I *think* we’re finally getting somewhere, though — I’m to have bloodwork done for allergy testing, and also some kind of pulmonary test to see how sensitive my bronchial tubes are. Something is obviously wrong, and it appears to be affected by environment.

It’s just incredibly frustrating to go from working out and feeling powerful to thinking the 2-block walk from your work to your car feels like a marathon.

I just told the doc we have to find a solution….see…I use exercise to manage my anxiety condition…and 3 weeks…yeah.

I’m at my breaking point.

Luckily, today wasn’t one of my super-terrible-no-good-breathing days, so I managed to squeeze out my first workout in 3 weeks — no matter how wimpy it may be. And I needed it. My anxiety is through the roof.

(And who am I kidding…it kicked my ass. LOL)

This…is my coach. Note her stretching technique.

This….was my gym. 2-5 lb dumbbells (for shoulder work); 2-10 lb dumbbells (for upper body work) and a chair.

(Hubs and I have minimal at-home work equipment…5 lb, 10 lb, 20 lb and 30 lb dumbbells, and a nasty bench in the basement. I really need to add a pair of 15′s)

2 circuits as fast as my gimpy lungs would let me (took me 20 minutes)

1. Alternating Bicep Curls x 12

2. Tricep Dips x 12

3. Full Range Lateral Raises x 10

4. Pushups x 10

5. Upright Row x 10

6. Leg Raises (Abs work) x 15

7. Plank x 40 seconds

8. Squats x 15

9. Lunges (1 set forward and 1 set backward) x 15

10. Calf Raises x 15

(Source)

November Goals

Blog Goals

- Finish redesign of the new Kelly Be Well site and import both health and cooking blogs

• I began my re-design with some help in October and I’m hoping to be done with the “moving pains” before December!

Life Goals

- Get Better!!!

• Obviously, this is paramount. I’ve had this weird trouble-breathing-inflammation-issue for 3 weeks now

- Sit & relax by 8:30 p.m. every night

• I succeeded at the 9 p.m. goal I set in October, but could use a little more downtime in the evening, so I am upping it to 8:30

- Computer off by 9:30 p.m.

• I need work on this one. Since I joined twitter for the new blog site, I find myself on my computer way too late every night. I need to unplug.

- Get Christmas cards addressed

• I know…this sounds like a ridiculous goal for November, right? But I work for government, and we get 4 paid holidays in November. I always try to use one of those holidays to get my cards addressed because otherwise – it doesn’t happen!

Money Goals

- Set aside money for life insurance and car insurance; both which are due in December

• This was an October goal that didn’t go well — determined to get these two big ticket items out of the way before Christmas shopping/paying for gifts begins

Health Goals

- Get Better!!

• I know, this is listed twice…but it’s pretty important

- Once better, work at incorporating intervals to build back up from my 3 week hiatus

• I like intervals, but I always put off doing them. I don’t know why. Lazy I guess.

- Try some bodyrock workouts

• It’s all bodyweight, which is different than what I normally do, but I’m pretty bored with my routine, so it looks like it might be fun to try some

Food Goals

- Continue avoiding the 2pm candy monster

• I did well with this in October and would like to continue not raiding the candy dish

- Find a sweet, healthy snack for evening

• More often than not I want something sweet at night….and while I am generally successful at ignoring this want, I need a Plan B for those days I must have something

Kelly’s Definiton of Bronchiolitis: FREAKING CRAP IT’S HARD TO BREATHE. Why is walking from the couch to the kitchen suddenly HARD?  And…oh yeah…look at that….not being able to breathe makes my anxiety trigger-happy. NIIIICE.

Yeah, so….I had a cold…the same cold my whole office had. Now we all have this mess. It FEELS like bronchitis, but because it’s viral, the only thing the doctor can give you is an inhaler. Which doesn’t particularly help all that much (at least in my case).

The funniest part is if you google this condition, it insists that it usually only occurs in children. SMALL children – 3-6 months of age – and yet a whole office of women between 23 – 60 years of age have it.

Naturally, since it’s hard to breathe, I haven’t been particularly active. I did work out last week 4 days, but it ended up making me feel worse. I’ve had this for about 10 days now, so hopefully the internet is right and around 14 days I will start to feel better.

God I hope so. Walking up and down one flight of stairs shouldn’t make me feel like I just completed HIIT.

