Muscles and Muffin Tops

We’ve been hitting the gym like maniacs! Except for today, that is. We went to see Star Wars last night, and aside from not getting home until 1:30am we also had to wait in like 20 degree weather so I couldn’t stop shivering through most the movie and kind of gravely voice today. So figured it would probably be best to just let the bodies rest and recoup. However, I feel like I am really seeing changes in the mirror now! It’s so weird since my measurements aren’t changing, nor is the scale, but man, you should feel my biceps!  I mean, my arms haven’t started toning yet (except for a faint hollow spot developing on the inside!), but the muscle underneath is really starting to grow. I will randomly just flex and feel it through the day because it makes me so happy.

A friend commented that it seems like I have a lot more energy, and that may be true since I now have to take magnesium before bed to get a full night’s rest. If I don’t, I’m tossing and turning and pushing hubby to the brink of falling off, but once those magnesiums pills hit, I’m out until the alarm. Aside from that, I started googling how to see results faster (because you probably know how impatient I am by this point), and a good tip was to grab a pair of tight pants and try them on randomly because you’ll see a much more obvious change than any scale or measurement.

So being me, I grab the smallest pants I own (being a pair of jean shorts I picked up second hand without trying on because they said “L” on the tag and were like $3) and they made it to about my thighs and no further. Realizing that was probably not going to see any major results in the near future, I went to my second smallest pair of shorts (being a pair of blue lacey shorts I bought on Thread Up). This pair actually went on, but were approximately a mile from zipping upon the side, so I figured that would probably also be a hard way to judge and put them back in the “box for future use-one day…hopefully”. I ended up choosing a pair of blue jean shorts that I put on every summer, but that give me a terrible muffin top, though I still opt for them because they are really the only comfortable pair of shorts I’ve ever owned, muffins and their tops aside.

Now, when I’m feeling like a need a boost I have those for my tummy comparison, and that bikini top for my chest and back comparison. I feel like this is a much more satisfying way to measure my success than a stupid number on the scale. Dumb piece of junk…Anyway, hope you have a fantastic weekend and go see Star Wars before someone ruins it for you!

True Lies

So here’s the thing. I’m actually down a pant size, comfortably in 12s now. We started working out on schedule too and I woke up every time I engaged my stomach muscles last night while flipping all over the bed like one does while unconscious. Unfortunately, most days now when I see myself in a mirror or God forbid someone photographs me, I feel like that fat raccoon you see on funny picture collections. You know, this one:

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It’s bad. I mean, obviously something is happening for the good! My clothes are fitting better, my Basal Body temp is almost to the normal range (meaning my thyroid is finally kicking into gear), but here I am feeling like the biggest lump to have lumped. What’s up with that?!

So, I’m just upping my water intake again (meaning, I’m making more of an effort to keep a bottle with me. Ps, brb, gotta grab that…), keeping off the scale, and getting in with a personal trainer tomorrow. And by the way, I am terrified of seeing her. I know my body, I know what my body can handle, and I also know that I am a people pleaser to the point that it could probably kill me.

Thankfully it’s only one free session, so hopefully I can explain that under doctor’s orders (um, kinda), I’m supposed to stick to low impact shit without sounding like a lazy ass. There’s a difference between ‘lazy’ and ‘has been sick so many years it has lead to a cautionary state’, but unless you’ve lived it, it’s really hard to see the difference. Like the video of the surgeon I shared last week. He was bitter and hateful and blamed his patient for the state she was in until he started suffering with unknown weight gain. It was only then, and after he learned why it was happening, did he have sympathy for those in that situation.

Anyway, we’ll see. I’m hoping it’s just an evaluation with her asking what I would like to do. I would really rather not be doing the combat ropes and running on the treadmill. I’ve seen a trainer once when I was younger, and they basically just wanted to run me to death. No wonder I have an aversion to seeing her tomorrow. Ugh. I’ll let you know  how it goes. Until then, make good choices for yourself!

