Happy New Year!

I can't believe this year is coming to an end already. Time certainly does fly by. You can't help but to reflect on the past year around this time and it was quite a year.

Unfortunately I got up to my highest weight ever but I am happy to say that I have lost 35 pounds this year and hoping to lose at least another 35 next year. I have begun to make exercise a regular part of my daily life and I feel much better for it.

In addition to the weight loss I have made some good friends this year at the gym. It makes the hard work easier when you have great people working with you and rooting for you. I am so thankful to have them in my life.

Obviously exercise isn't the only part to the weight loss and I have been eating much healthier this year (okay, with the exception of the past two week, the holidays are tough for eating healthy). I really hope to improve this even more next year. It is something I struggle with and some habits are easier to change than others.

I am also really excited about my new hobby, Cross-stitching. I was so excited to finish my first cross-stitch project which was a Dalek from Doctor Who which I made for Ken for Christmas. I have started a second one and have made a great deal of progress. It has been fun learning something new. It keeps me busy and it also keeps me from snacking.

So with the New Year there always comes resolutions. I have found that the more realistic the resolution the more obtainable it is. I found this quote that to me sums up the meaning and purpose of New Year's resolutions.

“Time invested in improving ourselves cuts down on time wasted in disapproving of others."

Happy New Year to you and yours!

Resolutions

1. Eat more healthy and well balanced meals

2. Exercise at least 5 days a week

3. Spend more time learning and reading. Read at least 5 books this year.

4. Be less critical of others

5. Do more to help others. Find ways of volunteering.

The Time of Year for Eating

Okay, I know I've been really slacking with my blogging but I feel like I've been so busy (I know, excuses, excuses).

For starters we've been having the "Holiday Stamp-ede" at work. We had weigh-ins right before Thanksgiving and the goal is to not gain weight over the holiday season. They've had cooking demos, Patrick House from biggest loser came and spoke, and they've had workout classes 3 days a week. For each event we go to we get a stamp on our card. The stamps get us entered in a drawing for an iPad. I've done pretty good. I haven't gained any weight and in fact I've lost 1 1/2 pounds. Our weigh-outs are on January 3-4.

I went to the cooking demo where I got some good recipes (i'll include those at the end of my post). I went and saw Patrick House, Biggest Loser Season 10 winner, speak. His story was so inspirational and if you ever get a chance to see him speak I definitely recommend it. I've been going to the Pilates class every Wednesday and I tried the Monday bootcamp class though the time I went they didn't play any music and it was too weird for me to workout in silence. They also gave us stamps for turning in 2 healthy recipes. At weigh-outs they are going to give us a recipe book with the best recipes. It's been really fun and so great that they care so much about employees' health.

It has been pretty hard though because of course not everyone at work is taking part and the people in my area  love to eat. And I mean LOVE to EAT! People have been bring in treats pretty much every day since Thanksgiving. They are doing a 12 days of Christmas in which everyone takes turns bring in something for 12 days and then at the end of it all they are having a potluck. So in other words there has been a lot of temptation but I've done really well. I haven't eaten any of the treats. I did bring some of my own healthified baked goods one day; Gluten-free pumpkin muffins and gluten-free apple ginger scones. Despite the healthiness they went over surprisingly well.

On top of the extra work-outs at work I've still been hitting the gym pretty hard. I try to go on Monday and Wednesday mornings for Strength and Cardio classes. Tuesday I either go swimming or I walk on the treadmill at home. Thursday and Sunday are usually my days off. Sometimes I go Thursday morning or Friday morning and swim. Saturday is my 3 hour workout blitz of 1 hour Zumba, 1 hour Strength and Cardio, and 1 hour Yoga. If I hadn't indulged over Thanksgiving I probably would have lost a lot more weight by now but I'm just taking it a day at a time and realizing that even though I'm not seeing a lot of loss on the scales I am noticing clothes fitting different.

I've also still been working on a homemade Christmas present for Ken. That has been more time consuming than I expected and it's also hard because I can't work on it when he is around. I only have two weeks left and I hope I finish it in time. I haven't even started on my scarf but I don't have any real deadline for its completion so it has been put on the back burner.

I am going to be on call for work over Christmas so Ken and I haven't planned much. I'm hoping things will be quiet and I won't get a lot of calls.

On top of all the other excitement our heat went out twice in the last week and it ended up cost $600 to get it fixed so that was a fun unexpected expense but that's just one of the joys of home ownership and at this point I'm just glad to have heat. It has put a bit of a damper on my holiday spending though unfortunately.

Well that is the update for me. In case I don't get around to posting again before Christmas I hope everyone has a great holiday. I will be sure to post before New Years with my resolutions and goals for 2012.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you and yours!

Click here for recipes

Busy bee

Wow, it's been a super busy weekend. Friday started my on call week for work but lucky it wasn't too bad. No calls and few emails this weekend. Friday evening I stopped at The Stash yarn shop on my way home from work. I bought a bunch of yarn for a crocheting project I'm embarking on. I have never crocheted and Friday evening I started teaching myself with the help of YouTube. I didn't get very far and it took me 3 hours to make a tiny tan circle-ish square. *Sigh* This is what it should look like when it's done though it might be next winter before I finish it.


On Saturday morning I caught up on some shows I had DVRed. Saturday afternoon Ken and I took a trip to Michaels, Lowes, and Target. Ken and I both had some craft projects we wanted to work on so we went to Michaels to stock up on supplies. I've also begun cross-stitching, which is much easier than crocheting. That project is top secret for now but once it's finished I will be sure to post some pictures.

We had quite an interesting time at Lowes. We needed to buy a watering can and a dust buster. Unfortunately there was some weird guy beat boxing in the vacuum aisle and they only had one dust buster and it was not really what we were looking for.

We stopped at Target last which was really busy. Saturday afternoon and Target's busy, go figure. We found a dust buster and a few other things we needed and headed for home. After we unloaded the car and had lunch I went grocery shopping. Then came home and did some cross-stitching for a few hours.

Sunday morning I got up and did some more cross-stitching. I think I'm hooked. Ken and I went to the library and I found a book about crocheting and Ken got a few books as well. Then home for some hardcore cleaning and that brings me up to this moment when I realized I hadn't blogged in some time.

I didn't get any exercising in this weekend but I'll be back at the gym first thing tomorrow morning. I've been going in the mornings before work and that has been pretty good. That way I still get to come home after work and hang out with Ken. I'm hoping all of these new projects will keep me distracted with the winter months coming and keep me from shoveling food in my face. The holidays are always difficult. Well, that's all I have for today.

Back at it

Well, I've been back at it full steam this week.

My mom and uncle were here to visit us from October 18 through October 25 and I only went to the gym once that week. I didn't do a lot of healthy eating either while they were here but I chalked it up to a week vacation and tried not to feel too bad. The day after they left I was back at the gym (Wednesday). It was rough getting back at it. I went the next day on Thursday as well. I was feeling pretty awful though by Thursday evening and realized I must be coming down with something. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday I rested and I surprisingly started feeling much better by the end of the weekend.

