Walk on...

Today - hmmmmm. It has been tough because I still don't feel 100%, silly cold!  Got up, stopped and got my juices for breakfast and snack, went to work, worked, came home to day two of the challenge.  Pepaw and I walked around the block with Cotton's dog, Winston.  That was the 2nd best part of my day.  The best part was getting to go to lunch with Pepaw.  A lunch not at work.  That is a good thing.  You see, he was off today.  It was good to walk out the door and get to pick him up and go somewhere for lunch together.  We had soup and salad - keeping to our healthy eating.  We were going to juice tonight for dinner too but I think we are going to eat some stuffed shells instead.  You see my grand-daughter found the recipe on pinterest, made the shopping list, and cooked this dinner all by herself.  They are only going to be here for dinner one night a week AND she looked up the points plus values and nutrition information all by herself so we would know what we were eating and it would be healthy foods.  It smells so good - I think we'll be joining the family, yet staying on plan and eating healthy.  A win-win.  Tomorrow we will juice breakfast, snack, and dinner, and probably I'll eat a healthy lunch.  My weight loss might be slower, but I think this is what I need - chewing. :) 

I also have to apologize to my friend.  Evidently by posting my challenge activity I'm forcing her to get up and move as well.  I'm proud of her!  Feel free to join us as we move through the first 100 days of 2012...

Continuing and beginnning

So, days 4 and 5 of the juice fast/cleanse went well.  Still get VERY hungry, but I've been able to quell that with lots of hot tea or lemon water.  I just wanted to get through Saturday - and I did! 

Today started with my hot lemon water and juice, then we went to wash the car - oops, closed - and for my first 100 Day Challenge purposeful movement.  We went for a nice walk along a local hike and bike trail.  It took us 32 minutes for the part we walked.  The weather was beautiful and the company even better!  I felt wonderful as far as completing the walk - but horrible with a cold and stuffy nose!  Boy was I ever hungry when we were done!  We went to SuperSalad for our first solid food in 6 days.  I had raw veggies with a light drizzle of vinegar, salt and pepper, and two bowls of their wonderful Holiday Harvest soup.  (I couldn't find any vegetable soup!  Pepaw found it later, LOL) .  It was good and I felt like I had done well staying with my healthy eating.  I may do some juice along with a bit of veggie soup for dinner tonight too!

Day one done - are you incorporating more movement into your New Year too? 

100 Day Challenge on Facebook

Juicing Day 3

Day 3 is supposed to be the last day you feel the effects of the detoxing while juicing.  I must say the effects so far for me haven't been terrible.  A caffine headache on day 1 that I calmed with Aleve and green tea.  I then used weaker green tea on day 2 and no green tea at all today and no headache.  No real bathroom issues either.  I have been tired, but that also seems normal between the holiday tired...so I'm pleased so far.  The worst has been being hungry.  Not the kind of hungry that you normally get between meals - at least not for me.  I usually snack on some kind of junk when I get hungry like that...this is more like my tummy saying "I'm empty - no, really, I'M EMPTY - FEED ME NOW!!!" hungry.  I've learned that a little hot lemon water or herbal tea helps quell the hunger until I get everything ready for my next juice.  I also do seem to be dropping a pound or two and that doesn't hurt!  I feel OK.  The real test will be when I have real stuff to do - will I have all the energy people that have done this say I will, will I really sleep better, what benefits will I see from here on out?

I'm still surprised at how full I do get with a glass of juice.  I'm learning how to put together different fruits with fruits, and veggies with veggies to make them both beneficial and tasty.  So far, not to bad a program to try. 

Only 2  more days until my 100 day challenge starts to go along with this!  Whoo-hoo!!!

Day 2

Yesterday was day 2 of the great juice experiment.  Pepaw was feeling a lot better, some residual pain from the caffine headache, but not nearly as bad as the night before.  We got up at the usual time and while he showered and walked the dog I set out to make the morning juice.  It was called "Purple Power" and was a mixture of blackberries, grapes, apple, and ginger.  It was quite yummy!

Pepaw left and went on to the store for the rest of his days supplies and I cleaned up and left everything out for Candy.  I went off to my room to read until the house began stirring.  When I got up I made the juice for Candy...shortly after she drank her's she had to go lay down for a bit.  MAJOR caffine headache and sick tummy.  That was it for her... she thinks she'll try again after the new year when she has eaten healthier and is caffine free (which she has now accomplished!) . We have also done some more research and found a "gentler" approach to balancing the juicing and detox effects that I think will work better for her.

