I'm starting to resent all those "high horse" sitting people who lecture on and on about how the only thing you need to lose weight is diet and exercise and that's it.
30 minutes 3 times and week and you'll definitely lose weight!
I've been going to the gym 3-6 times a week since June with 30-45 min cardio each time. No change (except my heart is better)
You can't do JUST cardio, you need to lift weights! Muscle helps burn fat!
In addition to 30-45 min of cardio, I do 4 machines alternating leg and arms each day.
Muscle weighs more than fat so you're probably gaining that!
Seriously? It's been AT LEAST 5 months since the most recent time I started back up. Something would be different by now.
Switch to whole grain.
I did.
Cut out sodas!
I did.
Cut out carbs!
Doing it now and I'm miserable
You need to sleep better!
That's not exactly something I'm in control of and isn't exercise supposed to help you sleep? Well it doesn't.
Eat lots of veggies!
I am and they're getting incredibly boring
Eat fruit!
I did until someone told me that was still too many carbs
1200 Calories!
Nope
1600 Calories!
Nope
14something Calories!
Still nothing.
Had a thyroid test last year.
Am NOT pregnant.
I've done the 24-Day Advocare challenge which was "If you stay on in 80% it'll definitely work!" I tried my damndest to be 100% so I had to have been around 90, or 80 if I'm just that ignorant. Got a few pounds the first week but nothing since.
Weight watchers helped last year, might have to try it again but I don't see how it's any different than what I'm doing now. Just a different way of counting.
Green Tea Hawaii?
No. Very tasty though, but no weightloss.
Slimming wraps that a friend that I actually have met, and her roomie each lost 7 inches on?
Not a thing
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Day Twenty Three
Well my progress is still 4 lbs from the first week. Woo freakin hoo. I talked it over with this fitness guru who is super nutrition conscious. She's not a specific nutritionist so I'm not sure what to call her, but she knows things. I logged my diet again, which I've been doing off and on for a while and sent her the link and she looked over it. I use My Fitness Pal now. I don't know why I switched but the database is huge and it has an android app. I don't remember if LiveStrong does or not, I probably would have checked. Either way, this is the one I'm using to oh well lol. So she looked it over and claims I'm eating TOO MANY carbs. I cut a bunch out and then Erin told me I wasn't eating enough so I put more in and apparently that was wrong. I pretty much have to cut all carbs out because it seems that I'm extremely carb sensitive. I can barley eat fruit now. Woo...hoo....
So tomorrow, Day Twenty four and the official last day of the failed challenge, John and I are going to an Italian restaurant and I'm going to eat a giant bowl of pasta since I won't be allowed to until SOMETHING starts working. I guess it's the next step in diet trying since nothing else works. It's probably true. So I'm going on high protein and low carbs and it's going to suck. It means lots of veggies which get terribly boring and no fruit which I prefer as snacks over veggies. I'm already finding substitutes and things to try. I can have mayo so Tuna Salad works perfectly, I just put it on celery stalks instead of bread and don't cut up the celery to put in the salad.
Tonight is pork tenderloin and squash and carrots. Fun fun! Last night was Turkey Taco Salad. Happily I can still eat that so it might be an every week thing. I can add cheese if I want, but I like it without so I'm not going to. It's delicious!
So tomorrow, Day Twenty four and the official last day of the failed challenge, John and I are going to an Italian restaurant and I'm going to eat a giant bowl of pasta since I won't be allowed to until SOMETHING starts working. I guess it's the next step in diet trying since nothing else works. It's probably true. So I'm going on high protein and low carbs and it's going to suck. It means lots of veggies which get terribly boring and no fruit which I prefer as snacks over veggies. I'm already finding substitutes and things to try. I can have mayo so Tuna Salad works perfectly, I just put it on celery stalks instead of bread and don't cut up the celery to put in the salad.
Tonight is pork tenderloin and squash and carrots. Fun fun! Last night was Turkey Taco Salad. Happily I can still eat that so it might be an every week thing. I can add cheese if I want, but I like it without so I'm not going to. It's delicious!
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Day Fourteen
I think I skipped yesterday. Yes, I did. Yesterday was fine. I was helping with the bi-annual HI Monk Seal census yesterday as part of the Hawaiian Monk Seal Response Team Oahu (HMSRTO) yesterday. It was from 930-130. Well the official census was 10-1 but I got there early to figure things out and the end involved some chatting. Unfortunately, in our zone, we didn't see any so that was pretty sad.
Because of my plans I took the shake in the morning for breakfast. I was also told the night before that I was doing my eating all entirely wrong, which was frustrating. I hate when you follow things as closely as possible, yet you're still doing it wrong. I can't find anywhere on the sheet that tells me I need to eat more carbs so I didn't add carbs to my meals. Carbs as in grains and such since they're in most anything anyway. The only place where it's added is in the snacks and I made nuts and fruits as my snacks since it said CHOOSE. I'm told that's wrong, too. So now I'm incredibly frustrated with Advocare because the only resource I have from them is a one sheet PDF that barely explains what I should be doing so I get outside info from fitness gurus who have done it and tell me I'm wrong. UGH. The products are still good, but the coaching is awful.
I definitely love the Spark. I do notice a difference. At first I wasn't sure, but it's more obvious when you stop than when you started. I'm often tired by 5 and with the Spark it's not so bad. Yesterday, around 3, my day was a little thrown off because of the count and other plans and I noticed I was ridiculously tired. That's when I realized I didn't drink my Spark around 230 like usual, so I did! I managed to last until about 8 haha. The sun often wears me out more than expected so I was pretty exhausted. At least I lasted that long! I haven't been sleeping well either (big surprise) so there's that component.
Uhm, as for other things. It's true that I don't feel as gross as I would be on Wendys, Papa Johns, and all those other delicious goodness. I do feel lighter I suppose. Today I saw the 182 on the scale for the second time during the cleanse. Hopefully it becomes more frequent. I'd feel better if it does.
Well the power went out during writing that, so I went upstairs to finish up my makeup. Magically I already gained 3 lbs just from having a spark and a morning shake so I'm back to the 185. Big Surprise.
Uh where was I? Now I'm just getting distracted by various cat things, and my nails. They're a holographic glitter nail polish and extremely distracting, especially in the sun.
We're leaving for lunch soon so I'm out.
Because of my plans I took the shake in the morning for breakfast. I was also told the night before that I was doing my eating all entirely wrong, which was frustrating. I hate when you follow things as closely as possible, yet you're still doing it wrong. I can't find anywhere on the sheet that tells me I need to eat more carbs so I didn't add carbs to my meals. Carbs as in grains and such since they're in most anything anyway. The only place where it's added is in the snacks and I made nuts and fruits as my snacks since it said CHOOSE. I'm told that's wrong, too. So now I'm incredibly frustrated with Advocare because the only resource I have from them is a one sheet PDF that barely explains what I should be doing so I get outside info from fitness gurus who have done it and tell me I'm wrong. UGH. The products are still good, but the coaching is awful.
I definitely love the Spark. I do notice a difference. At first I wasn't sure, but it's more obvious when you stop than when you started. I'm often tired by 5 and with the Spark it's not so bad. Yesterday, around 3, my day was a little thrown off because of the count and other plans and I noticed I was ridiculously tired. That's when I realized I didn't drink my Spark around 230 like usual, so I did! I managed to last until about 8 haha. The sun often wears me out more than expected so I was pretty exhausted. At least I lasted that long! I haven't been sleeping well either (big surprise) so there's that component.
Uhm, as for other things. It's true that I don't feel as gross as I would be on Wendys, Papa Johns, and all those other delicious goodness. I do feel lighter I suppose. Today I saw the 182 on the scale for the second time during the cleanse. Hopefully it becomes more frequent. I'd feel better if it does.
Well the power went out during writing that, so I went upstairs to finish up my makeup. Magically I already gained 3 lbs just from having a spark and a morning shake so I'm back to the 185. Big Surprise.
Uh where was I? Now I'm just getting distracted by various cat things, and my nails. They're a holographic glitter nail polish and extremely distracting, especially in the sun.
We're leaving for lunch soon so I'm out.
Friday, October 14, 2011
Day Twelve
I'm losing steam with this blogging. It's just all so repetitive. I'm also getting a little disheartened. I'm officially down somewhere between 2 and 4 lbs which isn't much at all for me. I'm down that much all the time and then it comes back a week later. It won't really seem like anything is working until I'm in the 70's. I feel great. The foods are healthy and I'm extremely strict, except maybe with my nut portion. It's disheartening to be doing it with other people and hear their weightloss be so high. I can't help but think I'm doing something completely wrong and missing something vital, but I'm following it to a tee. I was thinking I was officially down 4 lbs for the first 10 days and I'm supposed to go down after that, but today it was up two. So yeah. Woo.
The diet hasn't been bad, the pills are easy to take and the meal replacement shake is tasty. It's not the most filling, but it works especially since there is a mid afternoon snack. The snacks help me out but sometimes I feel like I shouldn't be doing those either. It doesn't feel like I'm doing it right if I don't feel miserable, I guess. My energy wasn't great today. The gym was rough, I'm sore all over and haven't been sleeping well since John came home so that's more the culprit than the diet. This weekend will be my days off. Tomorrow I help with the Hawaiian Monk Seal count, which consists of 3 or more hours of walking on a beach and looking for seals. Walking on beaches is actually a pretty rough workout for your legs so that's all I intend on doing. Especially since tomorrow should be an off day. I'm glad it's not completely since I feel so disheartened about my weight. If I didn't have that, I'd probably still go to the gym. I'm happy there.
So yeah. Today is a fat day I guess. I'm exactly halfway through. Hopefully this second half will go better than it's started.
The diet hasn't been bad, the pills are easy to take and the meal replacement shake is tasty. It's not the most filling, but it works especially since there is a mid afternoon snack. The snacks help me out but sometimes I feel like I shouldn't be doing those either. It doesn't feel like I'm doing it right if I don't feel miserable, I guess. My energy wasn't great today. The gym was rough, I'm sore all over and haven't been sleeping well since John came home so that's more the culprit than the diet. This weekend will be my days off. Tomorrow I help with the Hawaiian Monk Seal count, which consists of 3 or more hours of walking on a beach and looking for seals. Walking on beaches is actually a pretty rough workout for your legs so that's all I intend on doing. Especially since tomorrow should be an off day. I'm glad it's not completely since I feel so disheartened about my weight. If I didn't have that, I'd probably still go to the gym. I'm happy there.
So yeah. Today is a fat day I guess. I'm exactly halfway through. Hopefully this second half will go better than it's started.
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Schedule
This is the schedule I made for us based on the PDF schedule I was given
Days 11-24
First Thing in the Morning Spark w/ Catalyst
30 min later/Breakfast:
Mid Morning/After Gym Snack (If Needed)
30 Min BEFORE Lunch: 2nd Color MNS Packet
Lunch
Mid Afternoon Snack
Dinner
Evening snack (If needed)
Bedtime
First Thing in the Morning Spark w/ Catalyst
1st Color MNS Packet
30 min later/Breakfast:
Meal Replacement Shake with both White MNS Packets (or take them at lunch)
OR
OR
Choose one or two: 3 or 4 whole eggs, ½ cup oats with nuts or fruit
Mid Morning/After Gym Snack (If Needed)
Choose One or Two:
3 Eggs, 1 Fruit, Veggies, Nuts or Nut Butter, Hummus, 2 Rice Cakes, Can of Tuna
30 Min BEFORE Lunch: 2nd Color MNS Packet
Lunch
Protein with Vegetables
MNS White Packets (if not taken at breakfast)
MNS White Packets (if not taken at breakfast)
Mid Afternoon Snack
Spark w/ 3 Catalyst
Choose One or Two:
3 Eggs, 1 Fruit, Veggies, Nuts or Nut Butter, Hummus, 2 Rice Cakes, Can of Tuna
Dinner
Protein with Vegetables
**add rice or potato if needed
Evening snack (If needed)
Choose One or Two:
3 Eggs, 1 Fruit, Veggies, Nuts or Nut Butter, Hummus, 2 Rice Cakes, Can of Tuna
Bedtime
Nothing The only difference is that I replaced lunch with the Meal Replacement Shake and am doing egg whites and fruit for breakfast
Day Eleven
1232pm
Well the Cleanse is officially over. I'm now on part two of the Advocare 24 Day Challenge. Woohoo! So far it's going great. This section has 4 packets of pills, all finished before or during lunch. Unfortunately my last packet fell out of my pocket while I was at the car dealership! Oh no!! Soo I took one from another set since it's my first day. I'd rather wait till the last to screw up haha. That way everything else is in order. Can't do much else about it.
