Journey

The Great Imitator

Posted on by keepingupwithkate91

***Warning:  Long Post*** 

The Monday after Thanksgiving last year, I was diagnosed with Lyme Disease (aka The Great Imitator). It was both a relief and a fear of the unknown.  I’ve decided to share my story in hopes that it prevents others from getting it as it is preventable.

It was a relief as I finally knew why I was so tired and having problems concentrating (two of the symptoms).  And the fear factor was – I had no idea when I got it and how long I’ve had it (which is scary considering the longer I’ve had it the more likely for long-term effects).  As my brother stated when I told him – “It isn’t as if you are a hiker”.  I’m really not an outdoorsy person anymore – I much prefer a nice hotel with a spa vs. camping (been there done that as a Girl Scout).  Additionally, I never had the tell-tale bullseye rash and I found out that 40% of the people diagnosed with Lyme Disease never get it.

As I sit back and look at 2012 – when did I get it? – I’m starting to pinpoint sometime in the summer (time will tell).  I originally thought I’ve had it since the Spring, but the more and more tests I get done for other things the more I think I got it the end of May or June.

I started seeing my nutritionist in May 2012 and I remember going back a month later complaining about being tired – so exhausted all I could do when I was finished with work was sleep for an hour or so.  It wasn’t every day so we both thought it was adding sandwiches with real bread not sprouted back to my lunch of choice.  As I look back on it now – it makes me wonder if I was feeling the effects of Lyme.   I seemed to feel better in July but I was also on vacation for two weeks – although I do recall not really staying up late and sleeping in a little more.  Fall was just plain crazy both work and personally – I went to 5 PSU home games – 4 of which I stayed the whole weekend up there.  As I look back, I did keep those crazy college hours though (a change from the past).  And work was just super busy working on 2013 planning.  And I was TIRED!

So how did I ultimately find out I had Lyme Disease?  I had a 4 month follow-up with my Doctor (I saw her in July and all my blood work was normal – no lyme test though) (which is also why I think I may not have gotten it until the summer) the Monday before Thanksgiving.  I planned on talking to her about how tired I was – just the day before I had breakfast with my extended and family and all I could do on Sunday was sleep on the couch (and I don’t mean a nap – full blown exhaustion).  I honestly thought it was thyroid related – due to being tired and my ongoing struggle losing weight. Test results = no thyroid issue.  Although some of my other numbers spiked and by quite a lot (this is why I think I got somewhere between June and November).  It still didn’t explain my exhaustion.  The comment I received was for me to just make myself get up and move around (and honestly that ticked me off as I was still working out).  So I pushed and explained what happened the day before.  Reluctantly (and I truly believe this) she wrote out a script for more lab work.  I didn’t have to fast so I could get it done very quickly.  I went the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.  I knew one test was for a Vitamin B deficiency and I had figured out one was for Lupus.  I put the test out of my mind for the remainder of the Thanksgiving holiday – until Monday morning.  Bottomline – you know your body better than anyone else – keep pushing your Doctor for the answers!

Monday morning I was anxious.  I made the mistake of getting on WebMD – I was searching my symptoms and Lupus kept popping up.  I was SCARED.  Monday afternoon, I received a phone from the Doctor’s office to schedule an appointment for the next day.  The assistant could hear the anxiety in my voice – she asked me if I wanted to know what I had – of course I said YES – I just couldn’t wait!  She told me I had Lyme Disease and I whooped with relief since it wasn’t Lupus.

I had heard of Lyme Disease, knew you got it from a deer tick (virtually impossible to see), but never really knew what it entailed.  And did not know it was an Auto Immune disease that will stay with me the rest of my life.  So for the next 30 days I took 500 mg of antibiotics 3 times a day.  I know the saying goes the ‘cure is in the last dosage’ and I can tell you I was hoping for that, because midway through my treatment (the day after Christmas – and it was a laid back Christmas) – I was exhausted.  I love doing things with my extended family and I had to pass that day.  In my opinion, the cure wasn’t in the last dose.

I don’t recall the exact date, but I remember waking up one day and I was like – WOW – I feel normal.  But I’ve also noticed that if I stay out late (sans adult beverages too) – I’m beat for the next two days – that just isn’t normal.  I’m hoping this is like mono (yes I’ve had that before too) and it will run its course.  I’ve done some research of late on Lyme Disease and it is just scary what it can do to you long term if left untreated.  I’m fairly confident mine was caught early.  I go back to my Doctor’s this Monday to find out my blood work and there was an additional test added for Lyme Disease.  Fingers crossed the levels are low!

