One Proud Moment, Two Not-So-Proud Moments

One Proud Moment: 

As you all know, during this 6 month journey, it hasn't been all perfect workouts and meal plans (as I'm sure you know by reading Paige's blog!).  But one thing that I'm really happy that Paige has tried, and seems to be enjoying, is the weekly yoga class at the Mississippi Modern Homestead Center. Paige and I sometimes carpool out there to take yoga with Lindsay, a wealth of yoga, meditation, herbal goodness!  Paige had never done yoga before our journey began, and sometimes in yoga, it's about finding the right fit.  When I first took Lindsay's class, I loved it, therefore I go once per week to her class.  Now that Paige is going too, we can spread the yoga love.  I mean, if Paige can do it, anyone can do it! (haha, right Paige?)  In fact, we were on our way to yoga back in June, when Paige got that phone call from her doctor saying that she needed to go on diabetes medication asap!   Now, look where we are!

Paige & Abby in our Downward Facing Dog pose.

Not-So-Proud Moment 1:

I'll start off on the most recent one. And yes, I'll go on my soap box for a bit here, and will be complaining just a bit, out of frustration.  Here goes: So, I am offering this program to Paige, for FREE, in return for her best effort in participating.  That means, I'm giving her a free membership to my weekly Small Group Personal Training Class (SGPT), and scheduling a free individual personal training session each week.  In addition to access to my Trainer In Your Back Pocket program, and 5 Weeks to 5k clinics.   So, what happened last night when I got to my SGPT and Paige was no where to be found?  I'm the type of trainer who plans personal training sessions and classes ACCORDING TO WHO WILL BE THERE!   Paige was supposed to be there for our class that meets just once per week.  Everyone knows that they are supposed to text, call, or email me if they will not be there.  Those  who actually pay for the class do so (well, most anyways), so why not Paige? Where was she? I still don't know.   I feel a bit taken advantage of.  I don't always feel great to go workout. Sometimes it's hard getting out the door. But, you know what? I do get out the door.  I pull myself up by my bootstraps (or rather, Asics running shoes), and I put on a smile, and go workout.  Especially if others are counting on me to be there.

Not-So-Proud Moment 2: 

This happened about 2 weeks ago.  A bunch of the ladies in Columbus, MS, who also participate in my online Trainer In Your back Pocket program, were gathering together on a Tuesday night to do the October Core workout together.  I knew Paige would be there, since, well, I saw her respond on facebook that she would be there.   So, when I finished work early, and headed down to the Riverwalk to join the ladies for the core workout (they didn't know I was coming), I was a bit pissed off that Paige was not there.  Apparently she was too "mentally tired."  See that empty spot in the picture? That's where Paige was supposed to be.   Wasted opportunity.  

How the Government Shut-Down is Affecting Paige's Journey

This post is not a political post.  I'm not going to talk about my view of the government shut down.  (I can't believe it's even still going on, by the way).  But it irks me when the shut down is influencing things as unrelated to government as this healthy journey that Paige and I are on.

Yes, you heard it right.  The government shut down is affecting Paige's Transformation.

It was our weekly scheduled workout, when Paige and I meet on Fridays for our workout.  This time, I was going to show Paige my favorite park to exercise in, in Columbus, MS.  Ironically, it's only a few miles from Paige's house, and eventually, she'll be able to run there (more on the future running star to come).  So, it never would have occurred to me, that a park, in the middle of Columbus, MS, had any ties to the federal government.  Well, apparently the Lock & Dam is a federal park, and the driveway was chained off.  We figured that there'd be no park rangers there to patrol (since they're not working either), so we walked past the "park closed" sign.  Not 10 seconds later, but an old retired man and his yippy dog, from his trailer outside the park, waved us down, as if the world was ending, and told us that the park police would "get us" if we used the park  (maybe not exactly in those words, but that's what I heard).  No one was allowed inside, and apparently the park rangers (whom I've never ever seen in 2 years), have asked him to be the "park police" in their absence.

