Well, it is obvious that I haven't posted in a while. Basically, it boils down to illness. I have had over the course of 6 weeks bronchitis, a sinus infection, chronic constipation, had an unholy menstrual cycle due to switching birth control, and trouble with my allergies. I felt like hell, but exercised though most of it, continuing to eat "paleo" and gained 12 pounds. Needless to say, this week, as I felt better, I have going back to "slow carbs"; beans and quinoa and such. I have lost 10 pounds in that week, and was down to 216 this morning.
I am not totally discounting the "paleo" diet or its approach to health and nutrition. It works for many folks, and perhaps when I hit my goal weight I'll revisit it. On the other hand, I believe that there is no one way of eating that is perfect for anyone, so it may just not be right for me. While I did see lower morning fasting blood sugars, they were not low enough to justify the weight gain.
It may be that I am finally feeling better, or pooping normally, but within just a couple days of eating my slow carbs I felt like I had more energy and my morning brain fog, which has been worse the past few months, was much lessened.
So the daily meals look something like quinoa hot cereal for breakfast, greek yogurt and fruit mixed in, lunch is my favorite black beans with garlic, onion, tomato, salt, pepper and oregano, and dinners are lean protein (baked chicken, fish, pork, etc) on a green salad with tomato, feta, olives, and other such salad goodies sans dressing. I'm snacking on apples with peanut butter and carrots mostly at the moment.
I had been running in the mornings, doing the couch to 5k, and made it to week 4 before my treadmill died. I am hoping with the time change I will be able to exercise by running outdoors now. I am also hoping to add in some toning exercises to help build muscle and speed weight loss. I'll progress on that as I fully recover from my respiratory aliments.
So things seem to be getting back on track, and I am feeling better, but I do have a gripe.
It seems like no matter what I end up doing, I am always going to be a diabetic. A perfect example of this was yesterday, I splurged for dinner after a mildly active day. I had a salad, some french fries (not a whole order mind you) and a steak sandwich on focaccia bread. I probably ate more carbs in one meal than I do in a day easily. I had felt my sugar creeping low before dinner, and it was 86 when I checked it. An hourish afterward it was 210, and I took my meds and went to bed. A few hours later I woke up, anxious, sweaty, and confused. I headed down to the kitchen where I left my meter and felt like I was shaking so bad I wasn't going to be able to make it. I remember looking up at the bedroom from the landing, thinking I needed to tell my Sweetie I needed his help, but I was so out of it I couldn't figure out how to call out to get his attention. I managed to make it to the kitchen and my sugar was at 46, which is DANGEROUSLY low. I ended up needing to eat an entire meal's worth of carb rich foods to get it back to an acceptable level, which took a half hour. Upon returning to bed I was freezing, tired, and had one of the worst headaches I have ever had.
Now, I know I messed up on one meal. We all do it from time to time. It isn't the end of the world, and it can be pleasant to indulge in "bad foods." But my experience cements in my mind that no matter what I do, no matter how healthy I become, I am going to be one of the folks "who would have gotten it anyway" due to genetics. My bad habits and not taking care of myself when I was diagnosed in 2004 worsened my problems and I will be dealing with them likely for the rest of my life. And that sucks. I hate hearing how this 50 year old guy lost 30 pounds and not he doesn't have to take his meds, or this 45 year old woman just changed her diet and her symptoms went away. I lost the equivalent of a small to medium sized adult human female and I am still having to take my meds and watch my carb intake. And that royally irks me. I don't regret losing the weight or changing my diet, but knowing the damage is done is very bothersome.
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Tummy Troubles
I had mentioned last week that I had issues when I was eating fried foods, as I am fairly certain I am allergic to wheat. Well, yesterday my Sweetie and I went to Doug's and I had my usual fried chicken. I was miserable. Don't get me wrong, there is NOTHING bad about the food. I just don't think I can eat wheat or possibly fried food any more. My stomach killed me, and I ended up with diarrhea. I think I am going to continue to skip the fried foods and wheat for now.
