[RhiaWolfe]

As a Zelda fanatic, I have to theme this in Tears of the Kingdom, so here we go! 

 

 

So, lately I've been struggling... bad... with food cravings and I feel out of control of my eating. I've been eating the same as I was right before I was diagnosed with diabetes a year and a half ago (I reversed it and am afraid of getting back to that point). Long story short, I finally got with my doctor and she prescribed me some medication that is supposed to help. I took my first dose on Friday, and already it's helping immensely. I haven't had any cravings and I feel so much more in control of what I am eating. I'm starting my challenge today to change habits and get back to a place where I feel healthy and have energy. 

 

 

I'm only going to have two goals right now. I know that with the medication, I'm probably going to knock one out of the water, but I'm going to stick with the goals I had in mind before I got the medication. 

 

Goal 1: Eat only when hungry. 

 

I am going to try and learn to listen to hunger cues. Right now I'm not having cravings, but often I can't tell the difference between a craving and being hungry. The cravings are so bad sometimes that I can feel that my stomach is full and it hurts, but I can't stop eating. So for now, I'm going to try and make sure that I only eat when I actually feel hungry. 

 

Goal 2: Move for 20 minutes, 3x per week. 

 

Doesn't matter what form of movement I do, but I must move for a straight 20 minutes 3 times a week. My plan is to do the elliptical at my work gym 3 times a week, but if for some reason I'm unable to do that all three times I can substitute another form of movement. 

 

I've struggled so hard with having to exercise "perfectly" or not at all. Like, if I couldn't do a full workout, I just wouldn't do it. Now I'm going to start by not "working out" but just getting movement in. Maybe if I look at it that way I will feel more comfortable doing it. 

[Artemis Prime]

Here to follow along! 

[RhiaWolfe]

14 minutes ago, Artemis Prime said:

Here to follow along! 

Yay! You're always welcome here, Art! 

[Teros]

51 minutes ago, RhiaWolfe said:

I've struggled so hard with having to exercise "perfectly" or not at all. Like, if I couldn't do a full workout, I just wouldn't do it. Now I'm going to start by not "working out" but just getting movement in. Maybe if I look at it that way I will feel more comfortable doing it. 

Reframing helps.  I look at it as setting the bar low and if I hit that, awesome.  And if I want to do 'bonus' workout, then I mine as well.

 

I sort of trick myself. Like, 10 minutes is whatever....so after 10 minutes I can tell myself, 'well I could do bonus minutes' and then do 20 or 30, you know? 

[RhiaWolfe]

2 minutes ago, Teros said:

Reframing helps.  I look at it as setting the bar low and if I hit that, awesome.  And if I want to do 'bonus' workout, then I mine as well.

 

I sort of trick myself. Like, 10 minutes is whatever....so after 10 minutes I can tell myself, 'well I could do bonus minutes' and then do 20 or 30, you know? 

 

I do like that idea. For right now the idea is just to get myself moving and committing to a certain amount of movement. I figure after I get in the habit of that I can start actually planning workouts and doing more. 

 

[RhiaWolfe]

 

Hey everyone! Yesterday was a pretty good day. Although I think the drastic change in my diet and medication is affecting me. I rarely feel hungry and I'm eating a lot less calories than I was before. So, I'm also feeling super tired and drained. I think this will even itself out as  I get used to it, but it's a struggle right now on that end. However, I'm so happy that I no longer have the obsessive cravings that I was having. I feel more in control of what I'm eating and it's a great feeling! 

 

 

Goal 1: Eat only when hungry - 1/7 days - Success! 

Ok, so I've run into a small speed bump on my challenge. My new medication decreases my appetite, so I rarely actually feel hungry. I'm going to feel this one out a bit and see how it goes. I actually ate really well yesterday (a lot better than I have been) so I'm going to count this as a win. 

 

Goal 2: Move for 20 minutes, 3x per week - 1/3 days - Success! 

I spent 20 minutes on the elliptical at work. Yay!

[Artemis Prime]

Woohoo for a good day! I have a question about your medication, which you don't have to tell me, obviously, but it's something that's probably worth you thinking about. Is this something you plan to stay on long term, or is it a temporary measure, and if the latter, what's the plan for weaning off of it and finding another way to manage cravings?

