International Travel Recs

So…I just got back from a hastily planned whirlwind trip to Italy from the United States. I haven’t traveled overseas in 9 years, so I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect or bring. I’m putting this down in writing so I don’t forget for future travels.

Before the trip:

1. Be sure you’re travel docs are up to date and easily accessible during your travel. If your airline asks, upload everything into their system. This made gate check in super quick and easy.
2. Check the weather for your location ahead of time, for the entire time you’ll be there if possible.
3. Get compression bags for your packing. You can pack twice as much in the same space – just be careful on the weight.

During the trip:

1. A portable charger and country specific adapter are must haves. Finding a small portable charger that has its own cord will be extremely useful, particularly on travel days when your day extends longer than the normal twenty four hours. Newer adapters have not only plugs but various USB ports.
2. Invest in a small crossbody bag that you can keep the essentials in. You won’t want to have a big bag that is easily grabbed. Pickpockets are looking for easy pickings, and a crossbody will make it that much harder.
3. GO FOR COMFORT, particularly with your shoes. Nobody cares what shoes you’re wearing when you’re walking miles on cobblestones, but you’ll feel it afterwards if you opted for cute over comfort.
4. Layer, layer, layer. Be sure to pack layering options, depending on the forecast. You might be able to get away with a light sweater and cute scarf rather than packing a bulky jacket.
5. Travel umbrella! Find a tiny one that fits anywhere so you’ll want to take it.
6. Don’t use a currency exchange window – they’ll entice you in with a high exchange rate, but then they’ll charge you a service fee of 20% or more. ATMs will give you the best rate of the day according to your bank, and the three bucks they’ll charge is far less.
7. Rewear and reuse – choose versatile options that you can layer, mix and match and dress up or down. You really only need two pairs of shoes – one for dressier occasions, and your walkers. That’s really it.
8. Don’t bother with a “travel blanket” – most airlines will supply you with one and they take up a lot of space.
9. Do invest in a good travel pillow – the ones the airline supplies you with don’t work unless you are sitting in a window seat and have a wall to lean on.
10. Bring an empty water bottle and refill it at the airport.

After the trip:

1. Try to stay up in the time zone you’re in until close to a normal bedtime. This is tough, but will help you acclimate faster – particularly on returning to the US.
2. Try to sleep on the plane coming home. This feels weird because you are in the daytime, but it will help when you arrive home at 3pm but your body feels like it is 9pm. A few hours in the sleep bank will help overcome that.

Women’s Philadelphia Tri Recap

Why yes, I forgot about my blog about health and wellness. LOL.

I competed in another triathlon this weekend, the Philadelphia Women’s Triathlon. It’s been two years since I did a tri. A friend of mine and I have become regular event junkies, and we both like the same ones: running/walking races, biking and of course, triathlons. I introduced her to the sport four years ago before COVID and it just clicked for her. For me, I was glad to have someone to partner with on races as most of my friends that I would do events with have stopped.

We heard about this tri through my friend, who thought it sounded fun. Our local women’s tri has since gone out of business. My friend heard good things about this one, so after some back and forth, we decided to sign up for our first destination event.

We arrived on Saturday to check in. The weather was steamy and the forecast was for thunderstorms for that day and the next. First great thing about this tri: you can check your bike in the day before. We got there at 1030 and immediately checked in (before the official check in time, nice) and got all of our materials. We had preordered merch and that was available too. Within forty minutes we were checked in and our bikes were racked and we were set. We were told the Philadelphia Police Department watched the bikes overnight, so we felt comfortable leaving them there.

Speaking of, this was the first tri I have done where your bike was assigned a spot. Every other tri I have done (and this was my seventh), you had to basically jockey for position on the bike rack. When you came back from the bike portion sometimes your spot was occupied. To have an assigned spot seemed so civilized, and so logical.

We spent Saturday having a lovely lunch in Philly and dodging raindrops before heading back to our hotel for a quiet night. Before we knew it, our 430am alarm went off and up we were to head back to Fairmount Park.

We got to the park around 530 (having stayed out near the airport since we didn’t book hotels quickly enough) and were relieved we’d done so much the day before. After putting our gel seats back on our bikes (we removed them due to the rain forecast since they’d be sitting outside overnight), we set up the rest of our transition areas next to the bikes and worried about the weather.

