My feet ache! Or do they???

 A few weeks ago I was contacted by a representative from the company Flow Sole asking if I would be interested in trying their insoles that are for plantar fasciitis pain.   Of course I said yes!   It was a resounding yes!

I was diagnosed with plantar fasciitis in 2013.  (post here).  I immediately went out to follow the doctors advice.  By the end of the day I had purchased a device to add to my shoe to help with the pain.  I was set, right?    Well not quite!   What I bought was intolerably painful for me.  I tried something different with the same results.  This and that....I've most likely tried it and hated every product!   So when FlowSole offered for me to try their insoles for plantar pain I was all set to try!  

The package came in the mail after a few days.  And I was super excited to try them out.   I had taken a quick peek online when they first contacted me, but I chose to not look too deeply at the product.  I wanted to have a clear mind when I received and tried their product. (Which in the fairness of transparency, they did supply to me free of charge as compensation for a review.)   

The day came and I was super excited to open the package!   The packaging was neat and clean and the box gave some information about the company and product.  The packaging labelled this as the "foot pain relief insole". I was intrigued, but wary.  That is a big and bold statement to make.  I have suffered from foot pain almost my whole life, even before the plantar issues cropped up.  (This has always been referred to as "the Bone" and I wrote about it way back in the first year of this site,  in this post.)   Lifelong foot pain has made me very particular about my shoes and feet.   The main reason that I was wary was the fact that I typically have issues with any shoe or device  that has a large/pronounced arch. I can't tell you how many pairs of shoes and devices that have been purchased only to end up in the trashcan (my parents if they were alive would attest to this also as they bought me special shoes on more than one occasion).  So I honestly expected to put these insoles into my shoes and within moments hate them.

 

Instead, I put the insoles into my shoes. I put them into my favorite pair of Asolo Landscape boots, that are now used for yard work.  I chose those boots for a few reasons.  Number one, they were the shoes that I knew that I would be wearing the most over the following week or so.  Secondly, the Asolo Landscapes were nearing the end of their life and I wanted to really put the insoles through a test.  

I slipped my feet into the shoes with the insoles and my eyes widened with shock.  It wasn't painful!   They actually felt, dare I say it; comfy!  I wore them for a few hours and I was still wearing them when Jason and I ran out to go to a local store.   It was while we were strolling through the store that I felt it.  And it was not a good feel it!   My little toe on one foot was rubbing. (in shoes that had NEVER rubbed) and my feet were sore and achy!  Ok, that was me just trying to be nice,  they just downright HURT!   

Taking my shoes off never felt better! I was undeterred though, I have been told enough times to let my feet get accustomed to the new feelings.  The next day I put the shoes back on.   And do you know what?   They didn't hurt as bad!   And by the third day they actually felt really good!  By golly, these insoles actually worked!    Over the last few weeks I have been right on the edge of plantar pain.  (Yes, I can usually feel it coming on).  But this week I haven't had any of those twinges of pain!   I know, how awesome is that?

I know it's only been a week, but so far I am impressed!  I will definitely be using them more!  I may be buying more pairs of them also!  Not just for myself, but for Jason.  Yes, Jason saw them and declared that they looked really comfortable and he might need a pair!    

You can buy a pair of Flowsole Insoles for yourself.  They appear to be about $35-40 per a pair.  But seriously, if they can help foot pain, well worth double that price!     Check them out, you may like them.

Ups and downs.....10 year anniversary

10 years.  Wow. How has that happened?   Has it really been 10 years since I started this blog?????   10 years ago today I turned to the blogging world.  Just shy of 1800 blog posts later and I am still here!!!!   Wow,life has changed something fierce since I started this blog.

So here is a ten year in review and some lessons learned along the way blog.   I struggled with taking pictures of myself along the way.....a regret of mine.  (pictures are SO important on this journey)

I started this blog as a heavily overweight woman.  Here is a picture or two from that time....or rather, these pictures were taken December 2005....the closest pictures of myself I could find to the 10 year anniversary of this blog.   I was probably right around 260 pounds at this time....and had already lost roughly 50 pounds.

Not easy to see........

But I had a mission.  I was going to lose the weight.  I sadly, was losing the weight for the wrong reasons.....NEVER lose weight to try to make someone love you the way you want to be loved.  They need to love you for you and not the number on the scale or the size of your body.  It took me quite a few years to figure that lesson out. 

