Remember When?

Remember Tuesday when I was so motivated to start walking and changing my eating habits? Remember how I was so excited to make this pregnancy a lot easier by doing stretches?

Warning: If you have a hard time with blood or bodily malfunctions, you should probably stop reading.

Literally two hours later I was picking up my son from pre-school and I started bleeding heavily. Like  within minutes my clothes were soaked. I took all the kids to a friend and rushed over to my doctor that is luckily only blocks away from my friend. By this time I was in full on panic I could hardly cork my emotions to tell the nurses and front desk girls why I was there. I held it together until my old babysitter walked by and gave me a hug. I'm sure her shirt was soaked with tears by the time I let her go. I was scared. There have been two miscarriages on my husbands side of the family with in this year, I didn't want to have to go through that. I know this baby is supposed to be here!

We finally got into the ultrasound room and got the good and not so great news. Baby is doing awesome! He/She is kicking and moving like crazy. Heart beat is strong. And I'm not in any immediate danger. That's the good news. The not so great news,  I have a Sub-Chronic Hemorrhage right above the pregnancy that could move down and separate the placenta from the baby, which would cause a miscarriage. To try and prevent it from happening I had to be on bed rest for a couple days and pray that it worked. I also had to be on watch to make sure I didn't bleed so much that I bled to death.

So basically I went home scared that I was going to lose the baby or have to rush to the hospital and be stuck there for a while.

The two days dragged on. I always thought that being forced to sit down would be such a blessing, not having to feel guilty about the laundry or the dishes. Well... It was awful!  I had two wonderful ladies from our ward come and help with the kids, but I felt so guilty watching them change my little girl's diapers and having to pick up my kid's messes and I was just sitting there. My husband had to sternly tell me to sit there and suck up my pride. Yeah... Not so fun....

But it was all worth it when I went to my follow up and the hemorrhage was fading and moving away from the baby!

I still have to into the doctors weekly and take it really slow, meaning no exercise.... I have to sit down more than working around the house and limit picking up my baby (Which I'm still really bad at).  But the plus is, I have to drink a lot of water and I can still work on food goals.

Dropped off the planet.

I haven't posted in forever! That's mostly because I haven't done any exercise or stuck to my food plan. But I have had a pretty good excuse!

That's right! Baby number 4 is on it's way! I've been super sick and hurting a ton. I kinda dropped off the planet with my fitness plan. I've been awful with giving into my cravings of buffalo wings and chinese. BUT this baby also loves it's veggies! I am almost always craving celery or carrots. But that's not an excuse to get into my old habits. 

I am going to talk with my husband about making a food plan and tell him to not let me pull my puppy dog eyes when I want my bad cravings. We will, however, set date nights where I can give in a little. What's fun about pregnancy if you can't give in every once in a while?!

I'm going to start walking, even though I hate walking and would rather run, but I've learned with my pregnancies, I am not the type of woman who can run a 5K the day before I'm due. My body doesn't work that way... I can walk and if I start to feel lightheaded or sick, I'll sit for five minutes and try again. If the second attempt is a REAL no go, then I will do some extra stretches while sitting on the floor and call it a night.

My goal is to at least post every two weeks, so I will be accountable and hopefully get back on track!

Back on Earth

I feel like I've dropped off the face of the earth on this blog. But I'm back! Life has gone crazy with my family, and the only time I have to write is during my kids rest time and I've been joining them.

ANYWAY...Time to report. I've been doing great with my running, I'm actually going to bump up to the next step on couch to 5K tomorrow's run! I haven't been able to run 3 times a week for the last couple of weeks, because we've been out of town or doing activities, but I've been running every Tuesday and Thursday even when I really didn't want to and I've never regretted running; I'm actually glad that I did!

I've also started doing a Parent-Tot class at the pool with my two youngest while my oldest does swimming lessons! So I'm getting a little more exercise!

I love to swim, so It's been nice getting back in the water.

