Here it is, two weeks down since I began with Fitness Together, since I cut out sugar, dairy and grains, two weeks in to a better me.
I feel better even after two weeks, I feel more awake, I walk into work at 6:00 AM ready to start the day, annoyingly awake and happy. I feel stronger already and I am down 7 pounds. I don’t know how many inches; we are going to do full measurements, weight and fat measurements at the one-month mark.
I have never looked forward to being measured in my entire life! How crazy is that?! I will tell you this, Friday I wore jeans that I could not even get into two weeks ago, that is my litmus, how my clothes fit.
I am eating better, no more junk food, sodas I gave up a long time ago, well over a year, no more Cheetos. I miss those, dark chocolate I can have, which is why I think I am sticking to this eating plan, if I can have chocolate once in a while I am good to go.
The new season has begun on television, and on the majority of my shows, it is a total wow factor, can hardly wait for Castle tomorrow night. I need to see how they are going to get out of this one, how will Rick have lived through the fireball that his car became.
Bones just about broke my heart; I will not go into details in case some people are catching up on their DVR viewing. S.H.I.E.L.D. did not disappoint, Joss was on point as usual, no surprise there. I have too many shows to name, so I will stop there, television is my hobby, that and reading, I could be happy living in a cave as long as I had television and books. Oh and the Internet, must have Internet.
There is so much going on in the world today, and rarely is it good, I am saddened by the reports of child slavery, of killings and the talk of war. If things keep going the way they are, I have to ask is WWIII inevitable? Will the U.S.A. be victorious as they were in the past? It seems everyone in power is really looking out for themselves, not the people they were sworn in to protect. This is a sad state of affairs indeed; hopefully we can all work together to change this woeful happening.
We should all be concerned with others before ourselves, always reaching out, even if it is with a kind word or smile. You never know what that will mean to the person you smile at, even a stranger. You could be the only human contact they have that day, so smile; it costs you nothing and could mean the world.
I know that is a simplistic way to look at things, I’m not stupid, I do not think a smile will save the world or stop a war. However, it starts with us, kindness and happiness is infectious, and for Christians you cannot share Christ with someone if you have been mean and nasty to them. Jesus fed the body then the mind, take care of physical needs and spiritual will follow.
Must go for now, have television to watch, checking out How to get away with Murder on demand, seeing if it deserves a spot on my DVR.
Cloud Coverage
One week down with no sugar, no dairy and no grains, so far so good, oh side note, coconut milk is gross. I do find it challenging finding enough to eat, to get in the calories that they want me to have. 1200 to 1500 a day. Dairy used to be a staple, cottage cheese, yogurt and well, cheese, not to mention whipping cream in my coffee. I really miss that, tried coconut milk in my coffee, literally thought I was going to die. I finally found some non-dairy, sugar-free creamer and it is ok, not fantastic, but better than the coconut milk.
I am muddling through the working out, I feel clumsy and clunky, but I am doing them! I am already starting to feel better, I know what sugar does to me, I always feel better when I eliminate processed sugar, no bloating, no tired feeling at the end of the day. It’s crazy how things that we have eaten all of our lived really effect our bodies. We don’t even realize it until we give it up.
Today I will be trying spaghetti squash; with organic, sugar free pasta sauce, this will be interesting. If it works out, then I will take leftovers for lunch tomorrow, I am getting tired of protein smoothies. I hate protein powder, no matter what else I put in it, banana, peanut butter or almond milk, nothing masks the taste.
A few weeks back when I picked up Tess from school, there were all these big, fluffy white clouds in the sky. I asked Tessa if she had noticed them and weren’t they pretty. The following is our conversation:
Me: Tess, did you see all of the pretty clouds?
Tessa: yes I did, God must be doing a lot of flying today.
Me: What?
Tessa: Gigi, you know that when God flies over us to check up on us He uses clouds to cover up.
Me: I forgot.
At that moment I look out of my window and I see a cloud in the perfect form of an Angel, I thought to myself, she’s right. God was doing a lot of flying that day; I will never look at clouds the same way again.
Children are amazing, they see things we have forgotten about as adults, things we take for granted are truly miracles in this world. Even something as simple as a big, fluffy white cloud.
I shall report back on the fitness journey, if you are thinking of making a change, Fitness Together is the place to do it. If you are like me and have yo-yoed your way through life then call them. I think they still have the Groupon; you can give them a try for a few weeks and see how you like it. After one week I am seeing a huge difference. Even people around me are remarking on it, my son and a couple of coworkers have said they can already see a difference.
My Journey Begins
Well, here I sit, doing it once again, going all in on a weight loss episode, only this time feels different. I have joined a place, Fitness Together, that works on the whole thing, physical activity as well as nutrition, I have been asked to give up diary, grains and sugar for a month. I am going to do it, I know when I give up sugar I feel better, I am less bloated, I feel less tired and am clearer headed. So for a month I shall give up these things and begin a work out regimen four times a week to begin with.
At the end of the month we shall see how I feel giving up those things, they said at that time we will add things back in. this way we can see if I have a food sensitivity, which makes sense.
I am going to miss cheese and milk the most, I give up sugar all the time, so that won’t kill me, plus I can still have honey in my coffee so I’m good there.
So, this weekend, before I start on Monday, I am eating popcorn, cheese and cereal, maybe some ice cream in there somewhere. I need to say goodbye properly to things I love, and I do so love cheese and popcorn.
