FRG---What's that??

So I’m not a complete idiot…I do, in fact know what the FRG is supposed to be. I also have heard plenty of horror stories about what it tends to morph into. But I have to be honest…I’m more than a little bit jealous of all of you who get to complain about your FRG. I know you’re thinking “Shanon, what are you talking about. Your husband is an active duty Sailor, on a boat that can technically deploy. Don’t you have your own FRG to complain about?” My only response is…NOPE!
So since my husband has been attached to this ship I have been asking for contact information. How do I contact the Ombudsman, who is the Ombudsman, what about the FRG? They have had a lot of underways, all less than a month so no big deal but things can happen in a week let alone a month. Furthermore one of their underways came back early another was a day late, how am I supposed to get this information?
Hubby asked and asked and asked. Finally he was able to get an email address for me for the Ombudsman (I do not know if it works or not, haven’t tried it but it’s just a Gmail account is that normal or do they have .mil emails?) When he asked about the FRG for me he was told “we are too busy to do that right now.”
Too busy? TOO BUSY??? You are too busy to find a spouse who can organize a group to meet every now and then to create a support system so that when the boat leaves we know who to contact/how to contact them? More importantly so that they know how to contact me if there is something I need to know?
I literally know 2 of the wives on Adam’s boat, and one of them is in divorce proceedings right now. Their husbands are in the same department as Adam and roughly the same rank…I’m pretty sure they aren’t going to know anything important if I don’t.
This is something that has been eating at me for about 2 months but I have kept quiet because I thought it was stupid. But over the past week I have heard more about FRG’s and Ombudsmen from my tweeps/bloggie friends than I have since I entered this virtual reality and it kind of brought the pissed-offness back to the surface.
What is your opinion of FRG’s/Ombudsmen/Spouse Support Groups? Does your ship/division/branch/base/post/whatever offer good support? Do they at least try? Do you have any spouse-friends who work with your husband/wife? How did you meet?
At this point I don’t care if it sucks, something has to be better than being told you don’t matter and they don’t have time for you.

Two thought Tuesday-Wednesday edition

So I just realized I forgot two thought Tuesday yesterday. I apologize profusely so I'm making it up now, from my phone. Which means no button or mr Linky but please feel free to join in!

1-Ace calculus the first time, retaking it 7 years after your last math class is a pain in the a$$ (I was doing homework for 4 hours last night, thus the missed post)

2-sometimes having enough of something (money, food, time) is more satisfying than having a lot of extras.

What are two random thoughts that sum up how you're feeling right now?

10-day cleanse—The Results

All in all I think the cleanse was a success. In total I lost 6.6lbs, 1½ inches around my waist, and ½ inch off my hips. It was a longer process than it should have been thanks to my minor derailment last weekend but I think the extra 3 days didn’t hurt anything. I feel a little better overall, more energized etc so I plan to try and keep the LIFESTYLE change up as much as I can. I’m still going to limit my processed foods and refined sugar/carbs and really hope to continue to see results in my everday life. I have updated my MyFitnessPal profile so it is now set to lose 1lb/week which means if I keep everything going on track I should hit my goal weight by the end of summer. I really hope I am able to keep up my activity level etc and hit it sooner but if not I am completely ok with that. I’m only 10 pounds from a “healthy” BMI which is my real goal more than anything. Having so many great cheerleaders on MFP has really made this a lot easier so thank you to them for their help and I hope that I am a helpful cheerleader for you as well.