The good news is, Holly did everything she could to make me feel better. See?

Workin’ hard. Crazy dog. (Don’t mind my sheet-covered couch…pup sheds more than her bodyweight in spring/fall)

October Goals Review:

Following Janetha and Susan’s advice, I set some goals for October. Here’s how they went:

Blog Goals

• Post at least 1x/week on the fitness blog – I was doing well with this until the plague hit.
• Post at least 2x/week on the food blog – Doing well here! I’ve been averaging 1 menu and 1 new dish per week
• Look into combining my food and fitness blogs into one blog – This one is actually in motion — I found a woman who is a SAHM and does some bloggy schtuff on the side, so I’m working with her. SO EXCITED!

Life Goals

• Stop taking BCP (seriously terrified about this!!!) – This one didn’t happen. Hubs is receiving a 20% cut in pay at work (!@#$), so I didn’t go off the pill. I figure now would NOT be a good time to accidentally get pregnant. Hubs is looking for a new job (but you know what the market is like out there. UGH) and we’re going to re-evaluate soon. It’s funny..I wasn’t really sure I was looking forward to having a baby, but now that it’s been taken away from me, I’m like WTF?!
• Start charting – This didn’t happen since I didn’t stop taking the pill.
• Make it a priority to be sitting down/relaxing by 9pm every night (earlier is better, but 9pm is a must!) – I am doing really frickin’ well with this, but I wonder how much of it is because I’m too sick to do anything else.

Money Goals

• Get back to saving monthly – Yeah…this…didn’t happen so much. The wedding the beginning of October kind of crushed this goal.
• Bank my car payment amount (I paid my car off in September, and will be looking to replace it in January, so I want to ‘bank’ my car payment amount until then!) – Doing well with this! And I’m glad, since my car just depreciated a little bit again. I’m chomping at the bit to replace it, but I am holding out for the deals to start on the 2011′s.
• Get life insurance and car insurance money together in Oct (due in Dec) – These didn’t happen. At all. Ugh. That wedding really wiped me out.

Work Out Goals

• Work on cardio endurance. More HIIT, more strength training circuits to increase stamina –Didn’t happen. I’ve been down for the count with this bronchio issue for most of October, and it’s hard to do HIIT or circuits when you’re having difficulty breathing.
• Yoga (minimum 2x a week)…focus on lengthening and stretching my incredibly cramped-up muscles – Doing well with this, all things expected. It’s hard to stay in downward dog when your chest is constricted.
• Focus on strengthening/stretching my hip flexors/glutes to work on my piriformis pain/knotted muscle – I did really well with this the beginning of the month, but have slacked off with my illness.

Food Goals

• Stop the afternoon candy dish attack. Seriously. I’m not even hungry, I just like how the sugar makes me feel. I’m willing to admit it. – Success on this goal! I am doing much better at not attacking the candy dish…I didn’t have any the last 2 weeks, and I have a ton of Halloween candy in my house I haven’t touched. Woohoo!
• Limit desserts. No, you don’t need it every.single.night – Doing well here too. On nights that I think I’ll go apeshit if I don’t have something to eat, I have a small mug of cereal+milk, and that’s helped immensely.

+

+

Because I feel like….

(Source)

Setting the scene: I’m at the farmer’s market this morning, picking up our week’s worth of veggies.

Farm stand helper: Okay, so, all together that’s $17.95

Woman standing beside me, while I’m digging in my pocket for my cash: WOW! Almost 18 dollars worth of vegetables! You must have a big family to feed!

Me: Nope…it’s just me and my husband

Woman: Holy cow…are you vegetarian?

Me(slightly annoyed now): No…but we try to eat relatively healthy, and make sure we get lots of variety in our fruits and veggies, so we eat a lot of different ones. I come every week and get what I can, here.

Now…

Wait for it…..

Woman: Is it safe to eat that many vegetables every week? I can’t imagine it. We don’t like them in our house much. Do you eat them for every meal? I can’t believe two people can eat this much green!

Me (beyond my polite abilities now): Yes, we do. But we eat other items as well. Nice talking to you…bye!

And with that I’ve paid, the farm stand helper is laughing his ass off, and I am high-tailing it to the other side of market to get milk and eggs.

