Putting It All Out There. Maybe.

Hello again.

Since the last time I wrote, to my own shock, I actually DID start working out again. I will admit that I gave up after a few days the first week because I was so damn sore from my leg day workout. Weak. The following week I was just trying to get through that horrible time that most ladies get. Y’all know what I’m sayin’. So I pretty much was deadddd. But I’m back at it this week! It’s Wednesday and I worked out both Monday AND Tuesday. Today is a cold and rainy day here in the DFW area and I’m spending it indoors cuddled up with my dogs. No worries though. My workouts are home workouts that don’t require fancy gym equipment – just bodyweight or light dumbbells.

I went to my primary care physician this week for my annual physical and because they wouldn’t refill my medicine without checking in again. I still need to go back to get my blood drawn for labs because I was in a rush on Monday, so I should have results back early next week. My blood pressure was good (to my surprise) but my weight has obviously gone up since I saw him last year though. I had gone down some around May but I gained it back and more. Here’s to me being brave… *breathe* My highest weight is now roughly 289 (with clothes – that makes a difference right???) UGH! I don’t think I’ve ever told anyone my weight except my husband. This is really hard to admit. However, I think it’s an important step in my journey. By putting it out there I have given myself some sort of accountability as I don’t want to come back and say I’ve gained even more weight. I’m telling y’all, I really want to try this time. I want to lose the weight. I NEED to lose the weight and get healthier. There are a couple of reasons for this besides the fact that I’m tired of walking around feeling like Violet from Willy Wonka.

I feel so round.

My mom has been dealing with several health issues for a while now. She was diagnosed with stomach ulcers, attributed to stress, many years ago. Most recently she was diagnosed with gout, arthritis (not sure which kind), and the scariest is Diabetes Type 2. It’s scary to hear because she’s had issues with her sugar before and doesn’t like to take medicine and she’s stubborn in her eating habits. She doesn’t live in the safest of neighborhoods so I’m glad she owns a treadmill but I’m not sure how often she uses it. My point is that Diabetes is a real threat to my health, not only due to my PCOS and insulin resistance but now it’s most likely always been in my genetics.

(NOTE: to my IRL friends and family, please don’t bring up what I’m about to say because it’s a difficult subject for me to talk about seriously…I know I joke about it and have been known to say I just want dogs but that’s just a front so I don’t have to delve deeper into the subject.)

The other biggest reason I really need to get my stuff together is that my husband and I want to get started on our family. It’s a touchy subject for me with my health and the possibilities. The what-ifs scare me. I might post about it another day, maybe.

But there you have it. This is more for myself, as usual, just to get my thoughts out and try and work through stuff. I’m working on getting my eating habits on a healthy track. I’ll be starting Victoza again – just a sample for now – along with my regular meds. I’m hoping it will get me started in the right direction along with my exercise plan and diet. Low carb is what I’m aiming for or at least fewer carbs and take out/fast food, for now, so please share any recipes or Pinterest boards if you’d like.

 

 

It’s Official…

…I am at my highest weight, ever! It’s depressing and shameful, but not all that surprising. There is so much I could be doing for my health but haven’t been trying hard enough, or at all if I’m being honest.

Over the weekend I took a look at my goals and figured out which ones I was on track with and which ones I wasn’t. I saw a meme the other day on Instagram: January was a free trial month. My knee is healing and I’m moving around more now. Slowly, but surely, my daily steps have increased. I restarted my supplement regimen and am taking my medicine more consistently. For the most part, I’ve really cut back on dining out this month as well.

January wraps up today and tomorrow is a new day. A new month. A fresh start. I’m going to continue my progress on the things mentioned above that I’m doing OK at. Changes for the month include starting PT for my knee, focusing on nutrition, and decluttering our apartment.

For physical therapy, I’m supposed to be working on my range of motion. This means hitting the gym at my apartment complex and becoming friends with the stationary bike for at least 20 mins a day. Alright, that’s easy enough, right? Then why haven’t I been doing it?? This HAS TO BE a priority if my knee surgery is to truly be a success. I don’t want a messed up knee.

Logging my food will probably be my best bet to get my nutrition on track. How can something be fixed if you don’t know the extent of the problem? Decreasing carb intake is the main goal of logging my meals. Insulin resistance makes it difficult to process carbs normally and has really lead to weight gain, especially around my belly. A ketogenic diet has worked the best for me previously in trying to lose weight. However, that was difficult because the best foods in life are carb-ilicious! Paleo, Whole 30, and Clean Eating are all fairly similar to me and I’ll be using their recipes and meal ideas as starting points. I will be trying to cut back on carbs to my previous doctor’s recommendation of less than 100g. Gotta go home and dust off our little food scale.

