How to Travel and Lose Weight

 Step 1: Make sure that you have connecting flights really close to each other and you will be guaranteed to lose anywhere from 25-50lbs of luggage.  The unfortunate (fortunate?) thing is that you do gain it back the following day.

Just kidding, but to be honest that is the note that our trip started off on!  If you aren't aware, Ryan and I both are hanging out in San Diego at the moment, waiting to board our cruise ship on Friday.  So, while we have only been here 2 1/2 days, I have already been crazily tempted to have lots of bread type items (sandwiches, burgers, toast, etc.)  However, I have been doing good thus far and even better, I have made it a point to do exercise in the morning while I wait for Ryan to wake up.  Yesterday (due to the time difference) I was up at the God awful hour of 6:30 AM and wide awake, so I headed down to the hotel gym which was small, but sufficient.  I did cardio work on the bike and treadmill for a combined 40 minutes then a light upper body workout before heading back upstairs to wake up Ryan.  This morning, I headed outside because it is soooo beautiful out and walked around for about an hour.

 

We are located right downtown in San Diego and right near the waterfront so there is certainly a lot to look for.  I, of course, took my camera as it makes walking so much more fun haha!  In addition to my morning workout/walks, we have also been walking around town a lot just checking out the sights thus far.  

We were supposed to head to the San Diego Safari Park, but when Ryan advised me of the price I said "hell no!" hahah!  So we settled for the San Diego Zoo....and while normally I am against a lot of "captivity" type locations, I heard that this zoo was home to a lot of extinct animals that the only ones left in the whole world could be seen here....so, I gave in and it was pretty amazing.  I didn't take any photos of the animals with my phone, but I will update later once I get Lightroom and Photoshop installed on this computer.  In the meantime, here is a picture of myself and Ryan at the zoo today!

 

 

I truly love it here and I think Ryan and I may have to take a trip back just to enjoy California at some point in the future.  (Perhaps I am a bit biased for this state due to my infatuation with 90210 lately....)

Anyhow, as far as eating goes, I have been careful with what I select 

 and if I have 1 meal with starch, then I try to refrain from it at other meals.  We did eat at this cool restaurant called The Counter, which allows you to build your own burger and both Ryan and I underestimated the size of 2/3lb.  Our burgers were HUGE!

 

They were quite delicious, but next time I would order something smaller, most certainly.  We also stumbled upon a great market which sells nothing but natural, organic food free from preservatives, antibiotics, and other crap that isn't necessary.  So naturally we picked up some sweet potato chips and hummus for the hotel room.  For drinks, I have participated in a yerba mate beverage which is reknowned for its health benefits:  antioxidant effects (great for cancer prevention and mood!), balancing blood sugar levels, improving mood, improved energy, body detoxification, etc.  When I used to body build I read a lot about people who would make Yerba Mate tea to reap these amazing benefits but at the time it was difficult to find.  This store had copious amounts of it...and it was quite delicious I must say!  They had all sorts of nifty health beverages.  So if you are ever near a store called Jimbo's....Naturally!  that is the store you will want to visit to maintain your health whilst traveling!

 

Tomorrow will be another day of walking, photographing and adventuring as Ryan and I head back to Balboa park to take in the Art Museum and Rose Garden (self portrait time!!! It is amazing)  Next time, I will bring a model with me because this place is gorgeous!!  As well, I am going to head to the mall to pick up some outfits for photo shoots when I get home because clothes are stupidly cheap here, but beautiful for photo shoots!  I may have also scouted out a thrift store to visit tomorrow haha!  These things will occur before Ryan wakes up.  So far the trip is going good, I am making sure to workout at least a bit every day in addition to the standard trip walking and I am making 80% healthy choices when we eat!  (There was a cookie incident where they were selling 4 for $4.....)

And the results are in!

I had my meeting with my naturopath today and it was both educational and expensive.  I am not going to lie...going the natural route is a lot more spendy than otherwise, but if you are lucky to have benefits it is not so bad! 

In regards to the actual test results we went over a number of different things and discussed the results from the saliva tests, my glucometer test, and I had a bioimpedance analysis (BIA).  So let's start with the saliva test.

