The Spano Paleo Plan

I read the success that a blogger I follow had doing a 30 day challenge of paleo in combination with her cross fit and running regime. It really seemed so great that she had such success, that I decided to give it a try. And force Jason to do it with me.

So, for the record, we are not changing our lifestyle permanently to live paleo. I'm doing this purely to lose weight (which we are!) and I am extremely excited to have cheese and bread in 23 days. If you don't know much about paleo, basically it's grain free. I would say low carb, but you're still eating fruit which is high carb, but no grains or breads or anything like that. Also, different from every other low carb diet I've tried, there is no dairy allowed. If I continue to have such good progress though, it is likely that I'll continue with this in some form, possibly with one cheat day.

I would love to try out a cross fit class, but we don't have any here...I'd likely have to travel to one of the big cities. Maybe we will some Saturday just to drop in on a class and try it out. But, I am continuing with my couch to 5k and I'm having good progress. I've done two 5ks but only running the time my program suggests and basically finishing out walking.

 

This was the color run I did in Las Animas this weekend. I ended up with a longer distance, but I actually felt like I was struggling during the whole thing. Because the course was kind of hilly I seemed to have a hard time pacing myself, and I kept getting a stitch in my side. I'm really proud of myself though.


We are also starting the new Beachbody workout P90 tonight. So excited!

Just a Moment-A Decision

This morning when 5 AM rolled around I couldn't  do it; I couldn't make myself get out of bed. I was sore, and so tired, and it felt good curled up in bed. I told Jason I couldn't do it and please could we work out tonight. He said yes because he is awesome.

Later, when I'd pulled myself up out of bed and had showered I noticed it. That twinge of pain in my left knee when I sat just wrong. Or when I climbed off the bed the dull ache in both knees. My immediate first thought was "I guess I am done with Insanity again."

As I contemplated what that meant (would I go back to just walking, 10 minute trainer again, or something else), it struck me that this is how I got here. And this epitomizes my behavior in nearly everything. When I struggle to do well I don't want to continue.

Math and science were hard for me in school but instead of studying harder I just told myself that I wasn't a math person and that's okay. When I realize working out is hard for me I've resigned myself to always being the chunky girl. When I can't manage to keep the house picked up, I convince myself that the housekeeping gene just missed me. When waking up to say prayers and go to Mass was hard on me I resigned myself to the fact that I just wasn't a morning person and that's okay.

And it's not okay. The truth is, when I wake in the early morning it is hard and I want to just roll over and go back to sleep but I always, always feel better after a workout and prayers. Why can't I tell myself that and get up to do it anyway? Human nature? Well it's MY human nature and I'm going to fight it. My knee pain is nothing that I wouldn't tell a patient to push through. It can only stop me if I keep letting my fear of struggling hold me back. I know I have far to go, and that IS okay because the journey won't be boring. :)

P.S. This does not mean I will suddenly have a spotless house or that I will all of a sudden be a math whiz...1 journey at a time folks!

Who Would Have Guessed?

I missed doing Insanity! Like, really missed it. I felt like my walks were good, but I knew that once it gets even hotter, I might not be able to keep it up. And 10 minute trainer really didn't leave me feeling like I'd worked out. So, I asked Jason if he would start doing Insanity with me again. We started yesterday morning. And boy am I sooooore!!!

My knees never bothered me throughout the first section of Insanity, not until we started the real maximum intensity. So, I'm holding out hope that my knees stay pain free this time. To help ensure that, I am not doing any jumping and pretty much nothing with both feet off the floor at the same time. Jason's making sure to watch my technique while I do lunges or squats so I don't hurt myself that way.

I'm still going to try to do some walking in the morning because it really helps my knees (I think? I know I feel good after walks), but that's going to have to wait until my body is used to the punishment that is Insanity again.

I'm still struggling at about the same weight that I was in the beginning. Still fluctuating from 274-276 for some reason. I feel like all this work is going to build up, that at some point this weight is going to melt off. Well, I hope that's the case anyway. I have noticed some really awesome things that aren't directly related to the scale though. I was able to stand up out of the chair at daily Mass while holding Christopher without using my hands at all. This may seem silly, and lame, but it was incredibly hard for me to do this before and now I can so I'm definitely getting stronger! The other thing is a little more embarrassing, but hey, I've already put my numbers out there so this can't be that bad right? Because I'm so overweight my inner thighs rub together; because I always wear skirts this is a daily problem for me. Lately, while there is still some rubbing, it is not that bad. There's never pain anymore and where in the past if we walked a couple miles I'd have sores on my legs (TMI?! Sorry!) but that hasn't happened in months! This is huge! This is probably the biggest thing that hurts my self-esteem. It's so demoralizing to know that I can't even walk without my weight getting in the way; but this progress, this gives me hope.

So that's my update this week. Sorry if you're not interested, I'm just trying to get it all out there because I know that a lot of people struggle in the same ways and to varying degrees. I have a post planned later this week for talks about overeating and gluttony...how do we know if our weight is sinful?

The Start of Something Good

So, this post is going to put it all out there. I'm going to announce to the public world some things that most, if not all, women keep close to their hearts. Even hating to share with their doctors. I'm going to give you my number. The big number...you know, the one we all avoid looking at when the nurse says "first I'm going to have to get your weight...". I'm doing this for a myriad of reasons.

