Most bariatric patients will tell you that there are two things (at least) you need to track daily: water and protein. Of course, bonus points if you count carbs, calories, etc but from day one you are to track your protein and water intake.
The goal for protein in bariatric patients is 60-80 grams per day. The goal for water is 64oz daily. This is what they tell you when you are checking out of the hospital. What they don't tell you is that you won't be doing that on day one.
When I got home from the hospital, I wrote up charts for my daily goals. I had a check box for every 16oz drank (and my water bottle had timed goals), check boxes for drugs to take, and vitamins. Then I had a goal of two 30 gram protein shakes a day. I pushed myself to get there from day one, and I was good with the protein as well as the water. What I didn't realize was my body needed more than 64oz of water.
Now, I take in about 100-120oz of water a day and my goal for protein is 70 grams. This means that after dinner, when I want a little something sweet, I look at my food intake, and that something sweet might be a protein shake. A more intense workout schedule could push this goal up, but sometimes I just end up taking in more protein.
To make the water more effective to my body, I regularly take in electrolytes. I notice on days where I end up not taking in at least 40oz in electrolytes, I feel dryer the next day. I met someone recently who said Himalayan Pink Salt can do the same thing, and I am curious to give it a shot soon.
The advantage to having a husband about to go through this whole thing is what I learned from me, I can apply to him, and pass on if it works.
With his protein and water goals, I'm not going to have check boxes for him. We'll carefully track his intake of water through the day, take note of what cups and bottles he drank out of, and write the amount down on a white board. Then, we'll do the same with protein. Every day, he will try to drink more than the day before.
Wednesday, February 7, 2018
Wednesday, December 27, 2017
A December Recap
As regular readers know, I had a rather unusual December. For the first three weeks, I was on work travel for a class, and I flew home on December 22. It was going to be a strange Christmas no matter what, but I didn't know what I had in store.
Let's go back to early December when I got to my new hotel home for three weeks. I knew a Wal Mart was close, but I didn't know it was THAT close. I got to the hotel, and meticulously unpacked, to see if I forgot anything, then embarked on my three minute walk across the parking lot to Wal Mart.
My hotel room had a full size refrigerator, two burners, and a microwave, so there was no excuse to stick to my normal eating routines. The first week I cooked up a pound of ground beef, and the second week was a kielbasa. The third week got a little more into convenience foods and leftovers. But more on that later.
The hotel gym left something to be desired. There was one elliptical, two treadmills, a weight station that would do for a shorter trip, and a single barbell. One. Luckily, there was a gym across the street that was used to people coming in for a few weeks at a time, so they had a good deal. The gym offered recorded classes, which I surprisingly enjoyed, as all of the materials were right there, as compared to doing it at home and making do with replacement items. They also offered live classes.
At the actual class site, there were a lot of places to go for healthy walks during lunch, and I did that nearly every day. I hit my 10,000 steps nearly every day and I hope to maintain that.
A few things I learned:
Don't be shy about what you've been through. We were sitting in a large seminar with over 100 people, broken up into class. So I sat next to this guy who would be in my class. We got to talking, and we ended up not just in the same class, but at the same table. When it came out later in the day that I had had WLS, he said "Oh yea, I noticed your Medical ID when I was talking to you this morning." He is a volunteer EMT and it warmed me to know that he noticed this. Quick plug for an awesome husband, he got me a new ID to go onto my FitBit so I only have to wear one bracelet.
People are super understanding and want to learn. In the first week, we went out for German food. We were warned by locals that they had massive servings, and several people in the class told me to not order anything and I could have some of theirs.
Not weighing yourself daily for a period can be healthy. I vowed to not get on the scale while I was gone and some of the most unexpected things happening. First of all, I lost five pounds while I was gone. Second, instead of getting on the scale after a heavy lift day and being discouraged even though I knew why the scale went up, I did a workout that my body wanted to. I did Yoga a couple of times, a live bootcamp class, running, walking, and LOTS of kettlebell workouts. If I was weighing myself, I would have probably done more of the same instead of realizing Yoga is a heck of a lot easier when you're down over 100 pounds and kettlebell workouts are killer.
