Week 6: Toe Nails, Bra Hooks, Compression Pants, and 500 miles

Happy Valentines Day Peeps!

I skipped the weigh in on Sunday last. I may skip a few more as well; frankly I have not decided as of yet. Here's the thing. This is not a diet! Nope, no diet here. This is about growing stronger and healthier and getting rid of excess fat.

I found myself sliding back into that old diet mentality getting tense over a step onto a scale. Eventually I'll step on the scale again. I am not sure when but eventually. I refuse to be tied to a number on a scale.

So how do I know I'm on track? There's the question.

Here is my answer for this week: Toe Nails, Bra Hooks, Compression Pants, and 500 miles. A bit cryptic I know. lol.

So here goes:

Toe Nails: Early Valentine’s Day morning I decided to give myself a Valentine's Day gift. Well it was either going to be a gift or a disappointment. I decided do my nails in sparkly red with hearts on my thumbs and big toes.

Finger nails were no problem Toe Nails, well that's another story. Major challenge there. It had been over 2 years since I could reach my toe nails to trim them without major pain. There was no way I could actually do a pedicure on my own feet.

Valentines Day Morning, I did just that! I have bright red toe nails with 2 hearts on each of my big toes. Hearts on my thumb nails as well.

This may sound silly, but it is a major celebration for me. Red toe nails aside, it means that I am stronger, more flexible, and have lost some of the belly fat that was getting in the way.

Yeah Baby! Happy Dance ... Happy Dance!

Bra Hooks: First off, allow me to clarify... I do not like bras. Ugh, however I am rather chesty so I tend to wear them for support. I was fussing about because mine was making me rather uncomfortable. Something was just off. I've been wearing my bra's in the loosest hook position, and I thought for pete's sake now what. Then I had a thought, I used the next tighter hook position, and what do you know. It fit and stayed in position. Then I thought, aw that bra is just stretched out. So I tried another one and had the same results.

Three guesses who is smaller around the rib cage... yeah baby! Yup that would be me... hehehe... giggle with glee...

Compression Pants: I live in compression pants. Wonderful genetic gift has given me legs that swell. Compression pants keep the swelling, and pain down. I have several pairs of shiny navy blue compression pants. They are great to work out in and I can wear them under most things. When I'm home or working out I just run around with a shiny navy blue butt.

Two years ago I bought some other compression pants made of a different kind of fabric that is warmer. They were the same size as the ones I live in but different texture. OMG! I wiggled and squirmed and could not get them on! They came up to the tops of my thighs and that was the end of it. I fought and wiggled and got them off and folded them up and put them in a drawer. Two years ago.

Yesterday I decided to check them out to see if I could wear them. drum roll please.... I can wear them! Whoo Haaaaa! Not sort of wear them, they fit, plenty of room for my abundant behind, good fit on the legs, and fits my waist without biting me. They fit like a second skin, just like they are supposed to. Yeah!

It would seem that Miss Mary has lost some size on her calves, legs, behind, and waist! Are you ready... here we go .... happy dance ... happy dance... get up and shake it in a happy dance...

500 Miles: My stationary bike has a cumulative odometer. Out of curiosity I started checking it to see how far I'd ridden since January 1st 2012. I was so thrilled, my last ride I broke through the 500 mile mark. This just amazes and thrills me, since when I first got on this thing I could barely make 5 minutes on it.

Six weeks later and I've covered over 500 miles. Wow, that is just too cool.

So there you have it, no scales, No Excuses. Week 6: Toe Nails, Bra Hooks, Compression Pants and 500 miles.

I am celebrating the positive changes in my body as I continue... chanting No Excuses!

Life is a journey, enjoy the trip.
Mary E. Robbins
307.788.0202

Friday's Rant:

My face was twitchy most of the day and evening yesterday. My body’s warning system. Low on some vitamin/mineral… too bad there isn’t a flat screen that can tell me what to intake in exact amounts. Wouldn’t that be grand?! It’s still off, I know it is because it is still that twitchy feeling along the outside of my right eye socket. That twitchy bit is the precursor for an upcoming event. The event being either spasms that catch and release, or a major knot up in some muscle group that just stays contracted … painfully contracted… until it gets enough of the vitamin/mineral it needs.

Cravings went into overdrive yesterday… calcium (milk or milk products) potassium (potatoes oranges peanut butter) salt (anything salty I could get my hands on)

I wonder, hmmm… I wonder if one or some of the scripts I’m on are interfering with nutrient absorption. Time to dig through some more mountains of useless information searching for what the side effects of long term use of these drugs actually are. Ick. I use Advair, Singular, and Nexium.

Part of my quest for a healthier lifestyle is to get rid of these drugs, as in no longer need them. One day one step at a time. It’s frustrating to me that doctors/medicine in this country treat symptoms rather then what’s behind the symptoms.

Reflux for instance. Throat and ear infections much? Sinusitis, bronchitis, pneumonia much?

So what’s behind the reflux? Hiatal hernia, yes maybe. Excess acid production, as in H pylori, yes maybe. Could be, just could be OVEREATING! Compulsive binge eating, or simply stuffing yourself with too much food. (clean you plate~a plate by the way that has enough food on it for 2 or 3 kids~clean your plate and you can have some ice cream)

Lets not deal with the crap eating habits, or what’s behind the binge eating. No, No, lets not actually deal with the issues and behaviors that are actually behind the health issues in the first place. Let’s just throw a drug at it. Let’s create a nation of obese drug dependent citizens instead. AAAArrrraaaaggghhhh!!!!!!

