I meant to start this part of my blog months ago, when I decided I really had to make an effort to improve my health, but I got off to a rocky start, and wasn't in the right mental space to document my efforts. But, as I was having significant issues with my digestive system, and was becoming quite ill from it, I needed to take action. I even ended up in hospital a couple of times, with different sort of abdominal pain, and once was when I was supposed to be on a plane to China.
That was in early December 2010, and I've been working hard to eat better and to improve my fitness. Three or so months down the line, I have lost 3kg, reset my bowels, and have increased my stamina. A friend has also told me that my skin looks better, too.
As well as that, my mood has improved, and I have spent fewer days in a miserable heap on my couch, or in bed. I really didn't expect diet and exercise to affect that aspect of myself, but it seems to have. I'm still waiting for my hip pain to improve, as a result of losing weight, but I'm only 3kg down, with at 10 - 15kg to go.
After gradually re-introducing fruit and veg into my diet, and drastically reducing the amount of convenience food, take-out and other rubbish, I am now trying to stick to around 1450 calories per day. I know from previous experience that it takes about 1500cal to maintain my weight, so anything less than that will start to reduce my weight.
I've been on the calorie-counting path before, when I first started having pain and mobility issues, and it's a useful way of re-educating myself on portion sizes and the amount and type of food I can eat while remaining within my calorie "budget". It means that I plan my meals, to try to get the most out of my budget, which means eating plenty of fruit and veg.
It's not that I dislike "healthy" food, but I am an emotional over-eater, and have become accustomed to the intensity of high-fat, high-sugar foods that I would eat to counteract whatever I was feeling. I am retraining my palate to find satisfaction in natural flavours and less volume.
I am still struggling with cravings for "bad" food, and while I allow myself a few treats (choc-top at the movies, for instance), I am trying to find other ways to treat myself, and to reward my progress. However, the benefits I am feeling from an improved diet are incentive enough to keep going. I've not felt this healthy in a long, long time, and although I still battle with fatigue, I am not crashing out after a busy day the way I used to.
I'm still not getting as much exercise as I'd like, as I'm afraid of doing to much, too soon, and injuring myself. Any exercise also increases my hip pain, so I have to try to balance my need for exercise and my need to continue functioning, and not be laid up from excessive pain.
I'm currently swimming two or three times a week, and by "swimming" I really mean walking, water-running and kicking with a float. I have started doing some actual swimming, but am concentrating on my legs, as my upper body gets worked out all the time. There is also quite a steep ramp up to the car park from the pool, and I need to save myself for the big push!
I would like to work out more, and more intensively, but I have to work myself up to it gradually. I am enjoying being more active, and even hold out hope of returning to the gym one of these days. At the moment, though, some exercise is a definite improvement on no exercise at all!
So it's all going in the right direction, and I feel confident that I can keep it going, keep improving my health, and keep gradually losing the weight.
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