fireflyfaith’s BodyBlog

I just discovered another delicious way to use my LDP protein powder. The flavor I have is chocolate. I eat oatmeal for breakfast quite often. Lately I’ve cut back on using sugar, brown sugar, honey, etc….. to sweeten it. I’ve been just mixing strawberries into it to sweeten it. That’s good, but still took some getting used to because I’ve always dumped brown sugar into my oatmeal in the past. Anyway…… I was just remembering something my mom used to do when I was a kid. She’d make oatmeal and mix the Nestle’ Quick chocolate milk powder mix into it to make chocolate oatmeal. I loved it. So I decided to try that with my chocolate flavored protein powder. It’s delicious! And I also added the strawberries too. And since I LOVE chocolate covered strawberries as a treat sometimes, that’s what this reminded me of. So, in summary, what I did is cooked the oatmeal and put it in a bowl, then dumped a scoop of the protein powder onto it and mixed it in. Then I cut up 3 strawberries and mixed that in. Mmmmm……

I just thought I’d share an idea that I had that turned out really good. I like to make protein smoothies in my blender using yogurt, frozen fruit, protein powder (I use LDP from BSN) and just enough liquid (fat free milk or o.j.) to make it blend well. My blender does better if I make 2-4 servings instead of just one, so I usually will make a bunch and share it with my kids or whoever happens to be at my house. Yesterday I was home alone and wanted some so I made approx 2 servings of it and poured the 2nd serving into a plastic cup, like a Tupperware tumbler, and stuck it in the freezer. Today when I got home from the gym I took it out of the freezer and sat it on the counter while I took a shower. When I came back to it, it was soft enough to eat with a spoon like ice cream. Mmmmm…… it was delicious and made me feel like I was cheating with a frozen treat when I really wasn’t cheating at all. Try it and let me know what you think!

I just have to brag, because I usually don’t have very much control over temptation with my fav foods. My daughter stayed the night at a friend’s house last night and is still there. She called and needed something from home this morning. I was just getting ready to head to the gym when she called so I stopped at the friend’s house on the way. The girl’s mom is a friend of mine too. When I got there she was making biscuits and gravy. Sausage gravy. That dish is my all-time favorite, comfort food, mom-made-it-when-I-was-little food, love it, NEVER have been able to walk away from it. I haven’t made it at my house in a long time, but I usually can’t resist it if it’s offered to me. But this morning I didn’t have any! Do you know how hard that was?! OMG! It smelled sooooo good and I haven’t had any in a long time….. but I was dressed for the gym, got in and out of that house quickly before I caved in, and now I feel very good about the fact that I didn’t give in to that yummy, fat-filled breakfast.

I really don’t get it sometimes. I’ve been doing very well for the most part with my diet and workouts. Only been taking in about 1400-1500 calories (mostly clean ones, protien, veggies and dark grains) and working out 6 out of 8 days (3 on and 1 off). Yet the scale isn’t budging. I think I’m feeling and looking better in my clothes - I say ‘I think’ because when you look at yourself every day it’s hard to judge objectively sometimes. And my camera batteries died and won’t hold a charge anymore, so I need to go get new ones so I can take progress pics. But anyway, I’ve been pretty consistent for about 2 weeks, hoping to at least see 2-5 pounds come off, but I’m still hovering at 130. Maybe I’ve been gaining in muscle, which is ok, but I still see too much fat on the backs of my legs and in my abs. One of the major changes I’ve made in my diet is cutting out carbs in the evening. I figured this would be a major perk, but nothing……. I’m going to give it more time. Maybe I’m expecting too much too fast.

I had a professional massage yesterday! It felt soooo good! I should have done that a lot sooner. I think it will be on my list of things to do on a regular basis now. There is a trainer at my gym who is also a massage therapist and has been after me to come see him for a massage for months. I finally went in at lunch for a short one for my shoulder/neck/back…… because of last week’s ‘ouch’ that I had, I figured it would be good for me. I didn’t want to go back to work afterward, lol. Wanted to go home and take a nap. Of course James (the therapist) gloated with the ‘I told ya so’ thing, hahaha. What could I say?

I’ve been doing well with my supplements and meal plan, except for yesterday……. had a major cheat day. My 15 year old son and his friend decided they wanted to try their hand at baking. My son made strawberry shortcake and his friend made a big choc chip cookie. Yummy! Had to try some of each. These are boys who think the kitchen is a drive thru to grab and go. I was impressed that they wanted to actually cook something themselves so of course I encouraged it, even if it was junk food.

Yesterday was also my day off from the gym. Back at it today. Feeling good. I have an appt with a massage therapist at lunchtime today. So excited. I haven’t had a massage in a very long time. I think I’m due.

