Charging Elephant Blog

It all started October 1st or as we in the LDS culture say... Conference weekend. I decided to take life by the horns yet again and really commit to a 7 day cleanse right after I got royally cleansed from a colonoscopy about a week prior. Needless to say I am a was feeling pretty cleaned out by the 2 week of October. I purchased products from something I have been researching for some time now and finally got the funds to purchase the M3 pledge products, that include a vanilla all vegan protein shake, a chocolate fiber drink and some pills called Burn that help keep my metabolism up and help me burn calories through out the day and curb my munchies. I also purchased a product that is called Trim but as most of the people call it is Liquid Gold that helps absorb fat cells and helps with skin, joints and much more!!! During my 7 day kickstart I also took a 3 day product that is used to detox your body and cleanse your gut for good gut health support. It tasted like lime gatorade but ...

Hello! and to answer any questions... I am still alive!! Yeah me! First I want to thank you to all of you that have listened to my podcast and have been following me. I truly am grateful. These past 2 weeks have been a doozy. In fact it is actually like 3 weeks now. Any ways I want to share with you my past few weeks. Linda and I have two anniversary's one when we were married civilly and the other one is when we got sealed in the Denver Temple. This year our civil anniversary we had a really bad time and mostly because I lost my drivers license and instead of going to Wendover for a fun get away on a fun bus (No drinking, and mostly eating and the bus ride) So, since I messed it up we decided to go to Midway and have a night diner and get away in the Mtns. of Heber valley. We had a great time. The next day we went for a hike up Dog Lake with Bella, Linda and myself. It is a 2 mile hike round trip I believe maybe 1 mile... seemed like it was 2 miles. Anyways, I made it a good way...

Three things that have helped in my improvements are as followed. UTA bus pass, walking stick, swimming work out days. I have to explain what my pain points have been to help you understand what the improvements have been and why I feel that these three items have helped me out. Lately it has been very hard to walk or bend my knees. With the added weight I gained back, my knees are noticing the load. My back is another critical issue and last couple of weeks it has felt like my body is just so weak and no energy. Doing normal chores like doing the dishes, going to the park, waking the dog is like walking with weights on my legs. I also have to wear compression socks and I only have one pair. So on days I am running behind, my legs are literally like jello. Last week we decided to go to swim every night regardless or at least as much as I can. We go for only an hour or so and I do my best to keep my legs busy, and also it helps keep them elevated. The hot pool is nice to. It does d...

Since I had MRSA, I wanted to make sure that I was healed up to go back swimming and luckily I was able to get in one swim session this week. I posted the same picture some time ago last year as we went every day almost and even in the bitter cold. Going through the challenges we have faced, a crazy schedule with my concert event, camping trips and the tragedy of last couple weeks and the hospital, swimming has been placed in the back. I did go this past Wednesday and I swam the laps over 20 times and I was there for over an hour just doing the lapse. My knees have been giving be some issues, so swimming is a heaven sent. I felt so much better and lighter and it always makes it better for me to fall asleep the night of swimming. I weighed myself at Linda's doctor appointment and I was up from 431 to 433 prior to my swimming. I have committed to do my best to track what I eat and do my best to eat clean. The only problem is I am still facing the depression of loosing the child and...

I recently changed the name of this blog from pickleshealth to charging elephant blog, and really nothing else changed but the name. I created a podcast that can be found on iTunes and on anchor.fm - I want to be open and real, and raw on my brutal journey to losing weight. This blog will be the foundation of the podcast and provide behind the scenes to speak to challenges, and the highs of eating a better lifestyle. At this time the plan was to start on June 1st and start eating and living a clean eating lifestyle, search for a life or health coach and a program that I can stay on the rest of my life. However the title to this might give you the sad reality that something went way bad. I had wanted to have this thing, this goal to work towards of loosing weight and the news of having a child was just what the doctor ordered. This would give me the "umph" I need and the WHY to my sail. I supposed doing it for pure health reasons was just not enough. Let me tell you that the...

Well as you can see we have a little one on week 7 here and today we heard it's heart beat for the first time. It was so epic!!! The long road to this monumental day has been one I will never forget, but just in case I have put it down in this blog (hopefully they have blogs in the future when this kid's 16) Linda and I have been going down a hopeless road for the past 14 years wondering if or when we might have a child in our own. Of course the road started way back when we got married and during all the crazy things we have been through we have stuck it out in the hardest of times. Ramen diners, endless phone jobs, wondering where rent will come from and what is going to happen if we can not make the car payment... type of fears. I recently came across a country song titled "We were legends" by Kelsea Ballerini and it is a song that hold certain meanings to us. https://youtu.be/nGa2-kOW810   ... Linda and I have been warriors through it all. It seems just li...

Thanks goodness for those days it is cold, grey and not green and blue. Wait, what... yeah that means you can find me at the pool working out indoors!!! (But seriously, can it be Spring already?) In my last post I stated that we were going to get a gym membership, and I can happily report that we have gone almost every night these past couple of weeks or so. You can see in the image that there is the lanes for those that want to do laps and Linda and I have been doing about 8 laps or so and then they have water aerobics with this fun lady and it has been great! I really have to watch my knees and joints so that I do not damage them more until I get to a healthier weight. So swimming is awesome!! The place we go is about 2 or 3 blocks away from our apartment and it comes with classes, gym, running laps, pool, and all the usual stuff. At the first I was getting so tired and bogged down after we went swimming that I would fall right to sleep. I have noticed that my back is not hurting...