ONE YEAR RESULTS ON JUICING and WHOLE, PLANT-BASED FOOD

So it's been a year.  In some ways it seems that it can't possibly have been that long but mostly it just seems like it has to have been longer.  Not in a bad way...  in a "this is just how I live and completely normal" kinda way.  I can't imagine not eating this way.  Yesterday my 18 year old, Harmoni, saw some horrible food advertised on tv and said, "I sometimes wonder why we ever wanted to start eating like that to begin with.  Now it feels like I should have always wanted to just surround myself with fruit and salad and juice.  Why would I NOT?!"  Made me a proud and happy mom, I'll tell you that.  (You should hear her go OFF when pharmaceutical commercials come on. LOL)

So on my one year anniversary I completed a 5K with my gorgeous and amazing oldest daughter, Bonni. It was literally surreal.  This was me, Natalie, at a 5K in the late August heat!  I won't go all into just how sick and in pain I was one year ago, I described that pretty thoroughly in my early posts.  We all know I was headed for a wheelchair and an amputation and not long for the world the way I was headed last year.  This post is my victory song.  This post is about JOY.  But standing there in the heat, waiting in line for my packet for about 2 hours, the old Natalie couldn't have even been outside on a day like that much less on my feet the whole time.  Here is a little vid I took while standing in line and a pic of the goofy gear we put on for this GlowRun.  A year ago my main focus when out in public was to remain as invisible as possible.  I didn't want to subject anyone to noticing me any more than necessary.  As you can see, that doesn't exactly describe me now;)

The little glow tubes we made our glasses and necklaces out of came in our packets but they were duds.  No glowing:(  So I bought the dreads and the bracelet and got my face painted.  We then had another hour to wait in 95 degree heat in a big park for them to start lining people up for the start of the race.  So we go looking for someplace to get some water.  Well, no luck.  They only sold beer.  At the 5K.  In AUGUST.  No joke.  I am thinking of writing to them about that because that is dangerous.  Most of us brought a bottle of water but only one.  We assumed water would be available at a 5K!  That is not only foolish but dangerous.  Thankfully I am very conscientious about staying well hydrated.  The only water available that entire hot afternoon and evening (nearly 5 hours altogether) was one 12 oz bottle at the halfway point and one at the finish line.  And many people stayed for the after party as well so even longer for them with, I'm sure, plenty of beer:/  But enough griping about that.  Once it got dark, they lined everyone up at the starting gate and boy were there a LOT of people!  They had people start in waves and since I'm pretty slow compared to most of these youngsters, we joined the last wave - wave 6.  So that means we stood in line for another half hour. LOL  In my old life I was extremely claustrophobic and a bit agoraphobic and really, really needed my personal space.  I couldn't stand to be in big crowds; couldn't stand to be bumped and jostled.  I would have full blown panic attacks.  But there I stood in the middle of the road with hundreds of people crowding up to the starting line and all I could do was thank God for bringing me there.  For allowing me to fulfill the dream that began a couple of years ago when my Bonni took up running and, one day after watching the Biggest Loser, she said to me, "Wouldn't it be cool if we could do one together some day?"  Inwardly I wept because I fully believed that it would never be possible.  I knew how rapidly I was declining but I hadn't told my children.  It would become obvious to them soon enough.  But my God wasn't done with me yet.  And when he placed the way before me, I took it without hesitation and guess what...

There  you have it.  My celebration of my rebirth.  My declaration to the world that I am back.  That August day in 2013 when Fat Sick and Nearly Dead popped up on my suggestions in Netflix, I knew immediately that everything was about to change.  I NEVER EVER took pictures of myself.  But I took one that day.  I had my kids help me out to the yard and I took a picture.   I knew I would need the proof one day of how far I had come.  I knew I would need to remind myself from time to time of just how bad off I was.  I usually didn't write doom and gloom in my journal but I had written very openly of my despair just the week before.  God knew I would need to remember just how far I had sunk into that despair.  The way was prepared before me in so many big and small ways.  It is really amazing to look back on.

