I haven’t posted to the blog in a couple of days because I have come down with some sort of a cold or sinus infection and have spent most of my time resting and taking care of two sick boys!  I haven’t felt much like getting up and cooking dinner much less exercising, so I was wondering if it is a good idea to exercise when you are sick anyway?  According to an article posted on the Mayo Clinic website (Exercise and illness: Should you exercise when you’re sick?), it depends on how you are feeling.  A guideline to use as a rule of thumb for exercise and illness:

• Proceed with your workout if your signs and symptoms are “above the neck” — such as runny nose, nasal congestion, sneezing or sore throat. Be prepared to reduce the intensity of your workout if needed, however.
• Postpone your workout if your signs and symptoms are “below the neck” — such as chest congestion, hacking cough or upset stomach. Likewise, don’t exercise if you have a fever, fatigue or widespread muscle aches.

Good info to know with all the flu and cold viruses going around out there!  We should be back on track now with the daily postings and I have lots of products to review!

I have been thinking about what to write about and I have some products to review and some websites and other weight loss blogs to review but I guess I haven’t been really motivated to do any of those things.  So I decided to write about what I was thinking about and that happens to be what changes that I have made were harder than the others.  Some of the biggest changes I have made include:

• Stop drinking soda (not only for the caffeine but because after weight loss surgery you aren’t suppose to drink soda because of the carbonation and it can stretch your stomach and make it uncomfortable for you on top of that!)
• Drink at least 64 ounces of water a day.
• Sleep at least 8 hours a night.
• Take all my vitamins every day.
• Increase my protein intake.
• Increase physical activity.

I used to drink 2 liter bottles of Mountain Dew (various flavors) straight from the bottle.  Plus I have a problem with migraine headaches and the pills you take when you have a migraine almost always have caffeine in them.  Sometimes I would take 6 a day (even though you weren’t suppose to… ) so I was seriously addicted to caffeine.  I have tried to quit several times in my weight loss endeavors and would be successful for only a few months at a time.  I hate the taste of tap water and I can barely handle drinking bottled water.  For some reason it always tastes metallic or dirty no matter what filter or bottled water I use.  I drank Propel for a while then Vitamin Water.  Propel has a 15 calories and 3 grams of sugar per serving while Vitamin Water is almost as bad as drinking soda nutrition-wise.  Vitamin Water has the next line of 10 drinks but it is still 25 calories per bottles (there are 2.5 servings in a bottle) and 7.5 grams of sugar.  In my recent attempt to stop drinking soda I have started drinking Fruit2O flavored bottled water.  They taste good and have 0 calories and 0 sugars.  There is 35mg of sodium per serving (87.5 grams in a bottle) but that only accounts for about 2.5% of your daily consumption.  So overall, Fuit2O is a much better choice for me then Propel and Vitamin Water (regular or the new deceiving 10 brand).  I buy it by the case (24 bottles in a case for about $9-10) so it’s even cheaper then soda.  I am on week 6 of no caffeinated sodas (there has been 2 or 3 times were the beverages available at the places we have had meals out at did not have options like raspberry lemonade (I know it has a lot of sugar but it is so delicious and like a treat for me) so I ended up getting Sprite or caffeine free diet Coke.  But aside from a week where I had the worst migraine ever and got a migraine prescription from the doctor that had caffeine, I haven’t had any in six weeks.  I have also managed to increase my water intake by drinking the Fruit2O in place of soda so I am drinking at least 64 ounces of water, usually more.

So I am still working on the 8 hours of sleep and increasing my physically activity.  Best thing I have done to help my sleeping is getting a sleep mask to block out light.  It works great and I get to sleep much sooner than when I don’t wear it.  I am also going to bed much earlier then I have been in the past.  I aim for 10-11pm but sometimes I am not quite sleepy by 11 and stay up to midnight.  But this is much better than the 3-4am bedtime I was keeping and sometimes not even going to sleep at all.  I walk the boys to and from the bus stop every day.  So that’s about a quarter mile of walking total.  It’s not much but it’s more then I was doing!  I am hoping to start walking around the complex with another Mom after the kids get on the bus starting next week on the days the weather is good.  So I am making small progress in that area.  I am hoping to start using the apartment complex fitness room soon and making use of the Wii Fit here at the house.  Right now I weigh too much for the board so all I can do is the running.  I am almost there to be able to use the board.  In fact, that’s my goal this month; to lose enough weight to use the Wii Fit board!

I take my vitamins every day (for the most part sometimes I do forget) and I have increased my protein intake now that I am more aware of it.

So the hardest things for me so far- quitting the soda drinking and increasing the physically activity.  Anyone else have these same struggles?

I have had Netflix several times in the past years but signed up for my current subscription this past February.  For $16.99 a month I can have three DVDs out at a time and unlimited instant streaming.  I have our Xbox 360 connected to my Netflix account (there are many ways to be able to watch streaming Netflix on your TV just check out www.netflix.com for more information) and watch all my streaming content from there.  In figuring out an exercise plan for me I thought about using exercise DVDs but buying them at 20 bucks each would be expensive.  I never thought about it before but figured I would check Netflix to see if they had a selection of exercise DVDs and they have a large selection!  They also have a large selection for instant streaming.  I figure this is a great way to try out different exercise DVDs (either with the DVD or instant streaming) in the privacy of my own home.  I am still a little embarrassed to exercise in front of lots of people to be honest.  So this is a great way to start moving and get exercising if you are too embarrassed to get to the gym right now.  The gym is a great exercise tool of course and I can’t wait till I feel comfortable enough to go to the gym and join in the class I am getting more from my money by just using Netflix from home and going to my apartment complex fitness center.  If you don’t have a Netflix account and want to try it they give you a 2 week free trial!  Just go to www.netflix.com for more details!  I current have one of the So You Think You Can Dance workout DVDs that I plan on trying out tomorrow.  I will post a review of what I think!