I wanted to get this post up earlier in the week when I was feeling really good and strong.  Then life happened and I’m definitely not feeling so strong now.  I still wanted to get my thoughts out and I’ll catch you up on what’s been going on.   We’re talking taking small steps that will add up to real results.  Grab a snack on my behalf please! 🙂

For the last few weeks I’ve been making some changes regarding my health and fitness.  I’m 35 years old and my body feels much older.  I know it’s totally my fault because I’ve gone from being in great shape and at a good fitness level to allowing the inches and pounds creep up and just buying bigger sizes and not doing anything about it during that time.  Back in October I had an abscess behind my right tonsil.  When I had to step on the scale I was devastated at the number I saw.  That didn’t kick me into gear though.

Towards the end of February I signed up for the annual biometric screening that is held at my job.  I decided at that point that I would make some big strides in my health.  The screening is the end of April and I felt that I had enough time, not for a total body makeover, but for my small steps to add up to some real changes.  I do have a scale at home but I need to replace the battery and I decided to hold off on that and to try to go as long as I could without using my scale.  I wanted to see the big change on April 26th.

STEPS THAT I TOOK

1. Before I even started working out ( I already have been walking on my breaks with my co-worker for months now) I knew I had to give up two of my biggest vices.  Soda and McDonald’s.  Sometimes you have to trick your mind and instead of saying “absolutely no sodas” I said “my goal is no sodas, but for day 1 let’s not have more than 2 sodas”.  Which if you’re a Mountain Dew drinker like me, two cans are like 1.  McDonald’s was like my best bud.  I could eat it twice a day no problem.  But it was doing me no favors.  Giving up my french fries was actually easier than the sodas. (except for the two times since I gave it up that I had to get it for the kids and had to drive home smelling those fries ugh the torture!)
2. Time to kick up the workouts.  If you’ve been around for a while here you know I love Turbo Jam, Turbo Kick and Turbo Fire.  They’re all similar but they’re my jam.  I started by working out three times a week after work just to get my body back used to it.  Fit Tip:  It’s okay if you can’t complete the workouts when you’re getting started.  Don’t overdo it and listen to your body.  The goal is to keep progressing until you can finish the workout.  
3. Once your body is used to getting moving and sweaty it’s time to add in strength training.  Now for some reason a lot of women still think strength training for real will bulk them up.  That’s the biggest myth out there.  It’s not in our natural genetic makeup.  But I will say it’s not a good idea to be scale happy when you’re lifting heavy.  It will only depress you.  Fit Tip: go by your inches lost and the way your clothes are fitting as a better indicator of your weight loss instead of the scale.
4. I changed my eating.  Now for you it can be simply reducing your calories or going low fat.  That’s never worked for me.  What works for me is going low carb.  It’s hell but it’s worth it.  I do the Atkins plan because my body loves carbs.  There’s stages to the plan and how you can introduce carbs back into your diet.  I will say if you’re going to go hard on the weights you will need to have some good carbs.  For now I can stick with the low carb because I’m working on getting my strength back.  When I move up to heavier weights I’ll have to move to the next phase of the Atkins plan.
5. Get cardio in almost every day.  On the days where I was doing ChaLean Extreme I would pack my bag and workout on the elliptical on my lunch break.  There’s a small workout room at my job and I decided to take advantage of it again.  I used to workout in there all the time back in my good days.  You may say that’s extreme but I want extreme results, not necessarily quick results but big results.

This isn’t a tip really but I also wanted to share that I really pushed myself in my Fitbit challenges.  The first week I came in third place even though I had hit a personal best.  The next week I went even harder and I got first place!  I was so happy!!  Thankfully I didn’t do one this week lol talk about coming in dead last!

WHAT HAD HAPPENED WAS…

I’m writing this post on Friday.  I’m home from work.  I knew something was up on Monday when I took my workout bag to work and didn’t workout.  I also didn’t workout when I got home.  I figured it had something to do with my cycle and the time change.  Tuesday school had a two hour delay for a few snowflakes that we had Monday evening.  So I went into work after I dropped the kids off at school.  I still wasn’t feeling it but I did do the elliptical for 30 minutes on my lunch break while I watched The Pioneer Woman.  (does anybody else watch food network when they’re working out lol)

On Wednesday I woke up way before my alarm (isn’t that always the worst?)  I had a sore throat and couldn’t stop sneezing and blowing my nose.  I figured okay, no big deal I’ll take some meds when I get to work and some cough drops.  I was at work for an hour when I knew I had to go home.  I was getting progressively worse.  By the time I got home, took some nyquil and laid down, my throat was on fire and so was my body.  I had a consistent temperature of 103.  I thought I had the flu because my body legit hurt and I was freezing and hot at the same time.  I was so weak.  I struggled to swallow and couldn’t eat anything.

On Thursday I made DH take off work so he could take me to the doctor.  I was too weak to drive.  I went to Urgent Care who said I tested negative for the flu and positive for strep.  They sent me back to the ENT (Ear, Nose and Throat) doctor who I saw back in October.  I actually didn’t go into detail in that post, it was just reflected in my planner.  Brief history…in October I got really sick over the weekend and on Monday I went to urgent care.  I was there almost all day on an I.V. and given medication through that as well.  They sent me to the ENT who said I have an abcess behind my right tonsil.  He tried to pierce it for lack of a better word to drain it but I think that didn’t work even tho it was hella painful.  He sent me for a CAT scan which scared the living crap out of me to be in that machine.  Long story short I was on a ton of meds and after my follow up he said that if I had any more issues with my tonsils that they need to come out.  I hoped I’d never see him again.

Side note:  I haven’t been on a scale since that appointment in October.  I was shocked at that number then.  I was even more shocked when I stepped on the scale yesterday and it was 10lbs higher than last time.  Like what the heck?!?  I know there’s no way I’ve gained weight since beginning working out and changing my eating.  So I’ll assume I had went up in weight since October.  I was totally bummed to see that and as soon as I’m healthy enough to get back to it I’m back on the grind.

So they prescribed me some different meds than I had last time, I had to get the same round of shots as last time, and I’m home healing.  It’s still a struggle to eat, drink or talk.  Swallowing isn’t as painful but it’s uncomfortable.  The bad news is they say I will need my tonsils removed.  Which is scary because I hear it’s not a quick and easy recovery for adults like it is for kids.  Which is weird to me because growing up I would get either strep or a bacterial infection every year sometimes twice a year and I don’t know why my tonsils weren’t removed back then.

I guess either way I’ll be losing some weight right? 😉  Can you send some prayers my way?  Thanks friends.  I appreciate you spending some time with me today.

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