New experiences

Today I took a friend up on her offer to join her for a crossfit workout. The first time was free so it was a good way to test the waters without committing. I was nervous but excited. I like some of the things that crossfit has to offer but I have been turned off to trying it in the past because of how fanatical and intense some people can be about it. There are free crossfit classes on post but there are typically 100-200 people there and it is full of insanely fit soldiers and people who take it way too seriously. I've been wanting to find a way to really work on my strength but I have also been wanting something that gets me out of the house and around people. I spend so much time home alone that the last thing I want to do is workout at home and alone. 

When Danielle told me about the workouts she went to, it sounded more my speed. Typically only 4-10 women of all shapes and sizes. They let you visit the first workout for free to try it out so I decided to take the plunge. I was scared but also excited. Getting up earlier was hard but that's something else I need to start working on , too.  Julie was great. She modified the workout for me and checked on me to make sure I was getting the form. Today wasn't too extreme of a workout but it was still really tough. I was very quickly reminded of how little upper body strength I have. I definitely felt it and I am sure I will be feeling it again tomorrow. 

If I decide to continue I have two options of how to do it. One is to join the GetFit program that the trainer works for and the other is to join the country club where this morning's workout was held. If I join GetFit , I would have access to all of their workouts both at the country club and at the head trainers home. The other option of joining the country club gives me access to all of their classes and facilities not just crossfit. They have a TRX class as well as yoga  and several other options. I would also be able to use the pool there. I know I have access to free pools on post but in the 5 years we have been here, I have never been to them. I am not a fan of the crowds, especially if I want to swim laps and being in a bathing suit in front of a bunch of people is never fun. Danielle told me the Peloton pool is always very quiet and it is very easy to find times to go when there is no one there. I also like that it is a salt water pool. Right now I am seriously leaning towards joining Peloton. I will discuss it with the manager next week but I think there is an offer for a free 30 day membership which would be awesome. That way I could try everything out and make sure that I think it would be worth it. In the end, the monthly fees are only about $15 different, so I could pay a little more and have so many other opportunities. Right now they are only doing crossfit on Tues and Thurs, but starting next week they are adding Mon and Wed workouts too, so I could still get in several crossfit workouts. I'm excited about the possibilities but still a little scared. I've been hiding at home for so long , it will take a little while to get used to it. 

Today was also the first day I have been wearing my new BodyMedia Fit armband. So far, I am really liking it. Since you can link your BM account with a myfittnesspal account, I have also been playing with my MFP app more and I am finding that it is really great and makes tracking my food so much easier than I thought it would be thanks to the barcode scanner. Being able to see how much I burned during this mornings workout and how that compares to waht I am eating is really cool. I think it is really going to help me to start seeing more results. I'm planning on doing a more in depth review of the armband after I have been using it for at least a week or two instead of just a few hours. 

I'm really excited and encouraged by the things I am seeing ahead of me. I just hope that I can really start moving forward again and keep it going this time.  

Getting back to it

The last few weeks have been a little crazy and I have hit a wall with my weight loss. After all of the doctor craziness I took a little break from caring. Unfortunately, that lasted longer than I wanted so now I am trying to kick my butt back into gear.

One thing that has helped since the beginning of the year is the discovery of DietBet. I have participated in several and "won" most of them. (Winning just requires hitting your goal. Everyone that hits their goal wins and splits the pot) Next week I will lose the one I started right after the Princess. Ever since the race I haven't really been working out or watching what I eat like I should. The first few bets I did had a very low buy in of just $10. The first one that I did, I won $20. An extra $10 is great but it's not a lot and losing $10 isn't as much of a motivation to work really hard which is probably why I lost the second $10 bet. A few weeks into the second bet, I knew it wasn't motivating me enough so I joined a $50 bet. I knew I didn't want to lose that $50 so I was sure to work really hard. I did and I won $75. The bet I am going to lose next week was a $35 bet. It sucks knowing that I am going to be losing money and I don't want to do that again. Instead of giving up though, I am joining a new bet.

I have a goal that I want to hit by my birthday. If I join this bet and then another immediately following, they will end right before my birthday. I wanted to make sure I was motivated so I found another $50 bet that started today. I usually try to join them earlier than that but I needed the bet to start TODAY for me to have the second end on time. It is the smallest group I have joined before. Currently there are only 3 players. I am hoping a few of my friends and followers may want to join us though. As long as you weigh in today or tomorrow you will still have the full 4 weeks to hit your 4% goal.(You can join as late as day 14 but you still have to lose 4% with a lot less time to do it.) To join, all you have to do is follow this link (or click on the image below) and click on join. You will create an account for the site, give them your payment info and then it will ask you to weigh-in. To weigh in, they give you a code word that you write on an index card or piece of paper and place on the floor next to your scale. Then you weigh yourself and take a picture of your feet, weight and code word. Then use a full length mirror or have someone else take a picture of you on the scale in what they call "airport security attire". Basically what they mean is no shoes, belt or anything in your pockets. They don't want people to cheat by trying to weigh themselves down at the start. Then you upload these pics and start working on your goal. You can weigh in during the bet to track your progress by simply entering it on the site. You only have to do the photo verification at the beginning and the end. Final weigh-in for this bet is April 22-23. Once the bet ends, you have 48 hours to submit your final weigh in. Then they are all verified and you find out how much you've won. Then you can use Paypal to transfer your winnings into your bank account or leave them as credit on DietBet for more bets.

