Still Not There, Not With Breathing, Not With Eating...but improving

Yes, there's progress. :)

Here's how Friday went--and I know it's still technically Friday, but I conked out at 6pm and slept until 10:15 pm. Not sure if I'll go back to bed or stay up. We'll see. (Yes, I need to normalize my sleep schedule. Being sick throws me a serious curve ball in that department. So, yes, Friday:

BREATHING: I had moments when I actually breathed without thinking. A good sign. I still have inflammation and still had my breathing "conscious" through the day--asthmatics know what I mean, that you have to think and focus and make effort, that I avoid triggers as much as possible, that it's not "automatic" to get air in and out. BUT...those moments when it got better and I didn't think about it means I may be well over the hump.

EATING: I had some of Heidi's Cottage Classics Grainy Day Pancake Mix handy,and it was the first time I was up early enough to make breakfast for hubby, so I made some and had two with sugar free syrup by Smuckers and half a cup of apple juice. Not so great, but I had no fruit to have for breakfast. I also had a handful of soy and wasabi almonds (I'm addicted to these. The salt is bad for me, but dang if they don't taste amazing.)

I still didn't feel up to driving and shopping and risking exposure to something that will send me straight to the ER, so I ordered stuff from the one "healthful" restaurant in my area that delivers. I had some good stuff and some not so good: 5 falafels, about 1/4 cup hummus with olive oil, brown rice with chick peas/chopped tomatoes/peppers/cucumbers/avocado, two pieces of grilled tofu, green vegetable juice smoothie, a fruit blend smoothie.

I have leftovers of the rice/salad/tofu for another meal and some fresh carrot juice, too.

I went over my calories for sure. So, I'm not there. But it wasn't a Whopper or Pizza or cake or some of the other icky stuff I'd been indulging in during some heedless, mindless, comfort-and-holiday-eating. I got fruits and veggies and legumes and fiber.

The goals for Saturday:
~Get those healthful groceries, including a ton of produce.
~Begin journaling what I eat and keeping calories to 1900 max (38 points). Same target for all week. Use my nifty new Levenger's Circa Fitness Journal to keep track of intake (and exercise). The journal was a present I gave myself for Christmas. :)
~Try to get some movement in, as far as breathing allows. I hope I improve so I can do Pilates Monday.
~Start reading and applying The Complete Beck Diet for Life: The Five-Stage Program for Permanent Weight Loss

Since it's a new year, I scheduled a GYN appt (hate hate hate hate those) and will schedule my mammo. I see my PCP on Thursday (will run out of one of my meds Wed, new insurance info to give her, need a ton of prescriptions for my asthma/allergy/thyroid/BP).

A New Year for the Fatfighters!

Well, see, I didn't drop off the side of the universe. :)

Nah. I've been sick a couple weeks. Some sort of frustratingly stubborn low-level inflammatory thing--not a cold, not the flu, probably an allergic or autoimmune flare-up like I've had in the past--so it put a big crimp on my holiday and my Pilates. For the first time in 6 months, I missed a whole week of sessions. Well, week and a half. This bums me out like you wouldn't believe (yes, I have become accustomed to my thrice-weekly workouts with my trainer and the noticeable increase in strength).

I have to count my blessings, though, even though there's a 40 pound invisible cat sitting on my chest making it hard to breathe, not to mention what seems to be cotton wadding down my nose and throat. Why? Cause I normally used to have anywhere from 2 to 6 bouts of acute bronchitis per year (due to my crappy respiratory and messy immune system). This year, I didn't get bronchitis ONCE. I'm crediting this to eating better (most of the time, including lots of produce, clean foods, oganic products) and exercising regularly and vigorously.

Maybe sliding back into old crap food habits after my organic delivery service went on hiatus contributed to my feeling poorly. Dunno. Maybe it's just the usual stuff I get during this time of year--which has always been problematic. I am used to Christmas wheezing. I've missed many a family party over the decades due to Christmas sickies.

In any case, I'm just praying I can shake this off and get back to business--exercise, eating well, writing creatively, and decluttering my house and spirit--in the coming first full week of 2009.

Aren't fresh starts wonderful?

I want to feel well enough Friday to hit Whole Foods or Fresh Market. I want to visit the local organic juicer and get fresh squeezed green juices in quarts to get me some yummy enzymes. I want to begin the Beck Diet for Life book and see if I can get my psychological groove going. I want to breathe well enough to get back to Pilates. I want to stop ordering too much take-away.

Simple steps, but they seem so complicated in one-lump paragraph. (I recommend folks visit Lyn and get her habit-a-week posts and try that.)

