Fitness Journey- 27 to 37

Before my daughter was born I ran regularly, and lifted weights in the gym three times a week. I also commuted by bicycle. I started that habit around age 27, and I continued those habits throughout my pregnancy at age 30 (but gave up the bike near the end of my pregnancy when my cervix started to dilate, for no other reason than I felt creeped out by sitting on the little bike seat with that knowledge. It makes no sense, I know). I also continued working my abs throughout my pregnancy (just not in the lying on my back position). I was lifting weights in the gym the day before I started labor (normal vaginal birth, 5 hours heavy labor, two of those hours pushing- no problems and unusually quick for a first time mother).

I was good about waiting the 6 weeks after birth to get the OK for exercise from my doctor, and went back to working out (well, mostly good, I did start working on sucking my abs in from the day after birth to hasten the return of a flat stomach). Finding time to work out was more difficult with a baby, so I got back slower than I planned. I lifted free weights at home, and did workout videos.  Once my daughter was big enough to ride in the jogging stroller I went back to running. My workouts soon dwindled to just running, a habit that stuck for years. The problem with just running is that it only works a limited set of muscles. My upper body was becoming especially weak.

One day, while reading a thread about exercise in a forum, I came across a very different workout that someone had linked. The workout was named “Hot to Trot”. It was only 12 minutes long. 12 minutes! I could squeeze that into my schedule! I tried the workout. It was hard, and I was so sore the next day, and the day after that, and even the third day (and beyond...but I do have issues with my muscles that contribute to abnormal healing times). Anyway, I was hooked. Luckily the site that workout was on had many more workout videos. They were all short and most used only bodyweight. Perfectly suited for doing at home while my daughter took a nap. The site of course, is BodyRock.tv. Back then Zuzana was the host (she is no longer with BodyRock.tv and has her own workout channel now on YouTube and her fitness website). I did BodyRock workouts about 4 times a week, and saw amazing results. I started off with modifications for a lot of the exercises, but in a short amount of time I was doing push ups from my toes instead of my knees, and I was even seeing a few ab muscles.

I had a break from these lovely workouts when I had other health problems, but now I am trying to get back. Throughout my health problems (the worst of my health problems, I still have milder issues), the only exercise I had was from martial arts practice and horseback riding, and some yoga more recently.  Then I injured my ankle and ended up on crutches with a giant rigid boot to wear.  Now that I have the OK to exercise again (actually due to my other health problems, a requirement to exercise regularly and to do yoga daily) I am getting back to my activities.  I have to wear an ankle brace, for months while my ligaments heal, though.  I have gone back to my activities and have started daily yoga.  Soon I will be starting ZWOWs. Those are what Zuzana calls her new workouts, and a few BodyRock routines. I am one of those who prefers the older BodyRock workouts to the new ones. I don't like complex reps, I'm uncoordinated enough that I constantly mess them up. One burpee as one rep is fine, but when it gets to: “Jump sideways over this object, do two push ups, then one squat jump, then one side lunge to the left, then jump back over the object to the other side, do two more push ups, a squat jump, and a side lunge to the right. Repeat that sequence 4 times, then do 10 high knees, then go back to the first sequence...” it just becomes too much like dancing and I totally botch it. I'd rather do 50 seconds of side to side jumps, 50 seconds of push ups, 50 seconds of jump squats, 50 seconds of side lunges, and 50 seconds of high knees (& repeat that sequence). It's impossible for me to mess it up when it's straightforward like that.  I also might try the 100 push ups and 50 pull ups programs.  I tried the pushups one before, with great results (though I didn't get to finish it because I got sick for a couple of weeks and lost all the strength I had built...fast loss of strength is another one of my issues, I don't think most people go from doing >20 pushups on their toes, to <10 on their knees just from two weeks of rest).

Some links:

ZWOWs: http://www.youtube.com/user/ZuzkaLight
Zuzana's website: http://zuzkalight.com/

BodyRock: http://www.bodyrock.tv

100 Push Ups: http://hundredpushups.com/ (There is also an app for this, which is what I have).

50 Pull Ups: http://50pullups.com/ (I actually have an app, which has a slightly different program, but this is free and the app isn't. I think this will work just as well, and uses only a pull up bar).

