Pain is temporally, quitting lasts forever

Says on my spinning class's wall. I just got back home from the class, spinning is good exercise don't have to jump around but still get proper good sweaty exercise. One thing that I am really missing is a heart rate monitor, it would be good to use when exercising to see what my limits are.

Last night I did my program at the gym, it only took me about 45 minutes so it is something that I could do at lunch breaks on weekdays. I have a plan to do the second day of my program tomorrow, but lets see!

I booked a nutritional therapist appointment, its is in couple of weeks and I cant wait to finally find out about my nutrition and learn more about nutrition I should have when trying for a baby and having this stupid   unexplained infertility.

I also booked a horse riding lesson! yes a horse riding lesson! I love horses (and animals in general) but I haven't been riding a horse for ages, cant wait that either! So many happy things ahead including this, birthday parties, spa treatment and dinners with friends.

Tonight's dinner was a mess where I layered sliced aubergines, mince, tomato sauce and home made cheese sauce and baked in the oven for about 30 minutes. I used oregano, thyme, pepper, vegetable stock and chillies to flavour the mince. I couldn't get a good photo of it, but the taste was delicious!

Finally arrived: Weekend and The Gym Program

I am so happy that weekend is finally here! Last night I went to the cinema to see the impossible with a friend. It was a good movie but left me feeling quite sad and down.

This morning started with a different note, I went to the body pump class first thing this morning and it was great. Feeling good after the class! 

Actually body pump wasn't the first thing I did. When you are trying to conceive, at one point you start doing these ovulation tests, peeing on a stick. This morning it was negative, but I am not worried as my ovulation happens every month, I am just trying to spot the right day. My periods are like clockwork, every month same cycle. That is what makes this unexplained infertility so frustrating. 

Probably the most annoying thing what people, who mean good say is "just relax, it will happen", "maybe you should not think about it too much", "chill out" or "maybe it is just timing" (!!!). I don't know what to say to them, I mean if you have been trying for a baby for about three years, this means 36 times I have been disappointed, angry and sad when my periods started, I have purchased and used hundreds of ovulation sticks and in my case 1 pregnancy test (it was negative). So it is pretty hard not to stress and not to think about it too much!!! 

Luckily, according to NHS rules, after 3 years of trying and because I have unexplained infertility we are entitled to have IFV treatment. I am hoping that the process would start this summer. Meanwhile, I am trying to find natural ways to help increase fertility. Next step is to go see the nutritional therapist. 

Anyway, I also got my gym program done. I am going to go the the gym twice a week and I got the program for both days. Its good that both days are a little bit different, so I don't get bored too easily. 

Here is how day 1 of 2 looks like,

And this is the 2 of 2 

All I need to do now is to start training! 

Waist-Hip Ratio

Another day behind and I feel like I have been running around all day! I have been busy at work and after work. I have lots of studying to do as well and a big assignment that I will have start doing in the evenings.

This evening I went to the gym to meet a personal trainer who is going to make me my own gym program that I'm going to follow for the next 4 - 6 weeks. He also made me do a fitness test and we measured my waist-hip ratio. Test went okay, I had to do 500 metre rowing as fast I can. It took me 2 minutes and 5 seconds.

My ratio measurements were perfect! I was in the excellent category with my 0.74 result.

Interesting facts about the ratio,

A Waist-Hip Ratio of 0.7 for women and 0.9 for men has been shown to correlate strongly with general health and fertility. Women within the 0.7 range have optimal levels of estrogen and are less susceptible to major diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular disorders and ovarian cancers. Women with high WHR (0.80 or higher) have significantly lower pregnancy rates than women with lower WHRs (0.70–0.79), independent of their BMIs. 

Source

You can calculate yours from this link Waist-Hip Ratio calculator

DYI stomach acid test and fitness planning

Today has been really hectic day at work and I didn't even had time to prepare my green smoothie this morning. I was rushing out of the bed and out of the door as quickly as I could. When I got to work I had some fruits and gluten free porridge for breakfast with one cup of black tea.

I learnt last weekend that it is better to eat fruits first to empty stomach, fruits spend only about 30 minutes in the tummy and then they come out, when for example Christmas dinner can spend there about 6 hours. Otherwise if you eat your fruits last the will be just "queueing" to get in the tummy and digestive system can not work properly. Try if you don't believe and your digestive system thanks you :)

Another one that I was going to test soon is to see how acid my stomach is with this home test, I just need to get baking soda from the shop.

