Whole30 challenge

While speaking with my sister about eliminating sugar from my diet and joining the CSA, she mentioned the Whole30 challenge. She completed it a couple of weeks ago and had amazing results. She and her husband are avid runners and cross-fitters; they are uber healthy, health-conscious and fit; and even still, she dropped a whooping 7 pounds in just 30 days! On top of that, her energy increased, her mood stabilized and she felt so great that she is still at it!

She sent me the book that day and I read it cover to cover fairly quickly. If I had not already begun eliminating so many things from my diet, this would seem a bit more daunting. As it is, however, there are very few additional changes I'd need to make, so figured...why not?!? Starting March 18th (I'm Irish - I'm not going alcohol free on St. Patrick's Day!) I will be on the Whole30 challenge!

It's quite simple - it's like a Paleo diet, but without the neanderthal inspiration. Instead, their idea is this: food either makes you healthier or it doesn't. That's it. So they evaluated everything and came up with the foods that make you healthier. There's no magic potion here, no math is involved and you don't even have to count calories. You simply remove toxic food from your diet...sugar, legumes, preservatives...you get the idea.

People have reported that illnesses have disappeared, health has improved exponentially and overall well-being is transformed. I will let you know how I feel as soon as I begin :)

Bullies

While walking on the treadmill yesterday, I picked up and read Glamour Magazine. They've always been my favorite and the article I read just reinforced why. They covered the story of a newswoman who last year was bullied by a viewer. He emailed her this:

Hi Jennifer, It's unusual that I see your morning show, but I did so for a very short time today. I was surprised indeed to witness that your physical condition hasn't improved for many years. Surely you don't consider yourself a suitable example for this community's young people, girls in particular. Obesity is one of the worst choices a person can make and one of the most dangerous habits to maintain. I leave you this note hoping that you'll reconsider your responsibility as a local public personality to present and promote a healthy lifestyle.

As someone who has spent my entire adult life obese thanks to health issues, the word that struck me as the most ignorant was the word CHOICE. It made me really ponder the thought life of a person who would choose that word in this situation. Choice. I realized that there is an entire population of people who honestly believe that the way people get fat is by laying around the house eating McDonalds and Haagen Daas.

While I will give you that they do exist, I don't actually know ANYONE who got overweight through laziness and overeating. The laziness and overeating come because of the obesity, not the other way around. The obesity is usually a symptom of an illness...from asthma to pregnancy to hypothyroidism to joint/leg injuries to cancer to weak organs. The weight starts to come on quickly and before you know it you can't move and it basically doesn't matter how much or little you eat, it all just increases your waistline.

While it's easy to assume this man is an idiot or moron, I received an email from a friend of mine from church after my last post thanking me for teaching him so much. He is a learned, intelligent, articulate man in his 40s who is an athlete and he had no idea that there were steroids used medicinally or that they could alter one's body composition. It's unfortunate in today's society that the majority of people actually have no idea what obesity is, how it happens or what it means.

Everyone has their cross to bear; but if you would, take a moment to contemplate if whatever your issues are were out there for the world to see and judge. My asthma made me take meds that increased my weight significantly. I'm finally on my way back to health, but it took decades of trying and failing before I understood what my body needed and could mentally attack the pain in my joints and difficulty breathing in order to actually work out.

The only reason anyone knows I have an issue is because it caused an external symptom called obesity. Those suffering from bi-polar disorder, cancer, depression, IBS, etc generally do so in private. They would not be very happy if the whole world could tell just by looking at them that something was off. And then on top of it, to be blamed for it and told it is "one of the worst choices a person can make and one of the most dangerous habits to maintain."

The next time you see someone you consider obese, instead of thinking "wow, they should put down the donut and hit the gym," a more realistic thought would be, "whatever they're struggling to fight, I pray they get the help they need."

Happy hump day, folks :)

Perseverance

After last weeks minor setback, I proved to myself that I have changed. How? I did NOT emotionally react, feel defeated and throw in the towel. Instead, I had a protein day, got back to the gym and prayed that God would work His magic on my body to heal it and help it to rebound quickly from the illness and medication.

