Sorry everyone! I know it has been a couple of weeks since I posted. It seems that my digestive issues were not caused by overdosing on gluten after all...(not that I really ate that much)
The Mystery Illness is Back!!!
Some of you may not be familiar with my "mystery illness" that I had for about 4 months in early 2009. The best way to describe it is alternating between a short period of semi-constipation followed by lots of mushy poop that has a really foul smell. There is sometimes cramping but not much. Sorry about the unpleasant description but it's no fun for me either. I hope nobody was eating when they read that. If you were I am sorry.
Ok I am done with the description I promise! This first started on March 17, 2009. I had not eaten anything unusual and I thought it was a one day thing. Well it wasn't. When it first started there was a lot of cramping so it did not take me long to see the doctor about it. My first visit was on March 30. Then on April 1st I was experiencing painful cramps and my doctor sent me to the hospital for an ultrasound. The ultrasound found nothing at all. I ate a lot of rice for a few days and I even see a note about having heartburn 2 days in a row which is really unusual for me. It appears after about a week on the rice I was ok for 2 days and then it came back. I went to see a Gastroenterologist. He ordered a bunch of blood tests and told me I didn't have Celiac disease and I should have a colonoscopy and a small bowel x-ray. I had the colonoscopy on April 22 and it was normal. About a week after the colonoscopy I believe I returned to "normal". On May 6th I had the small bowel x-ray and of course it came back normal. So for a while I thought I was better and then on May 23rd it started to come back and by May 27th it was totally back. I felt I needed to see a different specialist so I made an appointment with a different doctor and saw her on June 23rd. She ordered more blood work and I had to submit stool samples and a 5-HIAA urine test where I collect all of my urine for 24 hours in a huge jug. This urine test was the only test that came back abnormal. My levels were high so I had an Octreotide scan on July 28 to see if I had a carciniod tumor. The scan must have seen something so I had to have a CT scan of my abdomen on August 13 with and without contrast. This scan found a fibroid on my uterus. Now we all know the fibroid on my uterus was not the cause of these symptoms and at that point in time I was no longer having symptoms so I did not pursue it any more. I was never given a diagnosis or any possible explanation of my symptoms. I figured maybe it was just a virus or something and it was gone now so it did not matter anymore.
Well now it is back...and I want it to go away. I still have no idea what this "thing" is. I leave for my cruise in 4 and a half weeks and do not want to be dealing with this. I don't wish to see a doctor at this point since they don't know what it is either and will just order more tests that will show nothing. So for now it will remain a mystery and I will have to tolerate it.
On December 1st my weight was 122.0 which is .6 pounds higher than it was on November 1st but I was dealing with this problem (and prior to the problem starting it was still going down) so I plan on weighing myself again on Tuesday since it is the one year anniversary of that "horrible" weigh in at the doctor's office that got me started on this whole mission.
I will continue to not eat gluten for the rest of December. So far I am not seeing any improvements so there may be no intolerance. That would be great since it is REALLY expensive to buy gluten free foods.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Monday, November 29, 2010
November 2010...finally caught up! Am I gluten intolerant??
My weight on November 1st was 121.4 pounds. I was down 1.2 more pounds!
This month everything was going well. I had been eating "Chock full of Veggie" Chili over quinoa for lunch most days at work- yummy! I have been exercising most days. I finally read the book Why Do I Still Have Thyroid Symptoms? by Datis Kharrazian, DHSc, DC, MS. I had heard of the book through one of my podcasts (Blog Talk Radio Underground Wellness, available free on iTunes) and knew a little about the book. I knew from the podcast about the book to have my doctor order a blood test the last time I went to see what my levels of Thyroglobulin Antibodies (TGB Ab) & Thyroid Peroxidase Antibodies (TPO Ab) were. My Thyroglobulin Antibodies tested normal but my Thyroid Peroxidase Antibodies tested high. The reference range on the test is less than 35 and mine were 124. This indicated that my hypothyroidism is caused by Hashimoto's disease. Hashimoto's disease is an autoimmune condition in which the body attacks and destroys its own thyroid gland. Although the disorder is a common cause of hypothyroidism, most doctors don't bother to test for it since a diagnosis does not change the standard treatment, which is to prescribe thyroid hormone. When I was given my first prescription several years ago I even remember the nurse practitioner telling me it did not matter what the cause was when I asked her since it would not change the treatment. Dr. Kharrazian discusses the link between gluten intolerance and Hashimoto's disease in the book. If you are thinking of reading this book I must warn you that it goes into a lot of technical details about medical stuff that would be better understood if you were a doctor. I think he may have forgotten that people who are not doctors might read his book.
So I do have a reason for getting into all of this detail. I decided that it could be a good idea for me to try to go "gluten free" for a period of time to see if I notice any difference or if it makes me feel more awake to not eat gluten. So I went through the cabinet and pulled out all of the gluten. I decided to eat up all of the gluten and once it is gone I will start my "gluten free trial" and see how it goes. Ever since I have been trying to "dispose" of the gluten products by eating them I have been having "bowel issues" similar to the problem I had in the spring of 2009...so now I wonder if I really am gluten intolerant.
This month everything was going well. I had been eating "Chock full of Veggie" Chili over quinoa for lunch most days at work- yummy! I have been exercising most days. I finally read the book Why Do I Still Have Thyroid Symptoms? by Datis Kharrazian, DHSc, DC, MS. I had heard of the book through one of my podcasts (Blog Talk Radio Underground Wellness, available free on iTunes) and knew a little about the book. I knew from the podcast about the book to have my doctor order a blood test the last time I went to see what my levels of Thyroglobulin Antibodies (TGB Ab) & Thyroid Peroxidase Antibodies (TPO Ab) were. My Thyroglobulin Antibodies tested normal but my Thyroid Peroxidase Antibodies tested high. The reference range on the test is less than 35 and mine were 124. This indicated that my hypothyroidism is caused by Hashimoto's disease. Hashimoto's disease is an autoimmune condition in which the body attacks and destroys its own thyroid gland. Although the disorder is a common cause of hypothyroidism, most doctors don't bother to test for it since a diagnosis does not change the standard treatment, which is to prescribe thyroid hormone. When I was given my first prescription several years ago I even remember the nurse practitioner telling me it did not matter what the cause was when I asked her since it would not change the treatment. Dr. Kharrazian discusses the link between gluten intolerance and Hashimoto's disease in the book. If you are thinking of reading this book I must warn you that it goes into a lot of technical details about medical stuff that would be better understood if you were a doctor. I think he may have forgotten that people who are not doctors might read his book.
