Before I blog about anything, I need to apologize for my hiatus! Sorry about that! This blog has not been far from my mind during the break. I have been itching to get back!
I’ve been working on several things while I was away.
The biggest thing I have been working on is my health. I always have thought of myself as a very healthy eater. I like various forms of exercise. I tried to fit in activity every day. However, I know myself to be anxious and a person that stresses a lot! Now that I am in my upper 30’s it turns out that stress can negate all my healthy eating and exercise more easily than before. Grrrreeeeaaat! Another reason to not be thrilled about getting older!
I knew that stress could cause cortisol levels to rise. If cortisol levels become too high you gain weight, specifically in your middle. My doctor explained that the body reacts to high cortisol levels as it does to steroids. She explained further, that when you are stressed for long periods of time, creating high cortisol levels within our bodies for extended time, you can exercise all you want but it will be a challenge to lose any of the weight. The body wants to hold onto it. The stress, cortisol, and excess fat contribute to the erosion of your health.
This was my doctor’s explanation of how I had managed to gain 10 lbs from Thanksgiving to New Year’s all without over indulging in goodies. I had been too busy with school stress, and holiday stress to even eat cookies and yummy rich food during the holidays. Which is a bummer too! I love, love, love holiday cookies!!
At my doctor’s urging I started to see a dietitian in April. I had charted my food, weight, and exercise from January to March. I was doing everything that had every worked for me. Healthier eating, check! Exercise regularly and making sure to change it frequently so as to keep my muscles from becoming bored, check! Weight going down, nope! At that point, I figured what did I have to lose, I made an appointment with my doctor’s recommended dietitian.
My doctor had ordered an extensive blood panel. My blood work came back relatively good; however, my levels of inflammation were too high. My high inflammation levels were putting me at risk for all kind of heart damage, at an early age! Working with my doctor, Carrie ,my dietitian, made a plan that included a total elimination diet, apple cider vinegar shots, sea salt shots, add more fat to my diet such as coconut products, eat more, and exercise when I could fit it in.
Carrie had a hunch that gluten from the occasional bread or pasta could be contributing to my inflammation and stomach issues that I had dealt with for so long. She also wanted me to cut back on stress in any way possible because that was absolutely contributing to my inflammation and possibly stomach problems too. Carrie thought diary could be contributing to my health and digestion problems as well.
I was so excited to start this new health journey! Then came the vinegar shots, sea salt shots for adrenal gland health, and crying over bread. That’s right. I said it. By week 3 on my elimination diet, I literally cried about not being able to eat bread! I must preface, I am not a person that cries. But, dang, you take the bread away and I become someone else!
Was the elimination diet worth it?
Yes, I would say so. We found that my stomach is gluten sensitive. Dairy may affect it a bit but not as much as pasta or cupcakes do! Since cutting gluten out of my diet, my joints feel better, my stomach feels amazing! I have suffered through indigestion of some sort most of my life. I remember becoming aware of it in my teen years. My stomach has bothered me so much that, it is normal for me to carry ginger tea with me everywhere. It was the only thing that would help ease the discomfort! Not anymore! Words can barely express how great it feels to not have daily stomach pain.
The elimination diet also helped me to lose about 5 lbs. That part didn’t surprise me. It’s not unusual to drop some weight when such a drastic diet change is implemented. However, as of July my inflammation levels were still too high. My weight loss had stalled and Carrie found that I had 30 % body fat. She would like to see me at 25%. July was a frustrating visit for both she and I. So, the prescription for July to September is to chart my exercise, my food intake, find several new recipes that will fit into my busy lifestyle, and to buckle down and take my apple cider and sea salt shots regularly. I was honest with her, I caught a cold which got my shot taking regiment off track and it never recovered.
Here we are, it’s mid-August. My vinegar/ sea salt shot regiment is still off. It can be a challenge to work them in because you really need to take them when you have food in your stomach. I am working on making them part of my routine. My food charting is going well. I still need to eat more. This can be a struggle for me because I can be such a grazer. I am making good choices for my body, so that’s a plus! I have lost 2 lbs since my last visit, putting me at 132 lbs. I have made sure I am moving more often. Walking the dogs, walking with the kids to school, doing an exercise video from Popsugar. I am trying to find and make gluten free alternatives for many things. I have found a few recipes that I like and that fit into my busy schedule. Switching my style of baking and cooking is currently the biggest challenge. King Arthur Flour Gluten Free measure for measure flour has come in handy. I have made some banana muffins with it. You would have never guessed they were gluten free! Lee from America is very inspiring. She has some killer food bowls and knowledge. Also, Gluten Free Living’s online magazine is packed full of knowledge, tips, and recipes.
How many pounds do I need to lose to reach the body fat goal?
Another tricky part to this was figuring out how many pounds do I need to lose to be at 25% body fat. Jillian Michael’s website had one of the most understandable calculators. When I did this in mid-July, I knew I had 30% body fat. I convert that to a decimal, .30. then I multiplied my current weight 134 by my body fat, .30 to find how much of that weight was fat. 134 x .30= 40.2 pounds of fat. Next, I had to multiply my weight by my goal fat percentage, 25% or .25. 135 x .25 =33.5. If I am to drop from 30% body fat to 25% then my total body fat of 40.2 pounds would then drop to 33.5 pounds of body fat. So how many pounds do I have to lose? What’s the number I should look for when I am on the scale? Glad you asked. You take 40.2-33.5= 6.7 pounds that I would need to lose. That puts me at a target weight of 127.3 lbs. Which is good, because that’s how much I weighed before the 10 lb. weight gain, and my clothes will fit again! Woohoo! More importantly, I hope that my body will be healthier than it was before.
Have any of you been through something similar with your health? I would love to hear what helped you and what kept you motivated!