Monday I was back at the gym and back to eating better. After working out I realized that I had forgotten my hair dryer and makeup. I considered going home but I said "screw it" and went to work sans makeup. I figured I'd try to face my computer screen all day.

Today I woke up late and rushed around to get to the gym. I had another awesome start to my day. I dropped my water cup and the lid flew off and water went all over the gym carpet. Tons of people saw me and I felt like a moron. Once I finished up I went down to the locker room where I found that I had forgotten to bring a towel. ARGHHHHH! So I had to drive home and get ready there and then drive to work which caused me to be 15 minutes late for work *sigh*

I've checked and double checked my bag for tomorrow. Blow dryer, check. Makeup, check. Towel, check. Clothes, check. Shoes, check. I'm sure I probably forgot something and it will be another interesting day.

I have managed to lose the 2 pounds that I gained while my mom was in town and I am down another pound. I keep wondering how long it will be until my weight loss really picks up again. I hope this is not it for me. I guess if it is I'll be happy to maintain the weight I'm at. I do feel much better and my clothes are looking better on me. I don't feel quite so self-conscious.

Time for bed. It's another early day tomorrow.

Staying busy

I've been at a standstill the last couple of weeks with my weight loss. I am still down 20 pounds but I have just been stuck. I know this happens to a lot of people when they are trying to lose weight and this is the point when most people give up but I am determined to lose more so this week I stepped up my workout.

So needless to say I was busy this week. Next week my mom and uncle will be in town visiting so I won't be able to workout as much. I am still going to try to squeeze in sometime at the gym here and there.


I didn't really eat the greatest this week. Which probably counteracted all of my working out. The cafeteria at work was having Mexican food this week and it was really good. Wednesday I had taco salad and Thursday I had two soft tacos. Friday morning I had eggs, bacon, turkey sausage, and a biscuit from the cafeteria for breakfast and Thursday and Friday night I had pizza. Wow, when I list it out that sounds like a lot of junk. I had been eating vegetable soup everyday for lunch for the last week or two but after I had it Monday and Tuesday this week I couldn't stand to eat anymore.


I am down a pant size (as I posted on Facebook) which is really exciting. I just hope I will begin losing weight again. I am remaining optimist. If I keep up the hard work I'm sure to lose more.


*Find a Zumba class near you http://www.zumba.com/en-US/parties/search/

First week at the gym

I finished out my 6 weeks of boot camp last week. I have to admit I was kind of sad on my last day. I had finally started to talk to some people and actually started enjoying the workout. Unfortunately boot camp cost $99 per month with a one year commitment or $199 per month without the commitment. That is a bit steep for my price range. Luckily because of my super awesome employer I get a membership at 24 hour fitness for $24.99 per month. They have work out classes 7 days a week and a lap pool, sauna, jacuzzi, running track, locker rooms, and tons of workout equipment so even though I will miss boot camp I am getting more bang for my buck at the gym.

On Monday I got up at 4:50 am like I did everyday for boot camp and went to the gym (which is right next door to where I went for boot camp, a little confusing that early in the morning). They have a Monday morning boot camp class. We did some running and some other cardio and ab workouts. It wasn't too bad.

On Tuesday I went to the 5:30 pm step class. Wow was that one tough! For one thing I tried to be super tough and use the regular step that wasn't adjustable. About half way through class I was regretting that decision. I had planned to do that step class from 5:30 - 6:30 and then stay for Zumba from 6:30 - 7:30 but after the step class I was exhausted and I went home.

On Wednesday they had a 5:30 am Cardio Mix class. It was pretty good. It was a mixture of step and weights and we did a lot of leg and ab workouts that day (my ab muscles are still sore). It was a really good workout and I am excited to go back to that one. I got ready for work at the gym that morning instead of driving back home. I was happy to find that they had shower stalls rather than the giant wall of open shows like in middle and high school. They even had a little changing room in with the lockers. It was pretty decent and cut close to 20 minutes off of my travel time in the morning.

Today I didn't go at all. They had an evening step class and cycling class but I was running late leaving work and I knew I would never make it on time. I know, I know, that's how the excuses to not go to the gym begin but I am going in the morning. They don't have any classes tomorrow morning but I'm going to go and try using some of the fancy machinery and then swim some laps before work.

Saturday they have an 8:30 am Zumba, a 9:30 am Cycling, 9:45 am Body Pump, and 10:30 am Yoga so I plan to try to go to at least one of those or Sundays 1:00 pm Kickboxing, maybe both if I get up enough motivation. I do find that if I work out on the weekend I tend to get more done the rest of the weekend.

It is hard getting this new routine down. I had really gotten use to getting up every morning at 4:50 and going to boot camp, then driving home, getting ready, and going to work but I think the gym will be good. I will get more variety and that will keep me from getting bored.

As far as my dieting I didn't do so well this week. Sunday I met Ken for his lunch break from work and we had to go somewhere close and somewhat fast so we went to Arby's. I had a junior roast beef sandwich. I also had some pizza this week so neither of those meals were especially healthy. I am up 2 pounds but I am going to keep working hard and trying to eat better. I am still proud of the strides I have made. I feel a lot better when I am eating better and working out. I even had some ladies at work comment on how bagging some of my work clothes are getting on me. They asked me what I was doing and I told them about my 5:30 am boot camp. They just laughed.

8% down and another 8% to go

I finished my 5th week of boot camp. One more week left and I will be done with my 6 weeks. As crazy as this sounds I am actually going to miss it a little. Even though I still hate getting up at 5:30 am and I REALLY hate running I have gotten into a routing.


On Wednesday I finally had a weigh in. It was my first one since I had started boot camp. I mean I had been weighing myself at home on and off  but they weigh and measure us using the Jackson/Pollock 3 caliper method. When they weighed me I was up 3 pounds from where I had been but after the measurement I found out that I had lost 8% body fat. I have another 8% to go to put me in the "Acceptable" body fat range. Even though I knew I was losing weight because my clothes were getting looser it was nice to see the numbers to confirm it.


I felt a little better this morning because I weighed myself and I lost the 3 pounds I was up and another 3 pounds giving me a total weight lose of 23 pounds. I was actually surprised that I lost anything at all this week because I had a bagel for dinner the other night. I also made some brownies for Ken last night and I ate one. The surprising thing about it was I had a very different reaction to the sugar than I usually do. Before I started exercising and eating better I ate a lot of sugar and it made me really tired. After I ate the brownie last night I was on a sugar high. I couldn't sleep. I ended up staying awake until 2 am because of it. I had a stomach ache this morning to and I vowed not to eat any more of them.


