Uncaging the Ulfhedinn

[Dragonwolf]

The Road To Recovery

I've fought with my health for over a decade(!!!), and finally found a doctor that was able/willing to run the right tests to find the hormones that were out of whack and preventing me from achieving the shape and health I wanted. Armed with results from enough tests to fill a small book, and enough supplements to make a meal out them alone, I feel like I'm finally getting on the right track.

The degenerative disc disease in my lower spine won't be going away anytime soon, but with care, I can manage it.

 

Long Term Goals (The Epics)

My weight goal is about 175lb, or about 120lb below my starting weight. Per my current calculations, that should get me about where I want to be, body fat wise, without sacrificing too much lean mass.

My (more important) strength/fitness goals are to be able to do pull-ups and more work with gymnastic rings (thanks, Steve, for the inspiration on that one!), and have the endurance to pull a deer out of the forest.

 

Side Quests

I've really gotten into herbalism and permaculture recently, so I've got numerous "side quests" for diving deeper into both, including turning my front yard into a "food and medicine forest." They'll be a test of not just strength and endurance, but also of the mind and spirit.

 

I don't know if I'll update this every day, but I'll at least try to make notes of experiments and milestones.

[Dragonwolf]

I just want to say, rings are awesome for training pull ups. It's nice being able to go through the full range of motion and not have to fiddle with assistance devices that always seem to be either way too easy or way too hard. Instead, I can use my body as the "assistance" based on how much I keep my feet on the ground.

 

Been playing Skyrim VR the past couple of days. It's going much better now that I've tweaked everything and got addons to minimize VR sickness without sacrificing immersion. I need to adjust my sensors, though. The default setup for the Oculus sensors are on either side of the monitor, more or less, which means you have to stay facing the computer. This is okay for seated stuff (Medium is surprisingly fun for when you just want to sit down and play with virtual modelling), but falls apart quickly for natural motion RPGs and whatnot, where there's...you know...turning...and stuff. Apparently, it's possible to do this with just two sensors and without a pressing need for a third and/or fourth, which is good. I'll need to finish cleaning the rest of the office to really do that, though, because chairs are kind of in the way right now (and I might/will probably need a USB-3 extension cable to really pull it off). Once I do that, though, it'll be a nice little setup to really get some steps in and calories burning, especially as we get into winter (and at the rate things are going, it's going to be cold and wet).

[Dragonwolf]

Welp, so much for anything remotely resembling a "regular basis" on this front. I guess that's what happens when everything decides to blow up along the same time as the holidays.

 

My back hates me lately. Thankfully, it seems to be only muscle, so I think it's largely due to the ring work I've been doing. I need to do better with stretching, but trying to meaningfully stretch that particular set is...challenging.

 

Speaking of rings, they're still awesome. I fell out of the habit of working out over the holidays, but I've started picking it back up this month. I'm down to 2 days per week right now, though, in part because of my back (still not having much luck with lower body workouts, but I did find a thing call the Sisyphus Squat that I want to look more into) and in part because it's been a cold and dreary winter and all I've wanted to do is hibernate.

 

My weight has kind of stalled out. I was down a few pounds going into the holidays. I managed to not gain during the holidays, which is good, but I haven't really lost anything, either. I had attempted this month to do a trial of no nightshades, dairy, or legumes. It didn't seem to make any difference, and in fact seems to have done more harm than good, since it was yet more stress, and my GI tract was not impressed the entire time. Stress from life events probably aren't helping on the scale front, which is annoying, but I need to get the life stuff worked out before I can expect any remotely meaningful progress on this front.

 

I haven't been playing much Skyrim VR, which makes me sad, because I picked up a third sensor specifically for better tracking and got my play area all reorganized so I have a bunch more room now. Then my computer decided to have a hissy fit and stop picking up my Oculus equipment and I haven't been arsed to fix it. I also started working again, which severely limits my time to be able to play.

 

On the herbalism/permaculture front, I've managed to keep a Slippery Elm seedling alive so far! I suck at growing potted plants, so this is quite the accomplishment for me. I doubt I'll be able to plant it this year, but hopefully by next spring, I'll have a nice little sapling in the ground and the start of some much needed shade in the front.

[Dragonwolf]

Oh, and on another note (mentioning so I hopefully don't forget): I should probably hang out with the Druids for next challenge. Mental health is in need of some TLC right now.

