In the holiday hurricane.

Rather than delving into juicy details of my personal life and how I am still living on an air mattress, couch, or just crashing on my dogs, I’ll take this post to cover a topic we all seem to shutter at for one reason or another: the holidays. So, Thanksgiving has already passed and to touch on that briefly, I have to state that my optimism on my willpower was low the days preceding this day. First, my family has typical drama and places many obligations on me to dote on everyone, on top of carving time for my in-laws an hour and a half away, topped with the stress I feel just thinking of what types of food may come across my path and how I am going to battle balancing out healthy and not-so-healthy. Well, long story short, I did not even end up celebrating Thanksgiving this year! Ha! The day came and went, I had a few depressed days but believe that was due to the cold and this dreary Ohio weather and external factors rather than feelings of emptiness, even with my husband being deployed during every holiday. Now, since then I have been eating according to my goals but perhaps just truly realized an aspect of my PCOS that I had thought was just me being lazy and noncommittal: I am OCD and the only way I don’t crave sugar and carbohydrates is by being relatively ‘strict’.

I explain this because I will feel renewed and full of energy after many straight days of eating just whole, organic, real food with absolutely nothing processed and then I’m on the road or making cookies to send my husband and think I can handle just having one, right?! Wrong! I seriously want to start kicking and screaming (that’s what I literally feel like inside) when I have these days. One cookie or slip in diet leads me to crave carbohydrates. Now, I’m not talking necessarily cakes, cookies, chips, etc., I’m talking complex carbohydrates, like sweet potatoes, oatmeal, gluten-free cereals, and well-I’m always craving natural nut butter; I must note that I only buy products that are under 6g of sugar, as well, so it’s not like these are high sugar items. So, I end up feeling like a mad crazy, chunka-munk of a woman raiding the kitchen, like I cannot get enough of my ‘crack’. How did I think that was normal before or just that I should be ‘punished’ for going off my diet? Please, someone correct me if I’m wrong, but from what I’ve researched with PCOS-friendly nutrition and insulin sensitivity, eating complex carbohydrates are typically easy on us, of course within proper portion sizes. With that said, I have now recognized that, 1. I have been over-complicating my diet in order to obtain my thin physique that I had only several months ago and 2. I need to make a plan and have accountability partners because my family does not (and I do not expect them to) understand the impact certain foods have on my body.

With several holidays currently running and coming up quickly, how can we fight the holiday hurricane of sugar and whacked out insulin and bloating while feeling strong and triumphant over our symptoms? Do you talk with your families and friends about your symptoms? It is inevitable that we will be subject to foods that do not agree with our bodies, especially during the holidays and that not everyone will support our whole, organic, or healthier options because, as some family members often claim, I’m, “obsessed, a protein monster, not fun, too serious”. Instead of succumbing to that one little bite or negative responses that we know will lead us down a destructive path (at least within our minds, if not being like me raiding the jar of nut butter), how can we focus our holidays around doing something other than just eating? I’d like to challenge each of us to pick a new activity or inspire a diverse conversation during a holiday event to prevent the temptation of food and perhaps even educate those around us on something they do not know. To close, I would like to highlight one little tip that I’ve researched and found to be beneficial: at least once a day, if not at each meal (esp. with carbohydrates or sugars), drink a shot of apple cider vinegar in order to assist with glucose utilization.

I have created a group within our Community entitled, “Life out PCOS”, and I encourage everyone to come over and join in the discussion and support one another in a journey for fitness and health!

@aura_Sklenicka

Note: This blog technically belongs to the organization, PCOS Awareness Association, as it's original version is posted within that site's Blog.

No risk-no reward!

