My son is doing much better today! Praise the Lord! His cough is almost gone.  He slept for 13 hours straight today and woke up feeling much better.  Tomorrow will be 1 week since he got the swine flu.  The doctor said it lasts 7 days, so I am hoping tomorrow will be even better.   

While we were at youth camp, I must admit that I ate the regular food.  I had intentions of packing all my NS and taking it with me, but then at the last minute I didn't (because I already had to pack so much---bed linens, towels, etc.).  I also let my sweet tooth take over on more than one occasion.  Our schedule was vigorous the entire week.  I'm sure I burnt way more calories than normal.  I did gain 1 pound while I was gone, but I am honestly thinking it was water weight because everything was much more salty than NS ever dreamed of being. Haha.  Anyhow, I weighed just a few minutes ago and I've lost the pound I had gained plus 2 more!! So, I'm now down 15 pounds.  I also started back doing the NS this morning.  I am ready to tackle this again. 

Thanks again for the prayers!!

Alicia

Hello friends,

    Just thought I'd update those of you who are wondering.  My son (who has the swine flu) is doing good.  The high fever lasted a couple of days.  He now has a bad cough and his stomach hurts (from coughing), but I can tell he is getting better.  The dr said swine flu is really no worse than any other flu we have had in the past.  It is just scary because it is something new (still a danger to compromised immune systems, young children, and elderly).  The good news is this strain responds well to Tamifu. . .as long as they don't run out of it. 

    I am still praying my husband and I don't get it.  I've had a low grade fever and have felt a little blah, but I have no other symptoms.  Maybe the Tamiflu is preventing it from becoming full blown flu. 

    I haven't seen my other two kids in almost 2 weeks (due to us being gone to youth camp & then the flu).  I guess I'm going to leave them with my parents another week until we know for sure this is over and they won't run a risk of catching it.  We had to postpone my daughter's 6th birthday party.  I sure do miss them.

    Our church has had about 10 cases so far.  The other church that was on youth trip with us (from a town about 10 min. away), has had 18 out of 25 people on the trip come down with it so far.  Needless to say, it is highly contagious.  It is all across the U.S. now, so I think it is going to be inevitable this fall unless they come up with a vaccine. 

    As far as NS goes, I'm trying to just eat healthy until this is over.  I appreciate all my NS friends' support!  I can't wait until life is back to normal again!

Alicia

We made it back from camp around 3am this morning.  The teens on the bus all began getting sick on our way home from Chattanooga, TN.  My son was one of the first.  We took him to the dr today and he apparantly has swine flu.  He tested positive for the flu & that is the only kind going around.  He has a congested cough, sinus drainage, headache, high fever (up to 104 degrees), body aches, sore throat, and nausea.  Thank the Lord, my two younger children are still at my mom's house and will stay there until we know my son, my husband and I are all fine.  We are all taking Tamiflu, so I'm praying my husband and I won't get it or will at least have a mild case.  All of the teens from our church were highly exposed and most of them are already sick.  Please remember them (Bethlehem Baptist Church) and my son in your prayers.

As far as my diet goes, it is on hold at the moment.  I'm having to take care of my son around the clock right now.  I was already totally exhausted from lack of sleep at camp this week.  I will do the best I can until this is all better.

Alicia

Ok. . .I must vent!!!  I am going to a church youth camp with my son Monday.  So, I was busy packing my NS food.  I had my food in our playroom closet and as I was packing I found that fire ants had gotten in our house and had found the Minestone Soup!! 

I just received the soup on Wed. afternoon and they had chewed through the top of 3 cans!!  I am soooo ill.  I keep my house clean and free of all crumbs, so why in the world did they find a way in and head straight for my diet food?! Thankfully, the Minestrone Soup is the only thing I like in those cans that you add the water to. . .and I'm also thankful that I was packing to go on the trip or I might not have noticed until they had gotten in all my Minestone Soup cans.  I guess the paper lids just weren't much of a challenge for an apparently hungry little crew of ants.   

I really hate fire ants!!!!  They are so small, yet can do so much damage and have a horrible bite!  Those of you up North should count your blessings tonight. . .if not for anything else but the fact you don't have these pests to deal with! ;)  I know a certain husband that will be spraying the outside of our house with ant poison tomorrow!  NOTHING is going to sabbatage my diet!!! Not even fire ants!!! ;)

Alicia

In case some of you have been wondering. . .no, I didn't fall off the face of the earth. lol  I've just been very busy with company & birthday parties etc.  I lost 3 lbs. my 3rd week (total of 12 now) and am now half way through my 4th week.  I had gotten down to only having food left that I truly did NOT like. Ugg.  So, I blame that for me giving in and eating birthday cake at my daughter's party.  :-(  That was a couple of days ago, and so far the scales don't show a gain. 

