Dieting with Obstacles Those with special health concerns such as diabetes, fibromyalgia, pregnancy, etc can post here for extra support and help.

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Old 07-11-2011, 02:37 PM   #1  
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Talking Physical Challenges ~ SUMMER Chat Thread ...

WELCOME EVERYONE ~ Please join us in our thread: to give support and encouragement; to share ideas, and/or just chat with one another about everyday issues ...

This special thread is for anyone with any kind of physical obstacle and/or challenge like SB, CP, MS, MD, PK, Lupus, Osteo, Arthritis, Rheumatism, or any other condition (s), whether genetic or acquired (like injuries), that causes some physical limitations and/or difficulties.

We try to focus on the positive here -- not seeing ourselves as victims, but as victors and overcomers. It is so nice to be able to talk with others who have some idea of what we are going through each day!


HAVE A WONDERFUL SUMMER EVERYONE!
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Old 07-11-2011, 02:52 PM   #2  
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Wink Hello Again ...

Well, now that I have my new(er) PC and high speed internet, I thought I might try and resurrect this thread for the summer. I was having so much trouble with my old PC, I was having a hard time getting in to make some posts. Now I can once again devote the time to it that I would like.

I know lots of folks read this thread before (in the hundreds actually), so there was some interest. We'll see if anybody drops by for a visit over the summertime. I'll keep it going if there is enuff interest. This forum seems to be one that people come to about questions about their health mostly and some of the tips can be very helpful.

This thread was designed for those of us who have physical challenges that we have to deal with each day, and on an on-going basis. Like the intro says, I like to focus on the positive and look for ways to enhance my life.

We are having wonderful weather; cooler for July, and a tad bit humid, but still nice, nevertheless. We have some more good news: DH & I bought a house in May (we were renting before), and we will be moving in during the month of August -- we are so excited!

Meanwhile, I have spent a lot of my time sorting and tossing and packing; more than half of our stuff is packed now. I bought myself a new L-shaped computer desk for the new house, as I will have my own little private PC/office/prayer room there. Got it for a mega bargain -- only $35 + taxes. We have so much to look forward to there, and I will share that with all of you as we go along.

To update my "back to good health" progress -- I have been doing superbly with my eating this year, with only a few slips. When that happens, I just cut back a bit later on or the next day; and that strategy has been working very well for me. I have been losing more inches and am down to a size 18 on top now; still a bit bigger on the bottom, but I will keep working on that.

My family says that my face and neck looks slimmer than last year; I had thought so myself. My arms are thinner also, as I have been using my handbells about every other day. I am pleased how I am doing, but hope to get some more walking when we move; the area is much flatter and very close to the beautiful lakes. There is one hill to navigate, but I'll work up to that slowly.

Hope you all are having a lovely summer; take good care ... Rosebud

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Old 07-12-2011, 07:57 PM   #3  
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Had a good day today; ate well -- had an egg & toast for brekky; just had a pita pizza for lunch (smoked chicken & olives & cheeze); and beans & a toast for a very lite dinner. Was gonna have a salad but wasn't that hungry; the day looks a bit carby, but is still well within my parameters.

Also got some exercise in doing stuff around here. We sorted kitchen drawers; and my desk drawer today. It was decluttering day for me. I think that we have finally got all drawers, dressers, and closets done now. So many things all sorted out, cleaned out, cleared out, which should make things go much smoother.

I should go now and put a load of DH's clothers in the washing machine; one a night is good. We have hydro savings here now; if you use appliances on off-peak hours (meaning during the evening &night-time & weekends). I am hoping it will bring our hydro bill down; so far, it seems to be working ... that's great; means more money for our new house!

Time for some tea and a good book while the laundry goes ... have a good one -- Rosebud
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Old 07-15-2011, 04:22 PM   #4  
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Well, summer is here for sure; the July is baking us today. So it's a good day for doing laundry outside. We had a very busy day yesterday -- several calls & visitors ... plus we had to tidy the place up quickly to show it to a prospective new tenant; she sounded very interested, so i think she will take it. She's young and a good match for the neighbours next door.

