So far, so good

So far, so good.  Of course that lovely stomach bug helped a little.  Not in losing any weight amazingly.  You'd think 3 days of not eating might have an effect.  Such is my life.  But...it did help "reset" things a little.  I admit I got into a really bad habit through the holidays of just grabbing whatever, whenever to eat.  Having no appetite for several days (why couldn't it stay gone?) helped me to get back to smaller portions, eating when my stomach is growling rather than when I feel like it, and detaching from the need for sweet.  

I have done pretty well with my first round of goals.  I am drinking more water.  I am getting up earlier (though it's closer to 6 than 5:30...still working on that). I am remembering my supplements.  And I did yoga twice this past week. It'll be 3 times this coming week since I'm feeling well.  

One of my future goals is to cut out sweet, both real sugar and artificial.  I think being too hooked on the "sweet" flavor just isn't good, even if it's a zero calorie sweet.  I've stopped drinking diet soda (1-2 a week).  I still have some crystal light type drinks, but after I make some I add about 2 parts extra water so it has that watered down "sports-ade" type taste.  And I'm fine with that.  

This next week school ramps up a notch with writing new kinds of papers in a new kind of way.  But I'll keep up with these goals and work on pulling round 2 together!  

The Details

I am usually a bit over ambitious when it comes to setting goals.  I set lots of them, and even write them down and put them somewhere visible.....   where I can be reminded often of how much I'm not really working on them.  Yeah, I'm awesome.  So for this "totally change my health for the better and lose weight along the way" goal, I am starting small.  I'll put some small, but important habits into place first, before moving on.  

The first round of changes:


Take my afternoon supplements
Morning yoga 3 x a week
To bed earlier and awake earlier
Drink at least 6 glasses of water a day


My supplements are fish oil capsules (for inflammation), vitamin D3 with calcium citrate (for better D3 absorption), vitamin B12 (because that's low too), and papaya enzymes and probiotics (for better digestion).  Here's the thing.  I can't take those first thing in the morning because they interfere with my thyroid hormones.  And for the life of me, I just cannot remember to take more pills in the afternoon (or I remember but many little distractions get in the way....  or maybe I'm just lazy).  


I gave up exercising a while back because with even moderate workouts, I would have pain (not muscle soreness), from some "injury" I don't remember getting. I spent more time recovering than exercising. Thank you autoimmune disease.  But I have some yoga DVDs that show modifications (because I am not thin or flexible enough for all the regular poses).  And now that my mysterious thumb pain seems to finally be going away after 3 weeks, maybe I can actually put my hands on the ground and do yoga, which I really enjoy, but rarely do. 

In order to get up and have time to do yoga, read scriptures, and get a good deal of homework done before I wake the kids up, I will need to start getting up at 5:30.  I'm sure that's no big deal for many of you.  But I'm a night person.  Going to bed at 10pm is hard for me because I'm not tired then.  Even if I got up really early.  But I'll at least be in bed, lights out and work on being more of a morning person than I already force myself to be.

Water.  Simple, right?  I rarely feel thirsty though.  So I don't drink much of anything during the day.  But I feel better when I do.  So when I fill up my glass a few times a day..  I'll simply drink the whole thing rather than just a sip.    

These four changes start now.  I'll put reminders everywhere and make it as easy as possible.  The idea is that in 2 weeks or less I'll be in a new routine with these habits and I'll start noticing some small changes in how I feel. And as soon as I feel I have a handle on them, I'll post my next steps.

The Goal

Here we are, New Year, new beginnings! This all seemed like a good idea the other day.  But I have to say I'm not as sure today.  Maybe that's the nasty junk food and lack of sleep from NY Eve talking.  But, I said I was going to put my biggest challenge out there and hope it would give me more incentive to actually follow the steps in my goal.  

Here it is...  (drum roll)...   



my health
  

I won't get into every little detail (for which you are grateful, trust me), but I have some health issues.  I  have an autoimmune thyroid disease, which causes generally high levels of inflammation throughout my body, even when taking my medication, resulting in aches, random pains that can hang on for days, and a stressed system to name a few.  

I also have this crunchy knee... it "crunches" when I walk down stairs.  It's been crunchy and painless..  and now, not always painless (having THE steepest set of stairs ever doesn't help).  It could be a precursor to arthritis which runs in my family.  And I would like to do all I can to heal or reverse this now if possible.  

I found out I have a ridiculously low vitamin D level.  Which increases risk for cancer, autoimmune diseases (uh huh) and inflammation. 

I am clearly not at anything close to my goal weight.

And I have acid reflux.  

Okay..sadly there's more, but before I start sounding like your great grandmother (or maybe I already have), I'll stop here.   My point is, I'm not super young anymore.  I should be taking these things more seriously.  In the past, I've been too busy being mom to be slowed down by a little reflux or knee crunching.  My motto has been something like "blow it off and maybe it'll go away". But where are we without our health?  Where will I be 5 years from now when it's all gotten progressively worse?  

I've been trying to do better at recognizing spiritual promptings in my life (another goal).  A few months ago, when the thought occurred to me again, that I "should" start taking care of myself better I had an epiphany because this thought came to my mind: 

Why are you so willing to follow other promptings, but those regarding your health you dismiss as just another "should" on your list that you don't have time for, rather than Heavenly Father's counsel for you?  

Yes, why indeed?  And I've thought about that and pondered it...   but as you can see, taken no action so far.  Nothing consistent at least.  Not something I'm terribly proud of.  But that's going to change.  

I won't be just blogging about weight loss, though that needs to be part of the goal. After years of struggling with weight I can tell you I know the secret to weight loss.  Eat less, move more.  So I'm not looking for some magic solution, but I do think a body responds better to diet and exercise efforts when it's in balance on all levels. I believe strongly in the mind-body connection.  I am a big believer in integrative medicine, meaning that Western medical practices and pharmaceuticals don't hold all the answers to our health.  I'll be using meditation, coconut oil, essential oils, prayer, and other things I have researched over the years and found to have great benefits.  And some standard medicines too. 

I have started many times, but have never established hard-core habits with any of this.  I do good for a while,  something sidelines me for a few days... and then I completely forget I was ever doing any of it (how does that happen?).  I'll post soon about the specifics of what I'm going to do and why.