Strange New Diet - Day Two

On Sunday, I made an abundance of delicious pasta containing a slight abundance of cheese and minced garlic. Yesterday I mentioned my new diet restrictions to help treat my infertility with Traditional Chinese Medicine and acupuncture. Guess what two of those restrictions were? Dairy and garlic.

D'oh.

I have a lot of leftovers, and Jamie hasn't eaten any of it. Determined to not let it go to waste, I've been eating it for lunch, sacrificing the no-garlic restriction and picking out the hunks of fresh mozzarella. (Everything else is safe for me as I used Italian spiced chicken sausage.)

As for the rest of my new diet, I've been doing okay. My only cheat has been whatever garlic I've ingested via leftovers; everything else has gone smoothly. That's not to say that it isn't difficult, though. Let's start with what I can and cannot drink.

I am not allowed to drink:

• Coffee (not even decaf)
• Tea (not even decaf)
• Alcohol*
• Anything cold

I am allowed to drink:

• Anything warm that isn't coffee or tea (of which nothing comes to mind)
• Warm water 

*I am allowed alcohol around ovulation, but that seems to be restricted to red wine being that I cannot drink anything cold.

Luckily, I've never really had a problem with drinking warm things. (My mom used to get grossed out that I'd drink warm soda.) So, one day in and I'm okay with microwaving my water per Dr. Lee's suggestion. What I'm struggling with is how badly I want my Iced Grande Decaf Americano with Room and Two Pumps Sugar-Free Vanilla... ahem... though likely more-so because I am not allowed it.

I have yet to come face-to-face with an alcohol temptation, so no word on that at the moment. I predict rough seas in the near future, especially with Jamie's birthday celebration being this Saturday at a restaurant serving notable beers and delicious hand-crafted, hipster cocktails.

Of course, tonight Jamie reminded me of some long-standing dinner plans with friends that I had forgotten about at a Korean BBQ restaurant. If you haven't experienced Korean BBQ, then just look here:

Basically, you order meat and veggies that you cook at your table, which is equipped with a grill and jam packed with tasty side dishes. Upon menu investigation, it seems that I have a few options, not many, but enough. We'll see how it goes!

One thing that I am kind of enjoying is being somewhat forced into buying and eating more fruits and veggies. Today I chopped up some pineapple and watermelon that should last me a few days worth of snacks and meal supplements.

This is definitely a huge life change. While it might not always be fun, if it helps me achieve my goal of being a mother, it will have been 100% worth it.

Fitness Friday

It's somewhat deliberate that I didn't post last Friday. The Friday before last was the day that I so proudly declared that I was going to lose five pounds by my one-year fitness anniversary, June 7th. On that day, I had weighed in at 148.2 and the majority of my measurements had gone up by a quarter of an inch. I felt really motivated! I lost five pounds when I decided to get my ass back in gear after the new year, so surely I could do it again.

Then last Friday rolls around and I weight and measure myself. 149.8 and every single one of my measurements were up another quarter of an inch. 

This is not the direction I am supposed to be going.

I do blame it on my cycle, however. I've always bloated around ovulation, and that part of my cycle matched up to last week. While it's an excuse for the gain, it doesn't make me feel better. I know I could have done better had I been strict with my restrictions. Last week, I did manage to go a whole three days (in a row) without having a beer. *eye roll* My attempts at cutting back my alcohol intake for health reasons has been met with criticism and peer-pressure (though that's not to say I haven't given in before anyone could say anything). Staying home to cook dinner is easier said than done when you have friends to meet up with or a husband that wants to eat out and have a drink after work or well, let's just face it, I don't really like cooking anyway.

This photo is irrelevant.

I completely lack the discipline to not drink those extra calories and I'm not sure why. I've exchanged my lattes for the less caloric (and half the price) iced americano, I roll my eyes at sodas due to their lack of nutritional value, and I've gotten pretty good at cutting out sweets. Why can't I do this with beer and wine? It's frustrating to say the least.

But I feel a shift happening right now that likely won't lend a helping hand to weight loss, though it should help me with my affinity for beer and wine that troubles me so along with some other issues. I'll have more details to share on Monday.