I still have a long way to go.  Anyone want to put money on how far I will go by next August?  I'll be riding horses again on a regular basis I can promise you that.  I'll be completing more 5Ks with and even without my daughter and this time I will run them the whole way.  Me with the tore up, bone-on-bone knees and the leg with damaged circulation that would need to be amputated and TWO crippling bone diseases in my back WILL be running 5K.  Running is actually starting to feel good to me now so I know I'll get there.  I feel like I have probably lost about half the weight I will eventually need to but I know that as long as I keep my tunnel vision locked on my health that the weight will take care of itself.  Over the past few months there have been periods where I maintained my weight loss for a while and then got into "reboot mode" and lost some more and then maintained for a while again.  How fantastic and liberating to know that I have the tools I need to do both. To lose and to maintain.

I knew I would need to put together a new progress picture when I hit one year.  My last one was done at about 9 months I believe.  I was a bit worried I would feel let down as would my friends and family since I haven't lost all that much weight in the last 3 months.  I don't know exactly how much since my scale quit working and I'm not going to replace it for a while.  I need to put my money where my mouth is, so to speak, and focus on health and joy instead of numbers on a scale.  But I dutifully went into the bathroom to take my progress picture.  As I was taking it I thought, "I should probably change into some nice tight jeans to hold that gut in.... except my jeans are all baggy so I'd have to borrow some from my daughter, Gini. ... Oh ugh that double chin is just never going to go away...  Wow my hair has gotten long!"  And then I looked at the picture.  I pulled up the picture next to that one I took last year and I wept.  I look like me again.  I am excited about losing more weight, sure.  Big time!  But I really have to stop under-valuing what I have already done.  A few observations... my hair has NEVER grown very fast.  I couldn't believe how much it had grown in that year.  And because of hypothyroidism, I didn't have any outer eyebrows at all and now they are coming back!  And best of all... sorry if this is TMI, my boobs stick out further than my gut again!  Been a long while for that!!  LOL

So even though I had intended for that to be a test run and I would fix my hair and put on cuter clothes and then take the one I would share with people, I just used that one.  It's real.  It's me.  And for today I'm 100% happy with that.  Now bring on year number 2!  Life is good on da juice!!!

Wheelchair OR 5K... I think I'll RUN!

So let's review.  Last August, I was writing goodbye messages to my kids in my journal and challenging The Almighty to finish up anything he had for me to accomplish in this life because I was done.  I was in constant debilitating pain.  The doctors had long since let me know that there was nothing to be done to improve my lot, they could only treat the symptoms.  Since I clearly didn't have the "willpower" to lose weight and I wasn't a candidate for weight loss surgery due to my history of blood clots, I would just have to try to manage the symptoms and accept that I would be in a wheelchair soon.  There was talk of amputating my leg because of the damaged circulation from a massive blood clot 20 years ago.  My knee had been a mess since 1982 when I shattered the knee cap and it was now bone-on-bone with bone spurs and arthritis and scar tissue.  My right shoulder was also "permanently" compromised from multiple tears in the rotator cuff that they couldn't operate on so it also had scar tissue, bone spurs and arthritis.  I had undergone physical therapy which helped a lot.  I was able to effectively use my right arm again at least.  Couldn't do overhead tasks with it and it caused me a great deal of pain but it was at least functional.  The stated goal of the PT with my shoulder and knee were to give me enough mobility to perform basic personal tasks on my own.  Like dressing myself and going to the bathroom. 
I also had ruptured discs in my back twice and had others that were deteriorating.  I was told I had "degenerative disc disease."  And then, in early 2013 came Paget's.  The pain in my back started becoming really unbearable over the 2012 holidays and I was afraid I had or was about to rupture another disc.  It turns out I actually had developed a disease called Paget's disease of the bone.  It was causing the bones in my pelvis and hip to become very soft and the combination of that with my severe obesity (I was about 320 at that point) was causing remodeling (deformities) in the bones.  It caused excrutiating pain to even have to sit upright in a kitchen chair or the seat of a car.  Walking was...  torture.  I had become effective house bound.  Rarely left my bedroom.
I had other medical issues; autoimmune disorders - Hashimoto's thyroiditis, myasthenia gravis, fibromyalgia - high blood pressure, irritable bowel.  Needless to say I took a number of perscription pills each day.  In July of 2013 I was a serious mess and had also started having symptoms of congestive heart failure.  I hid this and avoided my doctor as I had made the decision that I wasn't going to seek treatment.  That I was, in fact, going to stop taking ALL the pills and let nature take it's course.  I figured a stroke from the blood pressure would put me out of my, and everyone else's, misery quickly enough.
On August 17th, I was watching movies on Netflix and a movie came up in my "recommended for you" section called Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead and the rest is history!  That was a Saturday.  Thursdays were my husbands paydays so on the 22nd I cleared out every single thing in my house that couldn't be juiced and stocked up.  I started my juice fast on August 23rd, 2013.  I consider that my "rebirth-day."  I don't live in pain anymore.  I swim and walk for exercise and have no issues with sitting, standing, walking, getting up and down off my knees, squatting.  But I haven't run yet.  I haven't run on land in over 25 years, maybe closer to 30.  I used to jog in the water, which I'm sure looked pretty crazy, because I didn't want my body to lose the muscle memory of HOW to run.  
So yesterday I was on Facebook and my oldest daughter, Bonni, posted that she had set up a team for the Tulsa Glow Run.  If anyone wanted to join her, it would be on August 23rd.  It took about a nanosecond for me to say, "I'll do it."  WHAT?!?!?!  Nine months ago I could walk across my yard without my son or husband to lean on! Even when I was active in my teens and twenties, I was into horses and swimming.  Never ran a race in my life! Was I crazy?!  Well, maybe so.  But just watch me run, baby.  I have 100 days to train.  I will be doing the Couch To 5K program 3 days a week and swimming 2-3 days.  
JUICE ON YA'LL!  I GOT THIS!!