So far I'm feeling great. I wasn't very hungry at breakfast so I had three egg whites and a banana with most of the packets. I worked extra hard at the gym again, today was legs, and am now currently enjoying my meal replacement shake for lunch. I'm not too upset about drinking a chocolate shake for lunch. It's not too shabby. It's going just fine and I feel great.
Well the Cleanse is officially over. I'm now on part two of the Advocare 24 Day Challenge. Woohoo! So far it's going great. This section has 4 packets of pills, all finished before or during lunch. Unfortunately my last packet fell out of my pocket while I was at the car dealership! Oh no!! Soo I took one from another set since it's my first day. I'd rather wait till the last to screw up haha. That way everything else is in order. Can't do much else about it.
So far I'm feeling great. I wasn't very hungry at breakfast so I had three egg whites and a banana with most of the packets. I worked extra hard at the gym again, today was legs, and am now currently enjoying my meal replacement shake for lunch. I'm not too upset about drinking a chocolate shake for lunch. It's not too shabby. It's going just fine and I feel great.
What I've learned so far
Now this doesn't necessarily have anything to do with the challenge. I've been going to the gym for months now and learned a few things along the way as well.
1.) John has often asked why girls wear tight gym clothes and guys wear loose. He understands the guys reasoning because loose breathes and whatnot. WELL. I highly prefer tight, practically skin tight, pants. Shirts, loose is nice because it does breathe. Why? I have large thighs that rub together, this is how it's always been even when I was in my designated weight zone and very very active. Tight pants do not ride up, nor do they lead to chaffing (I like skirts but the thigh on thigh action can get painful). So yes. There is a perfectly logical reasoning behind tight pants. As for tight shirts, well I'm a mixture. Loose shirts are nice and breezy but they'll stick to you unless you get good ones. Tight shirts are already pressed against you so you don't really notice. I wear both, but nothing too tight because I still like things loose over my belly.
2.) Thongs, or nilche (if people do that?). I've always thought it was weird for people to wear thongs to the gym. Is it to be sexy? I mean it's THE GYM. I'm perfectly fine with panty lines at the gym. I'm not there to catch men or look sexy, I'm there to GET sexy! Haha but anyway. I won't go into details about this but from when I'm deducting and trying out, there is a very reasonable explanation to thongs. So far I prefer them. And honestly, I get worse wedgies at the gym with the non thongs so that's another plus.
3.) Once you get on track with something, it's easier to maintain. I haven't had soda in ten days. I wanted it BADLY the first few and now I'm ok. Same with cookies. I will always want cookies but nuts are surprisingly fabulous. Especially Cocoa Roast nuts. Emerald Nuts is genius.
Uhhh. Can't think of what else I've learned. It's mainly been gym clothes reasoning. John wondered things and I wondered things and now I do both of the things we wondered about.
On that note, I need to buy more undergarments. I'm thinking of checking out the Underarmor sports bras at Sport Authority. I seriously need more. Most are from Walmart and not very good. I have ONE good one and it's from Victoria's Secret but they're still screwing me out of coupons so I'm getting annoyed and boycotty (I'm so my mother, only it's not Sears or Best Buy). And yes, since this is my personal blog I can make up whatever word I want to.
1.) John has often asked why girls wear tight gym clothes and guys wear loose. He understands the guys reasoning because loose breathes and whatnot. WELL. I highly prefer tight, practically skin tight, pants. Shirts, loose is nice because it does breathe. Why? I have large thighs that rub together, this is how it's always been even when I was in my designated weight zone and very very active. Tight pants do not ride up, nor do they lead to chaffing (I like skirts but the thigh on thigh action can get painful). So yes. There is a perfectly logical reasoning behind tight pants. As for tight shirts, well I'm a mixture. Loose shirts are nice and breezy but they'll stick to you unless you get good ones. Tight shirts are already pressed against you so you don't really notice. I wear both, but nothing too tight because I still like things loose over my belly.
2.) Thongs, or nilche (if people do that?). I've always thought it was weird for people to wear thongs to the gym. Is it to be sexy? I mean it's THE GYM. I'm perfectly fine with panty lines at the gym. I'm not there to catch men or look sexy, I'm there to GET sexy! Haha but anyway. I won't go into details about this but from when I'm deducting and trying out, there is a very reasonable explanation to thongs. So far I prefer them. And honestly, I get worse wedgies at the gym with the non thongs so that's another plus.
3.) Once you get on track with something, it's easier to maintain. I haven't had soda in ten days. I wanted it BADLY the first few and now I'm ok. Same with cookies. I will always want cookies but nuts are surprisingly fabulous. Especially Cocoa Roast nuts. Emerald Nuts is genius.
Uhhh. Can't think of what else I've learned. It's mainly been gym clothes reasoning. John wondered things and I wondered things and now I do both of the things we wondered about.
On that note, I need to buy more undergarments. I'm thinking of checking out the Underarmor sports bras at Sport Authority. I seriously need more. Most are from Walmart and not very good. I have ONE good one and it's from Victoria's Secret but they're still screwing me out of coupons so I'm getting annoyed and boycotty (I'm so my mother, only it's not Sears or Best Buy). And yes, since this is my personal blog I can make up whatever word I want to.
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Day Ten
Woohoo! The cleanse is over! After a little advice about mixing the Fiber Drink with Topic 50 or whatever it was I gave it a shot with what I had downstairs, V8 Fusion. It was easier to drink, yes, but very sweet and hard to drink quickly cause it was so cold. If I do the cleanse again though, I'll have to look into that further.
So far I'm feeling great. My cravings and hunger are much more controlled. I was starving the first few days, for sure. I thought maybe I was eating too many nuts and that was keeping me full but the past few days we cut down on the nuts and I'm still not starving. Woo hooooo.
Weightwise, same problem as yesterday. It's looking like I'm down 2-3 lbs off the cleanse. It's something but not enough for me to jump for joy and insist this is the perfect thing to do. Like I said, I fluctuate A LOT.
I'm excited for the Max part! I'm trying to decide the best time for meal replacement. If I'm fine with only a few pieces of fruit for breakfast, then that might be too much to do and it may be better to do for lunch. I think that's how I'll do it the first day or two and see what happens. I don't want to eat too much by following it exactly when I might have eaten less to begin with since I'm normally that way and have gotten used to the minimal amount of morning stuff from the cleanse.
John went back to work this morning so I went to the gym by myself. It was actually pretty nice. I didn't have to worry about people waiting on me or having to leave for a friend's schedule. I did 40 min on the elliptical, 4 weight machines, one which was new, and even extra ab and stretching. It was fabulous. Maybe I'll have to start going earlier so I can do that. I have a friend I go with and she typically has work on Tues and Thurs to try to make.
So far I'm feeling great. My cravings and hunger are much more controlled. I was starving the first few days, for sure. I thought maybe I was eating too many nuts and that was keeping me full but the past few days we cut down on the nuts and I'm still not starving. Woo hooooo.
Weightwise, same problem as yesterday. It's looking like I'm down 2-3 lbs off the cleanse. It's something but not enough for me to jump for joy and insist this is the perfect thing to do. Like I said, I fluctuate A LOT.
I'm excited for the Max part! I'm trying to decide the best time for meal replacement. If I'm fine with only a few pieces of fruit for breakfast, then that might be too much to do and it may be better to do for lunch. I think that's how I'll do it the first day or two and see what happens. I don't want to eat too much by following it exactly when I might have eaten less to begin with since I'm normally that way and have gotten used to the minimal amount of morning stuff from the cleanse.
John went back to work this morning so I went to the gym by myself. It was actually pretty nice. I didn't have to worry about people waiting on me or having to leave for a friend's schedule. I did 40 min on the elliptical, 4 weight machines, one which was new, and even extra ab and stretching. It was fabulous. Maybe I'll have to start going earlier so I can do that. I have a friend I go with and she typically has work on Tues and Thurs to try to make.
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Day Nine
Well here we are! One day nine! Only one Fiber Drink left to go! woo hoooo
I'm feeling fine. So far I'm down a whole THREE POUNDS, yeah... not too big. John is down Nine+ lbs cause he's a man and that's what men do.
Ok so anyway. Yesterday went as planned. Lots of veggies. We made kabobs for dinner! We bought extra lean meat and chicken and kabobbed them with zucchini, tomatoes, peppers (which I didn't eat), and peaches! Did you know grilled peaches are AMAZING? Because they are, so keep that in mind. We were out of pineapple and I don't even like them grilled so we replaced them with peaches since I recently read that was doable. It was remarkable. We'll definitely need to do that more often.
Today is going well. We had fruit for breakfast and suffered through the fiber drink. In the opposite order, but that doesn't really matter when it comes to writing about it. We were supposed to go snorkeling for the day but I forgot that October in Hawaii means bad surf so that didn't work out. On the way home we picked up sushi for lunch and made sure to steer clear of tempura and cream cheese. It was tasty!
Tonight I'll be making a really basic turkey taco salad. Ground turkey mixed with a taco mix, lettuce, tomatoes and onions. No cheese. John is insisting on salsa but I'll have to check the label on that one. I won't eat it, I rarely do. So we shall see. Tomorrow is the last day of the cleanse!! Wooo!!!
I'm looking fwd for the 14-Day Max part. Chocolate meal replacement shake for breakfast? SOOO Much better than a nasty clumpy fiber drink!
I'm feeling fine. So far I'm down a whole THREE POUNDS, yeah... not too big. John is down Nine+ lbs cause he's a man and that's what men do.
Ok so anyway. Yesterday went as planned. Lots of veggies. We made kabobs for dinner! We bought extra lean meat and chicken and kabobbed them with zucchini, tomatoes, peppers (which I didn't eat), and peaches! Did you know grilled peaches are AMAZING? Because they are, so keep that in mind. We were out of pineapple and I don't even like them grilled so we replaced them with peaches since I recently read that was doable. It was remarkable. We'll definitely need to do that more often.
Today is going well. We had fruit for breakfast and suffered through the fiber drink. In the opposite order, but that doesn't really matter when it comes to writing about it. We were supposed to go snorkeling for the day but I forgot that October in Hawaii means bad surf so that didn't work out. On the way home we picked up sushi for lunch and made sure to steer clear of tempura and cream cheese. It was tasty!
Tonight I'll be making a really basic turkey taco salad. Ground turkey mixed with a taco mix, lettuce, tomatoes and onions. No cheese. John is insisting on salsa but I'll have to check the label on that one. I won't eat it, I rarely do. So we shall see. Tomorrow is the last day of the cleanse!! Wooo!!!
I'm looking fwd for the 14-Day Max part. Chocolate meal replacement shake for breakfast? SOOO Much better than a nasty clumpy fiber drink!
Monday, October 10, 2011
Day Eight
It's a bit easier to write on gym days. My muscles were so sore throughout the weekend that I couldn't get to the gym. The hike was brutal! But then you're supposed to take a few days off here and there so it worked out. We're going today though and then I have my 60 min walk at 4 and that's a pretty good walk, all uphill then downhill. I think it prolonged my quads from healing.
