Plugging Along

It’s Week Two, Day 10 of my no alcohol-no sugar-no junk food-go to the gym reset.  As with all logical, grounded, centered women, I now feel, having made it through the last 10 days successfully, that I should be down 9 pounds and ready to run a 10K.  What?  No?  It doesn’t work that way?  Why is it that when it’s a matter of drinking and eating crap and not exercising that the days blend easily into weeks and into months, but when you’re cleaning up your act and making the right decisions that every day is elongated and accentuated and 10 days feels like 100?

 

Anyway, I have made it through 10 days successfully with no alcohol and only veggies, protein, fat and some fruit.  I’ve also been to the gym four times, one of which was a 6am spinning class yesterday morning.  And while I suspect I have not lost 9 pounds (I wouldn’t know since I don’t weigh but it seems incredibly unlikely), I do feel So Much Better than I did at the start.  I feel more centered and stable and in control.  Amazing what food & some exercise can do, hey?  So, onward I go, not with any parade or fireworks, just plugging away day after day because this is the right thing to do.  And, in a month or two, when I feel like I’m fully reset…..I am REALLY going to enjoy a glass of wine!

 

On the home front, Ray still hasn’t found a new job…..which is a bit startling to us since we really felt he wouldn’t have any issues doing so.  I suspect his resume touting his 36+ years of experience are perhaps a bit off-putting to potential employers as it is a sneak peek at his “nearing retirement” age.  We may need to get after re-wording that portion of his resume!  He’s doing alright though and contemplating just putting a stop to it all and entering official retirement.  We have a lovely, large basement suite that we can consider renting out to the right person and that would be a great additional income as well.  Unfortunately he hasn’t really gotten over the fact that, since our relationship developed, we’ve both had our “chores” and he does his stuff and I do my stuff…….but that was arranged back when we both had full time jobs.  Now I’m the only one working and he’s still only doing “his chores” and leaving me to do the rest.  He has a terrible habit of saying “I wanted to wait for you so that we could do it/go together.”….which in any other time would be sweet, but we don’t need to put the garbage out together or unload the dishwasher together or go and fill a propane tank together.  YOU go do it while I’m at work and then our “together” time can be something enjoyable!  It’s a learning process.

 

As for me, I’m still absolutely solid in my work hours, 7:30 – 3:30 with a full 30 minute lunch break (that sometimes stretches into 40 when Tara and I get chatting).  My stress level has gone down significantly at work…..possibly because I have no commitment anymore to a business that is dissolving……but also because I refuse to answer my work phone or email after 5pm.  Since the only manager that we have left saw fit to leave me here in charge of everything for over two weeks, I’ve decided that if he’s not that worried then neither am I!  It’s a very weird position for me to be in.  I’m a do-er, I like control and results and I’ve had to step back and just let things fall where they may because this was not my decision and there are people much more highly paid than I am who are responsible for making decisions and driving this change……this is not my issue. 

 

Anyway, that’s it on my front.  Day 10 of Forever.

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New Rules of Lifting (for Women)

Happy Wind-day….I mean…Monday.  We’re having a massive wind storm here today, the 60 year old building that I work in is creaking and groaning something fierce!  Totally freaky!  Hopefully our power stays on or it’ll be a very long day!

 

I didn’t get up to much this weekend, the Alien Baby went postal on Friday night (in Costco, so thanks for wrecking that outing!) and I was flattened until Saturday afternoon…..which meant I didn’t go to spinning…….but since my previous post and discovering that spinning isn’t really what I want right now, I didn’t feel badly about it.  We went to our motorcycle meeting in the morning and then did errands and groceries and once we realized we had no plans and a whole afternoon to ourselves, we drove out to a town about 45 minutes away so that I could test drive a Fiat.  I really have no plans to buy a new car since in two months I’ll be car payment free and don’t want to get saddled with another huge bill, but it was fun to dream.  Those teeny little Italian cars sure can go!  They feel huge and solid and stable on the inside and they corner like a race car!  Lots of fun!  Next weekend we’re going to test drive a VW Jetta!

 

Fiat 500, super cute!

 

Shiny! Sure wish this was in my driveway right now!