Take the stairs. For some reason I didn't really take stairs if an elevator was around. But I started taking the stairs out there and I haven't stopped.
Let's go back to early December when I got to my new hotel home for three weeks. I knew a Wal Mart was close, but I didn't know it was THAT close. I got to the hotel, and meticulously unpacked, to see if I forgot anything, then embarked on my three minute walk across the parking lot to Wal Mart.
My hotel room had a full size refrigerator, two burners, and a microwave, so there was no excuse to stick to my normal eating routines. The first week I cooked up a pound of ground beef, and the second week was a kielbasa. The third week got a little more into convenience foods and leftovers. But more on that later.
The hotel gym left something to be desired. There was one elliptical, two treadmills, a weight station that would do for a shorter trip, and a single barbell. One. Luckily, there was a gym across the street that was used to people coming in for a few weeks at a time, so they had a good deal. The gym offered recorded classes, which I surprisingly enjoyed, as all of the materials were right there, as compared to doing it at home and making do with replacement items. They also offered live classes.
At the actual class site, there were a lot of places to go for healthy walks during lunch, and I did that nearly every day. I hit my 10,000 steps nearly every day and I hope to maintain that.
A few things I learned:
Don't be shy about what you've been through. We were sitting in a large seminar with over 100 people, broken up into class. So I sat next to this guy who would be in my class. We got to talking, and we ended up not just in the same class, but at the same table. When it came out later in the day that I had had WLS, he said "Oh yea, I noticed your Medical ID when I was talking to you this morning." He is a volunteer EMT and it warmed me to know that he noticed this. Quick plug for an awesome husband, he got me a new ID to go onto my FitBit so I only have to wear one bracelet.
People are super understanding and want to learn. In the first week, we went out for German food. We were warned by locals that they had massive servings, and several people in the class told me to not order anything and I could have some of theirs.
Not weighing yourself daily for a period can be healthy. I vowed to not get on the scale while I was gone and some of the most unexpected things happening. First of all, I lost five pounds while I was gone. Second, instead of getting on the scale after a heavy lift day and being discouraged even though I knew why the scale went up, I did a workout that my body wanted to. I did Yoga a couple of times, a live bootcamp class, running, walking, and LOTS of kettlebell workouts. If I was weighing myself, I would have probably done more of the same instead of realizing Yoga is a heck of a lot easier when you're down over 100 pounds and kettlebell workouts are killer.
Take the stairs. For some reason I didn't really take stairs if an elevator was around. But I started taking the stairs out there and I haven't stopped.
Tuesday, December 19, 2017
Traditions
I'm going to deviate from my normal format where a clear connection is made between my life now as compared to my life before surgery.
This has to do with traditions and when it's time to let them go.
This season we're in is all about the traditions. We all have them and they all mean different things to each other, even within the same family.
A newer tradition we have started in the last couple of years since my brother moved closer to us, and he is the only one on my side of the family that has little kids, is that we go to his house on Christmas Eve for dinner and merriment.
A tradition my husband and I have done since our first Christmas together is that we do a Feast of the Twelve Fishes but with sushi. We do this because when we started dating, we pretty much just went out for Asian food for lunch, and in marrying him and taking his name, I gave up a pretty rocking Italian last name.
The thing is with traditions is that they grow and transform, or maybe even go away, as families change, get older, and then add new ones in the form of in-laws and children. My niece and nephew are 5 and 3 so Christmas literally changes every year with them so far.
My husband and I recognized that some of the traditions that we have participated in are not going to work for us this year, and maybe for the foreseeable future. This has caused a lot of strife in our family.
I'll skip you the gory details, but between my history of Seasonal Depression, the fact that I'm actually on a work trip for almost the entire month of December, and the fact that my coping mechanism has been taken away from me, we decided to take Christmas to the barest of bare bones. This has not been kindly received from certain members of our extended family, so we have decided to spend Christmas with just the two of us, and possibly making that a tradition.