Let me take a moment to talk about how this photo is a wake up call for me. While I knew I could do this tri, my clothes that I have for triathlons are two years old. When I bought this gear I was twenty pounds lighter. I have been kind of OK just accepting my post menopause weight gain, but this photo is killing me. Obviously I’m the person on the left. I haven’t gotten my event photos yet but I know I will probably hate them all. I’m desperately trying to crop all of my photos but this one doesn’t lie. Since I started this blog I’m 35 pounds heavier, and there’s no hiding it. I’ll get back to that later.

Finally it was time to head over to the Kelly pool for the swim portion. Nearly 1000 people queued up meant a long wait to get in the water. Originally my friend and I seeded ourselves where we thought we would be for completion of the 300m swim: 9 and 10 minutes respectively. But after about twenty minutes of frustratedly waiting, we noticed no one in the water seemed to be in their proper timeframe. The official group in the water was supposed to be finishing their swim in less than 7 minutes and there were people not even getting their faces wet. Walking some of the swim. Stopping at the end of the lanes. Finally my friend and I agreed: we were totally fine with cutting the line and getting in the water as soon as possible (don’t judge us). So that’s what we did. I ended up hopping in Kelly Pool at about 7:33am.

300m Swim: 9:44

This was better than I had anticipated, having estimated my swim at around 10:10 or 10:20. 300m is the shortest tri swim I ever have done, and it felt fine. My first 50m felt almost easy but then I was trying to push. By the fourth lap (6 laps of 50m each) I found my groove and it went quickly. A few passed me, I passed a few and it was clear I was not out of my ability range. I have been swimming about once a week since January, sometimes twice, so I have been keeping up on it.

Transition: 5:06

I didn’t run the very long stretch from the pool to my bike, and my time shows this. I was out of breath and I mostly walked it. But beyond that, having used a tri top helped tighten my time here. I had trouble with my new helmet, having to try three times before I got it buckled, but overall I felt OK with my speed here other than my walking to the bike.

8.1 M Bike: 36:18

The bike portion of this race is lovely. It runs all along the Schuykill River and is a closed course, so no cars. It never felt crowded although I did get annoyed a few times with people just riding in tandem. Really? It’s a race, people! My bike is my best portion so I wanted to pick up some time here. And I did that, until the very last bit where there is a very unpleasant hill. This was where my lack of prep killed me because I was afraid to change gears to the lowest gear. I hadn’t practiced it much and the few times I did I popped the chain. Since I had to work hard to get up that hill, I was really huffing when I finally made it back.

T2: 2:37

I normally don’t drink while out on the bike during a race, and this time was no exception. So I had to get some water in me since the heat was really ramping up. Thunderstorms were in the forecast, the sky was gloomy and the humidity was oppressive. So I knew I had to hydrate. I racked the bike, grabbed my handheld water bottle, dropped the helmet and off I went.

5K Run (well, mostly walk): 49:56

I was spent here and it shows in the time. This is also where the extra weight killed me. I could have probably run more if I wasn’t carrying so much extra weight but I just didn’t have it in me. I would try for a bit and feel so hot and heavy and crampy that I walked most of it. I was OK with it, I knew that’s likely how it would go since I hadn’t trained, but it was hard watching so many pass me, some of whom I’d passed on the bike. But I also was grateful that I could put one foot in front of the other and do this. I knew I’d finish and that was really the bottom line.

Finish Time: 1:43:39

I crossed the finish line about 7 minutes faster than I predicted, but I also thought the bike was going to be about a mile longer, so it’s really about a wash. They handed us ice cold towels and huge bottles of cold water as they presented our medals to us. A nice touch: they called out your name as you crossed, said where you were from, and read your “why you tri” statement. For me, I wrote that I was honoring a Sandy Hook victim with every tri I did, and I welled up with tears to hear it read aloud at the finish line.

Overall, this was a great race. I didn’t love the hill on the bike course at the end, but honestly it is about the only complaint (other than the cost, which is high for a short sprint tri). The park is beautiful and both the bike and the run are completely closed to traffic. Everything was well marked and there was even plenty of food by the time I got to the food tent, which is often gone by the time slow people like me head over there. Checkin was smooth and I honestly loved the pool swim.