As for now, this week has been a little better. While I haven't been able to completely cut out alcohol, I have definitely cut back and feel better about that. My exercise since returning to CUT Fitness has been consistent and my diet aside from the liquid calories has been pretty healthy (except for this).

May 31st, 2013 (-since 4/17/13, -since 1/4/13)

• Weight - 148.0 (-0.2, -6)
• Calf - 13.75" (+0.25, -0)
• Knee - 15" (-0, -0.25)
• Thigh - 23.75" (-0, -0.5)
• Hips/Butt - 41" (-0, -0.75)
• Belly - 38.75" (-0, -0.75)
• Waist - 30" (-0.25, -1.5)
• Bust - 36.25" (-0.25, -1.75)
• Arms - 11.5" (-0, -0.75)

My numbers are an improvement over last week's that I didn't post, and even a slight improvement from two weeks ago, so I'm okay with that. A few of the measurements are still a quarter inch higher than their all-time low, but two of those are my thigh and butt measurements, so maybe I can blame that on squats. Yeah, sure, I'll go with that.

Next week I will be posting my one-year progress photos!

Fitness Friday

Uhm, so... remember when I was all stoked that I busted into the 140s while in Ohio? Well, apparently there's something wrong with the earth's gravitational pull because I arrived home, safe on Sunday night, and by Monday morning I had crept back into the 150s. (Though I suppose it may have also had to do with an impending menstrual cycle.)

This photo is irrelevant. 

Fortunately, with returning home came returning to the Pilates studio. Unfortunately, not having worked out in 3 weeks and not having done Pilates in 4 weeks, I've found that my strength and endurance have regressed.
Not only did I realize that I had reverted back toward my original state of being a weakling on my first day back, but my instructor (who reads this, so everyone wave to Bridget!) decided to throw in some crazy let's-roll-back-onto-our-shoulders-with-our-feet-in-the-air move that I had never done before which only reiterated the fact that I lost a lot of strength over four weeks.

Getting back into spin has also proved challenging. I lost a lot of endurance in my inactivity, unsurprisingly, but hopping on the bike in the first two days of my period wasn't helping either. Intervals (where you go back and forth between seated and standing on the bike) proved really difficult with an angry uterus. Cramps also lead to headache for me, so my two spin classes this week were pretty unpleasant thanks to my own body. Though, even through my menstrual discomfort, I could tell that I still could have pushed myself harder on the bike. I'm hoping to do better in tomorrow morning's spin/power sculpt yoga class. (I've never done power sculpt yoga. I hope I don't die.)

Staying on the topic of challenge, I joined a weight loss challenge. Roo over at Nice Girl Notes started a game at DietBet.com and opened it up to all of her readers. The premise is that you and all the players pay some money; in this instance, it was $20. You submit an official weigh in to the DietBet referees (which includes photos and a secret word) and once it's approved, you're in the game. The game is that you have 28 days to lose 4% of your body weight. If you don't, you're out $20. If you do, then you split the pot with everyone else who reached the 4% lost goal.

So Roo's game has 175 participants putting the pot at $3500. A lot of people would have to fail for me to get a huge chunk of that, but I'd be happy just getting my 20 bucks back with maybe some extra change to toss into Paypal for a rainy day. The game only started on Wednesday, but I think I've been doing well at keeping motivated. My only two things that stand in my way are alcohol and having switched my Pilates membership to 4 days a week to save some cash. BUT! So far, I'm on the right track. My 4% equals out to 6.1 pounds, which would put me at 146.5 on March 13th. Today I am at 150.8, so I really only have 4.3 pounds to go!

I anticipated Valentine's Day being a significant obstacle, but I really didn't do too badly. Jamie knew I was doing this challenge, so he didn't bring me home any sweets to keep stashed in the house. I ate quite healthfully all day and was looking forward to a homemade meal made by Chef Husb. He, for the past week or so, has been adamant about cooking at home on Valentine's Day; he wanted to grill up some nice steaks and pop a bottle of wine. I was so down with that. He even asked me over instant message yesterday if I had any diet restrictions for dinner. (I said no white rice or white potatoes!) Then, about 15 minutes later, he decided he wanted to go out. While slightly annoyed that he changed his mind last minute, I shrugged, "Okay, let's do it."

It was so worth it.