This week I am down not just the weight I gained that week, but an additional pound, bringing my total pounds lost to 25.6! I was prepared for it to come off slowly and was completely awe struck at the scale this morning. I knew I had followed the right eating plan and exercised; but with steroids, I was cautious to be optimistic. I'm overjoyed to see the quick rebound my body made and be able to see God's hand in helping me to get through that bump with a good attitude and get to see such awesome results.

Last weekend I realized I could no longer wear my normal work pants, as they're way too big, so I went shopping. I figured I'd be down a size and brought a bunch of pants to the dressing room. They were all too big. I'm down 2 sizes! It's such a great feeling to know I'm in control of my body and my mind even when things externally impact me.

Another funny thing...I took a picture with a friend and could actually see the difference in my face. It's weird when you see your own weight loss happening.

Excited for the weekend!!

Vacation Days and food

Little is as challenging to a new lifestyle as going on vacation. The routine changes, the scenery changes and trying new foods is usually part of any good city one might vacation in. The trip I took included Albany, Quebec City, Salem, Boston and Cape Cod.

I have a fairly strict NO croissant policy...way too much fat and calories to eat this very often. To enforce this, my rule is that I can only have them if they're french. While in Quebec City, I got to have a chocolate croissant, which was heavenly. I also dined at various local eateries along our route and went over an average of 120 calories a day from my norm.

This means, though, that I still dropped a pound and a half that week! Keeping track of everything I ate helped a LOT. I also started every day with a protein shake, like normal; and I kept my favorite sugar free pudding with us. This enabled me to try out places without being too crazy in my changes. I felt great the whole time, walked every chance I got and was able to be successful in maintaining my weight loss and healthy lifestyle even while allowing more exceptions than normal.

Coming home, I made sure to stock up on my shakes and pudding so that I could transition right back to my routine. It's amazing, as well, how much proper hydration helps. I drink water like CRAZY.

Happy!

Success

On the road to health, it's always important to point out the things you do right. This week, even though I suffered from some additional stressers, I was able to stay right where I needed to be. I ate 1500 calories or less each day, started my day with a protein shake and got to the gym 3 times.

As a kid, there was VERY little I wouldn't do for a gold star. So to honor my inner child:

The real reward? On top of feeling great, I am down another 3 pounds. That makes it 18 so far!! I think instead of thinking in those terms I want to start thinking toward my goal instead of away from my past. So to change it up, I am now 111 pounds from my goal! The goal could change as I'm more interested in feeling great and being healthy than weighing a specific number, but for now it'll work.

Tomorrow I leave for a week-long trip around the northeast. It'll be awesome, but will carry with it additional eating challenges and probably no time to work out regularly. I'm fortunate to have a body of fellow Christians who support, pray and encourage me along this journey. One of them sent me an email after my last post encouraging me through my munchies. If you don't have a support system, I highly encourage you to get one. It really makes a difference to feel like there are people rooting for you.

I attribute my success this week to my support system, the My Fitness Pal app and my planning. Happy Friday, kids!

My Fitness Pal review

In all fairness, this is my first day using it, so I could change my mind; but I LOVE the My Fitness Pal app! You can search various foods, put in calories yourself or create an entire food profile. It then compiles everything into weekly or longer data so you can see your progress. I also love that it tells you based on your weight, height and goal how many calories to eat per day.

Before you think this is just for those losing weight, it has goals to gain or maintain as well; and it has entries for exercise. I am not easily impressed and that is the word I would use with regard to this app! I had been writing down each days foods (if it goes in my mouth, it's counted) so this lets me do so on my phone, which is ALWAYS with me. In addition because you can enter your own foods into it, you can figure out your favorite meals once, input it with a name you'll remember, then just go to My Foods and find it the next time you eat it, instead of trying to recalculate things.

What's even MORE awesome is that because you create a login, you can access the information even if for some reason your phone isn't with you. Though I imagine that isn't often. I was able to see a pattern in my eating that tells the story of the successful weeks of weight loss versus non-successful ones. Oddly for me, I have many days where I under-eat so this called me on it and will encourage me to get my calories in regularly. A healthy metabolism is a properly fed metabolism.

Happy App-ing kids!