On the flip side, eating hasn't been that great. Actually to be completely honest, I've been really bad.... We went camping last weekend and I ate at least three cookies and didn't drink hardly any water. My food portions are awful during dinner AND I go back for seconds. When I'm home I will try to have a good lunch and I usually will have a water with me. What's been worse is, we found some chocolate bars from camping and I've had a lot of chocolate after 8... BUT I'm starting over again! I have some big life events coming up that will be announced at a later time, so I have to get control of my food habits now or I'm afraid I won't ever get control, especially after said event.

Plan:

Drink 1/2 my weight in oz. of water READ THIS!!!

NO EATING AFTER 8!!!

If I get the munchies, drink a whole glass of water and grab gum.

When camping, be apart of menu planning and bring healthy snacks.

Start with 1 cheat day every two weeks

Pre-make snacks on Sundays

Try Turkey Burger

My friend has this awesome blog that I love! She's made so many changes in her life and she does it without her husband and kids eating the same as her. http://www.livylove.com/ tells her story of her weight loss and she has some great tips on how she did it. I look at her story and know I can do this! Wish me luck!

Extra Info:

 People keep asking me what muscle I damaged in my back and I couldn't remember the name, and for good reason, it's a hard one! It's the Thoracolumbar Fascia. Basically it's a three layer muscle that connects to everything. So now I have to do extra stretches to help loosen it before my runs (which I still have to take slow... I'm running 1 minute and walking 1.5 for 1.3 miles). I've found some new stretches that I used to do in dance class and they work really well!

 These pictures aren't the best, but I was working with my computer camera and timer, so I did my best.

This stretch is a swastika stretch. It is the best stretch for my injury, it works the inside of my legs, my gluts, and lower back. 

I shift around and find the tight spots on my body.

I make sure I sink my belly button to my spine and use my abs instead of using my arms for support,

then pull my leg to the side to stretch the inside tendon.

After bringing my legs to my chest I stretch them out to a forty five degree angle, again couldn't make it work with the camera timer.

This is a good stretch for my shins and arches. I get shin splints and cramps in my arches really easy (I know, "This girl has issues!").

I never knew how stupid this looks, but it's really good for stretching my sides and lower back.

Again I sink my belly button to my spine, cross my ankles, and pump my arms. All sorts of muscles get worked here.

One last stretch before my run.

I cut in some random stretches changing it up every time I run, but these are the basic stretches that I do every time.

I love this Quote

And The Answer Is....

New Mommy-itis!!! (AKA Minor Muscle Damage)

Saturday I was finally able to go into a family friend Massage Therapist and have her look at my back. I showed her where the pain was coming from and she knew exactly what was going on! She even described some of the other random pains I would have too.  She pulled out a muscle chart and showed me a little tiny muscle that connects to basically every muscle in the torso and the buttocks. Lucky me, I messed mine up, so it makes everything hurt. She says she sees it a lot in moms with lots of young kids, with all the putting in carseats, high chairs, twisting, being pulled in every direction, ect. The bad news is, the pain won't totally go away until I'm done with picking up kids and let the muscles heal. And that's not going to happen for a while.

The big thing that will help me not to make the damage worse is to start rebuilding my core muscles. I was so relieved it wasn't, you can't do any exercise! So I'm going to start going back to my dance warm ups and building up the tummy I used to have before my babies. I will do this Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday when Jon does his runs. I might try to convince him to take pictures of me doing the core exercise, so I won't be pulling so many pictures off the internet. And it'll help me see my progress.

 I'm going to be starting running tonight (Last post when I said I was going to do it, I had a major pain attack and couldn't even stand...), take it slow so I don't put too much stress on the muscles.

 I was taught some stretches that will help:

The Frog leg stretch helps basically everywhere. When I first did it, I realized how much flexibility I have lost since my dance classes. And I wasn't that flexible to begin with. Anyway... I felt it everywhere and it was wonderful!!!

