It's Going...

It's not going perfectly as planned, but it's going.

I have been riding my bike outside several times a week but not doing any weight training. I need to get back on that. I also need to get back on my fitness pal and making sure I'm eating enough, because I don't think I am.

The great news is that I'm wearing a size 16 pants. They are a tiny bit snug but after an hour they fit perfect. In a few months hopefully they won't fit either.

School is becoming interesting to deal with. The only painful part of school is the ride there. I would say that I-35W was developed by small children but that would insult the intelligence of small children. I don't understand it. I love this campus so much though that it's worth it. It's just hard finding time to do everything. My house is getting insane. I guess finishing school and working on my health is way more important than if my house is perfectly clean.

Tomorrow I start leadership academy. They got Jason's Deli for lunch, so no lunch for me. Stupid food allergies...

She's a Running Fool

I took the dogs for a long walk tonight with Forest. Around my block is .4 miles so I've been going around 3 times, I will up to to 4 soon. I ran about once around but had to stop because my asthma was really starting to flare up. I feel like I am coming down with a cold or something. I sure hope not. I want to get up to running an entire mile without stopping before December, I think I can do it! There is a 1 mile run at my school on December 1st, I'd love to do it!

I am going to a diabetes seminar tomorrow, it is for those that have diabetes or are at risk and I am absolutely at risk. Maybe I'll learn something new.

I'm off to make my lunch and go to bed!

School Days, School Days...

School has kept me very very busy the last few weeks. Last week I attended a Student Success conference and one of the seminars was about becoming more involved at school. I found out that there is a gym on my campus with a pool! Also, they have bikes to rent and there is a trail all of the way around Marine Creek Lake, just next to the school. This is what I would get to ride around:


This campus is beautiful and I just love it. It's a bit of a pain to get to with the traffic on I-35 but completely worth it. I've been going to the Northeast campus for the last year and a half and haven't been involved with anything. Now I'm at the Northwest campus and I've already been more active there in the last three weeks than I had been at Northeast.

I joined the Leadership Academy, which gives me a continuing education credit if I attend at least 4 of the seminars this and next semester. Next month there is an overnight retreat at Camp Grady Spruce near Possum Kingdom Lake. I've been on these kinds of retreats before, but they were mandatory and with High School kids...so most of them didn't want to be there. Thankfully this will be students who actually want to be there and will enjoy themselves so I'm very excited. It's completely free, including food and even when I voiced my concerns about my food allergies, they said they are totally able to accommodate me, it happens quite often. I thought for sure I'd have to pack my own food! I am quite a few hours over my "yearly budget" because of Grace's weekend here earlier this month, so I'm able to take some days off and go to these seminars and this retreat.

My diet is still going really well, I have cut out pork and red meat and am sticking with chicken, turkey and fish. As for the exercising, it's been very hard to find time to do it officially, but I've been doing a lot of walking at least. Now that I know there is a gym in my school I may just have to take advantage of that!

I had to go buy new pants this week, I am down to a size 18! I was wearing a 24/26 at one point so this is amazing!

Off to bed soon, it's been a long week and I want all of the sleep that I can get. Goodnight!

Weekend at Jenny's!

I woke up early this morning again, thankfully. I made myself go to bed early! I got showered and ate a wonderful breakfast that I also had for lunch yesterday, spinach and egg pie!


It's my new favorite thing, although I added an avocado to the mix. So yummy. And also something I'm addicted to, Van's French Toast Sticks. Totally gluten free and full of lots of good carbs. I almost cut out all carbs but I was getting hungry pretty quickly after breakfast. No more! Now, on to the rest of my day...

Gracie is here! Gracie is here! Well, Gracie has been here several times of course, but never overnight. We are so excited to have her! Today after we picked her up, we came back here and she spent quite a bit of time trying to escape.


I think she was expecting to go somewhere more exciting.


That's more like it! Gracie LOVES albino American alligators!

We took Grace to the Children's Aquarium in Dallas. She likes aquariums and this time she got to pet a sting ray. She just giggled and giggled.

Taking care of Grace all day is like marathon weight training so I didn't do any formal training, but we did walk around a lot. I'm being bad and eating Sweedish Fish, but only a serving instead of the whole thing!

Off to put Gracie to bed and I think I might sleep myself.

Jump Start

I got up not-so-early today because I didn't get to bed very early last night. I'm up kind of late again tonight. I need to get to bed but knew I owed it to myself to blog today!

