Newly Joined; Excited To Get Started After Years Of Illness

[CanadianJaguar]

Hey everyone! This post may ramble on a bit, but for general info;

 

My name's Sarah. I'm a 21 year old Canadian and sports enthusiast! I love watching sports (football, hockey, F1, showjumping/eventing) and love competing even more! I'm about 5'8/5'9 (depends if I'm standing up straight ) and I currently weight about 137 lbs (although this certainly wasn't always the case). Unfortunately, my life kind of derailed about 3 years ago and it's all been quite a mess since then. I'll try to make it short, but here we go:

 

I've pretty much always been overweight. I never had a problem with it, it never bothered me much. It made playing sports difficult, but I'm not a self-concious person and I enjoyed myself so I was never bothered nor paid much attention to it. I imagine a gained alot throughout high school. I ate horrifically. And looking back, it's pretty awful. Not only did I overload on the junk food, take out and pre-processed crap, I just overate everything by probably 2 portions. Before everything went downhill, I weighed about 215 lbs. As I said, I participated in alot of sports (football, horse riding, fencing etc.), but because of my diet, I was never really 'in shape'. I always had difficulty playing (huffing and puffing and sweating by barely doing anything).

 

After graduating high school, I decided to take a fifth year to get some courses I was missing for university. That's when I noticed my health declining. It started out mostly as anxiety, nausea, joint pain, headaches, fatigue, heat intolerance etc. Basically every non-specific symptom out there. My GP told me I had anxiety and needed to lose weight, gave me anxiety meds then threw me out the door. The pills did nothing, and my symptoms continued to decline and my anxiety got steadily worse, to the point where when university started the following fall, I found myself unable to attend classes. Even sitting on the bus was horrific. After sitting in class for 5 minutes, I left. And soon after, dropped out.

 

I'll fast forward so not to ramble, but basically this continued for 2 years. Got bounced from doctor to doctor, with no one being helpful at all. Been told nothing's wrong, I need a psychologist etc. Meanwhile, I continue to decline and I have to give up my job, and then finally horseback riding (which was heartbreaking). I became housebound, only leaving for doctor's appointments. I dropped about 75 lbs in the span of 6 months. During this time I tried cutting out gluten (as my dad's side has alot of food intolerances) and that resolved a great deal of issues, but I continued to have problems. As the nausea and anxiety gets worse, I start eating less and less to the point where all I ate was potatoes (and no, I'm not exaggerating. It's all I ate.)

 

Finally my GP gives me a referral to an Endo, which I had begged for. Yada yada, we found out I had early Grave's Disease (hyperthyroidism, which is also in my dad's side of the family). I had to wait for some additional testing to come in, but I started meds about three months ago, and I've started to feel better in the last few weeks! It's been great! I certainly still have a ways to go (the anxiety is still there, and the nausea too), but it's definitely an improvement and I'm excited. I've also been slowly adding foods back into my diet. So far, everything's great!

 

I'm trying to see this as a bit of a blank slate, and to make sure I do thing's right this time around. I've been reading around this site for about a week now, and there's alot of great information here. I've read up on the Paleo diet, and it seems like a great idea to start with. I don't think I could every go full Paleo (I do love peanut butter and rice dishes), but the majority of it I think I'm going to aim for. I've starting adding in alot of fruits and vegetables back in to my diet first, and then build on that with meats and such. As annoying as having a gluten intolerance is and having to be somewhat vigilant when reading labels, I try to look at it somewhat positively, in that I can't just go and eat out easily or buy prepackaged garbage anyways. Hoping that helps with keeping a good diet.

 

As I said, I love sports, but I've never been in shape. And now, starting from square 1, I can really try to work at it. Coupled with a much better diet, I aim to become not only a much healthier version of myself, but a much more competitive athlete! Once I have a more complete list of foods I can eat, I'm going to start training again. Although I lost the weight unintentionally (not that I'm complaining, really), there's still some fat to lose, and it sounds like strength training is a good tool. I ultimately hope to become a runner, with the goal of completing a marathon (something I always wanted to do, but never could) but I'd like to lose the fat and gain some muscle first before starting running training. Then to get back in the saddle again as well! And to finally start university.

