The Fitness Diaries, Resumed

In June 2016, I was at my highest weight (when not pregnant) ever. I weighed 150 pounds. For reference, I'm 5'2" with shoes on, and this put my BMI at 27.4 (firmly overweight). I felt awful, had no energy, and didn't want to continue gaining weight. My IBS was rampant and I just felt helpless. That was how my life was. I felt like I had to try something. So I started counting calories and doing what had "worked" before. What I had done in 2013, and 2014, and then got pregnant and stopped doing.

In one year, I had lost 6 pounds. SIX. And I still had no energy, terrible IBS (like, as in I had no idea what foods would trigger sudden bouts of diarrhea, I was taking immodium several times a week). My skin was a mess and I was battling breakouts.

I started my Arbonne business in May 2017, and didn't really think about the nutrition side until about June. I started doing hormonally balanced protein shakes for breakfast (instead of cereal) and taking Digestion Plus. I did some research and cut out dairy, and suddenly not only was my skin clearer for the first time in YEARS, but I actually only needed immodium once every week or so. With those small changes, and some occasional exercise, I lost 3 pounds in just over 2 months. Not a lot, I know, but that's HALF of what I'd lost in the entire preceding year.

October 2017

In October of 2017, I bit the bullet and actually did the entire Arbonne 30 days to Healthy Living. I cut (in addition to the dairy that I'd already cut out) gluten, soy, corn, sugar, alcohol, and coffee. I stayed 100% committed. And that month, I lost two pounds. Slowly, but more rapidly than I'd been losing weight before. Most importantly, this actually helped me discover that gluten is a trigger for my IBS (and I did have blood tests done to rule out Celiac, given family history).

January 2018

I have continued to be gluten and dairy free in my diet, and have done the 30 days to Healthy Living several more times over the last year. I also added more regular exercise, specifically with Beach Body (I have a couple good friends who are coaches, and I love the variety of available workouts), and also working to close my diastasis recti (which will be its own post).

February 2018

As of today, October 25, 2018, I have lost 25 pounds since I began this journey. In the last year, I have lost 15 of those pounds. My stomach is no longer bloated, and I can actually feel good and not squished in my clothing. I feel healthy and amazing. (picture to come, I just need to actually take one, haha).

I'm mentally getting back to the point where I can start blogging again. I will probably discuss some of the reasons for my long hiatus at some point, but I don't know what the future holds.

6 Months Postpartum, and a plan

I'm now 6 months and change postpartum for the third time. I am still suffering from discomfort and, frankly, pain, from the SPD that I had while pregnant with LCC. I've gained back the 5ish pounds of weight I had lost immediately postpartum (which, honestly, just puts me back to where I was a couple months before I fell pregnant). I am sick of living in pain, and I want to get back to where I was before I got pregnant. So I've joined a fitness group on Facebook and hopefully that will help me with the motivation I need to work on this!

Crappy *Before* Pic - weight 144.6 pounds

Here are my goals:
1. Strengthen my core and pelvis and anything that comes along with that is a bonus.
2. Get back on track with healthier eating, by tracking my food so I don't have issues as LCC starts eating solid foods and my milk output decreases.  This is not to say I am counting calories, but I am trying to make sure I get enough fruits and veggies and protein, and enough water.
3. Start being able to run again (which can't happen until my pelvis is back at 100%, because OUCH).

The fitness group challenge runs through the end of October, but I don't plan to stop then. I'd like to at least get #1 and 2 solidly in place by then. 

Fitness Update

I got 7.8 miles in this week (added 1.8 today during my walk), as well as my Guts and Butts class yesterday (wee bit sore today...). I did also do a 50 minute yoga video a few days ago and it was great, I'm in good enough shape that I can do most of the poses without modification! I feel so much stronger and more flexible.

I also did get over 100 miles this week! YAY! I am at 107 so far, 193 to go. I'm so proud of myself! On Tuesday I ran my fastest mile in my adult life, 11.5 minutes! I actually ran/walked 1.5 miles with Athena, but that was how it averaged out. She's a great running buddy.

So That Happened...

You may have noticed I didn't do my weigh in post last week. I'll get to the why of that that in a moment.

