What's being a Woman got to do with working out???

As you know, I have had to battle with Hormones and being super sensitive to them, as well as water retention. I decided to some research about it maybe having to do with “Being a Woman”, and how that maybe affects the way we need to work out. I found this great site that seemed to explain things in a way that makes sense.

It divides the month into two sections Day 1- Day 14 and Day 15- Day 28. With each section (they are called Follicular and Luteal, in that order) there need to be different eating habits and work out routines.  Day 1 is the start of the Follicular Phase, or “Time of the month” and thus your body does better with muscle building and fat burning. The Second Section, which is Day 15- 28^th and the Luteal stage, Start when you “ovulate” until, well, Day 1 and is more of a “sugar burning” stage due to Progesterone being more present.  Read the Two articles HERE and HERE, but I did take the snap shot of the “main” bullet points for you underneath this. The first part is a diet and training schedule and the second is a more informed Training schedule. I added a picture of what my September Calendar looks like so far ;)

So the training and diet schedule may look something like this:

Follicular phase:

·         3 Times weekly full body weight training.

·         3 Times weekly long-duration moderate intensity training.

·         Normal calorie and carbohydrate intake at most meals with most timed after exercise to enhance training adaptations and muscle growth.

Luteal Phase:

·         3-5 times weekly short duration high intensity metabolic conditioning, HIIT, and sprint training.

·         Normal calorie intake with carbohydrate kept low, using exercise to create the correct hormonal environment and caloric deficit to burn fat and minimize any muscle loss.

·         Plenty of relaxing restorative exercise like leisure walking, sauna, tai chi, etc.

Protocol Overview

So the female phase training protocol looks like this:

·                     Follicular phase (Days 1-14): 30:40:30 macronutrient intake (carbs:protein:fat). 3 times weekly full body traditional weight training (squat, bench press, back row, shoulder press), 4 sets of 10 using a 8-12 rep max. 5 days per week steady state moderate intensity cardio (40-60 minutes).

·                     Luteal phase (Days 14-28): 20:40:40 or 10:45:45 macronutrient intake (carbs:protein:fat). 4-5 days per week metabolic conditioning (mixed weight & cardio interval training). Daily leisure walking (as much as able)

·                     Repeat next month

• The follicular phase is shown to be a more anabolic time overall allowing women to engage in more cardio based exercise with less chance of losing muscle as well as derive enhanced lean tissue gains from weight training.
• The luteal phase is more of a catabolic time for muscle tissue making long-duration cardio less beneficial and higher protein diets more prudent. There is some evidence the luteal phase has a greater EPOC and afterburn effect associated with it.

I am going to try it for a month and see if it makes a difference, and if it helps with my weight loss. I mean the concept makes sense, so why not? I have to work out anyway lol!

OH! On a side-note!!! I have a metabolic problem that we have been trying to figure out, and I was NEVER able to get my average heart rate up above 130, even when running! WELL yesterday  was able to!!! OMG my average was 141!!! I felt so good, so that means my thyroid meds must be doing the trick! 

500 Days - and an Update!

500 Days- that how many days I give myself to reach my Goal! It seemed like a good round number and about a year and a half. Which is kind of when we wanted to get pregnant again, or try. I might not blog everyday, but I will try and work on it everyday that’s for sure!

I know I have not blogged lately, and I do feel bad that I have not been writing lately. A lot has been going on in my life that I didn’t know if I wanted to share ore not. I walked a 5K with my friend Liz this weekend, and was telling her everything that was going on, and she suggested I share as a therapeutic situation as well as something to read and maybe learn from. So here it goes… again.

The last 4 months or so I have not been feeling well and in a real funk, have been working out regularly and eating very well. I was retaining 6-7 pounds of water weight on any given day, which was so uncomfortable and I could tell it was happening. My lips were swollen and I started having anxiety attacks with heart pain. It felt like a 5 year old was sitting on my chest and all I wanted to do was rip my clothes off. I would cry, yell (imagine your husband and daughter having to watch), I would have to leave places or rooms or anywhere I was and go somewhere I felt ok. I went to the doctor and he said I should take the anxiety meds, which ended up making me tired and not making the pain or swelling go away.  I went back, he then ordered a kidney check, or was it my neurologist that did….eh I cant remember, my Kidneys are great. (that’s a plus right?) Well mister Kidney Doctor said that he thinks it is my heart. Excuse me? yes. My heart, doesn't know what, but could be heart.  He thinks that because my heart rate is super low and normal blood pressure is 80/45 (they triple checked since I am over weight and joked they thought my heart and arm fell asleep), that I am retaining water , which is probably also around my heart and thus causing part of the attacks. Sweet! So then my doctor made a call to the cardiologist, who pretty much said the same things and scheduled another appointment for  a stress test and Echo-cardiogram and some other crap.  Ironically they said it is not my weight or eating habits, because I showed her my log and she saw my weight fluctuations, and was not happy. She said otherwise I am super healthy and hopefully it will just be a metabolic issue, and maybe upping my diuretic dosage I am already taking.  Fingers crossed x (those are two fingers)