I should’ve taken a picture of my $18 bounty when I got home, but it slipped my mind, and now it’s all been processed down (chopped, cleaned, bagged, etc) so I’ll just list what I bought. I didn’t think it was extraordinary.

• 2 sweet onions
• 1 acorn squash
• 1 head green leaf lettuce
• 2 bunches of broccoli
• 1 large head of cauliflower
• 1 lb green beans
• 1 cantaloupe
• 2 sweet potatoes
• 2 red peppers

Now…I know not everyone eats that many veggies. And to each their own. But she kept pestering me about it…it drove me a bit batty. And when she asked if it was safe to eat that many vegetables…that was my limit! In hindsight I probably should’ve tried a bit more education and a bit less temper-losing…but you’ll have that sometimes!

I was off Monday, and posted about it….

Tuesday

I worked, and felt pretty darn miserable from this quasi-cold I’m suffering from. I’ve been holding back the stuffies with Claritin and Flonase, but my throat is raw, mild fever, and fatigue. Oh…the fatigue.

Know what the best evening snack in the world is when you’re not only getting sick, but also getting your monthly friend?

Yep. That’s an orange broken out into slices and….a cookie dough truffle from the freezer. I was in heaven. I told Dave if I’d have had the energy I’d have dipped the orange slices in chocolate, but that was close enough. Ha!

Obviously no workout. I thought walking the dog would be a genius idea…and then needed to sit quietly and rest when we got back after 30 minutes. Blah.

Wednesday

I took off from work to rest, and my car was in the shop, so I was forced to at least stay home

I rested most of the day, did some work from home, and decided I was stir crazy from my lack of gym time, so I went for a short and easy workout.

15 m elliptical, moderate pace, easy resistance and incline

2 sets of Julie Lohre circuits from her website.

Circuit 1: x2

*I added the plank at the end to throw some abs in

Circuit 2: x2

*I did a hammer curl instead of using the resistance band, and, added the Russian Twists.

Stretching to finish it off

Total Time: 45 minutes

Calories: 325

Max HR: 158 (how I know I’m sick….b/c I wasn’t working that hard)

Avg HR: 128

Incidentally, those full range lat raises are SO MUCH FUN! I don’t know why I never did them before, but I love how they make my shoulders feel!

Thursday

Worked, and am starting to feel a bit better. The triple whammy of cold (sore throat/fever/fatigue), monthly friend (headache/fatigue) and prenatal vitamins (which make me tired as hell for some reason) all pounced on me this week!

Made it to the gym, though, for a similar workout to yesterday, but for lower body:

15 minutes easy hills on the treadmill

2 sets of Julie Lohre circuits from her website. Circuit 1: x2

*Added the bicycle crunches

Circuit 2: x2

Streeeeeeeetch

Total Time: 55 minutes

Calories: 320

Max HR: 148

Avg HR: 122

Friday

Bad news bears for us…because of a series of changes to their benefits policy, my husband’s employer is going to be cutting his income by 20%. Suck.

I was just about to stop taking BCP and prep for us having a baby, but now I think I’m going to stay on it until I know more. I have spent my whole life terrified of getting pregnant at the wrong time…and that isn’t changing right now!

Before the 20% cut, we were going to make it, but were concerned about daycare costs…it’s just so freaking expensive. But with the 20% cut and electrical rate caps coming off in January, day care is out….so baby is out as well.

Thank goodness it happened before we started trying, I guess!

I made it to the gym for a just-cardio day today

30 minutes moderate hill intervals on the treadmill

15 minutes moderate on the stationary bike

5 minutes on the stair machine – my nemesis

Streeeeeeeeeeeeetch

Total Time: 50 minutes

Calories: 350

Max HR: 155

Avg HR: 120

Weekend Plans

• I vow to make time for myself to sit, read, do whatever I want. We’ve been entirely too busy. It’s time for ‘me time’
• As much as I’d love to make fall treats this weekend, an entire week spent scarfing down wedding cake and wedding cookies which we carted home from last weekend means STOP THE SUGAR ALREADY. 
• Hubs is hunting, and I am working on trying to meal plan our freezer a little emptier…if he gets a deer…I don’t know where I’m putting it. LOL

My best friend (also Kelly) wanted to get married at my Dad’s farm. His farm is more “working farm” and less “quaint farm you use for weddings” but we made it work! Here’s some pictures!