It's not that Paige and I wanted to break any rules, but I really wanted her to experience what a "lock and dam" workout would be like. Those of you who've been there with me, know all the fun stuff we can do in that park!

So, we left and headed back to Paige's house, where we did the October Trainer In Your Back Pocket Total Body Workout.  Well, first we ran 5 minutes to "warm up" then we did walking lunges up her driveway.  Then we began the workout.  The whole time, I mentioned how this workout was nothing, compared to what we were going to be doing at the park.    Needless to say, Paige was probably quite glad that the park was closed!  So, thanks government, for helping Paige out, this one time!

From the Diabetes Expert

Lauren Korshak is a clinical exercise physiologist and diabetes expert. She's spent years working in cardiac rehabilitation at the VA in Washington, DC, as well as instructing at the George Washington University, and creating her own Wellness Coaching Business. She's done numerous studies on diabetes and diabetes management, and therefore, in my mind, she's the expert. I always go to Lauren for my questions that are more of a "clinical" nature. But not only is Lauren an amazing expert in her field, she's also a great friend, and colleague from GW, where we both attended for our degrees in Exercise Science. She was even a participant in my Masters Research Thesis on Running Form and Efficiency! (She's my true "you can overcome plantar fasciitis with proper form" test subject, and she'll verify that!)

Lauren Korshak, M.S. Clinical Exercise Physiologist

Lauren in 2006 at the Marine Corps Marathon

 So, upon doing Paige's 3 month assessment and labwork results, I thought I'd ask Lauren to take a look at our blogs and give some quick thoughts and feedback. Here is what she said:

"Once someone has a Diabetes Mellitus diagnosis, they have that diagnosis because they're prone to elevated blood glucose levels. There are many different ways that type 2 diabetes can be managed - oral medications & insulin, healthy food choices, carbohydrate counting, and regular exercise. The latter must be included in ANY diabetes treatment plan.
Paige has made HUGE changes - going from an A1c of 8 to 6 is really a tremendous accomplishment. I think it's important to remember that she's technically a lifestyle controlled diabetic, and that the diet and the exercise are the forms of "medication" that she's using to control her condition. If she starts to slack off, it's the same as not taking medications as directed, resulting in blood glucose levels starting to climb and increasing the changes that she'll need to start oral medications - most likely metformin, sometimes combined with a second oral or insulin depending on blood glucose trends."

So, Paige, we're not out of the woods yet, as your diabetes WILL rear its nasty head again if you EVER go back to the way things were. No turning back now! But, hey, you knew that anyways, right?

The Half-Way Point Assessment

The results are in!  Paige and I met up last Friday morning to re-do the assessment that we began our journey with.  It included Weight, % Body Fat, BMI, Circumference Measurements, 1 Mile Walk Test, Pushup test, Wall-Sit test, Plank test, as well as questions about energy, sleep quality, and stress levels.  

Who thinks, with all the setbacks over the past two months (as noted in Paige's blog), that Paige is doing well? Who thinks she's fallen off track too much, and it will show in her assessment results?  Read on to find out!

Weight: Down 13lbs!

BMI: Went from an "obese" 31.1 to an "overweight" 28.8!

Body Fat % estimate: 34.4%

Inches: Down 9 inches in circumference all over body (includes a half inch increase in her arms! Check out those guns!)  Most notably, she's down 2 inches in her upper waist, 2 inches in her chest, 2.25 inches at her belly button line, and 1.75 inches in her hips.

1 Mile Walk Test: Estimates Aerobic Capacity, and hers went from 24.17 ml/kg/min (poor) to 27.82 ml/kg/min (fair)

Pushups: From 7 to 18!  And her form was a million times better than the first time!

Wall Sit: From 42 seconds to 54 seconds (we'll be working on more leg strength definitely!)

Plank: from 23 seconds to 1 minute 6 seconds!