The fiber drink is back today, but the bedtime herbal cleanse pills are over. That isn't anywhere near an even trade. The pills taste a little bad, but they're pills. The Fiber Drink makes you almost puke. I don't even think it's the taste, it's the particles and the overall grossness of it. Advocare needs a different way of getting done whatever this cleanse drink gets done. There's more than just fiber in it. It's seriously disgusting.
Today will be LOTS of fruits and veggies, moreso than before, to make up for yesterday. We gotta keep the cleanse cleansing!
The fiber drink is back today, but the bedtime herbal cleanse pills are over. That isn't anywhere near an even trade. The pills taste a little bad, but they're pills. The Fiber Drink makes you almost puke. I don't even think it's the taste, it's the particles and the overall grossness of it. Advocare needs a different way of getting done whatever this cleanse drink gets done. There's more than just fiber in it. It's seriously disgusting.
Today will be LOTS of fruits and veggies, moreso than before, to make up for yesterday. We gotta keep the cleanse cleansing!
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Day Seven
Woooo Day Seven!
Not much to report on. No gym today.
Uh oh looks like XBox is calling me, I was just handed a controller and Borderlands is already loading. I'd better make this quick!!
Long story short, we're still doing great and feeling fine. Bought lots and lots of fruits, veggies, and lean meats for this week. We went out to dinner at La Mer which is a super expensive and fancy and wonderful place. We kind of put off making reservations for our one year anniversary till yesterday and as you can guess, it was booked so we went today. No biggie.
We definitely went off the diet with a little included champagne and some breads and dessert. They have course options and all include dessert so it wasn't really a choice but it was AMAZING. We did our best to make good decisions though, like order duck (super super lean!) and John got Filet Mingon of Venison. I can admit that there were obvious downside to going off the diet, but nothing too horrific. It was delicious, the waiters were amazing and extremely attentive (but not in an overbearing way) and just amazing. We drank lots of water and tomorrow will be better than today!
We can't be perfect and if we were, this would be harder to do anyway.
alright alright someone is getting impatient so I'd better be off.
Day Seven and going strong!!!
Not much to report on. No gym today.
Uh oh looks like XBox is calling me, I was just handed a controller and Borderlands is already loading. I'd better make this quick!!
Long story short, we're still doing great and feeling fine. Bought lots and lots of fruits, veggies, and lean meats for this week. We went out to dinner at La Mer which is a super expensive and fancy and wonderful place. We kind of put off making reservations for our one year anniversary till yesterday and as you can guess, it was booked so we went today. No biggie.
We definitely went off the diet with a little included champagne and some breads and dessert. They have course options and all include dessert so it wasn't really a choice but it was AMAZING. We did our best to make good decisions though, like order duck (super super lean!) and John got Filet Mingon of Venison. I can admit that there were obvious downside to going off the diet, but nothing too horrific. It was delicious, the waiters were amazing and extremely attentive (but not in an overbearing way) and just amazing. We drank lots of water and tomorrow will be better than today!
We can't be perfect and if we were, this would be harder to do anyway.
alright alright someone is getting impatient so I'd better be off.
Day Seven and going strong!!!
Saturday, October 8, 2011
Day Six
Day Six! We're more than halfway through the cleanse and then things changed. I weighed in at 182.8 this morning and that is DEFINITELY lower than the past few month's flucuations so that's amazing. John was around 213 I think and he started around 212 so this is going great.
Yesterday was how I predicated regarding eating. Complicated but not awful. We basically didn't eat lunch... We went on this 4 hour intense hike that hurt SO BADLY. My legs are killing me today. We each had and finished our own camelbacks and I brought a bag of nuts since that's allowed in the diet and those nuts were life savers. When I felt like I wanted to cry cause my heartrate was so high and my legs were so sore we'd eat a few nuts and take a couple minutes break and it would get me back on my feet. Yay protein and sodium! It was the Kuliou'ou Ridge Hike. I know Diamond Head is the most known hike in Hawaii. I've done Diamond Hike 3 or so times and it only takes maybe an hour or an hour and a half total? Not sure but it's cake compared to this one. And I've been going to the gym for months and haven't prior to a few Diamond Head hikes. My legs are dead. However, it was worth it. See!
Few and that's only a small portion of the few. You can the Kaneohe Bay peninsula (aka Marine Corps Base) all the way to Diamond Head way off in the distance. It was pretty fantastic.
Today is going pretty well. As I said I weighed in at 182 this morning which is lower than my flucuation, just now is 185 which is still lower so that's a good sign. I flucuate like no other as you can see but if both numbers are lower than my previous ups and downs then yaaay.
320pm
I left rather abruptly before. We had a couples massage planned and it was fabulous! Happy Anniversary to us. I also have a snuggly kitty in my lap, how wonderful.
So anyway today was spent with a morning that went well and then we went to a beach wedding on the east side. Knowing that the only location of Aloha Salads we know if was near the wedding location, we went there for lunch and it was delicious. It's great to at least have one place to go that's easy for the diet! I got an ahi salad with grilled shrimp. The salad had strawberries and mangos in it with a mango vinaigrette, it was amazing. I wonder if that dressing is sold anywhere?
Diet is still going well. I'm hungry but not dying. Currently eating eggs and nuts as my afternoon snack. I should have some fruit but we're running out of fruit, veggies, and proteins! Eek! Good sign that we're eating them though.
Yesterday was how I predicated regarding eating. Complicated but not awful. We basically didn't eat lunch... We went on this 4 hour intense hike that hurt SO BADLY. My legs are killing me today. We each had and finished our own camelbacks and I brought a bag of nuts since that's allowed in the diet and those nuts were life savers. When I felt like I wanted to cry cause my heartrate was so high and my legs were so sore we'd eat a few nuts and take a couple minutes break and it would get me back on my feet. Yay protein and sodium! It was the Kuliou'ou Ridge Hike. I know Diamond Head is the most known hike in Hawaii. I've done Diamond Hike 3 or so times and it only takes maybe an hour or an hour and a half total? Not sure but it's cake compared to this one. And I've been going to the gym for months and haven't prior to a few Diamond Head hikes. My legs are dead. However, it was worth it. See!
Few and that's only a small portion of the few. You can the Kaneohe Bay peninsula (aka Marine Corps Base) all the way to Diamond Head way off in the distance. It was pretty fantastic.
Today is going pretty well. As I said I weighed in at 182 this morning which is lower than my flucuation, just now is 185 which is still lower so that's a good sign. I flucuate like no other as you can see but if both numbers are lower than my previous ups and downs then yaaay.
320pm
I left rather abruptly before. We had a couples massage planned and it was fabulous! Happy Anniversary to us. I also have a snuggly kitty in my lap, how wonderful.
So anyway today was spent with a morning that went well and then we went to a beach wedding on the east side. Knowing that the only location of Aloha Salads we know if was near the wedding location, we went there for lunch and it was delicious. It's great to at least have one place to go that's easy for the diet! I got an ahi salad with grilled shrimp. The salad had strawberries and mangos in it with a mango vinaigrette, it was amazing. I wonder if that dressing is sold anywhere?
Diet is still going well. I'm hungry but not dying. Currently eating eggs and nuts as my afternoon snack. I should have some fruit but we're running out of fruit, veggies, and proteins! Eek! Good sign that we're eating them though.
Day Five
This is a quick one. It's 1035pm and I feel awful. Not because of the diet. The cleanse is actually great, however John and I did a 5 mile hike with an 1800 ft elevation change up the Kulio'ou'ou ridge and my legs are KILLING ME. Our energy level was great, we brought nuts to sustain us and that's all we needed. The scale was pretty. I'll talk more tomorrow
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Day Four
Day Four!
That means 3 days down, woo hoo! We didn't have to drink the fiber drink today so that's fabulous. I took the probiotics before I even got out of bed so I'd have time since this morning was a little busy. Both our car and truck are in the shop so our ride to the gym needed to get there earlier today. Oh fun fun. We managed to wait 30 min b4 fruit and then leaving, or almost. It'll go better tomorrow, timing wise. John is already experiencing a scale change. I can't really report since I fluctuate by 5-8 lbs daily anyway. One moment I'll be 188, the next 185, and the next 190 so losing 4 lbs means absolutely nothing to me. It's also only been 4 days so I'm not expecting much to begin with. When I start seeing the fluctuation go lower than before and do it a few times then maybe I'll feel like something is working.
We did our usual schedule so I don't really need to report on that. Also, picked up the truck so hooray having transportation! Tomorrow might be rough for our schedule. If we get the BMW back today we'll be getting rid of that piece of crap asap and buying a Honda (or looking for one) tomorrow. If not, we'll be hiking so either way it'll be a little complicated.
735pm
Hmm I left off with weight and my car, that pretty much sums up my life! Well along with back problems and Navy grievances. Lunch was alright, pretty boring. Just stir fried chicken with chinese green snap peas, tomato, bean sprouts, basil and garlic. It's starting to get old. I'm not sure how strict I'm supposed to be with sauces and such during the cleanse so I'm nervous about branching out. Tonight is mesquite BBQ marinated pork loin and microwaved canned green beans, because I can.
I recently printed out some lean mean recipes to try. I've been looking through my 800 recipes books but it's so hard to know what I'm allowed to do and what I'm not! I lack greatly in nutritional knowledge. School wasn't the best at that and what they tried to teach probably bored me too much because I didn't care then. Now I care and no one knows anything.
I had to look up complex carbs because I kept asking John which ones are complex and which ones aren't. Pretty much everything he told me definitely wasn't, actually is. So hooray whole grain pasta, sweet potatoes, potatoes, and various other things. I still intend on avoiding pasta but sweet potatoes will be welcome.
That means 3 days down, woo hoo! We didn't have to drink the fiber drink today so that's fabulous. I took the probiotics before I even got out of bed so I'd have time since this morning was a little busy. Both our car and truck are in the shop so our ride to the gym needed to get there earlier today. Oh fun fun. We managed to wait 30 min b4 fruit and then leaving, or almost. It'll go better tomorrow, timing wise. John is already experiencing a scale change. I can't really report since I fluctuate by 5-8 lbs daily anyway. One moment I'll be 188, the next 185, and the next 190 so losing 4 lbs means absolutely nothing to me. It's also only been 4 days so I'm not expecting much to begin with. When I start seeing the fluctuation go lower than before and do it a few times then maybe I'll feel like something is working.
We did our usual schedule so I don't really need to report on that. Also, picked up the truck so hooray having transportation! Tomorrow might be rough for our schedule. If we get the BMW back today we'll be getting rid of that piece of crap asap and buying a Honda (or looking for one) tomorrow. If not, we'll be hiking so either way it'll be a little complicated.
735pm
Hmm I left off with weight and my car, that pretty much sums up my life! Well along with back problems and Navy grievances. Lunch was alright, pretty boring. Just stir fried chicken with chinese green snap peas, tomato, bean sprouts, basil and garlic. It's starting to get old. I'm not sure how strict I'm supposed to be with sauces and such during the cleanse so I'm nervous about branching out. Tonight is mesquite BBQ marinated pork loin and microwaved canned green beans, because I can.
I recently printed out some lean mean recipes to try. I've been looking through my 800 recipes books but it's so hard to know what I'm allowed to do and what I'm not! I lack greatly in nutritional knowledge. School wasn't the best at that and what they tried to teach probably bored me too much because I didn't care then. Now I care and no one knows anything.
I had to look up complex carbs because I kept asking John which ones are complex and which ones aren't. Pretty much everything he told me definitely wasn't, actually is. So hooray whole grain pasta, sweet potatoes, potatoes, and various other things. I still intend on avoiding pasta but sweet potatoes will be welcome.
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Day Three
300pm
So here we are on "Day Three" of the 24-Day Challenge. As you will notice, I like to start of sentences with "So" It shouldn't be contagious so just ignore it if it bothers you.
