I haven't been in to update for a few days. I have been super busy!! I get weeks like this where I am constantly on the go for several days, then it settles down a bit. I am so glad. I am not sure how I would handle it if I didn't have a day to rest in there somewhere. I was really in a lot of pain last night.
My knee started to hurt Tuesday night. I usually blame the weather. My last winter in Canada, I slipped on ice and hyper extended both knees. Since then one or the other of my knees would give me issues, especially if there was a change in weather, and our weather this past week has been a roller coaster. On Friday, because both Kris and I were in a bit of a hurry, we decided to do a short yoga class, standing. I agreed to do what I could with a sore knee, and interestingly enough, it didn't hurt much at all. I even did some tree poses, and balanced for a few seconds. Yay!! I can balance for a few seconds!! Where it started to hurt was doing a few of the stretches. So we stopped when the knee said to. It was all fine.
I spent quite a bit of time on cement on Saturday and on Sunday I went shopping for flooring at Lowe's and then to an open house and then grocery shopping. Lowe's kills me. I do not have to walk far in their store before I hurt, even when I don't have any pre-existing pain. I don't want to come down hard on Lowe's, I think its any big warehouse type store that would do it to me. And then to do two other things after that.. well last night I was not walking very well. My knee hurt to put any weight on it at all. I hobbled to bed early and slept through the night, woke up this morning and it was fine. I am physically very tired today, and today is a rest day, just doing a bit of laundry, the yoga I didn't get done yesterday, and if I feel up to it later I will do some prep work for the renovations. Maybe some computer work. But I was very tired so I got up and sat down. And while I was sitting my knee started aching. When I got up and did some moving around again, the pain subsided. I don't know what is going on with this knee. Tomorrow I go to alt med. Maybe Randy will have an idea.
On Wednesday I had a horrible horrible headache. It felt like a detox headache. In natural health, when you draw toxins from your cells into the blood stream to be removed from your body through kidneys, bowels, skin and lungs, utilizing the lymph system, sometimes you get sick. Often you get these headaches. Or at least, I do. I haven't done anything differently to cause any extra detoxing in my body except the yoga. I know that yoga can realign your body's energy meridians and open up chakras and such, so I wondered if it can have a detox effect, so I asked Kris and she told me she believed it can.
I also went searching and I found this site Yoga Detox. So what we are doing, even the modified version, is getting those systems moving in my body and getting some detoxification happening. I look forward to some day being able to do the other detox poses she talks about in the article. (I do a modified version of downward dog now). For now, what we are doing is obviously doing some work on that part of my healing now. Pushing it is not necessarily what I want to do. Too much detoxing at one time can be extremely painful and uncomfortable. And if the elimination organs aren't functioning at 100% too much detox can cause blockages there.
Last night I had a huge coughing spell. Still not completely over the crud, and Saturday night I spent quite a lot of time outside so yesterday I did a LOT of coughing. When I didn't know if I would be able to stop coughing last night, I did yoga breathing. It stopped the coughing enough for me to get to sleep, and then I slept well. So YAY for yoga!! All the good its doing for me, and its only been just over two weeks. :)
Namaste
Monday, February 25, 2013
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
My First At-Home Yoga Practice Session
One of my goals for this week is to do my two classes a week with Kris, and to do yoga at home twice. Today is already Wednesday and I figured I would do it and get it out of the way. I can tell you that yesterday's new pose, a modified form of the Dancer really woke up some muscles in my legs and they were complaining mightily this morning. But I did not let that deter me from putting to use what I was learning.
I began with breathing and did some of the modified chair stretches we had been doing and then I did some of the standing ones. There were some stretches and poses I didn't remember completely, but I did everything I could remember. My legs maybe weren't as strong as they were yesterday, but I did see some balancing improvement for a few seconds. I am really encouraged. Balancing on one foot or rolling up onto my toes with the amount of weight I carry was not something I was even really willing to try. I am beginning to believe that anything is possible. Tomorrow I rest, let my legs recuperate in time to do another class with Kris on Friday.
Now on to do my walking goal. Before Christmas and during the Christmas season I was doing 5000 steps a day and any day I was out shopping I was getting to 6000, 7000, or more. When I got sick after Christmas those steps fell way down. And for some reason last week I was really hard pressed to get to 3000 steps. Well now that I am mostly over the congestion and coughing I decided it was time to get back to where I was at before. So I set the goal for this week to 5000 every day again. Well.. its Wednesday and I have yet to meet that goal. So I am going to push for it. Here I come, house laps!! Of course, it would help if I would remember the dang pedometer. It's an app on my phone and I have this horrible habit that if I take my phone out of my pocket for some reason, like-- to answer it... I set it down when I am done and forget to put it back in my pocket. I am working on that. It's really hard to figure out how many steps you have taken when there is no pedometer in use. And it isn't counting my steps when it is sitting on my desk.