[Mikey Fitpants]

Hi Dragonwolf. I totally hear you on the bad back stuff. I was out of action for nearly two years, my spine was twisted out of shape for at least a year and a half. I would feel like I was standing up normally but if I looked in a mirror I was leaning over to the right. The turning point for me was Alexander Technique which is a relaxation and posture/everyday movement correction thing, not sure how useful it would be in a degenerative disc situation.

 

I don't suppose you know how VR headsets work with glasses? I've been struggling to find out on the internet. My close up vision is terrible without my glasses - for example I can't see things on my phone without my glasses on. So, because the little screens are close to your eyes I would assume you would need a close up prescription. I actually wear varifocals (coz I'm old) and so my glasses wouldn't be any use inside a VR headset. In fact, I'm not totally clear if you can wear glasses inside a VR headset. I think some of the better headsets allow you to put in some lenses?? I think I then also read that you are supposed to put in your distance prescription rather than your close up prescription? That seems counter intuitive. So it's a technology I'm wary of investing in just in case it won't work with my eyesight, and I don't seem to be getting very far finding stuff out.

 

What does 'hanging out with the druids for the next challenge' mean?

[Dragonwolf]

I'll have to look into the Alexander Technique, thank you!

 

As for VR and glasses - at least with the Oculus, you can wear them. I only have one set, for distance viewing, so I don't know the full ins and outs and nuances of multifical lenses, though. The Oculus (which is what I have) actually tells you to use your glasses if you wear them normally, and gives you instructions on how to put the headset on and take it off if you're wearing glasses.

 

As I understand it, the VR headsets aren't really just little screens an inch from your eyes (at least the Oculus isn't). What's right by the eyes are actually lenses and the screens themselves are deeper in the headset, which results in the binocular effect. With that effect, plus the blocking out of the physical world, your brain registers the visual input not as "screens," but as the world, compete with distance views and whatnot, which is probably why they suggest using far-vision glasses.

 

Probably the easiest way to find out what works for you is to find someone or somewhere that has one that you can play around with and explore the calibration. Take all of your glasses with you and try each and see which ones work. Many electronics stores, such as Best Buy and Microcenter, have a demo model running.

 

Re: hanging out with the Druids - there are 4-week challenges you can do (see the main forum page) and normally, you pick which class you best fit with based on your goals (warriors for strength, monks for martial arts, scouts for running, druids for mediation and yoga, etc). I'm a Ranger (a jack-of-all-trades) and I normally do more Ranger-y type things, but it's not uncommon for people to "visit" the other classes and focus on a different discipline for a challenge cycle (this is especially true for us Rangers). I've found/decided that I needed to focus more on mental health and mindful movement practices right now, which is the speciality of the Druids. So I'm going to "visit" them during the upcoming challenge cycle and work on that kind of practice.

[Dragonwolf]

Pickled garlic is awesome.

 

That is all.

[Jean]

13 minutes ago, Dragonwolf said:

Pickled garlic is awesome.

 

It sure is!

[Dragonwolf]

11 minutes ago, Jean said:

 

It sure is!

 

I am so glad I'm not the only one!

 

My husband looks at me like I've grown a second head.

[Jean]

Sounds very vampiry to me. Have you seen him in a mirror, lately ?

[Dragonwolf]

On 2/13/2019 at 3:27 PM, Jean said:

Sounds very vampiry to me. Have you seen him in a mirror, lately ?

 

lol, he's just a Soul Eater*. He likes garlic, himself, just not eating it like candy like I'd been doing with the pickled garlic.

 

* AKA - a ginger

[Dragonwolf]

Fuck it, I'm going back to carnivore

 

Long story short, several years ago, my MyFitnessPal low carb group did a "Meativore May" challenge after some interest in going carnivore (it was very rare then), with which I had great success, but a few months later, it got turned upside down and did so in such a way that I struggled heavily to get back to it. (Apparently, carnivore + Metformin = a horrible aversion to the ground bison that was my staple food up until that point and intense cravings for sugary foods. WTF?)

 

I spent the intervening years trying to get back to it and struggling for some unknown reason, so I decided to try to work with a holistic doctor to see if I could get a mixed diet that worked for me. It did...at first. I lost 10lbs and was feeling good. I was sleeping better and wasn't as anxious as I had been when I sought her out.

 

...and then the wheels fell off. I gained that weight back, I've got more sugar cravings, my back has started hurting again, my hips have stiffened up again (oh, and now my knee's bothering me), I'm finding acne and headaches starting to come back, and my sleep quality has started degrading again (things that had gone away as carnivore). Worst of all, I'm finding myself unable to handle stress and be able to function. Granted, I have a lot of stress going on right now, but I'm mentally exhausted 3-4 hours into my work day. That's not good...