Sometimes it is really hard to go without certain things. I really like cake (but who doesn't right?) but I found an interesting recipe for a Paleo cake. I decided to try making it today. Here is the recipe in case you are interested:


Banana Paleo Chocolate Cake


Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup of oil (coconut preferrably) or unsweetened apple sauce
• 1/4 cup of honey (not recommended – rather – use really really really ripe bananas!)
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup almond meal/flour
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 3 bananas mashed

Prepare:

1. Pre heat oven to 350 degrees F
2. Mix oil (honey if using) and eggs in a large bowl until light an d fluffy.
3. Add almond meal, cocoa powder and bananas
4. Mix well.
5. Line a cake tin with baking paper and pour in banana mixture
6. Bake for somewhere between 25 and 45 minutes, or until the toothpick test comes out clean!
7. Store the cake in the refrigerator.  Good served with fruite  and/or a little almond butter, or with Frosting recipe below!

 Chocolate Frosting

Ingredients:

• 1 cup dark chocolate (73%)
• 1/2 cup coconut oil or better yet, coconut butter
• 2 Tbsp honey
• 1 Tbsp pure vanilla extract
• pinch of sea salt

Prepare:

1. In a small saucepan over very low heat, melt chocolate and coconut oil/butter
2. Stir in honey, vanilla and salt
3. Place frostin gin freezer for 15 minutes to chill and thicken
4. Remove from freezer and whip frosting with a hand blender until it’s thick and fluffy
5. Frost over cake, cookies or cupcakes!

I just tried a piece and it was pretty good. It's a little rich because of the dark chocolate icing. I only used about half the frosting too. The cake is a little grainy due to the almond flour but all in all it was pretty good and will curb any cake cravings.

Ouch!

Well, I'm on my fourth week of boot camp. Last week we had Monday off for Labor Day so I thought I would make up for it over the weekend. I decided to try out 24-hour Fitness since they offer a free 3 day trial and I get a discount through work

On Saturday I went to a Yoga class. It was great! It was a good workout and I liked the balancing and breathing aspects of it. On Sunday I went to a kickboxing class. The instructor was a lady in either her late 50s or early 60s. I couldn't believe what a tough workout it was. I could barely keep up. I was honestly pretty ashamed that this lady was in considerably better shape then me.

After working out Sunday I went home and worked in the yard for 3 hours. I raked and picked up sticks and pine cones. Our lawnmower broke a while back and we've been paying a guy to come and mow for us. He stopped showing up 3 weeks ago. After I raked for awhile I decided to attempt mowing with our non-motorized lawnmower (not one of my finer purchases). It took me 45 minutes to mow 1/4 of the backyard. At this point I gave up.

I went and bought a new lawnmower later that evening.

I felt pretty rough the rest of the evening. I think I might have over done it. It was 90+ degrees out that day. I really thought about skipping boot camp Monday morning but I forced myself out of bed. I went again this morning too but my right leg has really been hurting all day. I think I might have pulled a muscle. I'm hoping it feels better in the morning. I really don't want to miss a day. I only have 2 more weeks left after this week. I am happy to report though that I'm down 3 more pounds. Woo-Hoo!

Hopefully I can keep this pace up and lose another 20.

Go me!

Wow, I've been a huge slacker with the blogging lately. I've been going to boot camp every morning at 5:30 am... yeah AM... so I've been going to sleep around 9 pm. Since I usually don't get home until 5 pm and then make dinner and then that leaves me just a few hours to send with hubby. So needless to say it's limited my blogging time. I thought I would check in today because I weighed myself Tuesday after boot camp and I've lost 7 pounds since I started giving me a total weight loss of 17 pounds over the last month. Go me!

I signed up for 6 weeks of boot camp and Friday I will be at the half way point so I've started thinking about what I will be doing after my 6 weeks is up. I wouldn't mind continuing boot camp but it's pretty expensive; however, I get a discount to 24 Hour fitness through work. They have 5:30 am classes twice a week and 5:30 pm classes 3 days a week in addition to the rest of the gym and a pool so I think I'm going to give this a try after my boot camp time is up.

Dieting... how's that been going you ask? Well, okay. I've been trying to limit the amount of breads, rice, cereal, and pastas I've been eating. I have still been allowing myself a few cheat meals a week. For example I had pizza for dinner tonight but I had chicken and broccoli for lunch and an apple and peanut butter for breakfast. I am trying to work towards no bread and pasta. I figure as long as I keep trying and don't go completely off the rails I'm still doing okay. I do feel significantly better than I did a month ago when I was still eating crap food all of the time.

I have actually noticed something some what interesting. I was having some pain in my ankle for months and once I stopped eating bread and pasta I noticed the pain going away. I don't know if it's because of the weight loss or the lack of gluten. I've heard some people can have slight intolerance to gluten which can cause joint pain and other symptoms. Whatever it is I have been feeling pretty good. Well, I just thought I would give a quick update since I was excited about my small success.

One long day

Today was possibly the longest day. I woke up at 4:50 am to go to boot camp. Actually let me back up. I went to bed Sunday night at 10 pm so that I could get up early. Around midnight I woke up feeling like I had overslept. I woke up again at 4 am again thinking that I had overslept. At 4:50 I finally dragged my butt out of bed.

I got ready and left the house around 5:11. I was worried that I would be late but I forgot that there's no traffic that early. Who else is crazy enough to be out at that time. I made it there with 8 minutes to spare.

We started out with weights, jogged around the block (I did more walking than jogging), lots and lots of push ups (which I'm also terrible at), more weights, more push ups. By the end of the hour I was wiped out and really sweaty. I rushed home and got around and made it to work by 7:30.

This began the longest part of my day. It was just one of those days at work. Ugh. I finally left around 5:30. I got home and started dinner; Turkey Cheddar brats (no bun) and baked asparagus with oil olive. I had a blueberry banana Greek yogurt smoothie for dessert. Delicious!

I'm winding down now and about to go to bed though I wish I could stay up later because going to bed means I'm closer to boot camp in the morning. I probably shouldn't be dreading it already but I'm really sore and it's just the first day. Well tomorrow is another day.

I'm still here

Sorry that I've been such a slacker the last week. I know it's been over a week since I blogged last. I did fairly well this week being back on regular foods. I went out to eat twice this week and both times I got a salad (no croutons). I've been making some delicious fruit smoothies with either Greek yogurt or almond milk. Pretty tasty! I bought some spinach chicken burgers from Whole Foods so I had those for dinner this week (no bun). Overall I would say that I've done pretty good. I did have some pizza on Friday night and Saturday afternoon but I limited the amount I ate and we always use Turkey pepperoni and veggies on it so I didn't feel too bad.

I went to my boot camp registration this week. I figured it would be a one on one registration but instead there were 4 other ladies there and 1 guy. Nothing like getting weighed and measured in front of strangers for the old self esteem. They are a little stricter than I thought they would be about class times. They really want you to sign up for a specific time with little deviation so I signed up for the 5:30 am class. Yikes! I really hope I'm going to be able to get my butt out of bed that early 5 days a week for the next 6 weeks. It's really the best time for me because I can get it out of the way and then get ready and hopefully be to work by 8 am. If I find that it's not working out as well maybe they will let me switch to 5:30 pm although then I will have to fight traffic to get over there.