In the meantime, on Friday, my weight was 140.8, which means I lost a pound that week, but didn't actually lose anything compared to the last couple weeks, meaning that I've been maintaining at about 140.

I found out why on Thursday night.

Morning

Evening...

How Far along: 4 weeks on Thursday, which makes me 4w4d today, which is Carnegie stage 8, which means that my baby looks like a vulva.

Baby size: Poppyseed.

Total weight gain: None.

Maternity clothes: N/A, though honestly, this bloat is no joke. By evening it's seriously uncomfortable.

Sleep: Like a rock, if I actually get to sleep all night. Thanks to Dee, this is an infrequent occurrence, but at least she's weaned now so that makes my mornings a little better. I don't always hear her wake up at night right now though, and often C nudges me and wakes me up to tend her.

Best Moment this week: Not even a little related to pregnancy, but it was Dee's birthday party. I'll share pics of that in another post.

Movement: N/A

Gender: It's a boy. I know this.

Labor signs: N/A

Belly button: In, and expected to be in for the duration.

Cravings: Nothing particularly sounds good, but lemon/lime stuff is very, very appealing.

What I miss: Nothing yet, although I will be missing margaritas and Bitter Elders this summer.

Stretch Marks: No new ones.

What is different this time around: Bloat is worse, makes my belly look huge (see pics above). I am in better physical condition this time than with either previous kid, in spite of what the scale says, and I have mostly fixed my diastasis recti, so I'm going to keep trying to maintain that the best I can. 

What I am looking forward to this week: Hoping that morning sickness does not decide to show up, and that some foods at least sound like something I want to eat. I also plan to get in at least 6 miles, but I'm not really very hopeful about any evening workouts.


This was not planned, as you may have guessed from my previous posts. C and I were not planning to have a third biological kid, and though I wanted one I was not even contemplating anything seriously for at least another year (though he now says that I had almost persuaded him to have another child). We were using spermicide (VCF films, which had not failed us in probably 40 months of use). I had the thought, the day I ovulated, that I had somehow gotten pregnant this cycle, but put it out of my mind as sheer imagination. When, a week after ovulation, I felt crampy (pinchy cramps) I mentioned it to C, and he said maybe things were just getting going early this cycle. Then a couple days later I almost fell asleep in my parked car right after I got to work in the morning. I had random hot flashes and random nausea flashes. Smells jumped out and ambushed me. I was intermittently crampy and felt "wet" constantly.  My period didn't show up at 12, or 13, or 14 DPO, so on my way home I bought a DollarTree test. I didn't tell C because I fully expected that I was making all this up in my head and the test was naturally going to be negative.

I am sort of getting excited, but I am sort of terrified (C is in this same boat). I am not worried about pregnancy and delivery, really, except that we can't afford to deliver off network (J and Dee were both born at the same hospital, one that is not included by Kaiser) this time, so I'll be going to a Kaiser hospital. I do not like how they handle pregnancy or delivery, so this is hard for me. They no longer have midwives that I can see for my prenatal visits. I can only hope that our work quits using Kaiser, but I am not terribly optimistic about that.  We were planning to finish fixing up and sell our house next spring (2015) but now that has been moved up to this fall, if we can do it. It's going to be a challenge. I think we can still move next spring, but we'll be really crowded in the meantime.

Oh, and did I mention that we no longer have any baby stuff? I think we still have the dropside crib I got from my sister but I hate that thing (never mind the fact that it's been recalled). At least we still have a few cloth diapers, too, so we just need to rebuild our stash of those. I'm also very glad that while I had put all my nursing bras in the "donate" box, we hadn't actually donated them, so I know that when my boobs decide to go nuts I will be ready. And breast pumps are covered now by insurance, so that is nice. Anyway, there you go.

For what it's worth, I will still be doing my 300 miles for the year, I'll just have an extra person joining me. I will still report my mileage each week, and any other workouts I do.

*Ahem* Also, please check my mileage ticker! GO ME!! 101 MILES DOWN! Booya!

