AAAAAGGGG

No I haven't fallen away! I really wanted to do cooking videos! The set up took forever! I was stressed. I really wanted to write everyday. I was stressed....thus.....aaaggg. You see I homeschool our 5 children.....2nd,4th,7th,8th.11th grades....need I say more??? My husband is full time faith based ministry....what exactly does that mean..for us it means that he speaks mainly at 2 places...at schools early in the mornings before school starts for an organization called FCA most school districts across the country have them....and also he works as the chaplain for a local Christian athletic group. He tells these kids about his life with drugs.....coccain and steriods before he became a Christian. He loves what he does and he is making an impact on their lives.



Neither of these organizations pay him....thus the faith part!So how do we eat....I'm not sure???? If you could see what we have in the bank at any given moment you would be shocked! We have about 15 people who believe in what we are doing and they support us monthly...we are a non-profit......then there are others who send a one time gift and we always have enough....it really is amazing to watch as this all unfolds and we are able to see how the Lord provides to the ministry that He called us to. This to can be stressful. So on top of home schooling and normal house stuff...I do all the "secretary" stuff for the ministry. I have another blog that I have been keeping for about a year and I just can't do 2 of them. So you are welcome to check out my other blog. I love to read all of my favorite WLS blogs and keep up with so many of you who are doing so well.



I will tell you that my weight is good...not where I want it to be...but good. 155 I would love to weigh 135...but 20 pounds seems like a very long way off. I would have to exercise to reach that goal as my eating is good. I can hardly find the time to go to the bathroom alone during the day...I don't see myself finding time to exercise. Yes, yes I know I need to make time to take care of myself...it is every mothers dilemma!

Please come over and join me here. Happy at Home

Doctors visit

Well I went to my doctor visit and I was the same weight as I was last time I went...she was very pleased. This was my GYN visit so she doesn't see weight loss patients exclusively but she sees quite a few. She told me that in her practice...I would be in the minority of patients who lost the weight and have not gained a significant amount back at the 3 year mark. Oh that is so sad. I wonder what the key is there...I could speculate but I will not. I am thankful that it has been a success for me but I must say that I have to work really hard for it to be this way. Harder than I imagined before I had the surgery.

Now for the bathing suit season...I can hide gross loose skin in the layers of winter but summers comming!!

If you only knew??

I can not tell you how difficult this has been to get a video up and running!!?? I would pull my hair out but I don't have as much as I did 3 years ago so I will leave it alone!! :) I really, really had grand plans of "making" a decent quality video at least once a week however.....it is a lot of work to set everything up....and get it on the site...more than I had imagined.

I school our 5 children and run the daily stuff for our ministry. It is a lot and I love it...wouldn't trade it!....but it is overwhelming time wise...so I decided that I need to make a simpler video off of our lap top. I have made 5 videos and I couldn't get any of them to work. UUGGG

I finally did a quick capture on you tube...it is terrible quality...the sound and the lips do not match...I hate that! But is is there none the less...You may have to close your eyes and just listen to the words.

How is my goal to lose a few pounds..10 to be exact...pretty good but I made an appointment to see my Gynecologist in 3 weeks...this is very motivating...I do not know why...she doesn't care...she is thrilled that I have lost the weight and for the most part kept it off but I for some reason care...Call me crazy!

Anyway here is the link to the video...enjoy or not!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsRgVNobF0E

Grilled Chicken

Ok....I am a computer...techie.....IDIOT! I do not know why I can't upload videos right onto Blogger...if the are 3 - 4 min. it takes about 2 hours, if they are 4 -5 min they take almost 5 hours...and if they are 1 second over 5 min they will not upload at all! I have tried this on both our computers...old and new???!!!:) I do not know what to do? Anyway here is the link to the new video on you tube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xe3-k7cK-hg&feature=channel_page


Here is my basic recipe for the marinade.

