natural health cleanse w3

20 day Rej. Plan Time Frame:
Week #1: 03/28 to 04/03 - Detox
Week #2: 04/04 to 04/10 - Rejv. Plan
Week #3: 04/11 to 04/17 - Rejv. Plan

Monday hit and I was so glad to finally eat solids again.  Not that I was hungry, it's just the mindset of being full means I've chewed on something, not consumed it in liquid and supplements, so gum was my best friend for the 3 days of the detox.  The Lemon concocktion is actually pretty tasty if you make it the day of.  I used my VitaMix to put it together, but it still required a little straining and I removed some of the froth from the pulp.  Not a fan of that.  Plus, I didn't get all the seeds out of the lemons when I was deseading them, and my Vitamin chopped them up pretty good, but their was still a bit left over that I didn't want to drink.  My best batch was Sunday; it was the most tastiest.  My worst was Monday, because I made it Sunday morning since I knew I wasn't going to have enough time Monday morning to make it.  It just was a little bitter, but it was still drinkable. 

Once the detox stage ended I was back to eating veggies and fruits still with no grains, meat, seeds or dairy.  My doc says I'm doing pretty good and may not need the blood test that most people get done, which is an additonal $250 out of pocket expense since most insurance companies don't cover it so I'm hoping I wont need it.  I had blood work taken last October, so hopefully if things continue to go well I will avoid an added expense. 

I'm still doing my morning Energizer Workout (link below) and it's still takes my breath away, but I'm getting there.  My biggest accomplishment this week was my 4.3 mile run.  I created an interval of 4 min job / 2 min walk to my runkeeper and kept going and the next thing I knew I was home and ran 4.3 miles. 

Another awesome thing from thsi check up is that I LOST MORE WEIGHT.  Though I know it's because I was only on liquids for 3 days that I lost 4.6lbs this week, but hoping next week I will continue to be on my weight loss streak.  I'm feeling pretty good and currently weighting 149.6! that I thought I would post an updated ABs photo, escially since my last one had an eye sore of a muffin top. 

The Basics:
* no meat, dairy or grains
* eat fruits and veggies. 
   veggies should equal twice the amount as fruit.
* veggies should be raw, but can be cooked for 2-3 minutes
* only distilled water (during detox at least)
   Smart water was the only one I could find and they
    were in 1-lt bottles; perfect
* drink detox mixture for 3 days - NO solids

The Scale:  
03/14/12: 156.2
03/28/12: 154.2 (-2lbs)
04/04/12: 149.6 (-6.6lbs)

Physical Activity:  
Morning Energizer Workout

04/03 Run 4.39 miles
04/04 Walk .34 miles (morning doggy walk)
04/04 walk 1.33 miles (lunch break walk)

natural health cleanse w2

It was exciting to hear that my first week I lost 2lbs. That was totally worth all the coffee and animal crackers I didn't consume, well except I did enjoy a few animal crackers Thursday night. My measurements were taken this week and before pics so I can see my progress. They've also tested my vitamins to see how they mesh with the supplements I will be taking and only 2 (DHEA + CoQ10) of my 8 vitamins passed the test. This weeks meals okay list has changed a bit more then I was expecting and this time I was given a notebook to write in, though I decided not to write in it and continue noting in my journal. Part of my was a bit upset as I just spent $60 on Tuesday and 2 hours preparing food for this coming week to only have to head back to the grocery store and purchased $35 more in distilled water,and more vegetables as my buckwheat pancakes I spent two hours making (I made two batches) were not allowed this week so they went into Ziploc freezer bags to save for later.

buckwheat pancakes now living life in my freezer                          

20 day Rej. Plan Time Frame:
Week #1: 03/28 to 04/03 - Detox
Week #2: 04/04 to 04/10 - Rejv. Plan
Week #3: 04/11 to 04/17 - Rejv. Plan

So excited for the results to come as my birthday is on the 16th!
 

This week started The 20 Day Rejuvenation Plan.  I guess this would be considered phase 2 as it's the detox and rid your body of all the yucky stuff phase.  Day 1 + 2 of this phase was no meat, diary or grains to prep for the detox, which was actually not a bad tasting mixture that I consumed ONLY on days 3 to 5.  Yes I only consumed a liquid concoction for 3 days straight and wasn't hungry.  Crazy huh?  Though I did have some fiber supplements along with the others they gave gave me to aid in that factor.  The only hard thing was not having something to chew on.  Totally a mental thing, so I grabbed some gum.

The Basics:
* no meat, dairy or grains
* eat fruits and veggies.  veggies should equal twice the amount as fruit.
* veggies should be raw, but can be cooked for 2-3 minutes
* only distilled water (during detox at least)
   Smart water was the only one I could find and they were in 1-lt bottles; perfect
* drink detox mixture for 3 days - NO solids

The Scale:  
03/14/12: 156.2
03/28/12: 154.2 (-2lbs)

Physical Activity:  
Morning Energizer Workout

03/30 Walk 2.45 miles
04/02 Elliptical 38:38 minutes
04/03 Run 4.39 miles

closet delight

yesterday I started working on my office / workout space again, as it was looking pretty messy.  I had (and sadly still have a lot) of papers scattered on the floor waiting to be filed.  it's been tough figuring out what to do with all the papers; bills, workouts, recipes as filing is not my strong point then pair that with being a perfectionist = not a good match.

