Heather's Healthy Beginnings

Brandy - That's a great idea! I'll have to post pictures of the dress soon. However, the boytoy IS a member on here and I certainly don't want him to see the dress before the wedding, so maybe I'll have to message them to you ;)

So I've been going through a certain period of self-inquiry. I've been severely stressed out lately to the point where I can feel the effects physically. My neck has been tense, I've been getting headaches, and I've been feeling anxious all the time. I'm positive that there are several sources for all of this - the main two being the job and the wedding. I think I'm pretty well set for the wedding in terms of planning, but it still overwhelms me sometimes.

Without getting into talking about all the things that are stressing me out, I came to a conclusion today. I MUST reintroduce exercise into my routine, even if it is only to give myself 20 minutes of stretching. After I came back today, I took 15 solid minutes to stretch afterward. I put on relaxing music in my ipod and just focused on the simple act of stretching and relaxing. I then lay for about 3 minutes or so on the floor just with my eyes closed. I tried to focus on breathing and clearing my mind, but the more I did so the more I kept thinking about everything that I have to get done today.

I'm determined to break that cycle. I'm setting myself a list today - a list that is ACCOMPLISHABLE and leaves room for some time to relax. I bought an album from itunes which is specifically music for relaxation, meditation and yoga. I think that every day after I exercise, I'm going to stretch and listen to the music and spend at least 3-5 minutes in simple meditation. My mind has to come back to center again.

This can be done. Not only the recentering of myself, but also utilizing that centeredness to find the path of healthy living again.
 
Meditating sounds great. I think I need to do the same thing. I'd love you to message me the dress pictures. If you want you can email me at brandyohearn@gmail.com. Let me know how meditating and stretching works for you.
 
Brandy - email sent! It's only a link to the David's Bridal website showing you the dress I bought.

So as far as self-care goes, today has been absolutely awesome. Exercised this morning, then took a shower, ate lunch at Salad Works, grocery shopped, cleaned up the kitchen and put the groceries away, did some paperwork for my job, then made it a point to relax for a few hours. Did nothing, played on the computer. Then I listened to work voicemail and made a few phone calls to my patients for tomorrow. Made dinner which took a while but it was one of my favorite recipes. The boytoy did dinner and now we're watching George Carlin which is surprisingly therapeutic.

I think a lot of this anxiety stuff is going to be helped by simple self-awareness and just thinking about how I go about my days. And physical activity is going to help that as well.

I also ate really well today! Here's values:

Calories: 1473
Carbs: 175
Fat: 39
Protein: 42
 
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thanks for the email! What a gorgeous dress! You can email me whenever you want because my email goes straight to my phone. I usually get it within 30 minutes. I'm glad you took some time to relax today. That's very important! Mental health is just as important as physical health!
 
:party:YAY about the dress! How exciting! I am thrilled that you feel BEAUTIFUL in it, heather - that is the way a bride should feel in her special gown on her glorious day.

Good on ya for leaving behind bad habits and forming new ones. Your life this time next year will be ever so much better because of the work you are putting in now.

Cheers
ABBA
 
ABBA - thanks so much for stopping in again!! I'm so excited about the new path I'm on - the quitting smoking was definitely a huge step for me.

Brandy - So glad you liked the picture!! I've been doing daily stretching and meditation since Monday. Today I didn't get to exercise, but I still spent 15-20 minutes stretching and 5 minutes afterward meditating. I definitely felt renewed afterwards.

I did serious work today in overcoming the severe anxiety I have been having about work. It was awful on Tuesday but felt a little bit better today. Took care of a lot of things that had to be taken care of which was really good. Had tough conversations with my parents about wedding finances. The discussion with my dad went really well, and was actually really touching on a lot of levels. He is trying to teach an extra class next semester and put all money from that class toward our wedding which is really amazing. Conversation with my mom was significantly less nice. At one point I actually got really angry with her and told her exactly what I think of her participation in our wedding process thus far - basically I think it's been crap. I got really emotional and told her exactly what I think. She basically shrugged it off. I knew that would happen, though. Oh well.

Didn't exercise today - did it Monday and Tuesday and plan either tomorrow or Friday, depending on what time I get home from work - but did my stretching for 15 minutes and meditation for 5 afterwards. Food wise for the past three days considering my extreme stress AND the fact that I'm PMSing I've done beyond amazingly. Here's values for today!