I think the funniest thing about all of this was that when we decided to do Christmas on our own, our minds immediately went to food partially. Food is so deeply rooted in this season its nearly impossible to escape it.
There are a few important things I'm taking from this rather difficult last week and a half or so:
1) When traditions come before people, it's time to let them go. I'm not saying that if one person can't eat cake anymore we need to not have cake. I'm saying it's unreasonable to maintain a tradition for the sake of tradition if its simply not working for certain members of the family. Allow your family to continue to serve cake, but make sure they know you will not provide cake if it's ever your turn.
2) Allow yourself to be excused. If an aspect of the holiday is starting to be too much for you, politely excuse yourself and take a walk around the neighborhood or find a quiet room to sit down in for a few minutes. I feel like such an anti-social creep when I do this but I know it's needed if I want to be a constructive member of the family.
3) Learn to watch for your signs of overdoing it. This can vary for everyone. For me, I will feel an extreme temperature change. I'll suddenly get very hot or very cold.
4) Know when to say no. This is so much easier said than done, but understand your limits and know when it's the right time to refuse and invitation or say no to an aspect of a celebration.
This year is going to be interesting to say the least. I think I have a healthy relationship with food but I forgot how much I depended on it during this time of year. I'm hoping that lowering stresses as much as I have control over will help me every step of the way.
This has to do with traditions and when it's time to let them go.
This season we're in is all about the traditions. We all have them and they all mean different things to each other, even within the same family.
A newer tradition we have started in the last couple of years since my brother moved closer to us, and he is the only one on my side of the family that has little kids, is that we go to his house on Christmas Eve for dinner and merriment.
A tradition my husband and I have done since our first Christmas together is that we do a Feast of the Twelve Fishes but with sushi. We do this because when we started dating, we pretty much just went out for Asian food for lunch, and in marrying him and taking his name, I gave up a pretty rocking Italian last name.
The thing is with traditions is that they grow and transform, or maybe even go away, as families change, get older, and then add new ones in the form of in-laws and children. My niece and nephew are 5 and 3 so Christmas literally changes every year with them so far.
My husband and I recognized that some of the traditions that we have participated in are not going to work for us this year, and maybe for the foreseeable future. This has caused a lot of strife in our family.
I'll skip you the gory details, but between my history of Seasonal Depression, the fact that I'm actually on a work trip for almost the entire month of December, and the fact that my coping mechanism has been taken away from me, we decided to take Christmas to the barest of bare bones. This has not been kindly received from certain members of our extended family, so we have decided to spend Christmas with just the two of us, and possibly making that a tradition.
I think the funniest thing about all of this was that when we decided to do Christmas on our own, our minds immediately went to food partially. Food is so deeply rooted in this season its nearly impossible to escape it.
There are a few important things I'm taking from this rather difficult last week and a half or so:
1) When traditions come before people, it's time to let them go. I'm not saying that if one person can't eat cake anymore we need to not have cake. I'm saying it's unreasonable to maintain a tradition for the sake of tradition if its simply not working for certain members of the family. Allow your family to continue to serve cake, but make sure they know you will not provide cake if it's ever your turn.
2) Allow yourself to be excused. If an aspect of the holiday is starting to be too much for you, politely excuse yourself and take a walk around the neighborhood or find a quiet room to sit down in for a few minutes. I feel like such an anti-social creep when I do this but I know it's needed if I want to be a constructive member of the family.
3) Learn to watch for your signs of overdoing it. This can vary for everyone. For me, I will feel an extreme temperature change. I'll suddenly get very hot or very cold.
4) Know when to say no. This is so much easier said than done, but understand your limits and know when it's the right time to refuse and invitation or say no to an aspect of a celebration.
This year is going to be interesting to say the least. I think I have a healthy relationship with food but I forgot how much I depended on it during this time of year. I'm hoping that lowering stresses as much as I have control over will help me every step of the way.
