I was on such a roll there for a while. I went an entire year without being sick, then month 13 hits and it hit my immune system hard. I've been down and out for the count for almost a week now.
It started with a tickle in my throat and my voice started to get deep. It was kinda low and growly, you know ... not too shabby ...
But then it went beyond just a fun vocal change. Next thing I knew, I was an exhausted, mute, space cadet who couldn't breathe. There is nothing fun about a respiratory infection. The worst part was, all I wanted to do was take a puff of my inhaler to help me breathe, but one shot of that made my throat tickle more and sent me into another coughing spell. It was a cruel twist in my situation.
Chicken soup, tea with honey, lots of water, rest and a Z-pak finally have me up and about. I made it through an entire day at work today, catching up on what I missed the past two days and getting things back in order. I'm still fighting the exhaustion though - the end of today was rough to say the least.
Here's to getting myself back on track with diet and exercise now that I'm on the mend. I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired.
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Monday, April 9, 2012
Lost: My inner incredible
Surviving the holidays has always been a challenge for me. I love carbs and sweets, especially sweet carbs. Being under hypnosis definitely helped me through the major holidays. This time, I was on my own for Easter. I was not perfect by any means, but I did well. I watched my portions, limited my treats and did my best to stay away from temptations. I did indulge, but not did over-indulge.
One thing I have noticed is that my attitude has changed since I broke the hypnosis. I'm not taking things as seriously, not viewing one bite as being problematic. The reality is, one bite IS problematic for me. I need to stop my relaxed attitude and start really making a bigger effort to continue improving my life.
I'm starting to wonder just how much hypnosis helped me in my everyday decisions. The amount of willpower I had was incredible, and now left to my own devices, I am far from incredible.
My mission, discover my incredible inner strength once again.
One thing I have noticed is that my attitude has changed since I broke the hypnosis. I'm not taking things as seriously, not viewing one bite as being problematic. The reality is, one bite IS problematic for me. I need to stop my relaxed attitude and start really making a bigger effort to continue improving my life.
I'm starting to wonder just how much hypnosis helped me in my everyday decisions. The amount of willpower I had was incredible, and now left to my own devices, I am far from incredible.
My mission, discover my incredible inner strength once again.
Saturday, April 7, 2012
Explain this to me ...
I realized the other day one major reason why certain diet and exercise plans work for me, and others don't. There are, of course, ease of use and convenience factors, but beyond that, it's an explanation. A real one. "Because it works" doesn't cut it for me. I need to know why, I need to see a point other than blind faith and experts said so.
Tell me what happens in my body when I eat certain foods. Tell me why my body reacts to this differently from that. Make me understand, educate me. Then, if I understand and accept the reasoning, the plan should work.
I completely understood my plan under hypnosis, what my goals were and why. Why we had certain tasks, essential foods and no-no foods. I may not have understood WHY the hypnosis part worked exactly, but I understood the why. And, I saw results quickly.
So now what? I'm off hypnosis per the doctor because of my increased exercise, and I'm back into personal training and a clean eating diet. This has been an adjustment after 8 months of no weighing or tracking foods, no reading labels, no carbs at all, no schedule for meals, nothing that tastes sweet.
And I'm realizing that I am not following this plan as closely or seriously as my hypnosis plan, because I don't understand why. I keep hearing the voice of my hypnotist saying, nothing sweet, every time I pick up a protein bar or shake. I remember that we weren't supposed to eat nuts of any kind, but clean eating encourages peanut butter.
So, my goal in the next few days is to research and discover why clean eating works, how it helps my body and see if I can really get myself properly on track with this plan. Feel free to share thoughts and resources on clean eating with me!
Tell me what happens in my body when I eat certain foods. Tell me why my body reacts to this differently from that. Make me understand, educate me. Then, if I understand and accept the reasoning, the plan should work.
I completely understood my plan under hypnosis, what my goals were and why. Why we had certain tasks, essential foods and no-no foods. I may not have understood WHY the hypnosis part worked exactly, but I understood the why. And, I saw results quickly.
So now what? I'm off hypnosis per the doctor because of my increased exercise, and I'm back into personal training and a clean eating diet. This has been an adjustment after 8 months of no weighing or tracking foods, no reading labels, no carbs at all, no schedule for meals, nothing that tastes sweet.
And I'm realizing that I am not following this plan as closely or seriously as my hypnosis plan, because I don't understand why. I keep hearing the voice of my hypnotist saying, nothing sweet, every time I pick up a protein bar or shake. I remember that we weren't supposed to eat nuts of any kind, but clean eating encourages peanut butter.
