work – Runs With Hips

I can’t believe we are still here. Alive and well.

2018 is a year I’ll never forget. Took some L’s but the good L, my Lord, is faithful! It was a long plucking period of learning lessons, about myself, my path, and my future.

Ecclesiastes 3 says there is a ‘time to plant and a time to pluck what has been planted’ and this was a plucking harvest. I was driving to work and in my thoughts when this motto for life made me smile…

Ever Onward.

Not just move on, but move.

“Maybe we can move to Arizona?!”

So, we did!

***

So, I have had a very full plate this year. Not only has my family relocated to AZ, I did not wait, and jumped right into working as an inclusion para educator here, but I’ve finally reached the finish line in getting my teaching certification. One SEI class left, and I can apply for an alternative certificate. I’ll be Elementary certified K-8 and I am very excited, curious about what my new career and life will look like. Dreaming of teaching science or social studies, but I’d teach basketweaving if it got me to my full certification! Not to mention, I now have 5 teenagers and a soon to be adult in my brood… parenting, adulting, all the expectations.

I have started back, committing to my body, and health, and mind after a year of putting myself dead damn last. I had been on oral contraceptives for a year to get rid of some period ‘irregularities’ and hadn’t really been successful. I purchased a great book that helped me make the decision to pluck the pill out of my life before things got too whacky.

I’m certainly still in the phase where my body is getting back to normal, and can already pinpoint some things that had changed. I feel like the suppression of testosterone affected my desire to workout, the water retention made it impossible to lose, and the depletion of nutrients definitely contributed to bad cravings for salt and sugar. Fixing it all now, data by day and I’m so grateful for the resiliency my heart and body have shown me… period!

Even with a membership at the local rec center (that I absolutely love for my whole family), I’m starting back with the most basic of workouts at home to get my weight back to a happy place.

Deets:

I’m 207 205.6 lbs as of this morning and have a GOAL of getting under 200 lbs. before the last day of school, May 29th.

I also began fasting 16 hours, 5 days a week. No food/drink after 8pm the night before, needless to say. Next day, I drink 32 oz or herbal tea, no honey of course, and I break my fast at my noon lunch break with a massive salad of kale greens mix, 4 oz. chicken breast, 1/2 medium avocado, nuts, and feta. Also eating 2 cuties, and 1/4 cup nuts on the drive home to keep cravings way down and get my mind. Dinner is usually veggies and meat, or maybe 1/2 avocado, tuna, and a few crackers if I feel the need to.

I am doing 45 minutes of SOMETHING ACTIVE 5 days a week. I’ve been walking, running, step aerobics, 30 Day Shred, and lifting…. whatever change up works for the day. With 5 kids and a husband who I need to show up for daily, including work, track meets, basketball games, recitals, date nights, cuddle time, etc., a check in the boa has brought me much content because I am making being active and healthy on top of it all!

Overall, I am trying to keep bonafide carbs lower, and carb cycling, so to speak, on weekends with more carbs, and less meat. It’s working as far as energy, digestion, and cravings. This is 2 whole months in of this lifestyle, so it’s safe to say these are habits…. just time to really incorporate consistency in my cardio and lifting workouts.

Now, off to 5th period!

We’ll chat soon, Hip Huggers!

Hello Hip Huggers,

Monday was my last day at my cool little job. Regrettably, I had to come home from working for personal reasons, not my own and I’ll share that caveat later. But it was definitely a fun time, with a fun company and fun people. I was sure sure lucky to have had an experience like this.

I’ve been working since June of this past summer. After years of being home and having the ease of planning meals, exercising at will, and constantly plugged into social media I didn’t fare well balancing it all whilst returning to the workforce, even part time. I started mindless munching to soothe work stress, commutes and being spread thin at home. I stopped creating time in the mornings to workout consistently. And, I ate a lot of grits.

So, now that I am home and have to face the ~~mirror~~ music, I must admit: a sistah has gained 20 lbs, 19 to be exact, since May 2015.

I’m not upset with myself about the gain, but of the state of my life: uncontrolled. I hadn’t prepared my family properly before heaving myself into work. I felt like I was always catching up, and I of course, was last on my Own. Damn. List. But, I need to always workout for my own mental health and sanity. I shouldn’t allow myself to not put myself first. No one is jumping in to help figure things out. No ones pulling me out of bed to run. No one is planning my meals or workouts. No one is rolling out my mat when I’m off center. I’m not even sure anyone is praying for me! So, I’d better be doing all these things for my damn self. And not allow life, at any pace, to control me.

Also, it doesn’t matter what you do- running, lifting, yoga, tracking calories… Just do it. Running kept me light, lifting kept me lean. Yoga made me strong, tracking kept me accountable. Great individually, but incredible altogether.

Today was a mix of it all , 30 Day Shred (which almost killed me) to start! I knew I had lost a great deal of fitness, but I didn’t think I’d completely forget the pain of mountain climbers, jump squats, or butt kicks…

Finished my workout and decided to take a 20 minute stroll to meet my kiddos walking home from school…

Came home and practiced yoga for about 20 minutes. I’m incredibly tight in my hammies so the stretch was very humbling.

Now I’m kicked back, drinking hot tea, reading up on a few blogs I’ve missed, and preparing marinated chicken thighs for the grill, happily exhausted… Or I’m wishing I had all that going on and really getting ready for a nap…

Catch ~~some zzz’s~~ you later, Hip Huggers!
Question: Have you ever left a job you loved?

Tag: work

A Period of Pluck

You’re Okay, but your lbs. Can’t Stay