Good Fit 82

This past week went well! My energy levels were up a bit! I hit up CG 3 times. Twice were workouts on Monday and Thursday, Friday night was practice for the CG games coming up in July. I found out fast during that practice session that I need to work on my upper body strength ALOT! The backwards crab walks are going to kill me! Practice, practice practice! My goal for this week is to go to CG On Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, with CG Games practice thrown in there on Friday. I picked up my “heavy” weights that I ordered right before I got pneumonia the first time, and plan to work out this week with my 15lb dumb bells. Fingers crossed that this won’t be too lofty of a goal.

Friday, my husband and I both took the day off of work to spend time together while the kids were in daycare. This was a Birthday redo for me as I was very sick on my birthday, as was our oldest, and my MIL was in the hospital. We did a few “grown up” errands in the morning. Even on your “birthday” you have to be grown sometimes. Then we went to Kemah and had lunch at one of my favorite places. Bakkhus Taverna. If you are ever in Kemah, TX, you HAVE to try this place. It is off the very commercialized boardwalk that is owned by Landry’s, but is well within walking distance of it. I had something new this time. The chicken pita with Parmesan fries. It was so very good!!! Although I could only eat about half of it. I mostly just ate the chicken out of it, and the tomatoes and lettuce. And of course the tatziki and feta. If you put tatziki and feta on it, I’m a sucker for it. I wish I had taken a picture to show y’all. I’ll leave you a link to their website and a pic from their Facebook page instead http://www.bakkhustaverna.com/.

After lunch it was a quick trip to Target and then to Academy to get a new bat and shoes for softball. It was a good day and just what I needed.

Late last week, I had a routine check up with my PCP. It was my annual diabetes and thyroid check. For the most part, my bloodwork came back perfect. Everything was well within range. Well, everything except my LDL, or bad cholesterol. Those levels were slightly elevated. Per my doctor they were so slightly elevated that he is comfortable with my adhering to my diabetic lifestyle diet, and exercising to lower it. But, it was a wake up call. I’m already at elevated risk for heart disease due to family history, but add to that being overweight, diabetic, AND having thyroid issues, um.. NOPE! Not going to play around with that.

I began researching herbs and natural remedies to lower your LDL. The things that came up the most were cinnamon and garnicia cambogia. These also help regulate glucose levels they help regulate your glucose but helping the insulin you are already making, work better at removing the glucose from your blood and putting it where it needs to go. Winner winner chicken dinner! I have a form of diabetes called Insulin Resistance. Basically, my body does make insulin. It makes quite a bit of it. However, what it makes, doesn’t work like it should. Therefore, my glucose levels remains high, and because my glucose levels are high, my body keeps making the ineffective insulin. The rest of my body sees the amount of insulin I’m creating and says.. hey! Let’s make more fat cells and store up some of this energy that is about to be used by all this “wonderful” insulin. Except my insulin is lazy and doesn’t do it’s job. So I’m on medication to help it work properly.

Naturally, when I read (from multiple sources) how cinnamon and garnicia cambogia work I was a little excited. So, what did I do. I ordered some of each of course! I looked for brands that had no added fillers. Simple. I also decided to take the cinnamon on pill form as it is very caustic to your lungs if inhaled. That’s also why it’s not recommended to take an extra dose. Since I’m already on medication for this condition, I did proceed with caution. So far, so good. An added bonus side effect of the garnicia cambogia is that it is a natural appetite suppressant, thus aiding in weight-loss. I’ve already noticed a decrease in my appetite after just 4 days!

For good measure I also started taking fish oil. I don’t eat fish. I make myself eat it every once in a while, but generally, I don’t eat it as a rule.

This week is the first softball game of the season and on Saturday we start swim lessons with the kiddos. It’s going to be great!

Time to go charge my Fitbit and get ready to “relax” in our 4×10 24 inch deep pool with the kiddos.

First off, let me say this, I absolutely love my husband. I love my children, and I thank God everyday for blessing me with the family He has given me. They are the biggest reason that I’m doing this. Who wants to be around their mom or wife when she’s stressed out and unhappy ALL THE TIME!?

All that said, about a year ago or so, I realized I wasn’t happy. Not with my life. I wasn’t happy with myself. My husband has been urging me for years to find an outlet, but I couldn’t think of anything. I’m not crafty, not even a little. And because I absolutely suck at crafts, I usually end up getting beyond frustrated and very stressed out by them. They almost never turn out. And working a full time job AND being a mom of two very active children, reading really isn’t an option. I mean, I can’t even get a moment alone to pee, let alone read a book and be able to pay attention.

So, I started trying to take care of my appearance. I thought that maybe, if I felt more like a woman, not just a mom, I would be happy with myself again. I had gotten into a habit of not wearing makeup and barely brushing my hair. I would wash it, dry it, and put it up in a ponytail. (And yes, I know that makeup doesn’t make you beautiful. ) My first step was to start wearing makeup more often than not, and trying style my hair. The makeup was easy.. I live in Southeast Texas (#humid) so the hair is still a challenge. I’m learning to embrace the curls though.

My second step was to go back to Camp Gladiator. I really like a good workout, especially in a group and slightly competitive setting. (More on this later.) Over the last 10 years or so, I’ve gained about 60lbs. Not good. So, getting the pounds off is a necessity as I’m now about 80lbs overweight. I went back to CG in June of 2018. I went multiple times a week and my energy and outlook on life was better. In August 2018, I was diagnosed with Insulin Resistance (a form of type 2 diabetes) and it was causing me not to lose weight. Started the correct meds, eating right for a diabetic and the pounds started melting off. Then in September 2018, I had to have gallbladder surgery. That took the wind out of my sails, and completely derailed me. It took much longer than I expected to heal and get my energy levels back.

Fast forward to Feb/March 2019. I’m still not happy with myself, because between September and then, I had gotten lazy again. I decide to go back to CG again! This time I was derailed by a massive fire at a tank farm nearby as well as the fact that my youngest daughter and I passed around walking pneumonia to each other.

I finally started feeling better and went back to CG last week. I’m getting my nutrition in order and am ready to make some progress.

Recently, I was told to do what makes me happy. Well, although I’m not very good at sports, I’ve been at my happiest with myself, when I’m living an athletic lifestyle. So, in addition to CG (I signed up for the CG Games in July!!!), I’ve also joined the co-ed softball team with my company!

The scale does not define me.. but.. in full disclosure, at the time of this post, I am 5’2″ tall, 229.5lbs, and wear size 16-18 depending on brand.

This is my journey. I hope this blog will serve as a source of accountability for me, as well as maybe also a source of encouragement for someone else who may stumble across this.

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton