Still workin' it!!

I started the new change last Sunday and I am getting very close to completing a full week! I had a 50/50 day on Monday but other than that I have been reeeeeeeally good! The only indulgence I have allowed myself is my sugar free coffee drink. I must admit though that I will be taking Mostest to the Nutcracker this weekend and there is faire... and there are the most heavenly cupcakes that will be there... And I'm SO having one! :)

I always approach these changes as just that, "life style changes." I want something that I can sustain, not just some get-skinny-quick scheme. Am I really going to go the entire rest of my life without a treat? Uh, NO! But 1 treat in a week... sounds like a good change to me!

I have not gotten any exercise in this week... which I feel guilty about. But there are some big things going on in my life right now so I'm trying not to beat myself up too bad. I have also not been on the scale so I don't know if I am losing or not. To be quite honest, I avoid the scale because it usually brings bad news :( Hopefully that will be changing along with my new change... however I'm not prepared to see any bad news on the scale right now. I am doing so well with my eating that I don't want to get discouraged and back-slide.

I'm still feeling great though! And I have turned down MULTIPLE sweet things that people have offered me in the last several days!! Woot!

I'm doing it!!!

I'm sticking with this very well so far! I ate the food that I packed yesterday and then ended up at my parents' house for dinner and had teryaki halibut and salad :)

Today I had:
Breakfast: Turkey bell pepper rolls and a string cheese
Snack: Celery and PB
Lunch: Spinach and lettuce salad, zuchinni slices and spinach dip, salami and cheese
Dinner: Steak and steamed brussel sprouts with parmesan cheese and salad

I'm feeling really good physically and I am not dying of sugar cravings like I thought I would be! I am very pleasantly surprised so far. :)

Changing Directions

After a trip to the doctor, who looked over my blood work and listened to my concerns, I have decided to change directions in my efforts to lose weight. I am going to change to a high protein/low carb approach.

I went grocery shopping on Sunday and did really well that day. Today... not so good. However I already have my food prepared for tomorrow. Here's what I packed:

Breakfast: Strips of orange and yellow bell peppers wrapped in turkey slices and a string cheese
Snack: Celery and PB (with no sugar)
Lunch: Parmesan chicken and a big salad
Snack: Whatever celery and PB I have left
Dinner: Steak and brussel sprouts with parmesan cheese (this is the plan, its not made yet though)

I always do better with a plan, helps me stay on track. I also plan on going to the gym and spending an hour on the elliptical. :)

Green Smoothie Fast Day 2,3,4

Hmm... I thought I blogged about day 2 but apparently I didn't! LOL

So... I never successfully went a full day without eating food-food. But I did successfully go 4 days of having green smoothies for everything but dinner! And I even stayed on target with my calories.

I felt awesome! There was no peaks and valleys blood-sugar wise, I wasn't bloated at all, and had tons of energy!

Not here's the bummer.... I didn't lose anything! I went down 2 lbs from where I was at the beginning of the week, but those were 2 lbs that I had gone up from my lowest weigh in so far.\

I'm feeling incredibly frustrated. All this busting my ass for like 2 months and I have a 3 lb total loss to show for it?! WTF? I am looking better, not like down-a-pant-size better but I can feel a difference, and the scale shows nada. I'm getting pretty fucking fed up.

I'm going to try to do a 1 day water fast on Sunday. (we'll see how that goes :S) And then I plan on getting the green smoothie fast going again Monday, and maybe I will even get the dinner thing worked out.

Green Smoothie Fast Day 1

I made all my smoothies the night before.

From left to right: breakfast, am snack, lunch, pm snack, dinner, night time snack.

The first 2 jars have these ingredients:

-2 tsp raw apple cider vinegar

-2 tsp raw maca powder

-1/2 TB agave nectar

-2 cups spinach

-1 banana

-1/2 cup pomegranate

-1/2 cup raspberries

This one was good. I am still getting used to the maca taste though. It left me feeling very satisfied and full of energy.