Swing Stretch is grabbing my knees and slowly lowering my legs to one side and then the other with my shoulders still flat on the ground. When I feel the pull on the knots, pause and stretch it out and then move on. I struggle to not roll over, but it'll come with my core muscles.

The basic lunge. I honestly don't know why I didn't think of this before my appointment, but this helps the most out of all of them.

In addition to these stretches I need to ice and hot pad my back as soon as I feel the twing coming. 

Another tip she gave me was to get a massage during my next pregnancy to make sure my muscles are moving to where they need to be and get one six weeks after the birth. I wish I had know this with my other pregnancies, especially with how close I had our three kids.

I'm so ready to get life back in gear and slowly taking care of this problem while getting fit.

Food Portions

I was skimming through Pintrest and found this! I love it, because I'm always looking at portions and not wanting to measure out everything in a cup. How do you measure a chicken breast in a cup anyways? What I love about this, is it even shows servings for icecream. Perfect!!!


Just an update on my back. Still hurts, but not as bad. I'm actually going to try to go running tonight and see how far I can go, before the pain kicks in.

And just with trying to control my food intake, I've lost 8 lbs this week!!! YAY!

Update.

Running Schedule is still on a standstill... So far I've had a CT Scan, MRI, Blood Tests, and Urine Cultures, all coming back normal. So the good news is, I don't have something really bad that needs immediate surgery or hard core medicine! The bad news is, I have been referred to Doc #3 and I won't be able to see him until May 16th... 

I'm going to try an experiment and go to a friend who is a massage therapist and see if it's just a pinched nerve or a really bad knot in my back. I'm hoping that this is the case, so I don't have to go see another doctor, I'm really sick of doctors... Don't get me wrong, I feel so blessed to live in a time with so much medical knowledge, but I am tired of them telling me everything is coming back normal. 

In case you didn't know, I'm super inpatient.

Wish me luck!!!

Stuck Again...

Our family has been sick again... And my pain has come back.

Running hasn't been happening...

I'm Baaaaaaaaaaaaack!!!

Last night I ran for the first time I ran in almost two weeks. I tried running the next step, week 3, of Couch to 5K and did it!!! I am so amazingly happy for myself! I didn't give up and let the little bit of pain in my back get to me. And I my total distance added up to about 2 miles! It was a struggle, don't get me wrong, but I did it!

It felt really nice to run again, I never thought I would say this, but I missed it.

So here's what I've learned about running/myself so far:

1. Stretching is important (Duh).

- I'm really bad at wanting to just by pass the stretches an get on the treadmill, but with my knee and shin splints, I have to make sure I do it before and after.

2. I don't run well to music. Weird right? I like to think and music kinda stops that from happening or I ignore the music and get frustrated with ear buds.

3. I have to have some kind of video going while on the treadmill so I can look at something. Being able to hear isn't so important (See #2).

4. One of the best tips I've received was from my old running buddy. When breathing, inhale two steps and exhale three. She explained it a lot better, but it helps to not breath with your heart rate, so you're not hyperventilating by the end of your run. It took me a while to be able to do it for the whole work out, but now I can do it the entire run.  It's helped my chest not to burn and now that I'm in the habit, I can catch my breath a lot faster. 

5. Chewing gum is a great trick to not need to drink bottles and bottles of water during one run.

6. I make funny noises by the end of the run, and that's ok!

7. Wrap the string that's attached to the treadmill key somewhere where you don't pull the key away.... Yeah... I did that twice last night...

8. Don't give in to excuses to not run, unless it will hurt your body.

9. Active headbands are amazing!

I still am in the Love-Hate relationship with running, but it's growing on me.

I know how boring reading a blog can be without pictures, so I'm going to try to take more pictures.

Ready... Set... Go... Again!

Good news! I didn't need surgery! I got a CT Scan on Monday and they couldn't find anything, anything solid that is. They called later on Wednesday and said that one of my tests came back showing that I have strep and a bladder infection. So they think that the strep spread into my kidney and that's why I've been having so many problems. I've been on medication for half a week and I already feel so much better!