Weekly Weigh #10

Well this was a frustrating week. I kicked ass in so many ways, I ate right, I exercised lots. I met my calorie goals every day (actually was 100-200 calories below my max every day) I only got in 7.5 miles, but I did do 2 workouts (Bikini Body Mommy Day 3, and Guts and Butts yesterday). However, I've been horribly bloated (hormones suck balls) and as a result, where I weighed 140.6 on Monday (easy reach of the 130s!!), this morning the scale showed me 141.8. I know that 1 pound fluctuations mean nothing, but not a single ounce lost, and in fact a slight gain this week? Very frustrating. I am not tracking today, because I need a break. My hormones are bugging the hell out of me, it looks like I will have a short luteal phase this month (like 9 days, maybe,  because I'm on 8DPO now and bloated as hell, as well as having been crampy yesterday and the day before). So, last week = ovulation, and this week = PMS. Lovely.

Plus I'm working late today, but fortunately not horribly late (yay!) and I can still make it to meet a new friend at the Christopher Moore book signing. My mommy is back from her stint in Hawaii for the past 2 1/2 years so she's babysitting, while C has a gig. Busy Friday night, yeah?

And Dee turns 3 on Sunday, and has her 3 year checkup on Monday. Her birthday party is next weekend, so I'll post pictures of that when the time comes.

Happy Friday!

I got some new shoes at Kohl's for super cheap as part of some retail therapy when I was losing my shit at home. C sent me on my way so I'd get to cool off.

I've been better about walking consistently, and even ran my fastest mile ever (well, not ever, in recent history) at 12 minutes per mile, and I ran 1.5 miles in one go, only walking about a block of it. I've been working on strengthening my core correctly to fix the diastasis recti (using the exercises here). In 10 days, I've reduced my separation by half, so that's awesome. I lost an inch plus on my waist since my last measurements, which brings me to:

Week 9 Progress:
0.6 pound gain (dammit!!)
10.4 miles walked/run
1 at home workout (Bikini Body Mommy Day 2 - only doing these periodically)
Nutrition goals met-ish... not really very good. I was close to my maximum goal nearly every day. Also, there was lots of fried chicken. Calorie wise not so bad, but veggie and fruit wise not so good. Ovulation also happening, which causes some bloat/water retention. Bah.

Summary of Challenge to Date:
8 pounds lost (5.4%)
84.4 miles walked/run
3 inches lost on waist
1 inches lost on ribcage
1 inch lost on bust
No change on hips

Goals for next week:
Break the 140 barrier!! This means a 1.7 pound loss will be needed. I can do it!
10 more miles
Guts and Butts Class or 30 mins of Bikini Body Mommy workouts
Avoid sweets that comprise more than 10% of my daily intake total. 
Keep 200 calorie "cushion" between my maximum intake goal and where I actually end up. I have Sparkpeople set up to include my calories burned, so this is really not that bad.

(Yes, weigh ins have changed to Friday, because it was too hard on all of us to have the weekend, our universal weak spot, in the middle.)

Almost forgot my "No 'Poo" update. I think I'm getting past the detox period. Turns out I was going through it after all. My hair would get really sticky/greasy and it was gross. Yesterday my hair was all wavy and nice and not quite as weird. I think I just can't use the conditioner part, that seems to mess things up for me. Today I just did a hot water rinse and have a ponytail, but we'll see this weekend how my hair does. I'm pretty optimistic. This website was really helpful when I needed some troubleshooting support (or thought I did).

I also got my custom dress from eShakti yesterday. I LOVE IT. It's perfect and fits me perfect (as it should, since it was made just for my measurements). I will make sure I get a pic of it on Sunday when I will wear it. If you want to know more about eShakti, or join them (you get a $25 credit with your first order, so you can get some great deals on stuff!), just visit the website linked above.

75 miles!

Found in my garden. Transplanting them last summer worked! Meaning they didn't die.

Today I hit 75 miles (on my walk). Wow. It's kind of amazing, really, to think that I did that. I've got 225 left to do, but 75 seems important. 

The "Guts and Butts" class went well last week, I was sore for 2 days after but I'm glad I went. I will be going again tomorrow. For some reason I didn't really lose any weight (141.8 last week, 141.6 today) but I feel great and I had to use the smallest hole on my belt yesterday, so I am making progress. My skin has been mostly clearer still, so that's a nice perk, too. Next week is measurement week, so I'll see what progress has happened in that department. I'm feeling reasonably optimistic about everything. I'm slightly frustrated that my hormone fluctuations affect my weight so much. Every month during ovulation and PMS I can guarantee a no-loss or slight-gain that week. Ovulation will fall next week, so I'm going to work extra hard to have a 1+ pound loss between now and then.