I read the Paleo Diet book by Loren Cordain today. It's rare for me to sit down and read an entire book in one day but it was a quick read and I think I'm going to give it a try. After attempting juicing it shouldn't be quite as rigid. They offer 3 levels. Level 1 allows 3 open meals a week. Level 2 allows 2 open meals a week and Level 3 allows 1 open meal a week. They suggest level 2 or 3 if you are looking to lose weight. I think I'm going to start with level 2 so that I can still have some dairy now and then. If you're interested in finding out more about Paleo I stumbled across this blog which also links to several others on the subject.

They weighed me at the boot camp registration and I'm only 2 pounds down from where I started on August 1. I guess it's better than nothing. I have been walking on my treadmill for at least a half an hour everyday for the last two weeks (though I've gotten a little lacks this weekend). I have noticed that my clothes are fitting looser so I'm trying not to feel too discouraged. In fact yesterday I put on a pair of jeans that had been a little tight and they were loose so I felt pretty good about that. I still have a ways to go but I've already made significant improvements in what I'm putting in my body so I try not to let the numbers get me down.

I will try to write tomorrow evening to share my first morning of boot camp experience. It should be interesting.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder

Sorry, I took a few days off of blogging. I've done fairly well the last few days. I've begun incorporating more food groups back into my diet, I think with some success.

I had an extremely busy day today. So much so that I barely had time to eat. I woke up early (for me on a Saturday) at 8:50 am. I got up and right around. I had to take my kitty Merlin to the vet today. He has scabs all over his ears, neck, and chest and I was getting concerned about him. He really hates getting into the cat carrier and he hates the vet even more. He hissed and growled and bit and scratch but the vet determined he had some type of dermatitis. It took him and a nurse to hold him down and give him two shots (1 steroid and 1 antibiotic). Poor buddy. He was not happy.

I came home and dropped Merlin off and headed back out to run some errands. I went to Smoothie King today today with my coupon (I've included the link to the coupon below) and got a Lean1 smoothie. It was really tasty and healthy. Surprising that something good for you can be health huh?
http://www.smoothieking.com/leanonus/

After that I headed over to Bed, Bath, and Beyond to get a blender. I've been wanting to get one so I can make my own smoothies since the smallest smoothie at Smoothie King is $4.99. Yikes! That could add up. I had a coupon for BBB for 20% off a single item so I got $20 off of my Ninja Professional Blender.

While I was over at Bed, Bath, and Beyond I decided to go to Whole Foods which is basically right across the street. I had never been to a Whole Foods before, or Mecca as I am now referring to it. It was amazing. They had rhubarb which I can never find anywhere. Ken has mentioned in the past his love of rhubarb and rhubarb pie so I googled a rhubarb pie recipe right there in the aisle (thank you iPhone) and grabbed a bunch.

I really liked the healthy pick-and-mix section of the store. I got granola, low fat cereal, whole wheat pancake fix, 7 bean soup mix, yogurt pretzels (for Ken), etc. I also bought some wheatgrass. I hear it's gross tasting but really good for you. They come in little shot form. My favorite part was the pizza counter. They had all sorts of healthy and delicious looking pizzas you could buy by the slice. I got 2 slices of artichoke and mushroom pizza (1 for me, 1 for Ken). It was amazing. It had a pesto sauce instead of red sauce and either goat cheese or feta. It was to die for. I could barely wait to get home to eat it.

After my visit to Whole Foods I headed home to drop off my purchases. Ken and I unloaded the groceries and dove into the pizza. We watched a couple episodes of "Party Down" on Netflix and I napped on the couch for about an hour.

I woke up remembering that I forgot to go by Aldi to get cat litter so back out I went. I went there and then to Kroger for the last few items on my grocery list.

After unloading I decided to get started on Ken's rhubarb pie. Since I am lazy I just bought a Pillsbury pie crust in a box. Then I started chopping the rhubarb. I had never made a pie before and I didn't know how much work it was going to be. I actually got a blister from chopping (woe is me, right). I was relieved to finally get it in the oven. It looks like it turned out good though I'm going exert some will power and refrain from eating any.

All in all it was a very productive day and I was happy to stay busy as it kept me from wanting to shovel food in my face. I am really proud of my grocery shopping today. I didn't buy anything too bad and I feel like I have enough variety to keep me from falling off the healthy eating wagon. I'm actually excited to try some of the things I bought from Whole Foods. I'm also dying to make a smoothie with my new blender. Maybe eating healthy won't be such a daunting task after all.

Thursday:

Breakfast: 1 apple
Lunch: 1/2 can Campbell's chunky chicken and vegetable soup
Dinner: Salad with tuna and Italian vinaigrette

Friday:

Breakfast: 1 banana, 16 oz orange juice
Lunch: Chicken Caesar salad (no croutons)
Snack: Strawberry Orange juice (made with my juicer) 16 - 20 oz
Dinner: 1 chicken finger

Saturday:

Breakfast: 20 oz Strawberry Lean1 from Smoothie King (delicious!)
Lunch: 1 slice Artichoke and Mushroom thin crust pizza from Whole Foods
Dinner: nothing yet (either soup or salad, haven't decided)

Day 10

Well, I'm sad to admit that I fell off the fruit and veggie wagon today. Now don't get me wrong I didn't go crazy and crack open a bag of potato chips. I had some tuna (no mayo) on my salad tonight.

I went back to juicing this morning. I had the following two juices for breakfast and lunch.

Breakfast juice:
2 oranges
2 grapefruit

Lunch juice:
1/4 pineapple
4 carrots
2 lemons
2 handfuls kale

I felt relatively okay after lunch but around 3 pm my stomach started making crazy sounds and by 4 pm I had a horrible headache. I had been drinking plenty of water all day so I knew it wasn't due to dehydration. By the time I left work at 5 pm I was really feeling terrible and my craving for tuna had come back with a vengeance. I finally decided that something was obviously really lacking and decided to indulge a little. I had a salad of romaine lettuce with 1/2 can of tuna and some light Italian dressing. I also had a banana after dinner.

I don't feel completely defeated. I feel like trying the reboot diet was just too extreme for me. I am not done eating health though. I am excited to start the boot camp soon and I am looking into the Paleo diet based on my brother's recommendation. It looks like something that will be much more manageable. I feel like I'm still on track toward healthier eating and a healthier life so things are still looking up. I will continue blogging about my dieting adventures because they are far from over.

Day 9

Man, I really shouldn't have bought a scale. I'm keeping the scale next to my treadmill because there isn't enough room in the bathroom for it. After I finished my 34 minute walk (1.5 miles) I decided to weigh myself. I gained back 2.5 pounds. ARRRGGGGHHHH! All I've eaten in the last two days is fruit, veggie soup, and salad with light Italian dressing. I know I shouldn't have weighed myself again yet but again with the curiosity. I can't seem to learn my lesson.

