Gluten- and Dairy-Free is For Me.

As my facebook friends are well aware, I have decided to take some time to try and eat gluten- and dairy-free. The most frequent response to me telling loved ones, friends and acquaintances is that they want to know why.

I speculate that this is for one of three reasons:

1) genuine interest in my life;
2) curiosity to hear my rationale and see if it is something they may consider one day; or
3) because they think gluten-free is a lame fad and think I am lame and on that bandwagon.

In any case, I think it's good for me to document my rationale here seeing as how it is my health blog. Since the two choices were separate (although implemented together), I'll explain in two sections. Also, I should note that I am consulting with the dietitian at Lifetime Fitness and she is overseeing my new diet plan. I suggested dairy-free, she agreed. She suggested gluten-free, I agreed. She suggested dark chocolate as an after-dinner snack. I said, "Thank you." :)

Why Dairy-Free?


I'd been considering this for some time. There is nothing extraordinary to report here. Basically what it came down to was this:

A lot of people believe that cow's milk is not healthy for us. The major argument I have seen is that all other animals only drink milk in infancy. Human beings are unique in our milk dependance. I have been hearing a lot of buzz lately that this is unnatural. Caveat: I have no hard data to back this up. At all. I am way too lazy to research it.

Also, I know several other people who have cut dairy out and now get very sick when they do consume it. My first speculation as to why was that they developed a sensitivity to it by cutting it out. This is certainly possible, but with more research, it is likely that they always had a sensitivity but when you consume it everyday, you get used to the effects. What does this mean? You may feel mildly off and not know it. When you cut it out, you feel better and then when you consume it again, it feels bad. You may not have noticed before because you were used to it. Makes sense.

So, the question is: How do you know how good you *could* be feeling? Well, my answer is simple: remove it from your consumption and see what happens.

Why I Don't Mind: I'm not a milk drinker for the most part. I enjoy a glass of milk after eating a brownie. That's about it. Also, thanks to my friend Sean who forced me to eat Krave (AMAZING!) with Almond Milk, I saw how good it was and switched to that last month anyways.

Why It Stinks: I love cheese. Love it. Gouda is soooooo goooooooooood-a! Sometimes, I eat a block of Gouda cheese and wheat thins for dinner. Seriously. Also, I like yogurt. But I am willing to part with them. For a small bit. :)

Why Gluten-Free?


This I had also been considering, but for a different reason.

What many of you do NOT know is that I have been having some painful stomach issues lately. Not the "I'm gonna be sick" kind, but "oh my word it hurts so bad" kind. Not all the time. Only a few times in the last few months. But for over a year it has been regularly in some sort of mild pain or irritation. In August it got bad enough for me to see a doctor (this used to have to be quite serious, but now that I am on blood thinners I go more often because I fear the worst--more clots or internal bleeding!). The doctor didn't really know what is up and with my bleeding history suggested a colonoscopy.

Let me tell you, colonoscopies are super fun. The gastrointestinal surgeon suggested that we do the colonoscopy and an endoscopy at the same time since I had to get off of my blood thinners for the procedure (which is risky) and may as well check the whole thing out. Sure. Why not? Aside from 6 (pretty awesome) color photos of my entire GI tract, they found nothing. Their advice: more fiber. Awesome.

While researching what could be causing this and how to not trigger attacks, gluten came up. A lot. It just makes sense to see if I have a sensitivity to it since they are so common.

Also, since it is a current diet fad, there are a lot of gluten-free foods in regular supermarkets! Score. :)

Why I Don't Mind: I love meat. Meat does not have gluten.

Why It Stinks: I love gluten-filled products. But most of them are bad for me and Udi's Gluten-Free bread is actually quite tasty.

First 3 Days

I've gone gluten- and dairy-free for 3 days now. So far it's great. I have been off of a structured diet plan for so long, it's nice to be on track again.

I think the restrictions create a challenge for me to learn to eat differently and this meshes well with the way I work (an unintended benefit). Let me explain. I get bored a lot. I get bored with healthy eating. Figuring out new foods that do not include dairy or gluten but still nourish my body in a way I need to is new and interesting. My attention span is satisfied.

