Day 6 - $1 30 Day Challenge

Day 6 started out great. I woke up at 7 no snooze needed. I was up. Usually I press snooze for an hour, so this is amazing. I had time to watch good mythical morning and eat breakfast leisurely.

 I made breakfast the night before. Scrambled eggs bell pepper, onion and ground turkey, topped with cheese and hot sauce. 

I was out the door by 8am. It has been so long since I have been to work at 8:30 my ideal arrival time. And I was on track. But I realized when I got to the red light before the interstate, I forgot my lunch. Thankfully I wasn't too far away, so I turned around to get it. I only arrived a few minutes after 8:30.

Yesterday I talked to my psychiatrist. She is holistic, which basically means she considers the mind, body, and spirit, and looks at other factors rather than just mental health but also physical health. She has been trying to get me to start a gluten free diet and exercise for months, so she was happy I was on this plan. 

Overall my mental health has been pretty stable lately, my only complaint has been my waking up late and migraine and vomiting side effects. But I have really noticed my waking up has been better since starting this diet. And my energy has been good too, which I will talk about more. 

It was a very busy day at work. BTW I am a Activites Manager at a nursing home. We were getting ready for family visit parade drive by. A way for families to see their residents safely from a distance, since we are isolatting during covid. 

After the morning meeting, my yard signs were ready for pick up from fedex, perfect timing. When I got back we put out the signs and pinwheels. After making a couple of signs for residents to hold, it was time for lunch. It was left over sausage and veggies. I ate quickly. It is so much easier to bring my lunch than drive to go. No more late lunch breaks (I only get 30min).

Now it was time for the parade. 2nd floor was up first. It was a big crowd. Everyone worked as a team to get the residents outside and navigate the cars. My boss said I did an excellent job.  The 3rd floor was next, which was a smaller group. But it was really moving to see a trach patient on oxygen out to visit his family. Last was the 4th floor, the largest crowd. The cars were lined up in the parking lot and down the street. There was one point where they were stuck. But we got it moving and Miranda and Janice did a great job of directing traffic. It was so fun. Some people decorated their cars, and brought dogs. 

I could have never done this event without the support of the other staff members. It was a big undertaking. It took a lot of planning, and a lot of just making it work at show time. Every step was truly a team effort to get it together. It was a special moment for a lot of family members who hadn't seen their family in months. 

I was standing on my feet all day, just going, going, going. So I was ready to go home and rest. I did rest some, but I knew I needed to cook dinner and exercise before sundown. I was so sticky and dirty from being outside all day. 

Dinner was Mexican pasta casserole. I got dinner together which required boiling water for pasta and saute peppers. Then add the turkey meat which I had already cooked, and simmer in taco seasoning. Then into the oven to bake with the sauce and cheese. 

While it baked I did my exercises which was a parymid of x dots, burpes, quick feet and mountain climbers. I did 10-8-6-2. It wasn't terrible; I have improved. I did use modifications. Some exercises were easier than others. Then I took my much needed shower. 

I ate dinner when I got out of the shower. I served it with salsa and Greek yogurt (instead of sour cream). The Greek yogurt was great, tastes just like sour cream. 

The pasta was made out of chickpeas. It wasn't terrible, but not great.  The noodles had a rough texture similar to wheat, but not like other gluten free pasta that is gummy. The meal over all was pretty good. It was very filling.

It was a very big accomplishment to get everything I did done. After a long day at work, I still managed to cook and exercise. Amazing. 

*Note I bought the wrong week meal plan so it may be different than the challenge. I think this meal plan is from the welcome package 

Day 3 - Last day of detox - $1 30 day Challenge

I woke up a little bit earlier than the day before but not ideal. I got my smoothie ready with pineapple, avocado, and kale among other things. 

Lunch was a kale and parsley salad with red and yellow bell pepper, carrot shavings, walnuts and blueberries. The fruit was a nice addition. It had a Balsmic vinegerette, with lemon and honey. It was pretty tart. It was a lot to eat. I had some left over. Which I ate as a snack later. 

Pictured from top to bottom dinner, lunch, breakfast.