End Week 3
It has been an eventful week!
First of all, I have halved my morning metformin. I never had a normal fasting blood sugar, but I did have one as low as 126. I did experience a hypoglycemia episode late in the week during a particularly busy morning at work, so I decided to go ahead and half the dose and see what my sugars do this up coming week. It should be interesting.
I also halved my blood pressure medication. I have been having too many episodes of orthostatic hypotension, which is where your blood pressure rapidly falls upon changing positions. It results in dizziness and feeling icky, so I am in a trial of that.
I also finished my last refill of my cholesterol medication. At my last check up, my total, "bad", and triglycerides were fine. The "good" could stand to come up a bit, so I stayed on it. After the recent research that has surfaced recently I feel I am better off not even taking it, so I will be watching for any changes that may incur.
I did manage to do my cardio 4 out of 5 work days this week, and walked both Saturday and Sunday. I still am not to the point I need to be for doing my cardio and core exercises. I am debating the virtues of getting up an extra 30 minutes early on Tuesdays and Thursdays to work out with my core DVD's and then do it again Friday afternoon, as I only work a half day. I think we may experiment with this this week.
I think I am finally breaking my "I don't wanna eat" rut. I have started making braised cabbage and kale with sausage for my lunches and dinners and that has helped, though I am frankly still not very hungry come the evening. I am still making frittata for breakfast, and this week's will include sausage, mushroom, onion, spinach, and cheese. That, and a couple small tomatoes, makes for a tasty quick breakfast.
This week I lost 2 pounds, so I am down to 214, and have but 14 to go for my next goal. I am debating what I should do to celebrate when I hit 200 pounds, which will be my smallest weight since the 6th grade. Right now I am debating hiring a personal trainer for 1-2 sessions a week for a couple months to help me make sure I am doing the best workout for what I am trying to do. We shall see though, and I anyone has any better ideas, I would love to hear them.
The only other thing from this week that I would like to mention at this time is the fact that I, despite at this point having lost almost 130 pounds and gone from a size 28 to 14/16, I still have the image of myself in my head as a morbidly obese person. I can look in the mirror and see how much smaller and better I look, but when visualizing my size in relation to others I still see myself as huge. A prime example is today when my Sweetie and I went for a walk I couldn't find my jacket or sweatshirt, so I grabbed his extra hooded sweatshirt. I was nervous about putting it on, as it is snug in the tummy on him. My Sweetie is not a terribly overweight person, but he does carry most of his excess weight in the tummy. In my head, I am much larger in girth than he is. I put it on, and it was baggy and loose on me, and it floored me that my mental image of myself is still so skewed! This is something that I still have to work on.
So, for the next week, I am again going to try and slip those core workouts in, continue the less than 50g of carbs daily, continue my cardio, and continue the trials of the halved medications. Hopefully it will be a good week and I will have good news come the weekend!
First of all, I have halved my morning metformin. I never had a normal fasting blood sugar, but I did have one as low as 126. I did experience a hypoglycemia episode late in the week during a particularly busy morning at work, so I decided to go ahead and half the dose and see what my sugars do this up coming week. It should be interesting.
I also halved my blood pressure medication. I have been having too many episodes of orthostatic hypotension, which is where your blood pressure rapidly falls upon changing positions. It results in dizziness and feeling icky, so I am in a trial of that.
I also finished my last refill of my cholesterol medication. At my last check up, my total, "bad", and triglycerides were fine. The "good" could stand to come up a bit, so I stayed on it. After the recent research that has surfaced recently I feel I am better off not even taking it, so I will be watching for any changes that may incur.
I did manage to do my cardio 4 out of 5 work days this week, and walked both Saturday and Sunday. I still am not to the point I need to be for doing my cardio and core exercises. I am debating the virtues of getting up an extra 30 minutes early on Tuesdays and Thursdays to work out with my core DVD's and then do it again Friday afternoon, as I only work a half day. I think we may experiment with this this week.