So why the super long post – AWARENESS!  May is Lyme Disease Awareness Month!  It is all about PREVENTION:  http://www.cdc.gov/lyme/ or http://www.lymedisease.org/lyme101/prevention/lyme_prevention.html as there isn’t a lot of understanding or support on the long term effects of Lyme Disease by the Health Care Industry (I’ve read how the later stages (where it wasn’t caught soon enough) and it is debilitating).  So please be extra careful this spring, summer and fall since we did not have a very cold winter – there are a lot more deer ticks since they weren’t killed off with the cold.

I really do think mine was caught in time; however, seeing my results on Monday will help reassure me! 🙂  And I hope this post was helpful in preventing you or your family contracting Lyme Disease!

Challenge Workout Results

Posted on by keepingupwithkate91

On our second workout of our Spring Transformation there was a challenge workout. The purpose of the challenge is to set your baseline and to see how you’ve improved over the 6 weeks. I’ve done the challenges before and knew it was coming, but I can tell you I was kind of nervous for the challenge (4/17).

The challenge exercises were as follows:

  1. Push-ups to exhaustion on toes and knees – with a requirement to go down to a weight on the mat
  2. Wall Sit
  3. Burpees (the full body workout – I used to despise – now not so much) (timed 2 minutes)

April 17, 2013 Results

  1. Push-ups:  17 (toes)
  2. Wall Sit:  1:14 minutes (with a massive headache that lasted for about 2 days)
  3. Burpees:  28

May 15, 2013 Results (not as nervous – just anticipation)

  1. Push-ups:  25 (toes) and 13 (knees)
  2. Wall Sit:  1:41 minutes (no headache – yeah!!)
  3. Burpees:  27 (bummer)

Overall Results

  1. Push-ups:  32% improvement on toes; overall 124% improvement 🙂
  2. Wall Sit:  24% improvement
  3. Burpees:  3.5% decline
  4. Overall Results:  48% Improvement – wahoo!!!

I’m very pleased with my results.  Wish I had at least gotten to my baseline on my burpees – but it isn’t the end of the world.

The energy in our class was a little blah at the beginning on May 15th – post warm up we had a visit in our class – a squirrel – I think he helped get our adrenaline up.  Everyone had great results and were cheering everyone one – particularly our last two standing (more like sitting) on the wall sits.

Really happy and proud of my results!!

20

Posted on by keepingupwithkate91

Last April I made the best phone call I’ve made in a long time.  I made an appointment to see a Nutritionist.  I was at my whits end – I was at one of the best fitness levels in my life (except when I was played sports in HS and College) and not losing any weight – and in fact I was gaining weight – something had to be done!!

If I’m honest with myself – the weight gain started in 2001 – 2003 when I was traveling quite a bit for work and had no real workout routine – I was working crazy, crazy hours and just not eating right.  I had a short stint where I lost some weight and I was in NYC at least twice a week for work where I walked everywhere – which helped.  Then in 2005, I bought a condo, moved further south (so my NYC trips declined) and my job changed (not that I haven’t gone through a lot of job changes at work) – there was just less and less time for ME.  I think I finally had enough and started BP in 2007  / 2008 (not sure of the timing).  I loved the workouts and all the great people I met.  I’ll be honest I wasn’t a fan of the timing – 6 am workouts (wake-ups at 5:15 am) and I’m not really a morning person.  I’d do really well during the transformations but then they would be over and I’d get bored or just talk myself out of getting up in the morning (I was pretty good at it too).  I stopped eating many processed foods, eating fast food and not going out to dinner as much but I still wasn’t losing weight.

Now fast forward to last spring during the Spring transformation and there was a special guest speaker – a nutritionist set to speak to all of us.  I was traveling for work and wasn’t sure I was going to make it – my trainer – really encouraged me to go (she thought it would really help me – Thank You Anna!!).  I made changes the next day after the seminar – I went from 3 meals and two snacks to 3 meals a day (with that 3 pm craving still there).  I finally got around to making an appointment in April – the date was set for early May 2012.

I got on the scale and I was the heaviest I’ve even been in my life (and I will never see that # again) at that first appointment.  Quite honestly, I’m too embarrassed that I let it get so out of control that I still can’t even put that number on this blog! (and probably never will!)