I think my friend and I will be signing up again, and my goal is for next year to be very different. To really use this as a motivation to get my health back and lose some weight to feel better. My mom died at 53 and I’m two months away from that. I don’t want to cut my life short because I can’t get my eating and drinking under control. Time to get back to using this blog as an outlet to help me navigate my way back to a healthier place.

Thanks Philly Women’s Tri. You made me look within and helped me move (mostly) forward.

COVID Positive

Well, it finally got me. Nearly three years into this pandemic, millions of people lost to it, vaccines, restrictions, livelihoods in turmoil…and I finally turned up positive this week.

Life, as I said in my last entry eight months ago, was mostly normal. We all had come to the understanding that we needed to live with COVID, the same as we do with seasonal flu. For some that means being more careful: vaccinations, masks when in public spaces, or when exposed to those who are elderly or unwell. But overall things are back to prepandemic routines.

I switched schools over the summer, back to a public school. It felt odd to set up for this year without any of the things I’d worried about the last two years: no worries about distance between desks, or placement, or masks. No virtual learning. No need to submit seating charts for quarantining…we don’t do that any more. In fact, the only way we know a student comes down with COVID these days is if they share it with us themselves.

But rest assured, they definitely are coming down with it. About three weeks into the year we had a bit of a spike at my school. Multiple teachers out, a few students in every class. Then it calmed down. But a few weeks ago the flu started to ramp up. Stories of kids with insanely high fevers, out for a week or two.

I traveled twice this fall, being careful to wear my mask on the airplane (no longer required, and I was one of very few who did). I had several friends who traveled and came down with it upon their return. My oldest son, who is not vaccinated at all, came through town last week with his kids. He warned us the two girls were not well and offered not to stop for the overnight respite. Of course we did not take him up on it. However, by the next morning he too was sick, and by the next day they all were. It was either the flu or COVID, not sure which.

On Saturday night my husband and I went out to dinner. I felt fine throughout the meal but when we came home I felt an overwhelming sense of fatigue. I attributed it to the wine at dinner. But by the morning I knew something wasn’t quite right. I still got up and went out to run the 5K I’d signed up for that day, and felt much better afterwards. Any physical activity always makes me feel better. By 3 in the afternoon I was having chills and by 5 I was down for a nap on the sofa. When I woke, my temperature was 101.

I’ve been sick a few times this year, but haven’t always bothered to take a COVID test. I guess I kind of just knew that the illnesses were run of the mill colds. This felt different, so I took a test. Sure enough, it was positive. I couldn’t believe it. Three years have gone by, three years I’ve dodged this bullet. Three years of being careful and cautious. Of vaccinations and masks.

Whether I got it from my son or a student (I have two that emailed me saying they were positive over the weekend) I guess doesn’t really matter. I’m sick.

The first day, I mostly slept. I ran a fever of 100-101 and had a mild cough.

The second day, I felt much more alert. My fever dropped to 99-100 but the cough increased as did the congestion.

Today is third day. I am at about 99 which isn’t really a fever, but is definitely elevated (I usually run 97 or sometimes even below that). I am far more congested and coughing and have muscle aches.

I had hoped to go back to work tomorrow. I had a friend who had COVID earlier this fall and she was fine in three days. I’m starting to think that won’t happen. 😦 It’s a terrible time of year to be sick. I have to isolate in my room and work from my bed, which isn’t helping the muscle aches. I’m trying to wrap up Christmas shopping online. I’m sad to be all alone.

I know. What a ridiculous rant. There are so many who died from this disease, who have been hospitalized, whose lives are forever altered by it. I need to remind myself of that. This is inconvenient but it will pass. That makes me lucky. I just need to remember that.

Niantic Bay Triathlon Recap

Well it has been a long summer for me. I will go into how I completely fell off the Noom wagon in another post, but I did train for and complete another triathlon this summer, and I would be remiss if I didn’t write about it while it was still fresh in my head.

A friend and I signed up for this tri, new to both of us, in May. We were excited about the ocean swim and the reviews of the event were good. But as summer progressed and both of us didn’t have as much time as we’d hoped to train, I started to get anxious. My swims seemed slow. My bike rides felt strong, but I knew I’d have to mostly walk the 5K. We couldn’t find a decent hotel nearby the event (over an hour away) to spend the night before.