[RhiaWolfe]

5 hours ago, Artemis Prime said:

Woohoo for a good day! I have a question about your medication, which you don't have to tell me, obviously, but it's something that's probably worth you thinking about. Is this something you plan to stay on long term, or is it a temporary measure, and if the latter, what's the plan for weaning off of it and finding another way to manage cravings?

So, I have thought about this. It's a short term thing to kind of get me started on my weight loss journey. I plan on weaning off slowly and avoiding certain types of foods. I plan not to go overboard even on holidays and vacations. That's what got me into trouble last time. Once I am eating healthy, cravings really aren't a problem. However, once I over indulge for a bit, it's harder to get back to where I was. 

 

I'm currently keeping a journal about my weight loss journey, and I'm hoping to find some common thoughts and behaviors that lead me to want to eat. I want to try and find better ways to handle it. Like, what can I do instead of eat when I am bored? What are some foods that tend to trigger my cravings (spoiler, cheetoes puffs and coca-cola are big ones). 

 

I think once I get over this hump, I'll have a better chance of getting to where I need to be. I'm not going to be on this medication throughout my whole weight loss journey... just until I feel like I've managed to get into the habit of eating healthier foods and not having as big of a problem with insulin resistence. 

 

Good question though! 

[RhiaWolfe]

Ok, so I may need to edit my goals or at least hold off on them for a little bit until I get used to this new medication. From what I hear, things should get better within about a week or so after taking the meds. Right now, I'm not that hungry and I'm extremely tired. Last night when I got home from work, I immediately went to sleep on the couch. I got up long enough to get ready for bed and I went back to sleep in the bedroom. I didn't even eat dinner. 

 

So, before I start working on my goals, I'm going to try and just update stuff here about how things are going and take care of myself as I get used to this medication. 

 

Goal 1: Eat only when hungry - 1/7 days - On hold

 

 

Goal 2: Move for 20 minutes, 3x per week - 1/3 days - On hold

 

[Artemis Prime]

Zero week is the perfect time to put things on hold while you adjust to new meds! (Not that you couldn't do that any time, but I always like when the challenge dates on here line up so nicely with my outside life stuff.)

[RhiaWolfe]

37 minutes ago, Artemis Prime said:

Zero week is the perfect time to put things on hold while you adjust to new meds! (Not that you couldn't do that any time, but I always like when the challenge dates on here line up so nicely with my outside life stuff.)

 

Indeed! That is a good point. I'm glad this is Zero week.

 

[Teros]

On 6/13/2023 at 3:06 PM, RhiaWolfe said:

I plan not to go overboard even on holidays and vacations. That's what got me into trouble last time. Once I am eating healthy, cravings really aren't a problem. However, once I over indulge for a bit, it's harder to get back to where I was. 

Me in a nutshell.  It's a food addiction and I know it.  So if I am able to 'detox' for a while, I feel fine and can maintain that but then you have holidays and other 'excuses' to have some stuff and once it's in my system again I need to detox all over again.  Good to hear it's working.

 

 

 

[Jarric]

Following along! Glad the medication is helping you.

[Teros]

How goes it?

[RhiaWolfe]

On 6/15/2023 at 11:41 AM, Teros said:

Me in a nutshell.  It's a food addiction and I know it.  So if I am able to 'detox' for a while, I feel fine and can maintain that but then you have holidays and other 'excuses' to have some stuff and once it's in my system again I need to detox all over again.  Good to hear it's working.

 

 

Yeah, I've figured out that it's a legit addiction issue that I have. I'm trying to come to terms with the idea that there are just some trigger foods I just cannot eat anymore. Now that I know the danger of having certain foods or indulging too much, I hope I can keep that in mind and have better luck sticking to my goals. 

 

On 6/15/2023 at 12:34 PM, Jarric said:

Following along! Glad the medication is helping you.

 

Man, the medication helped immediately with food cravings. It's insane. I'm so glad I got it. 

 

On 6/20/2023 at 5:28 AM, Teros said:

How goes it?