The pedometer app I use and really like is accupedo for my droid. It's free, but you can also pay a small fee to get the pro version which gives you more functions. But with the free one, it tracks my steps, archives them so I can look back and see what I did yesterday and the day before that and last month... and that's all that matters to me. There are other functions in the free version too, but really I don't use them. I like free. :)
Well, since I have a way to go yet to meet my step goal, and I can't walk while I type, I am going to say good bye for now.
Namaste!
I began with breathing and did some of the modified chair stretches we had been doing and then I did some of the standing ones. There were some stretches and poses I didn't remember completely, but I did everything I could remember. My legs maybe weren't as strong as they were yesterday, but I did see some balancing improvement for a few seconds. I am really encouraged. Balancing on one foot or rolling up onto my toes with the amount of weight I carry was not something I was even really willing to try. I am beginning to believe that anything is possible. Tomorrow I rest, let my legs recuperate in time to do another class with Kris on Friday.
Now on to do my walking goal. Before Christmas and during the Christmas season I was doing 5000 steps a day and any day I was out shopping I was getting to 6000, 7000, or more. When I got sick after Christmas those steps fell way down. And for some reason last week I was really hard pressed to get to 3000 steps. Well now that I am mostly over the congestion and coughing I decided it was time to get back to where I was at before. So I set the goal for this week to 5000 every day again. Well.. its Wednesday and I have yet to meet that goal. So I am going to push for it. Here I come, house laps!! Of course, it would help if I would remember the dang pedometer. It's an app on my phone and I have this horrible habit that if I take my phone out of my pocket for some reason, like-- to answer it... I set it down when I am done and forget to put it back in my pocket. I am working on that. It's really hard to figure out how many steps you have taken when there is no pedometer in use. And it isn't counting my steps when it is sitting on my desk.
The pedometer app I use and really like is accupedo for my droid. It's free, but you can also pay a small fee to get the pro version which gives you more functions. But with the free one, it tracks my steps, archives them so I can look back and see what I did yesterday and the day before that and last month... and that's all that matters to me. There are other functions in the free version too, but really I don't use them. I like free. :)
Well, since I have a way to go yet to meet my step goal, and I can't walk while I type, I am going to say good bye for now.
Namaste!
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Changes and Inspiration
Kris posted a very inspirational video to my facebook page this morning and I really want to share it. Unfortunately I don't know how, so I am sharing the link. Inspirational Transformation Video And it really is inspirational. I was touched by it and it gave me hope that yes, I can do it. In class today I tried to give it a little extra push. I didn't want to go so much that I fell down, because getting up for me is a huge challenge and I am not quite ready for that yet, but I did push to balance without holding onto the ledge a little bit, and I found that I can balance for a few seconds. I was thrilled!! Improvement already. And I don't even care whether the improvement is in my actual muscle tone and balance or if it is an improvement in my feelings of fear. It is still an improvement.
My goal for this week is to do the two yoga sessions with Kris and two yoga sessions at home.
The other thing I wanted to mention today was about eating. Over the course of my life I have tried many different eating plans. When I went vegan, I became very anemic and my doctor told me I need meat. So I went back to meat. I also found out I am allergic to soy, so I went back to dairy. It is true that every individual is different and what is good for one person's body may not be good for another. Over time I have discovered I do better without wheat. It's not the gluten that seems to bother me, its specifically wheat. If I stay away from wheat, the water retention is less and my knees hurt less and so I am able to move more. I still have some once in a while, but I save it as a treat. The other thing I need to save for a treat is anything with sugar in it. Being insulin resistant, eating low glycemic foods keeps me from crossing over that thin line to diabetes. So when I am being good and on the ball, I tend to eat low glycemic foods with a few medium glycemic foods, and the occasional "treat" that is higher in sugar content. I stay away from anything with wheat in it, I drink lots and lots of water, and I eat whole foods, not convenience foods or processed foods. I find many processed foods have wheat, sugar, and salt in them, none of which do my body much good. Recently we began getting fruits and vegetables (and breads for my son and husband) through the Bountiful Baskets co-op. This came into being when we were looking for ways to cut back our grocery bill. We are blessed with Jesse, our 16 year old son, who has a voracious appetite and who does not gain weight no matter what we do to him. (If only that was contagious). So we need to let him eat but the cost of food is outrageous anymore. I want to start my own garden but unfortunately the last few summers I have not been healthy enough to get out and tend it, so what we have tried to start never reached fruition. Bountiful Baskets was recommended to us by Kevin's business partner and close friend. For 15 dollars a month, a contributor to the co-op receives 50% fruits and 50% vegetables, all good quality and valued at approximately 50 dollars. For an additional $10 we can make our basket an organic one. Then they have addons-- not always organice, but some of them are-- Its an amazing deal. We love it. It is a volunteer organization and is quite popular in many states. The link is Bountiful Baskets. I will add it to my recommended links on the side bar as well. With this help we have gone from sometimes organic fruits and veggies when I can get them to almost always organic. We also purchase our meat from a local farmer that we know for sure allows the animals to graze in wide open fields, who isn't certified organic, but does his best to use the bare minimum required antibiotics etc. and no growth hormones. It is the best meat as far as taste and fat content that we have every had. It is worth it to go looking for someone such as this from which to get your meat.