After that first meeting in May 2012 – my nutritionist started treating me as pre-diabetic so no more than 30 grams of carbs per meal, protein and veggies at every meal.  No salads as a meal and NO FRUIT (due to the sugar).  The first month I lost 6 lbs.  I did start having energy issues – I don’t recall if it was in June or later in the summer (as I reflect back – it was probably the start of my Lyme disease symptoms and I thought it was my body adapting to my new eating pattern).  I’ve gone every month for the last year – most months I’ve lost weight – had a little bit of a hiccup in December/January and got back on track.  We’ve adjusted what I’ve been eating so 1.  I don’t feel like I’m missing out (i.e. I went to 5 of 6 PSU home games this past fall and I tailgated – ironically the fall had some good weight loss mths) 2. Removed carbs from breakfast as I’m very carb sensitive (this was the past 2 mths). 3.  Eat when I’m hungry – so I don’t eat breakfast when I first get up and today I just had coffee and ate an early lunch.  Everyone is different and you have to find out what works best for you.

So why this really long blog entry and what is the deal with the title of this post??  Well I went last Thursday and I hit a milestone – I’ve lost 20 pounds!!!  I know some are reading this and thinking really – 20 lbs in a year that really isn’t that much – a year or so ago I would’ve said the same thing (heck I bet even 6 mths ago I would’ve said that).  I’ve learned a lot about myself over the past year – to be PATIENT, that this isn’t a diet and I’m making changes that will be permanent.  I actually haven’t told a lot of people – I shared my success with a few people I worked out with last Thursday over lunch and I got a little emotional.

No on to my next milestone – it is a small one, but I think a really big one for me – it is the #6!

Slow and Steady Wins the Race – I’ve posted this before and this will continue to be my mantra (although I’m not opposed to a couple of windfalls either)!  In the end this post is for me – just an opportunity to see in a year what else I’ve been able to accomplish.

Thanks for reading and remember you can do anything if you put your mind to it (oh and a little patience always helps)!!

You are Responsible for the Energy…

Posted on by keepingupwithkate91

My fitness studio (www.bodyprojectfitness.com) just started Open Studio days. I had the opportunity to go during lunch last week and check it out. This was my first time trying this out. I was a little nervous as I didn’t know how many people would be there. When I got there was one other member working out – she was almost done with the first circuit.  By the time the workout was explained to me and I was heading to my second circuit – I was the only working out.  I kept my focus and remembered this saying that is posted in the studio – ‘You are responsible for the energy you bring into this space’.  I kept my focus.  It was like I had my own personal gym! 🙂

One of the many inspirational / motivational pictures I see every workout!

One of the many inspirational / motivational pictures I see every workout!

Here’s the workout:

There were 3 circuits with 3 exercises – complete 3 times:

Circuit #1:  High Skips (3xs up and back), 10 Renegade push-ups, 10/side alt. leg v-up (abs)

Circuit #2:  Grapevines (3xs up and back), 20 oblique squats (these were killers) (and I felt them the next day for sure), 15 bosu crunches

Circuit #3:  Slides (3xs up and back), 15 Frog squats, 15 DB toe touches

There was a finisher workout that I didn’t do as I had to get back home for a quick shower and back to work.  I felt energized and ready to tackle my afternoon.

I was feeling so great that I went back in the evening for Yoga!  We used blocks for the entire practice.  This was a first for me.  The highlight of the evening for me was doing a standing balancing triangle!  I’m always afraid of standing on one leg/any balancing type poses – so this was a big balance accomplishment for me!

Week 2 – Goal

Posted on by keepingupwithkate91

I’m building on my week 1 goals and adding another goal for this week.  My ultimate goal is to make these become new habits.  I don’t have a lot of distractions except this Wednesday, I do have a board meeting in the evening – which means I will miss my HardBody workout (and I missed tonight as I had a touch of food poisoning last night – feeling better now – just a little wiped out).  I’m trying to figure out if it will go to the open workout during lunch or make it up on Saturday morning (I’ll keep you posted).

Here are my week 2 goals:

  • Drink 80 ozs of water per day (which includes preparing the night before – filling up my pitcher – seems so simple, but something that I put off).
  • Set calendar for every 2 hours to get up and move around (away from my desk).
  • Have vegetables (non-starch) at every meal.  I actually do a good job at breakfast and I’m getting better at lunch – dinner is sometimes the challenge – I use a personal chef and sometimes the meal has a starch vegetable and I don’t have a salad or add something else.  I will add a salad to my evening meal.

I’ll let you know how I do next week (and try to post daily on my accountability page).

Week 1 – Accountability

Posted on by keepingupwithkate91

Last week started BodyProject Fitness’ (http://bodyprojectfitness.com/) 6 week Spring Transformation. We do these twice a year (Spring and Fall) – a great way to re-focus on fitness and nutrition goals!  We were all asked to post our goals for the week so we could have accountability and support.

