Getting up off the ground ... again

[ysabet]

Hey all,

I was here a while back, but I ... lapsed. In fitness as in most areas of my life. Quick rundown:

- I'm 30

- I live in London with my wonderful husband of 10 years, moved here July 2011.

- I'm a geek of many trades.

- I'm 20kgs heavier than I want to be, and weak as a kitten.

Now, on to exactly why I'm on my backside instead of levelling up in the real world. February 2011, I got a diagnosis for the thing that was ruining my life: idiopathic hypersomnia. Basically, it's the inverse of insomnia - where an insomniac can't sleep, I can't wake. I've got meds to help with that, but being on stimulants is a tricky business.

That's not going to go away, since as far as the experts know, it's incurable, lifelong, etc.

It's a good day when I can dress and feed myself before midday. It's an excellent day when I leave the house, or think about doing any of a myriad of my passions. My problem is mostly energy - it takes so much effort to shower and find clothes and put them on and find food and cook it and ... yes, every single one of those steps is a challenge. Part of the reason it's so hard is because I am unfit. So I'd like to fix that.

Speaking of feeding - my diet is a mess. I'd like to eat paleo, but I lack the energy to explore new recipes or even to cook most days. Also I strongly dislike salad, and definitely prefer hot meals because the climate is so cold here compared to what I'm used to. Currently, breakfast is a premade spanish omlette (egg+potato+onion), lunch is fish fingers with mayo, and dinner is ... well, fairly random, but usually one of bangers and mash, gnocchi with chicken and pesto, risotto, sometimes a stirfry, sometimes a roast or stew or casserole. I get a weekly organic veg box delivered, and a monthly organic grassfed meat box delivered, so at least the components of my meals aren't too bad. Most dinners are home cooked, because I've got a severe dairy intolerance and a mild gluten intolerance.

I guess my goals are:

- Get to the gods-be-damned gym thrice a week

- Eat well more days than not, including actually eating 3 meals a day instead of 1 or 2

- reach my previous physical peak of being able to do a 2.5km run in 15min; 40kg deadlift; 20kg chest press.

- reach my weight goal of 65kgs or therabouts.

To do this I need to:

- have 3 sets of gym clothing, in an easily accessible place, to lower the energy barrier required to go to the gym;

- have a meal plan which is achieveable with my limited energy, especially if it can be precooked and frozen;

- stick with it for 6 months or so.

I'm going to need a lot of help and support and good vibes, because there will be many days when I'm mostly good for staring at the ceiling, and I need to work around that, and not get depressed or sidetracked by it.

ysabet.

[tjcass]

Wow, what a challenge you have. It seems like the goals you've set are fairly manageable, I hope you do well! Sounds like meal prep must happen on "good" days so, like you said, you can have things that are frozen and ready to go!

You don't mention your support system in your house (husband), I hope he is on-board for your fitness and dietary goals, that would be very helpful!

I wish you well, keep us posted!

[ysabet]

The dearly beloved is on-board, but he's very bad with out-of-sight-out-of-mind. On the one hand, that's great, because he doesn't tend to worry about things that aren't right in front of him. On the other hand, it's not so great, because I'm out-of-sight a lot, so sometimes he forgets to take into account that if I have to clean up the kitchen first, I'm not going to have the energy to cook and therefore eat the next day. That's about the limit of my support system - except for friends on twitter and you guys on the nerdfitness forums of course!

[DaveSix]

Welcome and I wish you success on your goals. I would definitely look for healthy recipes and make them in large batches that you can eat for lunches & dinners later. Make food when you have the energy, reheat leftovers when you don't.

One thing that has helped me lose weight is cutting out high-glycemic foods (bread, pasta, rice, potatoes).

[ysabet]

Thanks Dave I'm looking at doing Paleo - I'm already dairy and gluten free because of intolerances, so aside from dropping the potato and gnocchi a bit, I won't have as much to change as most. I find that carbs in general also trigger a hunger response - I had issues getting to sleep last night because a cup of hot chocolate at 9pm made my tummy start grumbling at 11pm. I think I'll switch to cammomile tea for a night time hot drink instead! mmmmcammomile.

[Ryan Sannar]

I would suggest supplementing vitamin D.

Also you definitly got this one right. Your back. Stay here, because no matter how you do on each day you can always try again. We are here to provide support whether or not you meet your goals.

[ysabet]

I take a daily multivitamin which has vitamin D, would that be enough, you reckon? Also, redheads generate about 10x the normal amount of vitamin D from UV.

[Ryan Sannar]

I'm not a doctor or nothing, but I take 10,000 IU a day. Thats about 10 times the FDA limit. No problems, been doing it for months. I don't know how much your getting, but I doubt the multivitamin has very much at all.

Do some research on vitamin D. I think eatmoveimprove.com has a great article on it. Plus you can read about the overdose symptoms and etc.. so you know how to regulate it. But I suggest you take a lot of it.

[ysabet]

Just had a bit of a read around the web - turns out, I can probably get a naturally self-regulating amount of vitamin D if I spend maybe 5minutes a day in the sun, probably less. Joys of red hair

[Bean]

Only one minor problem with that - the number of days of sun in London tend to be a limiting factor.

Maybe 10 minutes on the days when you see the sun? :grin:

My mom was diagnosed with the same thing recently - after the doctors treated her for depression she didn't have! My dad makes a point of waking her up every day and they then go and walk the dogs. That (and of course the medication) seems to kickstart the mechanism a little, but she still has good and bad days.

Hang in there with those goals, don't beat yourself up when you have a bad day and don't get to what you wanted to do, and keep the sunshine on your head!

[ysabet]

Oh wow, someone who's heard of idiopathic hypersomnia! AWESOME.

Thanks for the cheering on It's needed, frequently.