Weight Issues

While the entire nation of US is fighting against childhood obesity, we are having the reverse problem in our household. Sanjay is underweight and Sarath though not underweight could do with eating a few more calories to sustain himself through the day. I took Sanjay to his 3 year check up last month and the doctor said that he gained a fair amount of height but did gain enough weight for his age. He was supposed to have gained at least 5 lbs in the last year instead he gained only 2 😦 So, now, I am in the process of trying to give him a few extra calories through out the day. The problem is that he just got used to eating less and when I try to get him to eat a bit more, he complains. It really bothers me to see how little he eats for lunch. When he was in daycare, he used to eat little breakfast at home and then gobble up on the mid morning snack they gave at the day care. I think due to that he probably never was much hungry at lunch time. Now, I make sure he eats a heavy breakfast but, he just does not want to eat any snack between breakfast and lunch. The doctor specifically told me to give him 3 meals and at least 2 snacks. At lunch time, he eats a little and does not want to do anything with food after that.

Food with Sarath is a whole another issue. He was always a good eater as a baby and toddler. Now, though he does not eat properly. Breakfast is okay but lunch is really bad. They get around 25 min for lunch and more than half that time is spent in chit chatting with friends. He hardly empties his lunch box. Whenever I ask him why he did not eat, his answer is “no time amma.” I tried giving him incentives and everything but nothing changed. Most of the days by the time he comes home, he is starving and ends up throwing tantrums because of that. Finally last week, I got really tired about all this and told him that if he does not finish everything at lunch, he is going to lose his TV privilege on the weekend. Even after this he did not eat on Friday. I did not let him watch TV the entire weekend. He was very furious about it. It was a torture for him because usually weekend is the only time he gets to watch some cartoons. So, on Monday morning, I reminded him again that he needs to eat everything in his lunch box otherwise, he is going to lose his TV or some other privilege again and this time it worked. He eat everything and so I continued the same threat yesterday and it worked again. As happy as I am that he is eating his lunch, I wish I had done this sooner. This is the last week of school and I am not sure if this threat will work again when school starts in September.

On the other hand, myself and S can do with some weight loss. As hard it is to get the kids to eat, it is even harder for us to eat less amount of food at every meal. The last time I went for a check up my doctor told me that I am pre-diabetic (not surprising seeing that my mom has diabetes). I took all the advice I could from her and started modifying our eating patterns and the type of food we eat. It is just not easy. Added to that, the exercise that I am supposed to be doing everyday is not happening for reasons I cannot count anymore. There is just something or the other that keeps me from exercising everyday. I really hate to admit it but it is true 😦 Same with S. Even though thankfully he is not pre-diabetic or anything, he still needs to lose weight.

With our India trip coming up, I am really concerned about the weight of all of us. I usually tend to gain weight during my India trip – given that I don’t have any work in India and I still tend to eat the same quantity of food, it is not surprise that I gain weight. The kids on the other hand, tend to always lose weight during our India trip. They always end up having a cold or cough or fever and lose weight 😦 How I wish the reverse was true – I lose weight and the kids gain weight during our trip.. sigh! Anyways, this time around, I have promised myself to eat limited quantities and not gain weight. Let’s hope that happens. As for S, he is the one who has to control himself and there is nothing I could do about that. I just hope he does not gain weight either.

 

 

Am I living a healthy life??

Living a healthy life is not so easy. There are a lot of things to take care of and these habits need to stay with us for life. That is very very difficult. I have been trying to make healthy habits but, they do not stick with me. I just do not have the will power to exercise regularly, eat properly and take care of myself. When it comes to my son or DH, I am so cautious and careful. DH always tells me to put myself first and take required rest when ever needed. I do not listen to him most of the times even though I know he is right. Now, all this carelessness is taking a toll on me. I have been feeling very weak for the past few weeks. I do not feel like cooking, cleaning.. nothing. All I want to do is just sleep. I feel sleep deprived even after 8 hours sleep at night. So, I went to the doctor and she had some blood tests done to check for anemia, blood glucose, thyroid problems and cholesterol. I am still waiting for the results.

I know that I am at high risk for both diabetes and high cholesterol levels. My mom has had diabetes for a long time and my dad has both high blood glucose and high cholesterol levels. My dad has undergone a bypass surgery long back. So, I am definitely at high risk. Am I doing anything to prevent it from happening to me?? NO! It is scary.

On the weekend, I thought a lot about all this and the very thought that I am not doing anything scared me. When I was pregnant, I was at my healthiest. I ate properly, drank the recommended 3 cups of milk, ate my fruits and took my prenatal vitamins every single day. The minute I delivered, I stopped caring about myself. When Sarath started eating solid foods, I gave him all the veggies and fruits every single day but never remembered or cared to eat them myself. Now, I can vouch that he has better food habits than me.

But, I know I need to change. I need to make better habits to feel good, be a good mom and stay healthy and in shape. So, I decided to start changing things around the house. DH is going to help me with all of this. It is not going to be easy, that I know. I am willing to put myself through it for my son. I decided that Sarath is going to be my motivating factor. I am going to remind myself everyday that:

1. I need to be healthy to raise a healthy well behaved child. So, I need to take care of myself.

2. I am going to put myself first and relax when needed to.

Eating right is the easier part. Exercise is the major thing. I can always find a very good excuse not to exercise. I am an expert at this. Exercising everyday is going to be the most challenging thing for me. But, I am going to do it. I look at my mom and mother-in-law who are in their fifties and are healthier than me. I am happy for them. But, I need to be healthier than them. I am still in my thirties. They are going to be my motivation for exercising. DH and me have started the 30 day shred again – for the third time. We have lots of fun doing it and encourage each other. Hopefully, we will keep doing it. I am planning to join a gym and go there at least 3 times a week. If I look at other people exercising, I’ll probably get motivated too. Hopefully I will put all my plans into practice. Please wish me Good Luck!

