Could it all be in the hormones?

A very interesting article about women and testosterone.

http://www.wellnessmd.com/wtestosterone.html

I am not a fan of supplements and it seems the best natural way to increase testosterone is to exercise, especially life weights.

So this is how to increase you testoterone naturally.

http://www.ehow.com/how_2297630_increase-testosterone-naturally.html

Yep, pretty much the same as what nutrionalists and physicians have been trying to tell us for awhile.

Number 2, is probably the biggest change to my diet this time round. Number 6 is the biggest change to my exercise routine.

Getting stronger

A while back I was training a lot and I was training hard.

I was trying to build my speed so I could pass the shuttle run test for the defence force. I could run for miles, I just didn't run them very fast. The shuttle run involves continuous running between 2 lines set 20metres apart, in time to recorded beeps that slowly speed up.

I was determined, this was not going to stop me getting in. I had learnt how to do push ups, I could run for 8 kms, after starting at less than 1km, but I couldn't get to level 7.5.

I made a fatal mistake, I started to overtrain. I have good endurance and I approached getting faster with an endurance mind set. Everyday I would start with the shuttle run, then do my normal 5km run, trying to go faster and further than last time. I added in a hill climb, just to try to get that extra strength.

I have never had a sports injury before in my life. Not once. Probably because I have never really done full on, high intensity exercise before.

The approach was all wrong. Eventually I pulled a muscle in my bum. Not a huge issue, I kept running. A few days later on the same leg, my knee gave out. No problem, I kept training.

Until it hurt too much. Iason told me I needed to rest. I rested.

Iason suggested we focus on just doing short bursts of high intensity sprints. To help bring up my speed. I stopped the shuttle run for awhile, which involved turning, put more strain on my knee. I started the sprints.

Iason took me to the shop to buy really high quality runners. You see, I didn't realise it, I wasn't an unfit geek any more, I was one of those fit people, who have to get the right gear to exercise in or they might injure themselves.

My knee healed and I passed the shuttle run, just.

I had to watch my knee from then on. I noticed that it actually hurt more after long periods of standing or walking. Not just my knee, my hip and ankle both hurt too. I am certain it all happened because I pulled that muscle and kept running. I think my body tried to take pressure off my glutinmous maximus (bum) and my knee got the brunt of it.

An interesting thing has been happening. While doing lower body weights exercise I could feel small muscles near my knee working. Not wanting to hurt my knee, I was very careful to watch my technique and not push to hard.

Those muscles that support my knee have gotten stronger. My knee is feeling stronger. I can stand for hours, without a dull pain starting in my knee. I am starting to push harder in those exercises.

I also get neck pain, a common problem for us geeks, too much time on the computer, too much time lugging around said computer (the bag weighs 7kgs including books). I am hoping as my back strengthens that this pain will lessen as well.

Of course, I could just stop carrying so many things around or volunteering in the canteen to stand on me feet for several hours. I could just not get out of bed in the morning.

Nah, I have things to do and being strong means I can do them better and in less pain.

Feed the premenstrual woman.

I am not sure if anyone reads this, but if they do they are probably quite grossed out with all the intimate detail. I just don't see the point blogging about changing the way I live, eat and exercise, if I am not talking about all the issues and for me these things are major factors.

No point pretending that it doesn't effect me, because it does. It won't help me to pretend I am able to just ignore it and I suspect it won't help the people who read the blog. (my apologies if you are male, but you might garnish something)

So plan cover all bases when menstruating has been going quite well.

Now I don't have regular, exactly 4 weeks apart periods. Mine are more like a ninja assasin ready to pounce when you least expect it. They like to either wait so long that you start to wonder if maybe you are pregnant or mix it up by coming a week early and ruining your new underwear. I have learnt though to look for the signs and have gotten pretty good at predicting when it is coming on.

This morning I woke up and because I was aware that any day now, my period was going to begin. I gave my body what I thought it might need to cope. ( At least I am in tune to my body, it did indeed begin today)

So breakkie, was my usual yoghurt and museli followed by a protein shake 2 vitamin C supplements and a coffee.

Vitamin C is essential for processing iron in food. No point having food high in iron if you aren't getting any vitamin C. Also, I remember reading a theory a long time a go that sugar cravings, might be your body wanting more vitamin C, because in nature all sources high in vitamin C usually contain sugar, oranges, apples, tomatos you get the drift.

Obviously, women need more iron when they menstruate. Could my sugar cravings be my body trying to prepare for my period? So I decided to test it and while the results may not be conclusive, if it works, it works.