Ok, so I would prefer to not have had years of drugs thrown at symptoms, not actually knowing that … and here it comes… my behavior and or issues were what were causing the health problems my body was having. Hey they were doctors so I believed what they said. Yeah well that didn’t work out so well.

I remember when I learned that binge eating and reflux were related. A cause and effect relationship. It was like a light bulb went off … OMG! I’ve done this to myself all these years. I didn’t think I could do anything about it, and all this time, my behavior was causing it! No my doctor did not tell me, I was doing some reading and discovered it.

No, I am not saying to not use doctors; I am saying to take responsibility for your life/health/body/mind/spirit… and educate yourself. It would be great if we could just trust that what other’s said was the best for our health. However that is not the case. If you give away your personal power, and do not take responsibility for yourself… well look around you see it everywhere. (can we say: morbidly obese people in scooters at Walmart for instance~or skeleton skinny models on runways)

There is nothing I can do about the choices/decisions I made in the past. What I can do is go on from here. I choose to be healthy/happy and to live my life.

I am actually kind of amazed that I road my stationary bike a total of 150 minutes yesterday. I road 3 different sets, with a short break in between. 1st set: 47 minutes 2nd set: 48 minutes 3rd set: 53 minutes. I road until my feet went totally numb. Then I got off and carefully walked around until I had the feeling back in my feet and bum. It’s taking longer for my feet to fall asleep… I am hoping that eventually I can go the entire ride in one set without my feet and legs going numb.

Pretty beyond it on my eating yesterday. Was not a good day in that aspect. Sounds like an advertisement, but the Shakeology and or P90X vitamins/minerals, really seem to make a difference. I did not ingest either yesterday and my body was demanding something all day yesterday. Major duh on my part to not just give it the nutrients it needed. Lol… unfortunately on my part by the time I get to that point I’m not thinking any too clearly.

BTW I got smart and took P90X vitamins/minerals after breakfast. The twitchiness in my face is lessening. Obviously there is something in there my body needs. These vitamins/minerals have not turned my stomach so far. Yay!

Better start on nutrition today.

On to it… may you have a great day.

Life is a journey, enjoy the trip.
Mary E. Robbins
307.788.0202

Week 5: Feeling Good!

Week 5: today was supposed to be my weigh in day. Well I chose to not weigh in today. Today is my birthday and messing with that scale tends to do a head job on me. Yes I know I still have some issues to deal with.

I do know I am losing fat though. How do I know this. Because I'm smaller. Yep smaller. Yee Haw! Kicking my heals together in celebration. No I did not whip out the tape measure. What I did was get ready to go out to do ranch rounds. I had one sweat shirt on already and grabbed my work hoodie and pulled it on. It fit comfortably over the other sweatshirt! Yeah baby. That work hoodie was tight to start with just over a sleeveless tee shirt. Then I was able to wear it over a light turtleneck. Today I wore it over the sleeveless tee shirt and another sweatshirt!

I noticed that my insulated coveralls were fitting looser as well. The other day I stepped into them, I wear my work hoodie under them and a pair of compression pants. It had been difficult to zip them up. Not this time, I whipped that zipper up. I noticed when I was out working I was pulling them up as well. I've put heavy duty elastic in the waist of these coveralls to hold them in place and I had made them too tight around the waist. Not any more. Yay!

I'll weigh in again. Just not today. I am happy with the size loss though. Today is a good day. I was able to walk up the hill outside easily, I walked for a bit over an hour. It's wonderful to actually feel good.

Oh yeah, I had Shakeology for breakfast this morning. I've noticed that I feel better when I do.

Life is a journey, enjoy the trip.
Mary E. Robbins
307.788.0202

I Really Did IT! :Shakeology is the Real Deal

Day 31 on #100 days challenge I did it! 93min 12 seconds at level 4 on stationary bike.

If you'd told me a month ago I could do this by now... I don't think I would have believed you! I did it... I really did it!

The 100 days challenge that I am doing is to workout, or do some physical activity for a minimum of 30 minutes for 100 days.



Yesterday and today I started doing something different in the mornings before I work out. Since I started working out more my appetite has kicked into overdrive. Body looking for fuel and nutrition and all that.



No I have not binged. But I have spent my days hungry. The P90X vitamins made a big difference on how good I was feeling. I can really tell the difference when I take them and when I don't.



Yesterday I had Shakeology for breakfast. I had it in the cupboard and did not want to mess with fixing any thing else so I grabbed it. I noticed that I did not have that knawing hunger all day. I ate yes, but tat knawing hunger has still been there.



Today I grabbed Shakeology again. Usually by this time it feels like someone has kicked me in the stomach I am so hungry. I am a bit hungry but I don't have that gut ache nor the hunger headache.



Truthfully when Beachbody came out with this stuff, I thought yeah right. Yes I had a suck attitude. I'd tried different drink supplements before and usually they left me feeling like crap. So I didn't believe them. Over the past year I've used shakeology on and off but never really paid attention to what was happening.

I had not been very active for over a year, waiting for a huge hernia patch to heal into my abdominal muscles. The first of this year I got the go ahead to get with it working out. So here we go. Other than yesterday and today I have been ravenously hungry. No I am not starving myself, but my body definately needed more nutrition than it could get from the food I have been eating.

I don't know if I would have noticed the difference if I had not been so hungry all month. But I am certainly noticing it now. I didn't eat a mid morning snack, because I was still on the bike working out, and I do not have a hunger headache.

Consider my attitude adjusted... I will be having Shakeology for breakfast tomorrow morning before my workout.



My own negative attitude got in my way. This stuff actually is really good stuff... Ok I believe it now. :)

Life is a journey, enjoy the trip.

Mary E. Robbins

307.7488.0202