Durfette Returns -- now with a baby!

[durfette]

Yo Aloha Hola Oy!

I am baaaaaack!

I had a baby 6 weeks ago, and am feeling that it is time to respawn!

 

 

I'm looking forward to seeing some old friends and meeting new ones as I work to get healthier and hopefully get some of this baby chub off. I hope to feel more like myself by the end of his challenge, since having a baby definitely changes your body and how you spend your time. Due to some health issues, I wasn't able to workout almost at all my last trimester of pregnancy and with all my food aversions returning the last few weeks, my nutrition wasn't all that great either. Like, I can make macaroni and cheese without looking at the box kind of healthy. My newborn should basically be made up of macaroni and pop tarts. Fortunately, she's made up of squish, snuggles, and cute stank faces instead.

 

  

 

A brief introduction about me:

I joined Nerd Fitness last year and was active on the boards for a few months until I got pregnant when I had zero energy for anything besides the bare necessities.

 I am a chemist by trade.

I love reading, podcasts, hiking, and binge watching shows. 

My personality is a cross between Leslie Knope and Linda Belcher. 
I have a broken sesamoid bone in my foot that makes some exercises difficult, and I'm working on finding exercises I enjoy that don't exacerbate the pain.

I love sugar toooo much.  

I'm a hyper emotional person, made even more so by all those new-mama hormones.

I struggle with trichotillomania, which means I sometimes pull out my eyelashes when I'm anxious.

Basically, I have a lot to work on. 

I have a tendency to use a lot of gifs and memes from whatever show I'm watching at the moment.

Currently, it's Bob's Burgers.

I organize my life via bullet journal. 

And I apologize in advance for how much I talk about my baby,

cuz I'm low-key obsessed with her and all her baby-goodness. 

 

 

Now enough about me. 

ONTO THE FUN PART.

 

 

 

Nutrition Goals:

-Each breakfast MUST have protein
(egg white oatmeal, scrambled eggs, protein shake)
-Lunch MUST have a serving of veggies

-Log everything I eat on MyFitnessPal

 

I've noticed that if I do these three things, 
other healthy habits fall into place.

 

Fitness Goals: 
-Go on a walk with husband and baby 3x/week (this is usually ~2.5 miles)

-Exercise at least 2x / week, 3x if baby naps well
(this will usually be spinning for 15-20 minutes followed by NF yoga
but will possibly incorporate pilates and Cassey Ho workouts off YouTube)

 

because having a baby really messes you up!

My body is so so weak and wiggly and odd shaped now!

I need some muscle and to get moving again.

 

Good luck all!

Let's do this!

 

 

 

[PollyannaAgain]

Yay! Congratulations! I was hoping a baby was why you disappeared last year! I'm so happy for you! Good luck with your challenge! I'll be following along.  (So many exclamation points from me...)

[Casbin]

It's good to see you back!

Oh, and congrats on the toddler ^^

I'll come back and read the rest in a bit.

[Casbin]

Sounds like a solid plan, I hope you'll have fun.

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[Jlailin]

You have awesome goals!  I'll be cheering you on!

 

Congratulations on the new addition!    I am in total awe of new parents, parents in general, and basically anyone that commits to improving themselves like this while having kids around.  I've visited my brother with his children, and it's seriously like an all day work out just to take care of the little ones.  I don't know how you guys do it, so major kudos to you!

 

I love the otter meme!  It makes me smile so much.  <3

 

 

 

 

[zeroh13]

Hi! Welcome back and congratulations!!!

 

You have some really solid goals. I hope the baby doesn't throw them off too much! (And that otter gif is the best gif ever.)

 

Good luck!

[Tesseract]

Yay another bullet journaler! Woot!

 

Your goals are so specific and attainable. I am only on my second challenge so I never saw any of your previous ones, but this seems like a good way to return!

[durfette]

Hello friends! I'm happy to be back!! It's so nice to see some familiar faces. [emoji5]
And new ones! Hiiii! [emoji112] thanks for dropping in!

