Two weeks down.

A couple of weeks have passed and a few things have changed in terms of my working towards becoming a healthier person.

First, I caved and finally bought one of those "diet" systems that you have to sit through the long and immeasurably boring audio segments to get the better deal.  Another change is that we brought home a puppy.  I knew the puppy would be a good thing, I did not know if the diet system would be.  Apparently, it is!

Honestly, I should not call it a diet system, though.  It is a lifestyle change.  One that is perfectly suited to someone like me that is pre-diabetic.  I think it would be good for diabetics as well.  Is it tough? Very.  This change essentially eliminates all starchy carbs and processed sugars as well as restricts natural sugars.  Does it work?  Yes.

In one week with this eating change as well as my normal routine, I have dropped 11 lbs and 1% body fat.

That being said, I did not follow the first two weeks strictly yesterday since it was a day of celebration.  There was ice cream, pizza and hamburgers to be had.  I am sure that my waistline will hate me for this tomorrow, but I am already back to my new, regularly scheduled eating habits.

I think I also sprained my ankle somehow, no idea what I did to hurt it, though.  Outside of the exercise and puppy walks, I have been on a spring cleaning kick.  Nothing outside of the new norm besides the purging of things from the house.  Oh well, it has not stopped my exercise routine, it's just a smidge less pleasant and more strenuous.

Healthier me. Inspired by a friend.

I am horrible at this blogging thing.  Why?  Inconsistency and the fact that there are other beings and things that take up so much of my time.  That being said, one of my friends is doing a blog on her journey to a healthier self.   I support this si much that I feel like I should do the same, only where do I start now that I have been at it for a while longer than her?

A bit over four years ago I was a pregosaurus that got up to 250 lbs.  That's right.  2-5-0.  As soon as I forced the Mini Moose into the world, I lost 30lbs.  Instantly lost 30 lbs, only 10 of which was actual child (I have always retained a lot of water, but sometimes it is ridiculous ;3 ).  A couple of years after that I had a massive breast reduction going from an O cup to a G, they took 12 kilo's (almost 26.5 lbs) off of my chest and I dipped down to 200.   I was ecstatic for that... only with little to not support team to help me in recovery with a rambunctious toddler, there were a few complications and my recovery time was far longer than it should have been.  Boop, back up to 230 lbs I went.

Yea, that's right 230 lbs.   I already suffer depression and had self-image issues, and now I could see how large I actually was.  Never was I a dainty woman.  No, I come from hardy, child-baring Viking stock.  Because of this, I tend to carry my weight well if you see me from the front.  From the side is an entirely different matter.  Add to all of that being constantly in pain, high blood pressure, becoming diabetic, oh and not having slept for more than 2 hours a night over the span of 8-12 hours a night, and I was in a really bad place health wise.

Part of this health lapse is because I was referred to a dietician to help with my eating (in an effort to drop some weight without exercise).  She was very nice, supportive, but... failed to grasp the concept that I have the metabolism of a 70-year-old.  What does that mean? I cannot eat anything.  My caloric intake needs to be a lot lower than other people my age.  Significantly.  Actually, I was only 215lbs when I began going to see her and left her services at 233 lbs.  Seriously, I was going to her for a year and all she did was tell me to eat more and more, and I went with it because of insurance even though I knew better.  Nope, no more of that.

Thanks to the people I love, and a sleep study, I finally got myself off of my butt and into a gym.  Slow going?  Definitely, but it is a start.  I am back to eating an amount that works for me too, and have cut out almost all processed sugars.  Lean protein and vege are my staples with a smidge of carbs here and there.

So far, I am down 10 lbs now.  It is slow going and yes, I wish that I was losing weight faster.  Solution to that?  I need to work out for more than an hour three days a week.  Boop!  Time to increase that go time!  Also, I was working out at night, but now I am back to making myself get up at 5am and go to the gym.  RAWR!

Who has this?  This lady.  DOUBLE RAWR!!  RAWR RAWR!

When I get down to a healthier weight, I will stop looking at the numbers as much and begin paying attention to other things.  Until then, I desperately want to hit 200 so I hurt less and it is easier to move in all the fun things that I can do.  Sure, I can do some flipping amazing things as is, but imagine how much easier and nicer it would be to swing around less mass while doing it.  Not to mention being stronger while doing it!

My current workout regime is the following:

• 35 minutes of cardio (elliptical or 5k training, depending on machine availability and my knees), while listening to Zombies, Run!
• 15- 20 minutes on various weight machines (this needs to go up) doing lighter weight reps... except for my legs.  Damn, my legs are still buff "AF" and require a higher weight level than I expected.  Not a ridiculously high level, just a lot more than I thought it would be.
• 10+ minutes of ab workouts using the Six Pack Abs app
• A few minutes of push-ups with Runtastic Push-Up Pro, but I will likely switch over to the Push Ups (Chest) trainer as soon as I become more skilled in the upper body department.  Seriously, push-ups.  Work-In-Progress
• And then a handy workout with the Runtastic Butt Trainer.
• Finish that off with a smidge of yoga and stretching for flexibility and that is where i am right now in the workout routine.
  

That is where I am as of right now, and I know that I can keep this momentum going. 

Week Five: Weight Watchers and Self-Employment

Admittedly, this was not my best week in regards to my continued efforts to lose weight.  Since I was mostly better, I was eating more.  Enough to gain a piddly pound back.  Still, that isn't so horrible.  I figure it is my body coming out of starvation mode.  The real challenge will be to see how I did this current week.  We had our itty bits away for the weekend, so we did a lot of yard work, a lot of loafing about and a lot of pigging out.  Oof.  I only went over by a couple of points on a couple of days but I still feel a little guilty knowing that I was eating things that were bad for me.

