The Great Doughnut Fundraiser Conspiracy

Okay, so there's not exactly a conspiracy.  Probably.  But I'm so flipping frustrated with the endless stream of junk-food-based fundraisers at my kids' school.  It FEELS like a conspiracy to get as much junk food into every person's house as possible.  Pizza.  Candy bars.  Cobbler mixes.  And doughnuts.  These, to me, are the most insidious, because they're right there, in my kid's face.  Every other kid's parent (it feels like) is cooler than me.  They fork out the buck and let their kid eat the delicious, warm, crackly-sugared goodness that is the Krispy Kreme doughnut that has been delivered straight from the bakery to the hallowed halls of elementary school education.

I am not cool.  I do not want my kids to eat the deep-fried-in-crap-oil, coated-in-white-sugar confections.  I'm not opposed to the occasional treat, but I'd like to pick when it happens.  And I'd like to make sure it's as healthful a treat as I can manage and it still be considered treat-worthy by my kids.  So, when the doughnut-fundraiser notes came home in the bookbags earlier this month I made a mental note of the date (which I miraculously remembered WITHOUT writing it down; that should speak to how much the doughnut fundraiser pisses me off).  That date was today, a Friday in October.

Sidenote:  We are knee-deep in our very first ever soccer season.  Both girls are playing soccer for the first time ever, on different teams.  Between practices and games, we're committed 3-5 days/nights a week.  We got back from games/practice at 8:30PM last night.

Okay, so we get back home last night and everyone is hungry again, so I feed them snacks and get them all to bed.  After a quick cleanup, it's now 9:30PM.  Time to make the doughnuts.  I've used  this recipe before (with some modifications) and the whole family loved it, so I decided not to tinker with success.  The only change I made was the almond butter; I was out, so I subbed natural peanut butter instead.  The marriage of chocolate and peanut butter is famous for a reason, folks.

 

Full disclosure:  this is NOT a yeasty, firm-yet-delicate Krispy-Kreme-like doughnut.  It's far more like a cupcake in doughnut form.  Guess what?  My kids are 9, 6 and 2.  If it looks like a doughnut and is sweet, well then folks, you have yourself a doughnut.  HOWEVER.  A "real" doughnut is glazed.  I'm not sure how my 6 year old knows this, because she has never set foot into a doughnut shop, but she does.  Therefore, to make these truly worthy of doughnut-fundraiser-replacement-doughnuts, they required a glaze.  I used unsweetened vanilla almond milk and sucanat that I powdered in my coffee grinder at 4:50AM.  I thought the texture was a little grainy, but the kids LOVED it.

 

So yes, dear readers, I sent the kids to school each with a dollar and their own dang doughnut.  Doing my part to thwart the creep of Krispy Kreme into the schools.

A Little Update

So, I last wrote a post back on February 1st.  I'd been working out with our new trainers (and good friends) for a couple of weeks and was so very excited!  It's now mid-April, and we're still with them and still loving it so much!  I'm making gains in strength and definitely seeing muscle definition I never had before.  I'm losing pounds and inches and improving my health.

I bought a pair of pants in mid-January:  size 24W.  My tops and dresses were usually 22W.  That's a 3X.

I tried on dresses yesterday, for fun and because my husband and I will be celebrating our 10-year anniversary next month and I'd love to have a pretty new frock to wear.  ;)  I started with size 20W.  Too big.  Size 18W.  Too big.  Size 16W...we have a winner!  I'm wearing size 18W jeans right now, and my new workout shorts are XL.

I've dropped THREE FREAKING SIZES in 3 months.  That's just unfathomable, especially since the weight loss doesn't seem to match up to that.  I've lost 20 lbs. in those same 3 months, which should equate to the loss of one size, not 3.  Hellllooooo, muscles!  Goodbye, fat!

Life is very, very good.

I decided to hold of on buying a new dress.  I don't need it until the 2nd weekend in May.  Who knows what changes will be wrought in another whole month?!  I'm hoping--HOPING--to be all the way out of fluffy-girl sizes by then and into the realm of regular sizes.  I haven't seen those since elementary school.

Exercise-Induced Asthma ... or, Oh, Shit, I Forgot About That

Way, way back in the day -- like, 15 or so years ago -- when I started taking martial arts classes, I learned a new term:  Exercise-Induced Asthma.  Can I tell you how much it sucks, to finally start working out regularly, pushing your body to do new things, only to have your lungs refuse to work properly?  Yeah.  So I carried my little inhaler to class with me and would dutifully take a hit before class started.  It worked well, and just became a part of my routine.

Fast forward 15 relatively-sedentary years.  I've used an inhaler less than 5 times in the last 10 years, outside of a nasty bout of bronchitis that landed me in the hospital.  I don't even HAVE one anymore, that's how much thought I give asthma on a day-to-day basis.

Well I got a refresher yesterday, when I was introduced to Suicide Sprints in 50*F weather.

WTF.

I actually made it through the "warm-up" (not sprinting, though) AND the rest of the killer workout without falling out, but I had a delightful cough the rest of the evening and my chest still hurts 16 hours later.  I really, REALLY don't want to start using an inhaler again.  :(  A quick google search on asthma and crossfit netted some handy-dandy info, though:

"Exercise induced asthma is often caused by breathing in cold air, which causes inflammation in the lungs. This happens when you are exercising and breathing in a lot of cold air through your mouth. Sometimes it results in a cough that lasts well after the exercise. It is a common issue in speedskating since it is obviously cold and they are gasping for air - it is known in speedskating as the 1500 meter cough."


