17 January 2014

My Recent Hospital Visit

Last month I spent a little time in the hospital. I was admitted after going to the E.R. for chest pains and a rapidly fluctuating blood pressure, along with dizziness, blackouts, and memory loss. After a zillion test came back normal and seeing several doctors, I was sent home and told to stop taking my vitamins until I was able to follow up with a primary care physician. I got home and felt worse and worse.
So, what was going on...
When I finally got in to see a primary care physician (I hadn't chosen one since moving in the fall), he thankfully knew exactly what was going on. In a nutshell, I was having a fibromyalgia flare up in the form of muscle spasms in the muscles that surround my heart.
The longer explanation:
I have fibromyalgia (this is not new, I've had it for a long time). People with fibromyalgia do not process nutrients properly and their bodies over react to things that their bodies sense as toxic. I take vitamins and avoid certain things to manage this. The muscle spasms started because I didn't have enough of somethings (vitamin and mineral type things) and a toxin was introduce to my system. The rest of the symptoms were either caused by the muscle spasms or what was causing the muscle spasms. I didn't realize this was a fibromyalgia flare up because I usually have an immense amount of pain when I have a flare up. Other than the chest pain, I wasn't having any pain at all. When I stopped taking my vitamins my symptoms got worse because I was becoming more and more depleted of the vitamins that were already low.
The treatment for all this was to go back on my vitamins. Yesterday, I had been home from the hospital for exactly one month and I'm happy to report it was the first day I felt like a fully functioning human again.

09 January 2014

Getting There

I've lost 10 pounds!! So I still have about 10 to go before I am the weight I was when we moved back to our hometown just months ago, then what feels like a billion more before I hit my goal weight, but it's a start. A good start actually. The first 5 happened after leaving my brief hospital stay last month. I wasn't 'trying' very hard then, just kind of watching what I was eating more. This last week I have really been working at it. I Picked up the LoseIt app (this is not a paid advertisement) and I have to tell ya, it's really been a God send. I've watched my mom do a thousand diets that I know I could NEVER keep up with. I personally did L.A. Weight Lose many years ago and found it to be horrifically challenging and expensive to do everything the right way. I've tried counting carbs and a handful of fad diets in the past. This seems much easier than any of that. Although I'm just in my first week of using it, so it could be new diet euphoria going on at this point.

About lose it... Basically, you enter your height, weight, and sex and it tells you how many calories to eat to lose 1 or 2 pounds a week or remain at the same weight. You log what you eat and when you exercise and the app does the counting for you. 

02 January 2014

A Family Resolution

I'm not generally someone that is into making New Year resolutions, however this year John and I decided to make one (a really big one actually) for the whole family. We are changing the way we eat and making it a definite priority to get active. So what exactly are we changing...

We have decided to only eat 'real food' for starters. If you're not familiar with the term, here is a great blog post on how to explain it to kids. I think it is also a great way to explain it to adults. Basically, eating real food is totally passing up food dyes, high fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated oils,  fast food, and unnatural preservatives. Also, eat minimum amounts of food with with white flour, sugar, and rice. We are adding anything deep fried and pork to the list of things to totally avoid. So what does that leave us... fruits, vegetables, whole grains (including nuts and beans), lean meats, and seafood. John and I are also using the app/web site lose it. We are also doing work out videos and planning to purchase an elliptical machine. We are looking at this one.

Why are we doing it...

For starters, we probably were eating a little healthier than many families out there. Well, until we moved back home (to our hometown in KY). There are several factors here that have contributed to our nutrition falling into a downward spiral these last few months, but here are the top excuses I can think of: we have been busier than ever before, eating out is a little cheaper here, our parents are here and take us out to eat regularly, our parents also frequently bring yummy junk food to the house, the girls have outgrown their gluten issues (making up for lost time on those gluten loaded goodies), and southern baptist don't seem to do anything without food. We went to a Vineyard church in Columbus, Church met 1/4 as often and food was a special event type of thing. Baptist meet much more often, for longer periods, and there is almost always food.

Adding to this is the fact that we are barely moving. I guess all of those steps between parking lots/garages and buildings that are kind of far away add up. In small towns, parking is right next to the door just about everywhere you go. There was also walking to get the mail, walking to take trash out, well you get the picture. We have a great yard, but the kids don't seem to know what to do with themselves off of a sidewalk (we are working on this one). So, we are making it a point to move, move, move!

Another big motivator has been a few recent issues with my heart. Heart issues are not new to me, they have just changed a bit here recently. Healthier lifestyle + lower weight = healthier heart for this momma. We are not exactly sure what is going on at this point, I had a brief hospital stay just before Christmas. I have a doctor's appointment is in about 14 hours, prayers for answers and a quick and easy treatment are welcome.