The FIRM: 90 Day Rotation

Week 1: DONE! Yay, me! Back in the saddle again. The week was filled with many Epsom salt baths, meetings with my foam roller and Tune-up balls. I made 'er, though.

If you don't use it, you lose it. I hadn't done strength training for a few weeks and I felt it. Cannot live without that again. Cardio is great, but to build a healthy body, one must strength train. And stretch.

I'm doing this with other Firm lovers and I really hope I'll make it through this rotation. So far I haven't had that "I want to do Cathe, Jenny, Gin, Paul, Christi...etc." desire hit me. But then again, it's only been a week.

I love to work out. I really, really do. It is a great joy to me, an escape, a physical outlet that is oh, so good. I love my DVDs.

Feeling pretty happy over this tonight. Focusing on the positives!

Scared Sh*tless

I do swear in real life. I can't bring myself to put the "i" in, though.

I've been reading, again, about metabolic disorder--metabolic syndrome, Syndrome X, prediabetes, insulin resistance--basically it's all the same thing. Well, insulin resistance is a component of metabolic syndrome.

It scares the crap out of me. It is a time bomb just waiting to go off.

The "diet" most prescribed for this is the Mediterranean Diet. The bad thing is that can be carb rich, and basically if you have Metabolic Syndrome, it's kind of like you're allergic to carbs. You have to eat the complex carbs and NO junk, simple or processed carb stuff.

I've read so many books on the subject. Exercise is crucial in helping with insulin resistance, diet is imperative. The thing that's tough for me is my protein has to be really low with the kidney issue. Speaking of kidneys, I learned just today that kidney stones/problems with kidneys is a big thing with Metabolic Syndrome. People with Metabolic Syndrome have high levels of uric acid. Which came first, the chicken or the egg? They don't know if it's the high uric acid levels that cause the syndrome or if the syndrome causes the high uric acid.

What have I done to my body over all these years?

Anyway, I'm trying to get on with life and get my "diet" (what I eat, not necessarily a die-t) lined up. Restrictions here, restrictions there. Carbs are filling. When you up the fat, you are missing volume in your diet that once was (at least for me) carbs. So I'm hungry a lot. A LOT.

Trying hard to get this squared away. Making food lists of things I can have. Reading, researching, figuring it all out.

It gives me a headache.

No exercise today, but I did break 14,000 steps. I worked around the house all day and then when it was time to work out, my stomach was upset, I felt feverish and I just decided that I need to rest. BIG no-no, because I need at least 30 minutes of cardio a day for this insulin resistance thing--but I'm going to fall back on my busy-ness of the day and my 14,000 steps just this once. I've been feeling sickly all night.

Anyway, the implications of this Metabolic Syndrome scare me so bad. I guess I realized today that it is a huge battle that I will fight the rest of my life. Can it be cured? I don't know the answer to that, but it can be controlled. I've made a huge dent already. My lipids are better, I exercise, my blood sugar is normal, blood pressure...but I have the kidney thing, and I still meet the qualifications for this syndrome. So I have a heck of a lot of work ahead of me.

I like to read actual studies and that takes me awhile because I do not have a medical education. It's fascinating and scary at the same time. No one can accuse me of being uninformed on the matter.

Time bomb, waiting to go off. Quality of life is worth the battle. Game on.

Instant Gratification

I think society is set up for instant gratification. We don't like to wait for anything, we want it now. Want a new song? Log on, go to iTunes, ta da, it's there. Want to snuggle up with a good book? Buy yourself a Kindle, turn your Kindle on, buy the book you want and you're all set.

It works that way with health and weight loss, too. We want it now. We want that weight to fall off immediately. We want Biggest Loser-type results. Fast. Now.

For me, that extends to food. I don't like to cook. That may be why going out to eat was at one point a big part of our lives. It was easier to get in the car, go through the drive through, bring it home and have supper than it was to cook. Silly because we could have prepared a nutritious meal in the same period of time, but it was just easier to get in that car.

We don't do that anymore. Sometimes we go to Subway, but I have to be super careful there now because of sodium content. Lunch meat is notoriously high in sodium. I really have to plan for it.

I think one of the reasons I've struggled with my kidney stone prevention diet is that instantly, many of my favorite foods were taken away like a rug is yanked from under one's feet. I no longer had that instant gratification of going into the kitchen knowing that I could prepare what I was to eat almost effortlessly. I brooded. I moped around, I was depressed. My depression had many causes, that was just one part.

