Batman

So, yesterday's post was so pissy and I feel so bad for bringing all that negativity up in this blog, and even though I still feel kind of 'off' and a little sick...well, I'm gonna post something positive! AND I might even post again tonight if I feel like it!! Take that BRAIN for making me be all crazy!

Or maybe I should be blaming my ovaries? But seeing as there are no fun cartoon ovaries, sorry brain, you are taking the heat for my malfuncations.

So, on to the title of my post...

Da na na na na na na na,

Da na na na na na na na,

Da na na na na na na na,

Batman!

Lol, okay, I hope that song is in everyone's head for the rest of the day :) This morning I was getting ready for the shower and I was inspecting my progress in the mirror while wearing the best suit for the job, my birthday suit. This is always a dangerous idea, because I usually spot the areas I still want improvement in. But today, I saw something that surprised me.

My batwings are getting small!!!!

You know what I'm talking about ladies, and probably gents. That flap on your arm, that you can shake around, like a wing, lol. I used to gain some air from those suckers. But today I noticed that the hangy down flab only goes about half way down my upper arm and then my arm is smaller than it was. Not to mention the bat wing that is left is smaller too.

Dang weight loss, now I'll never be able to fly!!

Lol, just kidding. I am very happy, and I am also very excited because I'm going to start spending some extra time on my arms when doing strength training. Maybe someday I really will be able to wear a sleeveless shirt! I always said I would, but I didn't really ever think I could.

Okay, so here is to today being better than the last. Have a good one all!

50th Post

So this is my 50th post, kinda cool.

Today was good. Pretty much text book good. But I'm tired and bloated....and I am kind of ready for today to be over. I guess I'll rehash the day for blogging sake...

Woke up,

ate a surprisingly delicious new breakfast of these special crackers w/almond butter and banana,

went to gym,

lifted weights,

ran a mile,

biked 5 miles,

swam 15 minutes,

went to work,

ate Indian Food for lunch (stayed about from all carbs though),

was really bored at work,

accidentally went psycho emotional woman on my husband,

left work,

ran a mile in the park,

felt a bit better,

called an appologized to husband,

got stuff to make homemade pizza for dinner,

made my husband a pepperoni and cheese pizza,

made me a veggie pizza that was delicious!,

tried watching Mamma Mia,

discovered Mamma Mia is a huge disappointment,

got on the computer and wrote this.

I don't know why I feel so pissy. Well, I do, and it is a girl thing. But, I'm sticking to my diet. That is good. Still not sure if I want to weigh in this Friday...I do, but I don't. Hopefully tomorrow I'll be a little more chipper and will be able to decide.

Sorry this wasn't a more inspiring post. I just feel BLAH!

Hope everyone is in a better mood than I am :)

Tuesday, Fast Day, Hurt Tummy Day, Good Day

Today was my fast day (you may be seeing a pattern on Tuesdays and Thursdays. They just work for fasting.) I am actually really glad I was fasting, because it eliminated a HUGE temptation today. I woke up this morning with severe stomach cramps, so bad that I came home at lunch. On these days (ladies, you know what I mean)...I usually get a bit...well, ravenous! And I can't tell you how easy it was NOT to binge since I was just not eating at all. I even sat and watched my husband eat a cheeseburger and fries from one of our favorite burger places, and I wasn't phased. As always I stayed well hydrated, no problems there.

The one thing that irritates me about fast days is that I don't exercise. I'm fasting for health, not weight loss...so, I want to allow my body time to heal itself. That is why I don't exercise, I want my body to be able to focus all its energy on detoxing and healing. But I still wake up in the morning at 4:00 a.m. chomping on the bit to go to the gym (lol, who said no one's excited to work out?)

So, I decided that if I feel that way I will start doing Yoga on Tuesday/Thursday/FastDay. I picked up a Yoga for Beginners movie at Walmart. I came home early from work, laid in bed until the ibproufin kicked in, and then opened the windows and rolled out my yoga mat...that was very dirty from being stuck in the corner of the garage for so long by the way. I'd also like to mention that we finally got a break in the freezing cold here in Houston, that is why I opened the windows. I have to say, I liked yoga. I have kind of tried it before, but I always had major issues with my balance...like dehabilitating imbalance issues. But I think the 77 pounds I've lost have made a difference (good golly, what a surprise!) It was still a challenge, but I really feel soooooo wonderful right now! I honestly thought yoga was probably some hippy bull...well at least the stuff about mental clarity and invigoration. But let me tell you, I feel invigorated as all hell!!! From stomach cramps to this!? I might do yoga EVERY day!