Right or wrong, I started working  diligently on this weight thing!!!! I walked.  I rode my bike. I became a collector of exercise videos and I actually used them....EVERY DAY!     I watched everything I ate.....and guess what?   It worked!   I can see my face had started thinning out in this picture.

By mid 2007 my weight was lower than ever and I was feeling fantastic!!!!  I wasn't done  I kept moving!  I kept working it!  And the weight just kept dropping!!!

By 2008 I had reached my goal weight (as prescribed by my doctor).   Oh my word.  I can't even describe how fabulous I felt.   I was on top of the world.  I had never felt that well physically as an adult.   My arthritis in my knees all but disappeared.  I felt confident.  I just can't describe how life was...I just felt GREAT! (Size 10 shorts in the picture below..my lowest size)

I even managed to make it to be a lifetime member at Weight watchers!!!!!!  GO me!!!!!!!

I still had some weight to lose.  I was still about 15 pounds over where the BMI charts told me that I needed to be in order to be healthy.  I pushed..and pushed.   Family and friends started to worry about me and told me that my face looked gaunt and started asking if I was sick.  I knew I wasn't.  I never saw myself as a thin person.  So I pushed forward.  But I can NOW see how my face was SOOOOO thin!  

It was shortly after this picture that I realized that losing the weight in an effort to make my husband love me the way I needed to be loved was NOT working.  My marriage was still on the rocks, and nothing I was doing was working  (I had tried everything...not just a massive weight loss!).  I stopped caring about my weight....after all the purpose for losing weight had crumbled and proved to be ineffective. Ok, I still wanted to be thin, but I didn't want to bother with watching everything.  I didn't want to worry about the work it would take to complete my mission.  I started to slip.  

In 2009 I had done something I said I would NEVER do.....allow my weight to creep back above 200 pounds.    

By the way...I don't like the weird mouth thing going on...but my hair was AWESOME in this picture!!!    In 2009 I met a blog buddy for the first  and we rode Girls with Gears!!! What a fabulous experience and what a fabulous friend!!  I was about 210 pounds.  

Donna and I had so much fun doing the Girls with Gears Bike ride that we decided to do Pedal to Preserve the same year.  You can see that I gained weight between these two rides...two short months.  My hair was still awesome though!!!

I vowed over and over to stop the weight gain.  But I'm ashamed to say that it kept creeping up and up.

I took steps to try to eliminate the weight.  I just struggled.  I rode in Pedal to Preserve the following year, 2010  (I have no pictures of me doing it)   I had gained even more.     

I never gained everything back as evidenced in this 2011 or 2012 picture. But I had done some serious weight gain!

My salvation during this time was that I never stopped exercising.  I still rode my bike.  I had started going to zumba religiously.  I was still moving  and being active.  I was just gaining.  Weight is lost in the kitchen....NOT the gym and I was/am living proof!

In 2013  I decided to start losing weight for ME.  I didn't care what anyone else thought.  This was a mission for ME.   My weight started to drop again.  I was well on my way.   Things were looking GRAND for me and my weight loss.  I was featured in a newspaper article talking about my weight loss.  I had this in the bag I was on my way back to my goal weight!!!!!

Yup.....a picture from the article.  Not the grandest picture...but it was out there for the world to see.

Remember when I said I 'had this'?   I thought I did.  But my already crumbling marriage took a blow that no marriage should EVER have to endure.....and I lost my focus again.

I'd like to say that I got that focus back.  But I didn't. Once again I kept moving.  I was running.  I was going to zumba.  I was riding my bikes.  I was walking.  But the weight was not coming off.

I ran in 5K's and even a few 10K's and the weight just wasn't dropping......

 In mid 2014 I started to lose weight again.......

Then my life changed drastically.  My marriage ended....and I finally admitted to the world what I had known for years!      Life was upside down and I still couldn't get a grip on it...but I kept moving!!!!  I kept pushing....but gained again.

2015 was rough for my weight.  I regained what I lost in 2014.....maybe I needed the year to come to terms with where I was in life.  My life had turned upside down in so many ways.  I had to come to terms with being single.  I had to come to an understanding with the dating world (wow.....just wow). I had to figure out where I stood in this world.  And my weight suffered.

It took quite a bit of time....but in October of 2015  it  clicked and I am back on track.

I've been on some vacations and done some day trips since I got back on track.  And I have still managed to lose weight!  I have walked a fair amount site seeing (my tracker showed me on a good many of my vacation days walking well over 5 miles each day...with some being as high as 10 miles) and have been doing some more walking and hiking with a friend outdoors.  (and some spraining of the ankle sorry "J".... I know that freaked you out!!!!!!!)