So, my goal in the next few days is to research and discover why clean eating works, how it helps my body and see if I can really get myself properly on track with this plan. Feel free to share thoughts and resources on clean eating with me!
Friday, April 6, 2012
Things that weigh 80 pounds
In case you didn't catch my post yesterday, I lost 80 pounds, and I am THRILLED! I'm still going. But, here's a look at things that [may] weigh 80 pounds, so in essence, all the things I have lost.
- 2 four-year-olds
- A large dog
- The World's Largest Ball of Tape (although I read that this record may have been broken and it's now 117 pounds, but I'm going with it)
- Approximately 53 dozen large eggs
- Four tires
- 10-Gallon bottle of water
- A heavy bag for boxing
- Black Rhino Baby
- Rachel Zoe (according to bricksandstonesgossip.com)
- Snooki (according to celebuzz.com)
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Can I brag for a minute?
I'm sorry, but I just need to stop and brag for a minute. I've lost about 80 pounds in a year, and I think that's awesome! Diet and exercise, who knew? It's a huge feat and an incredible accomplishment. I'm thrilled.
And I'm not done. I still have a ways to go, probably another 80 pounds still to go before I'm at a healthy weight (maybe more, depends on how much muscle I build). But, being half way (or close to half way) to my goal is an awesome feeling.
It wasn't easy. There was NOTHING easy about this. I changed my lifestyle completely.
I changed my diet: No sugar or carbs. I lived on meat, veggies and milk, with Siggi's Yogurt as my one "treat" as long as it was part of a meal with meat. I gave up foods I loved, especially the sugar, man alive do I have a nasty sweet tooth! No birthday cake for me last year though, and that was a first. Slightly disappointing, but I'd rather be healthy than have a cake.
I exercised: Personal training, strength training, cardio. I dragged my butt out of bed at 4:30 in the morning so I could prop myself up on a treadmill or bike at the gym by 5 am. I logged hours at the gym, literally working my butt off. And, I started taking my dog for walks on the beach once the weather started to warm up. I even jogged/walked my first 5K in March 2012, and I wasn't the last one to cross the finish line! I'm moving and shaking.
I got hypnosis: I admitted that I couldn't do this alone and accepted help in many forms, one of which was hypnosis. It helped with willpower and provided clear objectives for accomplishing my goals.
I asked for help: I enlisted my friends and family by telling them what I could and could not eat, so temptations were minimal. And, in moments of weakness, they helped me stay on track. Especially my sister. I think she secretly took pleasure in scolding me when I was tempted to stray.
This has probably been the most challenging project of my life, working to essentially cut my body weight in half. As I type this, moving in my chair to stretch my sore muscles, I think about how far I've come and how proud I am of my accomplishments.
80 pounds gone from my life.
And I'm not done. I still have a ways to go, probably another 80 pounds still to go before I'm at a healthy weight (maybe more, depends on how much muscle I build). But, being half way (or close to half way) to my goal is an awesome feeling.
It wasn't easy. There was NOTHING easy about this. I changed my lifestyle completely.
I changed my diet: No sugar or carbs. I lived on meat, veggies and milk, with Siggi's Yogurt as my one "treat" as long as it was part of a meal with meat. I gave up foods I loved, especially the sugar, man alive do I have a nasty sweet tooth! No birthday cake for me last year though, and that was a first. Slightly disappointing, but I'd rather be healthy than have a cake.
I exercised: Personal training, strength training, cardio. I dragged my butt out of bed at 4:30 in the morning so I could prop myself up on a treadmill or bike at the gym by 5 am. I logged hours at the gym, literally working my butt off. And, I started taking my dog for walks on the beach once the weather started to warm up. I even jogged/walked my first 5K in March 2012, and I wasn't the last one to cross the finish line! I'm moving and shaking.
I got hypnosis: I admitted that I couldn't do this alone and accepted help in many forms, one of which was hypnosis. It helped with willpower and provided clear objectives for accomplishing my goals.
I asked for help: I enlisted my friends and family by telling them what I could and could not eat, so temptations were minimal. And, in moments of weakness, they helped me stay on track. Especially my sister. I think she secretly took pleasure in scolding me when I was tempted to stray.
This has probably been the most challenging project of my life, working to essentially cut my body weight in half. As I type this, moving in my chair to stretch my sore muscles, I think about how far I've come and how proud I am of my accomplishments.
80 pounds gone from my life.