So I do have a reason for getting into all of this detail. I decided that it could be a good idea for me to try to go "gluten free" for a period of time to see if I notice any difference or if it makes me feel more awake to not eat gluten. So I went through the cabinet and pulled out all of the gluten. I decided to eat up all of the gluten and once it is gone I will start my "gluten free trial" and see how it goes. Ever since I have been trying to "dispose" of the gluten products by eating them I have been having "bowel issues" similar to the problem I had in the spring of 2009...so now I wonder if I really am gluten intolerant.
I took a couple of pictures of me wearing my old pants.
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
September & October 2010
My weight on September 1st was 123.2 pounds. I was down another 2 pounds since last month's weigh in. I had a doctor's appointment on September 3rd. The scale at the doctor's office weighed me in at 124 pounds FULLY CLOTHED! This meant that my scale is pretty accurate and I really have lost all of those pounds.
I had to make another trip to the store for some clothes since some of my pants were falling off of me. It was going to be cold soon and I would need to wear full length pants to stay warm but all of the pants I had from last winter were HUGE on me. It was a great day for me since I discovered I wear a size 2! All of my pants from last winter were size 6. My favorite pair of pants was now too big for me. I will miss those pants!
October's weigh in was 122.6 pounds. It was only .6 of a pound but I am not complaining since it was still a loss. I have to be getting close to what I should weigh at this point so I would expect the weight loss to slow down. I do still have a little bit in my upper inner thighs that needs to go though. On October 21st I had another doctor's appointment that I weighed in at 123 pounds fully clothed. That really made me happy.
I don't have a lot of notes for September and October. I continued with my workouts and continued to eat healthy foods. During my October vacation (I did not go away) I stopped out to see my Mom and she fed me some really good food. She called it a "Live Garden Burger". It was REALLY good but did not taste like a burger. It is a bunch of raw ingredients made in a food processor and served on lettuce and did I say it was YUMMY...oh I guess I already did. Well it was really good and someday I hope to make it but I need to get a food processor first.
I promise the next update will be better and it will be the one that catches me up to being current.
I had to make another trip to the store for some clothes since some of my pants were falling off of me. It was going to be cold soon and I would need to wear full length pants to stay warm but all of the pants I had from last winter were HUGE on me. It was a great day for me since I discovered I wear a size 2! All of my pants from last winter were size 6. My favorite pair of pants was now too big for me. I will miss those pants!
October's weigh in was 122.6 pounds. It was only .6 of a pound but I am not complaining since it was still a loss. I have to be getting close to what I should weigh at this point so I would expect the weight loss to slow down. I do still have a little bit in my upper inner thighs that needs to go though. On October 21st I had another doctor's appointment that I weighed in at 123 pounds fully clothed. That really made me happy.
I don't have a lot of notes for September and October. I continued with my workouts and continued to eat healthy foods. During my October vacation (I did not go away) I stopped out to see my Mom and she fed me some really good food. She called it a "Live Garden Burger". It was REALLY good but did not taste like a burger. It is a bunch of raw ingredients made in a food processor and served on lettuce and did I say it was YUMMY...oh I guess I already did. Well it was really good and someday I hope to make it but I need to get a food processor first.
I promise the next update will be better and it will be the one that catches me up to being current.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
July & August 2010
July
At the end of July I was invited to Ocean City Maryland for the weekend (more like 24 hours). Have you ever tried to find healthy food at the shore? Well it was not easy. When I arrived Saturday morning I had some cantaloupe that was in the hotel room and one of my Kashi peanut peanut butter granola bars. I brought a box of those in case I needed a snack. I did find a salad place that made a really good Greek Salad so I had that for my lunch. For dinner I wandered around the boardwalk in search of something semi healthy (no doubt my cousin was ready to kill me- I am sure she was starved by the time I selected a place to eat) and I finally settled on some fish tacos. They were YUMMY! There were TONS of places to eat but they all had JUNK. I could not believe some of the things they fried down there. I mean really...do Oreos need to be fried? Seriously???
Remember the bikini pics from last year on my cruise (pic on left)? Well here I am (pic on right) in the same bikini 9 months later and about 15-18 pounds lighter (I do not know my exact weight when I went on the cruise). On July 30th I went shopping again for some more new clothes (and spent way more than I had planned).
I found another good book in July. It is Strength For Life by Shawn Phillips. There are workout routines in the back of this book that I started doing. I do the Monday night routine & the Thursday night routine on my Monday & Thursday nights in place of the Gilad workouts. These are weight lifting routines that use dumbbells and a weight bench and the ones I do focus on the arms. There are other routines but I still like doing the Gilad workouts too much to give them up so I do those the other days. Muscle burns more calories than fat so I want to make sure I have some muscles!
August
My August 1st weigh in brought good news. I was 125.2 pounds. This meant that not eating all of those sandwiches paid off. I had lost 2 pounds in July! It may not seem like a lot but when you add up each monthly weight loss those pounds add up. I was officially down 20 pounds since December and that was wonderful news. When I changed my eating habits I thought I should lose a few pounds as a result but I never thought I would lose 20 pounds without counting calories. Had I known this I would have taken measurements when I started and I really regret that I have no "before" measurements. I had to measure my progress by my weight, photos, clothes size and just the visual difference in my size which is so obvious to me when I step out of the shower in front of that big mirror.
Two more books I should mention. The Eat Clean Diet by Tosca Reno and The Eat Clean Diet Cookbook by Tosca Reno. The Eat Clean Diet is not really a diet. It is a way of life. Kind of like what I did. You change the way you eat and your body changes. Unless of course you are already at your perfect weight, then it will just help you make better food choices so you can feel healthier. It does not require any counting of calories either. I found a lot of recipes in the cookbook that I need to try and I will give reviews when I do.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
May & June 2010
May 2010
My May 1st weigh in showed a two pound loss during April. I was down to 131.8 pounds. My clothes were getting very loose and I found some clothes that I had from several years ago that fit me perfect again! This was an exciting moment for me. I knew I had a shopping trip coming up in my future to get some smaller clothes but I decided to wait since I realized I was going to continue to lose weight.
