Day Three, Part II

Any hope of tomorrow being a good day seems to be fading. I'm lying uncomfortably awake and the debate of sleep vs exercise has commenced. I am looking at fewer than six hours of sleep tonight and it doesn't seem like it'll be restful. I've already devoured two bags of 100c cookies packs in frustration as the minutes tick by. My IBD always feels worse when I haven't slept. The bowels are as sluggish as my mind; carb cravings skyrocket and the ensuing sugar highs and lows exacerbate digestion. The mood swings are pretty unbearable. too. Nothing is easy when you're tired least of all dealing with twinges, aches, and discomfort of half digested meals. If by some miracle I wake up not feeling worse than I did when I eventually fall asleep then maybe I will drag myself to the gym. But, I find that the short term high from exercise and the temporary boost in motility will only get you through so many hours of the day.

There is little I hate more than not sleeping.

Day Three, Part I

I didn't make it to Spinning this morning. I woke up and knew instantly that the Pilates had more of an effect than I'd realized the night before -- however, I did get in a good workout. I did the 1.5 mi walk to the gym location downtown, got in some easy cardio, and lower body training, and walked back. It was beautiful outside! I'd forgotten how nice an afternoon walk could be when there isn't oppressive humidity.

I kept the diet on track as well. The breakfast was filling and gave me the right amount of energy for the late morning workout, but I don't think I have the afternoon snacks right. I'm hungry after lunch and it's hard to stay within the points values without 0-1pt snacks. The fiber is a critical element that would help this along and I'm not sure how to keep my hunger manageable. Maybe more fluids even spaced throughout the day? Ill have to give this a try, but tomorrow is Monday and it'll be a little bit different. I plan to be up early for a workout and want to focus on consuming ONLY the pre-made snacks. We'll see how it goes. More tomorrow...

Day Two

Success! I got up this morning and went to Weight Watchers (up 1.8 since January), grabbed coffee at Starbucks, and then went off to Pilates. The class was great -- a half dozen women who were clearly regulars, but I didn't feel out of place. I was tired after class. I am not sure if I didn't get enough sleep (6hrs) or if it's the overall lack of food, or a combination. The class didn't feel too difficult when it was in session, but I think I might feel it tomorrow. I am striving for a solid 8hrs of sleep tonight and plan to be up early for Spinning class as long as I don't experience any DOMS.

The greek yogurt with the cinnamon protein cereal was delicious. I felt a bit silly mixing it up in the WW meeting, but I had to get the calories before Pilates and I wasn't going to eat before weigh-in! More tomorrow...

Day One, Part II

It's 9:35pm and I still haven't been to the gym. (Let's ignore the fact that I am sitting at home blogging on a Friday night.) I did, however, go to Target and Costco to get lots of healthy items (except for the ice cream.) I've proactively planned my meals and exercise for the week and am looking forward to getting up in the morning for Weight Watchers! I spent lots of time up and down the aisles in Target and here is what I've planned for the week:

Breakfast -- Greek Yogurt; High-Protein/Lo-Fiber Cereal (30g protein; 280cal)
Snack -- Soy Jerky (10g protein; 80cal)
Lunch -- Tuna on English Muffin; 100calories snackpack Cookies (15g protein; 280cal)
Snack -- Nutrition Bar (12g protein; 190cal)
Dinner -- Cooked Spinach with Tofu (8g Protein; 100cal)
Snack -- WW Dessert (4g protein; 170cal)

I haven't calculated the points in these. It's heavy on the protein for satiation -- about 80g per day -- and low on the fiber -- fewer than 15g per day. I think the relatively high protein breakfast will keep me full to lunch and then I can space my meals/snack out to every 2.5 hours. Obviously, there are no vegetables besides the spinach, but that's ok. I will alternate the greek yogurt/cereal with a nutritional shake. That with the bar will help me get a lot of my vitamins. I read somewhere that there is a special multi-vitamin for individuals with IBD since individuals sometimes have trouble with absorption. However, my doctor confirmed that semi-regular shakes and hydration were more critical than crossing all of my vitamin Ts and dotting my mineral Is.

I also planned my exercise for the week -- I figure if I publish it online then I have to be somewhat accountable, right? Here's the plan for the week -- I appear to have tossed baby steps out the window:

Saturday Morning -- Pilates Mat
Sunday Morning -- Spinning
Monday Morning -- Light Cardio/Abs
Tuesday Morning -- Light Cardio/Abs
Wednesday Evening -- Personal Training
Thursday -- Rest/Weigh In (Going out of town for Labor Day)
Friday Morning -- Light Cardio/Abs

It's ambitious at first glance, but not too much. I can't squeeze in more than 30 minutes in the morning during the week. It really is to help me wake-up. And, if I am feeling fatigued then I can always scale back. The Pilates and Spinning are the biggest hurdles, but I can do it! And, day two will be even more successful than day one.

Day One, Part I

I managed to get up at 6, but my stomach is no good this morning. I could analyze this for days, but I'll stick to simple idenitfication of what I think are the top 3 culprits -- 1) I ate after 8PM, 2) my dinner involved dairy, and 3) the waistband of my yoga/pajama pants put slight pressure on my stomach while I was sleeping. The result? An uncomfortable aching and distended bowel. I think I'll spend the extra hour in bed this morning waiting for relief and plan on an evening workout. (There are many joys to homebuying, but the inability to spend money while we squirrel away funds for the down payment is not one of them.)