On the business end of life, I did get my Etsy shop up and running and things are already looking much better this time around.  More traffic to my site, people actually enjoying the things that I create.  Sales to individuals around town are up as well, but no luck with the local spas and boutiques so far.  One battle at a time though!

My plan for now is to speed through the "non-denominational holiday presents" for my husbands office and pick out what I will create and put up next on Etsy.

Week Four: Weight Watchers, Small Businesses and Illness

This week has been invigorating and exhausting at the same time.

My husband returned home from a college football game with whatever flavor of illness this is going around, and promptly gave it to the baby and me. Booooooo!  However, this has made sticking to my points count with Weight Watchers very easy because all I have wanted is hot tea, juice and soup.  This is doubly good seeing as how I went into junk food over drive while he was away at the game and almost blew through an entire weeks worth of treat points in a day and a half.  I was much more determined to eat better afterwards though.  Really, if I was not ill I likely would have maintained the flubby weight from the week before rather than losing two pounds.  Go me?  I am not sure on that one yet.

Not so new NEWS FLASH!  Babies do not like bulb syringes. Poor Mini Moose has Daddy's plague worse than he or I do and has to be suctioned out ever few hours.  At first he wasn't so cranky, now he is unless there are big, group snuggles.  This is a problem since we do not co-sleep with itty bits, and both my husband and I need naps too.  If we are not all in the same place, screaming ensues.  My head with the sinus headache does not appreciate this.   Such is life.

The excitement of the week though is that I am going to be selling things again, and opening up my Etsy shoppe once more.  This time it will be with things that I make specifically to sell rather than just whatever knit and crocheted projects that I wanted to make and had no use for and no one to give it to.  Also, I will be adding handmade soaps, dead sea salt scrubs and the like to my repertoire of retail goods.

Week Three

I found in the third week that not only was it easier, but I also started eating less without having to think about it.  Also, the smarter food choices are becoming easier.  The later is being said though since my body greatly disagrees with the consumption of dairy and red meats and has for some time.  Because of this I have been going through the process of cutting back and out on these foods.

I miss cheese less, but I still miss it, and I only crave red meat when it is that dreaded shark week.

The disappointment this week though, was to find out that it is healthier for me to eat fast food than it is to eat Amy's Organic Chili - Medium (vegan).  Oh cripes that stuff is bad for you if you eat the entire can.  I don't know about anyone else, but that is what I tend to do because half the can (aka one serving) just does not cut it for me.

One of the biggest challenges that I am having is trying to find time to eat when I am home with my son.  He does not make it easy to make something healthy and heat-&-eat items tend to be... not healthy.  Combine that with trying to get my own business up and running, running a guild in WoW (yes, yes, I know, the WoW-crack is not a life necessity but I like that it is entertainment that costs me a grand $15/month and helps keep us on budget since I want to go out less) and I consider it a good day if I actually get lunch rather than grazing until my husband comes home from work.  Mentioning the WoW-crack though, I should say this is something that 95% of the time I do not touch until my husband is home and I can login to make sure everything is stocked up for people.

When it comes to eating out, yes, it is a transition.  Fortunately, I am one of those people that already loves salads and vege in general.  The only times I see running into problems are going out to eat at a couple of my favorite places.  The Mexican restaurant that I enjoy doesn't really "do" salads.  There is a small side salad.  It consists of lettuce, a smidge of tomato and a ton of onion.... with creamy jalapeno dressing.  Almost everything else has a ton of cheese or fat.  The Indian restaurant, well... let's just say that the healthiest thing on the menu is dessert. Hah!  It's delicious but I know it isn't healthy with as much cream is used in most of those dishes, not to mention coconut.  Aside from those two places I am usually golden, and if I do want a treat, my husband will generally share it with me.

Sure, I wish I was loosing weight faster.  Who wouldn't -- aside from the people working to maintain their healthy weight or looking to gain healthy weight?  This way seems to work better for me though since I am consistently loosing and my weight fluctuations are not coming into play on my weigh-in days.

If this is disjointed, my apologies.  Attempting to blog with an active toddler is not the easiest thing in the world to say the least.

Week Two on the Journey to Being Healthier

Week two of weight watchers and perhaps I shouldn't be surprised, but it seems to be working.  I have counted calories and already eat "right" most of the time.  Cardio exercise is a weak point for me though.  Yet, despite the myriad of health issues that I have which have aided in my previous failure to keep myself healthy, it's working.

As expected, I am loosing one pound per week.  That may not seem like much, but it's huge to someone like me with severe weight fluctuations.

Oh yeah, I have a blog. Hah!

More business I suppose.  Hah!  Definitely more than "I suppose."

I am still becoming used to being a mother, and I try to suck it up but being an only child and then an adult with significant amounts of quiet, alone time to 24/7 noise and a tiny human can be trying at times to say the last.  It's worth it though.  That little grin and giggle melts my heart every time.

Fiber arts has resumed again now that I am more in the swing of parenthood.  So much so that I am making a collection of things to sell at the office.  If I am lucky, I will get around to making more soap and salt scrub to sell too.  I've even considered opening the etsy shop again but I find that I really do not like Etsy.  It's preferable to me to sell things face to face.  An even better occurrence would be if the spa I go to would like to sell some of the things that I make as well.

Aside from the daily business, after the success that my SiL and some of my best friends have had with Weight Watchers, I am signing up and giving it a go.  I can do this!  There are corsets to be bought and and all sorts of fun things whenever I lose some flub and become healthier/feel better.

Rawr!  I am pumped right now.