Tomorrow I'm hoping the pain will be almost 

all the way gone and I can start running.

Slow and steady right?

Another Speed Bump...

This week has been pretty bad... My cysts aren't going away and are coming full force. 

I finally called my doctor on Wednesday, because I haven't been able to sleep a night without waking up multiple times, because of the pain.  The on call nurse said that I'm going to need surgery and set me up with a consultation appointment. So needless to say, I'm not running this week... or next week...

BUT I have been better at not eating snacks laying around. Not great, but not bad either! Jon has really been helping me stay on top of it too. He makes sure he doesn't make me dessert after eight and when he makes an after school snack he reminds me that I'm being good. I have been bad at justifying sweets lately when Jon gets home late... Luckily he hasn't been late the last couple days!

I read on a friends blog, "we're not in control of anything, except our attitudes." And it's really been helping me this week. I catch myself grumbling about how unfair it all is, "I'm trying to be good at exercising, but my body is broken!" Yeah I know, I'm a drama queen. But then I think of this quote and it's helped me move on. Thanks Cami!!!

Get Real!!!

Today kinda slapped me in the face with how bad I've been with my eating habits after I only ate a big bowl of dutch oven  refried beans for lunch. It was delicious at the time, but now, an hour later I feel gross.

Smack!!!

Yup I need to change... Not so drastic that I feel like all I eat is rabbit food, but I really need to worry about eating healthier. And not try to baby myself and think that taking it super sonic slow will help, because it's not. There has to be a noticeable change.

SO! Here's the plan, I am only eating one serving of food, and that serving cannot equal the size of my plate, like my plate did last night... But what the label says. I know I said that before, but it just didn't happen...

 I am going to make a new lunch and dinner menu for our family and it will be detailed with veggies/fruit in every meal. I will allow one take out meal every other week and even then I will not stuff my face.

 No food after 8:00PM! Even if we have a late dinner, I cannot cheat and use it as an excuse to have dessert at 8:30.

I've been really good at only one snack a day, so I'm keeping that rule, but I am going to make sure that it is a snack that isn't super salty or full of sugar.

I am going to set out my daily goal water amount (8 8oz cups a day) on the counter and drink it!

I think my biggest problem is that I haven't shared this with my family, my husband knows, but not my Mom and Dad. My husband and I are living with my parents while we are waiting for him to finish up school, so we share meals a lot of the time, and a lot of the time someone will just pick up something and bring it for dinner or dessert. We usually have some kind of treat sitting on the counter that someone made and I'll count that as my snack and it usually makes me more hungry or crave more chocolate. So I take full responsibility on the lack of communication. I hope everyone will be home tonight, if not tomorrow, so we can have this talk.

I know that I've been bad about following my goals, but I've turned over a new leaf and will follow it!

Love Hate Relationship

Before my run yesterday. I just wanted to give a shout out to Active Bands, one of my best friend's Aunts make headbands that don't slip and they're amazing!!!! I love mine so much, because all growing up my headbands would never last and always fall off. When I started running my bangs would always get in my face and I would feel so blah. I got a couple of these for an early Christmas present and fell in love. I've never had a problem with these falling off EVER!

Today was Jon's first day of running!

We even got him some new running shoes.

No this is not how he looks when he runs :)

I asked him how he felt and he said, "Hmmm... Sweaty..." So That just shows how much we love running. Sarcastic Symbol!

We're waiting for the day that everyone says will come eventually. The day when we don't hate running. I do love, however, how much better I feel about myself when it's done. I'm still in the stage of run then walk, then run and walk. But I was looking at Couch to 5K website and the non-stop running is coming up fast! I can't wait until my body is completely healed and I can actually sign up for a 5K and have a goal date in sight!

So running, it's a love hate kinda thing, but it'll get better soon... I hope :)

Water Water Water

I set out the water like planned and it actually worked! I drank it all!