But race day came anyway despite all of the challenges. We left my house at 430 to arrive right before 6. We hadn’t been able to pick up our race materials ahead of time because of the distance (it seemed silly to do the day before and fight beach traffic) so we wanted to get there right when transition opened.

This race doesn’t have on site parking, so we had to park about half a mile or so away. Strike one: I couldn’t manage all of the gear I’d brought with me on my back to ride over on the bike. But I’d anticipated this and put all of the race necessary items in a separate drawstring bag that I could manage on the bike. Somehow my friend managed to carry a grocery bag with two pop up stools on her bike.

We got to the race site just after 6am. We had no trouble picking up our packets and getting body marked. A local bike shop set up a bike check and I got my tires inflated before we set up in transition.

My friend had a good idea: since we both were likely to be slow on the swim, why didn’t we set up in the back area of transition? It was considered less desirable by fast people and then it was less likely our stuff would be jumbled when we both came back from the bike. We both had experienced finding not very much room for the bike after coming back from the back of the pack. I liked the idea, so I set up right near the wall of my row.

The sky was gloomy and it had rained before we’d arrived so I brought plastic garbage bags to use under our gear. I set up most of my things inside a second bag in case it started to rain again.

We had a few drinks of Nuun ahead of time and used the bathrooms before it was time to walk over to the swim start. We were in the fourth wave of swimmers, which I didn’t love, but I told myself it would likely make for a calmer swim.

The bay was clear and calm when we arrived. The water actually looked beautiful and quite a few were warming up in the water. We were relieved to hear no jellyfish had been spotted as they set up the course that morning; we had been warned days earlier that there had been some in the bay. I probably should have followed suit but didn’t want to be wet while I waited for the swim start. My friend and I were in the same wave together, but I knew she’d be faster than me on the swim, so when the horn blew for us to begin, I said goodbye.

Right away I felt anxious. I tried to find my rhythm but it was so hard. I could see myself headed for the back of the pack, but tried to not let it get to me. There was long seagrass everywhere but at least it was calm; hardly any current or waves. The water didn’t seem too salty compared to my practice swims. Eventually I was able to gulp air down every two strokes to catch my breath. Then I could manage a few four strokes, then back to two. Finally my confidence returned, and I plowed on. Blue caps from the next wave started coming up fast around me but I didn’t let it mess with me. One bonked me in the head when he took a stroke but otherwise I was able to get through.

All of my worry was for nothing. In the end I was over a minute faster than I thought I would be on the swim.

1/2 mile swim: 25:23

I went into transition and peeled off my tank top (didn’t want to just swim in my sports bra and I didn’t want to wear my one piece suit) and put on my dry shirt and race belt. I took a swig of water before sitting down on my friends folding stool to get my socks and shoes on my wet feet. No easy task. Even though I thought I went quickly through everything, I was a little slower than I wanted to be in transition. Next year, I will definitely buy a tri shirt, which saved my friend nearly 30 seconds off of her transition time compared to mine.

T1: 3:46

Bike was up next. This was where I felt most confident but the course immediately started on a hill, which is an energy sap. The course had been billed as flat, but I learned quickly that it was a complete lie. There were hills everywhere. Small ones, big ones. I was glad I’d trained in my neighborhood, which can be hilly. I passed quite a few people but at one point on a hill I didn’t have the energy to pass someone and she faltered. I had to get off my bike and walk up the hill to stay upright. At some point during the third or fourth mile I passed my friend. We knew this would happen; the bike is hear weak point. The course was well staffed with people at every turn. Despite the hills, I knew I was doing well on the bike and feeling good about all of those I passed. Dismounted and walked/jogged down the hill with my bike into transition. I was surprised to see a fair amount of bikes still out on the course.

Bike: 52:24

Back into transition, I took a swig of water. I was out of breath from pushing hard on the hills. I dropped my helmet, racked the bike and paused for a second swig. Time to get out on my feet.