 

One Day

I didn’t forget! My computer has been in the shop since Friday, and it’s basically a new beast. Seriously, they replaced basically everything, so that’s been fun. As for me, I’ve changed basically everything as well! You know how they say “God works in mysterious ways”? I mean, usually people say it to describe off a bad situation which is terrible, but in my case it happened last week. I was getting aggravated that not only was the scale not going down again, it was creeping up! On my last nerve, I just start scrolling through Facebook determined not to think about it any more until later when I saw just what I needed to see on one of those silly clickbait articles. I usually ignore them, but this time, I felt like I needed to read it. “What does your belly say about you?”, and you know what? I’ve talked a lot about listening to your body, but sometimes you can know things but not put two and two together until much later. According to the article, I have what’s known as stress belly. “When your stress and cortisol levels are high, the body actually resists weight loss.”

I’ve known that I deal with bad stress and have all my life. And I knew that stress caused cortisol levels to go through the roof. What I didn’t know, and was prompted to research, was what addiction of mine stressed my body. That addiction is caffein, more specifically coffee. As you know, I love coffee. Like food-gasm love coffee. But I’m now almost a week without the real stuff, supplementing decaf on those mornings when I just want that warm, comforting mug. I had terrible withdrawals the first few days (headaches were the worst), and still need a nap after work every now and then, but I’m getting myself off it. And not only the coffee, but what I was using for my bulletproof coffee in the mornings as well.

Food-gasm

As I’ve said a few times, I am really really intolerant to coconut. Like, it makes water pool around my heart and I get severe shooting pain from my chest, up my neck, into my jaw. It is really really bad, and I want to die when it happens. Now, MCT oil is a blend of coconut and palm fats that many people have said don’t effect people with allergies due to the lack of proteins in it. And it was true, I wasn’t having the pain! But after having it every morning for two weeks, and watching the scale creep up, I’m convinced that it still causes inflammation in my body, because I still have an intolerance.

So it’s back to square one. I’m figuring out what to do for breakfast now, but my turkey wraps and sautéed red pepper fries are still going strong as a lunch option. I even found this awesome box of edamame pasta which is high protein, low fat, and I smother it with homemade alfredo sauce to help get my fats for the day. I’m back down about a pound and a half, but have two more until I am back to where I was before the inflammation. So, here we go again!

I had really hoped to have found a plan that worked for me by now, but I feel like I’m really close. Had blood work done on Monday, and praying something shows! Until then, feeling out my food options, and taking ashwagandha and magnesium before bed.

It’s a Plan

Do you ever have the ‘shower thoughts’ like, “If I could go back in time and talk to myself, what would I tell me?”? I think about that from time to time, and thanks to facebook’s new-ish feature ‘on this day’, I almost facepalm sometimes. Today it’s due to a status from my freshman year of college. I had no idea then about complex carbs and how they so terribly affected my body. Apparently on this day, six years ago, I thought it was fun that I could get a whole box of breadsticks and brownies to snack on through the night with an extra meal swipe I had that was about to expire. Breadsticks and brownies. Pretty sure this was from when I had given up eating meat and cheese in an effort to be a loose vegan for health reasons (yeah, health… it was a sad attempt). When I started that path, I had nothing but good intentions, but sadly I became a processed food ‘vegan’. Pastas and breads and popcorn *shudders* oh my. But everything I have done to myself over this past decade of trying to get healthy has taught me lessons, whether that be a painful or enlightening experience.

So today, though I weigh more than I did then (really, thanks to the poorly educated choices I made at that time), I know better now, and that’s worth something. So even when I go to Target with my pretty, skinny friend who picks up small everything, and I catch my reflection in the glass and feel like a slob, I know that I am making a change for the better, and one day soon, I may be able to pick up smalls too. Okay, not really… I have boobs that would never let me into a small, but hey, I’m good with a medium! And not just that, but my insides with be healthy because I spent the time to listen to what my body had to say to me, and I’m doing it early in life. Tomorrow I turn 25, and I’ve learned more about myself, my body, and healthy lifestyle choices in those short years, than many people care to learn in their entire lives.