The Hot to Trot workout*: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XykeKSf5Dtc

http://www.bodyrock.tv/2010/06/02/hot-to-trot-workout/ (if you want the written description)

* Zuzana goes over the exercises & proper form at the end of the video.

My Recent Diet Shift

As you may know, I must adhere to a gluten free diet (see this post for background information). After learning that I must be on a gluten free diet for the rest of my life I purged my kitchen of all gluten-containing foods. It lurks in many places, including things as surprising as soy sauce. I replaced what I could with gluten free versions, and bought plenty of gluten free grain products, because wheat and other gluten containing grains had been my primary diet for as long as I had control over my food. I did spend my first two gluten free weeks on a gut healing diet (well, the first week was mostly only liquids because I took an iron pill which caused horrible pain for days).

My health slowly (very slowly) improved. It has not yet been a year since I have been on a gluten free diet, and it was a rocky start, too. I got accidentally glutened a couple of times, and learned to avoid most restaurants. I then went on an international vacation, and did well until I misread the ingredients list (hey, it was in a language I don't really know). Now I know that I get trouble with peripheral neuropathy, among other problems from the type of gluten in barley (It's months later and one of my big toes hasn't fully regained feeling yet). After that trip I began to realize that I have to be even more careful, because gluten containing products could have been used in the manufacturing of things I wouldn't suspect, and cause me problems from cross-contamination.

I soon also realized that I need to be careful about breathing flour dust. One day I found a container of flour I had missed on my earlier gluten purge. I opened the container and dumped the flour into the trash. I smelled the flour in the air, and I got a return of my symptoms. Now I know I must be careful wherever flour dust could be in the air. More recently I also found that many things like skin and hair care products can contain gluten. I had to get rid of my favorite conditioner (but my skin and scalp are happier now that I have purged all gluten containing products).

One problem did start to appear after months on a gluten free diet. I started to put on a little extra fat. Not OK with me! I had been concerned that weight gain could be a problem on a gluten free diet, because the replacements for wheat typically are lower in fiber and higher in carbohydrates and starches than wheat products. I decided I needed another diet, and began to look into a modified version of the paleo diet. My plan was to cut out grains and replace them with fruits, vegetables, and protein sources. This kind of helped, but not quite enough.

Extremism here I come! I decided to cut out sugar, and foods that my body readily converts to sugar. So, that means no sugar, honey, sweet fruits, legumes, protein powder or starchy vegetables (and no grains of course). I have been following that diet for three weeks. The first week was very hard, because I've been a major sugar addict for my entire life. I felt dizzy and weak. But I got over it, and then felt healthier than ever. I have been eating vegetables, meat, eggs, tart berries, and nuts as my primary diet. I have not cut out dairy. I still will use ghee, butter, cheese, yogurt, and kefir. But I have noticed that aside from butter and ghee, cow milk products make me very sleepy and tired. I do fine on goat milk products, though. What about the fat? Well, I have been enjoying delicious butter on my food, and the fat is melting off my body. Even the lower back fat pads that no amount of exercise has touched for decades are shrinking. I'm already fairly thin looking, but I know how big my underlying frame is (tiny), so I know that it is not unsafe for me to be getting thinner. I'm also loving the increase in visible muscle definition!  

After three weeks on my new extreme diet I have decided to allow a small amount of fruit back in, but now a bit of fruit is like a dessert, and too much makes me feel off- like I just ate too much cake. So I don't have sweet fruits every day, and when I do it is in small amounts. The hardest thing has been redoing my green smoothies. I had green smoothies once or twice a day since going gluten free. Unfortunately they were like sugar bombs! Even though I added no sugar or sweetened things to them, they had so much sweet fruit like banana, and pure fruit juices, that the glycemic index was high in them. I still haven't come up with a green smoothie recipe that is low glycemic and tastes good- but I'm trying. I had a good one in Scandinavia, so I know it's possible.

I plan to stick about 90% to my extreme diet, and simply make it a part of my lifestyle. I won't permanently say no to honey, just because I have a few jars of really yummy raw honey and specialty honey that I don't want to waste. After they are gone I won't be buying any more, though. I also plan to do a bit of intermittent fasting. I've read some good things about it, and some days I get so busy I forget to eat anyway. This is so far away from my past diet! I used to put 8 spoonfuls of sugar on my breakfast cereal (types that already had some sweetness to them at that). When I worked really hard on my will power to get it down to three spoonfuls I thought I was doing great! Ha ha!