Yoga really was great, but I am raring to get into the gym tomorrow mourning and make my body work! I'm sure I'll be even more motivated after watching biggest loser tonight :)

My sister Tootie sent me an email today (her real name is elizabeth, but we call her tootie.) It was to tell me that I have motivated her. Tootie probably used to be about as big as I was in the beginning. Now she is so beautiful...really the perfect healthy size. She also said something that really stuck with me and I wanted to share it here...

"I have found I'd rather be tired from the battle

than tired from not trying."

Every day I am doubting less and less that I am going to make it. I am going to finish this. I know some days I will be tired from this battle...but I was tired every day when I weighed 269 pounds. It really is like a battlefield. I started facing a huge army of fat, and it was really difficult to face all those pounds at the same time. It took me a while, but now that I've knocked down their numbers I am fighting faster. I am able to concentrate on specific types of fat. I am in control of the battle, instead of it being in control of me.

Because when the fat was in control of me I could never imagine winning the war.

Alright people, have a great night!!

Monday, Monday...

I have to say today was a good start to the week. Woke up early, went to the gym; hit the weights, ran a mile, and then jumped in the pool. In the pool I worked on my breathing, and I do think I made some improvements. I did get a couple of nose fulls of water, but I'm confident I can learn to do this. And that makes me excited. That I have the confidence to try something new, even if every once and a while I burst out of the water coughing and sputtering. I'm still learning and improving...and I just keep going. That excites me.

I also ate healthy all day as well. Even COOKED (that is right, cooked) a healthy and tasty dinner of couscous, grilled chicken, and roasted veggies. It came out to a total of 350ish calories.

I can tell this is healthier than a microwave dinner that I might usually eat, because I'm way more full than usual.

Yesterday my husband and I did buy some Pepsi and Mountain Dew Throwback. These are limited time releases of real Pepsi. It is not made with high fructose corn syrup. It is made with REAL sugar. It is totally worth the 150 Calories.

It even comes in the cool old cans.

I'm allowing myself a can, if of course, I have the calories to spare.

It happened again today. I started thinking about weigh day. I started thinking last weigh day was a fluke and it made me really nervous. You see, this blog is the most transparent I have ever been about my weight loss. It terrifies me to think I might have to come on here and say that I gained any weight. In a way this is good. I feel like I've got to exercise and eat right, or else I'll

be

imberresed. But, it also makes me stressed, and that is not usually a good thing to combine with a diet.

I told Candy I was feeling this way, and she warned me that if I don't realize how ridiculous I am being that she won't let me use her 'asshole' anymore (asshole is what we have nicknamed scales in general). She suggested that I maybe do what she is doing and only weigh in once a month, or start tracking the inches I lost instead of weight. I just don't think that will work for me. You see, if I have a month before I weigh myself I think I will allow myself to cheat, thinking I'll have enough time to make up for it towards the end of the month. But...if I keep feeling this way I might start weighing myself every two weeks. We'll see how this Friday goes. If I have a loss this Friday I will know it isn't a fluke. Well, at least that is what I'm gonna keep telling myself :)

Today Candy nominated me for an award, my first one...the Beautiful

Blogger Award. So, I've got to list 7 random facts about me:

1. My favorite Disney princess is Sleeping Beauty (Brier Rose/Aurora)

2. When I was 15 me and my first boyfriend used to plan on having enough kids so that we'd have our own baseball team.

3. My husband and I don't want children.

4. For my 30th birthday I want to go kayaking in Alaska.

5. Sometimes I like to write...I usually write Fantasy. Sometimes it can get a little steamy ;)

6. I flunked my guitar class in college.

7. Right now, directly beneath me where I am laying on the bed, there is a shotgun.

My nominations for this award are:

Candy

Loretta

Tiff @ Project365

Jessi

Chris @ DeliberateLife

Tricia

and even though he is a guy...his journey has been and is beautiful...

Sean

Alright, so I'm thinking I might be going to sleep soon. Well, after the bachelor :) Have a good night all. I hope your start of the week was a good one, and if not, just kick butt tomorrow.

Back w/a Vingeance!!

So today was, in one word, AWESOME!