Update on the "No 'poo" front: nothing very exciting here. My hair definitely has more body and curl.  I've had to make sure to use enough baking soda solution (BSS) or my hair gets oily and awful. I haven't really experienced "detox" like I've read about. So far, so good! No itchy scalp, either, so that's nice.

Weekly Weigh-In and Other Thoughts

Drumroll please!!!

My weight this morning was 141.8. I have lost 7 pounds since I started this, and I have gone back nearly to my weight 2 YEARS ago. I am so proud of myself! I feel great. I've also gotten 60 miles down. I still have a ways to go in fitness and miles, and I want to be able to run two miles rather than just sort of half-ass run a mile and a half where I'm really only running a mile of it. Diet-wise I've been doing well at getting enough water (usually) and eating only whole food, though I do treat myself once in a while. I have the occasional chocolate from Trader Joe's, and sometimes I have a chocolate croissant from Starbucks (because really, they are AMAZING). I was terrible about getting fruit or veggies yesterday and got NONE. Unless you count the little bit of sauce on my pasta at lunch. :-/ Ah well. Onward and forward, I'll keep at it.

I am also going to go to a class tomorrow at work (over lunch) called "Guts and Butts" so we'll see how that goes. It seems like it will be fun, and I'm going with a friend from work.

A selfie because I feel pretty today :-)

Other than the fitness front, I've started to go "No 'Poo" this week. I've been pondering it for a while, because no matter what shampoo I use, my scalp is super itchy after a few days of use. I also tend to have a dry scalp. I have been only shampooing every other day for a long time, which helps, but even then I have awful itchiness problems a lot of the time. So I figured it was worth a shot. My method is this:

Dissolve about 3 tablespoons of baking soda in water. I think I used about 2 cups of water. The consistency feels slippery when I pour some in my hand, which I read is what it's supposed to feel like. I use a condiment bottle (ordered from Amazon) to distribute the BS (haha) and then massage it through my hair with my fingers. I do have to shake the bottle up every time I use it because a lot of the soda precipitates out. I think that as of this morning (two washes in) I've used maybe 1/3 of my solution. My hair is only shoulder length, so the amount may change as my hair gets longer, but we'll just have to see. Once I rinse the BS out, which feels a bit slippery, I use a spray bottle to spray a solution of water and vinegar into my hair. This is the "conditioner" step. I used 2 tablespoons of my orange-infused vinegar and filled the spray bottle the rest of the way with water (1 cup). It smells slightly vinegar-y but mostly orangey, which is nice and refreshing early in the morning, and once my hair is dry it doesn't smell like anything. I do rinse it out after I apply it and rub it through my hair. Again, as my hair gets longer I may change the way I do this, but for now it seems to be working.

I first did this on Monday morning, skipped yesterday (as normal) and washed again this morning. My hair wasn't any greasier yesterday that it usually is on a non-wash day, which is mildly greasy in the morning and a little more by evening. It feels totally normal, not weighed down or flyaway or anything (and in the dry Colorado air I was a little concerned about static). It's a little curlier than when I use shampoo, which is nice, because I do have sort of schizo hair that can't decide to be straight/wavy or a combination of the two. Usually the front is one thing (straight) and the back is another (wavy to curly). Oy. Anyway, it will be interesting to see how this pans out, and the lack of unpronounceable chemicals is a bonus. I doubt I'll save much money doing this because I spend very little on shampoo or conditioner to begin with.

Once my hair gets long again I may use commercial conditioner again, but we'll just have to see how this goes.

Spring, and Progress

 I see many lovely flowers on my daily walk. I missed taking pictures of the crocus, but I will try to capture the flowers currently blooming and yet to come.

Also, you may notice my ticker now says 60 miles!! YAY ME!!! More tomorrow, but I am very proud of myself. 60 down, 240 to go...20% of the way there!!

