165… CHOLESTEROL THAT IS

Oh my goodness, I did it, you guys! I can’t remember exactly when I started, but I, for all intents and purposes, am THERE…well…almost…

147. I weigh 147. And that. is. awesome.

I foolishly set my goal for 145, so I have a feeling that at least for a little while, I will go back and forth until I finally reach it. It’s a fake goal though. Really, my goal was 150. My body likes 150, and I think almost refuses to lose any more weight, and I agree totally. I am 5’11”. 147 is where I should be.

We all know I don’t blog when I am happy, so.

Dr. Dreamy left a message the other day with the good news that my vitamin D level is back to normal, that my good cholesterol is good (55), but my bad cholesterol is bad. 165 bad. He is giving me 12 weeks to try to improve it by myself and I am using this blog to talk about my process.

It’s time to get busy.

Starting Saturday, I have to try to get exercise at least 3 times a week. Since I am poor, my first method will be using this DVD I got from the biggest loser. I will write a review of it Saturday morning. I did it once, and I remember it being pretty challenging and good for three different levels.

to be continued!

Liquid Chlorophyll: Does it Work?

About a year ago when I joined Twiter, my cousin, who involves herself in just about every pyramid scheme imaginable, was singing the praises of Chlorophyll, Vitamin A and Vitamin E to battle acne. I was still on the pill at that time, and was maintaining better skin through hormones, so I made a mental note of it, starred her tweets on the matter, and tucked it away for a time in the near future when I might need it.

It has been about 11 months since I have gone off the pill, and my acne is back. It’s not as bad as it was in high school, but the usual suspects always come in around my period, hang out for a week, and then my skin calms down again.

I mentioned this to Dr. Dreamy in April, and his intern, who has a bunch of experience working in dermatology offices, suggested I use Benzoyl Peroxide  (I am going to type BzP from now on because I am lazy) products. They both said not to get ProActiv, apparently that’s shit’s the devil, but they did suggest BzP would help clear my skin.

Something you must know about me is that I try my best to balance natural and conventional medicine. It is something I struggle with. I would love to start using only natural/Eastern medicine, actually, but fear I don’t have the willpower to follow the daily regimen that lifestyle entails. I am getting better, but don’t know I could do it just yet.  Whenever Dr. Dreamy suggests medication, if I think about it I ask about natural alternatives, things in my diet I might not be eating that would help. In other cases, I listen to his advice, go home, and then google the shit out of natural alternatives.

In this case, the only natural alternative to BzP I could find was tea tree oil. NOT GOOD. I am pretty sure my skin hates the stuff.  Against my better judgment, though, I went to Whole Foods and bought some.

I found a Burt’s Bees acne care system that seemed to be gentle on the skin and on my wallet. Of course I broke out, so I went straight to Fred Meyer’s looking for some BzP.

I found a Nutrogena skin care line.  Nutrogena seemed to be the safest, most benign thing I could find. I pretended the fact they are owned by Johnson & Johnson didn’t bother me, and I bought my second acne care system in one week.

Will stain your washcloths!

I used it for a week, and was amazed at how it ruined all my washcloths (BzP bleaches things. Dr. Dreamy did warn me about this), it also dried me the fuck out.  I had to learn the hard way that BzP works best on problem areas, not on the entire face.

I used it like that for a month or so, when I remembered my cousin’s praises of chlorophyll. Like a lot of things in my ADD-addled mind, I’d forget, then remember, forget, then remember. I did find a women’s multi-vitamin at Trader Joes with Vitamin A and E during that time, and felt like I was at least doing something.

One fateful night after sushi, we went to the fancy hippy-dippy store on a mission. We went to the vitamin section, and found the liquid chlorophyll. There were a few brands though, and we weren’t sure which one to get. The resident queen of the Naturopathic Department found us, and helped me pick out the right one. I don’t remember her talking about the benefits of the stuff, but she assured me she drinks it in water, and that her colleagues in the know do the same. Her skin is flawless by the way.  She has that hippy glow that I’ve always admired. I was convinced I was doing the right thing.

Click on Image to go to website

For the record, the packaging says nothing about helping acne, mainly improving brain function. It also boasts a terrific minty flavor. It is a beautiful color of dark green, and the stuff stains like nobody’s business. The directions recommend 18-36 droplets in 8 oz of water twice a day. It tastes much better in cold water than room temperature water. It is indeed minty, as suggested, but it has an odd lemony tang as well. It amazes me that the queen of hippies enjoys hers over the day, I have to drink it down, sometimes I even plug my nose while drinking it.