I decided to start this challenge this week bc my goals mayyy change come October when I return to work a couple days a week (not sure how that'll effect things just yet!). And so far so good! I talked with my husband about how to get my exercise in (he'll watch baby while I go to the gym and we'll keep each other accountable for the walks). We're both also trying to eat healthier so he's been really supportive of that. HALLELUJAH.

Oh, I also plan my weeks and challenges Monday thru Sunday instead of the typical Sunday thru Saturday. It's just what works for me personally.

I love to-do lists and checking them off. However, with the baby that list is often more discouraging than not. So something I've started making "Daily Done" lists in addition. That way I don't feel like I've been a complete blob all day. I'm marking down anything I want credit for. For example, a couple days ago my list looked like this:

-clipped baby's fingernails
-read to baby
-loaded and unloaded dishwasher
-paid online bills
-washed 2 mason jars

And I felt so accomplished! As measly as those things are. Bc I kept a tiny person alive too! I don't think I'm gonna post those lists on my thread, but I might mention some woots each day to pat myself on the back.


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[fleaball]

Congrats and welcome back! I did a list like that a few challenges ago because I felt so overwhelmed and like i was getting nothing done, and it really helped. Good choice.

[Bean Sidhe]

17 hours ago, durfette said:

And I felt so accomplished! As measly as those things are. Bc I kept a tiny person alive too! I don't think I'm gonna post those lists on my thread, but I might mention some woots each day to pat myself on the back.

 

Welcome back.

 

I will say it is keeping that tiny human alive is harder than it sounds. I mean they need everything done for them. So feel free to have woots about it. Babies are a bit needy at first. So I think the Daily done list is a great idea. Have a daily done list, a must do daily list and a "Hey, I have a second" list for the other things that aren't immediate.

Following.

[Severine]

 

 

So happy for you!! Delighted that you're back and, by the sounds of it, in the right mindset to take good care of yourself with the support of your husband. It's so easy for new mothers to neglect themselves in favour of everyone else but it's a big mistake in the long run. Make time for yourself and your whole family will benefit

 

Glad to see you're still using your bullet journal (I'm still doing something similar but in my Hobonichi) and I agree with Flea that the list of accomplishments is a great idea. 

 

Your challenge is really intelligently put together, by the looks of it. Balanced and attainable.

 

Sorry to hear you had issues in the last trimester. It's amazing how many things can go awry. My sister in law had an allergic reaction to some of the proteins produced by her own body during pregnancy with her first kid (fun! I didn't even know it was possible but apparently it's not even that uncommon) and she just got pregnant again and apparently it often only happens with the first baby so we're all REALLY hoping it doesn't happen this time because dear god she was miserable.

 

Hopefully your issue is nothing that will cause lasting trouble. Sad to hear the foot is still troubling you - is there nothing you can do to help it fully heal, like surgery or something similar?

[Jlailin]

On 9/13/2017 at 0:59 PM, durfette said:

I love to-do lists and checking them off. However, with the baby that list is often more discouraging than not. So something I've started making "Daily Done" lists in addition. That way I don't feel like I've been a complete blob all day. I'm marking down anything I want credit for. For example, a couple days ago my list looked like this:

-clipped baby's fingernails
-read to baby
-loaded and unloaded dishwasher
-paid online bills
-washed 2 mason jars

I love this idea!  It sounds so much more gratifying at the end of the day.   I do something similar when I'm on vacations, and it's not necessarily about getting a list of tasks done but more about remembering all the good things you did that day.

 

On 9/13/2017 at 0:59 PM, durfette said:

And I felt so accomplished! As measly as those things are. Bc I kept a tiny person alive too! I don't think I'm gonna post those lists on my thread, but I might mention some woots each day to pat myself on the back.

Keeping a tiny person alive is no small feat!  That should count for at least twenty list entries right there!  Go you!  

[durfette]

 

 
So happy for you!! Delighted that you're back and, by the sounds of it, in the right mindset to take good care of yourself with the support of your husband. It's so easy for new mothers to neglect themselves in favour of everyone else but it's a big mistake in the long run. Make time for yourself and your whole family will benefit [emoji4]
 
Glad to see you're still using your bullet journal (I'm still doing something similar but in my Hobonichi) and I agree with Flea that the list of accomplishments is a great idea. 
 