10-day cleanse update

Phase 2—The middle 4 days are a little harder than Phases 1 & 3—
No: alcohol, caffeine, processed OJ, sugar, refined carbs, red meat, dairy, wheat, additives, preservatives, salt.
NO: white meat, white fish, eggs, nuts, seeds, dried fruit, grains (barley, rye, oats), milk substitutes, white potatoes, tomatoes, and organic yogurt (guess it’s the one dairy thing that’s ok?)
I already mentioned how hard of a time I was having with everything and how I almost quit. Plus the whole delaying phase 2 and stretching out Phase 1 thing. This week has been much better, so much so that today I am rewarding myself while still staying on track, for lunch I’m going to Mongolian BBQ with some co-workers, I just have to make sure I don’t get anything on the NO list for Phase3 and I’ll be good to go.
Yesterday and Wednesday I hit 1200 calories gross but on Wednesday I rode my bike to the store which took my net down to 1184. But I am feeling better than I was. I completely understand why they discourage going below 1200 calories on a regular basis, I was absolutely wiped. And I’m already feeling better. Last night I slept amazingly it was great.
The bike ride was my only “real” exercise during Phase 2, but I did stretch every morning and did situps on Tuesday and Thursday (but only 25 each day). Tonight I am going ballroom dancing @ the ballroom I discovered two weeks ago and I am soooo excited, I missed it so much! I also bought a Groupon for 10 hot-yoga classes; they have one for beginners on Saturday’s at 8:30am so I am planning on going tomorrow which will be fun. I’ve never done a true yoga class. I’ve done a few yoga videos and Wii yoga but that doesn’t really count.
I’ve lost another 2lbs putting the total for the past 10-days at 6.5lbs I know, not a healthy rate to lose weight blah blah blah but only 3 more days of the cleanse then I’m back to eating 1200-1500 calories/day NET, exercising regularly and actually trying to lose weight at a healthy rate. This has really given me the jump start I needed even if that wasn’t the point.
Adam will be home next week, I have no idea where he will want to eat for his homecoming dinner but I’m sure I’ll be able to keep up with my new lifestyle no matter what. For Memorial Day we have some friends coming into town (Izzy, Jersey, & I are going to stay at a friend’s house, not staying in our tiny apartment with 3 boys and 2 dogs!). We are planning on going to Williamsburg one day so I know I can eat healthy there and having a cookout on Sunday so I am going to buy either a pack of Morning Star burgers or some ground turkey haven’t decided which yet for my protein of the day. Either way I’ll still get to have fun with our friends.
I’ve discovered the next-best (if not better!) thing to a CSA. If you don’t know what a CSA is it is Community Supported Agriculture and basically you join in the spring and pay up-front for a box of produce weekly for the rest of the season. It shifts some of the risk from the farmers and gives you fresh, local produce from farmers you have actually met. There is a place locally that allows you to order whatever you want on a weekly basis and charges you a 15% markup on cost. They are also a retail store and their retail prices are 30% over their cost. All of their food is organic and when you order you have a choice of which farm your produce items come from so if you prefer local you can get local it may cost a little more or less depending on what the farmer charges the store. The downside is when you order most stuff is sold by the case but luckily their website has a section for splitting-cases where they try to divide them up among members who want to split them. I haven’t tried it yet, just found it this week, but do plan on placing an order soon. I’ll let you know how it goes!

Motivation

Today I was gonna quit the 10-day cleanse. Not because it isn’t working, not because I’m not seeing results, not because I don’t want to do it. I ate 966 calories yesterday, my average net calories (after exercise) for the past 1o days is 945, even without exercise my average calories consumed is 1090.

The average female needs at least 1200 calories per day (gross) in order to avoid putting her body into starvation mode, even when trying to lose weight. Do you know how hard it is to consume 1200 calories when all you are eating is fruits & vegetables? Well if you really are only eating fruits & vegetables without fat and oil and sugar it is very hard to do. And because I have been averaging so low the past 10 days I’m starting to get tired. Super run-down flat out exhausted tired. I feel similar to when I had mono in college. I get home from work and all I want to do is go to sleep. Last night, I couldn’t keep my eyes open past 8pm I kept waking up because of the thunderstorm outside and I wasn’t really asleep because I was watching tv but I was fighting sleep, hard.

But instead I have changed my mind. I am, in fact, not going to quit the cleanse mid-way. Instead I am going to force myself to eat enough calories. Only a few more days and the super hard part is over, I can totally do this I just have to work at it.

I have not been hungry once since starting this cleanse. I am eating more probably now than I ever have in my life, it’s just the things I am eating are healthier. It’s hard to hit 1200 calories worth of baby carrots and celery sticks!

Why the new-found commitment? Yesterday I lost 1 pound. No really, this morning I weighed myself and I weigh one full pound less today than I did at the exact same time yesterday. But that still isn’t all of my motivation. After all, the cleanse is not meant to lose weight, that’s just a happy side-effect, it is meant to get my body to a healthier balance. Get myself to a healthier place. I still stepped off the scale this morning determined to quit the cleanse an just do a regular weight loss diet until I hit my goal.

