Is Gluten-Free For Me?

I have to admit, when I started hearing all the buzz about everyone going gluten-free a few years ago, I wrote it off as another fad.  I thought gluten was getting a bad rap.  Now I'm starting to wonder if maybe I should try this whole gluten-free lifestyle.  So why the change of heart?

A couple of weeks ago, I decided I was spending way too much money on food.  I had a ton of meat and veggies in the freezer, plus lots of whole grains, beans, etc., in the pantry.  I figured I would save myself some money and try to eat whatever I already had in the house for that week instead of going to the store and buying more groceries.  Well, I just happened to not have any bread at the moment.  I went the whole week without touching any bread.  I ate brown rice, quinoa, tons of veggies, lots of apples I had hanging around in the fridge, chicken, beef, pork tenderloin, but no wheat.  I actually was worried that I was going to gain weight that week because I felt like I was eating a ton of food just to use it up.

But a crazy thing happened.  That was the week I actually broke my plateau in the 270s and got to 269.  Another even more crazy thing happened.  I felt incredible.  I'm talking I-N-C-R-E-D-I-B-L-E.  Now, I feel like I have to take one more step back and tell  you a little more about how I was feeling leading up to this.

For the past six years, I have had horrible heartburn.  It started one night a few years ago and never went away.  Every time I lay down for more than a minute, I can feel the fire lighting in my chest...and it SUCKS!  I have been taking acid-reducing medicine every single day for six years.  While the medicine helps a ton, I HATE being dependent on medicine.  Lately I've been noticing other health problems popping up that I am afraid are related to taking these pills for such a long time.  My nails have always been strong, and now they are breaking and chipping.  My hair was super thick when I was younger, but now it is thin, brittle, and worst of all, falling out in large amounts.  I have been really freaked out about my hair loss lately so I started reading about long-term use of acid-reducing pills on Google the other night and discovered that stomach acid is necessary for several vitamins to be absorbed properly.  If you take heartburn medicine for any length of time, you can actually become very deficient in certain vitamins.  That would explain my hair and nail problems.

After reading that, I am determined to get off the heartburn pills once and for all.

So what does all this have to do with going gluten-free?  Well, like I said, I accidentally went gluten-free for a week a couple of weeks ago and felt great.  Not only did I feel great, my heartburn completely vanished.  For the first time in six years, I slept through the night without waking up from acid reflux.  It was amazing!  Now I'm wondering, am I sensitive to gluten?  Is that why I've been having heartburn all these years?

I'm not sure if going gluten-free is going to be the answer to my problems or not, but I felt so great that week that I am willing to give it another go.  For the next month, I'm going to be gluten-free.  It's going to be hard at first to find things I can substitute, but if I really do continue to feel this good, it will definitely be worth it.

Have you given up gluten?  Do you think it's just a fad?  

Any easy gluten-free recipes or websites with recipes would be MUCH appreciated!

A Quick Weigh-In

Do you guys weigh yourselves every day or only once a week?  

I've been weighing myself every day for the past couple of weeks.  I know they (whoever "they" are) say you should only weigh yourself once a week to keep from letting the scale rule how your day is going to go, but for me, I stay a lot more motivated day to day if I weigh in every morning. 

If I only weigh in once a week, it is just too easy for me to eat badly the day after my official weigh-in day.  I always tell myself, "I have a whole week to lose weight before the next weigh-in.  I can take today off."  Then one day turns into two days and two days turns into three, and before I know it, it's time for my next weigh-in and I've gained.

I think the last time I posted my weight here I was at 273.8.  For some reason I got stuck there for a while, but last week the scale finally started moving down.  It's a great feeling to look down every morning and see a lower number.  Well, today was the best number yet because I am FINALLY back in the 260s!! 

Today's Weight: 269.8
Total Weight Loss To Date: 24.2 pounds

Over the past year and a half that I've had this blog, I've gotten into the 260s before.  Right before my trip to Orlando last year I got down to 264.4.  Once I get below that number, I'll be entering new territory that I haven't seen in at least 5 or 6 years.

My goal for July is to get into the 250s, so I need to lose about 10 pounds.  I know with the work I've been putting in, that goal is very doable.  I also have some clothes that are SO close to fitting.  I am looking forward to trying them on again on August 1st and having them fit!

