"I Once Was Blind But Now I See"

I’ve recently finished a three month journey to “becoming me.”  I reached a point in October that although I was certainly happy; there were simply large areas of my life that needed improvement.  I wrote shortly after I had Luke that I was comfortable in my skin and that was completely honest; but as the months passed I was ready for a change—and one that was directed at a healthier me (with hopes of some weight loss as a result, of course).  I expressed some concerns to Brian about wishing I could wear my old clothes, about wanting to get back into the gym rather than just running; which is what I’ve been doing all year…and that I needed support.  He decided to wholeheartedly come alongside me on a journey to a healthier me (have I mentioned how grateful I am for that man?) and joined me in a better eating regimen and at the gym.  He also encouraged me to get help for the extreme head pain I was having and was more than supportive of me leaving all the time for doctor’s appointments to understand why I had never ending chronic pain.  Pain that would frequently have me in tears and was beginning to effect overall functionality as I would sometimes have loss of vision and feel dizzy walking down the stairs with both children in my arms or doing everyday normal tasks; not to mention getting up every night with our baby.  I guess what I’m trying to say is we’ve made a lot of changes the last three months; which have led to other changes, and a much happier & more stable me.  If you are interested in the journey, read on.

Before I get too far into all the changes I made...thee most life changing was to have Lasik vision correction surgery! At my 2-week post op appointment I was seeing 20/15! I really didn't know how much I was missing and am so grateful my parents helped me get this done.  It's already decreased head aches and head pain...along with some other changes I've made...

Food

Meal Planning
In August I decided I needed to “eat healthier” so I set out to do so.  What I quickly found out was I have very little self control when it comes to grabbing a handful of nuts, a cookie, drinking a caloric beverage, etc.  So even though I was eating a salad for lunch and incorporating fruits and vegetables throughout the day I was completely and utterly cheating.  I realized “everything in moderation” didn’t work for me (I’m an extremist and have always always struggled with having balance in my life…but that’s sort of a whole new topic) and that keeping a food diary didn’t work either.  I had to plan out every meal and every snack for 7 different days, and each day chose what meal plan I was going to follow.  Essentially, I was only allowing myself chicken, turkey, fish, eggs, legumes, fruits & vegetables (and bread 2/week).  If it wasn’t on the list it didn’t go into my mouth…even if it was ONE animal cracker that the kids were munching on.  No balance, complete control.  

Portion Control
It doesn’t matter if you are eating the “healthiest” meal around, if you end up eating 2 chicken breasts or 2 servings of almonds instead of one, you aren’t on a “diet.”  So in order to lose weight you have to eat healthy and eat small amounts of healthy food.  That’s my unprofessional opinion, anyway.

Sugar
I gave it up. I had to.  More on this later.

Positive Thoughts
I worked my booty off for 2 months and lightened up a little bit the 3 weeks during Christmas (I allowed myself to snag a handle for chex mix, for example, or took ONE bite of dessert) leading up to our Iowa Christmas vacation.  I did a SMALL amount of research and sort of bought into the idea that if you choose to break a diet and are excited about it rather than timidly caving and being filled with guilt over a brownie than your body will process it better.  So Brian & I both knew that being in Iowa and having Christmas celebrations would not aide a diet and therefore we should be intentional about making good decisions but also allow ourselves some dessert, etc.  I just told myself I had to use moderation and breaking for 10 days worked really well.  I was ready to jump back in after NYE and continued to be pretty strict for one more month until choosing to break diet for a CRUISE!

Exercise
I’ve always known that you have to have variety in your work out regimen, just like I’ve always known I need a good 5 servings of fruits and vegetables per day….but that doesn’t mean I oblige!  I have always been faithful to exercise, but at this point going for a 3-mile run, 4 times/week just wasn’t going to assist in making changes to my body.  I began hitting the weights and doing plyometrics alongside running, and those three things created more muscle mass which helped burn fat.  I have really enjoyed getting into lifting again!

Devotions
Being disciplined in diet and exercise translated into other areas of my life.  Making if more of a priority to be reading the word and in prayer was obviously a win.  Again, this is always something I’ve seen a need for, but I will admit that as a working mama of littles it can be difficult to make time to seek out my Creator.  I love to remind myself, “when you are feeling distant from the Lord don’t forget who did the distancing.”

Head
I’ve mentioned head pain a few times now and truthfully don’t think I have shared with most the impact it was having on my life.  It wasn’t until another friend ended up in the hospital because of very similar symptoms to mine that I realized I needed to get this taken care of.  I just kept thinking the pain would go away and kept popping high dosages of pain killers.  The most natural approach was to start with Chiropractic care, so I found a female doctor 5 minutes from my house and began there.  We quickly realized it was a multitude of factors, something that was treatable but also something that would probably never fully go away.  But at least I wouldn’t have to literally bang my head against a wall to get some relief from the shooting pain into my skull.  My pain level is a thousand times better, but I often still wonder if I should get an MRI done.

Chiropractic care
I began going to the chiropractor twice a week and began to see a noticeable difference in pain level and frequency of pain.   She did X-rays to see that I had reversal in my neck but fortunately did not have degeneration yet.  Her treatment plan was mainly Chiropractic care with some physical therapy.  Bottom line is my neck is damaged, what she referred to as someone who looked like a “car accident victim with whiplash” and it will never be repaired, but with adjustments and muscle strengthening I could assist those nerves in getting through the vertabre.

Physical therapy
I do quite a bit of exercises at my Chiro office, but one of my best friends also happens to be a Physical Therapist in Colorado and sent me ways to help strengthen neck and shoulder muscles. By 3 months into therapy my doctor was noticing a major difference in my neck strength and I was holding my alignment really well! Praise God for less pain and almost no dizziness!

Change of diet
I felt the greatest difference in frequency of pain after I chose to give up sugar.  Even a week in and I was feeling better!  Did you know studies show sugar is more addictive than cocaine?  I had dessert once in 2 months (pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving) and I totally paid for it the next day! Crazy, huh?!

Hormones
This topic actually has to do with both pain management and weight loss.  I have been pregnant or nursing with no break since April of 2011 when Carly was conceived.  I had a small overlap where I was still nursing her and pregnant with Luke for about 2 months.  So…this translates into crazy jacked up hormones for just shy of 4 years at this point.  I have been excited to see who the me no-on-hormones is!  Anyway: to make my point…the first point is that my body holds onto fat in order to produce milk; so despite the fact that MANY women lose weight due to nursing, I just maintained the weight that I left the hospital at.  Literally I walked out of the hospital the weight I would be for the next 9 months.  A bit discouraging if you ask me.  Moral of the story is when I started weaning at 10 months I lost about 3 pounds with every dropped feeding.  My other point in bringing up hormones is that as I tracked frequency and pain level I realized that I was in the most pain during ovulation and didn’t have any pain while menstruating!  I never thought I would say this but I actually texted a friend that I wished I could have my period all the time so I didn’t have to live in such pain!

So there you have it...a glimpse into quite a few changes the past three months.  New sight, renewed strength, 20 pounds down and feeling pretty good. :)