22.4 Pounds This Morning!

Hip, Hip, Hooray! Speaking of hips, much smaller hips, butt, thighs, well and everything else. Why is it that the weight first leaves the breasts on women in weight loss? No fair. I see myself as a much thinner Val with the breasts I have now and long hair too. Of course that's a pipe dream. I know that as I lose more weight the breasts will decrease in size too, and when I'm done breastfeeding well I hear they go down smaller than they were originally . . . . . oh goody. In combination with losing weight I decided to have a "Hair-a-thon". I haven't gotten my hair cut since December and I'm going to see how long I can go. I have been overweight with short hair since mid pregnancy, I now intend on achieving the opposite. I used to have longer hair, OK shoulder length is a big deal for me cause I have such thin stringy hair. However, it was always nice if I didn't get a shower to throw my hair in a ponytail or bun and could actually leave the house. Now with the shortish hair I cannot leave the house in the morning and let people actually see me. It's greasy, sticking out all over the place and gross. My beautician (the only person in the world that I have found that can cut my hair the right way), up and moved to Atlanta over a year ago. Since then I have had some horrible cuts. She was back in town in December so I got a normal cut again. Now I'll just wait til she's back again to get it cut. She'll die if/when she sees this mop. The disadvantage to the longer hair is that my little guy likes to pull on it for fun. Ouch!


I/we are still getting shitty sleep. My son is up at least every 2-3 hours all night long. I have much less energy now and after having a full nights sleep for a little over 8 months, well it's extremely frustrating. After talking to many moms, the pediatricians office, the LC's, and doing internet research I think I figured out what his problem is. For the last few nights I haven't been nursing at all. I decided to try something else after noticing much of the time he wouldn't even suck he just latched on and laid there. I was also up to my eyes in pee pee diapers. Changing diapers in the middle of the night while my son screams, cries, & thrashes is not very relaxing for any of us. If I didn't he would wet through the diaper doubler, the diaper, his clothes, and bedding. Changing all that in the middle of the night very traumatic for the entire household. So, after all the investigating I believe that it is a combination of 2 problems: teething for the last few months (he has extremely slow teeth, 14 months and only has 6 teeth), and nighttime separation anxiety. He has stranger anxiety very bad no matter what I do. He likes people from afar but then if they get too close, look out. He often wants me over my husband. This I think is quite normal . . . . . to a degree. It is obvious that he has stranger & separation anxiety pretty bad while awake (which is very common and normal at this age), so I can easily see why he would have it while asleep. I go in his room now and either pat him on the back or place my hand on his chest and he is instantly soothed and goes right back to sleep. Between the tension in his mouth from the teething, he probably has 4-6 teeth working their way through at the same time and the separation anxiety he probably feels quite restless. Can't wait til this phase passes. Thanks for reading my yammering. These issues may seem quite trivial but to an exhausted mother doing this for over 3 months it is quite unsettling and chaotic.

Black Bean Burgers For Dinner

OK, I have to announce I am officially down 17 pounds 8 ounces as of this morning. This is a huge deal because when I first had little guy, my weight plummeted down pretty well. I wasn't eating anything just sleeping all the time in pj's and I had tons of work to do to get the breastfeeding on track . . . . round the clock. It was a very dark time in my life to say in the least. Anywho, I was told by the LC's, my mother, and my doctors that if I wanted my body to produce the milk that was needed to feed this baby I had to eat and eat well. That was normally not a problem but with a new baby and a strict lactation program it wasn't easy. I ate and I ate well and I actually got back up within 11 pounds of my full pregnancy weight, but on the bright side the milk was a flowin'!! I graduated from the lactation department's program last year on this date. So I was going to bake a pan of brownies for the LC's, Beth was my saviour but all the LC's were top notch.

On with my story. The weight that I plummeted to was 28 pounds below my full pregnancy weight (I put on 54 total . . . . oink). So today I am actually 29 pounds below my full pregnancy weight. I only have 25 to go to be back at my weight at conception. When I conceived I was still higher than I am happy to be at but I will take it if this whole eating thing continues to go well.

Tonight for dinner I made Morningstar's Black Bean Burgers. I have been researching that soy is not very good for you unless it's fermented so I have been trying my darndest to not each too much of the unfermented stuff. These burgers do have soy in them but I would love dearly to make my own black bean patties one day soon. Until then I thought I'd give the store-bought ones a whirl. They have black beans, corn, and I saw a few pieces of barley in the crumbles on my plate. These are a little salty but have a southwestern flavor. They are high in protein, fiber and potassium. They are low in calories, fat, cholesterol, carbs, & sugar. I would buy them again but my only dislike is that they were a little too salty. I actually cut one in half and ate in a wheat pita leftover from the falafel. I then added fresh onions, tomatoes, & lettuce and a smidgen of ranch dressing. Yes it is a "burger" but with the southwestern flavor I thought it would taste better than ketchup, etc. I also figured that eating it in a wheat pita I would avoid bleached flours and as many carbs as a hamburger bun. On the box front they serve with a bit of salsa and cheese, lettuce & onions on a regular bun. Maybe I'll try that next time. They tout 74% less fat than ground beef and 12 grams of protein on the front of the box. I would recommend them but not for an all the time thing because of the saltiness.

I just checked out some vegetarian and vegan cookbooks from the library. I get really tired of salads and "low fat" recipes. Many of the dish's I find in these cookbooks are low fat naturally, I'd rather cook that way. I plan on purchasing a food processor and a juicer too in the next few weeks. I am finding more and more things to make with a food processor these days with my new healthy eating/diet regimen. I plan to post some new healthy recipes in the near future. I am looking for a cookbook that specializes in bean and lentil cooking. If anyone out there knows of one please leave me a comment. As always, if you find or try a great & healthy recipe of any kind please e-mail me or paste into a comment box. Thanks!