This morning I got up at 8:00 a.m. and met Helen at 24 Hour Fitness (yes, I rejoined in order to train for the Triathlon.) We had a great bike ride on the stationary bikes. I set the program to 'Random Hills', because the Triathlon we are doing is going to be in Austin, Texas. It is very hilly there. We rode for 30 minutes, plus a few minutes of cool down. I went 10.5 miles and it felt great! I have never had that good of a workout on a stationary bike (besides spinning of course). I think one reason it felt so great is Helen and I talked the whole time and the time flew by.

Then we decided to tackle the swimming. Did I mention Helen used to be a competitive swimmer? Wow, she was amazing! I have to give myself props. We swam for about 30 minutes and I did 12 laps. I stopped for a minute breather a couple of times, but it was a pretty constant workout.

I've really got to work on my breathing so far as swimming goes. I've never been one to use my nose for breathing. I'm what you'd call a mouth breather. But, in swimming it is essential that you keep your head in the water and breathe out through your nose, then come up and take a breathe through your mouth. I kind of got it today, but I'm going to keep working on it. Helen said she thought I'd do pretty well if I got the breathing down. And coming from her, that was a pretty big complement.

We got in the hot tub for a bit, and that was nice. Then I headed out and met Sam at the park. We walked for 2.5 miles.

So yeh, working out was great today. That is why I'm typing my post tonight, because I'm going to get up early and go to the gym in the morning. I don't know if I'll have a lot of time to post in the morning.

Okay, getting kinda sleepy. Hopefully I'll have a more interesting post tomorrow :) Everyone have a great night, and let's make this week a good one!

No Excuses and moving on...

So, yesterday wasn't so great. I didn't exercise and I didn't stay at my 1500 calorie goal. I pretty much maintained. I ALSO didn't post on my blog!! [Insert ominous scary music here, throw in a bit of screaming too.]

Here are my list of excuses that aren't really excuses because there are no excuses when it is all a choice. I challenge you to read it aloud without taking a single breath.

Deep breath.....

Friday night I went to bed nice and early at 7p.m. and my husband came and woke me up at 11p.m., totally disturbing my sleep schedule, and that is when I wrote my last post, which I kinda hoped was posted after midnight so it could count as yesterday's post, but it wasn't, and then I avoided this blog like the plague yesterday because I didn't do any exercise, because my 5K that I have been training for was cancelled, because of the cold and lack of interest, because Texans apparently don't have balls to run outside when it is under 20 degrees, and then I was in the really nasty mood and yelled at my husband at wal-mart, even though I should have known not to allow him to go shopping with me, because we never get along, and then I felt pissy because I was behaving all emotionally, and just wanted to eat, and then I went to this scrapbooking meeting for the first time where I actually had tons of fun, but also where there was queso and drinks, none of which were diet, so I just said screw it and had probably 3 servings of queso and two un-diet sodas and a margarita, and after that I came home and made a homemade cheese pizza that usually is pretty healthy, but not when you eat half of the whole pizza, and then I went to bed even though I had my gym clothes in my car, ready to go, just waiting for me.

Breathe people breathe!!

If you made it through that in a single breath I think you set a new record. Quick! Call Guiness! If not, don't feel bad. I didn't either, which means that list of excuses is

..............completely and utterly bogus!

And that is okay, because I am letting them and yesterday go into the archives. Today is a new day and I'm treating it like one!

8:00 a.m. today I am meeting Helen at the gym (the girl who is doing the triathlon with me in May) and we are gonna bust our butts doing some swimming and biking. After that I might meet Sam to do some jogging at a park. Today's gonna be a good day!! :)

Fasting for Health - Why I Do It?

I have had a couple of comments about my decision to fast twice a week, and I'm sure I'll have more in the future. I will take it as people who genuinely care for my health, and that is a wonderful thing. However, I would like the oppurtonity to tell people why I've decided to fast twice a week. I want to make it clear that this post is simply to educate people as to my decision. I encourage anyone who has considered fasting to thoroughly research it and consider speaking to their doctor. Read at our own risk kind of thing I guess.

Fasting is not for everyone. Before you even consider fasting you should know that it is not a good idea for;

"Thin people, and those who are particularly sensitive to cold, can have a particularly hard time. Also, too much physical activity while fasting may also be a cause of headaches......It is also important to know that no matter how short the duration, fasting is unwise and potentially dangerous for some people. This group of people includes pregnant and lactating women, people with cancer, diabetes, gout, hypoglycemia, stomach ulcers, liver kidney, or lung disease. It could be potentially dangerous for anyone with a compromised immune system."