After a brief respite when I got home I got the spaghetti squash ready. Put it in the oven and went to the grocery store for week 1 groceries. It had to cook for an hour. I was able to fit half in my tiny oven. I got a little charred being so close to the burner, but it worked okay. 

I saved the pumpkin seeds for roasting. My trick is to boil the for 10 min in salty water and bake for 10 - 20 min at 400 temp.

Dinner was the spaghetti squash with kale/spinach and broccoli sautéed in garlic and olive oil. My husband ate it as well, I just cooked him a big piece of salmon in addition. He liked it. He also ate day two dinner. 

It was pretty late when I got my breakfast and lunch prepared for the next day. I was asleep about 11:30 pm. 

I am happy I am done with the detox. Day 4 is when I start exercises 

I checked my weight before bed and was down 5lbs. I checked it again in the morning and was down 8.5lbs. And I lost about inch thtoughout my body measurements. This is really exciting. I am truly amazed that I list this much in 3 days. Excited for more to come. 

Day 2 - $1 30 day Challenge

Day started off pressing snooze. Even though I woke up late I still drank my detox drink and made my smoothie. Including getting dressed it took about 15/20 min, not bad. I remembered to grab my lunch I had prepared last night as I was out the door. Got in the car and realized I forgot to shave 😬, no time, keep rollin. 

I started to get hungry around 11:30, but usually have lunch at 12, so I stuck it out. I didn't want to eat too early, because I would need to last until 5 when I get off. 

Lunch was a spinach salad with red bell pepper, tomatoes, and avacado with the same dressing as yesterday's lunch. I enjoyed the red this time. Nice juicy pop to the grape tomatoes. I took a nausea medicine just in case. 

I drank a lot of water thoughout the day. We have a really nice machine that has crunchy ice and cold water, so that helps me drink water. We are supposed to drink half our body weight in ounces. 

About 2pm I felt a headache. I took my new migraine medicine (ubrevly). And two hours later my head was still hurting so I took another dose. As I was leaving for work I had to throw up 😩. Thankfully I made it to the bathroom in time. This was a really bad headache. I drove home quickly and got straight in the shower. It felt really good. And helped. 

After a couple of hours of resting, my head still hurt, so I called the doctor on call for advice. He said I could take my ritzapram and or ibuprofen. I took the ritzapram and a nausea medicine. I still threw up though. Then I took ibuprofen. After awhile I was feeling better. 

At 10pm I started Day 2 dinner which is roasted vegetables. I couldn't find my sweet potato I bought. Maybe I left some groceries at the store, because my lime was missing too. Thankfully my mom (neighbor) had one I could borrow. 

Ate dinner and Hubby even ate it with me. Got lunch ready for tomorrow. In bed at midnight. It was a rough day, but I did it. I was #Determined2bDetermined.  

Day 1 - $1 30 day challenge

Today I started day 1 of the 3 day detox in the 30 day challenge. I started the day of good. I woke up pretty early and drank the detox drink which has apple cider vinegar, lemon, green tea, and a little salt. It was bitter, but I got it down. I drank it cold. After that I got my smoothie ready. I am using a blender that the previous tenant left in the apartment. I was worried it wouldn't fare well with the greens and frozen veggies, but with a little stir it got it done pretty good. I also have an inexpensive small blender but I didn't think it would fit the 2cups of kale. Here is a picture of the smoothie: 

After breakfast I got dressed and took my before pictures. I wore a tight shirt and tight pants. Wow I have a lot of improvement. 

After awhile I did my baseline exercises. Which was push ups, squats, quick feet, and mountain climbers. Do each for 1 min and count how many you did. I was pretty winded after. It was harder than you would think. 

Lunch was a salad with spinach, broccoli, green bell pepper, and zucchini. With a homemade dressing. It was an avacado, cliantro, lime dressing. I know I bought a lime, but I couldn't find it anywhere. I even looked it my car. So that was really frustrating. I ended up borrowing one from my neighbor. It was probably the healthiest, most green meal I have ever eaten. It was a really large portion too. See below. 

