2.5 pounds of water: May 31, 2011

I know two weeks haven't yet gone by, however I wanted to report about yesterday before it drifted to the dark recesses of my mind.  Yesterday morning when I wrote, I was in a lot of overall body pain, could barely move my fingers or the rest of my body for that matter.  I was extremely swollen and uncomfortable. I felt like I weighed 1000 pounds with zero strength along with the searing burning pain.  Despite the pain and sluggishness I told Richard I still wanted to go on our 4 mile walk down the hill, into town, around the lake and back, because it seemed like a good idea to try to keep moving.  I also ate no wheat or refined sugar, and stayed within the guidelines of the DASH diet, just under 1600 calories, and no extra salt.   We did our walk in the early afternoon, and stopped along the way to have spring rolls at the Vietnamese place, and then after the lake loop stopped for a spinach salad at our favorite New Mexican restaurant downtown.  Then it was time to trudge up the hill.  By this time I was already feeling better, lighter, less fluid-filled.  I joked last night that I bet I was carrying at least 4 extra pounds of water, so I got on the scale this morning and, sure enough, I am down 2.5 pounds from yesterday.  The deep searing pain is gone, except for my usual arthritic places, and my strength is back to some degree.  I am slightly puffy this morning, so a bit more water retention, but I can at least move my fingers and open jars.


I am taking that as a confirmation that wheat and refined sugar needed to be removed.  I love bread so much, it is really hard to think that wheat may be gone for good.  But, I would definitely rather go without than live in the bloated, extremely painful condition I've been in for the last few days (that has been gradually worsening since I reintroduced wheat in March.)

Richard's working today, so I may get on the elliptical for 60 minutes, although it is finally gorgeous outside, so maybe it will be a hilly brisk walk. 


Today's a new day, and I am enthused about feeling great, and better and better each day.

May 30, 2011: A new start on the DASH diet

It has been awhile since the last check in, and awhile since I last even thought about it.  The inspiration to check in comes from the fact that I've been experiencing some severe pain throughout all of the joints of my body, and increased heel pain.  I've also been experiencing lots of water retention which may be an effect of a medication I recently started to help with the worsening dysmenorrhea/menorrhagia I've been experiencing, and will hopefully even out after awhile.  

I recalled that one of my main original ideas, last summer and at the beginning of the year, for decreasing my overall body weight was to decrease the pain I'm experiencing.  I suspected with the increased pain that my weight was also increasing.  My wonderful hubby, Richard, also, very sweetly, reminded me that I had experienced much less pain when I eliminated wheat and refined sugar from my diet in February.  He is right and I am thankful for the reminder, and those items have made their way back into my diet on a regular basis.  More so the wheat than the sugar, but I've not been monitoring either.  School pretty much took over my life, so I stopped weighing, stopped recording everything in MyFoodDiary.com, and decreased, to an extent, the exercise. 

Here are my current stats:

Weight: 208.2lb (up 6 lb from 2 months ago, but down 3lb from the beginning of the year - and still down 11.8 lb from last August)

Percent body fat: 45.5% (which is down 1% from the beginning of the year - so perhaps all of the exercise has paid off in that area.  We remeasured my body parts, and almost all of them are back to the original size they were in January.

I feel a bit discouraged, and had hoped to have lost lots more by now, and certainly hoped Ihadn't gained but I really need to start again, taking it easy on myself (especially since some of the gain is this swollen puffiness of water retention), and continuing in a reasonable maintainable way.  

I had a recent conversation with one of my aunts who followed the DASH diet, lost all of her extra weight and was able to side-step taking the blood pressure medication the doctor had prescribed for her.  She is my inspiration for the DASH diet, as is the information I learned in my OTC class this past term.  I strongly recommend this eating plan to anyone who is at risk for, or is suffering from, hypertension.  I am choosing it for myself, not because I currently have high blood pressure, but because, with the family history on both sides, and my tendency to pre-hypertension and white coat syndrome, this choice makes the most sense to me to start eating this way now.

So, The DASH diet it is, in addition to eliminating refined sugars and wheat (for allergy/joint reasons).  

Aside from limiting daily calories, ensuring ample vegetables and fruits, and dairy like low- or no fat yogurt, the DASH diet helps to gain awareness of sodium consumption.  For more on the concepts and details of the DASH diet, visit: DASH Diet.

I've modified the Diet log given on the DASH site to accommodate 1600 calories, which is my goal.  

The food log looks like this:

 

This is where I will check off the items I eat.  I may still use MyFoodDiary to also track the specifics, if it's not too time-consuming.  My goal is to make it as natural as possible, where it doesn't consume my life.  It seems summer is a good time to start in again, with the goal of having the new way of eating as much of my being as breathing.  That way, when school starts again, it will be more natural, and less-time consuming.

My exercise goal is to be active at least 60 minutes each day, whether it is walking, utilizing the elliptical machine, or a combination (or even bicycling when I get a new bicycle...)  We also plan to incorporate tai chi back into our daily routine.

We will be at a family reunion next week, which can make eating a bit challenging, however, with a bit of planning and determination, I know that I will persevere and take the greatest care of myself.

Also, over the summer, I ought to have more time to implement the EFT aspect of my goals, which will likely help immensely.  I will keep you posted.  I won't be weighing in next week since we will be out of town, but for sure the Monday after that, and I know I will have splendid things to report.

Until then!  (Or before if something significant comes up before the weigh-in.)  I am greatly looking forward to easing the body pains with a lighter me.

Blessings!