Please consider joining me if you can. It is a great way to motivate yourself and work towards your goals. It's basically like setting aside some cash that you are only allowed to spend once you hit your goals. 4% in 4 weeks is a very good goal. It's not unreasonable but it is also not necessarily easy. You will have to work and you will have to watch what you eat but if you do, you will be rewarded in the end.

Upside Down and Rightside Up Again

In a recent post I talked about my trip to the ER due to an allergic reaction and then later having blood drawn for a screening. Well, a few days later I returned to see my PCM(primary care manager) and she told me the results of the screening. I am highly allergic to grass(which I knew) and wheat. The wheat did not cause my hives which I knew because I have been eating wheat well, forever and never had hives, but that having wheat in my system left me vulnerable to whatever did cause the hives. She referred me to the allergy clinic on post and told me I had to stop eating wheat completely because I was so reactive that once it was out of my system, even a small amount could have me reaching for my epi pen. She also told me that there was a chance I was allergic to all or most grains so I should be very careful.

I was totally freaked out and in a panic. I wasn't sure what to do but my world was turned upside down. I got this news just a week before we were set to leave for Disney and all I could think of was how horrible it would be if I needed to find an ER in Orlando because I accidentally had wheat. I decided to go against what she said and keep wheat in my system at least until Disney so that I wouldn't have as much to worry about. It didn't really help though. I became so paranoid about all foods that I had a hard time eating. We went out and bought all kinds of gluten free and wheat free foods but I was still afraid that I was allergic to other grains too. I made sure to eat a little wheat each day to keep it in me but it got harder to do.

Once we got to Disney I was convinced it was getting worse so I decided to stop eating wheat while we were there. This really made it easier in a lot of ways. Disney is AMAZING when it comes to allergies and every where I went, the chef came out to speak to me before the meals to let me know what they could do for my wheat allergy. The only time I had planned on eating normally was our traditional last meal before the race. We had reservations for Via Napoli and I was planning on still eating pizza the night before. I've done it for every Disney race and it is my absolute favorite pizza in the world. I wasn't going to eat the outer crust but I figured the actual pizza part should be fine because the crust is so thin. When we got to the restaurant I started second guessing myself. I was thinking back on every time I had eaten wheat over the past week and realized that each time, I had an upset stomach after. I was afraid that this was due to my allergy and I was scared that if I ate the pizza, I may get sick during the race. I finally decided not to eat it.

Sitting there that evening was TORTURE. There we were in my favorite restaurant with everyone around me eating my favorite dish and I couldn't have any of it. Once we left I had to find somewhere to eat. We finally decided to head to the Land pavilion and try their quick service food court since everything there is all natural. We stopped for a quick potty break in Morocco and I lost it. I started bawling and I couldn't stop. I was just so afraid of food that I didn't want to eat anything but I knew I had to eat for the race the next day. I was so overwhelmed with everything that I had been told and that had been going on I just couldn't take it anymore. I finally calmed down and we made it to the Land. I found out that the grill there serves only gluten free items so I got a pork chop and some white rice for dinner. It was very good but I was still nervous. I did not eat any more wheat for the rest of the trip.

Today was my appointment at the Allergy Clinic. I arrived and met a very nice PA that took me back to discuss what had been going on. I mentioned the blood test and he said, "Let me stop you there. You aren't allergic to wheat. Now go on." I was FLOORED. I was so overwhelmed and relieved that I started crying. I explain to him how scared I had been since she told me that and he explained that she should have never done the blood test because she didn't do all of the screenings that she should and she misread my results. Some how she mixed up my wheat and Bermuda grass results. He showed me the results on the screen and what she told me was a 5 was actually a .65. The 5 reaction was for bermuda grass along with my two 8 reactions for two other types of grass. I am highly allergic to GRASS and that's it.

Well, that's not completely it because there is something that has caused the hives. He said that I may be right and it may be red 40 but there is also a good chance that it is one of several preservatives. He is testing for all of them in the blood panel he ordered after my visit. I will go back in two weeks for the results but he told me to just keep doing what I had been doing with avoiding processed foods and I should be fine. When we were done he told me to go home and eat some pasta. I had to laugh.