So, after finally arising, I got dressed and took the dogs for a walk. It dawned on me after about 1/2 mile that I was dying of thirst and realized I hadn't had breakfast or had anything to drink since I woke up. I was so pumped about getting up and going I forgot! So I cut my walk short and went home and fueled myself. I got so much done today before work afterwards, I had to prepare my house for this weekend!

Tomorrow I am picking Gracie up and she's coming to my house until Monday! She's never had a sleepover anywhere but her Grandma's house and that has only been a handful of times. I've never stayed with Grace overnight although I have taken care of her all day while her parents have been out of town. We're going to the children's aquarium tomorrow and then to Six Flags on Monday. It'll be an adventure, that's for sure!

I need to be getting to bed, goodnight y'all!

New Beginnings

I decided to start something instead of writing about it. It's started, it's rolling down the hill and I don't think I can (nor do I want to) stop it.

(Just to let you all know, GF = Gluten Free and DF = Dairy Free)

Where to really start? Lots of changes came about in the last few years and there were reasons for making this huge decisions, so I'll start when I decided to stop eating dairy two years ago. I don't have the normal symptoms like lactose intolerant people do, but instead I feel like Chuck Norris round-house kicked me in the ribs when I eat most dairy products. I think I have a pretty high pain threshold but it is NOT fun to wake up in the middle of the night and feel like you shouldn't breath because of how badly it makes your side hurt. Milk was not worth that bullet and now I don't miss it at all. I have been bad and have cheated here and there, like Braum's ice cream doesn't bother me and I'll have a few bites, but now I know I shouldn't be eating it at all, it's not worth the risk and it's full of sugar, something else I am avoiding.

However, breaking up with cheese had just not been cutting it (no pun intended), I knew it wasn't enough and that I still didn't feel as good as I needed to. In May I tried an experiment and stopped eating all gluten. I accidentally had a little bit twice and the results were catastrophic. Before the experiment I was getting migraines quite often that generally came with dizzy spells and a foggy feeling for a half a day or so after. Then it got to the point where the dizzy spells and fogginess were nearly everyday occurrences. That stopped in the first week after going GF.

After being GF for a few weeks, I wasn't careful at a Mexican restaurant and ate about half of a flour tortilla before realizing it wasn't corn. It was hard and crispy and slathered with beans and guac! I wish it hadn't taken me that long to notice! For three days I was having those dizzy spells and the foggy brain. Although the first morning gave me a pretty painful headache, thankfully after that it was mild for a few days. Three days of my life in a gluten-induced stupor over half of a flour tortilla. I've been vigilantly gluten free ever since.

I cannot explain the difference it has made in my life. For as long as I can remember I've suffered from back and joint problems and all around unexplained pain. I was never able to lose weight and although my PCOS is to blame for a lot of that, I always hid behind that excuse. I didn't eat terribly, but not great. I was always so tired and in some kind of pain so I didn't exercise nearly as much as I should.

Now I have to plan my meals and make sure I have a backup. This is forcing me to eat healthier than I have probably ever eaten before. I think about food so differently. Before my trip to Orlando this summer I called every park we were going to and made sure there was SOMETHING I could eat in the parks. There isn't anything I can eat at Six Flags Over Texas so I was very nervous. I had no problems finding several restaurants with amazing food. We ate at the Three Broomsticks in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and I got to enjoy a wonderful meal there. Most of the menus signified what was GF/DF. They were so awesome. But, I have to plan these things. Anytime we go out to eat, we have to plan. I end up making much better choices when I plan.

Also in May, I was involved in a completely lame car accident. The post before this one chronicles it a little better, but I was pulling out of a parking lot onto a highway and decided not to go because there was a car speeding by. The guy behind me was busy doing something on his phone and gunned his van to go as well, knocking into me. I ended up seeing a chiropractor and my back was nice and messed up. Thanks to four months of treatment, my back feels so much happier than it did even before the accident. Taking care of a 50 pound child who doesn't walk will mess with your back apparently.

I'm back in school now, I just finished my first week. I am taking 3 classes 4 days a week. I've been waking up at 5:30 every morning and I never thought my body would be fine with that. I've been doing strength training and cardio 6 days a week. Tonight I actually RAN almost a half of a mile and it felt great. I'm starting slow of course but we'll see how that goes in the next few weeks. I have no idea how much I weigh right now, I need to get out my Wii Fit I think. Then I'll update on the side, because I know it's under 285 just from my very first doctor visit after my accident.


It's 11 pm (past my bedtime!) and I'm exhausted. Thankfully I don't have school tomorrow but I am gearing up for a very very fun weekend...but I'll talk about that some other time...