Getting noticed

If you've never weighed a whole lot...or never lost it...you won't know the info below. Even if you have dropped a lot of weight, you may not have noticed what I'm about to tell you. Being a people-watcher extraordinaire, I have observed the following:

It's kind of weird that every stage of weight has it's own category of attention. 15 pounds ago I was in the "invisible" category; the place where no one really looks at you except random homeless people. This stage is actually a big reason people get to that high of a weight. Much research has gone into the psyche of being overweight and has found that most people are heavy to protect themselves in some way. It's usually sub-conscious, but it is rare to find someone like me...someone overweight who likes attention.

Now I'm in the "noticed in passing" stage where people notice me again and are beginning to have judgement in their looks. It's important to note that at no stage do I care about these varying degrees of reaction/attention; I just find people fascinating (hey, my degree is in Sociology). I love to make mental notes of different things as I people watch in a feeble attempt to understand how people think. It makes the time on the train feel shorter :)

As someone who has lost a significant amount of weight before in my life, I know I will soon drop into the "Noticed and possible competition" category. This category carries with it a bit harsher judgement. When you're being judged because someone thinks of you as "fat," they are judging your overall appearance. When you're being judged because you might be a potential competitor, the judgement becomes about everything...how your hair is done, what your lips looks like, whether your shoes match your purse, if your toe nails are painted, etc. Girls are ridiculous. Again, let me reiterate, I'm able to notice this because it amuses me. Woman have NO idea what men actually see in a girl, so we judge each other based on what we see. The funny thing is that when a girl judges another on all that, it has no basis in her competitive edge. I get hit on more in sweats and a hair tie than I ever do when I'm perfectly coiffed. And I get hit on by more married men than single ones. Figure that one out!

I mention all this merely because I can. Being someone who's self-esteem is firmly planted without regard to others, I thoroughly enjoy watching people's reactions to each other, including me. Being intuitive, I usually know what they're thinking, so I love to look them in the eye. It's fun to watch their reaction when they realize I know. I don't know how this communication exchange takes place, but some day we'll discover people are more telepathic than science currently attests to. Until then I will just continue to enjoy, observe and report back to you what I find.

The little voice in your head

I have never so easily been able to distinguish between my soul, my thoughts and the "other" voice in my head as clearly as I do now. My soul is curiously witnessing the exchange and basically not caring what happens ultimately as the body is a temporary residence anyway. But my thoughts are for the first time entirely separate from the voice in my head.

Before you ask, no I'm not schizophrenic, the voice isn't a person. It's the desire. I can hear it telling me just ONE cheat would be okay; just ONE bite; just ONE thing not on the list. Who wants rules anyway? Weren't they made to be broken? Do the doctors really MEAN no, or are they just being overly cautious? I've been good, don't I deserve this? Strict rules aren't healthy, you need this. YOU NEED THIS.

It gets louder.

And yet there above it all are my own thoughts. My very clear, very controlled brain saying NO. For the first time in my life, I think, I'm not trying to find a way to give in, I'm simply saying NO. It's liberating and terrifying and surreal.

The "other" wants me to fail. It wants and wants and wants and is never satiated. It is unwelcome in my life and yet sitting inside my own mind, harassing me to the point that I now need surgery. My epiphany is this:

I always thought I had no will power. That is entirely untrue, I have ridiculously strong will power. And my will WANTS to make the wrong choice. It wants me to fail. It isn't my will power being weak that is the problem, it's been my poor brain finding a way to say no to my will power. What a different world!

Ketosis saves the day

Somehow it did not occur to this two time Lindora patient that all the shakes were meant to do was get you in ketosis. Had I realized that, I could have avoided the almost 3 days of misery getting into it. Ketosis, if you don't know, is when your body uses up all the carbs you've eaten and stored and begins to burn your own fat for energy. Literally you are eating your own ass. Amazing. The up-side is that since you're getting surgery, you've got plenty where that came from! So how could your body be hungry?? Ever?

It isn't.

Thank you, God!

Here's my suggestion for those who aren't yet ON their 2 week diet.

Start 3 weeks before.

Don't panic, don't touch the shakes yet :)

Week 1 (3 weeks before surgery if you're required to do 2, 5 weeks before if required to do 4, etc.)

During this week, begin substituting protein for carbs. Eat as much as you want, as often as you want. Chicken, beef, fish, burgers (no bun), hot dogs (no bun), turkey, cottage cheese, greek yogurt, lunchmeats.  Also include all the non-starchy veggies you want...basically ALL of them except corn and beans.

NO fruits, breads, sweets, sugars, etc.