I'm doing pretty well. Had the third day of the fiber drink, it's nastier every day. Now we go three days WITHOUT it and start probiotics in that morning, so that's wonderful. John hates the drink so much he wants to find other ways of doing it. I'm not certain it that's allowed given that it's made for the cleanse. I'll have to look stuff up. Shortly after I had a banana and a mandarin orange and went to the gym. John didn't go today so it was just me and a friend. As usual, post gym I had my mid-afternoon snack of three egg whites, a kiwi, and a mandarin orange. The other kiwi's aren't ripe yet... John had plums instead. Oh how exciting! FOOD TALK.
So here we are on "Day Three" of the 24-Day Challenge. As you will notice, I like to start of sentences with "So" It shouldn't be contagious so just ignore it if it bothers you.
I'm doing pretty well. Had the third day of the fiber drink, it's nastier every day. Now we go three days WITHOUT it and start probiotics in that morning, so that's wonderful. John hates the drink so much he wants to find other ways of doing it. I'm not certain it that's allowed given that it's made for the cleanse. I'll have to look stuff up. Shortly after I had a banana and a mandarin orange and went to the gym. John didn't go today so it was just me and a friend. As usual, post gym I had my mid-afternoon snack of three egg whites, a kiwi, and a mandarin orange. The other kiwi's aren't ripe yet... John had plums instead. Oh how exciting! FOOD TALK.
I know this must be boring but I'm writing it so that if people are interested, they'll know. I'm not going to lie and say "oh yeah it was great, all the drinks are great, unicorns moved in next door!" No. The Spark is fabulous and the Fiber Drink is naaasty. I tried the Grape Spark today and found it pretty gross, which is funny since I like Fruit Punch and usually it's the other way around. I'm one of the few anti-fruit punch people out there and I usually like grape. Oh well. John drank the rest of the grape for me and I switch to the fruit punch for the day. He doesn't mind it but did agree that there's a bit of an aftertaste.
We did a few errands and came home to make the chicken and salad mixture I made two days ago. It was a bit of a rush since I had an appt outside Chinatown at 2, but if I waited till afterwards I'd be starving and far more likely to say "screw it, I want an Asiago Ranch Bacon Chicken sandwich from Wendys" WHICH I say often because that sandwich is DELICIOUS. Ohhh yummm.
Moving on before I think too much on that. It's 300pm now as I listed at the top of this and I'm doing pretty well. Getting a tad hungry but my afternoon snack will be coming up soon and I think I still have Spark to finish! Yay!
534pm
I'm most definitely full. We went out and bought sushi for dinner since rice is allowed at a complex carb. Not too much, of course. It was sad because usually I love the tempura shrimp in the rolls but knew the fried bits wouldn't be the best choice so I stuck with Rainbow roll. Mmm sushi! And we have low sodium soy sauce that hooray for that. I'm super full now, so that's fabulous.
Soon we'll be hanging out with friends and watching a movie. Post dinner the only thing allowed is fruit so I'll bring along some of the tiny little mandarin oranges and water. Just in case. I'm pretty full though so we should be able to last!
534pm
I'm most definitely full. We went out and bought sushi for dinner since rice is allowed at a complex carb. Not too much, of course. It was sad because usually I love the tempura shrimp in the rolls but knew the fried bits wouldn't be the best choice so I stuck with Rainbow roll. Mmm sushi! And we have low sodium soy sauce that hooray for that. I'm super full now, so that's fabulous.
Soon we'll be hanging out with friends and watching a movie. Post dinner the only thing allowed is fruit so I'll bring along some of the tiny little mandarin oranges and water. Just in case. I'm pretty full though so we should be able to last!
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Day Two
Day Two is going well..
11:08am
The fiber drink really is pretty gross. John can't stand the taste and waters it down enough so he's drinking a ton of water and then has to follow it with water. Today I did the 8 oz of water mixed with it and chugged it with the 8 oz of water ready to follow. I gagged a little, bleak. Thankfully it's only a 6 day thing, 3 days now and 3 days at the end of the cleanse. Oh it's gross.
I did read the pamphlet and learned that the timing for the nasty drink isn't too strict, it's the probiotics that we'll be taking on days 4-10 that need to be 30 min before so I'm tempted to leave them by the bed and drink when the first alarm goes off. That way I KNOW I'll have 30-60 min before I eat my first fruit since my morning routines are really quick.
So we took the morning yuckiness and then each had our chosen fruits and left for the gym, me with my Spark. Well we had to take the truck in to get fixed first and sat until our ride came, but THEN went to the gym. I did my morning 30-40 min on the elliptical since it's the only cardio machine I can do without aggravating whatever gets aggravated and pinches my sciatic nerve. Also, the bikes are boring. John lasted about as long as my elliptical trip, but 7 months on a sub will do that to you.
We are currently home from the gym and just finished 4 egg whites and two pieces of fruit (Kiwi for me, plum for him). The menu says 3 eggs if needed, it's needed and since neither of us each the hard boiled yolks I threw in another egg. The yolk has most of the fat and bad things anyway so a few extra egg whites can't be so bad. I may grab another.
Not sure what I'll do for lunch. Prob leftover porkloin since I forgot to defrost the chicken. Our car troubles are messy so today's plans aren't too crazy. I'm thinking a movie would be fun, but that will be SO HARD to do with this diet. I love diet cokes + some snack for the movie. I can do nuts, but water? at the movies? How awful.... And this is the "cleanse" so I feel like any cheat during this section would just be awful and anti-cleansie.
Oh and P.S. Not sure if anyone is bothering to keep up with this, but I'll come back later today to edit so that all the days stay one entry.
105pm
Well Lunch is done! It was pretty yummy. I cooked the rest of the lemon garlic pork, cut it up, and mixed it with tomatoes, zucchini, bean sprouts, and green snap peas. I cooked it in water and poured a little bit of basil and garlic powder on it. Just a little! It was good. I'm eating an orange now because I'm not very satisfied, John is full though. I wonder if it's due to the gym since I worked out longer.
Spark in a few hours. I got the distributer pack today! I'm going to try the Mango Strawberry from it and I'm pretty excited. Both are my favorite flavours!
542pm
I'm lasting better than yesterday. I took the Spark and Catalyst around two and the Mango Strawberry was DELICIOUS. I'm also very biased being that mango is my favorite fruit. Oh, it's so delicious. Too bad it's so hard to find. And by hard to find, I mean I know exactly where it is but they're often much too hard and not good enough to buy. I may live in Hawaii but the current Mango selection is quite horrible. It's very sad. It's nearly 6 and I am getting pretty hungry, John claims he's going to grill the fish so that needs to be getting done. I had cashews in between lunch and dinner and I'm sad to say that they're all gone now. I love cashews, I'll need to get more. I suppose I should start steaming the broccoli. I'm not sure what else would go ok with the fish. Squash definitely wouldn't and I don't know how to cook that yet so I'm putting it off. We do have chinese snap peas, but they're very similar to what we had for lunch. A full salad might work just as well though. Decisions, decisions. How very exciting!
Alright, where was I? It's the morning of Day 3 and I just want to get in that we went to see a movie last night at 745 with water and nuts. I only ate like 3 of the nuts. My energy level was pretty stable and I wasn't hungry through out, yay!
Ok now I'm out so I can start today
11:08am
The fiber drink really is pretty gross. John can't stand the taste and waters it down enough so he's drinking a ton of water and then has to follow it with water. Today I did the 8 oz of water mixed with it and chugged it with the 8 oz of water ready to follow. I gagged a little, bleak. Thankfully it's only a 6 day thing, 3 days now and 3 days at the end of the cleanse. Oh it's gross.
I did read the pamphlet and learned that the timing for the nasty drink isn't too strict, it's the probiotics that we'll be taking on days 4-10 that need to be 30 min before so I'm tempted to leave them by the bed and drink when the first alarm goes off. That way I KNOW I'll have 30-60 min before I eat my first fruit since my morning routines are really quick.
So we took the morning yuckiness and then each had our chosen fruits and left for the gym, me with my Spark. Well we had to take the truck in to get fixed first and sat until our ride came, but THEN went to the gym. I did my morning 30-40 min on the elliptical since it's the only cardio machine I can do without aggravating whatever gets aggravated and pinches my sciatic nerve. Also, the bikes are boring. John lasted about as long as my elliptical trip, but 7 months on a sub will do that to you.
We are currently home from the gym and just finished 4 egg whites and two pieces of fruit (Kiwi for me, plum for him). The menu says 3 eggs if needed, it's needed and since neither of us each the hard boiled yolks I threw in another egg. The yolk has most of the fat and bad things anyway so a few extra egg whites can't be so bad. I may grab another.
Not sure what I'll do for lunch. Prob leftover porkloin since I forgot to defrost the chicken. Our car troubles are messy so today's plans aren't too crazy. I'm thinking a movie would be fun, but that will be SO HARD to do with this diet. I love diet cokes + some snack for the movie. I can do nuts, but water? at the movies? How awful.... And this is the "cleanse" so I feel like any cheat during this section would just be awful and anti-cleansie.
Oh and P.S. Not sure if anyone is bothering to keep up with this, but I'll come back later today to edit so that all the days stay one entry.
105pm
Well Lunch is done! It was pretty yummy. I cooked the rest of the lemon garlic pork, cut it up, and mixed it with tomatoes, zucchini, bean sprouts, and green snap peas. I cooked it in water and poured a little bit of basil and garlic powder on it. Just a little! It was good. I'm eating an orange now because I'm not very satisfied, John is full though. I wonder if it's due to the gym since I worked out longer.
Spark in a few hours. I got the distributer pack today! I'm going to try the Mango Strawberry from it and I'm pretty excited. Both are my favorite flavours!
542pm
I'm lasting better than yesterday. I took the Spark and Catalyst around two and the Mango Strawberry was DELICIOUS. I'm also very biased being that mango is my favorite fruit. Oh, it's so delicious. Too bad it's so hard to find. And by hard to find, I mean I know exactly where it is but they're often much too hard and not good enough to buy. I may live in Hawaii but the current Mango selection is quite horrible. It's very sad. It's nearly 6 and I am getting pretty hungry, John claims he's going to grill the fish so that needs to be getting done. I had cashews in between lunch and dinner and I'm sad to say that they're all gone now. I love cashews, I'll need to get more. I suppose I should start steaming the broccoli. I'm not sure what else would go ok with the fish. Squash definitely wouldn't and I don't know how to cook that yet so I'm putting it off. We do have chinese snap peas, but they're very similar to what we had for lunch. A full salad might work just as well though. Decisions, decisions. How very exciting!
Alright, where was I? It's the morning of Day 3 and I just want to get in that we went to see a movie last night at 745 with water and nuts. I only ate like 3 of the nuts. My energy level was pretty stable and I wasn't hungry through out, yay!
Ok now I'm out so I can start today
Monday, October 3, 2011
Day One
Alrightie all, today is Day One of the 24-Day Challenge and Day One of the ten day Cleansing section.
8:30am
I woke up around 8, John's currently still asleep since it's currently 8:30, and took the Fiber drink. That's a first thing in the morning deal. The paper said to take it with 2 glasses of water so I mixed it with 16 ounces and brushed my teeth while shaking. Afterward I noticed that the packet explains to take it with 8 ounces of water and then follow it up immediately with the 2nd glass, so I followed it up with the extra water and will do it more correctly tomorrow. I think the main difference is that was a LOT of liquid to drink straight down. Yeah, definitely a little much, so it'll make tomorrow easier. Not that it was that big of a deal, but still good to know lol.
It's been a little past 30 minutes so I'm going to grab my banana for breakfast and make a Spark (energy drink) to bring to the gym since that is marked to be "between meals" underneath the breakfast and mid morning and I have mid morning planned for after gym! I did just take my Catalyst with a few sips of the Spark. Ok I lied about the Banana, they're still green so I just cut up an Asian Pear. They're SO hard to pick out so hopefully this one is good.