Grilled lamb with polenta and asparagus was my choice, and I think it was a good one. The portion wasn't huge; I ate it all and didn't feel over-stuffed. We split a really fantastic tiramisu for dessert, and even after that, I didn't feel like I over-ate. I felt full enough and satisfied. I did, however, drink a flight of wine at dinner followed by a tall pale ale and a short lager at our local spot to grab good craft brew. I must have done something right, though, because it didn't show on the scale today or in the form of bloating. (I guess I could probably attribute that to massively upping my water intake the past few days.)

My goals for this week include eating smartly, cut back on the alcohol (there's no way I'm giving it up!), and find a way to be active on the days I don't have spin or Pilates.

Do you have any fitness goals right now? How did Valentine's Day affect your diet? (I, honestly, am surprised that I did so well!)

Fitness Friday

Let's see, let's see, where to start? There isn't a whole lot new this week. Uhm, oh! I decided to give PB2 a try. I've been seeing it all over Instagram. It's powdered peanut butter, made only of peanuts, sugar, and salt. It's only 45 calories per 2 tablespoons versus the usual 190 in regular peanut butter. You can put the powder on or in anything you want or you can mix it with water or any other liquid to turn it into a peanut butter consistency. I've been mixing it with almond milk and eating it with an apple.

I also put some in a jar of overnight oats with half a scoop of triple chocolate protein powder. It was supa-rich and tasty.

So that's been cool. The taste is a leeetle off from regular peanut butter, but that might be because I mix it with almond milk, so I will try it other ways and see if it tastes more normal.

I'm also eating a lot of eggs/liquid egg whites, still. What's new? And while I've done pretty well with keeping my day time eating in check, I cheated a bit in the evenings.

I ordered this lamb shank with double veggies instead of veggies and mashed potatoes. The veggies were likely sauteed in oil or butter, and the lamb shank was super tender and fatty, but overall it probably wasn't that bad. What was bad was the weekend that followed this lamb shank.

I kind of let things get out of hand last weekend. Having breakfast with friends included a not-so-bad eggs... and regular bacon... and fruit! and a cinnamon roll. That was followed by a day of many beers. The day of many beers was followed by a chili dinner, which was delicious and still probably not that bad... but then I had like 800 pounds of corn bread. With butter.

Whatever, I thought, tomorrow's another day!

Yes, yes it was. Sunday was another day of drinking and eating. Another day with friends, eating rice, beans, meat, snacks, and drinking beers and sangria.

Oh, and I made this:

Oh and it was mighty tasty. A major hit. Yikes.

So I did poorly this weekend, and I felt it on Monday. I felt sluggish and had trouble really pushing myself in spin and Zumba.

Yes, I did still burn 574 calories between spin, pilates and Zumba, but I was pretty bummed that I didn't do better. I mean, the week before, I burned 413 calories in Zumba alone! But then today happened. After burning 340ish calories in Zumba on Wednesday and still feeling like I could have done better, the Zumba instructor really amped it up this week.

She knows I have my Polar, so today she said "We're gonna burn 500 calories!" I was a little skeptical at first, but as class went on, it was looking good. The end of class came, and...

Uh yeah, I did it. 510 calories, dudes. I was pretty stoked about that. I spent a lot of the class with my heart rate up in the 150's and 160's and I'm noticing that I don't feel as awful as I used to when I was up in that range, so, yeah, that's cool too.

And with that, let's check out some progress pics!

Left: 1/4/13, Center: 3/1/13, Right: Today

Left: 1/4/13, Center: 3/1/13, Right: Today

March 1st, 2013 (-since 3/22/13, -since 1/4/13)

• Weight - 148.2 (-0, -5.8)
• Calf - 13.75" (-0, -0)
• Knee - 15" (-0, -0.25)
• Thigh - 23.5" (-0, -0.5)
• Hips/Butt - 40.75" (-0, -1)
• Belly - 38.5" (-0, -1)
• Waist - 30" (-0, -1.5)
• Bust - 36" (-0.25, -2)
• Arms - 11.5" (-0.25, -0.75)

Okay, I can't help but be bummed that I didn't lose any weight this week. I'm actually a little annoyed with this because earlier in the week I was 147, but, really, it's not important. I didn't lose as many inches either, but I still lost some off my boobs and my arms.