I scheduled my registration appointment for the 6 week boot camp today. I need to make an appointment with my doctor before I start just to make sure everything is okay before I begin some hardcore workouts. I didn't consult her before I started the diet and I probably should have. I think I'm going to start the bootcamp on the 22nd so I'm going to cut the fruit and veggie diet a few days short. I've heard it takes 21 days to form a habit so I'll be right at that mark. I will be interested in the meal plan and advice they give me at the boot camp.

In the meantime I think may alternate days between juicing days and whole fruits and veggies days to mix things up. Does anyone have any suggestions for a good and inexpensive blender, one that chops ice well? I have a smoothie plan in mind for once I'm done. I'll take any good (and healthy) smoothie recipes too if you got 'em.

Day 8

I decided to take Sunday off from blogging (though I could have used the distraction). Sunday was my hardest day so far. All day I was craving a tuna fish sandwich. I don't know why but I was. Anyway, I made it through the day without cracking and I was glad I did. I weighed myself this morning and I've lost 7 pounds total in the last week. I feel really good about that and that my struggle hasn't been in vain.

Going back to work today actually made things easier. I was busy all day and had little time to think about food. I had a ton of things to do after work so I didn't even get home until 6:30 pm. This week I've begun incorporating exercise. Yesterday I did 100 crunches and today I walked on my treadmill for 35 minutes (1.5 miles).

Breakfast:
1 Fuji apple

Lunch:
1 1/2 cups homemade veggie soup

Dinner:
Salad with cucumber and a little Italian dressing

I've been thinking about how things are going to go after I'm done with this diet of fruits and veggies is over. Obviously I don't want to slip back into old eating habits and I don't want to instantly gain back all of the weight that I've lost. I bought a 6 week membership to the Memphis Adventure Boot Camp. It is a 5 day a week, one hour a day boot camp for women. They also include diet counseling and meal plans so hopefully this will help me keep the weight off.

I didn't think I had the will power to make it through my first week but I did (and not to gloat) but I'm proud of myself.

One week down.

Day 6

Today had to be my hardest day so far. Being home all day with regular food around me was tough but I persevered. I distracted myself with work (I'm on call this weekend for work) and movies.

Breakfast:
1 banana

Mid-Morning Juice:
2 oranges
2 grapefruits
5 strawberries

Lunch:
1 1/2 cups leftover veggie soup

Dinner:
1/2 bag salad with 1 tbsp caesar dressing

Dessert:
4 medium size pieces of pineapple
3 strawberries
10 grapes

I let my curiosity get the better of me and I weighed myself tonight. I lost 4 pounds. I was really hoping that after a week of having nothing but fruits, vegetables, (in either whole or juice form) and water that I would have lost more than 4 pounds. I've heard most people's weigh fluctuates 5 pounds most of the time anyway. I am feeling discouraged but I vowed that I would give this at least 15 days so I will continue. I haven't really exercised this week as I've been really lethargic most days but I am going to start incorporating the treadmill over the next week and hopefully this will boost my weight loss.

As much as I want to give up today I've come this far and I'm determined to go a little farther.

Day 5

I took a picture of my juices yesterday to post but I totally forgot to post them in my hunger stupor last night. I found that I tend to like the orange and red juices (with exception of the beets, YUCK!) more than the green or even the purple. I did finally break down last night and make some homemade vegetable soup. It was really good and lifted my spirits. I had it for dinner last night and lunch today.

Morning Juice:

A lot of red grapes (like most of a package)
1 pear
2 cherries (cherries are not ideal due to the pit)

yield: 16 oz

Soup Recipe:

6 cups water
3 tbsp olive oil
1 large sweet potato cut into small pieces
3 carrots
2-3 celery stalks
1 can cut green beans
1 tomato
2 garlic cloves chopped
1 tbsp oregano

Saute potato, carrots, and celery for 5 minutes. Add water and bring to boil. Simmer for 30 minutes.

yield: lots

Dinner:

1 banana
1/2 bag of salad with a tiny bit of caesar dressing

I woke up this morning (after hitting snooze quite a few times) with several painful ulcers in my mouth. I think they are from the acids in the juice. I've been making sure to brush my teeth well in the morning and evening but I probably should be brushing even more right now. I think that for the next few days I am going to do veggie soups, salads, and solid fruits. I think transitioning between a few days of just juice and a few days of solid vegetables will be okay. I know this probably seems like cheating a little bit since I initially set out to do just a juice fast like Joe Cross did but I feel like as long as I stick to just fruits and vegetables for 30 days, no matter what their form, that I'm doing okay. It's still better than eating tons of bread, dairy, and processed junk like I was.

On a positive note I easily buttoned a pair of jeans today that I normally have to inhale to button. The muffin top effect is lessening too so I still feel really good about my progress. Yay me!

Day 4

Wow today was a long day. I woke up feeling really blah so I decided to have the fruit juice for breakfast today. I really needed it this morning.

Breakfast juice:

2 oranges
2 red grapefruit
3 kiwi

yield: 20 oz

Lunch juice:
3-4 carrots
2 apples
1 pear
2 handfuls spinach

22 oz

I held off until 12:30 today to have the lunch juice. It was really unsatisfying. I could smell the aroma of real food coming from other people's cubes and it just bummed me out. I was reading an email from someone with the last name Friedman today and it made me think of fried rice. Mmmmmmm fried rice. I was much crankier in the afternoon and really tired. I had this feeling like I had nothing to look forward to but an evening of more juice.

When I got home I laid on the couch and drifted in and out of sleep for an hour until I made myself get up. I drank 8 oz of lunch juice that I had left over and drank a bunch of water. I watched the movie The Town which was pretty good. I've had a headache for the last hour but it's starting to go away now. I've been thinking of going back to veggie soup in the evenings again. I've been having a hard time getting enough veggies in my juice and I feel like the soup is something to look forward to in the evenings.

Sorry that tonight's post is so short but I just don't have it in me tonight. I do want to say thank you to everyone that's been reading and for everyone's words of encouragement. It is helpful to know people are rooting for me. By the way sorry that the blog is a little plain looking. I haven't had much time to customize it. Writing the posts every night has taken me a lot long than I thought it would. I guess my writing muscle is a little flabby (along with most of my actual muscles).

Day 3

I probably should have titled this post Day 1 because today is my first all juice day. And what a day it's been.

I did not have as easy of a time getting up this morning. I don't know if it was due to the fact that I stayed up until 11:15 pm last night or that I woke up in the middle of the night with a charlie horse or that I dreamed all night of eating candy (yes, I literally dreamed about candy, sad I know). Anyway, I had to hit the snooze button this morning but only once. After I got up I was pretty sluggish and a little sick feeling until after my shower.

