Three is a Magic Number

I’m German.  Well … half-German, one-quarter Czechoslovakian, and one-quarter Austrian (if my Grandma's immigration papers are to be believed; she claimed she was Czech my whole life!).  That is to say … I am Eastern European through and through.

And I'm built like a block (my head, though misshapen, is far from a square).  All my life I’ve been a walking rectangle, with no feminine shape to speak of.

Raised on steak (sometimes grilled, but mostly fried) and potatoes because that’s what my father preferred.  I’m sure there were some healthier menu items available too, but which, as a child, I stubbornly refused to eat.

When I graduated high school, I weighed in at 136 lbs.  That didn’t change much over the course of my college career.  I don’t even think I managed to gain the Freshman 15.  The Freshman 5, maybe; I considered myself lucky.  I guess there’s something to be said for walking The Forty Acres.

At my first weigh-in with my obstetrician, the scale showed 134.  And like most pregnant women, I considered being pregnant a license to eat.  And indulge.  My son’s love of peanut butter likely the result of the amount I consumed while I carried him. 

And I baked!  Or at least I tried.  A lemon meringue pie turns out much better if you remove the little wax paper thingy that covers the frozen crust (I didn’t say I was ambitious enough to make my crust from scratch!) 

Homemade chicken pot pie was also a favorite during those 40 weeks.  Except when I just couldn’t resist having some after my labor started.  I’ll not go into the details of what happens to a woman’s body when she puts a heavy meal on top of a contracting uterus.

Just before Evan’s debut, I thought I might break the scale at 174!

I managed to drop some of the baby weight, of course.  And spent most of my adult life bouncing the scale by about 10 pounds or so.

And then … menopause happened.  And I began to wage a battle … no … a war against my own body (The Heat is On).  Five years into my CrossFit journey, I might’ve lost a half-inch here or there, but weight-wise, the scale stayed the same.  And yes, I know I was trading fat for muscle, to a certain degree.

Marrying Keith was a blessing in more ways than one (Prince Charming).  Our meals usually consisted of a grilled meat or baked fish, along with a steamed vegetable and a salad.  I really thought we were eating healthy.  If you don’t count all the bad stuff we ate when we dined out.  Or the number of times we just didn’t feel like cooking and got take-out instead.  Or the late-night snacking.

A visit to my doctor’s office for one malady or another resulted in her scheduling me for an annual physical.  I don’t know what was so “annual” about it, seeing as I hadn’t had a physical in over a decade.  But here I was, getting the once over the way doctors do.  Four vials of the red stuff removed from my body.  It was July 2017.

A perky nurse from the doctor’s office called a few days later with the results.  I wasn’t concerned (though the phone ringing should’ve been my first clue because rarely does anything good come from a phone call from your doctor’s office).  After all … the only thing that has ever turned up on my bloodwork was borderline anemia once … oh … and a cholesterol level that teetered dangerously close to being just over that ill-fated line.  Nurse Perky wasn’t calling just to blow sunshine up my backside.

My cholesterol was a staggering 248.  And my LDL (that’s the bad stuff) was 152.  Even though I’m quite certain she never said these words, what I heard was “heart disease”, “heart attack”, “call the mortician”.

Nurse Perky advised me to start taking COQ-10 and Red Yeast Rice Extract.  Well … if you know me well, you know I don’t do pills.  Unless they’re very, very tiny.  If memory serves, the COQ-10 was somewhat larger than an Aleve.  As for the Red Yeast Rice Extract … forget choking a horse – I think those could’ve choked a hippo (at least in my mind’s eye).  I also don’t do peaches and the only gummies I could find for the COQ-10 were peach-flavored.  Nope.  Nope.  And Nope.    

I bought the COQ-10 pills anyway.  I managed to choke one down.  And decided it was time.  Time to do something I have always said I wouldn’t do.  Diet.  Actually … I didn’t need to diet.  

I needed to CHANGE.  MY.  DIET.

Enter Sally Johnson, Registered Dietician extraordinaire.  Sally and I CrossFit together.  She has seen me at my sweatiest, so I felt comfortable talking to her about my ridiculously-high numbers.  

Our initial conversation went something like this:

HER:  What are your goals?  What do you want to achieve?

ME:  Dropping my cholesterol is the number one priority.  If I can drop some weight, that’s an added bonus.
HER:  Okay then.  Keep a food journal for 7-10 days.  I need to see what you’re eating.  And BE HONEST. 

I did and I was.  And when I put it on paper, I saw it for myself.  We really weren’t eating healthy.  At.  All.

Armed with my food journal and my bloodwork, Sally and I met for coffee (mine filled with sweetener and creamer, hers … not) at Whole Foods.  Let me just say this … Sally is from New York, so there was no mincing of words.  

Much to my surprise, Sally was more concerned about my blood sugar levels than my cholesterol.  Great!  "heart attack" and "diabetes".  Ain't old age great?

There was a lot to change about our diet.  Yes, we were doing some good things, but by and large, if I was serious about changing my numbers (and I was), then big changes were necessary.

Together, we walked the aisles of Whole Foods, with me taking copious notes on all the goodness that we could and should have.  Keith and I agreed and a shopping trip to Whole Foods and a revised shopping list for HEB were planned.  The scale read 168.  It was September 17, 2017.

So what changed?  Well … a lot, actually.  And I don’t want to go into all the specifics because our diet changes were made based on what was needed for me and what my goals were.  In fact, Sally didn’t label the type of diet we've moved to.  I still don’t know nor do I want to know; I think subconsciously, if I knew I was adhering to the latest, trendy diet, my stubborn side would not follow it so religiously!