Wednesday Weigh-in, Week...6

Yesterday when I weighed myself I was down again, to 143.6, which was 0.8 pounds below last week. However, my awesome husband made sausage yesterday (totally not a euphemism, I promise) so naturally, we had that for dinner, and the salt content put me back up to where I was last week. It was SO tasty though. ANYWAY. Stupid being so sensitive to salt/retaining water. . I'm going to count yesterday as my "official" weight, though. So that puts me at 5.2 pounds lost. I thought it would be more by now, but there it is. Total lost is 3.5%. But I've been kicking ass at getting my running/walking in, and I can now run almost a mile out of my 1.5 mile run with my dog(s). In the past week I've gotten in 11.3 miles, which is great. The dogs love it. Well, Athena loves it. MacGuyver makes his "fuck you" face when I make him run with me, even though he needs it at least as badly as I do. My shins have been sore (will these shin splints never heal completely?!) since my recent runs though, so I'm going to work on strengthening them a bit before I push too much more running.

MacGuyver's "fuck you" face

I know I'm losing weight, I know I'm losing fat (the more important thing). My clothes fit better, I feel better and more energetic. (I tried on a pair of jeans I got for really cheap at Target but hadn't tried on when I bought them, then couldn't button them when I got home, but they FIT!! I have a serious muffin top so I won't wear them yet, but I could easily button them and they were comfortable!!) Also, my skin is clearer! Yay!! Unless I binge on sugar, in which case I can expect a breakout in the next couple days. Bleh. 

I really, really, really need to stop slacking on weekends. I have got to keep tracking on Saturday and Sunday, because every time I don't I come off the weekend with a gain of a pound or two. I can usually lose it again by Wednesday but it's frustrating and probably not healthy to keep doing this.

Weigh-In, Schmeigh-In.

So... yeah. Happy friggin' Wednesday.

I had a 0.2 pound *gain* this week. I know. That's nothing. It could just be that I didn't poop enough yesterday. But still, to have a gain at all is so frustrating. It wasn't from this weekend, it was since Monday, because on Monday I was still where I was last Wednesday.

Maybe it was because Dee is down to only nursing once a day and my body is adjusting. It could just be normal fluctuations, but seeing a small gain after 3 weeks of small but important losses is really frustrating. I have lost 1/2" to 1" in various places, including on my boobs, so that's amazing, and I am feeling stronger. My calves are awesome.

Anyway. After this slightly frustrating start to the day, I go to get in my car, slip on black ice, and fall...on my knee, and my arm, and my Broncos cup, which is now broken and thrown away. I love that cup and I drank water out of it all the time :-(. So now I need a new one. Also, I managed to rip a 3" hole in the shoulder of my only winter coat as I fell. Ugh. I also popped my back/neck and jaw pretty badly, but my headache is finally gone from that. My arm and knee are sore, I'm sure my knee will be pretty colors tomorrow.

They had Mexican Meatballs in the cafeteria at work today, though, which are fantastic, and those helped. I need some more coffee. I think a walk to Starbucks is in order.

Making Progress

Week 3 of the Fitness Challenge:
1.2 pounds lost
5.4 miles walked
Nutrition goals met
Adding core-strengthening and yoga into my routine

Summary of Challenge to Date:
3 pounds lost
15.7 miles walked/run
1.25 inches lost on waist
0.5 inches lost on ribcage
Boobs still enormous. No change.

To add to the challenge, Dee has stopped nursing in the evenings, which takes away from the "bonus" calories I've been burning. I have done well with not going over my calorie/nutrition goals, so I don't think I'll gain a whole bunch like I did when J weaned. Hopefully. I'm trying to be more mindful of things now.

Of course, being the only female in the weigh in is a little tricky...I expect the men will lose a lot more a lot faster, just because they have more to lose and their bodies work differently. For example, Big lost 10 pounds in one week... compared to my 1.2. Granted, he's still a buck and change heavier than me, but I don't think I will be winning any prizes for % lost or anything. Maybe I can win for consistency?

Reflections on the Weigh In

My starting weight last week (Thursday) was 150. I got slammed with a head cold and Valentine's day and massive family party, and I managed to get in 5 1/2 miles of walking/running. I met my calorie goals (tracked in Sparkpeople) every day that I tracked (I don't think I tracked all of Friday or Saturday).My weigh in this morning was 148.4! (This is 1.06% lost this week, which I am only calculating because it's part of my check-in for the Fitness Challenge.)

