Sharing

Just a link to a blog post that I read today that kind of hit home with me.  I'm in the middle of the "OMG we're about to have a baby and our finances will change COMPLETELY" freak-out that every first time parent experiences.  I've given up on winning the lottery, hubby or myself getting a massive raise at work, and some unknown relative dying and leaving us a gazillion dollars.  I've accepted the fact that like everyone else I'm just going to have to put my big girl panties on and stop spending irresponsibly.  I would like to brag though that as of October this past year I have no credit card debt and I'm EXTREMELY proud of that fact.  Now if I can just convince myself that I don't actually need a smartphone....

http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2011/04/11/live-like-no-one-else-so-you-can-live-like-no-one-else/

Monday, April 11, 2011

I've decided after much thought that I'm going to use a different format to show what I'm eating.  I have my diagnosis, my meal plan (2000 calories..omg!) and I've pretty much nailed down my new routine.  Sacrifice is the name of the game and I'm here to tell you that it isn't easy but its so worth it in the end.  My bright side is that I'll be in this routine for the next 3 months (grumble) BUT that will give me time to establish new eating habits that will hopefully help lose my baby weight and the weight I already wanted to lose.

The plan goes like this:

• Fasting blood sugar test
• Breakfast 1 meat (2oz), 2 carbs (no fruit and milk because of its lactose is a carb), and 1 fat
• 2 hours after Breakfast test blood sugar
• Morning snack - 1 meat (2 oz) and 2 carbs 
• Lunch - 1 meat (2 oz), 2 carbs, 1 fat
• 2 hours after Lunch test blood sugar
• Afternoon Snack - 1 meat (2oz) and 2 carbs
• Dinner - 1 meat (3oz), 3 carbs and 1 fat
• 2 hours after Dinner test blood sugar
• Bedtime snack - 2 carbs

In terms of food that looks like this:

• Breakfast: 1 scrambled egg (meat), 1 slice of toast (carb) with butter (fat) and a tsp of jelly (my cheat) and 8 oz 1% milk (carb).
• Morning Snack: 1/4 c. cottage cheese (meat) and 30 grapes (2 carbs)
• Lunch: Sandwich=1 oz ham, 1 oz cheese (2 oz meat), 2 slices of whole grain bread (2 carbs) and lite mayo (1fat).  Veggies like carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, etc are considered "free items" so I usually a few oz of those as a side.  
• Afternoon snack: Greek yogurt and a cheese stick
• Dinner: chicken breast (3oz meat) , rice and/or veggies of some sort (as long as it equals out to 3 carbs).  Veggies can get a little dicey since some are considered starchs which equal carbs.  Think potatoes, corn, many kinds of beans...just think about the texture of the food when you chew it and you can guess whether or not its a starch.  
• Bedtime snack: 6 vanilla wafers and 8 oz of 1% milk
• I drink water all day and either hot tea (no sugar) or unsweetened iced tea with all my meals
• Seriously sugary items are an absolute no-no :(

I don't eat the same thing everyday so I will be posting different menus starting tomorrow and maybe even sharing some recipes that I've found.  The hardest part about all of this is actually thinking about what I'm eating and controlling the portion size.  I'm considering this a really great challenge since I only get to eat a certain amount of food in every meal.  A benefit that I'm already seeing is that I'm not at all swollen anymore and during lunch today my sister actually told me that I'm starting to look slimmer, minus my growing belly.  :)    

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Okay I've been away too long.  I said this was going to be a daily blog update and I'm missing about a week a half already.  Here's the deal.  I went to my last doctor's appointment to do my first glucose test and it came back high.  So I went back to my doctor to do the 3-hour glucose test and WHAM! it came back high too.  Last Tuesday I went to visit a diabetes counselor and have been learning to eat differently and getting used to testing my blood sugar 4 times a day.  If I ever complained about pregnancy being long or hard then I was just being a big wienie, because now I have to stick myself 4 times a day, very seriously plan out all 6 of my meals and stick to a diet that I'm not 100% familiar with yet.  I know there are worse things but pregnant ladies LOVE food and the ones that I LOVE are off limits now. :(

So I went back to the doctor today and he likes the way my blood sugar reading have been looking.  He's allowing me to go from 4 sticks a day to only 2, although I can continue with the 4 if it makes me more comfortable.  I'm just neurotic enough to probably continue with the 4 sticks for a while longer so I probably will.  Anyhow, tomorrow I'll start back with my "Whatcha Eating?" posts...I know you're all curious.  The diet isn't hard its just that I actually have to stop and think about what I'm putting in my body and how often I do it.