And speaking of healthy lifestyle, I found a new (well, new to me) supplement line. It’s sold at Sephora, and they’re called Hum Nutrition. I went ahead and got the 21 Day Cleanse since it’s already prepackaged for being on the go, and is a natural way to cleanse and help digestion. In any case, I never mind trying new supplements. Aside from that, I refigured my eating plan that had been working for me, but was a bitch to prepare. So now I’ve got a bulletproof coffee to drink on my way to work for breakfast (10 oz fresh coffee, 1 scoop collagen, 1 tbs MCT oil. and 2 Tbs cream), a turkey wrap for lunch (3 oz honey roasted turkey, one slice havarti cheese, 1 tbs mayo, mustard, and a hand full of spinach on a low carb wrap), and for dinner, Bacon Wrapped Beef Stuffed Onions with two slices of applewood smoked bacon and almond flour instead of bread crumbs. It’s quite amazing.

Now I get blood work done Monday and only time will tell about everything, but I have a good feeling again. I think I’m on the right path, it’s just sticking with it that becomes the hard part. So have a great day, and I’ll see you again next week!

Fat Thoughts and Other Emotions

I broke down yesterday and weighed myself. No change. No change at all. The only up side is I binged on white rice all last week (so, you know, great time to weigh myself…), so I may have actually lost weight, but am currently bloated with water weight. Hopefully… But now I’m going back to abstaining again. I was looking at myself differently in the mirror, but since seeing no change, I feel like my reflection is just a blob. I hate that so much. I actually lost another half an inch on my hips, which is awesome, but my mental image is right back to where I started. Terrible…

How I feel today

So pity party aside, not much else to report. I applied for a new position at work, meaning if I get it we can actually afford consistent groceries that are on the diet and a gym membership! Which would be lovely. You know, actually being able to afford things? Yeah, it’s been a while. But for now, since I have nothing left to report except that I weighed 226 as of yesterday and have been dealing with a killer headache for about 3 days now, I need to go clean the house for the in laws coming in tomorrow. Praying next week is a better report, but like I posted last week, I’m trying to focus more on how I affect people vs how I don’t like myself physically, because that’s no way to live. Until next week.

Scale Fever

Completely forgot what day it was! So do you want to know what the hardest part of this week has been? Not weighing myself. It has not only become a habit in my life, but it seems it is also an obsession. It’s been about a week since the last time I did, and I find myself feeling seriously overweight. I feel like everything I eat is terrible and that I’m eating too much, but when I log it to see, I’m only at half what I should be eating for the day. HALF! I realize I have no idea how I am without my scale. It was a crutch I was using to reassure myself that I was doing ok. Even if I wasn’t losing weight, I was staying the same, and after a lifetime of watching the numbers go up for seemingly no reason, it’s at least somewhat of a comfort to know you’re not going up. But without it in my life, I’m always assuming the worst. I look in the mirror, and feel like I look bigger than ever. I can’t even find my measuring tape to see if I’m just having a mental ‘fat day’ or if somehow I actually have puffed up. What is wrong with me?

Honestly, it’s probably just withdrawals. Like any other addiction, you’re going to have negative side effects, and it seems mine is terrible body image issues. In fact, writing this made me sad, and I had to go do something to reassure myself that I’m doing ok. Not the scale though… I’m keeping my promise and waiting until my birthday to see how far I’ve come. Which is hopefully at least ten pounds. Hopefully. Nah, I bough a ‘goal’ bikini years ago, and when I first got it, it was about four inches from closing. Today, I was able to get it not only closed, but fitting pretty well. I mean, it’s still a bit too small to be seen in public with it on, but it’s encouraging!

So that’s me this week. Eating pretty well, though I’m still fighting some kind of cold or something, so basically having to make myself eat some days. Especially at home. Eating out always sounds way better than eating in, even more so when I’m sick. Who wants to prep food when you’re coughing so hard you gag yourself? Not me, that’s who. Hope you have a great weekend! I’ll be camping, so pray I don’t die… from, you know… nature.