People who really know me know I tend to over exaggerate or under exaggerate to deflect issues or what is really going on, but I can assure you I have been in pain. Just not saying anything, Rob has known, some people have been supportive some people have rolled their eyes, whatever. All I know is that I am 29 years old and I am scared and have a little girl to be around for. So I will try and use this as an outlet.

I am glad Liz talked me into it, especially after what happened. The 5k I mentioned…. Well we started running and .25 into it I started getting pain and burning in my heart and lungs and started having blood come up ¾ of the whole 5k. She is awesome because she walked it with me. It was amazing having her there as support and not feeling awkward and someone to talk to. I just kept spitting up or swallowing that crap, it was an amazing taste as you can imagine. It still hurts and I still don’t feel well, so I am glad I am going next week.

Last part of the crazy 2 weeks!

1. 5k
2. Trip

3. Sickness

4. Weight loss!

So as I sit here eating some form of cookie dough blast 2.0 ice cream, I have some exciting news. No I am not one of the 1000 people that seem to be pregnant, so get rid of that idea right now! My news is way better, for me at least! Over the past month or during all of January I have lost 10 pounds! 10 pounds! Super exciting!

No crash dieting or diet pills, just good old fashion eating better, working out and trying to be healthier. I really want to loose like 80 more, yeah I know 80lbs sounds huge, but I would also me happy with 50 or 60! I think I might keep a little ticker on the side to keep myself accountable. 

Something I am going to change a little, is my commitment to MyFitness Pal. I really need to get better about tracking my food, because so many times I wake up thinking “why has the scale not moved? I didn’t eat anything today that was bad or crazy?!” I have to remember that even “healthy” eating has calories. I have to remind myself it is al relative. To be honest I have been eating a lot of ice cream lately with rob at night and that totally has to stop. Yikes! Also, when I get enough courage I will post my starting weight, current and goal weight. I mean no one reads this thing anyway, but I am still a little hesitant.

That treadmill is also calling my name, but I really have been to weak and sick to use it. =(  I am going to try this weekend! I have a lot of things going on this weekend, so I hope I can get that done.

Alright guys have a good night!

Crazy last two weeks! Part 1

Hey everyone, sorry I have been MIA. However, I have much to go over! I am going to have to split these post up, because it is just too much to go over! So here comes number one!
1. 5k
2. Trip
3. Sickness
4. Weight loss!

So! I am so super proud of myself because I finished a 5K! A FREAKING 5K! Almost everyone that i talked to about the 5K said things like "you can walk it right?” or “Really, you think you can do it?”  Which is totally understandable since the last time I had to run a long distance was in HS and had to run the mile, or when one of my best friends Gigi (follow her blog! she is an AMAZING Stylist)made me freaking do run/walk sets to lose weight. What I am mostly proud of is that I set myself a goal and said I would do it no matter what. It was my thing and no one was going to tell me otherwise. I asked Gigi if she wanted to do it with me and her reply was “fuck no!” which is hilarious, because if you saw her you would wonder why not, especially since she is in AMAZING shape! Frick! Then I TOLD my husband that he HAD to do it with me. Like he really had a choice?!
I started training by running a little here and there and mostly walking on my treadmill to get my stamina up, since my number one priority was to first walk more than for 5 min. Then I got an awesome gift from my in-laws: The Forerunner 210 with heart-rate monitor! LOVE THIS THING! I track everything on Daily Mile, which you can see all the way at the bottom of this Blog and follow me!

The most amazing part about the 5K is that on the day of the COLOR RUN, it was pouring, and I mean like dumping on us, without avail. It was the worst. Rob looked and me and said are you sure you want to do this? I said “Shit Yes! I signed up for it, paid for it your parents donated towards it and I made it MY GOAL!” It was not easy, but I did it and it was the best experience of my life! I was so proud for not giving up and quitting, when so many people did. The extra 20 pounds of wet clothes totally did not help, and that I was freezing didn’t really bother me.