At night, a teaspoonful of REAL honey (in decaf tea is good too) will help you sleep (NOT corn syrup).

Drink literally anything non-caloric you want...broth, coffee, tea, sugar free sodas, etc. You will notice that after a few days, you're not hungry at all. Eating begins to feel like a chore and you change from thinking, "When do I get to eat again?" to "When do I HAVE to eat again." You simply stop wanting to. You will feel hungry when your blood sugar drops, so always ALWAYS eat every 3 hours. This is true no matter who you are or how much you weight. 3 hours is the magic time. You should not wait to feel hungry.

As you get closer to the end of the week, you'll be in ketosis. You might taste it like I do...a weird, almost rotten taste comes out when you breathe. This is normal. Your body is eating itself, it's not going to smell good. If you don't get this, consider yourself lucky!

Two ways you will KNOW you are in ketosis:

• You aren't hungry unless it's been hours since you ate last (and it's a mild hunger)
• You have a ton of energy and your mood is elevated

Week 2-3 Follow doctors orders

This would have been SOOOOO helpful for me and would have saved me several days of being miserably hungry. Once you're in ketosis, the switch to shakes is simply about taste and texture. GNC protein drinks are super cheap and taste great. The only down side is that they are super sweet, so you'll definitely want broth laying around so that you can drink that first in order to balance the sweetness. 

As always, please leave a comment if you'd like or ask a question if this isn't clear :)

Final Doc appt before surgery!

Today was my last appointment before surgery. I am SO excited!!!!! My doctor is amazing and answered all my questions quickly. I feel prepared, excited, eager and happy. The most annoying part is having to make all the phone calls and appointments for the pre-op testing, etc. Ugh. I need an assistant for these things.

At the moment I am working out 3 days a week. I may do up to 5 for the 2 weeks of fasting I am coming into before surgery (to shrink my liver). Once I have surgery, I will take off the few days after to rest and then have permission to start walking as soon as I want. My exercise routine, however, has to wait a month after to allow my scar to heal as to not get a hernia.

I am over the moon. I cannot believe it's finally almost here and I will get to start feeling better and exercising more easily and not having to constantly feel deprived in order to eat less. I've made peace with the foods I will forever be giving up...pasta, good bread, carbonated beverages, alcohol (mostly) and have said my goodbyes. Most there is a "way" to have again, but I truly respect this as a tool and therefore am not in any way wanting to push the boundaries. To me, the band means giving up these things. For good. Surgery is a big deal, it's a firm step forward and the only way out of my situation is to move ahead and never look back.

Hello future! I'm coming!

Me before (depending on the photo I'm between 260 and 290):

 

Exercise

I decided instead of waiting to lose some of the weight first, that I would start a workout regime 3 weeks prior. I've been trying not to have everything happen at once. Being someone who enjoys starting the day with a workout, this wasn't a huge step; but I hadn't set foot in a gym (for financial reasons) in over a year...so it was long overdue.

Lucille Roberts is a women's only gym with locations all over NYC. For a CHEAP monthly rate, one gets to visit all of the locations, all classes, unlimited. Amazing.

With a combination of cardio and Tim Ferriss' workout: The Four Hour Body, my workout looks like this:

Monday

30 min cardio (I do treadmill due to knee issues)

• 2 min warmup at 2.5
• 3 min warmup at 3.0
• 20 min at 3.5
• 3 min cooldown at 3.0
• 2 min cooldown at 2.5

5 min workout

• 10 - 20lb Kettlebell lifts
• 20 - 20lb Kettlebell swings
• 15 crunches atop the half-moon BOSU ball
• 10 each side of alternate arm and leg lifts while on all fours (If this doesn't make sense, read his book!)

10 min stretching

DONE!

