Yay! Better!

It's amazing the difference a day makes, in addition to letting go and forcing myself to chill. Oh yeah, allowing the hormonal wave to pass helps as well. Feeling much better today - My body feels better adjusted today, my mood is a bit brighter, and I was able to get up and go for a nice walk this morning without too much fuss. I didn't push myself very hard, but it was a lot less agonizing than it was on Tuesday, so yay! It will make tomorrow's walk a lot easier to deal with and getting back to 'work' next week a piece of cake! (mmm... caaake.)

I also discovered a new love. I've been a fan of the vanilla Designer Whey protein powder. Well, I was out and TJ's only had the chocolate and I decided to give it a try. O-M-G num! Especially as part of the PB & Banana smoothie I like to make. I mean, it's chocolate so of course it's nummy, but it actually had flavor unlike the vanilla that was just sort of... well, vanilla. Yeah, I'm struck by the oddness that is me getting excited over protein powder, but whatcha gonna do?

Oh, and to the boy's that read yesterday's entry (jmchris) sorry I kept it pretty tame. I'll do better next time.

Technorati : health, motivation, sparkpeople, thoughts, weight

Ugh

If there's any boys reading this, you may want to stop now... There will be talk of girlie issues...

Ok, not /too/ graphic, but still...

ok, you've been warned.

The good and bad of this week is knowing there was something going on and now I have to deal with it. As I've discovered many times before, the more I pay attention to my body and the better I treat it, the louder it speaks back. Things were going /really/ well the last couple of weeks with eating and exercise. I was productive at home, fairly productive at work, and all around kickin' butt... but I knew there was something going on - I was feeling very ADHD and easily irritated, not to mention not sleeping well.

Then I got the thyroid lab results. Oy! That explains a lot - a lot of the typical hypERthyroid symptoms... go fig.

Then this week in general happened - I was thinking it was the weekend that totally derailed me, but I think it just helped push along what what already happening - it's 'that time' again... ok not THAT time, but at about 2 weeks between cycles (aka ovulation time) I've noticed that I go through a slump, where my energy and motivation take a nose dive, I get sore and out of sorts... which, coincidentally is going on right now. Hmmm...

In the spirit of listening to my body and learning from the process, I need to accept that stuff is going on and while I can't change that, I can 1) change my attitude to accept it, 1a) start paying attention to my body's schedule, and 2) work _with_ it to reach my goals.

I'm going to do an experiment to work hard 3 weeks, go easy for that 1 week, then start all over again. Which means that I need to find a way to get more sleep because last night I had horrible insomnia. Again. Meh. Today is going to be a minimal caffeine day - even though I've cut back a lot, extra stimulants on my system right now are a bad thing.

Technorati : health, motivation, sparkpeople, thoughts, weight

Results...

Just wanted to comment that my fabu cholesterol test scores were done by changing diet and increasing exercise. My cholesterol had been a bit on the high end for a while, but not so 'bad' that my doctor felt I needed medication. The triglycerides was really my worst 'score' for quite a while and I got the finger wagging each time. Since that one measures the sugar/carbohydrates in the blood, I was really concerned about it. Even though my glucose was fine, it can be a precursor of diabetes.

Now, for me the biggest change was to stop eating processed food, and if I did, limiting the amount of HFCS and transfats. After reading "In Defense of Food" I'm really glad I did. I /know/ that I feel better overall when I eat food that's cooked/prepped at home from real ingredients instead of out of a box, not to mention cheaper in the long run, but it's time consuming and sometimes inconvenient... I've found some shortcuts that make it easier, have some stand by recipes that help when I haven't prepared appropriately, but I still have times that life happens and I just don't do it. In the end, I pay for it after the fact - either I don't feel as well, I don't get the results I want, and it's really difficult to get back to feeling better.

Like today. I got up and went to the gym and OMG it was agonizing. My body just didn't feel like moving, my heart rate didn't want to go up, I couldn't keep focused and it was all I could do to get through it and go home. But I did it, and darn it all if I don't feel better... at least now, several hours after the fact. I have the good sore that comes from actually using my muscles (with the exception of the crick in my neck from yesterday.) I decided to stick to my schedule and have today be an easy/medium cardio day. In theory it's me getting used to moving again after 3 days off, and making tomorrow's interval workout easier.

Here's to hoping that the theory holds true. :)

Technorati : food, health, motivation, sparkpeople, wedding

Quickie type update

Got the actual lab results from my doc, and wow...

First the good:
Total Cholesterol: 146
Triglycerides: 85 (down from the 150's a year ago!!!)
HDL: 42
LDL: 87

Glucose: 78 (pretty standard for me)

I feel so geeky and old being happy about the levels, but knowing that the bad things have decreased and the good stuff has gone up make me really, really happy!!

The mostly bad: I've gone being hypothyroid to hyperthyroid. It's good because it's helped with giving me energy and being productive, (coughweightlosscough), but bad because it can lead to all sorts of problems, including the nervousness and trouble sleeping I've already been experiencing... but didn't want to admit. It can also lead to heart issues, goiters, etc. Not fun.

Faxed the results to my other doc who is regulating this and most likely will mean a drop in my medication dosage. Whee.

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Ow...

Did someone get the license plate number of the truck that ran me over?!

Seriously... that's gotta be it.

So yeah, not really in the best shape today. What amazes me is that, when I wasn't paying attention to what and when I was eating, and couldn't be classified as a normal pattern, the occasional deviation from that 'pattern' didn't have a lot of impact. If it was a 3-5 day deviation, then yeah, there were consequences, but for the most part, no big. Now, with paying attention, having an actual pattern and plan for eating, exercising, rest, etc., any small deviation has a HUGE impact.