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Knee-ding a solution
Monday was my first personal training session after about eight
months on my own. I must say, I'm a bit sore. She definitely kicked my butt.
I'm still concerned about my knees though. I stopped personal training last summer because the program they offered at my gym was not truly personal; it was designed to accommodate four women at a time doing essentially the same thing. There were a lot of squats and lunges, things that required using my knees to a large degree in ways that would later trigger a lot of pain.
I had hoped that the 80 pounds I lost would allow me to step back into this program and finish my membership (three months left!), but after day one, I'm not sure this will work. I told my trainer that my knees were an issue, squats and lunges were the biggest culprits for aggravating my knees (I have arthritis and was in a car accident seven years ago). However, she had me try exercises like stair stepping and later, squats. While I could do the exercises without pain at that moment, the pain came later.
Sitting in my car, dripping with sweat, I felt a hot pulsing sensation in my knees. Placing my hands on my knee caps, I felt the heat radiating from them. That can't be good. When I got home, I went to take the three small steps up to my porch and felt that twinge of pain that I used to get after working out. Not a good sign. Later that night, standing up from my chair, I felt that twinge of pain again.
The last thing I want is to damage my knees. I'm just getting healthy and I want to stay that way. I'll be talking with the trainer at my next appointment today. If I keep having trouble with my knees, I may not be able to continue with this kind of personal training program.
I'm still concerned about my knees though. I stopped personal training last summer because the program they offered at my gym was not truly personal; it was designed to accommodate four women at a time doing essentially the same thing. There were a lot of squats and lunges, things that required using my knees to a large degree in ways that would later trigger a lot of pain.
I had hoped that the 80 pounds I lost would allow me to step back into this program and finish my membership (three months left!), but after day one, I'm not sure this will work. I told my trainer that my knees were an issue, squats and lunges were the biggest culprits for aggravating my knees (I have arthritis and was in a car accident seven years ago). However, she had me try exercises like stair stepping and later, squats. While I could do the exercises without pain at that moment, the pain came later.
Sitting in my car, dripping with sweat, I felt a hot pulsing sensation in my knees. Placing my hands on my knee caps, I felt the heat radiating from them. That can't be good. When I got home, I went to take the three small steps up to my porch and felt that twinge of pain that I used to get after working out. Not a good sign. Later that night, standing up from my chair, I felt that twinge of pain again.
The last thing I want is to damage my knees. I'm just getting healthy and I want to stay that way. I'll be talking with the trainer at my next appointment today. If I keep having trouble with my knees, I may not be able to continue with this kind of personal training program.
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Breaking Hypnosis
This past weekend, I wrote about breaking hypnosis. I have, but I'm still in shock. How could I stop doing a program that was working? Well, I was dizzy, tired, weak and unmotivated, and I was apparently not giving my body enough nutrients to survive. My low-carb diet, which had been healthy and helped me lose just over 80 pounds, was no longer cutting it.
But it worked! But, I wasn't feeling well. See, since the beginning of 2012, my exercise increased, working towards 5 miles of walking a day and building up my endurance to run 5K races without walking. I was eating more of the meat and veggies that were part of my low-carb plan, but it turns out my body needed even more. My hypnotist, who also has a background in nutrition, was surprised I was training so hard while on such an intense weight loss program; it was too much for my body to handle at once. My doctors agreed. It's time to reintroduce carbs.
It's scary, and to be honest, I failed at my first week off hypnosis and a low-carb diet. Left to my own devices, I reverted to old habits. But, if I want to keep moving forward, I have to make better decisions and learn how to stay healthy.
So much for my plan to double my efforts and double my losses! In order to stay healthy and safely train, I had to make a change. I made the difficult decision to break hypnosis and change my diet, but I'm also stepping up my training.
But it worked! But, I wasn't feeling well. See, since the beginning of 2012, my exercise increased, working towards 5 miles of walking a day and building up my endurance to run 5K races without walking. I was eating more of the meat and veggies that were part of my low-carb plan, but it turns out my body needed even more. My hypnotist, who also has a background in nutrition, was surprised I was training so hard while on such an intense weight loss program; it was too much for my body to handle at once. My doctors agreed. It's time to reintroduce carbs.
It's scary, and to be honest, I failed at my first week off hypnosis and a low-carb diet. Left to my own devices, I reverted to old habits. But, if I want to keep moving forward, I have to make better decisions and learn how to stay healthy.
So much for my plan to double my efforts and double my losses! In order to stay healthy and safely train, I had to make a change. I made the difficult decision to break hypnosis and change my diet, but I'm also stepping up my training.
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