11:25am
Well the gym was fab. Did about 35 min on the elliptical, 3 leg machines, and some ab work. I nearly always do arms and I know you're supposed to switch around so since I don't have my 60 min uphill walk with the doggies today, I did legs. I drank Spark DURING the workout mainly cause it fit in with the time well. My energy level during that time isn't awful so I really need the energy afterwards vs during anyway. I came home and eat 2 mandarin oranges and three hard boiled egg whites, with water on the side. I'm actually pretty full at the moment. John JUST woke up so he's pretty behind regarding the eating schedule. I'll be eating lunch later than I would like and might steal another mandarin orange if I start to feel hungry. He just got back from 7 months deployment so I can't really complain that he wanted to sleep for 12 hours today and miss the gym. It's fine, as long as we get all the stuff in correctly by the end of the day all will be well. I need to weigh and measure him before it gets too late!
7:52pm
Well the day got a little rough. Lots of unplanned events leading to stress and dinner STILL NOT READY at 7:52. My pork is like 10 degrees away of being safe and it's driving me nuts cause i'm super hungry. Around 5 I started crashing a bit, I was super hungry and tired. I had also missed the 2nd Spark. I couldn't definitely tell if there was a difference when I first started the Spark but without it I was pretty tired and super hungry. I took it around 5 and did feel a bit better. Still hungry and waiting for dinner.
At dinner we'll take the 4-6 Omega Plex pills. OH For lunch I steamed chicken with garlic power and mixed it with salad and a little Balsamic Vinaigrette. It was pretty tasty. Tonight is pork tenderloin and cooked veggies. John isn't feeling nearly as hungry as I am. I suppose the gym made a big difference and being different in general. For now Day One is nearly over. Woo hoo! 9 to go of the cleanse. Hopefully they'll be more smooth. I had brought coco roasted Almonds with us on our errands so I used those as the midafternoon snack. Tomorrow I might grab a bag of the spark too in case we can't make it home again.
John wasn't hungry the entire day, but I most certainly am very very hungry. What a pain.
818pm
Ah so We have finally eaten dinner and I feel MUCH better. If I was able to eat at an appropriate dinner time, this feat might have been easier today. I added two egg whites and a mandarin orange to the dinner. It was pretty tasty and took 5 of the Omega 3's. Woo fish oil! Haha.
Oh man, hopefully tomorrow is easier.
One day down, Nine to go!
8:30am
I woke up around 8, John's currently still asleep since it's currently 8:30, and took the Fiber drink. That's a first thing in the morning deal. The paper said to take it with 2 glasses of water so I mixed it with 16 ounces and brushed my teeth while shaking. Afterward I noticed that the packet explains to take it with 8 ounces of water and then follow it up immediately with the 2nd glass, so I followed it up with the extra water and will do it more correctly tomorrow. I think the main difference is that was a LOT of liquid to drink straight down. Yeah, definitely a little much, so it'll make tomorrow easier. Not that it was that big of a deal, but still good to know lol.
It's been a little past 30 minutes so I'm going to grab my banana for breakfast and make a Spark (energy drink) to bring to the gym since that is marked to be "between meals" underneath the breakfast and mid morning and I have mid morning planned for after gym! I did just take my Catalyst with a few sips of the Spark. Ok I lied about the Banana, they're still green so I just cut up an Asian Pear. They're SO hard to pick out so hopefully this one is good.
11:25am
Well the gym was fab. Did about 35 min on the elliptical, 3 leg machines, and some ab work. I nearly always do arms and I know you're supposed to switch around so since I don't have my 60 min uphill walk with the doggies today, I did legs. I drank Spark DURING the workout mainly cause it fit in with the time well. My energy level during that time isn't awful so I really need the energy afterwards vs during anyway. I came home and eat 2 mandarin oranges and three hard boiled egg whites, with water on the side. I'm actually pretty full at the moment. John JUST woke up so he's pretty behind regarding the eating schedule. I'll be eating lunch later than I would like and might steal another mandarin orange if I start to feel hungry. He just got back from 7 months deployment so I can't really complain that he wanted to sleep for 12 hours today and miss the gym. It's fine, as long as we get all the stuff in correctly by the end of the day all will be well. I need to weigh and measure him before it gets too late!
7:52pm
Well the day got a little rough. Lots of unplanned events leading to stress and dinner STILL NOT READY at 7:52. My pork is like 10 degrees away of being safe and it's driving me nuts cause i'm super hungry. Around 5 I started crashing a bit, I was super hungry and tired. I had also missed the 2nd Spark. I couldn't definitely tell if there was a difference when I first started the Spark but without it I was pretty tired and super hungry. I took it around 5 and did feel a bit better. Still hungry and waiting for dinner.
At dinner we'll take the 4-6 Omega Plex pills. OH For lunch I steamed chicken with garlic power and mixed it with salad and a little Balsamic Vinaigrette. It was pretty tasty. Tonight is pork tenderloin and cooked veggies. John isn't feeling nearly as hungry as I am. I suppose the gym made a big difference and being different in general. For now Day One is nearly over. Woo hoo! 9 to go of the cleanse. Hopefully they'll be more smooth. I had brought coco roasted Almonds with us on our errands so I used those as the midafternoon snack. Tomorrow I might grab a bag of the spark too in case we can't make it home again.
John wasn't hungry the entire day, but I most certainly am very very hungry. What a pain.
818pm
Ah so We have finally eaten dinner and I feel MUCH better. If I was able to eat at an appropriate dinner time, this feat might have been easier today. I added two egg whites and a mandarin orange to the dinner. It was pretty tasty and took 5 of the Omega 3's. Woo fish oil! Haha.
Oh man, hopefully tomorrow is easier.
One day down, Nine to go!
Saturday, October 1, 2011
Starting Point
Alrightie well John is definitely on board, there was pretty much no convincing necessary. We will be officially starting on Monday! Eeek! So logically we went out for Ramen tonight haha. It was delicious but the last noodles I'll be eating for a while, but I've already been trying to cut those out for a while anyway.
Monday, it begins.
Monday, it begins.
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Not a good judgment day
So it's the end of day 1 of Spark + Catalyst. I'm fairly certain it gave me extra energy. Unfortunately today turned out to be a bad tester day cause my back is acting up. I did a bad stretch a few days ago that is now on my "do not do" list. I think I also am adding a weight machine I did today to it as well. Point being, my back hurts more today than it has in a while which tends to make me struggle through the day on it's own. It's just not a good day to judge. I'll keep you posted!
Spark
Well it's day one of Advocare products but not day one of the challenge. I'm excited but I know it'll be much better and more persuasive (to John) if John and I start and do it together.
However.... I bought an extra bottle of the Catalyst and since I signed up for my little discount membership deal they'll be sending me extra Spark (the energy drink) in many flavors to try. Or so I'm told! SO I'm starting with those until we get the whole thing underway.
Therefore this morning has consisted of Mandarin Orange Spark, a serving of the Catalyst, and three hard boiled egg whites. Hardboiled eggs are the suggestion for many of the snacks and such in the diet which is awesome, it's my own choice to only eat the whites. This goes back my whole life, hardboiled egg yolk is just gross when not mixed with mayo, mustard, and other ingredients. But yay less Cholesterol!
So it's 745, I'm exhausted and I'm off to the gym soon.
I'll have to come back and mention how well my energy is holding up since that's what the Spark mainly does. I think the Catalyst will show any progress later since it's not a wellness/feel good one, it's a fat burner.
However.... I bought an extra bottle of the Catalyst and since I signed up for my little discount membership deal they'll be sending me extra Spark (the energy drink) in many flavors to try. Or so I'm told! SO I'm starting with those until we get the whole thing underway.
Therefore this morning has consisted of Mandarin Orange Spark, a serving of the Catalyst, and three hard boiled egg whites. Hardboiled eggs are the suggestion for many of the snacks and such in the diet which is awesome, it's my own choice to only eat the whites. This goes back my whole life, hardboiled egg yolk is just gross when not mixed with mayo, mustard, and other ingredients. But yay less Cholesterol!
So it's 745, I'm exhausted and I'm off to the gym soon.
I'll have to come back and mention how well my energy is holding up since that's what the Spark mainly does. I think the Catalyst will show any progress later since it's not a wellness/feel good one, it's a fat burner.
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Gross Part
So this is the gross part. But if I want to prove results to you and myself, then I need to say where I'm starting from. How fun...and awful... I'm not doing before pics. Maybe privately, but not for anyone until the end.
As of September 27th
Weight: Erin's Scale: 192.5 (EWWWW) My Scale: 188.6 (Much better but still awful, NC put me up 6 lbs)
Right Arm: 15 3/4"
Shoulders: 45 1/4"
Chest: 42 1/2"
Waist by belly button: 41 3/4"
Hips by hipbone: 42 1/2"
Right Thigh: 26 1/2"
Right Calf: 17"
Goal: Anything under 180 haha 160 ultimately but I'm not expecting that big of a drop
As of September 27th
Weight: Erin's Scale: 192.5 (EWWWW) My Scale: 188.6 (Much better but still awful, NC put me up 6 lbs)
Right Arm: 15 3/4"
Shoulders: 45 1/4"
Chest: 42 1/2"
Waist by belly button: 41 3/4"
Hips by hipbone: 42 1/2"
Right Thigh: 26 1/2"
Right Calf: 17"
Goal: Anything under 180 haha 160 ultimately but I'm not expecting that big of a drop
Advocare
Hello all!
So I'm fully aware I'm terrible at keeping up with blogs. I've always known this and now that a great many of you are on Facebook it seemed rather repetitive to keep this up, especially when I'm bad at doing it to begin with. Random Facebook statuses require much less concentration than writing a whole entry.
Anyways, I'm going back to this for the next month or so. I recently learned about Advocare. A fellow boat wife did it and lost a good chunk of weight and knows many significant health/fitness people that have done the same so I started asking questions and went to a big meeting on it. It's a company GNC keeps trying to buy but they're been turned down twice. One of the ladies at the meeting was actually told by her doctor to try it and it's been through many medical tests to make sure it's healthy. It's mainly a large amount of vitamins to help with health, energy, and appetite. The woman I talked to reassured me that the energy really does help and you won't feel weak and depressed on it which diets tend to do and I get so light headed that I binge on whatever I can find. It does require some willpower regarding what you choose to eat but it's supposed to help with snacking and whatnot. I should be eating healthy anyway so no biggie. I also intend to do this with John. He doesn't know it yet but I'm 95% sure he'll want to do it with me so I won't be starting until we're able to do it together.
What I'm doing is the 24-day challenge.
http://www.the24daychallenge.com/
It starts with a 10-day cleanse which does not involve strong week-long laxatives which they assured me many many times, haha. After that is a 14 day Max plan using meal replacement shakes (yum!) for breakfast, which I actually like doing anyway. Eggs are a big option for snacks which is great for me, and there's no mention of grapefruits! I swear every diet includes nasty nasty grapefruits. Let's see.... First off, the descriptions will be all in my own words and from my understanding, not the medical or official terminology/direction haha.
Oh you know what, I just remembered. This is labeled as an Informed Choice http://informed-choice.org/ which ensures that there are no banned substances in it so if you succumb to random drug tests there's nothing to worry about.
10 Day Cleanse Products:
Herbal Cleanse pills which help with cleansing and increases nutrient absorption, Spark which is a sugar free energy drink that I've tried and it pretty tasty. Many people swear by Spark alone, the lady who talked to the group about it used Spark for 6 years before discovering the rest of the goodies. The last product for this section is OmegaPlex which has essential fatty acids for overall wellness.
I won't go over the order and such of how to use all these unless you're interested in trying it yourself.
I also bought an add-on called Catalyst which people supposedly refer to as "liposuction in a bottle" I'm going to start this one right away. It's supposed to help your body digest fat when it's hungry instead of the fat and muscles so I get to keep the muscle I'm building at the gym and actually get rid of the fat instead of risk my body going "Oh hey these muscles have more nutrients so I'm gonna eat that and lease those chubby spots on her arms" So yes. That you take in the morning and at night, I think. I need to clarify that, I know for certain it helps at night when you're not eating.