The last major change this coming month is decluttering and getting rid of stuff. Having a messy home can cause stress, even if you’re not consciously aware of it. Why do you think so many people clean when they have a big project to work on? Yes, it’s procrastination, but it is also a way of clearing your mind and allowing creativity to flow. We have a small apartment and two dogs. We’re not hoarders but we’re also not neat freaks. We have more clothes than we need (mostly my husband – in my obese state, I currently hate clothes shopping). This leads to piles of laundry and I hate putting up laundry so there are clothes all over the freaking place. I also have lots of art and crafts type items that I don’t use. I keep them around “just in case” a project needs them. Unfortunately, I’m all ideas and no execution. I’m just tired of seeing all the cluttered spaces around our home because it overwhelms me to the point that I don’t even know where to start and give up immediately. But no more!  So buh-bye. You gots to go, stuff.

Who’s with me on pushing the restart button to the year?!

 

 

 

 

Sparkle, Sparkle

I finished the PCOS Diva Sparkle Cleanse last week. Over the course of the two weeks I lost about 4-6 lbs, depending on if my scale wanted to act up or not. I really missed having real food for all my meals, but at the same time it was nice to only have to plan and prepare one meal a day. Occasionally a snack or two, if I got hungrier. Overall, the cleanse was a good way for me to see some results for weight loss and that made me even more motivated now that I’ve started the October challenge with Shelby over at Surviving Shelby. Unfortunately, for me, the price for the cleanse is too much to purchase for myself, but I am glad I won it and was able to try it. My skin cleared up a lot. I have really bad pilaris keratosis (at least that’s what I think it is – going to dermatologist next month) on my shoulders and it started going away while I did the cleanse.

For my fellow PCOS cysters out there: if you have the money and would like to try the cleanse to kickstart your body into losing some weight and feeling better, I’d say go for it. Otherwise, I’d suggest trying a lower carb, clean eating diet and incorporating weight training for exercise. If that’s too much, take it one day at a time, and maybe just increase your overall activity level. Once you get the right foods in your system, the energy eventually comes.

PCOS Challenge Symposium 2016

PCOS Positivity support group pic

This past weekend I had the privilege  of attending the PCOS Challenge Symposium and Bolt 5K in Atlanta, GA (a Facebook support group I’m in raised the most money for the 5K!) My very supportive husband joined me and we made a quick vacation out of it. We both learned so many new things that will help me along this journey of treating my PCOS and wrangling in my health. We also heard a lot of things we’ve heard before, but hey, sometimes you just need to be hit with the same information over again to help it stick. At least I do…often.

PCOS is a syndrome that has many symptoms and they’re not all the same for everyone. There is no one official way to treat it and treatment plans can vary from traditional medicines to holistic and natural approaches. Every person with PCOS must have a personalized plan and it takes a lot of time, energy, and trial and error. Not to mention finding a team of doctors who are supportive, knowledgeable, and willing to work together to find the right treatment.

At the symposium there were several breakaway sessions with different topic choices. Dustin and I focused on the integrative health and nutrition/fitness tracks. There were also some on emotional/mental health and fertility but we didn’t do those since we’ve got to get a hold of my health before starting a family. There were also Q&A panels with leading PCOS experts that included health professionals and advocates. It was definitely a wonderful experience and I hope to attend the next one.

I purchased an awareness bracelet and was entered into a raffle. There were several prizes, including books, cookbooks, fertility treatments, fitness packages, electrolysis, and even a very popular detox program. Guess who won one of the detox programs?! C’est moi! That’s right! I was surprised because I never win anything in raffles and I almost didn’t even buy the ticket! While I’m not one for “detox” programs and living off of shakes I figured I’ll give it a try and report my results to my fellow cysters (probably via my instagram). I prefer real food but I’ve never tried a shake program so let’s see how it goes. This program consists of 2 weeks of shakes and supplements geared towards women with PCOS. We tend to have insulin resistance/metabolic disorder so sugar can be really bad for us. This program focuses on getting all the necessary nutrients and a little extra of the vitamins and minerals that can help with insulin resistance. It also helps to cut back the amount of processed sugars in the body.

So far I’m halfway through day 2. The shake tastes alright. I’ve done protein shakes before so I’m ok with the texture and taste. It’s a mild berry/vanilla flavor. My husband tried a sip and didn’t like it. He said it was chalky but then again, he doesn’t like protein shakes either (and he likes nato which is fermented soybeans so his palate can’t be trusted sometimes haha). By dinner I was a tad irritable and hangry. But I get like that whenever I start lowering my carb and sugar intake. It takes me a few days to adjust. So, for the next two weeks I’ll be doing two shakes a day and a well balanced meal with healthy snacks (as necessary). Fitness-wise I’m planning on going for walks during my lunch hour at work and I’m in a few daily and weekly step challenges via Fitbit. I did so much walking and hiking during our trip that I managed to lose over 4 lbs! But I also don’t trust my scale…She can be sketchy. I’ll try to update again when I’m done with week 1.