I did start to feel sloshy by the end of the day, but I think my body is just learning how to adjust to a healthy amount of water.

I must confess that I haven't been super great with drinking everyday, but I am doing a lot better than I have.

It's Here!!!

It came!!!! My treadmill came!!! 

We set it up and let the kids walk on it. They were pretty excited, I didn't have the heart to tell them that they won't be able to get on it whenever they want to.

Jon even told me that he is going to start running with me! I never thought that he would ever say that.

I started running last night and it actually went awesome!!! I started with my five minute warm up walk and my calves were burning! I thought that it was a bad sign, until I realized that I hadn't fixed the manual tilt of the treadmill, hahaha! After my "intense" warm up, I fixed the tilt and started running ninety seconds and walking two minutes. I didn't feel any pain in my knee the whole run! But my cyst did start burning the second to last round of the run. I pushed through it and even did an extra ninety seconds of running, trying to get to two miles. But I didn't get there... 

It was kinda strange running and not being able to look at something and we couldn't listen to our book like we were planning on, because our speakers wouldn't blast higher than the sound of the treadmill. I'll have to find something else to keep my attention while running, since our iPod died.

Anyway... I'm super excited to be able to start my love hate relationship with running again!

Guess What?

I finally convinced my husband to let me get a treadmill! I am beyond excited!

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Weslo-Cadence-G-5.9-Treadmill/14972088

 I keep growing ovarian cysts, so to say I haven't been able to go out running is an understatement. Just going up our stairs hurts. There are good days, but I'm so afraid that if I go out running I will twist wrong (And by twist wrong I mean, just extending my stride can make my body scream) and not be able to get home in time for Jon to leave for work.

So I asked him if we could get a treadmill for my birthday and then I could try and run and not have to worry about making it home. And I get to run on bad weather days when I am finally back to good health. He finally gave in, which makes me feel a little guilty, but maybe it'll convince him to to start getting in shape too.  I love my husband so much!

My eating hasn't been great, but it hasn't been bad either. I haven't been snacking or grabbing food off the counter when it's there! I had a salad for lunch yesterday using our leftover chicken and grilled veggies. It was super yummy! Sunday I did have two servings of fajitas and I really didn't need the second at all. The eating after seven has been good except for last night, I had cake and ice cream... I am going to do better!!!

The water goal is failing too... I have the water by me, but I'm just so distracted by the kids and house work that I don't drink it. So here's a revision, because that's what this is, a learn and move on process. I'm going to set out the water that I need to drink for the day. Having that out should keep my mind on it.

Goal for the week: No eating after Seven! And drink more water!

More Frustration...

On Monday I went to the doctors again, because I was having pains in my sides again. This Christmas break I had pain in my back, side, and lower abdomin. It was like menstral cramps, except a lot worse. My doctors did an ultrasound and I had a 4cm cyst on my overy. Then a couple weeks later a peircing pain hit me while I was sleeping. Apperently it was a good pain, it popped. Yeah, I guess that's good. The pain fadded and eventually left. 

Then last week the pain started coming back and getting more intense.  So my knee is feeling better, but my body started hurting. Monday I went into the Doc again and I have another cyst, but this time it only measured 3cm. The pain actually felt like it was getting better yesterday morning, but once again, last night my body started hurting really bad. I think that it burst. 

So I haven't been able to run... again... BUT I have been good with eating. We haven't been sticking to our menu, like at all this week, but I have been pretty good with portion control. I think I need to specify my portion control goal. So-

GOAL: I will follow the serving suggestion listed on the labels. If I am making the food, which I usually do, I will dish myself less than I usually do. I am limiting myself to one snack a day, so I can have a small dessert after dinner. I will not have dinner after seven.

So to sum it up. This week has been kinda frustrating, but not a total crash and burn.

