Sunday, January 29, 2012

I Feel Good . . . I Knew That I Would

Let's hear it for James Brown!  I feel good!


Thanks to my dear and faithful blogging friends, I feel like a new woman!  The past three nights I have made a few changes and I'm back to sleeping mostly through the night.  Amazing what a few hours of uninterrupted sleep with do for a soul.

Here's what I did:

  • cut back on time spent on the computer last two hours before bedtime
  • took a 3 mg melatonin two hours before bedtime
  • drank a cup of chamomile tea about an hour before bedtime

By the time I got to bed, settled in and opened my current bedtime story (The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman), I lasted about 20  minutes before nodding off.  I took that as a sign and turned off the light!  The first two nights I got up once to use the bathroom, somewhere around 3-4 am (virtual tea party time!), but promptly fell back asleep for an hour or two.  Last night, I didn't even wake up to use the bathroom until 6 am!!!! WOW!

Besides getting my sleep back, I've been getting more exercise.  Friday afternoon as Kailyn and I were taking a walk out by Lacamas Lake, she mentioned that it might be fun to check out the 5:30 pm Zumba class at the gym.  Why not?  Well, I usually use my knees as a "not yet" excuse, but I was feeling kind of chipper, so I said "Sure!  If I can't take it, I can always just go walk the track until the class finishes."

We arrived a few minutes early, and I talked with the instructor about being a newbie, with knee issues.  She said to modify and have fun.  I did.  I modified (that was the easy part, as there was no way my body could do what she was doing!) And, I had a blast!  I don't think I quit grinning the entire hour.  The music saturated me, loud and raucous, and there was a whole lot of shaking and shouting going on in that room!  ( Many of the "regulars" wear these sparkly little tie on skirts and can really make them shimmer!) What a fun way to work up a sweat!  I told Kailyn I want to go back next Friday night!

Just to be safe, I came home and iced the front and back of my knees and legs for a good long while. But, that energizer bunny feeling lasted and on Saturday morning I woke up feeling like Wonder Woman!  I decided to pop over to the Saturday aqua aerobics class (I haven't been regularly for over a year) and give it a whirl.  I soon discovered that I was pretty challenged "in the river" (our pool has a built in "river" with a current that I used to love, but my knees aren't quite up to that yet). So, I hung out in one of the little "pools" and did the exercises along with everyone else and felt I got a pretty good workout.

After the hour of aerobics, there was a 30 minute water yoga class, so I stayed.  I'm still feeling a little sore from the stretching, but it's a good sore.

Whew!  I've had quite a weekend. It could have been very different, as I was not very happy when I weighed myself on Friday morning.  I've been haphazardly attempting to watch what I eat, and doing a fairly decent job of it.  I've been weighing in at home on Friday mornings.  I was excited that after the first three weeks I had lost 7 pounds.  Then I went to a nutrition class and got super serious.  I tracked everything I ate, followed the plan faithfully.  This past Friday morning I had gained 3 pounds!  I was not happy, to say the least.

Fortunately Kailyn brought me back to reality with the comment that I'm still ahead of the loss by 4 pounds, and maybe it was just a fluke, or water retention, or whatever.  I didn't want to listen . . . but I did.  This was on our way to treat ourselves to pedicures.  Somehow, after that, (and maybe a decent night's sleep) I kind of turned my misery around and that's when we went for a walk.  The rest of the weekend was so positive, I'm just not going to dwell on the weight gain. I'm now tracking online at a website I think DJan sent me. It's really neat because it breaks down everything nutritionally and helps me see where I'm missing nutrients, and where I'm overloading. (Thanks DJan!!)

I want to keep this positive attitude, so I'm just going to keep on tracking . . . and exercising! Oh, and keep what's working for my sleeping success! I feel GOOD (da, da, da, da, da, da, da) I KNEW that I would.  Oh yeah!

Thanks to each and every one of you who commented with great ideas for sleeplessness.  I really like the idea of a virtual tea party, but I hope to be sleeping through it!

14 comments:

  1. Wow! How wonderful! Not getting enough sleep is enough to throw me into a world class funk, so I am happy to hear you have found a system that works for you. You might still have sleepless nights now and then (I know I do) when something is on my mind, but being able to get a good night's sleep is priceless.

    And you know how I feel about the exercise! Yayy! :-)

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  2. Whoohoo!! How exciting! So happy for you!! Da, da, da, da, da, da, da!!! Awesome!! :):)

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  3. I'm so happy for you Sandi and I hope things continue to go in the right direction for you! I miss working out. It really does help with the knees but I have to wait for the o.k. which I haven't gotten as yet. My knees don't hurt but they want to move. It may sound strange but I can tell that they don't like sitting idle!
    If you keep going the way you are just think about all of the things that you can do come spring. That's what I'm going for.
    I thought about Zumba too but wasn't sure if I could do it.
    Love Di ♥

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  4. Such great news, I am so happy that you are out exercising and getting about and that your sleep pattern is better!

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  5. Lots to be chipper about here! Don't stress about the weight gain. Kailyn is probably right about the water retention. Just stick with your programme :) I find taking a candlelit bath right before bedtime very relaxing.

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  6. This is great...happy for you! Keep on feeling like wonder woman!

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  7. Wow, good job! You know that lack of a good 7-8hrs of sleep can cause weight problems..so I bet after getting back into the "sleep" of things you will find you are back on the weight loss track. Good luck!

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  8. wonderful! glad to hear it Sandi! sleep is an amazing thing. it sets the body clock right!
    take care!

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  9. Melatonin is a great sleep aid that is sadly illegal over here :( I'm glad you were able to get some help from it and that you've found some spunk in yourself! I've had many friends say that they have found Zumba loads of fun and a great workout. I'll stick with just not having a car for now. It's amazing how quickly you can loose weight when your only transportation is your body! ;)

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  10. Dear Sandi,
    What great and glorious news! Sleeplessness so messes with the brain and the emotions. Can't think straight. Can't walk a straight line. Can't make decisions or prioritize. So it's truly worrisome.

    But you! You ask for help. All your friends make suggestions. You devise a plan. And you SLEEP! Oh, joy in the morning!

    Peace.

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  11. WONDERFUL NEWS, SANDI!!! Yay!!! Keep being positive and optimistic and you will succeed in losing a ton of weight, getting more sleep, and feeling more energetic.

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  12. I admire you Sandi.
    You motivate yourself to recover from knee surgery, motivate yourself to return to teaching, and now to ask for help and devise an action plan for insommnia.
    Throw in your efforts with exercising - I'm sadly lacking the motivation factor there - and you ARE the energizer bunny.I am grateful you take us on the journey of showing us how difficult it's been for you at various times enabling others to learn from your outlook - that loss and pain are also very much part of Life's big challenges, and that with each challenge that crops up, how imporant support is. I'm glad you're sleeping better!x

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  13. Your energy blasts from the screen here! I'm so proud of you, and so very happy for you.

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