Tuesday, December 12, 2017
Hydrate or Die
A few weeks ago, I found myself attending the AUSA (Association of the United States Army) Conference held annually in Washington, DC. As a Department of Defense employee, I was allowed to go and my installation sponsored a bus trip.
AUSA showcases current and future technologies. Not to get too deep on acquisitions, but contractors need to put out their own money to develop a technology with the hopes that someone will buy it. Waiting for the call for bids to develop would often put these businesses in a poor posture.
This stuff is way beyond my pay grade, but nevertheless, it was a fun day checking out stuff.
I found a few booths that were giving away samples of hydration aids and I was immediately drawn to them. When they heard about the bariatric needs for hydration, I think I literally saw dollar signs in their eyes. They had been focusing on athletes and soldiers, but this market of individuals who have unique hydration needs was disregarded in their market research.
Hydration is important for everyone, but for bariatric patients it is even more important. The most common cause for hospital readmission following surgery is dehydration. It is also the most preventable. I was not the best bariatric patient I could have been regarding this, but with some tips I've learned perhaps you can learn from my mistakes.
1) You're only drinking that first week, right? Make sure you are getting water and electrolytes in as well as protein. My husband is going to go through this procedure sometime in 2018, and during that first week, he will have water, a protein shake, or both within arms length all of the time.
2) There is no such thing as too much water. I stupidly listened to the Facebook support groups, that if I drank too much water, my stomach would stretch back out. I was told by my research surgeon that this will not happen. Water just flows through your new rerouted system, which actually means you need more of it. If you drink a sip that's a little too big and you feel pressure, then you know you've sipped too much. Learn from that.
3) But, you will not get 64 ounces of water in immediately. Be patient with yourself. Know where you were at the previous day and try to do a little better the next day (this is where my severely analytical side kicks in).
4) When you get tired of water, mix it up. I still deal with this. I went away a few weekends ago, and I just didn't put any flavor in my water for some reason. I found my intake getting slower, and it took a day to realize that I was missing my flavor. It was in my bag the whole time. There was no reason for me to get a little dehydrated. Crystal Light-type individual flavor packets are great because they are portioned out. I have started using the squeeze bottle style so I can leave one or two in my bag at a given time.
5) Electrolytes are your friend. Use them. When I go a day or two without a little bit of an electrolytes in my drink, I notice that I feel just a little dryer. I have spoke the praises of Propel, but I also use the WalMart brand of Electrolytes as well as Mio.
AUSA showcases current and future technologies. Not to get too deep on acquisitions, but contractors need to put out their own money to develop a technology with the hopes that someone will buy it. Waiting for the call for bids to develop would often put these businesses in a poor posture.
This stuff is way beyond my pay grade, but nevertheless, it was a fun day checking out stuff.
I found a few booths that were giving away samples of hydration aids and I was immediately drawn to them. When they heard about the bariatric needs for hydration, I think I literally saw dollar signs in their eyes. They had been focusing on athletes and soldiers, but this market of individuals who have unique hydration needs was disregarded in their market research.
Hydration is important for everyone, but for bariatric patients it is even more important. The most common cause for hospital readmission following surgery is dehydration. It is also the most preventable. I was not the best bariatric patient I could have been regarding this, but with some tips I've learned perhaps you can learn from my mistakes.
1) You're only drinking that first week, right? Make sure you are getting water and electrolytes in as well as protein. My husband is going to go through this procedure sometime in 2018, and during that first week, he will have water, a protein shake, or both within arms length all of the time.
2) There is no such thing as too much water. I stupidly listened to the Facebook support groups, that if I drank too much water, my stomach would stretch back out. I was told by my research surgeon that this will not happen. Water just flows through your new rerouted system, which actually means you need more of it. If you drink a sip that's a little too big and you feel pressure, then you know you've sipped too much. Learn from that.
3) But, you will not get 64 ounces of water in immediately. Be patient with yourself. Know where you were at the previous day and try to do a little better the next day (this is where my severely analytical side kicks in).