First off, as soon as I sat down the Dr. said "What I received from the lab was something I have never seen before....nor have any of the doctors in the office...."  So, I do believe my cortisol (stress) hormones peaked slightly at this news but I fake smiled and nodded and urged her to continue.  "You have to redo the test because they found blood in the saliva samples."  I was a bit confused at this, not because of the blood, my gums bleed a bit every now and then but because there had been a spot on the paper that said to circle if I had gingivitis and I did this.  I assumed they adjusted something if people had this problem.  Not so the case.  So I get to spend another month taking my saliva tests AFTER I clear up the gingivitis.  Dang it.  The good news is that they don't charge me for it until it gets processed correctly.  But seriously, leave it to me to be the first one to screw up the test. BAHAHA!

One of the tests (the one testing my male hormones) came back 75% accurate and Dr. Sara said that it came back relatively normal, but we cannot be sure because the most important test was unreadable do to the above problem.  Awesome.  So I get to redo that one as well.  What we could tell from that particular test though, is that my body experiences poor insulin release (shocking, I know) as a result of abnormal cortisol release in the middle of the day.  If you are not aware of what cortisol is, it is the beautiful hormone secreted when you stress or when your body is stressed.  It literally will control every other hormone released in the body, whether it inhibits it or causes more.  Either way it is the devil.  We are not sure what is causing this stress hormone in the middle of the day because my overall lifestyle is generally not stressful, but if my body is fighting an internal infection (resulting in gingivitis as well....all these things are signs of inflammation somewhere) then it will create this lovely hormone.  It also happens during the night after midnight, so I have to start sleeping earlier than 1am on a more consistent basis. 

In order to fix the gingivitis issue (so I can retake my hormone test) I have to totally up my Vitamin C (apparently I am 1 step away from scurvy...).  Yippee!  To clean out my internal inflammation I have to take this lovely Berberis formula as well as Unda Drops which are homeopathic remedies for the liver.  The liver is the filter of the body so if there is an inflammation, it is commonly in the liver.  These drops help promote healthy, liver, pancreas, and digestive function.

 

Lastly, to help with my lady problems of extreme cramping, mood swings, etc.  I will be participating in MNS-Gen which is a combination of raspberry, rosemary, and black currant.  I have yet to smell any of these things that I will be taking, but let me tell you, if it means I have a less painful TOM that'd be stellar.

So, prior to speaking with my doctor, I had my BIA which was pretty interesting.  They hooked up these little electrode-y things to me, sent a quick and painless current through my body and then printed out the results.  Here they are:

                                                                (this is the reference guide)


But what does it all mean, right?  Basically, the part we cared about the most was Lean Body Mass vs. Fat Mass, Basal Metabolic Rate, and my total weight haha.  I learned that, for a woman, I have a very high Lean Body Mass number and I attribute that to my old bodybuilding body.  It also helps to offset the fact that I have 38% fat mass #sadface.  However, at least now that I know where I am starting I can get an ideal % to get to.  I talked to the doctor administering the test and she and I decided that if I lose 50lbs that would be optimal for my health.  I appreciate going to a doctor that is not telling me to follow the BMI chart because there is no way in hell that my body would ever get to 160lbs and be healthy and sustainable...not with a lean body mass of 61% (hopefully getting higher!!!)  Lastly, I have to take in 2094 calories a day just resting, so my lack of weight loss recently will have more to do with the fact that I am not eating ENOUGH during the day to offset my exercise. 

I think that is the biggest myth that is imprinted in our brains....that we need to do less of everything in order to achieve or goals, but in fact we need to do MORE of all the things to achieve those goals!  Just more of the right things.

So yes, this is a ton of information and when I came home I was spinning from all the info.  But we are on the right track to healing all the things and making my body the temple it deserves to be!   I love learning about the amazing way our bodies try to keep up, but today I was fortunate to find a book specifically on PCOS which would totally help me understand a lot more about the hormonal production.

