On a scale of one to ten, ten being the worst, my edema has always been about an eight or nine. I've always hated wearing bracelets or watches because I've always felt that it only draws attention to how chubby and kid-like my hands look. Not to mention, at the end of the day, a lot of the time my ankles and feet were so swollen, it was painful to get going again after sitting all day. The worst of it all has always been my stomach. I've never really considered myself to be all that big necessarily but my mid section, from my chest to my hips, has always been the largest part of my body and always swollen looking.
Since switching to Clean eating, this has all changed. It was my birthday recently and I kind of slipped into the abyss after having cake and chocolates brought to me for my birthday dinner. I decided to start challenging myself staring today (November 4th) by trying to eat Clean, drink more shakes/smoothies and try to stick to a workout regiment. Day one is down and my flanges are looking beautiful. It never seems to go back into my feet anymore unless I've had a LOT of sodium or alcohol, but it always goes right for my stomach and fingers. My stomach isn't great, still pretty 'gurgley' truth be told but my fingers are looking the best they have in some time!
I always forget how awesome day one feels until I'm there again. My goal is to get to Thanksgiving with a perfect record. We'll see if it happens but I'm very hopeful! This time I not only want to prove something to others, but really myself. I went through a breakup in the last ten months and I always feel that makes you question yourself. What did I do wrong? Am I not attractive enough? Was I not sexy enough? Was I rude? Did I push? And so on, and so forth. I think that doubt has been fueling my health decisions for the last ten months and it is time I break away from that. I am out to prove something, prove that I can overcome every doubt that was planted in my head these last two years. Here goes nothing!
I have been on birth control for twelve years now and three months ago decided to take a break. I've always been scared to because my face explodes the moment I come off of it (which it did, but that's my own fault as I have not been eating as Clean as I should) and my periods were never regular (which they now are). Thanks to the healing powers of Clean eating, I had the strength to once again try to come off of birth control. I have been tracking it and every 34 days for the last three months I have had a cycle like clockwork. My energy levels used to be so depleted during it and now they're not. Not to mention my cravings aren't ravenous anymore either. All and all it's a much more pleasurable experience than I remember. I will admit that the cramps were excruciating for an hour here or there but I blame myself for that as I snuck some gluten for my birthday this year. Staring today (Sunday, November 3, 2013) I am making a pact with myself that between now and Thanksgiving, I am going to be absolutely perfect in my clean eating. Starting with Cleansing, today. I'll be tracking my progress and taking pictures as I go so I can share my results. I'm excited to feel even better during my next cycle. Keep on trekking cysters!
