finding strength.

i never gave up so to speak.. but i have been discouraged. the weight that i lost in the beginning of the year ended up mostly coming back, though i must be patient because i am building muscle as i work out. it's hard to forget about the numbers sometimes, especially when they've been so high for so long.

there's no scale in my house anymore, but i do check when i go to the local health food store. they have a selection of digital scales available for customer use. i stepped on and said 'yes! 193!'. the manager did a double take and asked 'how much?!' apparently she was in disbelief that i weighed that much. 'well you carry it very, very well dear' she says. i'm sure i'd be 20 pounds lighter if i wasn't endowed with so much weight on my chest.

i've managed to stay on top of my morning routine of blending up a booster smoothie first thing to get me going, and taking the natural supplements designed to support my sluggish thyroid. that finicky little gland is partially responsible for this mess, even when i eat right and get exercise it's terribly hard to keep the weight off. the fact that my weight has gone down a few pounds this year instead of up several is a miracle, and also a motivation. i have gained on average 7 pounds a year since high school, no matter what i did to fight it. well now i'm taking it to the next level, and slowly changing my entire lifestyle to reflect the good health i wish to experience. health isn't something you make time for occasionally, it is your daily life.

it's been rough keeping up with working out, monitoring everything i eat, and managing to get done in a day everything i need to do. having a bunk thyroid zaps the energy right out of you and once inertia sets in it's hard to get back on track and into motion. i just have to find the strength to get back on my feet even when i'd rather take a nap, and push myself to keep moving. finally, it's starting to pay off.

there's only four months left to this year, and honestly i thought i would have made more progress by now. i'm not disappointed though, because there's only four months left to this year, and even though i haven't made the progress i thought i might, i'm still trying. one day at a time..

building healthy habits.

so i haven't posted all month, but i have managed to build a pretty solid morning routine. ever since i got my brand new NutriBullet i have made it a habit to make myself a 'fast food breakfast'. i use Salba chia as a boost, sometimes some hemp protein. i have to get more into adding greens though, at least i have the motion down pat.

another thing i am working on is trying to re-eliminate meat from my diet. i was doing so well and i started eating meat again when i got back to traveling. i'm so bad for that.. i have to learn to maintain healthy habits when i travel, or some up with alternatives and plan ahead.

i have found some inspiration in the world of reads that has challenged me to look deeper into what i eat, at the same time thinking of the big picture. if you want some motivation to truly change your diet [and your life!] i highly reccomend the book Whole by T. Colin Campbell. he is very blunt, and a veteran in nutritional science. besides longing for the health of my youth, this has been a driving force for me to succeed in this challenge.

i have found comfort in things like mushrooms and potatoes, and my boosts like chia and hemp. i also do my best to always have water on hand, i use a brita filter water bottle instead of drinking straight from the tap or wasting plastic drinking bottled water. i don't even enjoy the taste of bottled water, all i taste is the plastic it's packaged in.

that's it for now, otherwise i've been pretty occupied with the Permaculture style food garden, especially since being slammed with a pretty intense storm. lots of work needed to be done to get the garden back up off of the ground, and there's still more yet to do. i must be conscious of the heat though, and staying hydrated during the annual heat wave.

fast food breakfast

now when i say fast food, i don't mean a mcmuffin and a coffee.. i mean real, fast, food! as long as i have had a home/kitchen i have had a magic bullet in it, i swear by this little blender for providing fast liquid meals. my brand new toy, the NutriBullet is the same idea with twice the power!

in just a couple of minutes you can peel a banana, add a handful of fresh or frozen berries, and a 'boost'.. i tend to use Salba brand chia seeds, or some hemp protein powder, or both. for a green start, begin with a handful of kale pulled away from the spine, and blend with half a cup of juice or water to create a green 'base' to add the rest of your ingredients to. it's important to have enough liquid for your blender to work properly, so i try to use something delicious and healthy like coconut water, almond milk or pure orange juice.

there are a bazillion and a half smoothie recipes out there, for all kinds of tastes and diets and meals. for a more filling smoothie today i let some oats soak in some almond milk for half an hour before blending it in to the smoothie. this made for a super thick smoothie with added grains that will keep me full half of the day. the point is, smoothies are fast, and can be both healthy and delicious, and are a much wiser choice to start the day than waffles or a bowl of sugar cereal. i'm doing my best to incorporate a nice smooth meal once or twice a day to get all the nutrients and energy i need to keep up with the gardening and exercise, so far so good!

off the wagon

so i fell off it, that week i went away to Arkansas.. as i wrote in my last post, i had a hard time keeping up with my healthy habits and supplements. i threw off my routine all together, and now i'm starting over from scratch. not entirely i suppose, at least i have the tools i need to help me, i just need the willpower to get myself back on track.

i think i may have found help.. i have been hired to shoot a wedding in the Dominican sometime in October.. and i'm gonna want to look good. it's almost exactly 4 months away, so this is plenty of time to get in shape, if i can stick with it. at least i haven't neglected the garden...