Anyway, when we started with Bountiful Baskets, the organic produce really put our bodies into a detox mode. Over Christmas we had a few weeks where we did not get the baskets and the difference at that time was incredible. Where I had become regular and my body was definitely removing a lot of garbage from my system, over the holidays and until we could get our baskets again my irritable bowel started acting up, and other health issues which were lessening increased again. I never would have believed that the one switch to organic produce would do that much for a body, but it did. Here is a tip I heard somewhere... if you can only afford some organic, choose to foods that do not have peels to buy as organic. Oranges and bananas can be washed and peeled and that alone can reduce a lot of the toxins that you find in non-organic varieties. Things like lettuce and tomatoes, apples, pears, etc. are harder to remove the toxins from. it made sense to me. :)
So there we have it. Be inspired to make some changes. I am every day. And the more I can find to inspire me to keep making the changes, the more successful this journey is going to be.
Namaste
My goal for this week is to do the two yoga sessions with Kris and two yoga sessions at home.
The other thing I wanted to mention today was about eating. Over the course of my life I have tried many different eating plans. When I went vegan, I became very anemic and my doctor told me I need meat. So I went back to meat. I also found out I am allergic to soy, so I went back to dairy. It is true that every individual is different and what is good for one person's body may not be good for another. Over time I have discovered I do better without wheat. It's not the gluten that seems to bother me, its specifically wheat. If I stay away from wheat, the water retention is less and my knees hurt less and so I am able to move more. I still have some once in a while, but I save it as a treat. The other thing I need to save for a treat is anything with sugar in it. Being insulin resistant, eating low glycemic foods keeps me from crossing over that thin line to diabetes. So when I am being good and on the ball, I tend to eat low glycemic foods with a few medium glycemic foods, and the occasional "treat" that is higher in sugar content. I stay away from anything with wheat in it, I drink lots and lots of water, and I eat whole foods, not convenience foods or processed foods. I find many processed foods have wheat, sugar, and salt in them, none of which do my body much good. Recently we began getting fruits and vegetables (and breads for my son and husband) through the Bountiful Baskets co-op. This came into being when we were looking for ways to cut back our grocery bill. We are blessed with Jesse, our 16 year old son, who has a voracious appetite and who does not gain weight no matter what we do to him. (If only that was contagious). So we need to let him eat but the cost of food is outrageous anymore. I want to start my own garden but unfortunately the last few summers I have not been healthy enough to get out and tend it, so what we have tried to start never reached fruition. Bountiful Baskets was recommended to us by Kevin's business partner and close friend. For 15 dollars a month, a contributor to the co-op receives 50% fruits and 50% vegetables, all good quality and valued at approximately 50 dollars. For an additional $10 we can make our basket an organic one. Then they have addons-- not always organice, but some of them are-- Its an amazing deal. We love it. It is a volunteer organization and is quite popular in many states. The link is Bountiful Baskets. I will add it to my recommended links on the side bar as well. With this help we have gone from sometimes organic fruits and veggies when I can get them to almost always organic. We also purchase our meat from a local farmer that we know for sure allows the animals to graze in wide open fields, who isn't certified organic, but does his best to use the bare minimum required antibiotics etc. and no growth hormones. It is the best meat as far as taste and fat content that we have every had. It is worth it to go looking for someone such as this from which to get your meat.
Anyway, when we started with Bountiful Baskets, the organic produce really put our bodies into a detox mode. Over Christmas we had a few weeks where we did not get the baskets and the difference at that time was incredible. Where I had become regular and my body was definitely removing a lot of garbage from my system, over the holidays and until we could get our baskets again my irritable bowel started acting up, and other health issues which were lessening increased again. I never would have believed that the one switch to organic produce would do that much for a body, but it did. Here is a tip I heard somewhere... if you can only afford some organic, choose to foods that do not have peels to buy as organic. Oranges and bananas can be washed and peeled and that alone can reduce a lot of the toxins that you find in non-organic varieties. Things like lettuce and tomatoes, apples, pears, etc. are harder to remove the toxins from. it made sense to me. :)
So there we have it. Be inspired to make some changes. I am every day. And the more I can find to inspire me to keep making the changes, the more successful this journey is going to be.