The rest of my day was pretty much the same, except I did sit down to enjoy my 20grams of chocolate. That and a mandarin seems to have held the cravings at bay.

I haven't been drinking enough and I ran out of vegetables today. My children raided my vegetable supply last night. Who am I to stop them? So I had better go and chop beans to have with my dinner.

Off to the gym again tonight. Weights this time. It will be interesting to see if I have gotten any stronger. Might jump on the assisted chin up machine and see how hard it is.

No menstruation doesn't mean I stop exercising, in fact it usually helps with it a lot.

Women's business

There are some things about being a woman that suck.

One of them is that your hormones fluctuate over the month. You go from feeling like yourself, happy and satisfied, to feeling somehow off kilter.

I have noticed every time I have taken hormones for medical reasons, big changes in the way I feel and think. I notice that my memory is effected, my ability to rationalise and be logical is less. I am someone who uses these 3 things a lot in my life, because my job is in a technical area.

It is especially frustrating to feel different. In a way I feel like a different person just before I menstruate.

It bothers me so much that, I am getting pretty finely tuned into the changes. The changes I resent.

A week before my period my skin breaks out. Now with a change in diet, those pimples are just small white heads on the surface of my skin, while previously they were deep and painful.

My sexual appetite drops, well sort of, I am not going to go into the details but the overall way I feel sexually is different.

My bowel movements change; just before it, I am constipated, just after diarrhea. What is with that.

On the first day I am sometimes, not always, assailed by cramps. Sometimes they hurt and I need to take a pain killers, other times I find keeping active drives it away.

I get hungrier. I crave sweet things. I have been suspecting of this for awhile, with almost every diet I have been on has been blown as I approach my period, only for the cravings to disappear almost as soon as it begins.

I wasn't sure of this, but I haven't had any trouble maintaining my diet until now. Now I am breaking out in pimples etc.

Of course, I have a strategy and that is to let myself indulge a little, in the hopes that it means I don't need to indulge a lot. I have already had an extra piece of chicken today and 20g of dark chocolate.

Might sound like cheating to some, but it is all about keeping to something I can achieve. If I plan to eat some chocolate, then when I eat it, I haven't broken my plan. While my calorie intake will be higher than it probably should be, I am hoping I won't end up binge eating and then taking a few weeks to refocus and get back on track.

I used to suffer more from mood swings, which I guess I still do, but instead of me just swinging from being angry to being depressed, now I tend to just feel like everything is just a little out of place.

I think all men should see what it is like, just for a little while. Then we might get a little more respect.

Then of course we get smacked with menopause, yay, can't wait for that!

Menstruating is a part of life, it is part of what make us women. I have to deal with it, just like every other thing. So with chocolate in the cupboard and a daily allowance of 20grams a day set, feminine hygiene products at the ready, I get ready to deal with it.

In other news, I ran my 15minutes at level 9.3 yesterday as well as keeping my heart rate up for the full 50 minutes. Cardio is harder to face than weights, but it is satisfying to be reaching those goals.

The gym was packed last night and the little competitor in me was pleased to see that I ran faster and longer than even the gorgeous girls. I rode on the bike further in the same amount of time and I didn't leave after a quick 30 minutes work out. Some people are just blessed with good genetics I guess, or haven't abused their body as much or as long as I have.

mmmmmmmmmmm avocado.

I think I finally get it.

A diet isn't what you don't eat.

A diet is what you do eat.

It doesn't matter so much that you don't eat chocolate pudding and french fries, what matters is that you do eat vegetables, fruit, food high in protein, wholegrains, calcium and good oils.

Focus on putting on putting good stuff in and you will find you don't want as much bad stuff anyway.

Afternoon munchies hit, even though I have already had my afternoon tea. I think about the usual options, toast, fruit, museli bar, trail mix, yoghurt. All pretty good, but then I see the 5 avocados I bought yesterday.

So, salad with a table spoon of avocado it is. Followed by a coffee, most likely and lots of water.

Gym tonight, time to try level 9.3 for 15minutes. Btw I am easily doing 2.4km in 15 minutes, now to get it down to 14 minutes, then the ultimate goal of 13 minutes.

The daily grind.

No sooner do I wonder if my metabolism isn't speeding up because I am not getting hungry, that I get hit with the munchies something fierce.

We did takeaway again last night. I haven't been so well prepared in the dinner department. I am going shopping today to fix this problem.

Anyway, the takeaway was proper takeaway, hamburgers chips etc. I choose grilled fish and garden salad. It was super yummy. I did not have any chips.