The second 2 jars have these ingredients:

-2 tsp raw apple cider vinegar

-1/2 TB agave nectar

-4 baby carrots

-2 leaves lettuce

-1 cup spinach

-2 clementines

-1 pear

-1/4 cup pomegranate

-1/2 cup raspberries

These were good too, but I could taste the carrots a little more than I intended too. I felt good still after having these.

Around 4pm I started to get a raging headache in addition to my massive cold symptoms and I had an hour of intermittent mental arguing over whether or not I should go get a coffee. I didn't end up getting the coffee but when I went to the grocery store to get a couple more things for smoothies I got dinner there too :( It was just too much with the cold symptoms... I caved for the comfort food.

So obviously I didn't drink the last 2 jars. I am saving them for tomorrow.

All in all I would say today was pretty successful. I am planning on going the whole day on just my green smoothies tomorrow though. :)

Frustrated and Stepping It Up a Notch

So after a weekend of screwing up... Damn the weekends! I have such a hard time with the weekends. If anyone has any tips for stopping weekend bingeing (overindulging) feel free to share them!

Back to my point... I'm fed up! I have decided that I am going to go full-time green smoothies for 4 days. Nothing but green smoothies. I have the produce, I like the smoothies, I will still be getting enough calories... So I'm going to give it a try. I even went and bought some more mason jars so that I can make all my smoothies the night before.

I'm intrigued by water fasting and am considering doing a short one but I don't want to do it during the middle of the week you know?

Anyway, I'm not too worried because I feel good ad satisfied when I drink green smoothies, but I get so tempted by "feel good" foods (emotional eating). I'm hoping I can combat that with having all the smoothies already made. Also I worry about the detoxing symptoms... Maybe not worried, but definitely not looking forward to them! LOL We will see how it goes!

Fasting Day 5 & 6

Day 5

Started well with a green smoothie but before lunch time even hit Mostest's school called and I had to go pick him up because he was not feeling good. We then went and got some comfort food (bad I know!) and snuggled and rested the rest of the day.

Day 6

Breakfast: Spinach (they didn't have any kale at the store! The horror!!), banana, pineapple, raspberry smoothie

Snack (treat): Soy raspberry mocha glacier with sugar free syrup

Lunch: Honey crisp apple, clementine, 3 TB cashews

Dinner: 6 inch subway melt with broccoli and cheese soup and a reese's sticks as a treat

Total calories: 1731

Exercise: I worked out with a friend today and she introduced me to the cross training setting on the elliptical machines! :) I did 6 miles in 65 minutes and it was haaaaard with all the different stuff the machine was telling me to do!

I actually felt really good today. I didn't feel woozy at the gym and I had energy throughout the day. I'm really starting to feel a difference in my body but I'm too scared to get on the scale! LOL

Slight slip-up but back at it, Fast Day 4

Okay... so I had a 4 day "slump".... Boo! That is what I have to say about that.

I had soda, cup cakes, chinese food, I even had McDonald's chicken nuggets. (Makes my stomach turn now just thinking about it.

Here's what I noticed during these 4 slip-up days:
-I felt physically sick
-I felt super bloated
-I felt stuffed
-I feel emotionally sick
-I felt worthless
-I felt weak

I just felt generally awful! Now today, but on my fasting/cleansing groove I feel great! A little "cleansing" effect on my bowels but what can you expect after 4 days of eating like crap and then getting back at it?

Fast Day 5

Pre-breakfast: 3TB raw apple cider vinegar with water

Breakfast: Kale, banana, pineapple, raspberry smoothie

Lunch: Honeycrisp apple, cashews, raisins, clementine

Snack (treat): Soy raspberry mocha glacier with sugar free syrup

Dinner: 6 inch sweet onion chicken teryaki at subway, broccoli and cheese soup, 6 squares of orange peel dark chocolate bar (soooo yummy!)

Total calories:1575

Exercise: 6.5 miles in 65 minutes on the elliptical on the hilly setting. I felt weak-ish and my knee was being weird so I lowered the "level" and didn't push myself as hard as usual. But I still did it!

