The question.

To cash out, or not to cash out. That is the question. Profound, I know.  We’ll see how I feel in about an hour!

Looks can be deceiving

My arms were on FIRE after this workout, 11:00 minutes to complete!
I saw this and thought, “O, that won’t be bad. I got this one.” Man, it was harder than it looks.
Good way to start the week

I am changing…

“I’ll be better than I am…”

I am imagining myself sounding like Jennifer Hudson as I sing this, I am pretty sure I am close. 

I am reminded of this song each time I put on “real clothes.”  I live in a work uniform and workout clothes, which are stretchy Nike Capri pants and an old shirt without sleeves.  These clothes are very forgiving, which is why I can typically be seen in them outside of my work uniform (which is not forgiving, flattering, or comfortable…at all).  However, I decided to put on real clothes this morning, which was an unfortunate reminder of what my body has been going through.  My old things that still fit just don’t fit the same.  Not only have I put on weight, but put on muscle areas as well (my quads/hips/shoulders) are growing fast!  I know that my body is going to be changing as I continue with Crossfit and the hormonal changes that my nutritionist has me doing, but some days it is more noticeable and more difficult to accept.  Not going to lie. 

Due to these changes, outside of work and workout clothes, you will see me in dresses.  Pants just don’t fit the same way no matter what size; if they fit in the leg they are big in the waist…oh my body.  Old shifts are now snug in the shoulders, due to the focus on shoulders our gym owner tends to like.  We do so many push-presses, wall balls, thrusters, and sumo-dedlift high pulls in class!  I had large traps before, and now they are even more defined…which is good, because that is where I also carry my stress.  No worries, they can carry a lot of weight   So, I will be wearing dresses most of the time, which is fine with me. 

I went to my nutritionist last week and he said that I can eat goitrogens!  I don’t have a thyroid problem, I have a thyroid hormone conversion problem due to detox issues…so cruciferous veggies will help!  That was good news, I definitely had brussel sprouts the next day.  Good stuff.  He is going to be focusing back on my adrenals and hormones again.  Crossfit has changed my hormones and taxed my adrenals a bit more, so he is going to be hitting them pretty hard with the supplements he is recommending.  This helps make sense of why by the time Thursday comes around I am beat!  I come home and nap after work at the end of the week and my naps have been longer than they used to be.  I am looking forward to the continued progression towards better health.  I can get over the body changes, I just have my moments.  I’m a girl, I can’t help it!  

Hopefully with more energy as the month progresses I will be able to get on here and update more often.  I have been enjoying morning naps instead of writing, my apologies.

Goodbye Goitrogens

Welp, I have done it again.  What have I done again?  Something I said that I wasn’t going to do…change my diet.  Perfect.  So, recently I said that I wasn’t going to stress about what I was eating and to have faith that my nutritionist would get on the next step when it was time and I would be patient.  Well, I was patient and he gave me something to get rid of the puffiness and also gave me some supplements for thyroid support (woot!).

He didn’t mention anything about my diet when I was in the office, so I wanted to look at the thyroid health section of Practical Paleo – and I am glad that I did!  Dianne has foods to avoid italicized in one of the handy-dandy handouts, and what are the foods that should be avoided for thyroid health?  Cruciferous vegetables or goitrogens.  What do I eat A LOT of?  Ding ding ding!  Goitrogens. (cabbage, cauliflower, kale, brussels sprouts, rutabagas…to name a few I eat)  My nutritionist also has me on a supplement that contains goitrogens, I think I will be holding off on that one for a few months.

Fantastic, I am regularly eating food that can damage the thyroid if you have a sensitive system.  (I turn orange after eating a sweet potato – I’m sensitive.)  So, just a slight change in my diet and I will be good to go.

I just got back from Lubbock and had bought some macadamia nuts…which didn’t last long at all in my kitchen. Those things are dangerous.  I’m just saying.

That is it for my random rant and update.  It has been a busy week leading into a busy weekend.   However, I have finished a few great books that have really got me thinking and am currently reading Altar Ego, I will have an update soon.

“Dove Real Beauty Sketches” on YouTube

I’m very impressed and surprised that this was done by Dove. Great job and so much thought put into this experiment. It captures how critical we are on ourselves about things that people see completely differently.

Rejoice in the suffering

Job 36:15-16 He is wooing us…I love that thought. – every day, every sunrise, every flower. He is amazing us with His glory

Hawaii trip booked, WOD, laundry, grocery shopping and “Get Out of That Pit” completed!  It was a fairly productive yet lazy day off.   (I did my laundry by myself; I didn’t make it out to my parents’ casa.)  Looks like it is going to be a gorgeous day today, I might have to go out for a run this afternoon after my meeting….we’ll see how that goes.  I am tempted to head to the gym and work on my pull-ups and box jumps; neither of those are my strongest skills by a long shot!  (as in – I can’t do either of them…once)

This morning I started reading 2 Corinthians and man, it is so good!  There are so many verses and messages that are standing out to me that I am a little upset I haven’t read it before now.  There is a reason I am reading it during this season of my life, which I love about that.  It is just what I need when I need it.

