I've added another element to my routine: FLAX. Everywhere I go, it seems, flax is getting a lot of attention. It's the latest, greatest thing for your digestive system, your heart, your whole body. So I did a little investigating. Here's what the Cleveland Clinic says flax does when added to the diet: http://www.clevelandclinic.org/heartcenter/pub/guide/prevention/nutrition/flax1_02.htm
Reduces blood triglyceride values.
Neutral effect on the good cholesterol, HDL.
Reduces blood pressure.
Reduces platelet aggregation (clot formation) within arterial lining.
Reduces inflammatory response.
May protect against stroke.
Sign me up, I say. So I went to Whole Foods yesterday and bought a bag of cold-milled flax seed (already ground - I don't have a grinder) and decided to add two tablespoons to my daily serving of yogurt. Yum! It's crunchy and a little nutty (like me) and I know it's good for me. And after two days of adding it to my diet, it certainly is moving things along, if you know what I mean.
But I'll be most interested in if it has any affect on my liver, which I am told is currently enlarged, possibly due to inflammation. Flax is supposed to have a positive effect on inflammation, so it's good to use if you have arthritis or lupus or any other inflammatory condition.
The latest on my liver: I called my doc on Friday to follow up on weird blood results I had gotten last month. Her suggestion was for me to lose 20 pounds and see where I was after that. But Friday, the pain was so intense I couldn't concentrate at work. She started out by saying she'd like to send me to surgeon to get my gallbadder removed. I promptly reminded her that my gallbladder has checked out perfectly fine. So she ordered a bunch more blood tests - I'll find out results today. I made her order some tests she wouldn't normally have ordered, too. Heck, as long as they're taking my blood, let's test it for everything this might be (I asked for an ANA titer - this could be autoimmune hepatitis or lupus).
So keep your fingers crossed. I want whatever this is to resolve itself by me taking care of myself, getting healthy, eating flax, running, whatever it takes - but not by way of a surgeon!
Got a new haircut yesterday! Highlights, chopped off at least three inches. I needed a change for summer. I like it, DH likes it, and my son still recognized me when I got home (LOL), so all is good.
The run yesterday went fine, but I do need new shoes. The inner heel has worn away and it was bugging me. Plus, I think my feet have gotten slightly bigger in the past three years. (Told you I had to dust the shoes off! when I found them!) A stop to Fleet Feet is in definitely in my future. Anybody in Chicago serious about getting a good pair of shoes that fits should check this place out - they make you run down the street while they watch to see if the fit is correct. The people who work there are serious runners, not kids just working part time to pay for schoolbooks. http://www.fleetfeetchicago.com/
Anyway, I'd better go...gotta do my weight routine before the little guy wakes up. Have a great Sunday!
It took me about 20 minutes this morning, but I found my running shoes. Dusty and under the bed. Still great shoes - we'll see if my feet still work in them. It's my first run in a while so I'll take it easy, do the walk-run thing out to the lakefront and back. A decent 30-40 minutes total. It's a nice crisp, sunny morning, about 60 degrees F, perfect. How can I NOT want to run in this?
it's been a while since I've done any running (other than in my heels, to catch the train to work), but reading all your posts has inspired me! (Plus I'm on a frickin' plateau that I am determined to get off off. Remember the two plusses? One went away again last night.....and it's back again this morning.)
One thing has always bugged me, though - I can never decide on what to eat before I run. I can only work out in the morning (timing, motivation, etc), but don't want to do it on a totally empty stomach, right? And if I eat too many carbs before working out, I'll feel sick.
So I figured I'd take a little poll. What do you eat before working out? Maybe I can broaden my menu a bit! Right now, I'm into a bowl of fresh fruit salad and some water with lemon. Yummy, but is it giving me all I need for a workout??? Hmmm... I think I'll add a piece of toast.
Well...sort of. This morning around 10 am, I received not one but two emails from reception reminding me to have some of the gourmet chocolate-covered popcorn that somebody had spread throughout the office. Emails deleted. Done - out of sight, out of mind, right?
Then it happened. Somebody came into my office, chewing. "Man, this is good" was the comment made. Darnit!
So I spend the next hour thinking, "no, I'm not going to give in, nope, not gonna" until I finally can't take it anymore. I have to have a handful. Have to. On the way down the hall, I even stop and tell my friend what I'm about to do - she totally knows where I'm coming from. I leave her office saying "I'm just going to do it."
Approaching tin of scrumptious looking chocolate-covered popcorn... reaching in, getting a nice big clump all stuck together... putting in mouth, biting.... then tasting.
Ack. Not so delicious after all! I swallow my tiny bite and throw away the rest, grab an orange and eat that instead. Wow! Perhaps my tastebuds are changing, getting used to the no chocolate thing. Or perhaps I'm just a chocolate popcorn snob. Either way, I ate an orange instead - woo hoo!
I know we all have them - fat pants, skinny pants, not-so-fat pants, really fat pants, and of course, "transition" pants. You know the ones - you pay way too much for them but they fit so well. Um, for about a week.
