Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Recipes
My husband and kids are VERY picky eaters!! Coming up with healthy recipes that my family will actually eat is very difficult! If you have a great, simple, and healthy recipe, please share it.
Maintaining
Although there have been a some definite ups and downs during the past 5 years, I pretty much maintained my weight at about 180 lbs. I really am not sure why, but this was okay with me.
I decided January, 1st 2011 that this was no longer okay, I was going to be healthy! I have a beautiful, healthy family that I want to be a good influence on. So I started making changes, since then, I have walked/jogged a total of 81.44 miles and counted calories on almost a daily basis.
The change was not happening as fast as I wanted it to, so I decided to try the HCG diet. I have been doing this for 1 week and I have lost 10 lbs, so I am at 170 lbs. It is by all means the hardest thing that I have ever attempted in my life! Eating 500 calories a day, is not very many, especially if you love food as much as I do.
I am taking college classes online, and carry a full-time schedule. I am not currently working outside of the house but with three kids, a husband, and school I feel like I have a pretty full plate.
I made the decision that I love myself more than I love food, so I can do this, and so can you!!
This is the most recent picture that I have of myself, the blond is my beautiful little sister.
I decided January, 1st 2011 that this was no longer okay, I was going to be healthy! I have a beautiful, healthy family that I want to be a good influence on. So I started making changes, since then, I have walked/jogged a total of 81.44 miles and counted calories on almost a daily basis.
The change was not happening as fast as I wanted it to, so I decided to try the HCG diet. I have been doing this for 1 week and I have lost 10 lbs, so I am at 170 lbs. It is by all means the hardest thing that I have ever attempted in my life! Eating 500 calories a day, is not very many, especially if you love food as much as I do.
I am taking college classes online, and carry a full-time schedule. I am not currently working outside of the house but with three kids, a husband, and school I feel like I have a pretty full plate.
I made the decision that I love myself more than I love food, so I can do this, and so can you!!
This is the most recent picture that I have of myself, the blond is my beautiful little sister.
The Turning Point
I planned a big party for Justus's 1st Birthday, and it turned out great. Lots of John Deere Green! The day after the party, I had the pictures printed at Wal-Mart. When I looked at the pictures, I was shocked! Who was this fat person in so many of these pictures?
Needless to say it was me. I went back to Wal-Mart the very next day and bought a set of scales, we had not owned any in years. Although I was still only 5'-2" tall, I weighed in at 235 lbs.
Things were not going well in my marriage, we still argued quite a bit and we were both very unhappy. I decided that I had to lose weight and get healthier or I was never going to be the type of involved, fun wife and mom that I wanted to be. I also had to do something to make myself feel better, as I was no longer getting those 'feel goods' from my marriage. There were people, including Jim that thought my weight loss efforts, were to make it easier to find a replacement, if we split up. He was very threatened by me wanting to look better, when I had neglected myself for so long. I was too insecure and embarrassed to have the nerve to put myself out there and tell him that I wanted to be skinny with him, and that I loved him with everything that I had.
He was not supportive of my efforts, but I tried anyway. I started taking a prescription diet medicine, and continued to take it for 3 months. I wish that I had done a better job of recording my progress, but I didn't.
By the time Jim and I separated in August of 2005, I weighed 165 lbs. I had lost 70 lbs in about 6 months. I know a lot of people lose weight when they are stressed, but more people, like myself usually gain weight with stress, so I will not attribute my loss to stress.
We did not get back together until February of 2006. Until that time I had maintained at about 170 lbs.
Pictures from around the time that I realized how badly I needed to lose weight. I really do not have very many pictures from that time, because I just refused to let people take my picture.
Needless to say it was me. I went back to Wal-Mart the very next day and bought a set of scales, we had not owned any in years. Although I was still only 5'-2" tall, I weighed in at 235 lbs.
Things were not going well in my marriage, we still argued quite a bit and we were both very unhappy. I decided that I had to lose weight and get healthier or I was never going to be the type of involved, fun wife and mom that I wanted to be. I also had to do something to make myself feel better, as I was no longer getting those 'feel goods' from my marriage. There were people, including Jim that thought my weight loss efforts, were to make it easier to find a replacement, if we split up. He was very threatened by me wanting to look better, when I had neglected myself for so long. I was too insecure and embarrassed to have the nerve to put myself out there and tell him that I wanted to be skinny with him, and that I loved him with everything that I had.
He was not supportive of my efforts, but I tried anyway. I started taking a prescription diet medicine, and continued to take it for 3 months. I wish that I had done a better job of recording my progress, but I didn't.
By the time Jim and I separated in August of 2005, I weighed 165 lbs. I had lost 70 lbs in about 6 months. I know a lot of people lose weight when they are stressed, but more people, like myself usually gain weight with stress, so I will not attribute my loss to stress.
