Finally seeing the light... Or at least the air smells cleaner in this direction ;-)

[hmaitken]

Hello Rebellion! 

 

My name is Heather, 24, and I am finally feeling motivated to get me life on track. 

 

After falling into a depression at the start of the year, I decided to take a leave of absence from my PhD to let it pass. However I became fairly sedentary lacking the motivation to do anything AND the medication I was taking also caused me to gain weight. Furthermore, I had a serious eating disorder for a long time that peaked last year, when I completely stopped taking my insulin and ended up in hospital. This started again recently but since changing the drugs I am on, my anxiety has decreased 95% and this is no longer a big issue. However getting my metabolism back up to it's former speed is going to be a nightmare! 

 

In fact, not taking my old meds has done wonders for me. I am suddenly ready to get fit and healthy, although I feel like I can't do it alone. 

 

I have also taken a step towards starting again by quitting my PhD after realising that being a world expert in such an obscure field with little interpersonal interaction was not for me. I am currently unemployed, but I am actively looking for work, and I've never been so excited to start something new! 

 

I am very lucky to have some very fit friends that are encouraging me all the time and helping me get my food and exercise going. However, going through the journey with others who are also starting a fresh would really help me. I am currently 10kg heavier than my previous heaviest and on the cuff of overweight. I feel my healthiest about 15-20kg lighter than what I am now.

 

I've a attached a couple of photos of myself at the moment. Which hopefully will only ever be "before" photos from this day forward.   Until recently I was definitely elvish and very strong. My fight with destiny has certainly decreased both of these traits and I'm ready to get them back! 

 

I've joined my gym, which is about a 2 minute walk from my house. I wanted to join because I get follow up sessions with a trainer and the real life accountability is very encouraging. They also have some AMAZING yoga classes and an awesome 25m pool. Having danced for twenty years previously having a class that helps my flexibility is incredibly important - yay yoga! 

 

I did my first gym workout two days ago and it was soooo much fun! I haven't been back since because I was home for my dad's 70th birthday, but I am heading back straight after finishing this post. I'm already dressed and ready to go! 

 

I am unsure what to do diet wise. Having Type 1 diabetes complicates things.

 

My main goals are to intensively exercise daily, to work out a healthy eating plan, and to become disciplined and constant with my diabetes management. 

 

Looking forward to getting to know you all! And thanks for existing! 

 

 

[vengefulpear]

Hi Heather,

 

Great to have you aboard, and you most definitely won't be taking this journey alone!

 

I will (and I'm sure the whole NF community ) be happy to offer whatever advice we can

 

And I think you're on to something with the pictures, I've just decided to take pictures every 6 weeks (at the start and end of challenges ) because I figure that way I'll be able to see progress (or not!) consistently and it's a good way to keep yourself accountable, after all, you can't cheat on health and fitness!

 

What sort of thing do you have to be careful with because of your diabetes? Is it mainly sugar?

[quiktekk]

Hi, Heather!  Nice to see another new rebel!  Q: What are your favorite foods to eat!?  My mom is a Type 1 Diabetic; I might be able to help since I'm always keeping her diet in mind when we go out to eat.

[ravnos]

Welcome!

 

The idea of quitting a PhD program makes me shudder, but mostly because that's my current career aspiration (in an obscure field, but that will result in me being a teacher, so... yay?) Good for you for making such a drastic decision to change for the better though!

 

The Type 1 can certainly complicate things when it comes to eating right, but luckily you already have years of nutritional advice to go on, I assume?

 

I wish my gym had a pool... haha.

 

Again, welcome, and congrats on making the first steps already!

[hmaitken]

Wow thanks for the responses! 

 

I guess my main worry with diet is that something like the paleo diet would be very difficult to manage because I wouldn't eat enough carb to take insulin and would probably experience a lot of low blood sugars and the risk of ketoacidosis is higher. I think I'm going to try eating 5ish small meals a day every 3 hours or so to get my metabolism going. 

 

I can eat pretty much anything sugar wise as long as I give myself the correct dose of insulin but as I'm not that great at testing (one of my goals is to get more regular at this!) I want to limit my carb content to a fairly constant amount. But I love good bread! 

 

Oh! And good luck with your PhD Ravnos! It's not for everyone but if you know it's what you want then you'll be fine. My problem was that I went into just because I was good at chemistry and it was the logical next step. Bad choice. 

[vengefulpear]

Well there's a couple of articles at Mark's Daily Apple, who is one of the biggest names in paleo (And his articles are choc full of actual references, which is definitely a good thing!)

 

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/type-1-diabetes-paleo-primal/#axzz2e5yLe1A1

 

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/type-1-diabetes-no-match-for-primal-lifestyle/#axzz2e5yLe1A1

 

And also from Robb Wolf, another big paleo name:

http://robbwolf.com/2009/10/14/type-1-diabetes-more-info/

 

And forgive me if this is a silly question (I'm afraid I don't know that much about diabetes!) but if you don't eat carbs and therefore don't really ingest as much glucose would that not reduce your need to take insulin?

[hmaitken]

Mark's articles are really interesting! Thankyou! It's good that a small amount of carb is still eaten. That way you still have to take some insulin which is essential to stopping diabetic ketoacidosis.  

[ravnos]

Thanks!

 

One thing I'll say about paleo is that - it isn't strict. You can still get a lot of the benefits from it while adding a few carbs. I know that for a lot of people the carb/fat/prot ratio is like.... 10/45/45 or 20/40/40 - you could probably do something like 30/35/35 and focus more on the idea of eating raw, organic, real foods.

 

I think the main thing is eating appropriate portions for what you're trying to accomplish body-wise, such as eating enough lean proteins based on your lean body mass. Mark's Daily Apple covers all of that stuff.