D.Tox - Day 2

D.Tox Day 1 Weight Loss: 2.2 pounds

Day 2, I want to die!!!!  And I feel like I am dying.  

I woke up extremely tired even though I slept well.   The hot flashes came in the evening of Day 1.  I woke up in the middle of the night and turned on my fan because I had the bed sweats.  I got out of bed, but I could have easily fallen back to sleep.  My mild headache from yesterday was still there and stronger.

My reactions to D.tox this time are COMPLETELY different than last time.  Last time, I was full of energy.  I had never felt better in my life.  This time around (so far), I feel like I am working double shifts at a manual labor job, have a colicky newborn, and am going through menopause all at the same time.  I am living my worst nightmare.  Oh, and I am so forgetful lately.

I know it will get better in a few days.  I can't wait for that day to arrive.

I'm glad I woke up relatively early because I spent a quarter of my morning prep time on the toilet.  The good news so far is that I lost 2.2 pounds in Day One.

Food wise, I ate a Turkey burger for lunch.  I attempted to eat the same dinner I had yesterday, but I just couldn't stomach it.  It was good enough for one night, not two.  So I decided to make a beef soup that is a family favorite.

I had an apple as a mid morning snack.  My hunger is so-so.  I experienced some slight hunger around 8 a.m., but I drank a glass of water and I was good.   I noshed on some carrots while my soup was cooking.

I only worked a half day and I was thankful.  I had some mild nausea in the morning.   I also had some bizarro esophageal burning on my drive to work after I had my morning shake.  Weird.  Just weird.  I came home, did some work, and took a 40 minute power nap.  I woke up and felt worlds better.  Maybe I've turned the corner?  Oh, and I've been so forgetful lately.

Workout wise, I took a rest day today.  I have three straight days of Pilates coming up and a training session with Sarah on Thursday morning.

As I prepare to post this, I feel amazing.  I feel like I've been brought back from the dead.  But I've been so forgetful lately.

D.Tox - Day 1

If you're new to this blog at the suggestion of someone recommending the Lifetime D.tox, here is an introduction to me and how I got started.  I also did one blog entry on my first go around with D.tox here.

I'm starting D.tox again today.  The last time I D.tox'd was in June of 2013 and I lost 8 pounds.  I am doing D.tox again because it's a good idea and I am in a plateau.  I need to get the scale moving down again (not that the scale is the only thing that matters).

I plan on doing day-to-day blogging of the D.tox to give people thinking about doing the Lifetime Fitness D.tox a better idea of what it is and what happens.  Now, these are only how it affects my body and everyone will react to it a little differently.

I made my shakes for Day 1 a day in advance.  The Vegan Fast Fuel is awful.  There's no way around it.  I find that adding a scoop of Chocolate Dynamic Greens makes a world of difference.  I didn't do it last year and getting the shakes down was rough.  It was a little easier with the DGs.

Here is how I make my D.tox shakes:  2 scoops of Fast Fuel, 1 scoop of Fibermend, 1 Tbl. of chia seeds, 1 Tbl of EVOO, some strawberries and blueberries, 1 scoop of Dynamic Greens, 1 scoop of L-Glutamine, ice, and 12 oz. of Unsweetened Coconut Milk.

After my shake and the supplements, I immediately had to go to the bathroom.  TMI, but you should be prepared for lots of pooping especially the first day.  I went more last year than this time around.  It's funny how the body works.

I ate an early lunch (like before 11) because I had a noon training session with Sarah.   Sarah and I have been working together for a few days shy of a year.  She's wonderful.  If you're interested in training sessions I strongly suggest working with her.

For lunch I had a salad and a turkey burger.  I ate some of the Spring Mix by Earthbound Farm Organic, which is available in most grocery stores.  I jazzed up my salad with some cucumbers, red onions, chia seeds, and baby bella mushrooms.  I used some EVOO and Organic Balsamic Vinegar as my salad dressing.

The turkey burger is a recipe I made last week and the recipe and my review of it are here.  The burger patty itself is D.Tox friendly.  The Taztziki sauce needed some modification to make it D.tox approved.  I substituted the regular Greek Yogurt for Goat Cheese yogurt.  I got it at Trader Joe's, but I'm sure you can find non-dairy yogurt wherever you shop.  Don't freak out about Goat Cheese.  I didn't find the taste to be any different.  The only difference is the Goat Cheese yogurt was a little runnier than regular Greek yogurt. Obviously, I ate it without the bun.  I had some tomato slices on the side.

Before I train with Sarah, I drink some Generation UCan.  I usually have the Cran-Raspberry flavor, but just last week LTF started carrying the Tropical Orange flavor.  Sarah bought me a sample and I drank it this morning.  I loved it.  When I am done with my current container of UCan, I'm going to switch to this flavor.  One weird thing is that it was white.  I was picturing it to be orange.  Color me surprised.

For dinner I had Crock Pot Balsamic Chicken Thighs  and Roasted Brussel Sprouts.  Both recipes are D.tox friendly in their original form.  I actually found the chicken recipe on this Pinterest D.Tox Board.

How did I feel on Day 1?  I felt pretty good.  I did have a mild headache for most of the day.  It would go away and come back, but it wasn't painful enough for me to have to take anything.  I found myself craving sugar in the afternoon.  I was also very thirsty.  My concentration was strong and I got a lot of work done at home.  I tried to take a nap, which I usually do on the weekends, but I couldn't fall asleep.  I didn't experience the hot flashes that I did the last year.