Fortunately, my 2nd shipment arrived Wednesday afternoon! YEAY!!!!  All the foods I love. . .and to my surprise, NONE of my chocolate was melted this time!!!!!  I am in heaven now, and gung ho once again.  I am back to really enjoying NS now that I have my favorite foods!  I also called the company and did an exchange.  It cost me $12 shipping to send back 11 breakfasts, 7 lunches, 2 dinners and 1 dessert.  I didn't think this was bad at all, and NS already has my replacements shipped (same day I called)!  So, I'm all set and ready to keep losing!  Hopefully I can keep up the will power!  We've got a wedding to attend tomorrow night.  Temptation lurks in every corner doesn't it?! 

Next week I'll be going to a youth camp with my eldest son.  I am packing all my food to take with me.  When we are on the road traveling, I am planning to use a calorie counter book to keep my meals under 1200 calories.  That seems to be the best solution since I won't have access to a microwave.  I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!! Thanks for always being so supportive! 

Alicia

Well, I weighed in Tues. morning and lost 1 1/2 lbs. my 2nd week. That brought my total to 9 lbs lost.  I weighed again this morning (just couldn't help it) and had actually lost 1 more pound.  So, I'm very happy with the results so far.  I want to do better being consistent with my exercise this week.

My husband's uncle passed away this week and we had the funeral today.  After the funeral, the entire family was invited back to his aunt's house to eat food their church had prepared.  Oh my!!  I don't know how they do these things up north, but here in the south. . .we're talking enough food to feed an army!  Anything you've ever even dreamed of eating was there.  For 2 very long hours I stared temptation in the face, but all the while I kept thinking of my friends here at NS and how I did not want to admit to them that I had cheated.  I also kept remembering what I read somewhere. . ."Nothing tastes better than skinny feels".  So, I am proud to say that I stood there and drank my diet coke and then ate when we got back home.  My husband ate enough for the two of us anyhow. Haha 

So, thanks everyone for holding me accountable!! 

I am almost finished with week 2!---with no cheating (this is a really HUGE accomplishment for me) Hurray!  I had to sit through a meal at McDonald's with my family last night, made my favorite homemade peanut butter brownies (for my kids & to take to their cousin whose arm was broken), and resisted fried squash tonight (another favorite of mine)!  (--all this, without taking the smallest taste!) 

My kids are so used to me "dieting" that they haven't been taking me seriously about it for years.  Well, my oldest & middle child (as of last night) are now talking about "when you are skinny, Mom" as if they now believe in me!  Wow! For years I've felt everyone laughing on the inside when I say "I'm on a diet" because I knew as well as they did that it wouldn't last.  Now I even have my kids believing in me again.  I can't let them down this time.  I REFUSE to let them down and ME down again!  

Well, I really never have been big on frying food (hate the mess--ha).  I haven't been cooking anything very good for my family lately and I really didn't have anything else to do with the chicken strips. . .so I ended up frying them last night for my family.  Boy, the smell of good ole southern fried chicken.  I'm proud to say I didn't even eat a crumb!!!!!!!! I can't even believe it myself!!  NS is so totally amazing to me!  I am so satisfied on this diet, that I can actually resist things that always led to failure on other diets!

Now, my next achievement is. . .I told my m-in-law that I'm on NS.  Of course I already knew her reaction was going to be that I'm wasting her hard working son's money.  She had to tell me how ALL I have to do is "cut back" on my eating and I can lose.  If it was that easy, then why doesn't she lose her weight?  I love it when people who can't lose weight, try to give advice on how to lose!  Anyhow, this time, I don't care what anyone thinks I SHOULD be doing.  I'm sticking to what is working!

-----Alicia

Well, I am very encouraged after completing my first week!  I lost 7.6 lbs.   I'm sure a large part of it was water weight, but I really don't care. Haha It's weight, and it certainly gave me a boost in my confidence that I can stick with this one!  It was definitely worth missing out on 4th of July food and my birthday cake.  I still have about 60lbs to go, so this is definitely just the beginning. 

Well, I can't believe I did it. . .but, I made it through the 4th and my birthday (5th) without getting off the NS plan!  It was SOOO hard resisting the birthday cake, but now I feel great knowing I CAN resist temptation! Yeah!

Well, I finally discovered a food I don't care for. . .the cheese tortellini.  I love tomatoes and have loved everything else so far, but it tasted too much like tomato paste to me.  The BBQ soy chips are pretty good.  I must say, I am still dreaming about that chocolate crunch bar though.  I know what I'm ordering lots of next month!