Chips are so yummy. Their starchy goodness, the crisp fat covered outer followed by that mushy high GI centre. How do I not eat them?

I compromise, you want carbs body? OK, have carbs, but not chips.

So, no chips for me, instead I had 2 pieces of rye bread and cottage cheese. Filled me up fine.

Went to the gym, did weights. Came home and was hungry. Again!

At first I tried to ignore the hunger pangs, by drinking lots. Didn't work so I considered having a protein shake, which I decided I didn't need (extra protein that is).

Instead I settled for one handful of trail mix. I have been for a week or so having a smaller serve of trail mix to what I normally have, so I figured it wouldn't hurt to have a bit more. More importantly if it stopped me from feeling hungry then I wouldn't further over eat.

Worked a treat.

Was the shake a better option? Certainly the shake would have been great nutrionally and as I had just been at the gym doing weights the protien wouldn't have hurt. It did have slightly more calories than my trail mix, although I don't have an accurate measure of what my trail mix is because the ingredients keep varying. On my trial mix, it is usually at least 50% cashews or macadamias which are really good for you. While they are high in fat it is the same sort of fat as is found olive oil, the sort that helps your body fight cholesterol. Both are also high in anti oxidants and are a good source of protein. So while they aren't the losest calorie snack food, they do fill you up and provide you with lots of nutrients. More importantly, they are low in sugar/carbohydrate, which I think is a major culprit in my high body fat percentage.

The thing is I like to eat things. I use shakes because they are convenient. I have never found a meal replacement program to work well for me. After awhile I just miss eating, as opposed to feeling full. I have seen some people get great results, the best program seems to be herbalife if you are interested in trying something like that.

There is a link between chewing and lower appetite. Experts are now recommending that you chew gum to lower your appetite. I don't think this works for me. The artificial sweetener makes me want sweet things. On the other hand crunchy vegetables and chewing your food thoroughly all really do seem to help me.

Still feel happily on track. I am nervous about my period coming up soon. It will be interesting to see if it causes any changes.

Food - survival in suburban jungle.

So how is the modern day amazon surviving in a suburban jungle?

With vigilance she ignores the constant messages to overeat. With focus, motivation and well practised moves, she dodges familiar patterns to binge eat. Ok, serious now.

I bought some rye bread today and cottage cheese, which is much yummier than it sounds or appears. My fave breakfast is natural museli that has almonds and cranberries and puffed wheat, it is awesome and available from aldi.

I usually have this with 100g of low fat fruit yoghurt. It is really yummy and very satisfying. While there are lower calorie breakfasts, I find this one works well for me. I love to indulge in the carbs for breakkie.

So why the rye bread? Because I don't want to get bored of my favourite breakkie. I am going to have toast with cottage cheese and some 100% fruit jam. Slightly more calories than my normal breakkie, but nothing that can't be handled.

Ohhh, Iason is massaging my neck. Wonder what I did to deserve that?

opps back to the journal.

I am not getting very hungry, which is good, right? Well maybe not, real hunger at regular intervals indicates a fast metabolism. Mine doesn't seem to be speeding up. On the other hand I don't think I am eating too little, so hopefully my body will respond soon.

I also bought dried cranberries to go in my trail mix, except I didn't notice that they were sweetened. Shouldn't be a huge problem, but I will look for unsweetened ones next time.

I am going to chop some vegies for the week ahead, but I am procrastinating, because that will require me to go into the kitchen and face the mess in there. V8 tetra packs are good for packing in my lunch, but chopped vegies are better and cheaper. See that there is planning ahead, an absolute necessary.

I indulged a little yesterday, with a thai chicken burger. It had a mayo style sauce, but the chicken breast was grilled and I enjoyed every last bite. Lots of compromise has been made on getting friday takeaway, with the childers, wanting their usual weekly junk food instalment. In a change in attitude for me, I decided that this was not going to work. Sure I can get a healthy alternative while they eat, but I feel a bit ripped off and secondly why can't they benefit from a healthy eating as well? No good reason. Fast metabolism and active life style aside. Eating Maccas or KFC isn't good for them. If they want to eat that they can do it when I am not around.

So we got chinese takeaway. I had beef and black bean, boiled rice, steamed vegies (heaps and heaps) and a tiny serve of noodles. Everyone enjoyed the meal and I love chinese vegetables.

Just because I want to eat well doesn't mean I need to sabotage myself or let others sabotage me.

I am happy with level of strictness to my diet. I really feel it must be something I can maintain and isn't making me feel deprived.

See bad eating habits is a giant problem for me, but women can defeat these things. Just don't give up.