At first, I didn't think I could see much difference in today's photos compared to the photos from March 1st, but I took a closer look. What I'm seeing is my back fat and love-handles are smoothing out, my butt's getting a little less lumpy and of course my boobs are deflating (it comes with the territory!) Also, outside of the photos, these workout pants are on their way to being too big. While they're a far cry from being loose, I do find myself yanking them up constantly during Zumba or Body Combat.

Let's break it down, so since March 1st I've lost only .6 pounds, but I lost 3.5 inches! Since January 4th I've lost nearly 6 pounds and 7 inches. If you want to go way back, I've lost nearly 15 pounds and 18.25 inches since June 7th. Those numbers might not be impressive when you consider the amount of time, but I am still of the mindset that I'll have an easier time keeping it off by going slowly.

My struggles this weekend will be alcohol and Easter, then my struggles next week will be not working out on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday while my family is here as well as fooood and more alcohol with them. BUT. I'm giving myself a pass to not stress about it. I will make an effort not to go overboard and to make good food choices, but the family time will be most important.

If I still fit into these jeans after they leave, I'll mark it as a success!

Boobie Replacement Day

It's new boobie time! My mom is having her surgery today. I'm pre-writing this, like my last post, so if I don't  get back here to link to it, just look back a bit in the blog if you want to read about what's going on with my mom. ANYWAY.

I know you've all gotten to know my dad through this blog, but not really a whole lot about my mom. That wasn't on purpose, it's just that I spent a lot of time publicly grieving him here. So, I thought I'd commemorate Boobie Replacement Day with a photodump of some of my favorite pics of my mom and maybe some anecdotes. I really have no direction in mind for this post, so bear with me.

My mom's new favorite thing since my dad died is line dancing. Well, she always liked line dancing, but now she goes out every Wednesday night for line dancing. (Fun fact, she started line dancing every morning and lost a bunch of weight!) She's made a bunch of new friends who've seemingly become a really great support circle, as proven by this next photo.

(My brother, kneeling, and my mom right next to him.)

The line dancing instructor sent out a message to all of her line dancing disciples and urged them all to wear pink last Wednesday. They then surprised my mom with pink balloons, a pink cake, and a few different pink gifts and flowers and cards. It was a good luck pink party! She loved it.

Halloween line dancing looked like a lot of fun. She, my cousin Jess, and my pretty much should be a cousin but isn't Melissa were the Three Blind Mice and my cousin's wife Chris was the farmer's wife. It was cute.

My mom loves to dance. When I was 14 and too cool for everything, she'd try to dance with me in public, like in the middle of the mall, probably just to get to me... but I'm pretty sure I'll do the same to my kids. She and my dad liked to Jitterbug, and my brother and I both learned this from them as kids. My Father-Daughter dance was a mellow Jitterbug with my pop (then swapped out for my brother, but that's another story.)

My brother and my mom did this as well, but he was tricky. When they started their dance, it was a super sappy song that made my mom cry, and she was all "Dammit! I knew you'd do this to me!"

But then Jason stopped the DJ "Wait wait wait. This isn't working." and had him play something else. I don't remember what song it was, but it was big and upbeat and they Jitterbugged.

My mom stopped crying, my drunk ass lost my shit and got super emotional, you can see me vaguely keeping it together there on the left with my vodka-soda.

Moving on, have I ever mentioned that my mom likes to drunk dial/text? Her plus alcohol plus my aunts and cousins = this being texted to me:

But she doesn't reserve that for everyone else. She'd probably rather just be drunk with me instead of having to drunk dial me. We did just that when we met up with a couple of Jamie and I's Forever Friends and neighbors, Tim and Clare in San Francisco during one coincidental occasion that we were there at the same time last spring.

I've hit a dead end and don't have any more segues, so I'll leave you with the photo from a recent post about my mom that I couldn't find at the time, but I just now found:

"I can't look scared when I'm not scared!"

So that was fun! I'll try to hop back here later for an update on my mom's surgery.