As my last post entails, I decided close to the last minute to sign up for the 2014 Bodyspace Spokesmodel Search. After much anxiety because I am not necessarily where I want to be right now, I chose a safe 'risk' of enrolling and making myself vulnerable to being let down because if I don't put myself out there, when will I ever? While I know through my journey of not only life but especially my with my health and fitness that we cannot sit still and expect change to come our way. Haven't the greatest successes in our history come about from constant failure, rejection and tough battles only to be continuously pursued with persistence and dedication? Alas, I uploaded the video, put in some progress pictures and hopefully they all meet not only the requirements but impress the internal judges @ Bodybuilding.com enough to place me in the top 20 for the females. I'll keep you posted!

Open book moment: I had to have another invasive procedure recently (which added to my above-mentioned anxiety) relative to my PCOS and did have an emotional break down. I felt like despite being strict on my diet and lifting and doing loads of HIIT at the gym, my body wasn't responding. Then more procedures and associated bloating and well, I'm just FED UP being in stirrups and doctors offices this year! I nearly fell into my old trap of starvation diet and copious amounts of cardio then fall into the depression cycle because I don't feel up to par compared to other women entering the contest. Ummm, key word: compared. I cannot be a hypocrite and tell other women not to compare themselves to others since each journey is unique and then do the same and beat myself up; it won't be the end of the world if I don't get chosen. With that said, I managed to pull away from those negative thoughts and actions as quick as possible and remembered that I'm human and I DID SAY that I wanted to do this with a focus on health versus just appearance.

Conclusion: Yes, I was training hard but I was allowing my upheaval from my home, new environment of living, being on the road, finding work, my symptoms, procedures, etc. to take center stage and really wasn't ending each day feeling fulfilled. As trivial as this may seem to some, I recognized last night that I do need more structure in my life and the only thing I can control is my fitness timeline. I am choosing to finally set down and pick a show (although Dr. Sara Solomon, who is a fitness role model for me, has been leading me to contemplate a WBFF show over NPC because they appear to hold healthier views on what a physique should look like and live healthy year-round) so that I have more holding me accountable. Finally, I awoke this morning with a fire ignited within me. Something had changed over night. I stepped into the gym with vigor and determination in my eyes. I said from the beginning that I wanted to represent women with PCOS in the bodybuilding world and that is just what I will focus on and all the women I interact with are my motivation!
Lower body insanity from today was a combination of the following:
Leg extensions
Lunges
BB Squats
Calf raises
Leg press
Calves on leg press
Single leg deadlifts
Hamstring curls
Rope pull abs
Lying leg raises

I varied my weight, continuously going heavy, varied my rep range but absolutely did not stop, no rest...who needs cardio when you just lift heavy and fast?! Also, I am trying out new videos but learned I cannot do it with my phone, so the only place it would upload to is my FaceBook. I went through a typical PCOS-friendly smoothie that is packed with everything you want for a delicious and healthy post-workout (or whenever) meal!

2014BodyspaceSpokesmodel

I just uploaded my mandatory video and my progress pics on Bodyspace (via Bodybuilding.com) were already up! I am ready to expand our voice for PCOS and show that weightlifting is beneficial and we can achieve anything we set our minds to, so wish me luck, please and thank you! Also, I created a group on Bodyspace called, "Lift out PCOS", for fellow ladies to join. It is an optimistic, judgment and intimidation-free zone!

Get your Namaste on.

Let's face it: yoga can be intimidating. Go on social media, look into a yoga studio, or simply Google it and the vision is made that Yogis are only super flexible individuals that are able to maneuver their bodies into crazy positions and have a great calm all while doing so. These practitioners deserve applause for their dedication and abilities but never forget that everyone has their strengths AND we all start somewhere. Everyone is always a work in progress within their own right and I'm sure they didn't just jump into their first ever yoga session capable of doing a full Peacock Pose (or more properly, Mayurasana). Despite any intimidation factor, in any facet of health & fitness, yoga has been proven to be immensely beneficial for women with PCOS.