Going over what I currently eat, I was told I am not eating enough, and really not enough of the good things. I would tend to agree with this, so I am going to be going on 1500 calories a day, which will be a challenge to get in for me.
I used to have energy, I could come home, do laundry, clean up a bit and stay up later, now I find I come home and just want to sit down. And I sit all day! There is no excuse for this. Fitness Together is owned by a husband and wife, Ray and Amy, Amy asked me if I was tired after eating a baked potato, because carbs tend to cause your body to wind down so it can digest them. I didn’t know how to answer because I am literally tired all of the time. I go to work and I come home, I rarely leave my home on the weekends, I just want to sleep, if I am not sleeping I am sitting.
Not a good way to live, there are times I don’t even feel like shopping, yes, I said shopping, and I love shopping. A lot.
After watching my friend Gladys, go through this amazing transformation over the past year, I decided to give her place a try. She, along with BBFF another friend, Vicki, have inspired me to take my life back, my health and my fitness. I am incredibly tired of being, well tired; it is time to wake up. The older I get the harder it will become; it will be a challenge as it is at my age.
50 is old to begin this intensive of a workout, however I am determined, I shall do it, and I shall do it for good this time. I need to live a really long time; I have so much to live for, my children, Tessa, friends who need me to give them advice well into my dotage. Ok the last part was made up, but it does make me smile to say it.
I, of course, shall take you all along with me while I suffer through the withdrawals and the pain of getting my muscles back. I come from incredibly strong people, physically as well as mentally; I have no doubt I will be channeling them and persevering.
Achilles Heel
Well hello old friend, I have missed you, I am sorry I have not been inspired to visit you, however I am here today and have some things to tell you.
When I am not in a good place emotionally I gain weight, that is the way I have always been. My entire life, this is the way of my metabolism, so for the last year I have been packing on the pounds, enough is enough. I refuse to live in a body that is not what it should be. Even at the age of 50 I should be prettier than I am right now, I am taking things back into my control.
I have been watching my friend Gladys and my friend Vicki becoming disgustingly healthy for a while now. A long while. Gladys is local, and goes on and on about the place she is going to. I decided to follow suit, she pointed out there was a Groupon to her place and suggested I purchase it. Then she took it a step further and told the owners about me and one of them began talking to me on one of Gladys’s posts. Long story short, I purchased and have an appointment Monday to go see them and get my physical life under control.
Once the physical is under control, the mental follows very closely behind, it is a sad statement that my inner shows on the outer. Physically, not emotional wise, if you spoke to me you would never know the turmoil that goes on in my brain.
After my mom died I went on a binge and it was horrible, it took Elizabeth Anne saying mom, you are grieve eating to make me sit up and take notice.
Notice I did, shedding more than 100 pounds; I so do not want to go back to that Angie and will fight not to.
I have always been a chunky thing, starting at birth, I weighed over 9 pounds then, large for then, large for now. And just kept going, I don’t know why God chose me to give this affliction to, I just know it is something He wants me to conquer, it is my cross to carry. My row to hoe, my albatross, and any other metaphor I can come up with.
I gain weight easily, one slip up leads to another and another and another, I am not a person who can ever say oh I forgot to eat today. My goal is to be skinny, I do not care how that sounds and I do not want any criticism for it. I grew up in an era of skinny women. Twiggy, Farrah Fawcett, Kate Jackson, they were all the stars of the day and they were skinny, I so wanted to be one of them. But I was a chunky teenager, living on celery to maintain a normal weight. Oh and let’s not forget my BFF, Tammi, she was and still remains thin, I have always been envious of her non-weight issues.
So, here we go again, back to my horrible cycle of losing weight, it has and always will be my Achilles heel. Please, no arrows at it, it is vulnerable.
Besides Dean Cain will NEVER notice me if I am not skinny…. Must be skinny will be my mantra… See you on the other side.
The Empress has Spoken
I saw something on Facebook, of course, a page called Queen of your own life, I am instantly intrigued. Not enough to click on it, of course, but enough to add my own two cents here.
I often say I am an Empress, a Queen, not a princess, I am not here to put anyone down that wants to be a princess, I am just saying why not be the Queen.
Being an Empress is not all fun and games, while I can see the draw of being a princess, the draw of being an Empress is so much more. My way of life comes with responsibilities to my subjects, I provide for them and enable them to grow and become their own beings. Just in case you are not getting the obvious reference, my subjects were my children, not actual people who I boss around.
I find it disconcerting I no longer have subjects to guide, watch grow, help do house work, clean the garage, you know things of that nature. Those things I have to do for myself these days.
Some days I wish I were a princess, they are told what to do, what to wear, where to go and who to say hello to, this lifestyle takes the guesswork out of everyday decisions. I think I might like that for an hour or two, then I would try and stage a coup de’etat and lives would be lost and it would be a mess.
So, an Empress I shall stay, being the Queen of my own life is way more interesting anyway.
Today is Labor Day, we can all thank a Union for this day of rest, if you are enjoying this day and didn’t realize it was a Union led initiative that had enabled this great day of rest, now you know. You can go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labor_Day to read more about this uniquely American Holiday, I am going to sign off now, as I have floors to mop, laundry to do, and as Empress I am in charge of it all.
Angie World 