Back on Track

This past week was a busy one, but we still managed to stay on track with our meals and walks. This morning I weighed myself after using the washroom and was pleased with my readings:

Date	Weight	BF Weight	BF %	Body Water %	Bone Mass %
01/30/2010 02/06/2010 02/13/2010 02/20/2010	163.2 160.3 162.5 161.9	50.7 49.6 50.9 51.1	31.3 31.0 31.4 31.6	50.0 50.3 50.0 49.9	6.5 6.5 6.5 6.5

I think I'll keep 4 week's worth of data on the chart going forward.

This afternoon I did a workout in the basement; more elliptical, light weights and crunches. All while watching a Peter Gabriel concert on DVD (from the Growing Up tour). He's so awesome.

Check this out:



My itch has pretty much subsided, which I could attribute to the epsom salt baths, coconut oil, and sometimes skipping a day for showering. My hair doesn't smell so much like wet dog anymore, thankfully, but there are times where the armpits are just RANCID and in need of a wipe-down.

Other than that, things are going well. :)

T'was To Be Expected

With my back problems this past week and slowing down on the walking, I expected to gain a couple pounds back.

Date	Weight	BF Weight	BF %	Body Water %	Bone Mass %
01/30/2010 02/06/2010 02/13/2010	163.2 160.3 162.5	50.7 49.6 50.9	31.3 31.0 31.4	50.0 50.3 50.0	6.5 6.5 6.5

I should've eaten less carbs to try to offset it, but whatever. It's really not that big a deal to me. I'll try a little harder this week.

My sweet hubby ran me an Epsom salt bath last night in hopes of treating my winter itchies (and even lit candles all around the bath - it was sooooo nice!), but we read the instructions too late and didn't quite do it right. Will try again sometime this week with water that's not so hot.

Happy Valentine's Day!

More Changes Made

Today is day two of four changes:

- I'm no longer using soap on "the bits" in the shower. I gently rub with a wet face cloth in the shower instead. Might have Hubby do some sniff tests...he's always happy to investigate down there. LOL

- I'm now putting a bit of baking soda on my toothbrush. The stuff doesn't taste that great; I just think about something else while brushing.

- After my shower I apply coconut oil to my body (mostly the rashy areas) instead of olive oil. Not sure how this will pan out, as my winter itchies just recently flared up for some reason.

- No more deodorant. I applied some coconut oil under the pits instead.

TGIF!!

AARRGGGHH!

My inner forearms are itchy as all hell and it's driving me nuts!! Hope this shea butter works...please, please work!

Update: I used coconut oil instead and it took the itch away. Now we'll see if the rash clears up!

Happy Hysterversary To Me!!

February 8, 2008 was a great day. My fibroid-stuffed uterus was removed and life has been great ever since. I looooooove being free to do whatever I want, whenever I want, without worrying about a stupid period showing up.

Good riddance!!

Frackin' Back...!

My sweetie and I have been going for hour-long walks in the evening for about two weeks now, and two days ago I woke up with my lower back feeling like it was on fire. After suffering for most of the day at work with it, I called my chiropractor to see if he recommended rest or more walking. He said, "Oh no, don't walk tonight - ice it for 10 minutes on, 10 minutes off, three times. Maybe go for a 15-minute walk, but take it easy for now." BOOOOOOO. Not the answer I was looking for.

To be honest, I had no idea you could hurt your back from walking.

Hubby had an RMT appointment for Saturday and he told me to take it instead; he'd take my Wednesday appointment. What a sweetheart. So, I went for my massage and while discussing my back issues, the RMT reminded me that 1) I'm starting out with pelvis and back problems (stiff sacroiliac joint and mid-back muscle spasms) and 2) since it's winter I'm not wearing proper walking shoes, so I was definitely over-doing the walking.

When I spoke with my mom about it (she walks for 2 hours every day) she said that when she started, she started out small (30-minutes) and worked her way up to 2 hours.

How stupid do I feel now? Wow...anyway, on to this week's weight measurements!

