Tues Jan 17

 30 minutes on the treadmill.

Hard Times Call for an Emergency Plan

An emergency plan in the face of hard times is a great idea.  I'm working on that myself.  It's been a hard several years, I mean really hard with multiple traumas, some near fatal, and others the kind that crush your heart and soul to a billion pieces. Things like that are difficult to overcome.  Processing emotions is painful.

We're there. Again.  Another death in the family, husband's. My family of origin is all dead. But he had a close extended family, which I did not, and he is feeling it, and I, too, for him, and for his family.

So I haven't worked out since I last posted.  That is NOT the answer.  The emergency plan is this: put your oxygen mask on first.  In this case, the oxygen mask is a good, solid workout.  It releases stress, keeps you healthy, increases all those feel-good chemical, and keeps you on track. Doing normal, every-day routines brings stability during difficult times.

There's always going to be something.  That's what life is. When you least expect it, boom.  So we have to be prepared.

I guess I'm feeling blessed that I figured this out today, as I sat in a saddened, grieving state.  Had I just got up and given an hour, 1/24th of the day, I would have felt so much better.  It's hard, but we can't help others until we are squared away.

So, lesson learned.

Stoked

 Literally feeling the fire inside me, which was actually just an ember, got stoked big time tonight.  I came alive.

Weights:

Joyce Vedral Cougar Workout

Cardio:

30 minutes on my treadmill

Then a short stretch.

So the amazing thing was, after the weights I needed a finisher. I've been feeling "not done" after all my workouts, but yet I was happy that I'd been doing the workouts so I just basked in that small win/glory.  Tonight, I just felt a "click" and hopped on the treadmill after weights and walked a half hour. 

Now here's the thing, I set it to my normal pace and then realized, "This is too damned slow!"  And I bumped it up considerably.  I sweat, I kept up, got a good Zone 2 workout, and I felt amazing.

When did that happen? How did that happen?  I've got some energy back. Take that, trauma responses!

Consistency for the win. Just keep going. On days you don't feel like it, do it anyway. Because like today for me, the day will come when that light switch is turned on, and that consistency makes it happen, and you will WANT MORE.

Boom!

Crush it! 

January 5, 2024

Speedy Non-Stop, Joyce Vedral, Lower Body

I also did a 2-mile Leslie Sansone--old video, old old...and it was nowhere near 2 miles. I think it was 1200 steps.  Hmm. 

Stress headache again all day.

Free on YouTube--Joyce Vedral

 Collagevideo.com has updated their YouTube page and you can now view four of Joyce's videos for free.

Just Thighs and Arms 

On the Ball 

Speedy Non-Stop 

Just Abs 

Easy Burgers for Keto, Low Carb, Carnivore & Ketovore

 

10# 80% burger

form into 6oz -ish patties (I do use my scale)

bake at 400 for 30-35 minutes

This makes 24 burgers plus 2 extra. My oven doesn't fit all three pans, so I do two rounds. 

Fully cooked, each burger weighs around 3.5oz, has around 250 calories, 25g protein, and 16g fat.  That comes to 43% protein, 58% fat, and 0% carbs.  This is not quite ketogenic in nature, the aim is to eat 70% fat.  So you can add your favorite fat to get the correct ratio.  Cheddar cheese, butter, tallow, whatever you want. 

This is my go to.  This is how I reversed Type 2 Diabetes and lowered my triglycerides to normal for the first time in my adult life.  Off all medications! 

It happens...Day 1

 Sometimes bad things happen in life, things that are painful to your core. In those instances, one must embrace those awful feelings in order to process them.  This happened to us over the Christmas holiday, gut-wrenching emotional pain.  Sat with it, processed it, grieved it, then figured out a future-forward perspective. Part of that was getting back to the goal I set.  

Weights:

Joyce Vedral Speedy Non-Stop 

A quick workout, that I knew would help ease me back in. I chose this specifically because it has a killer ab section.  I did it all this time. Not gracefully, I was definitely flailing, but I did it. My abs are weak, and I've resisted ab work for far to long.  Bring it.

Consistency is key.  This has to be.

Crush it! 

Overwhelm and This Week's Plan

 

Here is an unfinished time chart of all Joyce Vedral workouts.  I purchased all of them except Just Abs, which I think I will get.

I have issues with overwhelm.  This is a trauma response for me. So I look at my list, and now with all the workouts, I don't know which to do.  Silly, but my reality. 

For the coming week, I've narrowed it down to workouts that are supersets within body parts, meaning doing all arm work at one time, chest work, etc.  I also need to do her DVDs at a slower speed, which thankfully my DVD player allows me to do, because form over speed matters especially when I use higher weights than she does in the workouts.

This week's plan:

Tuesday/Wednesday: Speedy Non-Stop upper/lower

Thursday/Friday: Just Arms/Just Thighs then Just Butt/Just Bra-Roll

Saturday/Sunday: Speedy Non-Stop

Speedy Non-Stop has an excellent, killer ab routine. I don't know the ab work in the Just series. I have always hated ab work, as it was so hard for me. But when I did that "killer" ab routine in Speedy Non-Stop, I felt it for a couple days. And that, to me, was highly empowering!