My goal was to drink 80 ounces of water a day and get up and move around every 2-3 hours (I spend a lot of time on conference calls).

  • Day 1:  Goal Achieved (HardBody Class)
  • Day 2:  Goal Achieved (Yoga)
  • Day 3:  Goal Achieved (HardBody Class)
  • Day 4:  50% of goal achieved – was in NYC for work and got quite a bit of walking in; however, my water was no where near 80 ozs of water – it is such a challenge to get all that water in when you are in meetings – but I did try (oh and I had an event in the evening that made it a challenge as well). (nice amount of walking)
  • Day 5:  50% of goal achieved – should’ve had more control as I was at home; however, really busy day on the phone and working on some important projects – just ran out of time in the day. (about 50% of water and 50% of movement during the day)
  • Day 6:  Goal Achieved  (Yoga)

So 4 out of 6 days, I hit my goal at 100%!  And if I was grading my week based on the scores I’d be at 83% or a B!  I knew Day 4 was going to be a challenge.  I tried to prepare, but sometimes ‘life’ gets in the way.  I’m pretty happy with my results.  And the really good thing is I didn’t beat myself up on the days I didn’t hit my goal – I’m understanding the why and learning from it.

 

Learning about my Metabolism

Posted on by keepingupwithkate91

Since last May, I’ve been seeing a nutritionist.  I’ve been seeing results – it is just slow and steady – did I mention it was slow?  I don’t miss out on things and I’m not on a diet – which is really important to me as I have a buys work and social life (so I’ve been told).  We’ve kept it pretty simple – protein, veggies and carbs – no fruit though – he is treating me as pre-diabetic.  I’ve cut out beer too (there have been a few exceptions but not many) – my cocktail of choice is Stoli Orange and Club Soda (and I cut out all adult beverages during Lent).  Just wanted to prove I’m not missing out on things in LIFE!

Meanwhile on this journey, I was diagnosed with Lyme Disease in late November 2012 (I’ll write a post on that another time) (I’m feeling much better too – I just wonder if this is playing a role in the slow and steady part of the journey).

I had some struggles with weight loss around the holidays (more like weight gain) and crazy sugar cravings I didn’t really have over the fall.  We decided it was time to do a metabolism test.  We scheduled it for 8:00 am – no food after midnight and only water in the AM.  The test is a 10 minute breathing test into a machine through a tube with your nose clipped.  I was given a gold star for how consistent my breathing was in the machine – 10 minutes is much longer than you realize when your nose is clipped.

For my height, age and weight – my predicted resting expenditure is 1,643 calories – mine came in at 2,189 calories – so my metabolism is operating at a higher rate than the baseline!  There was some other data called a RER which was at .82 (which would mean the last few days prior to the test I went into maintenance mode on my eating) (it should be more like .77 –  it is that specific – since I did lose weight from the prior mth).  

So my metabolism is doing great things – thanks to my work at BodyProject Fitness!  Yeah!!  I lost 5 lbs from the prio month – Yeah!  And I’m down 16 lbs since last May (slow and steady wins the race – I’m changing my lifestyle – my new mantra!!)  Great news – still perplexing why my body seems to want to hold onto the weight though (and the day before the metabolism test I had a BodyMetrix ultrasound test and my BF went up 5% – even more perplexing – makes me wonder if the Lyme Disease is impacting it – I’ll discuss my personal hypothesis on another post).  And what I’m doing eating / working out shouldn’t be contributing to muscle loss.  Things that make you go HMMMM!

All that being said – we have adjusted my morning breakfast to eliminate the carbs as my nutritionist believes I am insulin sensitive.  I’ve been doing this for about 2 weeks now – my go to breakfast is a 2 egg omelet (and lately throwing in some egg whites too) with veggies and cheese.  I haven’t been perfect though – on vacation I did indulge in a Thomas’ English Muffin with my 2 egg omelets. 🙂

So as you are reading this you may think I’m a super patient person.  I am anything but patient.  This journey has been a pure test of my patience – but I know I’m making long-term sustainable changes and learning lots about myself as I go.  I think that is what keeps me going – and I’ve already invested so much time and energy in it.  I’d be lying if I didn’t want to see a nice one month drop of 10 lbs to help my confidence and ego! 🙂

50 Burpees – OH My

Posted on by keepingupwithkate91

I’m so happy – I completed 50 Burpees tonight at BodyProject Fitness and Lifestyle (http://www.bodyprojectfitness.com).   I haven’t been a huge fan of Burpees – ever – but I do have say I like this new burpee (for me less risk of hurting myself as I can be a klutz sometime).  Here is the link – try it out:  http://goo.gl/fZB0D (shhh – don’t tell anyone – starting to like them a little)

 It was such a great workout tonight.  20 minutes and pushing myself (everyone did) with heavier weights – 12, 15 and 20 lbs for me tonight.  I completed 4 rounds – and started my 5th round so I did get the 50 burpees in (did I mention that?)!