In addition to my current workout regimen, I always include at least 2 days a week of yoga practice. Honestly, it wavers from week to week but I feel my best when I awake with sun salutations, even just for 10 minutes each morning and utilize a longer practice for a post-workout stretch and relaxation. I have found that by doing so, my stress hormones are reduced and the intense nature of my workouts and diet do not impact me negatively (such as they were during competition prep; discussed in an earlier posting). Unfortunately, I have never had the opportunity or made the leap to attending a class because of availability near me and time conflicts but I have found YouTube to be a great resource! If you are new to yoga, cramped on time, or want a good meditation practice, I highly recommend:

Yogea ArtFlow Yoga

Plum TV- Yoga with Colleen Saidman

DoYogaWithMe.com

 

Why is yoga even more beneficial for PCOS?

Breathing techniques (pranayamas) assist in relaxing the mind and assist in meditation.

- This will aid in reducing overall stress, cortisol levels and detox.

Specific postures (asanas) can be done to focus on the pelvic region, reproductive system and organs impacted by hormonal imbalances.

- They will leave you feeling rejuvenated, clean on top of an increase in flexibility, weight loss and in some cases, may be integral in proper organ and system functioning.

Check out these tailored options.

 

How has yoga impacted my life?

When I practice on a regular basis, my OCD tendencies are more in check, depression does not show it's nasty face as easily, I have a better perspective on my current situation because I am forced to be introspective, my flexibility increases slightly each time (this is a huge bonus when lifting), I am grateful in any tumultuous situation, and of course a PCOS favorite: a reduction in breakouts!

 

Tips:

Try to do on an empty stomach. (Trust me, I've not waited long enough after a meal and it didn't feel too amazing in my digestive system!)

Drink plenty of water after a practice to rehydrate.

Find an empty, serene area-preferably with a view of nature to ensure complete relaxation and dedication to your practice.

Focus on your breathing-this will help quiet the crazy ongoing thoughts.

 

 

 

 

 



So you want to start working out...?!



And..here's your funny for today!

 

Recently, I have been approached by two different females with very different fitness goals, lifestyles, age ranges, body compositions, and access to equipment seeking advice on wanting to start on a path to getting in shape. As a frequent reader of many social media and fitness sites, I have found a common theme that women don't want to get bulky and just want to look toned. Unfortunately, some advertising and marketing schemes have made women assume that these are any valid outcomes of working out. First off, while the rate of muscle growth is greatest for newbies, it takes a tailored diet and lifting regimen to truly see large muscles on a female. (I will highlight PCOS and muscle growth in a moment.*) Secondly, that toned appearance can come only from using muscles, not from just doing cardio. (Trust me: I was a cardio bunny at the beginning of my journey and mind you, my weight was lower but my booty was not lifted and I wasn't necessarily 'tight'.) You will get lifted in all the right places just by slowly implementing a resistance aspect to your fitness routine. With that said, I have come up with a few circuits that you can complete if you are new to working out and have no equipment at home. I will do circuits like this at times I do not have access to my home equipment or a gym. I hope the links have not expired on these, but it should send you to videos demonstrating proper form.

 

For the following circuits, do each workout in order, take a minute or two break and then repeat the sequence again as many times as possible. (I'd say first go for at least 2, no more than 5 times through each circuit.) For each exercise in the circuit, do as many as possible, until your muscles become fatigued. I've made the name of each exercise a link to exercise demonstrations that help show you proper form. Example: Circuit One, do 15 pushups, 12 bench dips, 45 seconds wall sit, 30 Russian twists. I take a water break, then repeat that circuit 2 more times before moving on to Circuit Two. I'd recommend doing this workout 3 times this week, with a rest day in-between (i.e. Monday, Wednesday, Friday).

Circuit One

Pushups

Bench Dips

Wall Sit
Russian Twist

Circuit Two

Plank
Flutter Kicks
Diamond Pushups
Bodyweight Squat

Circuit Three

Mountain Climbers
Calf Raise
Jumping Jacks
Bodyweight Lunges



If you are already doing cardio, go ahead just remember that there is no need to over-do it! I'm a fan of High Intensity Intervals or Tabata training but I cannot recommend that for unseasoned individuals, as it is easy to lose coordination and injure oneself during these. For those with PCOS, if you incorporate these circuits, and yoga and leisure walks several times a week you should be good; no need to overstress your adrenal system. REMEMBER that the #1 first goal of working out should be a focus on health, hence my little graphic above! Focusing on health first will also decrease the liability that you will stop the program because it does take time to see physical changes. Invest now in your health and save money and enjoy life down the road!
 