I don't have a lot of notes about May. I relocated my workout space in April & May. I cleaned out the "laundry room" which is actually a pretty large room in the basement with a washer at one end of the room and the dryer at the other end. I installed a rubber floor and turned it into my scrapbook/craft/workout/laundry room. I brought an old TV down and hooked up the DVD player and VCR. I had all of my Gilad episodes upstairs on the DVR in the living room so I had to copy them all to VHS so I could workout downstairs. To add variety to my workouts and since I had a DVD player in my new workout space I alternated between the Gilad workouts and a DVD that I had purchased maybe 4 years ago and only used once or twice. It is the Quick Fix Total Mix DVD. This DVD allows you to create custom workouts by selecting up to 3 workout segments to create a custom routine for your workout. Each segment is 10 minutes long and it counts down while you work out. You can do 10 minutes, 20 minutes, or 30 minutes. It is your choice. The 9 segments to choose from are Abs Flex, Abs Crunch, Abs Burn, Buns Toner, Buns Firmer, Buns Shaper, Arms/Legs Combo, Leg Blaster, and Arms Toner. The only items required are a 3-8 pound set of dumbbells & a chair.
June 2010
On June 1st I weighed in at 127.6 pounds. I was down another 4.2 pounds- Wow! After all of the effort I had put into those Slim Fast diets in prior years I was amazed at how the pounds were just melting away now with so little effort. No calorie counting, no starving. I did not feel deprived. I no longer desired all of those highly processed products of modern food science that people refer to as "food". I was enjoying REAL foods. I wish I would have thought of this years ago!
Speaking of years ago...I had 2 other DVDs that I had bought at the same time as the Quick Fix DVD that were still wrapped in the plastic! Shame on me. Clearly at one point in time I had planned on working out but never followed through. I forgot to mention that when I started the Gilad workouts I had to open my BRAND NEW (still in the package after 4 years) yoga mat. IMPORTANT NOTE: workout equipment does nothing for you if you don't use it. So the first one I unwrapped was Crunch The Perfect Yoga Workout. There are 2 workouts on this DVD. One is "Fat Burning Yoga" and the other "The Joy of Yoga". I decided to try Fat Burning Yoga. Let's just say I decided Yoga was not for me. I found this to be extremely difficult. I don't seem to be flexible enough for yoga. Maybe I need "Yoga for Beginners" or "Pre- Yoga"??? I felt like I was being tortured doing this workout. If anyone thinks I should give it another try let me know...
So the following night I opened the other DVD. This one was Crunch Pick Your Spot Pilates which has 3 targeted 10 minute workouts for your belly, butt & thighs. This one worked out much better for me. I would do this one again. Maybe if I do this one enough I would be able to ease into the yoga but why bother if I don't enjoy it. If you don't like your workout you are less likely to do it. So I am thinking maybe I should list that yoga DVD on eBay...
I had some vacation time in June. I bought some 5 pound dumbbells. I had been using 3 pound dumbbells because that was all I had but they were too light. I also went shopping for some new summer pants and shorts since I was swimming in my old ones. I had lost almost 18 pounds total so I think I deserved some new clothes.
I found a pretty good book to read in June. The Belly Fat Cure by Jorge Cruise. It made me sit down and count all of the hidden sugar in my foods. I don't know if I will ever be able to eat such a low amount of sugars as recommended in this book but I do think twice now before eating it. There are recipes in this book too. It was definitely an interesting book. I like to pick up a tip from this book and a tip from that book. I use the tips to customize my eating plan to suit my needs since there is always something that just does not work for me in each book. For example, I don't like mushrooms. Many of the recipes include mushrooms so I just leave them out and sometimes replace them with something I do like.
I am going to try to get the July post up a little quicker than I got this one up...sorry for the delay:)
My May 1st weigh in showed a two pound loss during April. I was down to 131.8 pounds. My clothes were getting very loose and I found some clothes that I had from several years ago that fit me perfect again! This was an exciting moment for me. I knew I had a shopping trip coming up in my future to get some smaller clothes but I decided to wait since I realized I was going to continue to lose weight.
I don't have a lot of notes about May. I relocated my workout space in April & May. I cleaned out the "laundry room" which is actually a pretty large room in the basement with a washer at one end of the room and the dryer at the other end. I installed a rubber floor and turned it into my scrapbook/craft/workout/laundry room. I brought an old TV down and hooked up the DVD player and VCR. I had all of my Gilad episodes upstairs on the DVR in the living room so I had to copy them all to VHS so I could workout downstairs. To add variety to my workouts and since I had a DVD player in my new workout space I alternated between the Gilad workouts and a DVD that I had purchased maybe 4 years ago and only used once or twice. It is the Quick Fix Total Mix DVD. This DVD allows you to create custom workouts by selecting up to 3 workout segments to create a custom routine for your workout. Each segment is 10 minutes long and it counts down while you work out. You can do 10 minutes, 20 minutes, or 30 minutes. It is your choice. The 9 segments to choose from are Abs Flex, Abs Crunch, Abs Burn, Buns Toner, Buns Firmer, Buns Shaper, Arms/Legs Combo, Leg Blaster, and Arms Toner. The only items required are a 3-8 pound set of dumbbells & a chair.
June 2010
On June 1st I weighed in at 127.6 pounds. I was down another 4.2 pounds- Wow! After all of the effort I had put into those Slim Fast diets in prior years I was amazed at how the pounds were just melting away now with so little effort. No calorie counting, no starving. I did not feel deprived. I no longer desired all of those highly processed products of modern food science that people refer to as "food". I was enjoying REAL foods. I wish I would have thought of this years ago!