Fast Day 3

Breakfast: Kale, pomegranate, raspberry, clementine smoothie

Treat: Raspberry mocha glacier

Lunch: 2 pieces of pizza, 1 cup of ice cream

Dinner: 2 servings of shrimp with 1/4c of cocktail sauce and a salad

Total calories: 1846

Exercise: I did 6.76 miles on the elliptical in 65 minutes and did 10k(6.2m) in 59 min on the hilly setting. I felt really woozy through most of the work out but I stuck it out!

So I kind of messed up by eating the pizza and ice cream at a work thing today... it was not "approved" food and it put me over my 1500 cal goal. But I still did fairly good intake wise and I turned it around with dinner instead of just saying "Well I screwed up already so might as well keep make poor food choices..."

Fast Day 1 & 2

Day 1

Breakfast: Kale, pomegranate, raspberry, clementine smoothie

Lunch: Banana, 1/2 an orange, 2 TB trailmix, honey crisp apple, 1 slice of Great Harvest bread

Snack: (treat really) Raspberry mocha glacier

Dinner: Salad with cherry tomatoes, avocado and Lemon Goddess dressing

Total calories: 1466

Exercise: I did 65 minutes on the elliptical. I did 10k(6.2miles) in 61 minutes on a hilly setting. At about the 30 minute mark I got a little woozy and faint but I kept going and the feeling went away in less than 5 minutes.

Day 2:

Breakfast: Raspberry mocha glacier

Lunch: Oroweat thin (1/2), 2 TB nutella, calorie free energy drink

Dinner: nothing (I'll explain)

Total calories: 460

Exercise: A TON of cleaning.

So here's the story... I got a call last night from the landlord saying that a real estate guy is going to be doing a walk thru of the house tomorrow to get the ball rolling to sell the house. (They used to B&B with this house, which has 2 apartments and a bagillion bedrooms throughout the other sections) So I did some cleaning yesterday and continued today. It's not that the house way THAT dirty/messy, it's just that I am a very "over achiever/compulsive cleaner" and when I get going I just keeeeeeep going. If I see anything that has a spot on it or needs to be organized I NEED to do, I can't just tidy here and there.

So I kept saying to myself "I'll stop and eat soon" but never did. Then it became "I'll eat when I'm done." So I finish at 11pm and realize that I can't eat past 8:45 pm tonight because I am getting a fasting blood draw done tomorrow morning! So here it is 11pm and I have been cleaning like a maniac since noon and I have only eaten 460 calories and can't eat anymore! LAME! lol

But daaaamn is my house clean! :) It is as clean as it was when we moved it! And waaay more organized!

Fast?

I am thinking about doing a fast. Not a no-food fast, not even a juice fast. Just a "just fruits and veggies" fast.

I have been on a roll with tracking my calories with my GoWearFit for almost 2 weeks I believe. Even on the days I didn't want to see how much I ate or how little I burned. But I did it. Now the thing is.... I can add up all the calorie deficits I have been created but it is not translating to the scale at all! It is very frustrating and disheartening.

Which is what brings me to the fasting. I am just going to give it a shot. Nothing else is making a difference. (I am also getting my thyroid checked AGAIN this week, and will get the results Nov 13th).

If I can manage it I will keep tabs on here about how I'm doing and how it feels.

Drowning in Self-Loathing

It's tangible...
I can feel it pressing down on me...
Pulling me down...
Threatening to swallow me up...
This self-loathing.





Dissappointed... in myself
Angry... with myself
Sad... within myself
Seething... at myself
Hating... myself


I know I should put some positive spin on this, look on the brightside, "whatever doesn't kill you makes you strong" blah blah blah. But I can't. Not right now. I have these lofty goals of losing weight (which is working for shit by the way) but truthfully I'm barely treading water in life much less the weight loss realm.

Times like this I long for the times when stress made me *not* want to eat... At least something would be moving in the right direction...