Speaking of clothes, I decided to sort through the mess in my closet and sort everything this past weekend.  I have TONS of clothes.  I realized I have everything from Size 12 to Size 24.  I boxed up everything that was currently too small and donated everything that was too big (not going back there, so I don't need them).  Right now I'm mainly wearing Size 22, but now I basically have a new wardrobe waiting for me each time I lose a size.  I am going to go through my stash of clothes and try on everything once a month and continue to donate the stuff that gets too big.

I have to say, one of the best feelings is pulling on a pair of jeans and having them fit perfectly when you could barely get them over your hips in the past.

Happy 4th of July!  Stay safe and make healthy choices!  :)   

Taking It To The Streets

I'm on a roll.  For the past couple of weeks, I have been eating healthy and working out every day.  I feel so motivated to continue down this path right now.  My problem is figuring out what kind of workout I'm going to do every day.  I get bored really, really easy when it comes to working out.  I've done a few workout DVDs in the past, and I just can't stay motivated enough to stick with them.  I hate having to watch the same DVD over and over again.

This summer I've been trying to mix things up.  I've been taking my workouts outside, and I am loving it!  Maybe it's just the heat, but I feel like I'm really doing something when I work up a sweat outside.  I feel like I'm getting so much stronger day by day.

My brother came down to visit me last week, and we decided to spend the day at a state park near my house.  There's a swimming beach and a hiking trail, so I figured I could get a decent workout in.  I wore my heart rate monitor just to see how my calorie burn was.  I burned over 900 calories just by enjoying myself outside! 

We started out doing a 2-mile hike through the woods.  It was gorgeous.  I worked up a sweat and was definitely huffing and puffing through some of the climbs, but I barely noticed it because I was too busy admiring the beautiful flowers and taking in the jaw-dropping views from the top of the bluffs we were standing on.  Then we went swimming at the public beach to cool down.  It was a perfect day and a perfect way to work out.

I want to incorporate more real-world workouts into my routine.  This is the reason I want to get fit in the first place.  I am an outdoors girl at heart, but my weight has been keeping me from doing the things I love for so long.  I absolutely cannot wait until next summer when I'm closer to my goal!

What's your favorite outdoor activity?

Recommitted And It Feels So Good

Week 1 of my recommitment to myself is in full effect.  I bought an elliptical at the beginning of May and have been using it off and on, but I started using it consistently this week.  Wow is all I can say!  I am loving it! 

For the past few months I have been searching for a good workout that will get my heart rate up without killing the ankle I injured back in September (which just doesn't seem like it's EVER going to heal totally).  Even walking for more than a mile leaves my ankle swelled up and painful for days.  The elliptical is so low impact that my ankle doesn't hurt while I'm getting a great workout.  Another plus is I am using my ankle enough that I feel like I'm finally building some strength back.

I've also discovered an app that I am absolutely in love with.  Have you guys tried the Nike Training Club app?  Holy moly!  It will definitely kick your butt.  I know I am super out of shape, but I have to think that even people who are in great shape can get a fantastic workout from this app.

You can choose Get Lean, Get Toned, Get Strong or Get Focused.  The workouts range from 15 to 45 minutes, and they absolutely fly by because you only do each move for between 30 seconds and 2 minutes.  The best part is you don't have to have any extra equipment.  You just use your body.

Now, even the beginner workouts are too much for me right now.  I just do what I can and try to improve each time.  After my first Nike workout, I was super, super sore, but I felt so fantastic.  I am definitely adding the workouts to my rotation.  Oh, and did I mention the app is free?!!!

I am excited to continue working out and tracking my results.  It's crazy how much stronger I feel already after just a week of consistent exercise.

What are some of your favorite workouts?  How do you push yourself to keep improving? 

Weight Loss: Take 954

Fall seven times, stand up eight.

Japanese Proverb

So if you've followed my blog over the past year and a half, you will know that I am not a very good weight loss blogger considering I haven't lost any weight.  It seems like all I ever do is lose 20 pounds, gain 20 pounds, lose 20 pounds, gain 20 pounds.  I don't know why it's so hard for me to stay consistent and just finally lose this weight. 

I know I'm not the only person to feel hopeless about trying to lose weight.  It's not easy to just completely change your entire lifestyle and know you can never go back.  When food is your friend and what you use to comfort yourself when you're down, it's hard to get rid of that crutch and walk the road alone.

For me, I feel like this is a life or death situation.  I am literally killing myself living like this.  I feel terrible all of the time.  I turn down invitations to do things because I am embarrassed about how I look.  Whenever I'm out in public, I don't enjoy what I'm doing because I'm too busy being self-conscious.