Ceremony was in the upper portion of the barn, and everyone sat on straw bales

Me and the bride!

Kelly + Joe… <3 <3 <3

My dad, playing valet to make sure we got everyone in…she had 100+ guests!

Me and the bride! We’ve been best friends since I was 4!

Me and my momma!

Me, mom, and grandma I was a giant towering over them in my modest wedges. Apparently I’m the tallest!

It was fun, chaotic, and exhausting. But it was a blast

I had Monday off for Columbus Day, and honestly, it’s just been an errand day:

- Ollie’s (Christmas Cards! I buy them here every year…cute designs, and cheap prices!)

- Target (Basal thermometer and Boss’s Day cards for work)

- Grocery store (fruit + cereal that I can’t get elsewhere)

- Farm store (mums + pumpkins for front porch decor)

- Car wash (vacuum dog hair out of car + wash bug splatter off windshield)

- Home (neighbor ran scanner on my car because my check engine light is on +septic tank pumping guy came + made chicken meatballs for meatball subs + laundry)

At this point, I am due for a workout, BUT…

I’m fading fast.

I’ve had a sore throat for 2 days, and today I am very-so-slightly feverish (I run about 97.4 and I’m at 98.6 right now. For most, it’s not a fever. For me? It definitely is.) and I’m feeling pretty rough.

So…I’ve rearranged my work-out schedule (god willing I can kick this cold and get to the gym tomorrow) and will just do a long hill walk with the pup + gentle hatha yoga this evening.

I headed to the gym with Janetha’s full body workout in my pocket. And what I learned is…

1. Janetha is awesome and fast.
2. I am in remarkably bad shape for someone who spends an hour at the gym 5x a week

I knew I’d kind of been slacking on the intensity of my workouts, but I literally only made it through 2 of Janetha’s circuits before I called quits.

I did:

9 minute warm-up on the elliptical: I set for a moderately low incline, and increased the resistance every minute for 9 minutes

Circuit 1: x3

Circuit 2: x3

10 minutes of intervals on elliptical – 30s fast, 1m steady

Streeeeeeeeeeeetch….

Duration: 1 hour (and she fit two more intervals in there! YIKES!)

Calories: 579

Max HR: 170

Avg HR: 140

….I.am.out.of.shape. It wasn’t so much the weight or combination moves that did me in (honestly, the weight was light. I kept it light so I could keep moving quickly) it was the circuits. It was so fast! And I only did half! I always did suck at moving fast through leg moves…it’s like I get Charlie horses or something. LOL

Tuesday

Thought it was a good day to try Gina’s cookie dough cereal – it looked delicious, and it tasted delicious. Only one problem: oatmeal and I do not get along. I’ve tried, for years to like the stuff…it seems the whole health world and blog-o-sphere is obsessed with it. The problem? It hurts my stomach. I eat plenty of fiber, so that’s not it….but oatmeal prepared makes me feel bloated and gross, or, when eaten raw (like in the cookie dough cereal, or in a smoothie) it just gives me painful cramps.

In short? I need to learn oatmeal isn’t for me.

(Source)

That being said, Gina’s cookie dough cereal? Delish. I’m a texture eater, and it had GREAT texture! And it was easy to mix up and transport to work, which is also great.

Work has been really rough lately, and I was invited to go out for a quick happy hour – so I went. Let’s call it “mental health exercise”. I didn’t drink (just water with lemon, please) but it was good to laugh with my co-workers for an hour or so. I set a limit for myself that I had to leave by 5:30 so I could stop at the eye doctor and get my glasses adjusted (I feel like I do this weekly. I have no idea how my glasses continually get off kilter) and still make it home in time to do a brisk hills walk with the pup (bonus points for combining cardio and walking the dog!) as well as some yoga.

40 minute hill walk with the pup (hubs even came! Family affair!) + 25 minutes of Yoga for Runners

Duration: 1h5m

Calories: 360

Max HR: 155

Avg HR: 125 (Yoga brought it down)

I don’t know that it was a successful return to cardio, but I’m impressed I managed to do happy hour, glasses adjustment, walk the dog, cardio, and yoga in 3 hours! Hubs was kind enough to heat up our leftovers which also helped immensely in the whole timeframe thing!

Wednesday

Having been humbled by my attempt at Janetha’s workout on Monday, I decided to finish up the circuits I missed.