I am prone to vommiting lately, so I went to take a nausea medicine. My doctor also recommend I take a probiotic. So I wanted to get back to taking them. I made the mistake of taking the probiotic before the nausea medicine kicked in. And it triggered me to throw up 🤮😩. I didn't give up though. After I felt better and ate some more and I was okay. There was still some left but I was pretty hungry after doing some errands, so I finished it later. 

The family was cutting down some trees in the backyard so I helped out. I got hungry again, probably because of the vommiting. So I ate some plain Greek yogurt with 1/2 tsp of honey, pinch of celyon cinnamon and a dash of vanilla extract. Plain greek yogurt with 1/2 tsp of raw honey is on the approved snack list. It was very good. Nice and creamy.

Before dinner on an empty stomach I drank the detox drink. I tried it warm this time. I drank it really slow. I'm not sure if I like it better hot or cold. 

Dinner was raw spiralized zucchini and carrot with sliced red pepper and chia seeds. With a homemade dressing that had avacado, ginger, and cayenne pepper and lemon.  The dressing was very tasty.  The spiralizer didn't work with the carrot which was frustrating. Next time I'll use a grater. Over all dinner was good. See below. 

I finished up the day by preparing the salad lunch for tommorow for work. Breakfast is a smoothie, so I'll just have to throw that together quick because I usually don't have much time. I can't really prep it. 

I am happy with how day 1 went. Excited for day 2, I hear the dinner is really good on day 2. 

30 day Challenge Start

Tomorrow I start the beginning of the $1 30 day challenge, beginning with the 3 day detox. If you are interested in joining click this link $1 30 day challenge.

The 30 day challenge is a meal plan and exercise plan for 30 days and if you want to continue you can sign up for a monthly subscription. 

I stood on the scale and was shocked,  I stepped on a second time to recheck in disbelief. I took my measurements. And tomorrow I will do the baseline exercises. There is a lot of room for progress, and I really want to make a change. 

I am at my heaviest weight. I have been this weight before. It is horrible, because I carry all my weight in my belly, so many people ask me if I am pregnant. 

I had my last meal before the diet, and I feel bloted, so I feel ready to start the detox, so I can feel better. 

Things I will have to overcome:

• Drinking soda and sugary drinks
• Eating candy and sweets
• Preparing food - I usually order something to go for lunch at work and have very little time in the mornings 
• Motivation to exercise

Some health challenges I face that affects my weight: Thyroid, PCOS, Bipolar and the side effects of meds. 

I bought the groceries for the detox Friday. 

Tomorrow (Sunday) starts the detox, I have the detox drink made in the fridge. I am glad the first day isn't a work day, so I can get acclimated. The morning starts with a smoothie, lunch is a salad with homemade dressing, and dinner is a raw zoodle bowl. I even bought a spiralizer to make it. 

There is a fb group for support which has been helpful. 

This blog has always been about being determined2bdetermined (my user name), which is to say you have to try to try I suppose. Its about motivating yourself. It's about finding the excitement in the mundane, because things like diet and exercise are hard but it helps to get excited about what is hard. 

Read my first blog post here for more about the theme of this blog.  Kindling the fire of existence  Here is a quote: 

Motivation is hard to come by. It is my motto of the season to find excitement in the mundane. This is the only way I believe I can conjure up some motivation to do all the things I need to do for a better life but don't want to do. It is about convincing myself that I want this. I am not determined, but I want to be. I want to be determined, I want to be consistent. I need to be

I will try to post regularly with my progress. 

*I did check with my doctor before starting, which is recommend. 

Nightly Schedule

Thanksgiving week was not good for my health. I was at my parents house and they had some candy from Halloween. I could not stop from eating it all up.

Good news though, I got a job. I began training this week. I have to be there at 8 am so my schedule has been really tight. I had some coffee and I think it gave me motivation to go to the library and to the gym after class Monday. I came home and still managed to get to bed at a reasonable hour.

I think I can manage this new schedule, working out at night. Today is Tuesday. I made it to the library and to the gym again tonight. I did falter though; I ate two doughnuts. They weren't even that good. I regret it, because it wasn't worth it. I just have to get those thoughts out of my head. I start thinking about it and then I want it.

