Weigh In: Success and a book review

Happy Monday everyone! Although I am currently lying down due to a chocolate overdose and time of the month discomfort I was happily surprised this morning when I weighed in.

Current Weight: 196.8 (-3.6 lbs!)

Last week I was disappointed because I had been gaining weight and re-entered the 200's at 200.4 lbs. I made sure to re-start counting calories and did some form of exercise daily. Who knew that would work? I lost 3.6 lbs and, until this moment, have been feeling pretty good. LOL

Achievements: 

Calorie counting really does keep me more honest and help me not over indulge. I made a plan to stay under 1500 calories... that didn't work but keeping under 2000 calories was still successful.

Calories:

Mon: 1504
Tues: 1816
Wed: 1767
Thurs: 1770
Fri: 1630
Sat: 1674
Sun: 1871

Last Monday's walk consisted of hanging out in Yosemite Valley.

Not bad at all. I definitely indulged in chocolate a couple of times this weekend so I was happy to see that I was able to not go over my calorie in take because of it.

Now workouts:

Mon: 2.5 hours of random walking adventures in Yosemite National Park
Tues: 4 mile walk
Wed: toning workout
Thurs: toning and a mile hike
Fri: 2 mile bike ride, toning and pilates
Sat: zilch
Sun: 4 mile hike/walk

Little by little I'm learning that doing a few minutes of cardio is better than nothing and that spending 15-30 minutes of a toning work out, dancing around, or ANYTHING in my room is better than being too lazy or tired to do it.

One thing that has been motivating me is Alisa Vitti's book Woman Code 

The moment I received this book in the mail I have not put it down. It's exceeded my expectations. I've been dying for someone or something to explain to me what exactly is wrong with my body. I've wanted someone to tell me what it mean when they say that PCOS gives you a variety of symptoms and how I can fix it myself.

 Alisa Vitti gets it and has a GREAT way of explaining how my body works, what has gone wrong, and most importantly of all what I have to do to FIX it. I like that this book is specific to a woman's needs and has a lot of information for more than just PCOS but skin conditions, menstrual problems even constipation. I still haven't started really implementing a lot of what she suggests you do but I've started small. I drink a glass of water after waking and it has helped bowel movement. I have eaten lighter dinners, heavier lunches and protein filled breakfasts and I feel like I have more energy throughout the day. I'm excited to try out more things. 

I definitely recommend Alisa Vitti's book, or just joining her page on facebook if you have problems with your period, have unexplained skin conditions or want to learn about our bodies and why we need to detox them and a way to do it that doesn't involve laxatives. 

I can't wait to read more and I'm hopeful this will help me feel better if not lose weight too.

Goals:

I want to start Alisa Vitti's 4 day cleanse. It's a specific food intake menu for four days to help my body cleanse toxins. From there I would start integrating certain veggies, grains and protein at different times of the day to balance my food intake. I still get to choose what I want to eat though. No hard boiled egg for me, thanks.

I need to drink more water.

I really wish I could live somewhere where I can take a yoga class. Everywhere I read (and I read A LOT of articles on health) everyone recommends yoga. Since I can't run I want to try something different. In the mean time I'm going to stick with toning, strength training and alternate means of cardio.

I'm getting interested in learning ways of making my own skin moisturizer and cleansers. This whole talk about too many chemicals going in to my body through lotions and the fact that my skin is the most sensitive organ in existence I really want to learn more about natural skin care. Has anyone tried using jojoba or coconut oil as a moisturizer, or aloe vera? How do you feel? Any thoughts on making your own facial scrubs using epsom salts? Let me know!

-w0rld