1 plastic bag
6 chicken breast
1 cup Italian dressing
1/2 cup either soy or teriyaki sauce...I prefer teriyaki
2 tablespoons of any kind of spicy seasoning...I use Montreal Seasoning
Soak for 3 hours or as long as all night.
Grill

YUMMY!

Embarassing Moment

I am a mother to 5 amazing children. I love being a mom! My husband is in full time Christian service. He is really wonderful....I'll tell you more about him later. I speak 1 or 2 times a month to women's groups on a variety of subjects. Well this past week I went to speak at a gathering and I was feeling pretty good about myself. My hair worked, my outfit was fine. Now I am that person that if you drop by my house on any given day you will not find me with any makeup and if I didn't know you were coming..I probably won't have my bra on. I like comfortable! But when I speak to a group I certainly want to look nice. I thought I had achieved that????

I had to tape it for a video that our church is getting together and when I got home I watched the video. You should never watch yourself! My hair....flat, my pants way, way, way too short!and I look like I am pregnant! When am I not going to look like that? While I look so much better than I once did...... and I am grateful for that!!!....I still look pregnant. I am going to have to start some sort of fund raising campaign to pay for a tummy tuck....because god knows that is not in the budget for a minister's family. Well not this minister anyway! You can check out a clip of that video on my other blog...here.

We all Scream for Icecream!

I have a couple of things on my mind......It has been over 3 years since my surgery and I pretty much know what triggers a dumping episode. I avoid these things...I do not like dumping! For me....it may last 10 min. but more often it lasts for about 45 min.....I do not have 45 min to spare in my day therefore I do not tempt fate! SOOOOOO. Friday night is family night here at the Helms. We watch a movie...play board games...order pizza...drink soda...and eat ice cream. I do not feed my kids junk all week....they get enough of that everywhere else...they are not deprived! I have always felt like junk aught to be the exception and not the rule...unfortunately many families are the total opposite. If you give your baby soda in a sippy cup.....STOP!!!

Anyway we all enjoy this night very much....kids love traditions and we have been doing this one for about 8 years. I of course skip the soda, icecream and usually eat the topping off of the pizza....which I enjoy very much! This Friday night I made myself a little baby..baby cup of icecream....maybe two tablespoons. Now one of my worst dumping episodes happened about 3 months after surgery with...icecream. Why might you ask am I trying it again???? I DO NOT KNOW!!! I wanted a little??? :) I have skim milk with my cereal, I even eat some soups that have heavy cream.....I use 1/2 a teaspoon of sugar in my tea.......what else is in icecream....maybe the first time was just because it was too soon after surgery??

It was HORRIBLE!!! 10 min. after I ate it..I was on the hopper...where I stayed through half of the movie! My kids kept coming upstairs to see if I was OK. Yes we are pretty free here:) It was not worth it...I will not be trying that again! Not a problem because I can assure you that the ability to bend over and tie my shoes is worth so much more to me than icecream!

The first 6 weeks

I spent a great deal of time before surgery preparing mentally and physically. I also did a lot of research about all the things I could and could not eat. I was very prepared when I came home from the hospital. I have a homemade soup recipe that I make for my family and I made it ahead of time special for me. I also bought anything that I thought I might want from sugar free jello to baby food. I had already researched protein and tasted them ahead of time...although I found that my tastes did change...weird! The protein that I decided on was made by Shaklee.
It is completely natural. Every article that I read...not by the company of course.....pointed toward the fact that their product broke down quicker in the system and was easily used. I chose their French Vanilla Meal Shake. I also used their liquid vitamins with iron. It is all natural and it is liquid. It seemed so much better than chewing up a synthetic "Flintstone" children's!! I had to get used to the taste....lots of holding my nose at first...but my first blood work proved to be worth it because all my levels were perfect!

The only thing I put in my body for 2 weeks was total liquid....if it wouldn't come through a narrow straw...it didn't go onto my body. I sipped on protein all day...and when I wasn't sipping protein I was sipping water!

On the third week, I added my soup that I had made ahead of time and things that were the consistency of pudding. Along with my protein I had lots of watery mashed potatoes and baby food.