One Year Later

It's been a year since I started this blog, started a journey. Sometimes things don't turn out the way you would have liked them to. But, like I said a few months ago, when you fail, you can try again.

There have been some changes in my health that have caused me to again evaluate the steps I need to take to feel better and be healthier.

In April, just two weeks after we bought our "new used" car, I was rear-ended in it! It wasn't a big accident, just a bump, but the next day I started to feel very sore and weak. I went to see a new chiropractor and my back and near were injured pretty badly. Who knew that a bump could do that much damage. I felt absolutely terrible for a week and while I'm feeling better, I'm still not healed. I know that my weight has a lot to do with why my body is achy and tired, but it is also what I am eating. Between school, work, callings at church, running the house and just life in general, we have gotten into a bad habit of eating out, eating quick, eating cheap and it has definitely taken it's toll on me.

I started to get migraines a little less than a year ago. I only had one prior to this and it wasn't severe, but starting last year they have been awful and quite frequent. I tried to see if there was a trigger and I think I've found it - gluten.

No big surprise, since it's been proven in studies that most people with a dairy intolerance will also not tolerate gluten. So, here I am...another wrench in my diet. The easiest way to go GF is to stop eating out, so we have done that. I have such a great support system here and many friends that have gone gluten free (and dairy free) and I'm so blessed to be able to pick their brains.

Starting tomorrow I am going back to the gym because I haven't been exercising since my accident. My doctor doesn't want me doing anything crazy and he doesn't even want me walking for very long periods of time, my hips are in bad bad shape. I can go on the elliptical machine and that's it. It's a start!

Here's to a better and healthier tomorrow.

FAILURE!

I meant to update this a long time ago, chronically my failure in keeping up with this great plan that I had. I had an extremely strange summer...I'll leave it at that.

Overall I have been healthier and I have changed a lot of my poor habits. I've been a lot more active, but not nearly as active as I have been wanting to be. Now that I am thinking about this again, maybe I will start anew. What is great about "failure", at least in this case, is that I can start all over again. Hopefully this time will be different.

My Weekend

Sorry I haven't posted in a few days! I had a busy weekend, being sick!

Saturday morning I was up bright and early to go to our Tri-Ward Super Saturday! We made lots of fun crafts, including hair accessories made out of scraps of ribbon and polymer clay jewelry. I went out to lunch with a few friends, made a pair of glasses out of aluminum foil at Freebirds and then got my hair cut. As promised, here is a picture of said haircut:

Pretty cute, eh? I can do lots of different things with it, I can flip it out or round brush it all in. When Linda (my hair dresser) was first blowing it out, I seriously looked like I was getting Justin Bieber's haircut and that startled me a bit. I haven't been able to get it to not flip out the two times I have actually blown my hair dry...I need to go get a smaller brush!

Okay, so back to the exercise portion of this blog. I didn't get to the gym on Saturday due to my hair cut and us moving things around for when Forest's Mom comes to stay with us next week (I will talk about that later on...). Plus, I started to suddenly feel absolutely sick. I feared that I had the flu because it hit me like a ton of bricks. I spent the night sleeping mostly elevated (which I HATE to do) and when I woke up Sunday, I felt slightly better. I was pretty stuffy, but my discomfort was all in my head so I knew it wasn't the flu. Sunday was the Cystic Fibrosis Great Strides walk. One of my greatest friends, Cassi, has a nephew with CF and this is the second year we have walked for him. So, 7 months pregnant Cassi, her husband Bryce, their 22 month old Jackson, Forest and myself went on a 5K (or so...) walk. It wasn't very hot but it sure was MUGGY. It felt like walking through a cloud of water! At least I got some exercise in this weekend!

I ended up feeling worse Sunday night and by Monday morning, I was feeling 100% terrible. Forest spent the entire day getting our guest bedroom, well, guest-ready. I spent the day in bed with a sinus infection and headache from heck. I opted out of cardio today as well because I still wasn't breathing right. Hopefully tomorrow morning I will be back to normal and I can keep going. I was doing so well, it has really driven me nuts that I haven't been able to go for 5 days! Tomorrow is another day...

Day Five

As I mentioned earlier, I take care of a little girl who is 8 years old. Her name is Grace. Grace is a big part of my life and have accidentally led many to believe she is really mine. Alas, she is not. I wouldn't mind having a kid like her though! Anyway, today was field day at Grace's school. As Grace is physically challenged, there was a bunch of stuff she just couldn't do, without much help from me anyway. I got a workout from that alone! I think Grace's favorite part of the day was the fact she got to eat a few bags of popcorn. That child would crawl over a mountain for popcorn.

