Family Update

I realized the other day that a lot of my posts lately have been about Claire. (Do you blame me though? She's pretty darn cute!) So I thought that I would update the blog with a post about all three of us. :)

Joe has been super busy this semester with a full load of classes and working full time. He was recently called to be Deacons Quorum Adviser so he has weekly mutual and lessons to plan on top of everything else. Honestly, I don't know how he does it. He works, goes to school, fulfills his calling, and somehow still finds time for Claire and me. He's pretty much amazing! And just to add to his amazing-ness, we found out just a few weeks ago that he won the Springhill Suites Associate of the Year Award! He was so surprised and excited! He didn't think that he even had a chance at winning due to the fact that Marriott only chooses two winners out of 300 hotels world wide. He will be receiving an award (I don't know if it's a plaque or trophy but I'll post pics when he gets it) and possibly a bonus. They threw a party for him at the hotel and the owners of the hotel and a few of their managers took us out for a fancy dinner. It was fun to celebrate his accomplishment and be able to tell him how proud I am of him! He works so hard and I am so glad that they recognize how much effort he puts into his job! The best part about him winning this award though is how great it will look on his resume! It's prestigious enough that it guarantees job security with future employers and with the Marriott if he chose to permanently remain the company. All throughout the dinner they kept begging him to stay with the company and offering him consulting jobs. But they also let him know if he chose to leave and ever wanted to come back they would definitely make room for him. So needless to say, I am very proud of my husband!!! And we are all very excited that this semester is almost over! Only two weeks left of school and then it's summer time!!!

I am still loving my job as a stay-at-home mom. :) Claire definitely keeps things interesting and fun around here! Most of my days are filled with cleaning, cooking, and taking care of Claire. Since Joe is gone most days from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. I have to make sure that both his lunch and dinner is ready for him when he comes home at 2 to change clothes for work. We are SO ready for this semester to be over! Claire and I have been stuck in the house since January because Joe always has the car and going on walks has not been an option because our lane has either been super icy or muddy. I am excited to have the car every once in a while and we are excited to go on walks now that the weather is turning nice. And of course we are super excited to see Joe more than just half an hour a day! :)

I have also been keeping up with my new diet program! I am proud to say that I have completed three weeks and I have not cheated once! The hardest thing for me is trying to find time to work out but I have a routine down now and I work out for at least an hour, five times a week during Claire's morning nap. Now that spring is on it's way I am looking forward to working out outside while Claire is awake so that I can reserve her naps for cleaning or for some "me time". But I still feel GREAT and I can see a lot of changes in my body. I'm not so tired all the time, my body doesn't crave carbs anymore, and I have not had one headache since starting this diet! That is huge because ever since I got pregnant with Claire I had a headache every day! And some days it would escalate into a migraine. No fun! I don't want to weigh myself until I hit the one month mark (which is a little less than a week!) so I don't know how much I weigh BUT I did try on my goal shorts and I could slide them on just not button them. But I am getting closer! Three weeks ago I couldn't even pull them over my hips so I am extremely happy with those results!

I don't have before and after pics but this picture was taken back at Thanksgiving.

And this pic was taken just a few days ago...you can definitely see the change in my face!

As for our little Claire Bear, she is figuring out how to move around and is still a little chatter box! She just turned 9 months so I have a separate post coming up soon all about our favorite little girl!

We are all super excited for the summer to come! Last summer I was pregnant and then we had a newborn to worry about so we didn't do much. But we have all sorts of fun activities planned for our family this year! Some of our plans include:

- Celebrating Easter with all the Aunts, Uncles, Grandma, and cousins at Aunt Kay and Uncle Rex's home in Utah! We will be staying with them for a three day weekend!

- Claire will be flying for the first time in May cuz we are going to New Jersey! We will be staying there for a week and will even get to tour Washington D.C. and New York! But we are more excited to see Joe's two sweet sisters and this amazing Grandma!

- We plan on spending a lot of time swimming cuz I need a tan and Claire Bear is definitely a water baby. So you can find us either at Rigby Lake or Rexburg Rapids and probably our back yard where we will have a baby pool. Anyone is more than welcome to join us! :)

- We are excited to enjoy all the outdoor activities that come along with summer. Lots of walks are in store, petting the animals along the way, playing with the swing in the front yard, barbequing on the grill, picnics, and family parties!