 

Sunday morning my esthetician came over and did a couple of regular services for me and stayed for a coffee (Ray is not-so-secretly infatuated with her…it’s cute!) and then she left and we went for a drive and then came home and I went to the mall and bought new pants.  As Tara so delicately told me when she grabbed the baggy ass of my work pants, it’s time to get pants that fit!  😉  Ridiculously, I’ve been swimming around in a 14 and the pants I bought are a very flattering size 10 so I’m very happy about that!  Pants shopping can go either way for me, if they fit in the waist then the legs are super tight and if the legs fit then they are gaping huge in the waist.  And don’t even get me started on length!  I flipped a coin as to which mall to go to, hit one store and scored two pairs of flattering black work pants…for $70 total.  And then I lit on out of there like my hair was on fire, no sense testing my luck by hanging around! 

 

That’s about it for the weekend recap.  I started reading up on my new weight lifting plan yesterday and now just need to pick a date to start.  The plan has you work out 3 times a week and each workout takes about a 35-45 minutes not including the warmup so I think I’ll be stopping after work at the gym on Monday, Wednesday & Friday.  I hate the idea of working out on Fridays but since it’s heavy lifting workouts, they want a day between each and at least two days off in a row.  Not really sure how else to make that work……..unless I bite the bullet and do a 5am Friday morning workout….which could work.

 

The first phase is 6 weeks long and then you break for a full week.  They do not recommend doing any other sort of interval training (like spinning) while you’re doing the lifting because of the need for recovery.  Jogging on off days is alright because it sends nutrient rich blood to your muscles which aids in recovery….but you’re supposed to really judge how you’re feeling as far as whether you can run or not.  I’m in fairly decent shape so I think I’ll be able to do a bit of cardio along with the weights….but if I can’t?  Then that’s alright too!

 

And speaking of the weights.  The idea of this program is to lift heavy weights in order to build muscle.  I want muscle!  Muscle speeds metabolism, we all know that.  But muscle is also sexy.  Tone and strength is fit and fit is sexy.  I have no fear of getting bulky, I’m not taking steroids and I’m not on the outer fringes of genetics which causes me to gain muscle at the drop of a hat.  I will simply become stronger and more fit.  On each workout and with each exercise you increase the weight you’re using and decrease the number of reps and build your strength.  Sounds good to me.  

 

There are two workouts that I’ll be doing for the first six weeks, Workout A and Workout B.  You alternate each one so Monday is A, Wednesday is B, Friday is A etc.  Workout A is as follows:

 

2 sets of 15 ~ Squats (bodyweight at first and then adding weights)

2 sets of 15 ~ Pushups (starting at a “standing” angle at first and eventually getting to the floor)

2 sets of 15 ~ Seated Rows 

2 sets of 15 ~ Step Ups 

 

That’s it.  I can’t remember off the hop what Workout B is at the moment but you get the idea that these are full body exercises.  There are no bicep curls or tricep kickbacks.  There are no calf exercises or specific shoulder exercises.  The theory behind this is that the human body is meant to be used in full and if you are going to do a row, you’re using your back, shoulders, biceps, triceps and engaging your core.  They say that there is no point in isolating muscles unless for sport or injury recovery because all you end up doing is changing your body’s natural strength ratio between say, your biceps and your triceps.  No muscle is used exclusively in real life so in this program it’s all full body as well.  Another plus, if you’re not having to work each muscle seperately, you get to be done a lot faster!   

 

Anyway, I’m sure I’ll be talking more about this as I get into it.  Tonight I’m going to take all my starting measurements and Ray is going to take my “before” pictures (in a bikini, good God!).  I’m not sure I’ll post them right away, it might make more sense to post them once I have some “after” to compare them to.  What do you think, is it worth posting them now?

 

And this is where I wish I was right now!

There Are Changes Afoot

Forgive me for my absence these last couple of days however I’ve been a bit unsettled and having a hard time getting my thoughts in line. 

 

Remember about a month and a half ago I realized that my body was asking (or begging) for me to modify my diet and eliminate grains.  The results from this change have been huge.  It’s been a bit of a struggle sometimes in staying the course since “the course” is different than anything I’ve ever done before and is, in fact, the opposite of what conventional wisdom and our medical and government preaches.  The benefits to me though have been amazing and I continue to discover new (and wonderful) benefits of eating in this way…more on that later.

