Week 5, Days 1-3. And, I'm Too Old For This Shit

Yesssssssssss I got Week 5 and wowsers, there are a lot more rules to follow. I'm trying really hard to abide but still feel like I am straggling behind. I swear, every time I turn around, I'm fetching something for the baby, making her food, cleaning her up, entertaining her, pleading with her to nap, etc. And when she does finally nap, I collapse on the recliner and sit there like a lump, oblivious to my needs, the time, or whatever. I can't tell you how many times I find myself in the bathroom, trying to concentrate on peeing while I listen to Elsa cry because I suddenly had to leave her alone for 5 minutes. Uffda.

Needless to say, I am doing the best I can but not doing it perfectly. This week is more of the detox plan and there is no wiggle room. I am struggling to do the required workouts because I am so tired out from the full time mom gig. There have been a few times lately that I hop on my elliptical, give it a few turns and flop back onto the couch. Yesterday I actually quit trying, lay down on the couch and slept for a half an hour, crunched up on the little couch with a giant comforter smashed around my head for cushion. I'm just so unbelievably tired. I feel like I could sleep for a week if I had no one at home to care for and a catheter bag.

But my spouse is home from his travels and done hosting work dinners for a bit so I have some "me" time. I wasted it tonight imbibing a little and then trying to make some traditional German Christmas cookies that my mom used to make. They are called Pfeffernuesse cookies and they are a bit of an acquired taste. This recipe uses cloves, cinnamon, anise, nutmeg, dark coffee, sugar, honey, baking soda and flour. You then roll them into a ball and bake. Once cooled slightly, they are then rolled in confectioner's sugar. If you bake them too long, they are as hard as bricks. But baked just right, they are so good. However, after having a bit of Southern Comfort Pepper liquor and then taste-testing this spicy batter, I started having horrible back and stomach pains. Pretty soon I found myself on the floor, rolling around like I was dying. Oh heartburn, I love you so! I NEVER had heartburn until I was pregnant. (And no, I'm not pregnant.) The last time I threw up was when I was pregnant and before that was right after my mastectomy. I never puke. But this time, with the heartburn so painful, I finally made myself do it. And it was the fun kind, where you piss yourself a little from the terrible convulsions. TMI? Oh, maybe just a little. Thankfully I am married to the most amazing and wonderful person in the world. He first tried to give me milk and Zantac to help my pain. After sitting and sobbing on the floor, our dog Tobin casually walked over to my glass of milk and started slurping the contents, so Ron ran out and bought me Tums and Pepto. While he was gone I did the dreaded vomitus inductus. Granted, I was an anorexic in high school but I never stepped up to the bulimia tier of my eating disorder. (I enjoy eating too much which is why I thankfully failed at continuing the eating disorder, although I still manifest traits of it once in a while.) I absolutely hate throwing up, so for me to do that tonight just emphasizes the distress I felt. But the magical Pepto did the trick and, after a short bath, I am somewhat back to normal. The cookies, however, have not been made. I will get to them tomorrow. Just the thought of tasting the batter and smelling them right now makes me feel ill, I don't know why. Maybe they just heighten the yuck that is Southern Comfort.

Either way, I'm too old for this shit .

The good news is that I'm down 10 pounds since I started this plan. Shhhh....I weighed myself early. I look and feel a lot better, sans this evenings antics. My carb cravings are greatly reduced. I still notice them when I'm hungry and walking through the bakery aisle of the grocery store. (Oh those super thick and soft sugar cookies loaded with frosting and sprinkles? I could eat a whole thing of them. I don't care how sick it would make me. God, I love frosted sugar cookies.) But if I don't have the temptations constantly around me, I don't crave it as much. Hopefully that means some bad habits are finally broken.

Well it's way past my bedtime. I hope you all are doing better and acting smarter than I am. No more booze and baking experiments for this gal. Mein Gott, I can take a lot of pain but I cannot take the awful pain of a full blown attack of heartburn. Wowsa! Have a good night everyone. Tschus.

Back to the beginning

For whatever reason, I still haven't received Week 5 of the Shred Revolution diet. I've decided to start over with Week 1 and keep going until I receive the book, once it's published and shipped to my door. Hey, it's worked so far and why mess with success? It's been about six years since I've been in the 150's so I am definitely happy with how things are progressing.