*If you are an aerobics junky, stop. Do low intensity relaxing exercise (leisure walking, tai chi, restorative yoga) and weight training instead to control cortisol which can be one of the major issues in disrupting brain ovary signaling. (Teta, Jade. Metabolic Effect, Inc. "How To Lose Weight with PCOS". www.metaboliceffect.com)

 

 

 

 

Where do I begin...?

It would be near impossible (without boring the hell out of you) to explain the past month of my life to you, so I will attempt to sum it up and circle back around to something PCOS-related. Mkay?

After my husband being deployed for a week, we finally got a call that a potential tenant wanted to schedule a showing of the house and awesome enough, the day became a gold mine of potentials, leaving the puppies and I on the road, eating egg whites out of the truck and not getting a post-workout shower until late at night. The day was a success, though, and the new tenant was eager to get in asap: a.k.a. Aura, you have to be out of the house in a few days. Say whaaaaat?! Somehow I managed to get everything packed, moved into storage or my vehicle, and cleaned with ample time (thanks to Mike & Amanda for being awesome friends!) and got to the gym most of those few days because I knew it would reduce my anxiety.

So, the house was rented and the pups and I ended up at my Ma's house. It was perfect timing because I was able to spend my brother's birthday week with him and some quality time with my nephew and sister-in-law. Now, I was freaking out quite a bit because honestly, Ken and I did not want to transition from the military back to Ohio. While we love our families and adore the time we have with them, we both agreed that we wanted to move forward with something new in our life, especially with such a huge life change coming. With that said, I (sadly) left my pups with my Ma and drove out to Chicago in search of temp work until I can begin working with Teach For America in the spring. For the past 2 weeks, I have gone to a variety of interviews and finally landed a teaching position that I will begin on Friday! (I still find it ironic that I could not get a professional interview success for the past year in NC but I get here and have multiple opportunities immediately awaiting.) I feel blessed to have my sister here to stay with and she has been awesome but I definitely have not felt like myself.
.....
I have done healthy food prep several times but am thrown off because I'm too afraid to run the blender in the middle of the day when my brother-in-law is sleeping before work, I'm trying to save money so am too cheap to go buy protein because I'm still in sticker shock from coming from a NC budget and military access, I have gone to the gym every single day (and that is a blessing), I am not on an eating schedule because her kitchen is just not what I'm accustom and I feel awkward, etc. etc. etc. I'm really trying hard to stick with a clean diet as much as possible but admittedly, I've had one too many 'off' days in the past 2 weeks. I am not beating myself up about it, but I am worried because they have come about from either a.) staying out too late to be a designated driver or the fact that I went out twice and I never go out or drink so my sleep is lacking, which is a big No-no for me (&PCOS) or b.) I'm depressed.
Phew, that felt like a relief. I don't know if anyone reads this far down but it feels good to have that off my chest. I don't want to share an additional stress with my husband and my sister, while she's an awesome listener, she has recognized it and I fear she will feel guilt for it regardless the fact that it has anything to do with her or not. I have cried more times in the past 2 weeks than I have in the past 2 years...or more. I'm not a crier, typically not emotional, and well, I asked for this right? I'm honestly starting to think that I was too naïve in realizing what life would be life until I have my family back together here. I miss my quiet, boring, country life right now and while I know it will subside soon enough, I can't help but think I've made a mistake uprooting our entire life for the dream of 'making a difference' or 'greater impact'. I feel like I've already matured even more in the sense that I should have listened to my wise husband when he told me that it doesn't matter if I'm in the city because I have already touched so many lives in my young age, even living in a suburban military community. I'm praying everyday for the pieces to fall where they will and that I can keep picking myself back up with an optimistic attitude and healthy lifestyle.