I started with putting away my cloths and I used my new hangers from Target.  My office closet is a small coat closet, but the depth is not quite deep enough for the doors to close without hitting the hangers and frankly it's an annoyance so I picked up some lime green kids hangers which are working out fantastically!  I don't have a photo before and I wish I did so you can see what a difference it made swapping out for smaller ones.  I did have to fold my cloths differently on the hanger, but I love the look-so clean!

{POST PHOTO OF AFTER}

I then started by moving my papers to one side of the room so I could vacuum before moving in a bookshelf, that sadly was in there before and I moved it out.  We moved it to the bath on that level (#2) and it's way to big for the space so I swapped out the white plastic shelf I was using for the wooden bookshelf int eh bathroom.  They both look much better in their new homes.  Though not sure how long I will keep the bookshelf in my office and I really do want wall shelving, but for now it will keep me from wanting to build them now as I need to know what shelves / space I really do need before I can design a functional unit.

The only fault with the bookshelf is that their is a missing shelf and pegs for the bottom rack behind the doors, so I do need to make a stop at the hardware store and purchase one.

I'm trying to keep in mind as I sort through things what I need and what can go so my office will only have what it needs and nothing more.  Really trying to be minimal and purposeful in my design.

The room is still a mess, but I'm making baby steps toward an organized office and workout space, but for now at least I have designated areas 1) Desk work area to pay my bills and have room to hang some fun vintage art. 2) workout gear, dvds, weights. For now I've been working out in my bedroom, which has been working out well since I do it before getting dressed in the morning so I get it in.  It's only a short 3-minute workout, but it kicks my butt.

Fitness Morning Energizer

items still needing to be address:
* Formica Table: Wood filler + spray paint and install legs
* File: House Contract / Closing Papers 
* File: Workouts
* File: Recipes
* Sort: Workouts and purge any that I most likely wont do
* Sort: Magazines purge old ones
* Hangers: Still need 1 more set to hang the rest of my workout attire up
* DVD: need some way to sort them.  Really want an old LG floppy disk holder to put them in.
* Paint: Lemon Twist by Benjamin Moore
* Mirror: hang
* Bookshelf: Shelf and Pegs

natural health cleanse w1 - p1

Feeling pretty good today overall and loving the way I’m looking.  So far I’ve been on my cleanse for 6 days now and I’ve only slipped up for one meal.  I caved Sunday afternoon and had 12oz of orange soda and a half bag of pb  chocolate chips I had for cooking.  They were really yummy and what I needed for a quick junk rush.  I had been cleaning out the basement and I guess the fumes down there weren’t helping.  

A few of my no no’s on the list were as follows:

- lemon + chive dressing by Annies Natural’s
   (chives = onions, mustard flour); salad
- sunflower butter (cane sugar) for buckwheat pancakes
- buckwheat pancakes
   (van. Almond milk, maple syrup though only 1 tb for 6.5 cakes)
- coconut and mango chutney (sugar) used to marinate and dress 3 chicken breast
– Van Almond Milk (sugar), but I did buy at my next grocery stop.

Despite all this I’m still losing weight and seeing progress.

Since realizing that I can’t repeat these simple mistakes I’ve done the following to make sure I stay focused on 4-week cleanse.  I’ve swapped out the following –Van. Almond milk for plain – sunflower butter for almond butter with only almonds and salt – buckwheat pancakes for a df / gf version / lemon and chives dressing for a raspberry vinaigrette.

It’s not been easy as I have lactaid cottage cheese, onions, cherry tomatoes, and chobani sitting in my fridge waiting till I can eat them again.  I also had to put my blueberry muffins and bagels in the freezer   It’s a shame I just bought replenishment's of these items only two days before the doc told me I wasn’t allowed to eat them for the next 30 days.  It was tough this first week trying to figure out what to eat since my staples like oatmeal, pb coffee, and chobani are all items on the ‘not allow’ list for the next 3 weeks.  I am learning to appreciate the wonderful and even tasty flavor of buckwheat, well with almond butter on top and some fruit.  Though I’m still proud of myself for doing as well as I did, as I’m not usually this good to sticking to ‘no’ foods.

I’ll know the official weigh down tomorrow night when I have my first follow up of my 12-week program and I’ll be 3 weeks closer to finding out what foods have been not liking my system outside of dairy and hoping that eggs aren’t a part of that.  I love eggs and they are one of my favorite staples.  I could never go Vegan for that reason alone and I can’t do vegetarian since I’m lactose intolerant.  Man, guess I’m a unique type and maybe one day I’ll label myself and start a trend for every lactose egg lover!

This morning I finally went to taking my measurements and the last time I checked was in December 2011 and my weight and inches have decreased by 10lb and 8 inches.  I lost 4.5 just in my waist, which feels great since my stomach doesn’t feel like it’s bursting out of my pants.  That’s not a feeling I want to experience EVER AGAIN.