- And most exciting of all- Claire's FIRST birthday! It's hard to believe that she will be ONE in June!

This winter has been kind of long and boring for us but this summer looks like it will be fun and eventful!

If at first you don't succeed...

(Warning: REALLY long post!!)
Since the beginning of this year I have been diligently working towards my weight loss goal. I made it my new years resolution and at the beginning I was optimistic and hopeful that this would be the year I would finally become "thin". I made meal plans, bought new work out equipment, hung up my goal clothes where I could see them, and even convinced my husband to do it with me. I dieted and worked my butt off for two months. And you want to know what I got for all that hard work? I GAINED FIVE POUNDS! GAINED!!! I wanted to lock the door to our apartment and never come out. For years I've been gaining weight and have never been able to control it. I've tried so many diets and so many work out programs it's not even funny. So needless to say, I was a little frustrated and disheartened and I threw the entire diet into the trash. I knew losing weight wasn't going to be easy. I knew I would struggle with this but does it really have to be this hard? I kept telling myself, "You CAN do this!" But in the back of my head I kept wondering if it was ever going to happen, if I was ever going to get the body that I wanted.

For a few weeks I just quite everything. I didn't work out. I didn't diet. My weight stayed exactly the same and my anxiety about wanting to lose the weight so we can have more babies went through the roof. I cried. I prayed. I moped around the house. I wore the same outfit to church every Sunday because nothing else fit.

And then one day it hit me. The solution to my problem. I had been reading through my old blog posts one day and found the one where I was diagnosed with insulin resistance. I had been tested for diabetes after I had Claire because I had gestational diabetes but the test had come back completely normal. At that point, I assumed that I no longer had it. But that day I knew that it had to be the problem. Later that week I got an e-mail from Prevention Magazine (how they got my e-mail I have no idea). In that e-mail they were show casing a new book called The Metabolism Miracle. Normally I would just delete it but I kept reading the article and found that it was a diet book specially designed for those with insulin resistance! I was so excited about it that I called Joe at work and told him all about the book. I wanted to order it right then and there but instead my husband drove me out to Idaho Falls so that I could pick it up at the book store! :)

I started reading it and everything just made so much sense! She explains in the beginning of the book how people with insulin resistance don't react the same to carbs and sugar. Our bodies have a tendency to overreact to carbs by releasing excess insulin which is a fat storage hormone. So every time I ate carbs or something sugary my body would automatically store it as fat. She also had a list of symptoms that described me perfectly. These are just a few of them: you tire easily (even after a good night of sleep), mildly depressed, you have an energy slump in the afternoon, frequently feel anxious, you crave carbs such as chips, bread, and sweets, you gain weight easily but it's difficult to lose weight, and you have a midsection roll of fat.

The book is a three step plan to losing weight and keeping it off. The first step is an 8 week program that is designed to give my pancreas and liver a rest from spilling extra insulin all the time. It's called Carb Rehab which means that I basically eat carb free. I get what the author calls a 5x5 carb which means I get 5 grams of carb within a five hour period. My diet consists of a lot of low-fat protein and a lot of vegetables. No sugar is allowed in this step. It sounds hard but I am nine days into step one and it has been so worth it!!! I have lost a total of 8 pounds (!!!) and I have more energy, my body is slimming down, and I feel so incredibly HAPPY! It's been an amazing experience! I love how I feel!

The next two steps are designed to transition your body back into eating carbs. After the rehab is over my body will be able to handle carbs normally as long as I keep track of how much carbs I have during the day. The second step is designed for additional weight loss and I will be staying in step two until I lose the rest of the weight. My ultimate goal is to lose 95 pounds! Yikes! That's a big number but I really think I can do it! (8 down 87 more to go!) And the third and final step is my lifetime weight maintenance plan. It will help me to keep the weight off and live a healthy lifestyle.

I really feel like this diet has been my saving grace! I feel like I have gained control of my diet and my weight and I LOVE how much energy I have!!! I will be completely done with the first 8 weeks before we leave for our vacation in New Jersey which means that I am really crossing my fingers to look AMAZING in a swim suit! Ha I guess we will just have to see!