So what made me recommit to getting to a healthier place? Today I walked into work behind a woman who can only be described as morbidly obese. I am not saying that in a mean or hateful way, it is in this case simply the fact. This woman was about 5-foot tall (maybe) and could barely walk. When she walked her body bobbled from side to side, it made me sad more than anything. Then I saw what she was carrying, in her hand was a coke (if it’s a soda, pop, pepsi, 7-up it’s a coke!) from Hardees and a bag with a large to-go container. I like Hardees, especially their fried chicken, but I haven’t been there for breakfast in years so I wasn’t sure what she could possibly have in that container. When I got to work I pulled up their breakfast menu.

Let me start by standing up for Hardees, their breakfast menu has a lot of options that while not-necessarily “healthy” they aren’t very bad. Each of the items on their online menu gives full nutrition information so I was able to compare calorie and fat content for every item and must admit next time I want fast-food breakfast if I am able to resist the Chic-Fil-A Chicken Mini’s I will be stopping at Hardees. However they also have a lot of items that aren’t so great. I’ve narrowed down the list of possible things in the woman’s to-go container based on what would be served in that way. Basically it had to be a breakfast platter. The Country Fried Steak & Gravy platter has 810 calories and 49 grams of fat, the regular Breakfast Platter has 860 calories and 55 grams of fat, the Big Country Breakfast Platter weighs in at 870 calories and 44 grams of fat, the pancake platter isn’t so bad it only has 310 calories but still contains 50 grams of fat.

To put that into perspective, over the past 10 days my daily average fat consumption has been 38 grams. That is 6 grams of fat lower than is in any one of those breakfast platters. That single meal contains almost as many calories as I consume in one day, plus at least 6 grams of fat more than I eat. (and that includes the butter I put on my sweet potato at Texas roadhouse Sunday!)

Life is full of slippery slopes and I’m going to do my best to steer clear of this one. I’m going to eat as much as I possibly can over the next few days. For those of you who are on My Fitness Pal please feel free to add me as a friend. (SRPM) When the notification comes up that I’m under my calorie goal, yell at me. At least until next Monday. Next Monday I will reset my daily calories to a slightly higher number for now they’re set at 1200 not because that’s my limit but because that’s my goal. I have to eat enough to have energy to do the things I need to do but I also need to get all of that crap out of my system from all of the Taco Bell and McDonalds and Hardees I have eaten over the years.

44 Grams of fat…in one meal…that is why I’m doing this. That is why I’m going to succeed.

(and just so we are clear 44 grams of fat is roughly 3 ½ TBSP of Crisco or 3 ¾ TBSP of Butter, )

The cleanse-and update

So I have failed, ish. Over the weekend Adam and I visited historic Williamsburg and had a blast, unfortunately there were so many tempting treats! The good news is everything I ate was allowable under phase one, told you phase 2 would be a challenge! So I continued phase 1 through yesterday and will be following phase two today-Friday phase 3 will be Saturday - Monday then hubby will be home so I should be able to stick to it.

Energy level-today I'm a little tired but I didn't sleep very well last night, the neighbors left their porch light on (which they never do!) and it shined right on my bed so I'm thinking that was a contributing factor, however overall I am feeling good. My energy level is low today but higher than it would have been if I had been eating crap.

Weight-I'm down another 1/2 a lb since phase 1 ended the first time this puts me at 18lbs from my goal weight.

Exercise- I've continued stretching in the morning and am already seeing a small difference in my flexibility. I've been rising my bike when I can instead of driving and over the weekend Adam and I spent at least 6 hours walking around Williamsburg.

I promise a full post on Williamsburg sometime this week. I remembered the camera so I have some fun pictures to share! :)

Two thought Tuesday

So here are my two thoughts for this Tuesday!  Please feel free to share your thoughts also, just remember if you do to link up with Mr. Linky!

1-Nothing makes a girl feel pretty faster than a manicure and pedicure.

2-Puppy cuddles in the morning make everything better.