 

So 5 years ago I listened to my body when it screamed out that right then, right in that moment was the time to make the change from being a depressive binge eater, pack a day smoker, inactive fat woman to being healthy and responsible and to taking care of myself.  Complete success.  Then a month and a half ago I listened to my body when, over time, it was quietly asking for me to remove grains.  Complete success and ongoing.  And now I would be insane not to listen to my body when it’s telling me that what I’m doing for exercise needs to change.  Completely.

 

Way back when I was at the lowest point of my seemingly endless pit of depression and bingeing I used to dream of running.  I used to have these super vivid dreams of bounding effortlessly down the road, jogging, light as a feather on trails and pathways and beaches.  I was always so upset when I woke up and realized that I was still 260+ pounds and completely unable to recreate that in my life.  Until, later on after some changes were made, I realized that I could learn to jog and I could make those dreams a reality.  It was beautiful.  I would eventually run in the rain, in the wind, in the heat and blazing sunshine.  In the morning or the night, even with bad colds and stomach flus.  Off I would run.  And because it’s what my body wanted and needed I saw excellent results in my physical self and with my mental state and my emotions.  Eventually I burned out….well…..I got injured and had to stop running for three months and when I wasn’t injured any longer I just couldn’t get back into it like I once had.

 

Enter spinning.  For the last year and a bit I have been dedicated to spinning, I have gone at 6am, 9pm, on weekends and holidays, every single day through Christmas, in snow storms and ridiculous heat outdoors.  As the weather improves, I have integrated trail running into my exercise routine for some variation and cross training.  And I’ve signed up for a 10k in April.

 

Here’s the problem.  Ever since I eliminated grains, my body has put up a resistance to spinning and jogging.  For one thing, my breathing is shit.  My legs and my body have all the endurance in the world but my cardiovascular system reaches its limit way before my muscular system does.  This is probably the result of my body not yet having adjusted to less carbs in my diet.  For the second thing, every time I go out to spin or jog I feel like there is this little voice in the back of my head saying “This isn’t what I want, this isn’t what we should be doing.”.  Don’t get me wrong, at the end of a spin class or a good trail run I’m glad that I did it, good hard exercise always feels like an accomplishment.  But it’s not quite right. 

 

So………like back when I used to dream about running…………I have been having dreams about weight lifting, kettle balls and the like.  And so, that little voice that isn’t into cardio anymore and the random dreams about pushing weights…..they cannot be ignored.  I need to make a new plan that involves maybe one day of cardio a week because it is important for my heart health…..and then devise a weight routine.  I need to see where this will take me.  Because right now I believe I’ve gone as far as I can go doing what I’m doing now.  Time to shake things up!  I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little scared about making this change……..it’s way away from what I’m used to.  But then, so was grain-free and that’s turned out great!

 

 

Pictographically

This weekend was a blur, some good, lots not.  First, the food (of course!).

I made an Egg Cup recipe that I found online the other day.  They look beautiful and I cannot wait to taste them!

Bacon on the bottom, thin sliced red onion, mixed greens, balsamic roasted tomato and then the egg!

I also made a shepherd’s pie recipe that was topped with Kabocha Squash.  I can’t say I’ll ever work with Kabocha again, it’s an expensive squash, stains everything orange and the yield you get from it doesn’t seem worth the work.  It has a very large seed pod inside of it so even a huge Kabocha doesn’t give that much flesh.  I was always kind of scared of Kabocha because of the weird shape of it.  It’s a fairly soft squash, easy to cut.  Bake face down at 400F for about a half hour and it’s quite done. 

OK, done with the food.  Friday night Ray and I spent a couple of hours cleaning our house.  Top to bottom.  And on Friday when we sat down to have a drink and a relax, it felt amazing to have a clean house.  I’ve been spot cleaning the past little while but to actually have a totally clean house.  Lovely. 

Saturday morning I got up and went to spinning where I pushed myself hard but definitely noticed a lack of conditioning compared to when I was going three times a week.  But…I was happy with my effort and that’s all that matters. We went out for breakfast at Waffle House (not the same as the US Wafflehouse….just a standard diner) where I had my new favourite, bacon & mushroom omelette, no cheese and a caesar salad, no croutons.  Aaaaaand……then we came home…………and the apocolypse that was in our house took up the rest of our day.   I will not get into details except to say that we have an elderly dog and it’s a good thing we also have an industrial carpet cleaner…..and in some cases dark paint.  Don’t ask.  It was so, SO upsetting that I could not stop crying.  In fact this morning in retelling parts of it to Tara it almost made me cry again.  In addition to the horror that was the next two hours of cleaning, it meant that I also missed the spinathon.  At morning spinning I was told I could make a donation and drop by….and because of the shit-show (literally), I missed it completely.