I decided today to go off recipe and just improvise since the last two days my lunch juice was so gross. I also decided to take a suggestion from my co-worker and have the veggie juice for breakfast and the fruit juice for lunch. It actually worked out well

Breakfast Juice

1 cup spinach
2-3 celery stalks
3-4 carrots
2 apples
2 strawberries

yield: 26 oz

Lunch Juice

20 strawberries
1/2 cantaloupe
1/2 honeydew
1 cucumber

yield: 26 oz

I arrived at work and drank most of the breakfast juice. It was much better than the previous veggie juices though the celery did give the juice a bite. I held off until 12:15 today before breaking out the lunch juice. It was really good and a bit of a pick me up after my two previous days of disgusting lunch juice. I had a busy afternoon and worked later than usual. By the end of the day I could feel myself getting lethargic and a little cranky. I had about 6 oz of fruit juice left so I drank that on the way home.

***Don't read this section if you are easily grossed out by bathroom talk***
I had a rather terrifying experience in the bathroom today. Let me preface this by saying that for about the last month I've had diarrhea, accompanied by stomach pain, at least once a day usually right after I eat. Since I've started the juicing I've actually had more normal poo, until today. I went to the bathroom today and it was red. I started freaking out. For a minute I thought the juice might be killing me until I remember the beets from yesterday. Damn beets! They even stain your poo.
***Okay, resume reading... potty talk free***

I arrived home and Ken was working in the yard. So far this week he's been making his own dinners (so in other words Ramen) since I am not eating. I thought I would be a nice wife and make him something tonight. We buy these refrigerated cheese pizzas from Aldi that are really good and we usually have one a week on Wednesday or Thursday. We add our own toppings like turkey pepperoni, banana peppers, and on Ken's half green olives (yuck!). The pizza smelled so good but I ensured that I wouldn't eat this time any by putting green olives on the whole thing. Then I began preparing my juice for dinner. I can assure you it tastes nothing like pizza.

Dinner Juice:

8 oz of leftover breakfast juice
1/2 cantaloupe
1/2 honeydew

yield: 24 oz

I really feel like I've let food take such a hold over my life. I eat when I'm happy. I eat when I'm sad. Sometimes I eat because I'm happy and then that makes me sad so I eat more. I need to be able to have an emotion without tying food to it. I also don't exert any will power or make good choices. Do I have self-destructive tendencies or am I just too weak to change? Okay, sorry to get all philosophical for a moment but this experience is making me examine my life choices a little more.

I mentioned in a previous post that I was going to give my starting weight. I didn't forget to weigh myself on Monday, I just hadn't posted it yet because it's not a number I'm happy with. After thinking about it for a few days I've decided that even though it's embarrassing for me I'm going to post it because hopefully knowing that this number is out there for others to see, it will keep me motivated to change that number and maybe inspire others. So here it goes.
Starting weight August 1, 2011: 244.

Today's Lesson
1. Beets stain everything. And I do mean everything.

Juicing supplies

Here are some of the items I bought for my juice fast/diet. I thought I would link to the exact products in case you are interested in knowing what I'm using. I really like my juicer so far. I got mine from Bed, Bath & Beyond. I had a 20% coupon so I got a good deal.



My other reference has been the Reboot website http://jointhereboot.com/ which goes along with the documentary Fat, Sick, & Nearly Dead. You can watch it on Netflix Instant Watch. I'm not saying that you need these specific items but I just thought I would let you know what I'm using.

Day 2

I woke this morning feeling surprising okay. I totally expected to feel like I was starving at this point but that was not the case. Probably the most surprising thing for me was that I had no trouble getting up this morning. Most mornings the alarm rings and I hit snooze a couple of time but this morning I got right up. No snoozing! I'm not saying I woke up singing and dancing while tiny cartoon birds helped me get ready but I didn't feel as sluggish as usual.

After getting ready I started preparing my juice for the day. It took me a little longer to make my juice today as yesterday Ken helped me but today I was flying solo. I made sure to strain the lunch juice today after my mistake yesterday.

Breakfast juice:
16 strawberries
1 pint blueberries
2 kale leaves
1 mango
3 kiwi
1/4 cup coconut water

yield: barely 16 oz

Lunch juice:
2 apples (one red, one green)
4 carrots
2 beets
2 cups cabbage

yield: 26 oz

I arrived at work and started drinking my breakfast juice. It was delicious. Unfortunately I can not say the same for the lunch juice. The beets totally overpowered the juice. In other words, the lunch juice tasted like dirt. I had never had a beet before and now I know why...they're disgusting. I did manage to choke down about 10 oz.

By the end of the work day I was really tired and hungry so I decided to have some more vegetable soup for dinner. I also had a small green apple.

After dinner, I flipped through Facebook, as I do most nights and I saw that one of my favorite bands was playing a free reunion show in town tonight so Ken and I quickly got ready and rushed out. It was really nice to have something to do tonight. It really took my mind off of food, not to mention that I had to have sweated off a pound in what I'm now referring to as a Hipster Sauna (the small, air-conditionerless record store where I saw the show packed with 60 sweaty hipsters).

So all in all not a bad day though I did feel like I learned a few more lessons today.

1. Beets are messy. REALLY messy.
2. Beets should be scrubbed well before juicing.
3. Beets provide a lot of juice.
4. Beets should be used sparingly...because they are gross.
5. Mangos are tasty (I had never had one before today) but the pit smelled peppery for some reason. Weird, right?

Yeah, I know a lot of these lessons were beet related but I learned a lot about beets today. I just thought I would impart this new found knowledge in hopes that I can save just one person from ever eating a beet. Your welcome.

Day 1

Well today was my first day of juicing and what a day it was!

I got ready in my usual manner as I would any other Monday morning. That was my first mistake. I didn't take into account that it would take me some time to prepare my juice for the day. I had to pull all the ingredients out and it was my first time using the juicer so I wasn't totally sure how big of pieces I could put in it. It didn't take me long to get the hang of it and it was kinda fun. My morning juice contained the following:

1 golden delicious apple
1 pear
10 strawberries (with green tops cut off)
2 cups kale
1 cup coconut water

Yield = 16 oz

Lunch juice:

1 green apple
3 handfuls of cabbage
6 kale leaves
5 carrots
1/4 cup coconut water

Yield = 16 oz

I didn't remember to put a bag in the pulp section of the juicer which equals a huge mess. Luckily my husband was nice enough to help me clean it. The container that the juice pours into had a strainer and I thought, "What is this for?" My rational was that you wouldn't want to strain out all of that nutrional goodness.

I got to work and began downing my breakfast juice. It was sweet and delicious. I actually enjoyed it and thought, "this might not be so bad." It did take me awhile to drink all of it. I started drinking it at 7:30 and didn't finish until 9 am. It wasn't really thick like a smoothie but it had something to it.

I really didn't even feel hungry until lunch time rolled around. I tried to hold out as long as I could but at noon I pulled out my lunch juice. It was at this point that I realized what the strainer was for. My lunch juice was full of little leaf pieces. It was really hard to force down. It was kind of like when you throw up in your mouth and then swallow it but in a much larger quantity. It took me 2 hours to drink 12 ounces and then I dumped the rest.