Considering my weight last Monday (2/10) was 148.8, I am making progress, but slowly. I need to make sure I don't repeat this gain 1-2 pounds and lose it every week stasis that I've been in. Upon entering those weights, I realized that my weight January 10 was 148.4. This is really frustrating! But at least I am paying more attention, and holding myself more accountable. I am feeling physically better, even if the scale isn't reflecting a damn thing. Yet. I am going to get more mileage in, especially after my discovery that Starbucks/Trader Joe's is a 1.6 mile walk and I can do it in 25 minutes. I think if I just make my afternoon coffee run a walk to Starbucks for a latte I can get in 1.6 miles each day that I can't work out at home (due to C being at rehearsals/gigs/etc on some weeknights). Plus the latte is way tastier than what I get at the cafeteria here for drip coffee, for like $0.75 more. Good deal, really.

This whole thing is really helping me realize what I need to do to take care of myself. I did make the discovery last week (on V-day) that Hershey's kisses are crack bombs. Eat just one of those suckers and there's an instant craving for like 10 more. Eat one piece of quality chocolate, and I'm satisfied. My conclusion? Junk food chocolate is just that: junk. If I want chocolate, I'm going to get the good stuff and be happy with less.

I did do another 1.5 mile walk this afternoon for my break. It turns out that it's 1.5 miles to Starbucks, not 1.6. That extra tenth of a mile must just in crossing the street! Anyway, here's a funny from when I went to enter the latte I bought in Sparkpeople. Incidentally, yes, I do prefer my lattes to be nonfatal.

Squee!

Trader Joe's has arrived! Yay!

I walked there and back during lunch today. 1.7 miles in 27 minutes. Not too shabby, huh? I didn't buy anything because the line was too long but I did stop by Starbucks (across the street from TJ's) for a latte. I'm feeling pretty good about the check-in tomorrow morning.

Universe, You Shall Not Win!!

So the Universe is trying to tell me something. I was all set to do my yoga video (that's right, I said video, we're old school like that) last night (PM Yoga, I love it) and couldn't find the plug for the VHS rewinder. Which we need, because our VCR eats tapes if you try to rewind with it. I entered a rage-filled frustration zone where I tore apart the house for like 30 minutes trying to find the damn plug (you can see, maybe, part of why I needed to do this soothing yoga...) So finally at like 10:30 C gets home from rehearsal, and finds the plug. I rewind the tape, insert it in the VCR. The VCR promptly eats the tape. Alrighty then. No more VHS for us, the VCR has gone all Donner Party on us and is going to eat anything it can, whether or not we try to rewind in it. So... I still need to do yoga. More than before, because this event has only increased my agitation and keyed-up-ed-ness (it's a word, I swear). C suggests I check the internet. No streaming yoga on Netflix (though it seems to me they're missing something with that), and to get my treasured program on YouTube I have to pay $4. I don't think so, Internet, you will not trick me!! I didn't find anything else satisfactory on YouTube, so I put on a meditation CD and made up my own PM Yoga. I felt SO much better, even though I maybe only spent 10 minutes and probably did some of it wrong. I went to sleep and figured morning would be nice.

Dee, in the meantime, woke up twice last night. 3 times if you count the time I allowed her to finally come snuggle and nurse. I woke up with a splitting headache (seriously, who crammed my head with cotton and clamped it in a vise-grip?) and a head cold. UGH.

So the Universe is trying to foil my plans to be healthier. I will not be so easily defeated, dastardly foe!!

A Return to the Fitness Diaries, with Accountability

As I have mentioned, I have a goal of running/walking 300 miles this year. So far I've done 9ish. I'm also trying to eat better, which isn't too bad but I do need to hold myself accountable for everything I eat. This just brings awareness to what I'm eating, so I can be mindful of what I put in my body. So far I haven't lost any weight, but I also haven't been very diligent.