Dealing With the Feels

Hello. My name is (mumbles something) and I am addicted to carbs. About two weeks ago I just went crazy for a few days and my body handled it well, only putting on about 2 lbs (which is impressive with my history), but then it happened. I lost my will to eat well again. I had a plan laid out for me, I was doing amazing on it, then a cheat day turned into a cheat week, turned into my taste buds changing. Now I am sick, with no appetite, and have been this way since Monday night. I binged on sugar and my immune system tanked. Unfortunately, my body responds to no food the same as large amounts of bad food…Meaning, I put weight back on, and I am feeling so down about my body image to the point I couldn’t bring myself to post this week until now. Now I’m easing myself back into it, and will be getting groceries tomorrow to keep on keeping on. Now, being sick, I was supposed to go see my in-laws this weekend, but let’s be honest… I can’t even sleep in my own bed without coughing so hard I feel like throwing up, I can’t imagine being at someone else’s house and trying to take care of this. Plus, I just don’t want to make anyone else feel this way.

I will say, though, I have been making my own cough syrup again, and it works really really well still. Raw honey, apple cider vinegar, cayenne pepper. fresh ginger grated, and cinnamon. It’s sweet and tangy, and within ten minutes of taking it, my coughing has subsided. Plus, normal cough medicine upsets my stomach really bad, so all natural ingredients are a gift. So that’s where I am right now. Stuffy and runny nose, coughing, dizzy, and no appetite, all while dealing with feelings of self loathing which are stupid, and should not be an issue. I think my biggest problem is that I was getting so addicted to lifting, then we just stopped. Now I just feel lazy, and thanks to my messed up adrenals, there’s not a lot I can do for workouts at home, aside from walking with Leslie Sansone, or yoga, not that there’s space in this tiny apartment for either. I’m just bummed out.

So here’s my plan. I’m getting back on my meal plan (though tweaking it a little because I wasn’t eating enough), making hubby go to the apartment gym with me no matter how much he complains about how little they have because it’s a heck of a lot more than we have, and we can’t afford a gym membership at the moment, and finally, not getting on the scale until my birthday. That last one is going to be the hardest, but I get so discouraged looking at the numbers. Or I feel like it gives me an excuse to cheat, but that’s a problem, because no matter how well I’m doing, I’m still over 200 pounds, and that’s not ok to me. I have to remind myself that all that food that I want now will still be there when I’ve reached my goal. That’s me for this week. Hope you guys are doing better, and I hope you have a great weekend.

Weekends Are a Pain in the Diet

I did it again… While my family was here I swore to myself that I’d be good, and it started off that way, but you slip back into such bad habits when you’re comfortable. My family even asked that I help them get on to Keto too, and while I was saying yes and speaking highly of it, I was making biscuits and eating chips. Good news is that I only gained two pounds, but the bad news is I have been having a terrible headache on and off for the last few days. That and I haven’t found the will or energy to make the meal plan I was working with. Well, I did, but then realized I was missing a couple of things which led to an exasperated sigh on my part and grabbing some meat and cheese from the fridge to eat instead of grocery shopping.

That being said, until I can get my butt to the store (which will likely be tomorrow since hubby gets paid), I’m just surviving on what I can find in the fridge. Which is a bummer since I was doing so well on my plan. But, on the bright side, sometimes my body needs the off time to get itself over a plateau. So we’ll just go with that for now. Unfortunately, however, we have a family reunion to attend this weekend, which will likely not be kind to our diets. My best hope is to stick to keto things, but restart the plan Monday when we get back.

Aside from all that, I was able to clear out like half my closet of clothes that are too big now! It was hard giving some of them up, because I really liked a few of those pieces, but I needed to so I don’t have a set of ‘comfortable’ clothes that I could slip back into. I will not do that again. Cool thing is I found this awesome site which is also an app (at least on iPhone), that is basically like shopping at Goodwill (which is my favorite for finding good deals), except they’ve sorted out all the nasty clothes for you, leaving you will brand names in great condition for crazy cheap. If you click through that hyperlink, it SHOULD give you $20 for your first purchase and if it doesn’t let me know and I will fix it. But on top of that, they can also send you what they call a clean out bag which is what I did with all my big clothes. If they don’t want to pay me for them, they donate the lot, and it saves me a trip to the local resale shops! If you can’t tell I’m basically obsessed with it right now. I even found a dress on there that I splurged on to celebrate the dropping of sizes! Even if it doesn’t fit right now, I know it will soon enough. Keeping positive!

