Balboaroc and her Fighting Stick (Battle Log ha ha)

[Balboaroc]

It looks like I have never done a Battle Log on here.  I had recently decided to do a battle log on the Academy but it sounds like some changes are happening and I'll need to do my journaling here.  No biggie.  On this side would be where I would journal if I was doing a challenge so this all works out for me in the long run.

 

I am currently working my way back through the lessons on the Academy so some of what I may blog about will be from there.

 

I'm a week out from vacation and 2 weeks about from the Mudderella.  I haven't announced it yet, not like I need to, but I've been kicking the idea around that I may bow out of obstacle course races after this year.  This will be my 6th race.  Don't get me wrong I've enjoyed myself but at the end of the day I'm not really a runner.  Even calling what I do running is funny because its mostly walking with some running thrown in.  I want to be able to scale back to daily walks and hikes with lifting as my primary form of exercise.  That and my nerves.  My goodness you should see how bad my anxiety can be pre-race.  We'll see, no pressure. I may see the race line up of local races next year and go for it again.  At the least I can say I've done it and its been fun.  I certainly haven't lost weight or gotten smaller because of racing though which is why I think I might need to head in another direction for that (and my Dr. and Chiro have seemed to have hinted to me..is running what I really like and enjoy doing?).  That and I keep reading articles where people have gotten hurt (3 people fell off the wall at the Warrior Dash I was at this May) and one woman went blind after a race.  I'm very careful but the truth of potentially getting hurt could be a real possibility.

 

I will leave with part of my last journal entry on the Academy which lists my big why...

 

For me personally one of my reasons, and has been for a long time, is witnessing certain family members (even as close as my own parents) have issues because of their weight.  I truly believe there comes an age where you are either going to heavily contribute to future issues as an older adult or fix it so you don't have issues.  I don't want to get where my kids have to take care of me and I can still get around and have a grand old time as an active older adult.

 

Another reason is that I truly do want to be the best version of myself I can be.  It sounds cheesy and I've said it for along time but its true.  I want to be proud of myself.  I want my husband and kids to be proud of me too.  I want to be able to wear more cute clothes and look good in them.

 

Finally one of my biggest personal reasons is the fact that the better I take care of myself...the more consistent I am with exercise and watching my diet... the better I feel mentally.  When I'm not taking good care of myself my anxiety acts up, my self esteem plummets, and frankly a lot of other areas in my life plummet also.  Its not a good thing.  If I could only pick one reason out of all of them this is probably the biggest one for me.  When your mental stability starts to waiver it is not a good thing.

[Balboaroc]

Alas back from vacation and looking to get back to the lovely journey of fitness and health.  I actually didn't do bad on vacation...I probably lost between 2 and 4 lbs.  I am a vacationing anomaly.  In all honesty I'm a nervous traveler and I tend to eat less on vacation which accounted for the loss.  We have a travel trailer so we only went out to eat 2 times in the week we were gone.  I also quit drinking coffee again while there and I didn't drink much alcohol either.  My digestive system really is not fond of me traveling.  Fun, Fun.   Also I walked on the beach every day, a few times a day really now that I think about it.  We stayed at Pirateland Campground in Myrtle Beach (highly recommend it).

 

So now that I'm back and have tackled most of the laundry we made while gone, I have been tackling all of the food that my garden produced while I was gone.  My goodness I have squashes that are huge and cucumbers too!  Last night I made squash patties that I just love. I probably could have made an entire meal out of them.  Shredded squash, bit of shredded onion..S&P.. let it sit a few minutes then squeeze out the extra water.  Mix in an egg, panko crumbs or a bit of flour (depends on how it feels), make patties, fry in oil.  So that last part isn't the healthiest part but I usually just use enough to keep them from sticking.  You could probably also modify it to be full paleo if that is your thing.

 

I made squash relish today and hope to make cucumbers tomorrow.  I would also like to make some squash patties to go in the freezer for later in the year.  Next up my garden will be spitting tomatoes at me left and right and my peach tree is almost ripe.  Its a lot of take in when a garden starts producing but its a blessing really.  I love that part of the year where you can look back and know you grew something and that something helps feed yourself and your family.

 

I am looking to get back into my academy lessons really soon.  In the next day or so.

 

On the fitness front I ended up letting someone else have my Mudderella ticket.  The person that I was going to run with before ended up having another person run with her so I don't feel so bad letting it go.  If she would have had no one I would have stuck in there.  I feel an odd sense of sadness and relief.  I don't feel regret so that is good. 

 

So I'm an intuitive person.  I try to listen to when I get feelings about things (except during that time of the month).  I haven't felt good about the idea of racing ever since the Warrior Dash.  Like that I need to come to terms with it just not being my thing anymore.  I don't feel like I'm improving and it certainly hasn't helped me lose weight.  Also I have come across quite a few articles about things that have happened to people during races (blindness) and a friend of mine online broke her leg and ankle at the Tough Mudder very recently.  I feel like all these signs have been coming my way that its time for me to move onto different forms of exercise for myself.

 

I get that a race is a challenge and isn't supposed to be easy.  For me though it needs to be fun.  I have been losing the fun factor.  Frankly the way some people talk about races it doesn't seem like they are having fun either.  I also need to feel like I'm leveling up and I wasn't doing that in racing.  The Warrior Dash was a step up but I felt like I did not perform well.  I don't know what it is but the Warrior Dash did something to me.  I'm tired of getting so nervous before a race that I can't eat (and then can't perform well).  Feeling like I'm about to either crap myself (sorry) or die before a race.

 

I can look back on this time in my life with fondness, not regret.  It did help get me out of my shell a bit.  I'm glad I did it.  I also have the feeling that had I continued racing, or picking harder races, that I was eventually going to get hurt.  I was shaking pretty bad at the end of the Warrior Dash.  That could have ended badly.

 

Hope to update again in the new few days!

[Balboaroc]

I have been meaning to update for a while and just never logged onto my computer.    So I have leveled up in life. 

 

August 1st I started Whole30 with a group from the NF Academy women.  When they started talking about it I was VERY skeptical.  I was always more of a moderation girl, I liked the idea of it and it just sounded healthier.  BUT it wasn't really working.  After trying the same thing over and over again you start to realize the only way something is going to change is by trying something different.  So I joined the group with the intention of thinking about it and reading other people's posts. I really didn't think I could do it but then I had the thought what if I really tried...

 

14 days in I can report that its a miracle but I am sugar free, mostly dairy free (minus a whey protein shake and a bit of butter here and there) and grain free (minus a few slices of bread for BLT's 2-3 times). Its a miracle.... and even more so my SI joint pain is gone. The chiropractor helped me but I still had residual issues if I bent over in the garden too much. So something was causing inflammation, probably all 3. Eventually I will add items back in as treats here and there but I have no plans on going back to eating those things daily. 

 

I think long term I will probably go more paleo but I plan on sticking mostly to whole30 rules for the remainder of the month.  As for how much, how many treats I plan on allowing back in I don't know. 1 a week, a month?  I'll have to play it by ear.  Whole30 has a rule that if you take a bite and you don't absolutely love it you don't finish it which sounds good.

 

Its just odd, in a good way.. even when I did Atkins years and years ago I leaned on sugar free items and I'm not doing this now.  I would really love to see myself sticking with this long term.