WHEE (Weight, Health, Eating and Exercise) is a community support diary for Kossacks who are currently or planning to start losing, gaining or maintaining their weight through diet and exercise or fitness. Any supportive comments, suggestions or positive distractions are appreciated. If you are working on your weight or fitness, please -- join us! You can also click the WHEE tag to view all diary posts.
I've always been fat, but there was always solid muscle under the fat. I couldn't lift like my farmboy cousins, but I was always active, fond of walking and enjoying just moving around.
Then I got pregnant, had a horrible time of it, and had a car accident that meant I will never hike again. I got pregnant again, and this time I never got quite well. It turned out to be fibromyalgia. Fibromyalgia brought me IBS, too.
It wasn't until recently when I got on the right combination of medications and found the correct lifestyle changes to compensate that I realized just how out of condition I was.
I had trouble carrying the laundry upstairs. Sometimes I couldn't lift a case of pop without using both hands. I was going to have to do something. I'm only getting older, and this is not going to fix itself. So here's what I do.
I stretch several times a day, but most especially at night before going to bed. If you have a disorder that causes muscle pain, stiffness, and cramps, stretching out is not only good for you, but vital. Everyone figures out what needs stretched the most, and there's good references on how to go about doing it.
Exercise and generally moving about helps with the pain. Joining a gym is a good way to go, but we simply can't afford it. Due to the foot issue, I'm never going to be walking for fitness. On the other hand, I have stairs in my house. On laundry day, I do several flights over the course of the day. Other days, I just go up and down a few times. I don't push myself....I can't. Pushing too fast will make my fibromyalgia flare. I also try to make sure I walk when I can do so without angering my foot. I'll walk through a home improvement store with my husband, and when I start hurting we'll leave, and I can sit as long as I need. I also got a set of hand weights and started work with them. They're very light, just two pounds. But it's enough to really make me begin feeling as though I actually have arm and shoulder muscles, and it feels good.
Diet's been a big one for me. I discovered that I am intolerant of fructose; it gives me migraines and makes my fibromyalgia flare. Too much starch makes the fibromyalgia flare. And most of the cabbage family has been placed off limits due to the IBS. So I eat what I can eat without being sick, and try, within those limits, to make good healthy choices. I eat a lot of peas and carrots, celery, garlic, tomatoes, peppers, and caramelized onions (I can't have them raw). I cook a lot from scratch, and find it relaxing and fun. Sure, it would be NICE to be able to eat dessert when we go out to eat, and not worry about what they marinaded the chicken in, but we have to be realistic, and work within the limitations instead of fighting with our bodies and their rules on what we can eat or can't. Otherwise you just feel worse, instead of better.
We chronic disease sufferers have to be gentle with ourselves. You can't fight your body, you have to coax it and work with it, and accept that there will be bad days as well as good days. But on the good days, we can move forward, and perhaps even find a point where, for a while, we forget that we are sick, because we feel healthy.
So how are you moving forward, and what are you having to work around...and what are your workarounds? Share them with us!