It has been a week and a half now, and I can’t help but wonder, does it work?

Since taking chlorophyll regularly for a week and a half, I’ve noticed very little improvement in my acne. To be fair, this is the time of month in which the acne is pretty calm anyways, but I don’t notice a marked change—a hippy glow, if you will.

I think it is helping in cleaning out toxins though. I know this because I feel a little better, and I notice I drink a lot more water since I’ve started taking the stuff.

Sure, it’s been hot, but in the mornings, I actually crave the stuff. I think time will tell if it is something worth keeping up. I will give it three months and report back.

For now the old adage it’s not hurtin’ so I might as well definitely applies!

You R What U Eat

It’s been a tumultuous year.

I got depressed. I started seeing a counselor. I went to the dreamy doctor.

I was able to handle my weight at doctor appointments until about April when the scale read 180.

Up to that point, it was amazing to watch my weight gain. I would approach the scale, like, sure, yeah. No big deal. I’ll just leave my shoes on, it won’t matter.  The weight kept increasing and increasing. There were clothes in my closet I knew did not fit. But there was enough there that still did fit, which made me OK with it.

On that fateful day in April though, I decided I needed to do something drastic. Around that time two of my skinny sisters decided to try Weight Watchers. I watched one join, and was able to excuse it because she had a baby a few months ago. But once the skinny one joined, I really couldn’t justify not doing anything anymore.

Week 1 I tried it without joining. I was a renegade, writing everything down, googling points like crazy.  It was way too much work. After the first week I decided I could justify the costs of joining, so I did.  I wasn’t sure where I wanted to go with it, but I knew even if I just maintained for a while, that would be way better. I felt I was steadily approaching 200. I was scared.  I also decided my appointment with Dr. Dreamy in May would be a perfect amount of time to check my progress with my weight and decide whether or not I wanted to continue.

Doing the liquid fast years ago taught me you really shouldn’t talk about being on a diet, but boy did I talk about being on this diet! Coworkers, friends, sisters, whoever would listen. It was on my mind. It was tough, but I started with 28 points a day, which gave me the message that I was eating the right kinds of foods, I just needed to watch portions and probably not eat at night.

A month later at my appointment, I was amazed that I had lost 10 pounds! I was amazed! I think I even convinced the nurse to go on weight watchers.

The rest of May and most of June has been a fun ride of finding places with scales to weigh myself every once in a while, and finding tricks and treats that work in my ever-decreasing daily point allowance.  I weigh 160 right now, which I think means I lost that initial 15 that I wanted to when we started this blog. Am I happy? Of course not! I want to go another 10, mostly because I KNOW once work starts again it might go up. I have feeling the last 10 will be really hard, though.

Not to take away from my hard work over these three months, but I feel like the weight that has come off has been seemingly effortless. Yes, I changed my habits, and got my portions under control, but watching the weight come off so quickly has been total motivation! I have NEVER seen my work pay off like it has now.

I think my accelerated weight loss will stop eventually, and I know from five years ago that my body really likes being between 155-160. So part of the initial goal is to get back to being 155 because I did it once before. I want to lose the extra 5 for a cushion.

D says my experience over the last three months confirms what he has known all along, that weight loss has so much to do with changes in your diet than exercise.

I still dream of a regular exercise routine on top of my normal schedule. Yes, I am really active in my normal life (I walk everywhere, literally). But I am buying  a car soon, and I know my lifestyle will change a little bit.

Embarrassingly, over the past year I joined 24 Hour Fitness and do not go at all. I haven’t for months. I stopped in October of last year. Boo! I want to cancel my membership and try to just do walks in the park where I live. I need ot figure this all out, I hope/hoped writing here would help with that.

It’s really hard not to eat at night. Especially here at my mom’s house. Especially right now, which is kind of why I am writing.

Monday = Weigh Day

What a day. What a day.

The good-ish news: my WW weigh in looked pretty good for a holiday weekend. I remain stubbornly Jenny16… but, you know…. that’s okay.

Exercise stuff is going okay, too. I’ve been running much more than I really should — my knee is such that I shouldn’t run at all — but I’ve been enjoying it, so it’s okay.

That’s about it for now. I’m sick of counting calories and points and stuff. But the shit works.