I think I am finally breaking my "I don't wanna eat" rut. I have started making braised cabbage and kale with sausage for my lunches and dinners and that has helped, though I am frankly still not very hungry come the evening. I am still making frittata for breakfast, and this week's will include sausage, mushroom, onion, spinach, and cheese. That, and a couple small tomatoes, makes for a tasty quick breakfast.
This week I lost 2 pounds, so I am down to 214, and have but 14 to go for my next goal. I am debating what I should do to celebrate when I hit 200 pounds, which will be my smallest weight since the 6th grade. Right now I am debating hiring a personal trainer for 1-2 sessions a week for a couple months to help me make sure I am doing the best workout for what I am trying to do. We shall see though, and I anyone has any better ideas, I would love to hear them.
The only other thing from this week that I would like to mention at this time is the fact that I, despite at this point having lost almost 130 pounds and gone from a size 28 to 14/16, I still have the image of myself in my head as a morbidly obese person. I can look in the mirror and see how much smaller and better I look, but when visualizing my size in relation to others I still see myself as huge. A prime example is today when my Sweetie and I went for a walk I couldn't find my jacket or sweatshirt, so I grabbed his extra hooded sweatshirt. I was nervous about putting it on, as it is snug in the tummy on him. My Sweetie is not a terribly overweight person, but he does carry most of his excess weight in the tummy. In my head, I am much larger in girth than he is. I put it on, and it was baggy and loose on me, and it floored me that my mental image of myself is still so skewed! This is something that I still have to work on.
So, for the next week, I am again going to try and slip those core workouts in, continue the less than 50g of carbs daily, continue my cardio, and continue the trials of the halved medications. Hopefully it will be a good week and I will have good news come the weekend!
Saturday, January 14, 2012
End Week 2
I feel week 2 was a success, despite that fact I may not had made some of the best choices this week. To start, I did lose 2 pounds, so I am down for a total of 4 this year.
I found this week my appetite was not as massive as it was last week, and my morning blood sugar is getting steadily lower, this highest of which this week was 139. I just know this upcoming week will be the week I awaken to a NORMAL FASTING BLOOD SUGAR. :) That will definitely be a day for celebration.
There were 2 nights I just had what amounted to a small snack in the evenings instead of a full dinner simply because I wasn't hungry at all. That is a weird sensation for me, as my whole life there has been so much ritual and law regarding eating that skipping a meal is almost mentally painful for me. It took over a year before I would consider anything short of a meat, veggie, starch, and bread a meal. So eating just an apple and piece of cheese or some almonds for my evening meal? Yikes. But I was fine, and had stable blood sugars through the night. Ooohh, and no hypoglycemia this week! Yay!!!
I am finding that I am hungrier in the morning and at lunch than the rest of the day, so I am getting most of my calories in before 1pm. This is probably a good thing, as you hear time and time again that this trend results in more weight loss, but I am going to continue listening to my body and feeding it when it says it is truly hungry, not bored or just thirsty.
So, the negatives for the week. I didn't get in my core exercises like I had planned. Getting home around 7pm does not make for me wanting to be much more than snack a bit before bed and snuggle with my Sweetie and mutt-mutts. I did manage to walk at lunch 3 days this week, and once after work though.
My Sweetie and I went to a seafood place we had heard about called the Marietta Fish Market and it was fantastic. I haven't had seafood that good since my last trip to Savannah or Malibu. I could have made better choices, but my Sweetie suggested fried Calamari, which is my favorite, and it was all down hill from there. I did avoid the bread and hushpuppies and had collard greens instead of fries with my *ahem* fried clams (my second favorite seafood), and the cole slaw only needed a bit of doctoring on my part, just adding a bit of lemon juice to balance it out. The portions were huge, so I had clams for dinner, and lunch the next day. Which resulted in two and half days of tummy upsets. I do believe I am allergic to wheat, as anytime I reintroduce it we end up in the same place: the bathroom. :(
Last night we went to our favorite local 'meat and three' (if you consider over 15 miles one way local) called Doug's for dinner. I did a little better, but had fried chicken, green beans, and mac and cheese. My Sweetie happily took my biscuit, and I did only eat a few bites of the mac. It's weird, but I can taste so much more now, and the cheesy goodness was over powered by a starchy noodly taste. However, the beans and chicken were awesome as usual. So far my tummy has been ok, but only time will tell.