I indulged in a bit too much cake and chocolate and mousse this holiday, so I just ordered up some low-carb goodies from Netrition.com to kick-start January with less sugar and more protein. But man, I really need my fruits and veggies. I haven't been able to shop in TWO WEEKS, and hubby is just afraid of produce. He really is (funny) helpless in the face of choosing fruits and veggies. So, the fruit bowls are empty. Literally EMPTY. No oranges, bananas, apples, pears, lemons, avocados, limes, tomatoes in the bowls. No grapes, cherries, berries...just some papaya that I asked him to get to aid in decongesting and some pineapple juice leftover from a take-away dinner from Pasha's Mediterranean.

Ah, man, I hate being sick. Makes me feel so helpless and useless. I breathe best when I'm very still. Any exertion makes me gasp. So, I can feel the fat creeping back and the muscles devolving. I want to keep my hard-earned (expensively-acquired) muscles!

I know. I know. Keep it positive. Start 2009 with great hope.

Hope was the word God gave me for 2008. I even bought a piece of fairy art from the delightful Sara Butcher to showcase that work:



(If you go to the link above to her site, Sara has another very charming HOPE fairy in the upper left of her blog layout, and it's in color and very cute.)

I look forward to hear what word the Lord will give me for 2009. Sometimes, I don't get it until two or three months in, but it always seems to address a need for that year. For instance, in 2008, after 20 years with his employer, my hubby got laid off. You can guess that hope came into play big time. God came through with a really good job for him, and he kept me bronchitis-and-pneumonia free. He made it possible for me to do Pilates (with the severance money from lay-off).

I will commemorate my 2009 word with another piece of small art, if I can afford it. I "hope" so. :) Ah, yes. I think HOPE is a word that's good for all seasons of all years. Especially for those of us struggling with obesity and health problems. I'm glad I have my little fairy to remind me.

I ask God to bless you all in your fight, in your struggles, in trying times, and to bring health and joy and great friendships and much love in 2009.

See you soon. (And if you're the praying sort, prayers for my breathing to normalize would so much be appreciated.)

OH...and if you want a challenge, Fitcetera's gorgeous blogger Katschi has one going. The Six Week "As If Jillian Were Riding Your Butt" Challenge. I signed up.

Oh, lawdy, lawdy. I really need to get my respiratory system back in line to do it, but here's to...er..HOPING.

Onward in 2009...and downward!

~

Did Ya Have a Perfect Day? If Not, TRY AGAIN!

Lyn posted about working at it one day at a time, aiming for a perfect day.

I decided to take the one-day challenge. One perfect day. Well, okay, nearly perfect. I exercised for 50 minutes and I ate within my self-selected points count (38 pts, which is 1900 calories). It would have been perfect had I had more greens and slept 8 hours. I only slept 5 and a half.

The scale was .6 pounds down.

I'm aiming for another perfect day today. :)

One day at a time...because like it or not, you will have those days, and you can make them good or bad, better or worse, best or worst...or even perfect.

As Lyn said beautifully:

One perfect day, you can do. And if you can do it once, you can do it again. Don't think about the other days. It is ONE day. You only have to do it for ONE day. Then at the end of your perfect day, hug yourself, go to bed, and get back up in the morning committed to doing ONE perfect day. Again.

One day leads to another. Like the momentum of footsteps taking you to a goal, the days carry you forward. They are going to carry you, regardless. In a month you will be a month older. Will you be a month heavier? More miserable? Or will you be a month lighter and happier? Because believe me, the good days string together and create something more masterful and wonderful than weeks and months. They create joy. They become peace and clarity. They lead to a new you.

If you have a hard time visualizing a perfect eating day sort of meal plan, how about some of these to spur you on?--

Women's Health's meal plan for steady blood sugar

Men's Health's meal plan for craving control

High Fiber meal plan

A vegetarian meal plan at 1500 calories

A low-carb meal plan

Vegan meal plan

Oprah's Seven-Day meal plan

High Calcium Meal Plan

A 1200 calorie meal plan with meal replacements

Take 30 to 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise-- a bracing walk, an energizing DVD, some yoga, a refreshing swim, a hike in the woods or desert, a jog through the park, a spell on the trampoline, some focused weight-lifting, a bit of dancing in your living room to salsa music--and add several glasses of water to a good, calorie-controlled meal plan, and, presto, a perfect fatfighting day!

Then utter thanks for being able to breathe, move, and for having food at hand to nourish your body. These are great gifts in a world where many go hungry and many are unable to walk or run or jump or just do one abdominal crunch.

Always be grateful for being able to enjoy a day of becoming that new you.

Have a perfect today!

~