A To-Do List?! Yes Please!

Found this little ditty and thought it was a wonderful reminder of how to focus more on the important things we encounter each day. My favorite part is the to-do list (Does that really surprise anyone? I'm a slave to the to-do list!):

"Follow this daily to-do list and you’ll be just fine:

1. Think positively.
2. Eat healthy.
3. Exercise today.
4. Worry less.
5. Work hard.
6. Laugh often.
7. Sleep well.

Repeat…"

I know you might be thinking, "yeah, yeah, I see this inspirational crap on Pinterest every day" but really, when it all boils down, it's great advice! Trying my best to follow (and repeat) the short list from now on.

One Step Closer...

...to being a full-fledged vegetarian. We had two "meat days" this weekend and totally stuffed ourselves with chicken, beef and pepperoni (my favorite). I felt fine for the most part, but after eating the delicious cheese-stuffed burger I almost instantly felt sick. Maybe it was too much grease (Jason and I split a side of onion rings too), but maybe it was my stomach saying "no thanks" to the beef?  Who knows - we're back on a no-meat diet now until Sunday (which happens to be Superbowl Sunday), when we plan on saying au revoir to our favorite meat snacks. I'm feeling OK about it - like I've said to a few of my friends already, I don't really notice that we're not eating meat. I've also been getting oodles of recipes and advice from my vegetarian friends, so I think we'll be able to find yummy substitutes for our favorite foods that typically include meat.

...to eliminating night sweats. I attribute much of my success in this area to removing meat from my diet. I've been taking tamoxifen for almost six months now, and have had 4, maybe 5 nights of sleep where I didn't wake up once to a night sweat (In case you're wondering, night sweats are much worse than hot flashes; you wake up soaking, and even after changing in to dry jammies, you hop back into damp sheets. They're terribly unpleasant.). In the past week I've slept 4 or 5 nights all the way through. Do you know how wonderful it feels to have a full night of uninterrupted sleep?! Glorious - almost to the extent that I can hear angels sing as my alarm goes off each morning.

...to getting my sun-shiny, positive, cheerful self back. Yesterday I started taking a multivitamin that packs a Vitamin D punch. I'm confident it'll get my energy level back up and kick my Debby Downer attitude to the frozen curb. I'm also keeping up my gym habit; last week I signed up for a 5K in April and I'm determined to run the entire thing. It's 3.1 miles, I'm sure I can do it (plus, I have lots of time to work my way up)!

Blah

Technical Error #2: This was supposed to post yesterday afternoon. I'm happy to report that I'm feeling much more optimistic today :) Thank you exercise-induced endorphins!

Technical Error #1: Adding to my blah attitude (described below), I'd just written a B+ post that pin-pointed exactly how I'm feeling today, and then 1-2-3 it disappeared. Awesome.

Anyway (I'll try to re-create it before I forget), have you ever felt down, and not for any particular reason? That's me today. We've been getting bits and pieces of bad news from/about people we love (not life/death or cancer bad news, don't worry) and I'm getting to the point where my frustration is so strong I can feel it in my bones. It's affecting my personality and my typically-cheerful self isn't overcoming the feelings. As I write this, in my head I can hear Jason say "you can't focus on the negative things that are happening, think of all of the positives instead" (oh Jas, you're so wise). If only it were that easy.

"I'd look on the bright side... if I could find it." -Eeyore

I need sunshine or something; some vitamin D. I hate feeling this way, especially since I was beyond words to describe how happy I was to see 2013 go. This year was supposed to be 365 days of celebration, and not just waking up and being thankful I'm here either. I'm talking fireworks. We're here, we're young, we're healthy and we have so many great things ahead of us. Twenty-two days in and it feels like 2013 hasn't quite ended yet. 

Go away bad news, you jerk. You're ruining 2014.

Taking Care

I'm happy to report that our first attempt at cutting out meat was a success! We made some pretty tasty dishes Sunday through Wednesday this week and I hardly noticed that none of them included animal protein. I even ate out and was able to easily order some really delicious portobello mushroom fajitas. When we added meat back into our meals on Thursday (tacos), Jason was up with me during the night with a stomach ache (I was having one of my usual night sweats). I felt fine after eating meat Thurs/Fri, but after eating chicken tenders at our friend Andrew's birthday party on Saturday, I felt awful! I can't say if it was the chicken or the fact that they were fried, but it made me feel terrible (and happy to say buh-bye to them). Today we started day one of five days we're eating meatless so we'll see how this week goes!