So-So

I have not written a blog in quite a while... I am feeling pretty overwhelmed by my life lately :(

However since I got my GoWear Fit I have worn it every day and tracked my calories every day. Even those days when I knew I didn't want to see how low my calorie burn was and how high my calorie intake was. The good news though: I have not had a single day without a calorie deficit! So I must be doing something right!

Also I did two 5k runs last week which brought me to the 50 mile total mark! WOOT! Both runs last week were hard... I wanted to quit half way through both but I wouldn't let myself.

I will keep trucking along even though life is crazy right now and hopefully have some good numbers to show for it soon!

GoWear Fit

My GoWear Fit came! My GoWear Fit came!!! WOOT!!

I'm so excited that my GoWear Fit came! I got my online account/subscription going already and today has been my first day wearing it! *happy dance*

Here is an example of the online data portion:

Tonight when I take my shower to get ready for tomorrow I will take the armband off and connect it to my computer to upload all the info it took of me today. I'm excited but also nervous to see my readings. Excited because I will be getting some feedback about my caloric burn but nervous because what if it's not good! eek!

Regardless it will be good because it will give me concrete goals to work toward and I love challenges. I love to compete, even if its just with myself!

Here we go!!!

Cooking in Pictures

Here are a couple things I cooked in step by step pictures :) Vegan ranch, green smoothie and vegetarian potstickers!

Vegan ranch, the cast:

Mostest mixing

Finished product

Green smoothie, the cast:

Kale first

Blended with 1 cup of water into this beautiful-ness

Bananas, strawberries and blue berries

Oops, forgot finished product... looks very similar in color to before the fruit though :)

Vegetarian potstickers, the cast: (Cabbage, ginger root, garlic, pink Himalayan sea salt, gyoza wrappers, TVP, green onions, thai basil, sesame oil, Bragg's liquid aminos)

Rehydrating the TVP (textured vegetable protein)

Chopping mushrooms with my Bang and Chop (seriously that thing rocks!)

Chopping green onions with my Ulu (my favorite Alaskan cooking tool!)

Grating ginger root

Grinding the pink Himalayan sea salt

Mostest getting the cabbage ready

Chopping the cabbage with my Bang and Chop :)

All the ingredients mixed together

Mostest helping apply water to the edges of the gyoza wrappers

Press edges with fork to seal

Mostest pointing at the ready-for-the-pan potstickers

A little vegetable oil on the pan, let the potstickers brown on each side then add 1/2 c of water

Yummy dipping sauce

Finished product! Yum!

Flour a cookie sheet and space the extras evenly to freeze and save for another day!

Adventures in Grocery Shopping

I can't believe it's been so long since I wrote my last entry! I kept meaning to write another post and even took a bunch of pictures!

So here we go. I am trying to go grocery shopping every 2 weeks. Here is what I got :)

-Bananas

-Oranges

-Rice Cheeze

-Cabbage

-White onion

-Cantelope

-Mangos

-Lemons

-Kale

-Strawberries

-Zuchinni

-Cucumbers (they were huuuge!)

-Celery

-Green onions

-Asparagus

-Pears

Seriously look at how big the cucumbers are!

A healthy munchie for Mostest and I

Some new things:

-Almond paste (never had before)

-A new brand of jam (secretly I think I am most after the jars... hehe)

-Veganaise

-Raw blanched peanuts

-Sprouts (never had before)

-Yellow curry (never had before)

-Fresh ginger root

-Pure sesame oil

-Uncle Dan's ranch mix

-Skewers (at Mostest's request lol)

-Bragg's Liquid Aminos

-Bragg's raw apple cider vinegar

I was super excited about these because I have been putting off buying these due to the high price and when I was passing through the aisle I saw that they were 50% off!!!! So I got both of them! Woot!!

I was very happy with all the stuff I bought and have been going through at a pretty good pace (sometimes I have a hard time eating all my produce before it goes bad because I want to eat other stuff instead...) I am very pleased with my adventurous produce shopping and eating! :)

Filling That Void

There is gaping, excruciating, aching hole in my chest.