Case in point - this weekend, even though DH(S!) was home and usually that's equals vacation time in my brain, I did good food wise on Friday and fairly good on Saturday - eating times were wonky because of getting up late and doing errands, but all in all ok. Sunday not so good. It started with a sleep deficit because (hangs head) we got a PS2 and were up till 1 playing a game... (which I totally kicked butt on! LOL!) Then we got up around 8 to get to a bridal fair to work (ironic, no? Married but still going to bridal fairs! But it keeps my hubby in town this week working so yay!). I ate 2 big meals that day - breakfast and dinner - and had minimal snacks and water during the day. Combine that with hauling heavy stuff and standing all day, I am one _really_ tired and _really, really_ sore mOnkey! I debated in my head last night about getting up for the workout this morning and decided that a moderate/high intenstity workout would do more harm than good, but I would do something easy. When I could barely move without hurting to turn off my alarm, that plan was scratched, too. Or at least postponed till I get home tonight.

The ibuprophen is slowly working but my neck & shoulder still don't really want to work, which makes it fun if I try to move my head. :/

What all this whining amounts to is how I was taking for granted the fact that I was feeling GREAT! and how much I'm looking forward to getting back to feeling GREAT very, very soon. Today is a new day with a plan for eating, exercising, and just being the best person I can be.

In other news I got a notice on my labs and my cholesteral is FABU! My glucose level is happily low-normal and I'm going to pick up the actual sheet from my doc to see the rest of it. The little card with those results had a note that my thyroid was low, but need to see the actual numbers to understand what that means.

On a final note... OMG I am sooo sick of the commerical for multigrain cheerios! "But the box! It says..." "What else does the box say?" Well, it should say that the people who wrote this commercial are stupid heads.

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Happy Friday Dance!

Yay! I made it to Friday! And my DH(S!) is at least in the state and will hopefully be headed this way in a couple of hours.

Was very proud of myself - got up about 10 minutes earlier, made it through my workout this morning and kicked butt! All that despite an interruption from a friend of mine. She's the uber crazy one that gets up for spin class at 5 am... so there I am, huffing away during my 2nd or 3rd interval, heart rate is around 150-155, sweat dripping down my face and she stops by to say hi. Cool... then actually wants me to have a conversation. WT-?!? Surprisingly was able to talk to her for a bit, maintain my heart rate, and not fall over.

Whoo hoo! :)

Apparently the rest did good for me.

And I stuck around for an extra few mintues to get some decent stretching in. Felt very good!

Then I get into work to see a HUGE plate of very tempting chocolate chip cookies that would have made Nana Nestle very proud. I looked at them for a good couple minutes then decided that it wasn't worth it. At least not today. If I'm going to indulge, I need to set standards, and while I'm sure those were fabu and don't want to bad mouth the wonderful baker, if I'm gonna have a cookie, it's gonna be from Rocco's or my own kitchen. And if I'm gonna have ice cream, it's gonna be real ice cream - full fat cream/milk, sugar and happiness. Basically if there's going to to be an indulgence, I want it to be worth it, ya know?

Speaking of which, kinda concerned about this weekend. Will be the first weekend with DH(S!) since I've been back on track eating and exercise wise. Next week won't be so bad since he'll be working and I can cook/workout as normal. Tomorrow may be an issue since there's a gathering, and Sunday is going to be really challenging since I'm helping out at a bridal fair (aka minimal breaks, no access to decent food, and lots of cake samples.)

It'll take planning, I know, and if I don't do great, well, there's always Monday.

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Tired Thrusday

That pretty much says it all... I'm just tired today. I keep thinking of the stories you hear over and over again: "as soon as I started exercising consistently, I had boundless energy! I was unstoppable." Ok, so I've been exercising consistently and I'm pooped! What's wrong with me?!?!

Oh yeah, I have chronic fatigue and my adrenals are slowly coming back to life, and that means that exercise can invigorate and exhaust the wee little gland at the same time. That's what.

So what that means is that I didn't go to the gym this morning, I didn't do Pilate's, I didn't do squat... unless doing roll overs to hit the snooze counts as strength training.

And what this also means is that I'm hovering on the line that separates the whiny, rationalizing world from the learning one's limits and adapting accordingly. Luckily I feel like I'm on the 2nd side, not the first.

Looking at where I am now and where I was before, I know that it's just a matter of building up to the point where I can do 5 days straight of cardio. Where I was, I'd be lucky if I would be able to do low to moderate cardio 1x every 3 days, and my diet (the little 'd' diet which means my food intake, unlike Diet that's the evil 4 letter word) wouldn't support or nurture my body's effort anyway.

Where I am now, my diet is a lot cleaner, and the better I eat, the better I feel and the more I want to move and be active. Where I am now, I can do moderate to high intensity 3 days in a row before needing a break. Then I can get back to it and feel better.

Where I am going, I will be doing those 4-5 days of cardio straight, and eating to be a fat burning machine. In order to get there, there's 2 really important pieces that I've been putting off for whatever reason: 1) getting more sleep. As much as I've been fussing about it, I'm still only getting about 5-6 hours. Not cuttin' it. As much as I love the calls from the hubby (squee! :) at the end of his day, they come in around 10-11:30. So, no calls after 10:15, no TV after 10:00 and lights out at 10:30. 2) More stretching. It's a big one for so many people, including myself. I do a quick leg stretch before hopping on the treadmill or elliptical and another 10-20 second stretch afterwards then go on my merry way. Again, not cuttin' it. But this one is a bit more tricky of how to fit it in due to time. then again, I don't need to do an hours worth of yoga after each workout... just 5 minutes of major focused stretching to release all the ick I've built up during the workout. And since Thursdays have been the day where it all hits me, doing my yoga or Pilate's tape that morning. Yeah, seems workable.

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