Fitness Friday

After a somewhat indulgent weekend, I think I fared pretty well this week in the healthy eating department. Sunday was probably the worst day in terms of not-so-healthy eating, but it was the best day in terms of deliciousness. On our way back from shooting, Jamie and I stopped for lunch at Slater's 50/50. With a menu full of ridiculously tempting burgers, I managed to make a slightly better choice and get the turkey burger shown above which came topped with smoked gouda and a grilled portabello. I cut it in half and ate the smaller half, bun and all, then fork-and-knifed the other half, eating only the meat. Unfortunately, two Stone Pale Ale's didn't save me any liquid calories. Sunday evening was Chinese take-out and moscato (It pairs well, right?) at our friends Ella and Chris' place to watch and laugh at the Oscars. (No regrets!)

Really, that was probably the worst day. Saturday night we hosted dinner and cards and BSing for Jarrod and Kaitlyn, which proved to be pretty healthy (if you don't count the wine and beer.) Jamie grilled up some chicken breasts and I made a pretty tasty quinoa salad.

And then Monday, I made Philly Cheesesteak Stuffed Peppers! (The recipe calls for sliced roast beef, but I used steak.) Jamie wasn't "ohmigawd this is delicious", but I really liked them.

So really, eating healthy isn't a problem for me. It's not difficult for me, and I like it. What my problem is, as we all should know by now, is alcohol. I. Love. Beer. And. Wine. I tried to go the week without either of those two, but come Wednesday afternoon, I see a Facebook post from our favorite local spot for craft brews announcing that they've just tapped Pliny the Elder. If you're a beer person, you probably know that this beer, rated #3 on Beer Advocate's top 250, is kind of a big deal and it goes fairly quickly once it's tapped. So of course I had to stop in for one before I headed to the grocery store to buy stuff to make salads for dinner. Okay, so, because Jarrod also happened to be there, I had two. Geez. (Jamie was being good and was at the gym!)

BUT! Aside from giving in to beer (did I mention I had beers last night too? Yikes.) I've managed to still keep on track to lose my 4% body weight for the DietBet game I'm participating in, so I'm happy with that. Oh, and guess what? I took photos this month!

Left: 1/4/13 - Right: Today
(click to view it large)

Left: 1/4/13 - Right: Today
(click to view it large)

You can't really see too much of a difference, but I did make a bit of progress. I don't know about you guys, but I can see a bit of difference in my midsection. Here are my numbers:

March 1st, 2013 (-since 1/18/13, -since 1/4/13)

• Weight - 148.8 (-2.2, -5.2)
• Calf - 13.75" (0)
• Knee - 15.25" (0)
• Thigh - 23.75" (-0.25)
• Hips/Butt - 41.5" (0)
• Belly - 39" (-0.25, -0.5)
• Waist - 30.5" (-0.5, -1)
• Bust - 36.75" (-0.5, -1.25)
• Arms - 12" (-0.25)

In 6 weeks, I've lost 2ish pounds and 1.5 inches; in two months, I've lost 5ish pounds and 3 inches. Not bad. While I'm a little impatient with losing right now, I'm still in the mindset that the more gradually the weight and inches come off, the easier it will be to keep off. If you look at my original photos from when I started back in June, I can definitely see how far I've come, and I'm happy with my progress and the fact that even when I wasn't eating properly at the end of last year, I didn't regress much in my numbers. Since June, I've lost 14 pounds and more than 14 inches off my limbs and midsection! Yessir. That's fantastic.

Just Friday

Welp, I haven't really been focusing on weight loss since starting acupuncture and my TCM diet, so I think Fitness Friday will be taking a hiatus. I'm still working out consistently, but because my new diet is so restrictive, I've been more lax about the things that I can eat which means that I don't always make the healthiest choices. That's not to say that I'm eating crap all the time, but I'm not as strict about it as I was before.

In my TCM diet, I'm only allowed alcohol during ovulation. Last weekend, I was certain that I was super close to ovulation, so I may have felt confident allowing myself some beers when we attended the Stone Sour Fest at Stone Brewery with our friends Bob and Maryla. I was DD so that helped me to not over-indulge, but it was difficult because I wanted to taste all of the beers.

This was on Sunday... I may have also squeezed in a couple beers on Saturday night when we hung out with Megan and Chris. We went to dinner at Pint House in Fullerton which offers a BEER TOWER, so of course we had to order that. Duh. (They also had a really great "backyard" patio which I really wished was my own backyard patio.)