Later that afternoon we went for a nice walk just the two of us and stopped at a corner store close to our house to get a bottle of water.  The little store has a hidden gem inside, a veritable farm of white orchids.  One of those beautifule white orchids made its way into my arms for the walk home, a token, perhaps, for all the crying?

Surprisingly low maintenance. Water every two weeks and otherwise leave it be!

Saturday evening Ray’s ex wife stopped by at our request to impartially take a look at our elderly dog and give her opinion as someone who doesn’t see her everyday.  Unfortunately she wouldn’t say a word on her thoughts about the end-of-life strategy for Brandy.  She did leave her dog George with us overnight though….which may seem strange on the heels of our own dog issues……but I love George a lot and he actually is good for Brandy………or…..in the past he has been, unfortunately she is too tired/sick to notice him at this point.  He noticed me though and tucked himself into bed with me on Sunday morning after Ray got up and then flattened himself on me for morning coffee later on.

George is a suck. But I love him!

Sunday morning we went up to Mossum Creek Hatchery where Kyle (Ray’s son)is president….he took us on a very informative tour and then for a little walk down the creek.  It was a bit chilly out but not raining and very gorgeous!

Mossum Creek, starting to gear up for spring run off!

That’s about it for the weekend.  There were some lovely high points and some very low points.  Overall the weekend was a bit traumatizing, actually and was definitely assisted by a drink!

Vodka and .... well ..... vodka.

A jog after work tonight and tomorrow is weekly weight in!  Yay sunshine and yay good choices all weekend regardless of stress (vodka not withstanding!)!

Old Business

An update on yesterday’s post:

A) the rib eye steak was not that good.  It was beautifully cooked and instead of being ‘pink’ where it rare, it was a gorgeous red (if you’re a veggie, sorry, this probably grosses you out).  But it was kind of tough & dense.  OK, really tough.  Although it occurred to me that if we stuck to only grass fed organic meat for a few months and then ate a grocery store steak, we might find the texture quite mushy.  I guess it’s all what you get used to.

B) the spinathon.  Really should have investigated that awhile ago.  You have to form a team and do a bunch of fund raising to the tune of around $1000 before you get to do it.  Guess I won’t be doing that tomorrow!

C) I did not go for a jog last night.  My mini fast left me completely under fueled and….well…..I didn’t really want to go.  So Ray and I went and walked that trail together instead.  It was flipping cold out, too!  When I got home I hopped in the bath to thaw out my bum and legs!

Now for new business….which is also still sort of old business.  Last May I rode my bicycle on a 40km trail ride for charity.  Since Ray was hurt at the time I rode it by myself (with 150 other people).  Around the third kilometer I took a wrong turn (don’t even ask!), went 2km out of my way and had to turn around and go back.  Not being one to enjoy being dead last, I put feet to pedals and started to make up some ground.  Until kilometer 8.  You see, it was raining the entire time.  I was bent on catching up.  I went over a little wooden bridge.  I hit what I thought was my back brake but was actually my front brake, skidded out on the bridge and crashed, flew over the handlebars and crashed into the side of the bridge.  I ultimately ended up partially dislocating my shoulder and really killing my knee.  However…..being alone on the ride and not one to give up, I finished the next 32 kilometers.  Probably not the smartest thing I’ve ever done.  Upon finishing the ride and getting home, we realized my injuries were a little worse than I thought.  Whatever, I still finished.  The next day my right arm was useless to me and off we went to the chiropractor where he fixed me right up.  Why do I tell you all this?  Because I now have a weak spot in my shoulder which recurs every once in awhile.  Like right now.  I slept wrong and now my shoulder is screwed.  SCREWED.  So that precludes any sort of jogging for about a week or so until either it corrects itself (it could happen!) or until I get to my chiropractor next Saturday.  Look out, spinning!

My knee, Day 1-3 post crash!