I've also been walking my dog and running with some of the guys to keep active.  I've been posting everything on runkeeper.

Daily Eats

Meal Plan Week #1 go
Eats Day #1 go
Eats Day #2 go
Eats Day #3 go 
Eats Day #4 go
Eats Day #5 go 
Meal Plan Week #2 go 

running to the beat of a healthier drum

It's been a very bland 2012 for me, but I'm slowly moving into enjoying the fresh scent of spring and still working on settling into my home.  Can you believe I've been a homeowner for 1 month and 15 days!  It's still kind of surreal to me, especially since my house looks like a tornado has hit it and I'm not sure when it will settle down so it can be presentable to have guests.

I officially started hanging art and shelving on the wall last night and I'm happy with all, but one coat hook.  I hung it a inch to high so it's looks off from the other two I have.  I'm afraid to redu it since I already goofed with the screw so now their will be two holes if I do this again.  I may just need to find another item to put their instead.  Currently, I have my running jacket / armband on one.  My purse on the other and my dog walking purse and dog walking accessories on the woof frame.  it's cute, just looks off with the middle one being to high for it's size.

My office is looking good.  Here is what I have so far:


Things that I"m planning on changing:
* kiddy pictures
* table
* shelving
* wall color (you can see my color swatch sample behind my canisters)

I would like my office to look more like this:

If I move it to the wall I want the big shelving unit I can do this exact layout.  Though I have a tall wall mirror, which I guess I can move to the area I have my desk now and just do a small shelving unit their to host all my workout gear and video as I try to keep that pretty minimal.

Fitness

For the last few weeks I've been getting back to the beat of a healthier drum by choosing better eating habits and being more active.  I have a corgi now, who I've been walking 3-5 days a week anywhere from 10-30 minutes depending on my schedule.   I'm feeling food and less depressed since the sun is coming out and the weather has been so warm.  Yeah Spring!! It's so close I can smell the flowers blooming.

I've also found a running buddy, which has been so helpful in challenging me to get out their to run again.  I had seriously lost the desire to workout and it just made me feel really ugly and fat and I'm so glad to be getting back to my happy zone where I'm feeling good to be social again.  I still have a few pounds to drop to get back to where I was last August.  

new years resolutions

Can you believe it's 2012 already and according to the prophesy and drama surrounded by the 2012 movie that determines this will be our last year on earth.  Not sure really how much of that we can really believe, espeically if you look back at the chaos revolving around the new millennium and what a hoaks that ended up to be.  

I'm a firm believer that resolutions / goals are things we should be thinking about throughout the year and not just reserved for the new year, as we should always be working on ways to improve ourselves, but I have to admit that their is something about the new year that adds a freshness to everything that really draws me to add a few new goals.  This year I actually couldn't come up with anything up until a few days ago and I'm pretty happy with my new goals. 

New Years Goals:

1) Find non-dairy & non-soy alternatives for at least 30 days.

I was talking to a new friend, Sara, this NYE weekend about it soy and hyperthyroidism and there effects soy has on it and since I don't drink  cow's diary I use more soy, especially silk milk, regular flavor and french vanilla silk creamer for my coffee.  So I thought it would be good to reduce my soy intake for the next 30 days at least to see if I can regain some energy as low energy and water retention is  side effect. 

2. Complete the Bodyrock.tv 30 day challenge
I love Bodyrock workouts and can't wait to start this challenge and they are the BEST BEST BEST workouts you could do to stay fit and active without spending hours in the gym or tons of money on videos, gym memberships or workout equipment. 

3) Dance once a month
I truly love swing dancing, especially Blue's, Lindy and Balboa so much that their has been nothing better, no drug, no drink, no other thing that makes me feel more alive then when I'm dancing with a great lead who can make me fly.

4) Attend 3 Dance events
- Steel City Blue's
- Lindy Exchange (Portland, CT)
- Blue's Shout

5) Enjoy my New Home downtown & Entertain Once a month
I am in the process of settling on a new home and I'm planning painting, redoing the counter tops with Corian and the back splash with a glass subway tile.  Then host at least one blue's dance event and have people over for dinner with my Fit Foodies group and other friends to share healthy and delicious meals together. 

black top bottom

Can't believe how good things are going for me this last month up into 2012.  It's unbelievably good, especially when it comes to dancing.  I've been heading up every Friday night and dancing into the early morning.  It's truly the reminder I needed to bring back the joy in my life and why I love dancing so much.

Last Friday I even drove up to Philadelphia for a New Year's Dancing Event and it was one of the best choices I've made.  One of the best things of the weekend was meeting a lead from CT who moved my heart on the dance floor and surprisingly had more dances with him then I could have wished for in a two day event.  I had many wonderful dances, but his stood out the most.    

With the new year I've made a few resolution and one is to not stop dancing so even though I must be an adult I'm going to be taking one weekend off a week so I can go dancing and spend some time with my grandparents.  I have yet to determine which weekend it will be each month, but I may decide to based on dance events so that way I can go when it's the most hot that month.  Also, in March I'm registered to attend Steel City Blues in March and thinking about CTLX, but there's no information posted about the event yet.