Alas, a friday night date with myself at the gym isn't a bad thing. It'll be quiet and low-key. I'm thinking 30 minutes of cardio, moderate stretching, and half a dozen burpees to remind my body what a workout feels like. I still plan to go to WW tomorrow, which means I could give weight tracking a go. I am good at this before noon and by the time 3PM hits, it's like the calories don't count anymore. But, I am supposed to be turning over a new leaf. So, tracking during the day and a workout for tonight.

To Be Continued...

Do Stats Matter?

Every diet book and exercise guru will tell you that weight doesn't matter and that you should simply eat healthy and stay active and all will be well. I believe this on some level, but let's be real. My doctor told me to lose weight. He looked at the scale and he looked at me and he said "you're taking more than you need." This says to me, at least for the short term, that the numbers matter. And, as of this evening, following a nice healthy dinner of a 2 by 2 in vegetarian meatball sub (I think most people would call this a petit for, but I digress), I weighed in at approximately 143lbs. I am only 5'0 so this is not insignificant and if I felt like browsing away from this window I am certain I could find one of those bmi calculators to tell me that I am mildly overweight and nearing obesity. No matter. I don't feel great in my body right now and my tummy is off (code for mildly distended).

Therefore, my official day one question is: when do I workout. I struggle with this morning vs. evening thing all the time. I feel good when I wake up early and go to gym. If I can force myself up and out, then I have more energy during the day and I feel and am much more productive. On the downside, I have never been very efficient at the gym and my stretching and strength training suffer when I stumble in the gym with my eyes half-closed. This is not rocket science. The best time to work out is the time that you will stick to and I've always been good with a schedule. So, what'll it be. I am going to try for morning cardio. Maybe I can supplement with an evening yoga or strength training class once I get in routine. Baby steps. Let's just get up to the alarm tomorrow first. Until tomorrow...

The Plan

I don't like to do things without a plan. And, having a plan implies having a goal. The long-term goal, of course, is to be healthy. But, there is a day-by-day nature to that that feels to complacent for my type-A personality. I like to plan with a Big P. Thus, the plan is to shake these fifteen-odd pounds while learning to love comfortably within bounds of a low-residue way of life. My mom used to tell me to make baby steps back when I was a kid in the hospital. Baby steps. Well, my first baby step is to get myself back into the gym tomorrow. And, my second baby step will be to get myself back on Weight Watchers. The gym and WW helped me lose it before and I know I can do it again. (Even if I have to bend the rules a bit -- I mean really...how does one eat 01-pt foods when they can't have too much fiber?) I'll be back tomorrow for Day One, which just means getting myself active.

What is Low Residue?

I knew what it meant once upon a time. I could my daily fiber grams and monitored my liquid intake with zeal. What happened? I fell off. Hard. Low residue has come to mean a diet that consists of mostly packaged foods with little, if any, nutritional value. The only vegetables I have are the occasional pieces of avocado in my philly roll. I joke that I subsist on eight foods: tuna, salmon, crackers/bread, diet shakes, energy-bars, cookies, powerade, and coffee.

White bread and rice is my friend. Whole grains are to be feared. Tuna and salmon, canned, raw, or cooked, can be good. However, anything beyond that gets me in a gray zone. (Did I mention that I was a pescatarian?) I'll save that for another post. Back to the gray zone. The gray zone is occupied by the many foods that precipitated illness at one point or another in my life. There is little rhyme and less reason for the foods on this list. Nuts and seeds are the usual enemies for folks with IBD, but add to that cocoa nibs, original english muffins, rockfish, and cheap coffee and you begin to see the issues. Some days my stomach is like a colicky child -- accepting and rejecting at random what I give it. Comfort food takes on a whole new meeting when your existence depends on the consumption of non-bothersome foods in a variety of personal and professional venues in a 16-hour day.

This feels like whining and I feel it necessary to add a disclaimer. I do not have Crohns disease and people who do experience inconvenience, discomfort, and pain far beyond my measure. The people I have met who've confronted the disease deserve praise for their fortitude and some exist on Ensure or IV fluids. I'm grateful that my condition has not deteriorated to that point and only hope that I can find a diet and a routine that helps me lose the fifteen pounds that have crept on my petite figure since I started the carbfest known as a low-residue diet.

Why Low Residue?

Picture this. It's 2008. After a successful 24 months of diet and exercise, tragedy hits. The inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) that was successfully "cured" in 1994 is back. Scars from surgeries past have created scar tissue, which in turn creates ongoing abdominal adhesions. The abdominal adhesions were made better with a little bit of bowel rest, but then reality sinks in. The new world order: a low-residue diet. In order to prevent the build-up of roughage in the system and recurrence of partial bowel obstructions, I must simply eliminate the fiber in my diet. What?!

You're joking right, Dr.?! Because you told me this IBD stuff required me to lose weight and I ate endless amounts of sweet potatoes, legumes, and whole grains to whittle away the pounds. And, I produced sweat. Lots and lots of sweat. This is temporary, right?

And, that is how I went from Ms. Fit and Fabulous to Ms. Residue. The woman who'd never met a spin, step, or weightlifting class she didn't like fell in love with romance novels on the couch. Crisp green salads were replaced by buttery croissants and crunchy animal crackers. It would be unfair to blame it all on the IBD. A new marriage and new job could easily pack on the pounds even before getting hit over the head with an old (but painfully familar) diagnosis. However, I beat this once and I can beat it again.

So, what's this blog about? It's about diet and nutrition, exercise, chronic health conditions, and whatever other issues stand in the way of a newlywed young professional and her efforts to stay healthy.