Week 21 Weigh-in

Good morning everyone!

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 Guess what? It’s weigh-in day!

I woke up this morning actually looking forward to posting my weight today. When this happens I always feel unlikable, like that teacher’s pet who always raises their hand and then smirks at you when they get the answer right.

Now that I’ve found my groove I actually feel pretty boring. My most interesting posts were born from failures. Any good story has got to have a little struggle in it. (I’ll have to keep that in mind when things aren’t looking so good.)

When I stepped on the scale it read 189.4.

Once I reach 187 I get to make another trip to Lululemon to invest in some super cute shorts and maybe a tank top if it can handle my boobs.

Until then I found a few cute tops at Target to hold me over. I put one on and took a self photo of it to show how slim I look. But it looked like I was taking a self-portrait of my boobs.

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Not really the kind of blog I’ve got going on.

I always think it’s funny when people google “hottie” and they are led to my blog to find pictures like this…

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Ha!

And I’ll just leave you with that little image in your mind…

How was your week? Are you still on this journey with me? Once you’ve reached your goal let me know and I’ll do a feature on your success!

Happy Friday everyone ;)

Lungs on Fire

I was mean to a bunny today. This bunny to be exact…

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 And now I feel like a jerk.

It all started when I walked outside to admire my flowers in the yard and noticed that Mr. Cute Fuzzy Pants decided to go ahead and make a meal out of my daylilies.

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Big mistake buddy… big mistake.

I pulled out the big guns and got to work spraying liquid fence and sprinkling Uncle Ian’s Repellent all over the place.

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Let me give you some advice if you plan on using either of these products. Make sure it’s not windy outside. The Liquid Fence smells like all kinds of bodily fluids that one should never have to smell and Uncle Ian’s is comprised of a mixture of things but is most predominantly made of cayenne pepper.

How do I know?

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I decided to get down low and pick some weeds right after sprinkling it, just in time for a big gust of wind to blow it right in my face. I spent the next ten minutes gag/coughing and sneezing my brain out.

Why couldn’t the bunny just eat the stupid weeds instead of my prized flowers? Then I could skip the mean peppery tactics and he could enjoy a delicious meal while I avoided a horrific dose of karma.

After I got done sprinkling that crap all over the flowers I had made my way over to the strawberries to make sure they were safe too. That’s when I found this… (cue the dramatic soap opera music).

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What… you don’t see anything? Well that’s because Scout dug up my strawberry plant the little asshole. He knew he was in trouble when I called his name…

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“Whatever you do, don’t make eye contact…”

I was SO mad at him but he’s just so stinkin’ cute that I had the hardest time not snuggling with him. I would forget and give him kisses and then remember and glare at him. He probably thinks I’m pregnant again, poor guy.

My gardening disasters weren’t quite over yet. Shortly after I discovered the shredded strawberries the gate door broke off…. just snapped.

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Now poor Scout doesn’t have any privacy…

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(FYI: I didn’t plan on taking a picture of him pooping in the yard he just happened to plan it perfectly.)

Despite the gardening fiascos I still had a good day because I got to do another crossfit workout. This is only my second one since I threw my back out. My lungs are still burning but I don’t know if it’s from the bunny pepper or the workout.

Here’s what we did…

WOD

(workout of the day)

LIFT:

The lift of the day was the Press. We warmed up adding weight until we found a decently heavy weight in order to do three sets of five.

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We did a few more reps with kettle bells dangling off of the bar using resistance bans.

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(My grip was off so I got a little crooked on this one.)

Then he had us take all of the weights off and do as many reps as possible using only the bar until failure for three rounds resting 20 seconds in between. This KILLED my arms!

METCON:

(short intense workout)

We had to do five sprint rounds of Farmer’s Carries using the wide grip things that wrap about the dumb bells…

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Battling Ropes (10 per arm)

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 Prowler Pushes down…

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…and back.

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My fastest time was 39 seconds. Brent made fun of me when I asked him why we weren’t doing the prowler pushes with weight. This was supposed to be done as fast as possible and after 5 rounds I was glad there wasn’t any weight on it. Like I said, my lungs were-a-burning.

This workout was also kind of a big deal because it was the first time that I worked out in a tank top without looking like a can of biscuits that had exploded every where. I’ve only tried this once before and it wasn’t pretty. Since I’m all about self-deprecation I invite you to look back and compare by clicking here… you’re welcome ;)

Going Granola

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Well folks, it appears I’m going to have to grow out my armpit hair and wear Birkenstocks (with socks) because I’m going granola on this bitch.

I’m a fairly laid back kinda gal so I never really buy into anything too quickly. It takes quite a bit to get me to join a bandwagon but the more I research healthy eating habits the more scared I get.

Example? Sure…

… this only names a few.

What the heck?! If I can’t simply buy stuff from the grocery store and feel confident that I’m actually getting what I paid for then what the hell am I going to eat?

It’s hard enough trying to keep track of the amount of food you eat and the amount of sodium it contains along with the amount saturated fat it might have without having to worry about the amount of toxic crap you might also be eating.

I really wish I could just bury my head in a hole full of Little Debbie cakes and pretend like I had never heard a word of this.

