Tuesday, March 18, 2008

I Scream for Ice Cream (literally...)

I have found the culprit of my digestion issues. Ice cream. Sadly. SO I have given it up. COLD turkey. In lieu of that I made oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. No indigestion issues there. Yum!!!

After having the great family sickness of 2008 a couple of weeks ago, I am trying to be good about what I eat and exercise. I fall short on the eating side of things opting for cookies, ice cream and chocolate whenever I can. At least I try to limit the consumption of these foods to once a day. As for the rest of the diet, I feel like I am doing C+ work maybe? I could be doing better.

One thing I have always done it keep a running tally of what I have eaten on a given day in my head and nothing carries forward. Just that day & that day only. Nothing serious like 4 oz of cheese, 6 carrots... just a little run though. Breakfast: cereal, skim milk, banana... okay what I can eat now? That kind of thing. It has helped me in the past and will likely always help me with "my diet". Generally if I eat something not so healthy at a given point in the day or I plan to eat something not so healthy I will opt for carrots as a snack versus a granola bar. It is game play - I actually think of it in terms of the food guides you see - how many veggies have I had? how many whole grains?, etc... It really works for me.

I struggle with this a bit more when pregnant for various reasons. The aforementioned (as in my previous post) lack of sleep & exhaustion to the point of just not caring and general impulse craving that cannot be beaten down because my mind obsesses over the food of interest for hours on end until I finally quiet the craving by giving in. Picture it (oh I love the Golden Girls!), all of this is taking place in the isles of Target or Kroger: 'Cadbury eggs. Mmmm. Chocolaty goodness. MMMMM. Creamy filling. MMMMMMMMMM... MUST HAVE EGGS - OUT OF MY WAY BITCH I NEED THAT EGG NOW. (crinkle crinkle) Ah.'

The workout side of things has been going well from my point of view. I do something at least 3-4 times a week which is less then I would like to but what I feel I can do. With the weather warming up, I am looking forward to walking/jogging more outdoors. I am enjoying this aspect of pregnancy more this time around. With Matthew, I felt like a car wreck. My pelvis and hips ached and I limped. I did the recumbent bike on the easiest levels available and even that hurt. And I lifted machine weights until almost the end. I gained an obnoxious amount of weight for a 5'2" person which likely did not help the broken pelvis feeling...

This time I have been running! Which is crazy to me especially since I was scared to do that the first time for various reasons. Running has been great for me. I am also lifting free weights which is making me feel stronger then the machine weights ever did. When I exercise this time around I feel uplifted rather then beat down.

I also think doing acupuncture has made a huge difference. I have sung the praises of this before but seriously if you have an ailment that is nagging and you have tried everything from drugs to physical therapy to overpriced specialists in other cities - do acupuncture. It totally rocks! I just feel renewed all the time physically when I do it (besides, you know, the ice cream induced indigestion thing which knocked me on my proverbial arse...)

The truth be known I am gaining weight rapidly after all is said and done here. I have come to the conclusion it is what my body needs to do for the baby. The same way trying to lose weight to quickly after the baby came killed my milk supply briefly. I am enjoying pregnancy itself even with its ups and downs and despite a recent rash of downs I know they will pass. That I will alternately feel great and gross. But as along as I keep up on diet and exercise as best I can through this pregnancy at the end it will be worth it to me and princess pancake. That part I love!

5 comments:

AndreAnna said...

I loved acupuncture for my back pain. Unfortunately, my ins. didn't cover it and at almost 100$ a session, I couldn't afford it. You'd think the insurance companies would want to pay for it, since it would save them money in the long run. But why would insurance companies do anything that made sense?

Anonymous said...

Bummer on the ice cream...

Good for you still running! The most I could muster was walking but I think I did a pretty good job throughout both pregnancies at keeping active the entire time. I think it helps SO much with the birth and recovery.

Christina Schmidt said...

andreanna - Yeah the insurance thing... There are a lot of holistic measures that would be nice to have covered and are not. Acupuncture is not that expensive on my end but it is a small town so perhaps that is why?

Melissa - I definitely agree about staying fit for birth and recovery. The midwife and dr told me there was no way I would have had the endurance to make it through Matthew's birth without fitness on my side (okay and a little hardheadness too ;)

Pickles and Dimes said...

Boo to not being able to have ice cream!

I love lifting free weights. Seriously. I could do it all day. But I hate cardio, especially running. It's my goal to start running again when the snow melts off the track by our house.

It really helped me to document my calories, too. It was a little depressing at times to see what I was eating, but it definitely made me more mindful of my choices.

Keep up the good work! C - is better than an F. :)

Mandy said...

"the great family sickness of 2008" ..... LOVE IT ... especially since that has happened to us and everyone we know with small children!!