 

I've got some reading to get to and it will be absolutely perfect for our cruise!  Nothing says relaxing like The Ultimate PCOS Handbook.  So yes, to break it all down, the plan of attack is as follows:

*exercise more to control cortisol and gain more lean body mass

*sleep more (before midnight)

*avoid sweets at all costs

*take my supplements regularly

*up the vitamin C

*drink more and more water

*educate myself!

Date: Nov 12, 2013!
Current weight: 241

Goal for the day: nada

What is your plan for food today? 

                                                   breakfast bar
                                                   oatmeal, almond butter, protein powder
                                                  sweet potato chips and hummus
                                                  cheeseburger "pizza"

Planned water intake: 108 oz (5 water bottles full)

                               

Running for a Cause

The only cause I am running for is to make sure I can out run someone else for when the zombie apocalypse inevitably happens.  I finished off my week at the gym on Friday and then took the weekend off from purposeful exercise, but it was still always in the back of my mind, so I parked further away, went up and down the stairs more, and even got Cori & Jeff to do the ab challenge at mom's house at family dinner.

I wasn't sure if the gym was going to be open today due to it being Remembrance Day but I still wanted to get up early and make sure that I did something, so I headed out in the frigid cold and ran around my area for 45 minutes.  I am usually not a fan of running...ever...and definitely not in the cold, but it did feel good to get out and get it over with.  Now I know I will be able to get up early tomorrow and go to the gym because I am keeping the ritual going!  

On Saturday night I whipped up a lovely flat bread with mozzarella, tomatoes, fresh basil and a ricotta spread on a homemade whole wheat crust.  It was extremely delicious and fresh tasting!  More importantly it was easy to make which I appreciate!

 Last night I went to mom's house for dinner and it was delicious! I played with the babies for a bit and consumed something called apple pie with whipped cream which may or may not, have set back the nutrition a smidge.  But damn, was it nummy!

I also participated in the consumption of toasted coconut ice cream today.  Sigh.  No more.  Stupid sugar cravings.  But good news!  I have been reading this book called Kitchen Cures Revolutionize Your Health with Foods that Heal and I had mentioned earlier but didn't go into much detail, but I have to say it is an awesome book if you love science and the science of nutrition.

 

Obviously the PMS monster is hitting due to the sugar cravings and yesterday I was ready to rage on anything and everything.  Poor Ryan.  First thing I did was grab this book, look up mood enhancing, and found this delicious smoothie.  I made it (just didn't include mesquite pod meal), drank it quickly and was feeling better within 30 minutes.  It was great :D I also did some deep breathing exercises to help calm me down.  There is a picture of the recipe below:

 

If you have a hard time reading the recipe let me know and I can send it in the form of an email or what not.

 Some other cool things I learned about was that passionflower oil helps with sleeping, so the other night I put a tsp into both mine and Ryan's tea and I had the deepest sleep ever.  I don't even remember my dreams and normally I have ridiculously vivid ones which we laugh about in the morning.  So yah, if you are having trouble sleeping give it a try.  I got the oil version at the health food store in Osborne.

Tonight as well, I am going to a full head to toe body regime from the book to help my skin and hair feel its best!  A few of the things I am going to try are the following:

Blemish Busting Face Mask

So good I Could Eat You Whipped Body Butter

Hydrating Cleanser

Sweet N' Spicy Lip Scrub

Honey Do Lip Balm

Lastly, I will be having a delightful bath and add a few drops of olive oil to the bath to soften the skin.  Sometimes its fun to play with beauty regimes.  Top that off with a cup of green tea with lemon and a salmon dinner with pearl barley and I will be in top top shape for the gym and naturopath tomorrow. Oh yah, my follow up appointment regarding my spit tests occur tomorrow so we should see what happened with those!  On that note, I'm off to prep my supper!

Date: Nov 11, 2013!
Current weight: 238

Goal for the day: running

What is your plan for food today? 

                                                    breakfast bar       
                                    bison burger wrap  with sprouts, roasted red peppers, fresh dill and feta            
                                     toasted coconut ice cream (sad face)\
                                     salmon and pearl barley

Planned water intake: 108 oz (5 water bottles full)

The Following Image Has Got Me Thinking...

