Yesterday we posted on Facebook about our getting back in shape success. Patrick's lost over 20lbs and I've lost about 10. I only had about 10 to lose but what needed to do was get stronger. In a matter of hours I've had several messages from friends asking what we finally did to start getting back in shape and how we got back into running.
P90x?
C25K?
Did we finally buy 21 Day Fix?
Nope....nope...nope....
Although I did use C25K to start running again, I quickly realized how having an app tell me when to run and walk was limiting my success.
(don't kill me beach body friends) And I thought really long and hard about buying the 21 day fix program as well as shakeology. Seriously it sat in my amazon cart for a few days. But I didn't and I'm glad. The shake is expensive and we just couldn't afford it. I LOVE following the 21 dayfix recipes and meal plan ideas but I've had to learn real quick how to portion control my meals and I honestly believe doing it without the containers to fill helped ME learn how to do it for myself.
P90x? Nope didn't even consider it because I have two year old twins and I don't have the time in the day.
The bottom line was that we changed our lifestyle pretty much cold turkey. No sodas, artificial sweeteners, and seriously limited our processed food intake. We're not perfect. And we cheat. In fact I think it's allowing myself to cheat that has helped. This has been the biggest change of all.
We got back into running. And for me distance running. I am not a distance runner. I hate it. Hate it so much I get mad and start yelling for Patrick to leave me alone on our runs. Patrick can out run me distance any day but I beat him sprinting. My new goal is to be able to out run him in distance. Any distance would do but I'll start with a long term goal of beating him in a 5k. I may never meet that goal by the way because he's been working pretty hard to get in shape himself but it gives me something to work towards.
Another big change for me was weights and strength exercises. I had tried to get back into running many times over the past year but I would always end up in tears because it was so hard. I had no idea it was hard because I had zero core strength. In April I did an ab challenge and then tried running again. All of the sudden I realized I was going about this the wrong way. If I wanted to be a better runner then I needed to work on my strength as well. Up until this point I was expecting running to be the break through in getting myself back in shape but in reality it was the strength exercises. Which this was something Patrick had told me for years but I'm pretty stubborn.
Overall we have just been focused on eating healthier and making a point to do some sort of exercise every day. If we cheat we try to do it with real(not processed) foods and we've missed a few days here and there with exercises. It hasn't been easy but doing it together has helped.
In other news...my blood work results came back from my dr. Everything is within normal limits. I was sort of mad, frustrated and upset. It frustrates me that the research to help men just isn't out there as much. Many men have abnormal results at some point and because the quality of men's sperm can change about every 3 months it is entirely possible that things could change for Patrick. Just as it did before. Although research shows testing with a 0% morphology has odds of about 2% chance of successful natural pregnancy. The standard odds of pregnancy each actively trying cycle is about 20% so to say that we only have about 2% chance ever is pretty low. What upsets me about is that they can tell us whats wrong, and how low of a chance we have but there isn't a lot they can do medically. Other than IVF with ICSI.
In reality I am happy to know that everything is ok. It means that I can get pregnant and I can carry a baby (or two) successfully. Just as my body has proven it can already do. It's highly unlikely that the endo I had before has grown back and I have no signs of anything else going on. The issues we had with eggs maturing during IVF may have just been the controlled part of IVF. The reasons for the first cycle not taking probably have nothing to do with any of it. That's just what happens sometimes. Just like there aren't answers for why 1 in 4 women will experience an early miscarriage or chemical pregnancy. So much of this can't be controlled, understood or explained.
Recently I have been talking with someone I know who did their first IVF cycle. I have been hoping this couple would receive their miracle for a LONG time. Talking with her through the last part of her cycle(the waiting part) has made me see the good in IVF. Often times I look back and I see the stress of it, how it broke us down and nearly tore us apart. It's easy to remember the two little miracles IVF brought us. They remind us every day. It's harder to remember the feeling of excitement that we were finally doing something that was working, the joy we experienced together, and how it made us stronger. So I am very thankful to this person for allowing me to be a part of their journey.
For now we have the information, we know what we're up against and in the end if all else fails we know that we do have the option of our one frozen embryo or IVF with ICSI(even though it's expensive). There's still hope though and whatever happens, happens.
Overall we have just been focused on eating healthier and making a point to do some sort of exercise every day. If we cheat we try to do it with real(not processed) foods and we've missed a few days here and there with exercises. It hasn't been easy but doing it together has helped.
In other news...my blood work results came back from my dr. Everything is within normal limits. I was sort of mad, frustrated and upset. It frustrates me that the research to help men just isn't out there as much. Many men have abnormal results at some point and because the quality of men's sperm can change about every 3 months it is entirely possible that things could change for Patrick. Just as it did before. Although research shows testing with a 0% morphology has odds of about 2% chance of successful natural pregnancy. The standard odds of pregnancy each actively trying cycle is about 20% so to say that we only have about 2% chance ever is pretty low. What upsets me about is that they can tell us whats wrong, and how low of a chance we have but there isn't a lot they can do medically. Other than IVF with ICSI.
In reality I am happy to know that everything is ok. It means that I can get pregnant and I can carry a baby (or two) successfully. Just as my body has proven it can already do. It's highly unlikely that the endo I had before has grown back and I have no signs of anything else going on. The issues we had with eggs maturing during IVF may have just been the controlled part of IVF. The reasons for the first cycle not taking probably have nothing to do with any of it. That's just what happens sometimes. Just like there aren't answers for why 1 in 4 women will experience an early miscarriage or chemical pregnancy. So much of this can't be controlled, understood or explained.
Recently I have been talking with someone I know who did their first IVF cycle. I have been hoping this couple would receive their miracle for a LONG time. Talking with her through the last part of her cycle(the waiting part) has made me see the good in IVF. Often times I look back and I see the stress of it, how it broke us down and nearly tore us apart. It's easy to remember the two little miracles IVF brought us. They remind us every day. It's harder to remember the feeling of excitement that we were finally doing something that was working, the joy we experienced together, and how it made us stronger. So I am very thankful to this person for allowing me to be a part of their journey.
For now we have the information, we know what we're up against and in the end if all else fails we know that we do have the option of our one frozen embryo or IVF with ICSI(even though it's expensive). There's still hope though and whatever happens, happens.
No comments:
Post a Comment