Well, I just joined a fitness competition with Bigg Anklevitch of the Dunesteef. Every Wednesday, I have to weigh in and share my results, good or bad. I am really hoping this is the kick in the butt I need to get going with getting in shape. I'd like to lose 28 pounds, which is kind of a lot, but really just gets me back to slightly more than I weighed when I got married, and hopefully accomplish this by my 10th wedding anniversary. See how that weight sneaks in? 2-3 pounds a year, every year, doesn't seem like a big deal... until you hit 10 years out and realize that you have gained a LOT of weight in that time when you add it all up. Yes, I have had 2 kids, and I did weigh 135 when I got pregnant with J. But then I was 140 when I got pregnant with Dee, and here I am. I never got back below 140 after she was born (for long). Now I'm at 148. I know, some of you are probably thinking that I have nothing to complain about, that I am not overweight, etc. I am only 5'2" tall, which, at my current weight, puts me in the overweight category. I just want to get back down to the middle range of normal BMI.

My goal with this is not focused so much on the weight loss, but more on the actual physical fitness aspect. I want to be able to live a long and happy life, and I want to be able to run and play and hike and clean and fix up the house without being dead exhausted and in pain. So here I go.

Wish me luck. Lots and lots of luck. Because this weekend is Valentine's Day, and our annual family January-February-March birthday party. And today was one of my bosses' going away parties. So there's lots of junk food in my future, and I am going to try my damnedest to make the healthiest choices I can.

(Side note: I discovered that walking up and down the stairs for 10 minutes at work is a decent way to get in a mini-workout, and if I do it every day the exercise adds up.)

After Our New Year's Walk

 

I took this after our walk on New Year's Day (you know, the fateful day when the stroller broke?). Anyway, everyone was pretty tuckered out and apparently the couch was the place to be! We were watching Good Eats if you were wondering.

Our New Year's Card Photo

Yep. We're sending out New Year's cards this year. 10 of them. That's about how much energy I had to devote to the project. I just finished editing the picture my sister took of the four of us. I think it came out pretty well, especially considering that it was taken in relatively low light and on a phone.

Oh, and don't mind Dee. She's... Dee.

In other news, I took the dogs on a walk today in the snowy, blowy cold. It was like 20 degrees out, and we made it a whole 1.38 miles. Yay! Almost 3 down...297 to go.

A Rant on the American Diet vs Real Food and Why This Bugs Me

Whenever I go on Pinterest (which is very awesome if you have a particular project/goal in mind, and otherwise will just suck you into a vortex), I see lots of things about fitness and losing weight and losing fat and so on. (On a side note, LOVE YOUR BODY AS IT IS. It will make you a much happier person in the long run. Not to say you shouldn't try to be healthy, but love your body just the same.) On those same pages, I see recipes full of shit. Cupcakes with Twinkies on top. Things full of sugar and processed ingredients. Do people not see the connection?!

I recently read a book called Fat Chance by Dr. Robert Lustig. The book was amazing for many reasons, but it primarily dealt with why (globally) people are getting fat, and why the abdominal fat we have is so very bad. You can read my review here on Goodreads, but it isn't very long. Essentially, everyone is binging on fructose so they don't raise their blood sugar. Sounds good, right? NO. Because fructose (straight fructose like in fruit juice, HFCS and agave nectar, not when you get it from fruit directly) is metabolized by your liver as fat. Visceral fat. The fat that clings to your organs and sucks away your life. Exercise helps, but diet does too. And trying to get rid of cutaneous fat may be a laudable goal, but if you don't do a damn thing about your diet you aren't making yourself any healthier. So yes, you can be overweight/obese, have low visceral fat, and be healthier than someone with low cutaneous fat who eats crap all day and has hidden visceral fat choking their insides.

We have been trying to eat more "real" food; more fruit and veggies, fewer processed foods (not that we do a whole lot of that anyway). It's going slowly but we are doing pretty well. It helps that it's summer and the farmer's market is open, but even in winter we have so many options for real food, real fruit and vegetables, raw ingredients to make bread and "real" food. Yes, we use butter. Yes, we use lard. Yes, we buy real cream and real sugar. Want to know what we don't buy (or buy it less than twice a year)?

Fruit snacks. Soda. Processed cheese (Velveeta/American). Margarine. Junk cereal (Trix, Cocoa Puffs, etc). White bread. Packaged cookies. Chips. Macaroni and cheese.

