Making Progress to Improve Myself

In December, I joined a moms' fitness class called Body Back.  It's a program designed by Fit4Mom designed to improve moms' fitness and strength.  I've definitely gotten stronger and am making improvements in fitness and my nutrition.  More than that, I've found an amazing group of women.  I was so nervous the day when I went to my first class, but they were so supportive and encouraging.  Now, in my third session, I'm happy to call them friends.

My second session, and first 8-week session, wrapped up at the beginning of March.  Over the course of 8 weeks, I:

• lost 6.2% of my total body weight
• lost 2.5% of my chest measurement
• lost 6.5% of my waist measurement
• lost 3.4% of my hip measurement
• lost 3.6% of my thigh measurement
• lost 5.4% of my arm measurement

Those are the exciting body changes - and believe me, I'm excited about them - but it also comes with an increase in fitness:

• 43.9% increase in plank time
• 42.9% increase in situps
• 30.0% increase in pushups
• 19.4% increase in side plank

It's pretty amazing!!!  Our instructor definitely pushes us often past the point where I think I should stop.   Some workouts are just as much mental as physical. With results like this, you can see why that's important.

Increased sugar consumption linked to increase in diabetes rates

Interesting article in PLOS One (full article available free).  From the abstract:

Using econometric models of repeated cross-sectional data on diabetes and nutritional components of food from 175 countries, we found that every 150 kcal/person/day increase in sugar availability (about one can of soda/day) was associated with increased diabetes prevalence by 1.1% (p <0 .001) after testing for potential selection biases and controlling for other food types (including fibers, meats, fruits, oils, cereals), total calories, overweight and obesity, period-effects, and several socioeconomic variables such as aging, urbanization and income. No other food types yielded significant individual associations with diabetes prevalence after controlling for obesity and other confounders.

Editorial in the NY Times likens it to tobacco studies.

Will this make you think twice about your sugar consumption?  I know I am.  I know that I consume too much sugar and try to cut back. Sometimes having a kick in the pants like this can really help.

Operation: Lose the Baby Weight

Ok, technically, I've already lost the baby weight, since I only gained 15 pounds while pregnant and lost 12 of that from delivery.  However, a dear friend has informed me that I'm allowed to use the term "baby weight" until she's about 5.  (This is how you know who your good friend are.)  As such, I've decided to put in the effort and start losing weight and getting back to running.

I am not nearly brave enough to post my starting weight on a blog.  No way.

But, I am logging calories and workouts in my training log at BeginnerTriathlete.com.  I've been a member there since 2004 (!) when I decided to train for my very first triathlon.  It's great to get to compare my historical data and see how far I've come. I've also stopped drinking soda to try to cut out empty calories.  Note: this is not a stopping caffeine thing.  I tried that while I was pregnant.  I got massive migraines and I was grumpy.  No one likes that.  Plus, let's be honest, I have an almost-four-month old at home.  I need coffee.

While I am weighing myself every day, I'm mostly paying attention to the Monday weekly weigh-ins.  That gives me extra motivation to be good on the weekend.  :)

I started running yesterday and was able to take the baby for the first time! Her pediatrician recommended we wait until she was about four months old and had better head control.  Here we are ready to go:

It worked out pretty well.  The first few minutes were filled with looks like, "Mommy? What is going on?" and "Mommy? Why are you breathing so hard?".  But, after about 8 minutes, she fell asleep, so I am taking that as a sign that she likes it.  We ran a mile in a little under 15 minutes.  Not too bad for our first run together!

I'll keep you posted on the progress!

Allergy Testing

I went in for a visit to an allergist today so that I could be allergy tested.  It's been about 8 years since the last one and I thought I had developed new allergies.  5 minutes of torture later, it was clear that I had.

• Grasses: Johnson, Bermuda
• Weeds: ragweed
• Trees: walnut, oak, elm, birch (the worst), maple
• Dust: D. farinae
• Mold: Alternaria, Hormodend, Aspergillus
• Food: soybean, peanut, hazelnut, almonds

Based on the extent of nut allergies, he recommended that I eliminate all nuts and carry an epi-pen all the time.  Fun stuff.

He also recommended the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network website as a good source of info on food allergies.  It's already been helpful!  For example, I learned that most people with peanut allergies can still eat food cooked in peanut oil, which is pretty cool.  That means I can still go to Five Guys and Chickfila!

Going Gluten Free

Over the past year and a half, I've had a lot of GI problems. Mostly unexplained abdominal pain, but I also had my gallbladder removed in October 2009. I've had every GI test people can think of - endoscopy, colonoscopy, GI series, CAT scan, and blood tests.

My endocrinologist suggested testing me (again) for Celiac disease last fall. He ran both IgG and IgA and I was positive for both. However, he said it was in the normal range and not to worry about it.

I'm still having the pain, although less so, 3 months after gallbaldder surgery. To that end, I decided to try going gluten free for awhile (at least one month) to see if it helps. This started January 14. It's been tough so far. It's hard to figure out what has gluten and what doesn't. I'm learning slowly and have friends who have given advice.

Three days in, I haven't noticed much of a difference, but that's to be expected.