Namaste
Saturday, February 16, 2013
The Tim Conway Old Man Shuffle
Yesterday was an amazing day. When you sit back and watch scenes where people do yoga on tv or in movies, it looks pretty effortless. I figured I couldn't do yoga because of my size, trying to get into the positions. I was wrong, that is not the hard part. I viewed yoga as a relaxing, meditative thing, which it is... but... or should I say BUT when you are as out of shape as I am (maybe even if you are in shape, I don't know, haven't been in shape in a long long time), holding those poses really takes work. And muscle. And I have to say I am feeling many more of those newly awakened muscles today. Surprisingly, not the ones I thought I would feel.
I have a 40 minute drive home after yoga, during which time my newly awakened muscles like to stiffen up on me. So last night as I did the Tim Conway Old Man Shuffle (exaggerated for effect, of course) through my family room, I asserted to my friend Cheryl that yoga is good for me. We laughed about it. No pain, no gain. And once again, I guess I can't really call it pain. Discomfort maybe. The muscles in my back are what have tightened up today and on a scale of 1 to 10 are probably only really about a 3, so not much pain. Not as much as I am used to feeling. And I have to remember this is first thing in the morning, my back is usually at least this tight when I first get up. I sleep oddly sometimes and my back likes to be very vocal about letting me know that. I can't work on my core in yoga and not feel those muscles in my back.
What surprises me is that the muscles that were yelling at me, unhappy about being wakened during the class were my shoulders. My arms are heavy. Between the pounds of excess fat and the retained water, they are pretty heavy limbs. So my shoulder muscles were working hard to keep my arms in the warrior poses. I thought for sure those ones would be the ones hurting this morning, but nope. The muscles doing the complaining are in my mid and lower back. Good. Get that core woken up! This body has slept for far too long! It's time to wake up, get moving, and make something of itself!!
Another plus from yesterday is that I met my walking goal. I always feel good when I do that. I wasn't meeting it very often over the last 7 weeks while I have been sick with the crud that's going around and around and around. I just simply ran out of breath too quickly. I think I am finally shaking the crud. (knock wood). So now I am not running out of breath so quickly and I can get back to my walking goal too.I love meeting goals!!
Today, not sure how much walking I will get in... I get to sit in meetings all day. But it will be fun. This group of people usually are. And I am going to try really hard to get a good yoga practice in at home. I say that every day and so far the most I have fit in has been some yogic breathing or maybe a few stretches. But after sitting in meetings all day I think I will be doing myself a huge favour by trying to do a whole little session at home, doing the things I remember.
I am on the lookout for a yoga ball. I am not sure the exercise ball I have had since they first came out is going to hold my weight now. Oh, static weight, sure, but not dynamic weight. And much as it is an anti-burst ball, I still don't want to land flat on my assets while I am in the middle of the sitting something or other pose. I know that there are balls out there that will hold my dynamic weight. I am thinking that will solve the problem of getting my hips in the right position for the sit down portion of the yoga class until I can get up and down off the floor. In the meantime, my son can continue to go ahead and sit on this other ball I have, even though he is getting to be too tall for it.
Well, time to do the old man shuffle back to the kitchen to get myself some breakfast. I am awake now. It's probably more the middle aged out-of-shape woman shuffle now. I am looking forward to being able to do the guess-my-age skip through life. It's coming. I can feel it. :)
Namaste
I have a 40 minute drive home after yoga, during which time my newly awakened muscles like to stiffen up on me. So last night as I did the Tim Conway Old Man Shuffle (exaggerated for effect, of course) through my family room, I asserted to my friend Cheryl that yoga is good for me. We laughed about it. No pain, no gain. And once again, I guess I can't really call it pain. Discomfort maybe. The muscles in my back are what have tightened up today and on a scale of 1 to 10 are probably only really about a 3, so not much pain. Not as much as I am used to feeling. And I have to remember this is first thing in the morning, my back is usually at least this tight when I first get up. I sleep oddly sometimes and my back likes to be very vocal about letting me know that. I can't work on my core in yoga and not feel those muscles in my back.
What surprises me is that the muscles that were yelling at me, unhappy about being wakened during the class were my shoulders. My arms are heavy. Between the pounds of excess fat and the retained water, they are pretty heavy limbs. So my shoulder muscles were working hard to keep my arms in the warrior poses. I thought for sure those ones would be the ones hurting this morning, but nope. The muscles doing the complaining are in my mid and lower back. Good. Get that core woken up! This body has slept for far too long! It's time to wake up, get moving, and make something of itself!!
Another plus from yesterday is that I met my walking goal. I always feel good when I do that. I wasn't meeting it very often over the last 7 weeks while I have been sick with the crud that's going around and around and around. I just simply ran out of breath too quickly. I think I am finally shaking the crud. (knock wood). So now I am not running out of breath so quickly and I can get back to my walking goal too.I love meeting goals!!
Today, not sure how much walking I will get in... I get to sit in meetings all day. But it will be fun. This group of people usually are. And I am going to try really hard to get a good yoga practice in at home. I say that every day and so far the most I have fit in has been some yogic breathing or maybe a few stretches. But after sitting in meetings all day I think I will be doing myself a huge favour by trying to do a whole little session at home, doing the things I remember.