 

I've neglected my challenge for a while because I've actually had to reassess my goals and what I can manage right now. I'm going to post an update to my challenge next. 

[algorithmicpoet]

Here to follow along, and also empathise strongly with your point about exercising "perfectly" or not at all - it's so hard to get out of that mindset ❤️ 

[RhiaWolfe]

Ok, so, I've neglected my challenge for a while, mostly because the medication changed so much about my life quickly in one fell swoop. I've been getting used to those changes and haven't really thought about anything else. So, I'm actually going to change my challenge goals for now. 

 

So, the idea was only to eat when hungry. Well, due to the medication, my body has given me really weird hunger signals. There are times that I really just am not that hungry, but I start to feel weak and I know I need to eat. Also, the goal was to start with only eating when hungry then next challenge slowly start finding ways to eat healthier. Well, now, due to the medication, I'm eating really healthy. It changed overnight and I'm kinda dealing with that too. 

 

So, the medication I'm on is an injection. I can take a 0.25mg or 0.5mg dose. I started on a 0.5mg dose my first week. Due to the extreme changes to my body and hunger signal changes, the second week I went down to 0.25mg. This week things feel more manageable. I'm actually having some cravings again, but they're not overwhelming. I think this is a better place for me to be, so I can get used to fighting cravings without it being overwhelming. I'm going to stick to the 0.25mg unless I start really having issues again (I don't think I will. This is manageable). 

 

 

 

Updated challenge:

 

Journaling - How I Feel About Food

One of the things I've been struggling with is deciding when it is ok to indulge. Like, is it ok to have a small bag of chips with my lunch sort of thing. I think I have a real fear of food right now because I'm terrified of becoming dependent on the junk food again. That's something I want to work on. I'm having a lot of anxiety about it. I'm also learning my body again, determining what it needs vs what it's craving. So, my challenge is going to be my journal. I'm going to post here my thoughts on food, how I'm doing on food, an try to analyze my thoughts surrounding food and see if I can improve my relationship with food. 

 

Research - Movement

Another thing I've been thinking about is that I don't really know what I want to do for movement in my life. My work has a free gym, and that's tempting. I may just do that. However, for most of my fitness journey my brain has been so focused on the idea that the gym is the only way for me to exercise regularly. That's just not true. I want to research how much fitness classes cost, see if there are any viable things for me to try out and see if I can find some kind of exercise I enjoy and will be interested in. A few things I want to check out: 

 

• Dance classes
• Martial arts
• Biking
• LARP
• Yoga

[RhiaWolfe]

10 minutes ago, algorithmicpoet said:

Here to follow along, and also empathise strongly with your point about exercising "perfectly" or not at all - it's so hard to get out of that mindset ❤️ 

 

Yeah, it's hard to get out of that perfectionist mindset. 

[Artemis Prime]

This looks like an excellent adjustment to me. Best of luck finding your favorite exercise. The process itself of trying out different things can be a lot of fun.

[algorithmicpoet]

8 hours ago, RhiaWolfe said:

A few things I want to check out: 

 

• Dance classes
• Martial arts
• Biking
• LARP
• Yoga

 

LARP can be such exceptionally good exercise without you noticing if you find a regular system you can play in! I'm a massive massive fan of it, but I only get to go 5-7 times a year as travel distance is an issue for me; but I'm always up for frothing about it if you decide to try it out

[RhiaWolfe]

15 hours ago, algorithmicpoet said:

 

LARP can be such exceptionally good exercise without you noticing if you find a regular system you can play in! I'm a massive massive fan of it, but I only get to go 5-7 times a year as travel distance is an issue for me; but I'm always up for frothing about it if you decide to try it out

I have a friend that's part of a local larp group. I thought about asking him to introduce me to it.  

[RhiaWolfe]

Last night I actually got some time to play Zelda Tears of the Kingdom! I haven't had much time to play lately, and it's not one of those games that you can just play for 30 minutes to an hour. You have to have a large chunk of time. 

 

 

When my switch battery got low, I put it in the charger and watched some more Trigun. I'm rewatching it because I just finished watching Trigun Stampede. Man, it's been a while since I've watched an old school anime! I forgot how good it was! 