14 Day MAX Pack Products:
MNS which has probiotics, appetite control, energy, core nutrition, omega 3's and more, Max E is what I chose, it's leveled 10 for Energy (which I need given that I'm exhausted by 5) 8 for Appetite control and 6 for Wellness. There are three options, I chose this one. There is one that switches Appetite and Energy and a third that has 6 for A and E and 10 for Wellness. You also take Spark during this section and there are Meal Replacement Shakes, Chocolate Vanilla or Berry. I got Chocolate, which I'm sure surprises nobody.
Now this is not ALL you do. You also have meals so there's no starvation, but logically you have to eat healthy. It's more like a low-carb diet which I've been working on doing anyway but my body needs a kickstart. You have three meals, one replaced by a tasty shake, and two snacks. I'll take the Catalyst throughout the whole thing and there are other optional add-ons that I didn't do such as Thermo plus for metabolism and Omegaplex for more overall wellness.
Honestly writing this down made it all make a little more sense in my head. It looks like a ton of stuff, but it's not so bad.
I wish I could reiterate everything I was told regarding Doctor's and all the things that make it sound healthy and non gimicky. I already bought it so nobody is allowed to put it down until after my 24 days. If it works, WOO HOO if it doesn't, then we can all be pissy together. Until then, support support support!
I asked my sponser to help me remember and she said this "Studies? All these products are created by a medical and scientific advisory board including top drs in the country..one was just put into Yale's medical hall of fame. They create these. The olympic wrestling coach is the one that came to advocare to find something to help his guys shed weight without muscle..that is how catalyst came about. Some of the top sports trainers including the air force trainer are on the sports nutrition board for the company. GNC has tried to buy them 2 times to put these products are their shelves but it is a no go...advocare won't sell."
Also I got a discount by signing up to sell it, only I'm not required to sell it, It's more like I signed up for Costco and get a discount because of that lol. SO if you decide to buy it, you can buy it from my site:
https://www.advocare.com/110916658/Store/default.aspx
So I'm fully aware I'm terrible at keeping up with blogs. I've always known this and now that a great many of you are on Facebook it seemed rather repetitive to keep this up, especially when I'm bad at doing it to begin with. Random Facebook statuses require much less concentration than writing a whole entry.
Anyways, I'm going back to this for the next month or so. I recently learned about Advocare. A fellow boat wife did it and lost a good chunk of weight and knows many significant health/fitness people that have done the same so I started asking questions and went to a big meeting on it. It's a company GNC keeps trying to buy but they're been turned down twice. One of the ladies at the meeting was actually told by her doctor to try it and it's been through many medical tests to make sure it's healthy. It's mainly a large amount of vitamins to help with health, energy, and appetite. The woman I talked to reassured me that the energy really does help and you won't feel weak and depressed on it which diets tend to do and I get so light headed that I binge on whatever I can find. It does require some willpower regarding what you choose to eat but it's supposed to help with snacking and whatnot. I should be eating healthy anyway so no biggie. I also intend to do this with John. He doesn't know it yet but I'm 95% sure he'll want to do it with me so I won't be starting until we're able to do it together.
What I'm doing is the 24-day challenge.
http://www.the24daychallenge.com/
It starts with a 10-day cleanse which does not involve strong week-long laxatives which they assured me many many times, haha. After that is a 14 day Max plan using meal replacement shakes (yum!) for breakfast, which I actually like doing anyway. Eggs are a big option for snacks which is great for me, and there's no mention of grapefruits! I swear every diet includes nasty nasty grapefruits. Let's see.... First off, the descriptions will be all in my own words and from my understanding, not the medical or official terminology/direction haha.
Oh you know what, I just remembered. This is labeled as an Informed Choice http://informed-choice.org/ which ensures that there are no banned substances in it so if you succumb to random drug tests there's nothing to worry about.
10 Day Cleanse Products:
Herbal Cleanse pills which help with cleansing and increases nutrient absorption, Spark which is a sugar free energy drink that I've tried and it pretty tasty. Many people swear by Spark alone, the lady who talked to the group about it used Spark for 6 years before discovering the rest of the goodies. The last product for this section is OmegaPlex which has essential fatty acids for overall wellness.
I won't go over the order and such of how to use all these unless you're interested in trying it yourself.
I also bought an add-on called Catalyst which people supposedly refer to as "liposuction in a bottle" I'm going to start this one right away. It's supposed to help your body digest fat when it's hungry instead of the fat and muscles so I get to keep the muscle I'm building at the gym and actually get rid of the fat instead of risk my body going "Oh hey these muscles have more nutrients so I'm gonna eat that and lease those chubby spots on her arms" So yes. That you take in the morning and at night, I think. I need to clarify that, I know for certain it helps at night when you're not eating.
14 Day MAX Pack Products:
MNS which has probiotics, appetite control, energy, core nutrition, omega 3's and more, Max E is what I chose, it's leveled 10 for Energy (which I need given that I'm exhausted by 5) 8 for Appetite control and 6 for Wellness. There are three options, I chose this one. There is one that switches Appetite and Energy and a third that has 6 for A and E and 10 for Wellness. You also take Spark during this section and there are Meal Replacement Shakes, Chocolate Vanilla or Berry. I got Chocolate, which I'm sure surprises nobody.
Now this is not ALL you do. You also have meals so there's no starvation, but logically you have to eat healthy. It's more like a low-carb diet which I've been working on doing anyway but my body needs a kickstart. You have three meals, one replaced by a tasty shake, and two snacks. I'll take the Catalyst throughout the whole thing and there are other optional add-ons that I didn't do such as Thermo plus for metabolism and Omegaplex for more overall wellness.
Honestly writing this down made it all make a little more sense in my head. It looks like a ton of stuff, but it's not so bad.
I wish I could reiterate everything I was told regarding Doctor's and all the things that make it sound healthy and non gimicky. I already bought it so nobody is allowed to put it down until after my 24 days. If it works, WOO HOO if it doesn't, then we can all be pissy together. Until then, support support support!
I asked my sponser to help me remember and she said this "Studies? All these products are created by a medical and scientific advisory board including top drs in the country..one was just put into Yale's medical hall of fame. They create these. The olympic wrestling coach is the one that came to advocare to find something to help his guys shed weight without muscle..that is how catalyst came about. Some of the top sports trainers including the air force trainer are on the sports nutrition board for the company. GNC has tried to buy them 2 times to put these products are their shelves but it is a no go...advocare won't sell."
Also I got a discount by signing up to sell it, only I'm not required to sell it, It's more like I signed up for Costco and get a discount because of that lol. SO if you decide to buy it, you can buy it from my site:
https://www.advocare.com/110916658/Store/default.aspx
Saturday, April 2, 2011
And it begins
My life is too crazy. The past few weeks/months I've been gearing up for deployment on top of the internship so I've had very little time. Moving, shopping, preparing, organizing, shopping, printing, cleaning, cleaning, cleaning, and millions of other little things have been added on top of the 5-3 or 7-6:30 days. Physical Therapy makes me days a lot longer as well.
Today was the day. John's officially deployed. He packed up during the week and all my wifely duties were finished and handed it. I made a halfway box for the date that marks halfway done with the deployment. The boat and the wives each have parties to celebrate. Wives make boxes for the men to open during their party. So there was that. I also had various other things I had to create, print, buy, and hand in so there are various little reminders or surprises throughout the underway. The FRG (family readiness group/ aka spouses and immediate family) runs most of that and decides what to do.
Today at 730 I dropped John off at the boat and went shopping for a few things he forgot to get such as shaving cream and nail clippers. By 9 I was getting dressed and pretty for the sobering Boy Voyage BBQ. The Squadron (not sure how to describe that other than boats are put into squadrons which is then communication from the boat and other various things). The Squadron puts on BBQs for boats deploying. We were all there at 10 to sit on chairs and mope together. A little bit later there were hot dogs and burgers which were alright, frozen and in bulk so pretty much what you could expect.
Around 11:45 John was told he had to have things signed and ready within an hour so he had to get going. It seemed a lot of people got that message because at noon there were lots of guys heading onto the boat and finishing up their goodbyes. It was no good. Tralene (a fellow lady of the boat) was left alone just after me and she and I get along pretty well so we went out to get ice cream before seeing the boat off. Fun fun. At two we went to the waterway that boats/ships/other thingers that use the water to move places use to get to the harbor. Aka all the wives go there to see the boat come in or leave. I've never gone to see them off before but since this one was the big deal, I planned to go. Within 20 min they were gone.
I prefer it when the boat comes in, it's far more happy.
So yeah. John's gone and this time it's for apx 6 months.
Today was the day. John's officially deployed. He packed up during the week and all my wifely duties were finished and handed it. I made a halfway box for the date that marks halfway done with the deployment. The boat and the wives each have parties to celebrate. Wives make boxes for the men to open during their party. So there was that. I also had various other things I had to create, print, buy, and hand in so there are various little reminders or surprises throughout the underway. The FRG (family readiness group/ aka spouses and immediate family) runs most of that and decides what to do.
Today at 730 I dropped John off at the boat and went shopping for a few things he forgot to get such as shaving cream and nail clippers. By 9 I was getting dressed and pretty for the sobering Boy Voyage BBQ. The Squadron (not sure how to describe that other than boats are put into squadrons which is then communication from the boat and other various things). The Squadron puts on BBQs for boats deploying. We were all there at 10 to sit on chairs and mope together. A little bit later there were hot dogs and burgers which were alright, frozen and in bulk so pretty much what you could expect.
Around 11:45 John was told he had to have things signed and ready within an hour so he had to get going. It seemed a lot of people got that message because at noon there were lots of guys heading onto the boat and finishing up their goodbyes. It was no good. Tralene (a fellow lady of the boat) was left alone just after me and she and I get along pretty well so we went out to get ice cream before seeing the boat off. Fun fun. At two we went to the waterway that boats/ships/other thingers that use the water to move places use to get to the harbor. Aka all the wives go there to see the boat come in or leave. I've never gone to see them off before but since this one was the big deal, I planned to go. Within 20 min they were gone.
I prefer it when the boat comes in, it's far more happy.
So yeah. John's gone and this time it's for apx 6 months.
Monday, February 7, 2011
Piriformis and TMD
Alright
So. As off now my body hates me. I don't think I ever fully explained my TMD stuff and what I did to fix it. Long story short the cartilage that softens my jaw joint ran away. This causes all of my muscles in my jaw, head, and neck to be crazy tense in order to keep the bones from rubbing and makes it hurt in many other ways. I couldn't open my mouth wider than two fingers for a while which made eating difficult, let alone the shooting nerve pains when I opened my mouth wrong! It also gave me headaches and extremely tense shoulders. I still get them but it's not as chronic. I saw a few docs, got a night guard made and went on my way. I ended up seeing Dr Mark Tasaki a TMD specialist. TMJ = Temporomandibular joint and TMD = Temporomandibular joint Disorder. He fixed up my night guard many times to make it just right and used an infrared laser on many of the knots in my neck and shoulders to help it all heal. My jaw is working on replacing the cartilage with scar tissue so that everything can relax. It's gotten much better and less chronic but still hurts when it chooses to. Like right now. It's under control and when it becomes chronic I can go back to the Doc but now we're on an as needed basis. Woo hoo.
See that little purple disc? That's what has slipped away.
