Facebook Challenge "Monday, Monday, so good to me..."

On this seventh day of my Facebook Challenge, I found my day to be an interesting Monday.  I don't want to say it was a typical Monday, but more like, it was a Monday more that the entire morning, I was a step behind.  Left purse at home, missed my first yoga class by an entire half hour, had run out of that key ingredient for a slow cooker recipe and despite all the careful prep after upgrading a computer, I was left without email that would not be addressed until the evening.

What can you do?   I can tell you what I didn't do, seek Facebook for solace!  I took it in stride.  I laughed about it.  I told my husband and my kids that I had a very silly day and then opened myself to hearing about their days....in a very present manner.  THAT is a miracle.

One thing I did notice today was I was presented with a couple insertions to my life that knocked the wind out of me because they were so poignant to what I am experiencing and my state of mind:

1) This article by Rachel Stafford of Hands Free Mama.  In particular this:

"I quickly noticed many positive results from the small changes I was making. By placing protective boundaries around special connection times each day, I was able to see, hear, and respond more lovingly to my family members. I went through my day feeling less conflicted, overwhelmed, and agitated. No longer dictated by the dinging demands of the device, my thoughts and actions were my own."

ALL. OF. THIS. I cannot explain it any better. 

2) At the end of my most awesome yoga class (yes, I made it to the evening class! Yay!), during savasana, the teacher leaves us to rest, with our thoughts.  Here is where she reminds us to "release what no longer serves you".  YES!  For me, now, Facebook is that thing.  

  

Facebook Challenge - Am I Alone? Nope.

Day 5:  The last few days have been filled with getting things done.  I am calmer at night and I am thankful that I have been super productive during the day with my job.  With the super stimulation I was experiencing while visiting Facebook, I often was spinning in circles, starting and stopping a multitude of actions and thoughts in my attempt at multi-tasking.  Can you say, "Squirrel!"?  

Going back to the last few days/months/years, I had contemplated leaving Facebook (yes, I have deactivated my account a couple times already, dating back to 2013), I started to wonder what was wrong with me.  Why am I so affected by social media?  Why does it actually make me miserable?  This train of thought brought be back to an article that my husband shared with me a couple years ago.  He was non-Facebooker and I scoffed immediately.

Not me!  At the time, I was in the midst of daily life with a young infant and toddler and sharing my bliss all over Facebook and conversing with other mom's about sleepless nights and breastfeeding.  It was my lifeline, my saving grace for humor, adult conversation and meme's that said exactly what I was feeling.

Looking back at it now, it is one of the reasons I would get so mad at myself.  I was not getting anything done!   I was so hard on myself for things I started but never completed.  For instance, I had started an online scrapbook/photo album that cataloged all the firsts, usually in monthly posts, of the kids. Using a "blog to print" service, I was able to print out a set of posts to make into a journal/book of sorts.  A wonderful keepsake if you ask me! By the time that I got to Courtney, I had went from frequent posts on Austin to "yearly" posts of pictures.  I did a few posts on Courtney as an infant and first birthday. She is now two and not a single post since. Yes, two kids and a thriving business would make a decent excuse on the time aspect, but the reason for this is likely because time was taken up by my constant interactions and the immediate reward to share them on Facebook instead.  For what?  Those "shares" will never be seen by Courtney or Austin when they got older.  My goal is to rectify this and salvage what I can for both their sakes and mine.

Another aspect of social media that I found interesting and is confirmed in studies, here, here, and even most recently, here is that Facebook breeds envy.  Think about it.  You are sitting on your couch, barely making it through the day, toys all around, kids screaming and on Facebook, your Facebook friend (you met in a group, whom you truly don't even know, AT ALL), is off galavanting in some far off exotic piece of this Earth on ANOTHER vacation.  For real???  Oh, she has kids and they are there in Bermuda as well, sunkissed with Coppertone tans. B#$^%.  Now nevermind, that she had to drink a boat load on the plane to deal with the hellacious plane ride with two kids and that she spent 10 minutes on the beach and it rained the entire time she was there.  The photo she just took was a symbol of what you are currently not doing, wish you could do, afford to do, or freedom to do.  And guess what? Of the 400 "friends" you have on Facebook, 60% are giving you snippets of their vacations, outings, perfect relationships with their in-laws, husbands, and you see their long list "close friends" on Facebook.  Yep.

