Is it hot or what? Well, at least it is here in VA, temps in the 90's with high humidity. As luck would have it, this warm weather has done my in-laws' pool some good. I went swimming yesterday and it was a comfortable 84 degrees in the water, cool and refreshing but not so cold that your butt clinches up when you go in.
I did some easy swimming (and a lot of bobbing) trying to work mostly my upper body to give the legs and glutes some rest. Now I have to tell you that there is a reason that swimmers are so buff, it is mighty hard to pull yourself through the water. Swimming is definitely going to be my cross training exercise because I can feel all of my muscles working not to mention my heart and lungs. And, all of this is with very little impact or stress on my body. OK, it's fun too.
The plan for today was to get up with my husband and get a 30 minute head start. You see, I have been having some trouble getting myself ready for work with exercise and cool down time added to my morning routine and I hate to rush in the morning. The alarm went off at 5:20 and as he says every morning I hear, "One snooze please." I knew it was coming so I fully intended to rise at 5:30. Well...as you might have guessed, I needed another hit on the snooze alarm myself. OK 2 more. OK 3 more.
So, I got up at 6:12 this morning and got ready to exercise. With limited time (yes it's my own fault) I decided that the best bet was to get on the bike and ride the full 5K loop. And I did. Not only did I do that, I did it without stopping. Not only did I do that, I did it in under 18 minutes. Oh, and I was at the ideal heart rate for maximum fat burn. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.
Happy with my workout results, my focus then turned to food, not just because I was hungry but because I need to put it all together.
Allow me a little sidebar here to explain a couple of things. I have PCOS, Poly-Cystic Ovary Syndrome, which along with it comes a condition known as insulin resistance. No, I am not a diabetic. My doctor calls it pre-pre-diabetic, AKA I'm on the fast track to a horrible disease if I don't change things. Basically what happens is this (to the best of my understanding): insulin is the key that unlocks the blood stream and lets the sugar in; the body wants to achieve a balance of insulin and sugar; my body is naturally resistant to insulin, in other words the key is going in the lock but it won't open; as a result my body produces more insulin (those are the keys, are you keeping up?); more insulin means my body wants more sugar to try to get that balance; more sugar means more insulin trying to open the bloodstream; more insulin, well you get the point, this is a vicious cycle. So, this is why going South Beach is a good deal for me. I deny my body any type of sugar for a few days which allows my insulin levels to drop to a healthy level and in turn eliminate the cravings for sweets and carbs. Now, back to the food thing.
This is the point where real life comes in. My plan had been to go to the grocery store to get the necessities for the South Beach carb purge however, I don't get paid until Wednesday. Now my husband and I don't use credit cards, we follow Dave Ramsey's advice and make a budget at the beginning of the month and when the money runs out, it runs out, that's it. Well, we went out to eat one more time than planned so I only had a few dollars to go to the grocery store and therefore was only able to get the necessities.
Not to let this get in my way, I managed to eat pretty healthy today. I had 1 1/2 cups of Multi-grain Cheerios with 1 cup of 1% milk, 2 grape propels, a medium apple, a Nutella sandwich on a whole-grain thin bread, a Laughing Cow cheese wedge with 10 high fiber Wheat Thins, a handful of baby carrots, a human sized piece of lasagna and a slice of sourdough bread with Brummel and Brown and freshly grated Parmesan, and 2 mini muffins (chocolate chip of course). Now even with the higher calorie dinner and dessert, I don't believe that I have reached the 1800 max I was given. (I'll add it up and get back to you on that one.)
It was a good day. Tomorrow I don't have to be to work until 2:00 so I will sleep in a bit (it's still hot and I don't want to be too late getting outside) and then go for a nice long walk. Wednesday will be a rest day and Thursday will be when I try my hand, or foot as it were, at running. Stayed tuned and...
Don't Pity the Fat Girl.
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Keep up the good work!!!!
ReplyDeleteMy wife also has PCOS. Are you on Metformin like she is?
ReplyDeleteShe also lost some weight with metformin.
She and I joined Weight Watchers 6 months ago and she's lost 26 pounds. We could have lost more if we followed it more strictly but I think if we were more strict we wouldn't have stuck with it. I'm happy with going slow as long as the trend is downward.
Do you also have thyroid problems? In our experience a lot of people with PCOS have thyroid problems as well.
She was trailing me in her weightloss and was thinking of quitting but then her doctor upped her thyroid medication and now she's 8 pounds ahead of me!
Sorry, I didn't see your comment sooner. I am on metformin and I think that there was an initial weight loss from it. I think I started taking it 2004.
ReplyDeleteI don't have thyroid problems. They keep checking because it runs in the family but that's the one thing I don't have.
Stick it out with Weight Watchers, they really help with protion control which can be a hard battle. Just remember, with portion control comes calorie reduction so it's worth the fight.
The other big thing she (and you) can do is exercise. It drops the blood sugar, cholesterol, etc. There are sooooo many benefits to it. Believe me, I know how hard it is to get going but you have to give it a real try. Commit yourselves to 4 weeks. Don't over do it. Start with walking 1 mile per day and do it everyday. I think you'll find at the end of the 4 weeks that you will be coming up with reasons to go rather than the other way around.
Keep me posted. I'll pass on any "wisdom" and encouragement I can.