First Run

I've only ran once this week...
 My run on Tuesday was great! I ran thirty seconds walked ninty. I didn't struggle at all! My only pain was the blisters forming on the back of my feet. I felt great all day, the run gave me energy and helped my attitude! I didn't over eat and was aware of everything I chose to eat.  Jon brought me a treat from the store and I told him I would have to wait another day, because I had already had dessert for the day. I even was planning on running the next day.
Wednesday I woke up and my knee was hurting so bad. For those that don't know, a couple weeks before Jon and I got married, my knee popped out of place while I was getting ready for my dance final. My knee has popped out several times since then. I decided to give my body a day break and let it get used to the shock of exersising agian. I struggled to control what I ate and I was frustrated that I wasn't able to run that morning. My knee was really screaming at me throughout the day, but started to settle down at night. So I decided to try running again Thursday Morning. But Wednesday night Elizabeth was up all night long.
Thursday morning came too soon. We had a long night and I decided getting some sleep would be more benificial than getting a run in. But combining no run and hardly any sleep really made me struggle with food. I didn't have control over what I ate. My body kept telling me I needed food for energy and I gave in. My mom brought cookies and instead of eating just one I ate two and a half. Instead of trying to eat something healthy, I ate junk... I am super disappointed with myself.
Friday- Today is really rough. We had an even harder night last night. Jon and I could not get Elizabeth to calm down. We think she's having a hard time, because she's eating too much at dinner. She hasn't been signalling us that she's full, she just keeps eating. I thought she was just having growth spirts, but if it's upsetting her I don't think she's just getting distracted and just eating what we fed her. Anyway... We didn't even get two hours of sleep last night. I finally was able to get her to go to sleep at seven this morning, so the run didn't happen again... I've been better today at eating though! Of course being busy getting ready for the Blue and Gold Banquett and my in-laws coming has helped. My body has been begging for sugar, but I'm fighting it.

Wish me luck!

Blog of Hope

I don't want this to come out vain, but I don't know how else to say it, so I'm going to start this blog out honest and state how I really feel.
I know I'm not fat or ugly, but I do know I'm out of shape and I am far from being healthy. I don't have control of my eating, which means I could end up getting over weight and have more health issues. My family has had someone sick almost consistantly since Christmas Break. We tried using DōTERRA Oils to get rid of the germs, but I feel like I was just using it as an excuse to not worry about how we're eating and how active, or I should say, inactive we have been.
Like I said, I know I'm not fat, but I also would like to be able to fit into some clothes that I haven't been able to since I got pregnant with my first.

So I'm hoping that this blog will help me have some accountability.

Food Goals:

-Stick to one serving each meal. I don't feel like cutting out all food except for steamed vegitables will help me be successful. So I will eat the food that we normally make, key word make, and only eat one serving. I have been in the bad habit of going back for seconds and sometimes thirds. I have lost my control and need to regain it.

-Two snacks a day- Back with the control thing. I see candy on the counter, I eat it. If there is a bowl of chips and dip I keep coming back for more. So I am going to try and make our snacks healthy and only have a set amount that we will eat. If I get hungry I can chew on some gum and that usually holds me until the next feeding time.

-Make every dinner- My family and I made a menu of foods we like to eat for this month. When we didn't have a menu, we didn't know what we wanted to eat, so my parents would grab something that they could get in a drive through. Sticking to the menu will help limit the greese and manage the quantity.

- Drink more water- We are already limiting our soda, but we still aren't drinking more water. So I'm going to be keeping a water bottle with me.


Activity Goals:

-I am going to start running every morning, except for Sundays. My inlaws are bringing a stepper this weekend, so weather won't be an issue. I will be following the couch to 5K program and only giving my self 2 days to delay moving onto the next week time.

-Ten weeks I want to be able to run a 5K, if I can't afford to I'll ask some friends to run one with me.



I will be writing on this blog weekly. I am hoping that this will bring me accountability. I am going to write this like no one is reading, but if it will help someone, I am going to leave this open to the public. Everyone has struggles and one of mine is health. Just because I have kids, doesn't mean I have to let my body go. It should be, because I have kids I need to help my body be able to go. It makes sense in my head :)