DYI Sodium Bicarbonate Stomach Acid Test
Do this test when you have an empty stomach.
Mix 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda in an 8-ounce glass of water (that's baking soda-sodium bicarbonate, not baking powder)
Drink it, noting the time on your watch or a clock.
Measure how much time passes before you burp.
If you haven't burped in five minutes, you can stop timing.
A person with a normal level of stomach acid will burp within two minutes.
If you haven't burped after five minutes have passed, you are seriously low in stomach acid.

I have changed a little bit how I exercise. I used to do many classes per week but in time it gets very boring. Last night I went to body pump class. I only have couple of weeks left of my membership and I going to do classes until the end of January.

Tomorrow I have my fitness test and I am making training plan with personal trainer. I am trying to go the gym couple of times per week, in the mornings probably and then go for a run once a week. I also really love hot yoga and its effects so I need to go to hot yoga once a week at least. Even though it is quite expensive but its worth every penny. I always feel so relaxed and happy after I have done some yoga, especially hot yoga.

I would like to have more muscles in my body and get fitter. I am not overweight at all but I would like to my body be lean and something that is nice to look at from the mirror.

I have to keep in mind that too much exercise and losing too much weight can lower fertility so I have to do it slowly and not to be too hard on my self.

Something like this, please! 




For dinner tonight I am going to make salmon in the oven with mashed sweet potato, my favourite!

Digesting Ombar Superfood Chocolate

How to get through an intensive digestive system study...the answer is ombar superfood chocolate!

Their chocolate uses unroasted (raw) fine quality organic Ecuadorian cocoa. The roasting process in normal chocolate destroys heat-sensitive polyphenois. It's also made of low-glycemic organic coconut sugar - wont spike blood sugar levels as unrefined nutritionally complex. Berries in the chocolate I had, acai & blueberry, have been dried at low temperatures and then powdered. They even add probiotics to some of their bars to help look after our tums!




And those probiotics and other digestive things is what I have been learning about this weekend, a quite deep review of how the human digestive system works and how big part the gut has on our immune system and other things. On the other hand the more you know, the more paranoid and suspicious you become of what you can eat and the affect of the food you put in your mouth has.

I came to a couple of conclusions and I am going to to try a gluten free diet for four weeks and see if it has any affect to me.It's crazy that humans were not designed to digest gluten. First though I need to do a little bit more study about a gluten free diet and find some recipes and start planning my lunches in advance.

I also need to make my fasting plan if I am going to do it.

And what I was also thinking of doing is to book an appointment to see a nutritional therapist. Unexplained infertility could be cured by changing my diet and taking supplements, maybe I am lacking something important that I just don't know.

On Wednesday I am going to have a fitness test and fitness plan that I can follow at the gym. My plan is to go to the gym maybe 2-3 times a week, go for run once a week and hot yoga once a week. That way I won't get bored too soon and it makes it easier to follow the plan.

After I got home from school, I went to get some gluten free bread.  For dinner I had baked beans on (gluten free) toast with salad. And a spoonful of peanut butter...

P.s I actually had two bars of chocolate, other one was cranberry & mandarin :)

Happy New Year 2013

This morning must be an international hungover-day but not here. I did not have a one single drink last night and in fact I was in the bed before 12 o'clock. Last night I was thinking my NY resolutions and I would like add couple more, to keep up this blog for a year at least and be better with my nutritional therapist studying. This is only my first year and I have two more left...

I started my morning with green smoothie and green tea. 

I mixed together:
Kale
Spinach
Banana
Squeeze of lemon
Honey 
Maca-powder
Water







I have been reading all morning about this 5:2 fasting and was trying to find the BBC document Eat, Fast and Live longer where Michael Mosley who wants to live longer and healthier is trying out fasting.

I was planning to start this 5:2 fasting where 5 days a week I can eat normally, about 1800 cal per day and 2 days a week only 500 cal. Luckily, there is many recipes online for really light meals that I could eat on fast days. 

I am a bit against all these dieting things but this fasting is suppose to be good kick start for my weight loss, I only need to lose about 5kg and I really feel like my body needs a rest of all the crap I have been eating lately. This is going to be great cleanse for my body with Hot Yoga (yes, Hot Yoga) which I am planning to start again. I am also getting fitness program done at my gym and doing a fitness test. I had my blood pressure taken already and it was close to perfect 122/78. 

Next thing is just to decide what days will be fast days and what days normal eating days. And how long I am going to do this, probably about a month or two max.