Speaking of years ago...I had 2 other DVDs that I had bought at the same time as the Quick Fix DVD that were still wrapped in the plastic! Shame on me. Clearly at one point in time I had planned on working out but never followed through. I forgot to mention that when I started the Gilad workouts I had to open my BRAND NEW (still in the package after 4 years) yoga mat. IMPORTANT NOTE: workout equipment does nothing for you if you don't use it. So the first one I unwrapped was Crunch The Perfect Yoga Workout. There are 2 workouts on this DVD. One is "Fat Burning Yoga" and the other "The Joy of Yoga". I decided to try Fat Burning Yoga. Let's just say I decided Yoga was not for me. I found this to be extremely difficult. I don't seem to be flexible enough for yoga. Maybe I need "Yoga for Beginners" or "Pre- Yoga"??? I felt like I was being tortured doing this workout. If anyone thinks I should give it another try let me know...
So the following night I opened the other DVD. This one was Crunch Pick Your Spot Pilates which has 3 targeted 10 minute workouts for your belly, butt & thighs. This one worked out much better for me. I would do this one again. Maybe if I do this one enough I would be able to ease into the yoga but why bother if I don't enjoy it. If you don't like your workout you are less likely to do it. So I am thinking maybe I should list that yoga DVD on eBay...
I had some vacation time in June. I bought some 5 pound dumbbells. I had been using 3 pound dumbbells because that was all I had but they were too light. I also went shopping for some new summer pants and shorts since I was swimming in my old ones. I had lost almost 18 pounds total so I think I deserved some new clothes.
I found a pretty good book to read in June. The Belly Fat Cure by Jorge Cruise. It made me sit down and count all of the hidden sugar in my foods. I don't know if I will ever be able to eat such a low amount of sugars as recommended in this book but I do think twice now before eating it. There are recipes in this book too. It was definitely an interesting book. I like to pick up a tip from this book and a tip from that book. I use the tips to customize my eating plan to suit my needs since there is always something that just does not work for me in each book. For example, I don't like mushrooms. Many of the recipes include mushrooms so I just leave them out and sometimes replace them with something I do like.
I am going to try to get the July post up a little quicker than I got this one up...sorry for the delay:)
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
April 2010: Down 5.8 pounds without counting calories!!!
As I sit here tonight all sweaty from my Total Body Sculpt with Gilad workout, I will look back at the month of April. On April 1st I had my second monthly weigh in. I was 133.8 pounds- down 5.8 pounds!! This was the highest monthly loss so far based on my starting weight since my entire weight loss from December 14 2009 until March 1st 2010 was only 5.9 pounds. None of my monthly weigh ins since this one have been this much weight either. I was still working out almost daily with Gilad and by now I believe I had removed all of the high fructose corn syrup food items in my cabinet and hiding in the fridge (with the exception of Brian's stash). In late April I came down with a cold and missed about a week of workouts.
For those of you who think 5.8 pounds is not a lot to lose in a month remember I was NOT counting calories at all. I ate when I wanted to but did not eat junk. Some of my favorite snacks are nuts (almonds, walnuts, cashews, brazil nuts) and dark chocolate (Ghirardelli Intense Dark 72% or 86% cacao). Another favorite is Kashi TLC Peanut Peanut Butter Chewy Granola Bars.
Do you enjoy documentaries? One I really liked that I watched a long time ago was Super Size Me. That is the one where the guy eats McDonald's for a whole month- GROSS!
Another one I watched that I found very educational was Food, Inc. and I think everyone needs to see this one. After watching it I did not eat chicken for a while and I am sure I would have done the same with beef but I really don't eat much of that anyway. Anyone who wants an inside look at the food industry should see this one.
If you have about an hour and 50 minutes available I recommend you watch The World According To Monsanto. Click on the link and you can watch it online for free. After watching this I have tried to not eat a lot of soybean/soy products because I do not want to eat genetically engineered food.
Another one I recommend is Sugar: The Bitter Truth. This one is about an hour and a half long and you can watch it free by clicking on the link.
Did you watch Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution? If not there are clips of it on You Tube that are very interesting. Watch this clip about chicken nuggets. Jamie Oliver also did a show called Eat To Save Your Life that is worth watching. The link will take you to part one and there are 8 parts. I recommend you watch all 8 parts.
I hope I have given you enough homework to keep you entertained until my next post which will cover May.
For those of you who think 5.8 pounds is not a lot to lose in a month remember I was NOT counting calories at all. I ate when I wanted to but did not eat junk. Some of my favorite snacks are nuts (almonds, walnuts, cashews, brazil nuts) and dark chocolate (Ghirardelli Intense Dark 72% or 86% cacao). Another favorite is Kashi TLC Peanut Peanut Butter Chewy Granola Bars.
Do you enjoy documentaries? One I really liked that I watched a long time ago was Super Size Me. That is the one where the guy eats McDonald's for a whole month- GROSS!
Another one I watched that I found very educational was Food, Inc. and I think everyone needs to see this one. After watching it I did not eat chicken for a while and I am sure I would have done the same with beef but I really don't eat much of that anyway. Anyone who wants an inside look at the food industry should see this one.
If you have about an hour and 50 minutes available I recommend you watch The World According To Monsanto. Click on the link and you can watch it online for free. After watching this I have tried to not eat a lot of soybean/soy products because I do not want to eat genetically engineered food.
Another one I recommend is Sugar: The Bitter Truth. This one is about an hour and a half long and you can watch it free by clicking on the link.
Did you watch Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution? If not there are clips of it on You Tube that are very interesting. Watch this clip about chicken nuggets. Jamie Oliver also did a show called Eat To Save Your Life that is worth watching. The link will take you to part one and there are 8 parts. I recommend you watch all 8 parts.
I hope I have given you enough homework to keep you entertained until my next post which will cover May.
Friday, November 5, 2010
March 2010: Thank You Gilad!
This blog post is all about March. March 1st is when I started doing monthly weigh ins. Back on December 14, 2009 at the doctor's office I weighed 145.5 pounds. My scale never weighed accurately so I got rid of it and got a new one. I started to notice my body changing and my weight dropping so I decided to start monthly weigh ins on the first of each month. I would weigh myself first thing in the morning before getting dressed. On March 1st I weighed in at 139.6 pounds. I had lost almost 6 pounds! This made me very happy. I was not counting calories or limiting how much healthy food I was eating. If I felt like eating I did but I ate healthy unprocessed food instead of junk.