Yeah, that's pretty much what happened yesterday.  So breathing through the nose helps to warm the air before it hits your lungs and is supposed to help.  I also found some interesting research on using CLO to treat asthma.  I haven't been taking CLO but I sure as heck plan to start back, ASAP.  And there was some anecdotal info on higher doses of vitamin D3 helping with asthma symptoms, so I'll up that a bit too.  I'm taking 5,000 iui/day now (when I remember); the dose that's supposed to help is 8,000 iui/day.  I can do that.  :)

I sure hope to nip this in the bud.  I'm having too much fun to stop now!

Pushing Myself

I ran again!  Not much, but a heck of a lot farther than Friday.  Warm-up was to run 1/4 mile and I ran 3/4 of that and walked the rest.  Then I did some work with 15 lb. dumbbells.  I don't remember what the whole movement was called, but each one included an overhead press.  I did 30 of them in less than 4 minutes.  That last one...yikes.  But I did it and under the time limit.  I did sit-ups and planks (modified, of course) too.

Short, maximum effort, in-out-done.  I love this so much.

Getting a move on...

After talking about it for 2 solid years, I took the plunge and went back to yoga!  A sweet little studio opened up about a mile down the road over a year ago and I decided it was way, way past time.  So, I went to my first class in nearly 10 years on January 19th.  It was fantastic!  I felt so energized for the rest of the day!  And then I woke up Sunday and couldn't move.  LOL  Monday wasn't much better, but by Tuesday...all good.

Tuesday, my dear hubby did his (truncated) fit test with our crossfit-trainer friend.  He went back Thursday, and I met them Friday for MY (truncated) fit test.

Ho. Lee. Shite.

I have never put so much effort into such a short timeframe in my life.  That includes the pushing phase of birthing any of my enormous children.  I ran, then did squats, push-ups, sit-ups and pull-ups (modified versions of all, 'cause I'm so freaking out of shape).  The whole thing was over in less than 10 minutes and I thought for the next hour that I might actually die.  Then for the NEXT hour, I was pretty sure I was going to throw up.  THEN. Then.  Then I couldn't wait to go back, 'cause that shit was AWESOME.

I made sure to take my potassium and magnesium supplements before bed and actually woke up Saturday feeling pretty darn good.  And then I went back to yoga.  She kicked it up a notch, because there was another yoga instructor in the class.  Eek.  Legs, meet muscle failure.  Again.

So that was 3 days ago.  Sunday was a BITCH.  Monday was better, and today I'm feeling pretty darn good.  Back to Crossfit tomorrow, where I shall surely curse everything and rue the day I ever met Greg and Erica.  LOL

It feels really, really good to push my body again.  I want to be strong.

Whole30 - Day 27

Thursday, September 27th

Today is my birthday, nah nah nah nah nah ....  Yeah, that doesn't translate well, does it?  LOL  I am 42 today and feel better than I did 10 years ago.  Life is beautiful.  I have a loving family, my health is improving day-by-day, and I can't wait to see what the next year has in store for us.

7:10AM:  (fasting) 106
7:30am:  (breakfast) shredded spinach, scrambled eggs and guacamole, small cup of coffee
9:30AM:  102
11:30AM:  (lunch) pulled pork, homemade cole slaw
1:30PM:  93
4:00PM:  (snacks) pistachios, coconut flakes
8:30PM:  (dinner) taco salad:  seasoned meat, spinach, salsa, guacamole
10:30PM:  Yeah ... I fell asleep within 5 minutes of sitting down, so I never saw 10:30PM and have no idea what my bG was.  :p

As I committed to my Wellness Coach, I walked today.  I actually walked a heck of a lot more than I committed!  I walked the perimeter of the plant (1.1 miles) with a co-worker just before lunch.  Then after lunch I walked down another plant with a different co-worker!  We must have walked for nearly an hour.  NOTE TO SELF:  Get some better safety shoes!  'Cause those walkdowns are going to be happening much more frequently, and my feet were f'ing killing me within 10 minutes.

Have I mentioned lately that I love Whole30?  I've been talking it up to my coworkers and anybody who will listen.  The lady who keeps my kids went grain-free this week!!!  A HUGE deal and I love her even more for it.

Whole30 - Day 26

Wednesday, September 26th

The girls both had games last night, thankfully at the same place.  I left the house at 5:05PM with Pumpkin and Butter Bean in tow.  Hubby showed up with Peanut at about 6:30PM.  He took Pumpkin home after her game, at about 7:30PM, and I got home with Peanut and Butter Bean at 8:40PM.  The kids didn't get to bed until 9PM and I didn't have it in me to get them up at 5AM today.  I let them sleep in a little and took them to school before my off-site meeting.

I'm so grateful that there's no practices or games today!

5:10AM:  93
5:30AM:  (breakfast)  omelet made with 3 small eggs, homemade pork sausage browned with onions and garlic, about 2-3 T. of butternut squash, and about 1 cup shredded spinach
7:15AM:  114
11:45AM:  (lunch) leftover butternut squash lasagna
1:45PM:  135
7:30PM:  (dinner) pulled pork, roasted butternut squash, mixed greens sauteed with bacon and onions, cole slaw
9:33PM:  95

Snacked today on pistachios (surprise!  not) and coconut flakes.  Oh, and there were fresh strawberries at my morning meeting.  I had a lot of those.  Maybe 10?  Probably accounts for at least a portion of the high lunch postprandial.

I had my first coaching session today as a part of a company-sponsored 6-month Healthy Weight Coaching Program.  It went pretty well.  I committed to walk at least 3 days per week, 20 minutes per day.  My plan is to either do yoga or lift weights the other 2 weekdays.  My next session is in 3 weeks.

I'm a little frustrated that my weight loss has stopped again.  I have 4 more days on my Whole30.  I'd like to be able to say I lost 15 pounds on it; I have 2 to go.  Unfortunately, I'm in the last week before I start my cycle, which usually means a 5-pound weight gain.  So, I might have to make this a Whole 35.  ;)