So that’s about it for this week. Going to go curl up on the couch with some kombucha and watch some funny movies I rented. Have an utterly fabulous day!

Just a Quick Update

My family is coming in today! I couldn’t be happier, especially since the hubby is off on a biking trip that will last him until Sunday. I would really prefer not to be alone until then, so thankfully I won’t have to be. This will be the first time they have seen the new apartment, and since they’re my guests, they get to jump on the keto train for the next few days. I just can’t say that it’s a specific way of eating, or else I’ll get a lecture from one of them, no matter how good or filling it is. Oh well, look to the bright side…. FAMILY MOVIE NIGHT! Oh man, I missed that. So a stack rented from the library, and now to come up with some snacks.

On the everything else front, I’m the lightest I’ve been since the wedding, and fast approaching my ‘big day’ weight once again. I swear, I worked so hard to get to that 220 mark, just to have it gone in a week of married life. But 2 am donut runs will do that to a girl. So, I’m planning to just wave at it as I pass it on the scale on my way down to 200 flat, then beyond. I swear, this eating plan hubster made for me is magic. I did slip up over the weekend at the wedding, but when there’s an open bar and it’s a million degrees out, you reach for that iced concoction to get you through it, and unfortunately that was loaded with sugar. But those pounds are already gone, and I’m only a couple days behind. Gotta live! But I have to say, my clothes are fitting really nice. Pants that used to be too tight are just snug enough to be comfortable without a belt, and as I said in the last post, I have been able to fit into some dresses that I’ve never been able to before. This is one of the few times in my whole life that I have been encouraged on an eating plan without hitting a solid plateau that then became a slide to adding an extra 20+lbs in addition to what I had lost back onto my person. It has been a terribly frustrating way to live, to say the least.

Now to do a mad rush of cleaning before everyone gets here. Have a lovely day!

Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

I’m BACK! I am so very sorry for the last two weeks. To be honest I was struggling with the thought of putting the blog down completely because I was getting so frustrated with everything. Not only was I not losing weight, but I was gaining and my clothes weren’t fitting and basically I was an emotional wreck. So husband and I sat down and he had me go to the Keto Calculator to figure out what I needed and why my macros weren’t being fulfilled. I was eating well, and staying keto, but nothing was happening for me and he was losing crazy fast, so I thought “what could it hurt for two weeks?”. He came up with a meal plan for me and I swear to you, after 1 day I was down significantly. I am sticking to the thought that I married a magic man, because it’s been amazing. I’m now under where I was when I ended the Clean Burn Shape cleanse, but without the lack of sleep, emotional turmoil, or being hungry all the time. I’m also down in inches AND fit into a dress yesterday that I have never been able to fit into before. It called for a date night so we went to a stirfry place where we would stay on the diet and then saw Pixels in 3D. It was a good day.

IT FITTTTSSSSS

Also, speaking of good days, I was able to grow my own SCOBY and am now on my 3rd batch, and my 2nd round of flavorings. It is so good and saving us so much money! So far my favorite is ginger peach, but here’s a tip… If you’re going to do this at home adding ginger to your bottles super carbonates it. I’m talking a within a day dealing with ‘a shaken bottle of champagne’ carbonates it. More than once have I sprayed my kitchen with frothy kombucha, much to my husband’s annoyance. But hey, it’s a small price to pay for a healthy body, right? Though I have not stopped ait locking the ginger infused bottles, only covering them to keep the fruit flies out. Because, something I didn’t know, kombucha attracts fruit flies and gnats by the horde. It has been awful. A friend told me about a death trap involving an unused SCOBY, dish soap, and foil poked with tiny holes. I may just have to create one… But for now I’m looking forward to trying my newest batches. Among my flavors I have cherry vanilla, strawberry ginger, and strawberry-vanilla-sriracha. That last one should be quite interesting! I’ll let you know how it goes.

Thank you for being patient with me during the last month of frustrated rants and absences. I am back on track, and praying you’re also doing wonderful on your own journey. Have a most wonderful day!