Spring Update To Juice Fast or Not to Juice Fast...

Wow, I have really neglected my blog.  I have started making more and more videos and people are actually watching them and I sort of "get it out of my system" in the videos so I just don't think to come blog.  I will try to remedy that.  Also, at the end of this blog, I have a new progress picture for you:)
I am still on this amazing journey.  I tried another juice fast in March and made it less than 3 weeks.  I had a little budget crisis and a whole bunch of stress the 3rd week of March and just decided to go back to modified.  It's cool with me because I don't feel a need to prove anything to myself or anyone else at this point.  I am just continuing on my healthy path.  It's all part of the journey.
I did discover that letting the stress of life get to me does impede my weight loss even if I don't eat wrong over it.  I have been on a plateau for about 3 weeks now, just running up and down the same 3 pounds.  Frustrating.  But then I remember that I am struggling to get the weight loss going again to get me into the 250s when this time last year I was struggling to stay OUT of the 350s.
So where I am at right now is trying to figure out exactly what approach will be a good overall weight loss approach within what I'm already doing.  I am in this for the long haul.  I still need to lose 100 lbs or close to it (I'm 264.. or 5... or 6 lol) so I want to find the plant-based approach that is the perfect balance for me between optimum weight loss and what works with where I am right now in life.  We are moving at the end of the month (finally!)  so my house and kitchen are a disaster.  I am feeling overwhelmed with all there is to do before the end of the month too so I just need it to be simple.  Honestly, if I wasn't on a budget crunch, I would just do an all raw, high fruit cleanse for April.  I just can't afford all that fruit.  So I've been playing around with options and for the first two weeks of April. I'm doing the following:
2-4 days a week of juice ONLY - Sunday, Monday, probably Tuesday and maybe Wednesday.
On the other 3-4 days, I will have 1-2 juices and 1-2 healthy, plant-based, raw meals, 1 plant-based, cooked meal, and as much as I want/can afford of fruit, nuts and seeds.  I will try for healthy, home-made dressing on my salad but if I need to use a premade dressing, I will.  No stress this two weeks. This will not be very structured or  well-defined.  These food days are pretty much what I have been doing when not on juice fast this whole time.  Will this plan break through my plateau?  We shall see.
I would love to do a food journal here but I can't promise that to be honest.  I am writing down what  I eat in a little notebook though.  At the end of two weeks, I will switch up some things and see what affect it has on my weight, energy, mood etc.  Not sure yet exactly what I'll switch up.  May try 7 days of all juice except 1 raw meal.  That would be a pretty big switch up.  Or I may just cut out the bottled dressing altogether and start being more structured with exactly how much I allow of the fruit and nuts.  We'll see.  Who knows, since I will be actually coming up on the time we move during that portion, I may want to do all juice 5 days a week or something.  Stay tuned!
My new progress picture is taken with my two youngest daughters who have been on this journey with me since day one.  In this picture, I have lost 75 lbs and Harmoni and Gini have each lost in the area of 45-47 lbs (can't remember which is which to tell the truth.)  We went for a walk together and a friend was waiting at our house when we got home and took this pic for us.  The pics on the left are us when we started back in August.  The butterfly is to cover where Harmoni's top had ridden up and her pants were low cut so her belly was showing which she was self-conscious about.  She is SOOOO long-waisted that she has this problem a lot.  Poor kid has heard, "Harmoni!  Pants up, shirt down" so many times in her life it's pathetic.  Anyway, we are feeling fantastic this Spring!  How about you?

