let's get serious - an up-close-and-personal account (part one)

the past two and a half months have been insane. longer than that actually. not having posted in a while is tough to swallow. feeling the original vision for this blog has escaped me, is as well. at the same time, so much has happened from post numero uno up until now. in the blink of an eye, nearly everything has changed. within less than a year. . . for that reason, taking a step back was very much needed. time to regroup. re-prioritize. rethink goals to better fit life as it is now. rediscover this girl's groove . . .

this project has been ongoing since the middle of january. new year's resolutions don't appeal to me, so the timing is sort of ironic. in reality, the day-to-day was becoming a bit too much, and this wavy-haired head of mine was beginning to dip below the water's surface . . .  now that the reins are more steady in these little hands, i'd like to share . . . 

health. workouts. diet. what's the deal?

before we dive in, on a health-related note, being snotty-sick for the majority of this year was less than bueno. the flu has not lassoed me in years! back-to-back ensnarement was its trap this time. so glad my immune system finally decided to intervene!

truth be told, i have been dealing with several non-emergent health issues for the past 10 years. it has lead to seeing a number of doctors. several specialists. undergoing a plethora of tests. numerous hours spent in doctor's offices. years of being sick of being sick. this girl is thrilled to report that since the fall, a few key findings have been made. there is still a long road ahead, but i am making strides towards understanding this body, and beginning to feel better.

a huge win was finally uncovering my stomach's love-hate relationship with food. learning definitively that i suffer from ibs was no surprise. discovering sugar malabsorption is a real condition, and the true root to every stomach woe, was nearly mind blowing. banishing all one hundred million food triggers has impacted day-to-day life immensely. it is still a trial-by-error process (because the list of "potential" triggers is incessantly long), but it has lead to having a better grasp on which foods to avoid at all costs, which can be indulged on every now and then (because many happen to be favorite foods and let's face it, one can't simply banish all things good!), and which can be feasted on to this picky stomach's content . . .

you may have wondered why it has been a while since an emphasis on workouts has been a post focus. or maybe you haven't. who knows ;) it is most certainly not due to having abandoned my training goals. with the health stuffs mentioned earlier (that include pain issues that have yet to be understood), tailoring workouts to what feels best on my body on that given day has been a must. something that makes planning workouts in advance rather difficult. yoga has been a big part of life again. sweaty gym seshs are not just a thing of the past, but this body of mine requires patience and needs to be weaned back into tough, demanding workouts . . .