My Path to Outer Skinniness

I got permission from Dr. Nguyen yesterday to run again. He said he'd like to start seeing how running affects my improved posture now that I've been in treatments for about a month. He also said he was really happy with how my body is responding to the adjustments. So today I strapped on the nikes and hit the trail. I pretty much expected what I got. It's been nearly a month since I've run - 25 days actually - and I figured that even with the elliptical that I've been doing twice a week that my cardio would suffer as would my muscle strength. The good news is that I'm not sore. I didn't really push myself either. The bad news is that my lungs wanted to die after the first run. I got a new inhaler that is a different prescription from my old one. I think it probably worked just fine, but I think that my lungs have had a chance to regress. The good news is that that my knees didn't hurt, my shins started to, but then I adjusted my technique so they didn...

I've been doing the weekday veggie thing about a month now. So far I've been able to stick to it for the most part given a couple holidays and my justification of sushi. The last few days I've been thinking about what the point of the veggie thing is. Is it to be healthier? Is it to reduce my calorie intake? Is it to save cows? The answer is yes to the first two and kind of to the cows. Sorry cows. I realize now that I'm slipping into the comfortable stage. This is the stage in anyone's lifestyle change (or any other project/change) where you stop thinking about what you're doing and start justifying doing things the way you did them before. It's the most dangerous stage because if you don't trudge through with stubborn force, you'll never come out having changed anything. Everyone should know what I'm talking about. I've hit this wall. I caught myself at lunch yesterday really grappling with this. We went out to the Rogue Brewery for lun...

I'm contemplating being naughty today and going running. The weather has been so perfect for running and I'm stuck with the elliptical. I think the thing that I really like about the running/walking is my nike tracker. I can post my progress and see my stats every time I work out. It's very motivating. Not to mention that I feel like my body was starting to change and I'm not happy about losing it. Maybe I'll just walk really fast. On another note, I got boots! Boots that fit around my legs! Boots that are cute and were on clearance so I got an awesome deal on them! They weren't the ones that I was goaling for. These  were what I really wanted. I actually got to try them on finally because Macy's randomly had one pair that was two sizes to small, but it was clear that the calf was never going to fit. So I ended up with These instead. The awesome thing is that they're not what I would typically want. I'm a girly girl when it comes to boots, bu...

Dear Cheese, I have been thinking about writing this letter to you for awhile now. It's never easy to say what I'm about to say. I must inform you of the unhealthy level our relationship has reached. I love you now more than ever, and yet I have decided that it would be best for both of us to see less of each other. You might be wondering why. Over the years I have grown to admire and understand your many forms. You thrill my senses with your creaminess, your many varieties of textures and flavors are amazing and I love that you get along well with others like sandwiches and burritos. You are even strong enough to stand on your own. I like that so much about you cheese. It's just that in spite of how delightful you are, you have been unhealthy for me. My thighs have gotten wider, and I have much unwanted cellulite and belly fat. If only you weren't so high in fat. Then our love could be uninhibited. But alas, I cannot allow myself to give in to your gloriousness with...

This morning was the first since November that the scale was under 180. It was probably 179.5, but a victory just the same. The last couple months it's been waning between 180 and 185. To celebrate, I got the extra fancy yogurt at New Seasons that I've been wanting to try. Yes. I'm celebrating with yogurt. This is how dramatic my eating has changed. Lunch today was a Trader Joe's frozen meal of vegetable panang curry and jasmine rice. It was a bit high in calories, but worth it. Dinner is brown rice, yakisoba noodles, a huge bowl of stir fried veggies (zucchini, red pepper, brussels sprouts and carrots) and teriyaki mushrooms. Snacks were this fabulous trail mix I got at TJ's that's mixed nuts and dried cranberries, an orange, and a ton of oolong tea.  I haven't been hungry all day. I think I may finally have my eating habits under control!

I was comparing a picture of me in my honeymoon photos (the one that I took in the mirror) to the New Years Eve photos that my friend Amber just posted and I think I look better. Screw the scale! I think I owe some of this to my posture. As I've been having my spine adjusted I realize i carry my weight better and I am probably also a little taller since he's slowly uncurling my spine. I'm going to get my butt on an elliptical tomorrow if it kills me. I don't want to look at any more pictures and think, "I can't possibly still look like that!" I'm back on the veggie diet today after nearly a week off. I forgot this morning and had a chunk of chicken pepperoni on accident! But I did pretty well the rest of the day. It will be more of a challenge to figure out food and exercise the rest of this week. Tomorrow is a normal work day but Wednesday is a 12 hour day, Thursday's a 10 and Friday's a 9 hour day between work, voice lessons, and chiropra...