I know I should probably just get over it.

It's only been 11 days.

It's only going to be 3 months.

Nonetheless the hole is there.

I never thought I would feel like this when he left.

I pride myself on being so tough.

He has been my best friend for 8 years.

I am used to talking to him numerous times throughout the day.

I am used to him being near.

Now he's not here.

Now I rarely get to talk to him for more than 5-10 minutes.

It has left me aching.

All day long.

I have periods of happiness with Mostest, I do.

But then he goes to sleep and I'm alone again.

I can feel myself trying to fill that void with food. Intellectually I know that it will not fill that void and that it will make me feel worse. Yet I find myself working so hard to fill that void with food, and not good food either. I see what I'm doing and I tell myself "Next time I won't do that." And then I find myself filling and filling and filling. But its not working and I'm not happy with how I feel afterward and the ramifications it will have on my body. I am trying so hard to pull out of this and take healthy avenues to feel better, to fill the void. You're probably thinking "Well just do it! Just make the choice!" I wish it were that easy. I wish that my relationship with food was not mixed up with my emotions.

I'm not going surrender.

I'm not going to give up.

I will win this battle.

I have some ideas.

And I hope they're going work.

One day at a time,

one choice at a time,

I'm going to believe in myself.

I'm going to make it through.

And I'm going to come out the other side even better than I went in.

There is no other choice.

Adventures in Grocery Shopping

I wanted to "start over" so to speak and get back on track with eating vegan/raw vegan all in one swoop soooo I needed to do some serious grocery shopping! I was able to work it so that I could shop without Mostest too, which was lonely but nice because I could shop with a clear head and no distractions.

First here is all the produce I bought:

-Celery

-Romaine lettuce

-Cabbage (never bought before)

-Asparagus (never bought before)

-Garlic

-Eggplant (never even eaten before!)

-Fresh basil (never bought before)

-Mushrooms

-Kale

-Pears

-Pineapple

-Bananas

-Avocados

-Blueberries (never bought before)

-Strawberries

Then some old vegan favorites:

-Ezekiel bread

-Follow Your Heart vegan mozzarella

-Almond milk

-Soy milk

-Pinto beans

-Black beans

-Raspberry sorbet

-Odwalla superfood juice

Then some new vegan and raw vegan things to try:

-Tofurky keilbasa (it piqued my interest and I wanted to try it)

-Potsticker wrappers

-Raw dried coconut shavings

-Rice cheeze

-Blue agave

-Raw sunflower seeds

-Medjool dates

-Italian blend herb thing mabober

-Rice Dream ice cream

-Tahini

-Coconut milk

It was pretty exciting to buy all this great stuff! Some of it is to build up my raw food ingredients to actually make something out of that damn book I got and some stuff with be used right away. I am pretty proud of myself for really branching out a TON in the last 4 or 5 months veggie wise. I have tried so many veggies for virtually the first time lately! And to my surprise: I really like them! Not just tolerate them, LIKE them! :) Woot!

Mostest's First Race!

I am one proud mama today! I took Mostest to participate in his first race today! He was very excited. I kept asking him if he needed a walking break and he tried for 20 seconds and decided he didn't want any of that walking nonsense :) He did the full mile in under 14 minutes and not a single complaint either! He was smiling and laughing and high five-ing the whole time.

Refocusing

I need to refocus my:

-eating

-exercising

-blogging

-house

-parenting

Eating: I am going to bring me diet soda consumption back down to zero. It hasn't been too bad lately compared to the worst times but it is not zero like it was for a bit and like I want it to be. I have also slipped back into non-vegan/vegetarian eating habits. So I am going to get back to eating vegan again. Also I am going to break out this bad boy out again to start my raw vegan journey!

