Hope You Had a Great Week!

Before you ask, yes I did have a great week. I ate carefully, started my days with breakfasts of fat/protein, and I feel fabulous.


Here in the extreme southern tip of Nevada, we've had a balmy week so I was walking around at mid-day in knee-length pants. Pants, I might add, that were too tight to wear this time last year, wearable but needed to be worn for a while before going outside last summer, nicely snug out of the dryer last fall and are NOW beautifully loose.


Once again, after using recent cold weather as an excuse not to, I've started to do some walking. And, as I'd advise you to do, I started sensibly by walking briskly for only 20 minutes. At the end of my walk I felt no fatigue or soreness but when I got out of a chair a few hours later there were mild twinges--and muscle tone--that told me the walking did good things. Next week I'll look at going farther.


I've had upsetting things going on within my family this week and while I wouldn't have asked for such a test I'm truly pleased with my physical response. All my life I was "the rock" during a crisis but once things settled down I would collapse with anxiety, depression and migraine. During those past crises, I wouldn't be able to sleep or eat normally due to adrenaline surges although my conscious mind was strong and available to support others.


This time, I'm actually feeling the stress at a more conscious level although my interaction with my family is pretty "rock-ish." The good thing is that my robust appetite and great night's sleep last night appear to indicate I'm processing this stressful interval in a much more healthy way. I'll be able to report next week on whether or not a follow-up migraine attack occurred. So far, though, this week seems to confirm that the repair of my digestion and metabolism has also repaired some of my neurological processes.

Enjoying 2012 so far?

How's the new year treating you? Are you happy with yourself or displeased with what you have/haven't done so far? If you're down on yourself, just STOP IT and think about tomorrow as New Year's day. Do with that new start as you will, or not, but don't waste time worrying about the past week or so.


I had a great walk this morning. The last one was less fun because it was mostly in "sugar sand" and felt like I was walking along a beach. Very tiring!


I had  residual fatigue after that and even after 2 days off I noticed a little tightness when I started off this morning. The 2 off days were because of family activities but I wasn't eager to walk yesterday anyhow.


So this morning I walked for an hour on much better footing and enjoyed the scenery and the activity much more.  At one point in my walk I went past the edge of the golf course I live next to and I was delighted to see a white heron. 


I was in a "working" state for most of the walk, feeling warm with increased but not labored breathing and for the final 20 minutes my body was ready to stop at any time but I wasn't in sharp distress. Needless to say, my breakfast of yogurt and fruit about 3 hours later tasted GOOD!


The delay between finishing my walk and eating breakfast was because I am one of the many for whom exercise means little or no appetite. I think it's because I perform very well in a fasted state--my bodily easily releases and burns stored fat so I don't need food for energy--and my mildly aerobic walks don't burn fuel fast enough to exhaust the stored fuel in my muscles and/or the replacement of those stores from the burning of released fat. And stoking up my metabolism with brisk walking floods my system with endorphin and fuel so  I don't feel a need to eat for quite a while afterward. So there's no need to eat before, during or after the walk but that would probably not be true for highly intense activity. 


I'm also happy with my eating in the past week. On most days I had a green salad with my main meal but a couple times I skipped the salad. On a few days I ate cuts of whole meat and on others I ate bone broth stew with chunks of several types of meat and cooked vegetables. Yesterday I was unusually hungry so I ate a little more than other days.


Yesterday after my usual breakfast of full-fat fruit with yogurt I had a nice large piece of browned ham steak at mid-day and in late afternoon I ate some crispy/baked chicken wings. So it was a low carb day although it wasn't VERY low. In case you're wondering, I was very high energy for my walk today and at the end of the hour I wasn't lagging or starving so obviously I did just fine on what I ate the day or two before.


And that's what it's all about--I am skeptical of people who say I HAVE to go very low carb or very high carb, or very low meat or very high  meat. I think I should eat what I'm hungry for from my supply of whole meats and foods and let nature take its course. Since I notice some variety in what I'm hungry for from one day to the next I'm unconvinced of there being one "right" way.


Well, if you followed my weight-loss series please don't be a stranger. Leave me a comment and tell me what I got wrong and what you're learning from your own reactions and experiences after any eating/activity changes you've made.


My next post will be about binge eating. That may take me a day or a week but it will be posted fairly soon.