Pain Areas for TMD
This is all old news that I never bothered to talk about. Now onto the new problems! Apparently since I got the TMD under control, my other muscles felt the need to join in on the fun. "Why let the shoulders/head/jaw muscles have all the fun?" they said, "Let's make her hurt from the lower back down! That'll be new and exciting!" And so my piriformis joined in on the fun. Well, that's the impression I'm under right now. I finally see a doctor tomorrow. For a couple day I was fighting chronic sciatica (aka sciatic nerve pain) that would go from extreme to tolerable at it's own will. It seemed like it wouldn't go away and it was very painful so I called the dr. I couldn't get an appointment until Feb 7th, this was almost 3 weeks ago. That's military healthcare for you. So anyway, last Saturday (not yesterday) I went into urgent care because it gets excruciating and I didn't want to wait another week. What if it was something that needed to be fixed asap? Well they took me in, gave me Naproxen and took XRays. The XRays turned out to be clear (I had to call to get the results) and my hands and feet swelled after taking the Naproxen. They're still a little weird feeling now and it's been almost a week since I stopped taking it. I called and told them and they called and left a message to not take them and to call a dr to get a new prescription. I called and left a message with the nurse explaining that situation and wanting my xray results. They called and left a message saying it was clear and I could just take aspirin.
How helpful. If Aspirin helped, I'm pretty sure I would have been able to wait till my appt. Driving was excruciating. To the T. After 50 mins I was nearly in tears and often screamed. Work wasn't too bad, it's the prolonged sitting that was the worst. I'm waiting for my appt now. I went to a massage therapist. My friend's neighbor is one and she offered a free session. It actually helped a lot. It still hurts often but she moved or adjusted one of the MANY knots I have and it turns out I can drive now. It got to the point that I had to ask John to get gas when he got home from a very long day because I couldn't be in that car longer than I had to be. It was awful. I'm going to try to set up more sessions with her, but it all depends on time and money. So far she's been more helpful than the Navy.
Oh right, the cause. Well since the Xrays are clear, my guess (since they never bothered to tell me) is that it's the aforementioned Piriformis. The Urgent Care doc suggested that it probably was, but took the XRays just in case. My assumption is that the XRays proved it wasn't a hernia, slipped disc, tumor, or any other thing that would be out of place or unwelcome and pinching my nerve. Piriformis is a muscle in the butt. I guess the sciatic nerve can weave through/around it a certain way so that when that muscle inflames for some odd reason, it agitates the sciatic nerve. It's not fun when the Sciatic nerve is pissy. It hurts from the lower back all the way down to the foot. Mine is bad in the lower back, worse in the butt, painful down the entire left leg during the worst of times and painful down a portion of the right leg. It's.... unpleasant. I worked on Friday and it hurt a lot. I kept from carrying a lot and had to walk really slow. I hate it.
Pain areas for Piriformis. Though mine is also in the lower back and a bit of the right butt
It's a pain in the ass. Literally! Hah. I hate feeling like a sissy. I always liked being the one that could life things and would do everything if possible. In work that is, we all know I'm no crazy adventurer. Now I feel like a wimp who tries to get everyone to do work for me. I try not to though. I just try to avoid some of the heavier things. It can hurt so bad though. As of now it just looks like I'm in for a lot of physical therapy.
Also, you can't ask how it happened. I have absolutely no clue. I have no recollection of ever hurting my bum. I'm told that it could inflame at the slightest of things though. That's why I believe that it just wanted to join in on all the fun my top part is having.
I'm pretty deflated from all this though. I already have a chronic muscle tension problem that basically requires lifelong care or else it could get much much worse. I don't want another.
So. As off now my body hates me. I don't think I ever fully explained my TMD stuff and what I did to fix it. Long story short the cartilage that softens my jaw joint ran away. This causes all of my muscles in my jaw, head, and neck to be crazy tense in order to keep the bones from rubbing and makes it hurt in many other ways. I couldn't open my mouth wider than two fingers for a while which made eating difficult, let alone the shooting nerve pains when I opened my mouth wrong! It also gave me headaches and extremely tense shoulders. I still get them but it's not as chronic. I saw a few docs, got a night guard made and went on my way. I ended up seeing Dr Mark Tasaki a TMD specialist. TMJ = Temporomandibular joint and TMD = Temporomandibular joint Disorder. He fixed up my night guard many times to make it just right and used an infrared laser on many of the knots in my neck and shoulders to help it all heal. My jaw is working on replacing the cartilage with scar tissue so that everything can relax. It's gotten much better and less chronic but still hurts when it chooses to. Like right now. It's under control and when it becomes chronic I can go back to the Doc but now we're on an as needed basis. Woo hoo.
See that little purple disc? That's what has slipped away.
Pain Areas for TMD
This is all old news that I never bothered to talk about. Now onto the new problems! Apparently since I got the TMD under control, my other muscles felt the need to join in on the fun. "Why let the shoulders/head/jaw muscles have all the fun?" they said, "Let's make her hurt from the lower back down! That'll be new and exciting!" And so my piriformis joined in on the fun. Well, that's the impression I'm under right now. I finally see a doctor tomorrow. For a couple day I was fighting chronic sciatica (aka sciatic nerve pain) that would go from extreme to tolerable at it's own will. It seemed like it wouldn't go away and it was very painful so I called the dr. I couldn't get an appointment until Feb 7th, this was almost 3 weeks ago. That's military healthcare for you. So anyway, last Saturday (not yesterday) I went into urgent care because it gets excruciating and I didn't want to wait another week. What if it was something that needed to be fixed asap? Well they took me in, gave me Naproxen and took XRays. The XRays turned out to be clear (I had to call to get the results) and my hands and feet swelled after taking the Naproxen. They're still a little weird feeling now and it's been almost a week since I stopped taking it. I called and told them and they called and left a message to not take them and to call a dr to get a new prescription. I called and left a message with the nurse explaining that situation and wanting my xray results. They called and left a message saying it was clear and I could just take aspirin.
How helpful. If Aspirin helped, I'm pretty sure I would have been able to wait till my appt. Driving was excruciating. To the T. After 50 mins I was nearly in tears and often screamed. Work wasn't too bad, it's the prolonged sitting that was the worst. I'm waiting for my appt now. I went to a massage therapist. My friend's neighbor is one and she offered a free session. It actually helped a lot. It still hurts often but she moved or adjusted one of the MANY knots I have and it turns out I can drive now. It got to the point that I had to ask John to get gas when he got home from a very long day because I couldn't be in that car longer than I had to be. It was awful. I'm going to try to set up more sessions with her, but it all depends on time and money. So far she's been more helpful than the Navy.
Oh right, the cause. Well since the Xrays are clear, my guess (since they never bothered to tell me) is that it's the aforementioned Piriformis. The Urgent Care doc suggested that it probably was, but took the XRays just in case. My assumption is that the XRays proved it wasn't a hernia, slipped disc, tumor, or any other thing that would be out of place or unwelcome and pinching my nerve. Piriformis is a muscle in the butt. I guess the sciatic nerve can weave through/around it a certain way so that when that muscle inflames for some odd reason, it agitates the sciatic nerve. It's not fun when the Sciatic nerve is pissy. It hurts from the lower back all the way down to the foot. Mine is bad in the lower back, worse in the butt, painful down the entire left leg during the worst of times and painful down a portion of the right leg. It's.... unpleasant. I worked on Friday and it hurt a lot. I kept from carrying a lot and had to walk really slow. I hate it.
Pain areas for Piriformis. Though mine is also in the lower back and a bit of the right butt
It's a pain in the ass. Literally! Hah. I hate feeling like a sissy. I always liked being the one that could life things and would do everything if possible. In work that is, we all know I'm no crazy adventurer. Now I feel like a wimp who tries to get everyone to do work for me. I try not to though. I just try to avoid some of the heavier things. It can hurt so bad though. As of now it just looks like I'm in for a lot of physical therapy.
Also, you can't ask how it happened. I have absolutely no clue. I have no recollection of ever hurting my bum. I'm told that it could inflame at the slightest of things though. That's why I believe that it just wanted to join in on all the fun my top part is having.
I'm pretty deflated from all this though. I already have a chronic muscle tension problem that basically requires lifelong care or else it could get much much worse. I don't want another.
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Moving
Alright, what's next? Let's go with moving cause that can be a small one.
We're officially moving on Feb 18/19/20. We were supposed go on March 1 but that wasn't working out with the Navy's plans so now it's in a week and 3 days. We're only going a few miles east and even staying in Aiea. Watch out for your letters and packages though! I'll have to e-mail out the new address or you can e-mail me. I'm not too keen on posting it in a public forum.
We're moving for a few reasons. The people in charge of this place are insane. They harrassed my neighbors so bad they broke their lease and moved out within months. They blame various ridiculous things on people simply because the old crogie board members claimed that person did it. The rules are so abnormal I'm afraid to put christmas lights out on the lanai in fear of a stupid fine. Every other month or so they send out a letter to EVERYONE IN THE COMPLEX saying there is oil on their parking stall and it must be cleaned or you'll get a fine. Basically extorting everyone. I'm leaking coolant slowly, but no oil. My friend has a BRAND NEW car and it sure as heck isn't leaking oil especially since we've both cleaned out stalls after the first warning and neither cars have leaked since yet strangely the warning has come again. It's ridiculous and we're fully annoyed with it.
Anyways, I have a friend living in one of the Navy Base Housing units. Unlike all the others this one doesn't use up all the BAH (Basic Housing Allowance) that the Military gives. If you live in base housing they bypass giving you the BAH entirely and you just get the house. This one is considered substandard, but it suits our desires so we don't have a problem with it; however since it's considered "substandard" they have it at a flat rate of $1700 including utilities, woo hoo! That's cheaper than what we pay now and we pay all utilities except water. It's very exciting. It's two bedroom instead of three, but two stories. It's a townhouse, basically and it has a yard and a parking spot with an area for 2nd parking spots (just not reserved). There's a DISHWASHER, washer and dryer in a separate room (Cat ROOM!!), and a GAS stove! Woo hoo! I'm very excited. There's no carpeting so it seems rather cold and emotionless, but that's what decorating and rugs are for so I can cheer it up. There is also a ton of storage space. There's an outdoor storage section, shelves in nearly all the walls, a ginormous walk in closet that people often use as a nursery, and a big storage closet under the stairs. It's pretty exciting. I'm often feeling as though I could use more storage.
So anyway, we are moving in two weekends. Fun fun.
We're officially moving on Feb 18/19/20. We were supposed go on March 1 but that wasn't working out with the Navy's plans so now it's in a week and 3 days. We're only going a few miles east and even staying in Aiea. Watch out for your letters and packages though! I'll have to e-mail out the new address or you can e-mail me. I'm not too keen on posting it in a public forum.
We're moving for a few reasons. The people in charge of this place are insane. They harrassed my neighbors so bad they broke their lease and moved out within months. They blame various ridiculous things on people simply because the old crogie board members claimed that person did it. The rules are so abnormal I'm afraid to put christmas lights out on the lanai in fear of a stupid fine. Every other month or so they send out a letter to EVERYONE IN THE COMPLEX saying there is oil on their parking stall and it must be cleaned or you'll get a fine. Basically extorting everyone. I'm leaking coolant slowly, but no oil. My friend has a BRAND NEW car and it sure as heck isn't leaking oil especially since we've both cleaned out stalls after the first warning and neither cars have leaked since yet strangely the warning has come again. It's ridiculous and we're fully annoyed with it.
Anyways, I have a friend living in one of the Navy Base Housing units. Unlike all the others this one doesn't use up all the BAH (Basic Housing Allowance) that the Military gives. If you live in base housing they bypass giving you the BAH entirely and you just get the house. This one is considered substandard, but it suits our desires so we don't have a problem with it; however since it's considered "substandard" they have it at a flat rate of $1700 including utilities, woo hoo! That's cheaper than what we pay now and we pay all utilities except water. It's very exciting. It's two bedroom instead of three, but two stories. It's a townhouse, basically and it has a yard and a parking spot with an area for 2nd parking spots (just not reserved). There's a DISHWASHER, washer and dryer in a separate room (Cat ROOM!!), and a GAS stove! Woo hoo! I'm very excited. There's no carpeting so it seems rather cold and emotionless, but that's what decorating and rugs are for so I can cheer it up. There is also a ton of storage space. There's an outdoor storage section, shelves in nearly all the walls, a ginormous walk in closet that people often use as a nursery, and a big storage closet under the stairs. It's pretty exciting. I'm often feeling as though I could use more storage.
