We made it through another busy week. We had fun celebrating Rebecca’s birthday and spending time with family. My in-laws are still here, but will be heading home later today.
This week shouldn’t be quite as busy, but still plenty going on. Today is church. Monday is milk pick up. Tuesday is Kindermusik. Wednesday is Meijer and co-op pick up. Thursday Rebecca and I are going out for dinner with my grandma. That is our mommy/daughter date for April. Rebecca loves to see her great grandma and chat with her. Friday is MOPS. Saturday is soccer.
I was very busy in the kitchen last week with a birthday and house guests. I made vanilla wafers, mud balls, vanilla ice cream, two batches of pesto, hummus, caramel dip, mayo and cinnamon raisin bread. I also finished my sourdough starter and baked a loaf of bread…yum!!! And I decorated Rebecca’s cake.
This week I don’t think I’ll be doing quite so much 😛 I would like to use my sourdough, maybe make english muffins. I want to make a new batch of ice cream and yogurt. Nothing else too major. I’m hoping I’ll have time to do some sewing this week. And start planning Abram’s birthday cake.
In terms of meals this week I’ve been trying lately to eat a bigger breakfast and smaller dinner. So a lot of our dinners are more geared towards Justin’s tastes. I try to stick mostly to lighter things like lots of vegetables. I’m also trying to find more things to feed Abram. He’s getting a lot better at chewing and seems very excited to try new foods right now. Maybe in a few weeks (after he’s one) I’ll start small amounts of sourdough or soaked bread. See how that goes.
Overall I had an ok week. But I’m still far from where I want to be. For the first time I’ve been checking my temperature throughout the day. That is the best indicator of your metabolism…and your overall health. A higher temp = a higher metabolism = better functioning body. How am I doing…NOT good. The “normal” body temp is 98.6. But I doubt most people’s temp is actually that high. If yours is in the 99s you are doing awesome! When I went to the doctor a couple weeks ago they took my temp. It was in the 97s and the nurse acted like that was pretty normal (even though it shouldn’t be). But that was at 5 pm. A better indicator is your temp in the morning. Usually at first mine is 94/95. But what’s worse is that after being up and around for a bit and doing a little exercise it drops to 92/93!! Exercising seems to put my metabolism to a halt. Who knew? No wonder my digestion is so slow. I seem to have the metabolism of a sloth 😛 And no wonder I’m gaining weight non-stop lately. So that is a big problem. Unfortunately the solution isn’t so easy. I’m still trying to figure out what keeps me warm/boosts my metabolism. I think it’s different things at different times of the day. I know I need plenty of salt and carbs. I’ve been trying to eat lots of salty veggies and some ice cream for breakfast lately. I also seem to do better if I avoid sweets during the day. If I eat a salty lunch I do ok. If I eat sweet stuff I feel rotten. I’m still trying to figure out if wheat is helping or hurting. Sometimes I think it’s not working. But then this week I made sd bread. The day I made it I had a huge piece with my lunch. Right after lunch my temp was in the 98s! That’s the only time I’ve seen a temp that high all week. I did feel super stuffed and kind of bloated afterwards. But my temp was up. So it’s hard to say. The idea is to eat plenty to get your temp up/metabolism up. Once that happens your body will function better…you’ll lose the extra weight since your metabolism will be restored. And digestion will improve. It will help with all of your bodily processes…thyroid function, adrenal function, etc. Unfortunately it can take a while…and take some temporary weight gain. And it can take longer if you are nursing. The other big factors are sleep and stress relief. I obviously don’t get near enough sleep. So that makes it tougher for me to heal.