On Sunday I made a big batch of pasta and lentils so I would have dinner and lunch throughout the week. I passed up the lentils for a sandwich I bought at the grocery store. It was a Kings Hawaiian bun. Now that I am trying to avoid sugar it is to amazing how many things that are not sweets have sugar it. Even pasta sauce is sweet!

I feel good going into the finals week. I just need to keep this energy up and get work done.

Returning to Find the Excitement in the Mundane

I have gained weight. I have been depressed, sleeping and eating a lot.  It may be because of a new medication change, but still its bad. When I am in my lows I compulsively eat. That is what I am battling now,  staying in my bed all day and eating compulsively. I have realized it is an addiction.  I am addicted to sugar and carbs.  So what am I to do?

I am trying to create a schedule to keep me healthy, but  schedules are hard for me to follow, as this blog is a testament of.

I started this new schedule goal last Friday. I was going to wake up and  go to the gym before 8 am and abstain from eating sugar. I managed  to do it one day. I woke up and went to the gym that first morning (Friday). I was doing good at avoiding  sugar. I succeeded in 4 days without sugar, but then I cracked. I saw a picture of a  twinkie and I wanted one. I don't  even particularly like twenties. They are just okay in my opinion. I spent my last bit of money on twinkies &  cookies at 11 pm Tuesday and a candy bar at  4 pm today (Wednesday) and chocolate fruit bites at 6pm. That is even more evidence of the addiction. That is a long way  from where I was at the beginning  of the semester. The idea of being  addicted to food was very uncomfortable for me to face.

 

Thoughout the week I also realized that since I avoided sweets, I still compulsively ate carbs. What is really bad is that I will go to a lot of effort to have my addictive food. If I don't have any sweets on hand I will make some, the microwave cakes got me for awhile but recently I have gone to the lengths of making more strenuous foods such as shortbread cookies, yellow cake, and when I was avoiding sugar I made homemade focaccia. This was when all I had was a few ingredients in the house. I typically don't even like bread, I really just needed something to much on and the carrots weren't satisfying.

Soon I will learn how to avoid sweets and carbs and instead take satisfaction from having an apple or salad instead. Now I just have to focus on getting rid of the addiction.

I am realizing that I need to play to my strengths and weaknesses. I need to learn from my past and decide the best course of action. In the past I have used fitness pal to keep track of the every detailed account of what I ate. As you can tell from my blog posts I really don't like keeping track of what I eat. I tried sticking to a schedule of working out in the morning. These things helped, but they didn't work completely. I also need to learn to be flexible. If I fail to wake up one morning for early workouts then I can go in the afternoon or evening. It might help to keep a track of what I eat, but maybe be less detailed about it. Maybe only keeping track of when I ate rather than what I ate is more fitting.

I have to realize that I am not a morning person. It will always be difficult for me to wake up in the early morning. Therefore, I should not expect myself to wake up early to exercise. Today was a failure of the morning. I did not exercise, and missed a Dr. appointment. I stayed in bed to the very last minute that I needed for my interview. The day wasn't over. I still had time to exercise, so I went after class. Maybe exercise after class can become an option. I still would like to try to wake up early each morning to exercise, because it is healthy to have a schedule that prevents me from being in my bed all day.

I have also focused on a night time ritual. I get a cup of chamomile and ginger honey tea (yes it has sugar but it balances the strong ginger) at around 10pm. I also take my medication at 10 pm. This give me about an hour to do things like, write my blog, read the bible, read non-fiction or fiction. And another hour to focus on getting to bed, so I fall asleep at 12 (not go to bed at 12). It usually takes a little time to transition from being in bed to falling asleep.

 

 I want to come back to writing in my blog more. My first semester of grad school is coming to an end. I haven't been writing in here because I have been occupied with my grad school work, and plus I didn't feel like it. I really just didn't want to face my goals.

I have bipolar disorder and my moods wax and wane from goal directed motivation to lazy lack of interest. It is a struggle to find a balance and that is my goal for this blog. I am Determined-2b-Determined to "Find the Excitement in the Mundane "goals that will keep me healthy.