So in all it was a pretty good week. I could have done better, but it was a treat, not an everyday thing, so I am not too worried about it. I met my carb goals on all but one day, but still stayed under 75g as it was.
So for next week my goals are to stick with my carb goals, do my cardio 5 times and core 3, and hopefully have a normal fasting sugar at least one day.
I am excited, as I think it will happen. :)
I found this week my appetite was not as massive as it was last week, and my morning blood sugar is getting steadily lower, this highest of which this week was 139. I just know this upcoming week will be the week I awaken to a NORMAL FASTING BLOOD SUGAR. :) That will definitely be a day for celebration.
There were 2 nights I just had what amounted to a small snack in the evenings instead of a full dinner simply because I wasn't hungry at all. That is a weird sensation for me, as my whole life there has been so much ritual and law regarding eating that skipping a meal is almost mentally painful for me. It took over a year before I would consider anything short of a meat, veggie, starch, and bread a meal. So eating just an apple and piece of cheese or some almonds for my evening meal? Yikes. But I was fine, and had stable blood sugars through the night. Ooohh, and no hypoglycemia this week! Yay!!!
I am finding that I am hungrier in the morning and at lunch than the rest of the day, so I am getting most of my calories in before 1pm. This is probably a good thing, as you hear time and time again that this trend results in more weight loss, but I am going to continue listening to my body and feeding it when it says it is truly hungry, not bored or just thirsty.
So, the negatives for the week. I didn't get in my core exercises like I had planned. Getting home around 7pm does not make for me wanting to be much more than snack a bit before bed and snuggle with my Sweetie and mutt-mutts. I did manage to walk at lunch 3 days this week, and once after work though.
My Sweetie and I went to a seafood place we had heard about called the Marietta Fish Market and it was fantastic. I haven't had seafood that good since my last trip to Savannah or Malibu. I could have made better choices, but my Sweetie suggested fried Calamari, which is my favorite, and it was all down hill from there. I did avoid the bread and hushpuppies and had collard greens instead of fries with my *ahem* fried clams (my second favorite seafood), and the cole slaw only needed a bit of doctoring on my part, just adding a bit of lemon juice to balance it out. The portions were huge, so I had clams for dinner, and lunch the next day. Which resulted in two and half days of tummy upsets. I do believe I am allergic to wheat, as anytime I reintroduce it we end up in the same place: the bathroom. :(
Last night we went to our favorite local 'meat and three' (if you consider over 15 miles one way local) called Doug's for dinner. I did a little better, but had fried chicken, green beans, and mac and cheese. My Sweetie happily took my biscuit, and I did only eat a few bites of the mac. It's weird, but I can taste so much more now, and the cheesy goodness was over powered by a starchy noodly taste. However, the beans and chicken were awesome as usual. So far my tummy has been ok, but only time will tell.
So in all it was a pretty good week. I could have done better, but it was a treat, not an everyday thing, so I am not too worried about it. I met my carb goals on all but one day, but still stayed under 75g as it was.
So for next week my goals are to stick with my carb goals, do my cardio 5 times and core 3, and hopefully have a normal fasting sugar at least one day.
I am excited, as I think it will happen. :)
Saturday, January 7, 2012
I almost forgot...
I am not only down 2 pounds, but 3 percentage points of body fat as well. I have 21 more percentage points to go.
I am having difficulty deciding how much weight I want to lose to be at my goal weight. I had originally said I wanted to be around 150 pounds, but lots of folks are saying that would be much too thin. My next goal is to reach 200 pounds, then 180. Most people are saying that's the smallest I should go. We shall see. I am going to let body fat percentage and how I feel dictate where I end up.