This whole month has been busy; yesterday, I made COUNTRY CHICKEN STEW for lunch -- it turned out fab and I had the rest for lunch today. We just had a sandwich for dinner last night. Am planning on having a hamburger & a salad for dinner tonight, since it's Friday night.

Hope you are all having a good one; and keeping cool. Gotta go bring in a load of clothes ... so catch ya all later ... Rosebud
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Old 07-15-2011, 04:53 PM   #5  
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Hi, Love to join the thread. Although I am looking for community that has some activity in it to help keep me accountable. Hopefully I can find this here, as my old forum has died down tremendously.

My life challenge is that I have PCOS and Hypothyroidism. I've been TTC for 4 years and just found out last week that both my tubes are blocked. PCOS and Hypothyroidisum make it extremly hard to lose weight.

Last year I set out on my WL Journey with my mother and husband. I worked out 6 days a week, 3 with a personal trainer, and tracked every food that I ate (every). I only lost 30lbs in 10 months which was a big crash boom for me! I kind of gave up and stopped going to the gym and stopped eating low carb and well it all came back.

I'm ready to start again. I'm usually really active in the community. I belong to my fitness pal where I track all my food and exercise as well as made a tremendous amount of friends.
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Old 07-16-2011, 05:38 AM   #6  
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Hello! I've got severe ME/CFIDS.

My main victory at the moment is managing to lose weight, of course, and managing to keep up with cooking for myself. I'm getting help, I have support workers in twice a week and they make my lunch that day plus we cook up a big batch of vegetable soup for freezing quite often. And there are days when I don't have the energy for making porridge for breakfast and just grab cereal. But still, I pretty much am keeping up with three meals a day. The soup and/or salad for lunch thing helps: not only am I hungrier later in the day, but I'm also more energetic later in the day, so this is a lighter meal which is easier to make, especially if the soup just involves fishing a container out of the freezer. I still do things like burn food due to memory problems, absent-mindedly slosh too much liquid into the porridge, and a few days ago I cut my thumb quite nastily when slicing up courgettes, but so far nothing too dramatic.

Physical activity - I'm pacing myself much better since I started using FitDay. I don't think my activity levels are enough to make a blind bit of difference to my weight loss, but any activity can be enough to overdo it and send me into a relapse. Having to track walks (rare) and quilting (frequent) and so forth means that I'm far more careful about keeping within my limits. Of course, today the plan is to baste a quilt when my support worker turns up, and that's pretty exhausting. Probably not the best plan with the ultrasound coming up on Tuesday, but I don't want to have to wait until Thursday before I can get on with it, I'd have nothing to sew.

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Old 07-16-2011, 09:33 AM   #7  
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Good Morning,
I thought I'd join in and help encourage those who have thyroid, PCO, Bipolar, Celiac's, muscle degeneration, and whatever else I might have forgotten. I am sure I have had these all one form or another throughout my life. The one I no longer suffer from is PCO, but it was a thorn in my side the moment puberty hit. It took a couple of years and fertility drugs to get my youngest (11). And just last year I chucked it all and had a hysterectomy. And thank goodness as I dodge the bullet of uterine cancer.
I have Hoshimoto's Disease, Celiac Disease and Bipolar Disorder and those three things like to work against me in losing weight. It's almost as though I say yes and it says no. Last year at my highest 283, I also found out that some of my muscles are dying and there's nothing I can do about it. That sucked. Years ago I learned that my ligaments stretch but they don't snap back. So it would seem that I am doomed to be overweight forever.

I say NO! I take ALL my medications and I am strict on my diet (which is low carbing). Celiac's restricts me but if I'm not good then I can't make iron and that just makes me sick and anemic. Hypothyroid is hard to combat but it can be done. You just have to be strict. Last year I lost most of this weight with just dieting (maybe some worry too as I had 4 surgeries and one saved me from cancer). But without approval from doctors I have added exercise. Nothing strenuous...recumbant biking. The muscles that are fatigued or dying get moved and pushed and then they scream later, and my hip and shoulder sometime dislocates. BUT with the more muscle building and less weight each thing gets better.

