Saturday, May 23, 2015

The Healthy Lifestyle I have Chosen

9+ years ago I decided to treat myself better.  My food choices were crazy & fitness was, well, there was no fitness.

I had also just had my 3rd child & knew there needed to be a change.  My oldest son had made a couple, very innocent comments about my weight.  Things.needed.to.change.

I started slowly with some walking dvd's (Leslie Sansone anyone?).  They were 20-30 minutes.  Totally doable with my homeschooling/new baby gig.

I also was taking things out of my diet due to problems for baby (breast feeding).  I started reading a book called "Body By God" by Dr Ben Lerner.  I felt strongly that he was right about his way of thinking.

"Your body is by God. God preprogrammed you to look great, have outrageous health, and experience incredible happiness. In the human body, God created a perfect design, equipped with all the organs, tissues, and cells necessary for health, production, and reproduction. The problem, asserts Dr. Ben Lerner, is when we as humans interfere with God's design for our bodies. Junk food, high-stress living, and neglecting exercise are just a few of the things we do to hinder our bodies' performance."

So, I was well on my way to my healthy lifestyle.  About a year after my 3rd child was born I had a reaction to some food.  We will call it the "fatal pudding incident".  This brought along - Ambulance, fire trucks, Epinephrine and an ER.  About 5 weeks later after being scared to death to eat anything, I found out I was allergic to ALL 3 THINGS IN THAT PUDDING along with a bunch of other things.  As the years go on I have become allergic to even more.

While that does make eating out difficult I have found a way.  I always offer to bring things to friends houses to eat & I have no problem letting restaurants know I have a list of allergies & would like to be able to enjoy my meal there.  They sent out the manager with the info I need & we are good to go.

As the years have gone on I have become addicted to my workout HIGH as I call it :)  I do workout 6 days a week giving myself a true day of REST on Sunday.  I may walk with my husband but I try to make sure I am giving this day to God & also letting my body rest from the work I have put it through during the week.  I also try to take a week here and there to just do less intense workouts as well.  Our bodies get stuck in ruts some times & we need to shake things up!!

My family (kids ages 19(married son), 16(son) & 9 (daughter) have all had their own journeys through this time of Mom getting healthy.

My oldest I call my drive-through/fast food son.   I didn't know any better.  He played baseball most of his life & he is a healthy adult now though & follows a healthy way of eating for the most part. He knows the benefit of drinking lots of water & eating a balanced diet.

My middle child also plays ball.  He knows the benefit of eating well & drinking lots of water but at this time is going through the teen sugar phase & just being a kid. 

My daughter inherited food allergies from me :(  She gets hives when she eats gluten & dairy (thankfully she isn't as allergic as I am to it though).   My boys suffer from acne almost from the time they hit puberty.  I have explained to my daughter that if she sticks with eating like she does & drinking lots of water that we can, hopefully, keep her from having the same issues.

Our family watches what we do.  They will eat what Mom/wife makes them.  I have reminded myself of that regularly. 

I have bad days.  The days that those thoughts get in my head that I will never be good enough.  I won't ever reach the goals I have set for myself.

You know what?  That is a lie.  I am fearfully & wonderfully made.  I was created in the image of my God & He knew exactly what He was doing!

This is a journey.  A life-long journey.  I am grateful you have chosen to follow along with me & maybe let me give you encouragement along the way or vice versa.

Be Blessed & Live Healthy!!


 

Monday, May 11, 2015

Surgery & Recovery

Feeling a little deja vu?  Yeah.  That is because just over a year ago I spoke about this same topic (here). Heck, it's even the same surgery (for the most part).

About 5 months ago I noticed some burning pain from my mid ab section out to my right side.  I chose to believe that it was all the new core work I had added into my routine.  Then about 2+ months ago & noticed the lump above my belly button.  Larger than last time.    

I called the dr's office that took care of me last time & talked with the nurse.  Got right in to see this doc.

First off - this doctor is the BOMB!!  He is the most gentle, understanding doctor.  He felt badly that the last surgery didn't last like we had hoped.  See, it's a hernia & when he originally saw it (over a year ago) he felt it was small enough to sew up & get out of there.  Boom, done. 

Well, if I had come home & changed my lifestyle maybe.  By change I mean stop the workouts like I do.  Yeah, NO.

Of course we didn't realize that at the time.  This time though it was larger & Doc knew a simple sew up wouldn't work.  This time we decided to use the mesh they use for these kinds of hernias.

He told me the recovery would be a bit harder than last time as this time the incision would be larger & of course he is putting something in there.  I would need to be careful during recovery.

He even took the time to ask me about my workouts.  Explained what I could do & when.  Told me how much he loves running & other stuff to keep fit.  He understood that recovery (sitting around not doing anything) would be hard.  Empathy.  That was important to me.

So, surgery happened.  

Recovery is still happening.

The 1st week was INTENSE.  The pain was just off the charts and the meds they gave me made me just way to dizzy & felt funny (and I was only taking 1/2 the dosage).  I opted for regular old Ibuprofen/Advil and was satisfied with the edge it took off the pain.

I let my family wait on me as much as possible.  By the 6th day or so I was really tired & done.  I felt like I was missing life.  I started doing some moving around the house.  Just standing & walking around.  I stood at the sink & washed a few things.  Stuff like that.  Just to get myself moving.  I graduated to lifted my little weights (they were neglected for a long time anyway) while I sat in the chair so I could elminate as much core work as possible with lifting them.  I walked in place & did butt kicks (lightly).  This got me ready to go for a walk with my walking group on Saturday morning - 12 days out from the surgery.  We got 2 relatively slow miles in and it felt GREAT!  My legs even told me so the next day. That made me happy.

I saw the Doc for my post op this morning & he said to go ahead & start more workouts but to be very careful as I am still healing.  He expects I will be back to my crazy stuff in 4 weeks time.

I like that goal.

I will continue to be careful as I really don't want to backtrack with this one.

I am feeling blessed to have my family that took care of my so well and friends that prayed & tried to help also.  My sister made me food that I could eat with no worries of allergies.  My husband did what he could while working etc.  I even had some girl time on day 3.  They both brought me a coffee & sat with me.  Knowing I needed a pick me up.  I love my family & friends.

Do you have a hard time accepting help during recovery times?  

Be Blessed & Live Healthy!!