With that said, if you have PCOS, please-I beg of you-try to get those 8 recommended hours of sleep each and every night; you will know when your body is rested and properly performing and you have that positive mindset and little stress that you have gotten a restful night sleep. The stress that many of us PCOSers' have is only magnified when we are lacking sleep and proper nutrition; trust me on this one.

More to come soon enough, as I will be back on the blogging grind with more focused on PCOS recipes and fitness updates-I forgot to mention I'm OFFICIALLY an ACE Certified Personal Trainer, as I passed my exam last week. I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to have clientele with PCOS, as I can understand the frustration with managing weight with this syndrome. If interested, please let me know!
Until next time....
Take time each day to reflect on your personal and professional goals and recognize what truly matters in life.

Be YOU...and Happy PCOS Awareness Month!

True or false: Several nights (or days) each week, you find yourself surfing one of the social media sites (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc.) and get down on yourself because, well, you simply are not having as much fun as all your social media friends?
If you say, 'False', then I will be short and sweet and let you know I am jealous but I am striving to be like you, oh confidence ones!
If you say, 'True', first, it makes my sister and I look like less of boring old, young ladies and more human. Secondly, although my sister just (yes, I'm a late bloomer...in every sense) helped me realize that I compare myself to others, especially strangers, all too frequently, I am adamant on fixing this and hope you will do the same! While I've never watched the television show, "Portlandia", my sister was describing an episode where a guy comes back from what was apparently an amazingly fun-filled vacation with his new girlfriend (according to all the airport photographs they posted on Facebook) but in all actuality, she slept the whole time. (If you watch this show and my summary of this episode is incorrect, please let me know, or I will just go catch up on it myself. Thanks!) So, how did this conversation arise? You see, my sister lives in Chicago, where there is always something to be doing, but recently quit her longtime job to focus on finishing her degree-she's also still a 'newlywed' but my brother-in-law works ump-teen hour days. This means--->she is now finding herself at home alone many nights delving into Netflix and calling me to talk for hours. Hey, at first, I laughed with her and felt depressed because I am a military spouse, so I am ALL TOO aware of the beauty of having Netflix and peanut butter by my side while my husband is away; although I find this extremely unbeautiful after multiple deployments. (Mind you, we do live in the middle of nowhere basically, too...which makes me look on Instagram at all the bodybuilding competitors I follow and wish I was at least doing 2-a-days with them and getting glammed up to eat nothing but healthy food out of Tupperware. Okay, that was a bit facetious, given that I do look up to a lot of them as role models but idolatry is not something we should cherish-but I hope you get my gist here.) Okay, so to wrap it up, my initial thoughts on this changed after her and I dug more philosophically into this issue and recognized that we really ARE NOT the only ones doing this: comparing our seemingly boring lives to our friends on social media, who MUST have a million real life friends, always be sitting on the beach, working out with celebrities and NEVER sit down to watch Netflix. Now, I'm not by any means saying not to reach for the stars in our goals, dreams, aspirations, etc. because one day I will have all those things (to my own personal degree, I suppose) but for right now, how about we just enjoy the life we are living and stop trying to be someone else, who we think someone else is or how they live their day and cherish the here and now.
That.is.hard.because I love change and it can be difficult to sit still but, to relate this to our PCOS, we are already hard enough on ourselves given the condition of our body, hormones, and possibly TTC, so why pretend to be a fake version of ourselves when our true, confident personality (and sitting home in our snuggy every once in a while) is what makes us unique.
As always, I know I ramble, but I hope that my intent shines through....
So, if anyone is reading all the way through, here is a question for PCOS Awareness Month, so we can focus on positive goals:
What is a dream of yours that you've been told is impossible or have felt is too far out of reach?
(I'd love to hear how you can change that impossible into a possible, too! Reach for the stars!)