-Full-time teaching
-IEP season (the busiest time of the year for special ed teachers)
-Moving (our old apartment was beginning to mold... yes, mold was accumulating because of so much water damage from the ridiculous amount of maintenance issues we had)
-Blakely finding a new job
-Grad school! (two research papers, a group project, and a final all due within 2 weeks of each other)
-Organizing and teaching Fit Friends
-In the midst of the madness, Blakely and I booked a Disney trip in December that was nonrefundable. It was fun and a much needed vacation, but it was terrible timing.
My heart rate increases just looking at that list. I don't know how I got through all of it. When I wasn't researching autism or writing annual goals for my school babies, I was trying my best to maintain a healthy eating and exercise schedule.
It is never easy to admit that you need help. It was a foreign concept to me because I have always been the overachiever who can get things done without calling on others. My anxiety was paralyzing. I had never experienced a feeling of such doubt. When I wasn't running around like a mad woman, I was panicking over the things I needed to do and second guessing every little decision I made. I had no choice but to turn to my doctor. I am not one to take medication for things like this. It was my goal to be one of the 25% of teachers not taking anti-anxiety medication. Yes, 75% of teachers are currently taking mood altering drugs. This statistic has always surprised me. Regardless of the stresses of dealing with endless mounds of paperwork, aggressive and inappropriate behaviors, and what's that thing called again? Oh yeah, actually teaching my kids, I love my job. I have fantastic students and parents. This has really been my easiest year as a teacher. I tried every trick in the book, eating better (which fell to the wayside FAST once IEPs hit), exercise, meditation, you name it... I could not overcome my anxiety. The only thing that kept me going was the fact that summer was just around the corner.
It's not east to admit this stuff. In fact, there are very few people I have even talked to about this, but I figure maybe it can help someone in a similar situation. Let's lighten the mood!
Summer is here! I have made some changes that have helped with my anxiety and improved my overall health! I found out I don't have any summer classes, which is setting me back from graduating. Honestly, I don't care anymore when I graduate as long as I get it done. It's somewhat of a blessing in disguise. I needed the break! I deserve the break.
Fit Friends has really taken off! Our first meeting was in April, and we have been trucking right along since then! Sometimes it feels like a second job, but when I see those smiling faces come running through the door every Tuesday, it makes it all worth it! I have met some amazing folks through this organization, and I hope it continues to have a positive impact on their lives. We are working on fundraising right now so we can hopefully become a nonprofit organization. I had no idea what a ridiculously expensive task that is! Our local newspaper ran a story on Fit Friends, and they featured me in the Community Spotlight section. I've never been in the newspaper, so I was really excited.
I guess the biggest change I've made this summer was making the decision to live a Paleo lifestyle. I can feel you rolling your eyes through my screen! I realize it's a fad right now, and I'm one of the million Crossfitters to drink this Koolaid, but I have seen so much improvement in the way I feel since I started in May. At first, I wanted to try it to shed the extra pound I put on during my early-life crisis, as I like to call it. IEP season is insanely stressful, and you will always find me typing away at my desk with a giant bag of M&Ms or some other sugar-filled treat to calm my nerves. I like to say the 7 pound weight gain during the school year was because of the muscle I was putting on from weightlifting, and I'm sure some of it was, but most of it was the result of the copious amounts of chocolaty goodness I was consuming on a daily basis. Blakely and I were eating out a lot because our entire life remained packed in liquor store boxes until the end of the school year, and let's not talk about the terrible food we devoured at Disney World. I won't apologize for that, though.
I was eating more and exercising less, so weight gain was bound to happen. I felt tired and bloated all the time. I'm sure it didn't help my anxiety at all, either.
I started transitioning into the Paleo lifestyle in the beginning of May. The strict rules for following this diet are:
-No grains
-No dairy
-No refined or added sugar
-Grassfed meats only
-Limited caffeine intake (basically, black coffee!)
Emphasis is placed on increasing the amount of protein and healthy fats you're eating.
My favorite things in the world use to be oatmeal, candy, and a full pot of coffee to access throughout the day as my sugar levels spiked and crashed. For the first few weeks, I cut back on my grains. I only ate oatmeal a few times a week, whereas before, it was my daily breakfast. Dairy was not a big transition. I ate ice cream occasionally and used coffee creamer. I loved cheese, but I could live without it. I knew sugar and caffeine would be the hardest part. I limited myself to one cup in the mornings, and I tried to cut back on the sugar and creamer I was using. I was eating 1 strict Paleo meal each day so I could experiment with new recipes.
By the end of May, my body was ready for the change. I felt disgusting, large, and not so in charge. The first week was the hardest. I wanted coffee more than anything, more than chocolate if that's possible. I was bitter and weak. My workouts were suffering because my body was getting used to running on less carbs. My runs felt strenuous and agonizing. Wall balls, which were never fun in the first place, became my worst enemy. I was so mean to Blakely because of my withdrawals, and he was forced to adapt to my new diet for the few meals that we are able to share during the week. He's such a trooper.
After the two weeks, I had dropped 6 pounds, and I had more energy than I knew what to do with! I was sleeping better and it felt like my recovery time was improving after workouts. A month went by and I saw amazing results not only with physical the changes in my body, but I was able to come off my anxiety medication! I was ready to fully commit to this new lifestyle!
Then I discovered all that Wisconsin had to offer, and I reverted back to my fat ways. I always say "once you go fat, you never go back". Fat being a state of mind, of course. I went to Wisconsin for Annie's wedding. I had mentally prepared myself to stick to my diet until the day of the wedding where I would splurge on wedding cake and a glass of wine. Yeah...no. I was in the land of cheese and beer. I was literally greeted upon my arrival to WI with a kiosk of cheese clothing (ties, top hats, baseball caps all made out of fake cheese). My stomach sank because I knew it was coming... Annie took my to get fried cheese curds and custard within a few hours of my arrival. If you aren't familiar with cheese curds, which I wasn't other than Miss Tuffet eating her curds and whey, they are heavenly balls of cheese, deep fried to golden perfection, and they make my fat Spidey-senses tingle. I was also unfamiliar with custard. All I know is that it has something to do with ice cream and eggs that give you extra thick ice cream that is worlds better than anything I'd ever tasted before. I made sure to mix mine with peanut butter and cookie dough because the custard alone wasn't fat enough for me. Yolo?
That sparked a 5 day long eating frenzy. My eating spell did not go unpunished. I had not eaten dairy, sugar, or grains for a month. My stomach was NOT happy. It was actually sore to the touch. I won't go into the horrific details of it all, but my body did not like the shock I gave it while in Wisconsin. here are a few pictures from the wedding.
Sometimes I omit the chicken and add italian sausage!
I make a huge batch and eat them with everything! Eggs, zucchini noodles, you name it!
You can add any meat and veggies you want to these! I make a batch of 12 for the whole week.
Don't be afraid to play with the fruits and nuts in this recipe! I have made blueberry walnut muffins, strawberry with dark chocolate chips, and banana nut muffins so far. All were very delicious!
No comments:
Post a Comment