I also continued my Total Body Sculpt with Gilad workouts. I was doing them 5-6 times a week. One thing I like about the Gilad workouts is that they have a variety of different exercises at different intensities. You may be going at a fast pace for a while and then you switch to something not as intense for a while which gives you time to recover so you can keep up with the workout. The first time I noticed my body changing was during the abdominal segment of the workout. When I was doing my crunches I could tell that my hips were not as wide as they were before- they had gotten smaller!! Seeing my body slowly change was all of the encouragement I needed. My clothes were getting looser. This was working! It felt good to see results.
OMG! I think I just thought of the perfect name for the blog. I can't call it "My soon to be named bloggy thingy" forever you know...
Ok- it's official! I just changed the name to "My Journey to Achieve Optimal Weight & Health" since that pretty much sums up what I am writing about here.
Now back to March. I read a very interesting book about hormones with some awesome dietary advice in it. It was Master Your Metabolism by Jillian Michaels. This book explains the impact hormones have on your metabolism and how your diet affects your hormones. It also has meal plans and recipes included. This book will make you think twice about what you are putting in your mouth.
My metabolism appeared to be working again. I am not sure if I should credit the Gilad workouts or the foods I was eating. I think it really was a combination of both. The results made me want to continue on this new road I was on and I was enjoying all of the new foods I was eating.
At this point I had very little interest in foods containing high fructose corn syrup. You could sit there with a bag of Oreos or Chips Ahoy cookies and it did not bother me. Once you stop eating crap you lose interest in it since the real whole foods actually taste better. There are Oreo Cakesters on the counter right now and I read the label and saw the high fructose corn syrup and for some reason they no longer seem appetizing to me. I think I have reprogrammed my brain somehow to reject all foods with high fructose corn syrup in them. I am ok with that. My next post will cover April.
I also continued my Total Body Sculpt with Gilad workouts. I was doing them 5-6 times a week. One thing I like about the Gilad workouts is that they have a variety of different exercises at different intensities. You may be going at a fast pace for a while and then you switch to something not as intense for a while which gives you time to recover so you can keep up with the workout. The first time I noticed my body changing was during the abdominal segment of the workout. When I was doing my crunches I could tell that my hips were not as wide as they were before- they had gotten smaller!! Seeing my body slowly change was all of the encouragement I needed. My clothes were getting looser. This was working! It felt good to see results.
OMG! I think I just thought of the perfect name for the blog. I can't call it "My soon to be named bloggy thingy" forever you know...
Ok- it's official! I just changed the name to "My Journey to Achieve Optimal Weight & Health" since that pretty much sums up what I am writing about here.
Now back to March. I read a very interesting book about hormones with some awesome dietary advice in it. It was Master Your Metabolism by Jillian Michaels. This book explains the impact hormones have on your metabolism and how your diet affects your hormones. It also has meal plans and recipes included. This book will make you think twice about what you are putting in your mouth.
My metabolism appeared to be working again. I am not sure if I should credit the Gilad workouts or the foods I was eating. I think it really was a combination of both. The results made me want to continue on this new road I was on and I was enjoying all of the new foods I was eating.
At this point I had very little interest in foods containing high fructose corn syrup. You could sit there with a bag of Oreos or Chips Ahoy cookies and it did not bother me. Once you stop eating crap you lose interest in it since the real whole foods actually taste better. There are Oreo Cakesters on the counter right now and I read the label and saw the high fructose corn syrup and for some reason they no longer seem appetizing to me. I think I have reprogrammed my brain somehow to reject all foods with high fructose corn syrup in them. I am ok with that. My next post will cover April.
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
February 2010: Learning more with Podcasts & Books
Let me start by saying I LOVE my iPod nano! I use my iPod while I am at my desk working and it really helps make the day go faster. If you don't have one you should get one.
Don't ask me how to work one of these new ones though since mine is a 3rd generation nano but it still works GREAT and I am not the type of person who has to have the "latest" technology. After all, my cell phone is a pre-paid cell phone that does not even have a camera.
I subscribe to a lot of podcasts though iTunes and enjoy listening to them while I am at work. I frequently jot down notes as I listen to them. I have a pile of paper scraps with notes on them that I am trying to add to a word document I made with all of my podcast notes. If you do have an iPod and want to listen to some of these podcasts (all are free)here are the health & fitness related ones that I listen to regularly:
1. Beyond Diet Podcast
2. BTR: Underground Wellness / Blog Talk Radio
3. Build A Sexy Body
4. Dishing Up Nutrition
5. Fat 2 Fit Radio
6. Healthy Mind - Fit Body (these guys are very into Paleo diets)
7. Logical Weight Loss
8. NPR: Your Health Podcast
9. Two Fit Chicks and a Microphone
In an effort to get as much information as possible I also read a bunch of diet and health books. Some were very informative, some were boring, and some totally sucked. The first book that stood out to me was The South Beach Diet Supercharged by Arthur Agatston, MD, with Joseph Signorile, PhD. This book teaches you how to make better food choices and appears to be a nutritionally sound diet consisting of a wide variety of wholesome foods. I used it as a nutritional guide only. I did not do any of the phases since my intention was not to be "on a diet" but to change my eating habits. The book includes nutritional guidance, workouts, and recipes. This is the book where I found my recipe for "Chock-Full-of-Veggies Chili" which I make frequently. I made a batch of it last night and am taking it with me to work this week to eat for lunch. I serve it over quinoa- very YUMMY! I do slightly alter the recipe since I do not eat mushrooms- ick!
I will try to review more books with each post since I have read so many of them. So let's look back to February. I continued adding more healthy foods to my diet and by then had finished off any of the highly processed foods that remained in the house. One thing I should note is that my husband Brian was not participating in my new healthy food diet so I had to give him his own cabinet and I had my own cabinet. So any processed foods that he liked ended up in his cabinet and I finished off the ones he did not like. The next thing I did was went through everything in the cabinets & refrigerator. I read all of the labels and got rid of everything that contained high fructose corn syrup, MSG & trans fats that I missed the first time I cleaned out the cabinets. It is amazing how much of that stuff is hiding in foods and condiments.
