Ridding Myself of the Unwanted

Maybe it's because it's springtime, or maybe it's just because it just needed to happen, but something in me finally snapped and said it's now time to take getting the baby weight off seriously.  I had been half-heartedly trying to do that little by little, but when I don't have a real goal nor plan, it doesn't really ever happen.  My body is very resistant to change unless I shock start it to get moving.

So, I did a few days of cutting out starchy carbs while I simultaneously started with Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred.  I have to say that trying out "The Shred" was a great idea because it's really helped me to get a lot of extra energy that has helped motivate me to eat better and to also start "spring cleaning" my house.  The great thing about the shred is that it is only a little over 20 minutes each day, so it is easy to set that time aside to get it done.  It is basically a circuit type workout that combines strength training, cardio and abs into a complete workout that you can do with only a set of light (mine are 2 kgs) weights.  I was a bit skeptical that one could get in a complete workout with just some light weights, but she does a great job of making them work.

In the past Mauri and I had a home gym set up at home, but here in Spain we haven't really had the extra room to be able to pull it off.  So, he's been going to the gym with his brother whenever he gets done from work early enough, but I can't bring myself to pay the exorbitant prices for the gym here, nor to waste the time that it takes to make it across town to get to the gym.  Truth be told, I have never been a fan of working out in a gym because I hate having to compete with other people for the machines and weights, and hate even more having others watching what I do.  To make things worse, I have had times when the guys try to show me how to do certain moves, I guess assuming that I am clueless because I'm a girl.  Girls here typically limit themselves to only cardio or aerobic classes, so I always have felt a bit out of place in the weight room.

Cardio, though, has never been my friend.  I have tried the cardio route of getting in shape, at one point swimming a mile several times a week, and at other times running several miles almost daily.  I have never really felt a difference.  Unless I combine it with some sort of weight training, my body doesn't change.

5lbs. down... 30 or so to go!!!

Not wanting to go to the gym, and not having a home gym set up, I thought I was doomed to only be able to jog on the mountain or on my treadmill.  Don't get me wrong, jogging on the mountain is great.  Sheena loves it; it's beautiful there, and the hike up to the jogging trail is a different type of workout in itself.  I needed more, though.

Through Facebook, I read about the 30 day shred, and decided to look it up and give it a try.  I had signed up on Jillian's website, and got email offers, including some that included the shred, quite often.  I'm so glad that I finally decided to give it a try, and I was amazed by how thorough the workout can be with my tiny little weights.  The first days I was sore, and couldn't finish the first level without taking little breaks or dropping my weights halfway through, but, like she said, by the 5th or 6th day, my resistance had greatly improved, and I could actually (barely) get through the entire workout without any breaks.

As for the controversial dropping of all starchy carbs, even strictly limiting my fruit intake for several days, it was exactly what I needed to rid myself of my new carb addiction.  Sugar is addicting, and although I don't allow myself a lot of obviously sugary foods, the same is true with other carbohydrates.  When I eat a lot of them, I crave more of them, and am hungrier much more quickly.  So, I've replaced most of them with healthy fats like avocados, walnuts, and coconut oil.  My "bad food" cravings have gone, and it is much easier for me to eat a little healthier.

So, like I said, the added energy has motivated me to start spring cleaning my house, and I have been on a roll ever since beginning the shred.   Don't assume that my house looks beautiful right now, like it should after weeks of spending several hours each day on it!! Really, though, it has to get worse before it gets better.  I've been taking everything out of all of the closets and furniture- everything!!- and it is all over the house.  I have gotten rid of a lot of things, though, from unused kitchen appliances that I brought to a thrift shop to expired foods and old bills and other papers.  I had started in the kitchen, but am now taking some time each day to get some work done in the office which has been transformed into a "junk room" of sorts because otherwise the office will be much to intimidating if I leave the whole thing for last.  After seeing the beginning of a show about hoarding, I had the extra motivation to keep up with what seems like an impossible, never-ending task.

