The Obesity Code and Radical Acceptance

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Replies

  • Sarahb29
    Sarahb29 Posts: 952 Member
    Roseygirl1 wrote: »
    Thank you, retirehappy! That's really what I want to do, add a net carbs feature to my diary. I'm a technophobe but I will try to get one of my sons to help me install the fix.

    I found a way around the trigger for now: I upped my calories to 1800. That will keep me from the food limit panic and free me to pay attention to my body.

    Rosey

    I haven't read this whole thread but that's how I started keto - I upped my calories until I felt full and I had a good handle on recipes and carb counting, then I slowly lowered it. I think I went from 1800 to 1600 then finally where I'm at now, 1400. Even now some days I don't eat all my calories and other days I overeat on my calories, but I do my best to balance it out and stick to my macros :)

    Another thing that helps is logging meals before you make them or eat them. Use myfitnesspal as a recipe logger. If you know you want chicken for dinner, plug in the recipe and add it before dinner, that way if you need more fat you can add it in while you're cooking, or if you need more protein you can take a little more chicken for dinner. Plus if you make a few servings ahead of time you can copy them over to the next day for lunch or dinner.

    It's a big learning curve at first but you'll get there!
  • Roseygirl1
    Roseygirl1 Posts: 196 Member
    I find myself focusing on fewer and fewer things. Since my understanding is that I have developed insulin resistance, my primary focus is on lowering my insulin levels, working on lowering blood sugar and getting my cells to wake up and take up the glucose.

    It's coming down to mindfulness of a few simple things:
    1. Restricting carbs.
    2. Moving more, but gently, to avoid too much stress for my recovering, aging body. I've been going to the gym and working with a personal trainer, but it feels like too much, and I dread it. While I once was an athlete, I am an athlete no more, and I have a body that's been through 4 major surgeries in the past decade, Lyme Disease, cancer and total thyroidectomy, now adjusting to being on thyroid hormone replacement. What feels good and right to me right now are pleasurable activities: walking, dancing, yoga and stretching. C'est tout. That's all. So if I'm going to push myself it's going to be do those things! I have to trust myself!
    3. Watching the effect of my choices on my blood sugar. My monitor is my new best friend. I am astonished at how powerful an intervention a 30 min. walk can be!


    Rosey
  • retirehappy
    retirehappy Posts: 4,758 Member
    @Roseygirl1, talk to your trainer if you think it is too much. You need to strength train, your body needs that. It prevents falls, gives you the ability to get up if you fall, etc. Use lower weights till you rebuild some strength. When I got a personal trainer after retiring, I told her my goal was to be able to lift my bike onto the bike rack of our car. I can do that without a second thought now. It took some time.

    You are wise to focus on a couple of critical areas.
  • KnitOrMiss
    KnitOrMiss Posts: 10,103 Member
    @Roseygirl1 - Just as point of clarification - strength training strengthens your muscles and bones, something we all need as we age. So even if you can add it in once or twice a week - there are ways to pare down the routines to take only 30 or so minutes. If you can do compound movements, even at the lightest weights, you can get more bang for your buck. But definitely talk with your trainer and get him/her to make your routine work for you - if not, you won't get anything out of it - because we all know you won't stick with it if you loathe and dread it!
  • Roseygirl1
    Roseygirl1 Posts: 196 Member
    Thank you @KnitOrMiss and @retirehappy. You are both right, of course. I think what I will do is make a commitment to take myself to the shallow pool at the Y and do my strength training there to start with, until I get some weight off my back and can do more. I can do step ups on the stairs, squats onto the stairs, and they have water weights that I can do a good routine with for back, shoulders and upper body. I can do pullups onto the ladders from the water. (I know enough from my Crossfit days about how to make this work.) I don't hurt myself when I do this in the water, and I don't dread it.

    I will also look for a gentle yoga class. Some of the yoginis I know are pretty strong!

    Rosey
  • retirehappy
    retirehappy Posts: 4,758 Member
    Rosey, sounds like a good workout to me. And yoga is the only exercise I can say I LOVE doing. I can tolerate some other things now but I don't love exercising. Walking and yoga are my main activities. I do like body flex, which is the strength training I have been doing for about 18 months now. But I don't love it, I like the results though so I keep at it. Moving into TRX workouts next.

    Have fun in the pool.
  • camtosh
    camtosh Posts: 898 Member
    A friend just started this, says it works for her! All you need is 7 minutes a day.... http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/09/the-scientific-7-minute-workout/?_r=0

    There is an app for it, might even try it myself!
  • Roseygirl1
    Roseygirl1 Posts: 196 Member
    It's really difficult right now, my relationship with exercise. I mean, here's what I looked like at age 52, just 9 years ago:

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  • Roseygirl1
    Roseygirl1 Posts: 196 Member
    I was a Crossfit instructor (for a brief while) and a long distance cyclist. Now you can see from my profile pic I can hardly stand up straight from my spine surgeries and ongoing autoimmune arthritis. I have to work moment to moment on facing my losses when I exercise. Yes, I know that was then and this is now and I am laying the foundation for my future with the choices I make today. So just like raising my calorie limit helps me avoid the "Diet Panic Reaction", so engaging in exercise that doesn't trigger my intense sadness is needed. It's good to be reminded of how important strength training is....I *know* that! I just have to find a way to do it that circumvents all that grief. I'm looking forward to my first yoga class on Friday!