We did not get back together until February of 2006. Until that time I had maintained at about 170 lbs.
Pictures from around the time that I realized how badly I needed to lose weight. I really do not have very many pictures from that time, because I just refused to let people take my picture.
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Justus Robert DeVries
I loved my girls with all of my heart, but I still really wanted a boy. Now that I have one, I love him so much and I don't want him to grow up and replace me with a wife!! Yes, I know it is silly, but lot's of you think it, even if you won't admit it.
When we finally moved in to our house, Jaima was almost 2 and Lexi was just over 4. Jim and I had been arguing quite a bit, but we did not have any major issues, so we both assumed that the arguing would pass. We did not decide to have a baby to make things better between us. We had decided shortly after Jaima was born that we would have 1 more and we just felt like the time was right. I got pregnant with Justus in May of 2004. My pregnancy was pretty much the same as with Jaima. My starting weight was about 190 lbs and when he was born, I weighed about 210 lbs.
Jim and I continued to argue throughout my pregnancy and after Justus was born. I truly did not realize that instead of losing weight after I had a baby, I had continued to gain weight for a year.
Justus is now a crazy, adorable 6 year old little man...
When we finally moved in to our house, Jaima was almost 2 and Lexi was just over 4. Jim and I had been arguing quite a bit, but we did not have any major issues, so we both assumed that the arguing would pass. We did not decide to have a baby to make things better between us. We had decided shortly after Jaima was born that we would have 1 more and we just felt like the time was right. I got pregnant with Justus in May of 2004. My pregnancy was pretty much the same as with Jaima. My starting weight was about 190 lbs and when he was born, I weighed about 210 lbs.
Jim and I continued to argue throughout my pregnancy and after Justus was born. I truly did not realize that instead of losing weight after I had a baby, I had continued to gain weight for a year.
Justus is now a crazy, adorable 6 year old little man...
Jaima Raye DeVries
Not long after Jim came home from Japan, we decided that it would be nice for Lexi to have a sibling. One thing that I had forgotten to mention before now is that I started smoking when I was 16. I quit when I found out I was pregnant with Lexi, then when she was only a month old, at a family Christmas gathering, I ended up starting again. I do want to add that I have never smoked in my house, I have always went outside.
In November, 2000, just after my 21st birthday, I found out I was pregnant with Jaima. I had already quit smoking in anticipation of becoming pregnant, but I decided to try to be healthier. I really think I was thinking that I needed to take better care of myself for the babies sake rather than my own. I walked on the treadmill during my entire pregnancy. At about 5 months, I started having a lot of contractions, turned out I was not getting enough water. I started drinking a gallon of water everyday and I felt wonderful the entire time.
At the beginning of my pregnancy, I weighed about 190 lbs and the day Jaima was born, I weighed 202 lbs. I nursed Jaima and did not start smoking again until she was almost 11 months old.
When Jaima was 2 months old, we moved back home to Gainesville. We lived with my parents for a couple of months, then rented a tiny house. We were in the tiny house for longer than we had anticipated, because it was harder than we had thought to find and buy a house that we wanted.
Jaima is now a gorgeous, very intelligent 9 year old...
In November, 2000, just after my 21st birthday, I found out I was pregnant with Jaima. I had already quit smoking in anticipation of becoming pregnant, but I decided to try to be healthier. I really think I was thinking that I needed to take better care of myself for the babies sake rather than my own. I walked on the treadmill during my entire pregnancy. At about 5 months, I started having a lot of contractions, turned out I was not getting enough water. I started drinking a gallon of water everyday and I felt wonderful the entire time.
At the beginning of my pregnancy, I weighed about 190 lbs and the day Jaima was born, I weighed 202 lbs. I nursed Jaima and did not start smoking again until she was almost 11 months old.
When Jaima was 2 months old, we moved back home to Gainesville. We lived with my parents for a couple of months, then rented a tiny house. We were in the tiny house for longer than we had anticipated, because it was harder than we had thought to find and buy a house that we wanted.
Jaima is now a gorgeous, very intelligent 9 year old...
The Leg
In the year after Lexi was born, I throughly enjoyed life, but I did not lose the weight that I had gained. I have learned since then that losing weight requires you to be selfish to a point. You have to specifically devote time to yourself and as a new mom I did not do that. I maintained around 190 lbs that year, and then disaster struck.
On October 18th, 1999, we had spent the evening with the people I babysat for and left an already sleeping Lexi overnight with them, as I was supposed to be there to babysit at 6:30 the next morning. The next morning we walked out the door at about 5:45 while it was still dark outside, and for some reason the outside lights in our apartment complex were not turned on. Jim was doing something and went ahead and walked out the door, I was carrying a travel mug of hot chocolate and a small box containing a baby blanket that I needed to mail to my sister-in-law. There were 6 or 7 stairs then a landing and another 6 or 7 stairs outside that you had to go down to leave the apartment.