T2: 1:43

A little disappointed with my second transition time. I was so tired that I know I didn’t move as fast as I had wanted. But onto the run. I tried to jog as much as I could but could feel my knee feeling stiff. I made a conscious choice not to “kill myself” on the run. People started passing me here and there, but I just couldn’t go any faster. Someone handed me a bottle of water, but I shouldn’t have taken it. I started feeling nauseous with it and dumped it. I was sweating but fortunately the cloud cover kept everything pretty cool. Sure enough around mile 2 my friend passed me again while I was walking. But the course was flat and there was great crowd support.

As we neared mile 3 the arrows pointed to the beach. We were finishing the run in the sand, and I was wiped.

It was tough going but I could see the finish line. I walked some but ran through the line to finish, very grateful to be done.

Run: 45:11

The clock said 2:17 and change but I knew my wave started 9 minutes later. Good. The time was right in line with where I wanted to be: between 2:05 and 2:10. I didn’t beat my previous tri time of 2:06:51, but considering the bike was so hilly and it was an ocean swim, I was OK with it.

Finish time: 2:08:27

I finished in 305th place (out of 315). And yes, I’m OK with that too. I never go out in these events to set a course record. I will never win trophy or place in an age group. I go out to compete with myself, not anyone else. I do these events to prove to myself that I can do something that isn’t easy for me. And this wasn’t easy. But I did it. I’m glad I did it. And I would do it again next year.

Week 12 Weigh In/Round 3 of FMD

Start of Week 12: 159
End of Week 12: 160
Weight Gain This Week: 1 lb
Total Weight Loss: 15 lbs
Round 3 Results:  +1 lb

Well, there it is.  The numbers don’t lie, and that’s exactly why I’m using this blog to keep myself accountable, even if no one reads it.  I need to be honest with where I am and why this round wasn’t successful.

The simple answer:   I didn’t stay on plan.

The more complicated answer:  This round of the Fast Metabolism Diet occurred at the end of my school year, which included five or six graduation parties and a 12 hour road trip to a family wedding.  But it isn’t just those…there were definitely days which included clear choices to eat food not on program, and there were many times when I allowed myself alcohol. Even though I had much more consistent exercise this round than the previous two, I still did not see the results I wanted.  I had hoped to lose five pounds this round and I instead gained weight.

The only upside I will say about it is, these same choices that slowed my progress on the program this round are the same types of choices I let run wild last summer.  That’s how I gained 15 pounds from May through September.  I drank, I ate, and thought I could erase it all with exercise.  The lesson here is clear:  food choices are everything.  Exercise is a great addition to any eating plan but there is no substitute for good, clean eating to lose weight.  So while I did post a gain here, I did much better than last summer and am committed to keeping myself in check for the next four weeks.

I’ll be rereading the book this week, making a trip to the grocery now that I am back home and get back to the recipes and choices that will get me back on track.

Exercise this past week:

M:  42 lap swim
T: none – 12 hour car ride
W: 7.15 mile walk
Th: 3.7 mile walk
Fri: 3.25 mile walk
Sa: 2.9 mile walk
Su: none – 12 hour car ride

Week 9 on the FMD

Start of Week 9: 159
End of Week 9:  160
Weight Gain This Week: +1 lb
Total Weight Loss: 15 lbs

Exercise this week:
LIterally nothing other than long days of taking care of out of town guests and party prep for my daughter’s graduation party.

This post should be titled “Week 9 Sort of Not Really On The FMD.”

This week was a crazy one.  Last week of work at school, daughter’s graduation and party, my father and son and parents in law coming in from out of town.  Something has happened in the last few years with the parents…it has gone from them coming and helping us with food and dinners and cleaning to us taking care of them and making sure they are safe and cared for when they visit.  Both my father and parents in law are in late 70s/early 80s and it is starting to show with them.

Graduation was Thursday and our party was Saturday so there was much to do.  Throw into that mix my husband taking chemo therapy and my daughter starting a new job and I was barely staying afloat.  I ate on plan about 60 % of the time I’d say, and there was alcohol every single day.  By the end of the week I could feel that familiar complacency of “well, I’ve been doing this all week and it hasn’t been so bad.”  I saw a 158 on the scale during this week and got lazy.

So the scale was a reality check this morning.  Up a pound over last week.  If I want to keep losing weight I have to do better.  Back on the program I go.  Looking forward to getting back on track this week.  I plan on starting my triathlon training this week too…so here’s to a summer of exercise, delicious food that is healthy, and more continued weight loss.