In fitness-related news, I've been using the LT Bucks I earned for joining Lifetime Fitness over Black Friday to try out a few TEAM classes. For two weeks I was part of the TEAM Weightloss, and now I've moved on to TEAM Fitness. The fitness class is one level up in terms of difficulty, and instead of mostly cardio, we've been doing some serious weight lifting (my first attempt at kettle bells made me feel like an 80-year-old lady; I'm still nursing sore back muscles!). I like it, but my danceline background has me gravitating toward the cardio classes. I've also been back on the treadmill a few times slowly logging miles, and I'm pretty excited about how much I'm still looking forward to it. Yesterday my challenge was to do a 5K, which is something I've done many many times, but this time my goal was to run as much of it as possible and I don't think I did too bad. I wasn't really going for speed, but of course the faster you run, the faster you can be done. I finished nice and sweaty at 40:30, so with short stints of walking thrown in, I'm averaging a 13-minute mile. Certainly nothing to brag about, but it'll be interesting to see the improvement the more conditioned I get!

Finally, I had an appointment Thursday with Dr. Sanan, the surgeon who first discovered my cancerous lump. It's been about six months since I've seen him and ta daaaa - after examining me he determined there are no new lumps (not that I was expecting him to find any). Physically I've been feeling great and it's so great to have a confirmation from a professional. I also spent a little time with Lynnae, Carrie and Ali (the hospital's social worker) which was wonderful! They're all such great resources and care so much for their patients (me!). Ali's hooking me up with the oncology nutritionist to make sure I'm still getting enough nutrients now that we're modifying our diets. Once again I'm thanking my lucky stars I have them for my long term healing!

Natural remedies, here I come!

I Did This

As you may know, I've been hitting the gym quite a bit over the past couple of weeks. To get into shape? Sure! Because I finally can? Absolutely! I spent the better part of five months in pain, and when I wasn't in narcotic-zone pain, I was very uncomfortable. I'm finally back in my stride and am absolutely loving it! I look forward to lifting weights for an hour, and get this: yesterday I woke up at 6:30am and challenged myself to run a mile (I did, and then almost one more too!). I'm becoming addicted, and I kind of love it.

So now that I'm moving my booty again, I thought it'd be a good idea to take an overview at how I'm eating. I definitely ate my (and 4 others') fair share of cookies, treats and snacks (ones you just know are so naughty you better just avoid) over the holiday season and it's left me feeling gross (and flashing like no other - no really, I can't stop). Jason's been tugging at my sleeve trying to get me to watch Forks Over Knives for a few months now, so I finally sat down last weekend and watched it. No joke, the movie changed my life. It slapped me hard with the reality that it's very likely I contributed in giving myself cancer based solely on the food I've been shoving into my mouth for 29 years.

Basically the movie "examines the profound claim that most, if not all, of the degenerative diseases that afflict us can be controlled, or even reversed, by rejecting animal-based and processed foods." Both of my parents were raised on farms so it was natural for them to feed me good ole meat and potatoes with a glass of milk as a typical dinner. I have friends who are vegetarian and while I always admired their willpower and compassion, I never thought I'd be interested, even in educating myself about it.

It's all different now; I'm taking a good hard look at what I eat and have decided to try eliminating animal-based and processed foods. If not eliminate all together, severely cut down my intake. Jason's on board with this too, so we've decided to do a little tapering. First is meat. We're going 4 days this week without consuming meat; next week we'll try 5 days, then the following 6 and eventually all 7. After that will be the hard part: dairy. I eat a yogurt for breakfast every day, and Jason can polish off a gallon of milk in no time. Have I mentioned he's from WI, the land of cheese? The tapering for dairy might take a bit longer, but that's ok. At least we're trying!

Forward Thinking

It's finally here! I said goodbye to 2013 with a quick tear and welcomed 2014 last night surrounded by people I love (and then strangers in a conga line). I started this year already breaking one of my resolutions (to swear less; I lasted until about 10:30 this morning...), but it's ok. The beauty about resolutions are that if you mess up, you can start over again right away.

This past year has certainly put things into perspective for me. We said goodbye to Jason's sweet grandpa George, to my beautiful stepsister Margie and her daughter-to-be Olivia, and to Jerry, a long-time friend of Jason's family. My mom and stepdad sold the house I grew up in and moved to Texas. Breast cancer happened. We had to sit through a very painful two weeks in a courtroom. It was the longest 365 days I've ever known. Definitely challenging by comparison to the years I've had before it.

So, where there are valleys, there are hills, and I truly believe that 2014 will be the hill (a steep one so I'll get in shape along the way) that I'll use to climb out of this valley of sadness. How's that for a metaphor? There are so many things to look forward to this year. Weddings, babies, new challenges in my fitness, career and personal life. All of it will slowly remind me of what the "easy" years feel like, and I'll appreciate each day more because of what 2013 showed me.

I hope to end this upcoming year in a better place than I am today, even if today I'm better than I was on this day last year. It's all about evolving to become me at my best. Hello 2014, let's see what you have in store.