9 minute warm-up on the stationary bike; increasing resistance each minute

Circuit 3: x3

Circuit 4: x3

And then I added some Lying Leg Raises (on a bench) – 3×12 for abs

10 minutes of intervals on the stationary bike – 30s fast, 1m moderate

Streeeeeeeeeeeetch….

Duration: 1h5m

Calories: 473

Max HR: 163

Avg HR: 135

Delicious dinner was fish tacos with baja cream sauce. OMG they’re good. And SO fast to make.

Thursday

By this point in my week, I.am.tired. Life has been super-stressful since we returned from vacation, and it’s all catching up with me!

I had some trouble sleeping this week and turning my brain off…hoping it will all be better once the wedding this weekend is over with!

I’m a Type-A/obsessive planner, and my best-friend-forever….is not. At all. And she’s getting married. And she’s driving me insane, because there are no details. ARGH! She’s of the attitude “eh, we’ll figure it out on Saturday.” – see, I’d prefer not to. Just sayin’.

I headed to the gym after work today to crank out some cardio:

• 20 minutes of intervals on the elliptical – 30s fast; 1m moderate
• Walked on the treadmill for 10 minutes to finish my magazine
• Headed home, walked the pup briskly on our hill route again for 30 minutes
• Finished it all up with 20 minutes of Fusion Yoga

Duration: 1h10m

Calories:516

Max HR: 164

Avg HR: 120 (Yoga brought it down)

Friday

Leaving work early…packing up the car and heading back to my hometown for the wedding!

Neat Schtuff

Healthcare.gov - the government was mandated to provide a single place for people to shop for public and private health insurance (as part of the health bill that was passed) and have recently released this site. I’m lucky to have insurance through my employer, but thought it might be helpful to others if I post it here!

The Value of Reducing Stress – just in case we all needed a reminder (including me!):)

I grabbed these from Angela @ OhSheGlows….important to remember :

Zuda Yoga Teacher Training – 7 axioms/Universal Truths

1. You are exactly where you are supposed to be – my favorite one!
2. Fear and pain are life’s greatest teachers
3. Laughter and play are the keys to the fountain of youth
4. Exercise and rest are the keys to vibrant health
5. Touch and intimacy are basic human needs
6. Everything is impermanent
7. Everything is connected

(Source)

I don’t have a particularly good track record with goal setting. When I started on this healthy living journey, I guess my goal was my wedding. I was in-between dress sizes when I purchased my wedding gown, and went with the smaller size. It was a good thing I did, as I ended up having the smaller-sized gown taken in at my last fitting, because I’d been successful at dropping about 30 pounds in the year prior to the big day.

But since then, my fitness and foods haven’t been particularly goal-oriented. At least not to the point where I’d been writing them down.

I started lifting heavy, but I did it because I wanted to be stronger, and I didn’t set a specific goal.

I started running (and then, subsequently, quit running after a bout with piriformis syndrome that was unresolved by physical therapy) because it looked like a quick and efficient cardio workout – and I’ve never been much of a “cardio queen”

I changed my eating habits, but it was more in response to being tired of my IBS symptoms and feeling sick constantly, than any specific goal-set.

But through it all I never set goals. At least, I never thought about them as goals.

When I started this blog, I was full of vim, vigor, and an abundance of free time, as we were just coming off the holiday season, AND we were buried in about 2.5 feet of snow. Goals sounded like a fantastic idea!

But know what? I haven’t done a single one. Not one. And what’s worse, looking back on them, I don’t have much desire to do any of them….well, except maybe try spinning.

And then here recently, Susan focused on goal setting. And every month I read Susan’s goals with excitement anyway. I LOVE reading other people’s goals! And then Janetha posted her monthly goals. And I thought…well…maybe I can do goal-setting, but maybe I need a shorter time frame. Shorter than a year. J

I am, after all, an instant-gratification kind of gal

So…baby steps. We’re starting with October. Monthly goals. I picked my categories rather randomly…basically setting the goals and then dumping them into “categories”

I’m already 5 days in to October, so it’s time to get crackin’!