4) When you get tired of water, mix it up. I still deal with this. I went away a few weekends ago, and I just didn't put any flavor in my water for some reason. I found my intake getting slower, and it took a day to realize that I was missing my flavor. It was in my bag the whole time. There was no reason for me to get a little dehydrated. Crystal Light-type individual flavor packets are great because they are portioned out. I have started using the squeeze bottle style so I can leave one or two in my bag at a given time.
5) Electrolytes are your friend. Use them. When I go a day or two without a little bit of an electrolytes in my drink, I notice that I feel just a little dryer. I have spoke the praises of Propel, but I also use the WalMart brand of Electrolytes as well as Mio.
Tuesday, December 5, 2017
Constipation(!)
I'm just going to start here:
Having a gluten intolerance and diagnosed with IBS (likely Celiac but faulty blood tests) I've always been open to talking about my bowels.
But I have talked more about my bowels in the last six months or so than I ever thought was humanly possible.
Bariatric patients deal with constipation for several reasons. First of all, we drink protein shakes like they're going out of style, and they can bind you up. Second, we take a high amount of iron daily, which also binds. And, for the first 8 weeks post op, we don't get a lot of vegetables in, which doesn't help us correct the issues. Further, our bodies need to adjust to the new much smaller portions and there isn't as much moving through to help things along.
I started experiencing constipation during my Liver Shrink Diet two weeks before the surgery. At my return to clinic visit about ten days out, the Nurse Practitioner told me to get myself unconstipated before the surgery to make things less painful. I was told when they pump the gas into your abdominal area (common for laproscopic surgeries) if you have constipation it hurts a lot more. So starting at 10 days out, I had a cocktail of Miralax every night. Which did it's job...but the time I was constipated led to hemorrhoids. Yea. I'm going to go there.
Hemorrhoids have lived to their description as the biggest pain in my rear and lurks where ever I go. It has led me to change how I sit, remembering to take a cushion with me, and using a Squatty Potty whenever I am at home. For those of you that have seen the commercials, Squatty Potty really does live up to expectations. The hemorrhoids are also a double edged sword: they flare if I don't go every day, but they're so painful I don't want to go.
So by about two weeks out, I realized that if I had a little bit of coffee, I would be able to go. Now this was a huge bariatric no-no, but I couldn't see another way out. A few weeks later, that trick stopped being so dependable and I started having fiber every morning, which also helped.
Also, getting the proper water in helps a lot. Like, I think it prevents constipation all in all.
After a long trial, I have developed a system that works for me.
I take Colace three times daily.
I now take my vitamins in a powder that I mix with water. This powder includes a little fiber which has replaced my separate fiber drink (for the most part). I take this twice a day.
Daily, I try to get vegetables in.
If I have not gone by my bed time, I set aside 10 minutes to sit on the "throne" using the Squatty Potty and if I haven't gone in 10 minutes, I take 2 Senna Tabs and go to bed.
If the Senna has not worked overnight, I take a fiber drink in the morning and go to work, and hope for the best. At this point I carry hemorrhoid cream with me.
Constipation and hemorrhoids are not pleasant but they're a realistic side effect.
Having a gluten intolerance and diagnosed with IBS (likely Celiac but faulty blood tests) I've always been open to talking about my bowels.
But I have talked more about my bowels in the last six months or so than I ever thought was humanly possible.
Bariatric patients deal with constipation for several reasons. First of all, we drink protein shakes like they're going out of style, and they can bind you up. Second, we take a high amount of iron daily, which also binds. And, for the first 8 weeks post op, we don't get a lot of vegetables in, which doesn't help us correct the issues. Further, our bodies need to adjust to the new much smaller portions and there isn't as much moving through to help things along.