  • Burpee​ ​10 reps
  • Bicep Curls – ​5 reps – 15 lbs
  • 1/2 turkish getup – ​5 each – 12 lbs (I did try one round with 15)
  • OH Press w/ one foot – ​5 each – 12 lbs
  • Plie w/calf raise – ​5 – 20 lb kettlebell
  • Tricep  Single Arm Crusher​ – 5 each arm – 12 lbs (this is the one where you are lying down on your mat)
  • Fast Run in Place – ​10 each leg
  • Single arm Back Row​ – 5 reps each – 20 lb kettlebell
  • Running Lunge  -5 each leg

This will be one I’ll take with me when I travel – one you can do in the hotel gym in a short period of time and get a nice good sweat going.  Enjoy!!

PS:  If you are in Central NJ – check out http://www.bodyprojectfitness.com (changed my life)

Training Session 1 – in the Books!

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In my last post I shared that I caved to ‘peer pressure’ and I’m doing the Beauty and the Beach 5 mile race on November 3rd in Long Branch.  It is a walk / run.  I have a lot of my boot camp friends joining me and my college roommate and her daughter in for the fun too.  I’m really looking forward to it.

Last Friday over lunch, I bought some new kicks.  A nice pair of Asics (reminds my of college – my sneaker of choice back in the day).  See – aren’t they pretty?  And my friend, Tracy, pointed out that they are PSU colors too (totally pulled that off by accident)!New Kicks

I didn’t make it to boot camp today so I thought it would be a great time to start my training program.  My trainer suggested I start out slow – which is exactly what I did – 2 minutes of walking; 20 seconds jogging.  I used the gymboss on my i-Phone (although the alarm was almost impossible to hear over my music) for 10 rounds and I completed 2 sets so 40 (-) minutes of walking and about 6+ minutes of jogging (near the end I added on longer running segments) so maybe it turned into 30 minutes of walking and 10 minutes of jogging (total time:  52 minutes, 5,218 steps, 2.907 miles and avg HR 141 / Max 167).  What was the verdict?  I didn’t hate it.  I really loved the countdown/switching to walking / jogging and liked when I pushed myself to run a little bit more.  My knee seemed to hold up pretty good – my arches not so much.  They were definitely bothering me.  Seemed to get a bit better as I went.  I did a short cool down and stretched – taking off my sneakers was killer.  I just got done icing my arches and I think the golf ball will be my new best friend for a while (note to self – warm up and stretch the arches more).

So in the end, I’m glad I’m doing this event in November.  I think it is something I need to do for me and I’m glad the first training session is in the books! 🙂

Peer Pressure Can Be a Good Thing

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Back in May I agreed to do a 1/2 Marathon.  If you read the post you knew that I was scared but had finally come around to reality that I was going to do it.  The friend of mine I was to wog (walk / jog) the 1/2 Marathon with got excellent news – she is expecting – so it has been postponed a year.  I will tell you I was a bit relieved that it was postponed.

Now fastforward to Wednesday night – I’m out with some friends from Bootcamp.  We were talking about some of our Bootcamp peers who are training for a tri and about a mud run some of them have done in the past.  Somehow we got talking about runs in the fall and I remember our trainer talking about Beauty and the Beach (and rumor has it they have a great swag bag) in Long Branch, NJ.  At first we thought it was a 5K and low and behold it is a 5 mile all ladies walk/run.  I checked my schedule and PSU doesn’t have a home game – and we all agreed that we would try it.

I went to bootcamp today and checked with everyone to make sure they were still in and the answer was YES.  I registered when I got home this morning and then sent them all links to register.  I know at least 3 of us are now registered (and if you are reading this blog – you know who you are – don’t forget to register – http://tiny.cc/brpuiw) for the event.  I’m so excited!!

So I jokingly put in the subject line about Peer Pressure and don’t get me wrong that definately helped; however, my mindset has changed a lot since May.  I’ve been much more focused on my workouts and what I eat/drink.

Thank You Ladies for pushing me at each and every bootcamp – I love the camraderie and letting peer pressure be a good thing!

Loving forward to November 3, 2012!! 🙂