Hurt my toe :(

Friday was one of those ‘I-feel-grumpy’ days. Although sleep deprived, I woke up as usual and was going about doing my regular chores in the morning and I accidentally bumped into a step stool. It hurt so bad that I had to sit for 5 – 10 min for it to get a little better. Being a person who frequently bumps into things while I walk, this was not something new. I just thought it hurts really bad this time.

I hurt my small toe on the right foot and it was swollen all day and was hurting even when I was not moving it. Not even giving it a thought, I even went grocery shopping and half way through the grocery store, the pain became intense and it was difficult to walk with my sandals on. Then I started thinking maybe the toe is broken. So, then I went to the urgent care clinic and after waiting for an hour, the doctor said “you broke your toe”. She said I would have to wear a surgical shoe. Then off I went for an X-Ray which showed the toe is not broken. I was relieved but I still have to wear a surgical shoe (or maybe I should say a surgical sandal) until the pain gets better.

My surgical shoe

This shoe is not the most comfortable thing but definitely better than my sandals or walking bare foot. I just hope it’ll get better in a week or so. I do not want to wear this more than a week. I have to wear it all day at home too 😦

Heart Healthy..

Yesterday my DH had a health check up at his office. His company arranged for a free health risk assessment and they checked the height, weight, Body Mass Index (BMI) and a blood test to check the levels of cholesterol, triglycerides, LDL and HDL.

BMI is fine, he is not overweight but has above normal levels of cholesterol, triglycerides, and very low amounts of HDL – all of which are high risk factors for heart disease. Frankly, we were not that surprised by the results. We eat right but we lack exercise. If I had a blood test done for all the above factors, the numbers would definitely be high. Although we knew we needed to exercise, we always had excuses for it. But, now that we have seen actual numbers, we are more determined to get them to normal levels.

So, we have already started exercising. But, this time instead of hitting the treadmill or starting the 30 day shred again, we took it outside. This week the weather is perfect for outdoor activities and since it is going to get better as summer sets in, we decided to play tennis everyday. We have a tennis court within walking distance. So, yesterday we hit the tennis court and played for a half hour. That is the form of exercise we really love. The best part is it doesn’t feel like exercise. My son played with the extra tennis balls and he had fun running around the tennis court. We had lots of fun.

Now, food plays an equally important role in reducing those numbers. So, I did an analysis yesterday on our food patterns and the required amount of different food groups. We actually eat a lot of veggies. We rarely eat a meal without vegetables. Even my son is pretty good when it comes to eating veggies. We use olive oil for cooking and eat a lot of whole grains. Few things that we need to improve on are eating more fruits, using less oil for cooking, cutting out on junk food and eating some healthy snacks. So, now our focus is primarily getting exercise everyday and eating healthy food.

We are probably going to cut back on eating out of home and even when we eat, I am going to make sure that it is healthy food. So, now I am on a mission to make a variety of heart healthy, tasty, easy to prepare dishes. Hope we succeed in getting those numbers down and keeping them that way.

My day until now

Today the sun came out a bit and it feels good. The temperature is not bad either. It felt really good in the morning when we headed out to the library. Sarath is fighting the cold since Saturday and it is really hard for both of us. He is very tired, doesn’t want to eat or drink anything except juice. Add to it lack of sleep and you can imagine the state we are in. A lot of tantrums. Everything leads to a tantrum.

He is also giving up the sippy cups and starting to drink from a regular cup. Maybe I should have waited until he was feeling better. Well, I did not force him though. I just told him that his cousin (same age as him) gave up sippy cups completely and is drinking from a regular cup. He immediately decided to give up sippy cups too. Amazing!! The effect of another kid even at this young age! I was glad and gave him the cup. I guess I just want him to get used to the cup when he is all for it. That way less nagging from our side. Well, that is adding to all the tantrums.

So, today he wanted some milk. I gave it to him in the regular cup. He drank half of it. While he was still drinking I stepped away for a few seconds and he poured all the milk on the high chair tray. When he heard me coming, he started crying “I want to drink the milk. Don’t take me off the high chair……..” I did what I had to to. I removed him from the high chair and tried to explain that he cannot drink the spilt milk. He was crying so loudly that he could barely hear me. I let him cry for a few minutes and then when he was ready to calm down, slowly explained why I could not give the milk again. I guess he understood because he stopped crying and is playing cheerfully now.

Sometimes I do not even know that I have this strength to bear his tantrums. Sometimes, I just yell at him. But I feel really bad after that. So, today I feel good that I was able to get through to him and hopefully he remembers it the next time. If not, I have to deal with another tantrum all the while telling myself not to yell at him.

I have to get back to work. I am just hoping to have a peaceful evening and hopefully get Sarath to bed early so that he can get that much needed rest.

Keeping Fit

I have been thinking of loosing some weight and keeping my body fit for quiet some time now. I always start out with an exercise regimen and somehow it does not get the high priority on my list. When I was pregnant with my son, I promised myself that I will be back into my pre pregnancy clothes as soon as possible. Well, later I realized that “as soon as possible” is not the term to be used. I was a full time mom staying at home with a lot of time to myself. I still did not make it a priority. After my son turned 1, I slowly started loosing my weight I gained during my pregnancy. I started managing my diet a little bit and I lost much of the weight without exercising.

Now, I still have some fat around my tummy which I would love to loose and fit into my old jeans. Also we have some history of cholesterol and heart problems in my family. So, I decided I have to do something to make exercising a priority. We have a treadmill in our basement but we never used it to its full extent. Now, I am not going to make any promises but just decided to exercise 30 min everyday. Hopefully, I will be strong this time and loose weight.