ETA:  I discovered that raw cow milk does not make me sleepy...odd.  But I still don't plan to include milk much in my diet anyway.

:)

Don't Forget to Vote

This is just a short reminder to those in the U.S., please remember to vote, and take the time to research your ballot.  I already voted (mail in absentee ballot), and it definitely helps to research what you're voting on!

It also helps me to avoid as many political ads as possible (maybe easier for me because I don't have tv).

:)

Costumes Galore!

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays, for the sole reason that it is an excuse to wear a costume.  In the previous years I took the time to hand-make elaborate costumes for my daughter.  Last year she was a cheetah, and the year before that she was Rapunzel, and before that, a flower.  This year she wanted a fairy costume she saw in a store, and I was low on time, so she wore a store bought costume.

My daughter's previous home-made costumes:

A Flower, as per her dictation (but I had no facepaint).

A cheetah (with her painted pumpkin, already rotting in the heat).

This year I wore a costume that I put together at the last minute, out of items I had on hand.  I used a black petticoat, a few long rectangular scarves, a black tunic, a red fancy corset, my riding boots, face paint, make-up, and ribbons.  I also carried one of my more interesting walking sticks.  Here is the result:

It was fun to take my daughter trick or treating in this costume.  Much better than last year.  Last year I bought a white costume gown with a headdress, and wore it with a huge bra and silicone breast inserts (I didn't fill out the costume without that).  I used that for taking my daughter trick or treating, but I went to a Halloween party as Princess Leia.  

Here's a bit of last year's trick or treating look:

The most elaborate Halloween costume I remember was my unicorn costume.  My Mom made it with homemade paste and newspaper, with wire forms; and then painted it.  It was life sized (as in the size of a horse's head), and a bit heavy to wear for a long time, but I loved it (and so did my sister...my Mom had to make two of course).

The only other Halloween thing we did this year was to carve a pumpkin.  I waited to buy a pumpkin until the day before (because the Jack 'O Lanterns mold fast in this hot, humid climate).  I cut the top open and scooped out the seeds and pulp (roasted the seeds).  After it was well cleaned out I let my daughter draw the lines she wanted me to cut, then I cut on her lines with a sharp knife.  Below are two of the photos of this year's pumpkin.  One in the dark with a candle lit inside, and one outside in the sun.  It only took one day for the inside of the pumpkin to grow large amounts of mold.  First white mold, then black mold.  Last night the pumpkin pretty much disintegrated (I know I should have cleaned it up earlier, but I hurt my ankle and the doctor has me on crutches waiting for the x-ray results, so I couldn't lift the pumpkin to get rid of it).

I hope you enjoyed your Halloween, too.

:)

Reach...a little more...

     Stretching, in case you couldn't guess by the title, is what this post is about.  I neglected stretching in the past, as I think many people likely do.  But skipping stretching is not a good idea, and can increase your risk of injuries.  Your body will thank you if you keep it flexible.  Just remember to warm up before stretching.  Now, here is my quick stretching history:

     I have always considered myself to be rather inflexible. I went through a period of not exercising (or stretching) for a few years (early 20's). Even though I didn't get fat, I couldn't touch my toes with my legs straight. Terrible. Once I started to exercise again I stretched regularly, and could soon touch my toes again. I didn't really push beyond that, though. Even in martial arts, because at that time I was doing mostly weapons based training (well, I did stretch my arms daily then).

     A few years ago I found BodyRock.tv, and followed Zuzana's stretching routine after the workouts, with the intention of getting more flexible (somehow she instilled that desire in me). I could slowly reach more and more past my toes with my legs straight, and I gained improvement in a couple of other stretches too. It was not long before I joined a new martial arts school and my flexibility then became important. I worked very hard at my flexibility and eventually got my head to my knees (both with legs straight in front of me, and with legs straight and held wide apart)! I then turned my attention to the splits (both types). I am slowly, slowly getting closer to achieving them with a lot of stretching work.

     The rest of my body was somewhat neglected in favor of my legs until I found BodyRock Flow with Teshia. She is amazingly flexible, and though I would love to be as flexible as she is, I may not have the genetics for that. Anyway, I love doing her flow routines, and they have really helped me to gain flexibility in other areas, such as my hips and back.

