Let’s Get Physical
Okay, I’ve gained ten pounds this Summer. TEN POUNDS! I’ve never been a skinny girl, but this is getting ridiculous. I’m sure part of the problem is that I wasn’t able to go to the gym over the Summer, due to the fact that I had two kids in tow. It feels so good to be back in flow yoga with MJ, even though I can only hold my crow pose for three breaths and have had to revert to “girl” push ups. Still, Summer is the time when you live on cantelope and iced tea, so it’s usually weight loss time. Fall and Winter is the time to fatten up the goose with heavier meals and cozy weekends by the fire. Scottie, the step-mom of my college roommate, used to send us a tin of cookies in the Fall and say “Winter’s coming…let’s get fat!” She called us butterballs. Nice, eh? So anyway, I’m thinking, Fall’s comin’ on … what’s gonna happen now?!?!
I was in migraine remission most of the Summer, with just 3 migraines a month. I started eating every three hours, which helped a lot. I’m pretty sure my migraines are triggered by two things 1)blood sugar flux and 2)hormone flux. I keep telling my doctors this, but if it doesn’t show up on the tests, they won’t agree with me, even though all of my experiences says otherwise. My family practitioner, who I love, is running a new series of blood tests to see if I’m technically hypoglycemic an/or (gasp!) peri-menopausal. (As much as I’m hoping for an answer, I hope it’s not that. I’m only 35!)
All this to say that I feel like I need to go on a totally health food purge kick. No caffeine. No sugar. No white flour. Lots of protein. But I don’t know how to do this on my own. I think I’m going to go see my naturopath and find out if she can give me some sort of food program to follow. Also, I’ll need something to help the sugar cravings. Chromium complex tabs or something. I did one of these purges once before with my housemate, Sharon, and I felt like someone with an eating disorder. All we did was obsess about what we could and couldn’t eat for days on end. But my energy level went through the roof and I lost ten pounds. This was before the migraines, so I don’t know if a toxin purge would help or hurt. It can be kind of shocking to the ole’ bod, and I don’t know how much shock my system can handle. Also, I can’t stop my migraine meds cold turkey, so I don’t know if a purge would help when I’m on all this liver taxing meds.
All I know is that I have to get rid of these migraines. It’s been TWO YEARS and I’ve yet to go more than 4-6 weeks in a row without almost daily pain.
Well, there’s more information about my health than you cared to know. It’s just been on my mind and I thought if I typed it out I might feel more in control, you know?
Here’s hoping.
I am completely with you on this, Rachelle. Never been a small girl and now these sticky post-baby fifteen won’t really go anywhere. I have a gym with a nursery in the morning that I need to get to. So far, Judah’s general dislike for nurseries has been enough to keep me away. I gotta get going on it though– or I won’t lose and I might end up with baby 2 and more sticky pounds.
and just writing this has helped me feel more in control of it too.=)
Your post made me want to get busy. I have one De-tox book but was looking at some others this morning. Have you ever read any of Anne Louise Gittleman’s nutrition books? I had never heard of her but they look interesting. Think I might order one.
Detoxing, even for a day or two always makes me feel better.
aola,
i did the gittleman’s fat flush detox last year with my housemate. i felt great…but had to think and plan around food constantly. it’s a good thing the detoxing part only takes a few weeks before you rebuild to a full selection of foods.
here’s to trying something new.
r
Oh my goodness - totally feel your pain. I live in northern Minnesota and I have found that it is easier for me to lose weight in the winter. Fewer BBQ’s and get-to-gethers. More time at home to exercise. Summer is filled with such good food - from the grill, fresh berry pies, and the list goes on. Summer here, like in Washington, is too short to be pre-occupied with counting calories. And… I want to move to your neighborhood- prayer flags and chili feeds - divine.
I completely empathize, Rachelle. The past year has been almost daily migraines for me, too. I am blessed with a neurologist who believes in yoga, nutritional supplements, and all kinds of alternative therapies. She actually does acupuncture herself! Anyways, I just started a weekly program she is running for migraine and chronic pain patients called Mindfulness Clinic. We are learning the practice of mindfulness, living in the moment, using meditation, yoga, to accept the pain we must and decrease the pain we bring on through unnecessary stress. It’s based on a book called “Full Catastrophe Living” by Jon Kabat-Zin…might want to check it out.
Everyone is different, but my chronic migraines have disappeared since I stopped eating wheat and dairy. . .
My doc is calling my headaches “cluster” headaches or possibly migraines. Either way they are debilitating. I too have had some experiences with dangerously low blood sugar and I am officially peri-menopausal (which is ok, since I’m 46).
I definitely think the headaches are related to blood sugar and hormone fluctuations.
As for weight/generally good health, I’m not the one to recommend anything to you…..my weight loss plan is stuck at stage one, meaning it’s going nowhere. Sigh…
Good luck with the plan.
thanks for all the empathy everyone!
shannon, i will def. look that book up!
i spent half the weekend in bed and the other half fighting the depression that comes with chronic pain. i said to paul “i am not winning the emotional battle right now.” today is better _and_ i started the pre-detox plan of cutting out wheat and refined carbs. hopefully this interim stage will keep my bod from freaking out too much when i do the whole plan!
keep on truckin,
r