I am on the lookout for a yoga ball. I am not sure the exercise ball I have had since they first came out is going to hold my weight now. Oh, static weight, sure, but not dynamic weight. And much as it is an anti-burst ball, I still don't want to land flat on my assets while I am in the middle of the sitting something or other pose. I know that there are balls out there that will hold my dynamic weight. I am thinking that will solve the problem of getting my hips in the right position for the sit down portion of the yoga class until I can get up and down off the floor. In the meantime, my son can continue to go ahead and sit on this other ball I have, even though he is getting to be too tall for it.
Well, time to do the old man shuffle back to the kitchen to get myself some breakfast. I am awake now. It's probably more the middle aged out-of-shape woman shuffle now. I am looking forward to being able to do the guess-my-age skip through life. It's coming. I can feel it. :)
Namaste
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Surprise!!
I am titling this post Surprise!! Because I surprised both Kris and I in class yesterday by being able to do a whole lot more than I expected. She is awesome at modifying some of the poses so that I can do them and is really working hard to find ways for me to be able to do Yoga. It makes me want to work harder to do it.
So yesterday in class we did a whole lot of stretching, and I felt it pretty quickly after I got home. By bedtime I was feeling every muscle in my body, I am sure. For non yoga reasons, namely congestion from the cold I was fighting, I did not sleep well and I woke up at 2am and was unable to get back to sleep in bed. I was just too congested. So I got up and went to my recliner (also known as my sleeping chair because I fall asleep in it all the time) and I was pretty stiff. I still didn't sleep much once I was in my chair, but the muscle pain went away in all but two muscles. Today I could still feel my left hip and my back, by my shoulder blades.
Kris explained it to me this way. It's not really pain. (She's right) It's more that I am actually feeling a muscle that hasn't been used in a while, if ever. So I am aware of the muscle where I wasn't before. It makes perfect sense to me. I am loving this yoga class and Kris' instruction.
I meant to do some practice today, but I got busy working on some things that needed doing in other areas of my life and forgot all about it. It will take me some practice to get used to adding yoga into my daily routine. I will get there.
So in the meantime I will keep this blog entry short and sweet. My goal is to practice the yoga moves I am learning at home also, twice this week. I believe in those baby steps and I will get there.
Namaste
So yesterday in class we did a whole lot of stretching, and I felt it pretty quickly after I got home. By bedtime I was feeling every muscle in my body, I am sure. For non yoga reasons, namely congestion from the cold I was fighting, I did not sleep well and I woke up at 2am and was unable to get back to sleep in bed. I was just too congested. So I got up and went to my recliner (also known as my sleeping chair because I fall asleep in it all the time) and I was pretty stiff. I still didn't sleep much once I was in my chair, but the muscle pain went away in all but two muscles. Today I could still feel my left hip and my back, by my shoulder blades.
Kris explained it to me this way. It's not really pain. (She's right) It's more that I am actually feeling a muscle that hasn't been used in a while, if ever. So I am aware of the muscle where I wasn't before. It makes perfect sense to me. I am loving this yoga class and Kris' instruction.
I meant to do some practice today, but I got busy working on some things that needed doing in other areas of my life and forgot all about it. It will take me some practice to get used to adding yoga into my daily routine. I will get there.
So in the meantime I will keep this blog entry short and sweet. My goal is to practice the yoga moves I am learning at home also, twice this week. I believe in those baby steps and I will get there.
Namaste
Saturday, February 9, 2013
A New Beginning
Welcome to my new blog. My journey to wellness has been going on for some time now. This is a new beginning after quite a large setback in that journey and I plan to share my experiences as I embark on a new and exciting wellness plan. Along with my wonderful naturopathic team at Alt Med in Black Hawk, SD, I am beginning yoga with Kris Van Deusen at Yoga One in Rapid City. Words can't express how excited I am about the yoga. I really and truly believed that until I dropped some weight I would not be able to participate in yoga. Kris taught me otherwise.
I will begin with a little history. My weight is my main issue and many of my other health conditions are complications of the obesity. I was a "chunky" baby, as my mom used to say. My biological mom was diabetic and the believe after years of research into the situation as an adult, is that I was born with an overabundance of insulin. My bio mom had many insulin reactions while pregnant with me. Added to the situation was the fact that I was carried longer than a diabetic baby should be carried. Something about the baby developing faster than a non-diabetic's baby. 47 years ago in small town Saskatchewan mistakes were made and my mother was waiting on the doctors to tell her when I should be induced, and the doctors figured she should come to them when she was ready... How they expected a 17 year old on her first pregnancy to know when that time was, I am not sure, but that's a question and a story for another time.