The hubs and I woke up last night to hear the baby gate open and close. Turns out Tobin was running around the house, trying to find his way outside because he had the trots. We got up to let him out and found he wasn't able to hold it! We cleaned it up as best we could and I went back to sleep. But my husband couldn't sleep and was up every hour, letting the dog out and cleaning up after him in the basement, where he was confined. UGH! So he didn't get any sleep and I feel terrible for him. Now I'm keeping a close eye on Tobin, hoping he doesn't sneak off somewhere. Maybe we should just invest in a big ass carpet cleaner. *sigh* It's always something, right? Car repairs, doggie diarrhea (cha cha cha) and a baby cutting molars. Wheeee!

In other news, my husband got my mom's old German clock working again. It's over 100 years old and has a very loud gong that I just love. We don't have it keeping time accurately yet. You have to wind all these different things a certain way and it's so tricky to get it right. I'm glad it's working!

My sweetie is awake again so I'm off to make breakfast for both of us. Fruit and oatmeal for me this morning and she's having a nice bottle of formula and prune juice. Mmmmmm good stuff. Have a great day!

Week 4, Days 4-7 + 1

I have been terrible about keeping this up and I'm so mad at myself! But I do have a good excuse! ELSA. Haha, that kid is pretty demanding. And she's cutting two molars which SUCKS. She's pretty cranky and since she learned to throw baby tantrums (arching her back and screaming when you try to pick her up)I haven't had much time to shower, let alone blog. Blogging takes thinking and at least attempts at sentence structure and grammar. My brain cells last week were few. But at least this week the hubby isn't traveling so Week 5 will be better, blog-wise.

So anyways, about Week 4! Week 4 asks for a lot more cardio and you do see more carbs here and there to help with that. Although according to my very grumpy husband, there weren't enough carbs. Since he has a pretty packed workday, every day, he hasn't been able to eat all his snacks and wasn't eating enough. I did pretty well sticking to the plan all week, except for the days when my body hurt too much to do the workouts.

In the last four weeks I have lost 8.5 pounds! WOW! It would have been more had I not pigged out the week of Thanksgiving and gained back a pound. But who cares, this is still amazing. I've never been on a plan that: 1)I didn't quit after it got hard, and, 2)actually worked despite being on Prednisone. Normally the Prednisone cravings are so intense for carbs that I end up caving in and pigging out. Also it really does help to get all the bad stuff out of the house. I did make a small pan of brownies during Aunt Flo's regular visit and we ate them with glee and guilt. But we didn't gain any weight! And since it was a small amount, they were gone and out of the house quickly. Last night we ate raw veggies with humus with our meal and it tasted so damn good. I think when you stop eating all the crap, you start to really taste things again. You savor your food more.

So why +1 in the title? Well I think Dr. Smith is jammed with emails and I haven't received Week 5 yet, but I hope to get it today. So I'm just doing over the Week 4 meals until I receive this week's plan. I will report on my experiences as soon as I can.

Well the little BOSS is awake so I better get a bottle ready and go get her. Have a great day!

Week 4, Day 2 and 3

On Day 2 I felt like Superwoman. I was doing this and I was doing that, and then I did some more. I felt like I didn't have any illnesses and I was a normal, healthy person again! Until late afternoon. The aches and pains hit me pretty hard and I walked around like the living dead, doped on pain killers and muscle relaxers, cooking dinner for Elsa and playing with her. Luckily I got to talk to my mother in law for an hour which helped to wake me up. We always commiserate together and she's a great source of support for me. What a wonderful woman!

The menu on Day 2 felt less filling to me than Day 1. I think the diet switches things up so much so your body doesn't get used to getting the same kinds of foods every day. And let me tell you, you are not eating exotic foods. I'm talking oatmeal, fruit, vegetables, lean protein. You can drink protein shakes and I buy the generic ones from Target, Special K or the ones from Unikey Health, which are my favorite.

So if you are reading this and wondering if you can do this program, the answer is YES. You can preorder the book and it's under $20. Seriously, get on it!