Exercising: I have decided to set my workout schedule like this:

Monday - Run

Tuesday - Gym

Wednesday - Run

Thursday - Gym

Friday - Run

Saturday/Sunday - possible run or some other fun exercise

This could change because my mom is signing up at the gym I'm at and we are going to try to get some workouts in together. But for now this is my planned exercise schedule. And I will continue to utilize my amazingly motivated Nike+ that has not gotten a lot of use lately.

Blogging: I want to get back to blogging on a regular basis (everyday or every other day). Plus I want to start incorporating more pictures in my blogs posts. I know I love reading blogs posts with pictures so I am striving to get more pictures in mine as well.

House: I want to take this 3 months to really deep clean, organize and purge my house. I hate how cluttered it has become due to my lack of time. I want to come home to a house that makes me feel calm and positive.

Parenting: I am setting up a schedule for Mostest that will help him know what to expect, what is on the agenda for the day and the week. I think this will help him transition from one thing to another better and I think it will get a steady routine going for us (something I am not very good at). Plus I think it will somehow help me being a more relaxed mom....

These are my goals, this is what I am refocusing on, this is my plan.... Here goes nothing :P

Boo On Me

I have been seriously back sliding and I am not impressed with myself! I have not been working out or eating properly for the last several days. :( I will change it though. It's all mental, I just need to choose to do better.

I have noticed a couple triggers to this backsliding....

-The emotional stress I'm feeling/dealing with.

-Getting on the scale and seeing the same number in spite of the change I am feeling in my body and appearance.

-Lots of rain and scheduling issues that made easy excuses to skip exercising.

I am in charge of my life, of my choices, my happiness. All I need to do is make the choice.

Stress Tolls

My life has gotten pretty stressful lately and it is definitely taking a toll. I have had McDonald's twice in the last week and I'm mad at myself for it and the ironic thing is that I don't even really like McDonald's! It is just the only fast food in town so its what I got :/

So my eating has been hit or miss but I am proud of the fact that I'm not just completely letting my self control go and go "hog wild" so to speak. Which I have done in the past during stressful times. In the interest of full disclosure, I have gone the other way too during an extremely stressful period. And while it did cross my mind to control my life through my food in a way that would make me thinner... Being thinner is not the only thing I want. I want to feel amazing, look amazing, be full of energy, add years to my life etc.

My goal during this stressful 3 month period of my life is to get as amazingly fit as I can in 3 months! I won't be doing anything crazy, just continuing to work out like I have been and get better at eating vegan and raw vegan.

I'm proud to announce as well that I am firmly back on track in terms of exercise! I wen't running yesterday and went to the gym today! Tomorrow is another running day. It feels really good to be back in my exercise groove :)

Post Vacation Struggles and a Food Review

I have MIA for almost 2 weeks... The first was because I was on vacation and the second was because I suck! LOL

I have this problem you see... When I settle into a routine I'm set, it is really easy (OK, easier) to stick to my exercise plan. But when I get jostled out of my routine, I'm hooped!

I had a really great plan set up for my trip down to Oregon and I even ran my first run (a 5k in 35:25 which was my best 5k so far!). However it got suuuuper hot and I could not barely to even stand around in the heat much less run. It got up to 96 degrees toward the end of the trip even! That is hell for an Alaskan girl like me!

So it has taken me 4 days to get back on track since we got home. Today I finally got out for a run after 2 days of "I'm going to run today"..... "Nope I'm not"

I managed to run 3.1 miles with only 0.25 of it walking while I was in Oregon so I figure I could bump it up a bit now that I'm home. I decided to challenge myself to 3.5 miles today. Yeah... not so much! LOL I was much more fatigued by it than I expected. I'm not gonna lie, I did a LOT of walking. But I did it! That's what matters!

My pre-run snack :) A green smoothie (kale, mango, pineapple) and a banana

Now on to my food review.

One of my biggest reservations about trying to become vegan has always been cheese. I have been trying to find some vegan cheese to buy which was a struggle in my little town but I finally found some to try. I bought Follow Your Heart cheddar and mozzarella to try out.

So I decided to try it in burritos with mashed up pinto beans and avocado.