 

Erm, so that's my long, rambling intro post. As for geeky things, gaming's my thing. All about the Starcraft, Tekken and Grifball. And it's really the thing that's kept me sane throughout this ordeal. I'm very thankful for the friends I've made online who kept my mind off things! Can't wait to make progress with all of you here!

[QuirkyDM]

Hey, CanadianJaguar. Another Ottawa NF'er here. I saw your post in the Canadian Rebels thread. Welcome to the Rebellion!

 

It sounds like you've had a pretty rough go, but like you said, you get to start over from square 1 now and build it up right. it sounds like you were always pretty active, so keep on top of the nutrition and you'll get this. Are planning on doing challenges? Or have a strength training program in mind? I'm definitely more of a runner, but I like to use the gym, too.

[Nolondil]

Welcome! I've only just joined too, but I'm finding this site so helpful. It's quite inspirational the way you're taking what's really been a crappy few years and looking at this like a new opportunity!

[CanadianJaguar]

Hey, CanadianJaguar. Another Ottawa NF'er here. I saw your post in the Canadian Rebels thread. Welcome to the Rebellion!

 

It sounds like you've had a pretty rough go, but like you said, you get to start over from square 1 now and build it up right. it sounds like you were always pretty active, so keep on top of the nutrition and you'll get this. Are planning on doing challenges? Or have a strength training program in mind? I'm definitely more of a runner, but I like to use the gym, too.

 

Hey! Nice to see a fellow Ottawan on here.

 

I haven't looked indepth into specific plans yet, I'm still reading through some things and I want to speak with my doc first, but the Beginner Bodyweight Workout on here looks like a good starting point for me. I lost a great deal of muscle in my weight loss, I'm practically a weakling now! After gaining a bit of strength (and getting my anxiety issues dealt with. Booking an appointment with a psych soon!) I'd like to get a gym membership and a personal trainer for the first bit. Maybe start trying to walk/jog in the evenings. Beyond that, I don't have anything specific yet for a strength training plan. Still trying to wrap my head around all these things. I'm pretty unfamiliar with the gym, and never had an actual workout plan before. But like I said, it seems like doing a bit of strength training first to lose some fat and gain some muscle and then working into running might be best. If you have any suggestions, I'd love to hear them! 

 

 

Welcome! I've only just joined too, but I'm finding this site so helpful. It's quite inspirational the way you're taking what's really been a crappy few years and looking at this like a new opportunity!

 

Hello fellow newbie! This site is amazing. So much quality information, especially with so much conflicting info around. Nice to have it all in one place.

 

Ha, thanks! I'm honestly one of the most realist (or downright pessimistic) people on the planet, and I'm a real cynic when it comes to dealing with things. But looking back at how down right shit I took care of myself, and after feeling horrendously down and depressed over the past couple years, starting to feel better has brought the positivity (that's a word, right?) out of me.

[QuirkyDM]

No real advice here. I've seen a few different plans and it's all about what works best for you and what you enjoy. Bodyweight workouts are a great way to start because you can do them anywhere. There's really no excuse not to get them in and it's much easier because of that. I would try out the workout and see how you like it. (hopefully, the answer to that is "lots") Start small and light to get your body used to the extra work and keep increasing the reps or intensity every workout. Pretty soon you'll be killing it.

 

I've done some work with this body weight workout and found it helpful. The nice thing about it is the large variety in difficulty so you can start out easy or hard depending on your level and steadily increase. I don't want to distract you from your plan. The best thing you can do is just start.

http://www.startbodyweight.com/p/exercise-progressions_12.html

 

If you do get into running, I would check out Zombies, Run! It's basically nerd running and there's quite a few of us on here that love it.

[CanadianJaguar]

I definitely see myself enjoying exercising again, regardless of what it is. I always loved getting in a hard workout in the different sports I did, and after being stuck on the couch and barely able to walk upstairs, I think anything will be a warm welcome.

 

I've heard quite a bit about that app too! It sounds like fun. I'll definitely look into it, thanks!

[Gobnait]

It's great that you're now on-track for great health.

 

Making your own convenience foods is a great way to go for a healthy diet.

[CanadianJaguar]

Good point! I will definitely be looking into making my own grab 'n go snacks and quick meals. Thankfully, I've always been a big fan of stir frys!