At the beginning of the year I wrote about taking better care of myself. This primarily addressed my physical fitness. While I have been very vigilant about taking fitness class after fitness class (and I am talking at least a combination of five fitness classes and personal training sessions a week), I found that eating better was much more challenging. My diet, or lack thereof, has essentially stayed the same garbage diet, as 2016.
At the end of June, the fiance and I discussed trying Whole30. Wanting to set ourselves up for success, we decided not to start it until after July 4th and subsequent weekend as we were heading down to the Gulf Coast for the holiday, immediately followed by hosting friends from out of town. After eating and drinking everything over the Fourth of July and a weekend of baseball, french food, all of the cocktails, all of the beer, all of the wine, and brunch with our friends, the fiance and I had food and drink fatigue. It was the perfect time to give our diet the makeover.
We started Whole30 last Monday, the 10th. I am currently writing this six days in and I haven’t experienced insane hunger or cravings. Not for dairy, not for sugar, not for legumes, not for grains, not even for alcohol. I used to be very “eat to live / live to eat,” but that is no longer. I have simply lost my interest in food. The biggest difficulty I have encountered is being able to decifer what I can and cannot eat. I have found myself Googling “Trader Joes Whole30” and “Starbucks Whole30” in advance of grocery shopping and beverage runs.
I have not experienced the surge of energy known as the “Tiger Blood” phase, but I felt enough energy to get myself to six fitness classes in my first week. That is not to say that I did not experience intense soreness after kicking off Monday with a Full Body Fusion class at Riva Fitness, which is the studio I have been with since last December. Full Body Fusion employs dumbells, body weight, and cardio bursts to render its participants hurtin’ for certain for the following days. I immediately followed Full Body Fusion with yoga. Tuesday was barre. Wednesday required rest. Thursday was barre, immediately followed by Target It!, a class that focuses on one muscle group for four weeks and then switches to another, in order to avoid plateau. Friday concluded with a bootcamp class.
Today I stopped at Rittenhouse Nails for a pedicure. No, this wasn’t a health measure. Yes, the pedicure was relaxing. Even more relaxing was the complementary massage they provide while you are waiting for your nails to dry. It loosened all of the tension I was carrying in my back, neck, and arms, thanks to this week’s rigorous fitness class schedule.
I am especially proud of myself for sacking up like an adult and finally making my yearly appointments with specialist doctors. This was prefaced by sorting out all of my new insurance information, which I have had for over a year, and figuring out which practices my insurance covers.
I visited an eye doctor for the first time since 2015 and have a follow up regarding a set of contacts that I am test driving on the books for next Wednesay. I am photophobic, so visiting the eye doctor is the most uncomfortable health experience; I truly believe it is more uncomfortable than visiting the lady doctor. My (make) eye doctor seemed embarrassed when I made this remark aloud, but I digress. The doctor thinks he is dialating my eyes on Wednesday. He has another thing coming; if I get my eyes dialated, I won’t be able to put in lenses and if I cannot put in lenses, I cannot wear sunglasses because I will be wearing my eye glasses. The eye appointment is during the workday, therefore the sun will still be out and my fiance will not be able to drive me, as he will still be in the office. This cannot be an uncommon issue…right?
I will be going to the dentist on Thursday. I haven’t been to a dentist since the beginning of 2016. I look forward to hearing that my cavity count is steady at zero, as well as getting his thoughts on Smile Brilliant, as the company sent me a teeth whitening kit. Part of their Terms & Conditions is that users consult their dentists prior to use, so I really could not have had better timing. While I know it is cliche for a blogger to review teeth whitening systems (and skinny tea, and coffee scrub, and Bootay Bag), I have been genuinely self conscious of the shade of my teeth. (If you look back in my blog posts, one would notice that I don’t often expose my teeth when I smile.) I was planning on using Crest Whitestrips in preparation for my wedding, so when I was approached by Smile Brilliant at the beginning of the year, we decided that it would make sense to move forward with a review closer to the wedding.
This week, I will be making psychologist (yes, it is helpful to have an impartial third party to talk to every so often), lady doctor, and dermatologist appointments. Wish me luck in finding doctors that take my insurance. Let’s just say that I have never been so #blessed to have a PPO and a HSA.
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