 

Then my husband came in and we spent some time together. We're currently watching The Magicians together. Man, what a weird show... but I'm enjoying it. 

 

 

Challenge Updates:

 

Journaling - How I Feel About Food

So, yesterday was a good day for the most part. I ate very well. 

 

Breakfast: egg, bell pepper, and bacon bits scramble

Snack: Banana

Lunch: Greek food catered by work: chicken kabob, a few tomatoes an peppers, pita and hummus, rice dish, half a baklava (too sweet for me)

Snack: orange and kiwi fruit

Dinner: homemade chicken tacos

Snack: a handful of cheesy pretzel pieces and 2 rollos

 

I don't know what the calories were and right now I don't really care. I did notice that throughout the day I felt like something was missing. I was craving something, but I wasn't sure what. I tried a handful of pretzels to see if that would help. It didn't really. I decided to try the rollos to see if that helped. It did, actually. I'm not exactly sure why, but those two small pieces of candy actually helped and I was able to ignore the cravings after that. 

 

Research - Movement

I'm going to talk to my friend who does LARP and see if I can join them for a session and see if it's something I'm interested in. 

[RhiaWolfe]

So food was on  point yesterday. I am learning a bit about myself and I'll update that in the challenge below. 

 

Yesterday was a good day, despite having trouble focusing on work. We got to play Magic The Gathering during lunch and I got to use my new deck for the first time. I decided to go with Chatterfang (All hail the squirrel army!!!!). Sadly, we don't have enough time at lunch to get through a full game of commander, so no one won, but it was fun playing and learning about my deck. 

 

 

Last night after work I went to visit my grandmother. I stopped by McAllister's Deli and got me a soup and sandwich and then got a bowl of chili for my grandmother. It was tasty. First time I've eaten out this week (score!). After our visit I went to hang out with my best friend. While he was taking care of his son and putting him to bed, I played Zelda TOTK on my switch. Afterwards we talked Magic stuff. I'm really getting into it. 

 

 

 

Challenge Updates:

 

Journaling - How I Feel About Food

So, yesterday food was on point. I didn't really indulge. I think I had some crackers, but that's about it until dinner. 

 

The soup and sandwich I had felt like an indulgence for me. It was kinda odd. It was still good and fairly low in calories, but it was different and a little richer than what I normally have. I had a chicken club sandwich and potato soup. I also noticed that I'm eating smaller portions. Used to I would still be hungry after eating that meal. Last night though, it filled me up, and I was wondering if it was going to be too much. Maybe that's why it felt indulgent. I actually felt full instead of just not hungry. 

 

Research - Movement

Haven't done any research yet. 

[ninestoried]

On 6/21/2023 at 9:33 AM, RhiaWolfe said:

 

 

Research - Movement

Another thing I've been thinking about is that I don't really know what I want to do for movement in my life. My work has a free gym, and that's tempting. I may just do that. However, for most of my fitness journey my brain has been so focused on the idea that the gym is the only way for me to exercise regularly. That's just not true. I want to research how much fitness classes cost, see if there are any viable things for me to try out and see if I can find some kind of exercise I enjoy and will be interested in. A few things I want to check out: 

 

• Dance classes
• Martial arts
• Biking
• LARP
• Yoga

 

I love that you are leaning into curiosity here! I find for myself I tend to hyper focus on one type of exercise until it's either too easy or too hard, and then I move on. Having a variety of things to pick and choose from through the months and/ or weeks can really be helpful! 

What activities are catching your eye right now? 

[RhiaWolfe]

18 hours ago, ninestoried said:

 

I love that you are leaning into curiosity here! I find for myself I tend to hyper focus on one type of exercise until it's either too easy or too hard, and then I move on. Having a variety of things to pick and choose from through the months and/ or weeks can really be helpful! 

What activities are catching your eye right now? 

 

There are a few, actually. I'll talk more about one of them when I update my challenge, but here are some ideas so far: 

 

Kendo (I used to practice Kendo a while back), Dancing (jazz, hip hop, something like that), Roller Derby (more about this in my update), and LARP.