So anyway, we are moving in two weekends. Fun fun.
Sea Life Park Internship
Well. Life has been crazy. Ever since the internship started I've been too busy or much too tired to post anything other than mindless facebook whines. Thinking in full sentences seemed just too much work. I'm certain the grandparents are rather annoyed that they haven't received an e-mail. I got two very important e-mails from friends on my first day and it took me two weeks to respond! I thought about them every day but pretty much fell asleep the moment I got home every night. Eventually I forced myself to form coherent sentences early in the morning so that my bad-friend-ness would be put to an end.
But, anyway, however exhausting and time consuming it is I love my internship. The hours are either 6-2:30 (or 4:30/5 if I'm feeling kind and well, incredibly needed) or 8-5.
My main duties are the following:
** Getting two rounds of coolers of fish from the fish house. You'll get a lengthy explanation about the fish house further down. This consists of approximately hmm... 3 Dolphins, 3 Sea Lions in one area, 3 penguins, 5 Sea Lions in the other area, and 4 monk seals. 3 Dolphins get 8 coolers. The 8 Sea Lions get 14 coolers. Penguins get one and MSeals get 7. That's 30 coolers total. Now I know. Back to the duties... Oops missed two sea lions for interaction so add 4 coolers. 34!
** Prepping the fish for morning feeds, shows (prior to the shows only), and other feeding times. This requires getting the ice out, putting the fish in different containers for the shows, and cutting them up if need be. Also pouring out any juice made from the ice and fish throughout the day.
** Getting hydration tubes ready, and assisting in this process. Basically the dolphins get water from fish, frozen fish lose water percentage so therefore we hydrate them to keep them healthy and strong.
** Washing surfaces before this is all done
** Changing out chlorine in the foot baths and sponge holders
** Learning sound for 3 different shows. I have two down but need to memorize something before I do the third
** Memorizing the monk seal lecture, the Sea Lion show narration, and learning the 80's show narration
** Assisting with the four shows we do every day, sometimes 5
** Helping count the respirations of the dolphins to make sure there are no problems (I like this. You get to sit and watch the dolphins for 5 min each. It's peaceful unless they're being brats and you have to start over)
** Cleaning all the coolers once their done. Cleaning buckets once they're done
** Weighing out food portions for one of the dolphins and cleaning out the bucket used to measure and the extra cooler for that fish
** Cutting up herring
** Getting refills of supplies
** Taking care that the fish remain in healthy sanitary conditions
** Cleaning the pouches and tupperware from the shows
** Cleaning the tubes and such from hydrations
** Cleaning whatever needs to be cleaned and might have scales all over it
I'm certain I do even more but I can't always think straight. I'm usually very busy, but the days when there are a lot of interns gets slow in the morning since we all pitch it.
Fish house is where you sort fish. This is where I go on the days when I have to be there at 6 am. I go in and help sort the good capelin (and eventually herring, squid, and smelt) from the ripped up and potenially bad capein. They can be scraped but if they're female (eggs get messy throughout the day), soft bellied that will pop during the day, or mauled they can get bacteria in them easily and possibly make the animals sick so we sort out the bad fish. This takes 3-4 hours. Other people then weigh out all the fish according to the diet of each animal and puts the fish into the animal's specific cooler. After everything is done we completely scrub down both rooms and then chlorinate the entire area. It's as sanitized as humanly possible. We then get breakfast for 20-30 min while the chlorine takes effect. Once breakfast is over all that's left to do is take the fish for the next day out of the freezer and into the refrigerated fish house to thaw over night for the next day. I'd say this takes about 30 min. We then look over both rooms for missed fish scales and head off to our different sections of the park. Lately we've been getting out around 11.
If you work fish house you're allowed to leave at 230. I've stayed twice on Tuesdays until 4:30 because Azu, one of the head trainers, has been understaffed and seemed absolutely stressed out. I couldn't just leave her when I didn't have anywhere to be so I stayed to help out. Long days but when someone is obviously stressed out, I have to do my best to help out if possible!
Sooo that's my job. In addition to the 4 or 5 shows we have 2 interactions a day. We don't always have people for them so we sometimes have extra time, but that's what's schedule. I'm supposed to also learn the correct way to pick the guests up, tell them safety concerns, and get them prepared for the interaction. I'll also be able to go into the water with them and pet said sea lion.
Throughout the day I'm sometimes asked to help with husbandry of the animal. This happened the other day with Moopuna, one of our interaction Sea Lions. I helped her get prepared for a vet visit so that she wouldn't be bothered by whatever the vet was going to do. Just a routine check up of course. It's very interesting to take part in such things. I was also given the chance to throw miss Puna some Capelin afterwards which was fun! Yay Sea Lions! So far I've gotten the opportunity to pet sea lions and dolphins and feed both as well. It's very exciting.
Hopefully I'll be able to post more often. Things are about to get crazy again though and you'll see why in a post I'm about to write! Lol so it also might mean you've already read it. Who knows?
I love my internship though. It's pretty fabulous. I'm not looking forward to the public speaking portion though. Eek!
Oh, P.S. My commute is 50 min so I generally leave the house at 7 and get home by 6 or 5 and 330/530. It's unpleasant
But, anyway, however exhausting and time consuming it is I love my internship. The hours are either 6-2:30 (or 4:30/5 if I'm feeling kind and well, incredibly needed) or 8-5.
My main duties are the following:
** Getting two rounds of coolers of fish from the fish house. You'll get a lengthy explanation about the fish house further down. This consists of approximately hmm... 3 Dolphins, 3 Sea Lions in one area, 3 penguins, 5 Sea Lions in the other area, and 4 monk seals. 3 Dolphins get 8 coolers. The 8 Sea Lions get 14 coolers. Penguins get one and MSeals get 7. That's 30 coolers total. Now I know. Back to the duties... Oops missed two sea lions for interaction so add 4 coolers. 34!
** Prepping the fish for morning feeds, shows (prior to the shows only), and other feeding times. This requires getting the ice out, putting the fish in different containers for the shows, and cutting them up if need be. Also pouring out any juice made from the ice and fish throughout the day.
** Getting hydration tubes ready, and assisting in this process. Basically the dolphins get water from fish, frozen fish lose water percentage so therefore we hydrate them to keep them healthy and strong.
** Washing surfaces before this is all done
** Changing out chlorine in the foot baths and sponge holders
** Learning sound for 3 different shows. I have two down but need to memorize something before I do the third
** Memorizing the monk seal lecture, the Sea Lion show narration, and learning the 80's show narration
** Assisting with the four shows we do every day, sometimes 5
** Helping count the respirations of the dolphins to make sure there are no problems (I like this. You get to sit and watch the dolphins for 5 min each. It's peaceful unless they're being brats and you have to start over)
** Cleaning all the coolers once their done. Cleaning buckets once they're done
** Weighing out food portions for one of the dolphins and cleaning out the bucket used to measure and the extra cooler for that fish
** Cutting up herring
** Getting refills of supplies
** Taking care that the fish remain in healthy sanitary conditions
** Cleaning the pouches and tupperware from the shows
** Cleaning the tubes and such from hydrations
** Cleaning whatever needs to be cleaned and might have scales all over it
I'm certain I do even more but I can't always think straight. I'm usually very busy, but the days when there are a lot of interns gets slow in the morning since we all pitch it.
Fish house is where you sort fish. This is where I go on the days when I have to be there at 6 am. I go in and help sort the good capelin (and eventually herring, squid, and smelt) from the ripped up and potenially bad capein. They can be scraped but if they're female (eggs get messy throughout the day), soft bellied that will pop during the day, or mauled they can get bacteria in them easily and possibly make the animals sick so we sort out the bad fish. This takes 3-4 hours. Other people then weigh out all the fish according to the diet of each animal and puts the fish into the animal's specific cooler. After everything is done we completely scrub down both rooms and then chlorinate the entire area. It's as sanitized as humanly possible. We then get breakfast for 20-30 min while the chlorine takes effect. Once breakfast is over all that's left to do is take the fish for the next day out of the freezer and into the refrigerated fish house to thaw over night for the next day. I'd say this takes about 30 min. We then look over both rooms for missed fish scales and head off to our different sections of the park. Lately we've been getting out around 11.
If you work fish house you're allowed to leave at 230. I've stayed twice on Tuesdays until 4:30 because Azu, one of the head trainers, has been understaffed and seemed absolutely stressed out. I couldn't just leave her when I didn't have anywhere to be so I stayed to help out. Long days but when someone is obviously stressed out, I have to do my best to help out if possible!
Sooo that's my job. In addition to the 4 or 5 shows we have 2 interactions a day. We don't always have people for them so we sometimes have extra time, but that's what's schedule. I'm supposed to also learn the correct way to pick the guests up, tell them safety concerns, and get them prepared for the interaction. I'll also be able to go into the water with them and pet said sea lion.
Throughout the day I'm sometimes asked to help with husbandry of the animal. This happened the other day with Moopuna, one of our interaction Sea Lions. I helped her get prepared for a vet visit so that she wouldn't be bothered by whatever the vet was going to do. Just a routine check up of course. It's very interesting to take part in such things. I was also given the chance to throw miss Puna some Capelin afterwards which was fun! Yay Sea Lions! So far I've gotten the opportunity to pet sea lions and dolphins and feed both as well. It's very exciting.
Hopefully I'll be able to post more often. Things are about to get crazy again though and you'll see why in a post I'm about to write! Lol so it also might mean you've already read it. Who knows?
I love my internship though. It's pretty fabulous. I'm not looking forward to the public speaking portion though. Eek!
Oh, P.S. My commute is 50 min so I generally leave the house at 7 and get home by 6 or 5 and 330/530. It's unpleasant
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
No Time to Say "Hello," Goodbye!
I'm going to post sometime soon
I hope
I would promise, but who knows
I could have yesterday but instead I layed on the couch and watched TV, avoiding all other things I needed or wanted to do. It was wonderful.
Quick Update:
John is still here, wahoo
We have new friends, a couple friend even! We both get along with the both of them, it's a good time.
We're officially moving in March to a cheaper place, two story house, Navy "substandard" housing. It has a dishwasher!! AND a gas stove! Wahoo
My internship is awesome
My internship is a LOT of work
I often smell like fish, but I got to pet a sea lion the other day and then saw a mom and calf humpback breaching
My leg/back is giving me a LOT of chronic pain/trouble. I can't see a doc until February 7th so I may go to urgent care if it works. This is how Gov't healthcare works, lots and lots of waiting while it pain. There are worse stories, but they're not mine yet.
Dixie is good but she's getting a little separation anxiety, she thinks I'm gone too much and is often yelling at me for it. However it ends up in laptime which is nice.
Love you all
I need to write the Grandparents!
Ah but it's time for work
I hope
I would promise, but who knows
I could have yesterday but instead I layed on the couch and watched TV, avoiding all other things I needed or wanted to do. It was wonderful.
Quick Update:
John is still here, wahoo
We have new friends, a couple friend even! We both get along with the both of them, it's a good time.
We're officially moving in March to a cheaper place, two story house, Navy "substandard" housing. It has a dishwasher!! AND a gas stove! Wahoo
My internship is awesome
My internship is a LOT of work
I often smell like fish, but I got to pet a sea lion the other day and then saw a mom and calf humpback breaching
My leg/back is giving me a LOT of chronic pain/trouble. I can't see a doc until February 7th so I may go to urgent care if it works. This is how Gov't healthcare works, lots and lots of waiting while it pain. There are worse stories, but they're not mine yet.
Dixie is good but she's getting a little separation anxiety, she thinks I'm gone too much and is often yelling at me for it. However it ends up in laptime which is nice.
Love you all
I need to write the Grandparents!
Ah but it's time for work
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