What I guess I'm saying is it can be done. I am 4 pounds away from my 40# loss goal and very excited. It may take longer than others but it can be done. Also since I forgot to mention both proper eating (low carb recommended) and exercise are excellent for Bipolar Disorder. Less sugar helps with swings and exercise helps with both mania and depression. It releases chemicals to combat depression and if you are so hyper you want to go spend money ( a big problem with us) go for a run/bike ride/ swim instead.

A healthy lifestyle is sooo beneficial. Good luck to all and have a happy healthy day.
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Old 07-17-2011, 09:45 AM   #8  
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Hi! I'm new to the forums. I suffer from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Right now, it's manageable, but makes every single day a struggle to get through. I've learned to cope. But with adding new things, like exercise, I'm really nervous that I'll get a huge flare-up. I started a new job a few weeks ago which I love, but it requires me to walk quite a ways to my desk every day from my car. Plus, I have been trying to take a small walk on my lunch break since I spend long hours all day sitting confined to a desk. I've started to have a few flare-ups due to the stress of the change. I am definitely thankful for weekends where I can let myself rest.
I'm not really sure how to add more movement into my schedule, with my every day such a struggle already. My husband and I talked about trying to play the wii on days off so we still have some movement. However, yesterday I wasn't able to even move really, so that didn't happen.
I'm the heaviest I've ever been. But I really want to change that.
Right now I'm just taking it a day at a time and hoping that I can make small changes that will help my life and my health.
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Old 07-17-2011, 09:53 AM   #9  
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Hi Meli,
I don't know anything about Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, I do know about fatigue (not being able to move). Have you talked to your doctor about exercise? Do you have access to a pool? How are you doing with nutrition/diet. Have you researched what food would be best? Like for me, high protein/low carbs help with my issues. I get fatigued when I don't make my iron properly and get anemic.
Last year I lost 30lbs just by changing diet because I was still building up blood/iron from major loss through 2009-2010. I was also recovering from 3 surgeries so even if I wasn't fatigued I couldn't have moved around much. Ask your doctor. It's amazing what are bodies can do if we just help it along. Keep up posted. I'd like to know.
Good luck
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Old 07-17-2011, 12:07 PM   #10  
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Hi Mamakat,
I have talked to my Doctor about exercise before. Basically, with CFS, doing too much can cause flare-up's, so I have to be careful. I can moderately. But pushing myself too hard could potentially be a problem. And with my job, I can't take any time off right now. So I'm trying to start slowly. I wish I had access to a pool. There's not really any around where I live that aren't loaded with kids. My husband has a gym membership where he can bring someone, so I'm thinking I might go with him and just ride the stationary bike for awhile and try that out. I'm coming from really not being active at all, so don't want to push myself too hard and end up sick - which easily happens.
Diet wise, I'm really not sure. I need to do some research. I just started watching what I was eating, so I haven't gotten a lot of research done yet. I know caffeine effects me a lot when I have too much, so I'm working on eliminating it all together. I'm starting with counting calories. Like, today I had 300 calories and it's about noon here. In an hour or so, I'll make a light lunch - maybe a sandwich and some cantaloupe that I just cut up. Then I'm making whole wheat pasta with meat sauce for dinner later and will probably make a salad to go along with it. I'm going to focus on keeping it around 1800-1900 calories a day to start. I'm really starting from fresh this weekend. I went to the grocery store yesterday and tried to pick out healthy things for the week, but it'll definitely be a learning process as I try to figure out what's best for me.
I'll definitely keep you updated. I'm hoping I can convince myself to check these forums every day and update my blog to keep myself accountable during my weight loss. So I should be around!
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Old 07-17-2011, 01:00 PM   #11  
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Meli,

