Friday, April 25, 2014

PCOS and infammation

So I had been working out 6 days a week and eating 1400 calories a day for 60 days - wanted to really focus on getting in shape. What happened instead was a bit of a mindf*ck if you'll excuse the language.

I have polycistic ovaries, which sounds like it's just related to the reproductive system - but actually the hormonal imbalances that come with it pretty much affect everything in the system.

Apparently the extra exercise triggered my body to hold onto everything. I gained over 10 pounds. Not muscle weight mind you. I guess it just goes to show that the calories in - calories out rules don't apply to everyone.

I did a ton of research in the past few weeks about what's going on. I am not diabetic, but I do have insulin issues (as does everyone with PCOS) and my leptin responses are totally out of whack. What to do? An overhaul. Forget the calorie counting... On Sunday I cut out all sugars, all grains of any kind, and nightshades (tomatoes, eggplant, potatoes) because my body is obviously REALLY pissed off. I added in a bunch of fat via coconut oil and avocado as well.

This does make eating not necessarily the funnest of things. I actually dreamt about a BLT on a sourdough baguette last night (yum.... bread....) but my body has responded to these changes in quite a drastic way. It's Friday and I've already released 6 pounds since Sunday. This is telling me that the inflammation is coming down. I'm committing to this for a while - no cheat days - so that my body will get happy with me again. Stupid PCOS.

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Epic

So this past weekend was amazing. Once in a lifetime type amazing.

Since Peter and I were going to be gone for Easter, we decided to surprise the kids with the Easter Bunny visiting on Friday morning. They had no idea it was going to happen and it was completely adorable. Peter and I heard the kids wake up and shuffle out to the living room. Upon seeing that the EB had visited, Ryenne, being the good sister she is, shuffled the boys right back into the bedroom and told them they couldn't hunt until we came out of the room (she's well trained!). We got up and they did their hunt. They were so excited!

Peter took them to Napili so that I could get a pedicure and then we headed to Oahu. I got a killer deal on our car through Costco - the entire weekend for $30 including tax. They were short on cars so they gave us a really nice car!! Then we headed to the Hyatt Waikiki where they gave us an Oceanview room. Even more amazing, it was room 611 - OUR ANNIVERSARY! OH MY GOSH. It was perfect!


So then we got dressed for the entire reason we headed to Honolulu - BRUNO MARS. I bought a killer dress and felt like a million bucks. We drove to Manoa to pick up Jean and Evan. We got two extra tickets so we could spoil these two - it's Jean's birthday month AND they're both graduating from UH next month so we thought it would be a blast to hang out with them for the weekend. Then it was off to Blaisdell...


To say the show was amazing would be an understatement. I wouldn't be lying if I said that he's the Michael Jackson of this decade. He's just THAT talented. The show opened with his dads 1950's doo-wop band The Love Notes performing. Then The Green came out and KILLED IT. They are such a great band! Then Bruno came out and performed for a solid hour and a half. Sounded better live than the CD. It was AMAAAAAAZING and I am so glad that we got to go!

We got back to the hotel at about 12:15 and then got ready to pull an all nighter. We left at 2am and drove to Kaneohe to tackle a very crazy hike. The Haiku Stairs are illegal to hike and you have to get there super early to beat the security guard. Peter and I got to the first platform and our legs and arms were like jello and the top of the mountain was in thick, wet clouds with high winds so we decided to stay put and watch the sunrise. We had already climbed a shear cliff so we decided it would be safest to stay put so we had the strength to get back down! We made it to the platform at 3:45am and just sat and talked until the sun rose at 6am. Then we made it back down at 8am. It was scary, exhilarating, exciting, gorgeous, cold, windy, so many things all at the same time. It was something I've wanted to cross off my bucket list for a very long time!












 After getting some breakfast, we all went to bed until about 1:30 in the afternoon. We drove around a bit scouting out locations for a shoot I have on Oahu in June then we went out to dinner together.


I took some graduation shots of Jean at Waikiki Beach then handed her the camera so she could catch a couple of me and Peter. Thanks Jean!

What an AMAZING weekend. I still am a little in shock at all we accomplished in a mere 36 hours. It was really wonderful pretending to be 21 again!