My Journey from Sugar Burner to Fat Burner - jenn26point2's Primal Journal page 123

[jenn26point2]

I started out the day wearing my older work shoes. They're Mootsie Tootsie brand heels. They look like boots under pants, but have a fat chunky heel instead of a hooker boot style heel. Anyhow, I was wearing those because it's getting to be too cold for my Fast Flats. After 3 hours of wearing them, my left foot hurts right behind the big toe... Yep... 'nuff of that. Back to my raggedy old fast flats. I'm going to have to find some shoes to wear soon - or at least get a couple of other pairs of fast flats to keep at work and I can wear tennis shoes when going to and from the car, I guess.

[BeckaSki]

Have you ever tried Dansko's? They're a bit pricey, but very well made (I'm going on 5 years with my first pair). They're also very comforatable, and fairly stylish but subtle. I have some of their heels, sandals, flats, and the iconic "professional clog" and I love them all.

Dansko Women's Collection

[jenn26point2]

Thank you Becka. Some of those are really cute. The shoes I was trying to wear earlier are much like the Bennett. Chunky heel, lots of material on top of the foot. They're very tight fitting and comfortable, but the heels I think were what was bothering me. I'm trying to embrace the whole barefoot movement thing Mark has going on, hence the fast flats that I wear at work. They're $12 a pair... they don't last forever - I've had these since like May or June and they're falling apart quickly, but they're also not designed for everyday wear. I'd LOVE to get a pair of Merrill's like these: Women. They're expensive though and I can't justify the expense. But I also have yet to find anything similar at a lower price. I really like the "glove" models like this one: Barefoot Life Delight Glove Wool - Women's - Barefoot Shoes - J56262 | Merrell

Surely I can find a ballet slipper that is less expensive than $100...

[jenn26point2]

Or maybe these: Womens - Champion - Women's Jema Skimmer - Payless Shoes

[naiadknight]

Try Walmart and look in the cheapo hanging up section. Plain ballet flats and they're pretty damn thin soled.
Also try eBay.

[jenn26point2]

Hehehe I found some cute black moccassins at Payless... might get them. They're having a BOGO sale...

[BeckaSki]

Or maybe these: Womens - Champion - Women's Jema Skimmer - Payless Shoes

Those are cute! My office requires a bit more fancy than those (and most other barefoot styles). I can get away with flats sometimes, but heels are more the norm, and most of my pants are hemmed for heels, so they are what I tend to stick with. Which leads me on quests to find the most comforatable heels possible.

[jenn26point2]

My office is supposed to be business casual, but it's more casual than business because of our environment. We work with military and unless you address someone of really high rank (like a general) heels are usually not needed. Most of us are worker bees... those that need heels are higher ranking officials themselves. Me, I'm low on the totem pole, but I work for a high ranking civilian and a high ranking military (colonel) but again, casual is ok for that... my high ranking civilian has to wear heels, but not me. I'm a desk jockey who answers phones. On most days, no one even SEES my shoes.

Next topic: I am starting to focus on my cortisol levels... I need to figure out how to get my cortisol to peak in the AM instead of in the evenings. Right now I think they peak at about 8 pm because that's when I'm my most productive.

Recently, my mornings have been hell. Even when I prepare everything I need the night before, mornings are still hell because I have to get myself ready for work, get my son dressed and fed for school, and get my daughter dressed and ready for daycare (she eats breakfast at daycare... son could eat breakfast at school, but he doesn't want to because he wants to play with his friends instead). If I could get up in the morning and have myself ready before getting my kids up from their slumbers, I could concentrate more on focusing my son's attention to his breakfast and getting dressed instead of spending the morning rushing trying to get him dressed and fed and having it be chaotic and frustrating.

My ideal morning would be for me to get up early enough to get showered and ready (probably looking at 5 or 5:30), get my son up and dressed (ideally, 6:00), make him breakfast (ideally eggs and bacon and ready by 6:15-6:30), and be out the door by 6:45, ideally... of course, since my cortisol is all jacked up and all I want to do is hit the snooze button in the morning, it's impossible to make this ideal schedule work. And of course, if breakfast is ready and eaten by 6:30 he can watch cartoons without me yelling at him to get dressed every 2 minutes as he zones out at the tube. And heck, maybe I could even eat breakfast WITH him in the morning... It would certainly beat sitting my son down with a bowl of sugar coated rice chex every morning, and I'm sure he'd approve of a different breakfast as well.

This is my ideal. And I'm sure this ideal would make my day so much calmer. Having a high stress morning is probably part of the reason my cortisol levels are so jacked... Because I can't get out of bed when I need to, so I rush around all morning long, yelling at my son to get a move on it so we aren't late, and end up late anyway... plus, I'd like to be able to get to work at 7:30 so I can either add a half hour to my lunch so I can get in a really good run and stretch or so I can cut out a half hour earlier. A half hour longer lunch will be nice when it's time to train for my next half marathon, ya know?

Does anyone know of a cortisol protocol or something out there that helps to fix cortisol levels? Or can you point me toward a good cortisol source? The weight seems to be moving along just fine as long as I keep fat high and carbs low, so I don't think that's a necessary focus anymore. I need to instead focus on my stress levels and reducing my cortisol output so I can function as a human instead of a fire breathing dragon in the mornings. I'm sure my son would be appreciative if his mom would let him get his stuff done at his own pace instead of rushing him... and my daughter could probably do without the chaos too.

[namelesswonder]

How consistent are your bedtimes/when do you go to bed/how's your sleep?

When I had my cortisol levels checked last year, the doctor told me mine were a little elevated in the evening and a little low in the morning, but nothing outrageous. He said I should get to bed on time consistently for a few months. I stopped playing World of Warcraft and 10:30PM became my new bedtime goal. I'm pretty consistent with it now, and my energy is overall a lot better. I wake up with my alarm at 6:30 AM. I wake up before the alarm if I set it for 7.

[jenn26point2]

Most nights I'm in bed at or before 10:30. Sometimes I read for a bit, but only for about 15 minutes and sometimes I fall asleep before then. I am up and down all night depending on my kids. Last night, Brady was having trouble sleeping between 12:30 and 1:30 and would holler for me just about the time I fell asleep again. I think I went to him 4 or 5 times in that hour. The rest of the night, everyone slept well. Brad woke me before he left to say goodbye like he does every day about 5 am.

On school nights, I may or may not make it to bed by 10:30, but usually not later than 11. Weekends, especially if it's a race night, are later than 10:30, but racing season is coming to an end.

This weekend was weird. I was exhausted and slept until 10 am both Saturday and Sunday... actually, I dozed more than slept b/c my kids were up and demanding breakfast. Brad was at work...

Oh and when I do sleep, I sleep pretty heavy, I think... just doesn't get to last long for one reason or another.