You might want to check out this article. It is from a blog I follow. I know even though my allergies have been nuts, and that is due to moving back to the South, I have actually only been truly sick once since I started exercising regularly, and that was only for a couple days.
I am having difficulty deciding how much weight I want to lose to be at my goal weight. I had originally said I wanted to be around 150 pounds, but lots of folks are saying that would be much too thin. My next goal is to reach 200 pounds, then 180. Most people are saying that's the smallest I should go. We shall see. I am going to let body fat percentage and how I feel dictate where I end up.
You might want to check out this article. It is from a blog I follow. I know even though my allergies have been nuts, and that is due to moving back to the South, I have actually only been truly sick once since I started exercising regularly, and that was only for a couple days.
End Week 1
Tomorrow is the official end of my first week of "going primal." Over all I think it went really well. I am down 2 pounds, only had one episode of hypoglycemia (and I think it was due to a bout of the weird gastrointestinal stuff I have been dealing with the last year), and feel pretty good.
I had Canadian Bacon and Cheddar Fritata for breakfast each morning, almonds for snacks twice a day, a mixed green salad with lean protein for lunch, and lean protein and veggies for dinner most nights, except Monday, when I had a antipasto salad from Uncle Maddio's and Friday, when I had Garlic Chicken and Hot and Sour Soup at the Canton House. In all I kept my carbs under 50 g all week as I had intended, and kept my calorie count under 1500.
I found that my body responded much more strongly when it was time for my next meal, and instead of finding time to eat it was more like "gotta eat now." I am still fine tuning the amount of fat and protein I need to feel full and stay that way til my next meal, and have found thus far that doubling my lean protein does this. I am also going to be adding some tomato to my breakfast this week as I do think I need at least a small amount of carbs in the morning. I was amazed as I felt I was actually eating more than I normally do, but was still losing weight.
I had plenty of energy this week, and in fact, think I feel better than I have in a while in that regard.
My problem I have been having with constipation is slowly resolving, but I think it is just the cycle of diarrhea/constipation I have been dealing with the last year, and is not diet related.
Overall I think week one was a success. I only managed to exercise once this week as I started a new job and have yet to work out my schedule. My goal for this week is to keep up the diet and find the time to do at least my cardio each day, and my strength training at least 3 times.
I am finding I miss peanut butter and apples for my snacks. I have some Sunbutter, which is made from sunflower seeds, and I am going to see if snacking on just that will help with my cravings. As it stands right now, I desperately want to make chocolate peanut butter cookies.
So that's about it. I lost weight, ate more than I have in a while, and feel pretty good.
I made homemade low carb cream of chicken and broccoli soup for some of my dinners next week, and have a ham and cheddar fritata ready to be baked for next week. Hopefully week two will be just as, or more, successful as week one.
I had Canadian Bacon and Cheddar Fritata for breakfast each morning, almonds for snacks twice a day, a mixed green salad with lean protein for lunch, and lean protein and veggies for dinner most nights, except Monday, when I had a antipasto salad from Uncle Maddio's and Friday, when I had Garlic Chicken and Hot and Sour Soup at the Canton House. In all I kept my carbs under 50 g all week as I had intended, and kept my calorie count under 1500.
I found that my body responded much more strongly when it was time for my next meal, and instead of finding time to eat it was more like "gotta eat now." I am still fine tuning the amount of fat and protein I need to feel full and stay that way til my next meal, and have found thus far that doubling my lean protein does this. I am also going to be adding some tomato to my breakfast this week as I do think I need at least a small amount of carbs in the morning. I was amazed as I felt I was actually eating more than I normally do, but was still losing weight.
I had plenty of energy this week, and in fact, think I feel better than I have in a while in that regard.
My problem I have been having with constipation is slowly resolving, but I think it is just the cycle of diarrhea/constipation I have been dealing with the last year, and is not diet related.
Overall I think week one was a success. I only managed to exercise once this week as I started a new job and have yet to work out my schedule. My goal for this week is to keep up the diet and find the time to do at least my cardio each day, and my strength training at least 3 times.