I feel like I'm spending an exorbitant amount of money on supplements for essentially nothing. Granted, some of them have helped tremendously and I'll probably keep going with them at least for a while, but I intend to pare down the ones that haven't been helping as much.

 

But I never forgot how I felt on carnivore and despite all the supplements and following her dietary guidelines (which are essentially Paleo), I never got quite to that point. Even at my best, I was struggling to get the motivation to get back to working out and actually do things, and more recently, I've found myself wanting to sit and having to pretty much force myself to do even something like a little bit of yoga/Tai Chi/stretching to loosen up my hips and back.

 

So fuck it, I'm done. I've found myself being almost driven back to carnivore at this point.

 

I'm tired of dealing with the flora minefield (especially since I don't have my native-plant garden yet) -- those have oxalates (if my run-in with Virginia Creeper is any indication, me and oxalates don't mix), those are nightshades (possible autoimmune trigger for me?), those are above the bitterness threshold (yay, supertaster...), those are sugary, those I can do but they're starchy so I have to be careful on quantity... At this point, my general rule regarding plant food is going to be if I can't grow/harvest it myself, I'm not eating it anymore. Maybe in three or four years, when I get a harvest of serviceberries, I'll put some serviceberry sauce on my steak or something, but until then this mixed diet thing clearly isn't working for me.

But I need it to be manageable for me. The "eat meat, drink water" method doesn't really work for me. I much prefer the principia carnivora method - meat, dairy, eggs, etc. are all fine if well-tolerated. If it's animal-sourced, it's fair game. I do have one caveat - no/minimal fluid dairy not from A2/A2 animals (including cream) and favor A2/A2 dairy in all cases (that's less feasible than just the fluid dairy, but it's an ongoing project).

 

I've got a quart of plain, unsweetened hemp milk open that I plan on finishing (which I use as the base for the bone broth protein shakes I've had more recently), but once that's gone, it's gone.

[Dragonwolf]

Wow, has it been a week already? Just about. I feel great, too.

 

Already, my back no longer hurts like it did. I've had fewer spasms that had been happening. My hips aren't hurting, either.

 

I feel like I'm handling stress far better, too. The little things aren't overwhelming me like they were even a week or two ago. Hubby and I ended up talking about leaving our Kindred due to the lack of respect that they've shown me (I don't think them having the decency to not blatantly interrupt or ignore me when I'm talking is too much to ask) and the only real thing I had gotten upset about was the holiday planning stuff that I was working on that led up to that conversation (suffice it to say, my jadedness as to people's response to my efforts was showing). Once it became clear that that was what was bothering me about it, he brought up the idea to leave (again, we've been kicking this around for several months at this point).

 

I did notice that taking my liquid supplements in the evening has had a negative effect on my sleep quality. I suspect it might be the Vitamin D, so I took it all in the morning and I'll see how tonight goes. To be honest, I considering just dropping them entirely, but we'll see.

[Dragonwolf]

Oh look, another week has gone by already.

 

I went off my dietary plan over the weekend. Popcorn at the theater with friends on Friday and the most divine mashed potatoes (high quality potatoes + cream + bone broth + butter = :yum: ) at dinner on Sunday. That's okay, it happens, though I have been feeling it the past couple of days. It certainly reinforces the notion that such things aren't really for me anymore.

 

I finally got my money in from my invoices for work, so I promptly ordered my new standing desk. \o/ I went with a Jarvis from Fully. Bamboo top with contour and a monitor shelf. I can't wait for it to get here.

 

We officially left the Kindred. We'll do an oath releasing ceremony....at some point. We need to make those arrangements with the leadership. It actually feels kind of good to not be tied to them anymore, really. There are a few members we plan on keeping a relationship with, but now it's on our terms, which is nice. For the others, well, the ball's in their court, now.

 

I've been hollowing out eggs to decorate for springtime and Sigurblot. Hubby laughed when he saw how I get the egg out of the shell for that purpose. I've got 5 or 6 eggs so far for it. The plan is to build an altar and have a few on it for spring, and save a few for decorating on Sigurblot day (April 20th). With any luck, I'll be able to do a sort of "party, take two" and have a couple people over and we can all decorate eggs together (and hopefully, we'll have enough eggs to do so, but that's why I'm starting now ).