Take rolled oats and cook them in a mix of water, solid pack pumpkin and cinnamon, add a little brown sugar, and cook. Then top with 2 T ground flax, 1 T almond butter, 1t flax oil, 1 T coconut, 1 T dried blueberries and 1 T crasins. A great tasting, healthy, stick to your ribs , fun to mix 400 calorie breakfast ! Then off to the mausoleum.

This is the exterior as best as I could capture it. The whole thing would not fit in a shot ! Looks massive, but inside it is a museum of peace, reverence and reflection

One of the hallways- this one is named Our Lady of the Rosary

One of the numerous alcoves- lots of beautiful stained glass windows

son and hubby in front of one of the mosaics. We walked and walked, oohed and ahhed, and when we completed the walk , it was off to Sweet Tomatoes for a healthy lunch
first plate- a great salad with romaine, baby spinach, butternut squash, red onions, raw beets garbanzo beans, black olives, feta cheese and fat free french dressing. Captured with my phone camera, which does not take the greatest pics.

Plate 2 was their signature salads for this half month- from the top clockwise Broccoli Wockoly, wild rice , taffy apple and Strawberry Fields. So good !
Then a pass at the soup and bakery station- split pea soup with ham, a piece of brushetta foccacia, roast garlic foccacia and a spiced pumpkin muffin. I was happy and full ! After lunch we stopped off at a Trader Joes on the way to stock up on some supplements and grab whatever else we found. Coffee found its way into my cart as well as hard cider.

Dinner was pork roast in the crockpot cooked with carrots( remember pigzilla ? This was one of the 11 meals it became) with roast brussel sprouts , diet soda and Hard apple cider. My hubby has never had hard cider before and it just sounded so good going with pork roast. We rarely if ever drink, and this six pack will last us for a long time. It was very tasty ! And roast Brussels sprouts are "da bomb "! You simply cut and pare them, put in a ziplock, toss with 1 T olive oil and then spread on a cookie sheet and salt and pepper to taste. Roast at 400 for 25 minutes. No bitterness, just a great mild taste. The food was 311 calories, the cider was 120. Ouch !

After dinner was family boardgame night and dessert of an Aldi's Skinny cow ice cream. This time they had strawberry cheesecake flavored ones, which were pretty good- 120 calories each.

I don't know what my calorie count was for the day because of the lunch option, but I remember it was a definite good option from weight watchers point calculation, so I feel pretty safe with the day.

Another Saturday, another weigh in. This post is going to be quick, as we are heading out for the "Mausoleum 1k- do this or reside here sooner" walk. Pictures tomorrow !

Me- DOWN 2.8 !
Hubby - DOWN 0.8
Son- DOWN 3.6

Yesterdays food log
Breakfast mess- cottage cheese, blueberries, special k cereal - 290 calories

Lunch- egg salad on Arnolds with cucumber, tomato and a bartlett pear-256 calories

Snack- a Fiber Plus bar and an apple- 200 calories

Dinner- basic mainara sauce with ground turkey in the crockpot over ronzoni whole wheat pasta with tomatoes and cucumbers-470
Snack - 2 wasa multi grain crackers, 2 Laughing cow lite and an apple-230 calories. Total calories for the day -1455. Not a lot of exercising as I had to spend a lot of time with paperwork.

Have a good one !

Grocery antics

Yesterday we went shopping, and along with coming home with perhaps more tomatoes and cucumbers than I could imagine, there was also this monstrous pork loin that jumped in the cart and followed me home. By monstrous, I mean the thing is so huge I have to fold it in half to fit it in the fridge ! My plan is to cut it up into a couple of roasts, chops and cubes and store it in the freezer for many meals to come, something that I have done many times before , but never wit one this big. Are pigs now cross breeding with elephants ?? I researched the calorie count for this cut ( 4 oz is 160 calories) , so I will be good to go with my digital scale, chefs knife and cutting board later today. One helpful thing I have found is to label freezer bags with the calorie counts for each portion when freezing so you do not wind up with mystery meals or the need to hunt down the nutritional info later.

The day began with a Thomases Better Start English muffin with whipped cream cheese and a Yoplus lite yogert for 230 calories. I always get nervous when I plan this breakfast because I keep thinking it will not be enough, but I keep the faith and it always brings me to lunchtime without the growlies.After breakfast we got in a Wii fit workout and then tackled school.

Lunch was a pizza on an Aldi's Original wrap sprinkled with 1/4 cup shredded Italian blend cheese, 1 T bacon bits and 1 big mushroom, sliced. On the side was an apple and some celery and carrot sticks for 320 calories. I think this might be our favorite lunch here ! After lunch we did another workout and then finished our schoolwork for the day.

Mid afternoon I grabbed an apple and a Fiber Plus bar for 200 calories, and then set to double checking the grocery list, looking for a few more items for school next week and then finally shopping itself. Our produce market is a real explosion of so many different variety of apples now ! We bought a ton, and my house smells very apple-y. Not a bad thing !

Dinner was one of my crock pot go to meals- black bean chili with cornbread and tomatoes and cucumbers on the side for 460 calories. To make it I put a can of black beans, a pound of ground turkey and a large jar of mild salsa in my crockpot at lunchtime, and it is good to go at dinner. I served this with 2 tsp flax oil in the bowl because we have not been getting enough healthy fats, and my skin is starting to show it. Healthy fats are critical to yo0ur health, and have been know to bring dramatic changes in things you would not suspect. it was the use of flax oil and evening primrose oil that brought about the most profound improvement in my son's autism, and I will never ignore them. Since we have stopped eating oatmeal every day or boiled vegetables, I have struggled to find ways to include 2 tsp of healthy fat in our daily intake, so this was an experiment. It tasted very good !

We settled in for the evening , and later I grabbed my evening snack
2 rice cakes with whipped cream cheese for 150 calories. Sort of boring, but very satisfying !. Total calorie intake for the day was 1360- a little low, but I was not suffering. I learned in the evening that my new nephew is comming home today ! He had suffered seizures at birth and they discovered he had also had a small stroke during birth. He has been kept for observation for a week, but now he is totally stable and able to come home. I can't wait to meet this little guy soon !