Sprained ankle.....crazy life changes....I'm not out for the count.  (Ankle bothered me last night so running still on hold!!). I'm working it and slowly losing again.  This is a lifelong journey....it's not an easy one.  It's not one with a definitive end...because when the weight is gone it shifts to maintaining the loss......for the rest of my life.

Honestly, this post was difficult to write.  Emotional.  It was awesome to see the confidence on my face as a thin woman.  It was torture to watch the weight creep back on and to relive that failure.  It was emotional to relieve the emotions of the last 10 years.  I wasn't happy for most of the 10 years....just masking the pain and sadness with a false smile.   But I can see when I was taking steps for ME that the smile actually radiated from my eyes and my soul.   Hmmm.....another lesson learned!!!!!!

All of these lessons over the last 10 years have shaped me into the woman I am today and have directed me to be the woman that I want to be.

It's time to look to the future.  The future is out there.....and I can write the book any way I want!

I want to write it as a thin woman.

I want to write it as a happy woman.

I want to write it as an ACTIVE woman.

I will write is as a content woman!!

This is MY story, I am in control!

Quesadilla Madness

A month or so ago I was contacted and asked if I would like to review a new product that is out there.  It was a new product by Old El Paso.  I jumped at this as Todd and I both like tex-mex food.   I signed up and then promptly forgot about it.  A week or so later I was pleasantly surprised to get a package in the mail!  YIPPEE

I was given a free coupon for an Old El Paso frozen meal.  On my next grocery trip I was excited to check out the products and use my coupon.  However, the store didn't have any Old El Paso frozen products.  I looked at another store.  Nothing.  It became a bit of a challenge.  Every time I went into a store I looked at the frozen aisle looking for this product.  FINALLY, I hit pay dirt! 



I chose the Chicken Quesadillas.  It sounded good to both Todd and I.  I took them home and waited until the perfect opportunity to eat them.  I figured that this would be a good meal for Todd to prepare.  On nights when I have zumba and he is home, I either have  casserole prepared or I will have something like a frozen pizza ready for dinner so that he can pop it in the oven at the right time.





The day to try the chicken quesadillas arrived and I looked at the box.  620 calories for two quesadillas.  I wasn't too concerned as that was only  a few calories over what I usually allot for dinner. I will admit that I had a fleeting thought that those quesadillas could be miniature in size so that two wouldn't fill up an ants stomach. Luckily that was not the case.  The quesadillas were actually a very decent size!

I looked at the directions and I had my first shock. The box was clearly marked "dinner for two". I had been expecting directions such as 'bake for 20 minutes...."   Surprise!!!!!   Microwave instructions were the ONLY instructions, in fact the box clearly said do not use an oven or toaster oven.  Hmmmmm.   Even bigger surprise?  Microwave ONE at a time.  Uhhhh, there are two of us.....four quesadillas.

I opened the box. Each quesadilla was individually wrapped.  I popped open the wrapping and threw the first one on a plate, covered it with a paper towel and threw it in the microwave.   After I had two cooked we sat down to eat while I put the third quesdilla in the microwave.   (I had to interrupt my dinner to pull the third and fourth quesadillas out of the microwave).   I was not happy with the cooking options.....serving two people at the same time, with pipping hot food is difficult when you can only microwave one at a time.

We sat down to eat.  I pulled out some sour cream and taco sauce.  We took a sample bite.  Todd pulled his normal jokster "ewwww" but then quickly dove in for another bite, and then another.   His words were that "this is definitely a keeper".    The chicken didn't have a frozen processed food taste and I was pleasantly surprised that they actually had pieces of onion and pepper that had handled the freezing process quite well.  They had a touch of spice to them.  I personally thought that they tasted better with a splash of taco sauce (or saslsa) and some sour cream....otherwise they seemed a tad dry.  But seriously? Who doesn't put that stuff on anyway.  ha ha ha

Overall, we REALLY liked the taste.  It was flavorful and quite tasty!

Will I buy these again?  Probably.  I won't be using them as a 'together meal' for Todd and I.... (simply basing that upon the awkwardness of preparation!)  .but it would make a GREAT 'alone' meal for either Todd or I......  One of those days when we are eating on our own.  I would venture to say that I would probably be satisfied with one of the quesadillas...(just not after a nice intense workout like tonight!)  which would take the calorie count down to 310......quite doable!

(And yes, that's a full sized plate...not a dessert plate)