On a high level, we reduced our grain, (bad) fat, and sugar intake.  I think the biggest changes are these:

·  That spoonful (or two or three) of Reduced Fat peanut butter that I had after coming home from the gym and another two or three (complete with a Hershey’s Kiss) that I had for “dessert” each evening.  Gone.  Now, we blend dry roasted peanuts until its smooth and creamy.  And if I have a craving for peanut butter, it’s either a handful of mixed nuts or our homemade peanut butter and an apple.

·  No more Irish Cream whiskey in my coffee and reduce my sweetener from three (e-gads!) to one.  I do use a little light creamer.  And yes, I know ideally, it would be best to drink it straight, but I just haven’t gotten there.

·  No more sodas.  Even the couple of sips I took of Sprite each night as I tried to choke down my vitamins were a no-no.  “If you must have something carbonated that’s flavored, try Zevia”, Sally said.  And guess what?  I now choke down my daily vitamins with water!

·  And those chicken salad sandwiches I was accustomed to eating for lunch every day?  STOP IT!

·  Toss out the Canola oil; use olive oil or avocado oil instead.

·  And on that note, since salads are such a big part of our diet, change to avocado oil-based salad dressing; you'd be surprised how tasty it is!

I noticed people sharing recipes on Facebook.  Armed with my list of what we should and shouldn’t be eating, I watched intently.  And I saved many.  Each week, grocery shopping included buying lots of new things.  And planning for at least one new meal each week.  Besides, I was getting tired of eating the same things week in and week out anyway.

I’ve never been confident in my cooking skills, but each week, I grabbed the new recipe and worked my way through it.  I was super proud when one turned out.  It was healthy.  It tasted great.  And I made it myself!  And I took pictures!  And posted them on Facebook!  It was my way of saying “look what I created”, but also, and more importantly, to hold myself accountable.  “Likes” and “Loves” go a long way to keeping a person going.  And people asking to share the recipes did too!

Sometimes the meals bombed.  Those have been removed from my recipe book. 

Soon, I was introducing two and three new meals each week.  And I was enjoying cooking!  Much to my mother’s and sister’s surprise, I’m sure.  (oh, how they tried to teach me to cook when I was younger, but oh, I was stubborn!) 

And my husband, my darling husband, says I’ve even created a few dishes that are restaurant-quality (so I make them regularly – asparagus-stuffed chicken and caprese-stuffed chicken, to name a few).

It is true what they say.  Eating healthy doesn’t have to mean you’re eating cardboard!

I realize that being retired has played a big role in all of this.  Not only does it allow me to spend the time necessary in the kitchen, but it allows me to get to the gym five days/week.  And rucking (hiking with weight in your pack) surely didn’t hurt!  Neither does yoga!

And soon, the combination of a healthy diet and working my ass off in the gym began to pay off.  I started dropping inches.  My body started to take on the shape of an hour-glass.  The muscles I’d spent the past five years trying to build, started to actually show.  

I was astonished when my dermatologist took a picture of my back (not because she was so impressed, but because she wanted me to watch a few spots – I have a LOT of freckles!); who knew my back had this kind of definition?  (I certainly didn't!  I never look back there!)  And I started to drop weight.  Each five-pound increment, cause for a happy dance.

And I felt better.  And Keith did too!

February 2018.  Judgement Day.  Time to re-check my bloodwork.

I had just finished a rather grueling WOD (do you remember what that stands for?  Lift Like a Girl) when my phone rang.  It was Nurse Perky.

“Sharon Miller!”, she says, “your doctor wanted me to call you with the results of your bloodwork”.  My palms began to sweat, as they do whenever I get nervous.  Oh wait!  CrossFit.  Just finished working out.  Never mind.

“You’ve dropped your LDL by FIFTY POINTS!”

She went on to say that my LDL was now 102 and my cholesterol was now 182.  “I don’t know what you’re doing, but whatever it is, keep doing it!  Oh!  And your doctor thinks you’re a Rockstar!”  And with that, my new best friend, Nurse Perky, hung up.

Keith and I celebrated that night by going to dinner at Chuy’s, for a cheat meal.

Cheat Meal?  Yes!  We have those too!  I mean … who can possibly resist Dulce de Leche pancakes, ya'll?  Date night is almost always out.  And almost always, we’re eating things that don’t exactly align with our dietary changes.  Weekend home improvement project?  “Hello Papa John’s!  One large pizza, please!   And throw in some cinnamon knots too!” 

The trick is, we enjoy the good stuff.  And then get right back to the even better stuff!  It’s okay to indulge every now and again (or when you’re on vacation).  But you just go right back to what you now know.

It’s been 15 months since Sally and I did the walk-thru at Whole Foods.  And I’m holding steady at 145 lbs.

My point in all this is not to say "hey!  look at me!"  I'm too much of an introvert for that.  But rather … it takes time, energy, patience, and a bit of dedication.  Does it require you to do CrossFit?  Heck no!  I was CrossFitting for five years before I saw any major changes like this.  It's all about the food.  It's true what they say:  it's 80% what you eat and 20% what you do!

And it didn’t happen overnight.  I’ve put in the work (both at the gym and in the kitchen).  At 53, I’m in the best shape of my life.  And I’m confident when they take my blood again in February, that I'll retain my Rockstar status

You know what else feels great?  I went shopping today.  Needed a new pair of jeans.  Jeans that are three sizes smaller than those I wore 15 months ago.  

For that matter, jeans that are smaller than those I wore ... well … ever.

If you’d like to follow or speak with Sally Johnson, you can do so using:
Instagram:  sallyjohnsonrd
Twitter:  @sallyjohnsonrd
Email:  sbjohnsonrd@gmail.com