I continued my workouts with Gilad's Total Body Sculpt. I had recorded them on the DVR and I randomly picked one each day to work out. On February 16th I chose one that was called Total Body Sculpt PLUS, not realizing that those are one hour episodes. I did not figure it out at first and by the time I did I was already into the workout so I thought I would just keep going. That was really hard. The 30 minute episodes are actually about 22 minutes once you skip the commercials so I had only been working out 22 minutes a day. This was like doing two workouts in a row and it was a challenge but I did live to tell the story. If you want to watch a free preview (the frist 2 minutes) of one of his workouts you can click the link below.
I don't have a lot of notes about February. I was continuing my eating plan and my workouts. I feel the workouts were very important to help me build my muscles to increase my metabolism that had apparently slowed down over the years. I was not tracking my weight at this point. I did not start tracking my weight until March. More about that in my next post.
Sunday, October 31, 2010
January 2010: New Year's Resolution
I mentioned before that my New Year's Resolution for 2010 was to eat healthier foods and exercise more. I used my list to choose healthier foods at the grocery store. There were a few things I posted on Facebook that helped me with my recap:
I started out my new year on January 1st with a salad for dinner. This must not have been enough to fill me up because for dessert I ate 3 bowls of Cheerios (that would be PLAIN Cheerios with NO sugar added to them). Hey- it's better than eating junk food! On the 2nd I posted that I was sore from working out two days in a row. Gilad was killing me!! I had started working out with Gilad's Total Body Sculpt workout on FitTv back in October after my cholesterol test said my cholesterol was 334. My first couple of workouts I was actually SCREAMING while doing the abdominals. In November I was able to make a little less noise and was working out several times a week. So now that it was a new year I was going to try my hardest to workout every day.
Another gift I was given for Christmas was a workout DVD by Jilian Michaels. It was the 30 Day Shred workout. I decided to try it out on January 3rd. I did the level one workout and this workout kicked my butt. It kicked my butt so hard that I believe it was why I woke up in the middle of the night with a muscle cramp that was so painful that I fainted. I knew I was going to faint so I did not get out of bed but that was the first time I ever fainted while laying down (my fainting issues are a whole other story). I have not tried the workout since. I probably should give it another try now that I am in better shape and when I do I will let you know how it goes.
In January I usually go to a Creative Memories scrapbooking retreat. It always seems to fall on or around my birthday. I remember we went to McDonalds and I got a fish fillet but did not get any fries. It is hard to find healthy things to eat when you are staying in a hotel. There was a table full of snacks there and I only ate from the vegetable tray. I had never eaten RAW asparagus before and it was pretty tasty. I think I was pretty well behaved over the weekend. I brought a big bowl of broccoli slaw salad with me to eat for lunch and brought Cheerios for breakfast. I had stopped at the grocery store when I arrived to pick up some milk for the cereal and some flavored water to drink and I think I also picked up some Triscuits and nuts in case I needed a snack.
Here is the recipe for the broccoli slaw salad (I don't remember where I found this and I changed it a bit):
Some of the recipes I've found use more oil. Overnight, the noodles will soak up the liquid, and to me, too much oil makes the salad...well, oily.
1/4 cup oil (some recipes call for up to 2/3 cup)
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup vinegar
1 seasoning packet from ramen noodles
1 pkg. broccoli slaw mix
1 cup sunflower seeds
2 pkg. chicken ramen noodles (broken up)
Mix oil, sugar and vinegar. In large bowl, mix together broccoli mix, almonds and broken ramen noodles. Add dressing and toss. Let stand for a few hours.
I was trying not to eat as many processed foods and I do remember eating a lot of home made potato soup in January. I also ate some low sodium soups. I like to eat soups when it is cold out.
Here is my Grandmother's recipe that I use when I make potato soup:
Potato Soup
5 potatoes- diced
1 medium onion- chopped
Boil in water for 10-15 minutes
Drain
Add:
1 quart of milk
dried parsley
2 eggs- mixed up
1/3 stick of butter or margarine
salt & pepper
Once the milk is heated up it is ready
Try not to boil the milk
I have no other notes from January and I can't think of anything else I was doing in January so next up will be what I can remember from February.
I started out my new year on January 1st with a salad for dinner. This must not have been enough to fill me up because for dessert I ate 3 bowls of Cheerios (that would be PLAIN Cheerios with NO sugar added to them). Hey- it's better than eating junk food! On the 2nd I posted that I was sore from working out two days in a row. Gilad was killing me!! I had started working out with Gilad's Total Body Sculpt workout on FitTv back in October after my cholesterol test said my cholesterol was 334. My first couple of workouts I was actually SCREAMING while doing the abdominals. In November I was able to make a little less noise and was working out several times a week. So now that it was a new year I was going to try my hardest to workout every day.
Another gift I was given for Christmas was a workout DVD by Jilian Michaels. It was the 30 Day Shred workout. I decided to try it out on January 3rd. I did the level one workout and this workout kicked my butt. It kicked my butt so hard that I believe it was why I woke up in the middle of the night with a muscle cramp that was so painful that I fainted. I knew I was going to faint so I did not get out of bed but that was the first time I ever fainted while laying down (my fainting issues are a whole other story). I have not tried the workout since. I probably should give it another try now that I am in better shape and when I do I will let you know how it goes.
In January I usually go to a Creative Memories scrapbooking retreat. It always seems to fall on or around my birthday. I remember we went to McDonalds and I got a fish fillet but did not get any fries. It is hard to find healthy things to eat when you are staying in a hotel. There was a table full of snacks there and I only ate from the vegetable tray. I had never eaten RAW asparagus before and it was pretty tasty. I think I was pretty well behaved over the weekend. I brought a big bowl of broccoli slaw salad with me to eat for lunch and brought Cheerios for breakfast. I had stopped at the grocery store when I arrived to pick up some milk for the cereal and some flavored water to drink and I think I also picked up some Triscuits and nuts in case I needed a snack.
Here is the recipe for the broccoli slaw salad (I don't remember where I found this and I changed it a bit):
Basic Ramen Broccoli slaw
Some of the recipes I've found use more oil. Overnight, the noodles will soak up the liquid, and to me, too much oil makes the salad...well, oily.
1/4 cup oil (some recipes call for up to 2/3 cup)
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup vinegar
1 seasoning packet from ramen noodles
1 pkg. broccoli slaw mix
1 cup sunflower seeds
2 pkg. chicken ramen noodles (broken up)
Mix oil, sugar and vinegar. In large bowl, mix together broccoli mix, almonds and broken ramen noodles. Add dressing and toss. Let stand for a few hours.