After dinner, we adventured a few blocks to find Bootlegger's Brewery. We'd had Bootlegger beer locally before but had yet to visit. It's a low-key place that kind of looks like it's run out of a truck garage with it's large roll-up door. There's a few picnic tables inside, but the majority of the tables are outside. They serve their beers in mason jars and have cornhole and a giant Jenga game set up outside.

It was a fun weekend! I didn't feel bad for cheating and having a few beers because I was so certain that I was so close to ovulation. Turns out that I didn't ovulate til like Tuesday or Wednesday, so then I was like "oops! Cheat days I guess!" Meh, I'm not going to worry too much about it. The rest of my TCM diet is going swimmingly. I haven't cheated with the food at all and I'm still seeing results in my treatment which motivates me to stick to it.

[Now it's time for some cycle talk.]

Last Friday I mentioned that Dr. Lee gave me a second herbal blend to help raise my temperatures. Well, it definitely helped regulate my temperatures, but on Monday he upped my dose in hopes of bringing it up by another tenth of a degree or so. It sounds minuscule, but it makes a difference. My follicular phase (pre-ovulation) temps are hovering between 97 and 97.1. Ideally, I need to be at least 97.2.

The red line indicates when the app I use things I ovulated based on temperatures (temperatures always rise after ovulation) and other indicators like positive ovulation tests and physical symptoms that I record. This post-ovulation phase is the Luteal Phase where we wait for hopefully (and ideally) implantation. My temps so far aren't looking great, though. They need to be up to at least 97.8 and so far, I'm not quite there. I have a feeling my herbs will be adjusted again on Monday to help me out here.

Now, we wait. Anyone who has tracked their fertility to try getting pregnant knows how much this two week wait sucks. In the first half of the cycle, there's stuff to do that helps the days go by while you're waiting to ovulate. Checking symptoms, peeing on sticks, and with this TCM stuff there are things like keeping my feet warm and using a heating pad on my belly every other day, then, of course, all the doing it. (Did I mention that according to Dr. Lee, I need to immediately prop my butt up and stay that way for a minimum of three hours after it? That was fun trying to sleep like that for three days in a row.)

After ovulation it feels like there's no purpose. All I get to do now is continue my diet and herbs, acupuncture, and temping just for the purpose of recording it all the while, somehow retaining my sanity while waiting for my period to show or not show. (I guess we can still do it for the fun of it.)

It's a lot. This is all kind of a lot to maintain which is why we've taken so many breaks from really going gung-ho with trying. Now that I'm seeing Dr. Lee, though, I have a new hope. His office is basically wallpapered with successes; the walls covered with collages of thank you notes and photos of babies and pregnant women. I try to read some of the notes on every visit.

This last Monday, I found this one from a couple who were told that they couldn't conceive. This is what gives me hope.

Fitness Friday

Hey check that out! I kinda have some muscles! I've been noticing more definition lately and that puts me in a pretty good mood. You know what else puts me in a good mood? The rest of the results that I'm seeing.

I joined a DietBet game, which offers a monetary incentive to lose 4% of your body weight. Earlier in the week was tricky for me, though. I felt like I hit a plateau and wasn't going to be able to push through enough in time for my final weigh in next Wednesday. Luckily, and I say "luckily" due to a night of beer and another night of wine, I pushed through! I'm back on track and only have to lose about a pound by Thursday in order to split the pot with all the folks that hit their goal. So far, since starting the game on February 13th, I've lost 5 pounds!

I credit my recent success to two things. First, my healthy eating. While my alcohol intake hasn't drastically improved, I've been pretty strict with my diet. There's a saying, "Abs are made in the kitchen" and it's totally true. While I'm far from having visible abdominal muscles, I'm seeing a difference in how my body looks and feels since really cracking down on my diet. Second, changing up my work outs.