Now as that cloud has blown away, I'm left trying to find new instant gratification. I am still struggling. I don't know what to eat. Trying to get my healthy monounsaturated fats, a blogging friend suggested macadamia nuts. They were lower in oxalate, much lower. I've tried them, I've tried a couple different brand. I just don't like them. So that pretty much leaves me with olive oil. You can only take so much olive oil.

My breakfasts are still a struggle. One of the few processed foods I was eating was high fiber cereal and it's on the no-no list. I've played around with other cereals, but they have NO nutritional value, no fiber, and they make me crave more. Bad carbs, bad food choice for me.

It's a struggle. I am so hopeful to find my groove, to find my new niche. I want it fast, I want it easy, and I want it palatable. I'm not having much luck.

Someone suggested to me that I was being immature and a baby about all of this. I needed to grow up, and eat what was healthy for my body. Then she went over what she thought I needed. Most of the foods she eats and was trying to get me to eat were very high in oxalate and on my no list, plus she eats a lot of meat and couldn't comprehend that I am only allowed meat (fish, beef, poultry) twice a day with three ounce portions. If she had to do what I'm faced with, she'd be pretty miserable, too.

I was talking to another friend this week and she said that it she thought it was easier to follow her diabetic diet than mine. We both decided it would be wonderful if we were given a list of what all you could eat and go from there. It doesn't work that way.

I'm no cook, I'm not creative in the kitchen, and I do struggle. I'm hungry. I want to fuel my body, I want nutritious foods. So I think this will take me awhile. At this stage I'm over the anger, and over my "immature and baby attitude" that I was told I had. (I may have been immature and had a childish attitude, but I own that--it was very hard for me. If I had a healthy relationship with food to begin with, it wouldn't have been so difficult. I don't have a healthy relationship with food and everything healthful I was trying to do turned out to be bad for my body, not society in general.)

15% protein (two 3-ounce servings of meat daily)
40% fat
45% carbs
2300 mg sodium
1200 mg calcium daily
8-10 oz. water each hour

The protein/fat/carbs is my concoction. It's mixing the low-protein needs of the KS diet with the lower carb needs of my metabolic disorder.

Looks easy, but when you drop your carbs and up the fat, you're getting a lot less volume. Less bang for the buck. That's why I'm hungry.

So I'm working on it. I'm looking for new foods, I'm looking for fresh ideas. My eye is on the prize. I just love getting thrown curve balls. That's why I'm The Tortoise--it's slow, but damn it, I'm so stubborn, I will get there.

Day 2 of the Rotation

Today I did my workout, The Firm's Core Cardio 1 and an ab workout. I plan on something light tonight.

Observations: My glutes are screaming! DOMS from triceps work as well. It's good to have those feelings. Tomorrow is another strength workout and I'm fearful of what it will do to my screaming glutes, but I need to remind myself that it's good to work out when one has DOMS. The soreness will probably be gone tomorrow anyway. I love my Firms. If I could have only one "set" or instructor or brand, it would be the Benson-era Firms. Thankfully I'm not limited, as I'm a vidiot to the core and love many instructors.

My heart rate monitor broke! The battery appeared dead, so I replaced it. It worked, had me re-log all the information, then when I put the back on it, it quit again. Not happy as I use that on my rebounder because the fitbit doesn't work correctly on there, and I also use it to actually watch my heart rate! Will have hubby look at it. Hoping that I don't need to buy a new one. It has had a lot of use, though. It's one of my can't-live-without items, though. (So is my fitbit.)

Food great today. Out of salad, so hubby is running to the store later tonight for me--bless his complaining heart. lol

This is the last day of my son's after-school class and I'm thrilled--Tuesday freedom! We love his class, love the instructor, and it's a great outlet for him, but it makes Tuesdays crazy as I also do all my errands on Tuesdays. I do that to save time, gas, energy--and it always makes for a busy and somewhat stressful day.

I can't think of anything else to say. Drinking tons of water, getting tons of movement, feeling so much better. Going to do some light movement tonight, I don't know what it will be yet, though. Watching a Cathe video that arrived in today's mail that I traded for--I definitely don't have energy for that!

Slacking...

I've been doing too much slacking in certain areas lately.

1) Haven't been updating the blog. When you've blogged for over two years, though, you run out of things to blog about. I think up great posts as I'm drifting off to sleep, but in the morning I realize there was nothing great about them because they were just sleep thoughts.

