1500mg or less sodium challenge: day 1

We had a series of storms yesterday and our power went out just as I was doing this update last night. It finally came back on this morning. *sigh*

So, like I was saying yesterday, I’ve been up several pounds on the scale ever since I got sick the beginning of June. Between whatever happened in my body during that time, my “free days”, exercise and just being too careless with my sodium intake in general, I know that the only thing that will return my body back to where I was is staying low on my sodium and avoiding free days for awhile. I usually do watch my sodium intake closely, but in the past 2 months or so I’ve been way too liberal with how much I’ve been having and that’s the one thing that I can’t handle like most other people. My ankles, wrists and feet are so swollen right now and even my eyes and face are puffy when I wake up in the morning. My prescription diuretic isn’t really that effective anymore. I take it daily and it does help a bit, but just like everything else, my body has gotten used to the low daily dosage and anytime I have too much sodium, I blow up like a balloon. It’s really frustrating, but I have been battling this for years now and I know the formula to reverse the affects of excess sodium. All I have to do is stay under 1500mg per day for a week or 2 and I’ll “deflate.”

It’s been an unusual month for me, well, unusual couple of months actually. I’ve had more free days than usual, more exercise, more circumstantial events. These “puffy phases” usually last about a week or 2, but I’m on week 3 and I know it’s because I’ve been positively awful at minding my sodium intake. So, my challenge to myself is as follows:

• 1500mg or less sodium intake
• No “free days” until 4th of July weekend
• Get my cardio and strength training in first thing in the morning
• Eat before I get too hungry
• Make and meet 1 “mini goal” per day

It’s not really a major challenge being these are things I normally do anyway, but I’ve been too liberal with sodium as of late, so it’s just time to enforce keeping my intake low to moderate and save the excess for my “free days.” For the past year now I have known that the best way to balance out a “cheat day” is to eat normally and stay low on sodium the days following them. This means I can’t have 2 Joseph’s pita bread pizzas with lots of mozzarella the day after a “free day” or something like that lol. My body can only tolerate and process X amount of sodium/fluid at a time, and after a certain point is reached, I just start packing on pounds of water that’s compounded by whatever I consume after that excessive point. Sounds crazy I know, but I swear this really goes on. It’s hard to explain, but I can feel it and see it all over my body and when I remedy it with a “low sodium” period, I’m back to normal quickly. This time it’s an extra special effort because it’s really irritating me with Aunt Flo is in town and it’s hot and humid and I feel very YUCKY lol.

To all of those out there that think you have to starve yourself after you have a splurge day or free week, don’t be silly! Just eat normally and stay low on sodium for at least 4 or 5 days afterwards. That’s it. You don’t have to skip a day of eating or anything drastic, just watch your sodium closely and that uncomfortable bloat will go away before you know it. Trust me, I’ve been through this dozens of times. Our bodies are resilient, but don’t put too many demands on them all at once. Some things don’t work out naturally, so you have to make a conscious effort to tilt the scales in the right direction; like being mindful of your sodium intake after you’ve consumed a lot of it.

So that’s my plan and I look forward to getting back to feeling and looking normal. I always have water retention issues, but I can easily control the extent of swelling and puffiness by just being more careful with the amount of sodium I have. I can accept that I gained a few pounds of fat if I actually had a surplus of that many calories, but I know I didn’t and I also know that this scale surge came on suddenly with being sick and has gotten worse with free days and everything else that has happened in this 3 week period. Hopefully by 4th of July weekend I’ll feel “deflated” and be able to resume my usual free days without having leftover fluid retention from the last one or from something else that’s been going on.

Anyway, I did a very good job at sticking to my mission today. I stayed low on sodium and still enjoyed an excellent menu. I didn’t do my usual Sunday cardio or take a walk today being the weather wasn’t that nice and Aunt Flo has me feeling worn out. And our power has been going on and off like crazy! I had a terrible night’s sleep because everything kept going on and off every other hour. We’re supposed to get even more rain tomorrow, but I hope I can at least sneak a walk in somewhere in between it all.

Most of my menu was quick and easy things today because I was worried about the power going out if I had to cook. When I was making dinner, it was just starting to thunder and lightening again. I finished it about 45 minutes before the power did go out again. Well, this time it didn’t go out 100%, but it was running on like 1 phase where the lights are dim and certain things won’t turn on at all because there’s not enough power. Fun stuff.

I made pasta inspired by yesterday bruschetta:

2oz brown rice pasta (210 cal) with 118g before cook chicken breast (130 cal) that I made on my George Foreman grill and a fresh tomato sauce that I started in a nonstick frying pan with with 2 teaspoons olive oil (80 cal), 2 minced garlic cloves (10 cal), 60g diced red onions (30 cal), and 1 diced large vine ripened tomato (40 cal). I let that cook down while the pasta boiled and the chicken grilled. Towards the end I added in some fresh basil that I picked up from the store today and then sprinkled it with 1 TBSP pecorino romano cheese (20 cal) and 2 more teaspoons olive oil (80 cal) before I ate it. With my side salad, this DELICIOUS, pasta dinner was only 775 low-sodium-calories.

My BodyBugg results for 6/22/08:

Went to sleep at 8:00AM
BodyBugg reset at 12:00AM
Woke up 2:00PM
5:11PM: 1491 calories burned
10:35PM: 2233 calories burned
End of day: 2381 calories burned

I probably would have burned even less if I didn’t walk around the stores with hubby today lol. No worries, I have lots of activity planned for tomorrow, weather permitting!

I finally broke down and ordered a heart rate monitor tonight! I got a pink women’s Polar F6 from amazon.com. It was on sale for only $79.95 — $40 off. I guess nobody likes pink? I do! I love it!! hehe Or did I get a lower version of it? I hope not! I compared them to the other options and they were all the same, except for one that had a different face. I wanted pink though! lol That should be here in a few days, so we’ll see how that stacks up to what BodyBugg says. I wonder if I can wear them both at the same time or if they interfere with each other? Not sure why they would, but who knows. I don’t want to look like a robot either lol. I’m going to order the digital display thingie for my BodyBugg too, but I don’t think I’m going to wear it as much as I have been for the past few months after I get my HRM. I need to stop worrying about devices that aren’t 100% scientific and are still using averages based on my height/weight/age, etc. My husband programs in 4 languages, so he knows a thing or 2 about the science and technology behind these contraptions and he thinks these devices are just a gimmick that don’t tell you anything that you can’t figure out from basic math using formulas or calculators that you can find online for free. He also says that I have been doing great on my own and I don’t need the guidance of a calorie-counter with artificial intelligence. He thinks I let these things second guess myself and I know he is probably right, but I still like to obsess over stats and numbers LOL. It’s fun!! He does the same thing with his stock portfolio, so that’s like the same exact thing, right? hahahaha Ok, well maybe not exactly the same, but I can justify it by that logic. Deep down inside I know that experimenting and personal experience are the best guides to go by. But these “toys” are fun anyway. I love gadgets! And if they are even close to being accurate, even better.