For dinner I decided to have vegetable soup. Yes, I know that isn't juice but I feel like it was okay because it was all veggies and veggie broth. It was great to actually chew something, even if it was just soft vegetables. It actually satisfied me. I'm not saying I feel full but I don't feel like I'm starving either.

Overall, I feel pretty good today. It was a struggle and there were moments when I wanted to drink a big glass of milk or have a piece of toast but I abstained and I am proud of myself.

I learned some lessons today.

1. Plastic bags to collect pulp are absolutely necessary.
2. Use the strainer. It has a purpose!
3. Be prepared to be easily distracted (even more so than usual)
4. Be prepared to drink lots of water and then spend a lot of time in the bathroom (sorry!)

Well, that's all I have for today.

One day down.

2 days and counting

Well, here it is. My brand new Juicer. I've reached the point of no return. Monday I start my juice fast. I haven't been doing well with Reboot's (jointhereboot.com) recommendation of cutting out dairy before starting the fast. I had a bowl of cereal yesterday and some cheese on my sandwich at lunch. It's REALLY hard not to eat dairy. I haven't had any today though so I am feeling a little less defeated.

I am feeling less optimistic today after my visit to the grocery store. I feel like this juice fast could send me to the poor house if I don't find more inexpensive sources of fruits and veggies.

I had planned to decide which recipes I was going to use for each day and then shop accordingly but I got really discouraged when I realized that in the next 2 weeks I'll be making and drinking 56 juices that have to be at least 16 oz each. That's a lot of fruits and veggies.

Today I went grocery shopping at Kroger. I bought regular groceries for Ken totaling roughly $56. I bought the following fruits and veggies totaling $38.75

5 pound bag of carrots $4.99
1 bunch kale $0.99
2 containers strawberries $3.00
1 bunch celery $1.39
2.5 pounds grapes $6.27
2 Grapefruit $1.58
2.4 pounds cabbage $1.66
0.21 pounds ginger root $1.19
1 cucumber $0.99
2.5 pounds red delicious apple $4.26
6 kiwi $2.00
1.4 pounds pears $2.33
1 pound sweet potatoes $1.04
3 oranges $2.07
1 bag green apples $4.99

So it might seem like I got a lot of fruits and vegetables for my money and that might be true but I might only get 2-3 days of juice out of this if I'm lucky. That means I'm going to have to buy a lot more to get me through this next 2 weeks. The food that I bought for Ken will surely get him through the next two weeks but it is not all the most healthy food.

So you can see the dilemma that I (and many others) face. Eating healthy is REALLY expensive and eating junk is cheap. I might have to get a second job just to afford my new eating habits. There is a produce market up the street called Easy Way. I think I will try going there next and see how that pans out. I really want to see this fast through but I'm afraid I might not be able to afford it. I don't like ending this post on such a pessimistic note but it's not just me I'm thinking about. How are we to expect that people in this country will ever live a more healthy lifestyle when we keep the most vital foods out of reach.

When checking out at the grocery store it took extra long because the cashier had to keep asking me what my items were and looking up the codes for items that obviously aren't bought by a lot of people. Just more proof that we don't eat like we should.

Less than a week away

So I have less than a week until my juice fast starts. According to the Reboot website (jointhereboot.com) you are suppose to give up dairy after day 3 of the week before the juice fast so that means today is my last dairy day. Agghh! I know, it's not like I will never enjoy the sweetness of dairy ever again. It's just 30 days. In honor of this sacrifice I had a really big bowl of cereal for dinner. Mmmmmmm.

I think it will get worse though as after day 5 no more meat. Yikes! What will I eat for my last 2 day? I am really excited for the challenge though. It should be interesting, to say the least.

I have had some nervousness this week as the fast is drawing closer because I've heard about some people having really bad headaches, trouble staying focused, and extreme exhaustion. Since I still have to work and live a some what normal life I've decided that if I get to this point I am giving myself an out after 15 days. I do want to give it at least this amount of time otherwise what's the point?

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to wuss out or talk myself out of this. I do want to do this as safely as possible though. I can't afford to risk my life or my job over losing a few pounds. There are other ways to lose weight after all.

I am optimist and I really feel like I will be successful in this endeavor. As long as all goes well I still plan on doing 30 days and possibly more if I can handle it. Who knows, maybe juicing will be come my new addiction.

Planning, planning, and more planning

Uhhh, I spent all evening going through my juicing books that I got from the library and picking out recipes and copying them into Google Docs. From there I pulled them into my phone so I could use the recipes when I am at the store shopping for my fruits and veggies.

After spending a few hours doing that tonight I checked out the Whole Foods website and the Easy Way produce store website. I am trying to decide whether I am going to go to the store everyday to buy my produce for the next day or whether I am going to try to stock up for a few days. Some produce like the apples and carrots will last for a week or more but items like raspberries, strawberries, and leafy greens will only be good for a few days.

I think I am going to spend some time trying to put together a list of produce I will need and how long it can be stored for. The items with a short "shelf" life I will purchase as needed.

I've never tried any green bags but this maybe a good time to start. If anyone has tried them I would love to know your success rate.

Juicing preparation

I've decided in preparation of my juice fast that I should make a plan of the juices I will have each day for the first week along with the recipes in order to stay organized and motivation.

I've been using www.jointhereboot.com to get juice recipes but I realized they have a limited number of recipes and I will probably get sick of these ones pretty quickly.

To prepare for my juice fast I decided to check out some juicing books from the library. I got The Juicing Bible by Pat Crocker & Susan Eagles and The Everything Juicing Book by Carole Jacobs, Chef Patrice Johnson and Nicole Cormier.

When I arrived at the check out counter at the library the lady working at the counter asked me if I had just bought a juicer. I told that I hadn't bought one yet but I was going to get one. She said, " I heard you can lose a lot of weight that way." There was another lady checking out books with her kids next to me and she started telling me about their juicer and how much they love it. She said that her husband had replaced two meals a day with juice and lost 10 pounds in the first week. She even suggested a place to get a good deal on carrots.

I tend to be an individual that loves technology and how convenient it makes life but today I was really glad that I went to the library and checked these books out rather than buying them online or getting an ebook. I'm sure that the books will be a great resource but there's nothing better then hearing a first hand account of someone that has witnessed the power of juicing. I left the library with 2 books and a restored faith in the kindness of strangers. It was a great visit to the library.

The Juicing Bible (See all Healthy Living Books)

The Everything Juicing Book: All you need to create delicious juices for your optimum health (Everything Series) (See all Cooking, Food & Wine Books)

Fun with the bathroom scale

My new scale arrived yesterday. It was really fun for the first 10 minutes because first we used it to weight all of the cats. Our heaviest cat is Spaz weighing in at 14 pounds. She is a big lady. Our lightest cat is Ginger weighing in at 7 pounds.

So weighing the cats was all fun and games. Then I decided to weigh myself (since this was the reason I bought a scale in the first place). Let's just say I was not happy with the results. It was more than the last time I got weighed at the doctor's office (I'm not giving a number at this time because I will enter my starting weight the day before I start my fast). What a bummer. I was considering upping my goal of losing 15 pounds in 30 days but I am going to stick with this goal and if I lose more than that it will be great.