I started experiencing constipation during my Liver Shrink Diet two weeks before the surgery. At my return to clinic visit about ten days out, the Nurse Practitioner told me to get myself unconstipated before the surgery to make things less painful. I was told when they pump the gas into your abdominal area (common for laproscopic surgeries) if you have constipation it hurts a lot more. So starting at 10 days out, I had a cocktail of Miralax every night. Which did it's job...but the time I was constipated led to hemorrhoids. Yea. I'm going to go there.
Hemorrhoids have lived to their description as the biggest pain in my rear and lurks where ever I go. It has led me to change how I sit, remembering to take a cushion with me, and using a Squatty Potty whenever I am at home. For those of you that have seen the commercials, Squatty Potty really does live up to expectations. The hemorrhoids are also a double edged sword: they flare if I don't go every day, but they're so painful I don't want to go.
So by about two weeks out, I realized that if I had a little bit of coffee, I would be able to go. Now this was a huge bariatric no-no, but I couldn't see another way out. A few weeks later, that trick stopped being so dependable and I started having fiber every morning, which also helped.
Also, getting the proper water in helps a lot. Like, I think it prevents constipation all in all.
After a long trial, I have developed a system that works for me.
I take Colace three times daily.
I now take my vitamins in a powder that I mix with water. This powder includes a little fiber which has replaced my separate fiber drink (for the most part). I take this twice a day.
Daily, I try to get vegetables in.
If I have not gone by my bed time, I set aside 10 minutes to sit on the "throne" using the Squatty Potty and if I haven't gone in 10 minutes, I take 2 Senna Tabs and go to bed.
If the Senna has not worked overnight, I take a fiber drink in the morning and go to work, and hope for the best. At this point I carry hemorrhoid cream with me.
Constipation and hemorrhoids are not pleasant but they're a realistic side effect.
Tuesday, November 28, 2017
First Post Surgery Thanksgiving
A common question these days is how is the first holiday season going to go?
I'm not going to lie, but I was very nervous approaching this holiday season. What will be there for me to eat? I still struggle with poultry, making the typical Thanksgiving Dinner a little difficult. As with most things in life, I planned out my day ahead of time and stuck to the plan.
1) I woke up early and got a run in. This served two purposes. First, I was able to say to myself "I got up and ran for thirty minutes" which is a strong self-affirmation. Second, I was able to self-justify going over my normal calorie level because I had burned so many calories before really starting my day.
2) I protein-ed up. Usually I stick to my protein shake for breakfast, but when I came back to the room from my run, my husband was ready for the free hotel breakfast. I went downstairs and had a pre-made 2 egg omelette with cheese (16g of protein). Then, hours later before we left for dinner, I had a protein shake (25g of protein). Before really starting my day, I had 41 grams of protein. It worked well because I had no interest in any appetizers and waited until dinner (nearly 3 hours after we arrived).
3) We brought acceptable desserts. I am not one to bake, but I've been known to make some candied nuts before. A friend had posted a recipe for candied nuts made with butter, stevia, and cinnamon. And nuts, of course. I made Candied Cashews, which were weird, but my husband really likes cashews. Nest time he won't win. I also made three-ingredient Keto peanut butter cookies. It was 1 cup peanut butter, 0.5 cup stevia, and 1 large egg to make 15 cookies. I made three sets of these, and my husband and I ate them guilt free for dessert.
4) I had a little bit of everything that I wanted. So I didn't feel like I was missing out on anything at all.
5) I stopped when my body said stop. This is a no brainer.
All told the holiday went great. I hope my tips can help others during their first holiday season.
I'm not going to lie, but I was very nervous approaching this holiday season. What will be there for me to eat? I still struggle with poultry, making the typical Thanksgiving Dinner a little difficult. As with most things in life, I planned out my day ahead of time and stuck to the plan.
1) I woke up early and got a run in. This served two purposes. First, I was able to say to myself "I got up and ran for thirty minutes" which is a strong self-affirmation. Second, I was able to self-justify going over my normal calorie level because I had burned so many calories before really starting my day.