1) This is my journey, I'm documenting it because it's something I need to do, something I want to show my kids later.

2) I want to inspire people to do something healthy...even if they love eating ice cream and brownies and ohmygosh the chips and salsa.

3) This is real people. I am like...what is it 80+%...of Americans who are morbidly obese. Those people who try to say the BMI doesn't take into account bone structure, or muscle mass (**disclaimer, it totally doesn't, but when you're off the chart, you know. You. Know.). The people who struggle with the mirrors in changing rooms, or change their normal type of dress because skinny jeans aren't skinny jeans when they're on a chunky person. The people who are terribly afraid of sitting next to another person on an airplane and taking up more than just their seat. The moms who don't climb on the toys, or go down the slides with their kids because they're afraid that they're too heavy. The moms who sit on the sidelines instead of going on the carousel because there's a 250# weight limit, and you're past that. This is real. This is me.

When I started getting serious about losing weight I weighed in at 274 pounds. That is the heaviest I've been aside from when I was 9 months pregnant. That's frighteningly close to 300 pounds. That is scary. And embarrassing. Shameful. But, it's where I'm starting.

Because Jason's coworker got him started doing P90x and his wife wanted me to do Insanity with her, we got into Beachbody's workouts. I had heard about them but wasn't sure I was really that dedicated. Jason would go over and workout, then come home, then I'd go to their place to workout and we'd finally be home and all together at around 8ishPM. It sucked. The workout was great, but I hated being away from each other. So, I ordered Insanity and we started doing it together when Jason got home from work. Then, we switched to doing it in the morning. This is an extreme, high intensity cardio workout. It is really, crazy, insane hard. But I did it, 6 days a week. The only days I missed were when I caught Christopher's stomach bug. Then came the max interval time, 30 more days of super high intensity. After the first day I wanted to give up. But then I told myself that I didn't give up the first 30 days so I could keep going this time. Then about 3 or 4 days in my knees started hurting. Did you know that for every 1 pound overweight you are it adds 4 pounds of pressure to your knees? That's 400 pounds of pressure on my knees...and I was doing jumping jacks, hop squats, and several other jumping exercises. On top of that I had gained 4 pounds. That's right folks, now I was up to 278 pounds. It was too much.

I got really disappointed in myself. I didn't want to give up, gosh I want to get fit. I'd drastically changed my eating habits. I'd followed the formula to get my calories in line. Apparently when you're as heavy as I am, dropping to 1,800 calories a day puts your body into starvation mode. Oops. So, I started doing some more research on Beachbody; looking for a workout that would be OK for my bulk, and OK on my joints. There are a few different ones, but I settled on the 10 minute trainer. It's Tony Horton who does P90x and he breaks down the workout into basically 3 10 minute workouts a day, 7 days a week. If you don't have enough time, well surely you have 10 minutes. When I started this week my weight was 271 pounds. So far I'm following the schedule, I'm on day 4 and I'm actually burning more calories than I was with Insanity. I think because I can actually do all the activities on 10 minute trainer.

I also bought their shakes. These shakeology shakes actually have all the veggies and super foods you need for one day in one shake. It's kind of pricey, but I figured that it's time to spend money on something I'm doing for me. I got the chocolate one and it comes with some recipes to change it up a bit so that you aren't drinking the same old thing every day. I'm eating one for lunch each day, then trying to eat some veggies for a late afternoon snack. Cucumbers, carrots, peppers, etc.. They taste pretty good, though I've had some that were gross. Like frozen berries, milk, and the shake mix. Yuck. The chocolate mint one wasn't very enjoyable either. So far my favorite is the banana and peanut butter one. So yum!

Some things I think are important for starting a weight loss/exercise program:

Make sure it's something you'll do. I desperately want to be a runner. But, those extra 400 pounds of pressure on my knees? Kills during a run. I have tried a few times and it gets me depressed which spirals me into a "I'll never change, I'm destined to be fat my whole life" spin.

When changing your eating habits, don't go huge. Look, I know this isn't what people normally say, but seriously? I can't suddenly choose a veggie burger over a cheeseburger or broccoli over french fries. What I can do? Learn portion control. Last night I was craving brownies big time, so I made a brownie in a mug. 200 calories, and no chance of me nibbling on an entire pan until it's gone. In 1.3 days. We're still eating pizza and burgers, I'm just limiting my intake of those things and trying to add other, good for me things.

Get a heart rate monitor that can measure calories. I am using myfitnesspal to track my calories in and out. It's awesome. But apparently 30 minutes of cardio does not burn the same amount of calories for me that it does for whomever put that in. If you have something that can tell you how many calories you have burned, then you can track the appropriate amount.

This post has turned out to be way longer than I intended. If you're still reading...thank you and I'm sorry. :) I hope to have more tips and updates on what I'm doing. Possibly some recipes that I'm trying out that are good and good for us too.

I'm making a good beginning, I hope that I can continue to keep it up and I hope that I can keep a healthy body image in mind. I'm not doing this for looks. I'm doing this for health and to be here for my boys and for healthy pregnancies (hopefully!) in the future.