Conspiracy or not, this is my life this week (and hopefully forever).   I literally have been cooking, cleaning and working out.  I think it is all combined and linked to each other.  Once I made the decision to get my ass in gear, everything else fell into place.  I made a picture to illustrate the relationship between all the things that I have been doing:

So there you have it!  The vicious (and beautiful!) cycle of my life this week! Hahaha!  It is a much better healthier scenario than what I had going on before:

My goal, though is to find a good balance between the two of these, because I love both of these, but today was the first time I picked up my camera in the last 3 days and it made me a bit sad. Haha!  So here is my ideal, balanced, life:

Despite the fact that I am a Libra (and in many ways I definitely am a stereotypical Libra) balance is never my strong suit.  If I like something I want to do it all the time and other things fall to the wayside.  But now, I think I want this to change.  I don't want to fall out of love with photography simply because I did it 24/7....I don't want to get fatter because I cannot peel myself away from Facebook (stupidest thing ever), I don't want to injure myself by working out every day for the next 3 months straight and then give it up for the next 5 years again, I am tired of having to retire all the things I love because I do it so much that I get sick of it.  So.  My new plan is to *gasp!* have a schedule hahaha!  Limit, limit, limit...of course, somedays won't be this way as in normal life, but overall I want my life to achieve a more balanced state.

Now, onto things other than my wacky life and horrible drawings.  I have been cooking and boy, have I been cooking.  I have learned how to blanche things (after googling what the hell blanching meant), how to add the oddest ingredients to achieve a splendid, amazing taste, and it has been a lot of fun.  Today I whipped up crab cakes for lunch from The LooneySpoons cookbook and if you don't have it, please do yourself a favour and get this book.  I love it, not just for the recipes, but also the punny recipe names (Darth Tater, Celine Dijon, Teriwacky, etc.)  It is full of pictures (a big plus in my books), great tidbits of info, and colorful cartoons to make the recipe reading process a lot more enjoyable.

 

In addition to the crab cakes, I also made these amazing breakfast bars from the book.  They have chocolate chips! YAY!  But also, the recipe made 16 bars so I am set for awhile!

 

For supper, I whipped up an amazing spiced chickpea salad with curried chicken breasts and these came from another amazing cookbook that I found at Superstore called  Fresh and Light by Donna Hay.  It was from this book that I also got the recipe for my whole wheat pizza crust and for last night's supper of Carmalized Pumpkin and Pearl Barley Salad with a side of Honey glazed chicken.  Both were amazing, but both were the types of recipes that made me question them the whole way through because of the ingredients that they put together didn't seem like they would make sense, but omigod...it tasted like it came straight from a restaurant!  Amazing.  Just like in photography, the smallest details make all the difference in a recipe!

 

As for the working out, I appreciate the ability of the body to quickly go back to where it used to be.  You have heard the term "muscle memory" I am sure and it definitely does seem to be a thing, because even though I have only been at the gym for 3 days, my muscles seem to be almost thanking me for the opportunity to get used again!  I think what finally pushed me to get going was the fact that someday I won't be able to walk as easy or  run or jump, so why am I wasting good years of having this amazing thing called a body and letting it do nothing.  It is literally like having a husky dog and making it stay inside a kennel all day.  It's cruel.  The body was designed to move, to reach, to jump, to walk, to run, to climb, etc.  At the moment, my body can just barely do those things without giving me a little cry of pain...and while it's a good pain, its not a pain that a 30 year old should be feeling after running on a treadmill for less than 10 minutes.

I will continue to do this.  I will continue to work until I see what I want to see and feel what I want to feel.  I want to have energy.  I want to learn.  I want to grow (not outwards :P)  I want to be healthy.  I want to play sports.  I want to climb a volcano without wheezing like a geriatric.  I want to stop making excuses.  

Date: Nov 6, 2013!
Current weight: 239

Goal for the day: gym! (owned it!)

What is your plan for food today? 

                                                      cottage cheese with walnuts and cinnamon
                                                      crabcakes 
                                                      breakfast bar
                                                      carmalized pumpkin and pearl barley salad with a side of chicken

Planned water intake: 108 oz (5 water bottles full)

 

So This Hot Guy Was Checking Me Out At the Gym....