A week and a half ago, sitting on the couch after dinner, I decided to check my work email. I had a new project sent to me by my boss. Do you guys even know what I do? Have I shared that here before? Anyway, I work as a designer for a custom rhinestone apparel company. I'm fortunate enough that I can work a flexible schedule at home, which I love. Anyway, I got this project and it was for the logo of a new fitness studio that had just opened about 10 minutes away. Do you guys watch Real Housewives of Orange County? Welp, it's Tamra and Eddie's new studio, CUT Fitness. I found their website and saw that they were offering a fantastic special: your first five classes are free, with no monetary commitment. I signed up that night and went to my first class the next morning.

The class I took was 30 minutes of spin and 30 minutes of Body Pump. (RHOC fans, it was taught by Eddie.) Body Pump, being mostly a barbell class, was something completely new to me. Between that and the different style of spin, it was a really great kick in the pants that I definitely needed. I've gone back twice since to help supplement my 4 days a week at the Pilates studio and still have two more free days left that I'll use on Tuesday and Wednesday.

I definitely accredit the following numbers to adding those new workouts to my schedule.

March 8th, 2013 (-since 3/1/13, -since 1/4/13)

• Weight - 147.6 (-1.2, -6.4)
• Calf - 13.5" (-0.25, -0.25)
• Knee - 15" (-0.25, -0.25)
• Thigh - 23.75" (-0, -0.25)
• Hips/Butt - 41" (-0.5, -0.5)
• Belly - 38.75" (-0.25, -0.75)
• Waist - 30.25" (-0.25, -1.25)
• Bust - 36.25" (-0.5, -1.75)
• Arms - 11.75" (-0.25, -0.5)

Check that out! This week I've lost 1.2 pounds and 2.25 inches! I'd say that's better than last week's 2 pounds and 1.5 inches in SIX weeks. 

Now, I know my DietBet isn't over yet, but I wanted to continue to challenge myself. Lucky for me, I happened to get an invitation this morning from Lauren at Pink on the Cheek to join another DietBet! The buy in for this one is only $10 (the one I'm currently in was $20) but I think it's still enough to keep me motivated. This new one officially starts on Sunday the 10th, which means it will put my final week the same week that my family is here visiting. This will definitely be a challenge!

Treats, Yo

Then let me tell you about this fantastic treat that I've been making for years. It includes all of the above. My mom started making this when I was a kid, but hers only included popcorn and chocolate. I've decided to get crazy and hit up the pretzels and Craisins. (Look out!)

This is pretty much the easiest treat you could ever make. It's fail-proof (unless you struggle with melting chocolate.)

Gather your ingredients: popcorn, chocolate, pretzels and dried cranberries then foil up a couple cookie sheets. Pop yo pop corn and spread a single layer out on the cookie sheet. Then, melt your chocolate. This can be tricky. Follow the directions on the package! I almost always use those candy coating discs from the craft store, or almond bark from the grocery store, but this time I decided to try melting down some Ghirardelli chips. Luckily, they lent themselves to melting nicely.

Sorry Ocean Spray, I didn't mean to name those store brand cranberries Craisins. Don't hurt me!

Now it's time to drizzle that shiz. If your chocolate doesn't want to drizzle nicely, you can add a little Crisco to thin it out. I use Crisco in my chocolate every time. It prevents lumpiness and chunkiness and, I think, helps it look nicer. My favorite drizzling tool is a spork, but you can use whatever you prefer. A spoon will generally do the trick, but hey, whatever you want.

Once you've drizzled to your little hearts content, it's time to add the pretzels and cranberries (and really, anything else you'd like!)

Then, to make sure all those li'l goodies stay in place, drizzle more chocolate!

Now that your first batch is appropriately drizzled to your satisfaction, it's time to put it in the freezer to set.

Don't disturb your alcohol if you don't have to. 

After a few minutes, it's set! Once the chocolate has hardened, it can be broken up into smaller pieces and put in whatever container you prefer. This batch was for a hostess gift, so I crammed it in a pretty jar that I found at Homegoods for six dollars.

It can also be done in layers in a deeper container. When I'm just making a large batch to break up and share in a bowl, I'll make this in a cake pan and layer it all the way to the top: popcorn, chocolate, fun stuff, chocolate, popcorn, chocolate, fun stuff, chocolate, etc., etc.