Last Friday, though, I did take a break.  I had sewn a new pair of white linen pants for Eric for a communion that we were invited to last Saturday.  They were a bit too big all over, and were especially long.  Instead of only throwing things out, I actually recently acquired something I had wanted for quite a long time, a serger.  I decided to use the serger on the pants to make them a little bit smaller.  Unfortunately, I went a bit overboard, and made them unfixably too small!!!  So, with one day to make them, I headed to the flea market for a new linen something or other to use for a new pair of pants for Eric.

Eric in the new pants mommy made him.

I used my favorite "Made" pattern for the pants, and lined them with white t-shirt cloth.  The new pair fit Eric like a glove, and were perfect for the communion.  I can't imagine that he will be able to wear them that much longer, though, because they didn't have a lot of extra room, and they were hemmed with little cloth to spare.  So, I won't be able to make them any longer, but at least they served their main purpose.

In my not so humble opinion, Eric looked great.  I would have thought that he would be the talk of the communion because of how absolutely adorable he was, but instead the talk turned to something else.  It seems that we were the target of negative gossiping from the very beginning when they were serving us drinks outside.   Mauri had ordered a non-alcoholic beer, and when Eric begged to drink some, Mauri let him have a couple of sips.  It was all innocent enough, but turned into a big deal amongst the career gossipers who couldn't help but talk about how horrible it was for Mauri to have let Eric try the non-alcoholic beer.

Photo of the polemic: Eric trying the non-alcoholic beer

I have to admit that I was uncomfortable about him having let Eric try it in front of the (type of) people that were at the communion even before I heard that we had become the object of all of the talk.  I have always felt like an outsider when in that group, and really maintain my distance outside of these sorts of uncomfortable get togethers.  On the other hand, I have a hard time understanding why it caused such an exaggerated reaction.  Maybe what bothered them is that non-alcoholic beer has traces of alcohol in it (to differing extents depending upon the beer.  Lately one of the most common is Buckler 0.0%- which I'm assuming is rounded down), but in reality, so do the majority of foods that we eat.  Do people not realize that everything from yogurt (fermented milk) to bread (made from the fermentation of yeast) all contain trace amounts of ethanol?  No, they don't have enough to get one drunk, but neither does a few sips of a non-alcoholic beer; not even for a kid.  What really bothers me, though, is that the same people who were so judgmental think it is perfectly alright to bring a kid up on pop, sweetened juices, sweetened chocolate flavored milk, candy, and other junk food.  Eric was drinking water, apart from the few sips of Mauri's non-alcoholic beer.  I'd actually prefer Eric be drinking non-alcoholic beer which has been shown to have beneficial effects on the heart (used for helping repair the damage caused by marathon running, for example), and has antioxidants.  On the continuum between healthy and not, I believe it to be much healthier than the things being offered for kids.

Nobody was scandalized by the huge bag of junk that we were given for Eric- comprised of everything from Cheetos to all different types of candy.  In fact, that is the social norm here.  One can't go to a birthday or other similar type of party with a kid without being sent home with a big bag of candy.  In fact, my spring cleaning has helped me go through all of my kitchen cabinets and throw out all of the "perfectly good" untouched candy bags that I had been accumulating.  Before I felt guilty throwing them out, but after thinking it over, I couldn't bring myself to give him any of that crap.  After images of rotting teeth had been burned into my head in dental school, and after hours of "shredding"  I sure as heck wasn't going to eat them myself.  So, why on earth was I going to keep it all?!?!?  

Eric loves unsweetened greek yogurt, just like mommy!

Eric still prefers a good unsweetened greek yogurt to a sweetened, flavored yogurt.  I've realized that ever since we've been letting him choose what he wants to eat from the fridge.  I'm the same way, but nobody else can understand that.  They want to automatically sweeten everything for him, something I don't understand.  Why try to create a sugar addiction in a little boy who enjoys his food without all of the added sugar?

So, no, I wouldn't order Eric a non-acoholic beer of his own.  I think he should be drinking water.  On the other hand I don't think that a few sips of daddy's non-alcoholic beer are going to scar him for life.  I feel like one can't win no matter what one does with their baby.  The breastfeeding of a toddler controversy has been bothering me a lot lately too, so much so that it may be the focus of one of my next posts...
I'll leave that for another day, though.