Here is one example day to see what I do:

Breakfast: turkey sausage, Udi's toast, coffee (non-dairy creamer!)
Snack: raspberries, almond butter
Lunch: salad, tuna
Snack: hummus, carrots
Dinner: spaghetti squash, sugar-free marinara, chicken sausage
Snack: dark chocolate (1 oz. that is way more than I thought--win!)

Ok. Questions? Comments? Complaints? Concerns?

I Missed You Too: An Explanation

I know, I know. It's been so long. So long. I kinda sorta quit blogging for awhile. But the fans (well, one or two fans) have demanded it. So, I'm back.

I don't know how frequent it will be, but I hope to write at least a couple times a week. I hope to chat about my working out (in vaguer terms than before--haven't been very stat-oriented lately), my diet and diet plans, funny stories, etc...

As a bit of explanation of what's been going on in my life. Ever since my abdominoplasty (waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back in March), I feel like I have never gotten back on the workout/diet wagon. I need to lose about 20 pounds to get to a healthy weight that makes me happy. Hear this: I am very happy with my current body, but I know that healthy for me is 20 lbs less. Also, the fact that I am on an increase leads me to believe that without a goal, I will continue to increase. So, I plan to decrease. And I plan to decrease by ~ 20 lbs. :)

To do this, I am trying a new diet plan--have a dietitian and everything! More about that in a future post.

I will wrap up the time off with: had a lot of fun, ate a lot of great food, traveled like crazy, worked out with some AMAZING partners (FILLY!!!!) and lived life to the fullest. What more could a girl want? :)

I Love My Liz Sessions. So Much.

I really love sessions with Liz. I know--it sounds like I have a girl crush, but I don't care. I love 'em! I'm pushed hard physically. I laugh so much. I have someone to talk to who seems to understand where I am coming from and can relate to so much. Enough gushing. For now. :)

The lifting (all supersets):

Pull-downs: 50/15, 60/15, 70/12
Seated Row: 50/15, 60/15, 60/15
Burpees: BW/10, BW/10, BW/10

BB Deadlifts: 60/15, 75/15, 75/12
DB Lunges: 25/12, 25/12, 25/12
Pop-Ups: BW/15, BW/15, BW/15

TG Shoulder Press: 35/15, 40/15, 55/12
Push-Ups (MB): BW/10, BW/16, BW/12
Alt. Suitcases: 6/12 ea, 6/10 ea, 6/12 ea

Exercise details first, funny stories second.

TG Shoulder Press is the TechnoGym machine. It is bi-lateral so it is closer to a dumbbell press then the regular ones. The 55 was rough, but I powered through and Liz wrote "good push!" on my paper, with a smiley face. I love little notes like that. :)

Push-Ups (MB) is when you have a medicine ball and you do a push-up with ONE hand on the ball, then roll the ball to the other hand and do another push-up. Yes, it does suck that bad. No, I am not coordinated enough to do it gracefully. Yes, I am sure it is super fun to watch. It actually wasn;t too bad, but Liz kept reminding me to "reset my butt" after each ball roll because I would raise it up for balance. They just took a long time. And hurt. :)

Alt. Suitcases. Core work-out that hurts. Liz kept correcting my form. Each time adding something else to do! I am NOT a good multi-tasker. Everyone knows this. First she says to bring the ball to my foot as I bring my foot in. Done. Then she says to sit up more and bring my legs back less. Okay. Then she says to not bend my knee out while bringing my leg back. I do that. But sit up less. I can only do so much, Liz! On set two she wrote down "better form" and on set 3 she wrote "good!" I must have gotten better at it...somehow...

Ok. Story time.

Liz and I both could not focus for the first half of our workout because there is a new guy at the gym who looks (and walks around with the same smug attitude) as Captain America--but like 10 years younger! It was uncanny the resemblance! He wore similar style workout clothes. His hair is weird and helmet-like. He has the same weight-lifter belt and lame arm-bands. I almost pulled out my phone to take a photo but just didn't think I could do it discreetly. We both wished Amanda F. was there to witness this as well.