Also discussing spinning, it has come to my attention that I have been much too lax with the whole exercise thing.  Since I was leaving my schedule open to be free to jog on sunny days and then the sunny days don’t come often enough, I’ve really been pokin’ the puppy as far as consistent exercise goes and that doesn’t make me feel good physically or mentally.  So tonight I’m sleeping in my gym clothes and getting up for spinning in the morning.  I will also spin Monday and Thursday next week and hopefully on a non spinning day it’ll be nice enough to get out and go for a walk. 

I bought my liquid iron supplement last night, I’m doubling up the dosage for a few days to see if I can start to feel a little better, and I’m going to exercise even though I don’t feel like it…..because a body in motion stays in motion and a body at rest gets lazy and fat if there is not a definitive end to the rest.  That’s my theory, anyway!  😉

Adrift For A Day

I left my phone on the dining room table this morning (at least I hope I did!) so I am somewhat adrift today. On the plus side, it’s beautifully sunny outside…which I would snap a picture and show you but, alas, I cannot.

My belly still hasn’t really recovered from the other day, I’m still really bloated and uncomfortable. I’m very unhappy about it but I am staying the course because I am not doing anything wrong, this isn’t an error on my part or a failure or a mistake. It’s just my body unhappy about something. I made a chili on Sunday which we had for dinner Sunday and then I had it on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday for lunch and we had it again for dinner last night (yes, it made a lot!). There was no beans or anything grainy in it and yet each time I ate it I felt a little worse. Up until yesterday when we had it for dinner again and Ray also started to feel badly. So either I food poisoned us slightly or something about the huge amount of veggies in the chili is bothering both of us. I can’t see it and yet we both felt exactly the same yesterday after dinner. Maybe the veg fermented? Who knows!

Since that’s what I packed in my lunch today, I’m going to do a mini-fast instead. I’ll skip the chili and just have an apple and some almonds and a whole bunch of water and leave it at that. I should be fine until I get home at 4pm, on grain free your blood sugar stays much more stable so while I might be hungry, I shouldn’t feel too badly.

I already had my morning salad and I have a new favourite salad topping. Whole walnuts! I don’t love walnuts just to eat in my hand but I do love them to crust things and I like them in smoothies so I thought I’d try them in my salad. Very delicious. They have the perfect texture, soft enough you can fork them and crunchy enough that you know you’re eating nuts. They were sprinkled over mixed greens with sliced red pepper, sliced radish, chunked avocado and some canned salmon. Very satisfying!

Speaking of new things that are a pleasant surprise, I found these tablets when we went to our local outdoor adventure store (MEC) and thought they would be perfect for on our motorcycles on those long, hot riding days. We already pack water & ice in our cooler so to also have to pack around some type of electrolyte drink on those extra hot days is troublesome. Enter, NUUN.  It’s electrolyte tabs, 12 of them was a little over $3 and does 192 ounces of water. The tabs are for a 16 oz water bottle but they’re scored down the middle so you can actually break them in half. I tried the Tri Berry one the other day. They are effervescant when you drop them in the water and they dissolve in about a minute and a half, no stirring required (I did it in a big mug, I imagine in a water bottle you could shake a little to make it dissolve faster). Comes out a light pinkish colour, clear and not too sweet. I quite enjoyed it and will definitely be packing those on bicycle and motorcycle trips alike this year!

Tonight after work I was supposed to eat dinner and then go to spinning……..but you have to understand, today it is nice out. It may not be nice out again for weeks. I just cannot make myself skip the niceness of the trail and go to the gym instead. Fresh air is too rare at this time of year. So I’m hitting the trail again after work.

And when I get home from trail running (which I will have to fuel for extra since I’m having a little fast today) we’re going to BBQ two beautiful 12 oz organic, grassfed rib eye steaks for dinner. With roasted butternut squash and mashed cauliflower. I found these steaks by accident on the way home from visiting my mom on the weekend. Two 12oz organic grassfed free range for $14. Gimme! I never liked steak. Least favourite meat by a landslide. Until Ray made me a rib eye steak one day. I’ve been completely sold every since, they are so, SO flavourful and juicy and fatty and delicious!

That’s it for me today. Tomorrow night Ray is going for dinner with his mom which I will happily skip out on. And then Saturday is regular 8:30am spinning……and a spinathon. So I’ll be spinning at least twice on Saturday. Hopefully on Saturday night our friends who have the hot tub will invite us over! 😉

 

Oh, The Agony!