As someone who has had CFS/CFIDS/ME for fourteen years, believe me when I say that what you are describing sounds like you could be heading for a bad relapse if you are not incredibly careful. Do not think for a minute about adding in any more exercise, not the Wii, not swimming, not anything. If you need to get out of the office at lunchtime, find the nearest bench or similar where it's peaceful and just sit and rest. The hallmark of this illness is that it is made worse by exertion and stimulus. Overdoing it in the way that you describe is why most people with CFIDS are no longer able to work, because they pushed themselves too hard. I know you may feel really ill now, but remember how much worse this illness can get. It is one of the most disabling medical conditions in existence, far more disabling than AIDS (excepting terminal-stage AIDS), and it can kill. If you can keep yourself in the "mild" category, you will be very lucky, and that's far more important than burning a few more calories one week from exercise - which will then leave you too exhausted to get to work, most likely. You don't want to end up losing your new job either, and that is a real risk. Scale everything back, concentrate on settling into your new job, and reassess after three or four months. You can still lose weight without exercising, don't worry.
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Old 07-17-2011, 02:43 PM   #12  
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TO YOU ALL ~ what a pleasant surprise for me today -- nice to have you join in this thread; I appreciate the company in here, truly ...

ELLY ~ I find coming here keeps me accountable, mostly to myself and to others who support us here. I want to get healthier and stay that way for the rest of my life; coming here helps me with that so much.

ESOFIA ~ Sounds like you have your eating well arranged; and that should help you right there. There are those who cannot get a lot of exercise becuz of health issues (myself on notsogood days), but eating healthy can still result in some weightloss and get health issues in order. I admire quilters so much; having the patience for such a big product, but the results are so nice.

MAMAKAT ~ boy, you have a lot of health challenges there; what a trouper. I agree with a lot you had to say in your first post; eating and living healthier can really affect how we feel in our bodies & minds. I have seen huge improvements as well. I'm off the Metformin (for blood sugar); my blood pressure is down (now I have knocked off the salty snacks); and I just feel better all over weighing so much less. I was just sharing with a friend the benefits of exercise on depression & bipolar last night.

MELIZ ~ your food plan sounds pretty good to me; small changes are best really. You can lose weight just doing that (I agree with Mamakat); and the bit of walking you do to & from work and lunch might be enuff. With your condition, I would hold off on the heavier kinds of exercises for now.

ABOUT MYSELF ~ since you don't know much about me; I'll share. I was born with SPINA BIFIDA -- part of my lower spine is not closed, this causes me a lot of pain with regular walking (and esp up hills or inclines, in sand & snow), bending, and twisting motions (or any repetitive actions). I use 2 canes now which helps me a lot. I had two bad injuries to my legs: fractured my left calf bone & got a clot, but it is getting better; and I dislocated/injured my right knee badly. It has improved a lot with the 2 canes. My left knee was torn this spring as well, so I really have to watch it. With age our joints and muscles can't take much anymore; I get lots of Charlie Horses (what we call SEVERE muscles cramps) in my legs now. I have other minor stuff that is much better like I mentioned above; my anxiety (which runs in our family) is much improved now, thanks to new strategies. Have been working hard on overcominig "EMOTIONAL EATING" with much success (I wroted a post about this in the FAITH FORUM) which has helped with the anxiety and eating when upset. I'm fiesty & a fighter, so I keep walking when & how I can (Every Other DAy works best for me). I am slow, but I don't walk backwards (as Abe Lincoln says). I do handbell weights (EOD), and toning exercises each day (some in bed; some on a chair). I'm getting better all the time. When we move into our new house, DH is going to set up my rowing machine again for me too, as I'll have more room there.


Our day started out very warm (90F) but just after we got back from picking up some deli roasted chicken and veggies, it started to and cooled things of for us, which was nice. I will have a salad and maybe a cob of corn with my chicken tonight for supper.

