Hey Folks. I hope you all had a good week. Mine was quite terrific, and a hell of a lot easier than last week.
Yes, I am still in the thick of my Whole30 program. I'm at the half-way point now, and I'm amazed at how quickly it's passing. I haven't had any slip ups as far as I know, and although I still have cravings for sugar/artificial sweetener, it hasn't been too hard to get over it. In the end, it's best that I really leave those things alone.
As I mentioned above, I had a pretty awesome week. Energy is up. Sleep is beyond amazing and really restful. Everything is ticking along like clockwork. I've started to notice some physical changes too.
When I was heavier, I had a lot problems with fluid pooling in my ankles. Fluid retention is a very serious medical condition, and mine was brought on by high blood pressure, obesity, and diabetes. My left ankle would swell so badly that I would have trouble walking as my day progressed. Eventually, it came to the point where I would move as little as possible so I didn't have to walk on it.
As I began to lose weight, I noticed I wasn't holding water anymore and my ankle looked better. I was very pleased because I knew my health was improving. But I noticed sometime remarkable this week. It was even more narrow. As a matter of fact, it looked downright NORMAL. Actually, my hands looked odd too. My fingers were more slim.
I took a picture of myself in my new glasses (which are freaking awesome and cute) and sent it to my friend, and he said jokingly, "What happened to your pinchable cheeks?" My pinchable cheeks? What? So, I looked in the mirror, and my face looked different. My cheekbones are prominent, and I still have my dimple (singular), but my face looks more slim.
What the heck is going on with me? My legs looks different. My tummy looks different. What the hell?
Folks, it's called systemic inflammation. What the heck is that? I honestly never even heard about this condition until I heard it discussed in "It Starts With Food." Even after reading about it, I still thought it was a bunch of hogwash. I even asked my doctor about it, and he said it is a real condition, and pretty much everyone suffers from it in some form. Systemic inflammation is "full body" inflammation. It's your immune system fighting back constantly in some form or another. Your immune system is hyperaware and active - circulating throughout your body.
Your immune system can become hyperaware due foreign bodies circulating in your body that your immune system identifies as "Not You." Hence, it attacks and that's where you become inflamed... just like when you get sprain your ankle and get swelling. You immune system goes into action to protect the body.
Food can play a role in systemic inflammation as well. Food that may not be that good for you. Foods that give you uncomfortable reactions. Food that contain a lot of manufactured ingredients. Bloating. Gas. Sour Stomach. So on and so on...
Don't freak out people. I'm not writing this to scare you. I'm my own experiment so I'm reporting my findings, and this week I found out that my body is changing once again because I'm not so inflamed and bloated by the food I ate. I've been eating "clean" for two weeks now, and I've seem remarkable changes. I was really tempted many times this week to get on the scale to prove my theory, but you know what, WHO CARES! At this point, I'm so pumped full of energy, the scale wouldn't bother me if I gained. I'm cleaning up my body.
Perhaps there is something to said about all this clean eating stuff. I still have two weeks to go, and I'm expecting the honeymoon to be over by next week when I'm dying for cake or jelly bellies (again) or something to drink besides water. I have never only drank water so that's quite an adjustment, and I've never gone this long without weighing myself since I started my journey. One benefit of drinking only water, my skin looks and feels great :)
My gym performance is off the charts. I got four miles in this past Saturday, and each Saturday I increase one mile. I'm really putting my all into marathon training so I've been really pleased by what I've been able to accomplish. I dead lifted 115 pounds this past week, and I'm swing 70 pound kettlebells like nothing. Now, that's a Work Out!
This week will be even more challenging. Death by Burpee will continue until I can do 20 burpees in one minute... Yes, I said 20. I'm working on my pushups by adding one each day so by March 31, I will do 31 pull-bodies, no cheating pushups. No girlie push ups here.
So, let's here it for a nice, successful week! (YAY!) I hope there are more to come, and I'm excited by what I'll be able to share next week. Until next time...