On the 5th week I added in things like refried beans and soft potatoes....(white and sweet), oatmeal and scrambled eggs. I could only eat a few tiny bites of the eggs.....they were one of the things that changed flavors for me???

Below is my recipe for homemade chicken soup.


Homemade chicken stock...the store bought stuff is loaded with salt and fat...of course you can get the fat free but you still get the salt.

Whole chicken covered in filtered water (we do not eat dark meat so after it boils I pull the white meat and give the rest to my neighbor)
4 stalks of celery
2 carrots

Bring just to a boil...reduce heat...cover....simmer for 2 hours...make sure there is enough water so the chicken is covered.

Remove all veggies and chicken....let it cool some and put it in the fridge. The next day...spoon all fat off of the top. This should be enough stock for several pots of soup...remember you only use about 2 cups of the stock per pot. You can divide the unused portion and freeze it.

My normal chicken soup recipe

2 cups chicken stock
3 large potatoes...diced
3 carrots sliced
4 boiled chicken breasts diced
2 cups prepared egg noodles

combine stock, water, carrots, potatoes...boil until tender....add desired spices....garlic salt, pepper, celery salt

Add chicken and noodles until it boils again.....yummy you are done!!!

Well ,I made this and put extra water....then I pureed it...I mean totally pulverized it! It was very liquid!! I then froze it in 1/4 cup servings.

Enjoy!

My Story

Yep...that is me! I do not have many pictures of myself. The heavier I became the less I wanted to be photographed. This picture was taken 7 days before my gastric bypass surgery....3 years ago. The only thing that I regret is that I didn't do it sooner!

My story begins at puberty. I was a long legged skinny kid until about 12 and then I was just a little plump..not really heavy just 10 - 15 pounds overweight. When I was in high school I started running cross country but I never lost that belly weight. It was nuts..I was running 40 plus miles a week and I was plump. It was always interesting because I was a pretty good runner and when we would go to the meets...most of the girls were very lean and then there was me. After high school I started teaching aerobics. I taught 10 classes a week, each was 1 hour long and I had learned how to eat a healthy diet....still 10 - 15 pounds all on my belly. I was really fit but it didn't really matter what I did I could not loose that extra weight.

I was married when I was 23 and I continued to teach aerobic classes. 6 months after marriage I was diagnosed with stage 3 cervical cancer. I had to have the bottom 3rd of my cervices removed. I had some complications from the surgery and I was not allowed to exercise for 6 weeks. Although I continued to eat a good healthy diet I began to gain weight....it was horrible....daily I was watching the scale go up..up..up. You would have thought I was on a 24 hour eating binge for 6 weeks...I gained 37 pounds!!! Seriously!!! As soon as I started working out my weight gain stopped but I could not lose any of the weight I had gained. I continued to work out hard and when I was 26 I became pregnant with our first child. I only gained 27 pounds. After she was born, I started walking immediately and I lost all my baby weight by my 6 weeks check-up. I remember being so excited...maybe I would now be able to get the rest off. NOT!!! It was just the opposite...I started gaining.....5...10...15...20 pounds! To make a really long story shorter..I have 5 children and the same thing happened every time!

I was never a yo-yo dieter. I did try some different plans that I thought were healthy and I might lose a few pounds but I never lost any significant weight. I found myself 39 years old, joint problems, high cholesterol, diabetes and 230 pounds. I am 5'5" so this was 100 pounds more than I needed to weigh. I was at a point in my life that I needed to make some drastic choices about my health. I felt hopeless. I really felt like surgery was the wimpy way out. It was the choice others made who had no self control. Honestly that is what I thought. Remember I taught aerobics for 8 years and ran for 4.....I was not lazy and out of control and it seemed that to have surgery would be like saying that I was lazy and out of control.

One of the ladies at my church who had bypass surgery sat and talked with me one Wednesday night. This is a conversation that I will never forget. It was really the beginning of health for me!