Fast Metabolism Diet 28 Day Recap

Starting Weight:  175

28 Day Weigh In:  166.6

Weight Loss:  8.4 pounds

I am so grateful I decided to get back on the wagon last month and do the FMD plan.  I had been struggling for the last year with unexplained weight gain and just feeling miserable about my body and myself. Nothing was working.  I needed the structure of being told what to eat and when to eat it.

Was I perfect?  Obviously not, particularly in the last week.  I only lost .4 pounds in week 4, and I had hoped for 2.  That was one hundred percent my fault, having had wine 3 out of the 7 days and having had a crazy weekend this past.  Do I feel badly about it?  If I’m being honest, not really.  I made the choice to not have a salad at dinner on Saturday, and I certainly didn’t need that second glass of wine.

But I’m OK with it.  I am certainly seeing results of changing my habits, cutting out certain foods and reducing my consumption of others.  I would be grateful for being 8 pounds down in a month on any plan, so I’m taking it and moving on.

My plan now is to do another round:  I would like to lose about 30 pounds more.  Which means probably a summer of FMDing.  I’m OK with it.  I’m exploring new recipes and foods all of the time and making this a lifestyle I can adjust and work with.

I won’t blog daily.  I will post weekly weigh in results and other fitness/health/diet related things as I used to do with this blog.  But I’m back in the game.  And I feel really good about it.

Week 1 Day 6 on the FMD

I thought yesterday’s crazy day, coupled with the higher fat options in Phase 3, would show a bump on the scale this morning.  I was prepared for it.  I was shocked to see it down again by another pound.  That made all the resisting temptation the night before worth it.  I know the first week is always the biggest losses and that it is probably mostly bloat and water, but it is still better than going the other direction.

One thing I’m noticing and maybe this is just the first week of the plan but I think I have been to the store almost every day this week, as I navigate the plan.  But the plus side of that is I’m really doing a better job of exploring what I want to eat within the parameters of the plan and so I really am not feeling deprived.  That being said yesterday when I went to get almond butter I grabbed a big bag of clementines not realizing they weren’t Phase 3.  Oops.  Guess what I’ll be eating a lot of come Monday and Tuesday?

Weight:  170.2

Breakfast:  Sprouted grain toast with guacamole topped with sliced cucumbers and a cup of thawed frozen blueberries.

Snack:  3/8 c nuts and some grape tomatoes

Lunch: Panera Bread Southwest Chicken Lime Salad (half salad).  This was a lesson.  If you’re going out, check the menu ahead of time.  I chose this because I thought it would mostly be on plan but it was filled with tortillas, corn and I think maybe some queso cheese.  I picked out most of the tortillas and some of the corn.  Could not even get to the queso it was so embedded.  Plus it came with an apple which isn’t on Phase 3.  But whatever.  This is real life and I can’t stress about a few nuggets of corn.  It was still a damn sight healthier than what I have been eating or what I would normally get there.

Snack:  Celery with almond butter.  Lesson number two of the day.  Don’t buy crappy veggies.  This celery tasted gross compared to the stuff I had the day before.  I would have thrown out this snack if I hadn’t covered it with my pricey almond butter.

Dinner:  Steak with roasted zucchini, onions, celery and grape tomatoes.  Yes, I threw some of the crappy celery on the roasting pan and it was actually decent roasted.  I probably ate too much steak because I was eyeing up everyone else’s delicious looking roasted potatoes at the table and feeling sad.

Exercise:  3 mile walk outside.  Weather was beautiful….finally spring!

Last night was the first night I really was wanting a drink.  We usually have wine with our family dinners and it just felt weird to not have it. I really am getting tired of water.  I need to find other things I can drink.  I ended up with flavored seltzer with dinner which was OK but it was a real battle inside my head.  I can see the longer I stay on this plan the easier it will be to say…well…maybe just one.  Then on the other hand, if I am doing this long term then I will have to sometimes just have a glass or a potato or whatever.  I have to figure out the moderation of it all.

 

 

Starting the Fast Metabolism Diet

Well here we go again.  Why don’t I ever learn?

I’ve gained.  Lots of weight.  To the highest point I’ve ever been when not pregnant.  And it is time.  I’ve developed some super unhealthy habits that have to be broken.  I can’t stay like this.  I’ve gained 20 pounds in the last year (most of it were gained in a short, three month span).

