For the love of Run..

Despite some health issues I tried not letting that interfere with my love of running. In April I did run 5km for the Transplant trot. This race hits home for me as my cousin finally received a liver transplant that she has been waiting for since she was 9 years old and she is now 25. She has been doing amazing since her surgery and has gone from not being able to have children, to now having a full life ahead of her.

Shortly after this I did my annual running clinic for anyone at work who wanted to participate which is something our wellness committee takes a lot of pride in. So this time we decided to spruce it up a bit with doing a 15km clinic. So our regular runners who did a 10km with me last year where up for a challenge and then race day would be July 1 for Canada day. So come race day it was 32 degrees first thing at 8am and I thought I was going to die lol. So worth it, it was an awesome run and I would do it again in a heartbeat.

Last weekend I did my final run for the year I think and did the 5km foam fest. It was awesome!!!! It was a soapy and muddy race with 22 obstacles which some of them scared me at first but I did each and everyone of them like a champ. This is another one I do again in a heartbeat :)

The fight to find ultimate health

Life has been extremely hectic in the last 6months with life, work and HEALTH!!!! Starting last year after getting off some antidepressants for having anxiety and panic attacks I developed some tummy troubles. Those tummy troubles led me into gaining/losing weight, feeling irritable, sick to my stomach, and feeling isolated from the world. Right after getting back from Jamaica in February I said enough was enough, I needed to do something about this as it was making me miss things in life, plus feeling miserable is no way to live.So I started my research on what I could do. So number one thing was change my diet and track everything I ate so  I knew what would upset my stomach.

After several weeks of that it seemed like I had to cut out food in general from diet. It sounded ridiculous and I was very frustrated and so was my fiancé. Poor guy, I drove him nuts with this. We love to cook with one another so being adventurous was a difficult task at this point. Next stop was to book an appointment with my doctor. After our conversation she sent me off for blood work to test for IBS or celiac disease and also told me to do a lactose test at home.

Got some blood work done and then it was the waiting game for my next appointment, it the mean time we took a trip to Calgary to see my in-laws and cutting out "lactose" from your diet when your travelling was challenging. I felt bad that it wasn't as fun as I hoped it to be due to my frustration took over a bit. I guess shit happens. However, trying to avoid lactose helped with my acid reflux....meaning it was gone! That was huge plus not to have to take medication every day and being able to eat onions and garlic without dying was a great perk :).

Back to the doctor's I went for my test results and being told I was extremely healthy was great in all, but not knowing what my issues were sucked. Back to to drawing board I went, which lead me to cutting out dairy all together. Like magic all my problems went away. Apparently my body can't digest the protein in dairy products, who would a thunk!

Since this great discovery I have lost 10 pounds and feel better then I ever have. Also noticed that my adult eczema has almost disappeared, my skin, hair and nails look better and of course no more tummy issues. Now I can focus on losing more weight to reach my first weight goal of 135 pounds, about 8 pounds away right now and then look at toning. Here is hoping that I can at least lose the 8 pounds before January for when take my wedding dress for alterations......who am I kidding, no one is going to stop me!

Update

Couple of weeks have gone by and I have stayed faithful when it comes to working out, keeping track of what I am eating, and keeping everything relatively healthy but...their is always a but, I haven't been able to stay away from not drinking alcohol. Now I say this as in not having a couple of drink on the weekends and that's it. Nothing to crazy. This has probably slowed my results down a bit, but I am down 1.3 pounds. I'll take it!!! Now I am gearing up for my 5 km race in just a little over a week. Sad part is I haven't ran outside at all since October...this could be very interesting.

The struggle is real

After getting engaged last year I put a lot of pressure on myself to finally get to the ideal weight or look I wanted for my wedding. I was doing really well from March to about December of 2015. I was about 140 pounds, felt great, and thought why not start adding definition to the equation. Since those words have come out of my mouth, it's been a struggle with the weight. I consulted with a friend of mine who even runs his own business as a personal trainer about what I should be eating and what type of schedule I should have when it came to weights, but when it came down to nutrition he gave me a guideline and told me not to count calories. BIGGEST MISTAKE EVER!!! I went up in weight very quickly to now a whopping 152 pounds. Yes most of it is muscle mass and I get it...but any slight weight gain from over eating one night or going to Jamaica for a week ends up being such a huge set back. So I think back to last year of what I was doing to keep so small and have some definition...CARDIO! I stopped running after running Legs for Literacy at the end of October. So to help for motivation I signed up for a small 5km on April 16th and with the weather being pretty decent this winter(besides today 30cm snow storm :s) I can start running outside again. Now for nutrition I started using my fitness pal again and tracking everything to keep myself accountable of what I put in my mouth. Here is hoping that I can get back close to the 140 mark again before I buy my wedding dress.....beyond scary as I only have 10 months before I get married! So rules:

1) No more alcohol
2)Tracking my meals every day
3)Working out 5-6 days a week no excuses
4)Drinking 2L minimum of water a day
5)Reward myself with a nice pair of shoes when I hit my goal of 140

So stay tuned for updates