at least something is thriving! i got back on my equalizer bars for the first time today in a couple weeks. i can feel the burn.. like i started over. being away meant that i didn't have as many fresh options, and i got too used to packaged snacks and not preparing my own meals. i was spoiled! but i can certainly feel that too. my guts are still recovering from eating too much processed food. i will have to remember this for the next time i travel, sticking with the routine no matter where i am is important! how did i stay in such great shape when i spent months on the road?! ahh... i'm getting older.

well i think it's just about time to bust out the juicer, or maybe the blender.. haven't decided yet. so many good things, farmer's market freshness.. i'm happy to be home <3

a week away...

and a week of recovery. i just spent a week down in the southern states attending the annual international Walmart Shareholders meeting.. what an experience. it was like traveling the world in one week, meeting people from twenty seven countries, and learning about culture and industry all over the world. anyways, while i was gone i managed to sleep 11.5 hours over the span of six days, and i know i didn't get nearly enough nutrition as i skipped some meals and otherwise ate whatever was provided.

another thing i neglected was my Mannatech! i brought it with me, i even had just enough of each supplement for the amount of days i was there, but i just forgot to take them. i was switching bags so often and forgetting them in my room that i totally fell out of my routine. i must have been high on adrenaline and lack of sleep and the excitement of being there, because i have no idea how i was still standing at the airport when i landed back home.

it literally took me a week to get myself together. i'm finally feeling better today, it's 6:30pm and i'm not ready for bed as i have been all week. i got home last saturday, went on the Walmart Walk for Miracles the sunday, and then started with my work week at 7am that monday morning. i have been so exhausted that i've overslept, and hadn't spent nearly any time in the garden. chores were neglected too, but mostly because our attention had to be diverted to a wet basement... we got a lot of rain this week.


well now that i have my energy back and there's still some sunlight, i really must get back to the garden.  i have so much work to do here at the home base and out there in the world, i'm one busy little hippy!

gardening for health

wow... slacking on this blog or what?! ahh well, i'm not usually one to get nailed down to a computer for too long, but i'm trying. this month has been mainly focused on getting our new yard ready to grow some food. not only is eating fresh picked food incredibly good for your overall health, but the very act of gardening is good for you also.

just like any workout, or anything in life really, you get out of it what you put into it. if you are lazy about digging the ground, there won't be room for root growth, and your garden will not be strong. digging uses all sorts of muscles, and after a day of building a new garden plot, i can certainly feel it.

after the initial dig, there's still plenty of gentle exercise in store when caring for a garden. not only that, but it's a meditative stress reliever. there's apparently a bacteria in the soil itself that is a mood enhancer, and triggers the release of seratonin in the brain. for a really cool article on gardening and happiness, check this link. plus each time we bend to pull a weed or pluck some fresh produce, we stretch! mmmm garden yoga...

this next week will be focused mostly on the garden, which in turn makes me more conscious of my health. i find that when there is a garden in the equation, everyone around adopts healthier lifestyle habits. we are constantly looking for even more ways to repurpose things. we choose meals that involve more fresh ingredients. we walk to the farmer's market to meet other great people that grow and prepare fresh delicious food.

stay tuned for more garden freshness, and exercise.. and about making it fun to get in shape!

oh hey!

yeahh... so i'm bad at keeping a blog. but it's because i'm keeping busy!! i probably mentioned some time back that we moved at the beginning of the month.. having our own place allows me a better chance to work out a routine. especially for sleeping... and sleep is mega important.

i have been back on the mannatech for a couple of months now, and i feel much better, more energetic. on slower days i'll work out indoors on my equalizers, but the past couple weeks have been full of yard work, gardening and adventuring.. hubby and i are hooked on GPSgaming, i'm all about the geocaching and munzees, and he found a new one called ingress. that one is a strictly virtual GPS adventure game along the lines of alien infiltration and world domination... but you actually have to go to the physical locations to tap the portals and build/destruct them. it's pretty cool, and Matt walks a lot faster than i do so i get my slow jog cardio.

one thing that i have been focusing on when we play is carrying nothing but myself. literally.. i walk everywhere so it's pretty usual for me to have a bag or a small backpack of some sort. i find that by carrying stuff like that around my mind focuses more on keeping that weight balanced and in place more so than my own self. i forget to check my posture and my breathing and all that.. i literally feel a sort of high when i walk not carrying anything.. so liberating. that's what i loved most about trail running... until my hips decided it was time to stop doing that. i must find a low impact method of getting my cardio without hurting my hips!! so anyhoo, i'll focus on keeping my back straight, my core tight and my shoulders back while we walk around the city hitting portals. and i get to get fresh air with my baby.. good things all around.

unfortunately about a week ago my bike was stolen from our friend's back yard. it's heart breaking because a] my mommy bought me that bike for my birthday, b] it was vintage! and c] i'm too broke to buy another one, and that was my favourite workout. in the meantime, i suppose it's a good thing there's lots of digging to be done.. it's certainly a workout! that and lugging carts of soil home from the market shop across the street.

well that's about it for now. oh and when we moved i left the scale behind. i think i've been more worried about the numbers than i really should be. my goal is not just to lose weight, but to be happy healthy and comfortable with myself. i'm getting there...