I AM WOMAN, HEAR ME ROAR.....

Ok, you don't have to listen to me roar, but I did it!!! I completed a half marathon! It was a pretty cool feeling aside from my left calf cramping up at the 13 mile mark and my right calf cramping up right before the finish line, and the 50 yr. old fat lady running next to me that Miguel told me to beat, the unbearable pain in my feet, the complete feeling of exhaustion, the pain that sets in when the adreneline quits. But let me tell you, it was totally worth the medal that I got. Ok, I guess it's really hard to detect my sarcasm in words, so in all actuality, it was a lot of pain, but I perservered and I FINISHED!!! Not that it's a world record or anything, but I did it in under 3 hrs. So the moral of this story is, what you put your mind to, you can accomplish. Now, it's on to the next thing!! (originally written 10/2013).

Day 16- Just Juicing

Today I'm on my 16th day of straight juicing. That's right, just juicing fruits and veggies. The first three days was hard when my body was detoxing! Day 1 I was irritable. Day 2 I was tired and wanted to be left alone. Day 3 was hard because I was at work all day. I started to get a really bad headache in the afternoon but I went home and made a juice and felt better. Day 4 I felt good. Day 5 got better! My skin was clearing up. My energy levels were getting better! Fast forward to today! People are amazed that I would juice for so long!

Why you ask, am I doing it? Well, the documentary 'Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead' was very inspirational to me. If you haven't seen it, watch it on Netflix-sooo good! I don't want to be on medication the rest of my life. I started taking medicine for my thyroid last February. I hated taking a pill everyday. After researching hypothyroidism, I came to find out that you shouldn't eat wheat. After getting wheat out of my body, I felt better! Succumbing to the wheat-invested world we live in, slowly I let it back in my diet! My research showed that your body gets the gluten in wheat mixed up with the T3&T4, thus not producing enough of those hormones. Add that onto the stress of starting a new job, leaving my kids, (I was a stay-at-home mom for almost 12 years), & you get some lbs loading on.

Combine that with a 2week vacation over the summer where we stopped at almost every DQ we saw, and had to eat at all the favorite restaurant   and you have serious weight to lose! Oh as if that wasn't enough, I was working out in the summer and even started doing Crossfit. When I got back from vacation and my maniac eating, I went to workout one morning and I couldn't put my shoe on because my foot hurt so badly! After a week of it hurting and swelling, I went to the Dr. He put me in a flat shoe and told me to come back in 2 weeks if it didn't get better. Well, it still hurt and was swelling everyday (think pregnancy feet swelling). This time I saw a podiatrist. He put me in a walking boot and told me to come back in 2 weeks. So I did-he told me at least 3 more weeks and to come back if still swelling. Well, it's been 3 weeks after the 3 weeks and my foot is still swelling. Oh, the specialist took an X-ray and said it was a bone bruise and not a stress fracture. That seemed like good news.

So the point of this is, with my weight piling on, my injury, my lack of energy and my thyroid problem, something had to be done. Something drastic! And that leads me up to today-Day 16 of juicing! I was to get all the processed crap out of my body and let the fruits and veggies heal my thyroid, my allergies and maybe my metabolism! I also want to break my bad habits of eating something because it looks good or smells good when I know it's really not good for me!

I'm retraining my taste buds so when I do eat, I will want kale and cucumbers and pears and beets!
Any advice I can give-try it! Day 1-3 are hard, but it's so rewarding afterwards! When I wake up, I'm ready to go! No tired feeling behind my eyes! I'm back to the gym even in a walking boot! I can do the recumbent bike, and weights and abs!

If I can do this, you can too. The more you do it, the more the will power and desire to change comes!!!
Hope this inspires you in some way whether it's looking at the ingredients of the food you put in your body to juicing to detox your body!!
Happy Juicing!!

Day 1-Learning Curve

So, the day started out good (woke up pretty sore from body pump the night before) and ended well with a not so great middle.  Had a Greek yogurt for breakfast. Kids wanted to go to Double Dave's for lunch, so I caved (being the first day of summer and all)! I ate a couple slices more than I should but did have a side salad and only half a glass of soda. Even though I ate too much for lunch, I didn't let that give me the excuse to ruin my whole day! That is an improvement for me! After lunch, we walked next door to JoAnn's fabric. Livi has been dying to see their duck tape. Supposedly it's the rarest! After yelling at both the boys for laying in the bin of stuffing, we all left with a new crossword puzzle book (livi got a little wooden owl to color). We came home and all laid in my bed and worked on our puzzles, while Livi colored her owl. After my nap, decided I needed to burn off my lunch so I went and did a Zumba class with my friend from school, Nettie. It was in a warehouse that had a little air conditioning, no insulation, and about 30 women crammed in a 20x15 foot room. Needless to say I was dripping in sweat! From that class I went home and made grilled cheese and ham for Ethan and Livi then off to pick up Eli from a friend's house. Dropped him off (ate the leftover crusts from one of the kids sandwich) then to a yoga class. Was a great class and reminded me I really enjoy yoga (except when I was doing a twisting move and my love handle was all in the way). I came home, put the kids in bed and then off for a 'therapy walk' with my friend Deidra. We walked a couple of miles but it was a pleasant night so that was great! Now to watch the Spurs play the Heat in the first game of the finals.
Tomorrow will bring new challenges and more opportunities to make good food decisions. Miguel and I are going out tomorrow night and got a hotel in downtown Austin. We had our 13 year wedding Anniversary on Monday so this is our celebration! Can't wait to hang out and be with my spouse!