I tried the cheddar first and it smelled and tasted vomit-y.... No joke. It was so gross I threw the burrito straight in the trash after one bite.

I decided to try one without any vegan cheese and just with nutritional yeast. That was better. The next night I gave the mozzarella a try and it was really good! I loooooved it! I also tried sprinkling some nutritional yeast over the vegan mozzarella to make it more cheddar-y and that was good too!

Kickin' Ass and Takin' Names!

I have busted my ass working out this week so far! Heres what I did on Tuesday and also today:

-Serious stretching
-Hip flexor exercises
-5k in 36:17 min and 35:52min respectively
(then off to the gym)
-Every arm machine at the gym for 2 sets of 12-20 reps
-2 sets of 20 lunges
-2 sets of 10 pop squats with an 8lb medicine ball
-2 sets of 20 squats with an 8lb medicine ball on the bosu all
-A full ab routine
-Some more serious stretching

I was SO sore today that I really didn't want to work out but I want to be successful and make no excuses so I worked out anyway! There were several times I want to quit soooo bad. But I didn't! It feels so freaking good to follow through with the things I say I'm going to do and be good to myself!

I am also proud to say that I have not skipped a single run since I started my Nike+ training program! :)

You know, I am still working on the food front but this much is sure... I am a rockstar at kicking my own ass when it comes to working out!

Hip Flexor Woes

I knew this was coming but hoped I was wrong. When I was 16 I broke the little bone of my hip that connects the hip flexor to the hip. Super lame! Let me tell you! LOL But I rehab-ed it and it is better than ever. Now the problem is the other hip, my right hip. I am prone to hip flexor pain and it is what has stopped me from pursuing running seriously in the past. I have always tried to keep the running to a minimum and intermittent. Thankfully my favorite sport is hockey and it doesn't have the same stress on hip flexors as running. However, I want to be a runner.

Here is some info on hip flexor injuries to those who may be curious.

I am wasting no time and I started doing my rehab exercises on my right hip tonight! I kept my Theraband from when I injured my other hip flexor because technically I should be doing the exercises on a regular basis... oops...

It's interesting too... while I was looking for a site with example of the exercises I noticed several sites mentioned the importance of stretching and that stiff muscles can exacerbate this problem. It's funny I have decided recently to work on stretching more because typically I only stretch when I'm sore due to the fact that I loathe stretching... Yeah I know not good... But I am trying to do right by my body and I'm trying to grow to like stretching (LOL). Good thing too because I do NOT want to break the bone of my other hip! That is the goal: to avoid bone breakage.

Here are the best pictures I could find of the exercises I am doing and descriptions also:

Hip Extension vs. Resistance Band

Begin this hip strengthening exercise standing at a bench or chair for balance and a resistance band around your ankle as demonstrated (figure 8). Keeping your back and knee straight, slowly take your leg backwards tightening your bottom muscles (gluteals). Perform 3 sets of 10 repetitions as far as possible provided it is pain free.

Hip Abduction vs. Resistance Band

Begin this hip strengthening exercise standing at a bench or chair for balance and a resistance band around your ankle as demonstrated (figure 9). Keeping your back and knee straight, slowly take your leg to the side tightening the muscles at the side of your thigh / hip (gluteals). Perform 3 sets of 10 repetitions as far as possible provided it is pain free.

Hip Flexion vs. Resistance Band

Begin this hip strengthening exercise standing at a bench or chair for balance and a resistance band around your ankle as demonstrated (figure 10). Keeping your back and knee straight, slowly take your leg forwards tightening the muscles at the front of your thigh / hip (hip flexors). Perform 3 sets of 10 repetitions as far as possible provided it is pain free.

Hip Adduction vs. Resistance Band

Begin this hip strengthening exercise standing at a bench or chair for balance and a resistance band around your ankle as demonstrated (figure 11). Keeping your back and knee straight, slowly take your leg inwards tightening the muscles in the inner thigh / groin (adductors). Perform 3 sets of 10 repetitions as far as possible provided it is pain free.