Your challenge is really intelligently put together, by the looks of it. Balanced and attainable.
 
Sorry to hear you had issues in the last trimester. It's amazing how many things can go awry. My sister in law had an allergic reaction to some of the proteins produced by her own body during pregnancy with her first kid (fun! I didn't even know it was possible but apparently it's not even that uncommon) and she just got pregnant again and apparently it often only happens with the first baby so we're all REALLY hoping it doesn't happen this time because dear god she was miserable.
 
Hopefully your issue is nothing that will cause lasting trouble. Sad to hear the foot is still troubling you - is there nothing you can do to help it fully heal, like surgery or something similar?

Hi friend!!! [emoji112]

Thank you for the support! Always a pleasure to have you on my thread!

I'm not really sure what was up my last trimester. I just couldn't do almost any exercise beyond walking (even that I had to limit) without getting really painful Charlie horses that lasted for days after any exercise. I couldn't ingest enough calcium and potassium to prevent it from happening. I also had pretty bad sciatic pain the entire pregnancy and I wasn't able to figure out an exercise that helped. Stretching sometimes made it worse. There were some days I couldn't even stand up from my chair or walk. My doctor basically said "well, you're in the homestretch so take it easy and go on walks. But don't push it." In retrospect perhaps I should've visited chiropractor but was too distracted with all the things to fuss with it.

With my foot, I had surgery on the larger sesamoid about 18 months ago... but then I found out shortly after that surgery, the second, smaller sesamoid broke. Before I got pregnant I got a "bone stimulator" that is used by professional athletes to heal breaks and injuries quickly, but was told not to use it while pregnant. So I've been using that daily now that I'm no longer pregnant and am hoping it helps. But the science behind it sounds like witchcraft so who knows!


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[Wobbegong]

For inexplicable Charlie Horses, maybe a magnesium deficiency? Magnesium plays nicely with calcium as well (not sure if it actually helps calcium absorption or if it just doesn't hinder it -- I know iron and calcium are a bad match), so you might look into it. 

 

Best of luck! 

[zeroh13]

2 hours ago, Wobbegong said:

For inexplicable Charlie Horses, maybe a magnesium deficiency? Magnesium plays nicely with calcium as well (not sure if it actually helps calcium absorption or if it just doesn't hinder it -- I know iron and calcium are a bad match), so you might look into it. 

 

Best of luck! 

I know vitamins D and K help a lot with calcium. I need to refresh my memory on minerals...

[Wobbegong]

50 minutes ago, zeroh13 said:

I know vitamins D and K help a lot with calcium. I need to refresh my memory on minerals...

It seems like usually (specific) vitamins help mineral absorption, and as for other minerals it's mostly just "these will work together" or "these will not work together" but don't quote me on that. 

 

For example, I know vit D and K go with calcium, and I know magnesium and zinc also go with calcium. Vit D actually improves calcium absorption, but idk about the others. Then on the flip side you have Vit C to improve iron absorption, but you can't take iron at the same time as calcium OR magnesium because they'll get in each other's way. 

I don't know the rules for potassium, manganese, etc, or for other vitamins. The digestive system is a complicated thing. 

[Caeleth]

Correct me if I'm wrong or if this is totally not the same thing, but I have suffered with leg cramps, particularly during the Winter months, and was told to ensure I am always hydrated and that eating bananas, which contain certain vitamins/minerals, can help stop these from happening. Perhaps they contain some of the things people have listed above

[Bean Sidhe]

The bananas are generally for potassium levels. I get yelled at by the doctor about mine with that and the Magnesium (both can cause it) since my acid reflex med has started making my body not absorb it like it should. Meh... Oh dried apricots are good for potassium too if you can get past the texture.

 

I guess the more efficient way to make sure you are getting enough is to not have leg cramps is a multi-vitamin.

[Severine]

On 9/15/2017 at 2:56 PM, durfette said:

Hi friend!!!

Thank you for the support! Always a pleasure to have you on my thread!