I was relieved, happy, pissed and annoyed. How could someone be so careless and say and do something to scare someone as badly as that woman did to me. Looking back now I know that all of those upset stomachs were caused by my anxiety over the fact that I had eaten wheat. I have always had a nervous stomach so all I had to do was focus on it too much and I made myself sick every time. All I really want right now is to have a do over of our trip so I can have my pizza and be happy and not worrying every second of every day.

I have been so scared of food that I told Mac the other day that our meals were going to become just grilled chicken and broccoli so I could eat and not be afraid. We had chili last night made from a gluten free mix and I still worried all night about it. I didn't sleep well at all and had nightmares all night because I was so scared of what I was going to find out at the allergist. I was terrified and miserable.

Now it is like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I've been thinking a lot about things today though. Even though I do not NEED to be on a gluten free diet now, I think I am going to continue eating mostly gluten free. For one thing, we have found several things that we really like that are gluten free. Plus I know that in a lot of ways it is just better for me. I'm really excited about it all now though. I don't have to panic if I forget to check a food label for wheat. I don't have to throw out so much stuff that is in our pantry. Even though I am planning to eat mostly gluten free it is nice to know that every now and then I can indulge in a treat or two and not end up in the ER. I'm really hoping that this will  give me the flexibility and the freedom to move forward and enjoy the day to day not fear it.

A little pride in the accomplishment

So there is a part of me that wants to take the weight ticker at the bottom of my blog and move it to the very top. It's hard to believe how far I have really come since I started. The first 25-30 pounds took a long time. I'm starting to figure things out and I have been seeing some awesome results since the start of 2013 even though I really haven't been working out much. I guess I am finally figuring the food thing out and thanks to recent developments(post on that later) the way I eat has completely changed.

I'm just hoping to keep the momentum going and see great results as I get back into working out regularly. I'm still taking a little break to let me body recover from the half but soon I plan on kicking things into gear again. I'm toying with a few new workout options but I don't know what exactly I am going to be doing yet. I will be running again and hopefully more regularly. I want to be able to get to a point where I can run the entire 30 minutes of my short runs each week. I don't really care about the distance I cover in that time, just that I can run the full 30. I think that will help my stamina on my run intervals for long runs. I'm still not trying to be fast but I just want to be better at running so that when I do the Tower of Terror Ten Miler in October I still feel good enough after to enjoy the after party until they shut it down.

I'm feeling good about things and I really feel like 2013 is going to be my year.

Princess 2013 half marathon recap

So this post is not going to be anything like I expected it to be because the race didn't go the way I expected it to go. I actually originally planned to write this post last Sunday afternoon after the race. I thought we would get back from the race and breakfast for a little down time and I would grab Mac's laptop and write about the race while it was all still fresh and exciting. But in reality, I couldn't write the post that day because I couldn't wrap my head around what had happened that morning. In a lot of ways I still can't fully comprehend what went on but I decided I should go ahead and get what I could out there.

Mac and I arrived at Disney late on Thursday night. The plan was to be up early, hit the expo and then relax until dinner. I was up in time to get in line at the expo. I went straight to the bib pick-up and was the first one at my station. I received my half bib and then grabbed my 5k bib. Mac got his bib and we headed into the expo. I got in line for the KT tape booth and got both ankles taped before we checked out the other booths. It was more crowded than I expected for Friday so I skipped the long line for the run Disney merchandise and we grabbed lunch at the resort. It was nice staying at Coronado so we could drop by whenever we wanted to and not have to deal with traveling there. I had completely forgotten to grab my 5k race shirt and bag when we got our half shirts so we headed back to get them. Once again there was no line at all and we were in and out. That night we had dinner with friends at Be Our Guest and then hit the park while we waited for Rachel to arrive. She got in later than expected but it was all good and we hit the sack. I had to be up early for the 5k(what was I thinking).

I was planning on walking the 5K with my friend Lara that I met at Expedition Everest Challenge. Since I had the half the next day I wasn't going to try to be fast. I just wanted to hang out with her and have a good time. It was way too early and a little annoying since they had a little trouble between corrals and we didn't start on time. The first part of the race is back roads and back lot areas of Epcot but right after the one mile mark we made it inside the park.  It was so neat seeing Epcot so empty. We got a picture with Mulan because she had NO line and kept heading around the World Showcase. We skipped the other character lines because they were pretty long. One of the other awesome things about the 5K being in Epcot is that every country has real restrooms so when you need a pit stop, they are easy to find and EMPTY. We finished up between 7:30 and 8:00 and I headed back to the room to get ready for breakfast. That whole thing didn't go as planned either but I met Mac and Rachel at Kona where we grabbed some food before heading back to the resort. We didn't really do anything in the parks that day because I wanted to have fresh legs for the race.