  • Roseygirl1
    Roseygirl1 Posts: 196 Member
    Plan for tomorrow: pool exercise! Friday---trying yoga. Tomorrow morning check FBS.
  • Catawampous
    Catawampous Posts: 447 Member
    Yoga is awesome! If you'd like to try some Yoga exercises at home look for "Yoga for the rest of us" by Peggy Cappy. It's nice and gentle. I'll use it when my sciatica is back talking me and it helps a lot.
  • dasher602014
    dasher602014 Posts: 1,992 Member
    Thanks for the tip about "yoga for the rest of us" @Catawampous .
  • Roseygirl1
    Roseygirl1 Posts: 196 Member
    Yes, thanks for the tip, @Catawampous! I was thinking walking home from the studio that I would like to feel this way every day.

    Tomorrow: big leap---two laps around the neighborhood, a 50 min. walk.
  • kpk54
    kpk54 Posts: 4,474 Member
    Glad you're finding something you enjoy @Roseygirl1. Youtube has oodles of yoga and stretch videos if you get an urge to do something at home.
  • KnitOrMiss
    KnitOrMiss Posts: 10,103 Member
    Thanks for the tip about "yoga for the rest of us" @Catawampous .

    @dasher602014 I found a copy on clearance at Half Price Books on DVD for $1.
  • Abm4n
    Abm4n Posts: 529 Member
    I'm a big fan of yoga too. :)
  • 2manyhats
    2manyhats Posts: 1,190 Member
    As someone who works at a school, I can tell you that kids, for the most part, will not eat fruit or veggies and many don't even know what to call them. If the meat option looks processed, like chicken nuggets, they will eat that over a piece of baked chicken. Kids don't know what real food is anymore. We have a free breakfast and lunch program and it's incredible to see the wasted food!
  • Catawampous
    Catawampous Posts: 447 Member
    Hmmmm ... has anyone heard from Rosey?
  • Cadori
    Cadori Posts: 4,810 Member
    Hmmmm ... has anyone heard from Rosey?

    I've been wondering too
  • kpk54
    kpk54 Posts: 4,474 Member
    That makes 3. @Roseygirl1 we're missing you.
  • Catawampous
    Catawampous Posts: 447 Member
    OMG welcome back! I missed your posts! I am glad it was just you trying a different way of eating. I can see the appeal of doing that and trying. Very glad you are back though and with a valuable lesson and a bit of enlightenment on how important you are!
  • Roseygirl1
    Roseygirl1 Posts: 196 Member
    OMG welcome back! I missed your posts! I am glad it was just you trying a different way of eating. I can see the appeal of doing that and trying. Very glad you are back though and with a valuable lesson and a bit of enlightenment on how important you are!

    Awwwwww, thank you*

  • dasher602014
    dasher602014 Posts: 1,992 Member
    Nope. @Roseygirl1 , I have looked. No skinny cows in my neck of the woods! Glad to hear from you again. I did a similar silliness.

    You have to understand (or at least hear my excuse), I was away from home for a week, then home for one night and now away from home, babysitting animals for friends, for another week. Tired, needless to say. So...... we came early to get used to the routine and Chinese food was chosen for the first night. My DH (diabetic) was involved in the choosing of dishes so there were a number of 'plain' meat dishes and veggie dishes (I know, I know). He managed quite well but me?

    Well, I am the one trying to understand that I am gluten intolerant not lactose intolerance. I avoided all the breading stuff and ate veggies. But 2 -36 hours later, I have never felt so awful for so long. Terrible evening of pain and no sleep. Still unsettled. I am convinced. NO CHINESE FOOD EVERY AGAIN! A difficult lesson of another kind but the same lesson really. Stick to good, wholesome, home cooked meals. Pizza would have been better but I was lactose intolerant last time they saw me (and for years before that) so they were trying to choose with me in mind.

    Visiting is fraught with peril.
  • lithezebra
    lithezebra Posts: 3,670 Member
    Roseygirl1 wrote: »

    I need to think every morning about the things *I* need to keep my equilibrium and equanimity so that I can nurture a healthier internal state for my precious body. Things I KNOW help me: outdoor walks, dance classes, massage (heavenly!) and meditation.

    Me too. Walks in nature and dancing are two kinds of exercise that have as much to do with peace and satisfaction as they do with fitness.

  • kpk54
    kpk54 Posts: 4,474 Member
    Yay! Glad you're back and back stronger with valuable lessons.

    I've done my share of "testing" on my chosen path of keto. I have a bag of coconut flour sitting in the back of my refrigerator. It is even Keto, so good, yes? NO. It only took me one use of it in making a 1 minute mug cake to find out keto sweets can be just as "addictive" as non keto sweets...for me.

    High 5 to lessons, choices, health and love.

  • Sunny_Bunny_
    Sunny_Bunny_ Posts: 7,140 Member
    We're glad you're back!
    Thanks for sharing the experience too. It's all part of the journey. Sometimes we just need to test the water I guess.
    It was a good learning opportunity, therefore an important part of your low carb life.
  • Cadori
    Cadori Posts: 4,810 Member
    Glad you're back! And thank you for sharing your experience...I've had a few glum days of bemoaning my limitations and really wanting sweet things.
  • Roseygirl1
    Roseygirl1 Posts: 196 Member
    I just want to say I ate a delicious dinner. Zoodles cooked in butter and garlic, and Garlic Knot Chicken Wings. Totally yummy.
This discussion has been closed.