     Through experience I have learned that I feel much better when I am stretching regularly. The more flexible I get, the better I feel. This is enough motivation to continue with stretching and yoga (at least with Teshia's style of yoga, I didn't feel much benefit from the type of yoga I tried in the past). Everyone is different, and what works for me may not work for others, but I really do suggest daily stretching or yoga! It just feels so good (and staying flexible helps reduce sports injuries too).

Some links:

Zuzana's stretching routine: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCg2UDQQPLI

Warm up routine from Zuzana: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwLZx2INl8E

Stretching towards splits: http://www.ifafitness.com/stretch/stretch7.htm

BodyRock Flow routine: http://www.bodyrock.tv/2012/08/09/good-time-flow-yin-yoga-practice/

(Warning...the BodyRock site has tons of embedded videos, so if you have an ancient computer like me, it will take a long time to load).

:)

Insidious Sustenance

Note: This was originally written on May 5, 2012.

     In high school I sat in the back row in every class, doodling in my notebook. I almost always finished all of my homework in 'study hall' (an optional class in which everyone sits in the cafeteria, required to be silent, and can work on whatever they want to). Then I would run home as fast as possible (to beat my sister to the remote control- whoever possessed the remote control got to decide what programs to watch on the tv). I made a giant unhealthy snack with the tv remote stuffed in a pocket, and then watched cartoons until dinner. Guess what? I still made the honor roll.

     I had a great time in college, and finished my last BS easily (as I expected to). I even had no trouble succeeding in graduate classes as an undergraduate. I did research, I remembered everything. I could quickly skim my notes before an exam and easily ace the exam. I had one class where the professor made exams that required us to actually think and solve problems we had never seen before, and I loved that (the other kids, not so much, some of them were even giving death threats to that professor).

     I started my MS like that, too. Something began to change, though...and it was me. The first thing I noticed was that I started getting sick more frequently than I normally did, then I started to get episodes of brain fog. At first I assumed maybe the classes were just getting harder, but I had just aced a difficult grad class, which even PhD students had dropped, saying "it's too hard, there's no way I'll get a good grade". I analyzed my situation, and no, it was not my classes, my TA position, my RA position, or my research. It was me.

     I decided to push through, but it got harder for me. By the time I finished my MS my concentration and memory issues had begun to increase, so I held off on my plans to go for my PhD, and decided to stay home while I regained my health (I was erroneously assuming I had some kind of burn-out issue, even though I loved getting degrees).

     Over the next few years my health got worse and worse. I was mired in brain fog more and more. The people around me who knew me as a smart person were getting irritated with me, thinking I wasn't paying attention to what they said, thinking I was pretending not to remember, thinking I was being lazy.

     I was getting sick more and more. I would get a sore throat, fever, and congestion. No one exposed to me would catch it. After two weeks of it I would get healthy, but my happiness started getting subdued, because I had less and less healthy time between sickness over time. Pretty soon I had one week of health between two or three weeks of sickness.

     I tried cutting out sugar (it reduces immune system function for some time after consuming it). I started adding fruit to my diet, and then I started adding vegetables. No change. I was still slowly deteriorating. I came across the idea of a green smoothie on an Internet forum. It seemed like a great idea to sneak in even more vegetables, so I decided to have one large green smoothie a day, in place of either breakfast or lunch. I still didn't get any healthier, but I noticed something odd that would later become significant: I didn't get mild nausea after consuming a green smoothie. I didn't mention that issue yet; I had nausea after every meal for years. With no other trouble I maintained that it must be related to my odd gut issues (doctors generally said they didn't know what was wrong, or that I possibly had IBS).

     Back to my other issues. In addition to the cognitive problems and illness issues, my hair was falling out (which was/is very upsetting to me). I got sick for two and a half months (by this time you had better believe I had been to the doctor and had bloodwork done, but the doctor found nothing wrong and said "maybe you're just unlucky").

     No one else caught this from me, so obviously my immune system was trashed. I was, at this point, so glad that I had documented everything (I made pages of graphs and charts and notes) from the start of the year (2011). I finally got better on vacation (in the Swiss Alps, actually). How interesting that I got better while sleeping in a frost covered tent, while hiking all day, and not eating much.