Just resting today; will pick up the packing again next week. Time to go put my legs up and rest them (I must do this daily to keep the swelling down and drain them as well). Cutting back on salt has helped a lot too.

Take care ... Rosebud

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Old 07-17-2011, 03:11 PM   #13  
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Thanks for the advice! I am definitely taking it easy with the new job. I've had CFS for 10 years and have learned when to hold off and when to let myself do things. With the new job, I'm really not trying out much more. If I got to the gym, it would be for a very short amount of time with not much activity. And only if I'm feeling well. Definitely not this week and I might not feel well enough too for awhile. With the walks to and from my office, I really can't add in too much more because even that is still new. I'm making sure to always get 8+ hours of sleep a night, and take lots of vitamins to try to counter the stress of the new job. I've had a few moments of really not feeling well, but have been able to bounce back pretty well thankfully. My husband is amazing and helps out when I come home from work so I can sit down and rest. We go grocery shopping together on the weekend, he cooks most of the evenings during the week since he gets home before me. And is really understanding when I'm not able to do much more than work. So I'm adjusting pretty well. I think my flare-up yesterday was due to having a few nights of insomnia. After a good nights sleep last night, I feel much better today. Though I'll still take it easy for a few weeks to make sure it doesn't turn into anything more.

Edit: Just one more comment. I think I do feel like I should be moving more, despite my illness. Especially when I'm feeling so gung ho about losing weight. And that might be what has been my down fall in the past, because I try to take on too much and then burn out when I can't live up to what people make me feel like I "should be" doing. That's part of the reason I'm here to begin with, is I'm really hoping with the support of a group of people like you, I'll learn ways to lose weight without overexerting myself and ending up more sick. My CFS is something I deal with every single day. And I definitely don't need to add to it, by making it worse than it already is. But I do want to be healthy and losing weight is something I need to work on. Plus, I do need to be more active. But I need to do it in my own way, which I sometimes struggle with. I tend to feel like I should be able to do what everyone else does, but I am limited. Which I find hard to deal with emotionally sometimes. Which can lead to giving up. So, something I'm working on. I figured if this is going to work, I need to be honest with myself on here.

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Old 07-17-2011, 06:45 PM   #14  
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MeliZ,
I think you have a great attitude about this. I think attitude has A LOT to do with losing weight with limitations. I know you can do it even with little to no exercise. I know that because I've seen me doing it. I know it's been said a thousand times, but If I can do it so can you. I don't have CFS but as I've said before I have a lot of stuff telling me I can't.

I would research food that would work best for CFS ( I know I've said that before). At my weight right now 245, I don't eat over 1700. As I get smaller I'll lower the calories. It's great that your husband is supportive. It's a lot of work just being us and to have a support system is very helpful. You know your body best so with doctor's help and you instinct exercise might be ok. I didn't exercise today because I've been running on overdrive this whole week, doing exercise and not sleeping. It caught up to me today...but I don't feel guilty because I know what I'm eating.

It's work to be sure, but with time it gets easier. Just as you learn your body over the years and know what can and can not be done you'll learn whats good to eat and do to lose weight. Never let others feel like you're not doing enough. You know you are doing all you can and no one knows but you how much can be done. I used to get a lot of advice that seemed more like you must do instead of a suggestion. But there advice never took into account of all my obstacles. That's why it takes time, but it can be done.

Learn all you can, ask your doctors...research and test, but don't feel like you have to do it for others. This is for you and for you alone. I wish you all the best.
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Old 07-17-2011, 07:30 PM   #15  
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Thanks so much, mamakat. I had about 1850 calories today, which is a huge difference from what I was eating before I'm finding out. Not eating anything else before bed. My husband and I went shopping for an hour, so did a little walking. Not much, but a little. We also spent some time organizing the house and cleaning out my car. So I'm counting that as being slightly active for the day.
Thanks a lot for the support. Oh, and by the way, I grew up in CT! I miss it. My family is still there, so I visit every few months usually. Was just there for a few days last month!
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