Workout.  As I said earlier, I had a training session with Sarah.  This week is our recovery week, which we do every 4 to 6 weeks.  I think I did all right.  I did find myself sweating while I was doing the lunges/shoulder press combo.  I'm not sure if the D.tox had anything to do with it, but I usually don't sweat that bad when I do lunges.

See you tomorrow for Day 2.

If It Was Easy.....

if it was easy, everybody would do it

I was stuck.  The scale needed to move.   I didn't mean for it to move up.  In the eight days between weigh-ins with Sarah, I have gained seven pounds.  SEVEN POUNDS!!!!!  And don't tell me it's all muscle, it's not.  Something is going on here.

While I am totally bummed to be heading in the wrong direction, I'm rolling with the punches.  It's hard at times, but I'll get through this setback, whatever it may be.

I know from my massage with Drea that I am not drinking enough water.  I've been drinking a lot more lately and peeing constantly.  I've been slacking on the supplements lately.  It's just slipped my mind to keep taking them.  I have to get back on them.

Sarah and I have decided that it's time for me to do another D.Tox.  She's doing my health score this coming Sunday, so we'll see what that shows.

I really think that the D.Tox will help and I'm actually excited to do it again.  I did it last June, so I'm approaching the one year mark.  It's time to press restart.  I'm going to start the D.Tox after the 18th, which is when I go to visit my mom and have a doctor's appointment.  I'm going through Pinterest and picking out recipes that I can make and alter to fit the D.Tox diet.

I'm really trying hard to stay positive about this weight gain.  I think I'm okay with it most of the time.  I'm doing everything I should be doing.  Diet is great, I'm working out properly.  I just keep thinking to myself that this is what happens and I will learn a lot from how I react to it.    Coincidentally, my sports bras are fitting loose around my rib area, my clothes still fit loose, and people are still noticing a change in my body.  It's just weird.

So, I've decided to do day-to-day D.Tox blogging when I do it.  I think it will be a very helpful tool for others doing D.Tox or thinking about it.

Let me post some memes that help me from getting down about whatever it is that's  going on.

Yes, Mammogram

My doctor has been throwing the word "mammogram" at me for a year.  I turned 40 last January and I'm at the age where yearly mammograms are now part of my life.  When I went to my doctor's appointment a few weeks ago, she mentioned it again.  Okay, okay.  I'll get one.  I have insurance now.  I guess I need that piece of mind.   It's not like I have a history of breast cancer anyway.

My first mammogram was on December 30.  Since it was my first one ever, they call it my baseline mammogram to give them an idea of what is normal for my boobs to look like and I guess to use it as the pictures to compare my future mammograms to.

I got there at 1030 and left by 11.  It was easy peasy.  Let me describe the process.

I walked in and registered at the front desk.  I sat in the waiting room long enough to text Jackie and let her know I was there.  I was called back by a very sweet lady and unfortunately I don't remember her name. She led me into an exam room with the "mammogram machine".

I sat down and filled out some paperwork.  She told me the procedure in great detail.  They would take four pictures, the pictures would be reviewed that day, the results would be sent to my doctor's office, I would receive a letter within a week with my results.  If I needed to come back for further testing, I would be scheduled at my convenience and then given my results that same day.  It all sounded good and very reassuring.

I had some questions of my own which were answered and then we got to business.  I was given a hospital shirt that obviously opened in the front.  So, I had to undress my upper half (duh) and then we would be ready to go.  The nurse put some stickers on my nips with these silver nubs on them.  Not sure what the silver nubs were for, but I think it looked cute.

The first two pictures they took were each boob from the frontal look, one boob at a time.  Pretty simple, plop your boob on the shelfy thing and then a clear plate came down and smooshed the boob.   It wasn't painful, I was just stuck in place to get a clear picture.

The next two pictures were side pictures of each boob.  While these pictures also did not hurt, it was awkward to get into the correct position.  Lift this shoulder, grab the handle, lower your other shoulder, hold your other boob back, turn towards the machine, RELAX.

And done!  Come back next year!

I am waiting to get my letter, but I am pretty confident that all is well.

If you are due for a mammogram, I would encourage you to get one.  It's not that big of a deal.  I did not have any pain afterwards.  I just went on with my day.  I stopped at Chipotle for lunch as a reward for getting it done.  I went to the gym later that afternoon for a run.  No biggie.

WARNING: TMI POST

Just a heads up before I fully go into this post.  This post has to do with my recent doctor's appointment that was my annual "female appointment."  I'm not going to go into gory graphic detail, but just explain how I believe my weight loss, exercise, and diet changes have positively affected my health and my test results.

Now, if you still want to read on, feel free.

So, I got some FANTASTIC news today from my doctor's office.  My pap results came back NORMAL!!!  This hasn't happened to me since 2006!!  In 2007, my results came back irregular and I was referred to another doctor to have additional testing done to rule out cervical cancer.  I had an extremely painful colposcopy (aka cervical biopsy) in the Spring of 2008.  I didn't have cancer, but I did have irregular cells and I had to have quarterly pap tests for a year.  Getting a pap test once a year is bad enough, but 4 in a year is just plain awful.

I haven't been as diligent in getting my annual exam, but now I'm not as afraid of the doctor as I had been.  I hated getting weighed in general and then getting "the talk" from my doctor about my weight continually climbing and all the risks associated with being so obese.  Now, I enjoy going to the doctor and getting weighed because the talks are much more happy and less grim.

I really think that not drinking pop, exercising, losing weight, and changing my diet have helped contribute to my great test results.  I'm extremely happy with how this is working because it's not just about what you look like on the outside, but what happens on the inside.