2) Haven't been reading blogs on a regular basis. There's a simple reason for that. I really get bothered when I see recipes with foods I can't have. I'm getting over that, I'm so much better, and I can even crack jokes about almonds now, so that may change soon.

3) Haven't been updating my pretty exercise calendar. My exercise has been weird, I've been doing mostly walking lately. I've been averaging around 18,000 steps daily, give or take. I've been slacking in the weights department--big no no!

So, I will try to update the blog on a more regular basis.

I will try to read blogs on a more regular basis.

I will update my exercise calendar and kick it up a notch with the workouts. In fact, I found some new-to-me friends, fellow Firm lovers, and we're all going to do The Firm's 90 Day Rotation together starting today. This rotation I have attempted many times, but other instructors call my name and I stray by week three. Hopefully this time I'm going to do it! I've always wanted to accomplish that.

I'm feel a LOT better. I had a really good week last week. My spirits are up, my energy is up, and I'm finding my new normal now. I think I just had to go through that rough patch to appreciate everything more so.

Great Day!

I had a great day today. I felt good emotionally, I felt good physically, and dare I say it, I was actually happy and content. Knock on wood, don't want to spoil that.

I got SO much work done around the house--felt wonderful.

That's all. Just wanted to share that here as I've been so down in the dumps for so long.

Move along, dark cloud that's been hanging over my head, move along.

Naturally...

I love it when things happen naturally. I didn't set out ever to give up pop, it just happened.

Over the years, I was always known to have a 32 ounce (or bigger as the world supersized) pop with me at all times. It was always Diet Pepsi. I never cared for Diet Coke.

I was a frequent flyer at convenience stores, always buying fountain pop. I always had cans of the stuff at home. It was my thing.

A year or so ago, I can't even remember when, I realized that caffeine was triggering anxiety issues. I stopped caffeine immediately. No more Diet Pepsi. I switched to Diet Sierra Mist. Now this was not something that was served via fountain, so I had to rely on cans or bottles at convenience stores. I drank and drank and enjoyed, never really thinking twice about it.

And then there was the kidney stone episode--the surgery and aftermath. (Yeah, I know I talk about it ad naseum.) I drank my pop after the surgery but I also started up with more water with lemon in it, doctor's orders.

I do not know when it happened, but it did. I realized one day that it had been days since I'd had a pop. Days. Unheard of. My husband couldn't believe it.

Now I drink about one pop a week, if that. I may even have one today as my stomach is very upset and pop helps me when I have an upset tummy. I haven't popped one open yet, so I may not. I will keep it on hand, but the desire is no longer there.

Go figure.

And another thing...it's not just pop that has gone away in my life. Yesterday my husband woke me up (he's an early bird, I am not.) He said he'd make me a pot of coffee. We have two pots because I like Starbucks and he likes Folgers--both decaf. So he pulled the basket out in my pot, and I had left grounds in there and they were, um, growing. I was flabbergasted, as was he. I could not remember the last pot of coffee I had made! It had been awhile. We cleaned the basket and pot up and I did have my two cups of coffee.

What happened? Well, I naturally fell in love with water. I am supposed to drink 8-10 ounces every hour. I have a magnetic timer that I set for 59 minutes. I measure my water and drink throughout the hour. If I have not finished when the alarm goes off, I gulp it down and fill up with ice and pour another cup of water in my glass.

Note: if you drink a lot of water, buy stock in your favorite toilet tissue. Make sure you always have an ample supply on hand.

I now crave water. I wake up in the morning feeling dry and go straight to the fridge where I have a glass prepared the night before waiting for me. I'm so not a morning person, and I love the grab and go.

Who knew. I never set out to do this, it just happened.

I believe one of the reasons I developed kidney stones is I was dehydrated. That is the number one cause of kidney stones. The only time I drank water was when I worked out. I would fill a big BPA free mug before my workout and drink it all. After that, though, I was done with water.

Looking over my notes/charts of my post-surgery weights from all three surgeries, I gained weight with each. (Gain weight, no brownies or fun food--how unfair!) One nurse told me I was well hydrated now. I had gained a lot of weight the following morning. Oh, the horror. Now I know that my body was just craving water.

So nature took its course, and it's a good thing. Water is my drink of choice now. Who'd a thunk it.

Here's a great video that explains why pop is bad. It is the best explanation I have ever seen--logical and scientific. It's almost nine minutes, but well worth the time.