-www.steadyhealth.com

I think there are a lot of misconceptions about fasting, and I'd like to address those that I can think of. I am totally open to people's criticism's, as well as questions. I will say that I have read a lot on the subject, good and bad view points, so I feel confident in my decision to attempt fasting.

Why don't I go through a couple of questions and objections that I first had about fasting?

What is fasting?

"In a medical context fasting may refer to the metabolic status of a person who has not eaten overnight, and to the metabolic state achieved after complete digestion and absorption of a meal. Several metabolic adjustments occur during fasting, and many medical diagnostic tests are standardized for fasting conditions. For most ordinary diagnostic purposes a person is assumed to be fasting after 8-12 hours. Many of the metabolic shifts of fasting begin as absorption of a meal is complete (typicaly 3-5 hours after a meal.....Finally, extended fasting has been recommended as therapy for various conditions by physicians of most cultures, throughout history, from ancient to modern."

-Wikipedia

You will just lose muscle!

"Glucose is the body's primary fuel source and is essential for the brain's functioning. When denied glucose for more than 4-8 hours, the body will turn to the liver for glycogen, a storage form of glucose, to be used for fuel. A process called glycogenolysis converts glycogen into a usable form of fuel. At this point, the body will also use small amounts of protein to supplement this fuel. This fuel will last for up to 12 hours before the body needs to turn to muscle stores of glycogen, lasting for a few more days. If glucose is still denied at this point, muscle wasting is prevented by temporarily switching to fat as the fuel source, meaning fat is converted into ketone through catabolism. Ketones, while not sugars, are able to be used by the brain as a fuel source as long as glucose is denied." -Wikipedia

So yes, if you are on a long term fast you will lose some muscle. However, I would like to point out I am only fasting for 24 hours at a time, before the process of using protein (muscle) occurs.

Your body will go into starvation mode!

"The body will generally indicate to the faster when fat levels are running extremely low (less than 7% and 10% of body weight for males and females respectively) with an increased urge for food. Fasts are usually broken long before this point. If the fast is not broken, starvation will begin to occur, as the body begins to use protein for fuel. Death can occur if fasting is pursued to the point of complete starvation."

-Wikipedia

I'm just going to come right out and say this is not a problem for me :)...I've got some fat to eat up before I ever enter starvation mode.

You just lose water weight & Health Benefits...

On a short term fast, yes, you do lose a lot of water weight. But that is because your body is cleansing itself. While I'm happy if the fasting I do results in long term weight loss, I am fasting for the health benefits beyond losing weight.

"Research suggests there are major health benefits to caloric restriction. Benefits include a reduced risk of cancer, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, insulin resistance, immune disorders, and more generally, the slowing of the aging process and the potential to increase maximum life span......other health benefits include stress resistance, increased insulin sensitivity, reduced morbidity, and increased life span. Long-term studies in humans have not been conducted. However, short-term human trials showed benefits in weight loss. The side effect was the participants felt cranky during the three week trial."

-Wikipedia

"Advocates of fasting believe that it periodically give the body a break from digestion, and also allows it to eliminate the toxins that cause disease, while promoting healing and reversing the aging process. Studies indicate that fasting helps health conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, migraine headache, and some skin diseases as well. Acute illnesses such as colds and flu, colon disorders, allergies, obesity, and respiratory diseases may also respond to a fasting diet. Proponents claim a one-day fast creates a clearer mental state and increased energy of the body, that a three-day fast rids the body of toxins and purifies the blood, and that a long-term fast promotes healing, alleviates food allergies, sheds pounds, and rebuilds the immune system."

-www.steadyhealth.com

There have got to be some cons!

"On the other hand, critics believe that fasting depletes the body of important nutrients, essential minerals and energy. They think fasting may be unsafe, and is an ineffective weightloss aid. The few pounds that are lost near the beginning of a fast are from water. They believe this weight will return as soon as the fast is over."

-www.steadyhealth.com

I am not fasting for weight loss, I am fasting for health. I plan on fasting at least once a week once I am to my goal weight, so this is part of the healthy lifestyle I am creating for myself. I also keep well hydrated during my liquid fasts. I also allow my self a V8 Splash if I want one and take my vitamins.

I hope this post may have answered some questions, and I welcome other questions/critisizms if anyone has any. I know fasting isn't for everyone, it is just a choice I've made.

Thanks for listening and have a great day!