Tuesday

50 min cardio

• 2 min warmup at 2.5
• 3 min warmup at 3.0
• 40 min at 3.5 (Alternating with elevations up to 1.0)
• 3 min cooldown at 3.0
• 2 min cooldown at 2.5

10 min Stretching

Wednesday

50 min cardio

• 2 min warmup at 2.5
• 3 min warmup at 3.0
• 40 min at 3.5 (Alternating with elevations up to 1.0)
• 3 min cooldown at 3.0
• 2 min cooldown at 2.5

10 min Stretching

Thursday

50 min cardio

• 2 min warmup at 2.5
• 3 min warmup at 3.0
• 40 min at 3.5 (Alternating with elevations up to 1.0)
• 3 min cooldown at 3.0
• 2 min cooldown at 2.5

10 min Stretching

Friday

30 min cardio (I do treadmill due to knee issues)

• 2 min warmup at 2.5
• 3 min warmup at 3.0
• 20 min at 3.5
• 3 min cooldown at 3.0
• 2 min cooldown at 2.5

5 min workout

• 10 - 20lb Kettlebell lifts
• 20 - 20lb Kettlebell swings
• 15 crunches atop the half-moon BOSU ball
• 10 each side of alternate arm and leg lifts while on all fours (If this doesn't make sense, read his book!)

10 min stretching

If this is too much for you to start with, start smaller. I used to do a lot more than this, so I decided to hit the ground running, so to speak. 

I started my day with a protein shake!

UPDATE:Protein Shakes

The dreaded 2 week protein shake fast is coming. Ugh.

While I am extremely excited for my upcoming surgery (May 29th!!!), I am NOT excited about the upcoming 2 weeks of protein shakes. This is apparently necessary to shrink my liver in order to make the surgery safer. Fine. But 2 weeks?? I'm getting surgery because I'm hungry and you're going to make me fast beforehand?!?!?!?!

Torture.

One saving grace is that I can have broth as well as 2 cups of veggies a day (non-starchy ones, of course) and I can still have my coffee. Thank GOD.

The shake I've decided on is Muscle Milk Light. It tastes good somehow...I know, hard to believe. It also has a higher protein content with fewer calories than most of the other options out there. I figure I need all the protein I can get as it should help me to be less hungry. We shall see.

What experiences do you have with them?

UPDATE: So I changed my mind on the brand. I will be using GNC Total Lean. It tastes better, is WAAAAY cheaper, has more protein than MMLight and has 3 different flavors out. Yay!

Finding a surgeon

It is the fortune of my life that I am always in the right place at the right time. When the idea to finally seek professional help for the weight that would not leave my body struck me, I found myself living in NYC. My coworker directed me to the VERY helpful website, obesityhelp.com. It was through that site that I located my surgeon.

My search was fairly simple. I searched the doctors in my area that had really high ratings and a lot of them. I called 3. The first two had fairly rude secretaries. At the time, I was asking about a procedure still in testing called Gastric Plication. A friend of mine had it a year prior with amazing results. I wanted this surgery for the simple reason that it removed nothing and yet worked like a gastric sleeve.

The first two called wouldn't even speak to me, said a simple, "No, we don't do that," and hung up. Finally, the 3rd doctor had a secretary that did not hang up. She said it was still in clinical trials, but that the doctor would be happy to chat with me about it and booked an appointment.

I began researching him. Extensively.

What I learned made me laugh. I reached this stage of my life at 34. I had lived and worked all over the world, had many times thought about getting help but never took the step, and there was no reason that this was the time I finally made the decision to see someone.

And yet, here I was, working and living in NYC, with the ability to meet with THE #1 leading LapBand surgeon in the world. Not the country. The world. He's done more surgeries than any surgeon, of any kind, in the world. He was brought to the US from Australia to teach American doctors how to DO this surgery 20 years ago. On top of that, he himself had the surgery done 10 years prior.

Jackpot.

Still, I went to the appointment expecting a surgeon's personality. A "God Complex"ed jerk with terrible bedside manner whom I would tolerate because of his excellent resume.

What I found was quite the opposite. He is kind, generous with his time, explained everything in detail, answered all of my questions, and would not let me leave until he told me that I should be proud of myself for admitting I needed help. We spoke about Gastric Plication and he expressed his newfound concerns quite candidly. He explained each type of surgery available, discussed which he thought best for various personality types and asked what "type" of patient I was. He then told me which he thought was best for me and said I should spend time thinking about it and let him know if I would like to proceed.

A surgeon?? Human??

They do exist! It's like the holy grail, but it's real. As I write this, I've had 3 visits with him (my insurance requires 1 more before I can officially "qualify" to apply to them for coverage). Each visit he is kind, answers any questions and is encouraging.

If you're in the NYC area, visit http://thinforlife.med.nyu.edu/ and search for Dr. George Fielding.

Good luck!!