I’m also confused about exercise. Steady-state cardio can actually kill your metabolism. After all my years of jogging day after day…maybe I was doing more harm than good. This is a tough one for me. I’m not one to give up my exercise 🙂 It does seem to help me relax and help with my anxiety. But I guess I have to be more careful about what kind of exercise I do and how strenuous it is. I’ve really been experimenting lately with getting more variety at least. Sometimes I do sprints. Sometimes I take it easy. Sometimes I do high intensity. Sometimes I bike. Sometimes I jog. The last two days I have actually not done any type of cardio in the morning. I think the last time that happened was when I was in the hospital when my son was born 😛 Instead I did some toning exercises, like squats, lunges, push ups, etc. It really amazed me how quickly I got out of breath doing this stuff. Shows me I really need to get some more variety! I’ve got lots of muscles that are never worked/challenged. So, what does it mean? I’m not sure. Maybe I’ll start taking more days off from exercising. See if that helps boost my temps a bit. I just need to give my body a break overall…as much as that’s possible with little kids.
Over the last few days my appetite has really gone down. I’m wondering (and hoping) if my body is reaching it’s limit and saying ok, that’s enough overfeeding. You’ve added enough weight (11 lbs. in 4 months). I need a little break. You can tone it down a bit. We’ll see.
Thankfully my medication is helping and I’m starting to add a few raw fruits and veggies back into my diet. Very exciting!!
I guess that’s enough update for now. I’ve got more to say, but maybe I’ll have to save it for a separate post. I’ve got a hungry little boy to deal with right now. We’ll see how this week goes. Hopefully higher temps and no weight gain. Here’s what’s on the menu.
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S (prep lunch, church, grind flour, prep smoothies)
B – cinnamon raisin swirl bread, apples w/ caramel dip, oranges, hard boiled eggs
L – cp roasted chicken w/ potatoes and veggies
D – leftovers from Fri/Sat
M (milk)
B – cinnamon raisin bread, smoothie
D – chicken nuggets, sweet potato fries, peas
T (skim cream, make yogurt, KM, make ice cream, feed sd, prep dough)
B – apples w/ caramel dip, yogurt
D – tacos
W (make english muffins, Meijer, co-op)
B – sd english muffins, fruit
D – (separate) – beef stroganoff, corn / salad or misc.
Th (feed sd, out for dinner)
B – sd english muffin, smoothie
D – out to eat /leftovers
F (clean, MOPS – bring sd/kefir)
B – yogurt, muesli, fruit
D – sd pancakes w/ fruit topping, nuts, syrup
S (soccer)
B – sd pancakes
D – tuna zucchini cakes, peas
Wow, those are low temps. Although, I have a hard time placing a lot of faith in the body temps indicating metabolism. My body temps are generally in the 98s-99s and I have the slowest metabolism ever… although not right now, being pg. But it hasn’t changed my temps at all. Even my bbm, taken before I get out of bed in the mornings has always generally been around 98.3 – 98.6.
The exercise makes sense, sort of. I’ve always heard that thinner people are not supposed to focus on cardio – rather on strength training and stretching with less cardio (no more than 2 days/week is what I’ve heard). The reverse is true for not-so-thin people – when cardio is needed for fat burning and loss with reduced strength training (again, no more than 2 days a week).
I read something interesting about smoothies recently, too. That while they’re chock-full of nutrition (made the right way, of course), contrary to popular belief (b/c they’re pureed/smooth), they can actually do more harm than good for people with constipation issues. Oftentimes those folks need the digestive enzymes in their saliva to begin the breakdown of all their intake… which is lost on a smoothie, which in turn wreaks havoc on their system. I thought it was an interesting thought… something I’ve never heard before or thought about.
Glad your temps are so good. I do think they relate to metabolism. But again, everyone is different. The thing that always confuses me is that there are times when I feel really warm that my actual temp is low. Then there are times when I feel cold and my actual body temp is higher. Strange.
I don’t know that there is a specific type of exercise for a certain body type. I say do what you enjoy. I feel good when I do aerobic exercise. But I want to give other stuff a try (like yoga). I would also like to do more weights, etc. I really want to try kettle bells still.
I’ve heard plenty of negatives about smoothies as well. Honestly I haven’t had one in a long time since I usually feel stuffed and bloated afterwards. Maybe it has to do with the digestion/saliva thing. I make one or two a week for Justin. And sometimes make one for Rebecca. But not for myself. They are too heavy in fruit for me. I do better with more veggies and salty food. That is interesting, though.