What I'm doing

I'm working towards losing weight as I have mentioned before.  I am also working towards adopting a more plant-based diet in general from both a personal health standpoint and an ethical standpoint.
I have developed a plan to eat a vegetable based diet/vegetarian diet for breakfast and lunch and then am incorporating meat at dinner time while still hitting my macros.
In order to ensure that I am hitting my macros I am incorporating vegetable based protein powders into my breakfast.   Since soy isn't great for women with infertility and my Advocare protein shakes are dairy based I am on a search for a yummy protein powder that is:
soy free
dairy free
free of questionable additives
and from a reputable source
Because I have been so spoiled by the delicious Advocare Muscle Gain and because I don't like the aftertaste associated with stevia I am sure this is going to be a difficult search.   As a result I will be posting reviews of various protein powders as I try them. 

Doctor Update

Today I had a doctors appointment.
My doctor was working with a resident today, so it was nice getting to delve a little deeper into my medical history and feel like I was getting a more comprehensive appointment time. We talked through my medical history and she answered some of my questions.   I'm concerned that I may be facing another uterine polyup so an order was put in for an ultrasound and my doctor went ahead and re-ran some blood work that is due to be ran soon so that hopefully everything on my end is working well once hubby's doctor releases us back to the infertility clinic.
More later!

Sick Day

I have not taken a sick day from work in over 5 years.  Unfortunately that track record ended today.  I absolutely feel like I am going to die.   On Thursday I started having allergy symptoms that turned into a cold, on Saturday and Sunday I started running a low grade (extremely low grade, like 1%) fever by yesterday I started feeling even worse, my ears started draining and my throat started to swell.  This morning I finally gave up and decided to take a sick day and go to the doctor.
Of course it's viral and there isn't really anything that the doctor could do but I did manage to get a prescription for cough medicine with codine and have successfully slept the majority of the day away.   I really hope that I am feeling better by tomorrow.  What's even worse is I'm technically in that two week window where I generally try to avoid anything that runs any risk of harming a baby just in case I'm pregnant.  I asked my doctor about it and she said in this case given my symptoms me being this sick is a far worse risk than taking the medicine she prescribed and OTC decongestant and allergy medicine she recommended as directed.
YUCK!!!!

Macros Macros Everywhere

So have you ever heard of macros?
In this particular context I'm referring to nutritional macros.
As a general rule I have tracked nutritional macros in the past.  I followed a basic rule of trying for less than 50% carbs and whole foods, this is something that has worked for me in the past, however I was plateaued.
So I turned to a macro website that offers a free tool to calculate macros based on personal information.   Unfortunately the formula used by the free tool didn't work for me.  I ended up gaining weight using that plan.
So I decided to take a different approach.  A friend of mine introduced me to Poppy Locks Elizabeth at Poppy Locks specializes in computing customized macros for women taking into account, height, weight, body type, activity level, and health issues.  She sent me a great set of customized macros along with detailed instructions on how to tweak them if I wasn't seeing results or my activity level changed.
This weekend I am sitting with my husband to work on planning out my meals for this week to hit these macros while also trying to incorporate a more plant based diet.
Getting 145 grams of protein per day while also attempting to shift to a primarily plant based diet is going to be difficult but I'm going to figure out how to make it work.
On the off chance anyone is actually reading this blog...and you happen to have any suggestions, please share them with me!!!!

A strange discovery

My husband and I were confirmed in the Catholic Church last month.  Something I didn’t really consider was the impact this would have on our infertility journey.   

I’ve been a bit hesitant to even think about IVF throughout this entire process, but I knew it was a possibility.  I’ve touched briefly before about the teachings of the church about fertility treatment and surrogacy, but I don’t know if I talked about IVF.   

Because of the views held by the church about the sanctity of life, when life is created, and the purpose of the marital relationship the Catholic has all but said no to IVF (and many priests and such have said no though I haven’t found any official statements from the Pope himself).

This isn’t something that bothers me, I’m not morally opposed to IVF and I have friends who have wonderful children who were only conceived through IVF.  Also since I still haven’t decided if IVF is even something I want to consider taking it off the table as an option hasn’t been difficult, though I haven’t really talked about it with hubby I don’t think he was there yet either.  

But here is the part that I didn’t consider.   Most of the blogs and podcasts about infertility act as if IVF is the natural “next step”.   They assume that everyone will eventually be open to trying it if it is within their financial ability.   

I’m not sure how I fell about that.  

So as an FYI about this blog—I am not against IVF.   I think that it is a wonderful scientific discovery and that children conceived through IVF are as much a blessing as children conceived on day one off of birth control.  

However—I am going to do my best not to refer to IVF as a natural next step.   The more I delve into research and the more factors I see that are probably in play in my own life the more obsessed I become and the deeper I dig and the more information I want.   

Just this week I discovered a podcast talking about B-12 deficiency and baselines and the effect they have on not only fertility but other health markers.   

                So now I’m off to go down the B-12 rabbit hole.   

Chiropractic Care

I am a huge fan of chiropractic care.  About a year and a half ago I was in a car accident and as a result I suffered a minor case of whiplash and couldn't turn my neck...at all... I went to the ER and because it was all soft tissue damage their "solution" was for me to keep my neck stabilized and take narcotic pain medication.
That plan wasn't going to work for me.  I'm a CPA.  It was November.  I had work to do and was getting ready to go on a trip out of town to visit family.  I couldn't work while taking pain killers.   I couldn't drive to and from work.  And I'm one of those people who just wants to sleep when they are on painkillers.
So I didn't take them, and I found another option.
I started researching chiropractors in the area and found one that sounded promising.   My doctor puts a lot of stress on healthy living.   She truly wants to help people be as healthy as possible.   She has free workshops for her patients covering a variety of health and wellness topics ranging from essential oils to stress management to naturopathic medicine all hosted by experts in their field.
I loved going to the Chiropractor, I loved the environment and I loved the way I felt supported during my treatment.
Unfortunately for a number of reasons continuing treatment wasn't in our budget after my whiplash was healed.   Luckily and excitedly TODAY I was able to resume treatment.
I am so excited to be back working with my chiropractor towards better overall health.
Today she did an initial screening to measure where I have the most tension, subluxations, and other issues.   She also made initial adjustments on areas that were obviously in need.   I go back next week to discuss my treatment plan and determine the best course of treatment for me.   During this conversations we are going to talk about the best holistic approach to help me accomplish my goals.   We are going to discuss working towards better overall health, less stress, healing my PCOS/mitigating symptoms of my PCOS, and developing my abs.  (#absorababy)

Never miss a Monday

This morning was rough.

I did not under and circumstances want to get out of bed.   I wanted to leave my house at 7:30 at the latest to get to work, preferably 7:15 (I'm an accountant, the 1st is always a busy day) and finally I got out of bed at 6:45...but I did it.  I put on my tennis shoes and headed out on a very short 20 minute run to get the week started on the right foot.   

Luckily it wasn't too horribly hot out yet so I was able to avoid having to wash my hair thanks to a really high pony tail and dry shampoo.  So I still made it out the door at 7:50 and into the office at 8:15.   :)

Happy Monday everyone!  Let's make this a great week.