I was with Grace for 9 and a half hours today and when I got home at 6, I had a few things I needed to do and planned on going to the gym around 8:30. Forest (my husband) and I both got dressed to go and when we got to the gym, it was closed. Apparently I didn't pay attention to their hours very well, because the gym closes at 8pm on Fridays...

So, we went home and watched a movie together. At least it was Field Day!

Tomorrow I will start again.

Day Four

In case you were all wondering...I am going to school to be a programmer, specifically in web development. My first two classes were Microcomputer Applications (or, computers for dummies, needless to say I got an A) and Interpersonal Communication (I also got an A, it was a fun class). This summer I take a developmental math class, because I am terrible at math, then in the fall I take the math class that will satisfy my credit. I am also going to take Fundamentals of Programming I (yay, I finally get to program something!). I decided to "spruce" up the blog a little bit but I didn't flex my programming muscles too much. I am such a perfectionist that if I did write up my own template for this blog, it would take away so much precious time that could be spent doing other things, like watching Modern Family. Seriously though, I hope this is a bit easier on the eyes.

I really had to drag myself out of bed today. My doggies were in a bit of a tizzy this morning. Pippin, our Bichion Frise, is the neediest dog in the entire world. He has allergies and tends to scratch himself until he bleeds. Well, he's sporting the cone of shame this week and he is not happy about it. He came running onto the bed at 7:30 this morning acting like he'd just seen a ghost and would not leave my side. Puck, our puggle, is a black ball of insanity. He's still a puppy and enjoys chewing anything he can get his teeth on. He stays in his kennel when we are asleep, but he was ready to be out and I was not!

So, when I finally did get to the gym, there wasn't a soul in the weight room! I spent a little time on each cardio machine and I did two runs of everything on the weight training side. I can feel myself getting stronger with each rep! I hope this helps some of my rib/back issues, as I am sure they are only that way because I don't have strong muscles back there!

I found the blog of a woman who has a similar build to mine and she has the cutest short hair! I called the gal who cuts my hair and I have an appointment for Saturday. I promise to take pictures when it's done!

Day Three

I have been scheduling trips to the gym so that I will actually go. School starts again in about 2 weeks. I will be in class until 10am and then I work at noon. That should give me enough time to get to the gym and shower there when I am done. My only concern is my hair. As cute as my hair is, it takes an effort to get it that way. Honestly, I haven't felt like doing it the past two days because my arms are just so sore! It also gets in my face when I am at the gym...I think it needs to go. Thankfully my face isn't round, but I've always heard that if you are overweight you never want short hair. We'll see about that...

So, I learned today that you are not supposed to weight train everyday. Good to know! The new plan is to do just cardio one day, then cardio and weight training the next. I am going to be there 6 times a week and take Sunday off (it is the day of rest, after all). Today I got on the elliptical and lasted 3 minutes. My legs would not take it anymore. I went on the bike for a while and finally the treadmill, which again made me dizzy after just 10 minutes. I thought for sure the elliptical would be the best thing for me, but so far it's kicking my butt!

Eventually I am going to post a full-body picture of me, but I haven't had the time to take one. I usually hide myself in pictures! 

Day Two

At the beginning of 2010, I started to feel really run-down and tired, almost constantly. I was always sore and stiff. The mornings were the worst, I just couldn't get myself out of bed. I discovered that I was Vitamin D deficient. I was also tested for a plethora of other things, like arthritis and such. Eventually it was figured out that milk was causing all of these issues. The lactic acid was building up in my joints, causing them to ache and be stiff. In August I stopped eating/drinking all milk products, which has been a challenge for me, as I love cheese. It clearly doesn't love me!

I woke up today feeling tired and sore. My body is obviously not used to this abuse. I noticed today that the treadmill makes me sick after about 10 minutes. I don't know why, but it makes me dizzy. I hope that changes! I learned how to properly weight train. To find the right amount of weight you should be lifting, do 15 reps in a row. If you can't do 15, it's too much weight, but if you get to 15 and you can keep going, you are doing too little. 15 is the magic number. Using that knowledge, I feel today's weight training was much more effective.

My arms were SORE this afternoon! The muscles I use everyday to lift the 50+ pound 8 year old weren't screaming too badly though!