I'm not really sure what was up my last trimester. I just couldn't do almost any exercise beyond walking (even that I had to limit) without getting really painful Charlie horses that lasted for days after any exercise. I couldn't ingest enough calcium and potassium to prevent it from happening. I also had pretty bad sciatic pain the entire pregnancy and I wasn't able to figure out an exercise that helped. Stretching sometimes made it worse. There were some days I couldn't even stand up from my chair or walk. My doctor basically said "well, you're in the homestretch so take it easy and go on walks. But don't push it." In retrospect perhaps I should've visited chiropractor but was too distracted with all the things to fuss with it.

With my foot, I had surgery on the larger sesamoid about 18 months ago... but then I found out shortly after that surgery, the second, smaller sesamoid broke. Before I got pregnant I got a "bone stimulator" that is used by professional athletes to heal breaks and injuries quickly, but was told not to use it while pregnant. So I've been using that daily now that I'm no longer pregnant and am hoping it helps. But the science behind it sounds like witchcraft so who knows!

 

Ugh that sounds like terrible luck with your foot   I had to google the sesamoid bones. I didn't even realize they could break! I hope the witchcraft works, even if it does make your scientist brow furrow a little...at a certain point all that matters is relief from the pain.

 

You definitely earned a Pregnancy Hero Badge for getting through all of that, by the way. And hopefully now once you get back into fitness stuff it'll feel even better after not being able to do it for a while. If you continue to have pain or other issues, definitely see someone about it.

 

Keep us updated! Wooo first official day of the challenge.

[Rebel_Timelord]

@durfette , congratulations on the new addition to your family. It's always a miracle. Enjoy those walks with the family--and the rest of the challenge!

[zeroh13]

7 hours ago, Bean Sidhe said:

I guess the more efficient way to make sure you are getting enough is to not have leg cramps is a multi-vitamin.

Yes, and no. The body doesn't absorb the vitamins and minerals in supplements as well as it does from food. It's best to look at what you're eating and what you can change around, and then if you still can't get enough look into taking a vitamin. Plus, vitamins tend to be a lot more expensive than food.

[Countess D'If]

On 9/12/2017 at 10:27 AM, durfette said:

And I apologize in advance for how much I talk about my baby,

cuz I'm low-key obsessed with her and all her baby-goodness. 

 

-

 

This totally makes sense. I had the bigget crush on my midget when I first had her (P.S. That doesn't go away. You just figure out how to pretend not to be a weirdo). I spent probably hours just staring at her, watching her sleep, booping her nose, smelling her hair (this is a real thing). 

[Bean Sidhe]

8 hours ago, zeroh13 said:

Yes, and no. The body doesn't absorb the vitamins and minerals in supplements as well as it does from food. It's best to look at what you're eating and what you can change around, and then if you still can't get enough look into taking a vitamin. Plus, vitamins tend to be a lot more expensive than food.

 

Very true. or the dr tells you have to.. (In my case).  At one point I was trying to eat 3 bananas a day, potatoes, ect and it still was still low but allowed. I hate bananas so that was not sustainable.

 

7 hours ago, Countess D'If said:

 

This totally makes sense. I had the bigget crush on my midget when I first had her (P.S. That doesn't go away. You just figure out how to pretend not to be a weirdo). I spent probably hours just staring at her, watching her sleep, booping her nose, smelling her hair (this is a real thing). 

Not going to lie. I still do most days on the Agents... Is that when I was suppose to learn to not be weird... man, I missed the "how to be a girl" class in high school, and then apparently the post partum "Don't be a weirdo class".

 

Oooh, the smell of baby. I Miss that. Now mine smells like teenage boy...not the same.

[Severine]

It's a common myth that bananas are the best source of potassium. Short explanation here: http://testkitchentuesday.com/2014/02/18/myth-busting-potassium-your-food/

[Wobbegong]

Also there's new research that shows that while rising carbon dioxide levels make plants grow faster, it also makes them grow less nutrient-dense. So your food is just not as good a source of vitamins and minerals as it used to be, unfortunately. (Still better overall to eat whole foods! But there are definitely cases where supplementing is the only thing you can do, and people should not be shamed for that.) 

 

I'm a little unsure of how reliable politico is for science news, but here: http://www.politico.com/agenda/story/2017/09/13/food-nutrients-carbon-dioxide-000511