Peace out, y’all.

Namastay In Bed

It’s been a while since I wrote anything. There’s no particular reason, I just have been lazy about it. We are a quarter of the way through the year already, which is hard to believe. Wasn’t it just January??

A couple of things have happened since my last couple of posts. I took my driving test and am now a fully licensed driver. Woopee! I don’t get on the highway yet, but I don’t really go anywhere besides work, grocery store, and gym. I have yet to get back to riding my bike. However, I do think my knee is finally getting strong enough to do so.

I have been to the doctor a few times already this year. I did an at-home sleep study to test for sleep apnea because I have trouble sleeping and wake up more than I’d like. Turns out I’m ok on that front, so my doc referred me to an ENT specialist. I paid my copay and after about a 10 minute visit, I was diagnosed with a deviated septum. It’s probably not the cause of my sleep issues, but I’m sure it doesn’t help. As for one of my other doc visits, I wanted to talk to him about my thyroid. PCOS comes with many, many different symptoms. Many of these symptoms can also be shared with/caused by thyroid problems. Several women with PCOS also have thyroid disorders, so after a lot of webMDing and Google searches I wanted to rule out any thyroid dysfunctions. Luckily, all is well there too. My doctor simply reminded me how important sticking to a low carb diet really is for my health and weight loss. Darn.

As for exercise, hubby and I joined a new gym last month. My membership includes 12 sessions with a team weight loss class that meets three times a week. The gym has tons of group fitness classes throughout the week as well. There are spin classes, yoga classes, dance/Zumba classes, and strength group classes. I’ve tried out a few of them and as part of my New Year resolution to try something new each month, I finally went to a couple of yoga classes. I am in love with them! As a beginner, it was intimidating the first time because I was afraid of being judged for not knowing the pose names or being as flexible as others. None of that happened (that I know of). The classes I checked out were all relatively easy and great for a beginner like me. The teachers talked us through the poses and adjusted us as needed. The lights were also kept pretty low in the room to add to the relaxation. My goal is now to go to at least two yoga classes a week. I sure could use the stretching, especially after sitting at work for hours.

That’s a little bit of what’s been going on around here. I’m slowly working on pushing myself out of my comfort zone because change and growth can’t happen if I do nothing. One of my new favorite quotes that helps is: “Waiting for someone else to make you happy is the surest way to be sad.” – Jeffrey Benjamin. I don’t want to be sad and stagnant. Gotta keep moving and improving. 😀

 

 

Hello, 2016!

We are a few days into the new year and I have yet to take some time to truly focus and write down my resolutions for the year. Several have been bouncing around in my head. You know, the usual ones: lose weight, eat healthily, exercise more, etc. However, these need to be broken down to be more specific and doable, and I have a few others for this year. I’ve even got some that are already planned and I know I will accomplish! That may be cheating a bit but oh well.

2016 Goals and Resolutions
1. Get my real driver’s license (without restriction B)
2. Travel and go on adventures
3. Increase net worth, lower debt, pay off car early, maximize Roth IRA contributions (finally opened one)
4. Be more present and work on relationships with family and friends
5. Try a new activity at least once a month
6. Read more, get out more, basically less technology dependency
7. Truly work on getting control of my health: exercise at least 3x a week, meal plan and stick to it as much as possible,  take my vitamins, supplements, and medicine consistently, avoid binge eating (Sorry, cinnamon rolls. You ruined it for the rest of the sweets.)

These are enough for now. I have plans to go into a bit more detail on some of them because I don’t want this to be a novel so stay tuned.

What are some of y’alls resolutions? 🙂

Taking A Knee…

…like in football? That’s a thing right?

In my birthday post last week I mentioned all about my plans to start training for a 5K. Unfortunately, that is on hold temporarily. Yesterday while heading to work, I managed to hurt myself. Luckily I wasn’t going full speed and there was mud to help cushion the fall off my bike. Although the mud is the main reason I fell in the first place.

I limped away with a bruised up knee and a sore body. My bike was only damaged because we ended up having to break the fenders to fit it in our car. I’m so thankful my husband was with me and we weren’t far from home so it didn’t take him long to ride back and get the car to pick me up.

Now I can say I’ve had x-rays taken, other than my teeth. Nothing was broken but it is possible I pulled or tore something but would only know if I got an MRI. If my pain doesn’t get better I’ll probably get one. For now, with the medicine, crutches, and ice packs my pain is tolerable and I think I will be OK.