Energy: from 3 to 6  (immediately after initial cleanse, this was a 7.5)

Stress Level: same (immediately after cleanse, this was lower)

Sleep Quality from 4-5 (immediately after cleanse, this was 8)

With all of the set backs, Paige has still made HUGE improvements!  You can definitely see the difference in the photos too!  I'm so proud. Now, imagine what we'd see if she was on track 100% instead of the 60%! The next three months are not going to be easy, and we have a ton more work to do, but for now, I'm really proud of the accomplishments she's made.  She's definitely much healthier than she was just 3 months ago.  Go Paige!

Relapse From Rehab

Rehab of a Fat, Lazy, Coke-Drinking, Butter-Eating Girl.  That's the title that Paige chose for her blog of this 6 month journey, and all of those things are what just happened, 3 months into our wellness journey.  Paige was lazy (no exercise), binged on coke, [fried] butter, fried foods, cakes, pizzas, the list goes on.   We are definitely going to need more rehab to get things ironed out if Paige wants to make a complete transformation.  In this post, I'll be referring often to Paige's post: Dirty Delicious, so if you haven't read that yet, go ahead and read that now, before continuing. 

It's as if an outside power has taken over Paige's mind and body.  Here she is "enjoying" fried butter.

Now, I'm not going to trash talk Paige's choices of last weekend. (well, maybe I will at points), but I'll just be honest about what I see from my perspective. Which is the point of this blog- to follow Paige, but give you my perspective on her transformation process.  

We'll start with the seriousness of this "binge weekend."  These are the types of events that just simply cannot happen if Paige wants to eliminate diabetes in her body.  Nutrition plays such a huge role in blood sugar handling in the body, and she knows it.  For an otherwise healthy adult, with no health issues, the once a year binge weekend like this is fine.  In fact, it's usually a great reminder of why NOT to eat that way.  Imagine how your stomach feels after eating so filthy! The toilet is not a fun place to be stuck at.  For those with health issues, remember, that the body is already stressed, so adding in such stressful foods and binges, only adds to the stress, creating even more dis-ease in the body.  It basically makes things 10x worse, whereas the healthy body will just simply eliminate the "problem" and move on, as eating returns to healthy.  It understand that this is just a fluke situation and that it won't continue. The unhealthy/dis-eased body, on the other hand recognizes it as normal, and reacts by continuing to stress out the system. 

Binge weekends like this can be a slippery slope for most folks trying to overcome a food addiction, which is what Paige is overcoming, as she changes her dietary lifestyle completely.  3 Months ago, this binge weekend would have been a normal occurrence  so I'm grateful that she now recognizes it as an occurrence that should rarely happen.  

Now, I couldn't be too hard on Paige, because she already knew, in her heart, what she did was wrong. She knew it at the time. She just basically threw everything she'd worked for out the window, and once it was out, why not keep going.  One thing leads to another, and once you're so far down the rabbit hole, you may as well keep going... (I'm sure many of you reading this can relate).   I also couldn't be too hard on Paige because I have, in the past, also tried fried butter and fried oreos at the California State Fair (those of you who've been, know what I'm talking about!).  It's delicious disaster for the body.   So, I couldn't be a hypocrite, but I also don't have any dis-eases that I'm trying to heal from, making my situation and occurrence of having eaten those foods previously a bit different.

However, Paige knew that her 3 month assessment was just a few days after this Dirty Delicious Weekend, meaning that she couldn't continue on the dangerous path. She had to quickly pull herself out of the rabbit hole, revamp and get back to clean eating as soon as she returned home.   She recognized it as a specific event that had happened, and she moved on (at least as far as I know).  Her binge weekend really lived up to her blog title: Rehab of a Fat, Lazy, Coke-Drinking, Butter-Eating Girl.   As any addict, she still needs more rehab to fully gain control of her wellness.  We will continue to rehab Paige. I won't give up on her, and I know she won't give up on herself either. (though at times, she may beat herself up still).