Calories: 1248 (how it is this low I don't know! I ate breakfast, lunch, a snack and dinner!!)
Carbs: 133
Fat: 37
Protein: 71

Not half bad all things considered. :)
 
So nutritionally today was fabulous! No time for exercise though, we're going out to dinner with the future mom in-law, step father in-law and sister in-law. We're going to a mexican restaurant so I need to do some research to find out calories of mexican food. . . .but I have potentially 1,000 calories left today! Well, maybe not 1,000. . . .more like 800 or 900. So we'll see what happens. So far I have about 700 calories today. I might take some time to stretch when I get home provided I don't have too many margaritas!! :p

My neck has stopped being tense, but I have to say. . .my jaw is really really sore. I dunno. . .I'm thinking about doing some catch-up paperwork just to calm my nerves completely about work. I've been taking one tylenol PM to help me sleep at night which is really awesome and I feel 97% better since getting good sleep, but I have to just get completely caught up before I think all the stress will be gone.

So no values yet, I'll post them tomorrow!
 
Try getting a natural remedy called "Rescue Remedy"... pill or drop form... really helps with the anxiety.

Well done on still not smoking... I almost had a few moments of weakness this week, but stood strong!!!

Have an awesome weekend!
 
Anke - thank you thank you for the suggestion! I've been wondering if there are any herbal remedies for anxiety. I'm feeling a lot better today than I was on Tuesday, but some things are still there. I don't know if I just need to get on the horse and exercise it all off or what - that definitely helped me out Tuesday and Monday. The remaining three days I stretched but haven't exercised yet.

So today was another OK nutritional day. I caved to PMS this morning and got a sausage, egg and cheese sandwich at Dunkin Donuts. That was some crap - I was thinking of getting a flatbread sandwich (the new egg white ones!) and I TOTALLY SHOULD HAVE. The sandwich came out to like 530 stupid calories. Crap, I say. Crap. I was going to run today but it was rainy and dark when I got home. Blah. I think I might do it tomorrow morning or afternoon. . . .Then I'll have my three days for C25K this week. As long as I can get my 3 days a week, the nutrition thing is falling into place and I'm continuing on my focus of "one thing at a time".

So OK, values for today and yesterday:

Thursday
Calories: 1625
Carbs: 167
Fat: 44
Protein: 78

Friday
Calories: 1415
Carbs: 152
Fat: 52
Protein: 56
 
:waving:Hi Heather
I commend you for having those difficult conversations in order to reduce your anxiety. We always seem to think it would be too hard to actually have them, that it is easier just to suffer with our burdens. But in the end, the best way to deal with difficult issues is just to DEAL with them! Never easy, but the best way to avoid ulcers, IMHO.

Weddings are so wonderful - and so incredibly stressful to put together! I hope you can get through yours without too much drama. I wasn't a major Bridezilla myself, but was a bridesmaid for one. omg we laugh about it today, but at the time it was all so serious!!! :ack2: Whether by simple JP at the courthouse or in a castle by the sea, weddings all lead to the same place: The Marriage! That really is the best part - knowing that you have the rest of your life to enjoy living with the one you love the most. :beating:

Keep up with your healthy eating and lifestyle. You will be a beautiful bride!:hurray:

ABBA
 
Looks like you have got some great totals there girlie! I would love to start running, but I HATE IT. I get so unmotivated when I force myself to do it. I will eventually start running, I think when I get down to 190 or so. I need to start exercising again... I'm so bad at keeping myself on track with it!
 
ABBA - Thanks doll. :) It's funny - I learned the lesson about confronting things that cause anxiety in my 20s but it took my dad until he was 60 to figure it out. I'm glad I learned it now!!! And yeah, I'm a pretty laid back bride as far as things go. The only real thing stressing me is my dumb mom and that is only in spurts.

Brandy - I definitely used to hate running until I realized that I just have to keep practicing in order to get any good at it. Now I LOVE it and I would love to get really good at it. I think that's the key as far as exercise goes - finding something you really enjoy doing. Otherwise you aren't going to want to do it at all!! :)

So this weekend wasn't great but not horrible either. Finished C25K week 1 yesterday. Was going to start week 2 today but it's an absolute downpour here! So I just held off for a bit.

Short entry today - here's values for yesterday and today. Going to spend the rest of the evening trying to relax.

Saturday
Calories: 2386
Fat: 53
Protein: 56
Carbs: 283

Sunday
Calories: 1563
Fat: 57
Carbs: 205
Protein: 69
 
yay for finishing week 1! Good luck with starting week 2, I hope you are having a good time relaxing. Todays totals look great! Good job!
 
Quick entry. . . .I was on call last night and between wanting to watch the Eagles game (definitely NOT worth staying up for!) and getting a call to go out at 3AM, I got about 3 hours sleep last night. Just took a tylenol PM 15 minutes ago and I'm planning on having a hot date with my pillow in about 10 minutes.