Hopefully I’m up and walking normally soon.

Here's a photo of my bandaged knee. There's a huge bruise underneath.

September Week 3 Recap

It’s finally moving week! I’m excited but also anxious. I need to finish packing and have almost run out of boxes. We currently have no internet at home and won’t have any at the new place until the end of next week! Thank goodness for unlimited data on our phones, Miracast, and tethering. I should be busy packing/unpacking for the rest of this week and next to need too much internet access anyway. In the meantime, I have my bike to ride, books to read, and two very needy (but hopefully lazy) puppies to tend to.

Like I’ve said before, weekends are the worst for me. I ate terribly (I miss cheese sooo much!!) and felt bloated from it for a few days. I’m just now starting to feel better. Last week for exercise I went to my Camp Gladiator class and we flipped tires! Like huge big-rig tires. Those things were heavy! We had tons of fun though because our trainer had us working in teams and against each other with exercises in between. It was a rough session but I felt amazing after. Well, after I got home, ate, and had the chance to relax a bit.

This week we’re doing HIIT workouts and let me you, that is hard! Everyone was soaked by the end of the hour today. I was already lacking energy but know I’ve got to keep pushing myself and did it. For my meals, I’m sticking to salads with chicken for lunch so I have something quick and easy to take with me. Especially since packing up most of our dishes last night, I need simple meals that use the least amount of ingredients, utensils, and cookware. For me that’s usually chicken and veggies – therefore my dinner for the rest of the week. Tonight I ate eggs for dinner though. So quick and yummy!

Well back to packing I must go. At least I get to play with any leftover bubble wrap at the end of all this! 😀

September Week 2 Recap

2 weeks down, 2.5 weeks to go. It’s been a little bit more hectic around our home this week since we’re getting closer and closer to our moving day. Luckily, it hasn’t been too stressful packing stuff up and we’ve gotten a lot done. Well, more than we have before moving days in the past. I’m determined to have things ready to move quickly this time around.

This past week was much better for me in terms of my nutrition and fitness plans than the first. I planned out all my meals for the 4-day work week. I even took into account the two nights I’d be out later than usual due to my Camp Gladiator training. Friday morning I even managed to turn down some delicious looking donuts and donut holes at our work meeting. I knew I had my breakfast waiting for me as soon as it was over and simply sipped on my unsweetened iced coffee. Most setbacks on my diet typically occur on the weekend. It’s my biggest weakness simply due to a lack of a set routine. We had a lot of errands and packing/cleaning to do this weekend but I didn’t let fast food tempt me with its convenience.

https://instagram.com/p/7f7gihjKlg/

Camp Gladiator has been definitely challenging, but fun. I’ve met some really nice people and everyone is so supportive. On Thursday, we were running and I was so tired but some of the other campers came back and motivated us to finish strong, with a sprint to the end. I know if I had been alone, I would not have pushed myself for that last bit. I can’t wait to go back tomorrow! I’m ready to kick this week’s butt! 😀

September Week 1 Recap

First week of the month is gone. Only three more weeks until we move! It’s exciting!

The hubs and I spent this past Saturday running errands. We went to a grown up furniture store and were scared away by the grown up prices. No, thank you! We noped right on out and headed to Ikea instead. We had a delicious lunch and took a look at some couches. Since we still have three weeks we only bought him a new desk chair. We headed to REI after to get him some safety gear after he took a nasty fall a few days before on his bike. We also got me a new bike. I’m in love!! We went on a night ride with one of our friends later on. It’s been about 15 years or so since I last owned a bike. I’ve had it three days now and I’m getting the hang of how to properly use all the gears.

Photo credit: REI.com (mine is a darker blue than this)

As far as my nutrition for this past week goes, I did well throughout the work week. I forgot we had a meeting on Friday morning and rushed to it so I didn’t have breakfast. About three hours later I was so hungry I got Taco Cabana.  I thought that might be better than a greasy hamburger and fries. For Labor Day, I was super lazy for the first part of the day. Eventually I got up and started doing dishes and laundry. Some friends came over later and we ordered pizza and I had some whiskey and tequila. Not much at all honestly. Basically one shot of each. When hubby got home it was time to bike ride but I almost didn’t go. I told myself I should since I was lazy earlier. Note to self: never eat pizza shortly before biking or doing any exercise. It made the bike ride awful. Seriously. I’ve learned my lesson.

This second week is going to go by pretty fast (hopefully) since it’s a 4-day work week! And it’s payday week! Woo-hoo! I’m excited to keep biking and get better. This week is also the first week of Camp Gladiator so hopefully that goes well and I get to meet some cool new people. 🙂