I was trying not to eat as many processed foods and I do remember eating a lot of home made potato soup in January. I also ate some low sodium soups. I like to eat soups when it is cold out.
Here is my Grandmother's recipe that I use when I make potato soup:
Potato Soup
5 potatoes- diced
1 medium onion- chopped
Boil in water for 10-15 minutes
Drain
Add:
1 quart of milk
dried parsley
2 eggs- mixed up
1/3 stick of butter or margarine
salt & pepper
Once the milk is heated up it is ready
Try not to boil the milk
I have no other notes from January and I can't think of anything else I was doing in January so next up will be what I can remember from February.
Friday, October 29, 2010
Out with the old food, in with the new
I will start my recap back in December 2009 following the life changing visit to the doctor. I knew something needed to change and I had to be the one to change it. I could not continue to eat crap anymore. So I spent the rest of the month eating the food that remained in the cabinet. If it was not healthy I would not be buying it anymore.
What did I eat that was so bad? I did not eat a lot of fast food. I probably had fast food no more than once a month. Brian may have ordered pizza or made a frozen pizza about once a week for dinner. He also liked to make cheesesteaks and french fries about once a week. Sometimes he made ravioli. He makes a really good meatloaf but he buys the cheapest ground beef to make it so it is always very fatty. When he was not home and I had to cook for myself I usually ended up eating a package of Knorr pasta or rice side dishes. I do know how to cook but I am not a big meat eater so most of the dishes I cooked did not contain meat. I guess Brian does not get filled up unless he has meat so I let him do the cooking. A lot of the things he cooked had a side of french fries. He loves his fries.
Cookies...Brian would buy cookies, donuts, swiss rolls & other snacks "for the kids" and since they were in the house and I liked them I could not help myself. Sometimes I would sit there and eat 10 or more Oreo or Chips Ahoy cookies with a glass or two of milk while I sat at the computer playing games on Facebook. Those cookies were very addicting. I think a lot of my problem was portion size. If I had eaten one serving of cookies instead of 5 servings I might not have been as bad off as I was. After Halloween I probably ate 5 or more Reece's Peanut Butter cups a day until they were gone and I am thinking the kids got at least 30 of them. Looking back now I can see I was eating way too much sugar and processed foods.
I was given a wonderful Christmas gift. It was a book called Eat This, Not That! and it was very helpful in getting me started on the right track. If you have not read this book I think you should. It is filled with helpful information on how to make better food choices.
What did I eat that was so bad? I did not eat a lot of fast food. I probably had fast food no more than once a month. Brian may have ordered pizza or made a frozen pizza about once a week for dinner. He also liked to make cheesesteaks and french fries about once a week. Sometimes he made ravioli. He makes a really good meatloaf but he buys the cheapest ground beef to make it so it is always very fatty. When he was not home and I had to cook for myself I usually ended up eating a package of Knorr pasta or rice side dishes. I do know how to cook but I am not a big meat eater so most of the dishes I cooked did not contain meat. I guess Brian does not get filled up unless he has meat so I let him do the cooking. A lot of the things he cooked had a side of french fries. He loves his fries.
Cookies...Brian would buy cookies, donuts, swiss rolls & other snacks "for the kids" and since they were in the house and I liked them I could not help myself. Sometimes I would sit there and eat 10 or more Oreo or Chips Ahoy cookies with a glass or two of milk while I sat at the computer playing games on Facebook. Those cookies were very addicting. I think a lot of my problem was portion size. If I had eaten one serving of cookies instead of 5 servings I might not have been as bad off as I was. After Halloween I probably ate 5 or more Reece's Peanut Butter cups a day until they were gone and I am thinking the kids got at least 30 of them. Looking back now I can see I was eating way too much sugar and processed foods.
I was given a wonderful Christmas gift. It was a book called Eat This, Not That! and it was very helpful in getting me started on the right track. If you have not read this book I think you should. It is filled with helpful information on how to make better food choices.
I used this book to create my first "healthy food" shopping list. I had to stock up on REAL foods such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean meats, fish, nuts, and other foods that didn't contain a list of ingredients that were very hard to pronounce. This was all new to me so I figured I would take baby steps and using my book I made this list of "better choice" foods:
| flavored greek-style yogurt (I don't like plain) Chobani |
| blueberries |
| sunflower seeds |
| almonds |
| regular Cheerios |
| Post Shredded Wheat Spoon Size Original |
| Thomas' Multi-Grain light English Muffins |
| Triscuit Thin Crisps Original |
| Triscuit Original- hint of salt |
| Nabisco Wheat Thins Fiber Selects Garden Vegetable |
| Reduced Fat Nilla Wafers |
| Orville Redenbacher butter popcorn |
| Wishbone Bountifuls dressing Tuscan Romano Basil |
| Stouffer's French Bread Pizza |
| Kashi Five Cheese Tomato Pizza |
| Budget Gourmet Mac & Cheese w/cheddar & romano |
| Budget Gourmet Ziti Parmesano |
| Ronzoni Smart taste thin spaghetti or Healthy Harvest |
| Classico Tomato & Basil |
| Amy's Low Sodium Organic Marinara |
| Campbell's Healthy Request chicken rice |
| Dr McDougall's Vegan Tortilla with baked chips (soup) |
| Kraft singles 2% milk american |
| Sargento light string cheese |
| Sargento classic mozzerella |
| Laughing Cow light |
| Kraft Mayo with olive oil |
| Martin's whole wheat potato bread |
| Mission white corn tortillas |
| La Tortlla factory smart & delicious low carb whole wheat wraps |
| Gortons Grilled Fillets Garlic Butter or any flavor |
| Bird's Eye Viola! (complete frozen meals) |
| Ore-Ida Potatoes O'Brien |
| Fudgesicle no sugar added fudge bar |
| Low sodium V8 |
| Smart Balance |
| Hint of salt or low sodium saltines |
| potatoes |
| eggs |
| skim milk |
| carrots |
Now I did not buy everything on this list. This was just a list to use as a guide to help me learn to shop better. I am sure that upon closer examination of the food labels today I would choose not to eat some of these foods. Remember that this is a new learning experience for me and I was just getting started.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
About me...