Well, our honeymoon was lovely and I shall soon post pictures on facebook. It was even nice enough that we could walk on the beach the day we got there. Unfortunately our fancy dinner turned out to be riddled with food poisoning. So our drive home yesterday was less than pleasant and we're still trying to recover today. Perhaps I'm being punished for taking a break from my weekday veggie diet. I figured that eating seafood wasn't the worst thing I could do for my diet, and you only get your honeymoon once right!? What really sucks is that I haven't been able to exercise for three days! I was all gung ho wednesday to get up and go for a run on the beach. I figured the impact wouldn't be so bad since it would be sand and I was excited. But when we woke up it was pouring down rain. I figured I could just do the elliptical when we got home, but being sick has put a wrench in that plan as well. I was thinking about how good I've felt with the running I've bee...

I did 30 minutes on the elliptical this morning instead of going on a run. I think I will try to alternate days of elliptical and walking. That way I can still do updates with my nike tracker. I really like being able to track my progress. I think that has been the biggest motivator. I was feeling kind of guilty today about what I ate, but I realized that I'm being kind of hard on myself. I had a veggie burrito from Chipotle and some chicken nuggets from Wendy's for a very late lunch/early dinner, an orange, and a donut. That's all I ate today. The donut was probably not the best thing I could have eaten, but I can't exactly remember the last time I had one, and it was the best donut I've had in a long time. So I will forgive myself for having it. The fact that I'm beating myself up over a donut after eating fairly healthily the rest of the day tells me that I'm in the right mindset though. Now if only the scale would catch up to my efforts!

I've been relegated to the elliptical. My chiropractor said that doing a high impact sport like running could put a damper on treatments. He said it was okay for me to do the elliptical though. There's one at my complex I can use, but it needs to be serviced because it grinds and squeaks when used. He said I could walk, but that the elliptical would be better. I guess this is okay because I'm losing some of my steam with the C25K stuff. I could use a break. I think I will keep up walking so that I can challenge myself at least in some way. It will probably be difficult without the high from running though. That stuff's addictive in an oh so good way! I've noticed a change in my relationship with food. We got Burgerville for lunch today and I got the bacon cheeseburger because it's my day to eat meat! It was very delicious, but I found myself struggling to order it over the white bean burger they have right now. I kept thinking about how much healthier it is a...

I think life is the biggest deterrent in being healthy. Today I was supposed to go to my chiropractor appointment and then go teach lessons and I was going to ask Dr. Nugyen about whether I should be running while I'm getting all these treatments. Last night I get a phone call from my CT from the middle school asking if I want to sub. Of course I had to say yes because a) it's money and b) it's a day of subbing that is really rewarding since I know the kids already. So today I had no chiropractor appointment, no run, and an 10 hour work day. It's amazing how fast your plans can go out the window. Fortunately I'll be able to do everything I had planned on doing today tomorrow. I sang for the middle school kids while I was at the school and realized I wasn't accessing my high notes quite the same. It took a couple tries for it to really hinge. I haven't had problems with my high notes for a long time and it occurred to me that this spinal readjustment stuff...

Well, I went back to the chiropractor today and it looks like I have more problems than I thought. The good news is that they can all be fixed at this stage in a fairly short amount of time for a fairly reasonable amount of money. The bad news is that even with the cost being reasonable, it's going to be very hard on our budget. What he determined is that my lower lumbar spine curves to the left. As a result, my hips are imbalanced to that my left foot bears more weight than my right foot (which explains why it's flatter and why that knee hurts), my mid-back/shoulder blade area is starting to curve, and my neck is curved. The curvatures cause my muscles to compensate for the strain which explains the knots in my shoulders, neck and jaw that I've had for years. The x-ray of my spine basically looked like an S. It's known as subluxation of of the lower spine or scoliosis. It kind of looked like this, but the curvature was much lower than in this picture: It was actua...

I've been doing quite a bit of thinking the last few days. I've been thinking about my life and where it's going. I've accomplished so much in the last year. Paul and I got married, I finished my masters degree, we moved to a grown up apartment, and I've really stepped up in the last couple months and have really committed to my personal health. This is the first time in my life that I've been eating well and exercising at the same time . And the craziest thing is that it's not hard. It's like I've found this zen place where I can just exist outside my previous norm. The bad news is I still haven't lost any weight. My clothes still don't feel any looser. But I feel like I look better even if it's not measurable. With this new found sense of balance I have to wonder what to do with it. I try to picture my life at a healthy weight and what I can achieve. And I feel strong and brave to take my life by the reigns and drive! I've started...

I've heard it said many times that people from asian cultures are thin because of what they eat. I beg to differ! I went to Uwajimaya's to grab something to eat on my way to choir rehearsal this evening thinking I would find some rice balls or some veggies with rice...something along those lines. I headed over to the deli and began searching for something and soon realized that everything had meat. Everything! Fish, pork, chicken, stuff I'd never thought came from animals! I think American's have bastardized healthy asain food. I ended up with a sweet bun filled with red bean paste. Probably not the least fattening or sweet thing I could have found, but alas the only thing that didn't have any meat. The good news is that I have half of it figured out. I've been watching tons of Japanese tv shows and in pretty much every episode one of the characters ends up running to catch/find/meet another person. But it's not like a light run, it's full out sprintin...