First Time at the Gym

 I made it through my first day! That was easier than I thought. I think it's because my DH (dear husband) was with me. There are a few things you should probably know about me before I truly begin. I live in Texas, but I grew up in Michigan. I am married, but haven't been blessed with children yet. Instead, I take care of a little girl, who is 8 years old. She has developmental delays and doesn't walk on her own and says few words. I've been with her for 4 years now! Everyday together we watch Ellen, Jimmy Fallon and Oprah!

Oprah is ending in less than two weeks! On Wednesday I was watching the "Last-Ever Weight Loss Show" and I was genuinely inspired. Every one of her guests lost over 100 pounds! If all of those people could lose 100+ pounds, why couldn't I? The very next day after school I went to the my local rec center, which has been starting at me for years now. I finally (FINALLY!) got a membership there. We had a garage sale this last weekend (where I ate donuts for breakfast...) and then today, I talked my DH into coming to the gym with me. He was laying in bed early this morning and said "But what will I wear?". It's true, he didn't have anything that resembled gym clothes and actually wanted to go in his jeans! He may be skinny, but he's not in shape either! So, after some time and a trip to Wal-Mart, we finally got to the rec center. I jumped right onto an elliptical machine, ready to go for 30 minutes. 5 minutes in, my legs felt like rubber and I only lasted another 5! I hopped around on a few different cardio machines and then went to weight training. I am surprised I can lift as much as I can, I guess lifting an 8 year old several times a day helps! We were there for over an hour, I completely lost track of time. He was so sore after we were done, but I felt great! If I can keep this attitude going, it will probably get easier and easier.

Day One

I need a change. I need to change.

My name is Jenny and I am 27 years old, it's just shy of my 28th birthday. I have been overweight nearly my entire life, for just about 20 years now. I started gaining weight in my pre-teens and after many years of trying to figure out why, I was finally diagnosed with PCOS, PolyCystic Ovarian Syndrome. Today my Wii Fit told me I weighed 285 pounds and then said "that's obese!" in a far too cheerful voice. I haven't weighed myself in a while and I am shocked by that number because I was down to 260 not long ago. I don't feel like I weigh that much...and apparently neither does my body. My cholesterol is perfect, my blood pressure is just below normal, my blood sugar is good. PCOS causes me to have insulin resistance so I am on medicine for that, but that keeps my blood sugar from being too low. When I received my diagnosis, I was told that I would never have children of my own and that losing weight would be nearly impossible. I believed it.

I have been using that as an excuse for over a decade. Yes, PCOS does make it hard to lose weight, but I know it's not impossible, especially with all of the advancements that have been made concerning this syndrome. I can do it, if I really tried.

The honest truth is:

1) I *hate* exercising. It feels like such a chore and I never feel like I have the time to do it. I have a whole bunch of things here to exercise with - an indoor and outdoor bike, yoga supplies, a Wii Fit, videos, small weights and even a game on the PS3 that tracks your movement. Why don't I use them? Because there are at home and I am easily distracted! I take my dogs for walks everyday and I power walk so I do get exercise everyday, but obviously just walking is not going to be enough to lose this much weight.

2) I *love* food. Although I am not one of those people who loves to eat at McDonald's everyday, I love to eat! I love Mexican food and depending on how it's prepared, can be pretty terrible for you. The meals I make at home are generally healthy and I love veggies and salads, but my downfall is SUGAR! I could easily give up candy, but cakes, cookies, anything baked, I love them. Considering that diabetes is like a wildfire in my family, I really need to watch that.

Last year I decided to go back to school. It was one of the best decisions I have ever made. It's been an interesting adjustment, but I am glad I did it. I feel the same way about this project. I am finally excited to do something about it! I started this project because I know that I need to find a better way to lose weight. No more fad diets or depriving myself because as history has told me, I will fall off the wagon in two weeks and eat an entire cake (it was a small one, I swear!). I need to be strong and I need to have something to answer to. That is why I created this blog. I hope it makes me accountable for my choices, whether it be food choices or my choice to go to the gym or not.

I have not set a weight goal as of yet, because every time I do and I don't meet it, I get discouraged. My weight loss is probably not going to be as fast as it should be. I am not doing this to look better. I am comfortable with who I am and what I look like. I want to lose weight so the possibility of having my own children will increase and so that when I am older, I don't have to be plagued with weight-related illnesses. If I don't do this now, it is going to be so much harder to do later.

No one may ever read this blog and that's okay. It is here for me, first and for most, but my wish is that maybe someday I will inspire someone else to do what I am doing right now.