I know I've said this before, but today is the day I am making a change.  I am going to do this.  I don't have a choice.  I want this more than I have ever wanted anything in my life.  I just have to remember how much I want this when the going gets rough and all I want to do is give up.

I've been overweight my whole life.  The crazy thing is I don't feel like I've ever truly been able to be my real self because of my weight.  I feel like I have the mind of an athlete in a fat person's body.  I absolutely love sports.  A sappy movie can't bring me to tears but a real-life story of an athlete who has overcome so much to live a dream will leave me a sobbing mess.  When I think about the life I want to be leading, I think of an active life.  I want to run, ride my bike, go camping, go kayaking, play tennis.  I want to really live life.

I know I've been missing from the blog world for the past couple of months.  I actually haven't been doing terrible.  I've pretty much maintained my 20-pound weight loss from the beginning of the year.  I just haven't made any new progress.

So here I am again, starting over.  Today I weighed in at 273.8.

Never give up on something that you can't go a day without thinking about.

- Winston Churchill

Drinking Pop and Blood Sugar (aka NSV)

I haven't had a drink of pop (soda?) since December 31, 2011.  Even though I have been going through a rough time trying to stay healthy over the past month or so, I have not given in and still haven't had any pop.  After calculating that I eat over 30 pounds (yes, I said POUNDS) of sugar per year just in pop alone, I knew giving it up was the right decision.

I can't lie.  It really hasn't been easy.  I figured by now I wouldn't even want to drink it and, for the most part, I don't.  Sometimes, though, when I eat certain foods, it always triggers a craving for a certain sweet carbonated beverage.

I feel like I have been gaining and losing the same 20 pounds for the past year and a half, but I am starting to see some benefits to cutting out the large amount of sugar I used to get from drinking pop.  My blood sugar has gone down dramatically.

Sugar has always been my weakness.  On my path to becoming 294 pounds, I ate a lot of sugar.  About a year ago, I started worrying about my blood sugar.  I have a family history of diabetes and knew that I was eating myself into the disease.  I bought a blood sugar monitor and starting testing my blood sugar every so often.  Not surprisingly, it wasn't great.  I didn't have levels high enough to be called diabetic, but my blood sugar was definitely in the pre-diabetic range.

I haven't cut out sugar completely, but just cutting out pop has taken me from pre-diabetic to completely normal.  Not only is my blood sugar now completely normal, it's not even the high side of normal.  It's normal normal.

I know I'm making positive changes in my life and becoming healthier.  I just need to put everything together to finally lose this weight once and for all.

Being Perfect

I know, I know.  I went missing for a couple of weeks.  We all know what that means.  I've been being a bad, unhealthy person and just couldn't face my blogging buddies.

I've been scale-less for a couple of weeks, so my brain decided that that meant I could eat whatever I wanted.  If I couldn't see the number on the scale, it couldn't possibly be going up.  Right?  Well, I got a fancy new scale and the number definitely did go up.  I'm not sure if this scale just weighs me heavier or if I've really gained quite a bit of weight in the last couple of weeks.  Either way, it doesn't matter now.  I need to get back on track right away.


I start every day intending to be healthy.  I tell myself that I'm going to eat several small meals throughout the day and work out.  If anything at all happens to derail my plan, I decide that today was a bust and I can start over tomorrow.  I HAVE to stop doing this.  I don't have to be perfect every day.  I just need to do my best every day.  I know that staying consistent with healthy eating and exercise is the key.  I really struggle with finding a balance between completely giving up on myself and having to be perfect.  I've fought this battle with myself in all areas of my life since I was just a little kid.  I've always felt pressure to be perfect and have never felt good enough no matter how great my accomplishments are.  I am going to try to let go of all the pressure that I put on myself to be healthy, to be perfect, to make it look easy.  I'm going to try to relax this week and just try to keep moving forward no matter what gets thrown at me.

 
My brother decided that he wants to get healthy and lose weight, so now I am even more motivated to continue on.  We are doing a 6-week competition to see who can lose the highest percentage of weight loss.  I am determined to beat him, so I am back on track as of today.  I'm excited to see how much progress I can make in the next six weeks!

So here is the embarrassing weigh-in.  I think I was around 267 or 268 a few weeks ago.  Today I weighed in at 277.6.  Yuck!  I am ready for a much smaller number on the scale next Sunday.