The past few weeks have been interesting. I've made some changes that I think are positive, but also had some struggles. Here's what I changed:
1. Switching to a low-carb diet. My low-carb diet has helped stabilize my mood and almost eliminated my cravings. I haven't stopped for fast food once since I began, with the exception of Subway (sans all but a bite or two of the bread). I honestly haven't felt nearly the desire to that I used to, and every day it gets easier.
I don't crave simple carbs nearly as much as I used to. Cookies, donuts, French fries - none of it really seems appealing anymore. Sure, every now and then I wish I had some cereal in the morning, but it's not like it used to be. It's harder to binge on veggies, protein, and healthy fats.
So mentally, low-carb helps me be in a better place. I still have energy to exercise, since my workouts are typically less than an hour long.
2. Exercising more. Almost every day I at least go for a walk. I've been running about 3 times a week, up to almost 3 miles now. I almost always feel better after exercising - it gives me a burst of energy and mental clarity.
3. Stopping Abilify. I had a sneaking suspicion that it was affecting my weight. In addition, it's not a nice drug to be on long-term - not a lot of data.
4. Starting Vitamin D supplements. My blood tests indicated that I was low, so I've started supplementing 2000 IU's per day.
5. Reduced Prozac from 40 mg to 20 mg per day.
The results:
1. Weight stabilization. For the most part, after I initially dropped a few 'pounds' (maybe water weight), my weight seems to vary less than it used to.
2. Mental fog / lethargy. I won't lie - the first couple of weeks were TOUGH. While it has gotten better, I'm still not 100%. After about a week, I started getting twitches in my legs at night, which would keep me from getting a good night's sleep. I didn't want to get up in the morning. At work, I was having the hardest time functioning. It was painful, but it has gotten better. My sleep is almost back to normal, although I'm still sleeping in whenever I have the opportunity and not waking up before my alarm on week days like I used to.
3. More acceptance of my body. I realize that health is about more than weight, and I am starting to take an active interest in healthy eating and exercise again.
What is not working:
1. I purged 5 times over the past 2 weeks. 4 of those times were related to excessive alcohol consumption.
2. I drank too much 4 times over the past 2 weeks. One incident involved a family gathering, and was particularly bad because I became involuntarily sick.
What's next:
1. Abstinence from alcohol through the end of September. I've only gone 13 days in a row before, during which time I saw a slight weight loss. The mental benefits were tremendous. I want to see if I can go a whole three weeks, then re-evaluate and see what the results are. I think this is really keeping me from truly being healthy. There's definitively a strong correlation between drinking and purging for me. Asking myself, "Is alcohol helping or hindering me from reaching my goals?" has a pretty clear answer.
2. No purging. This will be much easier with #1. I know that I've historically been at my highest weights when I have been purging the most. It's a horribly ineffective weight loss tool.
3. Continuing the low-carb diet & incorporating more vegetables. This really helps to keep the cravings down, and I notice that when I do have carbs I am much more affected by the subsequent blood sugar crash.
4. Continue the daily regimen of Vitamin D, a multi-vitamin, calcium, and fish oil supplements.
5. Continue 20 mg Prozac.
6. Start Wellbutrin again. This helped in the past, and I wish I had not stopped.
7. Find a counselor and begin regular therapy again.
8. Exercise most days of the week - I'm going to look into getting a gym membership as well.
9. Pray. Invest in my relationship with God. This is key.
10. Blogging. This has been a healthy outlet for me.
No comments:
Post a Comment