On the first set of stairs, I looked down and thought that there was only one stair left, I stepped on it with my left foot, then took a bigger step and turned some with my right foot expecting to be on the landing. There had been another step that I had not seen and it was a long drop before my right foot landed. My first reaction when I fell was to reach for my left ankle because it hurt, my right wrist was also hurting, I later found out that they were both only severely sprained. Then I saw my right leg and screamed for Jim.
I was wearing Reebok tennis shoes and the outside of the sole was touching my calf. My ankle socket had disconnected from my leg bones and my foot was pretty much turned upside down. When my foot had landed, my ankle had turned outward, breaking my ankle socket in 3 places and breaking my fibula (the smaller bone on the outside of the calf) in 2 places. I really was not in that much pain, I was barely crying and was completely calm and under control. My neighbor Max Jenkins sat there with me praying, which really helped me to stay calm, while Jim was trying to figure out what to do.
Remember that I was weighing in at 190 lbs and Jim who is 6' tall weighed about 140 lbs. He could have picked me up, but they could not figure out how to get me down the remaining stairs without hurting me, so they decided to call the ambulance. We lived right across the street from the hospital, and the ambulance arrived very quickly, but they did not have any idea's for getting me down the stairs either. They had me go down on my butt, and one of them put a hand under my leg to stabilize my ankle, not realizing my leg was also broken, that was when the pain began! The duct taped a pillow around my leg, then put me on the stretcher and took me to the hospital.
Thankfully the drugs came quickly, and I felt fine while they explained to me that they were going to transfer me to another hospital to have surgery. They kept me pretty much sedated during the transfer and until the surgery and I do not really remember anything until sometime the next morning, when the anesthesia was wearing off. I had been in surgery for almost 6 hours and now had 3 screws in my ankle that were each 2" long, and a 6" plate in my leg with six small screws holding it in place.
My Grandma Barb came to CA to take care of me and Lexi while Jim was at work, then a few weeks later Lexi and I flew back to Missouri with her. I could not get Lexi in or out of her crib or carry her, and she had only been walking for a little over a month. It was quite a while before they started weaning me off of the hard core narcotic pain killers, so I had to rely on someone else to take care of Lexi all the time. One of the screws in my ankle went in one side of my ankle socket, through my leg bone, then into the other side of my ankle, so until this screw was removed I was not allowed to put any weight on it.
They removed the screw after 12 weeks and just told me to walk on it like normal. Wish I had known that if I had had physical therapy, I might have a better range on motion in it now, but it was never mentioned. Jim came back on leave for Christmas, and then left for six months on a deployment to Okinawa, Japan.
During all this time of inactivity, I gained weight, and cared very little about what I looked like. I missed Jim, and my independence, and ended up moving back to California in April even though Jim would not be back until June. I made this trip with one of my favorite people EVER, my friend Amanda Pitchford. She stayed with me until just a couple of weeks before Jim got home, so that I didn't have to stay by myself. Then Jim came home....
On October 18th, 1999, we had spent the evening with the people I babysat for and left an already sleeping Lexi overnight with them, as I was supposed to be there to babysit at 6:30 the next morning. The next morning we walked out the door at about 5:45 while it was still dark outside, and for some reason the outside lights in our apartment complex were not turned on. Jim was doing something and went ahead and walked out the door, I was carrying a travel mug of hot chocolate and a small box containing a baby blanket that I needed to mail to my sister-in-law. There were 6 or 7 stairs then a landing and another 6 or 7 stairs outside that you had to go down to leave the apartment.
On the first set of stairs, I looked down and thought that there was only one stair left, I stepped on it with my left foot, then took a bigger step and turned some with my right foot expecting to be on the landing. There had been another step that I had not seen and it was a long drop before my right foot landed. My first reaction when I fell was to reach for my left ankle because it hurt, my right wrist was also hurting, I later found out that they were both only severely sprained. Then I saw my right leg and screamed for Jim.
I was wearing Reebok tennis shoes and the outside of the sole was touching my calf. My ankle socket had disconnected from my leg bones and my foot was pretty much turned upside down. When my foot had landed, my ankle had turned outward, breaking my ankle socket in 3 places and breaking my fibula (the smaller bone on the outside of the calf) in 2 places. I really was not in that much pain, I was barely crying and was completely calm and under control. My neighbor Max Jenkins sat there with me praying, which really helped me to stay calm, while Jim was trying to figure out what to do.