Now What?

So I did it! 27 miles in a week. BAM.

The sort of bummer about exercise and loosing weight is that you really can’t rest on your laurels. It’s an everyday thing, a choice you have to make.

So I have to put some time into thinking about this week’s goal, which already starts tomorrow. EGADS.

I work every day next week, which will be exhausting, but also sort of nice, since that’s a gauranteed 5 miles, plus two on Monday and Wednesday. I can walk home from downtown to home on Tuesday afternoon, too, which will be another 2.5…I learned that the marathon will only work for weeks in which I am not working everyday.

I think 2o miles sounds right for this week. OK. 20.

FYI I did 7.4 miles in two hours today!

It’s like you never left!

Dude that is frustrating, but at least you’ve broken even. That’s what counts. I am at 15.9 miles for the week, seriously doubting I will get 26.2 By Saturday evening.

The heartbreak is that it starts all over again on Sunday!

Daniel did the math and estimated I would need three hours to walk 6 miles, and seriously, who has the time or patience for that?  Next week will be interesting because I actually have to work every day. It will be good practice for the first four weeks of ‘summer break’ when I have my summer camp. Was it silly to think I could average roughly 4 miles of walking a day? Only time will tell.

Right now the question is whether or not I have the patience to walk a little bit more today. I will get in another mile easily because of my work shedule, but do I really want to walk home from work when it’s going to be 80+ degrees?

I’m trying to be more in the moment with this exercise plan, because for me it’s mostly about trying to make a lifestyle change–realizing that walking is probably better for me than checking facebook every two minutes, etc.

So tell me more about the diet. Is it totally restrictive?

Walking a marathon a week? No small task.

I’m so glad you’re back, Em!  Now I’m back, too.

Okay, so the goal sounds too hard for me.  I can’t imagine walking 26.2 miles each week.  Really, even in one week.  I think it’s a lot.

When I was running, I would feel pretty good running 30-ish miles in a week.  And thatr’s running…. which takes less time than walking.  I think walking a comparable distance would be too hard.

For what it’s worth, after a semester of teaching (up 7 pounds) and now three-ish weeks of successful dieting (down seven pounds) I am EXACTLY right where we started this whole thing in January.
Seriously.  How funny is that?

10.5

I am going for it tomorrow…six miles tomorrow?? Really? Turns out walking is every bit a mind fuck as jogging once was.

I’ll be fine, right?

Update

I have walked 6.4 miles this week so far! I didn’t get the epic walk in today that I wanted, but I am going to try to get one more small walk in this afternoon. It seems pretty daunting to think I still have to know out 20 miles before Sunday…I will try though.

PS Just got another 2.3 miles in!= 8.7 for the week, about 16 more to go…

What the Hell Happened?

Whoa! It has been ages since I have written, and, admittedly, ages since I have had something to write about. The Wii has been collecting dust for the past couple of months. I *did* figure out a way to hack my age during the fitness test though. So much terrible news. I went to the dentist and I have two new cavities…WTF!?!? I have been such a good flosser! Apparently though, a huge part of having healthy teeth is getting teeth cleaned a few times a year. UGH…

I have been thinking about joining 24 hour fitness for about a month now, but I seem to just think about it more than actually going in the shop and doing anything about it.

Enough of this negativity. I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t have good news, or at least a plan.

This was inspired by the SAHMs at the private school where I teach. I have heard through the grapevine that they try to walk/run/jog a marathon a month.

I am going to tweak it a little bit by trying to walk a marathon a week. Is it stupid or unrealistic? Only time will tell, but I’m going to count literally everything.

The days I work at said private school, I get a mile of walking in (house–>bus stop–>MAX stop–>school and back), so there is three miles a week right there, so already I only have to accomplish 23.2 miles a week.

23.2/5 (I can forget about having any spare time Monday and Wednesdays for the next three weeks) is approximately 4.64 miles a day. I think I can do this.

Today is my official start day, since D and I already got 2 walks in today. I am going to approximate 2 miles towards my weekly goal already, which is awesome. This means I have 24.2 to go.

It is 3.17 miles from my house to Mt. Tabor, so this is my goal for tomorrow. That will be six huge miles, which will be awesome. The default tomorrow will at least be from my house to Laurelhurst Park which is approximately 1.6 miles one way.

Wish me luck! I am pretty excited about this. It seems cheap and manageable.