During this weight loss process I’ve gone on and on about how I have PCOS a hormonal issue that makes me fat, grumpy, pimply, depressed and… well, gross. I’ve done tons of research on PCOS trying to figure out what the heck is wrong with me. What I’ve found is that the medical community is still a little stumped by this “new” phenomenon because in truth it has only recently been given its own place in the diagnosis world.

They don’t know what causes it but I’m wondering if it isn’t due to all of the processed foods we eat as Americans.

Because of this Brent and I have decided to cut out processed foods and only eat meats and dairy that haven’t been treated with any hormones or antibiotics.

This isn’t cheap. In fact, my wallet cries…

Let me give you a little back ground on how cheap I am. I drive a 2001 Toyota Camry that has over 200,000 miles on it. It’s a looker with a dent on this side from where two firefighters got into a wrestling match over who would sit in the front seat AND the driver’s side door handle has been broken off due to a too strong dude (my husband) forcing it open when it was frozen shut in the mountains. My husband has been dying to get me a new car but I would rather drive a hoopty than have a car payment. These little choices have led to me being able to stay home with the girls a little while longer.

We had been toying with making these lifestyle changes for a while but really struggled with how expensive it was. Plus, I would really like to pretend like I didn’t know Cheetos were that bad for me so that I wouldn’t feel so bad about indulging every once in a while. We would start, only to back off due to the price of this lifestyle. Then I would stumble upon something else I didn’t know about and get scared into doing it again. All of the signs keep pointing to the fact that we can’t just simply keep turning a blind eye and eating the stuff we grew up on simply because change sucks.

It’s so sad, what kind of world do we live in that it’s not safe for a kid to enjoy Doritos with their peanut butter and jelly sandwich?! (look at the GMOs in your snack list)

It’s not a matter of buying into all of the hype. It is more about investing in the well-being of our family and our health, short-term and long-term. In other words… we’re going granola.

My friend Andrea was on the ball much sooner than I was. In truth, I always envied her resolve but also found it to be a bit weird at the same time. “What? You’re not going to eat that chip? Are you even American?” Now as I’ve stumbled upon all of this new information I flood her with questions on how she does it. That’s when she lent me her book, “Food Rules” by Micheal Pollan.

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I read it one day during Penelope’s nap time. After getting through the first chapter you just fly through the rules that he provides for you. I have to tell you, it all makes sense.

Andrea has been following these rules for quite a while and I always wondered how she managed to bake goodies on the weekend and not gain any weight. I felt like she had found the perfect balance and was gracefully going through life with the secret that I would never uncover.

Now, we all know that it doesn’t matter what I read… I’m still going to be a hot mess. But it doesn’t hurt to add a little more knowledge in your arsenal of things to worry about. Okay, so it hurts a little.

In my quest for knowledge I keep stumbling upon information about GMO’s (genetically modified organisms). The more I read about it the more I feel like I’m in a bad science fiction novel. This stuff truly scares me. I didn’t even know what a GMO was a year ago.

Recently my friend Tony informed me of a protest that is to take place in Denver against GMO’s. I keep asking myself if this stuff scares me enough to pull me out of the suburbs to participate in a protest.

March against

Honestly, when I first saw this flyer my first thought was, “Good I won’t have to worry about this for much longer because other people will take care of the problem for me.”

(What? I didn’t get overweight by being proactive.)

However, there is a big part of me that really wants to go to this. I’ve never been to a demonstration because I tend to be a pacifist. I don’t want to take the kids with me because Penelope is a teething nutcase and my odds of going depends greatly on Brent’s schedule for that day but the more I think about it the more I want to be there.

There is no telling if I’ll actually make it or not. If I do go I won’t be wearing Birkenstocks and I’ll probably shave my armpits if I have the time  because I was only kidding about that earlier. Regardless of whether I go one thing is for sure… Granola’s got a whole new look to it that includes strollers, yoga pants, and a little bit of suburban house wife swagger.

What do you guys think about all of this stuff? Are you going to do the march in your area?

The Worm Whisperer

So, we’ve made it pretty clear that I am the crappiest gardener there ever was. But I still haven’t let that little fact get in the way of my gardening plans for the summer.

I spent the majority of my weekend enjoying the little things that make me so happy… like playing in dirt.

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I always feel so bad when I come across a worm that I accidentally cut in half. As I was planting my daisies I found one hanging onto the bottom of the roots. So I greeted him by saying, “Oh hey there little buddy! You just found yourself a new home.”

That’s when my neighbor cleared her throat to let me know that she was standing at my gate to chat. (I’m just glad she didn’t walk in on me cussing out her wiener dogs.)

When I turned my head to talk Penelope took advantage of the time to taste our garden goodies. The only problem is that we don’t really have any garden goodies yet. I’m just hoping she didn’t get a chance to eat any of our little friends.

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 (She got quite ticked off when I didn’t let her finish her snack.)

All of my other attempts at keeping her safely preoccupied didn’t last very long either…

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But they were sure cute!

Despite the frequent melt downs I managed to plant my cottage garden at the side of the house.