I am so happy for all the people in my life that texted me and FB’d me, telling me how proud they were of me that I finished. Thank you so much to my Husband who totally did not want to run on that rainy day and still did it, whilst voluntarily wearing bright neon socks so that “he could match me”.

Our Gear!

My next 5K is the Retro Run! Its March 2^nd in downtown Scottsdale, Lena will be joining me in the stroller this time!

After! 

New is not always better... for other people that is!

It is so interesting to see people's reactions to new things or foods that they have never tried before. I am for sure one of the "guilty" that has turned their nose up to certain foods, especially Ahi Tuna! Get out of here with that raw fish stuff! So it should come to no surprise that when I posted this picture, that people made comments of how gross my food was.
Honestly, it was only Key Lime Greek Yogurt with Cacao Nibs and a punch of Chia seeds. It was super good! It tasted like key lime pie with chocolate ad totally filled me up! Yes, it might not be pretty, but what healthy food always looks pretty!

It really tasted SOOOO good!

I was really proud of myself this morning because I got out of bed and worked out this morning. I wanted to run/walk, but opted for a quick Jackie Warner upper body . It felt good to work out my arms and at least do something! I think that is my main problem.... NOT DOING SOMETHING, anything, nada. I mean, I know I am an emotional eater and losing my dad, having early menopause and having a brain/ spinal fluid condition that makes you go blind or die, defiantly had something to do with it, but I took measures to fix all of that. I cant have my dad back, but I can live the life HE wanted me to live. I got rid of the hormone therapy I was on for my early menopause and my hormone IUD and stopped taking my meds for the brain thing. I am going to eat better and fix myself, and not with all of these chemicals. I am going to do the RIGHT way!

Here is the Jackie DVD and my Garmin210

That's how I got this way. I use to work out a lot and eat somewhat healthy, and I felt and looked good. Having a child, a husband, working full time and going to school does put a whole lotta stress on you after a while, and you can never find time to do anything. I was not finding time and was becoming miserable and making my husband miserable because he saw how sad I was. I have either been going on run/walks with Lena and Rob at night or using the Treadmill. Who would not want to do it for this little munchkin?

New Year

It's pretty crazy to think that we are in the year 2013. Recently Rob and I saw "this is 40" and it got to thinking, I don't want to wait till I am forty "to just get happy" or figure out that we need to change things or get better. I know the premise of the movie was that they should not have changed anything about their life after all, but I know now that there are some things that I want to change and for sure as hell do that before i am 40 lol! But all joking aside, this week has been kind of tough, with trying to blog and everything, because i have been so busy with work, taking care of the family and trying to work out and keep my eating on track. I am so proud to say i have only slipped up ONCE! I had half of a bean and cheese burrito, which is ok. I am not going to completely deprive myself from the things that others eat, but I am going to make better choices, like eating half or making better selections. 

I have been run/walking (and logging it on my Daily Mile - follow me) every other day and track it on my awesome Garmin Forerunner 210 that I got from my in-laws for Christmas! Super excited about that one, because it came with a heart rate monitor, and it’s pretty awesome! I have been eating really well by juicing, eating mostly veggies and having a yogurt a day with CACAO nibs! You will not believe the amazing power of those little nibs. They are crunchy and you can add them to almost anything, and they totally satisfy hunger and your sweet tooth! Also besides taking Vitamins (D, Calcium, Cranberry, Folic acid, hair and nail stuff), I added Spriulina to my daily intake. I linked it up so that you can see the amazing effects it has on the body, but here are a few pluses:

Encouraging weight loss
• Counteracting toxins in the body
• Helping purify the liver
• Increasing mental alertness
• Lowering blood cholesterol and excess triglycerides
• Helping fight viral infections
• Treating radiation sickness
• Enhancing ability to generate new blood cells
• Improving blood sugar problems
• Strengthening the nervous system
• Strengthening the immune system
• Removing toxic metals such as lead and mercury from the body
• Improving healing of wounds

Who would not want to take this stuff right? I got it in pill form, because it does smell like algae in powder form.  Check it out!

Also another quick side note that I am proud of, is that just because I am not seeing any super fast weight loss, does not mean I am giving up! I feel better and right now that is all that counts!