By the way, the scale I bought is the Eatsmart Precision Plus Digital Scale with Ultra Wide platform and Step-on Technology. I bought it on Amazon for $37. It seems to be a good scale, so far.

Sunday cook-athon

I spent a good portion of my day Sunday cooking. I decided to prepare as much food as I could ahead of time. I prepared food for about two hours and then grilled for another two hours. I have a tendency to buy groceries and then we throw a lot away because I am too lazy to cook dinner when I get home so I prepare something quick instead of using the items I bought to make meals. Since I did all this cooking on Sunday hopefully during the week all I will have to do is re-heat. I guess we'll see how this works out.

Rough beginnings

I went grocery shopping yesterday and even though I have two more weeks of normal eating before the fast I decided to try to buy some healthier food to prepare me for the 31 days of only fruits and vegetables.

I had a half a bag of salad for dinner along with some fruit, a few grapes and raspberries. I had a bowl of cereal as a snack later. About 11:30 pm I realized I hadn't taken any of my vitamins for the day. So I decided to take all of my vitamins. I don't know if it was too many nutrients but about 20 minutes later I was reunited with my dinner. I assume it was my body rejecting anything that was not pizza.

Hopefully this reaction is not a preview of what's to come for the next month.

The first sign of trouble

**Okay, I'm just going to warn you up front that this post may be a little graphic so if you are uncomfortable hearing about the workings of the female body stop reading now.

Aunt Flow came to visit me the first time when I was in the 5th grade and I've been like clockwork ever since. Well until last July anyway. I'll never forget that day. It was the weekend of Ken and mine's anniversary and I was 10 days late. I was freaking out. I was working full-time but I was also working on my bachelor's degree still. I was sure that I was pregnant but a few days passed and I finally "checked into the red roof inn." It was a total relief but then next month I was late again ... and again the next month. This irregularity continued until November, when it got much worse. In November Aunt Flow came to visit and didn't "leave" until January. That's right 3 straight months.

In December I made an appointment to see my doctor and she did some blood work and couldn't find anything out of the ordinary. She explained that the next step would be for me to come back in to have an ultrasound so they could look around and see if they could find something else that was causing this. I was in the midst of finals and graduation and family coming from out of town so I scheduled my ultrasound for the second week in January.

Being that I've never been pregnant I thought the ultrasound would be a little goo on my belly and that weird wand that they press on your stomach. You can imagine my surprise when they told me to take my pants off and lay on the table. Then came the ultrasound technician with her long plastic wand with a baggie over it. I had a good idea where it was going. She jerked it around like she was driving a stick shift car for the first time and couldn't quite get into gear. It was quite uncomfortable to say the least. Then she told me to get dressed and she left. It was two weeks before I found the results, possibly the longest two weeks of my life. I had ever worse scenario running through my hear. My worst fears were relieved when they called and told me my endometrial wall was too thick. I had an all new set of fears as I didn't know what this meant. My doctor explained that it wasn't serious but I may have a hard time conceiving if I ever decided to do so and I should see my gynecologist. I had never heard of this so I went to the internet for answers.

The internet had a variety of answers. Many sites said this was caused by being overweight. I decided to go to my gynecologist who looked at the ultrasound results and mentioned cysts. My other doctor had not mentioned this. So there was the prognosis; three cysts on ovaries, my endometrial wall was too thick, and possibly Polycystic ovary disorder. The doctor prescribed me medroxyprogesterone, a synthetic version of the progesterone that your body makes. I was to take one pill a day for 10 days and then have another visit from Aunt Flow. She also prescribed me some pain medicine which I didn't understand but was soon to find out.

The medroxyprogesterone was awful. I was dizzy and really tired but it was only 10 days. Aunt Flow came on day 10 along with the worst cramps of my life. Needless to say I was happy to have the pain meds.

The medroxyprogesterone seemed to work. I went back for a follow up ultrasound and my wall thickness had decreased. The doctor said she didn't think I had POD so that was a relief too. I always thought that I wasn't cut out to be a mom but I want to make that decision on my own rather than having my body tell me I couldn't.

I was back to Aunt Flow's regular visits, or so I thought. Two months of regular visits and then nothing. No visits for 2 months. I was sure this time that I was pregnant but 5 negative tests later I was having my doubts. Aunt Flow finally came but her visit was sporadic so now I am looking at another round of medroxyprogesterone. So this brings me to today. Am I to face a life of medication just to make me regular woman? And is this problem due my weight? I guess I am going to find out. I have roughly two weeks until my juice fast begins and then I will find out if losing some weight will help me get back to normal.

Here's hoping.

My love affair with food

Ahhh, my addiction to food...where did it all begin? Did it start with my Strawberry Shortcake kitchen set? Just look at how happy I was, cooking my pretend pie in my little oven.

Or was it my Easy Bake Oven with its dangerously hot light bulb? I loved cooking those teeny tiny deserts.

I don't really think it was either. As much as I would love to blame some toy company for brainwashing me at a young age I really can't.

I love sugar. That's right, let me say it again. I LOVE SUGAR! Ice cream, cake, candy, pancakes. I'm a complete junkie for anything sweet. That's right, my name is Erin Case and I'm a girl scout cookie-aholic. Damn those happy little scouts in their uniforms pushing those delicious cookies in front of the grocery store. It's my civic duty to buy and eat as many of them as humanly possible, right?

Well it's all about to change. I'm 30 years old and in the worse shape of my life. I am 5'6 and I weigh over 230 pounds (this is a number that I'm really not proud of and pretty ashamed to even put in writing for the world to see). I think Louis C.K. put it best, in regards to my ideal weight "I'm pretty sure it's not your age plus 200 pounds." I've been feeling really awful lately. I get winded just walking up stairs. I just feel gross all of the time. I want to make a change in my life.

My co-worker told me about this documentary where this guy drank nothing but juice for 60 days and lost 90 pounds. I was really interested in the premise and I decided to watch it. I was totally inspired. He bought fresh fruits and vegetables and had nothing but the juice from them for 60 days. On his journey he convinced two other people to try it. One of the people lost over 200 pounds. I thought, if these people could do why couldn't I.

So I've decided Monday, August 1, 2011 I am going to start 31 days of juice fasting. I'm totally expecting it to be really hard but I am determined. My goal is to lose at least 15 pounds. I have two weeks to prepare. I need to buy a juicer and a scale. If anyone has any suggestions on a good juicer or scale let me know. I plan on blogging the whole journey. So wish me luck. It's sure to be an interesting experience and hopefully a life changing one.

http://www.fatsickandnearlydead.com/
http://jointhereboot.com/

Just 1 of 136.5 million

According to nih.gov "over two-thirds of adults in the United States are overweight or obese." With an adult population of 206.8 million that means roughly 136.5 million American adults are overweight or obese.

I am one of them.