I am finding I miss peanut butter and apples for my snacks. I have some Sunbutter, which is made from sunflower seeds, and I am going to see if snacking on just that will help with my cravings. As it stands right now, I desperately want to make chocolate peanut butter cookies.
So that's about it. I lost weight, ate more than I have in a while, and feel pretty good.
I made homemade low carb cream of chicken and broccoli soup for some of my dinners next week, and have a ham and cheddar fritata ready to be baked for next week. Hopefully week two will be just as, or more, successful as week one.
Sunday, January 1, 2012
Happy New Year
Happy New Year everyone!!!
I am pretty excited about the coming 365 days. I start a new job tomorrow, I am happier with my personal life than I have been in well over 15 years, and I am healthier than I have ever been in my life, save for maybe the first year or so.
I have learned a lot about nutrition and myself this year. I learned that what works for one won't work for all. I learned that my body reacts negatively to carbs, both on a blood sugar and digestive level. It is this discover that has lead me to decide to "go Primal" and tomorrow I start my Primal Diet Experiment. Basically, it has you eating like a caveman; meat, nuts, veggies fruit. You avoid food that come into the human food chain much later like legumes, beans, grains, cashews, and potatoes. Some versions allow hard cheeses, some allow dark chocolate.
One of the reasons this diet appeals to me is the low carb aspect. Another is the fact that I discovered that even when I ate a 'healthy grain' like quinoa, my blood sugar was higher for 8-10 hours afterward. So I am planning on keeping my carb intake to less than 100g a day, and as close to 50g as I can. If, after discussing it with my doc, he agrees a trial is suitable, I will try maintaining my carb intake at under 50g a day to create a state of ketogenesis, which is when your body is essentially only using fat instead of carbs for energy. I have read several medical journal articles on the topic, and I am interested in trying it.
So today I ate the last of the New Year's Dinner pizza, ate the last spoonful of my peanut butter, made a tasty fruit salad with my higher carb fruits I had left, and will be noshing on pintos and cornbread tonight for one final go of the carbs.
I don't plan on never eating pizza or my other favorite carby foods again, just not weekly, or biweekly, as it has been in the past.
So good luck everyone. I will try posting at least at midweek to give a quick update, but will give a full account this weekend of how I did on my first week of going Primal.
I am pretty excited about the coming 365 days. I start a new job tomorrow, I am happier with my personal life than I have been in well over 15 years, and I am healthier than I have ever been in my life, save for maybe the first year or so.
I have learned a lot about nutrition and myself this year. I learned that what works for one won't work for all. I learned that my body reacts negatively to carbs, both on a blood sugar and digestive level. It is this discover that has lead me to decide to "go Primal" and tomorrow I start my Primal Diet Experiment. Basically, it has you eating like a caveman; meat, nuts, veggies fruit. You avoid food that come into the human food chain much later like legumes, beans, grains, cashews, and potatoes. Some versions allow hard cheeses, some allow dark chocolate.
One of the reasons this diet appeals to me is the low carb aspect. Another is the fact that I discovered that even when I ate a 'healthy grain' like quinoa, my blood sugar was higher for 8-10 hours afterward. So I am planning on keeping my carb intake to less than 100g a day, and as close to 50g as I can. If, after discussing it with my doc, he agrees a trial is suitable, I will try maintaining my carb intake at under 50g a day to create a state of ketogenesis, which is when your body is essentially only using fat instead of carbs for energy. I have read several medical journal articles on the topic, and I am interested in trying it.
So today I ate the last of the New Year's Dinner pizza, ate the last spoonful of my peanut butter, made a tasty fruit salad with my higher carb fruits I had left, and will be noshing on pintos and cornbread tonight for one final go of the carbs.
I don't plan on never eating pizza or my other favorite carby foods again, just not weekly, or biweekly, as it has been in the past.
So good luck everyone. I will try posting at least at midweek to give a quick update, but will give a full account this weekend of how I did on my first week of going Primal.
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