A long, strange year

Blogger tells me I last posted in June 2014.  At that time, I was still really sick as a result of gastroparesis.  I'd stopped running, I'd stopped working out (such that I was), and I'd stopped eating anything resembling a balanced diet.

Skip forward a tad to August 2014, when the attacks suddenly stopped.  The only thing I did differently around that time was go off the pill.  Could be the reason, could be a contributing factor, could just be that this thing stopped as suddenly as it came on.  I still have nausea on a regular basis (usually in the mornings) but I haven't made a trip to the ER or the hospital since August 2014.

Between then and now, not much has changed in terms of healthy habits.  Still no running, no working out, no balanced diet.  Still maintaining a 35 pound weight loss, though I've lost all that muscle tone I had when I was running.  There's less of me to be jiggly, but what's left is soft.  And I'm less than 20 pounds from my goal weight.

Something needs to change.

That something is me.

Let's start with exercise.  I get in around 4,000 steps a day in my normal life.  I miss running.  Well, maybe not the actual physical process of running, which tends to involve a lot of early mornings and exertion, but the fitness I received from it, the friends I made, the feeling you get when you complete a run, and of course doing the races.  While I may not break any land-speed records ever, I do get to brag that I've run two marathons, about a dozen half marathons, and many, many 5Ks.  Most people I know will only run if on fire.  Since the beginning of 2014 I'm not even sure I would've run even then.

I've got a long way to go to get back into running on a regular basis.  My goal is to start with the Couch to 5K program.  I've got the app and everything.  I want to do a Monday-Wednesday-Friday schedule for this program so Monday is D Day.  Or maybe R Day.  My ultimate goal here is one more marathon.  I know I've got one more in me.  I also want to do Shamrock and Rock 'n Roll again.
I also want to get back into belly dancing.  Unfortunately there are pretty much no places for classes on the westside of town.  Pretty much everything is across the river or downtown, which makes getting to a 6:00 p.m. class nearly impossible when you work until 5:30 p.m.  I could start work earlier on those days, but traffic would still be tough and money is a factor.  So instead I ordered several DVDs plus a new coin belt (in purple!).  The core benefits you get from belly dancing are amazing, and it's fun to do.  I want to get really competent in the basics and then maybe I'll be in a position to take some intermediate or higher classes.

I am also determined to start doing yoga.  I like the idea of yoga more than actually doing it, but I need the flexibility you get from it.

Then there's weights.  I need muscle tone, especially in my sad, flabby arms.

As for food, I need to think on that some more.  There are some veggies I believe I should still avoid (high fiber ones like broccoli, cauliflower, and green beans) for GI purposes.  Salad needs to be eased back into.  That leaves mushrooms, cucumber, and carrots as my main veggies.  I may do a Whole 30 once I get used to eating veggies again (and fruit -- I seem determined to court a case a scurvy).  Again, lots of planning that needs to go into getting back into a balanced diet.

Of course now you're thinking "Wow!  That's really ambitious and you're setting yourself up for failure!"  Don't worry, I'm thinking that too.  So I'm going to be doing all this very, very slowly.  I should be able to do the C25K program for starters -- that's three days a week for 30 minutes per day.  Who can't do that?  Then I'll add in a cross training day per week, belly dancing or yoga, maybe in about a month.  Until then I'll do it randomly when the mood hits.  Again, belly dancing is really fun and there's cardio involved.  Yoga is relaxing.  It'll depend on my mood.

Food I'll be tweaking throughout.  I've got to get used to say having a sweet potato with dinner, or some carrots.  A real protein source.  Some fruit.  And then add from there.  God knows I've got enough cookbooks to do this.  I used to do it fairly well.  Just need to plan, plan, plan, plan, plan.

Well, that's me.  How have you all been doing?

Cheers,
the CilleyGirl