I hated the lunges. For some reason the 25 lb dumbbells felt SO heavy (I know, I am so incredibly out of shape). I was lunging like a lazy person. Fast. My form was horrible. Liz was telling me to go slower and deeper but I waited until the turn around point, set my dumbbells down, smiled and asked her if she had any constructive feedback as I cannot hear her when I am in pain. She rolled her eyes and told me to sow down and bring me back knee down further. I then said to her, "Liz, I'm gonna be honest with you. I know my form isn't good. I just hate those dumbbells so much. I want it to be over faster." She responded that I should take out my anger on the dumbbells by doing perfect form lunges. I started to mock her for that suggestion and loudly said (while lunging in great form), "I am SO angry with these dumbbells. I will SHOW THEM by lunging perfectly" and laughing. It may have only been one set of good ones, but Liz got it out of me. Well done, Liz...

I was pretty tired and out of the zone today but had a good workout despite. At one point I reminded Liz that I was tired and she said, "I'm your trainer. You pay me to make you do things that you wouldn't push yourself to do on your own." True that. That's why she gets the big bucks...

Also, I finally sent her my revised goals. Well, the first draft. I think it will be more of a discussion before I pin them down. More to come later. :)

Weekend Wrap-Up

I'm behind on posting for this weekend! In short, Saturday = Kettlebell Workout with Devon and Sunday = Iron Girl Swim Relay!

Saturday: Kettlebell Workout with Devon

I have been putting off posting this because I don't have the workout yet--Devon said he'd email it to me... Right... Still don't have it. It basically was ridiculously hard!!! It began with 3 exercises that were all "bilateral alternating" something that involved squatting. Since this is the high-rep week, everything was 3 sets/15 reps. Let me spell this out for you. You do everything on each side (so it's actually 30 reps per set) and each side has a squat. But the time we were done the first 3 exercises, we'd have done 270 squats. Ouch. Devon did that. I eased off some and did some sets of only 10 reps because I didn't want to destroy my legs before the big swim the next day! High-rep day hurts! But I look forward to two weeks from now when we di it again and I don't have a race relay the next day. :)

Sunday: Iron Girl Swim Relay

The day finally came and went and I conquered Centennial Lake (twice!)!!! However, I think Centennial may have had the last laugh (more on that in a bit).

Here is me and Amanda F. (my fellow swimmer) pre-race:



Here is my relay team (Me, the swimmer; Tracy, the biker; Debi, the runner)!!!!:



The weather was kind enough to pour buckets right before the race soaking my bag containing my towel and dry clothes, etc... But then it cleared up. The race was delayed a little under 30 minutes but then we were off!

It felt very similar to the practice swim (and actually seemed a bit shorter!!! Must be that I knwe the distance this time...). I started at the back of the pack...and stayed there! :) The few times I passed someone, I'd say something encouraging like, "Keep it up! You're doing awesome!!!" It seemed like there were a LOT of kayaks around me. I figure that either: a) there were a LOT of kayaks everywhere; or b) I was the tail end of the swimmer so they were following me in. Maybe a combination of the two. ;)

I breaststroked, elementary backstroked and fake-freestyled the whole way ('fake-freestyling is when I keep my head above the water). Almost everytime I rolled on my back to backstroke the kayaks would rush to my side and ask if I was ok. I would smile and say, "Yup! I'm fine...just slow...") That one would stop asking, but then the next one would. They were super nice and trying to be helpful. I started passing people with other color swim caps (earlier waves) and that made me feel good. I may be slow and last--but I knew I would finish!

The results were posted and I was faster than 2 people in my wave and faster than almost 100 people overall! I know it's about having fun and challenging myself and finishing (it truly is!). And last place would have still been awesome...but not last place is even better! ;) Also, I was about 5 minutes faster than the practice swim day!!!! So awesome! I beat my biggest competitor: me!

Amanda F. also knocked about 5 minutes off her previous best! All in all, it was a great race day!