     After I got back I went through all of my documentation to try to figure this problem out (really difficult when I feel like my thoughts are mired in fog, and they move and wisp away as I try to grasp them- how I wished for the images in my mind to be crisp and clear like they once were). Anyway, I started to suspect diet. Remember that green smoothie? Why didn't it make me nauseous? I looked into my diet, and decided that it could be wheat. I ate wheat every day, in every meal- except the green smoothie.

     As difficult as it was, I cut wheat out of my diet. I stopped getting sick. I was healthy for one entire month and I was elated! I found the problem! But had I? I still had brain fog, though not as bad, I still didn't feel as strongly healthy as I had in the far distant past, and some wheat free meals still made me nauseous. I didn't understand what the problem could be until one of my friends mentioned her son's problems with gluten. Gluten... could that be it? I tried to cut gluten out of my diet (not an easy task, by the way, when it used to be in every meal). I kept getting accidental exposures to it, but the good thing was that I found the problem!

     After almost two months of an attempted gluten-free diet, I felt the need to confirm my problem with the doctor. So I went to the doctor and brought along the papers with everything I had documented from all of 2011, and papers I had documented from my diet trials in 2012, and a list of the problems I had over my entire life. That seemed like overkill, but I really wanted answers.

     My doctor said he thinks I might have celiac disease, and he wanted me back on gluten for 6 weeks. After 6 weeks on gluten I could get my blood drawn for testing. Those were a terrible six weeks! My symptoms came whirling back, seemingly even worse than before. I did it anyway, got blood drawn, and went back to the doctor. We discussed my symptoms, and he said it really sounds like celiac disease, but my blood test said no. He wanted me to get small intestine biopsies done, but I felt so weak at that point, I said no to the biopsies. The doctor told me I should stick to the gluten-free diet anyway, because of my symptoms.

     After that I read somewhere that the celiac blood test gives false negatives 7 out of 10 times, and only tests for reactions to two of the gliadins (IgA and IgG), although there other gliadens in gluten that could be the problem for an individual. So maybe I really do have celiac disease, maybe I don't, but I definitely need a gluten free diet!

     Now, off of that tangent and back to my cognitive function. It is improving, but I am still not back to my old self. I know there is a possibility that I may never fully recover in this area, but I desperately hope to. I can remember how I once was, and it is very sad to lose that.

Links for more information on gluten intolerance:

http://glutenintoleranceschool.com/
http://www.glutenfreesociety.org/
The Gluten Free Society has some informative videos that are free to watch.  It is not free to join their forum, though.

The Movies

Note: This was originally written on June 4, 2012.

     For the first time in over ten years, I went to a movie with my husband, just the two of us. Since our daughter was born I had been to the movies as a family only a few times, to cartoon movies that our daughter would enjoy. We don't do that very often because our daughter prefers to wait and buy the movies to watch at home later, over watching them in the theater when they come out. Prior to her birth we rarely went to movies together because there are few movies I care to see, and our taste in films differs. My husband typically watches movies with friends or alone.

     We went to see "The Very Best Marigold Hotel". I really did enjoy the movie, even though it made me feel a little emotional. I enjoyed it because I have been to India a few times, and I have brought along friends to India for vacations. It was fun to see the characters' different personalities and how each one handled the situation. It also made me feel more inclined to go on another trip to India. There are so many parts of India that I have not yet seen.

     Back to the movies... There are some upcoming movies I do want to see. One is "Brave". Yes, it is one of the cartoon movies that my daughter will like, but I suspect I will like it too. I also look forward to "The Hobbit". I already read the book (a chapter at a time) to my daughter. Probably slightly scary for bedtime stories, but she enjoyed it nonetheless. One excuse for doing so was that I wanted my daughter to know the original story before seeing the movie (I try to stick to that rule when I can). My other excuse was that I wanted it fresh in my mind, as I last read it when I was a kid. I also would have gone to see the 3D releases of the Star Wars movies, but 3D gives me a headache if I watch it for more than a few minutes (probably due to my slightly messed up vision).

     One last thing, I found that watching a movie in the theater is much more enjoyable if I wear earplugs. I do have sensitive ears, and usually the volume levels in theaters is physically uncomfortable for me. Earplugs also have added benefit of discouraging my husband from talking to me during the movie. I just remembered, that was one of the reasons I stopped going to the movies with him in the first place.

:)

Update:  I did enjoy "Brave".  Now I'm eagerly awaiting "The Hobbit".