2) I protein-ed up. Usually I stick to my protein shake for breakfast, but when I came back to the room from my run, my husband was ready for the free hotel breakfast. I went downstairs and had a pre-made 2 egg omelette with cheese (16g of protein). Then, hours later before we left for dinner, I had a protein shake (25g of protein). Before really starting my day, I had 41 grams of protein. It worked well because I had no interest in any appetizers and waited until dinner (nearly 3 hours after we arrived).
3) We brought acceptable desserts. I am not one to bake, but I've been known to make some candied nuts before. A friend had posted a recipe for candied nuts made with butter, stevia, and cinnamon. And nuts, of course. I made Candied Cashews, which were weird, but my husband really likes cashews. Nest time he won't win. I also made three-ingredient Keto peanut butter cookies. It was 1 cup peanut butter, 0.5 cup stevia, and 1 large egg to make 15 cookies. I made three sets of these, and my husband and I ate them guilt free for dessert.
4) I had a little bit of everything that I wanted. So I didn't feel like I was missing out on anything at all.
5) I stopped when my body said stop. This is a no brainer.
All told the holiday went great. I hope my tips can help others during their first holiday season.
Tuesday, November 21, 2017
Goal Setting
If you participate in any form of social media, you know you're friends tend to fall into groups. If you're in your early to mid thirties like most of my friend group you have a little from the following:
The Mommies
The Nerds
The Harry Potter Fans (insert other fans here too)
The Crafters
The "Always at the Gym"
So when one of my dearest friends put up she was interested in doing a half marathon, I thought "Well this is unexpected". So I commented something along the lines of "Really?"
Then the text conversation started.
A few minutes later, both of us were signed up for our first half marathon. I wish there were more to it but it was really as simple as that.
This happened on Saturday night, but Sunday morning she was putting me to shame by already going for a run and telling me that she was going to do the leg workout I did on Saturday on Monday morning. But she didn't have a lot of guidance.
At this point, most half marathon plans I've found run for 12-13 weeks, which gives us two months to get to that point.
Until then, I made a plan for us to increase time by 10% every week to two weeks and get three runs in at first, then move to four. I will be sharing this math on my Instagram (@jackienelli) seen in the upper right corner of my page.
I've run since essentially my peak weight, so running is nothing new to me. However, since I started running post-op I've noticed an adjustment was needed for nutrition. No longer can I have a carb filled dinner the night before.
I ran the 10K Across the Bay a few weeks ago and finally got a 10K PR for myself. I attribute part of my success to taking Gu Packs every 40 minutes or so. This will likely be continued in a blog post as training continues.
Anyway, we're both very excited for this run. I'll be posting many of my workouts to Instagram and I'll put some summaries on here from time to time.
The Mommies
The Nerds
The Harry Potter Fans (insert other fans here too)
The Crafters
The "Always at the Gym"
So when one of my dearest friends put up she was interested in doing a half marathon, I thought "Well this is unexpected". So I commented something along the lines of "Really?"
Then the text conversation started.
A few minutes later, both of us were signed up for our first half marathon. I wish there were more to it but it was really as simple as that.
This happened on Saturday night, but Sunday morning she was putting me to shame by already going for a run and telling me that she was going to do the leg workout I did on Saturday on Monday morning. But she didn't have a lot of guidance.
At this point, most half marathon plans I've found run for 12-13 weeks, which gives us two months to get to that point.
Until then, I made a plan for us to increase time by 10% every week to two weeks and get three runs in at first, then move to four. I will be sharing this math on my Instagram (@jackienelli) seen in the upper right corner of my page.
I've run since essentially my peak weight, so running is nothing new to me. However, since I started running post-op I've noticed an adjustment was needed for nutrition. No longer can I have a carb filled dinner the night before.
I ran the 10K Across the Bay a few weeks ago and finally got a 10K PR for myself. I attribute part of my success to taking Gu Packs every 40 minutes or so. This will likely be continued in a blog post as training continues.
Anyway, we're both very excited for this run. I'll be posting many of my workouts to Instagram and I'll put some summaries on here from time to time.
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