October Goals

Blog Goals

• Post at least 1x/week on the fitness blog – I’ve neglected this. I’ve discovered I hate blogging my eats, so that probably won’t happen….but I love blogging my workouts. There will be more of this. Not sure what else…
• Post at least 2x/week on the food blog – I already post 1x a week religiously, as I post my weekly dinner menu. But I’d really like to focus on getting new recipes I try (we average 1 new recipe a week, unless we’re out of town) on the blog more efficiently…I end up with a pile of recipes and no recollection of what I wanted to tell readers about it!
• Look into combining my food and fitness blogs into one blog – I’d love to do this for an affordable amount of money, but I don’t know any HTML…kind of skurred about branching away from the easy/standard WordPress. But I’d love to have one single blog address, for all my blogging adventures. I’d also love a new design that will better incorporate food, fitness, and life in general. Anybody have any recommendations for me?

Life Goals

• Stop taking BCP (seriously terrified about this!!!) – This will probably be addressed on Kelly B Well… I am scared to death to see what happens when I stop taking it, the withdrawl, the side effects… I’ve been on it for 10 years, and originally went on it to deal with out-of-this-world menstrual symptoms. I’m terrified they’ll be back in full force!
• Start charting – This goes hand-in-hand with the above. I’ll be charting, (using Taking Charge of Your Fertility as my guide) to understand my cycles, as well as to potentially use this as my only means birth control method in later years (NOT right now though). It will also (hopefully) set me up to get pregnant when we’re ready, with minimal fuss. I hope.
• Make it a priority to be sitting down/relaxing by 9pm every night (earlier is better, but 9pm is a must!) – I am seriously bad at winding down. All evening I think of things that need done, etc. But then I can’t sleep! I need that wind-down time. No computer, just relaxation. Either TV and book. And I’m making it a priority because it has certainly suffered as of late (as has my sleep!).

Money Goals

• Get back to saving monthly – I got away from this with a budget overhaul a few months ago, and paying off some debts, but I want to get back at it. A minimum of $100 monthly into my own personal savings.
• Bank my car payment amount (I paid my car off in September, and will be looking to replace it in January, so I want to ‘bank’ my car payment amount until then!) – I’m hoping to bank my car payment each month. I was paying $350 on my car, so that’s an additional $1,050 towards a new car in January. Definitely worth it!
• Get life insurance and car insurance money together in Oct (due in Dec) – I’d like to get these two items paid (money set aside) in October so I can focus November on Christmas gifts, and hopefully be AHEAD by the time December arrives.

Work Out Goals

• Work on cardio endurance. More HIIT, more strength training circuits to increase stamina – My cardio stamina SUCKS. Without even realizing it, I’ve become one of those moderate-paced-workout-every-single-time-for-30-minutes type people. Not good. I need more cardio, if for no other reason than my endurance is bad and I seriously feel it when I push myself.
• Yoga (minimum 2x a week)…focus on lengthening and stretching my incredibly cramped-up muscles – My hamstrings and hip flexors are notoriously tight (helloooooo desk job!) and if I don’t stretch and lengthen them regularly, I get knotted up and it makes things like deadlifts and cardio painful. So gentle, stretching yoga is the focus here, with at least 1 of my sessions being a “yoga for runners” type session which will focus on the areas I get tight in.
• Focus on strengthening/stretching my hip flexors/glutes to work on my piriformis pain/knotted muscle – Similar to above. I’ve not done any of my hip strengthening/glute moves in ages. My butt is flat and muscle-less, and my hip hurts accordingly. I keep hoping if I focus on it, I can get it strong and then (maybe?!) try running again?! That would be a long-term goal, though

Food Goals

• Stop the afternoon candy dish attack. Seriously. I’m not even hungry, I just like how the sugar makes me feel. I’m willing to admit it. – My name is Kelly, and my sweet tooth controls me. Add in the massive quantities of Halloween candy…I am seriously losing this battle. So no more candy dish. It isn’t a response to hunger, it’s a response to boredom. But I do struggle with it anyway!
• Limit desserts. No, you don’t need it every.single.night – We’ve had an awful lot of treats in our house with hubby’s birthday, and a make-your-own-sundae party for him (toppings and ice cream, oh my!) and it’s hard to not have a little bit every night. But it needs to stop as well. A little bit is fine, but not the quantities I’ve been consuming, and not every night!

So there it is…October’s goals!

(Source)

Okay, it’s kind of inappropriate, but it’s hilarious nonetheless