Once upon a time a little girl was born. She weighed 7 pounds 5 ounces and was 19 and one half inches long. She was always a thin child and had to wear "slim" sizes. As a teenager in the 1980's she found it difficult to find pants that did not leave her looking like a clown since they all seemed to be so baggy. She grew up and became a 5' 4" adult and was still nice and thin. The girl I am talking about is me in case you have not figured it out yet (and I am sure you have).
I can't post any pictures from 2nd grade to 9th grade due to being stuck with some pretty horrible teeth that required many years of braces to fix. Hey I know I looked pretty scary and I would have made fun of me too but that does not make it right! So here is a skinny shot from senior week:
So as you can see I started out nice and slim. I could always eat whatever I wanted and as much as I wanted and not ever gain a pound. We all know sooner or later this is something you "outgrow".
As the years went by I gained a pound here and a pound there. According to a notebook I found from 1995 it looks like I was about 125 pounds. I must have made a New Years resolution to lose some weight. Perhaps I thought 125 was a little too much for me to weigh. It looks like I stopped tracking my weight that year on Feb 4th where the last entry made was 119 pounds fully dressed. Another entry marked "1997 diet" shows my weight at 120 pounds on Feb. 21st and down to 118 pounds on March 27th. Nothing is noted in the book after that. It looks like I was trying to stay below 120 pounds. If I recall correctly both times I used Slim Fast and counting calories to lose the weight. I remember being hungry while using Slim Fast.
I went on another diet in 2003 around the time I filed for divorce. By the time the divorce was final I had lost over 200 pounds!!! Now that's success. Ok- I will be serious now. I went back on the Slim Fast again. On April 5th I weighed 127 pounds. By June 1st I was down to 121 pounds. It looks like I decided to weigh myself again on December 29th and I was back up to 125 pounds. So I lost 6 pounds but gained back 4 pounds six months later. I will not call that one a success.
In early December 2005 a guy we will call Brian (because that is his name) introduced himself to me on myspace and we started dating. He likes to cook but for some reason only cooks food that is BAD for you. Well I married him on May 5, 2007. I continued to eat his cooking while he admired my butt as it got larger and he seemed to like it that way. So I kept buying larger pants and eating his food. I would go to the doctor and they would have me step on the scale. The scale would say I weighed 130 something and I would tell myself it was ok as long as it did not go over 135. When the scale went over 135 it was okay as long as it stayed below 140. Then when the scale started going over 140 I would convince myself it was ok as long as it was below 145. Then came the big day- December 14, 2009. I went to the doctor and got on the scale. It said I weighed 145 and a HALF. I panicked. That was way too close to 150 and I was NOT going to ever weigh over 150. Nope- that was NOT going to happen!
I had started exercising semi- regularly a couple of months earlier because my cholesterol was too high again (that is a whole other story) but had been slacking a couple of weeks before this appointment. I had on my DVR several episodes of Total Body Sculpt with Gilad and I had been doing those workouts. I went on a cruise with my Mom in October 2009 and you can tell I had gained weight as seen in these pictures:
I can't post any pictures from 2nd grade to 9th grade due to being stuck with some pretty horrible teeth that required many years of braces to fix. Hey I know I looked pretty scary and I would have made fun of me too but that does not make it right! So here is a skinny shot from senior week:
So as you can see I started out nice and slim. I could always eat whatever I wanted and as much as I wanted and not ever gain a pound. We all know sooner or later this is something you "outgrow".
As the years went by I gained a pound here and a pound there. According to a notebook I found from 1995 it looks like I was about 125 pounds. I must have made a New Years resolution to lose some weight. Perhaps I thought 125 was a little too much for me to weigh. It looks like I stopped tracking my weight that year on Feb 4th where the last entry made was 119 pounds fully dressed. Another entry marked "1997 diet" shows my weight at 120 pounds on Feb. 21st and down to 118 pounds on March 27th. Nothing is noted in the book after that. It looks like I was trying to stay below 120 pounds. If I recall correctly both times I used Slim Fast and counting calories to lose the weight. I remember being hungry while using Slim Fast.
I went on another diet in 2003 around the time I filed for divorce. By the time the divorce was final I had lost over 200 pounds!!! Now that's success. Ok- I will be serious now. I went back on the Slim Fast again. On April 5th I weighed 127 pounds. By June 1st I was down to 121 pounds. It looks like I decided to weigh myself again on December 29th and I was back up to 125 pounds. So I lost 6 pounds but gained back 4 pounds six months later. I will not call that one a success.
In early December 2005 a guy we will call Brian (because that is his name) introduced himself to me on myspace and we started dating. He likes to cook but for some reason only cooks food that is BAD for you. Well I married him on May 5, 2007. I continued to eat his cooking while he admired my butt as it got larger and he seemed to like it that way. So I kept buying larger pants and eating his food. I would go to the doctor and they would have me step on the scale. The scale would say I weighed 130 something and I would tell myself it was ok as long as it did not go over 135. When the scale went over 135 it was okay as long as it stayed below 140. Then when the scale started going over 140 I would convince myself it was ok as long as it was below 145. Then came the big day- December 14, 2009. I went to the doctor and got on the scale. It said I weighed 145 and a HALF. I panicked. That was way too close to 150 and I was NOT going to ever weigh over 150. Nope- that was NOT going to happen!
I had started exercising semi- regularly a couple of months earlier because my cholesterol was too high again (that is a whole other story) but had been slacking a couple of weeks before this appointment. I had on my DVR several episodes of Total Body Sculpt with Gilad and I had been doing those workouts. I went on a cruise with my Mom in October 2009 and you can tell I had gained weight as seen in these pictures:
OMG! My butt is HUGE in this picture.
So I probably should have started this blog thingy at the beginning of 2010. My 2010 New Years resolution was to eat healthy foods and exercise more. I know that is not very specific but I had started listening to several Health & Fitness podcasts while I was at work and I was getting a lot of ideas about changing the way I eat. The first part of the plan was to stop eating high fructose corn syrup.
So my plan for this blog thingy is to first recap my transformation from the beginning of the year. Once I have caught up to date I will continue to track my progress in hopes that by making this public I will stick to my lifestyle change permanently.
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