What I’ve been doing isn’t working.  So it’s time to start again.

FMD isn’t easy.  There’s a whole lot you can’t have:

• no wheat
• no sugar
• no alcohol
• no dairy
• no processed food
• no corn, soy
• technically no caffeine although I am drawing the line here.  But I will cut what I drink to one cup of coffee a day, which is half or more than what I usually do.

FMD forces you to “detox” your organs through a specific set of food combinations, called phases.  The good part is you can eat a lot of what’s allowed.  The bad thing is a lot isn’t allowed.

I tried the FMD a year ago, and I liked the results.  I think I lost seven or eight pounds, although I wasn’t super strict about it.  I remembered that I liked not counting calories.  I remembered I never really felt hungry.

I remember going the full time and then bingeing out so badly after that I never really kept a hold of any of the lessons I’d learned.

So here we go.  It’s time to start.  Again.

Keeping In the Game

Life has been busy so I haven’t been keeping up with the blog as I should have, so with a few minutes early this Saturday morning, I want to get some thoughts down on where I am at in my recovery, weight loss, etc.

Recovery:  I am finally feeling mostly back to normal.  I still feel some tightness from time to time in my hip, but it isn’t even on a daily basis at this point.  I do feel like I limp still when I am first getting up in the morning and a bit stiff, but others have reported to me they don’t really see a visible limp.  I am worried that my right foot is turning inward when I walk, but my surgeon at my last visit did not seem concerned.  It is nice to finally feel like things have returned to where they used to be.  I still struggle carrying heavy items and walking up the stairs without leaning on a railing, especially if I have something in both hands, is not easy.  But overall I am feeling very good.  It has been four and a half months.

Weight Loss:  I finished my 28 Fast Metabolism Diet down about six and a half pounds.  I tweaked it here and there:  didn’t stop drinking (though I definitely cut back), didn’t stop drinking coffee (let’s be real) and if I was out with family or friends, I didn’t get all “Oh, I can’t have this and I can’t have that.”  Instead I increased portions of the stuff that was on plan and had very small amounts of what wasn’t on plan.  

Since then I have been just trying to eat healthier and avoiding the bad stuff.  I am down about two more pounds over three weeks, which I am not happy with.  I am probably going to start another cycle of the FMD next week to kick start things again.  That being said, I do feel like I am on track and in the right mindset.  Even if I were losing a pound or even half a pound a week, I can live with that.  That’s how I gained the weight (ten pounds in a year) and if I lose it that slowly while still enjoying life, that’s OK with me.  It’s a marathon not a sprint.  

Exercise:  The doctors say I should still avoid running and any high impact exercise indefinitely.  So lack of cardio is probably not helping me lose weight.  I did join the local YMCA and have been there several times a week to do the stationary bike and the weight bearing machines.  I don’t love it the way I did running but I know I need to continue at least short term to get my muscles strong again.  I have also walked, both on the treadmill and outside, and I am up to two miles.  It’s a long way off of running miles and miles, and I finally just cracked 3mph, but I’m getting there.  I have attended one yoga class, and plan on going again once a week when I can fit it in my schedule.  The one class I went to really helped loosen up my hip and was really the start of feeling much more “normal” again.

Races:  I have one, possibly two 5Ks coming up in a few weeks.  Obviously I will walk them.  The first is the Vicki Soto 5K, which I have done every year since they started the race.  I couldn’t imagine not doing it, so I am signed up.  It will be my first “race” since my injury.  It will be bittersweet in so many ways, but it is a race where tons walk, so I won’t feel strange about it.  I have a second one a few weeks later, but I’m going to wait to commit until I see how the Vicki race feels.  I don’t want to be the last one across the finish line, and with my times still likely putting me at over an hour to finish a 5K (ugh) I don’t want to embarrass myself too much.  

Family:  I don’t talk much about my family here other than the occasional mention of how we’ve had a pretty rough year.  Right now things seem to be smoothing out a bit and I am very grateful.  It has been one horrible thing after another since last fall and so I am hoping that we’ve turned the corner.  We spend every Christmas in Florida, and I am hoping to go this year feeling healthy and happy.