It's 1:45 a.m. o.O

I did not work out hard enough today. Dang it! ><

32-minute Insanity Cardio Recovery DVD (which I input into myfitnesspal as "Stretching, hatha yoga" vs. "Aerobics, high-impact") and bellydance class.

The letter "z" in triplicate, please! -.-

Better than 20/20! Seeing 20/15 :)

Cute bunny drawing from here.

Two weeks later, and I'm seeing better than 20/20! I think the national statistic is something like 80% of LASIK patients achieve 20/20 or better, while 15% need further enhancements? Well, technician Amanda had me reading the 20/15 line (better than 20/20), and backwards, just in case I was memorizing! The 20/10 line escaped me though--I could see different sized black/gray dots.

Bryan took a look at my right eye and said, "Awesome!" My carefulness with not wearing any makeup nor sunscreen for two weeks, but putting in lots of drops and wearing sunglasses and hats really seemed to help. He was silent for a while on the left eye... It still looked a bit dry, so now I'm ramping up the various eyedrops... 'Still a little bit of red in the whites of my eyes, leftover from the suction that they put over eyes during the procedure, but I no longer feel I have to hide behind my sunglasses. I will continue to wear a lot of UV protection for the next 6 months until my next follow-up exam.

Color me happy

This background was chosen to represent some upcoming travel... The brown is getting a bit drab for me. How about some summertime watermelon stripes?

Diet. Exercise. Sleep.

(Image from Top 10 Cutest Bunnies You'll See Today)

What is the secret to staying fit? Surprise, surprise. Diet and exercise! And sleep! But how does one go about achieving all three?

Some years ago, my father had quintuple bypass surgery. It was a wake up call to everyone to eat healthier. The foods we ate changed, but portion sizes didn't. We also didn't REALLY exercise. We didn't really know HOW to exercise.

I have a family history of heart disease. My grandmother has had a couple of strokes. My grandfather had as well, and passed away because of one. My mother had a mild stroke, and two stints. My grandmother does not look fat, but that cholesterol build-up is somewhere on the inside, in her arteries...

In February of this year, I set out on a quest to get fit and develop a health plan for my parents. In the process, I've learned a few things I'd love to share with you. Below are some basics. I'll follow up in subsequent posts with details of what foods and methods I've found to work for me, including excerpts from things I've written to my workout buddies during my ongoing journey of health and well-being.

DIET

I've found that the easiest way for me to determine how many calories to consume in a day is to use the automatic calorie wizard on myfitnesspal.com. When I first started to track calories, it was difficult. I thought obsessively about food and portion sizes. I learned to find low-calorie, yet filling foods. Slowly, my body got used to ingesting the suggested number of calories and the calories I "earned" from working out. Then I was able to find healthier, low-calorie foods. More details later.

EXERCISE

Remember these three things: cardio, strength, and flexibility.

You will need all three throughout your life to be fit -- yes, even if you are a female above 50 years young, you need to develop a strong core to have better balance and not be prone to falling.

A couple of years ago, I chickened out to try Insanity. I knew it was what I needed to get fit, but I had heard about too much impact on the joints and many injuries, so I purchased P90X instead. I somehow could not stick to P90X past 5 weeks. Fast forward to this year, I took many precautions to protect joints, and I "earned" my Insanity T-shirt from completing the program. Now I'm on my second week of my second round of Insanity, getting geared up for kayaking the Grand Canyon soon. Not only can I do chin-ups (something I was never able to do before), but I can do 5 in a row (granted, with a jump up in the beginning, and half-bent arms).

SLEEP

If you have a full-time job, developing a daily plan for diet and exercise along with getting enough sleep is very difficult. Maximize the calorie-burning potential of your workouts by interval training or max interval training. Basically, (warm-up and stretch for flexibility and injury prevention,) do short bursts of intense and varied exercises to get your heart rate up (to safe levels with a heart rate monitor), with short rest periods (and drink a LOT of water and eat enough protein to replenish your body and reduce soreness). Plan your meals a week ahead, perhaps during the weekend, with lots of filling raw veggies in individual to-go containers or plastic zip-bags.

I'm one of those people who, without exercising, is mostly sedentary in her work. So at night, I still have a lot of energy left and have trouble sleeping. Working out hard seems to actually help regulate my sleep schedule. On days that I work out, at night I fall asleep very quickly, sleep deeply, sleep continuously for a longer period of time, and wake up feeling refreshed the next day.

DISCLAIMER

The above info is a combination of my own experience and research. I am currently not a "fitness professional" nor dietician. There are many different ways to track calories and burn calories, and each individual's circumstances are different. Research what you need to tailor your own plan for health and well-being.

TGIF - Thank Goodness I'm Four-eyes-free!

I'm very much against underage/excessive alcohol-drinking and other lame escapist tendencies, but I'm all about partying on with natural highs and this video is pretty funny. Cheers to perfect vision! (And no more alternating-color rubber-band braces...)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlyXNRrsk4A

I can read my shampoo bottle ingredients!

I CAN SEE!!! I was reading the 20/20 line the morning after LASIK. (The first day Valium made me so sleepy.) Shout out and major props to Dr. Bryan and the awesome staff... I will describe more about my experience soon...

I've been having fun sporting all kinds of sunglasses...

'Bummed that I can't swim for 2 weeks! I missed out riding Riverpark's multiple waterslides at today's July-3rd July 4th celebration, but I took a bunch of pics (to come) of other people flying down! Great way to cool off on a hot summer day.

I'm glad that I'm getting LASIK now though. Planning on going kayaking/camping in the Grand Canyon in a few months, and I definitely don't want to be fiddling with contacts then.

Soon, I'll be posting more about diet, exercise, and sleep...

New look!

Old fuzzy background.

There is some residual redness in the white parts of my eye, which is normal. It's from the suction that goes around the eye during the procedure. To commemorate this redness, I am using this watercolory, artsy background. Ew! Don't worry, it'll change, as I will, soon.

Seeing 20/20! B)

Image from here.

Had LASIK yesterday afternoon, slept a lot, went in for check up this morning, seeing 20/20! :) Wearing sunglasses. B) Still sleepy from the valium (I'm a lightweight). -.-