It is summertime (can I stop reminding you? NO), and it is time to get back in the swing of things with being healthy. Which is SO much easier to do when you have work lifted off your shoulders.
I was doing SO WELL with my weight loss/healthy living initiative until about January, when my uterus started being a rat bitch again. I had lost over 15 pounds, I was strong, I was doing the gym, and tap dancing, and pilates... and then a health crisis derailed me. AGAIN.
Let me tell you what is not conducive to losing weight (or keeping it off) -- six weeks of surgery recovery where you cannot work out but you can sit on the couch and eat delicious gluten free feasts and pastries that your husband makes for you. That is a formula that DOES NOT WORK.
So here I am, desperately trying to shed the pounds put on while I was basically veal.
My tap studio closed and is reopening in August, so that's a bust.
I am loving the Pilates studio where I'm going twice a week again, finally -- that makes me feel strong and stretched and as lithe as my body can get (can you really ever be lithe when you have giant boobs?), and to me STRONG is more important than SLIM. (Also, I love all the springs and bars and things; it makes me feel like a circus performer!)
I am walking in our neighborhood, which is freaking amazing and beautiful (pictures at the bottom), and walking fast can be just as good as running, so I hear, it just takes longer.
I am eating all the fruits that come with early summer, and trying to eat more protein and fiber and less carbs. I sort of returned to my carbmonster ways. I need to work out more and eat just a little less, but I refuse to totally restrict my diet because food isn't just fuel, it's a way of life and a special pleasure in our household.
I have NO IDEA how I'm doing other than how my clothes fit and how I feel, because I lost the scale in our move. Just kidding, I know exactly where it is, it's hiding under some stuff in the garage and just hasn't made its way inside, but I freaking hate that thing and so I pretend it's lost and gone forever.
It is so hard having this complex relationship with my body, especially because it failed to do what I so desperately wanted it to, and then fell apart thanks to stress during adoption... but now, with the freedom of having lost the organ that just HATED me, and much of the stress alleviated, and our new home and new life, and the freedom of summer... I hope to make buddies with my body again.
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| On a rail trail near the house |
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| View from same trail, seriously right near our house |
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| How is this walking distance from my house??? |
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| Secret special bridge on the rail trail! |
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| A street near our house, or I guess road is more accurate... |
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| Magical swamp off the road near our house... it's gray/white here thanks to the evils of cottonwood trees |
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| My buddies, the horses around the corner. This is from earlier in spring, I need a new picture for summer. |
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Ah, Jess I am with you. I am re-starting (refocusing?) on the healthier-eating-losing-weight thing for like the millionth time. It’s definitely a love/hate relationship with my body. Be easy on yourself, you have been through a lot in the last couple years...and Bryce’s culinary skills do not necessarily help haha (But Lucky you, a man that’s a gourmet chef!!)
ReplyDeleteI agree restricting foods doesn’t work and isn’t the way, life is too damn short. Let’s agree to be sensible and mindful!! Wishing you all the luck with this, it is definitely one of the hardest things.
Those pics are gorgeous, so amazing that’s right in your backyard!
Ah yes, Chef Bryce is a blessing and a squishy curse! :) "Sensible and mindful," I love that. Good luck to you, and hopefully we can master this balance!
DeleteOh wow, walking around your neighbourhood looks wonderful! I have to pound the streets, though they offer nice views, but not as lovely as yours.
ReplyDeleteYes, six weeks on a couch doesn't help. You're like us - food is special in our house. (Which is why we deliberately didn't follow our eating plan when we were in Asia.) I do think freedom from a uterus allows us to embrace our bodies again. And strong - I love strong! Enjoy getting back in the swing of things, "strolling down the avenue." (... continuing your musical theme ...)
Ha, I love that you continued the musical theme! It is really lovely to be so out in nature, immediately. We had more of a neighborhood feeling, more houses everywhere, before -- this is quite soothing. Yes! food is special. I respect but don't understand people for whom food is just fuel, plain and simple.
DeleteIt's beautiful where you live! Thank you for sharing pictures. Here's to making friends with our bodies again!! <3 <3 <3
ReplyDeleteThank you! We feel ridiculously fortunate to have so much nature everywhere. I mean, we saw a freaking belted kingfisher around the corner from our house! Just chattering along, and sitting on the wire. Yes, here's to body friends!
DeleteYour neighborhood looks beautiful! i need to jump on the getting healthier train but since my 6 week surgery recovery it has been a slow start.
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing how a 6 week surgery recovery can set you back what feels like years. I hope you are recovering and taking care! The healthy train is hard to get on when you're weakened, necessarily, from recovery.
DeleteYour neighborhood is gorgeous. What a pretty place to walk!
ReplyDelete6 week surgery recovery is no fun at all - here's hoping now you get some opportunities to enjoy the scenery and good health!
Thank you! It's really crazy how quickly we can be in areas with absolutely no houses. It makes walks super soothing! And I keep discovering new wildlife and wildflowers... Here's to good health!
DeleteYour Pilates studio sounds fun, and your environs looks magical.
ReplyDeleteThank you! It is magical. Kind of funny to think that originally I wanted to live in a village or city neighborhood, and this is so opposite but so perfect. That Pilates studio is amazing! I am a huge fan of springs, and pretending to be a trapeze artist. :)
DeleteSounds to me like you are doing all the right things -- the number on the scale is secondary! Good for you!
ReplyDeleteWhat lovely walks there are around your area. Is tap dancing as fun as it looks?
ReplyDelete