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blood, sweat, and tears: part 16
Friday, September 16, 2011 at 8:33AM I hope you enjoyed hearing about my experience with bootcamp. People have asked if I'm still doing it, so I want to continue the story to give you the answer.
I was participating in bootcamp, getting my B12 injections weekly, taking my progesterone along with iron and my other vitamins and supplements. My endurance was improving so much. I have really struggled with my endurance even though I've always been active. I couldn't easily go for a 5 mile jog, in fact I never did. Running a few blocks got me winded and breathing hard. And it was frustrating to me that I couldn't do this since so many people seemed to enjoy jogging - and it appeared to come easily to them. So, I was extremely happy in bootcamp when I could run a mile around the track without stopping. I wasn't the lone straggler in the group, I was keeping up and doing well. I could feel my muscles getting stronger, even my abs, though I couldn't see them because of the layer of fat that was hell bent on protecting them.
I'm going to sidetrack here for a second and tell you about something else I was noticing about my body. I've told you about my stomach and my abs post-surgery. I've never been overweight, or bigger than a size six. In fact, before the surgery I was a size 4 (sometimes a 2). Though, as the tumors got bigger and more of them, the pants were getting a little tighter. But what I noticed around the time of the surgery and the months after was, of course, the change in my stomach, but also the fat that was having a love affair with my back - yes, back fat! There, I said it. I had fat around the center of my back and little love handles had formed around my waist. And don't remind me about my thighs. Though I was around a size 4 or 6, I've had inner thighs that I thought were larger than they should be for someone of my size. Truth be told, I've struggled for years with finding pants that fit me right, and not just because I have a curvy figure, but because my thighs wouldn't fit into the leg opening. Does that make any sense? It doesn't to me.
So, after doing bootcamp for the better part of a year, at least three or four times a week, burning hundreds of calories...I started to wonder why some of this fat wasn't coming off. I had already cleaned out my fridge and pantry and replaced with mostly all organic foods. I was stumped. During that time I had another appointment with the doctor to go over my current blood tests. My Vitamin D3 level was improving, my hemoglobin was improving, and my estrogen and progesterone were getting closer to be being balanced. My ferritin level was improving very slowly, if at all. And she did mention my triglycerides, which are a type of fat in the blood. Your body will take excess calories it doesn't need and turn them into triglycerides. I've never had issues with my blood pressure or cholesterol, but she mentioned that my tricglycerides were at 121, and they should be less than a 100. This was probably the first I had heard about triglycerides.
It was around this same time that I had finished reading Suzanne Somers' latest book, Sexy Forever. I know, the title might seem silly, but the book is excellent. I learned so much from it, and she has an eating plan and recipes in the back. The recipes sounded great, and were mainly foods I was already eating, but the difference was when and how to combine certain foods. If you read my post What's in Your Breakfast?, you will remember I told you about what my breakfast consisted of for years and how I was surprised at the amount of sugar, natural and processed, that I would consume first thing in the morning. I also told you about what my breakfast looks like these days - eggs with tomatoes, spinach, and black sesame seeds, or quinoa "oatmeal" with almond milk, agave nectar, and berries. Well, I decided to follow Suzanne's meal plan and for a couple of months I wrote down everything I ate during the day. This was when I stopped drinking orange juice. I told you that for years I started the day with a glass of orange juice. But I came to realize I needed to cut out the sugar I was consuming, especially in the morning.
Another month later, I had an appointment with the doctor to go over the latest blood results (this occurred every 12 weeks) and my triglycerides were now a 59 - from 121. I cut them in half! And it had everything to do with how I was eating. I told the doctor about my frustration with my fat and why it wasn't disappearing despite my exercising, good eating, and healthy lifestyle. I was about to find out the answer...