...turns out he just wanted to use my machine.  Just kidding.  There was no hot guy.  But I WAS at the gym!  YAY!  I went 2 days in a row thus far and feel fantastic! Not only have I gone to the gym, but I have also gotten up early to do so because nobody is at the gym that early.  I also make it a point to make sure I do not even sit in front of the computer before heading out because I know I will waste way too much time on Facebook and then just put off going.


It's funny but true what they say.  Once you get to the gym you will not regret it.  I knew this, but it was just getting to the gym that seemed so difficult, but it really isn't haha! I drove by it how many times but made a plethora of excuses as to why I couldn't go...too busy, the gym is too busy, I forgot my shoes, I don't have the right pants, I need to buy a new shirt first, I don't have my water bottle, etc.  Just stupid. 

 

See, I did go on the treadmill!  Haha!  People were probably confused as to why I was taking pictures of the screen of the treadmill haha!

Also, yesterday I ate relatively good: oatmeal and protein powder for breakfast,  homemade flat breads with tomatoes and fresh basil, and then went to Steph's house for dinner and boardgames where her and Phil whipped up a deliciously healthy dinner.

After I finish this post, I will be heading out to get groceries.  I am reading an amazingly awesome food book and it gets me excited about all the amazing properties that certain food items have!  I am going to head to the health food store to get some of the cool items I have been reading about and will post about them on the blog here as I go through them!  So with that, I am going to head out! 

Date: Nov 5, 2013!
Current weight: 239

Goal for the day: gym! (owned it!)

What is your plan for food today? 

                                                      oatmeal, pb, and protein powder
                                                      chickpea salad
                                                      carmalized pumpkin and pearl barley salad

Planned water intake: 108 oz (5 water bottles full)

I Had Sex In A Pan

AND I LIKED IT!  That's right.  You heard it here first.  I did it.  I ate it. And damn was it delicious!  If you have not eaten this dessert ever in your life you are totally missing out.  There is no healthy version of this I do not think, but it is delicious and I personally only like the top bit due to its creamy texture.
 

http://www.jocooks.com/bakery/cakes/sex-in-a-pan/

My mom made it for family dinner tonight, so who I am to decline this delicious tempting treat, right?

  In other news, my friends, how many of you have been binging on your children's Halloween candy?  Funny story.  I have no children, but yet, I have been binging on Halloween candy.  Damn my sister and her children!  (No, I didn't mean that....please do not Damn them...)  But seriously, if you have a bowl of candy on the table and everything is packed in their cute little Halloween packages it is hard to say no.

                              

Besides the delicious treats that come with Halloween I am certain that there were a number of people who embraced the alcoholic nature of the holiday, but alas, I am a)not the kind of person to do that and b)had ballet class, so dressed like grumpy cat and frowned the entire way through our routine and made the class crack up when I would shout NO! to any question.  

IE.  Shall we start from the beginning?

 

NO!

I don't go out and party very much, so that was literally the extent of my costume.  Clever, right?  

Anyhow, I had a lovely chat with my sister today (I worked a market and she came along to keep me company) and she was trying to get me to revisit why this whole "getting healthy" thing is important to me.  I have hit the slumpy bits of a challenge and do not like it.  Not one bit.  Therefore tomorrow, I give each and everyone of you who reads this blog to post on my Facebook page, asking if I have gone to the gym yet.  This will not only keep me accountable, but also keep me aware of how many people read this silly thing BAHAHAHA!

Anyhow, I shall leave you with this fun little thing I came across on the internet:

 

As well, Jeff (Cori's husband) provided me with this lovely little challenge as well, so feel free to join as I will be starting this evening :P

 

Date: Nov 2, 2013!
Current weight: 239

Goal for the day: working a market, day 1 of challenge

What is your plan for food today? 

                                                    ugh. Mcdonalds breakfast sangwich

tim Hortons chili and a bun

pork, rice, and caesar salad 

sex in a pan

 1 chocolate

Planned water intake: 108 oz (5 water bottles full)