In the past, I always read that doing ab work daily is the way to go. After research, they now say to rest a day in between, which makes complete sense to me.  So I just may order that Just Abs DVD to use when there's no ab work, and alternate it with The FIRM Lower Body Sculpting, which really helps my low back, hip, glutes region. We'll see.  Starting light for now, just doing the DVDs as they are.

Cardio is free reign. I'm going to try to do 5 minutes a day on the Concept 2 Rower, then build over time. Rowing isn't my thing, so I'll build up to it.  I plan to do an hour a day of "light cardio" meaning walking, either treadmill or video. I also may do an easy Richard Simmons workout.  Gotta love Richard--I was with him from his start back in General Hospital days and I watched his TV show and worked out with him after school.

Keep it easy, decrease the overwhelm, and JUST DO IT! Thank you, Nike, for that great slogan!

Metformin--Not So Good

I was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes at the end of 2021, just after Christmas. I was put on 1000mg Metformin daily.  My goal was to get my glucose under control and get off the Metformin.

Mission accomplished.

The scary thing about any medication is side effects.  I research a lot, and I found that Metformin may induce muscle atrophy.  That was not what I wanted when my goal was/is muscle growth.

"Metformin (0.01–2 mM) increased the level of myostatin protein in a dose‐dependent and time‐dependent manner (Figure ​1C1C and ​and1D).1D). These results indicate that metformin may induce muscle atrophy in physiological low dose ranges of metformin, as well as high doses of metformin. Metformin is a biguanide."

Kang MJ, Moon JW, Lee JO, Kim JH, Jung EJ, Kim SJ, Oh JY, Wu SW, Lee PR, Park SH, Kim HS. Metformin induces muscle atrophy by transcriptional regulation of myostatin via HDAC6 and FoxO3a. J Cachexia Sarcopenia Muscle. 2022 Feb;13(1):605-620. doi: 10.1002/jcsm.12833. Epub 2021 Nov 2. PMID: 34725961; PMCID: PMC8818615.

A big part of my lifestyle is eating a very low carbohydrate, medium protein, and high fat diet.  The American Diabetes Association endorsed this in 2018, and continues to do so.  One of their caveats is that it may be hard to adhere to.  That is said by the same institution who shares recipes on social media loaded with sugar.  Sugar is the root of metabolic disorder, insulin resistance, Type 2 Diabetes.  My reality is that this is a VERY easy diet to follow.  I wasn't happy that I had to give up my former way of eating at first, but I was even more unhappy with a diagnosis of Type 2 Diabetes, morbid obesity, and the negative health ramifications that coincide with both.  So I weighed it out, and researched the literature like crazy, embraced the ideology, and adopted.  This is an evidence-based approach that is proven to work. 

In the course of my research, I found the late Dr. Sarah Hallberg. She was the medical director of Virta Health, "the first clinically-proven treatment to safely and sustainably reverse type 2 diabetes without medications or surgery."   I watched every video I could find with Dr. Sarah, took notes, and applied.  The greatest, most powerful message I took away from her was a single sentence. I cannot cite the link because I don't remember where I saw/read it, but it stung me, sucker-punched me, and shook my core.  This sentence was and is so powerful to me.

"Why medicate our food."

Why, indeed.  Four powerful little words that enabled me to embrace this lifestyle.  

I started, and have never looked back.  January 2024 starts my third year of being LCHF (low carb high fat), keto, ketovore, and carnivore.  I prefer an animal-based diet as I have far fewer skin issues than when I eat veg.  

I've been off metformin for over six months, and I'm doing great. Now the only thing that truly increases my glucose is stress. 

Do I still eat sugar?  A very minute amount. I usually have a square of Ghirardelli's 86 chocolate after a meal. One square has 4g carbs.  That's actually a high number in my world, and my greatest source of carb intake. I toy with stopping, but for now I'll hang on.  My goal is to have an average glucose of 83, which is said to be the normal, healthy number.  I'm not there yet.  Perhaps giving up the square will get me there, or perhaps consistent exercise will.  

I do not feel deprived. I eat real, whole food which is highly palatable and satiating to me. I rarely go to restaurants.  I'd rather eat in a way that is healthiest to my body, which is not deprivation at all.  Sometimes I dream of sourdough bread fresh out of the toaster with melting butter.  It's a pleasant memory.  My biggest dream is increasing my health and longevity.

So as I embark on 2024, I will continue with my way of eating, and grab that "consistency" bull by the horn with my workouts. It's time to build muscle and finish getting this fat off my body.

Everything is possible.

~~~

Sidenote: I share what works for me. Everyone has the right and responsibility to choose what works for them. Making educated decisions by reading peer-reviewed, evidence-based literature is the best way to formulate your plan of attack. You do you, I'll do me, and we'll call it a day.  This works for me, and a multitude of others, so I'm just sharing a highly-effective, healthy tool from my toolbox.