As for me, I continued the plan with only minor side effects.  I had only 2 cups of green tea, so I am gently removing the caffine and I think that has helped.  I had a green lemonade for mid-day, then a mix of vegetables and fruits for lunch.  Dinner was pretty good although I'll admit I changed up the recipe a little for me because I found I don't tolerate the more sour juices well...I tolerate them ok, they are simply too strong for my palate, so I toned it down a little and it worked out well for me.

I find I was still quite tired in the evening, but it was manageable.  The most bizzare thing was that I dreamed of hamburgers last night!  Went to DQ and ordered but things kept happening and I never got to eat it!

Here is hoping for a great day 3!

Juice, juice, and more juice...

Christmas has been a great time for us this year.  It has been a blessing to have Chris, Candy, and the kids right here with us and to once again experience Christmas with little ones around - their excitement is so contagious!  Our shopping was long done so we were just chillaxin' most of this week - the kids were on holiday swim schedule so I was on my own from about 3 - 5 every day...that is when I would do my "chores".  We had started back on Weight Watchers and I was just rockin' along with that too...(actually had lost about two and a half pounds!)  Then it was Christmas Eve... Rick and I went shopping for Christmas goodies for lunch (just in case Cotton and Angel came over) and we weren't sure what the plans were for meals during the day)... We came home and made our healthy dinner and waited for the kids to get back from their Christmas Eve trip.

Christmas morning started early - but not as early for us as in the past 11 years when we would get up at 5:00 am or so and race to Lewisville so we could see the kids wake up and see their Santa presents.  This year we were able to sleep until about 7:30...ahhhhhhhhh....

We opened gifts amidst exclamations and cries of joy.  Everyone got what he/she wanted and more...again we are blessed.  That afternoon Cotton and Angel slipped away for a few hours and came to see us as well.  We had sandwiches and chips and cookies and talked and laughed and all was good...except for my diet of course, LOL.

The day after Christmas Chris had to travel for work so the rest of us went over to Cotton and Angel's to see their new house and their tree.  Cotton was very excited to show off the new remote control we had given him for Christmas.  They ordered pizza for us and we sat down to watch the movie "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead".  Cotton had been telling us all about it for a couple of weeks and we were all excited to see the movie.  It is very inspirational!  In fact we all felt guilty eating the pizza! We had to laugh about that after the movie was over...After the show, we all talked about what happened in the movie.  Cotton and Angel had ordered a juicer and they were going to try to start eating healthier to see if that would help Cotton's migranes.  Rick, Candy, and I thought we'd like to give it a try too.  Sooooo.....

Tuesday morning I got up early with Rick and we went to the store to get some breakfast for us and lunch for him.  Now those who know us know this is pretty much our routine every day...the difference was in what we bought!  This day we bought some Naked juice.  I got enough for me and Candy. Then Rick also got some vegetable juice for his lunch and snacks. 

Candy and I tried the juice for breakfast - it was quite tasty!  Then we got the kids up and went to exchange some gifts and then we were off to Costco where we bought a Jack La Lane Power Juicer and LOTS of fruits and veggies.  When we got home we created our own lunch juices.  They were REALLY good!  The kids tried them and they kept asking for more!  Then it was off to Kroger to pick up the rest of the fruits and veggies we would need for the next couple of days.  You see....we are going to try the juice fast for about 10 days, then try to incorporate juicing into our normal routines...replacing some of the fast foods with good healthy fruits, nuts, and beans. Before we left to take the girls to swim practice, where we were going to meet Rick so Memaw and Pepaw could watch, we mixed up our first juices from the menu. Let me just say I'm so very glad this wasn't the first juice we tried!  It had beets and radishes in it and it smelled bad and didn't taste wonderful, but it was palatable and we all finished it.  Just part of the learning curve I guess.  Finding healthy combinations you like and weeding out those you don't.

I think my biggest surprise is how full you feel after a big glass of juice - and how long you feel full.  This isn't at all like the 3 day fast I did with our church several years ago!  The only problem so far has been caffine withdrawl headaches for all of us.  I have supplemented some green tea (which does have some caffine) but I'm cutting back a little each day to help with that.  In truth yesterday was a bit difficult with being quite tired at the end of the day too, but they say the first 3 days are pretty rough while all the junk you've been eating is removed from your body.  I'm hoping this is what I was feeling, and that it gets better.  I'll let you know how this journey goes, as well as how it incorporates in with my 100 day challenge!