OK, how do you go from 30 days ago, eating grains and cereal and cookies and rice and feeling sorta crappy but not toooo horrible….to eating what is probably a trace amount of “something” that was an unmarked ingredient or an additive in a teeny amount and end up having a 6 month bloat-baby stomach and be in pain during the night to the point you’re wimpering in your sleep?  Last night I ate something that caused a huge upset in my belly.  I had the same breakfast and lunch that I’ve had the rest of the week and for dinner we had baked chicken with roasted veggies, a glass of wine and I had a coconut macaroon for dessert.  I think I’m going to have to start keeping a food journal that includes everything right down to the sauces/dressings that we use because this is crazy!  I haven’t been too worried about dressing/sauce ingredients that contain soy by products or small amounts of corn starch or corn sugar because the amount a person is actually consuming is minute.  I would hate to think that cleaning up my intake has had such a dramatic effect that now I’m having absurd food sensitivities! 

 

We have a meeting tonight for the motorcycle club that we’re members of.  I’m the “editor” of the “newsletter” for our club.  I’ve recently decided that the “newsletter” is old technology and instead of trying to create enough content every month to squeeze out a newsletter….which then gets emailed to everyone’s inbox and is regularly over 6MB…..I created a blog.  Now…..since you’re all reading my blog you’re all familiar with blogging.  It’s a great medium for instant communication and little fun articles etc.  The people that I have to convince of this are people who do not have smartphones, do not read blogs, still pay their bills by mail or at the teller (yes, “bank teller”, do they still have those?).  You get me?  Should be interesting.

 

Last night on the way home from work I went and bought my reward for my 30-days.  It’s a wee bit different than I had planned but I think it works perfectly!  The company is called Black Drop Designs and the picture that I took does not do it justice!  I have it on the same chain as another pendant that my sister bought me a few years ago, I think they complement each other very well.  The long silver one says “THE GOOD LIFE IS HOW YOU LIVE IT” and is an Andrea Waines design.  

 

 

 

 

That’s it for me today, no exercise since Monday and I realized this morning that I haven’t gone Thursday night spinning in a month and a half and I haven’t gone spinning at all in two weeks.  I do believe I will correct that tomorrow at 6:30pm!

30 Days Complete!

Today is Day 30.  30 days since I’ve eaten anything with grain in it.  30 days since I’ve had bread, pasta, cereal, rice, soy, peanuts, beans, corn or excessive sugar or dairy.

 

Here’s what I have eaten:

 

5 bunches of kale

4 dozen eggs

2 pounds of cooked turkey breast

3 filets of cod

1 roast chicken

1 pound ground bison

2 pounds ground beef

1 huge rack of pork side ribs

2 salmon steaks

3 rib eye steaks

1 eye of round roast

1 pork butt roast

30+ scoops of protein powder

2 cans of clams

4 cans of salmon

10 avocados

3 cups of pine nuts/almonds

close to a pound of coconut oil

5 heads of cauliflower

3 acorn squash

2 butternut squash

15 bananas

4 pints of fresh strawberries

30 cups of frozen berries

4 litres of almond milk

3 containers of coconut yogurt

bushels upon bushels of fresh veggies…you name it, we ate it!

 

Now, obviously these totals are not just what I ate, I did not eat an entire roast chicken….well…no…wait, I did.  But the roasts, steaks, pork butts etc were shared between Ray and I.

 

I also jogged 33km and spinned…spun (?) five hours. 

 

I also drank 3 bottles of wine, two beers, ate two ice creams (no cone), a large serving of organic potato chips, the ears off of a Lindt bunny, made and ate pear tart, banana bread and brownies, all grain free.

 

I have not suffered for a moment.  I haven’t weighed or measured a thing (except when making recipes, of course) and I haven’t counted a calorie in 30 days.  I haven’t gorged myself and I haven’t starved myself. 

 

So, results?  In the past 30 days I have lost a whopping…..2.6 pounds.  OK, don’t laugh and don’t go back to that list up there and start counting up calories and fat!  In addition to losing my 2.6 pounds, I’ve also lost unmeasured inches around my middle (hello, flat stomach, I have missed you…if I ever really had you!), my watch is retardedly loose, I’m wearing a ring from high school again, my hair is shiny and full and healthy looking, my nails are growing like gangbusters.  I haven’t had a heart issue during these 30 days, my mood seems more stable, I haven’t felt the unstoppable need to binge on chocolate.   So, all good things.