This, unfortunately (or not) means that many coupons I could clip and use go unclipped simply because we don't buy or eat the foods they are for. Fine with me, I don't need to spend the money simply to save a few cents on crap.

However... of course there's a however. Things we *do* buy that aren't particularly good for us:

Fruit juice (one container per week or less). Danimals Smoothies (ugh, gross, but the kids LOVE them and only get one per day). Cereal. Goldfish crackers. Frozen pizza (working on eliminating this entirely, but usually this is a once a month to every-other-week thing).

My kids LOVE their veggies. And fruit (just ask Dee about her "sawbees" (strawberries)). J has been known to steal broccoli from other people's plates. Corn on the cob is a huge hit. Obviously that's just a summer thing, but other veggies can be found year-round at your local grocery store. For most of the country, that's an accessible thing! I know there are places where grocery stores don't exist (another rant for another day) but in the vast majority of this country that isn't an issue. The biggest problem comes from when people on a budget (hello, most Americans) are trying to do the grocery shopping for as little as they can. Unfortunately, produce is often overlooked in favor of cheaper fare (especially organic produce). Instead of rice and beans (which is nutritious, filling, and about as cheap as it gets), people frequently go for the junk food that they have coupons for, and grocery stores often put specials on those items as well. Why buy milk at $3 a gallon when you can buy four 2-liter bottles of soda for less than $3 after the sale and coupons? Why buy fresh apples at $1.69 a pound when you can a gallon of apple juice (store brand, on sale) for $2 or less, or BOGO fruit snacks? Just try reading the labels - if you are buying the budget brand (at King Soopers/Kroger it's "Great Value" and is even cheaper than the Kroger brand) because you can't afford not to, you are unfortunately paying for extra fillers and fewer real nutrients.

We are very fortunate to finally be in a place (financially) where we can afford to shop at the farmers' market all summer for our produce. Even when we can't make it there, we go to Sprouts and spend at least half of our grocery budget on produce every week. It's a work in progress, and it's a struggle sometimes to make sure we eat all of our veggies (or fruit) each day, but I try to keep in mind that it's better for me and my family if we can live healthy lives by eating healthy foods. I do supplement a tiny bit of produce from my container garden, but that's miniscule compared to the amount of food a family of 4 needs. (Oh to have a yard and a real garden!)

I don't really have a solid plan for how to fix this broken system. I could really spend hours writing more and more about these issues, but for now I must stop. In the meantime, I will do what I can - educate my children, feed my children and my family the best that we can (and it's true, kids will eat veggies if you serve them and ask for their input on how to cook them!), and, someday, try to help the community I am in to create a more affordable, sustainable, and healthful way to eat and live.


Edited to Add:
I was perusing my Bloglovin list and came across this article from Science 2.0: Taxes On Sugary Beverages To Reduce Obesity Won't Work
It seemed to go with my rant here (sort of).

Doldrums

Have you seen the movie The Phantom Tollbooth? You know the part where they're stuck in the Doldrums, not motivated or able to do anything, like they're surrounded by molasses? Yeah. I'm kind of stuck like that. I'm not exactly depressed, but just sort of...stalled.

I can't run anymore for a while. I pulled my soleus muscle. This means no stairs, no walks, no runs until it's healed. Dammit. I am limited to yoga and strength training, which is fine but doesn't help satisfy my need to move, to rove, to think. It's stupid and annoying, and I brought it on myself. Basically, I thought that running barefoot/with minimal support would be a good idea when I got shin splints. Well, yes, it did help those...but then my pronated arches (especially my right foot), further "assisted" by the slope of the sidewalks in my neighborhood, put excessive strain on my soleus. The lower portion and the upper portion were unequally worked, and the upper was weakened while the lower was strengthened and then pulled. The result is stabbing agony after about a quarter of a mile, as well as agony when I kneel/sit on my calves (comfy, generally) or when I take the stairs. Or try to stretch/work my calves (going up on the balls of my feet and lowering back down, etc).

Everyone on my floor at work (except me) hates their job. Yeah. Happy place to be every day. I can't do anything about it, my boss is awesome and theirs...are not. But it's not exactly a pleasant environment, it's very negative. 

I'll get over it, but still. Blah. Back to work, I suppose.