Starting over - kinda!

So the back issues made a bigger difference in my life than I had counted on. I guess after living with it for so many years with only occasional issues I assumed once I got it taken care of everything would go back to what it was before. Before it started bothering me more so my workouts became more "careful" and less "hard"...before I began skipping runs...before I started eating "carp"... before I began climbing stairs every day which caused the pain to become chronic and make me feel like it was all I could manage just to go to work and complete a day there...then reward myself with WHATEVER I WANTED to eat! You can't go on like that forever!

When I went back for my last check-up my Dr. said I could start running again. I guess in my mind that meant that running would be just like it was "before". Well friends, it wasn't! I would go run and it would feel good, then I would go back and I could feel something wasn't "right". So we would stop and wait some more.

I finally feel that 6 months out from the surgery I am really ready to get back. I've been to the gym a couple of weeks in a row. The second run was actually better than the first. I've had no pain medication at all for my back for over 3 months. BUT...I am also about 25 lbs heavier now. My runs AREN'T what they were 18 months ago... I run, then walk, then run, then walk. My PR yesterday was 2.65 miles in 32 minutes. I was ecstatic!

We are scheduled to "run" the Cowtown 1/2 marathon in February. I really need to get some runs in ... no I DON'T think I'm going to run the entire thing. I know I will probably walk more than I run, but 4 years ago I signed up for this 1/2 with a goal in mind...they had just started a new medal series of 5 medals that make up the Texas Star. I was going to get all 5. 2012 will make #4...I WILL finish that race.

To that goal I have rejoined Weight Watchers...we'll go to our first "return" meeting next Saturday. Secondly I have decided to take up the 100 day challenge...the main point of this is:

Choose to move, intentionally, for 30 minutes every day for the first 100 days of 2012. It doesn’t matter what you do, as long as you do it ON PURPOSE.

So that is what I am going to do. I don't call it a New Year's Resolution...it is simply my new goal...something that will stretch me and hopefully make me healthier in 2012!

Here I go again....running on towards the finish!

Back to it :)

Well, it has been nearly 3 weeks since my surgery and I'm well into recovery mode. I have walked over a mile at a 16 minute pace (their goal for me was 1 mile in 30 minutes - kinda blew that one out of the water didn't I?) When I went to my 2 week check up they were all very pleased with my progress. The nurse that walked us back to wait for the Dr. was amazed at how well I was moving and commented that I could walk as well as she could :) . The Dr. had them take more x-rays of my back and I was able to take a look at how much space they were able to put back in my spine. Where once it was bone on bone, now there is space in between.

Recovery has been slow but sure. At first I was having pain going down my left leg and my thigh felt like it had a pull or tear in it. When I talked to the Dr. about it she said the thigh pain came from them moving everything in my abdominal cavity to that side to do the surgery...as for the other leg pain - that comes from nerves that have been coiled up for years suddenly being stretched out! They don't like that change very much. But the best news it that I don't seem to have the back pain at all now. Although it is too soon to tell what my pain level will end up being, right now it is looking pretty good.

So far I can go pretty much all day with no pain pills at all...an occasional pill for muscle spasms in my leg is all I need. I still take the medication at night - I still want a full night of sleep pain free - and since I don't wear the brace while laying down and I do toss and turn a lot at night I just want to be sure I can sleep all the way through.

The brace is an inconvenience I put up with. It is a "chair back" brace and keeps me from bending or twisting too much or too quickly as well as offering support when I sit or stand while the bones in my back fuse together. In one more week I get to exchange the large chair back for a smaller model unless I am driving - I'm looking forward to that! I also go back for my next check-up at the end of July.

In the meantime my training will consist of walking as much as I can and want to (I'm trying for 5 days a week when life doesn't get in the way.) I wear the Garmin just so I can track how far and how fast I go. I am also trying to lose the weight I gained while I couldn't do much of anything. So far I'm down about 5 lbs. with too many more to go - but at least I'm making progress in the right direction again. The meds help here too because they make food tast funny and the brace makes me stop eating sooner because it is wrapped around my tummy and I get fuller faster - BONUS, LOL....

Anyway, I keep on keepin' on and hope I'll have more good news to report soon!