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I was inspired to get a move on when my daylilies made their appearance at the top right of my garden. The gladiolus are following closely behind in the back right. They’ll be joined by…

Daisies

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Delphiniums

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and my personal favorite…

 Irises

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As I was planting I looked over to see that somebody was watching me.

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This little guy was SO cute! But my strawberries are never going to make it with this fuzzy little guy around. So I’ve already bought some liquid fence on amazon. Let’s hope it works because I don’t want to have to get all gangsta on a bunny.

My strawberries will thank me later and so will my tummy.

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I’ve also planted my pumpkin seeds…

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Scout decided that those mounds looked like great fun! It would be like a treasure hunt. So he dug through looking to see what he might find. Needless to say, the only thing he found was trouble.

I’m planning on planting a few more vegetables this week but I’ll wait to plant my heirloom tomatoes until I’m sure it will be warm enough. Until then they’ll have to look out the window waiting for their chance to play with the big kids…

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In other news I did my first crossfit workout since the back injury and it was all good! I think I’ll be okay to pick up where I left off. I’ve got to do something bad ass to counteract my granny tendencies of throwing out my back and taking pictures of flowers… It’s all about balance, you know.

How was your weekend? Did you get a farmer’s tan like I did?

Week 20 Weigh-in

high cholesterol

So I have some good news and some bad news. I’ll start with the bad so that I can end with a little redemption.

A few days ago I had gone to my doctor’s office for a blood test to see how my hormone levels were. Since I suffer from PCOS my doctor wanted to know if they needed to send me to an endocrinologist for further analysis. It took five minutes, I walked in walked out and was good.

Yesterday I was driving home from dropping Bridget off at school and got a phone call from a number I didn’t recognize. When I answered it was Maria, my doctor. We had met doing crossfit together, there’s a bonding that forms during those WODs  so we’re on first name basis. (I’m sure you understand.)

Maria is never the one to call me. Usually it’s another person in the office.

Immediately she started off with, “Nina, I’m calling to talk to you about your high cholesterol levels…” I don’t remember what else she said immediately after that.

While she was talking my brain was talking to me at the same time. “Cholesterol levels? What the heck is she talking about? She must have grabbed the wrong chart and accidentally called the wrong person.”

I wasn’t prepared to hear any of this information so I didn’t absorb as much as I wish I had looking back. I caught a number in the 240′s and some other numbers. She said that the level was so high that they would normally recommend putting me on medication but since I’m a young woman (32) they try not to do that in case I were to get pregnant.

At this point I said something like, “Whoa, whoa, whoa… this is too weird! I’ve been eating as healthy as possible and working out whenever I can. I’ve dropped thirty pounds since Christmas. This doesn’t make any sense.”

That’s when she delved into the fact that it could just be hereditary. She asked me if it was. The truth is I only know half of my genetics. My dad isn’t my biological dad. He met and married my mom when I was really young and took over from there. I’ve been told that I’ve inherited his smile but that had nothing to do with genetics. As far as my biological dad is concerned I know… well, nothing.

Maria told me that she would send me some literature on what I can do diet and exercise wise and that we would schedule an appointment three months down the road to check it again.

I got off the phone with a blank face, totally confused by what had transpired.

I shared the news with Brent when I got home and he reassured me while simultaneously googling ways to lower cholesterol. The only thing I could possibly do differently was eat less meat. If I have ground beef I eat only the leanest I can find and for the most part I eat chicken.

If I had received this news at the very beginning of my weight loss journey I wouldn’t have found it to be such a shock. At this point I don’t really know what else to do.

You know that saying “It only matters what’s on the inside”? Well apparently my insides belong to that of a middle-aged man with a prominent beer belly.

I did some research and found that women who suffer from PCOS are at a risk for developing high cholesterol among other things that turn you into a troll (no offense).

I’ve been working on going from this…

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Back to this…

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So I did what every respectable daddy’s girl does… I called my dad.

He told me that when he refused to take medicine for high cholesterol his doctor recommended a few supplements… Niacin and Red Yeast Rice.

I immediately went to Whole Foods and found a combination of the two with CoQ10 a strong antioxidant that is supposed to support lowering your cholesterol.

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I felt so much better after talking to my dad and having something that might be able to help solve the problem. We’ll see how it goes. Until then keep your fingers crossed for me.

In other news, I’ve turned into quite the hottie over the past few days.

Have you ever noticed my subtitle, “An Attempt At Keeping My Thighs From Eating My Shorts”? Well, I wasn’t kidding.

However, these days my gams are looking quite nice if I do say so myself. Nice enough to buy a new pair of shorts to hold me over until I hit 187. That’s when I’ve earned another trip to Lululemon.

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Please don’t judge the smudges in my mirror this was an impromptu pic (at least I’m not doing the duck face).

This picture was actually taken right after I had jumped on the scale to find that I weigh 192.4. That’s such a great number considering my most frequent form of exercise has been walking to Starbuck’s for iced coffee due to my back injury hiatus.

This high cholesterol business sucks but the silver lining is that I’ve got more than my vanity to worry about at this point. If I keep fighting the good fight then I’m certain that things will eventually fall into place.

Enough about me… how was your week?