Yes, I am still in the thick of my Whole30 program. I'm at the half-way point now, and I'm amazed at how quickly it's passing. I haven't had any slip ups as far as I know, and although I still have cravings for sugar/artificial sweetener, it hasn't been too hard to get over it. In the end, it's best that I really leave those things alone.
As I mentioned above, I had a pretty awesome week. Energy is up. Sleep is beyond amazing and really restful. Everything is ticking along like clockwork. I've started to notice some physical changes too.
When I was heavier, I had a lot problems with fluid pooling in my ankles. Fluid retention is a very serious medical condition, and mine was brought on by high blood pressure, obesity, and diabetes. My left ankle would swell so badly that I would have trouble walking as my day progressed. Eventually, it came to the point where I would move as little as possible so I didn't have to walk on it.
As I began to lose weight, I noticed I wasn't holding water anymore and my ankle looked better. I was very pleased because I knew my health was improving. But I noticed sometime remarkable this week. It was even more narrow. As a matter of fact, it looked downright NORMAL. Actually, my hands looked odd too. My fingers were more slim.
I took a picture of myself in my new glasses (which are freaking awesome and cute) and sent it to my friend, and he said jokingly, "What happened to your pinchable cheeks?" My pinchable cheeks? What? So, I looked in the mirror, and my face looked different. My cheekbones are prominent, and I still have my dimple (singular), but my face looks more slim.
What the heck is going on with me? My legs looks different. My tummy looks different. What the hell?
Folks, it's called systemic inflammation. What the heck is that? I honestly never even heard about this condition until I heard it discussed in "It Starts With Food." Even after reading about it, I still thought it was a bunch of hogwash. I even asked my doctor about it, and he said it is a real condition, and pretty much everyone suffers from it in some form. Systemic inflammation is "full body" inflammation. It's your immune system fighting back constantly in some form or another. Your immune system is hyperaware and active - circulating throughout your body.
Your immune system can become hyperaware due foreign bodies circulating in your body that your immune system identifies as "Not You." Hence, it attacks and that's where you become inflamed... just like when you get sprain your ankle and get swelling. You immune system goes into action to protect the body.
Food can play a role in systemic inflammation as well. Food that may not be that good for you. Foods that give you uncomfortable reactions. Food that contain a lot of manufactured ingredients. Bloating. Gas. Sour Stomach. So on and so on...
Don't freak out people. I'm not writing this to scare you. I'm my own experiment so I'm reporting my findings, and this week I found out that my body is changing once again because I'm not so inflamed and bloated by the food I ate. I've been eating "clean" for two weeks now, and I've seem remarkable changes. I was really tempted many times this week to get on the scale to prove my theory, but you know what, WHO CARES! At this point, I'm so pumped full of energy, the scale wouldn't bother me if I gained. I'm cleaning up my body.Perhaps there is something to said about all this clean eating stuff. I still have two weeks to go, and I'm expecting the honeymoon to be over by next week when I'm dying for cake or jelly bellies (again) or something to drink besides water. I have never only drank water so that's quite an adjustment, and I've never gone this long without weighing myself since I started my journey. One benefit of drinking only water, my skin looks and feels great :)
My gym performance is off the charts. I got four miles in this past Saturday, and each Saturday I increase one mile. I'm really putting my all into marathon training so I've been really pleased by what I've been able to accomplish. I dead lifted 115 pounds this past week, and I'm swing 70 pound kettlebells like nothing. Now, that's a Work Out! This week will be even more challenging. Death by Burpee will continue until I can do 20 burpees in one minute... Yes, I said 20. I'm working on my pushups by adding one each day so by March 31, I will do 31 pull-bodies, no cheating pushups. No girlie push ups here.
So, let's here it for a nice, successful week! (YAY!) I hope there are more to come, and I'm excited by what I'll be able to share next week. Until next time...
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