“³ Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, ⁴ who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. ⁵ For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. ⁶ If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. ⁷ And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.” 2 Corinthians 1:3-7 (emphasis mine)

I love this: “…the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, ⁴ who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.”  He is the great comforter; He comforts us in our times of need so that we may comfort others.  There is a reason behind our struggles that we are going through; we are becoming the person He has planned for us to be!  He has a plan to use our problems to help build His kingdom and share His comfort and love with those who don’t know Him yet.

“² Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,whenever you face trials of many kinds, ³ because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. ⁴ Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” James 1:2-4 (emphasis mine)

Did you catch that?  “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds” consider it JOY when you face trials.  Why?  Because He will COMFORT us to use us to help others!  We will be stronger that we were when the trials began and have a better understanding to help others struggling with similar problems.

God has a plan to use us to bring Him glory and share His love with everyone around us.  How will you be used to help others?

A fantastic Friday

Fridays off that are not around holidays are fantastic.  I hope that your employer has a 9/80 arrangement so you have the possibility of having every other Friday off, because it is amazing.  If you get every Friday off, that would be nice too…but I personally don’t want to work 10 hour days for 4 days a week.  But that’s just me.  I don’t think that I would mind it as much except the Crossfit class that I like to go to is the 4:30 one, so if I were working until 5:00 that would put me in the 5:30 class then mess up my after work schedule.  I am a planner…I don’t like my schedule to vary TOO much.  A little is fine, but if I get things thrown off by hours or skipped completely…I can get a little frustrated.  I should really work on that and just go with the flow.  I’ll add that to my list of things I need to fix Wow, I digress.  Maybe something else I should work on is a consistent thought pattern, my ADHD is kicking in.

Quote on the wall at my nutritionist’s office

Which leads me to the nutritionist!  See, I get where I want to go, I just sometimes take the scenic route.  I was supposed to go to the nutritionist on Tuesday, but his wife had a baby that morning (congratulations!) and he was not in the office.  I’m not going to lie, I was bummed.  Schedule change.  I had really wanted to see him so I could get some of my issues addressed, but I called and my appointment was rescheduled for Thursday afternoon.  It turned out really well that I was staying in town on Tuesday afternoon, I am pretty sure God’s hand was in the events that happened.  I’ll get to that, probably in another post.

Anywho, my mom and I headed to Sherman yesterday afternoon to go to my appointment.  I went in and we did our usual dance of him asking me, “are you really good or are you just saying that?”  to which I replied, “well, I could be worse!”

I was prepared this time with a list because I typically forget one or two things that I wanted to ask him about.   I had the list broken out with “good” and “not so good” and he wanted to hear the not so good first.  My biggest concern is the water retention – shocking, I know.  I talked with him about how uncomfortable I am, not knowing if my pants are going to fit in the morning, and that I have begun to have trouble breathing because of it and been needing to use my inhaler.  (I have read that water can begin to hold around your organs and it definitely has affected my lungs – scary thought)   I was concerned that this could be a kidney issue, but he reassured me it was my hormones balancing out and decided to give me one supplement before I left to address it.  Yay!  I took the first dose of it last night and my chest really did feel better, I didn’t have to try as hard to breathe; which is a plus in my book.  I took the second round this morning and again am having an easier time breathing, I think we are on the right track.

After going through my list we got to his questions and he says that I am continuing to make a lot of progress and that he is going to change up my supplements this time.  I think that I am noticing other things that I hadn’t previously noticed because the bigger issues are getting better; having a cycle, digestion, hair falling out, strong nails, etc.  I am getting better each day, I know that it isn’t going to be a sudden change.  I am being healed from the inside out, and as the inside gets healthier the outside will continue to show the results.

After my appointment we went to Chipotle where I get a half steak /half carnitas bowl with guacamole; I’m not going to lie – Chipotle is one of my favorite reasons to go to the nutritionist J  After dinner we headed to Lifeway and I once again purchased books and my mom bought me one.  I now have 4 more books added to the stack of “want to reads”…I have a problem.

We also went to Bed Bath and Beyond and I finally got a mandoline, peeler, and new spatula (woo-hoo for easier beet, rutabaga, and parsnip chips!).  I love the kitchen gadget section of that place; I can’t wait to stock up a house with new do-dads! (spelling?  Definitely the technical term; trust me, I’m an engineer.)  Then off to The Green Market to stock up on some meat and such then back on the road home.

Some of my goodies that I got yesterday. I’ll make a list of my “need to reads” and post it on here.

I stayed up late last night, 10PM!  And what was I doing at such a late hour of the night?  Reading
“Get Out of That Pit“…man, I lead such an exciting life

What to do on my day off?  I am meeting my mom at the travel agency and we are booking the family trip to Hawaii, chyeah!  Then to Crossfit to complete “Chelsea” and see how many rounds I get in…no matter what happens it will be a PR for me.  Ha!  After the gym and lunch I will probably go to the parents’ house to do laundry, my mom really likes to help me do my laundry; who am I to remove that joy from her life?

Have a fantastic Friday!!