I felt fine the entire swim, but when I stepped out of the water I felt very sick in my stomach. I guess I looked pretty rough to my cheerer-onners (Thanks, Tom and Kevin!), but I ran to transition (Thanks to support from Amanda) and handed over the timing chip to my biker. Once I stopped for a sec, my stomach felt a little better. Amanda thinks it was the change from being horizontal for so long then standing. Probably.

The rest of the day I was exhausted. I slept most of it away. Once I was home and showered (around 11:30am) I was only awake for 2.5 hours total until Monday morning. I was then all sick Monday (I'll leave the details out). I think Centennial got me. I swallowed a little water and it had the last laugh. Well played, Centennial...well played.

Swim in a triathlon relay? Check. ;)

Everyone Needs a Workout Buddy

Man! I did *not* feel like working out today! But I had asked my bestest gym workout buddy friend, Stephanie (BGWBFS), to join me. BGWBFS (hmm...that is waaaay too long, how about Buddy Stephanie?). Buddy Stephanie is another dedicated gym kicker-butter who recently took hot to even hotter by prioritizing her diet and gym time. Like me, she is also in somewhat of an off-season in her kick-butt-ocity. Yesterday, I saw her and asked if she wanted to work out together today. It was selfish. I like her. I like chit-chatting with her. She agreed and it was a date!

All day today I didn't want to. She didn't either. But we both came to see each other. We both didn't want to work too hard, but we decided to do the gradual build workout because that's what we usually do. I am confident that if she was not there, I would have pansied out and done something shorter and easier. But I didn't. I did every stupid second of the stupid gradual build--with Buddy Stephanie beside me, chit-chatting and listening. :)

I even worked hard during the 10 minutes that Mr. Oh-My-Goodness-He-Reeks-So-Incredibly-Bad-of-B-O-Buddy-Stephanie-Had-to-Get-Off-the-Treadmill-and-Get-a-Towel-to-Breathe-Through was on the treadmill in front of me. It. Was. Awful. I get it. Workin' out makes ya sweat. Who doesn't? And no, we don't always smell *super* pleasant when we are through. But *THAT*?!?!? That is not normal. Or acceptable. If you cannot afford deodorant, I will buy it for you, sir. Simply ask. Or workout outside. Or in your basement. Or just be out of shape. For serious.

Despite the air quality issues, I'm glad Stephanie got me to the gym. We should do it more often. And everyone needs their own Buddy Stephanie.

Kettlebells!

Devon and I are friend-lifting again!!!! I am optimistic that this will help inspire me to be big, bad and tough with my gym regimens again. Here's to hoping...

Devon has agreed to let me tag-along at his weekly kettlebell workout:

Umm..sure. That's exactly what I looked like doing the workout... :)

Let's take a step back and talk kettlebells. Kettlebells are somewhat controversial in lifting circles from what I understand, but that is changing as they are becoming more and more mainstream thanks to the likes of Jillian Michaels



and friends. According to Devon, the benefit (or difference) of kettlebells is that they add an extension to your body. Your body naturally extends at the elbow and the wrist. The kettlebell provides an artificial additional extension that traditional dumbbell workouts do not have. They are controversial because our bodies are not used to this additional extension and as such, if not used properly, people can hurt themselves.

In short, do not try this at home without proper training.

Kettlebells are typically used for power-focused training and most exercises work the full body. Because of these facts, the kettlebell sessions are shorter than my typical sessions. We did only 5 exercises today. All 3 sets of 10 reps each. Devon says that the workouts we are doing are designed to be done twice a week--a low-rep and a high-rep day. We will be doing this every Saturday and will alternate between low- and high-reps. Next week it will be 15 rep sets or as Devon says, "It will suck." :)

When choosing which weight kettlebells to use, Devon asked me what I typically shoulder press. I can do 25s but feel out of shape so said 15s to 20s trying to sell the 15s. Devon suggested I use 20s. Not sure what the guideline would be officially, but if you are considering trying this out, choosing the size you can shoulder press in dumbbells cannot be too far off.