Well, I thought I had found the answer. I thought I could single-handedly revolutionize the way we approach the Pants Dilemma. I thought I could prevent the daily morning closet raid in search of the ever-elusive Pants That Fit Today. I thought that by buying my favorite pants in not one, not two, but in three different sizes, I'd at least have one pair of favorite pants that would fit me on even the most pants-challenging days.
Good in theory, but darnit I was wrong. So wrong that I might just have to do some therapy shopping for a pair of transition pants.
But I digress. So I ask you this - how is it that a size 14 and a size 12, by the same maker, bought at the same store at the same price, on the same day, can be SO vastly different in size? This morning, I was delighted to be swimming in my 14s, so I thought, cool - it's time for the 12s! Uh... not so fast.
If they could talk, they were yelling at me "Whaddya thinkin', lady? Don't even think about trying that zipper!"
I don't know the answer. But the solution? A skirt.
Crap. I guess that 179.8 was just a fleeting moment this week. Today is my WI and I'm back up to 181. I know, it's water, it's a plateau, it's what it is... Except I have one of those scales that tells you your body fat and water percentage - which is all very much based on your BMI and gender, so not so scientific - but it has plus and minus signs to tell you "at a glance" whether you're under or overweight. A zero means you're in the healthy range.
Well, of couirse, I've been a double-plus from Day One of this shrinking fest...until last night! I went down to a single plus (meaning overweight, not obese). I was so thrilled, I even showed my husband!
Yes, it's a subjective word, a subjective category - heck, I remember some online quiz I took that described me as "obese" when my BMI was in the high 20s. With links, of course, to a veritable shopping mall of weight loss products.
But these days, I've come to expect those double plusses every time I step on the scale. Seeing one missing was a very nice little boost. Knowing I'm on the cusp, though, makes me that much more determined to eradicate that second plus forever. Gonna do that this week. Take that, scale!
(Any Eurythmics fans out there have the song Doubleplus Good in their heads now, too? Sorry!)
So about two weeks ago, I asked today off from work. DH is a stay-at-home dad (not how we had initially planned things, but he's a saint and it's the way things worked out - we're now trying to get to a place where we can switch it all back around). And today he has a doctor's appointment, so I said no sense in getting a sitter - I'll just take the day off.
So what did I do? Instead of sleeping in this morning like any normal, sane person would, I wake up at 5 am, stressing about the fact that I'm not going to be at work.. What kind of planet am I living on? Why am I in a job that makes me so stressed that I think about it when I'm not even supposed to be there? Aaaargh. I'm proceeding to wipe those work thoughts completely out of my brain right now. Oh, but hey, there's my blackberry buzzing again. Gonna have to hide that today. I'm on VACATION, people!
It's a gorgeous day out today - hovering around 72 all day, nice and sunny. Ten to one we'll be going to the park. If it's not too windy, maybe the beach. My little guy loves to run in the sand.
Number one on the list when he gets up - a BATH. It was too late to hose him down last night before bed. Grandma's yard is enormous and the little guy was all over it yesterday . He especially loved the neighbor's fort with a slide that hadn't been hosed down in a few years. Gonna have to check for ticks. Eew.
Okay, time to exercise. (Was gonna say work out, but today, I'm doing everything I can to avoid the W word - it's my day off!)
I broke past the 180s today - barely, but I'll take it - I'm down to 179.8. Woo hoo! Although I wanted to eat the WORLD last night. My little guy is sick and it was a pretty hectic day. He's fine - it's a virus, but we were worried and took him into the ER. Sooo relieved he's okay.
So last night, I suppose it could have been worse - after eating all the food I was supposed to for the day, I snarfed a 100 cal bag of popcorn and a downed a bottle of O'Douls. All completely empty cals of course - it must have been the playoffs. I kept seeing beer commercials all night and I got a hankerin'.
So today, I just have to avoid all of the sweets and goodies that will be surrounding me. Visiting my mom's house and she always has these killer beef sticks she gets from the local butcher. They're amazing. Have...to...resist! Must....stay...away...from the...fridge!
Okay, not to gross anybody out, but one of the biggest motivations for me losing weight is to heal my liver. I have a fatty liver, which actually causes me a fair amount of discomfort. I posted a shot of a fatty liver and a normal one - kind of a before and after shot - so if you're squeamish, don't look.
To help motivate myself, I have to keep remembering I need to shrink on the inside too. Because it's fatty, my liver is enlarged and the enzymes are a little wacky too. It really blows because I don't drink much when I do and that's always a glass or two of wine with dinner. Had to stop that cold.
So... I went to a hepatologist who told me to lose the weight and my liver would heal itself. Cool, eh? So I lost the weight as ordered, but not for long because I gained again (was pregnant for 14 weeks, then not anymore ). Now I'm even heavier than when the doc told me to lose the weight the first time.
They've ruled out the biggies (no cancer, no stones), but I have to admit, I have constant pain. It's not normal! I am sooo looking forward to my liver making a turnaround sometime soon so I can just plain feel better.
Anybody out there in the same trying-to-love-their-liver boat?
). Now I'm even heavier than when the doc told me to lose the weight the first time.