 

The only issue I have is with my energy levels.  I’m still exercising and getting things done around the house with cleaning and cooking and laundry.  But Lord, am I ever exhausted at the end of the day.  Something isn’t quite right and I don’t know if it’s because I ran out of the liquid (plant based) iron supplement that I take daily or if I’m not getting quite enough carbs or if I’m just fighting off a bug.  It’s a bit frustrating but I’m staying the course and going to hope that things even out, perhaps 30 days isn’t quite long enough for everything to adjust.

 

I had planned to buy myself a little present when I got made it the first 30 days.  Only…..I don’t really feel like I did anything that’s worthy of a present.  Don’t get me wrong, this hasn’t been a walk in the park every day, there have been some difficult moments and a couple of times when giving in would have been a lot easier.  But I didn’t really do anything that my body hasn’t wanted to do.  I remember when I was starting to lose my 100 pounds 5 years ago…..I set up a rewards timeline….and then when I achieved the reward points, I didn’t really feel like I needed to reward myself, I wasn’t doing anything that was reward-worthy…just living responsibly.  Same thing.

 

However, I AM going to get myself the present because what IS reward worthy is listening to your body, making a less than popular decision and carrying it through because you know in your heart that it’s the right thing for you.  Not caving or giving in to someone else’s will.  That’s reward worthy!

Backfire!

Oh, thank heavens that today is Friday!  This is going to be an incredibley long day though, yesterday was gorgeous and sunny (cold though!) and this morning it looks like it’s 4pm already and it’s not even morning coffee time yet!  Blech!

 

I was all energized yesterday until about 2:30pm, looking forward to our bicycle ride and then relaxing for the rest of the evening.  Unfortunately at 2:30 Ray texted me and told me he wasn’t going on a bicycle ride, that he didn’t feel like it.  Talk about wind out of my sails, I was so looking forward to that and the thought of going by myself (which was my original-original plan) was completely unappealing.  And so, we opened the garage door, got out our patio chairs and sat in the sunshine on the driveway and had a beer.  Not exactly the same thing but still enjoyable! 

 

 

While we were out there I started up my bike and realized how much I cannot wait for riding season!  Ignore the ridiculous outfit that I’m wearing in the photo below.  I put it on….and then realized I looked like a complete dork and went back in the bedroom to change…..until Ray told me to stop, “You look fine”, he said, “we’re sitting in the driveway, it doesn’t matter.  And besides, you look like a Canadian Girl.”. (reference the new Dean Brody song) LOL.

We have no real plans for this weekend and for that I’m grateful.  I haven’t fully committed to going to spinning on Saturday although if I don’t go to that then I won’t be exercising until at least Monday.  Not the end of the world but that can be a slippery slope.  If I don’t go spinning on Saturday morning I’ll make a point to go and run either in the trail on Sunday or on the treadmill.

Tonight we’re headed out for dinner with Ray’s mom.  He told her about my grain free last week and she was surprisingly supportive about it.  I don’t really need extraneous people to be overly supportive, as long as Ray is and I’m strong enough to do my own thing then I’m good.  But it’s nice to have people backing you up!  After dinner we’ll go to Costco and get our weekly staples and our current favourite treat; maple smoked salmon sticks.

Finally, I see that I have quite a few people following my blog, thank you very much for that!  I’m flattered!  If you’re not a blog follower but you come here regularly, leave me a comment so I can come and visit you as well!

Superb Sunday!

Hi!  How’s the weekend going?  For the US readers, I believe y’all have the day off tomorrow, don’t you?  😉 Have fun!

This weekend was pretty good, Saturday morning I was up bright and early and off to spinning class.  Wasn’t the greatest ride I’ve ever had but it was a calorie burner so that’s acceptable, they can’t all be wonderful, right?