Date	Weight	BF Weight	BF %	Body Water %	Bone Mass %
01/30/2010 02/06/2010	163.2 160.3	50.7 49.6	31.3 31.0	50.0 50.3	6.5 6.5

Yeehaw! Our meals this week had been all real food with minimal processed crap, so I'm happy with my progress. However, I'm worried about slowing down with the walking and possibly gaining those pounds back. Oh well, can't walk with a screwed back, so what choice do I have? Meh.

Scratch That...Ugh!

In one of my earlier posts I stated that my "winter itchies" were getting better every day. Well, that isn't turning out to be the case after all. Yesterday I scratched my legs almost to the point of drawing blood (which, unfortunately, isn't a rare occurrence).

It very likely has something to do with the hotter than normal showers I'm now taking, and/or not having enough olive oil on my cloth after the shower. I don't want to have cooler showers at this point, as the heat is needed to rinse the day's "dirt" off me since I'm not shampooing or using soap (except on the "bits"), so as of this morning I've started using more oil on my cloth.

I really, really hope this improves things. I can't go to Barbados in March looking like my cat used me as a scratching post!

Swimming - LOVE IT!

I grew up with an above-ground pool in my backyard, and we used it regularly until my parents split up; once Dad moved out, the pool got torn down.

I've never been one to go out of my way to swim in public pools, but now that my mom lives in a condo that has an indoor pool (saltwater, no less), I'm there! Hubby is working hard at improving his swimming abilities as well, especially since we're booked to go to Barbados for two weeks! He's never been a fan of water so he's really got some work to do before we can even think about going snorkeling. Armed with a pair of goggles he can now get his head under the water for a few seconds, and that's a HUGE milestone for him. I'm so proud. :)

We went swimming last night at Mom's and had a good time except for some idiot doing laps and splashing us in the face with every stroke he took. My tummy muscles reminded me of the crunches I did the other day, but in a good way. I didn't over-do it, thankfully.

Gotta Start Somewhere

With all this talk about changes to diet and motivation to get healthier, it makes sense to post a starting point, right? Well, we recently cashed in some of our Air Miles in exchange for a fancy weigh scale, which does more than just give you a weight readout. It also does a body analysis to show you your (approximate) body fat weight, body fat %, body water % and bone mass %.

Here are my initial measurements as of just a few moments ago:

Date	Weight	BF Weight	BF %	Body Water %	Bone Mass %
01/30/2010	163.2	50.7	31.3	50.0	6.5

I know I have lots of room for improvement (my goal is to lose 20 or so pounds so I can fit into my work clothes again) and I actually started last night. I went down our "workout room" in the basement and went on the elliptical trainer for between 5-10 minutes while hubby made dinner. (Yeah, I know this isn't an optimal time to "work out" but hey, it was better than sitting there and eating chocolates while waiting!) We really need to put some sort of clock down there.

I also did some weight training with the lightest free weights I have. Note that I haven't touched these things in too many years, so I'm starting out small. I did two sets of the following:

- 8 lateral raises
- 8 front raises
- 8 bicep curls
- 8 tricep kickbacks

Then I got on the floor and did 32 stomach crunches followed by 8 (girl) push-ups, 24 more stomach crunches and 8 more push-ups.

Dinner was ready at that point (an omelet made with love) so upstairs I went to eat. Holy shit was that omelet ever tasty!

REAL Food. You should eat it.

It takes more time and energy to feed yourself well, yes, but it is definitely worth the effort. Having never been much of a cook, it's actually exhilarating to be able to say that we made a dish using real ingredients instead of heating up some pre-processed, boxed concoction loaded with chemicals and artificial flavours by some company that really doesn't give a crap about YOUR well-being.

We don't want to waste what food we currently have in our cupboards (packaged or canned items, laden with sodium and sugar, among other things), so we're using that stuff up while we transition to an "all real food" diet. As I type I'm eating some hot oatmeal that came in a package, which you just add hot water to. It says "reduced sugar" on the packaging, but there are still lots of unpronounceable ingredients listed. Can't wait to be rid of this stuff.

My next step is to make my own oatmeal breakfast cereal as well as healthy, fruity fibre bars for snacks (recipes, anyone?). Obviously I haven't cut grains out of my diet (as I mentioned before, I'm not going full-on-paleo at this point...not sure if I ever will be able to), but things definitely are a-changing in our house.