Until the age of 7 I was at the high end of normal for my weight/height ratio. So I guess "chunky" is a good word for it. When I was 7 my dad passed away suddenly in an accident and much later in therapy we decided that I suffered from some abandonment issues. I began to put on a little more weight then. I was never an athletic type and preferred reading to any other activity so the extra pounds crept on little by little. By the time I was in junior high school and high school I was heavy enough to be bullied and teased for my weight and that was when I began to seek comfort from my friend, carbohydrates. It was in high school that I began to sneak food. In my senior year I weighed 170 lbs but lost 21 lbs through a very strict diet where I went in daily to weigh in and receive that day's worth of supplements because the diet was so restrictive that i required supplements to get all of my nutrition. I lost 21 lbs and graduated, weighing in at about 150 lbs. On a 5'2 frame that is still pretty heavy.
Then I went to college. Oh, college life... the parties, the alcohol, the poor food choices, the lack of sleep, the stress I placed upon myself with my studies... I ballooned up past 200 lbs that first year. And then it began. A consistent weight gain over the years. It was only a couple pounds a month, so hardly noticeable at the time. Until I finally stepped on a scale again in my late 30's and discovered that what I thought might be 260 lbs on my body was over 300. That was when I decided I had to start making changes. I was still healthy for the most part. I had developed asthma and an emotional disorder which were both controlled with medication. I sought out a life skills coach who helped me to become aware of things I was stuffing away and to become aware of my lifestyle and my choices. I made huge progress in my area but the weight alluded me. Doctors were stumped. I had changed my way of eating and it wasn't perfect, but it was far better than it had been. Tests for thyroid issues came back normal. All my tests came back normal. My doctor once told me that on paper I shouldn't be overweight. I had spent time in therapy and dealt with the abandonment issues and some abuse issues that took place during my college years. I healed emotionally so that I was able to go off of those medications. My life skills coach was wonderful and helped me so much during that time.
I met my husband in this time period and although I tried to drop weight before the wedding, like most brides do, I didn't have a lot of success with it. We married when I was 38 and with him being an American and me being Canadian I went through the immigration process to join him. It took two years. During that time I continued to work and my weight was beginning to make things difficult for me, though not impossible. During that last winter in Canada I slipped on some ice leaving work one night and hyperextended both knees. Since then I have had issues with my knees and what little walking I did became less because it hurt if my knees were acting up.
I finally had enough and began to work with the team at Alt Med in Black Hawk when I was 43. With their help I managed to heal my lungs so that I no longer had issues with asthma. But I learned what some of the other health problems were. My liver was overtaxed and not functioning properly. Some chest pain that I often got off and on and doctors would tell me was an inflammation of my chest wall actually was an inflammation in the endocardium (wall of the heart). They told me that my body wasn't letting go of the weight because it wasn't healthy enough to yet. But we would get there. Then we got kids.
Ny weight kept me from conceiving, so my husband and I decided to foster and adopt. Because of my experience working with adults and children with developmental disabilities and abnormal behaviours we decided to foster and adopt a therapeutic child, one who has a need for continued therapy at home as well as with a therapist. Jesse joined us at the age of 12 and the stress increased immensely. And my weight started to increase too. All that time I had continued to hover around the 300-320 weight, losing and gaining the same 20 lbs over and over. Then I climbed to 360 lbs. Then 380. I started to really focus on weight loss and again lost and gained the same 20 lbs over and over. After Jesse's adoption two years later, things were going very well. We decided in 2010 to try working with his biological sister and see if the two could be reunited. Jesse's sister joined our family in the early spring of 2011. Things did not work out. The stress in the house increased so that we all were ill all the time. Mine was worst. I caught every flu bug going that year. I was ill with the avian flu, followed closely by the swing flu, followed by a flu bug in my trapezoid muscle (and if you don't know how much you use that muscle, I can tell you, it is used in just about every move you make... the pain and stiffness was so bad I was pretty much paralyzed by it for two weeks). Then I got a relapse of both the avian flu and the swine flu. I was just coming out of all of that when, in October, a good friend of the family committed suicide. The foster placement with Jesse's sister disrupted in early November. And I stepped on the scale and weighed over 400 lbs. I was crushed. I asked my naturopath why when everyone else is sick with the flu they lose weight, but I gained. He did some tests and found that my body was completely depleted of iodine. Apparently the immune system also uses iodine and when it ran out of its stores, it took from the thyroid, throwing me effectively into a hypothyroid state. So I am on iodine supplements all the time now. I was just starting to feel good again when my worst nightmare came true. My mom passed away in December.