Update on my neck/shoulder injury from Tuesday…… I went home early from work and took a muscle relaxer and pain killer and kept heat on it and napped (the meds kicked my butt, lol). Yesterday was a planned rest day in my workout schedule so I took advantage of that and took it easy. But it was feeling much better already. Today I went to the gym and was immediately greeted by the trainer/therapist that was there when I hurt myself. He was glad to see me back and asked how I was doing and gave me strict instructions to take it easy today, lol. I LOVE my gym and the people there. The atmosphere and the staff make me look forward to going in. Anyway……. he told me I should start out with my cardio before hitting the weights just to make sure I’m going to hold up and get totally warmed up before adding weight. So I did that and took it easy, lighter weights today, and felt really good afterward. Right now my neck and shoulder are feeling stiff and I still have to be careful not to make sudden movements with my head, but other than that, I feel good. I’m amazed at how quickly it’s feeling better.

Yesterday I got home to find my supplements from BSN had arrived, woohoo!!! I’m such a kid sometimes, lol. I was so excited to open the box of my goodies and dive in. Today is my first day using them and I can’t wait to start seeing the results. I got the LDP and Thermonex. I’ve been very good this week at sticking to my food plan and now I’m really excited to start the supplements. I know I can get these products at health food stores, but I signed up for the auto-ship from the company because you get a 25% discount on the products if you do that, along with personal interaction from an expert at the company for guidance and support for free. I’ll post more pics soon and keep track of my progress here.

Can you believe it! I injured myself at the gym this morning. Just what I needed, lol. I was doing a pull up, wide grip, for my upper back, and on my 3rd one I felt a pain, like something ‘caught’ in my shoulder. I got down and the pain got worse as the minutes passed. Now I can’t turn my head to the right without a stabbing pain, and my right arm feels weird, like heavy/numb and tingling in my hand sometimes. The pain is actually in my trap area on the right……. Went to a med clinic and he said sounds like a muscle injury and gave me muscle relaxers and pain killers and told me to apply heat often and it should get better in 7-10 days. I’ve never done this before, so I’m not sure what to think, but I hope that dr is right and it gets better soon. This sucks!

Last fall when I was going through a very fragile time of stress and depression I went to see my doctor. He put me on Effexor. I’ve been feeling like my old self for about 4 months now and wanted to come off the drug but my dr told me he would prefer that I stay on it for a minimum of 6 months for best results of the depression symptoms not recurring. I wrote in my first blog about my struggle with getting my weight back where I want it (I’m 129 lbs right now, certainly not overweight, but holding on to too much fat). I went to see my dr this morning about coming off the Effexor. He agreed with me that it was a good time and is going to step down my dosage for a couple of weeks until I’m completely off the med. When I went to see him last fall I think I only weighed about 108 - too skinny. I talked to him this morning about the weight gain, some of which was good, but that I’ve put on more than I wanted to. He said that an average of 10 lbs weight gain is a common side effect of Effexor and that once I’m off of it, and continuing with my workout routine and clean eating that I’m striving for, the weight/fat I want to loose should come off a lot easier.

Whew…… was I glad to hear that. For the past couple of months I’ve been trying very hard to loose fat and tone up. I’m toning up - I can see and feel it - but it’s like my body just doesn’t want to let go of the fat. Hopefully getting off the drug I was on will help me meet my goal in a reasonable time.

I’m a firm believer that living a healthy, fit lifestyle can cure and/or prevent most illnesses, but last year I struggled with so many life changes and evidently couldn’t handle it like I thought I could. I hit rock bottom and my mom is the one who suggested I see my doctor. I’m still not convinced that the drug is what brought me back to ‘me’, but it probably helped take the edge off a little. Now I’m looking forward to feeling strong and happy and successful by my own means. I KNOW that weight training is a HUGE factor in doing that because it makes me feel strong, and it’s going to be #1 priority in my schedule from now on. I’m living proof that you have to take care of yourself before you can take care of anyone else.

I visited BSN’s website a couple of days ago and read up on their supplements. I liked what I read about their auto-ship plan. You can fill out a questionaire about your current stats and your goals, and a nutrition and performance specialist calls you to talk about your fitness goals and make suggestions for their products. They also will email a nutrition plan that includes the supplements that you agree on and suggestions and worksheets on creating meals that you can make sure are within the calorie and nutrition guidelines that they suggest to meet your goals. And also at that time they set you up on an auto-ship plan for your supplements and 25% off and free shipping for doing the auto-ship. And you can stop any time. This is beginning to sound like I’m giving them a free plug, lol. I just think it’s a great idea for them to keep their customers coming back to them - to offer free support while you’re working toward a goal. I don’t know that their products are better or worse than any other, but the fact that they have personal interaction and suport for the customer is a brilliant business strategy. It allows them to have first dibbs on your business if they’re helping you achieve your goals. So anyway…… I’m getting their protien drink mix, I think it’s called Lean Dessert Protien and their Thermonex. I think this will help support my weight training and fat loss that I’m after.

I’m the type of person who thrives on having an organized plan to follow, so I think if I take the time to plan my meals I will be more likely to eat a lot cleaner. And if I do that, and continue to work out like I am now, and take the supplements, I hope to be able to shed this fat that I hate so much.

I’m a newbie to supplements/drinks, etc…… I know that there’s a ton of stuff out there and that everyone probably has their favorites. I’m starting with this and see where I go from here.