After my workout I came home and made Sweet Potato Cakes for my lunch and Ray had leftover chicken.  I wasn’t a big fan…they were alright but not something I’m going to race out and make again.  Maybe instead of making them savoury they would be better with cinnamon and nutmeg in them and then topped with honey and strawberries.  OK….maybe I will make them again.  😉

We took a drive out to another municipality after lunch to check out a meat store I’d heard good things about.  Grassfed organic bison and beef as well as other organic meat options. It was…..pricey.  $50 for a pot roast, I don’t think so.  We did end up with some maui ribs, turkey sausages, a pork butt roast, some ground bison and a ginger-garlic cooking paste….all organic and for $29.  Not bad.

Saturday night was a lazy at home night filled with too much wine and…..too much wine.  It’s all good though, you have to have occassional indulgences and let loose or what’s the point in doing all the hard work the rest of the time?!

Sunday morning I got up early again (man, I’m going to be annoyed this week that I didn’t bother sleeping in at all this weekend!) and headed To The Big City (twice in 5 days!) to the Wellness Show.  I went by myself and had a really nice morning!  Ray dropped me off at the train and I listened to music for the 40 minute train ride and then walked 5 blocks to the convention center.  The show is huge and the samples and literature from the vendors was aplenty!  I also bought a couple things that I’ve never seen elsewhere before.  Lots of local vendors using alternatives to grain for bars, cookies, porridge etc.  Lots of coconut based products that I’ve not seen before too.  Definitely glad that I went!

After the show I went for a coffee and then rode the train back where Ray picked me up and took me for lunch.  Off to visit a lottery show home and now we’re at home sitting on the sofa reading and listening to music (and sipping wine).

If you’re not doing grain free/primal/paleo, perhaps you’re sick of hearing about my revelations….but I’ve discovered another bonus side effect from the plan.  The desire to overeat is gone.  I seem to be able to eat what I’ve served myself (always a reasonable portion) and when I’m done, I’m done.  I don’t go back for seconds, I don’t pick while cleaning up, I don’t even really think about food after we’ve eaten.  I’m not sure what causes that, if it’s a steady blood sugar thing or a lack of toxins in my body thing or a “fat and protein are satiating” thing.  Who cares, I’m happy for it regardless of what causes it.  For lunch today we went to Wafflehouse where I ordered the mushroom omelette with no cheese and a caesar salad with no croutons.  It was a goodly amount of food and I was definitely full when we left….but not stuffed and not feeling like my body had to grind to a halt to find the energy to convert lunch into energy.  Really happy with how I’m feeling these days!

So for some photos.  First, a ring I haven’t been able to wear since I was 19.  Now I must explain this…..5 years ago I weighed 12 pounds less than I do now and it still wouldn’t fit….so go and tell me that there’s nothing to this grains = inflammation thing.

Some soap that I bought from the show.  It smells of fresh, sweet lemons and warm summer sunshine.  Cannot wait to go have a bath with this!  ROYAL HERBS (I talked to the proprietor for awhile at the beginning of the show, very nice man and he and his wife make this their full time business, feels great to be able to purchase beautiful local products and know where your purchase price is going!)

Some delicious macaroons that I got, also at the Wellness Show.  They are completely raw, have 7 ingredients, none of which are grains or dates (most grain free/sugar free things are sweetened with dates….which my tummy has problems with).  They were a bit pricey at $4 per box, each box having three macaroons.  But they are insanely delicious and they are a treat.  I’ve already told Ray, “hands off”.  He can eat Oreos if he wants to, these are mine! ORGANIC LIVES

And finally, grain free porridge.  Can you believe it?  It was $8 for the bag and you only use 4 tbsp per serving so not a bad price.  It does have chia seeds which is an item that the jury is out on in the paleo/primal world.  Mark’s Daily Apple figures it’s fine, Paleo (Cordain) says no.  I say I’m eating it as a sprinkle on yogurt or in smoothies or whenever I want something grainy textured.  BORING PORRIDGE

If you have any desire to know more about the ingredients of any of these products, click on their websites and if that doesn’t work just email me (use the CONTACT button at the top of the page) and I can take a picture of the label or send you the ingredient list.

Awesome day, it feels really fantastic to know that there are like minded people out there with quality products in my own locale.

I could tell you about the guy who tried to forcibly file my nails for me and the woman who gave me a ‘stress test’ and then tried to give me hug therapy right there in the middle of the show.  But why go down that road of crazies, for the most part the exhibitors were all very friendly and mostly normal!

Have a nice Sunday evening, Monday’ll be here before you know it!