So Sunday morning rolls around and it was way too damn early to be awake.(2:30am) We got ready and headed to the lobby to meet up with friends before getting on the bus. Before long we were at the party area hanging out until they told us to head to the corrals. We ended up getting bumped up to C with our 10K time so we were called in the first wave to head to the corrals. We said bye to Rachel and headed out. This year was definitely the warmest at the races start of all of the ones I have done. The temp at the end was about the same but the temp at the beginning with the humidity was a little rough. Because I knew things would be crowded, we had decided to take it easy the first few miles and start our intervals once the made the turn towards MK at around 2 miles. We started our intervals and everything seemed pretty good. The only thing was that I was sweating like crazy. The humidity was so high and the sweat was just pouring down my face.  I had to walk and extra interval here and there because of the heat but other than that, things were good for a little while.

As we got closer to MK, I noticed some pain in my right knee and both ankles. I kept thinking it would go away but it didn't. As usual, I cried when we ran up main street. Going through the castle was not as magical as it has been in the past. It was so crowded and even though I was walking and as far to the right as I could be, runners kept trying to pass me on the right and shoved me into other people. It really kind of pissed me off. I was doing exactly what I was supposed to do but they were still yelling at me and shoving me around. We had planned on taking a left at the bottom of the castle ramp for a pic but the lines were longer than I wanted to deal with so we continued on. As we were walking through Frontierland, I told Mac that I wasn't sure I was going to be able to finish. He tried to reassure me that I was fine but I told him he didn't understand how much pain I was in. Mentally, I was done. I was hurting so much that all I wanted was a bus ride to the finish. As we exited MK that was all I could think about. Mac and I talked about it a few times and decided that he would continue on if I quit. After a while I decided to keep going but I knew I had to slow down. Then we decided that if we saw the balloon lady, he would take off running and I would accept being swept. Because of how much I slowed down, I expected to see her any minute. When we got to mile 10 and the stupid clover leaf, I knew it was my chance to see how much room I had. When we got to the top, all I could see was a sea of people.

I had a strange mix of emotions. One was relief that I could keep going and be able to finish with Mac which is all I have wanted since we both signed up. The other was dread that I still had almost 3 miles to go and I was in excruciating pain. I wanted to finish with Mac but I also just wanted to stop hurting. We kept trying to figure out what was different and why I was hurting. The only thing I could come up with is the weather caused my arthritis to flare up. Whatever the reason, I was in serious pain. I hated the 180 turn into Epcot last year but it was so much worse this year. Since they had to move the start line up to accommodate all of the runners, they had to add the distance somewhere and they chose to add it there. All I wanted to do was cheat and go through the cones instead of going all the way to the end. It SUCKED. I hated it so much more this year. As we started up the last over pass, Mac was helping ease some of the pain in my back by putting pressure on it so I could stretch the muscles. While doing this he was basically pushing me. I jokingly said he could just push me to the end. He was more than happy to but I told him he didn't have to and he could drop his hand. We were going uphill when he dropped his hand and I slowed down so much I told him he might need to push me up the hill. I was so tired. He literally pushed me up the last hill of the course.

We finally made it into Epcot and once again I just wanted to cut across instead of doing the full out and back in the park. I knew the end was close and I was losing steam. Before I knew it I felt Mac's hand on my back again and I didn't say anything about it. He pushed me through the last part of Epcot. There is actually a picture of it on marathonfoto. It just looks like he is sort of walking behind me but the reality is he was moving me forward. He laughed as we came around the corner and could see the gospel choir. I had told him about it but I think it brings a smile to every one's face when you see them because you know the end is near. We rounded the last turn and there was the finish line. We had made it. We were going to finish together. I grabbed Mac's hand and we started jogging for the finish. Once we crossed I turned and kissed him because if he had not been with me, I would not have finished.

I was so glad to get out of the madness and find Rachel. We sat down for a minute before we headed into Epcot for breakfast. Once we got to Norway, it was nice to sit down and get some good food in our systems. Mac ordered a chocolate milk for us to share and they brought out a huge glass. After we each drank some we were planning on switching to water but the waiter brought us more, so we gave it to Rachel. It was good but there was just too much of it. I love Akershus especially for breakfast. The food is so good  and I love that it includes a pic with Belle when you come in. I was shocked when we got our picture back after breakfast.

During this journey, many times it has been hard for me to see progress. And especially on a morning when I struggled so much to finish the race I was questioning where I have come from. But when I looked at the picture from this year's breakfast, I was amazed at what I saw. It was one of those times when I could really see the changes that I have been making. I still have a long way to go but I am getting there.

The top photo is from last weekend and the bottom is from the 2012 Princess.

I can see a difference, can you?