2012 was a very emotional year for me. I managed to hold my own with my weight, neither gaining any more nor losing. I started a walking program, adopting what I call "the baby steps" mantra. In the past I would go gung ho for exercise and do too much too fast, get sore and have to stop and then not get motivated to go again. This time I started slowly, walking around my house. I increased my time weekly by one minute each week. Soon I was walking for half an hour. When spring came I started walking outside and began to measure my walks in distance. Then I found an app for my phone that has a wonderful pedometer on it and I started measuring by steps and distance. I had a set back in September when I tripped and fell, doing soft tissue damage to my leg and damaging the lymphatic system in that leg. Edema is a huge issue for me and the walking had started to get that under control. With this damage it came back, I became sedentary while it healed, and have only just started getting back to where I was at before the injury. Over Christmas I decided to just let myself have what I wanted. It was the comfort thing, having just come through the first anniversary of my mom's passing. I gained 5 lbs over Christmas.
So far this year, my whole family has been ill with the cold viruses, passing them back and forth despite our attempts to keep them at bay. I am finally feeling better and Kris' suggestion couldn't have come at a better time.
I met Kris in 2010 through work. I quit the job shortly into it when we decided we would try to foster Jesse's sister. When Kris contacted me about a yoga group she would like to start for larger women, I was thrilled, but knowing my limitations, I didn't think I could participate well doing yoga. She read my story and suggested independent lessons. I jumped at the chance and here we are.
Yesterday was my first yoga class with Kris. She is so easy to work with and is willing to go with the baby step mantra that I follow. She truly cares and wants to help people. I feel so blessed and I know that our short "business" relationship was there so that she could be a part of my healing journey when the time was right. That time is now. God and the Universe is so wise!!
I didn't know what to expect, but Kris worked with me on what I could do. We discovered that my upper body is still pretty flexible and we did breathing and some stretches. I stiffened up a few hours later and thought I would be in for it this morning, but you know, I feel pretty good. I felt wonderful immediately after the class and I am thrilled that I don't have the pain I expected this morning. Don't get me wrong, I feel it. I know that those gentle stretches worked my arms, back, shoulders and even my legs (despite sitting the whole time, my legs do feel it). I have some stiffness in those muscles but not to the point where I am unable to move today. I am so looking forward to all the little milestones I am going to reach with Yoga. And I look forward to sharing each and every one of them here with you.
Namaste
I will begin with a little history. My weight is my main issue and many of my other health conditions are complications of the obesity. I was a "chunky" baby, as my mom used to say. My biological mom was diabetic and the believe after years of research into the situation as an adult, is that I was born with an overabundance of insulin. My bio mom had many insulin reactions while pregnant with me. Added to the situation was the fact that I was carried longer than a diabetic baby should be carried. Something about the baby developing faster than a non-diabetic's baby. 47 years ago in small town Saskatchewan mistakes were made and my mother was waiting on the doctors to tell her when I should be induced, and the doctors figured she should come to them when she was ready... How they expected a 17 year old on her first pregnancy to know when that time was, I am not sure, but that's a question and a story for another time.
Until the age of 7 I was at the high end of normal for my weight/height ratio. So I guess "chunky" is a good word for it. When I was 7 my dad passed away suddenly in an accident and much later in therapy we decided that I suffered from some abandonment issues. I began to put on a little more weight then. I was never an athletic type and preferred reading to any other activity so the extra pounds crept on little by little. By the time I was in junior high school and high school I was heavy enough to be bullied and teased for my weight and that was when I began to seek comfort from my friend, carbohydrates. It was in high school that I began to sneak food. In my senior year I weighed 170 lbs but lost 21 lbs through a very strict diet where I went in daily to weigh in and receive that day's worth of supplements because the diet was so restrictive that i required supplements to get all of my nutrition. I lost 21 lbs and graduated, weighing in at about 150 lbs. On a 5'2 frame that is still pretty heavy.
Then I went to college. Oh, college life... the parties, the alcohol, the poor food choices, the lack of sleep, the stress I placed upon myself with my studies... I ballooned up past 200 lbs that first year. And then it began. A consistent weight gain over the years. It was only a couple pounds a month, so hardly noticeable at the time. Until I finally stepped on a scale again in my late 30's and discovered that what I thought might be 260 lbs on my body was over 300. That was when I decided I had to start making changes. I was still healthy for the most part. I had developed asthma and an emotional disorder which were both controlled with medication. I sought out a life skills coach who helped me to become aware of things I was stuffing away and to become aware of my lifestyle and my choices. I made huge progress in my area but the weight alluded me. Doctors were stumped. I had changed my way of eating and it wasn't perfect, but it was far better than it had been. Tests for thyroid issues came back normal. All my tests came back normal. My doctor once told me that on paper I shouldn't be overweight. I had spent time in therapy and dealt with the abandonment issues and some abuse issues that took place during my college years. I healed emotionally so that I was able to go off of those medications. My life skills coach was wonderful and helped me so much during that time.