SCALE DRAMA

So here is what happened...  I bought a new scale back in August when I started my juice fast.  A fairly fancy one with a 400 lb weight capacity.  I knew I was significantly over 300 lbs (did NOT realize my 17 year old had hit 300 but she is 6'3" after all...) and I suspected that my son and daughter-in-law, who are at my house a lot while they are fixing up their new house, were at or near 400.  It was great for about a month. 

One day, after I had been on a plateau for several days, it suddenly dropped me from 312 to 305.  Weirder things have happened while juice fasting but I was dubious nonetheless so I changed the battery and weighed again.  Still, 305. Woohoo!  That meant I had made my first 10% weight loss goal!  Well, a couple of days later, I was at the pharmacy with my son and they have a doctors scale.  I hopped on and it said 312.  :'(   Ah well, se la vie.  I went home, changed the battery again, moved it to a hopefully more level spot on the floor of my very old, NOT level house, gave it a good thump or two and got it to say 312.  That was on the 29th.

Fast forward to today and my home scale still says 312 but now the pharmacy doctor's scale says 305.  I came home and thumped my scale a good one and now it gave me 10 different readings.  It first said 298 (I WISH!) and then 301 and then 305 and then 315 (NO.) and then 298 again... and on it went.  Yes, I stepped on it, let it zero out and stepped on it again ten times. 

So I guess that 5 really hefty people weighing on that thing several times a week for 2 months was more than it could take and it has lost it's marbles.  I will now be posting only my doctors scale weight.  I go there once or twice a week and that is plenty often to weigh myself.

Bad news for the day: my scale is dead.
Good news (which FAR outweighs the bad): I HAVE, in fact, met my first 10% goal!!! YEEEEEHAW!!!!!

DAY 29: 4 Week results from Friday, Sep 20, 2013

So this morning we weighed in for our official 4 weeks results and here they are: 
Mom (started 340)  313.6 (-26.4)
Gini (started 288)  261.4  (-26.6)
Harmoni (started 303)  275 (-28)

I continue to feel so good that it seems surreal. Yesterday I went swimming at 8:00 am and swam for an hour. At 9:00 an aquacize class started so I did that too! Then I showered and dressed and went grocery shopping - no electric buggy involved. Today I have my 4 year old grandson and 6 year old granddaughter for the day and overnight. I haven't had one moment of feeling over-fatigued or one moment of pain. I was worried I overdid it yesterday and would be in pain today or at least sore but nope! I'm going swimming again this afternoon:) 

Gini and Harmoni are eating veggies once or twice a day and having juice twice a day and still losing. I fixed them some fish and baked sweet potato slices the other day and they LOVED it. I think that may be my first non-veggie meal next month:) 

I've been looking for motivational images and I found one that is perfect. Well, I enhanced it and added the text to make it the perfect one for me:)