Remember that I was weighing in at 190 lbs and Jim who is 6' tall weighed about 140 lbs. He could have picked me up, but they could not figure out how to get me down the remaining stairs without hurting me, so they decided to call the ambulance. We lived right across the street from the hospital, and the ambulance arrived very quickly, but they did not have any idea's for getting me down the stairs either. They had me go down on my butt, and one of them put a hand under my leg to stabilize my ankle, not realizing my leg was also broken, that was when the pain began! The duct taped a pillow around my leg, then put me on the stretcher and took me to the hospital.
Thankfully the drugs came quickly, and I felt fine while they explained to me that they were going to transfer me to another hospital to have surgery. They kept me pretty much sedated during the transfer and until the surgery and I do not really remember anything until sometime the next morning, when the anesthesia was wearing off. I had been in surgery for almost 6 hours and now had 3 screws in my ankle that were each 2" long, and a 6" plate in my leg with six small screws holding it in place.
My Grandma Barb came to CA to take care of me and Lexi while Jim was at work, then a few weeks later Lexi and I flew back to Missouri with her. I could not get Lexi in or out of her crib or carry her, and she had only been walking for a little over a month. It was quite a while before they started weaning me off of the hard core narcotic pain killers, so I had to rely on someone else to take care of Lexi all the time. One of the screws in my ankle went in one side of my ankle socket, through my leg bone, then into the other side of my ankle, so until this screw was removed I was not allowed to put any weight on it.
They removed the screw after 12 weeks and just told me to walk on it like normal. Wish I had known that if I had had physical therapy, I might have a better range on motion in it now, but it was never mentioned. Jim came back on leave for Christmas, and then left for six months on a deployment to Okinawa, Japan.
During all this time of inactivity, I gained weight, and cared very little about what I looked like. I missed Jim, and my independence, and ended up moving back to California in April even though Jim would not be back until June. I made this trip with one of my favorite people EVER, my friend Amanda Pitchford. She stayed with me until just a couple of weeks before Jim got home, so that I didn't have to stay by myself. Then Jim came home....
Alexis Kendra DeVries
In those 10 short days that Jim was home after boot camp, we did what most newlyweds do, a lot. Although there was a definite effort to prevent it, I ended up pregnant. Although it was not planned and very unexpected, I was beyond excited when I found out on Friday, March 13th 1998.
When Jim and I moved to Oceanside, California in June, I was 4 months pregnant and had gained 1 lb. Everything was going great and I was healthier than I had ever been. Then the real world kicked in. We lived in a tiny 1 bedroom apartment that we could barely afford, and found out what it was like to have full-time adult responsibilities. Jim worked long days, most of the time being gone from the house for at least 12 hours sometimes longer.
I had always been a very social person, and I found myself alone. My pregnancy was already showing and I figured it would be a waste of time to try to find a job at that point. Cell phones were not popular like they are now, and there was no way that I could afford to talk on the phone to my friends and family, because long-distance calls cost way to much. I really missed my mom and did get to talk to her quite a bit, but not near as much as I wanted to. Not only did we have very little money, we only had one car, so I only went somewhere during the day if I had a doctors appointment. On those days, I would have to take Jim to work and pick him up, it was quite a drive, so I stayed home most of the time.
Looking back, I can now admit that I was depressed. I really did not realize it at the time, because I really was happy that I was pregnant, and I was very happy with my relationship with Jim. I sat at home by myself, watched tv, and ate a lot of peanut butter and toast sandwiches. I gained an outrageous amount of weight during the rest of my pregnancy, and weighed about 205 lbs when Alexis was born.
Here is a picture of Alexis, who is now a beautiful, loving 12 year old.
When Jim and I moved to Oceanside, California in June, I was 4 months pregnant and had gained 1 lb. Everything was going great and I was healthier than I had ever been. Then the real world kicked in. We lived in a tiny 1 bedroom apartment that we could barely afford, and found out what it was like to have full-time adult responsibilities. Jim worked long days, most of the time being gone from the house for at least 12 hours sometimes longer.
I had always been a very social person, and I found myself alone. My pregnancy was already showing and I figured it would be a waste of time to try to find a job at that point. Cell phones were not popular like they are now, and there was no way that I could afford to talk on the phone to my friends and family, because long-distance calls cost way to much. I really missed my mom and did get to talk to her quite a bit, but not near as much as I wanted to. Not only did we have very little money, we only had one car, so I only went somewhere during the day if I had a doctors appointment. On those days, I would have to take Jim to work and pick him up, it was quite a drive, so I stayed home most of the time.
Looking back, I can now admit that I was depressed. I really did not realize it at the time, because I really was happy that I was pregnant, and I was very happy with my relationship with Jim. I sat at home by myself, watched tv, and ate a lot of peanut butter and toast sandwiches. I gained an outrageous amount of weight during the rest of my pregnancy, and weighed about 205 lbs when Alexis was born.
Here is a picture of Alexis, who is now a beautiful, loving 12 year old.
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