Like I've already mentioned, this treat is super easy to customize.The glass above is filled with chocolate drizzled peanuts and cashews. If you want more chocolate on your nuts (hehe nuts), instead of drizzling, you can just dump your nuts (hehe nuts) into the chocolate then spread it out on your foil. After it's set, it can be broken up like peanut brittle.

Have you made anything like this? What's your favorite holiday treat to make and share?

Treating Infertility with Acupuncture

I made Jamie take a picture of me and my needles.

Remember when Jamie and I consulted with a new fertility specialist and were really excited to start treatments with him? And then remember when the months of April and May were jam packed with travel, family visits, and home restoration after our flood? It was looking like June was going to be our month to get our testing done for the new RE so that hopefully we could get back to doing insemination in July.

But then, a week and a half ago, my good friend and neighbor Clare sent me an email. In it was a link to a book and an anecdote about a friend of a friend having followed its guide and fell pregnant after having been unable to for a few years.

The book was The Infertility Cure by Randine Lewis. I read the reviews and the preview pages. Less than a half hour later, I had the book downloaded on my iPad and I started reading. By page 60, I was sold.

It's all about using acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine to treat infertility. I'm going to tell you straight up that I've never been one for holistic medicine, and though I'd never given it much thought or attention, it always felt hokey and hippy-dippy to me. But this book! This book straightened it out for me, at least when it comes to acupuncture and TCM for infertility. In the basic of basic explanations, TCM and acupuncture serve to balance your reproductive system and create the best possible environment for conception.

I could try to explain it all here, but it'd be wordy and probably not well thought out, so I'll tell you my situation and what the doc planned out for me.

First, we went over the details about my cycle. While I haven't been diagnosed by my OB/GYN or RE with this, he believes I have mild endometriosis based on my signs and symptoms during my period. This means that I have endometrial tissue outside of the uterus causing my immune system to fight hard against something that isn't supposed to be there. Unfortunately, my immune system knows that it wants to eradicate endometrial cells, but it doesn't know that it only needs to fight off the ones outside the uterus so it also attacks the endometrium making it unwelcome for our baby-to-be.

He also looked at my past Basal Body Temperature (BBT) charts to help assess the situation (also something that my RE did not do.) From my chart he can see that my overall body temperature is too low. After ovulation (where the vertical red line is) my temperature should be in the 98 degree range, but mine is always still in the 97 range. (He also pointed out that my spikes in temperature could also be a sign of my immune system battling the endometriosis.) He also noted that my luteal phase, the time between ovulation and my next period, is too short.

One of my own charts.

An example of a good chart.

From there he decided that the main goal for me at home right now is to basically warm up. I need to keep my feet warm and not drink anything cold. He even recommends drinking my water closer to body temperature rather than even room temperature. He's put me on a restrictive diet of no coffee or tea (not even decaf), no alcohol (except during ovulation, but hey, I've been meaning to cut back!), no dairy, and no beef or lamb. He also gave me plenty of suggestions as to what I can and should eat and in what amounts.

Oh, and herbs.

The diet, the warming up, the herbs, and the acupuncture will all serve to balance my body and my reproductive system. It should regulate my periods and work to create the optimal environment for conception.

It's recommended to give it 3-6 months, but I've read a lot of success stories (and I mean a lot because I can't stop Googling it) of women in my same situation, with years of negative pregnancy tests and even some failed inseminations and IVF procedures who start acupuncture and get pregnant naturally within a month or two. While that definitely gives me hope and makes me feel like we're finally going to get what we've been working so hard for for so long, we also have a longer-term plan. We plan to try acupuncture and TCM alone for about 6 months, then from there we will likely pair it with fertility treatments.

IUI (insemination) has about a 20% success rate when used with fertility drugs. My acupuncture doc has a 38% success rate with women using acupuncture and herbs alone. His overall success rate with women using  either IUI, IVF, or acupuncture and herbs alone is 65%. Based on these numbers, I'm feeling really optimistic.

I feel like acupuncture and TCM work to naturally change your body to make it more ready and receptive to conception whereas the treatments with my RE felt really invasive and forceful with synthetic hormones trying to replicate a fertile womb. I'm definitely not against using IUI and IVF with fertility drugs; we will go back to that if we have to. But I'm happy to try something natural with side effects that are positive that seeks to fix the problem rather than try to MacGyver the hell out of it.