The truth is, we all know this is not the entire reality, but the more time you spend on Facebook, that becomes skewed.   The next question, is why can some people separate this and some cannot?  Does it have to do with extroversion/introversion, whether you are a Blue, Green, Orange or Gold personality?  The studies haven't gone that far.  Until then, being more cognizant of Facebook's effect on you is a huge step.  Whether you choose to shut it down completely, or change your attitude about what is being presented, both are steps to decreasing the likelihood that Facebook could actually be making you miserable.

Facebook Challenge

So, it starts with a fit of stress overload and voila, I QUIT Facebook!

Wait, what?  Did I just do that?  

Yep, sure did.  

Whew.  And on day 2, guess what?  A HUGE amount of weight is lifted! Over stimulation? No more.  A feeling of less stress, I am more attentive to my family, have more energy and just a sense of peace.  

Okay, I didn't think it made THAT big of a negative impact in my life?  I mean, it's a social network site.  Sharing photos, ideas, and getting a birds eye view of all the happenings of my "friends".  Why a sense of relief? Could it have been affecting me negatively all this time?

So an idea.....what if I did this for 30 days and see what transpires?  What will happen?  

This shall be interesting as Facebook has been a huge component in my daily life both personally and professionally.  I run two pages, admin 3 groups, I am an activist for certain causes which rely on social media. Facebook has even been my source for news since I do not watch T.V.  

I plan to journal observations that I have.  Does my productivity go up?  With my overall feeling from Day 2, I am curious how this impacts my children and husband because stress definitely impacts our relationships and our frame of  mind for receiving and giving love.  

So, here we go!

28 Days Baby!

Well - July 10th I started this journey and it is now 28 days later and I would say that I am really learning a lot.  A lot about nutritional healing, eating clean, cooking and about how my body functions better.

I have also lost some weight too!

The stats are:

Lbs lost: 10.4

Inches Lost: 2.5  (I actually gained an inch in my chest!  How the heck did I do that!?)

I am encouraged by the progress and I am losing weight safely and at a rate that I am more likely to keep off.  This is a lifestyle change my friends and I am liking the lifestyle thus far!

3 weeks - Progress In Control

I am approaching my third week of my journey and I must say that I have never felt better about where things are heading.  I am still trying to figure out how my body handles certain "allergens" like dairy, wheat, etc and that is going to be a process in itself. But, I have never felt more in control of what I am doing and where I am going with regard to overall health.  

This last week, I had veered off the "program" a bit and recognized where my weaknesses are:

1. I am an emotional eater with regard to carbs.  I still crave the crap when I need to "feel better".
2. I still have this crazy idea that if I have sweets in the house, I MUST eat them right away to get rid of them!  Crazy?  Why do I not just enjoy them while spreading the "delight" over time?
3. I easily resort to my old ways when not prepared.  I REQUIRE organization as hard as it may be for me to keep it going for a long period of time.  Organization = Thrive, for me. 

The above has always existed for me however THIS time, I am aware, I have accepted that they are my weaknesses and can deal with them in a more constructive manner.

One thing that I have used to control what I am putting into my mouth is that I am cooking/preparing every meal for myself.  I know what is used to make it and therefore I can feel good about what is going in my body.  It can be exhausting to cook EVERY night but I have allowed some room for leftovers and I have told Matt he was on his own a couple nights over the last three weeks while I had a nutritious shake.

I start my stroller workout this coming Monday and I am really excited.  Over the last three weeks I came to understand that I cannot simply just go "all in".  I must introduce new ways, slowly, and getting my diet straightened out was my priority in the beginning.  Now I am ready to add the good stuff....a nice kick ass workout three days per week.  

I am truly pumped!

PS - weight check in tomorrow and I am going to begin tracking the measurement of my thighs and biceps since I know that those will be changing over the coming month.

Day 16 - Becoming Clear

When starting this program, I had the hidden hope that I would also find out if my body was sensitive to a particular food.   I had not completely removed dairy, wheat and soy but I had significantly reduced them, especially the first week.  I had no wheat, had maybe one serving of dairy and no soy during the first week.  When adding a shake mix (Designer's woman's shake called "Aria") that contained 50/50 soy and whey proteins, the second week, I discovered that all of sudden I had GI discomfort again.  Interesting....