I hate feeling like this but it could be worse. I just got to make sure I rest today and hopefully tomorrow I will feel better. I'm just going to go ahead and include today, Day 3, since I know I will just be following the diet, trying to drink lots of water and sitting my ass on the chair. Here's to hoping Day 4 is more exciting! Tschus!

Week 4, Day 1

Down 1.5 more pounds! So that's 7 lbs total. Wowsers! I feel so excited and proud of myself. I can actually say I've worked hard for this and I hope I can keep it going!

So Week 4 is a lot more cardio and you have to mix up your cardio in three 15 minute sessions. So 15 minutes of elliptical, 15 minutes of jogging, 15 minutes of jump rope, etc. Anything that's high intensity cardio. I can't jog and jump rope isn't really in the cards either so I'll need to get creative. With the increase in cardio you get to eat more carbs. Yippee! I love carbs. And they love me, so very, very much.

I am starting to wear out so I am calling it a night. I need to sleep while Elsa is asleep. She's been so cute, I almost can't stand it. At the store today, she was so excited at all the holiday displays. I wanted to buy every damn inflatable yard decoration they had but I resisted. Plus, those things are damned expensive! Looks like some people don't have my steely willpower...

Time for some zzzzz's. Have a good night everyone!

Week 3, Day 6-7

Day 6 went well. It was a "rest" day so I took the pups for walks and since that lasted a good 45 minutes, I think I did well "resting." The diet was ok until the late night munchies hit and we dove into a can of leftover mixed nuts. I guess there are worse things we could have pigged out on.

We did fantasize a little about pizza and chocolate chip cookies, two of our favorite things in the whole, entire world. I just have to keep my eye on the prize!! The plan states that the less weight you have to lose, the closer to the plan you have to stick. So these last 15 lbs are going to be TOUGH. And how the hell do you get your stomach muscles back into place after pregnancy? When I quit trying to hold in my gut, it expands by a LOT. Crunches and sit ups? It looks like I've been inflated with an air pump, jeebus.

Although Sunday isn't over yet, I will go ahead and give a rundown of Day 7. I was 10 minutes shy on my cardio because I felt so light-headed and run down today. I feel like I need a three hour nap but it's not going to happen. The hubs goes out of town tomorrow until Thursday night so things are going to be a bit crazy and exhausting for a few days. I hope it goes fast. Weigh-in is tomorrow and if I lose 2 lbs I'll be happy! Wish me luck.

Week 3, Days 4-5

Damn, where does the time go? I'm behind again but that's ok. Not much to report other than I did well on the last two days. Day 5 was especially good because I got all my meals and snacks in ON TIME and I ate what I was supposed to eat. Hooray for me! I also added in sit-ups to Day 5 because I am not sure cardio will eliminate my baby belly without some added toning exercises.

So notice this post is around 4AM? Yep, insomnia. This time I was awoken by three lovely things: a full bladder from trying to incorporate more water into my diet, a sinus headache from the dry air, and terrible aches and pains in my body, especially my back.

Here is the difference between a Fibromyalgia person and a regular one. A regular person will work out, feel tired, but great, and sleep pretty well in the night. He/she may rise in the morning feeling very stiff and maybe even sore, but nothing more than a reminder of the previous day's awesome workout. A Fibromyalgia person will work out, probably do some stretches in the hope for less pain later, will go to bed exhausted and toss and turn most of the night. He/she may even get up in the night to walk around, stretch, and/or take some pain reliever. I'm currently in front of the fireplace, covered up and waiting for my ibuprofen and muscle relaxer to kick in. I actually went to bed rejecting taking my pain killer and muscle relaxer because I felt pretty good and didn't want to be all doped up. I probably should have taken it, in hindsight.

This just reminds me why it's so hard to lead a "normal" life with these conditions. At least it's tough for me to get through it. I've always said I can do anything with a good night's sleep. And it's true. I feel so much better if I have slept well through the night. Last night it was a crying baby that woke me up and then I couldn't go back to sleep. This time it's my body being a big baby that is keeping me up. But at least I found time to get this blog post in! I'm finally feeling a little groggy and debating going back to bed or sacking out on the couch so I don't wake up my spouse. *sigh* Maybe he'll let me sleep in by taking care of the baby.

On to Day 6, my friends. Almost to the half-way point of this 6 week journey! Tschus.