Felt like I splurged today and I totally kept everything under control! The boy suggested we go to the "clubhouse" for dinner (our apartment complex has a "clubhouse" which houses the gym, pool, exercise rooms and bar). So I decided to go (was absolutely worn out after running on 3 hours sleep!). Had 2 beers, a grilled chicken sandwich, Caesar salad and 3 chicken wings. Still managed within 100 calories of my goal. Not fabulous, but not terrible either. Plus - I did week 2 day 1 of C25K. :) Yay! On 3 hours sleep. . . .I'm pretty happy with that.

Totals!

Calories: 1712
Carbs: 185
Fat: 56
Protein: 75
 
Keep on rockin' the scale, girlie! You will just keep right on shrinking...

ps. I used to hate running because it hurt my joints so much, but now I crave it...

ABBA
 
ABBA - Thanks my dear! I have to say that since changing my weigh date to monthly, I'm feeling a LOT better about working toward a healthy goal. I figure that If I keep working on my nutrition and actively working toward completing C25K. I was thinking today that it would be really awesome to continue this program and then maybe work toward something bigger. It would be absolutely amazing to one day be able to run like 10 miles. I think I'd enter a race.

So today was another good day! Made "12 minute pasta toss" for dinner tonight which was MUCH better than I remembered it, and not actually that bad for you. Made with chicken breast, pasta, sundried tomatoes, seasoning and olive oil. The crazy thing is that you buy sundried tomatoes in olive oil and use the olive oil in the container to cook the chicken in. It's AMAZING. Did day 2, week 2 of C25K. I'm hellbent to finish the program this time. I feel like right now it is the perfect fitness program for me because it's a 3 day a week thing. Until I get a little more regulated with my exercise and can possibly do 5 days, this is really working out well. And I figure if I have extra time I can do more than 3 day of C25K or I can do something else - the indoor pool at my apartment complex just opened back up so maybe I'll do that some day this week.

Anyway I'm going to try and stop by some diaries since I have some free time tonight. Totals for today!!

Calories: 1546
Carbs: 217
Fat: 40
Protein: 52
 
I'm impressed... that darn couch to 5k program... it just never gets finished!

Keep up the good work!
 
Not too much to report. . . .this weekend was kinda a cheat weekend. Good news is that I finished week 2 of C25K. Looking to start week 3 this week! I'm determined, damnit!!!

Didn't track nutrition Saturday or today because it was chock full of birthday goodies. I figure I'll allow myself those two cheat days. Friday was not so hot, but I at least got my butt out and exercised! I feel like this month's focus was kinda half and half - half on exercise and half on nutrition. Most of the month has been exercise related. So I can deal with that. I feel like I'm losing some weight. Not a tremendous amount, but definitely some. We'll see what happens on the scale in a week and a half! I've been smoke free for over 50 days. I ROCK.

OK not gonna hang out because I've been on the computer WAY too much in the past 2 days - been emailing out to friends and family for addresses so I can email them wedding invites. I felt bad emailing a mass email so I literally emailed most everyone individually. Whooo! Long process!

Friday totals! Not fabulous, but OK.

Calories: 2160
Carbs: 132
Fat: 124 (argh!)
Protein: 87

Also have to keep in mind that Friday was the start of the bday bash - the boytoy bought me all kinds of italian cheese/pepperoni/olives from our favorite italian market for dinner. Oh. So. Delish. So whatever, it was my birthday. I deserve SOMETHING for entering into my late 20s!! :smilielol5:
 
OK very quick post because I've been a stranger in everyone else's journals.

Few things:

- I think I may have lost about 6lbs this month. Not ENTIRELY sure but I weighed myself yesterday afternoon and got 208. Last weight was 211 (never updated my ticker due to frustration) and I usually gain about 3 lbs during the course of a day. SO. . . .I MAY have good news to report come Oct. 15th!

- I'm on week three of C25K!!! Thought it was going to need to be a repeat week, but day 2 was MUCH better than day 1 and I'm thinking I'll be ready to move on to week 4 next week! I'm definitely looking forward to my runs after work now - they're a major source of stress reduction.

- Totals for today and yesterday!

Today
Calories: 1829
Carbs: 198
Fat: 56
Protein: 88

Yesterday
Calories: 1375
Carbs: 175
Fat: 31
Protein: 59
 
hi hun!!! Congrats on the 6 pd loss! thats great! Your cal info looks great too, i'm proud of you :D
 
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