I love having shakes in the morning.  It is a quick and easy way to get my protein, veggies, fruit and fiber all in one quick, delicious combination and I don't want to give them up.  I was recently turned onto hemp protein (no not the marijuana kind!), which is a complete protein (contains all 8 amino acids that your body cannot produce) and is more easily digestible than soy or whey.  It is more expensive and does not have as long of a shelf life as the other protein shakes but I am not consuming a bunch of fillers and therefore I am getting more of what I need.

Am I lactose intolerant?  I am not quite sure.  It would be a shame because I LOVE cheese.  I really think I just have a sensitive stomach (complete with chronic gastritis) and I need to watch what I put into my stomach.  I have experienced acid reflux and all the lovely symptoms of such (heartburn, gas, etc) and it is not fun.  Lying down in an elevated position all night is not ideal and continuing to take a proton pump inhibitor or H2 blocker is not an option that I am willing to consider because of all the possible long-term issues, especially if I can keep control of the symptoms with diet and NOT taking ANOTHER drug.

FYI - I think I have finished dropping the majority of the "toxic weight" that I had.  I lost one pound last week with no change in inches around my bust, waist and hips.  I admit I have not been doing any consistent exercise.  I start a stroller workout next week that is three times per week for the entire month of August and I am excited.  I think I am ready to add a new change.  The first couple weeks with making so many changes, it was a bit much for me to do everything I am supposed to do so I chose to focus on my eating habits.  I went from NOT cooking, to cooking EVERY night, NOT drinking water to drinking 80 ounces EVERY day, and eating ONLY 2-3 times per day to eating five times a day.  MAJOR changes for me and they are becoming a HABIT.  

Sooooo, total 8 lbs lost and 3 inches.  Yay!

Legalized Drug = Refined Carbs

I have literally gone 11 days without refined sugar, sucrose, whatever you want to call it.  Amazing since even the "natural" peanut butter I put in my shakes had sugar listed as number two on the ingredient list.  I would drink vanilla flavored creamer in my coffee every morning.  What about the Luna Bars that I would eat on a daily basis?  The white bread....oh man do I love BREAD. Then there is the artificial sweeteners that I would intake to have the things I love but without the "guilt" (see the latest study for why this is just plain dumb).  Boy was I on a sugar overload and my body was paying for it.  I was eating items that were wreaking havoc on my metabolism.

I can see how it happened too.  I was a working long hours, intense stress and moving up fast.  I needed brain power and the brain LOVES that quick fix.  Refined sugars and grains are easily broken down to glucose (brain food), giving you a quick fix and a lovely high (due to increased serotonin levels).  If you are like me, when moving at a fast pace, I forget to eat throughout the day (say every 2-2.5 hours) and suddenly feeling weak and looking for something fast, I grab an energy bar or even run to a fast food joint for a burger, fries and a diet Coke.  Done, feel good, ready to go again.  Problem is that your body processes those simple carbs quickly and once they are done with them, you feel the crash and need another "hit". Now, if I had also been eating plenty of protein and fiber with my meals, which SLOWS the digestion of carbohydrates, I would have fared much better. But, did I mention that I rarely ate vegetables and meat as well???? Ugh!  Anyways, the resulting insulin/glucagon imbalance, which could of resulted in TYPE II diabetes eventually, was quickly causing increased belly fat, fatigue and a host of other issues, like chronic pain and inflammation. 

I have used Stevia, which is basically sweet leaf. It is a "sugar substitute" but it has a negligible effect on your blood glucose levels and therefore does not cause the cravings that would you would otherwise experience from both refined carbs and that "guiltless" consumption of diet soda.  I just recently tried a high cocoa (72%), dark chocolate which was bittersweet and because of the high level of cocoa had very little beet sugar in it and did taste a little bitter.

At this point, I am a little afraid to even TRY to eat any of the sweet things I enjoyed in the past.  I mean, I have struggled through the cravings for the last several days and what if I get sucked back in again?  Should I be going to a "sugarnon" meeting to work through these issues????  

Yes, Sugar Ray Leonard - LOL

Guess what?  I have lost 8 lbs and 3 inches thus far!  Yay me!