The workout (explanations below). All are 3 sets, 10 reps using 20 lb kettlebells:

Push Press (1 bell, 10 reps each side)
Double Arm Swing (1 bell)
Bilateral Overhead Press (2 bells)
Double Arm High Pull (1 bell)
Squats (1 bell)

Explanations. I will try my best. :)

Push Press: Hold the kettlebell in the basic wrap position with one arm. This is when you hold it by the handle and it makes 3 points of contact with your body: the hand grip, your forearm and your bicep. Your arm is against your chest, the bell resting on top. You then squat and use your hips/legs to push up forcing the arm with the bell to rise into a press. Let it down and repeat. Here is an image displaying the steps:



Double Arm Swing: Grab the bell with both hands and let it hang down in front of you. Squat and powerfully raise up. The bell will naturally swing forward to about eye level then back down between your legs as you squat again.

Bilateral Overhead Press: Basically a shoulder press. Have a bell in each hand in the wrap position. Press with rotation up.

Double Arm High Pull: This is like a squat to calf raise combined with an upright row. Begin in the same position as the Double Arm Swing. Squat. Powerfully raise up onto your tippy toes while simultaneously bringing the bell up into an upright row. Lower and repeat. It looks like this:



Squats: Hold the bell from the bottom with two hands and do squats. Devon encouraged me to focus on form and depth since 20 lbs is WAY lighter than I normally squat with.

Since the exercises are full body and for power, they really wore me out! I'll be curious to see how much pain I am in tomorrow. It will be good pain. It was a good workout. :) And it's so great to be friend lifting again!!!

Liz Thinks I'm Stronger Than I Am

Today was a session with Liz. I knew it would be rough because I've been gone and not exercising for so long. It was a standard Liz session--challenging, but not clearly punishing me. :) She's still recovering from her shoulder surgery and at one point she did say that I had to do ridiculous things because she couldn't and someone had to. Thanks?

The lifting:

Lying Leg Curls: 60/15, 70/15, 80/12

45° Leg Press (15 right leg, 15 left leg, 20 both legs): 180/15:15:20, 270/15:15:20, 360/15:15:20
DB Lunges: 20/15, 20/15, 20/15 (superset, she drew a smiley next to this...don't know why...probably because it sucked.)

Assisted Negative Pull-Ups: 55/8, 45/8

Hammer Shoulder Press: 35ea/15, 45ea/15, 55ea/12
Reverse Pulldowns: 50/15, 50/15, 50/15 (superset)

Push-Ups: BW/15, BW/20, BW/20

The negative pull-ups were supposed to be unassisted. Negative pull-ups are when you start with your head above the bar and lower yourself down slowly. I've never done these. Devon had me do negative chest presses before and it is a similar concept. This makes you work harder and use more force during the eccentric contractions. I like them because you can do heavier weights than the normal way and I feel so tough. :) For these, Liz had me standing on the very edge of a plyo-box and jumping up into a pull-up and slowly lowering myself down. This plan has so many flaws. Allow me to enumerate:

1) I am not strong enough for any part of this;
2) I lack coordination (picture me missing the box and falling to my painful injury--death would be over-dramatic and I am never that...);
3) I irrationally fear hurting myself in simple scenarios due to my complete lack of coordination (reminder of past scenario)

I tentatively jumped the first few times making no real attempt to hold myself up--the focus was more about *not* falling off the edge of the box. I then gave it a real try. I swear *I* noticed a difference in the amount of time in the air. Liz did not. Apparently, I cannot even hold myself above the bar. FOR SHAME.

I thanked Liz for having more faith in my ability than was appropriate and we relocated to the assisted pull-ups machine. I did much better with 55 and 45 lbs of assistance. It was still tough, but actually doable. :)

Another explanation of a new workout: reverse pulldowns. These are not reverse-grip pulldowns--those I have done many times before. For reverse pulldowns, I sit backwards at the lat pulldowns machine and bring the bar behind my head to the middle of the back of my head, a.k.a. my ponytail. Liz kept instructing me to keep my 'c-spine' straight. Like I know what that is. She then said, "It's your neck." Why not just say that, Liz?

Gotta get myself back in the workout zone. I hate how I feel right now. Hate it! I owe Liz a new goals email and my current goal is to write that. :)