I met my husband in this time period and although I tried to drop weight before the wedding, like most brides do, I didn't have a lot of success with it. We married when I was 38 and with him being an American and me being Canadian I went through the immigration process to join him. It took two years. During that time I continued to work and my weight was beginning to make things difficult for me, though not impossible. During that last winter in Canada I slipped on some ice leaving work one night and hyperextended both knees. Since then I have had issues with my knees and what little walking I did became less because it hurt if my knees were acting up.
I finally had enough and began to work with the team at Alt Med in Black Hawk when I was 43. With their help I managed to heal my lungs so that I no longer had issues with asthma. But I learned what some of the other health problems were. My liver was overtaxed and not functioning properly. Some chest pain that I often got off and on and doctors would tell me was an inflammation of my chest wall actually was an inflammation in the endocardium (wall of the heart). They told me that my body wasn't letting go of the weight because it wasn't healthy enough to yet. But we would get there. Then we got kids.
Ny weight kept me from conceiving, so my husband and I decided to foster and adopt. Because of my experience working with adults and children with developmental disabilities and abnormal behaviours we decided to foster and adopt a therapeutic child, one who has a need for continued therapy at home as well as with a therapist. Jesse joined us at the age of 12 and the stress increased immensely. And my weight started to increase too. All that time I had continued to hover around the 300-320 weight, losing and gaining the same 20 lbs over and over. Then I climbed to 360 lbs. Then 380. I started to really focus on weight loss and again lost and gained the same 20 lbs over and over. After Jesse's adoption two years later, things were going very well. We decided in 2010 to try working with his biological sister and see if the two could be reunited. Jesse's sister joined our family in the early spring of 2011. Things did not work out. The stress in the house increased so that we all were ill all the time. Mine was worst. I caught every flu bug going that year. I was ill with the avian flu, followed closely by the swing flu, followed by a flu bug in my trapezoid muscle (and if you don't know how much you use that muscle, I can tell you, it is used in just about every move you make... the pain and stiffness was so bad I was pretty much paralyzed by it for two weeks). Then I got a relapse of both the avian flu and the swine flu. I was just coming out of all of that when, in October, a good friend of the family committed suicide. The foster placement with Jesse's sister disrupted in early November. And I stepped on the scale and weighed over 400 lbs. I was crushed. I asked my naturopath why when everyone else is sick with the flu they lose weight, but I gained. He did some tests and found that my body was completely depleted of iodine. Apparently the immune system also uses iodine and when it ran out of its stores, it took from the thyroid, throwing me effectively into a hypothyroid state. So I am on iodine supplements all the time now. I was just starting to feel good again when my worst nightmare came true. My mom passed away in December.
2012 was a very emotional year for me. I managed to hold my own with my weight, neither gaining any more nor losing. I started a walking program, adopting what I call "the baby steps" mantra. In the past I would go gung ho for exercise and do too much too fast, get sore and have to stop and then not get motivated to go again. This time I started slowly, walking around my house. I increased my time weekly by one minute each week. Soon I was walking for half an hour. When spring came I started walking outside and began to measure my walks in distance. Then I found an app for my phone that has a wonderful pedometer on it and I started measuring by steps and distance. I had a set back in September when I tripped and fell, doing soft tissue damage to my leg and damaging the lymphatic system in that leg. Edema is a huge issue for me and the walking had started to get that under control. With this damage it came back, I became sedentary while it healed, and have only just started getting back to where I was at before the injury. Over Christmas I decided to just let myself have what I wanted. It was the comfort thing, having just come through the first anniversary of my mom's passing. I gained 5 lbs over Christmas.
So far this year, my whole family has been ill with the cold viruses, passing them back and forth despite our attempts to keep them at bay. I am finally feeling better and Kris' suggestion couldn't have come at a better time.
I met Kris in 2010 through work. I quit the job shortly into it when we decided we would try to foster Jesse's sister. When Kris contacted me about a yoga group she would like to start for larger women, I was thrilled, but knowing my limitations, I didn't think I could participate well doing yoga. She read my story and suggested independent lessons. I jumped at the chance and here we are.
Yesterday was my first yoga class with Kris. She is so easy to work with and is willing to go with the baby step mantra that I follow. She truly cares and wants to help people. I feel so blessed and I know that our short "business" relationship was there so that she could be a part of my healing journey when the time was right. That time is now. God and the Universe is so wise!!
I didn't know what to expect, but Kris worked with me on what I could do. We discovered that my upper body is still pretty flexible and we did breathing and some stretches. I stiffened up a few hours later and thought I would be in for it this morning, but you know, I feel pretty good. I felt wonderful immediately after the class and I am thrilled that I don't have the pain I expected this morning. Don't get me wrong, I feel it. I know that those gentle stretches worked my arms, back, shoulders and even my legs (despite sitting the whole time, my legs do feel it). I have some stiffness in those muscles but not to the point where I am unable to move today. I am so looking forward to all the little milestones I am going to reach with Yoga. And I look forward to sharing each and every one of them here with you.
Namaste
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